diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old/52694-h/52694-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/52694-h/52694-h.htm | 4803 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 4803 deletions
diff --git a/old/52694-h/52694-h.htm b/old/52694-h/52694-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index fe22b80..0000000 --- a/old/52694-h/52694-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4803 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> - <title>St. Paul the Hero, by Rufus M. Jones: A Project Gutenberg E-Book</title> - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - <style type="text/css"> - body { margin-left: 8%; margin-right: 10%; } - h1 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.4em; } - h2 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - h3 { text-align: center; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.2em; } - .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border: thin solid silver; padding: .1em .2em; font-style: normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; } - p { text-indent: 0; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: justify; } - .fss { font-size: 75%; } - .sc { font-variant: small-caps; } - .large { font-size: large; } - .xlarge { font-size: x-large; } - .xxlarge { font-size: xx-large; } - .small { font-size: small; } - .xsmall { font-size: x-small; } - .lg-container-b { text-align: center; } - @media handheld { .lg-container-b { clear: both; }} - .linegroup { display: inline-block; text-align: left; } - @media handheld { .linegroup { display: block; margin-left: 1.5em; }} - .linegroup .group { margin: 1em auto; } - .linegroup .line { text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em; } - div.linegroup > :first-child { margin-top: 0; } - div.pbb { page-break-before: always; } - hr.pb { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-bottom: 1em; } - @media handheld { hr.pb { display: none; }} - .chapter { clear: both; page-break-before: always;} - .figcenter { clear: both; max-width: 100%; margin: 2em auto; text-align: center; } - div.figcenter p { text-align: center; text-indent: 0; } - .figcenter img { max-width: 100%; height: auto; } - .id001 { width:500px; } - .id002 { width:200px; } - .id003 { width:675px; } - .id004 { width:650px; } - .id005 { width:640px; } - @media handheld { .id001 { margin-left:19%; width:62%; }} - @media handheld { .id002 { margin-left:37%; width:25%; }} - @media handheld { .id003 { margin-left:8%; width:84%; }} - @media handheld { .id004 { margin-left:9%; width:81%; }} - @media handheld { .id005 { margin-left:10%; width:80%; }} - .ic003 { width:100%; } - .ig001 { width:100%; } - .table0 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; } - .table1 { margin: auto; margin-top: 2em; } - .nf-center { text-align: center; } - .nf-center-c1 { text-align: left; margin: 1em 0; } - .c000 { margin-top: 1em; } - .c001 { margin-top: 4em; } - .c002 { page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } - .c003 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 45%; width: 10%; margin-right: 45%; } - .c004 { page-break-before:auto; margin-top: 4em; } - .c005 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; padding-right: 1em; } - .c006 { vertical-align: top; text-align: left; padding-right: 1em; } - .c007 { vertical-align: top; text-align: right; } - .c008 { margin-top: 2em; text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } - .c009 { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: 0.0em; margin-bottom: 0.0em; } - .c010 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%; margin-right: 40%; - margin-top: 4em; } - .c011 { border: none; border-bottom: thin solid; margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%; margin-right: 40%; } - .c012 { text-align: left; page-break-before: always; margin-top: 2em; } - .c013 { margin-top: 2em; text-align: right; } - .c014 { text-align: left; page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em; } - .c015 { margin-top: 2em; } - .c016 { text-align: right; } - .c017 { margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } - .c018 { margin-left: 2.78%; } - </style> - </head> - <body> - - -<pre> - -The Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Paul the Hero, by Rufus M. Jones - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: St. Paul the Hero - -Author: Rufus M. Jones - -Release Date: August 1, 2016 [EBook #52694] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. PAUL THE HERO *** - - - - -Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - -</pre> - - -<div class='figcenter id001'> -<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -</div> -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='figcenter id002'> -<img src='images/colophon.jpg' alt='Macmillan colophon' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><b>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='small'>NEW YORK · BOSTON · CHICAGO · DALLAS</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>ATLANTA · SAN FRANCISCO</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='sc'>MACMILLAN & CO., Limited</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='small'>LONDON · BOMBAY · CALCUTTA</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>MELBOURNE</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='sc'>THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='small'>TORONTO</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div id='tarsus' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/frontis.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>TARSUS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div> - <h1 class='c002'><span class='xlarge'><b>ST. PAUL THE HERO</b></span></h1> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><b>BY</b></div> - <div><b><span class='large'>RUFUS M. JONES</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>Author of “The Inner Life,” etc.</span></b></div> - <div class='c001'><b><i>ILLUSTRATED</i></b></div> - <div class='c001'><b>New York</b></div> - <div><b><span class='large'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'>1917</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><i>All rights reserved</i></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><b><span class='small'><span class='sc'>Copyright, 1917</span></span></b></div> - <div><b><span class='small'><span class='sc'>By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</span></span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c003' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div><b><span class='small'>Set up and electrotyped. Published, March, 1917.</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>CONTENTS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<table class='table0' summary=''> - <tr> - <td class='c005'><span class='xsmall'>CHAPTER</span></td> - <td class='c006'> </td> - <td class='c007'><span class='xsmall'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>I</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The Boy of Ten Years</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#one'>1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>II</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>His Heroes</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#two'>9</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>III</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>In Jerusalem</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#three'>17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>IV</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>In Rabbi Gamaliel’s School</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#four'>25</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>V</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>Tent-Making In Tarsus</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#five'>32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VI</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The Great Teacher of Galilee</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#six'>40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VII</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>In Jerusalem Again</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#seven'>48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>VIII</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The Man with a Shining Face</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#eight'>55</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>IX</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>On the Road to Damascus</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#nine'>63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>X</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>In Arabia</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#ten'>73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XI</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>Fifteen Wonderful Days</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#eleven'>80</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XII</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The First Great Missionary Journey</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#twelve'>88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIII</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The First Great Problem</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#thirteen'>97</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIV</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>A Letter to His Churches</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#fourteen'>104</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XV</td> - <td class='c006'>“<span class='sc'>Come Over Into Macedonia and Help Us</span>”</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#fifteen'>111</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVI</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>Alone In Athens</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#sixteen'>119</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVII</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>Corinth and Ephesus</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#seventeen'>126</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XVIII</td> - <td class='c006'>“<span class='sc'>Ready to Be Bound</span>”</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#eighteen'>139</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XIX</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>In the Prison at Caesarea</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#nineteen'>148</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XX</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The Stormy Journey to Rome</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#twenty'>157</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c005'>XXI</td> - <td class='c006'><span class='sc'>The Triumph of the Hero</span></td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#twentyone'>165</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>PICTURES AND MAPS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<table class='table1' summary=''> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Tarsus</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#tarsus'><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'> </td> - <td class='c007'><span class='xsmall'>FACING</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'> </td> - <td class='c007'><span class='xsmall'>PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Falls of the Cydnus</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#cydnus'>3</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Antioch</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#antioch'>88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Map [North East Corner Medit.]</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#mapone'>94</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Map [2nd Missionary Journey]</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#maptwo'>112</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Mars Hill, Athens</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#athens'>122</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Ephesus</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#ephesus'>129</a></td> - </tr> - <tr><td> </td></tr> - <tr> - <td class='c006'>Temple of Diana</td> - <td class='c007'><a href='#diana'>137</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='pageno' id='Page_1'>1</span><b><span class='xxlarge'>ST. PAUL THE HERO</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div> - <h2 id='one' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>I</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE BOY OF TEN YEARS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“Father, who made the mountains that -reach clear up into the sky over there where -the sun goes down in the west?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“It was God, my dear little boy. Don’t -you remember the psalm we read in the synagogue -last week: ‘I will lift up mine eyes -unto the mountains, from whence cometh my -help. My help cometh from the Lord who -made the heavens and the earth’? God made -the Taurus Mountains on the west of our dear -city and He made those peaks of the Amanus -you see off there in the East, over which the -storks fly in the autumn, and He made this -wonderful river, the Cydnus, which dashes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_2'>2</span>through the cleft in the mountains and makes -those great waterfalls which you love and -which rushes headlong through the city on its -way to the blue sea.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Well, Father, He must be wonderful if -He did that! But I don’t see how He ever -could spread out this great blue tent of a sky -over all these fields and over all the city and -over both the mountain ranges and as far as -men have ever been. All the way to holy -Jerusalem it goes—and farther, to Alexandria -where the man lives, who wrote the book -you read to me yesterday. Is there any end -to that tent and what is it made of? Nobody -in all our province of Cilicia can weave tent-cloth -like that!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, my son, nobody has ever found an -end to the tent of the sky. It covers the whole -world. It is harder to get to the end of it -than it is to go to the end of the rainbow, -which you tried to find a few days ago. But, -my dear boy, God has made something more -<span class='pageno' id='Page_3'>3</span>wonderful than the mountains, more wonderful -than the river, more wonderful even than -the blue canopy of the sky, that covers the -world.”</p> - -<div id='cydnus' class='figcenter id004'> -<img src='images/facing003.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>FALLS OF THE CYDNUS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>“What can it be, Father, that is more wonderful -than these things? Do you mean the -sea, which you sail over when you go as a -pilgrim to holy Jerusalem, to the passover?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, not the sea, though that <i>is</i> wonderful -and dreadful. I mean the law which God -wrote with His own finger and gave to our -great prophet Moses. That is God’s greatest -gift to our race. I want my little boy to love -the beauty of the mountains and the river and -the sky and the sea. But beyond all things, -I want him to love the holy law of God, to -learn it by heart, to keep every word of it and -to grow up and be one of Jehovah’s own men. -My boy comes of the tribe of Benjamin, the -favourite of all the sons of our father Jacob, -and some day this little boy may become the -leader and deliverer of God’s longsuffering -<span class='pageno' id='Page_4'>4</span>people. Will little Saul promise to be Jehovah’s -man, and will he always love and -keep the whole law which our God gave to -Moses?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Will it be very hard to do, Father, -and must I give up all the things I like to -do?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Yes, my dear boy, it will often be very -hard and you will have to give up some -things you like to do. But if you keep the -whole law of God and make yourself perfect -and do everything God asks you to do in the -holy law, all the people of our race forever -will call you blessed, and you will be the hero -of the tribe of Benjamin, and you will help to -bring the Messiah for whom we long and -pray, and Jehovah will give you eternal life -in His kingdom.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Oh, Father, I don’t care how hard it is, -I will do it. I will let my pet stork out of -his cage, so that he can fly off with the other -storks over the mountains. I will not do one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_5'>5</span>single thing on the holy Sabbath that is wrong. -I will not play by the river any more with -little Gentile boys. I will learn every word of -Moses’ law and say it all to mother when she -puts me to bed. I will be ready to serve my -race when God calls for some one to do the -great deed, as David did in the book we -read.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>His father patted his boy on the head and -smiled, as they walked home along the banks -of the rushing Cydnus and looked off at the -sun-lit tops of the Taurus Mountains.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Little Saul had had ten birth-days and he -had already caught the spirit of his race -which was very strong in his father and -mother who kept feeding him on the stories -of the past and waking in him the desire to be -the hero of his tribe. Tarsus, a beautiful -city of the province of Cilicia, was his home. -The city was twelve miles from the Mediterranean -Sea and ships came up the river to -the great wharves on either bank. Not far -<span class='pageno' id='Page_6'>6</span>away to the south was the great island of Cyprus -and through a pass in the Amanus -Mountains a road went to Jerusalem and the -land of his fathers. He had been often ill -and weak during the ten years he had lived -and often he had lain by the window and -looked out on the world and wondered. -More than once he had seen an army go -marching up the street, carrying the Roman -eagles and flashing Damascus blades in the -sun. He wondered where they were going -and what they would do with these terrible -swords.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had an older sister who was too old to -play games with him, but she took him on -walks by the river and like everybody else -she told him Hebrew stories about the heroes -he loved. She would picture to him often a -city on a great hill, with valleys running -round it, with a gorgeous temple in it, and -she would say, “Some day you and I will go -there to live and that will be our home and we -<span class='pageno' id='Page_7'>7</span>shall be where we can see the temple of God -every day!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul’s father was proud of many things. -He had married a wise and beautiful woman, -of his own tribe, who made his home a very -happy one. He was proud of his wife. He -was proud of this strange boy who pondered -and wondered and who promised to become -some day a great Rabbi and leader. He was -proud of his tribe and of his race. He was -still more proud to be a Pharisee and to be -classed among those who strictly kept the law -and worshipped every least letter of it, and -then he was proud that he was a Roman citizen. -He had done some service to the empire -and the great honour of being enrolled a -citizen had been conferred upon him, so that -little Saul had been born a Roman citizen and -had received a double name, one for his home -people—Saul, and one for Roman citizens to -call him by, Paul, which meant, “the little -one.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_8'>8</span>This was the boy who talked with his father -by the shore of the Cydnus, one evening -about twenty years after Christ was born in -Bethlehem.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_9'>9</span> - <h2 id='two' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>II</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>HIS HEROES</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Months passed by and the little boy of -Tarsus grew stronger and more eager and -earnest. His father had sailed from the port -of Messina for Tyre and Ptolemais and Cæsarea, -on his way to Jerusalem to keep the Passover -in the Holy Land. Little Saul had -begged to be taken with him that he might -see the Temple and stand on the very ground -over which the great heroes of his race had -walked, but he was told that he must wait until -he was a few years older and then he should -go to Jerusalem to study with a great Rabbi -who could answer all his questions. For a -long time he had gazed at the sky where the -sun had gone down over the Taurus. He was -really not looking at anything—he was just -<span class='pageno' id='Page_10'>10</span>gazing off into space and wondering. He -wondered whether he would ever see the -world beyond those mountains, the world he -had heard men talk about, the world of Asia -and Greece and Rome. Then he turned to -look toward the dim, yet shimmering peaks in -the East and he wondered whether he would -some day climb those ranges and go through -the pass into Syria and on into the land he -loved best—the real world of his own race.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had not yet read any of the stories of -Greece. He had dimly heard of the Trojan -war, but it was only a name of little meaning. -Theseus and Jason and Achilles and Ulysses -were not his heroes. They were never mentioned -in his home, though he sometimes -heard the boys in the street speak of them. -<i>His</i> heroes had all lived over the other mountains. -Their names he heard almost every -day. They were household words. He -sometimes made believe that he was David and -he would run with a little hand sling and kill -<span class='pageno' id='Page_11'>11</span>again the mighty Philistine giant that threatened -his people. When he climbed a high -hill-top he imagined himself Moses on Nebo, -looking over Jordan on the wonderful land of -promise, and every peak covered with a cloud -that looked like smoke seemed to him once -more Sinai, with the Lord above giving the -law in the darkness and the thunder. He -wished he could see the Seraphim as Isaiah -did, with two wings over their faces, and two -wings all the way down to their feet and two -wings moving like a bird’s to carry them -wherever the Lord willed them to go. And -still more he wished that he could see that -wonderful figure which Ezekiel saw by the -river Chebar—a living creature with the face -of a man, and a calf and a lion and an eagle, -all woven in and out with wings and all full -of eyes, flashing like lightning, whirling like -wheels, and moving wherever the Spirit of -God carried the strange living creature. He -thrilled whenever he heard the story of Daniel -<span class='pageno' id='Page_12'>12</span>and he wondered whether he himself would -have dared to pray to Jehovah and go to the -lions for it. He had seen a lion once who -was being carried to Ephesus in a cage, to be -let out in the amphitheatre. The lion roared -and shook his cage and showed his terrible -teeth. Then little Saul thought of calm, -brave Daniel going down into a den full of -beasts like that.</p> - -<p class='c009'>And Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, -the three heroes of the burning fiery furnace, -were men he loved to hear about. “Be it -known unto thee O King, that we will not -serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image -which thou hast set up.” Those words always -stirred him like a trumpet. And he -waited every time to hear once more about -one like unto a son of God walking with these -brave Jews in the midst of Nebuchadnezzar’s -fire. But best of all he liked the story of the -faith of great father Abraham. He could almost -see him laying the sticks of wood on the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_13'>13</span>altar and binding his own only boy upon them. -He wondered if <i>his</i> father would have done it -with him, if <i>he</i> heard the Lord tell him to do -it! Then suddenly came the joyous relief: -the ram in the thicket, and little Isaac spared, -just as the dreadful knife flashed in the air.</p> - -<p class='c009'>These heroes were going in procession -through his mind as he gazed at the eastern -gate in the mountains through which the road -ran that led on toward the one city of all the -world. Just then his mother stood by his side -and took his hand in hers. She could see that -big thoughts were moving in him and she felt -a kind of awe as she looked down at the pale -earnest face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Mother, which is the hardest of all the -commandments to keep—I mean, really to -keep, and not to break at all?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>In her mind, the fond Jewish mother -standing in the dusk by the boy she loved, ran -over all the commandments. “Thou shalt -not have any other gods but Jehovah.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_14'>14</span>“Thou shalt not make any graven image.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord -thy God in vain.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt observe the Sabbath day and -keep it holy.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt honour thy father and mother.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt do no murder.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt not steal.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt not bear false witness.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt not covet, or desire.” While -she was thinking how to answer, little Saul -said: “I know which is the easiest.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“And which is it?” asked his mother.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou shalt honour thy father and mother. -It is the easiest thing there is to do. I don’t -have to stop to think to do that! It is not so -easy, though, to keep the Sabbath day holy. -There are so many things to remember. Now -that I have let my pet stork go, I do not feel -tempted any more to play with him on the -Sabbath day. But sometimes I start off for a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_15'>15</span>walk before I think, and I carry things that -are too heavy to be lifted on the Sabbath day. -I wonder if I shall ever get so righteous, like -our great Hebrew saints, that I shall not do -anything wrong on the Sabbath day. It is -very, very hard to be perfectly good. Do you -not think, Mother, that this is the hardest of -all the commandments to keep?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“No, my dear Saul, there is one which you -will find much harder to keep. It is the last -one in the list: “Thou shalt not want things—thou -shalt not desire.” This commandment -has to do with what goes on inside. All the -others are about things we do in the world -outside. This one is in there where you -think. It says that you must rule your own -spirit and not want or desire what you ought -not to have or ought not to do. That my little -boy, as he grows larger, will find very hard -indeed to keep. Only the great God who -guided Abraham our father all the way from -Ur of the Chaldees to the dear land of Canaan -<span class='pageno' id='Page_16'>16</span>can help my boy to keep that commandment.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Anyway I shall try, mother. It isn’t any -harder is it than going into a den of lions or -into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Ah, but my Saul will never have any such -dreadful things to do, for he is born a Roman -citizen and he can always appeal to Cæsar. -Now it is time little boys were in bed.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_17'>17</span> - <h2 id='three' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>III</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>IN JERUSALEM</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The days grew to weeks and the weeks to -months; the months added themselves and -made years in Tarsus in the first century just -as happens now where my young reader lives. -Time and the multiplication table go on in -one century exactly as in another, no matter -what else changes. Before the father and -mother could quite realise it, or believe it possible, -Saul, once our little boy, who looked out -on his world and wondered, was old enough -to go away from his home to a great school in -Jerusalem where perhaps all his questions -could be answered though only for a little -while. His sister had married now and lived -in Jerusalem and it was arranged for Saul to -have his home with her while he was studying -with the famous Rabbi Gamaliel, who -<span class='pageno' id='Page_18'>18</span>knew better than almost any one else the law, -and the rules by which the daily life of a strict -Jew should be guided so that he might be perfect.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Through the Syrian Gate in the Amanus -ridge, Saul had gone with his father on their -way to the holy city for the Passover and for -a short time of sight-seeing and visit before -the hard work of the school began. They -came on through Antioch of Syria, the first -great city which Saul had ever seen and one -which some day he would know much better; -then they journeyed on by hard and dangerous -roads until they saw Damascus, with its -two beautiful rivers and its high city walls. -Some day Saul would know this city better -too! And the time would come when he -would find out how high those city walls -were! Every foot of the road from Damascus -was crowded with interest and excitement -for this fifteen-year-old boy who was seeing -the holy land for the first time. Now he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_19'>19</span>thrilled in a new way as he actually saw with -his eyes the scenes which before he had only -pictured in imagination. When they crossed -the Jordan, just south of the blue lake of Gennesareth, -he could hardly contain himself. -More than once he threw himself on the -ground with his arms outspread as though he -were trying to grasp the country and embrace -it.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The road up from Jericho to Jerusalem was -so dangerous and he had heard so many tales -of robbers there that he was too frightened to -enjoy the journey. But when at length <i>the -city</i>—the city of all the world—with its shining -temple gleaming in the sun came in sight, -he forgot all about robbers and dangers and -his sore and tired feet, and fell on his face and -thanked God for letting him see the Holy City -about which he had dreamed and imagined -ever since he was a tiny boy. There it was! -It was no dream but a real city, with real -streets and walls and houses, and above all the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_20'>20</span>temple, to his mind the holiest place in all -the world.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The next day when he came to the temple, -his heart beating and his throat swelling with -emotion, he read with pride the inscription -carved on the stones: “Only he that is a Jew -may enter this sacred temple. If any one that -is not a Jew enters he will be answerable for -his death, which will ensue.” Around him -thronged a vast multitude of people who had -come from all parts of the known world to be -present on the Great Day of Atonement. He -could see the choirs of singing men and he -could hear the far-away sound of harps, and -then he saw the long line of priests with their -dress as Moses had described it in the books -of the law and the high-priest with his gorgeous -robe, and on his breast were the mysterious -stones which no man understood save -he who had them.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After the great days of the sacred week had -passed and he had seen the wonders of the city, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_21'>21</span>Saul entered the cloister door and came into -the sombre room where the learned doctor, -Gamaliel, gathered his students at his feet to -teach them. The boy was filled with awe as -he got his first sight of the white-haired man -who was to be his guide in the mysteries of the -law and he made a deep salaam before him -and remained bowed until the Master said: -“Rise, my son, and be seated here.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The quick-eyed boy noticed at once that his -new teacher was as full of kindness as he was -of wisdom. There was something in the face -of the old Rabbi that gave him confidence and -dismissed his fear.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Dost thou know the commandments?” -asked the teacher.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I know them all,” answered the youth. “I -have said them many times to my mother in -Tarsus.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Dost thou know what the law requires a -faithful son of Abraham to do on the Sabbath -day?”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_22'>22</span>The youth surprised his teacher as he ran -through the long and complicated lists of -things that a faithful Jew might do and might -not do on the Sabbath day. At last the teacher -stopped the boy and gravely asked, “where -hast thou studied?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“With my father and with my mother in the -long evenings at Tarsus. My father is one of -the wisest and one of the most strict of all the -tribe of Benjamin and my mother is like the -woman of whom the wise king Lemuel wrote -in the Roll of Proverbs. They have taught -me many things but I lack much and therefore -have I come to Rabban Gamaliel.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Canst thou recite the fifth book of Moses -without a mistake?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I can recite every word duly, for the book -itself says ‘Lest ye forget.’”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Thou hast done well, my son, and thou hast -walked many steps in wisdom for one so -young, but now thou must learn the <i>authorities</i>, -thou must become skilful to interpret, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_23'>23</span>thou must know the unwritten law and all the -traditions of the Elders and Scribes and thou -must fill thy mind with all the gathered wisdom -of the great Rabbis until thou canst explain -every passage in the Rolls of the books -which Jehovah our God has given us through -the holy men of old. Thou must work with -diligence, beginning early in the morning and -continuing so long as the light lasts, and thou -must spend years here with me until thou hast -won the truth and until thou knowest clearly -what brings God’s righteousness to a man. -Art thou ready to give up the years of strong -youth; art thou willing to lose the pleasures -of the world; art thou able to endure the toil; -wilt thou go all the way to the end with me?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul stepped one step nearer, raised his fine -face and his dark eyes full of eagerness to the -master’s face and calmly said: “Great Rabban, -for that I come. I have left the things -that are behind. I seek only one thing in this -world—to be righteous, to know the whole -<span class='pageno' id='Page_24'>24</span>secret of God, to be a perfect son of Abraham. -Let it cost what it will, I follow where the -wise Gamaliel shall take me, even to the end -of the long road to truth.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then the teacher bowed his head and prayed -that the great Jehovah of the fathers would -bless and enlighten the youth from Tarsus who -was to be for many months in the cloister of -Gamaliel.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_25'>25</span> - <h2 id='four' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>IV</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>IN RABBI GAMALIEL’S SCHOOL</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The person who is a real hero in spirit -and nature can be a hero at school as well as -anywhere else. In fact those who prove to -be heroes in later life are almost always heroes -in their school-days. This youth who had -come to Jerusalem from Tarsus of Cilicia did -not have to wait for some occasion, with all -the world looking on, before he could rise to -heroic actions. He found a chance to be -heroic even in the quiet uneventful cloisters -of Gamaliel’s school. All the boys and young -men who gathered round this famous teacher -very soon knew that a brave fellow and a real, -born leader had joined their ranks. When a -hard and difficult thing was to be done they -turned naturally to him. When a question -<span class='pageno' id='Page_26'>26</span>was asked which taxed everybody’s brain, they -all looked for him to answer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There was no end to his zeal. Nothing -seemed too hard for him. He had learned -Greek as a boy in his home at Tarsus and he -had always known the current Hebrew speech, -but now he learned carefully the ancient Hebrew -of his fathers. He pored over the -Rolls of Scripture and took note of each jot -and tittle. He learned all the fine points of -grammar which his great Rabban could teach -him. His patience seemed never to give out -and he would work on in his search for truth -long after the others had rolled up in their -strange mat-like beds and were lost in peaceful -slumber.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He seemed to think of ignorance as a great -giant enemy to be fought with and to be killed, -no matter how long and hard the fight might -be. It was in this fight he showed his true -heroic fibre. He was always hunting a new -weapon to fight with, or he was sharpening an -<span class='pageno' id='Page_27'>27</span>old weapon in his possession. He would -travel miles to find a book he wanted or to -discover what a strange word meant or to consult -some authority whose opinion he desired.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“What do you suppose that Saul of Tarsus -will be when he grows up?” the boys would -ask of one another.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“He will surely be a great Rabbi and have -a school in Jerusalem, like our master,” one -would say.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“I think he will be greater even than that,” -another would say. “I think sometimes, as I -look at his face and watch him while he -reads, that perhaps he will be a new prophet -and bring a new word of God to our people.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But that is not possible,” a pious youth -from a Jerusalem family would answer. -“The words of God have already all been -given. There will be nothing new until -Messiah comes. I have heard my father say -that many times.”</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_28'>28</span>This coming of Messiah was one of the -things our youth from Tarsus studied most -carefully. The books and traditions had -much to say about it, but it was hard to decide -just what would happen and just how to get -ready for this greatest event of all the world. -With the help of Gamaliel and his books, -young Saul came to believe that a great day -was soon to come for Jerusalem and for all -good Jews. A new king, like David, only -greater and wiser and better and stronger -would suddenly appear. He would have -power to turn stones to bread, or to leap from -the top of the temple to the ground without -being hurt in the least. He would break the -Roman army all to pieces in a minute. He -would call hosts of angel soldiers from the sky -at the sound of a trumpet and they would destroy -or carry away all who had been bad Jews -and had not kept the law. Then he would -make Jerusalem a perfect city. The streets -would all be cleansed and purified, until one -<span class='pageno' id='Page_29'>29</span>could see his face reflected in every pavement. -The walls would be changed into precious -stones, the gates into pearls, and every person -left in the city would be as pure as the city itself. -Nobody would be sick any more, nobody -would die, or have any sorrow. And -best of all, all the good Jews who had ever -lived would be brought back to life again to -live in the perfect Jerusalem with the good -people who were there with the great king. -This king of their hopes and dreams was called -“Messiah,” because he would be “anointed” -by God himself to rule forever. Saul believed -that his people were the only ones out -of all the world who would have this king for -their king and this perfect city, and all who -had ever done anything against his nation -would suffer and suffer and suffer, while the -happy Jews were enjoying their beautiful -Mount Zion.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He believed, too, and he thought his books -proved it, that he and others who were willing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_30'>30</span>to work for it, could hurry up this great day -and make it come sooner. This is the way -you could do it. It couldn’t come until there -were a great many persons who were good -enough to start the new world and the perfect -city. The king, Messiah, would not come until -he could find a large number of people all -ready for him and as near perfect as you could -be. Now to be perfect you must keep all the -law and do everything that God commanded -in the Old Testament and in the traditions of -the Rabbis. If you broke one single commandment, -it was as bad as though you broke -them all, for if you broke <i>one</i>, then you had -not kept the whole law.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now my reader will see, I hope, what a -hero this young Saul was. He had decided -to be one of the men who would be ready for -this mighty king and he was resolved to live -the kind of life that would help bring him -soon. He was going to live as though the -perfect city had come already. He would not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_31'>31</span>do one thing that would seem like disobeying -God—even the littlest. Gamaliel had one -student who was trying with all his might to -be perfect, and that meant, to be a hero.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_32'>32</span> - <h2 id='five' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>V</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>TENT-MAKING IN TARSUS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Like winged birds, the time flew by, just -as it does now for school-boys and school-girls -and Saul’s years at the feet of Gamaliel -were over. He had changed very much -while he had been in Jerusalem. Soft hair -was growing on his face now. His forehead -was broader and fuller, but his shoulders were -bowed over and he walked with a stoop because -he had bent over his books so long and -had taken very little exercise in these years -of eager study. His hands were soft as a -woman’s and he seemed thin and worn with -the strain of his thoughts. But the same fire -was in his dark eyes and the same fine beautiful -light shone on his face. He wondered as -he came up the river Cydnus from Messina to -Tarsus (for he returned by sea), whether his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_33'>33</span>mother would know him. The news had -spread that the boat was coming and the whole -family in the home at Tarsus were on the -watch for the returning scholar. He did not -have much time to wonder whether his mother -would know him, for he soon felt her arms -around his neck and he found himself once -more in the dear home with everybody looking -him over and asking him questions until he -needed three or four tongues to answer them -all. His mother did not like the stoop in his -shoulders but everything else pleased her. -The father was too proud of his splendid son -and too much moved with joy to say much, -though he had already given a brief prayer of -thanksgiving to Jehovah for the safe return, -and for the wonderful gift of such a man-child -as this. Meantime a servant was killing the -fattest of all the full-grown kids for the feast -of joy which all the household joined in preparing, -and the whole day was given up to rejoicing.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_34'>34</span>It was a proud moment for the family the -next Sabbath when young Saul was given the -Roll of Scripture at the Synagogue and was -asked to read the lesson and explain it. There -he stood with all the Jewish families of Tarsus -looking on and listening while he told them -things they had never heard before. When -the lesson was finished many a man turned to -Saul’s father and said: “God has given you -a remarkable son. He will be an honour to -our race and to our city.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now the time had come when Saul’s trade -must be decided upon, for all young men who -were to be Rabbis were expected to learn a -trade, so that they could support themselves. -Early and late in the home the question was -discussed: What was the best trade for a -slight, thin, soft-handed youth who was a great -scholar and who was soon to be a famous -teacher? The mother wanted him to learn a -trade that would straighten his shoulders and -make him strong and robust. The father -<span class='pageno' id='Page_35'>35</span>thought he ought to select some occupation -that would be refined and dignified and very -honourable. After long and careful consideration, -it was finally settled that Saul should -learn the trade of weaving the goats’ hair -to make heavy tent-cloth and to cut the cloth -into tent patterns and to sew the long tent -seams.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was strange work for the delicate scholar—so -different from poring over books and -settling points of the law. At first the soft -hands blistered and the muscles were very -tired with the work of the stiff hand-loom. -But little by little the hands grew harder and -the arms learned the trick of the motions and -the work became natural and easy. Saul went -at this work the way he did everything else. -“It is,” he would say, “a part of my life. I -cannot succeed unless I can support myself -and so I must make tents a little better than -anybody else can do it. Some good stiff work -now and the habit of doing every part of it -<span class='pageno' id='Page_36'>36</span>right will make the whole thing easy for me -later.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>He went to the best maker of tents in the -city and worked with him, for he knew the -worth of a good teacher. But this teacher -was so different from his old master in the -school at Jerusalem! Like Gamaliel, this -man also knew every fine point in his field of -work. He had the secret of selecting the -finest goats’ hair and he knew the best weaves -for making water-tight cloth and he drew the -best patterns for both large tents and for small -ones, and he had new ways of sewing seams -that would neither rip in the wind nor leak in -the hardest rains. The only trouble with him -was that he was a Gentile and not a man of -Saul’s race. But he, too, was a scholar. He -had studied in the great University of Tarsus -and he knew many books which Saul had -never read or even heard about. While they -worked at the tent-cloth the master workman -talked much to Saul of what he had learned in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_37'>37</span>the University under his Stoic teachers, for -Tarsus was one of the greatest centres of Stoic -wisdom in all the world.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“Do you know,” he would say, as they sat -sewing the long seams, “all my books say that -God is a great Spirit who fills all the universe, -just the way the soul dwells in and fills the -body. This Spirit is in the ocean and in the -river, in the mountains and in the trees, in the -air and in the cloud, in the stars and in the sun -and above all it is in the mind of man. It -makes everything full of purpose, and intelligent. -The bee and the spider are wise because -this Spirit dwells in them and teaches -them. One of our own poets who lived here -in Tarsus, in a great hymn to the Allwise One, -says that we men of earth are children of God -because our spirits have come from his Spirit, -and this Spirit lives and moves in us, if we are -good and wise. The human soul is like a -little inlet into which the great sea flows. -Bad and wicked men have become bad and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_38'>38</span>wicked because they shut themselves off from -the inflowing tides of that great divine Spirit. -Those who have most of this divine Spirit in -their souls do not fuss or worry. They are -not disturbed over what happens to them. -They say that the only thing that matters is -to be master of your own spirit and not -to be conquered by anything in the world. If -I should lose all my goats and all my tent-cloth, -and if all my looms should burn up, I -could still be a brave man and start again -just as though nothing had happened, but if I -lost my spirit and began to whine and lament, -nobody could cure me of that. Then I should -be beaten and defeated. We Stoics try to be -citizens, not only of our own city but of the -whole world. We love our own people. -We are proud of our own race, but we want -more than that. We take an interest in all -men everywhere. We want all cities to be -good cities. We want all people everywhere -to know God and love him, and we want to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_39'>39</span>make one great family on the earth, all living -in harmony under the great Spirit.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul stopped sewing and sat perfectly still. -It was different from anything he had heard -in Jerusalem. It could not be true or Gamaliel -would have known it and yet it was so -wonderful and beautiful. He would think -about it more, and he would read some of the -books of the Stoics who said that we are the -offspring of God!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_40'>40</span> - <h2 id='six' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>VI</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE GREAT TEACHER OF GALILEE</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>While the young scholar was working at -his new trade of weaving tent-cloth and making -tents in the busy, thriving town of Tarsus, -wonderful things were occurring beyond the -Amanus Mountains, in the land of Palestine. -Every traveller who came from Galilee and -every pilgrim who passed through Capernaum -brought tidings of a strange and extraordinary -Teacher, totally unlike the great Rabbis and -Scribes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>In far-away Tarsus not much was reported -at first of what this Teacher said. The travellers -told, first of all, of the wonderful things -He did.</p> - -<p class='c009'>One man had heard, as he came through -Galilee, of a little girl who had been very ill. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_41'>41</span>Nobody could help her. At last in despair -the father went out to search for this Teacher, -to see if He could do anything to save his -daughter. He found Him by the lakeside -preaching to a great multitude of people, and -he begged Him to come at once, to make his -daughter whole. Many strange and unusual -things happened on the way and, at last, when -they arrived, the little girl seemed beyond -help, for she lay all still and did not breathe. -But this remarkable Person took her by the -hand and spoke some words in His own Hebrew -language and the girl rose up and -walked and was instantly well, and everybody -wondered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Many other such things they told of this -Teacher. He made all kinds of sick people -well. He even made totally blind persons -see. All the towns around the Lake of Gennesareth -were full of excitement over His -cures and His other miraculous doings, and -in all the country throughout Galilee people -<span class='pageno' id='Page_42'>42</span>everywhere talked about Him and went long -journeys to see Him, and to bring sick persons -to Him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then, slowly, reports began to come of His -words and His teachings. They said He -seemed to have found out something new -and strange about God. He was not afraid -of God as other people were. He loved -Him and talked about Him as though He -knew Him. He kept calling God His -Father, and He said God wanted to be Father -to all persons, because He was full of love and -tenderness for everybody in the world. He -kept telling, in all His talks with the people -who came to hear Him, about a new kingdom -which He was trying to set up in the world. -It was very hard to tell from the vague reports, -which the travellers brought, what this -kingdom was to be. It did not seem like the -“new Jerusalem,” that Saul had learned about -in Gamaliel’s school. It seemed even greater -than that, for it seemed like a new kind of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_43'>43</span>world for everybody. Everybody, who loved -God and learned how to live a life of love -and kindness to all people everywhere, could -be in it, and it would grow and spread like -seeds of grain in the field.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then, later, when the people who had gone -up from Tarsus to the Passover, came back -from Jerusalem, they brought news of a terrible -thing that had happened there during -the Passover week. This Teacher, it would -seem, had come up to keep the Passover and -the common people had discovered Him and -they thought at first that He must be the long-expected -Messiah and they had made a procession -for Him and had tried to proclaim -Him their king. But this and other things -frightened the rulers in Jerusalem and they -sent by night and seized Him and got Pilate, -the governor of Palestine, to condemn Him -and crucify Him. Then all the people turned -against Him and thronged out of the city in -great multitudes to see Him nailed on the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_44'>44</span>cross and to see Him die hanging in the air. -And the pilgrim who brought the reports -said He was not like any other victim that -was ever crucified. Instead of shouting and -wailing and cursing, He had been calm and -unmoved. Every time He spoke, His words -were full of love. Once He spoke in a quiet, -gentle way to a thief who was crucified on a -cross near Him. And once, and this was the -strangest thing they reported, He looked up -toward the sky and then out toward the great -multitude of shouting people and said in a -gentle voice which reached out over all the -throng, “Father, forgive these people. They -do not know what they are doing.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>A few who came back later had another -story which they told but they couldn’t make -anybody at Tarsus believe it. They said that -some of the followers and friends of this wonderful -Teacher from Galilee declared that -they had seen Him alive after He was crucified. -Some of these followers said they had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_45'>45</span>heard Him speak just the way He used to do -before He was crucified, and they claimed -that He told them when they were on the way -going up to Jerusalem that He would be crucified, -but that He would come back to life -again.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When Saul heard these strange reports he -was at first very much moved by them. He -could not sleep at night because he thought -so much over the stories he heard from the -travellers. But little by little he made up his -mind that they were just idle tales such as -travellers love to tell to those who stay at -home. He said to himself: “It isn’t likely -that there really was any such person in Galilee -as this one they tell about. I should have -heard about him while I was in Jerusalem, -for he could not have got his power suddenly -and if he was beginning to do these wonderful -things then, it would have been known in the -city. But nobody had heard of him at all. -If he got his power suddenly, without any -<span class='pageno' id='Page_46'>46</span>preparation and without studying in any of -the schools, it is probable that some evil spirit, -like Beelzebub, has helped him and revealed -secrets to him. It is almost certain that he -was not sent by God, for the books of the law -do not tell about any such Teacher who would -come and die for his truth, and the words they -bring about his teaching are not at all like -what we know of God from our sacred books. -No, either there was no such person, or, if -there was, he was deluded and misguided.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>But when Saul was talking one beautiful -evening with his mother, who seemed now -much older than when she talked about the -commandments with her little boy, suddenly -Saul said: “Wouldn’t it be strange, Mother, -if what that Galilean Teacher, of whom the -travellers talk, said about God were really -true—I mean, that God is a Father and loves -men, even men who do wrong and sin. My -tent-maker thinks that God is a great Spirit -who dwells in everything and is everywhere. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_47'>47</span>But <i>this</i> is more wonderful, that God is full of -love and tenderness for all kinds of people in -the world. It cannot, however, be true, for -the Rabbis would have known it if it had been -so!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>And the mother answered: “Ah, yes, no -doubt the wise Rabbis would know. But is -there not something just a little like that in -some of the beautiful psalms which we sing -in the Synagogue—‘Like as a Father’?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>“But, Mother, this man, they say, died on a -cross, and no good man, whom God approved, -could die that way, for our law says that all -who are hanged on trees are cursed and disapproved -of by God, so that we need not think -any more about him.” But try as he would, -Saul could not get these things out of his -mind.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_48'>48</span> - <h2 id='seven' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>VII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>IN JERUSALEM AGAIN</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>All through the quiet period in Tarsus -while Saul was learning his trade and living -with his father and mother in the dear old -home where he had been a boy, he was wondering -what his life was going to be. He always -felt, even as a little boy, that a great life-work -lay before him. It was too sacred and -solemn to talk about and he did not tell even -his mother, but all the time, down deep in his -soul, he dimly knew that he was destined to -have an unusual life and to do something -signal and wonderful. When he lay ill and -everybody thought he would die, he felt very -sure that he was not going to die yet, for the -great work of his life was still to be done! -He had often been in great danger, on his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_49'>49</span>journey up to Jerusalem and on the ship coming -back to Tarsus, and many times before he -left home, but he always knew that somehow -he would come through the danger and be -spared.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He was eager now to find his life-work and -to start in on his great career. He was, therefore, -very happy when a traveller of his own -race, coming from the holy land, brought -him a letter from the authorities in Jerusalem -saying that they had work for him to do in -that city. They wanted a young and learned -Rabbi to teach the Jews living in Jerusalem -who spoke Greek and who were called “Hellenists.” -There were, my readers must know, -two kinds of Jews. There were the Jews, -first, who lived all the time in Palestine. -They could keep the law more perfectly and -more completely than other people could. -They thought of themselves as the truly real -Jews and as the inner circle of God’s own people. -Then, secondly, there were the Jews -<span class='pageno' id='Page_50'>50</span>who lived and did business in the great cities -of the Roman Empire—cities like Rome and -Alexandria, and Ephesus and Antioch and -Philippi and Corinth and Tarsus. They -could not keep themselves as pure or as perfect -as the Palestine Jews could, for they had -to meet and mingle with Gentiles who were -not pure according to the law and who defiled -those that came in contact with them. Then, -too, these out-dwellers could not get to the -temple very often to make sacrifices and to -keep the requirements of the law. They used -the language which the worldly people around -them used. That was generally Greek. -They had their Scriptures translated into -Greek and many of them did not know and -could not read Hebrew at all. But these Hellenists, -or Greek-speaking Jews, went up to -Jerusalem as often as they could and when it -was possible for them to do so, they would -stay in Jerusalem for long periods in order to -be near the temple. They had a synagogue of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_51'>51</span>their own in Jerusalem where they went for -their lessons and for their Sabbath services -and where their little children were taught -while the parents were staying in Jerusalem. -It was to this Synagogue that Saul, the young -Rabbi, was to go, to teach the Jews who came -from all the far-away countries to sojourn in -Jerusalem.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was very different for him, going to -Jerusalem now from what it had been for the -fifteen-year-old boy the first time he went. -Now he was going, not for a few years, but for -life. Now he was setting his hand to carry -out the great dreams and hopes of his life. -Now he was leaving his mother, perhaps for -the last time. His father would still continue -to go to the Passover and Saul would perhaps -see him there, but his mother would never -leave home again and it would surely be many -years before he would come back through the -mountain-gate, or up the Cydnus River, to his -birth-place. Nobody knows just what goes -<span class='pageno' id='Page_52'>52</span>on in a young man’s heart when he takes this -great venture and pushes out from the home -he loves to begin his real life in the strange -and difficult world, where some succeed and -where some fail, where some keep pure and -good, and where some go wrong.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Many things seemed to have changed in -Jerusalem during the short period since Saul -had left it. Everybody was talking of the -strange events that had taken place recently. -A new people had appeared in the city. They -called themselves “the people of the way,” -or “those of the way,” or “those of Jesus’ way.” -Others called them “Galileans,” or “Nazarenes.” -They were men and women who believed -that Jesus the great Teacher of Galilee -was the Messiah and they declared that He -was still alive and would soon return to be -king and lord. They were growing fast in -numbers and spreading in every part of the -city. They met every day from house to -house and ate their evening meal together in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_53'>53</span>great joy and fellowship. They took care of -all their poor people and their sick and they -shared everything they had with one another -as though they were all brothers and belonged -to one great family.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The rulers in Jerusalem, however, did not -like to see them spreading through the city. -They watched them carefully and arrested the -leaders when they found them doing anything -to attract attention or trying to get others to -join them. They did not like to be told that -the person they had Pilate crucify was the -Messiah, or that He was raised from the dead -and was now alive. It was easy to see that -there was sure to be trouble in Jerusalem, if -these people went on increasing and if they -would not keep quiet.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There were some of “those of the way” in -the Synagogue where Saul was to be Rabbi. -They were always ready to talk about their -wonderful Teacher, who had been crucified -and they were eager to prove that He was the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_54'>54</span>real Messiah that had been so long expected. -Saul thought he could very soon teach them -sense and show them how foolish they were. -He would quickly prove to them that Jesus -could not be the Messiah, for the Messiah -would surely never be crucified! He would -come in splendour and glory, and if the -Romans tried to crucify Him He would call -down from heaven an army of angels and destroy -all His enemies in a moment! And He -would break the Roman Empire all to pieces, -as one breaks an old jar of pottery. It would -be only a few days, Saul felt sure, when he -would be able to stop all this talk about a -crucified Messiah. He would argue them -down and make them ashamed to say such -things any more. But Saul did not know how -hard his task really was. He was to discover -that some things in this world cannot be -hushed up, or argued down!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_55'>55</span> - <h2 id='eight' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>VIII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE MAN WITH A SHINING FACE</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>There was one man in this Synagogue of -the Hellenists more remarkable than any of -the other people who belonged to it. His -name was Stephen. I do not know what city -he came from. But he was one of the “out-dwellers,” -and he had become a follower of -Jesus, “one of the way”—“a Nazarene.” He -was different from any of the other followers -of Jesus. He saw farther than the rest did. -He seems to have been the first of “those of -the way” to realise that Jesus did not come to -be the Messiah of the Jews alone and to purify -their customs. Stephen thought He came to -bring life and light and joy to <i>all</i> the world. -The other followers of Jesus in this early -period were loyal, devoted Jews. They went -every day to the temple and they kept the law -<span class='pageno' id='Page_56'>56</span>as the other Jews did. They supposed that -Jesus was to be the king in Jerusalem and that -only Jews were to be His people. Those -who were not Jews could have no share in the -good news which He proclaimed.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Stephen was so pure and good and wise that -he got a new idea of what the coming of Jesus -meant. The truth was far bigger than the -others dreamed, and he began to see it, and to -tell about it. If God is Father, as Jesus kept -saying He was, then He must love all men as -well as Jews, and if God is Life and Spirit, -then He can come into men’s lives everywhere -without any temple and without priests and -sacrifices. Stephen began to wonder, as he -thought about all that Jesus had said and -taught and done, whether His message was -not far greater and more wonderful even than -the law of Moses, whether some day it would -not take the place of the old system of laws -and customs and sacrifices and whether even -the temple itself might no longer be needed to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_57'>57</span>worship God in, for men might worship Him -anywhere where they happened to be.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Stephen was so bold and fearless, and he -was so full of his great idea, that he tried to -tell the people in Saul’s Synagogue about it. -They all turned upon him and called him a -dangerous man. They tried to make him see -that he was not true to the religion of his -fathers, that he was teaching new ideas, that -he was turning people away from the old customs, -and that if the people followed his -teaching they would overthrow the whole -wonderful system of Moses, and so make it -impossible for the Messiah to come, for -whom all good Jews were waiting and longing.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul, with all his learning and his knowledge, -thought he could easily answer Stephen -and prove that he was entirely wrong. But -every time he tried, Stephen got the best -of him. Saul would quote texts from the -Old Testament and Stephen would rise up -<span class='pageno' id='Page_58'>58</span>and show that these texts meant something -quite different from what Saul had always -thought they meant. He was so powerful and -his life was so noble that all the people who -listened felt that even if he was wrong in his -ideas he was great in his soul, and they began -to wonder if he perhaps might be right and -Saul wrong. Day after day the discussion -went on without any end to it. At last Saul -decided that this would never do. Some way -must be found to stop this dangerous man who -was leading the members of his Synagogue -astray. He told the rulers in Jerusalem that -he had discovered a traitor who must be arrested. -“He talks against Moses,” he said. -“He does not love our holy land, or our holy -law, or our holy temple, the way all true Jews -should.” Then the Council in Jerusalem had -Stephen arrested and brought before them -for trial, and witnesses came in and told all -the things they could think of to make the -Council condemn him.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_59'>59</span>While they were talking against him they -all saw a light shine on his face, and he looked -more like an angel than like an ordinary man, -and everybody wondered what he would say -in answer to the charges that were made -against him. And Saul must have been eager -to see what was going to happen to this man -with the shining face, whom nobody could -defeat in an argument. Then quietly Stephen -began to speak for himself. He did not try -to prove that the things which had been said -against him were false. He paid no attention -to his own case. He told the Council that all -through the history of their Hebrew race the -people had always failed to see new light when -God brought it to them; they had always -missed the path when God was trying to lead -them into a new way, and they had always -misunderstood when God was trying to teach -them new ideas. They cried out against -Moses, he told them, in the wilderness. They -worshipped a golden calf just at the time -<span class='pageno' id='Page_60'>60</span>when he was giving them the law of God, and -when the prophets came to teach them more -about God, they served Moloch and other -false gods instead of Him. Their great, wise -king Solomon had told them, when he built -the temple, that no temple, however wonderful, -could contain the great God who fills the -universe, but the people did not understand -his words and seemed to think that God lived -only in their temple. “You have always -failed to see the truth,” Stephen cried. “You -have always persecuted prophets when God -has sent them to you. You have killed those -who told about the coming of Jesus. And -now <i>you, yourselves</i>, have betrayed and killed -Him when He did come. You talk about the -law and you say that God gave it through -angels. But you do not understand it and -you do not really keep it.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>That was more than they could stand. -They forgot that they were judges and were -having an orderly trial. They all rushed at -<span class='pageno' id='Page_61'>61</span>Stephen. They showed their teeth at him and -howled him down. But he was as calm and -steady as though everything were peaceful. -In the midst of the uproar, they suddenly -heard him say: “I see Jesus! There He is, -up there in the open sky, at the right of God -in His glory.” Then they all stopped their -ears, so that they might not hear what he said, -and they rushed at him and dragged him out -of the city and stoned him. As the people -who stoned him pulled off their garments so -that they could throw the stones better, they -gave their garments to Saul to hold. He did -not join in throwing the stones, but he approved -of what the others were doing and he -ran along with them and carried the garments. -And he could see Stephen’s wonderful face -which was shining more than ever now! He -did not say one hard word against those who -were killing him. But just at the end, Saul -heard him say: “Lord Jesus, do not blame -these people for what they are doing”—“Wilt -<span class='pageno' id='Page_62'>62</span>thou now receive my spirit to Thyself.” And -then, with the stones raining round him, the -brave, good Stephen died—with the light still -on his face.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul never forgot that face. He thought -Stephen was wrong and he believed that he -must be stopped or he would bring harm to -God’s people. But he had never seen anybody -die like that before! And the more he -meditated and thought about it, the more he -wondered at what Stephen had said, and still -more over his dying words and his happy, -shining face!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_63'>63</span> - <h2 id='nine' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>IX</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>This young man who now unexpectedly -found himself a persecutor was by nature kind -and tender-hearted. He had never wilfully -hurt any creature or given pain to anybody. -He had come up to Jerusalem for his life-career -with the highest hopes and the noblest -aspirations. His whole being was aflame -with a passion for his nation. Ever since he -was old enough to know the story of his own -people he had dreamed of the splendid future -that was soon to dawn. All that the greatest -prophets had seen in distant vision, he believed -he should one day see with his own eyes. He -had tried, with almost superhuman effort, -to make his own life perfect so that he might -be one of the little inner circle of perfect -<span class='pageno' id='Page_64'>64</span>Jews, who would help to bring the Messiah -and the perfect age and who would be ready -for this glorious king when he should come.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now he suddenly found, in his own Synagogue -even, people who said that the Messiah -<i>had come already</i>, that the rulers and Pharisees -who were expecting Him and preparing -for Him had not recognised Him when He -did come and had crucified Him. This -seemed to Saul an awful idea—an unbelievable -tale. He was sure the Messiah could not -be crucified. But he was afraid that these -enthusiastic and misguided followers of Jesus -would ruin his hopes. Everything that could -be done must be done at once to stop their -teaching and to destroy their influence. He -saw only one way to guard the hope of Israel -and that was to crush this movement absolutely -and to shut up or kill every person -who went about claiming that Jesus was the -Messiah. It was a very disagreeable task, -but it must be done for the good of the nation -<span class='pageno' id='Page_65'>65</span>and, however hard and distasteful it might -be, Saul was resolved to carry it through and -to leave nobody who would ever again dare -to say that Jesus, the crucified, was the long-expected -king.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Into the peaceful homes of the “Nazarenes” -he went and seized both men and women and -carried them away to prison. He had to separate -husbands from their wives. He had to -take mothers away from their tender little -babies. He had to break up meetings and -drag away those who were preaching the new -gospel to their eager listeners. But everywhere -he went he found that these people had -something which he did not have. In the -midst of their sufferings and their trials they -were calm and peaceful and happy and triumphant -and radiant. When they were persecuted -their faces shone with a light that -seemed almost heavenly. They prayed for -those who injured them and were not disturbed -by any troubles. They kept saying -<span class='pageno' id='Page_66'>66</span>most remarkable words about Jesus and their -faith in Him, and they all seemed to believe -that He was still alive and that they would all -soon be with Him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul had been trying all his life to be perfect, -to be fully righteous. He had worked -with all his might to keep all the law and all -the commandments. But he knew deep down -in his soul that he had failed to reach his aim. -He could not do it. He found something in -himself which he could not govern. If he -didn’t break one commandment, he broke another. -If he was strong at one point he -was sure to be weak at another. That commandment -which his mother had told him -was the hardest to keep—“thou shalt not covet -or desire”—was always bothering him. Even -when he did not actually <i>do</i> wrong things, he -found himself <i>wanting</i> to do them, and <i>that</i> he -knew was wrong. It all filled him with discouragement, -and sometimes with despair.</p> - -<p class='c009'>But these people whom he was persecuting -<span class='pageno' id='Page_67'>67</span>and dragging away to prisons seemed to be -good almost without trying. They had found -a new power somewhere that seemed to help -them. It made him wonder whether they -were perhaps right and he possibly was -wrong. He hated what he was doing. How -gladly he would stop it, if only he could be -sure that God did not want him to persecute -these strange followers of Jesus. But until -God should make it perfectly plain to him, he -must go on with his hard duty.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had heard of some of these “Jesus-people” -in the city of Damascus. He would go -to that city and stop them before they had -time to spread. He got documents from the -rulers in Jerusalem giving him power to ride -to Damascus and to seize these people and to -treat them as he had treated those in Jerusalem. -With his band of helpers he started off -on his journey, looking bold and fearless in his -face, but feeling in his soul that it was the -most disagreeable journey he had ever set out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_68'>68</span>upon, and wishing all the time that he could -ride straight on through Damascus and the -Syrian gate in the mountains to Tarsus, and -give up the whole sorry work of dragging -mothers away from their children. As he -rode he thought and wondered.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The road took him through Capernaum and -around the magnificent lake where Jesus had -done much of His work, where He had -preached His divine messages and where He -healed multitudes of people. Saul could -hardly stay at any inn in that country without -hearing some wonderful story of the Galilean -Teacher. He might easily see the father of -the little girl who had been raised from her -bed by this Teacher. He might talk with a -man whose eyes had been opened, or with a -person who had been delivered from leprosy -or insanity, which the people in that day called -being “possessed with devils.” He might -hear men tell how they themselves had heard -this wonderful Galilean talk about God His -<span class='pageno' id='Page_69'>69</span>Father and about the kingdom of life and -love. And he might hear strange stories of -what had happened after the crucifixion—how -fishermen who had lived by that lake all their -lives had seen Jesus in glorified form, after -He had been dead and buried.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Saul would ride on from Galilee with new -thoughts surging in his mind. The simple -faith of those who saw with their own eyes -and heard with their own ears would stir him -with fresh meditation as he rode over the -stretch of country between Gennesareth and -Damascus.</p> - -<p class='c009'>One thing had always made it impossible -for him to believe that Jesus was divine, that -He was sent by God or that He was the long-looked -for Messiah: <i>He had suffered and -died on the cross.</i> Saul felt sure that, if God -had sent Him and He had been divine, He -would not have had to suffer, but He would -have come in glory and power. But as he -rode along in silence and in deep thought, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_70'>70</span>remembered that he had heard these followers -of Jesus say in their meetings that the Old -Testament was full of prophecies which said -that Christ must suffer. He began to think -more carefully about these passages—especially -the one in the fifty-third chapter of -Isaiah: “He was despised and rejected of -men; a man of sorrow and acquainted with -grief.” “Surely he has borne our griefs and -carried our sorrows.” “He was wounded for -our transgressions, he was bruised for our -iniquities.” “As a lamb that is led to the -slaughter and as a sheep that before her -shearers is dumb; yea he opened not his -mouth.” “For the transgression of my people -was he smitten.” “He poured out his soul -unto death and was counted with the transgressors, -yet he bore the sins of many.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>This might mean that God’s great servant -would not be glorious and full of power when -He came but a sufferer. It might be that He -would come and suffer for the sins of others, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_71'>71</span>and that He would do for men what they -could not do for themselves. He might be -the perfect one and He might through His -suffering and death bring them a new power -to live by. If he was only sure that God had -raised Him from the dead and had brought -Him triumphantly through His sufferings and -His crucifixion, then he could believe that -this Galilean was the Saviour and the divine -Deliverer for whom they had been waiting.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Stephen had cried out in his dying moments, -“I see Jesus there, at the right hand of -God.” Saul had heard how others claimed -that they had seen Him alive and glorified. -He would be likely to say to himself as he -rode along: “If <i>I</i> could only see Him as -these others say they have done, I would believe -as they do. I would stop this miserable -work I am doing and I would follow Him -forever and I would make everybody believe -in Him.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then in the stillness there suddenly broke -<span class='pageno' id='Page_72'>72</span>in upon this young man a light which seemed -brighter than the mid-day sun in the sky and -he saw Jesus and heard Him speak and call -him and his whole life was forever changed -by this wonderful thing that happened on the -road to Damascus.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_73'>73</span> - <h2 id='ten' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>X</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>IN ARABIA</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Though dazed and blinded by the light, -which seemed to come from another world -beyond this world, Saul nevertheless felt perfectly -sure that he <i>saw</i> Jesus glorified. -Through all the rest of his life, he always -said that he had <i>seen</i> Christ—he had seen Him -as Stephen saw Him. He had seen Him as -Peter and James and John saw Him and he -never had any doubt any more that He was -alive and victorious over death. He had -heard Him speak, too, in that wonderful meeting -outside the gate of the city. He had -heard Him say: “I am Jesus whom thou -persecutest.” “Why persecutest thou <i>me</i>?”</p> - -<p class='c009'>All the rest of the way into Damascus, he -walked in darkness. His outer eyes were still -<span class='pageno' id='Page_74'>74</span>blind from the light, but in the city his sight -came back again and he could see once more. -He knew that a mighty change had come -within himself, but he did not know at once -all that it meant. He wanted to go far away -from all the old scenes of his life, far away -from everybody he knew, far away from the -noisy, busy world, and think out what had -happened. Even before talking with Peter -and the other disciples of Jesus, he wished to -meditate alone and find his bearing in the new -experience which had so suddenly come to -him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The greatest leaders of Saul’s race had -found out the meaning of life, alone with God, -in the wilderness, or in the mountains, or on -the edge of the desert. Moses had come face -to face with God on Mount Sinai. Elijah -had heard the still small voice speaking to -him, far away from the rush and din of the -world. John the Baptist got his preparation -for his mission in the solitary wilderness -<span class='pageno' id='Page_75'>75</span>undisturbed by people. Jesus had discovered in -the desert how to come forth victorious over -temptation and here he had realised that His -kingdom was not to rest on force and worldly -power. So, too, Saul now felt that he must -go away from the city and live for a time in -the heart of nature and open his soul to God.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He decided to go to Arabia for his period -of quiet and of meditation. Perhaps he went, -as Moses had gone, to Sinai, or to some other -region of this strange, mysterious land of -wilderness, mountains and deserts. He has -not told us a word about his life in Arabia -and none of his friends has given us any reports -of these months of solitude and meditation. -To-day, if any man wished to prepare -for a great career of ministry or missionary -service, he would go to some college or university -or seminary or training school and -learn how to do the work which lay before -him, and he would train his body with games -of skill and athletic courses, so as to be at his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_76'>76</span>very best in mind and heart and body. Saul -had nothing of this sort open to him. He had -finished his years of study but they only prepared -him to be a Jewish Rabbi, a teacher of -the law. Now he wanted to learn how to tell -the world the full message, the good news, -which Jesus had brought to men. There was -no school where this was taught. There were -no Christian colleges or universities or seminaries -yet. There were only a few followers -of Jesus. Most of them lived in Jerusalem, -and they were ignorant people—fishermen, -and tax-collectors—who had had no chance -to study. The best thing Saul could do was, -therefore, to go away alone and read and think -and let God teach him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At first he supposed that the good news -which Jesus had brought was for his own -people alone but as he meditated and studied -and listened he began to see that God’s love -reached everybody and that the great Galilean -had come to bring new life to all people in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_77'>77</span>world. It was many years perhaps before -Saul fully realised all that this meant, but I -think he began to see it in Arabia. Another -thing kept coming before him all the time. -He was eager to find out why Jesus had died -on the cross, why He had suffered, and what -it all meant. That also took years of thought -before he understood it, but here in the quiet of -the mountains he began to <i>see</i>. How we wish -he had written some letters from Arabia and -told what he was doing and thinking! If he -had only written to his mother once a week, or -even once a month, and she had preserved the -letters, how eagerly we would read them now! -But there is not a word about it all. We only -know that in the stillness his spirit was gathering -power and his soul was growing richer.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At last he felt that he was “ready.” This -is one of his great words—“I am now ready.” -The time of quiet was over and the busy life -must begin. He felt sure he could make -everybody believe in his Christ. It was all so -<span class='pageno' id='Page_78'>78</span>plain and wonderful that people would be -bound to listen as he told them what he had -seen and known and felt! He decided to go -back to Damascus and begin there—near the -place where he had first seen Jesus and where -the great change in his life had come.</p> - -<p class='c009'>But it was not as easy as he expected. In -the first place he soon discovered that he -needed to know more about the life of Jesus. -He had not talked with anybody yet who had -been with Him in Galilee and in Jerusalem. -He must learn more about Him before he -could move people with his words. And then -he found that the people did not want to hear -about Jesus. The Jews in Damascus all -thought Saul was a traitor. He had started -for their city to persecute the followers of -Jesus and now he was one of the followers -himself, trying to make them believe. They -decided to seize him and do to him what he -used to do to the followers of Jesus. They -would soon put him where he would not talk -<span class='pageno' id='Page_79'>79</span>any more about this Galilean Teacher. They -watched all the gates of the city so that Saul -could not get away and they had men hunting -for him through the streets. But some of -Saul’s friends put him in a great basket and -in the dark of the night, by a long rope, they -let him down the side of the wall and he got -far away from the dangerous city before the -morning sun came up.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He must have felt a strange thrill as he -passed by the place where he saw the great -light and heard the voice saying: “Saul, why -persecutest thou me?” But he hurried on -over the road through Galilee and came to -Jerusalem, which he had left three years before. -He had started out a persecutor. He -came back a follower of Jesus. He had -crossed the “great divide.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_80'>80</span> - <h2 id='eleven' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XI</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>FIFTEEN WONDERFUL DAYS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>We have invented a little instrument called -a “dictaphone.” If one of these instruments -is hidden away in a room, a person at the other -end of the dictaphone can overhear all the -conversation that goes on in the room where it -is concealed, and the entire conversation can -be written down and kept. How we wish -now that there had been a dictaphone in the -room in which Saul staid with St. Peter for -fifteen days in Jerusalem. Part of the time -James, the brother of Jesus, was there, too, -with them. But the rest of the time they -were alone—talking, talking, talking. St. -Peter was telling Saul the things he wanted -to know about the life of Jesus and about His -death and resurrection. What a wonderful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_81'>81</span>story it would be, if we could only get it all -back, word for word! There was that keen -and eager face of the man still young, with all -his life-work before him, and opposite the -older man whose whole life had been boating -and fishing until one with authority had said -to him, “Follow me.” The older man knew -more about this Galilean life than anybody -else knew, unless it were that other fisherman, -named John, and he could answer all the -questions the young man asked so long as they -were just questions about events, for he had -seen with his eyes and he had heard with his -ears and he had handled with his hands and he -<i>knew</i>.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The pity of it is, not a word of this conversation -has been preserved. We can imagine -what some of the questions were and we -can guess what some of the answers would be, -but the actual words are gone. They are lost -forever. What we do know, however, is -that at the end of these fifteen days of wonderful -<span class='pageno' id='Page_82'>82</span>talk, Saul went away from Jerusalem, his -mind stored with truth about Jesus. He had -heard from Peter’s lips the supreme facts -about the life of the Person who was henceforth -to be Lord and Master of his own life. -Peter and James told all their friends in -Jerusalem what had happened to Saul, how -his career had suddenly changed, how the -man who once dragged harmless Christians -to prison was now getting ready to give his -whole life to the work of telling the good news -about Jesus and they already saw that a -mighty champion of the truth had joined them -and they all thanked God for Saul of Tarsus. -When he left Jerusalem, after his memorable -visit with Peter, Saul probably went home to -Tarsus, and he lived and worked for a time -in the home province of Cilicia. There is a -long period of his life at this time about which -we know nothing at all. He must have been -at work for he could not settle down and rest. -There was a tremendous drive in his glowing -<span class='pageno' id='Page_83'>83</span>spirit, and wherever he was something was -always happening. If he spent some years -in Tarsus, as is probable, it is certain that -many people there heard of Jesus from -him and we can well believe that he went -from town to town through the mountain -province to tell in all the synagogues the truth -which he had learned.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It is possible, however, that he may at this -time have had a long period of serious illness. -He has himself given us one single glimpse -into this unknown period of his life. In the -twelfth chapter of Second Corinthians, he -says that a tremendous experience came to him -fourteen years before—that would be in this -period. He was suddenly “caught up” into -a higher world where he saw what nobody can -see with ordinary eyes and where he understood -the mysteries of life in a new way. It -seemed for a moment as though he had lost his -body and found his soul, as though he had -leaped across all the space of the universe and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_84'>84</span>had come to God’s dwelling-place and everything -lay plain and clear before him. But -about this time, he says further, some terrible -illness came upon him, which was so bad that -it felt like “a thorn,” or “a stake in his body”—a -piercing, racking pain that seemed to bore -into his quivering flesh. It was almost more -than he could endure. He begged and besought -that he might be relieved of it but it -lasted on and on. We do not know certainly -what this painful disease was but perhaps a -little later, as we go on with his life, we may -get some idea of what it was, for it appears to -have come back again when he was in Galatia.</p> - -<p class='c009'>What we do know is that, while he was -living in Tarsus, a man named Barnabas -thought of Saul and came to Tarsus to find -him. Barnabas was another man something -like Stephen. He saw farther than most of -the others did. He was always ready for new -things and he was full of faith and activity. -Like Saul, he could not rest—he wanted to tell -<span class='pageno' id='Page_85'>85</span>everybody what he had discovered. He -heard of a new movement in the great city of -Antioch, the capital of the province of Syria, -and he went off to Antioch to see what this -movement really was. When he got there he -found that some followers of Jesus who had -been forced to leave Jerusalem, because of the -persecutions, had come to Antioch and had -begun a little church there and were preaching -to everybody who would listen. It did -not make any difference to them whether the -people who came to hear were Jews or not. -They were as ready to tell the good news about -Christ to Greeks as to the people of their -own race. It was the first time and the first -place in all the world that anybody had done -this. In Jerusalem, “those of the way” were -all Jews and they had nothing to do with anybody -else. They never dreamed that peoples -of all races were alike and were equally dear -to God and that Christ came to bless and save -all men. They made a sharp distinction -<span class='pageno' id='Page_86'>86</span>between Jews and Gentiles. But in Antioch it -was all different. Those who formed the -church in Antioch forgot about race and -thought only about brotherhood. Greeks -flocked into the same room with Jews and -together they worshipped God like brothers. -And here in Antioch where this new spirit was -born and where this new movement began, the -followers of Christ were for the first time -called “Christians.” In Jerusalem this word -was not used or thought of, because no outside -people came in and there was no need of a new -name. But in Antioch where the Greeks -joined the movement and where everybody -discovered that a new religion was born they -needed a word to name it with and so they -called these persons who talked so much -about Christ, “Christians.” Barnabas was -filled with joy when he found what -was going on in Antioch. It looked like -the beginning of a movement that would sweep -across the world and change the whole -<span class='pageno' id='Page_87'>87</span>empire. He saw at once that he must have the -best man whom he could find to help him push -the work along, and as he sat thinking of the -different persons who could do this great -work, suddenly he remembered the young man -whose persecutions had driven these first -Christians to Antioch and he knew that Saul -was now a changed man and a powerful -champion of the truth. Whereupon he hurried -off through the Syrian gate in the mountains -to fetch Saul to Antioch and Saul went -back with him to begin the greatest work any -man has ever done in the world.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_88'>88</span> - <h2 id='twelve' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE FIRST GREAT MISSIONARY JOURNEY</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Antioch, the great Syrian city, from this -time on became Saul’s new home. He was -henceforth to be very closely connected with -the flourishing capital of Syria. This was -now to be the mother-church of all his activities. -From Antioch he started out on -all his missionary journeys and he came back -to Antioch at the end of each of his far-reaching -travels. Here were faithful Christians -praying for him as he worked and suffered -and here, when he arrived weary and worn -with labour, were dear friends to welcome -him and to refresh him. Antioch was the -first city in the world to have Gentile Christians -in it and it was from this city that Christianity -spread out over the world and -conquered the Roman Empire and became a -world movement, and, as we shall see, the man -from Tarsus was in this great undertaking the -foremost leader and the untiring worker.</p> - -<div id='antioch' class='figcenter id003'> -<span class='pageno' id='Page_89'>89</span> -<img src='images/facing088.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>ANTIOCH</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>For a whole year Barnabas and Saul -worked in the city of Antioch, spreading the -knowledge of Christ through that region, -gathering in new people all the time, teaching -them the truth and helping them to live the -new way. It was joyous work and while they -were doing it they were constantly discovering -fresh light and were learning all the time -how to tell the world their “good news” and -how to build churches out of people who had -before been heathen and idol-worshippers. -At the end of the first year when the Antioch -church had become strong and vigorous—full -of life and power—Barnabas and Saul decided, -with the approval of the entire church, -to go out and tell their message to the great -world around them. They felt sure that God -called them to be missionaries and they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_90'>90</span>resolved to go wherever He wanted them to go -and to do whatever they felt in their hearts -that He wanted them to do. These two men -took with them as their companion and helper -a third man, named John Mark, who had come -from Jerusalem to Antioch and who was -Barnabas’ nephew. It was probably this -young man who later in life wrote the wonderful -book which we call “The Gospel according -to Mark.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>The whole church came together for a very -solemn meeting and prayed for the travellers -and then the three men, full of joy and enthusiasm, -set out on their journey down the -river to Selucia, where they took ship for the -island of Cyprus which lies west of the Syrian -coast. They visited all the cities of the island, -going from the eastern end across to the -western edge, to the city of Paphos where the -governor of the island lived. This governor -was greatly impressed with the message and -the extraordinary power of the missionaries -<span class='pageno' id='Page_91'>91</span>and he, Roman as he was, believed the wonderful -new truths which they told him about -God and about the Christ who had come to -reveal Him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>From Paphos the little band of travellers -struck out for a new field of work. They had -been so successful in Cyprus that they now decided -to attack a still larger and more difficult -region of the earth. They sailed almost -north from Paphos, to the shores of the -Mediterranean, lying west of the Taurus -mountains over which Saul gazed as a boy. -They landed in the district of Pamphilia and -came to the city of Perga, a little way in from -the Sea. From this time on, our hero is never -called Saul any more. His name suddenly -changes here to Paul. It is probably due to -the fact that the field of his work is now -widening out to the Gentile world. He is -leaving behind the narrow circle of his own -people who always called him by his Jewish -name and he is going out among the Greeks -<span class='pageno' id='Page_92'>92</span>who henceforth call him by his Greek name, -that has become so familiar to us.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Three things that concern our story seem -to have happened at Perga. Paul appears -to have been taken ill here with some dangerous -disease. It was probably a return of -the trouble which he had a few years before -and which he called “a stake in his flesh.” -The reason why we think he was taken ill -here is that he wrote afterwards to his friends -in Galatia that he came to them because he -had an illness, and he seems to have gone directly -to Galatia now from Perga. The illness -may quite likely have been malaria, -though there is no way to prove it. The few -references to his trouble have made some -scholars think that it was malaria—a disease -which comes back again and again and is -dreadfully annoying to a person who wants to -do a great work. The low land of Pamphilia -may quite likely have brought on a new attack -and compelled our travellers to move up to a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_93'>93</span>higher and healthier region. Anyway, whether -this theory is correct or not, Paul and Barnabas -decided to push on farther north to the hill -country of Pisidia. This was the second of -the three things. And the third was that -Mark refused to go on with them. Something -about the undertaking disturbed and frightened -him. He turned back and went off -home. Paul did not like Mark’s desertion, -but Barnabas, who was his uncle, did not treat -it as quite so serious.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The two men now started off alone up over -the hills and through the dangerous robber-infested -country to the finely situated city of -Antioch in Pisidia, which my reader must remember -is very different from the other Antioch -in Syria, from which Paul started on his -journey. This second Antioch is in the -Roman province of Galatia and we must now -realise that on this first great missionary journey -of his life Paul came to one of the cities -of Galatia where, so far as we know, he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_94'>94</span>founded the first of his missionary churches.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He began his work in the Jewish Synagogue -in Antioch of Pisidia and he and Barnabas -preached to the Jews of that city and to the -other people who sympathised with them and -who were called “God-fearers” because they -were eager to learn about the God of the Jews. -But after a little time the Jews disagreed with -the message which the missionaries brought -them and so Paul and Barnabas gave up trying -to convince the Jews and set to work to -tell their good news to the Greeks, just as -they had done in Syrian Antioch, and these -people flocked to hear them and believed their -message with great joy, and were ready almost -to pluck out their eyes and give them to Paul. -From this first city of the Galatian province -they went on to other important cities of the -same province—Iconium, Derbe and Lystra. -These four cities, we shall now assume, were -the four centres of the churches of Galatia. -One remarkable incident happened while -<span class='pageno' id='Page_95'>95</span>Paul and Barnabas were working in the city -of Lystra. The simple country people here -made up their minds that Paul and Barnabas -must be gods come down from heaven to visit -them and they brought out their oxen and -were ready to sacrifice them to Barnabas and -Paul, who they thought were Jupiter and -Mercury. It was here in this very region -around Lystra that Baucis and Philemon once -lived. And according to the old Greek -stories, Jupiter and Mercury came down to -earth on a visit. They came looking like -common men and nobody knew that they -were gods and when they came to men’s -houses asking to be taken in and entertained, -nobody would receive them. Finally they -came to the poverty-stricken home of Baucis -and Philemon, who received their visitors with -much joy. They killed their only chicken -for the supper and did the best they could to -show true hospitality. Suddenly the two -visitors stood forth as mighty gods. They -<span class='pageno' id='Page_96'>96</span>blessed and thanked Baucis and Philemon and -turned their humble dwelling into a splendid -temple and glorified the two poor people who -had received them so kindly.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Well, these simple people at Lystra evidently -thought when they listened to Paul and -Barnabas and saw their wonderful deeds that -Jupiter and Mercury had come back again and -they were resolved not to make a second mistake -and miss the blessing. Paul and Barnabas -had no desire to be treated as gods nor to -have sacrifices made to them, but they had -difficult work getting the simple hearted people -to treat them as men and to drive their -oxen home.</p> - -<div id='mapone' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/facing094.jpg' alt='MAP [NORTH EAST CORNER MEDIT.]' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_97'>97</span> - <h2 id='thirteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XIII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE FIRST GREAT PROBLEM</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Paul and Barnabas had another experience -at Lystra which was very different from that -of being taken for gods. Paul’s own people, -the Jews, had begun to see now that he was -not like them. He did not care for the things -which were as important to them as life. His -entire interest lay in telling not about Moses -and his law but about Christ and the new life -which men could live in His power. To the -faithful Jews he seemed like a traitor. They -did not want to hear him preach and they -were determined to make him stop telling -these new things to the people, if they possibly -could.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The Jews got together from the cities which -Paul and Barnabas had visited and they came -<span class='pageno' id='Page_98'>98</span>in a body to Lystra and stirred up the fickle, -changeable peasants and set them against the -missionaries who had come to help them. -They dragged them out of the city and stoned -them until they thought they were dead. -Paul must have thought of Stephen as the -stones rained down upon him and he knew -now how it felt to be stoned by the very people -he wanted most to help. Fortunately the -stones did not kill him. They only wounded -him severely and when the mob had gone -away he got up and came back into the city -and preached again to his friends who had -learned to love him and to believe in him. -The next day he and Barnabas left Lystra and -went to Derbe. Then they returned and revisited -all the churches they had started in -Galatia—in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and -Antioch of Pisidia, after which they went back -to their home-church in great Antioch. It -must have been a happy moment, as the two -travellers sat in the midst of the group at -<span class='pageno' id='Page_99'>99</span>Antioch and told of the wonderful events of -their long and dangerous journey and as they -related how in the far-away province of Galatia -they had built up new and flourishing -churches out of people who just before had -been ignorant heathen. But the happiness -and joy were not long undisturbed, for some -members of the church in Jerusalem came to -Antioch and told the Christians there that -Paul was wrong in his ideas and in his teaching, -that Barnabas was wrong and that the -church there in Antioch was wrong. These -men insisted that nobody except Jews could -be Christians. If any Gentile wanted to be a -Christian and come into the church, they said -that he must first be circumcised and become -a Jew and he must keep the whole law of -Moses. Christ came only for Jews, they said. -If anybody went about teaching that Greeks -and barbarians and men of all races and all -customs could be Christ’s followers, that man -was wrong and was a dangerous teacher. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_100'>100</span>What these people said struck right against -everything Paul was doing. According to -their views most of the people in the church -at Antioch were not real Christians. They -would have to change all their ways of living. -They would need to accept the whole system -of Moses and all the sacrifices set forth in the -Old Testament before they could have any -part in Christ and His “good news.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Paul was determined not to yield to these -men from Jerusalem and he saw that he must -go to Jerusalem himself and prove to the -whole church there that this idea that only -Jews could be Christians was false. He must -make them see that the new idea which he -and the Christians at Antioch held was true -and right; the idea that all men everywhere, -of every race and of every colour and of every -custom could follow Christ and come to God -through Him and live by the power of His -Spirit without becoming Jews at all.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Paul and Barnabas, with one of their new -<span class='pageno' id='Page_101'>101</span>converts, Titus, who was a Greek and who had -never become a Jew, went together to Jerusalem -to have a council with the church there -and to settle forever, if they could, this important -and difficult question. Paul threw himself -into the discussion with all the earnestness -and fire that were in his nature. He brought -in Titus, as a specimen and exhibit of the kind -of Christians the Greeks made when they gave -their lives to Christ. Paul refused to let -Titus be circumcised. He declared that -Titus was already a full Christian without -doing anything to make himself a Jew. As -Paul talked and showed what Christ meant to -him and told of the wonderful things Christ -had done through him the men in Jerusalem -who had been disciples of Christ were convinced -that he was right and they gave him -their hands as a token of their faith in him and -of their regard for him. But the other -members of the church were not yet ready for -the new teaching and the new ideas. They -<span class='pageno' id='Page_102'>102</span>were old-fashioned people who could not -change their habits. They listened to Paul -and were impressed with his shining face and -his glowing words, but when he was done -speaking they thought just as they did before!</p> - -<p class='c009'>Soon after he had returned from the great -conference in Jerusalem, when he thought he -had convinced the church in Jerusalem that -his position was the right one, he heard that -men from Jerusalem had gone to the cities in -Galatia and had told his new converts there—in -Derbe and Lystra and Iconium and in -Pisidia—that the two missionaries, who had -recently visited them and had told them about -Christ, were false teachers and had led them -astray. These Jerusalem men worked upon -the simple-minded Galatian people until they -made them really believe that Paul and Barnabas -were wrong. Their new visitors told the -people in Galatia that they must go on now -and become Jews. They must be circumcised -and keep the law of Moses and they said that -<span class='pageno' id='Page_103'>103</span>if they did that they could have the privilege -of enjoying Christ. But if they did not do -<i>that</i>, then they could have no part in Christ.</p> - -<p class='c009'>It was an unspeakable shock to Paul when -this piece of news reached him about his -Galatian friends. He saw how helpless they -had been. He realised how hard it would be -to answer their visitors and he knew that these -simple peasants were not to blame for being -confused. But he quickly saw that he must -save them. He must not let them go astray. -He must come to their help and he must write -them a letter that would open their eyes and -show them the full truth. I am inclined to -think this letter was the first of all his wonderful -epistles. We must turn and see how the -great leader wrote to his beloved friends and -young disciples in the hill country of Galatia.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_104'>104</span> - <h2 id='fourteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XIV</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>A LETTER TO HIS CHURCHES</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>When Paul sat down to write to the -churches in the province of Galatia he was -facing one of the greatest crises of his life. If -he could not convince them that he was right -in his teaching and that all men everywhere -could follow Christ and become His disciples, -then his missionary work was ended and his -career was over. He had been proud once to -be a Jew. He had gloried in the privilege of -belonging to the chosen people and he had -hoped to become perfectly righteous by keeping -all the law and the commandments. He -had tried this plan with all his energy and it -had miserably failed. He had never made -himself perfect and he had discovered that -nobody ever could reach perfection that way. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_105'>105</span>Just at the moment when he realised his failure -most, he had suddenly found Christ and -through His life and power he had learned -how to live in joy and peace and triumph. It -was the most wonderful discovery! The -whole world seemed new and all nature -seemed changed! The whole business of his -life was to go out and tell people everywhere -about his discovery and what it meant.</p> - -<p class='c009'>And now these men from Jerusalem had -gone out to his new churches and made them -think that all his work was wrong, that all that -he told them was false. They must become -Jews. They must try with all their might -to keep the law. They must do what Paul -had endeavoured to do before he found -Christ. They must strain and struggle on, -all their lives, to make themselves good, and -then, if they succeeded, they could enjoy -Christ. It seemed to Paul a pitiful drop from -his great and wonderful message. <i>He</i> could -never go out and tell people that. If his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_106'>106</span>discovery and his message were not true, then he -could never go out again on a missionary -journey. There was nothing left for him but -to go back to Tarsus and make tents and then -to die and be buried like the rest of men. -Now if ever he must make his new converts -see and understand his discovery and he must -absolutely convince them that he was right -and that God was with him. That is what -the Epistle to the Galatians was written for.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Intense and eager and determined as he was, -he was also tender and loving. This letter is -all full of passages in which you can almost -feel this great man’s heart throb. “You are,” -he tells them, “just like my own children. I -came to you when you were living in sin and -ignorance and, like a father full of love, I -helped you into a new life. I brought you to -Christ and I showed you how to get free from -your old bondage and how to rise into a life -of joy and power. I cannot bear to see you -drop back into bondage again. If you believe -<span class='pageno' id='Page_107'>107</span>what these visitors have told you, you will -never be free again, you will have to carry -burdens all your days.” “When I came first -among you,” he wrote, “you were full of joy. -You loved me and believed me, as though I -had been an angel or a god come to visit you. -You would have plucked out your eyes and -given them to me, if you could have done it. -I want now to be your friend and I want you -to believe that what I tell you is the truth.” -Then he showed them how foolish was the -story which the Jews from Jerusalem had told -them. They had said that only those who -were “sons of Abraham” could share in the -promises of Christ. “Sons of Abraham,” -Paul cried out to them, “who are the real sons -of Abraham!” “Not those who become Jews -and keep the law but those who are full of -faith, who trust Christ and live by His power. -The most wonderful thing about Abraham -was his <i>faith</i>. He believed God. He trusted -God. He walked with God. He did not -<span class='pageno' id='Page_108'>108</span>keep the law, because the law was not given -until many centuries after Abraham had died. -If you want to be ‘a son of Abraham’ you -must live by faith. You must trust God and -take Christ for your leader, your helper, your -inward strength.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>He drew, in his letter, a wonderful picture -of the true way to live. He gave his friends -an account of his own life and told them they -could also have what had come to him. -“Why,” he said, “God has revealed His Son -in my soul. I used to do wrong and go wrong. -I could not keep myself. I tried to live by -the law but it would not work. Now I live -by faith—faith in Christ, and the life I now -live is really the life He lives in me. I do -not care any more for the things people do -to make themselves good. I feel Christ coming -into me and giving me strength and power, -just as the sun comes into the tree and builds -its life from within. You can all have that -power formed in you. You can all feel the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_109'>109</span>life of Christ sweep into your lives and that -will make you free. And you will cry ‘Abba, -Father,’ for you will find the life and spirit -of God in your own hearts. When that happens -you will not think much about those -things which these Jews from Jerusalem have -been telling you you must do to be saved!</p> - -<p class='c009'>“There are two great forces in the world,” -he told them. “One is the force that makes -people do wrong. There seems to be something -in us too strong for us to resist. We -mean to do right, but often before we know it, -something seems to push us into evil. We go -the way of instinct. We fight, or we tell lies, -or we take what is not ours, or we get angry, -or we do things which are not pure and clean -and beautiful. How are we to stop this force -from pushing us and controlling us and spoiling -us?” “You must get a new spirit,” Paul -says. “The law and the commandments and -the customs of Moses will not bring you life -and power. You must find a new and higher -<span class='pageno' id='Page_110'>110</span>force which will come into you and raise you -out of your old self into a new way of life. -Just that is what Christ does. When He helps -you and comes into you, a new spirit is formed -and you get love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, -goodness, faithfulness, meekness, and endurance -in your own souls. It is like discovering -a new world. It is like a new creation. -That is what Christ does. He makes people -new creatures. These people who came to -you from Jerusalem cannot tell you how to -do that—but I can tell you. I bear in my -body the marks of this new creation which -Christ has formed in me.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Something like that Paul wrote to his -friends in Galatia and the best of it is, they -believed him and stood by him. When they -had read his letter, they said: Paul is right. -It is so. We will take his way. We will -have Christ and not the law-system—and so -Paul had won his first great battle.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_111'>111</span> - <h2 id='fifteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XV</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>“COME OVER INTO MACEDONIA AND HELP US”</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The old heroes of Greece were heroes because -they went out to fight with beasts and to -free the world of terrible monsters. Then, -again, there were heroes who fought with -giants, or with deadly enemies of their country, -and who risked their lives for their friends -or for their people. Paul was a new kind -of hero. His great battle was a battle with -false ideas, a battle for the truth, a battle for -the good news which Christ had brought to -the world. It is harder to be this kind of a -hero. Most people do not recognise the new -kind of hero when he comes. They do not -know that he <i>is</i> a hero. He often has to fight -alone and he is misunderstood even by his -<span class='pageno' id='Page_112'>112</span>friends. Paul had many lonely hours. He -could not have stood the strain and struggle -if he had not been sure of Christ’s presence -and help and if he had not known that he was -the champion of the greatest truth in the -world.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Now that he had won the victory in this -important contest in Galatia, and now that he -had settled the question that Christ was the -Saviour of all men of all races, he could go out -again on another great out-reaching missionary -journey. Paul wanted to go again with -Barnabas, but Barnabas was determined to -take Mark once more as companion and Paul -was just as determined not to have Mark, because -he deserted them on their former journey, -so that they finally agreed to separate. -Barnabas went to Cyprus with Mark, and -Paul took a companion named Silas, and -started out without quite knowing what country -he would travel to before his return. He -and Silas went, probably by land, through the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_113'>113</span>Syrian gate in the mountains, to Tarsus and -visited the Christian settlements in the province -of Cilicia, then directly on to see his -friends in Galatia who had been through so -much since he saw them last. How we wish -we knew what he said to them and what they -said to him! But we do not know a single -word that passed while Paul was living among -the disciples of Galatia. We only know that -he decided to take one of these Galatian Christians -along with him as a helper in his work. -This was a young man named Timothy whose -home was in Derbe. He became one of -Paul’s greatest friends and a wonderful help -to him, clear through to the end of his life. -Being with Paul made Timothy a hero too.</p> - -<p class='c009'>After the three men had visited all the -communities of Galatia, they started off toward -the north and visited the cities in the -district of Phrygia which belonged to the -province of Galatia, and then they decided to -strike across west and visit the great cities of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_114'>114</span>the province of Asia, the capital of which was -Ephesus, but they soon felt that the time had -not come yet for this journey. They next -tried to go to the country lying along the -shores of the Black Sea, but something made -them realise that this was not the right course -for them to take, so that they went on to -Troas on the shores of the Ægean Sea, without -quite knowing where they would go next. -Troas was the site of the old city of Troy -where the Greeks and Trojans fought for -ten years, and where some of the bravest deeds -were done that the world ever saw. Here -was the tomb of Achilles. Here Alexander -the Great had come on his way to the conquest -of the world. A greater conqueror had now -come to Troas. Alexander went toward the -east for his victories; the new conqueror was -to go west!</p> - -<p class='c009'>While they were here in Troas without any -clear plan of action, Paul felt in his soul that -the next course was to sail across the Ægean -<span class='pageno' id='Page_115'>115</span>Sea into Europe. He felt it so clearly and -strongly that it seemed to him as though he -heard a man from the European side of the -sea calling to him and saying: “Come across -into Macedonia and bring us help.” But it -was more than Macedonia that was calling. -It was the whole of Greece. It was more -than Greece that was calling. It was the -whole of Europe. It was more than Europe -that was calling. It was undiscovered -America that was stretching out its hands that -night and saying: “Come over and help us.” -You see, if Paul had not gone into Europe, -across the Ægean, perhaps we who live in -America and in England would never have -been followers of Christ, so that this call meant -very much! Paul heard it and he was -“ready” at once. He answered: “Yes, I -will come.” The next morning he set sail -from Troas on the eastern shore to Philippi on -the western shore of the Ægean. Silas and -Timothy were with him and he also found -<span class='pageno' id='Page_116'>116</span>here a new companion. This new travelling-companion -kept a Diary and wrote the account -of this journey and of other journeys, -too. You can find his Diary in the sections -of the Book of Acts that say “we”—“the We -Narratives.” Philippi in Macedonia is the -first spot in Europe on which Paul set his foot -and so far as we know the people in Philippi -were the first people of all Europe who heard -of Christ. They were not as eager to hear as -you might expect. If they were calling to -Paul to come over and help them, they did not -recognise him when he arrived, for they very -soon seized him and put him in prison and -beat him with rods. Some of the people -in Philippi, however, did recognise him. -They were very glad to hear him and they -were full of love for him and for his truth. -They joined him and worked with him and a -new church was formed—perhaps the first in -all Europe. These Christians in Philippi -were very dear to Paul’s heart and they loved -<span class='pageno' id='Page_117'>117</span>him as though he had been their own father, -and they remembered him later when he lay -in prison in Rome and was lonely. When he -left Philippi, he went on through the great -cities of Macedonia, preaching and building -up churches, wherever he could find people -ready to listen to his message. In the city of -Thessalonica, which is now called Salonika, -Paul found many listeners and formed a successful -church to which a little later he wrote -two epistles. He found another splendid -group in the city of Berœa and formed a -church there. But in all these cities of Macedonia -he had serious trouble, just as he had -had in the province of Galatia. The Jews -hated him and everywhere he came they -raised a riot and tried to drive him out of the -city or to get him into prison. They set the -mob against him in some of the cities and in -others they had him arrested and badly -treated. But in spite of all their efforts to -hinder him, he succeeded in doing a great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_118'>118</span>work and in forming Christian churches all -up and down the famous province of Macedonia.</p> - -<p class='c009'>From the time Paul heard the voice calling -him over into Macedonia, most of the rest of -his life was to be lived and most of his future -work in the world was to be done around the -shores of the Ægean Sea. All the churches -which he gathered after this time were around -the Ægean and all his epistles from this time -were written either to Ægean cities, or written -while he was living in Ægean cities. It was -Paul who shifted the centre of Christianity -from Jerusalem to the Western World and -during his life-time the great centres were -around the shores of this famous Sea. The -most famous of all the cities around the coasts -of this Sea was Athens, the home of Socrates -and Plato and of a hundred other great men, -and to this wonderful city of the ancient world -Paul now came.</p> - -<div id='maptwo' class='figcenter id005'> -<img src='images/facing112.jpg' alt='MAP [2ND MISSIONARY JOURNEY]' class='ig001' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_119'>119</span> - <h2 id='sixteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XVI</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>ALONE IN ATHENS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>As Paul’s two companions, Silas and Timothy, -had been left behind in Berœa to finish -the work which had been begun in Macedonia -Paul found himself “alone in Athens.” It -was the most interesting city in the world for -a traveller to visit. It was the “eye of -Greece” and Greece had for five hundred -years been leading the world in art, in poetry, -in philosophy, in architecture and in many -other things. The most beautiful temples -that had ever been built were there for Paul -to see. The most wonderful statues that had -ever been carved were there for him to gaze -upon. The most perfect poems that had ever -been written were in the libraries there in -Athens for him to read. A short walk would -<span class='pageno' id='Page_120'>120</span>take him to the garden of the Academe where -Plato once had his school. He could stand -where Socrates stood. He could see the home -of Stoic philosophy which he had heard about -all his life. He was under the most perfect -sky the sun shines through. He looked over -the glorious hills where great deeds had been -wrought. Delightful air wrapped him round -and inspiring sights met him at every turn.</p> - -<p class='c009'>But Paul thought little of these things. -His mind was filled with something else which -seemed to him more important. He wanted -to make this famous city see what he saw. He -wanted to build a church of Christ in the city -that had built the Parthenon. He wanted to -tell his message of truth to the people who -gloried in the wisdom of Plato and Aristotle. -As he was walking about alone in the city, he -noticed an altar with the inscription on it: -“To God Unknown.” At once, he thought, -“How I should like to make these people know -the God whom I know, but whom they have -<span class='pageno' id='Page_121'>121</span>not found yet. They want to find Him, or -they would not build altars like that. All -their philosophers have wanted to find Him, -and sometimes they almost did find Him. -Oh, if I could only make them see!” While -Paul was walking around the city, wishing -for a chance to tell his message, the Athenian -people in the streets and market-places were -watching him. They saw at once that he was -a stranger and of a different race. They noticed -him gazing around. Some of them -asked him questions and sounded him to see -whether he brought any new ideas. But they -did not expect much from a mere Jew. They -thought from the little they listened to that -he believed in two gods—or a god and a goddess—whom -they had never heard of before, -for he spoke of Jesus and of the resurrection. -They thought Jesus was a new god and that -the Resurrection was a new goddess. But -most of the people thought that he was a -“babbler”—a man who was talking about -<span class='pageno' id='Page_122'>122</span>trifles. They never dreamed that this foreign -visitor, this Jew, could teach them, wise -Athenians as they were, anything that mattered -to them. But some of the inquisitive -and curious ones got Paul to come up to their -great meeting-place on the Hill of Mars, -which they called the Areopagus, and speak -to them. That was exactly what Paul -wanted. Now he had a chance to tell them -his great truth. Would they listen? Would -they understand?</p> - -<p class='c009'>With a polite wave of the hand, he began -to speak in the Greek which he had learned -as a boy at Tarsus. “Athenian men,” he said, -“you are very religious people. I see altars -everywhere and you have filled your city with -objects of worship. One strange thing I noticed -as I walked about. I saw an altar on -which was this inscription, ‘To God Unknown.’ -That means that you have not quite -found God yet. Let me tell you about Him, -for I know. He made the world. He made -<span class='pageno' id='Page_123'>123</span>all things above and all things beneath. But -He does not dwell in temples. He does not -need the things which men make with their -hands, idols and images and statues. He has -given life and breath to all living beings. He -has planned the universe and put His wisdom -into all the parts of it. He has arranged -everything for men. He expects them to become -one great family. He has put something -into men’s hearts which makes them seek -after Him and which makes them try to feel -their way, as blind persons do, to find Him if -they can. But He is never far away from -anybody. He is near, within reach. We -live in God. We move in Him. All our life -is flooded with Him, and without Him we -could not live at all. Your poets knew that. -They have tried to tell you about it. One of -them in his poem says that we are ‘offspring of -God’—we have come from Him. If that is -true, as your poet says it is, you ought not to -think that God is like silver or gold or marble, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_124'>124</span>or that He can be carved and made into a -statue. All that is childlike and is the result -of ignorance. When men were in the child -stage and did not know any better, God excused -them and waited for them to learn. -But now that you are older and wiser, there is -no excuse. God expects everybody now to -live differently, to change their lives, and to -prepare for the great beyond. He has sent -His Son to show them how to do it, and He -has raised Him from the dead.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>They did not listen very well and when they -found that the Resurrection was not a new -goddess they were not interested any longer. -They drifted away to look for something that -was more exciting and they politely told Paul -that they would hear him again some other -time. One man who was a senator and one -woman, who had listened eagerly, were convinced -that this was the truth about God and -they believed and accepted Paul’s way of life. -But Athens was not ready yet for the great -<span class='pageno' id='Page_125'>125</span>message and so the chance went by! In a few -days Paul sailed away, out of that wonderful -harbour, looking back on the beautiful city -that had missed its opportunity, and landed in -the great seaport city of Corinth, at that time -the capital of the province of Achaia.</p> - -<div id='athens' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/facing122.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>MARS HILL—ATHENS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_126'>126</span> - <h2 id='seventeen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XVII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>CORINTH AND EPHESUS</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>In Corinth Paul made two new friends -who became very dear to him and who were -able to be great helpers in his work. Their -names were Aquila—a Jew from Pontus who -had lived sometime in Italy—and his wife -Priscilla who was a very remarkable woman. -They became followers of Christ and joined -with Paul in the work of spreading Christianity -in the great Greek city of Corinth. -Aquila and Priscilla were also tent-makers -and part of the time they all worked at this -trade to get money to live by. Then they gave -all the rest of their time to the main business -for which Paul had come to Corinth. It was -a very happy group of workers for they all -loved and enjoyed each other and they all -<span class='pageno' id='Page_127'>127</span>loved and enjoyed their work. As Corinth -was a great city close to the sea, people from -all countries in the world came there. There -were men of many colours and men of many -languages. They had not learned how to live -good and beautiful lives. Very wrong things -were done in Corinth. We sometimes think -that the world is wicked to-day but if we could -see the way the Corinthians lived and then see -how men live to-day we should discover that -there has been some improvement.</p> - -<p class='c009'>For a year and a half, this little group of -missionaries laboured in the city, telling about -Christ and His love and His death for men -and His resurrection and of His Spirit working -in the hearts of men. All kinds of people -were changed by the power of this message. -Jews and Greeks and persons from -many lands listened and rejoiced and believed -and followed Christ. Paul’s old enemies, the -Jews, who had heard about his past life, made -all the trouble they could for him, but he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_128'>128</span>been through trouble before and he knew how -to bear it now. He went straight ahead with -his work and was not disturbed by the difficulties. -His soul was filled with joy as he -saw his little church growing larger every -day. New persons kept coming and there -were more all the time who were trying to -live the new way. All kinds of people came -in to form the new church in Corinth. A -few of them were learned and well off, but -most of them were poor and ignorant. They -were working people who had never had any -real <i>life</i> before, and now the whole world -seemed changed for them. It was as though -they had been living in a dark cave before and -now they had come into the beautiful world -where the bright sun was shining.</p> - -<div id='ephesus' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/facing129.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>EPHESUS</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>After eighteen months of this hard and -happy work, Paul, with his two companions, -and with his two new friends, sailed away -from Corinth, leaving behind a great group -of Christian men and women and children -<span class='pageno' id='Page_129'>129</span>gathered into a church. We can well believe -that all these people, who had found the new -life, were on the shore of the harbour at -Cenchrea to say “farewell” and to wave their -last greetings as the missionaries pushed out -to sea. They sailed in and out among the -famous islands of the Ægean and across its -blue waters to the eastern shore and came to -Ephesus. Paul had wanted to go to Ephesus -at the beginning of this long missionary journey, -but he had not been able to accomplish -his desire then. Now after wonderful experiences, -dangers and trials and after many -months of work in Europe he found himself at -last in the great city of Ephesus. He knew -that this was to be one of the most important -fields of his entire lifework, but he still felt -that the time for his work in Ephesus had not -come yet. So he left Aquila and Priscilla -there and went on by ship to Cæsarea and then -to his beloved home church group at Antioch.</p> - -<p class='c009'>There were many things to tell as the Christian -<span class='pageno' id='Page_130'>130</span>Jews and Greeks of Antioch flocked in to -hear Paul recount the wonderful events of the -greatest journey of his life. How the field -had widened and how Christianity had spread -in these eventful years since he last saw Antioch! -After a short stay at Antioch, Paul -went once more, and this was to be the last -time, to see his dear friends in Galatia. -When this visit was finished, he came over the -great stretch of country which formed the ancient -province of Asia to its capital, Ephesus. -He had made a little beginning of work here -before his return to Antioch and now he came -back to finish what he had begun.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Ephesus was much larger than Corinth and -it was also, like Corinth, a very wicked city. -There was much to do here and much to suffer -before Ephesus could be changed into a -city of pure and beautiful citizens. But nothing -ever discouraged Paul. He went at his -great task as though he fully expected to see -it done. It was like fighting beasts in the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_131'>131</span>arena to work among the hard and wicked -people who tried every way they could to defeat -Paul and spoil his work. Steadily he -fought on—gaining a little all the time—explaining -to everybody who came to hear and -proving that he had found a new way to live.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Right in the midst of this great work of -transforming and remaking Ephesus, Paul -heard very bad news from Corinth, across the -Ægean. He heard that the church there was -in sad trouble. The people had divided into -parties and were quarrelling. Some of the -people had gone wrong and were doing the -kind of things they used to do when they were -heathen. Paul wrote a wonderful letter to -them—our First Corinthians. It was full of -good advice and counsel and it showed them -how to get back into the new way of living. -The most wonderful thing in the letter was -what Paul said to them about love. He told -them, in the most beautiful words that perhaps -were ever written that love was the -<span class='pageno' id='Page_132'>132</span>greatest thing in the world, that when everything -else failed love would not fail and when -everything else vanished away love would still -abide.</p> - -<p class='c009'>You would have thought this letter would -have settled all their troubles but it did not. -When people get wrong it is very hard setting -them right again and it often takes a long time -and much patience. Things went from bad -to worse. Finally Paul had to leave his work -in Ephesus and go across to Corinth, to see the -people there in person and to straighten out -their trouble. But even when he got among -them, they remained stubborn and difficult, -and he had to go back without getting the -trouble settled. Then he sent Timothy over -and he failed. It looked as though the -church would fall to pieces and Paul would -lose all his friends in Corinth. Then he -wrote another letter, full of pleading, which -he sent by his friend Titus, who was now his -companion.</p> - -<p class='c009'><span class='pageno' id='Page_133'>133</span>While he was waiting, full of anxiety, for -Titus to come back with the answer from -Corinth, some dreadful catastrophe happened -in Ephesus. There was a great uprising in -the city against Paul. It seemed for a time as -though there was no hope that his life could -be saved. He has told us that the sentence -of death was pronounced against him—probably -the sentence that he should be thrown -into the arena to fight with lions. For a time -there seemed no hope. But his friends -Aquila and Priscilla, whom Paul sometimes -calls “Prisca,” saved his life. He says that -they “risked their necks” for him and that he -was “delivered from death.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>This catastrophe may very likely be connected -in some way with the strange event so -powerfully described in the nineteenth chapter -of Acts. It happened this way. There -was a man in Ephesus named Demetrius. He -was a silversmith and made little silver images -of the goddess Diana which he sold in -<span class='pageno' id='Page_134'>134</span>great numbers to the people. These images -were little copies of the great statue of Diana -which the Ephesians believed had fallen down -from heaven, and so it was looked upon with -awe and was very sacred. One of the most -beautiful temples in the world—one of the -seven “wonders”—had been built to Diana in -Ephesus and in this temple stood the famous -statue. Now Demetrius made a great deal -of money selling his silver images to those -who visited the temple. But suddenly he -discovered that people were not buying as -many of his silver Dianas as they used to do. -He began to wonder what was happening and -he hit upon the idea that all the trouble was -caused by the preaching of Paul! Paul was -calling people to Christ and when they believed -in Christ, they no longer worshipped -Diana. They stopped going to her temple -and they did not care to have copies of the -great statue. Demetrius was losing money. -His business was in danger. Something must -<span class='pageno' id='Page_135'>135</span>be done. He called together all the silversmiths -and stirred them up to do something -at once to drive Paul out of the city. “Just -see,” he cried, “how our trade is going down! -We are losing all our business! We are making -no money! This stranger has come to -our city and he has told people that gods are -not made of silver and gold; that gods made -by hands are no gods at all! He has carried -people away with his new ideas. They won’t -buy our images now. Not only is our business -in danger, but our whole city will suffer -as well. People will stop coming to see the -great temple which all the world admired. -We must act. We must save the city and -defend the great goddess!” Then all the -silversmiths and goldsmiths and coppersmiths -and workers in iron and brass began to make -processions through the city, shouting as they -marched, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” -“Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” The -whole city was aroused. People rushed out -<span class='pageno' id='Page_136'>136</span>of their houses to see what was happening -and a great commotion and excitement followed. -The throng pressed into the immense -city theatre and everybody kept shouting, -some one thing and some another, as generally -happens in a vast mob of excited people. -Paul tried to get into the theatre. He was, -as usual, ready to face the danger and stand -his ground. But his friends kept him back -and would not let him risk his life in such a -wild and seething and furious crowd. When -any one tried to speak the mob drowned the -voice of the speaker with their shouts. A -man named Alexander—perhaps he was -“Alexander, the coppersmith,” who, Paul -says, did him “much evil,” a little later—tried -to speak, when suddenly the vast throng of -excited people began crying again, “Great is -Diana of the Ephesians.” “Great is Diana -of the Ephesians.” For two hours nobody -could stop this cry which went on and on, -with the continual shout, “Great is Diana of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_137'>137</span>the Ephesians.” At last the town-clerk of the -city got the people quiet and made a sensible -speech to them, telling them if they had any -charge against Paul the right thing to do was -to take the matter to the courts and not to get -up a riot and endanger the liberty and reputation -of the city. Then he sent the people -away to their homes.</p> - -<p class='c009'>How this uproar affected Paul we do not -know. What danger threatened him now because -of the hate of Demetrius and the silversmiths -we cannot tell. Nobody knows exactly -what happened, but in some way Paul -escaped from the city, never to go back again. -He got to Troas in safety and then crossed -over the Ægean at the same place where he -crossed the first time he entered Europe, and -reached Macedonia where he was among his -friends.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Here in Macedonia where Paul was waiting, -worn and perplexed and weary—but not -cast down—Titus came to him from Corinth -<span class='pageno' id='Page_138'>138</span>and told him the good news that his letter to -Corinth had done its work, had saved the day, -and that now his church there was ready to -be faithful to him. Nothing in his life ever -touched his soul with more joy than did that -report which Titus brought. If you wish to -see how he felt, you must read the first nine -chapters of Second Corinthians, for he wrote -those chapters just after Titus came to him. -It makes you love Paul to find how eagerly -he loved his friends and his churches, and to -see how much he suffered when they did -wrong or turned against him. Soon after -this he went to Corinth and spent three months -there with his old and new friends of that city.</p> - -<div id='diana' class='figcenter id003'> -<img src='images/facing137.jpg' alt='' class='ig001' /> -<div class='ic003'> -<p>TEMPLE OF DIANA</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_139'>139</span> - <h2 id='eighteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XVIII</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>“READY TO BE BOUND”</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>There were many things to do in Corinth, -on this last visit of Paul’s life to the city where -he had worked so long and suffered so much. -He had many things to tell them. There -were many changes to make in the management -of the church. There were many families -to visit and all the time there were new -people being added to the church. Then -Paul was raising a great fund of money which -he hoped to carry up to Jerusalem on his return, -for the support of the church in that -city. Finally he had letters to write to his -other churches, advice to give them, difficulties -to settle and problems to solve. Perhaps -the most important thing he did during this -stay in Corinth—certainly the most important -<span class='pageno' id='Page_140'>140</span>for us—was to write a letter, which we -now call an Epistle, to the Christians in -the city of Rome. It is the longest of all -Paul’s Epistles and the one in which he sets -forth most carefully and fully his entire message -about Christ. He had not been to Rome -yet and he had not met the Christians there, -but he was planning to go to Rome, after he -had been to Jerusalem, on his way to Spain -and he wanted to prepare the Christians in -the great capital of the empire for the teaching -which he expected to give them when he -arrived. He little thought as he was writing -this wonderful letter that when he did come -to Rome he would come chained to two soldiers -and that this would be the end of his -journey! He told the people at Rome, in this -letter, how hard he had tried as a young man -to make himself perfect, how he had resolved -to keep the law and be absolutely righteous, -and how miserably he had failed. “When I -meant to do right,” he wrote, “I did wrong. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_141'>141</span>The things I wanted to do I did not do. The -things I did, were just those things which I -ought not to have done. And when I was -defeated and beaten and hopeless then suddenly -I discovered the love of God which -Christ revealed to me. I found a power to -live by, which delivered me from the old -power of sin in my nature. Now through -that love and that power I am more than -conqueror. I know now that nothing can -ever separate me from the love of God. -Neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, -nor powers, nor things present, nor -things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor anything -that has ever been made in the universe, -can separate me from the love of God in -Christ Jesus.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>He told these unseen friends of his in the -far-away city how to live the new way day by -day in the difficult world. He told them not -to overcome evil by doing evil in return but to -overcome it by being good and by doing good. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_142'>142</span>He told them not to worry, or fret, or be disturbed, -when things were hard and difficult, -but to keep calm and steady and full of faith -in the love of God, and when they had done -the best they could, to leave it all with God. -They were, as far as possible, to live in peace -and love with all kinds of people and no matter -what others did to them, they were to go -right on loving them and doing good to them.</p> - -<p class='c009'>When he had sent off his great epistle, and -had done all that he could to strengthen the -church in Corinth and had received a large -collection for Jerusalem and had gathered his -friends around him, Paul said farewell to -Corinth and started on his return journey, accompanied -by a number of companions. He -went back through Macedonia—Berœa, -Thessalonica, Philippi—and then across the -Ægean to Troas where he had first heard the -call to go to Europe. There must have been a -church there on “the plains of windy Troy,” -for Paul remained seven days and held meetings -<span class='pageno' id='Page_143'>143</span>far into the night, but we do not know -very much about this church by the Simois -River—only that one of the young men there -went to sleep while the meeting was going on -and fell out of a window in the third story to -the ground! Here at Troas Paul found again -his old friend, the writer of the Diary—“the -We Narrative”—who joined the party for the -journey to Jerusalem. They went part of the -way by land and part of the way by sea, stopping -at Assos and Mitylene, touching at the -famous island of Samos, and disembarking at -Miletus. Here at Miletus, the leaders of the -church at Ephesus came down to see the man -whom they had learned to love, to hear his -message and to say farewell to him. It was -probably not safe for Paul to go to Ephesus -with its beasts. There were too many dangers -there for him. After all his years of work and -his perils in that city it was a joy to see the -men and women with whom he had lived and -laboured and to have one more chance to -<span class='pageno' id='Page_144'>144</span>speak to them about the highest things in life. -It was a very solemn time as they gathered on -the seashore and Paul told them of the -troubles and dangers that lay before them -and before him. He then told them that they -would never see each other again. They -loved him as though he had been a father to -each one and they all wept as he left them to -go into the ship to sail for Syria. As they -went on their way Paul realised, from what -he heard at every port where the ship stopped, -that it would be very dangerous for him in -Jerusalem. He had not been in the Holy City -since the great conference there with Peter -and James and John. Since that time tremendous -things had happened across the world. -Paul had succeeded, but the more he succeeded -the more the Jews hated him. They -had made trouble for him in every city. -They had come to regard him as a traitor and -as the enemy of their race and they were -eager to get rid of him forever. He knew -<span class='pageno' id='Page_145'>145</span>how they felt. He saw the danger ahead. -He understood that if he went to Jerusalem it -would be like going into the lion’s mouth. -But he was determined to go, danger or no -danger, for Paul was a hero. He had a great -gift to carry up to the poor and needy Christians -in Jerusalem and he must have thought -that he could win them over and make them -see his truth at last. He believed that this -was the greatest opportunity of his life. Perhaps -now, after all the wonderful work -around the Ægean Sea he might be able to -make his own people see the truth that had -meant so much to the Greeks and to the Galatians. -Perhaps now he could join both -branches together—those who were Jewish -Christians and those who were Gentile-Christians—and -have one great world church with -no division in it. It was worth trying anyhow. -It was worth any kind of risk. The -great gift would soften their hearts and he -would plead with them, and then it would be -<span class='pageno' id='Page_146'>146</span>done! When prophets on the way told Paul -how dangerous the risk was, he said to them: -“Do not talk to me of danger. Do not try to -change my course. I am <i>ready</i>, not only to -be bound in Jerusalem, but if necessary to -die there for this cause”—and on he went, like -the hero he was.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He very soon found that he was in the midst -of enemies. James told him that there were -many thousands of Christian-Jews who had -heard serious charges against him, how he no -longer kept the law of Moses and how he -taught his converts that they did not need to -become Jews, or to do the things which all -good Jews considered necessary and he showed -Paul how stern they were sure to be toward -him.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He had hardly begun to live in Jerusalem -when some Jews discovered him in the city. -They gave a cry and raised a mob and rushed -at him and seized him. They were so furious -that they nearly killed him on the spot, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_147'>147</span>a Roman captain with a troop of soldiers came -up just in time to rescue him and to carry him -away to the military castle where the mob -could not get at him. But he could hear them -cry and shout: “Away with him! away with -him!”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_148'>148</span> - <h2 id='nineteen' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XIX</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>IN THE PRISON AT CÆSAREA</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>Standing on the steps of the castle, with -the angry, surging people in front of him Paul -beckoned for silence and then spoke to the -most difficult audience he ever addressed. He -calmly told them the story of his life. He -gave them an account of that great moment -on the road to Damascus when Jesus met him -and called him to a new life and a new mission. -He explained to them how he tried to -tell the good news to his own people and how -God sent him to the great world of Gentiles. -Then, all of a sudden, the people cried out in -a fury: “Away with such a fellow from the -earth.” They threw off their garments and -would have ended his life in a moment if they -could have reached him. It was another -<span class='pageno' id='Page_149'>149</span>scene like the one which occurred when Jesus -was on his way to Calvary, and when Stephen -was being hurried out of the gates of Jerusalem -and Paul himself held the garments of -the men who threw the stones.</p> - -<p class='c009'>This time the crowd was powerless for they -could not get their victim. The soldiers -guarded him and took him into the castle -where he was to be scourged, that is beaten -with rods. The soldiers tied Paul up to the -wall with thongs and were ready to begin the -terrible scourging when he quietly asked the -centurion if it was lawful to scourge a Roman -citizen who had not been found guilty of any -crime. The centurion went out and told the -chief captain that Paul was a Roman, and he -immediately stopped the scourging. The -next day Paul had an opportunity to address -the great council of the Jews in the presence -of Ananias, the high-priest, but the council -divided in their opinion of Paul, some approving -of him and some disapproving, until they -<span class='pageno' id='Page_150'>150</span>nearly tore him in pieces in their excitement. -Once more the soldiers saved him by rushing -in and carrying him away to the castle. -Meantime, a band of men got together and -formed a secret plot to kill Paul and have -done with him. This time it was not the -Roman soldiers who saved him. It was his -nephew. Paul, we remember, had a sister in -Jerusalem. And in some way her son discovered -this plot. He got into the castle and -told his uncle, who brought him to a centurion -and the centurion took the young man -to the chief captain where he told all he knew -of the plot. The brave boy saved his uncle’s -life, for the chief captain, when he heard the -boy’s story, ordered two hundred soldiers and -seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen -to take Paul by night to Cæsarea, where the -Roman governor had his home and headquarters -and where Paul would be safe until -his trial was over. He was taken at first to -Herod’s palace, though we may be pretty sure -<span class='pageno' id='Page_151'>151</span>that the part in which Paul lived was more -like a prison than a palace, but this wonderful -man had something in his soul which changed -even prisons into palaces.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Soon after his arrival, Ananias, the high-priest, -with a lawyer named Tertullus, came -down to Cæsarea to lay before Felix, the -Roman governor, the charges against Paul. -Tertullus made a speech charging Paul with -being “a pestilent fellow,” “a mover of insurrections” -up and down the empire wherever -he travelled. He said Paul was “a ringleader -of the Nazarenes” and that he did things contrary -to the laws and customs of the Jews. -Tertullus made out as bad a case as he could -and the other Jews who had come down with -him added whatever they could think of -against the prisoner.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then Felix made a sign that Paul might -speak in his own defence. He declared, in -calm and persuasive words that he had never -wilfully stirred up the crowd, or encouraged a -<span class='pageno' id='Page_152'>152</span>riot. He told the governor that his whole -business in the world was to live the way of -life that God had revealed as the true way. -A little later Paul spoke again before Drusilla, -a Jewess, who was Felix’s wife. He -spoke so powerfully this time of righteousness -and self-control and the perfect way of life -and of the future of joy and woe, that the old -Roman governor trembled as he listened. -But he did not change his life. He was weak -of will and he had woven a chain of habits -which he could not break. He had heard -that Paul had brought great sums of money to -Jerusalem and he hoped that Paul would offer -a large bribe for his liberty so that Felix -kept him in prison two years. Felix saw him -occasionally and gave him a chance to offer -a bribe, which never was offered! Thus two -long years dragged by. Paul was longing to -go on with the work that had been changing -the world. He was eager to see his old -friends and to help them in their troubles, but -<span class='pageno' id='Page_153'>153</span>all the time he was fast bound with chains in -the strong prison at Cæsarea. There is in the -Second Epistle to Timothy a fragment of a -letter which Paul may have written from -Cæsarea. He asks Timothy to bring him the -cloak which he left at Troas. The prison by -the sea was a cold place. And more touching -still, he asks him to bring his books—I wish -we knew the titles of these books—and his -pieces of parchment, so that he could write -letters to his churches and to his friends. -After two years had dragged by, there came a -change of governors. Porcius Festus succeeded -Felix. The Jerusalem Jews made a -great effort to prejudice the new governor -against Paul and he proposed to push the trial -through at once and have the case settled. It -was evident that Paul could hardly have a fair -trial in Cæsarea. The Jews were full of passion -against him. They were ready to use all -the ways known to them to secure his condemnation -and death. And Paul saw that he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_154'>154</span>little chance of escape in the local court, so -that as the crisis approached he used his privilege -as a Roman citizen and appealed to be -tried before Cæsar in Rome, and Festus immediately -granted the appeal.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Before the time came for Paul to start on -his momentous journey to Rome, King -Agrippa and his wife Bernice came to Cæsarea -to bring greetings to the new governor and -they heard from Festus of the famous prisoner -who had appealed to Cæsar. King Agrippa -very much desired to see Paul and to hear -him speak and Festus arranged for Agrippa -to hear him. The king sat on a throne with -much splendour. All the distinguished persons -of the court were there. Soldiers with -helmets and with the Roman eagles were stationed -round the hall. And into the midst -Paul was led by his guard and then was -given permission to speak. It was a great -moment for the prisoner. His one thought -was to make some of these people understand -<span class='pageno' id='Page_155'>155</span>his great message. Once more he told -the story of his life and how the light had -shined upon him at Damascus and how he -had obeyed the heavenly message which came -to him then. He thought he might make -the king Agrippa see that God always meant -to send His Son to bring light and life to -the world and he was telling him about -the great prophecies in the Old Testament -when suddenly Festus interrupted. He told -Paul that he was wild and deluded, that he -had thought over these things until he had -lost his reason. Unmoved Paul answered and -said “I am not deluded. I am calm and -sober. I am talking about things which are -absolutely certain and real. King Agrippa -knows that these things are so.” Then turning -to the king, he said, “King Agrippa dost -thou believe what our prophets have said? I -know that thou must believe.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then king Agrippa found it difficult to answer. -It would not do to have a prisoner go -<span class='pageno' id='Page_156'>156</span>on talking that way to a king and yet this prisoner -seemed to be right. King Agrippa -shrugged his shoulders and said: “With a -very little argument you seem to think you can -make <i>me</i> a Christian!” Paul with dignity -raised his chained hands and said: “Whether -my argument is little or great, I would to -God that not only thou but everybody here -who hears me speak to-day might feel what I -feel, and see what I see, and have the kind of -life I have and become such a person as I am—only -without these chains which are on my -hands!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>After Paul had retired King Agrippa said -to Festus: “If this man had not appealed to -Cæsar he might have been set free.”</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_157'>157</span> - <h2 id='twenty' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XX</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE STORMY JOURNEY TO ROME</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>The journey from Cæsarea to Rome was at -best a long and dangerous one. Paul was accustomed -to the sea, for he had taken sea voyages -ever since his early youth. He had already -been shipwrecked three times and once -he had clung to a piece of the wreck for -twenty-four hours before he was rescued. -But this was the first time he had gone on -board ship as a prisoner and it was a new experience -to be at sea in the charge of soldiers. -The change from the prison in Cæsarea to the -ship was, however, a welcome one, and now -at last he was going to Rome and, he hoped, -to freedom.</p> - -<p class='c009'>He was in the charge of the Augustan cohort, -with Julius for centurion and there were -other prisoners besides himself. A little band -<span class='pageno' id='Page_158'>158</span>of friends attended him and among them was -the writer of the famous “We-Diary” who -has given us a wonderful account of this journey. -The ship touched first at Sidon where -the good-hearted centurion allowed Paul to -go on shore, to visit his friends and to have a -good home meal, which must have been a -welcome change after the long tedious period -of prison fare. Then they sailed under the -lee of Cyprus and skirted the shore of Paul’s -beloved Cilicia. There were the mountains -of his childhood in the distance—Amanus in -the east, Taurus in the west. He could see the -gleaming of the Cydnus on its way to the sea -and imagination pictured the beautiful city on -both banks of the river where he played and -dreamed as a boy—the city he would never -see again. Next came Pamphylia on whose -shores he had landed years before and his -mind ran on over the hills to a precious group -of churches in the cities of Galatia.</p> - -<p class='c009'>From the city of Myra in the province of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_159'>159</span>Lycia they found an Alexandrian ship sailing -for Italy and the centurion transferred his -prisoners to it. They went far to the south -of the Ægean, around whose shores the great -work of Paul’s life had been done and where -now groups of friends were praying for him. -The ship took them to the south of the great -island of Crete and finally the wind forced -them to put into Fair Havens near the middle -of the island. Paul warned the centurion not -to go on because of the certain danger of the -voyage in the stormy season, but the master of -the vessel was determined to have the ship -sail and as soon as a favourable wind appeared -they launched forth. But the ship had not -been long at sea when a Mediterranean hurricane -struck it and drove it on through the -desperate waters. The ship was wrenched -and twisted by the fury of the storm and it -leaked seriously so that the sailors were compelled -to put undergirding around it to -tighten up the seams. In the fearful danger -<span class='pageno' id='Page_160'>160</span>they threw overboard the freight which the -ship was carrying and finally they threw out -the tackling and furniture of the ship to make -it as light as possible. For fourteen days and -nights they floundered about in the Sea of -Adria at the mercy of the wind and the -boisterous billows. No sun appeared by day -and the nights were appallingly dark. Fear -lay on everybody except one and all hope was -gone in the minds of everybody but one. This -one man had no fear and he was full of hope -and confidence. He had never seen battles -such as the centurion with his cohort had been -through, but he had passed through great experiences -and he had learned to trust God -absolutely. He had received five terrible -beatings from the Jews; three times he had -been given the Roman scourge. He had been -in many prisons. He had faced death again -and again on his journeys. He had often -been where no escape seemed possible, when -an unexpected door had opened and he had -<span class='pageno' id='Page_161'>161</span>gone on in safety. He was the man, then, for -this dreadful hour. He had the hero spirit -and he could calm the others and kindle their -courage.</p> - -<p class='c009'>Suddenly he stepped forth on deck and -spoke to the men: “Be full of cheer and -hope. We shall come through. My God has -told me so. And I believe God. His I am. -Him I serve and I know that He has given me -all who sail with me in the ship. Not a life -shall be lost!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>Then when the sailors had sounded and had -found the water growing shallow they threw -out four anchors and waited for morning to -come. We have just seen that Paul had four -anchors, too—four anchors to his soul: “I -believe God”; “His I am”; “Him I serve”; -“He has given me those who sail with me.” -In the morning they loosened the four anchors -and let the sea drive the ship toward the -shore at a place where two seas met and -formed a cove, and there they beached it. -<span class='pageno' id='Page_162'>162</span>The force of the waves broke the ship to pieces -and the soldiers were for killing all the prisoners -but the centurion had learned to respect -Paul and was determined to save him, so that -he allowed everybody on board to swim or -float to shore and all were saved. The island -turned out to be Malta, south of Sicily. Here -the ship’s crew and the soldiers and the prisoners -spent three months. Paul was able here -once again to preach to the people and he -worked wonders among them. At the end of -the three months they started out again on the -treacherous sea to complete the journey. The -ship on which they sailed from Malta bore -the sign of “the Twins,” Castor and Pollux, -who were supposed by the Romans to be the -guardians of sailors. The new ship touched -at Syracuse, the famous capital of Sicily, -where Plato had come with his wisdom, and, -after two days, it brought its precious load -into port at Puteoli, near Naples, in sight of a -beautiful, quiet mountain peak, named Vesuvius, -<span class='pageno' id='Page_163'>163</span>which, a few years later, was to spout -lava and cinders over the towns lying on the -shores of this wonderful blue bay. Here in -the Italian port, Paul found a group of Christian -believers who greatly refreshed him, and -his kind centurion allowed him to stay there -an entire week. These Christians at Puteoli -were the first people in Italy to hear the great -teacher of the new way of life. Then on foot -or by horses, the strange troop wound up the -glorious valley, leading from Puteoli to -Rome. At the Forum of Appius, about ten -miles out of the imperial city, a band of -Roman Christians came to meet him as though -he were a hero coming in triumph to their -city. They found a prisoner kept by soldiers. -When Paul saw these devoted Christian -men coming to share their love and fellowship -with him he forgot all about being -a prisoner. Here were dear friends who -loved him and that was enough. The long -and arduous journey of many months was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_164'>164</span>over. Here in front was Rome. Nero might -be there, and his court and prison might be -waiting for him, but the most important thing -was that there was a church of Christ in Rome -and Paul could see the members and make the -church grow larger!</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <span class='pageno' id='Page_165'>165</span> - <h2 id='twentyone' class='c004'><b><span class='xlarge'>XXI</span></b> <br /> <br /> <b><span class='large'>THE TRIUMPH OF THE HERO</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“I am not ashamed of the gospel of -Christ,” Paul had said in his letter to Rome. -“It is the <i>power</i> of God.” Rome was the -most powerful city the world had ever seen -up to that time. Its armies had gone everywhere -and this city on the Tiber had become -the conqueror of all lands and peoples. Out -from the capital of the empire the roads ran -like the spokes of a wheel from the hub, and -the soldiers marched forth from this centre -to subdue countries and to hold them wherever -the emperor wished to send them. Here -was power which all eyes could see and which -all men could feel. Over against this visible -power, Paul knew that he had discovered a -new kind of power. It could not be seen as -armies could be seen, but it changed lives and -<span class='pageno' id='Page_166'>166</span>it remade cities and it upheld and supported -men and women in the hardest suffering and -trial. Here was this man now bound with -chains, guarded by soldiers, a prisoner of the -emperor’s, weak, frail, alone, but in reality -the bravest, strongest, most powerful man in -the whole empire. Nero is dead now. His -empire has passed away. But Paul is still a -mighty power in the world. Eight million -copies of his letters are sold every year. -Everybody reads what he wrote and he still -goes on working in the world as though he -were yet alive and speaking.</p> - -<p class='c009'>At first, when he came to Rome, he was -treated kindly and was allowed to have his -own house, though of course he was under the -care of Roman soldiers. The guard was -changed every day so that he constantly had -new soldiers by him. It gave him a splendid -chance to preach his gospel to the Roman -army, for he would surely never let a soldier -stay all day by him without telling him of -<span class='pageno' id='Page_167'>167</span>Christ. It must have <i>worked</i>, too, for, in his -letter to the church at Philippi, he writes that -“the saints in Cæsar’s household send greetings,” -and he also says that he has been able to -spread the news of Christ through the whole -prætorian guard. Perhaps he did more as a -prisoner than he could have done as a travelling -preacher. Paul was the kind of man that -would appeal to soldiers. They could see at -once that he was as brave as they were, and -they could feel that he was in his way a hero, -and they were ready to listen to his story and -we may be sure that many of them went back -to Cæsar’s palace changed into “saints.” -Others went out with the army and carried -the truth about Christ into the lands where -they were stationed. “It has all happened -right,” Paul wrote to his friends. “My -chains have helped to spread the gospel!”</p> - -<p class='c009'>During the first part of the time in Rome, -Paul expected to be freed. He thought his -trial would come off favourably, and he was -<span class='pageno' id='Page_168'>168</span>full of hope. In this early period he wrote -a beautiful letter to his friend Philemon, who -lived in Asia. He told this friend that he -expected soon to be free and he playfully -added you can get me a lodging, for I shall -be coming to Asia before long. He had -found in Rome a run-away slave that belonged -to Philemon. He had told the slave, who was -named Onesimus, about Christ and Onesimus -had become a follower of Christ. Paul sent -him back to his master, changed from a slave -to a brother and Paul calls him his “own son -in Christ.” This was the way Paul’s gospel -worked for all kinds of people. It made -them new men, and it gave them a new relationship -to everybody. One day a poor, mean -slave, the next day a brother and a son! In -this letter Paul calls himself an old man. He -writes: “I am Paul the aged.” He could -not have been very old in years—probably not -more than fifty-five—but his years in prison -and the terrible hardships, through which he -<span class='pageno' id='Page_169'>169</span>had been, had left their mark upon him and -he seemed old before he was old.</p> - -<p class='c009'>As time went on, and Paul had had two -years in “his own hired house,” he seems to -have been taken to some imperial prison, perhaps -to the famous Mamertine prison, which -was deep underground, and very dark, cold -and damp. It became more and more evident -that the wonderful prisoner was not to go -free again. His friends in Philippi remembered -him and sent one of their number all -the way to Rome to comfort him and to carry -to him the things he needed in his hard prison -life. He was very deeply touched by their -love and kindness and he wrote an extraordinary -letter of thanks to his first Christian -believers in Europe—those men of Macedonia -who called him to them. He told them that -he did not know whether the outcome of his -trial was to be life or death, but that he was -“ready” for either event that might come. “I -have learned” he wrote, “how to be contented -<span class='pageno' id='Page_170'>170</span>with what comes to me. I know how to be -successful and how to be defeated. I know -how to be happy when I am full and I know -how to be happy when I am hungry. I can -do everything with Christ’s help.” “I want -you,” he told his friends, “to learn the secret. -I want you to rejoice and again to <i>rejoice</i>, and -evermore to <span class='fss'>REJOICE</span>.”</p> - -<p class='c009'>What happened at last, we do not know. -Nobody has written for us any “We-Narrative” -about the last prison days and about the -trial in Cæsar’s court. Some people think -that the great prisoner got his freedom and -went on for many years doing missionary -work across the world, travelling with Timothy -and Titus and the other helpers, and -preaching in new lands and in new cities. -But I do not think so. I think that he never -left Rome again. The Jews who were opposed -to him had a very strong case against -him. They could prove that in almost every -city in the empire where Paul had been there -<span class='pageno' id='Page_171'>171</span>had been riots and uprisings and they could -make it seem that Paul was the cause of these -things. He was one lone man with a whole -multitude of furious enemies and in Cæsar’s -court the testimony against him would count -for very much, and would weigh very heavily. -It seems most likely that the trial ended with -a decision against the great missionary. If -he was condemned, as I believe he was, then -he was soon after executed, and, as a Roman -citizen, he would be put to death with the -sword. That is the steady tradition in Rome -that he was taken out to the place now called -the Three Fountains and there beheaded. -We shall probably never know any more about -the end of our hero’s life.</p> - -<p class='c009'>One great fragment of a letter has been preserved -for us. It does not tell anything about -the prison, or the trial, or the manner of the -death. But it does tell about his courage, his -calmness, his faith and his noble spirit. It is -a letter to Timothy, his young friend, written -<span class='pageno' id='Page_172'>172</span>by “Paul the aged.” It says: “I am already -being offered up now, and the time of my departure -is come. I have fought the good -fight. I have finished my course. I have -kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up -for me a crown of righteousness.” At the -end, as always through his life, he was -“ready.” Unmoved and undefeated, and, we -may be sure, with his face shining, as Stephen’s -shone that memorable day in Paul’s youth, he -went to meet his death. They could kill his -body with their sharp sword, but they could -not crush his spirit or conquer his faith and -hope. When his eyes could no longer see -Rome with its capital and its coliseum, he -could see his Christ, and when his ears could -not hear the shouting and the cries of the people, -he could hear a gentle voice say: “Well -done, good and faithful servant, enter into the -joy of thy Lord.” The hero got home with -God at last.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c001'> - <div><span class='xsmall'>PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c010' /> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> - <div class='nf-center'> - <div>The following pages contain advertisements of</div> - <div>books by the same author or on kindred subjects.</div> - </div> -</div> - -<hr class='c011' /> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'><b><span class='large'><i>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</i></span></b></h2> -</div> - -<h3 class='c012'><b><span class='xlarge'>The Inner Life</span></b></h3> - -<div class='c013'><b><i>$1.00</i></b></div> - -<p class='c008'>This book is a plea for religion, worship, prayer—for -the inner life. Darwin, James, Bergson and others are -discussed. The facts of science and of Biblical -criticism are surveyed, and the conclusion that is -reached is that there is a world of spirit, and that in -this spiritual life Jesus is the best guide. The author’s -style of writing is vigorous, eloquent and suggestive.</p> - -<p class='c009'>“A book of unusually fine quality. The author has -a great message for such a time as this. The book -will help men to be efficient instruments of God in -the world.”—<i>Christian Intelligencer.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“A book from the pen of this Quaker professor -is always worth while, and this little volume is in the -same worthy class. It combines scholarship and -mystic interpretation, and furnishes at once food for -thought and inspiration for devotion.”—<i>Western -Christian Advocate.</i></p> - -<h3 class='c014'><b><span class='xlarge'>Studies in Mystical Religion</span></b></h3> - -<div class='c013'><b><span class='large'><i>Cloth, gilt top, 518 pages, $3.00</i></span></b></div> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c015'> - <div><b>PRESS NOTICES</b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c008'>“The book is written with clearness and quiet dignity. It is animated throughout -by breadth of fine and kindly sympathies, and by a sense of the character of -religion as a light and a power that from within control all the social fulfilments of -our nature.”—<i>Philosophical Review.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“Such a work as this is not only a contribution of great timeliness in these days -when the thoughts of scholarly men are turning perhaps as not before for centuries -toward religion, but will go far to give mysticism, of which perhaps Quakerism is the -best American illustration, a standing even at the bar of science.”—<i>American -Journal of Religious Psychology.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is a book of wide and conscientious research, solid and steady structure and -noble aim. The style is clear and definite, free of any attempt to dazzle or confuse. -Those who have come to feel that the seat of authority in religion lies in the first-hand -experience of the soul will turn eagerly to it, opening up as it does so many channels -of the spiritual life in the past.”—<i>North American Review.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“It is a careful study of subjective religion, from the New Testament down to -modern times. A vast field is covered and covered completely. The writer has made -excellent use of his materials and given a sympathetic study of religion on its subjective -and personal side.”—<i>New York Times.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“It shows abundant evidence of conscientious research and a careful study of -sources either not easily accessible or generally passed over by the student. Sufficient -attention has been given to the analytical investigation of the subject.”—<i>The -Churchman.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“His study is distinguished by moderation and justice, high intent and reverent -spirit. It has a peculiar significance for us, because, in a generation when many are -following will-o’-the-wisps and garish lights, it studies classic and enduring experiences; -and because it reminds us of a mystic strain which is our inheritance, and, I -hope, our genius, and which in time will have its own poets, philosophers, and -prophets. If this comes not even in some measure in our own day, it will still be -splendid to have prepared the way and made straight the path by some such notable -achievement as this study in mystical religion by Professor Jones.”—<i>Boston -Transcript.</i></p> - -<h3 class='c014'><b><span class='xlarge'>Spiritual Reformers of the Sixteenth and</span></b> <br /> <b><span class='xlarge'>Seventeenth Centuries</span></b></h3> - -<div class='c013'><b><span class='large'><i>Cloth, 8vo, $3.00</i></span></b></div> - -<p class='c008'>Professor Rufus Jones is well known in this country -and in England for his earlier writings on the history -of Quakerism and other phases of mystical religion, -and this new work on some of the more obscure -teachers among the Reformers will be received with -interest.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The book opens with a general survey of the main -currents of the Reformation, and in succeeding chapters -he deals with the following subjects: II. Hans -Denck and the Inward Word; III. Two Prospects -of the Inward Word—Bunderlein and Entfelder; -IV. Sebastian Franck; V. Caesar Schwenckfeld; -VI. Sebastian Castello; VII. Coornhert and the Collegiants—A -Movement for Spiritual Religion in -Holland; VIII. Valentine Weigel and Nature Mysticism; -IX. Jacob Boehme: His Life and Spirit; -X. Boehme’s Universe; XI. Boehme’s “Way of -Salvation”; XII. Boehme’s Influence in England; -XIII. Early English Interpreters—John Everard -and Giles Randall, and others; XIV. Spiritual Religion -in High Places—Rous, Vane, and Sterry; -XV. Benjamin Whichcote, the First of the “Latitude -Men”; XVI. John Smith, Platonist; XVII. The -Spiritual Poets of the Seventeenth Century.</p> - -<h3 class='c002'><b><span class='xlarge'>The Quakers in the American Colonies</span></b></h3> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c015'> - <div><b><span class='large'><span class='sc'>By Prof. RUFUS M. JONES, M.A., D.Litt.</span></span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='small'>ASSISTED BY</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='large'>ISAAC SHARPLESS, <span class='sc'>D.Sc.</span></span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='small'>AND</span></b></div> - <div class='c000'><b><span class='large'>AMELIA M. GUMMERE</span></b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='c016'><b><i>8vo, $3.00</i></b></div> - -<p class='c008'>This volume is a historical and critical study of the Quaker religious -movement; a movement important both for the history of the development -of religion and for the history of the American Colonies. The subject is -presented not only in its external setting but also in the light of its inner -meaning. The story of the Quaker invasion of the Colonies in the New -World has often been told in fragmentary fashion, but no adequate study of -the entire Quaker movement in Colonial times has yet been made from -original sources, free from partisan or sectarian prejudice and with due -historical perspective. The accounts written from the Quaker point of view -do not furnish a critical investigation of Quakerism and its work in the New -World; while those written from the anti-Quaker point of view are for the -most part one-sided and colored by prejudice, and are obviously lacking in -penetration into the inner meaning of the type of religion which they undertake -to present. By avoiding these extremes and by furnishing a critical -investigation of Quakerism both in its outer forms and its inner spirit, Professor -Jones has produced an excellent piece of work, done in an impartial -and historical spirit and not too brief to admit of details. The account is -an able and clear treatment of the religious principles of Quakerism, replete -with first-hand knowledge and with concrete details, and thus it presents a -truly historical picture of this great movement which bore no small part in -the early political and religious life of this country.</p> - -<p class='c009'>This volume is divided into five books. Book I. deals with the Quakers -in New England; Book II. with Quakerism in the Colony of New York; -Book III. with the Quakers in the Southern Colonies; Book IV. deals with -the early Quakers in New Jersey, and Book V. with the Quakers in -Pennsylvania.</p> - -<p class='c009'>The work thus admirably assists the man of to-day to visualize the life -history of the Quaker movement on this continent.</p> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'><b><i>CHURCH PRINCIPLES FOR LAY PEOPLE</i></b></h2> -</div> - -<div class='c013'><b><i>Each $1.00</i></b></div> - -<h3 class='c012'><b><span class='xlarge'>Why Men Pray</span></b></h3> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='large'><span class='sc'>By</span> DR. CHARLES L. SLATTERY</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>“A book with a live and spiritual message ... eminently -clear and reasonable, and as such will appeal -to the mind of the average layman.”—<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“Eminently sensible and will appeal to those who -want to get a more definite conception of prayer than -they have ever had.”—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> - -<h3 class='c012'><b><span class='xlarge'>The Episcopal Church: Its Faith and Order</span></b></h3> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='large'><span class='sc'>By</span> DR. GEORGE HODGES</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>“The author writes for humanity, and no better -book for religious study, for clergy, laity, and for the -younger members of churches has appeared in some -time.”—<i>Review of Reviews.</i></p> - -<p class='c009'>“Contains material to strengthen faith and create -respect.”—<i>Boston Herald.</i></p> - -<h3 class='c012'><b><span class='xlarge'>The Apostles’ Creed To-day</span></b></h3> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c000'> - <div><span class='large'><span class='sc'>By</span> DR. EDWARD S. DROWN</span></div> - </div> -</div> - -<p class='c009'>Dr. Drown gives an historical interpretation of the -origin and growth of the Apostles’ Creed. He takes -up one after another the different articles of the Creed -relating each to the whole, and showing how each of -them embodies a universal and continuing truth.</p> - -<div class='nf-center-c1'> -<div class='nf-center c015'> - <div><b>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</b></div> - <div><b>Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York</b></div> - </div> -</div> - -<div class='pbb'> - <hr class='pb c000' /> -</div> - -<div class='chapter'> - <h2 class='c004'><b><span class='large'>Transcriber’s Note</span></b></h2> -</div> - -<p class='c017'>Punctuation has been normalized. Variations -in hyphenation have been retained as they were in the -original publication. The following changes have been made:</p> - -<div class='lg-container-b c018'> - <div class='linegroup'> - <div class='group'> - <div class='line'>“new Jersualem,” —> Jerusalem {page 42}</div> - <div class='line'>the saints in Cæsar’s househould —> household {page 167}</div> - </div> - </div> -</div> - - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Paul the Hero, by Rufus M. Jones - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ST. PAUL THE HERO *** - -***** This file should be named 52694-h.htm or 52694-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/6/9/52694/ - -Produced by Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive -specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this -eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook -for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports, -performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given -away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks -not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the -trademark license, especially commercial redistribution. - -START: FULL LICENSE - -THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE -PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK - -To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free -distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work -(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full -Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at -www.gutenberg.org/license. - -Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works - -1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to -and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property -(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all -the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or -destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your -possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a -Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound -by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the -person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph -1.E.8. - -1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be -used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who -agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few -things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See -paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this -agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below. - -1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the -Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection -of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual -works in the collection are in the public domain in the United -States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the -United States and you are located in the United States, we do not -claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing, -displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as -all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope -that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting -free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm -works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the -Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily -comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the -same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when -you share it without charge with others. - -1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern -what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are -in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, -check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this -agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, -distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any -other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no -representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any -country outside the United States. - -1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: - -1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other -immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear -prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work -on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the -phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, -performed, viewed, copied or distributed: - - This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and - most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no - restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it - under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this - eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the - United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you - are located before using this ebook. - -1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is -derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not -contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the -copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in -the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are -redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project -Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply -either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or -obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted -with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution -must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any -additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms -will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works -posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the -beginning of this work. - -1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm -License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this -work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. - -1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this -electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without -prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with -active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project -Gutenberg-tm License. - -1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, -compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including -any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access -to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format -other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official -version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site -(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense -to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means -of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain -Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the -full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. - -1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, -performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works -unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. - -1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing -access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works -provided that - -* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from - the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method - you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed - to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has - agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid - within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are - legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty - payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project - Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in - Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg - Literary Archive Foundation." - -* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies - you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he - does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm - License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all - copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue - all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm - works. - -* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of - any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the - electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of - receipt of the work. - -* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free - distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. - -1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than -are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing -from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The -Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm -trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. - -1.F. - -1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable -effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread -works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project -Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may -contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate -or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other -intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or -other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or -cannot be read by your equipment. - -1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right -of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project -Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all -liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal -fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT -LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE -PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE -TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE -LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR -INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH -DAMAGE. - -1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a -defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can -receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a -written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you -received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium -with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you -with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in -lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person -or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second -opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If -the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing -without further opportunities to fix the problem. - -1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth -in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO -OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT -LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. - -1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied -warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of -damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement -violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the -agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or -limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or -unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the -remaining provisions. - -1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the -trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone -providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in -accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the -production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm -electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, -including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of -the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this -or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or -additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any -Defect you cause. - -Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm - -Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of -electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of -computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It -exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations -from people in all walks of life. - -Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the -assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's -goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will -remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project -Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure -and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future -generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see -Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at -www.gutenberg.org - - - -Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation - -The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit -501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the -state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal -Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification -number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by -U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. - -The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the -mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its -volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous -locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt -Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to -date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and -official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact - -For additional contact information: - - Dr. Gregory B. Newby - Chief Executive and Director - gbnewby@pglaf.org - -Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg -Literary Archive Foundation - -Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide -spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of -increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be -freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest -array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations -($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt -status with the IRS. - -The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating -charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United -States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a -considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up -with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations -where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND -DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular -state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate - -While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we -have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition -against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who -approach us with offers to donate. - -International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make -any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from -outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. - -Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation -methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other -ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To -donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate - -Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. - -Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project -Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be -freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and -distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of -volunteer support. - -Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed -editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in -the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not -necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper -edition. - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search -facility: www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. - - - -</pre> - - </body> - <!-- created with ppgen.py 3.55 on 2016-08-01 00:09:01 GMT --> -</html> |