oR SN1t41 4 Op He gy pe FO HO Or C8 Ge FS + ~< Trt 4 a” 29 ye oper er ts eeete et rir et ise tri Penis, eee tinal Werweveneie ld i, sig hiig broeevenenpeess paijteernsenenpt oli t: =e emepeseeaes: saesnevmerenesjhsts ia mere ra ty eS Semenmegre te (4 ts5 re Proamiel ecole! Inet ymennga sAcae te) sy Sth ewenrmbenes 5) phe einne) li teepereeenenss iat ybemepepredens | =rh Seve teguntentel eg Stel eee erate pebeestel ht treocetererererataseorer oot TP Re ree nn ees eee Peeve aiens (pT evOwe Tene bat ~ 7 wymasigist sete a7] Too te ~ Lenaeceveset nd F ierurarararerneies San sestee te : Shouse URRE - S sedi one hind Ral eh onal ae @) - M : tt aeeee ° 4g PORE asa a's : a . my) ‘ ¥ ri ioe ye pe : ih ee . ah a oa es . ha% nA OF PRIA dad Val S Life and Letters of St. Paul By DAVID JAMES BURRELL, IDMDE IDB) Author of The Resurrection and the Life Beyond, The Apostles’ Creed, Old Time Religion, The Home Sanctuary, Verilies of Jesus, Etc., Etc. AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY SEVEN WEST FORTY-FIFTH STREET NEW YORK Copyright, 1925 by AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY CHAPTER CHAPTER CONTENTS Part I SAUL OF TARSUS At Home AT COLLEGE FINDING HIMSELF . A Wronc BEGINNING RicHtT ABouT FACE FORGOTTEN HomME AGAIN LiFE BEGINS Parr II PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS INTRODUCTION FOREWORD SAUL OF TARSUS THE SUMMONS THE RENDEZVOUS : THE First JOURNEY. Chart At ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA In THE MOUNTAINS OF LYCAONIA THE RETURN A PARENTHESIS PAGE CHAPTER Wa Qbe IX. CHAPTER ibe ihe CONTENTS THE SECOND JOURNEY. Chart . On To EuROPE AT THESSALONICA At Breraa At ATHENS At CoRINTH oe aes THe ‘THirp JOURNEY. Chart A Busy YEAR . At MILeETus BouND FoR JERUSALEM AT CHSAREA . PaAut’s Last VoyYAGE. Chart ; AT RoME PARTLLT PAUL’S COMPANIONS BARNABAS: ‘“‘A Goop MAN” JoHN Marx: THE YoutTH WuHo FLINCHED StrAs: A SINGER TimotHy: ‘“THE GENTLE Boy OF LysTRA” LuKE: ‘“THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN”’ LypIA: THE PURPLE-SELLER AQUILA AND PRISCILLA PAGE {3 79 84 88 93 oy. 105 111 117 123 1352 141 149 PAGE 163 181 197 211 223 233 245 CHAPTER VIII. IX. CHAPTER CONTENTS Apo.tos: ‘‘MIGHTY IN THE SCRIPTURES” “OnrE MNASON OF Cyprus” EPAPHRODITUS: COMRADE IN ARMS OnESIMUS: A SLAVE SosTHENES: “My BroTHER” Titus: “My PartTNER”’ PHasBeE: THE “DEACONESS” A Bopy GUARD Part IV PAUL SSLEGEERS ‘THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS . First CorINTHIANS SECOND CORINTHIANS THE EPpIstLE TO THE GALATIANS THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS THe EpIsTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS First THESSALONIANS SECOND THESSALONIANS First TIMoTHy SECOND TIMOTHY DHE EPISTLE TO L1rus THE EpistLE TO PHILEMON THE EpisTLE TO THE HEBREWS PAGE 263 ESET, 287 oo 315 327 Boo 349 PAGE 361 SH. 390 403 419 431 445 454 467 478 489 496 505 520 Mu hott e. ee ae a : re! i em ; ay io Me | ve i "% i . < 4 iy} t . : hy. ed Ww! f\ - . ne j fj ' ys at a ¢ . i “ . a2 a r ed td ; ; * ; ; fe a ‘ : ; ey . Fs oF , i “ati ‘) vie os phere Gh | OP ay Oe, é i, Pa ey | ke m a ae vy; nf bh a ee ci pl A st ‘oe phe. et pet, a | f fr heed tdi in \ ) : ait 4 4 : Pony oe av ais AA, re . ue “e bie if ’ y" | ; eh, ieee" eae eaten hy " ty . Pot Ss gene Pa th Age ‘i vu ¢ Ran th s ‘ ave a? A cy ~w ‘ * pay é a at PART 1 SAUL OF TARSUS re Saul of Tarsus I—AT HOME A traveller, threading his way among the dirty, narrow, devious streets of modern Tersoos in Turkey, finds it difficult to realize that it was once a great metropolis. In ancient times it was the capital of the important prov- ince of Cilicia. It was situated in a fertile plain, a dozen miles from the Mediterranean, on both banks of the river Cydnus and under the shadow of the Taurian range. Its river swarmed with ships bringing argosies from distant lands. One of the three great. univer- sities of the ancient world was there, besides a famous amphitheater. Its chief renown, however, is due to the fact that it was the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, who lived there until he was thirteen years of age. He never forgot the old home town. In his later years, when buffeted by a mob in Jerusalem and put under arrest as a disturber 7 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. -PAUL of the peace, he began his defence from the steps of the Castle of Antonia in these words, “T am a Jew of Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city It is not improbable that in his boyhood he saw Cicero there and may have talked with him; for at that time the matchless advocate had a home in Tarsus. One eventful day the boy would never be likely to forget; it was the day when Cleo- patra with her retinue came sailing up the Cydnus on a gilded barge to meet Marc An- tony. With what festivities the city must have greeted that reckless pair of lovers! And there were other never-to-be-forgot- ten days when the amphitheater rang with the enthusiasm of the Olympian games. Some- where on one of the swarming terraces of stone sat an undersized, timid, ambitious lad who doubtless mourned because he could never be an athlete, but who was destined to crystallize, in the writing of certain immortal letters, the record of those running and wrest- ling matches as stimulating parables of the Christian life. “I keep my body under” (glo- kopso; literally, “I blacken my eyes,”) And SAUL OF TARSUS *) again, “Forgetting those things which are be- hind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark!” When the Roman soldiers came marching through the town on their career of con- quest, it must have been impossible for this ambitious youth to resist the martial fever. He never could be a soldier; but the time was coming when he would effectively ex- hort his brethren to “put on the whole armor of God” and “quit themselves like men.” The boy’s father was a Jew who, prob- ably for some distinguished service, had been made a free Roman citizen. But he continued to be a Pharisee of the most straitest sect; and young Saul was brought up accordingly in the orthodox faith. When the rams’ horns sounded the call to worship on every Sabbath day he took his place with his father in one of the chief seats of the Synagogue, joined in the responsive service of the Psalter and lis- tened to the exposition of the Law. On “week days” he attended the Rabbinical school—a famous school, where, possibly, among others he became acquainted with another boy named Barnabas from the nearby island of 10 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Cyprus, with whom he was to have closer relations further on. Meanwhile he served his apprenticeship as a tentmaker. ‘Tarsus was one of the great centers for the manufacture of Cilician tents; and every Jewish boy, however exalted his social position, was required to learn a trade. As to Saul’s mother we know nothing.* He had a sister, however, who is men- tioned incidentally in connection with Paul’s imprisonment in Jerusalem, A. D. 58. This sister’s son, who chanced to be in Jerusalem at that time, got wind in some way of a con- spiracy to kill Paul and succeeded in saving his life (Acts 23: 16-24). By this it would appear that, though Paul had probably been ostracized by his family at the time of his conversion, they still cherished some remnant of affection for him. “Blood is thicker than water.” In our time converted Jews are dis- owned by their relatives in the same way. One thing is clear; the boy Saul was * Of her, who was his earliest and best teacher, he tells us nothing. Did she die, like Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, the great ancestor of his tribe; or did she live to grieve over her son’s apostacy from the faith of the Pharisees and die un- reconciled to the obedience of Christ? Or did she believe and obey the Saviour of her son?—Conybeare and Howson. SAUL OF TARSUS 11 brought up in the severest rites, beliefs and prejudices of Judaism. He was taught to regard the Gentiles as “dogs” quite outside of the household of Israel and the Common- wealth of God.* While he was passing his early years in Tarsus there was another Boy growing up five hundred miles away, in Nazareth of Gal- (lec inw@asvcivmaditcercntimwayalie whadea mother, with whom he shared a sacred secret (Luke 2:19), and under whose loving tute- lage he was increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. ‘The time was coming when these two were to meet face to face on the Damascus highway; and when that happened, Saul of ‘Tarsus would fall at the feet of Jesus of Nazareth in a complete and perpetual surrender with the cry, ‘“What wilt thou have me to do?” In the meantime all that Saul of Tarsus does and all that is done for him—every lesson at the family altar or in the Rabbinical *'To exhort him to the practice of religion he had before him the example of his father praying and walking with broad phylacteries, scrupulous and exact in his legal observances. And he had, moreover, as it seems, the memory and tradition of ancestral piety: for he tells us in one of his latest letters that he served God “from his forefathers.”—Conybeare and Howson. 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF st. PAUL school—his shadowy hopes and purposes as vague as castles in the air—would be lead- ing him on toward that one supreme, divine event, his conversion to Christ; for it is as true as Scripture that “there’s a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will.” Il-—AT COLLEGE It is safe to say that while young Saul was attending school at ‘Tarsus he was looking for- ward to something far better and more at- TractivVcmiUtinc rout mAs tnce Loyal sonore Pharisee he would scarcely be content with the sort of instruction he was receiving there, inasmuch as it was deeply tinctured with the Greek culture of Alexandria. Even in his study of the Scriptures he must use the Sep- tuagint version, against which his Hebrew soul would revolt. Nevertheless this enforced acquaintance with the Greek language and literature was destined to serve a very definite purpose on many occasions in his after life.* One dream must have sustained him in the training of those early years—the dream of entering the University of Jerusalem in due time and perfecting himself there in the study * The readiness with which he expressed himself in Greek, even before such an audience as that upon the Areopagus at Athens, shows a command of the language which a Jew would not, in all probability, have attained, had not Greek been the language of his childhood.—Conybeare and Howson. 13 14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL of Jewish law. At the age of twelve, as a “son of the law,” he would put on phylacteries, and a year later could be matriculated in that far-famed institution of learning. The day came at length when he bade his parents and sister good-by. It was destined to be a long parting had he but known it. They doubtless stood with him on the dock, and waved their hands to him as he went sailing down the Cydnus to the Great Sea. The shores of Cilicia presently faded from his view; and, on the second day out, he would be gazing at the peaks of Lebanon. The ship doubtless put in at Cesarea; and the rest of the journey would be along the caravan route upward to the summit of the hills, from which he would be looking down on Jerusalem—Jerusalem “beautiful for situ- ation, the joy of the whole earth’—Jerusa- lem the city of his dreams! But a great change had recently come over that city. Herod the Tetrarch, catching the brilliant spirit of his imperial chief, had spent vast sums of money upon it. He had built a palace, a spacious amphitheater, and a castle which he named “Antonia” in honor of his SAUL OF TARSUS iby dearest friend. And—hated though he was by his Jewish subjects—he had rebuilt their neglected Temple and adorned it with such magnificence as even Solomon had not thought of. The mind of young Saul, however, would be chiefly concerned about the institution of learning which was to furnish his equipment for life. At this time two schools were con- nected with it, that of Hillel and that of Shammai, both intensely Jewish in spirit. | One of the rabbis connected with the former was Gamaliel, who was everywhere known and revered as ‘“The Flower of the Law.” At his feet, as chief instructor, our young student had elected to sit during his college course. It required not less than fifteen years to complete the curriculum and graduate with the degree of “Rab” or Teacher of the Law. It is scarcely necessary to say that practically the entire course of study was in the Scrip- tures. For since the Government of Israel was theocratic and, therefore, subject only to divine law, the one text-book which must be mastered was the Old Testament, familiarly known as “The Book of the Law.” This was 6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL expounded with the aid of two very bulky and elaborate volumes of commentaries, known as The Mishna or “Traditions” and The Ge- mara or “Controversies.” Our young student would require no prod- ding to stimulate his enthusiasm in the pursuit of such congenial studies. We can imagine him “at the feet” of the revered Gamaliel, or engaged in disputation with his fellow stu- dents—not infrequently lost in the wander- ing mazes of “fixed fate, free will, foreknowl- edge absolute,” much like theologues of mod- ern times—and always looking forward to the proud day when he should be ‘“‘admitted to the bar.” Meanwhile great things were happening. Just as the boy began his University course the Emperor Augustus died; which is another way of saying that the Golden Age of Rome was drawing to a close. The enthronement of the unspeakable Caligula meant that a deadly leprosy had infected the mortar of the walls of the Empire, which were even then beginning to totter to their fall. One day—it must have been when Saul had been five or six years at the University—it was SAUL OF TARSUS 17 rumored that an unknown Boy of twelve, in a conference with the rabbis in the temple, had shown himself a prodigy of wisdom in spiritual things. It was subsequently learned that he was a country boy from Nazareth, up among the hills, unschooled, a carpenter’s ap- prentice, who, having reached the age of twelve, had put on phylacteries and come up to Jerusalem to attend his first Passover. The discriminating questions and thoughtful an- swers of this precocious youth were so far be- yond his years that the Professors in the Uni- versity and their pupils must have been great- ly puzzled to account for him. It might well be that Saul was disappointed in not having seen him. How could he know that one day in the future he was destined to see the face of that young Nazarene shin- ing down upon him in a light above the brightness of the sun and to hear his voice ringing along the corridors of all his after- lifer And how was he to know that, by the same token, his after-life was to be inextricably bound up with a group of fishermen who were just then pursuing their plebeian trade 18 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL at Bethsaida by the Sea of Galilee? Thus far his fondest hopes and anticipations had been associated with rabbis and other learned men. Not that any great disappointment awaited him; oh, no, but a tremendous surprise! Thanks evermore that, however man may pro- pose, God disposes as He wills. ‘The time was coming when Saul of Tarsus would see a hand reached down from heaven to over- turn all his most elaborate plans and pur- poses. Would he demure Nay, never were colors struck more voluntarily and readily than his would be! So runs the parable of Providence. ‘The best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee.” But the Lord never overturns a man’s house of cards without building a better house, even an heavenly, for him and his household to dwell in. To apprehend that fact is to learn the secret of a happy life. It is an antidote for disap- pointment. Moreover, it is a sure guide to fervent and effectual prayer, since it brings us into perfect accord with the perfect will of God. (Read Romans 8:16-27.) III—FINDING HIMSELF At thirteen, when young Saul of Tarsus entered the University of Jerusalem, he was a double-dyed aristocrat. Why not? No one could boast a prouder Jewish lineage.* He was the son of a Pharisee “of the most straitest sect,” and indoctrinated from his birth. Moreover he was a Roman citizen, not by purchase but by inheritance due to some notable service on the part of his forebears which warranted the boast, “I was born free.” (Actse22228.)) } It is not likely that a young man of this sort would be unmindful of things happening here and there during his college days. Two or three years before his graduation there were rumors of a certain Carpenter of Nazareth who was going about working al- * We infer, from the whole bearing of the Apostle, that he was bred to all those amenities of the higher circles of life which so stood him in stead when he was compelled to deal with men of high rank or culture. Through all the vicissi- iides of his eventful life he seems always to have borne “without abuse The grand old name of gentleman.”—Taylor’s Life of Paul. 19 20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL leged miracles and claiming to be the long- looked-for Christ. Presently, when he ap- peared once and again in Jerusalem with his preposterous claims and the people flocked in ever-increasing numbers to hear him, the rabbis, who were convinced that the impos- ture had gone far enough, caused him to be arrested and brought before them for trial. One can easily imagine the interest with which this occurrence was discussed by Saul and his fellow students; how they gathered in the early morning in the court of the High Priest’s palace to await the rendering of the verdict; how, possibly, our young student heard it whispered that a certain fisherman who had shambled in and was warming him- self at the guardsmen’s fire was a follower of the Galilean. Little did this proud scion of the Jewish aristocracy dream of the part which that same fisherman was to play in his after-life! One would like to know whether Saul found his way into the presence of Pilate and heard the strange judgment, “I find no fault in him at all: take ye him and crucify him;” and whether he was among those who fol- SAUL OF TARSUS 21 lowed the bound culprit along Via Dolorosa crying, ‘““Crucify him!” It is more than pos- sible that he stood under the Cross and joined with his rabbinical superiors in the cry, “Come down, if thou be the Son of God! Come down and we will believe thee!” And when the tragedy was over he would rejoice with them that the Carpenter of Nazareth would trouble them no more with his pre- posterous claims. And then more rumors and still more trou- blesome ones. ‘There were those who said that this Jesus had risen from the dead; that he had shown himself repeatedly to his dis- ciples; that on one occasion above five hun- dred of them had seen him; and finally that he had ascended out of their midst into the open sky! All this must have caused great excitement and incredulity among the young men who were pursuing their studies in the Holy City. And fuel was doubtless added to the fire by a further report of certain unaccountable things which occurred ten days after, at Pen- tecost, in an open court in Jerusalem, where thousands were so impressed by certain super- 22 LIFE AND‘ CET TERS Ossi, PAUL natural phenomena that they forthwith cast in their lot with the followers of Jesus. The central figure in that event was the same fish- erman whom Saul, very likely, had seen warming his hands at the guardsmen’s fire. In an endeavor to explain the singular events referred to, this fisherman had charged the people with the red-handed murder of their Messiah! Such presumption as this must have aroused the bitterest animosity of Saul and his fellow students, who knew full well, as they supposed, that no mere Carpenter could sit upon the Davidic throne or be expected to restore again the decadent glory of Israel. It must have been with extreme satisfaction that a few days later they saw that same troublesome fisherman haled before the San- hedrin for trial. It appeared that he and another of the friends of the Nazarene had professed to heal a lame beggar at the Beau- tiful Gate of the Temple; whereupon a crowd had assembled creating a disturbance of the peace. Peter, as spokesman for the defence, addressed the court insisting on the Messiah- ship of Jesus; after which the prisoners were SAUL OF TARSUS 23 dismissed with an admonition to hold their peace. It is scarcely necessary to say that the arro- gant soul of the young Jew must have been greatly wrought up by this annoying series of events. IV—A WRONG BEGINNING Saul graduated from the University in his thirtieth’ year (A. -D.o3%)) 3 Blisporstmen nce was Rab, meaning “Master.” A year or two of post-graduate work in connection with the temple service or the Sanhedrin would earn the degree of Rabbi, or “My Master;” and perhaps another year would entitle him to be ‘called’ Rabbonipi chon \uyou piel Master.” There is reason to believe that by this time he was admitted into full membership in the Sanhedrin. His honors were now crowding thick upon him, but not beyond his merit. There was no more enthusiastic Jew in all: Jewry than he, and probably none of his age with a more promising outlook. But he was not content. His eager soul was burning against the Galilean heresy. The air was filled with rumors of the new propa- ganda. The people everywhere were telling of miracles of healing wrought by Peter and his companions in the hated name of Jesus. 24 SAUL OF. TARSUS 25 At length Saul had the satisfaction of seeing them summoned again before the Sanhedrin for trial; and he was now ina position to make his influence felt against them. But just at the moment when their conviction seemed cer- tain, up rose his beloved teacher Gamaliel to say, ‘Refrain from these men; lest haply ye be found fighting against God!” All the more fiercely burned the fire in the young zealot’s bosom. It rejoiced him to know that the Christians were being perse- cuted with increasing vigor. Presently when the deacon Stephen was summoned before the Court, he was foremost among those who, gnashing on him with their teeth, “ran upon him with one accord;” and he held the clothes of the frenzied rabble that stoned him to death. Never, never would he forget the bleeding, upturned face that, amid a shower of stones, shone like an angel’s face! Never would he cease to hear the voice that cried, “T see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God”— standing, as if to welcome him! But the haunting vision served only to goad him on to greater zeal. His conscience was 26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL now aflame against the followers of Jesus. On learning that many of them, fleeing, had found refuge in Damascus a hundred and fif- ty miles away, he begged for a commission to go thither and hunt them down; and the San- hedrin were rejoiced to grant it. He sets out on the road to Damascus with a bodyguard of horsemen. He carries with him credentials as Chief Inquisitor and a search-warrant. He speeds like a ravening beast to its quarry, “breathing out threaten- ings and slaughter against the disciples” and all of that Way.* God of the innocents, wilt thou not inter- pose? *He counted their lives no better than the lives of wild dogs. He had no respect for age, condition or sex. He thrust his bloody hands into the very secrecy and sanctity of the Christians’ homes, and dragged out both men and women to have them cast into prison, or with little show of justice to be scourged or stoned to death—Taylor’s Life of Paul. V—RIGHT ABOUT FACE We left Saul of Tarsus on the warpath. It is high noon: but never was a noon like this. Suddenly a light above the brightness of the sun—a Voice piercing to the quick of a mailed conscience—a pair of blind eyes groping helplessly for a clue to the labyrinth of thirty misdirected years—then, rise up, Paul the Apostle, a new man in Christ Jesus! See him—the man who rode but an hour ago with the pride of a Lucifer to conquest— stumbling into Damascus, “led by the hand,” fovdecitne thats) hise)esus! is the Christe! A miracle has happened. ‘We thought of this man going into Damascus like a storm,” says Dr. Parker, “and he went in like a blind beggar! We thought he would have been met at the city gate as the great destroyer of heresy, and he was led by the hand a helpless cripple! Presently he will increase in strength, the right strength, the power that has deep roots; not the power of transient fury, but the solid and tranquil strength of complete repose. The 27 28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF SD. PAUL mightiest chief under Christ that ever led the Christian hosts was thus conducted by friend- ly and compassionate men into the city which he intended to devastate.” On entering the city with his message he finds his old friends turned against him; and is obliged to flee for his life.* * The most direct road to Jerusalem must have been the one by which Saul went to Damascus. Picking his way, then, from the place where he was let down to the ground, across the gardens and orchards and fields, perhaps leaping or wad- ing some of those irrigating canals that ran all about the city, he would be likely, as soon as it was safe, to strike the highway. Before dawn he was climbing the slopes of Anti- Lebanon; and when the sun rose over Damascus no doubt he turned to take a farewell look at the city, decked in its robes of shining green, yhich had been to him the scene of th; beginning of a new life—Taylor’s Life of Paul. VI—FORGOTTEN In the deserts of Arabia for three years the man keeps solitary tryst with his new Master. Was ever a. Theological Seminary so well adapted to the business in hand? So se- cluded, so orthodox, so near to God! He then returns to Damascus to declare with renewed earnestness his conviction that “This Jesus is the Christ.” But the Jews naturally will have none of it. Persecution follows: he makes his escape in a basket let down from the wall and betakes himself along the mountain road to Jerusalem. Whom will he visit there? Peter the fisher- man, of all men! He spends fifteen days with him. Par nobile fratres! Behold the democ- racy of Christian fellowship! Not yet, however, has the hour struck for Paul’s ministry to begin. It remains for him to experience “the rarity of Christian char- ity.” Frozen out by the Christians at Jerusa- lem, who should have welcomed him with open arms, whither shall he gop 29 VII—HOME AGAIN He turns his steps to Tarsus, the old home town, where he spends three more years of waiting—waiting all the while for a more definite answer to his question, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to doP” Of these years in Tarsus we have no record. Were any of his kinsfolk still living there? If so, he probably received no welcome at their hands: and it is morally certain that his former friends gave him the cold shoul- der. But no word of complaint escapes him. He is neither lonely nor discouraged, since Christ is with him. He can afford to await the specific orders of his new Master as to what he will have him to do. It must, however, have been a sore trial to the faith of a man who had sacrificed so much for his convictions—who had dreamed dreams of usefulness and seen visions of great things to be accomplished for Christ—to be ma- rooned in an unfriendly town so long. But ‘they also serve who only stand and wait.” 30 VIII—LIFE BEGINS The answer comes at length in an unex- pected way. Off in Antioch the Lord 1s bless- ing his people. Souls are being converted as doves flying to their windows. Barnabas is there with other evangelists; but help is needed. “Where is Saul, my old classmate?” asks Barnabas. “‘He would be the very man for us. I will go over to Tarsus and see.” He finds him there; he brings him to Antioch; and the work speeds on. Presently the Voice of the Spirit is heard, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work WMiereuntomluenaviencalleds them. ol heyeare set apart accordingly; and behold the mis- sionary propaganda of the centuries under way! Saul of Tarsus vanishes from this time on, and Paul the Apostle forges to the front. He is now forty years of age. He has waited a long while for a definite call to service; but every hour of his preparation had _ been marked out in the divine plan. He is ready 31 2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL at last. And as in subsequent years he pur- sues his journeys by land and sea, amid perils oft and triumphs equally so, he will be re- viewing the past with a grateful recognition of the wisdom and lovingkindness of the Lord who promised that in the fulness of time it would be shown him “‘what things he must do.” So runs the promise: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” The years of preparation are over: the strenuous life begins. Henceforth the soul of this man will at times mount up as on eagle’s wings in flights of heavenly vision: more fre- quently will he be called upon to run on eager, gladsome feet to do his Master’s errands; but his never-ending task will be to walk without fainting. It is easy to fly, buoyed up with hope, kin- dling one’s eyes at the full mid-day beam (2 Cor. 12:1-14). It is easy to run in an Olym- pic race, compassed about with a great cloud of applauding witnesses and stimulated by the SAUL OF TARSUS a9 “high calling” of the King at the golden mile- stone (Heb. 12: 1, 2). But to walk along an uphill road, staff in hand, alone save for one invisible Presence, in perils oft, in weariness and painfulness, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in labors abundant (2 Cor. 11:23-27)—to plod right on, patiently, trust- ingly, hopefully—to walk and not faint—this is what tries the soul of a man. Will Paul be able? Let him speak for himself. Again and again in the coming years we shall hear him paying tribute to the faith- fulness of his unseen Friend. Not infrequent- ly he will be overwhelmed ‘with a sense of personal weakness, but the Lord will stand by him; insomuch that he will be able to say, “When I am weak, then am I strong. Most gladly will I glory in mine infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” In the dangers of his A°gean voyage he says the Lord stood by him. In the Pretorian camp, in the judgment hall at Cesarea, in the Mam- mertine jail, the Lord stood by him. “In perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the 34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL wilderness, in perils among false brethren,” the Lord stood by him. He was “troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed,’ because the Lord stood by him. And when at last he was summoned to Rome to answer for his life, he says, ““No man stood with me, but all forsook me’’; yet there the Lord stood by him. Of our own selves we can do nothing; but when buttressed by Omnipotence the weak- est of mortal men may boast with humble Paul, “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me!” Part II PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS oo 7 iy i“ tte si sic? oy Fakes | ray < ' INTRODUCTION The following pages are written in the hope of bringing order out of the confusion which prevails in the minds of many Bible students as to the Journeys of Paul. In a frontier town in the West, sixty odd years ago, a Sunday School class of boys was required to commit to memory the “Acts of the Apostles.” Their teacher was John Bally, a carpenter by trade, who found it easy enough to interest his pupils until they reached the Journeys of Paul, where, in the labyrinth of crossings by land and tackings by sea, they were, like Milton’s fallen angels, “in wandering mazes lost.” — There is something to be said for this old- fashioned way of lodging the Scriptures in the youthful mind,—seven verses a Sunday for a blue ticket, seven blues for a red, seven reds for a yellow and seven yellows for a Testament with the Superintendent’s name 37 38 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL on the fly leaf. The pride of that day! Of course we wondered what was the use of memorizing such a verse, for example, as this: ‘‘There arose a tempestuous wind called Kuroclydon; and when the ship was caught and could not bear up into the wind we let her drive’’: but many a time in the passing of the years that same remembered verse has helped me. What better can one do indeed, when tossed about by contrary winds, than to cast out the tackling, under- gird the ship with prayers and promises and ‘let her drive’’? The writer, who was one of John Bally’s boys, ventures the hope that the following pages may inspire a deeper confidence in the profitableness of all Scripture ‘‘for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. ’’ FOREWORD Acts 1:1-9 The opening words of the Acts of the Apostles are singularly significant: ‘‘The former treatise (i.e. The Gospel according to Luke) I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.”’ By this we are given to understand that our Lord’s earthly ministry of thirty years was only the beginning of a campaign of doing and teaching which must continue until every knee shall bow before him. What then did the dying Saviour mean when he eried, ‘‘It is finished!”’ Not that all sinners were saved. The paying of the ransom on Golgotha made all alike salvable; but they had yet to be in- formed of the Good News and ‘‘constrained to come in.’’ Not that the Kingdom of Heaven was established on earth. The foundation was now laid and cemented with blood: but the 39 40 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL superstructure had yet to be reared upon it. Not that Christ had so fully completed his work that nothing remained for his disciples to do. On the contrary, a long campaign was before them, ‘‘as laborers together’’ with him. This was the particular reason why Jesus returned after his resurrection and remained with them forty days. He wished to mark out the Plan of the Campaign which they and their successors were to pursue for the evangelization of the world. The keynote was struck in the word ‘‘Go’’ which rings through the record of the forty days. But the disciples were loath to go. They remained in and about Jerusalem for at least five years, until persecution drove them out. At the stoning of Stephen ‘‘they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preach- ing the word.’’ Had they taken Christ at his word in the first instance that tragedy might have been unnecessary. ‘The Master is a great Teacher; in one way or another he insists on having his way with those who follow him. Paul’s Campaigns I SAUL OF TARSUS Acts 9: 1-22 A year or two after the death of Stephen a young man named Saul, of Tarsus, was converted to Christ. He had been a witness of the tragedy referred to, had ‘‘held the clothes’’ of the sanctimonious platoon, had seen the martyr’s face shining ‘‘as it had been the face of an angel,’’ and had heard his cry, ‘‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”’ He was unable to escape the logic of that scene. ‘I'he face that shone amid the shower of stones must have haunted his dreams, un- til the day came when, on his way down to Damascus ‘‘breathing out slaughter against the disciples,’’ he saw again the hght that had glorified the face of Stephen and heard a Voice that filled his soul with trembling, ‘‘T am Jesus, whom thou _ persecutest!’’ 41 AO ULSTER GAN D)IGE In eR or @ ht silica Gale Blinded for a season, he saw things hidden from fleshly eyes; and turning right-about- face he cried, ‘‘Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?’’ The answer in brief was, 66 Go Wg Three days later, in the house of one Judas, of Damascus, his commission was more clearly outlined as ‘‘a chosen vessel to de- clare the name of Christ to Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.’’ He then received his sight, was baptized and straight- way began to preach Christ. qt THE SUMMONS AcTs 11: 19-26 [Here occurs an Interval of Seven Years.]| It chanced that among those who had been scattered abroad at the stoning of Stephen, some had gone with the gospel as far as Antioch in Syria, where a revival occurred in which ‘‘a great number believed and turned unto the Lord.’’ The Church at Jerusalem was appealed to for help, and it sent Barnabas, who was destined to figure largely in the enterprises of the early Church. BARNABAS Our information about this man is as fol- lows: First, he was called ‘‘the son of Con- solation,’’ which intimates that his heart was full of kindliness. Second, he was ‘‘a good man’’; a most comprehensive phrase. 43 44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Third, he was ‘‘full of the Holy Ghost,’’ that is, surcharged.with spiritual light and power. Fourth, he was ‘‘full of faith,’’ the faith that makes things-hoped-for substantial and establishes things-not-seen upon evidence that cannot be gainsaid. Great qualifica- tions, these, for a missionary intent upon the winning of souls. SAUL OF TARSUS SENT FOR The work at Antioch grew to such dimen- sions that Barnabas was moved to cast about for some evangelist to help him. His thoughts immediately turned to Saul of Tarsus. Where was he? After his conver- sion, feeling the need of further thought and training, he had betaken himself to the Ara- bian desert. What a theological course that was! After finishing his three years’ cur- riculum among the solitudes, he returned to Tarsus to await further orders. This was where Barnabas found him. ‘‘And he brought him unto Antioch.”’ There great things awaited him, as we shall see. Til THE RENDEZVOUS Acts 13: 1-3 The center of operations, which had hith- erto been in Jerusalem, was now to be shifted to Antioch in Syria. At the begin- ning of our narrative the work in this great Gentile center had continued for a whole year under the direction of Barnabas and Pale Observe that Saul at this time assumed his Roman name, which was the proper thing for him to do in a Gentile city. Observe, also, that the names of Barnabas and Paul will occur hereafter in the reverse 1A side-light is thrown upon the fraternal relations of the Jewish and Gentile Christians by the events recorded in Acts 11: 27-30 and 12. It appears that Paul and Barnabas left Antioch, while the revival was in progress, to carry to Jeru- salem a contribution for the relief of the famine-sufferers there. The state of affairs in Jerusalem at the time is set forth vividly in this parenthesis, which, though important as a link in the history of the early Church, is here omitted be- cause it has no immediate bearing on the story of the mission- ary journeys. 45 46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL order; because as the campaign progresses the latter forges to the front. And observe that the preaching of these missionaries is so Christocentric that the converts are ‘‘first called Christians in Anti- och’’; a title originally given in derision but clothed with honor the world over to this day. PREPARATIONS In one of the early meetings of that mem- orable year at Antioch an incident oc- curred which gave a directing and controll- ing influence to subsequent events. The Voice of the Holy Spirit was heard saying, ‘‘Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.’’ In this divine call, re-emphasizing the commis- sion of Christ, we find the rationale of an en- terprise which was destined to change the currents and countercurrents of all history and set them flowing, just in the measure of Christian faithfulness, toward the Golden Age. First. These men were ‘‘separated’’ to ‘‘90.’’ All followers of Christ are required to ‘‘go’”’ in like manner, and to keep going PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 47 as witnesses and evangelists of Christ; but all are not separated for work in ‘‘the re- gions beyond’’ like these men. Some are called to go down to the porches of Bethesda or out into the highways and hedges as city missionaries; others to go through the fron- tier villages of Galilee as home missionaries; _ still others to go into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon and the regions beyond as foreign missionaries. But as Paul and Barnabas, when they sallied forth, were sustained by the united prayers and substantial support of all who remained behind, so are the Chris- tians of our time required and expected to stand behind the missionaries whom they send forth to the lands that lie in pagan darkness and the shadow of death. The words of William Carey when embarking for India, ‘‘As I go down into the mine, I depend upon you to hold the rope,’’ put to an open shame all those who oppose world- wide evangelism. Second. Paul and Barnabas were joined together for the work. So were the seventy sent out two and two; because ‘‘two are bet- ter than one, for if one fall the other will 7 48 LIFE AND:LEDTVERS OF ST? FAUL lift him up.’’ And there was a particular fitness in the companionship of these two; because the fervor of one would strengthen and supplement the gentleness of the other. In process of time Paul and Barnabas had two quarrels; once over the wisdom of con- tinuing the services of John Mark, whose courage had failed him at the foot of the Macedonian hills (Acts 15:36-40) and again over the necessity of admitting con- verts to the church through the door of Jew- ish ceremonialism (Gal. 2:11-13). But both these quarrels were adjusted in a friendly spirit. Third. 'They were not only ‘‘separated”’ and joined together but equipped for their work. They had faith, courage and the charismata, or special gifts of the Spirit, for the working of ‘‘signs and wonders’’ to buttress their message. Indeed they had everything but money. Of this Barnabas had none, because he had previously given up all his possessions for the relief of needy Christians (Acts 4: 36, 37) ; and as for Paul, he had undoubtedly been ostracised and stripped of his birthright when he accepted PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 49 Christ (Phil. 4:16-18). Thus they went forth, according to the Master’s injunction, ‘‘without serip or money in their purse,’’ but strong in faith and in the power of the Holy Ghost. GOING WITHOUT GOLD It is greatly to be feared that in our time we are laying too exclusive an emphasis on the financial factor in missions. ‘The work requires money, no doubt; but money is not the principal thing. The most wonderful results in the history of the propaganda have been accomplished by men of consecra- tion who, once convinced that they were sent of God, waited for no further send-off. For the furnishing of the workers and the endow- ment of the work all Christians are required to give generously of the possessions which, as the Lord’s stewards, they hold in trust, and subject to His call; but, whether there be money in the scrip or not, whosoever is ‘‘sent to seek and to save the lost’’ must go. And the wealth that builds schools, hospitals and churches is vain without an assurance that God ean, if need be, wholly dispense with it. IV THE FIRST JOURNEY ACTS 13: 4-12 The Campaign was now under way. On setting out from Antioch in Syria the two missionaries, accompanied by John Mark as a courier and assistant, turned their faces toward the island of Cyprus, probably for two reasons; first, because it was the birthplace of Barnabas (Acts 4:36) and second, because there were Christians there to welcome them (Acts 11: 20). AT SALAMIS A quick run of a hundred miles, between sunrise and sunset, would convey them from Seleucia, the seaport of Antioch, to Salamis on the eastern coast of Cyprus. Of their work in this place there is no record except this, ‘‘ They preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.”’ . 50 "A'N'°OD ® ATINNOW ONYY lWolesnisf @ earvsseg4—— un ju09} ee) yoornuy a . X 4, 0 FIY EA O-VAS- N IW ‘ . “ygwntedy 2 as ot a) eae ee al oe 0" a rrered PAUL'S CAMPAIGNS at The fact that there was more than one synagogue there gives us to understand that the missionaries had access to many Jews; but what are we to infer from the absence of persecution and the narrator’s silence as to conversions? Were their hearers in Salamis so hidebound in formal sacerdotal- ism as to cavil at the ‘‘good news,’’ or so in- different to the claims of their own Messiah that they wilfully hid as it were their faces from him? In any ease the missionaries left the place conscious of having done their best and hopefully trusting in the promise, ‘He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing bringing his sheaves with Napha ner” AEA ELOS On the other side of the island, a hundred miles away, was Paphos, a city of a different sort. It was important as the residence of Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor, who is mentioned as a ‘‘prudent man.’’ He had in his retinue a soothsayer whom he was ac- customed to consult, particularly in matters ape LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST; PAUL pertaining to religion. But the mind of Sergius was nevertheless open to conviction ; so that on hearing of the arrival of the mis- sionaries he invited them to come and unfold ‘the word of God.’’? At this point, how- ever, the soothsayer interposed and would have made the gospel of none effect but for the vigorous onset of Paul: ‘‘O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord! And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.’’ Whereupon there fell on him a mist and a darkness; so that he must needs have some to lead him. Here vanishes Elymas the soothsayer. Let us hope that his temporary blindness, hike that which had previously befallen Paul himself, enabled him to see spiritual things in the right way. As for the governor, he was:convinced of the truth of the Gospel and ‘‘believed’’; that is, he accepted Christ with a saving faith. The itinerants had no intention of tarry- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS a3 ing long in Paphos or, for that matter, any- where else. They had delivered their mes- sage and could well afford to leave the re- sults with God. The ship was ready to sail; a south wind was blowing. Farewell to Cyprus, and to Sergius Paulus rejoicing in newness of life! On to the regions beyond, where other souls were awaiting the good news! Vv AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA Acts 13: 13-52 The port of entry in Pamphylia, where the missionaries landed, was the ancient and honorable city of Perga. It was now mid- summer, when most of the people were in the cool shelter of the mountains; wherefore, without tarrying, they resolved to push on. At this juncture John Mark, the nephew of Barnabas, who had accompanied them as courier, announced that he would go no fur- ther. Perhaps the perils of the mountains frightened him; or possibly he was home- sick, longing for his widowed mother in Jerusalem. Whatever the reason, he ‘‘de- parted and went not with them to the work.’’ This was doubtless a great disappointment to his uncle Barnabas, but even more so to Paul who, as we have seen, was slow to for- getit. (Acts 15: 37-40.) 54 PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 55 The next objective point of the itinerary was Antioch in Pisidia, which lay about a hundred miles inland among the hills. It would be at least a three days’ journey for these footmen, through an uninhabited coun- try. We may imagine Paul and Barnabas holding converse along the way, staff in hand, weary but resolute, kneeling together at nightfall and sleeping under the stars. The Sabbath after their arrival found them in the synagogue. Their presence was observed; and after the reading of the Scrip- ture lesson the usual invitation was given, ‘*Brethren, if ye have any word of exhorta- tion for the people, say on.’’ Paul, on such occasions, always did have something to say. The message that trembled on his lips when- ever he stood in the presence of his fellow- Jews was, ‘‘This Jesus is the Christ.’’ So here; the burden of his first recorded ser- mon is the Messiahship of Jesus, whom they had crucified, despite what was written, ‘‘ Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and per- ish: for I work a work in your days which ye shall not believe though a man declare it unto you.”’ 56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL The sermon made so deep an impression that Paul was urged to preach again on the next Sabbath; but during the week the rab- bis had fomented such opposition that, when the congregation reassembled, there was a concerted uproar against him. Then occurred one of the most significant and far-reaching incidents of the campaign. ‘The missionaries turned upon their turbu- lent Jewish assailants with these words: ‘‘It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but see- ing ye put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles!’ | Thus was the key turned to open the gos- pel door to all people. Thenceforth the walls of separation were broken down. The Gentiles were glad to listen, and many of them were converted to Christ: but as for the missionaries, the Jews being filled with rage ‘‘expelled them out of their coasts.”’ On leaving Antioch they ‘‘shook off the dust of their feet,’’ to signify that, having done their utmost, they were free from re- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 57 sponsibility for the welfare of those who persistently refused the good news. But their work had not been as ‘‘water poured upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again’’; for they left behind them not a few disciples ‘‘filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost.’’ So did these har- vesters pass on to the regions beyond, re- joicing that their labor was not in vain in the Lord. VI IN THE MOUNTAINS OF LYCAONIA Acts 14: 1-20 On being driven out of Antioch in Pisidia the missionaries crossed the border and pur- sued their way along the great highway lead- ing from Ephesus to the valley of the Eu- phrates. This was one of the roads which Cesar had constructed in pursuance of his purpose of universal conquest. Little did he dream that it was destined to be used subse- quently for the propaganda of the Prince of Peace: AT ICONIUM On this great highway, about sixty miles east of Antioch, lay the important city of Teconium. For three days at least the mis- sionaries trudged on afoot through a deso- late country, leaving no word on record as to the indubitable dangers that befell them along the way. On reaching the city they at once, accord- 58 PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS hese: ing to their custom, betook themselves to the synagogue, where ‘‘they so spake that a great multitude,’’ not only of the Jews but of the Hellenists—that is, Gentiles who had es- poused the worship of Jehovah—were con- verted. In the words ‘‘they so spake’’ we have an intimation that Paul preached his customary sermon, ‘‘opening and alleging that Jesus is the Christ.”’ Of course there was trouble; and as a mat- ter of course the unbelieving Jews began and fostered it. Nevertheless the mission- aries kept up their work for ‘‘a long time,”’ probably for some months; and they might have continued it indefinitely but for an as- sault led by the rabbis of the synagogue, with certain Gentiles whose minds were ‘‘evil affected against them.’’ Whereupon the two yokefellows, mindful of the Master’s words, ‘‘When they persecute you in one city flee unto another,’’ left Iconium and plodded on. AT LYSTRA A journey of about forty miles to the southeast, on the same highway, brought 60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL them to Lystra, an out-of-the-way place with few attractions for visitors. But there were souls there needing to be brought out of darkness into light. The town had no synagogue. Just out- side the gate was a Temple for the worship of Jupiter: and thereby hangs a tale. It was believed that Jupiter with his messenger Mercury had once visited Lystra. ‘The story is told by Ovid on this wise: ‘‘Here Jove with Hermes came; but in disguise Of mortal men concealed their deities. One laid aside his thunder, one his rod, And many toilsome steps together trod. For harbor at a thousand doors they knocked ; Not one of all the thousand but was locked. At last a hospitable house they found, A homely shed; the roof not far from ground Was thatched with reeds and straw together bound. There Baucis and Philemon lived. From lofty roofs the gods repulsed before, Now stooping, entered through the little door. The man (their hearty welcome first express’d) A common settle drew for either guest.”’ The neighbors who had refused to enter- tain their divine visitors were subsequently punished by a terrible flood; but Philemon PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 61 and Baucis were rewarded by seeing their hut miraculously changed into a splendid temple, in which they were appointed to minister to the gods. *‘Their little shed, scarce large enough for two, Seems from the ground increased, in height and bulk to grow. A stately temple shoots within the skies: The crotchets of their cot in columns rise: The pavement polished marble they behold; The gates with sculpture graced, the spires and tiles Ormerod The preaching of the missionaries at Lys- tra was in the market-places and open courts of the houses. One of the far-reaching con- quests here was the conversion of a Jewess named Eunice, with her mother Lois and her son Timothy, a youth who was destined to play an important part as one of Paul’s most efficient helpers in after years. The miraculous healing of a cripple—who had doubtless been brought into the congre- gation to solicit alms—led the people to con- elude that the gods were making them an- other visit. Barnabas, the taller and more imposing man, was taken for Jupiter: and 62 LIFE AND LET EERS COR ST sPAUL Paul, eloquent but of ‘‘mean presence,’’ was Mercury, his messenger. A rush was made for the Temple outside the gate; oxen were brought for sacri- fices and garlands to crown the celestial vis- itors. Meanwhile the preaching in the open court went on; until the pagan priest, ar- rayed for sacrificial rites, appeared in the doorway. Then, in sudden consternation, the missionaries dispelled the illusion, cry- ing, ‘‘Sirs, why do ye these things? Wealso — are men of like passions with you, and preach that ye should turn from these vani- ties unto the living God!’’ No saint-wor- ship forthem! (Rev. 22: 8, 9.) It is but a short way from garlands to cobble-stones. No doubt some of those who had followed Christ on Palm Sunday cry- ing, ‘‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’’ were in the mob that on the next Friday shouted, ‘‘Crucify him!’’ So here; there was a speedy reaction, due to the influence of cer- tain ones who had pursued the missionaries from Antioch and Iconium to oppose them. Paul was stoned, dragged out of the city and left for dead. A few faithful friends— PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 63 Barnabas with Lois and Eunice and young Timothy—ministered to him. But Paul was not dead. A man is im- mortal till his work is done. The Lord had further need of him. So he arose; and the next morning, sadly bruised but undaunted in spirit, he with faithful Barnabas trudged on. AT DERBE The city of Derbe lay on the same road twenty miles further on. Their ministry here was undisturbed. Probably their en- emies, ‘‘supposing that Paul was dead,”’ con- eratulated themselves that the campaign of these troublers, who were ‘‘turning the world upside down,’’ had come to an end. But the work continued and in Derbe ‘‘many were taught.’’ Among them was a certain Gaius, who would presently join the itinerant group as a faithful servant of Christ. (Acts 20: 4.) Vil THE RETURN Acts 14: 21-28 If the mind of Paul had not been so wholly concentrated on the business in hand he would surely have turned aside on leaving Derbe to visit his old home at Tarsus, which was only a few miles away. But the love of Christ constrained both him and Barnabas; and they were much concerned for the con- verts whom they had left behind them. Who could tell what persecutions had be- fallen them, or how many had been allured from the faith? For this reason they resolved to retrace their steps. Danger lay that way, but duty also. Wherefore, like their Master, they ‘‘set their faces steadfastly to go.’’ One city after another they revisited—Lystra, Ieconium, Antioch—fearless amid the scenes of former persecution, intent upon encour- 64 PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 65 aging their converts and building the super- structure of their character and usefulness on the foundations of their faith. In the account of the backward journey of these missionaries we have a clear outline of their logical method of procedure. First, Evangelization. This comes fore- most always in ministerial work: the pres- entation of the gospel as the power of God unto salvation. ‘To omit this is to run with- out a message and to forfeit the penny at evening, ‘‘ Well done, good servant!’’ Alas for a minister who does not realize his high privilege and responsibility as a winner of souls! Second, Edification, or ‘‘building up’’ in the most holy faith. In the words ‘‘con- firming the souls of the disciples”’ there is of course no reference. to any formal cere- mony of ‘‘confirmation,’’ but to the strength- ening of their belief in Christ and loyalty to him. This is further emphasized by the ex- hortation ‘‘to continue in the faith; and that we must through much tribulation (literally, harrowing) enter into the kingdom of God.” It is a mistake to suppose that our full 66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL salvation is accomplished when we accept Christ. That does, indeed, deliver us from the penalty of sin; but it is only the begin- ning of that larger ‘‘salvation which is ready to be revealed in the last time.’’ This is the salvation which we are to ‘‘work out with fear and trembling,’’ to work out into its full fruition of character and usefulness. -And it is the business of every minister to see that Christians are thus confirmed in their most holy faith. ) Third, Organization. As they revisited the scene of their former labors the mission- aries ‘‘ordained elders in every church.”’ These elders or ‘‘presbyters,’’ who are else- where called ‘‘bishops,’’ were chosen by the people, as indicated by the word ‘‘ordained,”’ which literally means ‘‘elected by a show of hands.’’ Thus the converts were organized into churches—not only for self-government but for co-operation in service—and ‘‘com- mended to the Lord.”’ AT PERGA This done, Paul and Barnabas pushed on to Perga, the seaport where they had done PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 67 nothing on their previous visit. As the summer was now over and the people had re- turned to their homes, the missionaries tar- ried and ‘‘preached the word.”’ Then—probably because there was no ves- sel in port—they went on to the neighboring town of Attalia, where they took ship; and so back to Antioch in Syria. AT ANTIOCH IN SYRIA The Church assembled to hear their report of ‘‘all that God had done with them’’ dur- ing the two or three years of their absence; and there was great rejoicing as Paul and Barnabas rehearsed how God had ‘‘opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.’’ So ended the first of the great Missionary Journeys. ‘‘A long time’’ elapsed before another was undertaken; but a zealous spirit like Paul’s cannot be confined in any ‘‘pent- up Utica.’’ Weshall presently see him ven- turing forth upon an enterprise still more boldly planned to carry the gospel to the ut- termost parts of the earth. A PARENTHESIS Acts 15: 1-35 [Not long after the return of Paul and Barnabas from their first missionary tour a serious trouble developed in the church at Antioch. It was fomented by certain con- verts who, like Paul himself, had previously belonged to ‘‘the most straitest sect’’ of Jewry, but, unlike him, had not fully entered into ‘‘the glorious liberty of the children of God.”’ The contention was that Gentile converts should enter the Christian Church by the Jewish door; that is, they must submit them- selves to the ceremonial law. Now the cere- monial law, which was typical and prophet- ical of Christ, had been fulfilled at his com- ing, and therefore had passed away, as mists vanish at the rising of the sun. So it is written, ‘‘ He blotted out the handwriting of 68 PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 69. ordinances that was against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.’’ (Col. 2:14.) The Gentile Christians main- tained that salvation was conditioned sim- ply and solely on personal faith in Christ; but these high-churchmen insisted that un- less they would comply with the Jewish re- quirements ‘‘they could not be saved.”’ The two positions were irreconcilable. The breach widened accordingly, and the trouble spread rapidly among the churches. Something must be done and done quickly. A deputation, including Paul and Barnabas, was chosen to go up to the mother church at Jerusalem and confer with the apostles and elders about it. THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM The distance from Antioch to Jerusalem was about three hundred miles: more than five times what it would be by the travelling facilities of our time. On their journey the delegates conferred with churches along the way and were doubtless joined by other com- missioners. When they reached Jerusalem an informal conference was first held with 70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL the apostles and elders, after which the Council was convened, with James, the pas- tor of the mother church, in the chair. This was the first, and in many respects the most significant, of a series of Gicumen- ical Councils held at intervals, as occasion seemed to require, down to the time of the Reformation. The next of importance was the Council of Nicea, a. D. 325, in which the question of the Trinity was discussed—for the most part by men who had suffered for the truth’s sake in recent persecutions—and was determined for all time. Its monument is the Nicene Creed. But the question be- fore this Council at Jerusalem was one of most immediate importance, because, until it was settled, the Gentiles were kept wait- ing at the doorway of the Church. The first address was made by Peter. We have of course the merest outline; but sufficient is given to indicate its bold and im- passioned character. He began by remind- ing the Council how the Lord had chosen him ‘‘a good while ago’’ to open the door to the Gentiles. The reference was to the day of Pentecost, fourteen years before, when he PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 71 had turned the key—the key: which Christ had previously committed to him for that purpose (Matt. 16:19)—-saying, ‘‘The promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off.’’ (Acts 2: 14— 39.) He then begged the Council not to put a ceremonial yoke upon the necks of the converts which neither their fathers nor themselves had been able to bear; and con- cluded with a ringing statement that the only condition of salvation for all alike is vital faith in Christ. Paul and Barnabas followed with an ac- count of their missionary journey and the many conversions which had occurred along the way. This carried its own appeal with it. Then arose James, the minister of the mother church. He would naturally be dis- posed to favor the Jews, but his address was in the interest of peace by mutual conces- sion. He began by supporting Peter’s position as to the open door, and showed how the prophets had foretold it. He then, as the Moderator of the Council, pronounced his ‘‘sentence’’ or conclusion. This was 12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL drawn up in the form of a letter to be sent to all the churches, as follows: The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment: wt seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to zdols, and from blood, and from things strangled: and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well. PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 73 In this letter we observe, first, a principle laid down: to wit, the great doctrine of Justi- fication by Faith; and second, a policy marked out, namely, that, so far as conces- sions could be made without any sacrifice of principle, they should be made by both sides. On the one hand, the Jews were to give up their insistence on the ceremonial law; on the other, the Gentiles were to refrain from certain practices which gave offence: (1) from blood—which the Jews avoid to this day; (2) from things strangled—because the blood remains in them; (3) from meats laid on pagan altars and subsequently offered for sale in the shambles—because this seemed to imply complicity with idol-worship; and (4) from the sensual habits which were prevalent among all pagan nations and to which the Gentile converts were especially prone. These mutual concessions were so obviously reasonable that the trouble ended then and there. THE RETURN On the return of the missionaries to Anti- och a meeting was held at which the letter 74 LIFE AND‘ LETTERS OF ST. PAUL was read and all ‘‘rejoiced for the consola- tion.’? One thing had been settled, that no priest or ecclesiastical court was to be al- — lowed to stand in the way of any sinner in his approach to Christ. Settled? Yes, so far as a Council could settle it. But the Cross is always an offence, and free grace has never ceased to be a stumbling-block to the natural man. As time passed the Church drifted away from its moorings until, in the Dark Ages, it was again swamped in the stagnant waters of priestly ceremonialism. Then came Lu- ther and the other reformers with a new proclamation of the old truth of Justifica- tion by Faith. They called it articulum ecclesie stantis aut cadentis, that is, ‘‘the Doctrine of a Standing or a Falling Church.’’ And so it is and must continue to be. Moses and Elias go their way, and none is left but ‘‘Jesus only.’?’ In Him alone we put our trust; ‘‘ Him first, Him last, Him midst and all in all.’’| “A'N “OO ® ATIWNOW GNVY \ wayesniof VLIVIN v TAC V=AO-VAS S = Be ee AANYOOL GNODYS AHL AO. LMVHD= a 7 * ~ ; ) LIFE AND EER LERS OF Sit PAUL away the dreary hours of the night by sing- ing, probably one of the Hillel Psalms with the refrain, ‘‘Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men!’’ Then ona sudden the earth began to tremble and the prisoners’ chains were loosed! The jailer awoke, and supposing that his wards—for whose safeguarding he was re- sponsible with his life—had escaped, would have killed himself; just as nowadays a Jap- anese jailer would commit hari-kari under like circumstances. But Paul cried, ‘‘Do thyself no harm! We are. all here!’’ Whereupon the man, who had_ probably heard Paul’s message, cried out under sud- den conviction, ‘‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’’ There could be only one answer: ‘*Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ!’’ That done, the rest would be plain sailing. The jailer fell in with the overtures of divine mercy and became a Christian. Here were three wonderful trophies to show for the campaign at Philippi. And who shall say how many were saved through them ? PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 83 We now observe Paul in a different light. Thus far he had pursued his work as a most humble man. But when the magistrates, on Jearning that Paul was a Roman citizen and had been scourged without due process of law, sent messengers to say, ‘‘ Let those men go,’”’ those men refused to go. ‘‘Nay, verily,’’ said Paul. ‘*They have beaten us openly, uncondemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? Nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out!’’ Thus he stood squarely upon his rights. But when anything was to be gained by do- ing so, we shall find that he and his com- panions were ever willing to lay down all their rights that men might walk over them into the kingdom of God. x AT THESSALONICA Acts 17: 1-9 On being driven out of Philippi the band of missionaries turned their faces toward the west. ‘*‘Westward the course of Empire takes its way.’’ A journey of seventy miles —passing through the unimportant towns of Amphipolis and Appolonia—brought them to Thessalonica; and there, in the hos- pitable home of Jason, they fried for sev- eral months. Why were they attracted to riiheesalericen 2 First, because it was a populous place and in many respects the most important city in that portion of the world. Second, because there was a considerable number of Jews there, whose religion furnished a foundation for the preaching of the Messianic claims of Jesus. Third, because it was the center of the weaving industry; where Paul the re PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 85 tent-maker would be likely to find work. (1 Thess. 2:9.) Fourth, because it was a eoign of vantage for an enterprise that was intended and expected to radiate far and wide. To-day Salonica is the second city of Tur- key in Europe. In the World’s War the troops of the Entente Alliance were landed there to advance upon the enemy on the east- ern front. On three successive Sabbaths the mission- aries preached in the synagogue,’ reasoning from the Scriptures that ‘‘this Jesus is the Christ,’’? and with the usual result. Many of the Hellenes, i. e., Judaized pagans, were converted; but the Jews themselves were ‘‘slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.’’ Then, as their cus- tom was, the missionaries left the synagogue and turned to the Gentiles, enough of whom were converted to form the nucleus of an important church. It was too much to expect, however, that they would be allowed to continue in this 1There are thirty-six synagogues in the modern city of Salonica. 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL way. The Jews succeeded in persuading certain ‘‘lewd fellows of the baser sort’’— the lazzarom or ‘‘idlers of the forum’’—to drive them out. A mob stormed the house of Jason, and, not finding the missionaries, carried him and his associates before the magistrates, who, perceiving no ground of action, bound them over to keep the peace and let them go. All of which suggests a number of things. First, the gospel never changes. A con- verted Jew in charge of a mission among his countrymen tells me that his work is pre- cisely along the lines marked out by Paul, ‘‘opening and alleging from the Scriptures that this Jesus is the Christ.’’ Second, the opposition never changes. The Christians of Armenia are persecuted and massacred by the Turks on the pretext that they are turning things ‘‘upside down’’ by their insistence on the supremacy of Christ. Third, the assurance of success never changes. Paul and his companions may have counted their labor as water poured upon the ground; but ten years later, in a PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 87 letter written to the church in Thessalonica, he says, ‘‘From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia; but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad.’’ The faith to Godward of these Christians was no light hid under a bushel: it ‘‘sounded forth’’ like the blast of a trumpet before the chariot of an advancing king; it ‘‘went forth’’ like the shout of an army following after him. Let all the Lord’s workers be of good cheer; the seed-sowing is never 1n vain, though oftentimes the harvest ripens on their graves. ‘The promise is yea and amen: ‘*He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless’’ (not may but shall; not perhaps but doubtless) ‘*‘come again ae rejoicing, et ras his sheaves with him.’ XI AT BERGA ACTS 17: 10-14 On leaving Thessalonica, under cover of the night, Paul turned his face toward the southwest; and after a journey of sixty miles came to Bercea. This was a city of no special importance except for the fact that it lay on a slope of the Olympian range and was supposed to be under the special care of the twelve gods. The Jews of Bercea are characterized as ‘‘more noble than those of Thessalonica”’ be- cause ‘‘they received the word with readi- ness of mind.’’ This is a Title of Nobility which is open to all. ‘*A king can mak’ a belted knight, a marquis, duke an’ a’ that’’; but only God can admit a man into the Peer- age of Truth. (1) Its*saidiot these Berceans, to their credit, that “‘they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”’ 88 PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 89 By this we are given to understand, on the one hand, that they believed in the Scrip- tures as the infallible test and standard of truth. As to their inspiration, this was not an open but a closed question, having been settled by and for these converts when they entered into covenant with God. The reason why many of the church mem- bers of our time are oppressed with doubts as to the fundamentals of the gospel is be- cause they are not fully persuaded in their own minds that the Bible can be trusted; a point which should have been determined at the very outset of their Christian life. On the other hand, it appears that when Paul presented some unusually startling propositions, they did not take him at his word, but ‘*searched the Scriptures’’ to see whether these things were so. What a lot of perplexity would be avoided if the Christians of our time were to treat current problems in the same way. ‘The trouble is that, in many cases, the original question as to the trustworthiness of Scrip- ture is still undetermined, so that they have nothing to go by. Instead of applying the 90 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL divine touchstone to their doubts, they must needs be forever investigating the reliability of the touchstone itself. In many of our so-called ‘‘Bible classes’’ the pupils are instructed about the Bible and not in it. They are lke prospectors who go about searching for a gold-field, rather than like miners who, having found a gold- field, are engaged in getting the eat out of it. (2) We are advised, fEom the example of the Bercans, as to the right method of searching the Scriptures. There are some who read the Bible for no other purpose, apparently, than to criticise it. This is the case with many who eall themselves ‘‘Biblical experts’’; they ap- proach the Book with an ill-disguised preju- dice against it. Of course, under such cir- cumstances, they find errors and discrepan- cies where none are visible to unbiased eyes. There are others who study the Bible to confirm their own opinions. These are evsegetes, reading their own views into the Book instead of getting their doctrine out of it, as devout exegetes are wont to do. PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS fa Others still are moved to search the Scrip- tures by a sincere desire to discover the truth. In order to succeed in this quarter there must be, first, a readiness to learn what God has to say about the matter in hand, and, second, a personal independence which takes no man’s word for it. The Berceans were to be praised for declining to accept Paul’s statements on his own recognizance until they had applied the touchstone. No man’s ipse diait is final, whether in the pul- pit or out of it. Nothing is conclusive but the Word of God. (3) What was the result? The Berceans came to the conclusion that Paul’s postulate, ‘‘his Jesus is the Christ,’’ was true to their Oracles; and therefore they accepted it. Thus they found Christ, as it is written, “Therefore many of them believed.’? And, finding Christ, they found life also; as he himself had said, ‘‘Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think (and rightly think) ye have eternal life; and these are they which testify of me.”’ Here we leave the Berceans. The preach- ing of Paul might have gone on indefinitely a2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL but for mischief-makers who came over from Thessalonica and created a disturbance. With a due regard for discretion as the bet- ter part of valor, he took his departure to larger fields. The pagan world was before him—Athens, Corinth and the regions be- yond! Still ‘‘ Westward the course of Em- pire takes its way.”’ XIT AT ATHENS AcTsS 17: 15-34 On being expelled from Bercea the apostle went down to the nearest seaport and took ship for Athens. A three days’ voyage car- ried him past some of the most memorable scenes in history, such as Thermopyle, where Leonidas and his three hundred died for freedom, and Marathon, where Themistocles drove back the Persian invasion. But Paul’s interest lay further on. Landing at Pirzus, he at once proceeded to Athens, ‘‘the eye of Greece, mother of arts and eloquence.”’ Standing alone in the market-place he saw a city ‘‘wholly given to idolatry.’’ There were statues of the gods on every hand; colonnades of gods; ‘‘more gods than men.”’ On looking down the street of Hermes he saw a winged figure of the Olympian herald 93 94. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL in front of every home; if he looked along the Avenue of Tripods, he would see an un- broken line of altars and statues, with votive offerings presented by grateful athletes Whom the gods had helped in the Isthmian games. Gods everywhere! Gods on ped- estals, in niches, on the corners of the streets; gods and demigods; good, bad and indifferent—a wilderness of gods! No won- der the devout soul of the missionary was stirred within him. | He began his work at ‘once, ‘‘disputing in the synagogue with the Jews, and in the Agora daily with them that met with him.’’ There was no difficulty in getting an audi- ence; for Athens was proverbially the para- dise of gossips and saunterers. Its shib- boleth was, ‘‘What’s the news?’’ So they gathered about him, men and women, priests and philosophers, all sorts and conditions of people. And he spoke to them of Jesus and the Resurrection, or as the Greeks had it, ‘‘ Jesus and Anastasis,’?’ whom they sup- posed to be a pair of new deities. He who introduced a god into Athens was counted a public benefactor. The interest of his audi- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 95 ence was thus enlisted at once. Presently they said, ‘‘ Let us go to Areopagus for a bet- ter hearing.’’ So to the Hill of Mars they went; and the apostle there preached a ser- mon which has come ringing down the ages. OBSERVE THE PREACHER A little man, stoop-shouldered, weak-eyed and a stammerer; but it did not take the Athenians long to discover that here was no ordinary man. OBSERVE THE PULPIT A fateful place. Many a culprit had been there. devoted to death. On this platform Demosthenes had stood and uttered ‘‘ breath- ing thoughts in burning words.’’ Here Soc- rates had made his apology and was con- demned to drink the fatal hemlock. On a shelf of rock near by stood the Temple of the Furies; and above it towered the Temple of Mars. To this place Paul brought such ‘‘news’’ as these newsmongers had never heard before. He spoke as an ambassador from the court of heaven, bringing a mes- sage of peace to troubled souls. 96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL OBSERVE THE AUDIENCE Not a few of Paul’s hearers had the names of their deities worn as frontlets between their eyes. Here were philosophers also and students in classic robes, representing all the various schools by the Ilissus. Some were Stoics; 1. e., pantheists, who spoke of God as ‘the universal soul,’’ and of man as an ex- halation whose destiny was to be absorbed presently in the all-pervading Spirit of the Universe, as a drop of water disappears in a boundless sea. Others were Epicureans, materialists, who said ‘‘Death ends all.”’ And, inasmuch as life was circumscribed by the narrow horizons of time and sense, what better could they do than make the most of the passing hour? Their aphorism was, ‘‘Let us eat, drink and be merry; for to- morrow we die.’’ Others were Academ- icians, practical agnostics, whose sugges- tions were all prefaced with a perhaps or it-may-be-so. And besides these there was the usual throng of curiosity-mongers and hangers-on. To the mind of the great Mis- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 97 sionary all these were souls, precious in the sight of God. OBSERVE THE SERMON Its exordium was most felicitous. Tak- ing for his text the inscription upon an altar which he had observed in the market-place, ‘“To an Unknown God,’’ he began by say- ing, ‘‘ Ye men of Athens, in all things I per- ceive that ye are very religious.’’ It was a clever compliment and gained him their good-will. Huis proposition was announced in these terms: “‘This unknown God de- clare I unto you.’ He then proceeded to show how God, so far from being really un- known, had unveiled himself in many ways: first, in creation; he ‘‘made the world and all things therein’’: second, in providence; ‘*In him we live and move and have our be- ing’’: and third, in grace; ‘‘By that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he raised him from the dead.’’ At this point the speaker was interrupted and the assem- bly was broken up. 98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL OBSERVE THE RESULT There were some who mocked; others who said, “‘We will hear thee again’’ (but they probably never did), and a few who believed. Among these were Dionysius, a member of the Court of Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, of whom we hear no more. But Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill was not in vain; for thus saith the Lord, ‘‘As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watercth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’’ XITTI AT CORINTH Acts 18: 1-22 All that now remains of Corinth is a con- fused mass of ruins. At the time of Paul’s visit it vied with Athens in renown: but they were very different cities. Athens was learned and aristocratic; Corinth was com- mercial and democratic. Its two ports, Cen- chreez on the east and Lechzum on the west, invited the commerce of the world. Its magnificent places of amusement made it the most popular of summer resorts. Its Tem- ple of Venus (where no less than a thousand so-called ‘‘priestesses’’ were consecrated to open sensuality) with innumerable shrines of other gods, threw over its nameless vices the glamour of religion. To speak of a woman as ‘‘a Corinthian’’ was equivalent to calling her a courtesan. ‘To say that a young man was ‘‘living in Corinth”’ was to affirm that he was recklessly sowing his wild oats. 99 100 .LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL It was a busy, wealthy, populous, pleasure- loving, splendid, wicked city. Paul was alone when he came to Corinth, having left his three companions—Luke, Silas and Timothy—to look after the con- verts in Philippi, Thessalonica and Bercea. He began his work, as usual, by preaching in the synagogue, ‘‘and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.’’ When Silas and Timothy joined him he had added impetus; he was ‘pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.’’ As usual the Jews refused to hear him. He then ‘‘turned to the Gentiles’’: and continued his labors among them a year and a half, organizing the converts into one of the strongest and most faithful of the early churches. Among the first of these converts were Aquila and Priscilla, a man and his wife who, having been driven out of Rome by the decree of Claudius against the Jews, had come to Corinth and set up a tent-maker’s shop. Paul found employment here and, while engaged at his trade, converted his em- ployers to Christ. In after years they were among his most devoted friends. PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 101 Another of the early converts of this cam- paign was Crispus, the ruler of the syna- gogue, who of course lost his position when he accepted Christ. He and his family were among the few whom Paul himself baptized ; this sacrament being usually committed to other hands, perhaps because of his physi- cal infirmities. (See 1 Cor. 1: 14-17.) Another of the Corinthian converts was Gaius, probably a man of considerable wealth and distinction; whom Paul calls ‘‘my host,’’ from which we may infer that the apostle made his home with him. (Ro- mans 16: 23.) Another was a certain Justus, ‘‘whose house joined hard to the synagogue.’’ When the synagogue was closed to the preaching of the gospel, the home of Justus was thrown open to the followers of Christ; and the Corinthian church, which was destined to play so important a part in history, was organized there. Another of Paul’s personal friends was Sosthenes, who had succeeded Crispus when the latter was deposed as ruler of the syna- gogue. Paul speaks of him affectionately 102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL as ‘four brother.’? (1 Cor. 1:1.) It would appear that he subsequently served as the apostle’s seribe or amanuensis, a_ helper greatly needed by Paul on account of his weak eyes. There were many other Corinthian stars in Paul’s crown of rejoicing, some of whom ~ are mentioned, all of whom are recorded in the heavenly Book of Remembrance. In one of his darkest hours of spiritual depres- sion—for Paul was a man of like passions with other men and there were many dis- couragements in his lonely work—he had a vision in which the Lord comforted him by saying, ‘‘Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee, . . . for IT have much people in this city.’’ By which he was given to understand that his work was not to be measured by its visible fruits. ‘The Lord knoweth them that are his.’’ Who can count the ‘‘hidden ones’’? An attempt was made by the Jews to break up Paul’s work, by bringing against him the charge, ‘‘This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law,”’ i.e., con- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 103 trary to the Jewish law. fortunately the ease came before a brother of Seneca, known as ‘‘the amiable Gallio,’’ who at this time was Proconsul of Achaia. As a Roman magistrate he very properly declined to pass upon a purely religious question and threw the matter out of court. The church at Corinth being organized and well under way, Paul ‘‘took leave of the brethren’’ and set sail for home. By the way he tarried at Ephesus and at Jerusalem —where he had a vow to fulfill—and at > Cesarea; and then on to Antioch, the center of operations, to report the blessed results of his Second Missionary Journey. It was, doubtless, a happy ‘‘hame-bringing,’’ accom- panied with much thanksgiving for the good- ness of God. How little did the wealthy, worldly, pleas- ure-loving, idol-worshiping people of Cor- inth suspect that their city would find its most enduring fame through the patient, difficult, inconspicuous work of Paul! Who would have imagined that its most distin- guished citizen, the Proconsul Gallio, would 104 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL best be remembered by his association with ‘‘the ugly little Jew’’!* Here is comfort for all humble workmen. ‘‘Toil on; in hope o’ercome The steeps God set for thee; For past the Alpine summits of great toil Lieth thine Italy !’’ 1So Renan calls Paul, AN “OO ® ATIWNoW ONVH weaesnisf@ £ * WE Baresard (9) Sera = = =z = Ss yr — or = BOTUOTeSSeyy tdditryg HOW AUD THNYNOLS AGYInI AHL AO INWH D Fe ‘a aa » ted F ‘ 7a Bs 5 POA Sale = pee Soy? ee eee ee oe : hy 4 if a ; sy : A x # cf . . ~ a o % ¢ Se RM Se id tc hy cee Se ; ae ad $ my ‘ * War Kei? “yy \ > ae a * ~ ‘ is © Phi 3 Z . 1 - i . ‘ bs ot | ¢ * 3 1 - r i 7 bs hy e fa) oes ~~ iy A 3 ; ' 24 a 4 ; ABs YY, r, 43 ai 2: Na ate “a é ‘s A. 1) EE ia a , Fi mF E ie . ". ‘ a q i t }e ; * *" we ~ - + A ee PY Faz ina geet < aon SO sien eras) | Sides reer et ope ones t, *)- Bey panes XIV THE THIRD JOURNEY ACTS. 18: 23-28; 19:1-41; 20:1 On reaching Antioch in Syria, at the close of his second journey, Paul settled down for ‘‘some time,’’ probably the greater part of a year. Then the wanderlust of missions again took possession of him; and he set out to revisit and ‘‘strengthen’’ the churches. ‘*All the country of Galatia and Phrygia,”’ being familiar ground, was passed over as rapidly as possible and without note. The great city of Ephesus was the first objective point; after which Paul proposed to push on to Corinth, thence to Jerusalem, and after that to Rome. Always to Rome! AT EPHESUS But events so shaped themselves, and so great were the demands of the people of Ephesus, that on reaching that city he was 105 106. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL constrained to remain there three whole years. T. It will be remembered that on the re- turn from his second missionary journey he had brought with him the _ tent-makers Aquila and Priscilla, whom he left at Ephe- sus. (Acts 18:19.) These faithful work- ers had not been idle there; but by a quiet ministry had been arranging a full ‘‘prepar- edness’’ for Paul’s arrival. IJ. The presence of Apollos in Ephesus had contributed to the same end. He is spoken of as ‘‘a Jew of Alexandria, an elo- quent man and mighty in the Scriptures.”’ The fact that he came from Alexandria, the city of the great library and of the Septua- gint, is an intimation that he was a learned man. His familiarity with the Scriptures shows that he was a loyal Jew. The further statement that he ‘‘taught diligently the things of the Lord’’ makes it clear that he had at least accepted the Messiahship of Jesus; and, being ‘‘fervent in spirit,’’ he was doing his utmost to persuade others to believe in it. But as yet he was inadequately equipped PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 107 for his work, ‘‘knowing only the baptism of John.’’ He had learned much of Jesus at second hand; but of his real teaching, of the true significance of the Cross, and particu- larly as to the reality and personality of the Holy Spirit, he had little or no information. At this juncture Aquila and Priscilla came to the rescue. ‘‘T'hey expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.’’ A curious conjunction, this; the learned Apollos sitting at the feet of two tent-makers! Was there ever a stranger theological seminary than this in the house of Aquila and Priscilla? But even they could not fully instruct him in the way. They could help him to move on from the baptism of John the Baptist, which was only unto repentance, into the baptism of Jesus, which was unto the fulness of life; but they were incompetent to advise him as to the miracle of Pentecost and its wonderful significance. Poor Apollos! It is a hard business for one who has not made the acquaintance of the Holy Spirit to ‘‘run up the heavenly way.’’ III. This, then, was the state of affairs when Paul arrived in Ephesus. Apollos 108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL was not there to greet him, having gone on to Corinth with credentials from his Ephe- sian friends; and he was now engaged in ‘‘helping believers and convincing the Jews”’ of that city: but he had left behind him in Ephesus a little group of earnest seekers after truth. Paul at once entered the synagogue after his usual custom, and for three months con- tinued to ‘‘speak boldly,’ ‘‘disputing and persuading the things concerning the king- dom of God’’: and of course with the usual result. | On being expelled from the synagogue he entered the School of Tyrannus—possibly a philosopher who had lost his following— where he made his headquarters for two years ormore. During this time three inci- dents of special note occurred. First, Paul met the followers of Apollos, twelve men in particular, of whom he asked, ‘‘Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?’’ They answered (not, ‘‘We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost,’’ but), ‘‘Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 109 given.’’ Whereupon Paul told them how Christ’s promise had been fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost. And when they con- fessed that they had only received John’s baptism unto repentance, he baptized them ‘‘in the name of the Lord Jesus,’’ with the baptism of fire and power. Second, the great bonfire. The supersti- tious use of the name of Jesus by the seven Sons of Sceva, for the healing of demoni- acal possession, led to a general revolt among the Christians against all sorts of fetichism; so that charms and cabalistic letters of every sort were brought together and burned up. If all our fetiches were thus disposed of— such as rosaries and crooked sixpences and broad phylacteries and foolish dreads of thirteen and Friday and the like—what a bonfire there would be! Third, the riot, led by Demetrius the sil- versmith. Paul’s preaching against the worship of idols had so reduced the sale of shrines and images that great Diana, the tutelary goddess of Ephesus, was being set at naught. The craftsmen, whose business was seriously affected, stirred up the popu- 110 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL lace; and Paul and his companions might have fared badly indeed but for the tactful management of the town-clerk in dispersing the mob. It was at length apparent to Paul that the time had arrived to move on: so ‘‘he called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed.’’ He had already dispatched Timothy and Erastus to Corinth to prepare the way before him. On to Thessalonica, to Berea, to Athens, to Rome. Always to Rome, the center of the world! He must preach the gospel at Rome! XV A BUSY YEAR—A.D. 57 Acts 20:1-12 At the close of Paul’s three eventful vears in Hphesus, ‘‘the uproar having ceased,”’’ he resumed his journey: leaving Timothy be- hind him to look after the welfare of the Christians in that city. (1 Tim. 1:3.) He went afoot to Troas, probably canvass- ing en route the Seven Churches of Asia. He had been hoping that Titus would join: him at Troas; but being disappointed in this, he pressed on alone, *‘exhorting’’ by the way. (2 Cor. 2: 12, 13.) On reaching Macedonia he revisited the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica and Be- rea, meanwhile reaching out into other un- evangelized towns and villages. Not satis- fied with this he pushed on into the regions beyond, going ‘‘round about unto Illyri- 111 12. EIFECAND ICE DPERS I Ohrs DRAW cum,’’* the mountainous country on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. It is characteristic of Paul that he should have passed over this important and danger- ous itinerary with so slight mention. Who knows what wonders were wrought, what seed-sowing for future harvest, by this ‘‘roundabout’”’ tour? ‘‘The day shall de- clare it.’”’, (Romans 15:19; 1 Cor. 3:13.) He then turned southward into Greece, and on reaching Corinth was comforted by the arrival of his beloved Titus. (2 Cor. 7:6, 7.) While there, for a period of three months, he not only preached and ministered to the disciples but found time to write the Epistle to the Romans, which was sent by the hand of the deaconess Phoebe, as a cir- cular letter to the Gentile churches. It was now his purpose to sail for Syria, accompanied by seven chosen helpers; namely, Sopater, Aristarchus, Secundus, Gaius, Timothy, Tychicus and Trophimus; anoble band. But ‘‘man proposes, God dis- poses.’’ A plot was discovered against the 1]llyricum embraced the modern countries of Bosnia, Croatia and Dalmatia. PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS IPs life of Paul which made it necessary for the Seven to sail without him, the understanding being that he would rejoin them at Troas. So Paul, alone and afoot, turned his face toward the north and came roundabout to Philippi, where he was in time to join his friends in the keeping of the Passover; a feast which had a peculiar significance for the early Christians by reason of its close association with the Lord’s Supper. (1 Cor. 5:7, 8.) At this point Paul’s comfort and happiness were greatly enhanced by meet- ing Luke, his physician and devoted friend, who had been left in charge of the Philippian church and whose connection with the nar- rative is still indicated by the occurrence of the familiar ‘‘ we.”’ After the celebration of the feast, Luke says, ‘‘we sailed away from Philippi,’’ and eame ‘‘to Troas.’’ The voyage took five days, twice the usual time, by reason of the equinoctial winds. On their arrival they met the seven missionaries with many others and remained seven days. On the evening of the first day of the week (note the observ- ance of the First Day as the Christian Sab- 114 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL bath), when the chureh was assembled for worship, Paul preached until midnight. The room was crowded, the air was bad (ow- ing to ‘‘many lights’’), and the sermon was long: wherefore it is not surprising that a youth named EKutychus should have gone to the window ledge for a breath of fresh air. Overcome by faintness and drowsiness, he fell into the street and was taken up dead; whereupon Paul restored him to life. The meeting then continued until the break of day. The band of missionaries took ship the next morning; but again they left Paul be- hind them. For some reason he preferred to go afoot and by himself, agreeing to rejoin his companions at Assos, a port of entry twenty miles south. Here with his staff in hand on the lonely road we leave him. A busy year, indeed. Paul was a born itinerant: and how wonderfully he made his itineraries tell for the glory of God! He was engaged all this year in doing three things: ' First, ‘*Exhorting.’’ The Greek here means ‘‘calling near with much discourse.”’ PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 115 Paul was always persuading the unconverted to come to Christ and Christians to come nearer. This was his conception of preach- ing. There are many unsuccessful preach- ers who would do well to adopt it. Second, writing to the churches. Two certainly and probably more of his epistles were composed during this year. How did he find time for this? Where was his leisure for study? The answer is that time and leisure are always given in sufficiency to those who plan great things for God. Third, ‘‘Collecting for the saints.”’ It was in Paul’s mind, when projecting this journey, to canvass the Gentile churches for another offering in behalf of the famine- stricken Christians at Jerusalem. This help was in due time received by the mother ehurch with many thanks; and it served as an effective bond of union between the Jew- ish and Gentile followers of Christ. So did the great Missionary employ his time and energy for Christ. In that very year the Roman general Suetonius was push- ing his conquests in Britain. Who would have predicted that Paul would survive Sue- 116 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL tonius even in the world’s esteem? Yet so itis. The reason? Paul had set his heart upon the noblest and best, saying, ‘‘The love of Christ constraineth me.’’ Paul, like Suetonius, was dreaming of con- quest, but of another sort. In his Epistle to the Romans (15: 20-33) he says, ‘‘ Whenso- ever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you.’’ He meant to reach Spain— the end of the world by ‘‘the Pillars of Hercules’’—pausing at Rome on the way! What if he did fail of that far-distant goal? It is the dreamers of dreams and the seers of visions who ever accomplish great things for God. XVI AT MILETUS ACTS 20: 13-38 FAREWELL TO OLD FRIENDS The group of missionaries, as we have seen, sailed from Troas without Paul; the understanding being that he would rejoin them at Assos. He set out, accordingly, alone and afoot—perhaps because he longed to be by himself for prayer and meditation— and after a journey of twenty miles reached Assos, where the ship with his friends was awaiting him. The voyage was close in- shore and cautiously slow on account of the equinoctial winds. No stop was made at Ephesus, because Paul wished to be at Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost. The ship touched, however, at Miletus; which was near enough for the elders of the Ephesian church to come, at the summons of the great apostle, to hold a farewell interview with him. 117 118 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL The most notable of the ruins of this an- cient city of Miletus are the standing col- umns of a pagan temple and the well-pre- served circle of an amphitheater once thronged by the pleasure-seekers of Ephesus. But never did that imposing place witness so memorable an assembly as now knelt upon the shore under the open sky. The address of Paul began with a touching review of his faithful ministry among them: ‘Ye know how I was with you, in all humil- ~ ity and with many tears; how I taught you publicly and from house-to house; how I kept nothing back, but declared unto you the whole counsel of God.’’ Then a brief refer- ence to the future: ‘‘I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there, save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, say- ing that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”’ Five years later we shall see him still PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 119 confronting the future with unfaltering faith and courage, saying, ‘‘Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”’ _ Ten years later still we shall find him in the Mammertine jail, listening for the foot- fall of his executioner and saying, ‘‘I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my de- parture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”’ Wonderful faith! Splendid courage! Noble ambition; to ‘‘finish his course with j oy” He then, in his address, turned from him- self to the needs of his Christian friends. Hear his ominous words: ‘‘I know this, that after my denarting shall grievous 120 *LIFE AND'DETDERS OF ST. PAUL wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, Speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.’’ Wolves! Wolves! He was not thinking of persecu- tion. He assumed that as a matter of course; and took it for granted that the elders of Ephesus would be prepared to meet it. But wolves in sheep’s clothing! Some ‘fof your own selves’?! Men in canonicals and bound by ordination vows! Then followed a two-fold warning. First, ‘*‘take heed to yourselves!’’ For doubtless they were inwardly asking, like the disciples in the upper room, ‘‘Is it 1?”’ Paul himself was not overconfident of his own strength, else why should he say, ‘‘ Lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway’’? (1 Cor. 9: 26, 27.) Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Second, ‘‘Take heed to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood.”’ PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 121 Observe, he does not say, ‘‘Make food for the flock,’’ as some of us ministers would seem to interpret it. The food is adequately provided in the Word of God; our business is simply to administer it. Wherefore all true sermons are expository. The mere opinion of a surpliced clergyman is of no more value than the tpse diait of other men. People come to church not to hear what the preacher has to say about the great prob- lems of life and immortality, but to hear what God has to say through him. Our function, accordingly, is not to manufacture truth and ethics, but to feed the flock with what has been divinely provided, and to ‘keep nothing back,’’ but ‘‘declare the whole counsel of God.’’ This two-fold admonition is followed by a recital of certain words of Christ which are recorded nowhere else in Scripture: ‘‘Re- member the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.’’ Thanks to Paul for this authentic quotation. It stands as a monograph of the wonderful life of Him who came not to be 122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ministered unto but to minister, and marks out the path of usefulness for all who follow Him. The meeting closed with prayer. ‘‘He kneeled down and prayed with them all.’’ Would that the words of that prayer had been left us. Of this, however, we may be sure; it is preserved in those ‘‘golden vials of odors’? with which the four-and-twenty elders minister in the services of the Heay- enly City. (Rev. 5:8.) The elders have now gathered about Paul to say farewell. They are weeping, ‘‘most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more.’’ Fare- well! The moorings are loosed; the ship is under way. “The best of friends must part’’? Nay, Paul and the elders must indeed part, but not Christ and his true friends. For has he not said, ‘‘I will not leave you; lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end’’? ‘*T could not live apart from Him; I love to feel Him nigh; And so we dwell together, My Lord and I.’’ XVII BOUND FOR JERUSALEM ACTS 215122, 237% 1-22 The ship on which the missionary band left Miletus made ‘‘a straight course’’ to the southeast, touching only for necessary sup- plies and. for unlading at ports along the way. | AT TYRE The first stop of any importance was at Tyre, which would probably be reached on the sixth day. Here there was a delay of a whole week, which Paul and his companions put to profitable use. The Christians there —some of them possibly dating their con- version from the time when Jesus made his foreign missionary tour in that region (Matt. 15:21)—were at once assembled to hear what their distinguished visitors had to say. It was a blessed week of fellowship, but 123 124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL most trying to Paul, who was earnestly en- treated not to persist in going to Jerusalem. Tears and entreaties, however, were of no avail. Finding him immovable in his pur- pose, Luke says, ‘‘They all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city.’’ Then, as at Miletus, ‘‘we kneeled down on the shore and prayed.”’ Again, farewell! AT PTOLEMAIS The ship touched at Ptolemais (familiarly known to students of the Crusades as Acre) for a single day: just long enough to ‘‘salute the brethren’”’ and say good-by. The rest of the journey to Caesarea was overland, about forty miles. AT CASSAREA Paul and his companions on their arrival here were met by the brethren, among whom was Philip the Evangelist, one of the orig- inal seven deacons, who had been driven out of Jerusalem thirty years before by the per- secuting Jews. In his hospitable home Paul was entertained ‘‘many days.’’ There were PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 125 four unmarried daughters in the family, who had devoted their lives to ‘‘prophesy- ing,’’ the word being used broadly to signify the teaching of religious truth. What an oasis in the itinerant life of the busy apostle these ‘‘many days’’ in a happy home must have been! While he was there a divinely called and equipped teacher named Agabus came down from Jerusalem to warn him against his pro- jected visit to that city. He dramatically took off Paul’s girdle and bound it about his own hands and feet, saying, ‘‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that own- eth this girdle!’’ Whereupon, says Luke, ‘He and they of that place besought him not to go.’’ But their entreaties were of no avail. Paul answered, ‘‘What mean ye to weep and to break my heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.’’ And when he would not be per- suaded, they ceased, saying, ‘‘The will of the Lord be done.’’ So the devoted band took up their luggage and went on, like Christ himself on his last 126 °\LIFE AND CE ISDERS Oily PAUL fateful journey to Jerusalem, their faces ‘‘set steadfastly to go.’’ They were accom- panied out of Cesarea by a bodyguard of Christians, among them an old disciple named Mnason, of whom we shall presently hear more. Little did Paul dream what a different escort he would have when he Should next return to this fateful city! AT JERUSALEM On reaching Jerusalem the missionaries were ‘‘gladly received’’ by the brethren of the mother church. Paul was happily en- tertained in the home of the aged Mnason. He was now among the familiar scenes of his boyhood. No doubt he met many of his for- mer Jewish friends, some of whom would recall their association with him at Gama- liel’s school; others who had known him of- ficially in the Sanhedrin in what they would have called his palmier days. On the morrow after his arrival a meet- ing of the ‘‘official board’’ of the church was called, at which James the pastor and his elders were ‘‘all present.’’ Paul told them the story of his missionary journeys thus PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS Vey far and of their rich ingathering of souls. But these Jewish Christians were in nu mood to rejoice with him. There was trouble in the air. ‘‘Thou seest, brother,’’ said James, ‘‘ how many among us are zealous for the Jewish law. It is rumored that thou hast been teaching the Gentile converts that it is not necessary for them to observe that law. When thy presence in the city is spread abroad, take heed! We have this to sug- gest: here are four men who are discharging a vow: go up to the Temple, remain with these votaries during the ceremonial rites and pay their charges. This will disarm criticism and our people will have naught against thee.’’ | Inasmuch as no sacrifice of principle was involved in the proposed concession, Paul agreed to it. This was in pursuance of his policy of ‘‘being all things to all men, that he might by all means save some.’’ (1 Cor. 9:22.) The line, however, was always drawn at the boundaries of right and wrong. But in this case his seemingly harmless compromise did not accomplish the desired 128° “LIFEJAND (LETTERS SOR Sie PAUL. end. It chanced that certain Jews of Ephe- sus, who had come up to Pentecost, saw Paul in the Temple and immediately raised the ery, ‘‘Men of Israel, help! Here is that apostate who has been preaching against us!’? Presently the whole city was in an up- roar and Paul was faring ill at the hands of a bloodthirsty mob. The captain of the Roman garrison which was stationed at the Castle of Antonia near by, hearing the tumult, came at double-quick © with a troop of six hundred men. Paul was rescued, bound with chains to a soldier on either hand, and carried away to the castle. As he was being taken up the outer stair- way he explained to Captain Lysias who he was and desired permission to address the mob. This was granted; and he proceeded to tell the oft-repeated story of his conver- sion. All went well until he referred to his commission, ‘‘I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.’’? That was like a spark to tinder. ‘‘Away with him! Away with such a fellow from the earth! It is not fit that he should live!’’ He was hurried into the castle, and a com- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 129 mand was given that he should be examined by scourging. But when Paul remarked that he was a Roman citizen, the captain not only desisted from the proposed scourging but gave orders that his prisoner should be loosed from his bonds. Thus it appears that Paul, who was always ready to turn the other cheek when anything was to be gained by doing so, was ready also on occasion to stand upon his rights. The next morning, on being haled to trial before the Sanhedrin, he began his defence by saying, ‘‘Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.’”’ That was as far as he was permitted to go. The high priest, who was none other than the sensual and corrupt Ananias, com- manded him to be smitten on the mouth. Paul, not knowing in the confusion who had given this command, retorted, ‘‘God shall smite thee, thou whited wall!’’ On being reproved for thus speaking of God’s anointed, he made a suitable explanation and apology. As Paul was then proceeding with his de- fence he perceived that certain of the Jews 130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL who were present sympathized with him in his affirmation of the resurrection of the dead: and, knowing that this was a hone -of contention between the Sadducees and Phar- isees, he executed a flank movement, so to speak, and divided his foes. Thereupon a great tumult arose. The Sadducees cried out against Paul; but the Pharisees said, ‘“We find no evil in him. Let us take heed lest we be found fighting against God!’’ So back to the castle went the prisoner at the bar. The next day a conspiracy was framed up against Paul. There were forty Jews—as zealously bent on evil as were Ali Baba and his forty thieves—who bound themselves by a solemn vow to kill him. It chanced, how- ever, that Paul’s nephew got wind of the matter and informed Lysias of it. The cap- tain, fortunately, was not a man to counte- nance this sort of thing. At nine o’clock that night the sound of horses’ hoofs was heard in the open court of the castle. The prisoner was brought out and placed in the charge of a military escort of five hundred men, who were charged to take him to Casa- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 131 rea and deliver him safely to the Roman Governor in that city. So ended Paul’s visit to Jerusalem. Was it a failure? No man fails who follows the pillar of cloud. Our success is never to be measured by visible results, but by faithful- ness in the discharge of whatever duty may be assigned to us. What said Luther when warned not to attend the Diet of Worms? ‘‘T would go, at my Lord’s command, though _ the road to Worms were lined with devils as thick as the tiles on the housetops along the way.”’ This is to quit one’s self like a man! XVIIT AT CHSAREA ACTS 23: 23-35; 24; 25; 26 On reaching Cesarea the Roman troop— that had been charged with the safe conduct | of Paul delivered him over to Felix the Gov- ernor, with the letter of Captain Lysias, as _ follows: “Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent Governor Feliz sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army and rescued him, having understood that he was a@ Roman. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth wto their Couneil. There I perceived him to be accused of ques- tions of their Law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. And when it was told me how that the Jews 132 FAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 133 laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell.’’ It was only twelve days since Paul had left Caesarea, despite all forebodings and warnings; and what a tragic return was this! He was then an honored guest of the breth- ren; now he is bound with chains and held as a prisoner in the Judgment Hall. The religious leaders at Jerusalem, gnash- ing their teeth at his escape, made haste to follow him. It was a journey of seventy miles; but none too far for Ananias the priest, whose ears were still tingling with Paul’s ‘‘thou whited wall’’; nor for others of the Jews whose hearts were full of bitter- ness against him. They brought with them a Roman barrister, named Tertullus, that the case might be suitably conducted at a Roman Court. THE TRIAL BEFORE FELIX The counsel for the prosecution began with the usual flattery of the court, and then 134. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL presented the indictment, which was in three counts: First, the prisoner was a disturber of the peace; second, he was a ringleader of the Nazarene sect; third, he was guilty of sacrilege in profaning the Temple of the J ews. Paul entered a plea of not guilty under all but the second of these charges, affirming that there was no proof to sustain them. An acquittal was in order, for lack of evi- dence against the prisoner; but Felix was not the sort of magistrate to decide a case upon its merits. A slave by birth, a freedman by happy circumstances, an office-holder by im- perial favor, a past-master in all notorious vices, he postponed his decision ostensibly until Captain Lysias should arrive with the necessary proofs, but really in the hope that Paul’s friends would buy him off. THE PRISONER ON EXHIBITION Now it chanced that Felix had a most beautiful and graceless paramour, named Drusilla, whose curiosity was aroused by what she had learned of the eloquent Jew; so that she must needs hear him. He was PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 135 summoned, accordingly, and invited to speak. A stranger audience had never as- sembled there; the Governor, his charming drab and the court favorites in rich apparel. No buttered words of compliment fell from the preacher’s lips that day. This man with a chain on either wrist spoke straight as a bolt of lightning to the sinful hearts of his hearers. ‘‘Righteousness, temperance, judg- ment to come’’! Well might Paul tremble for his temerity! It is not Paul, however, but Felix who trembles! He and the little Jew have changed places. The Governor stands a shaking prisoner at the Judgment Bar of God! But his fear is only momen- tary; a glance at Drusilla the enchantress dispels it. Farewell, opportunity! ‘‘Go thy way for this time; when I have a con- venient season I will call for thee.’’ The ‘‘convenient season’’ never came. It is a true saying, ‘‘Time and tide wait fornoman.’’ Paul languished two years in the guard-house, while Felix continued to take his pleasure at the pace that kills. Then, being removed from office, he left his prisoner bound ‘‘to please the Jews,”’ 186. LIFE ANDILETTLERSIOF SI. PAUL THE TRIAL BEFORE FESTUS The next Governor was a different sort of man. In Josephus’ life of him he speaks of Festus as ‘‘a just and efficient ruler.’’ He had scarcely entered on his office before there came a request that Paul might be sent back to Jerusalem for trial before the Sanhedrin. A fine proceeding that would have been! Of course Festus refused; but he invited the rabbis to come down to Cesa- rea and conclude the ease. A few days later they were on hand; and court was opened with Festus on the bench. The charge was presented with ‘‘many and grievous complaints’’; to all of which the prisoner entered his former plea of not guilty. And unfortunately for his accusers they had still no evidence against him. The Governor was disposed to favor the Jews if it could be done without violating the law; wherefore he asked Paul if he had any objec- tion to the transfer of his case to Jerusalem that he might ‘‘there be judged of these things.’’ Paul’s forbearance had now reached its PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS | 137 limit. He was weary of being beaten to and fro by petty magistrates in provincial courts. Thus far he had submitted without a mur- mur; but the time had come to stand upon his personal rights. If anybody has esti- mated the stature of this man at five feet two, let him measure him now! ‘‘I have done no wrong; I have spent a weary term in your guard-house: I have suffered no end _ of indignities at your hands. I will not go up to Jerusalem! I am a Roman citizen! I appeal to Cesar!’ After a brief conference with his coun- sellors as to the prisoner’s right of appeal, there being no alternative the decision was given in legal form: ‘‘T’o Cesar thou hast appealed; to Cesar shalt thou go.”’ The court adjourned, and Paul went back to prison to await the sailing of a govern- ment ship which was to convey other prison- ers also to the imperial city. But his heart was singing; he was going to Rome! Not indeed as he had hoped, free to declare the unsearchable riches of Christ; but he was going to Rome; and he was going in the way divinely marked out for him. 138 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL THE PRISONER AGAIN ON EXHIBITION It happened that, while Paul was awaiting his transfer, Agrippa, the King of Trachoni- tis, came down to Caesarea to felicitate Festus on his accession to office; and his sister Bernice, a famous and malodorous beauty, came with him. They had heard much of the eloquent Jew and expressed a desire to hear him. A brilliant company was assembled in the Pretorian Hall when the prisoner was brought in. Being ‘‘permitted to speak for himself,’’? he began with the story of his early life, leading up rapidly to his singular conversion on the Damascus highway and to his unwavering conviction that the crucified Jesus was the long-looked-for Messiah of the Jews. At this point Festus, unable to restrain his indignation, cried: ‘‘ Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad!’”’ ‘‘I am not mad, most noble Festus,’’ was the prisoner’s calm re- joinder, ‘‘but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.’’ Then turning to the royal guest, himself a Jew, he appealed to his an- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 139 eestral faith: ‘‘King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou be- hevest!’? Paul was now on familiar ground. He was acquainted with the prophets from Moses to Malachi; and knew how they all pointed to Jesus as the Christ. But Agrippa was in no mood to be thus cornered and convinced against his will. Huis answer was a scornful jest, ‘‘ Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian!’’ Whereupon Paul, with the pathos of an infinite longing in his voice, emphasized by the clanking of the chains upon his wrists, made courteous re- ply, ‘‘I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both ‘almost’ and altogether such as I am—except these bonds.”’ The hearing is over. The prisoner is re- turned to the guard-house. In a corner of the Pretorian Hall a group of his auditors are saying, ‘‘This man hath done nothing worthy of death or even of bonds.’’ Agrippa, whose sense of justice will not down, observes to Festus, ‘‘This man might have been set at liberty if he had not ap- pealed unto Cesar.’’ But the decree of the 140 —- LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL court is irrevocable. T’o Cesar he must go... In his lonely cell the prisoner awaits the course of events. He is troubled by no mis- givings. God leads the way and his face is set steadfastly to go. His only ambition is to finish his course with joy. <9 1 3 y2 4 . 3 5 ] i harman, | - Optra * | ° 4 \ c inh | nH ND 5 5 Z b hilt i ‘ f “it Hl | , B | i i | | | a ‘ AUN ie nh | Hal | 4 , ve g 0 <2 gutihegil | | wider Ht i | : 8 fone Ait ul ‘ NUS PT D 2 en iiip whet as Se l Fh wv PS g@i i | : | : XIX PAUL’S LAST VOYAGE ACTS 272-28: 1-14 The ship was swinging at anchor in the harbor of Casarea, when a favorable wind sprang up. Paul with the other prisoners was at once taken aboard in the custody of a centurion named Julius, a man of marked courtesy, who was charged with their safe conduct to Rome. THE LOG OF THE VOYAGE (Kept by Luke the Physician, a Companion of Paul.) Aug. 21, A.D. 60. Set sail due north in a favorable breeze with two hundred and sev- enty-six souls aboard. Aug. 22. Touched at Sidon. Paul per- mitted to go ashore and interview his friends. ‘Thence in a northwesterly course for a time, after which due west. Delayed by contrary winds. 141 142) LIER AND EE DUE RS ODS TeaRaAw Is Aug. 29. Reached Myra, where we were transferred to an Alexandrian corn-ship making for Rome. Our quarters in the hold uncomfortable; but the Lord was with us. Winds rising; progress slow. Sept. 11. Touched at Cnidus, our last Asiatic port. Desired to sail due west, but forced southward by rising adverse winds. Sept. 26. Took refuge in Fair Havens in the island of Crete, an ill-sheltered port. Lay here many days, waiting for favorable weather. All hope of reaching Rome be- fore winter now givenup. The storm abat- ing for a while, the captain was disposed to make for Phenice, a safe and commodious harbor a few miles further on. Paul warned him vainly against doing so. What could a landsman like him know about navi- gation or weather signs? Oct. 18. Set sail from Fair Havens in a treacherous south wind. Had _ scarcely rounded the cape before there were ominous signs of a storm. Euroclydon, the sailor’s terror, was sweeping down from the hills! There was scarcely time to take in sail be- fore it overtook us. The second day out the PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 143 vessel struck a leak and was undergirt with eables. On the third day the cargo was thrown over: followed the next day by all dispensable furniture and other equipments. Darkness for many days; lost our bearings. Hope abandoned. Then Paul to the rescue! He bade the sailors be of good cheer, because an angel of the Lord had appeared to him in a vision saying that he himself was to reach Rome safely and that there would he ‘‘no loss of life’’ among the ship’s crew and passengers. Thereupon courage revived; but the typhoon swept on. Nov. 1. Wrecked on the coast of Malta. We were wakened at midnight by the look- out calling ‘‘Land ahead!’’ Soundings were taken; twenty fathoms, then fifteen. Cast anchor and awaited the break of day. The crew intending to take possession of the boats, Paul interposed, warning the captain that unless they remained all would be lost. His advice was taken; the ropes were cut, setting the boats adrift. Paul, the lands- man, was now in practical command of the ship. After long fasting all partook of food. In the morning, finding ourselves at 144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL the entrance of a bay, it was resolved to run in. The ship went aground and-was at the mercy of the pounding breakers. The soldiers, being answerable with their lives for the prisoners, would have killed them to prevent their escape; but the centurion in charge forbade it. Each for himself, now! Many, leaping out, swam ashore. Others betook themselves to boards and broken pieces of the ship. So it came to pass that all escaped safe to land. The island proved to be Malta. The bar- barous inhabitants received us kindly. A fire was kindled on the shore. Out of the fagots crept a viper which fastened on Paul’s hand. The natives expected him to fall dead; but he shook it off and received no harm. ‘Thereupon they whispered among themselves, ‘‘ He is a god!”’ The fury of the simoon was now spent; but we remained three months in the island waiting for the Castor and Pollux, a corn- ship which lay weather-bound in the harbor, to take us off. Feb. 8, A.D. 61. Sailed on the Castor and Pollux. PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 145 Feb. 9. Touched at Syracuse: waited three days for a more favorable wind. Feb.13. Made eighty miles in a southerly breeze and touched at Rhegium. One day. Feb. 14. Made Puteoli, the chief port of Italy, and disembarked. Met some of the brethren. ‘T'arried seven days. Then on, afoot, toward Rome, a distance of a hundred and forty miles. So runs the Log of this eventful voyage, consuming half a year. Its one outstanding lesson is the serene faith of Paul. While the storm was raging he slept soundly on three pulows; namely, the wisdom and power and goodness of God. Ridge of the mountain wave, lower thy crest! Wail of Euroclydon, be thou at rest! Sorrow can never be, darkness must fly, When saith the Light of light, ‘‘ Peace, it is I!’’ Observe, First, Paul ‘‘believed God.’’ Having certain promises, he took them at their face value. Thus it is written, ‘‘He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”’ 146 ‘LIFE AND LETTERS OF SI-yPAUL Second, he ‘‘practised the divine pres- ence.’’ On the darkest night of the simoon he had a most hopeful vision of which he says, ‘‘The Lord stood by me.’’ Itis always So with those who live on speaking terms with God. Third, his faith was buttressed by com- mon sense. Notwithstanding his confidence that all aboard were to be saved, he assured ‘the captain that. if the crew was not pre- vented from seizing the boats all would be lost. The divine sovereignty does not inter- fere with the freedom of the human will. Fourth, his assurance was coupled with praise. He ‘‘said grace”’ over the frugal meal on the tossing ship. During all those frightful ‘‘fourteen days in Adria’’ he never lost confidence in the Lord’s faithfulness. it is thus that God giveth his beloved songs in the night. It is in this spirit that Paul writes to his Philippian friends: ‘‘Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. ... Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.’’ XX AT ROME Acts 28:15-31 It was early spring of the year 61 when the Castor and Pollux came sailing up through the beautiful Bay of Naples to Pu- teoli. The crew and passengers debarked; and presently Paul and his fellow-prisoners set out for their destination along Appia Via. At villages on the way Paul was met by many brethren; wherefore, he says, ‘‘we thanked God and took courage.’’ So at length he reached Rome, a prisoner in bonds. His life-long dream was realized at last: ‘‘T must see Rome!’’ But why this consum- ing desire ? Rome was well worth seeing, no doubt, with its palaces and temples, its Forum and Colosseum and triumphal arches. ‘‘See Rome and die,’’ was one of the familiar proverbs of those days. It was the metrop- 147 148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL olis of the world; all great enterprises cen- tered there. No tourist, even nowadays, is content until, with ‘*‘ Baedeker’’ in hand, he visits Rome; though its ancient splendors are now reduced to a lamentable mass of ruins. 7 But Paul’s desire reached further and went deeper than this. Though a great trav- eller, he had no thought of sight-seeing. As an ‘‘ambassador of Christ’’ he longed to wit- ness far and wide for him. ‘To stand in the Forum and preach the gospel there at the confluence of the nations would be to send his voice ringing to the uttermost parts of the earth. A lofty ambition, indeed! ‘This man was never content with mediocrity. He had ‘‘hitched his wagon to a star.”’ It would appear that his intention of vis- iting Rome was conceived at the very begin- ning of his Christian life. The dream of his boyhood had been to be- come arabbi. With that in view he left his home in Tarsus and studied in the University of Jerusalem, at the feet of the learned Ga- maliel, who was known as ‘‘the Flower of the Law.’’ Soon after his graduation with PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 149 high honors he was chosen a member of the Sanhedrin, which was the Supreme Court of the Jews. A splendid outlook was before him. Presently he was made Chief Inquis- itor of that distinguished body, and was placed under a special commission to root out ‘‘the heresy of the Nazarenes.’’ It was while thus engaged that he made his notable journey to Damascus ‘‘ breathing out slaugh- ter’’ against the followers of Christ. Then came the revolutionary change. In the light that shone from heaven, ‘‘above the brightness of the sun,’’ his plans and pur- poses were instantly turned upside down. He fell to the earth a rabbi; he rose up a Christian. Hearing a voice say, ‘‘Il am Jesus,’’ his immediate answer was, ‘‘What wilt thou have me to do?’’ The reply was, ‘*T will send thee far hence unto the Gen- tiles’’; in other words, to all people. That meant sooner or later to Rome; for Rome was colluvies gentium, the center of the civ- ized world of those days. From that time forward he was unreserv- edly committed to the service of Christ. Forsaken by former friends, with all ave- 150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL nues of preferment blocked up, he hewed to the line which had been divinely marked out for him. Listen to this: ‘‘I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord; ... that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffer- ings. .. . I count not myself to have appre- hended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”’ Did the Lord approve of his desire to see Rome? Paul affirms that his purpose was ‘‘according to the will of God.’’ He says repeatedly that ‘‘the Lord stood by him.’’ If ever there was a Christian who felt him- self a living part of the divine plan and de- sired, above all, to hold himself in line with the divine will, it was this man. On the day when he first saw Jesus he put himself so wholly and implicitly under his control that looking back, years afterward, he could say, ‘‘I have not been disobedient unto the heavenly vision.’’ His Lord’s pur- PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS Vil pose was his ultimate goal, and he followed it as a sailor heeds the polar star. Once when he essayed to go into Bithynia he de- sisted, as he says, because ‘‘the Spirit suf- fered him not.’’ In writing to the Chris- tians at Rome he says, ‘‘Oftentimes I pur- posed to come unto you, and was hindered.”’ (Rom. 1:13.) Nevertheless he was not discouraged. He reckoned Rome as a necessary factor in the finishing of his course. He never for a moment gave up his pur- pose and expectation. It was nineteen years after his conversion, at the conclusion of his evangelistic campaign in Ephesus when the converts made a great bonfire of their cabal- istic books, that he ‘‘purposed in spirit’’ to extend his campaign through Macedonia and Achaia and thence to Jerusalem, saying, ‘*After that, I must see Rome!”’ Two years subsequently he wrote his Kpis- tle to the Romans, reassuring them of his purpose to visit them. He begins by saying, ‘‘God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my 152 “LIRR AND LEDTERSION S haPAUL prayers; making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gifts, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be com- forted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.’’ And in closing he pathetically urges them to unite their prayers with his to that end: ‘‘I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe, that I may come to you with Joy by the w ill of God.”’ But he was strangely hindered in the ac- complishment of his desire. To use his own words, ‘‘I oftentimes purposed, and was hin- dered hitherto.’’ And again, ‘‘Having a ereat desire these many years to come unto you.”’ In the year 47 he set out on a missionary journey with his face toward the west. He probably hoped then to reach the Imperial City; but, having preached in many places, PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 153 he came to Cilicia and was there constrained to turn back. In the year 50 he set out again toward the west. On this occasion he crossed the Hellespont and canvassed many of the im- portant cities of Europe until he reached Corinth; and again he was obliged to turn back. In the year 53 he started on his third mis- sionary journey in the direction of Rome. It was now sixteen years since his conver- sion, and he was apparently no nearer the fulfilment of his heart’s desire. Again he reached Corinth; but there were imperative reasons for his being at Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Pentecost; wherefore once more he retraced his steps. But ‘the that believeth shall not make haste.’’ Paul’s patience of hope was sure to be rewarded. He could afford to wait, because, as he says, he ‘‘believed God.”’ At length his desire was realized, but in a singular way. ‘‘Man proposes; God dis- poses.’? He reached Rome a prisoner in bonds. At once he was taken to the Pre- torian Camp; where, though in close custody 154 LIFE AND’LETTERS OF ST. PAUL for two years, he was permitted to see his friends. He conferred with the Jews by ap- pointment, seeking in vain to persuade them that ‘‘this Jesus is the Christ.’’ He held frequent converse with the Christians of the Roman church, and received many visitors who desired to know about ‘‘The Way.’’ Time passed, and Paul was again cast into prison: this time in the Mammertine Jail. But ‘‘stone walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage.’’ He was not idle in that noisome place: and ‘‘the word of God is not bound.’’ Some of Paul’s most important letters were written there. Old and feeble, he could not be put down. His irrepressi- ble zeal in the service of his Lord reminds us of what an old poet says: ‘‘Tumble me down, and I will sit Exultant on my ruins yet!’’ His keen soul caught the presentiment of the coming end, his ear the footfall of the executioner ringing down the corridor of the jail. But he was not terrified. ‘‘I am now ready to be offered and the time of my de- parture is at hand,’’ he wrote to Timothy, PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS LoS his spiritual son and successor in the pastor- ate of the Ephesian church. ‘‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day. Grace be with you. Amen.”’ They led him to the headsman’s block, outside the walls. A blow of the gleaming axe; and the great apostle was at home with God. What is the lesson? The splendor of a great ambition. Paul was not content with anything less than the noblest and best. For one thing, he wanted to make the most of himself; and Rome was needed for the rounding out of his life. I like the prayer of the humble cobbler who used to ask every day, ‘‘ Lord, give me a good opinion of myself’’; but such a prayer is vain without something worth while be- hind it. This is a responsibility which ought to rest upon the conscience of every one. The 156. LIFE AND GE GIERS OF ish, PAUL world would be a different world but for its ‘‘mute inglorious Miltons.’’ The Church would long ago have conquered the world were it not that so many are Satisfied with being minimum Christians, inactive and in- different, imbedded like flies in amber. Who shall number the potential Lincolns who, for lack of ambition, are rail-splitters all their lives? Wherefore, ‘‘stir up the eift that is in thee.’’ There is fire enough in the embers of every Christian life if only it were fanned into a flame. No minister is at liberty to be satisfied with a small parish if his gifts and calling are adequate to the responsibilities of a larger one. Every man is under bonds to be somebody, not for the sake of getting into the lhmelight but in order that he may make his life tell. Our light was not kindled to be hid under a bushel, but to shine so that ‘‘all that are in the house’’ may take knowledge of it. But Paul was thinking less of being some- body than of doing something for somebody. The chain on his right hand bound him to Christ. With what joyous pride he speaks of himself as ‘‘the prisoner of Christ!’ PAUL’S CAMPAIGNS 157 There was no reserve in his consecration: ‘*'The love cf Christ constraineth me!’’ But his service to Christ was expressed in ministry to others; as Christ himself had said, ‘‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto Me.” The same chain that bound Paul to his Lord bound him to one of the Roman guards;. and he preached the Gospel to that man. Not a few of his spiritual children were thus begotten in his bonds. ‘‘They that are of Ceesar’s household salute you.’’ No pent-up Utica confined his influence. The reason why he longed to visit Rome was because it was a coign of vantage from which to sound forth the riches of grace. There were two millions of people there, all immortal souls! From there he must send his message, ‘*This Jesus is the Christ,’’ ringing through the world and down the ages. Nothing less would satisfy him. ‘T'o reach Rome would thus be to finish his course with joy. The world has been moving since Paul came sailing into Puteoli on the “‘Castor and Polluz.’’ Not long ago I followed in his 158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL very footsteps along the Appian Way. The dusk was falling; the shadows of the Faler- nian Hills lay over the plain, and: in the dis- tance the dome of St. Peter’s was dimly out- lined against the sky. Nero no longer dwelt in his blood-stained quarters on the Pala- tine. In the cottages by the roadside were people sitting in vine-covered porches with none to molest or make them afraid. The Gospel has not been shining for naught these nineteen hundred years. And what- ever has been accomplished for the better- ment of the world has been through the in- strumentality of men who like Paul were constrained to service ‘‘by the will of God.’’ Wherefore let us be our best and do our utmost for Him who has redeemed us by his precious blood. We are all too easily satisfied. The words with which William Carey closed his great sermon inaugurating the modern campaign of Missions strike an inspiring note for all earnest souls: ‘“‘Let us undertake great things for God, and eg- pect great things from him.’’ PART LIT PAUL’S COMPANIONS 159 PREFACH I HAVE been reading ‘*‘Pilgrim’s Prog- ress’’ again, and wondering if the Bedford tinker borrowed his dramatis persone from the Book of Acts... In any case they look alike, as we shall see. Of course Paul leads the way: “Then I saw that Christian kept on before, who had no more talk but with himself, and that sometimes sighingly and sometimes comfortably; also that he would be often reading in the roll which one of the Shining Ones gave him.” 160 I BARNABAS: “A GOOD MAN’”’ 161 TuEN said Evangelist, pointing with his finger over a very wide field, “Do you see yonder wicket-gate?” The man said, “No.” Then said the other, “Do you see yonder shining light?” He said, “I think I do.” Then said Evangelist, “Keep that light in your eye.” 162 Paul's Companions { BARNABAS: “A GOOD MAN” THE name means ‘‘son of consolation,’’ by which we are given to understand that this man had a warm heart and an open hand. Here are some of the things we know about him. I. He Was A COMMUNIST The first reference to him is in Acts 4: Bee tts | “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resur- rection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man 163 lot. LIF ECAN DALE TT DRS sO Sia Pacis according as he had need. And Joses. who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. (which is, being in- terpreted, the son of consolation), a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.” The incident referred to occurred A. D. 30, just after the arrest of Peter and John for the healing of the cripple at the Gate Beautiful. The two disciples were tried be- fore the Sanhedrin, where a Scotch verdict was rendered, ‘‘ Innocent; but don’t repeat it.’ On being let go ‘they went to their own company,’’ where a praise meeting was held: and after that the ‘‘community’’ was organized. It was a foregleam of Utopia as it will be realized in the Golden Age. One of the important members of this community was Barnabas; who, it appears, (1) was a native of Cyprus, (2) whose former name was Joses, (3) a man of: wealth, possessed of ‘‘property,’’ (4) of in- fluence also as a Levite, (5) and a conspicu- ous leader in this movement toward a com- munity of goods. It would be a serious mistake, however, to confuse this with what is known as Com- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 165 munism in our time. There are some vital points of difference. (1) To begin with, it was entirely voluntary. There was no de- nial of the rights of property, no confisca- tion, no attempt to subvert the social order by insisting that ‘‘what’s yours is mine and what’s mine’s my own,’’ but a cheerful sur- render of the possessions of each for the benefit of all. (2) Moreover, the distribu- tion of the common fund was not general, but ‘‘unto every man according as he had need.’’ In other words it was a benevolent fund. The church members in Jerusalem were a feeble folk like the conies, and many of them needed help. (3) Still further, it was a purely religious affair. The motive of the disciples was ‘‘to do good and to com- municate,’’ ‘especially unto them who are of the household of faith.’’ They were actu- ated by the Christian principle of steward- ship. They believed that their possessions, whether much or little, were held in trust until called for. The time is coming when all the Lord’s talents will thus be placed at his command: then poverty with its attend- ant miseries will be a nightmare of the past 166, LIFE ANDIVETTERS OF SEA PAUL and the earth will be full of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. So then the framing of this community in the early Church was not a temporary venture into cloudland, but a prophecy of the Millennium. It was like a sun-spot on the mountains, painted by the light shining through a rift of overhanging clouds, as a forecast of the splendor of a cloudless day. It was the setting in motion of great prin- ciples which, murmuring lke a subterra- nean river, are destined to reappear and assert themselves in the ultimate Common- wealth of God. One of the foremost of these Christian communists was Barnabas. He practised ‘‘the mind that was in Christ Jesus,’’? who ‘‘came not to be ministered unto but to min- ister’’ and ‘‘emptied himself’’ for us. He did not offer a tithe but ten tithes of all that he possessed, in recognition of the fact. that he held nothing as his own but everything in trust until called for. It is only when a Christian thus realizes his stewardship that he reaches his full recompense in the saying that is written, ‘‘All things are yours; PAUL’S COMPANIONS 167 whether . . . the world or life or death or things present or things to come: all are yours; and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”’ II. A GENTLE-MAN The next mention of Barnabas is ten years afterward in connection with Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion. The interval between his conversion (A.D. 37) and this visit (A.D. 40) had been passed by Paul in Arabia (Gal. 1:17,18) where, among the solitudes, he pursued his theological course in preparation for his appointed work. Then he went up to Jerusalem ready for business; but a cold welcome awaited him. The Christians there could not forget how, as Chief Inquisitor of the Sanhedrin, he had ‘‘breathed out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.’’ The record is on this wise: “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the 1687 EIFRANDILEDVERS OR Say PAUI Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.” Acts 9: 26-28. A rare friend was Barnabas, a true ‘‘son of consolation.’’ How many there are who look with suspicion on sinners converted from the error of their ways. Paul was truly like a man who has served his term in Sing Sing; but blessed be Barnabas, he was ready to give him the glad hand and another chance. He had two things to say for the reformed man; one was that ‘‘he had seen _ the Lord in the way,’’ and the other was that immediately after his conversion he had gone into Damascus and ‘‘preached boldly in the name of Jesus’”’ at peril of his life. This was enough; Paul was received into the fellowship of the disciples and thereafter was with them, ‘‘coming in and going out,”’ preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ. It is related that when John Huss of Bo- hemia was on his way to prison, wearing a yellow cap covered with devils and hooted at by the jostling crowd, he felt a friendly hand finding its way to his. Not a word was PAUL’S COMPANIONS 169 spoken; but the night before his execution the martyr wrote, ‘‘God bless John of Chlum for that right hand of his!’? Such kindness is like a cup of cold water to thirsty lips; and ‘‘it shall in no wise lose its reward.’’ Til. An EVANGELIST The next reference to Barnabas is three years later (A. D. 43). A revival was going on at Antioch. It originated with certain of those who, being ‘‘scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen”’ (A.D. 37), came to Antioch and brought the Gospel with them: ‘‘and a great number be- lieved and turned unto the Lord.’’ The work assumed such dimensions that a leader was required. Who should it be? “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.” Acts 11; 22-24. j 170 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL And still the blessed work went on. re cane, sf iii " | Raaahtiait net Hh hook teil (rnp Pe ay iz aa) ; ae Ae ive fis eat hoe Way Rint Opel ia Hansen tay Ont at TUNE a We Smid ¥! Vi4 ror | ya i ; way Nek 7 Wty: dtd ra yi ™ LES ed ee Dae sy ay b Pe ie ath iA tag 3 BUR AA ve : pier pitt 414 ai Pca Aw a Saag: ha hg gla ins seh aa a dain Nan st Me Tels Mt a F is 7 he Poe f ni i‘. ; i a Hee nye os Iil SILAS: A SINGER 195 Now as they were going along and talking, they espied a boy feeding his father’s sheep. The boy was of a fresh and well-favored countenance; and as he sat by himself he sung. “Hark,” said Mr. Great-Heart, “to what the shep- herd’s boy saith.” So they hearkened and he said, “He that is down needs fear no fall; He that is low, no pride: He that is humble ever shall Have God to be his guide.” Then said the guide, “Do you hear him? I will dare to say this boy lives a merrier life, and wears more of that herb called heart’s-ease in his bosom, than he that is clad in silk and velvet.” 196 EE SILAS: A SINGER In the year 50 a Council was ealled to meet in Jerusalem for a final settlement of the question whether Gentile converts must submit to the requirement of the Ceremonial Law on becoming members of the church. It was maintained by the Gentile converts that salvation was conditioned solely on per- sonal faith in Christ, while high churchmen of Jewish birth and training insisted that compliance with the Levitical law was nec- essary to salvation. So warm had been the controversy that a serious breach was threatened; the crux of difference being as to the fundamental doctrine of Justification by Faith. The first address in the Council was made by Peter, who reminded his hearers of what had happened twenty years before, on the Day of Pentecost, when the 197 198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Gospel door had been opened to all alike in the words, ‘‘T'he promise is unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off.’’ He was followed by Paul and Barnabas, who, having just returned from their first missionary journey, related what wonders of conversion had been wrought by the Holy Spirit ‘‘ without respect of persons.’’ Then James, the pastor of the mother church in Jerusalem, arose, and, though naturally pre- disposed to the Jewish side of the question, suggested such mutual concessions as would, without the sacrifice of any principle, satisfy both parties and enable them to work to- gether in peace. A resolution was drawn up accordingly, which is recorded 2psissima verba in Acts 15: 23-29. The first that we hear of Silas, or Sil- vanus, is in connection with this Council, where he is mentioned as one of ‘‘the chief men.’’ The Decree of the Council was re- garded as of sufficient importance to war- rant its immediate transmission to all the churches, an undertaking of no slight diffi- culty in view of the long distances and awk- ward means of communication in those days. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 199 For this purpose a committee was ap- pointed, consisting of Paul, Barnabas, Jude and Silas. The appointment of Silas on a committee charged with duties so deli- cate and far-reaching would indicate that he was a tactful man of irenic disposition. In the course of the long and arduous journeys involved it is quite certain that Paul would become well enough acquainted with Silas to pass final judgment upon his character and efficiency as a fellow-servant of Christ. The work of the committee ended at An- tioch, which was then about to supplant Je- rusalem as the center of operations of the Christian Church. In that city the four commissioners tarried for about two years, preaching the Gospel with notable results. But Paul was restless; he was not cut out for a settled pastorate or for long continu- ance anywhere. The wanderlust returned to him and he resolved to set out upon an- other missionary journey. ‘‘Let us go again,’’ he said to Barnabas, ‘‘and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.’’ 200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL A serious difference arose between the two missionaries then and there. Barnabas wished his nephew John Mark to accompany them; but Paul objected, because John Mark had failed them on their first journey, turning back at the foot of the Pamphylian hills. ‘‘The contention was sharp,’’ so sharp indeed that Paul and Barnabas ‘‘parted asunder,’”’ going their several ways. But Paul must have a yokefellow: he was the last man in the world to work alone. The needed yokefellow was at hand, one in whom he could place full confidence as ‘‘a faithful brother.’’ So it came to pass that Paul yoked up with Silas for his eventful second journey. They set out together from An- tioch with their faces toward the northwest, pausing at Derbe, and then on to Lystra, where they were joined by Timothy, who had taken the place of John Mark as courier and general helper. Then on to Iconium and Troas, where Paul had his vision of the man of Macedonia calling, ‘‘Come over and help us.”’ That meant Europe — the invasion of a new continent for Christ. A mighty enter- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 201 prise! The Hellespont was crossed. The missionary group now consisted of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke. We know that Luke, ‘‘the beloved physician,’’ was with the company from now on, because he as the narrator now uses the pronoun ‘‘we’’ in- stead of ‘‘they.’’ On landing they at once pushed up the mountain road to Philippi, all girded for work. It is a proverb that wherever Paul goes you may look for a revival or a riot. At Philippi they had both. The first convert was lydia, ‘‘a seller of purple’’— who proved to be the ‘‘man of Macedonia’’ who had beckoned for help — followed by other trophies of grace, among whom was a slave- girl who had been used for divination. And then the trouble began. Her masters, ‘‘see- ing that their hope of gain was gone,”’ stirred up a commotion that landed.the mis- sionaries in jail after a severe scourging. It is easy to imagine them in the darkness, sore and weary, with chains upon their wrists. ‘‘It’s a cold and dreary place,’’ says Paul; ‘‘do you think a Psalm would help us?’’ Now Silas seems to have been a sing- 202), “LIFE: ANDICETRUERS (ORCS ls PAUL ing evangelist, and like a Scotch precentor doubtless knew how to ‘“‘lift the tune.”’ Strange echoes awoke in that dismal jail. ‘‘At midnight Paul and Silas sang praises unto God; and the prisoners heard them.’’ Perhaps they sang the 46th selection in the Jewish Psalter: “God is our refuge and our strength, in straits a present aid; Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid; . Though mountains in the sea be cast; though waves a roaring make And troubled be: yea, though the hills by swelling seas do shake. Our God, who is the Lord of hosts, is still upon our side; The God of Jacob our refuge forever will abide.” The hymn was over; the walls were shak- ing and falling; an earthquake! The pris- oners are loosed: and presently the fright- ened and convicted jailer is kneeling before them with the ery, ‘‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?’’ In the sequel you may find a marvellous demonstration of God’s in- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 203 terest in the welfare of those who love him. From Philippi Paul and Silas travelled on to Thessalonica, where for three weeks they taught and preached, and then again came a riot and the missionaries were sent out ‘‘by night unto Berea.’’ Here was a haven of rest for a time, the word being eagerly received by the Bereans, but the coming of a deputation of hostile Jews from Thessalonica brought interruption and Paul again hurried away, leaving Silas and Tim- othy behind. On reaching Athens he sent posthaste for his inspiring co-workers. At Corinth Paul did his best work after Silas and Timothy rejoined him, and though Silas is not again mentioned by name in the Acts we can believe that he was standing by Paul in his trials and rejoicing with him in his victories for many a long day. Some years later, Peter closes his First General Epistle with the words, ‘‘By Sil- vanus, a faithful brother, I have briefly written, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God.”’ (1 Pet. 5:12.) It thus appears that Silas was with Peter 204). "LIFE AND PETERS OFisie PAUL during his closing years in distant Babylon, sharing persecution with him and ready, as a faithful brother, to serve as his amanu- ensis and possibly as his postman in convey- ing his inspired message to the saints that were scattered abroad. So farewell, Silas, faithful brother and true yokefellow in the gospel of the grace of God. His record is a brief one. It is evident that he did not covet the limelight. Why should he? ‘*‘The Master praises, what are men?’’ But his character is clearly outlined ~ in certain lines. To begin with he is ealled ‘‘a prophet,’’ at that time meaning an efficient and author- itative teacher of the Word. It is safe to say that he found himself at home among the Bible-loving people of Berea who ‘‘re- ceived the word with all readiness of mind and searched the Scriptures daily whether those things were so.’’ He was also a gleaner. Observe how often, when Paul left one city for another further on, Silas is said to have remained behind ‘‘to gather up the loose grain of the harvest.’’? This indicates that he had the PAUL’S COMPANIONS 205 necessary qualifications for binding together the converts and establishing them in the most holy faith. But above everything else he was the Singing Pilgrim. As Sankey to Moody, as Alexander to Chapman, and as ‘‘ Rhody’’ to Billy Sunday, so was Silas to Paul; the joy- giver of the campaign, the singer of songs in the night. Blessed is the man who, in the name of the Lord, can give ‘‘beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heavi- ness. ”’ Perhaps it was with that dark night in the Philippian jail in mind that Paul, in his later years, wrote to the chureh at Corinth, ‘*T will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also,’’ and again to the church at Ephesus, ‘‘ Be filled with the spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and mak- ing melody in your heart to the Lord,’’ and again to the church at Colosse, ‘‘Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wis- dom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.”’ 206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL It is difficult to think of Paul himself as a singer; but he was wise enough to choose for his yokefellow one who could lend the wings of music to his work. Many a time have I heard Mr. Moody, at the close of a sermon, say ‘‘ Now, brother Sankey, give us song!’’ And the truth he had preached was thus mellowed and deepened and carried aloft in melody. ‘‘T'wo are better than one, for if they fall the one will hft up his Gage ey Two by two we toil in the harvest, two by two we journey through life. Whom shall I choose for my yokefellow? Silas, come hither! JI need thee when the shadows of Philippi gather about me; come, solace me with one of the songs of Zion. Let us go, through gloom and gladness, even to heaven’s gate with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs! So did Christian and his comrade in Bun- yan’s allegory pass through danger after danger, singing as they went, until they were welcomed by angels at the gates of the Ce- lestial City; and this was their song: PAUL’S COMPANIONS 207 “Behold how fitly are the stages set For their relief that pilgrims are become, And how they us receive without one let That make the Other Life our mark and home! What novelties they have to us they give, That we, though pilgrims, joyful lives may live: They do upon us, too, such things bestow To show we pilgrims are, where’er we go.” s “ ; i es en An , Ye: I = ie Cee sy. Pee Park a tri ues ; a Pi Seite

iat a3 hs PES Crean Sie ey } vi yy voy bhi ' ‘y te &, : F his cd bre bat et. ? a Aiea ‘% Clery 1a Mit: ow fab Ss in pute ; Ces mie A Sigket A owas yn J akan Oar? eer § Bay! a - erie ei i ¢ ire ' ita ve mM hats ih wi hee ey . nye Ry | avi oo 2 eh ate " \ aN 4 ne 5 sy : trey st Pad i “ey ‘- Ah hee i ound ie, i ie iy Rt uy ie REN aes a Se ait Q he pact na ie Hy oii nt Af ti na (om Stee A . cy y } ar AM te # ‘ wes , } i Pay crate mete: hh Re RA? Ok ORs + bel ee Wa os, ail a a , ae) te) ad ey : ’ ‘i ; : P “>t oe © f M hee Ae by oh ae | { i i ; EAT ih ae Wt (iwi nae ¢ . » ) ‘ na , ‘ 4 s] ; ; Oe > eee ey Lar CONE El ROMER RO ATER ni tried ¥ } it ery Hy Pau ‘Pl : rah | id t i hr . 7 : rd Hy *, AAs Oe fi). ce} A H * 4 a 7 i ol ee Ae tee ‘ yiswe! ; ic Ae ‘sell hi ee! Je a An ote) aS y igen as ro tee elds ATS To Ca - i Pets a 4 A Ge i ph , ay unt a 7 sat 4 , a : ; te are fm rs as ar? Chas ’ ¥ mark: : ry ig ‘ A ro yo, pn rok 4 P) e S 7 IV TIMOTHY: “THE GENTLE BOY OF LYSTRA”’ 209 Now, as Christian went on his way, he came to a little ascent which was cast up on purpose that pil- grims might see before them. “Up there, therefore, Christian went; and looking forward, he saw Faithful before him on his journey. Then said Christian aloud, “Ho, ho! so-ho! stay, and I will be your companion.” 210 IV TIMOTHY: “THE GENTLE BOY OF LYSTRA”’ THE ancient town of Lystra, now called Katyn-serai, lay in a verdant plain among the mountains of Lycaonia. It was chiefly famed for its worship of the pagan gods. Two dusty travellers, so ran-the legend, came to Lystra one evening and sought in vain for hospitality. The doors of the wealthy were closed against them. At length they applied at the humble home of Phile- mon and his wife Baucis, who gave them welcome and sheltered them for the night. At daybreak, when the aged couple awoke, their guests had disappeared: and _ the humble cottage had been transformed into a splendid temple with alabaster floors and golden pinnacles. Then they knew that their mysterious guests were Jupiter and Mer- eury, his messenger ; and thenceforth people came from near and far to see the miracu- 211 212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL lous temple and pay their devotions to the Olympian gods. In the year 47 two travel-worn men came to Lystra with the Gospel message. They were Paul and Barnabas, on their first mis- slonary journey. There being no synagogue in the town, they preached in the open streets. Not much attention was given them until Paul healed a man who had been a hopeless cripple from his birth. On seeing this miracle the people concluded that the gods were again come down to them ‘‘in the likeness of men.’’ Barnabas, imposing in stature and of benignant presence, was nat- urally identified with Jupiter the Olympian father; while Paul, ‘‘the little Jew,’’ would of course be taken for Mercury. Garlands were brought and the priest of Jupiter ap- peared with beasts for sacrifice. Paul and his companion, who had been slow to recog- nize the frightful meaning of the demonstra- tion, now cried out, ‘‘Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the liy- ing God!’’ Then came the reaction, as a PAUL’S COMPANIONS 21S matter of course. On finding that these men, so far from being gods, were opposing the worship of their gods, the people presently dragged Paul out beyond the walls and stoned him, leaving him for dead. And here is where we meet with Timothy for the first time. He was then a youth of possibly sixteen years, the son of a pagan father and a Jewish mother who dwelt in Lystra. The mother Eunice, with ‘‘grand- mother Lois’’ and the young man, had been converted by the preaching of Paul; and doubtless they were ‘‘the disciples’’ who as- suaged his wounds and cared for him until the next morning, when he was able with the help of Barnabas to resume his journey. The next we hear of Timothy was four years later, A.D. 51, when Paul again visited Lystra. This was on his second missionary journey. Barnabas had now parted com- pany with him because Paul, for good and sufficient reasons (Acts 15:38, 39), would not take John Mark along as their courier. Silas had taken the place of Barnabas: but a courier was needed. Why not Timothy ? ‘The very man,’’ said Paul; and then and 214 TLIFE AND EE TEERS OFS TReRpAw i there began a friendship so loyal, affection- ate and enduring as to furnish an exemplary ilustration of ‘‘the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.’? Paul was now forty- five years of age and Timothy scarcely twenty-one. They were like father and son; indeed the younger is addressed again and again in the Epistles as *‘mine own son”’ and ‘‘my dearly beloved son.’’ But notwith- standing this disparity in age there was no disparity in service. They were true yoke- fellows and fellow-laborers in the Kingdom of Christ. Setting out together from Lystra, they stayed by one another to the journey’s end. At Troas they took ship together in answer to the Macedonian call, ‘‘Come over and help us!’’? They pushed their way together along the mountain roads to Philippi, on to Thes- salonica, thence to Berea, where Silas and Timothy remained while Paul pushed on to Athens. Again united, they came to gay, godless Corinth where a fruitful campaign was carried on. Then homeward bound, with a halt at Ephesus for ‘‘a good while’’ with important results. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 215 _ This brings us to the year 55, when Tim- othy appears as the ‘‘bishop’’ or minister of the Ephesian Church. It appears that when Paul resumed his homeward journey he left Timothy behind to take charge of the grow- ing body of believers in that city. As to his faithfulness in that difficult field — under the shadow of the temple of great Diana — we have abundant evidence in the letters which Paul afterward sent him. In the First Epistle to Timothy, written 64 a.p. while Paul was a prisoner in the Pretorian camp at Rome, we have the classical basis of all pastoral ‘‘charges’’ from then until now. In the second we have the Apostle’s farewell to his ‘‘beloved son.’’ In the year 66 Paul, having been re- arrested after his first imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:16, 17), was confined in the Mam- mertine jail. It was a cheerless place. Alone and friendless but for the companion- ship of faithful Luke, he writes to Timothy, “Tyo thy diligence to come shortly unto me. Take Mark and bring him with thee. The cloke that I left at Troas, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books and parchments. Do thy diligence to come before winter. Grace be with you.” 2 Tim. 4: 9-22. oe 216° LIFE. AND DR TTERS OF ST PAUL It is safe to say that Timothy was at Rome in due time, with the ‘‘cloke’’ to com- fort Paul against the chill of the approach- ing winter, and the ‘‘books and parchments’’ for the alleviation of the old man’s weary hours. It appears certain that Timothy had pa- tiently continued in the pastorate of the Ephesian Church for the intervening period of eleven years; and, for anything to the con- trary, we may assume that he was still in charge (A.D. 95) when John, the last sur- vivor of the apostles, delivered his message ‘‘to the angel’’ (literally, messenger or am- bassador) ‘‘of the Church at Ephesus.’’ (Rev. 2:1-7.) We eannot follow him further; here the record ends. There is enough, however, to give us a clear tout ensemble of Timothy’s character. To begin with, he was a quiet man, with a ‘‘oift.’? What the particular gift was that Paul exhorts him to ‘‘stir up’? (2 Tim. 1:6) we are left to surmise. It was probably not eloquence; possibly it was tact. The length of his pastorate in Ephesus would indicate that he knew how to manage a difficult situ- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 217 ation and get along with all kinds of people. In any ease he used his gift to the glory of God, which is the main point. Everybody has a gift of some sort, which needs not only to be stirred up but kept stirring. Miss Havergal knew how to sing; and when she became a Christian she resolved to sing her best for the Lord who had redeemed her. “Take my voice and let me sing Always, only, for my King!” The courage of Timothy is also in evi- dence. He did not flinch, like John Mark, at the foot of the Lycaonian hills. He faced the danger that confronted him as a com- panion with Paul in the Mammertine jail. He had counted the cost of being a Chris- tian and faced whatever might befall him as simply ‘‘in the day’s work.’’ The Lord wants such men to serve him. And then consider his faithfulness. It is rumored that some ministers are wont to re- gard their parishes as mere stepping-stones to larger parishes further on. Not so Tim- othy. ‘‘Tarry in Ephesus,’’ wrote Paul; and tarry he did, resolutely continuing in labor 218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL of love and patience of hope for a lifetime. It was to a ‘‘likeminded man’’ (Phil. 2: 19, 20) that Paul wrote his farewell words: ‘‘I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’’ And this, finally. The groundwork of his character was fidelity to the Word of God. He had learned the Scriptures in his old home at Lystra, where, despite the influence of a pagan father, he imbibed the unfeigned faith of his mother Eunice and his grand- mother Lois. ‘‘ rom a ehild,’’ writes Paul, ‘thou hast known the holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture,’’ he significantly adds, ‘‘given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doc- trine, for reproof, for correction, for in- struction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’’ It was because Paul, the ‘‘father superior’”’ of this young man, was confident of his devotion to the Scrip- tures that he could hopefully exhort him to preach accordingly: ‘‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth PAUL’S COMPANIONS maghe, not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word Ofiruto.:: From all of which we conclude that the best Christian is a Bible Christian, and that the best minister is one who not only believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures but can rightly adjust them to the needs of those who hear him. The Lord’s promise is, ‘‘ My word shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent Lene Fe atk 1 ; y ‘ im, ‘ ae am i tig ie iS ah one vo! ie) SLED He : Sr ae Fs 4 shan CS ire ee ee. vi Rn aia ‘Y ti cc totdbent aa a. e 493 7- 4 Retin Bai pit Taos RE: rh Be J i ' A * oy “ar. Ty rth hee iy Ve) é hw 2 ; y a hear te uy aM ae deifis Tae. d ay hae: % x i OIL ifs aie, i a RG ¢ vA ' aN ymuee ec | A RO eel: (os Ries 5 ‘ on eh + a: A : es! Wt A ie i ” x : BA vs Pan vee WO. * his oa : ‘ 4 { Tite Ee ati ah A a A a bagel is Peery | Tae . i) iy Bh BSN ies viel j y ‘ ee 1 " a hee iy ey 4 rh t ‘ een mk ay ae { : . > A J ore. a 7 t. ‘SPU q ' 3 ’ r? NG wa eT oy ig “ify ‘oar 1 im ia | po a | h wh pki j wil “4 , 4 4? J 4 ay? ¢ a rt “eee ry o Ae } ¢ veh * . a $a! tH pay ; wie re } Js ia ¥ . p j ij +E ar Fe ‘he h: ee, iJ aa Pm i E : \ ‘ s ( Eis 1a J x ; 5 j ; 7 hn A . y Lt H va. ci * pats ‘4 nt ALY Main raat 7 ce . ' ‘ ody; en ‘ - : d sing i 7 yt 7 thle : ey es WO 1 Mae “A iis Gear ry 234) f Hit 4 a) eo, ot Ww cm ; ‘ 7 € . ; t , 6 ) ’ fi! rw 1 ; 7” ind ‘ A + he y/ Ie A ] 4 ie 4 x“ Ye ibe b , a UP A ( ; F wi } oy ry 4 #3 te si ¥ 4 mies é re ae i at eae 4 foo ‘7 ‘ah a) he ae) Oe vr 4 1 ‘| “a x h ek » wi be : a DD WE i i” ai i ae i ir a. ‘* ; “4 wii - Fe ann) - > a * hy”: iM toad tLe gett lg ne ff ‘ Por AW lee s ele, JU 4) ‘ “) £ ivi 4 nit Se MRC te! ee th eey ‘ ¢ | re ee ti Aids \ ov ih Be ) 4 wiser bh ‘7 7 , Baa nae us ,.2 EY ra air a ue, ian Ye a) aa’ { a) ae rie ’ sa 5 4 eae < re bs wwe at ." Wee, aA ee us ei ik roe i a cpa: hy oy if Tok boa m i | ac Vv LUKE: “THE BELOVED Bees LAN 221 ndfast was he whom the rest of the This Mr. Sta in the Enchanted pilgrims found upon his knees Ground. 222 Vv LUKE: “THE BELOVED BIDY SiGEA Ng It is no easy matter to do good work when one is handicapped by ill health. Paul was never a well man: he speaks of his ‘‘oft in- firmities,’’ the chiefest of which was a mys- terious ‘‘thorn in the flesh’’ that never ceased to trouble him. All went well on his first missionary journey until he reached Galatia, where he was laid low by an illness that must have de- tained him for a considerable time. (Gal. 4: 13,14.) Hethen pressed on until he came to Troas, where he had his vision of the man of Macedonia beckoning and calling, ‘‘Come over and help us!’’ This meant an adventure into Kurope. A new continent for Christ! So important an enterprise could not safely be undertaken in Paul’s precarious condition without the help of a physician; and here is where we catch our first glimpse of Luke. He may 223 224 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL have been a resident of Troas; if so he must have given up his local practice in order to accompany Paul and minister to him. How do we know that Luke here joined the missionary group that crossed the Hellespont into Europe? By the change of a pronoun in the narrative. Up to this point the writer of the Acts of the Apostles — none other than Luke himself — has used the pronoun ‘‘they,’’ but from henceforth he speaks in the first person, ‘‘we.’’ (Acts 16: 10.) By following the change of pronouns from ‘‘they’’ to ‘*we’’ and back again we shall have no difficulty in tracing the foot- steps of Luke from now on. He continued with Paul as far as Phil- ippi, where — from the resumption of the pronoun ‘‘they’’ — we conclude that he was either constrained to remain behind for a season or possibly to return to his native eity. In any ease he did not rejoin the mis- slonary group until several years later, when, on the third journey, they came again to Philippi. (Acts 20:6.) Here the chron- icler resumes the first personal pronoun and keeps it to the end. It would appear that PAUL’S COMPANIONS 225 Paul’s failing health now ealled for the con- stant attendance of a physician; and Luke never failed him. He was with Paul on his perilous journey to Jerusalem (Acts 20:15, 16), also during his imprisonment at Cesarea and his voyage to Rome; and he kept the log of the final voyage with its driving storm and _ ship- wreck. (Acts 27:1.) He shared the hard- ships of Paul’s weary confinement in the - Pretorian camp and subsequently in the Mammertine jail (2 Tim. 4:11), and was with him no doubt when the executioner summoned him to die outside the gates of the city. . No man ever had less to say of himself than Luke; yet by reading between the lines we may form a very distinct outline of his Christian life and character. I. Tradition says that he was a painter. Whether that is correct or not, certain it is that he portrayed the Apostle Paul in colors unmistakably bright and clear. This was because he dipped his inspired pen in ‘¢Siloa’s brook that flows fast by the Oracle of God.’’ Nor ean his self-effacement in be- 226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL half of the great missionary conceal his own face and figure as that of a singularly up- right and devoted man. II. He was a writer of distinction, master of a-style marked by great clarity and pic- turesquesness. He begins the Acts of the Apostles with these words: ‘The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up.’ The Gospel according to Luke is ‘‘the former treatise’ referred to. These two books re- main as his enduring memorials. In “the Gospel according to Luke” we have really the Gospel according to Paul, the proba- bility being, as Athanasius says, that Paul “dictated” the substance of it. III. He was a skillful as well as “be- loved” physician. Of the four evangelists who wrote the Life of Jesus he most empha- sizes the miracles of healing and dwells most particularly on the symptoms of disease and the mode of treatment. But while thus be- traying his own professional skill he hides himself with the utmost care behind the fig- ure of Jesus as “the great physician.” It PAUL’S COMPANIONS Bel is he who tells the touching story of the woman with an incurable hemorrhage, re- vealing a quiet sense of humor at the ex- pense of his professional brethren in the statement that she ‘‘had spent all her living upon physicians, neither could be healed of any.” He attributes to Jesus such healing power that “virtue went out of him” through the very touch of the hem of his garment. No other of the sacred writers gives us so clear a view of the compassion of Jesus toward the poor, the helpless and the abandoned. Where in all the world of literature can be found so vivid a portrayal as in Luke 15 of Jesus as the incarnation of God, coming down from heaven to seek and to save, and seeking the lost” until he find re hg’ IV. But in his relation to Paul we know this man best as a faithful friend. No fair- weather friend was he; through evil and good report he stayed by him. This is the sort of friend we need, one who stands ready to summer and winter with us. “Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me,” writes Paul to Timothy in the darkness and chill 228. LIFE AND GE REDRS OW Sia PAUL of his last imprisonment; “only Luke is with me.’ Only Luke! But what to this weary old soldier would the Mammertine jail have been without Luke? | But there was Another with Paul in those weary hours, a better Friend than Luke, a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother. “The Lord,’ he says, “‘stood with me.” And this is the Friend whom Luke in all his writ- ings commends as the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely. Blessed is the man who confides in Him! One could wish that we knew more of the later years of this “beloved” man. As it is, in parting company with him we cannot but remark upon his likeness to ‘“‘Mr. Stand- fast’? in ‘‘The Pilgrim’s Progress,’? who was also faithful unto the end. As he came to the brink of the river, with the glory of the Celestial City before him, he “talked with the companions that had waited upon him thither. And he said, ‘This river has been a terror to many; yea, the thoughts of it also have often frightened me; but now methinks I stand easy... . The thoughts of what I am going to, and of the convoy PAUL’S COMPANIONS 229 that waits for me on the other side, do lie as a glowing coal at my heart. My toilsome days are ended. ... I have loved to hear my Lord spoken of; and wherever I have seen the print of his shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot too. His name has been to me as a civet-box; yea, sweeter than all perfumes. His voice to me has been most sweet, and his countenance I have more desired than they that have most desired the light of the sun. Huis words I did use to gather for my food, and for antidotes against my faintings. He hath held me, and hath kept me from mine iniquities; yea, my steps hath he strengthened in his way.’ Now, while he was thus in discourse, his countenance changed; his strong man bowed under him; and after he had said, ‘Take me, for I come unto thee,’ he ceased to be seen of them. But glorious it was to see how the open region was filled with horses and chariots, with trumpeters and pipers, with singers and players upon stringed instru- ments, to welcome the pilgrims as they went up and followed one another in at the beauti- ful gate of the city.” { K rh eo Woke tip tte We Bn Tee wk Le , 7 5 ‘ ) ; : 7 ie i ei yy ws ar i ae iy deat ie | in a ° a S iy x i uy 2 va Ms oa i n, - i re ee ) 7 a uid es i. ee fig coil He “oth ‘ed > ane fH * * {? ; 2 Reich eet he / PAR ut ; wy 46 ial sae ie path MP S = ahd at) ’ »” is ri: na Pr Be ' i y a a ee a h Ls oy a aah We Wy ah Ke ja’ aS") aR wh, re ts hy Ay: ew by mente’ t Pag 4 4 } 12 ce ‘ee § Phy, ~ ey nl i Dy Ss oa Cet ye yh on; ‘y “cl: . 1 Rae SS eT Sere UNO Ry ed at A nee baad Td Ps " ‘yy At ray + tA) Me FAD i} 1s, Gabe hi yah as at 7 4 a aie ts a) } , 4 ‘Nh a M4 Re qa. wo = ch ae fe pall A Pas NaN TEE ea Le th LEANN igi feisty ( Cate Saha } ae p°4 * re a £ hie ‘ : * iy Shy nity j ‘mee OY i. 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Thay (G neh abi . he wee MGR Tern ar en Sy AD) ok s f ify re a “ oe al oe f b | ] ee td CELA EMER AMES uamaret heey, Aha hi HAE me \ . , ‘ = tue 4 4 air | UP A fad: sbi genteel ines: aii SAR cole yi jivslite seah a wines epee ay, RG ara i Be ee aaa ns waded Adair Hee if * ead casei NMED PCR TT Mt eel cee yi e cay sahemes fee. | 2 ; ss porer 1 wheat nhs oe h ou ties he ene me, . ki a ok a Ria . 'p Lee rem ; ; } iv Th j st + NY, 1 ie \¥ EAD ny ee DM Yi? Pe : shyt mh 4) oe bay: et sgh ie biest t a | ieee hes R a ‘Neat eis nt als AR, T4G aD a ne Mar te , aig > rN seneiiban > ain ONAN i a “ ie RY) ea 0 w + \ yet " i Prue ipielg he _ wih oi i a es , os yp ae ras ae PA as ve i i ere: ashi; tb se “ig fy ine an = ai aa “ arenes ilk ia ee ina im VI LYDIA: THE PURPLE-SELLER 231 Then the porter rang his bell, as at such times he was wont, and there came to the door one of the damsels, whose name was Humble-mind; and to her the porter said, “Go tell it within that Christiana the wife of Christian and her children are come hither on pilgrimage.” She went in therefore and told it. But oh, what noise for gladness was there within when the damsel did but drop that out of her mouth! 232 VI LYDIA: THE PURPLE-SELLER THE story begins with a voyage — a mem- orable voyage. On the deck of a vessel crossing the Hellespont are three men searching for an- other man. One of them had a dream last night at Troas, in which he saw a dim figure, known by his peculiar garb and dialect to be a Macedonian, stretching out his hands and calling, ‘‘Come over and help us!’’ Paul was the last person in the world to be unre- sponsive to such a call. Summoning his friend Silas and Luke, his attendant physi- cian, he ‘‘immediately”’ set sail. The two epic heroes of ancient Rome and Greece had also sailed from Troas; but the Aineid and the Odyssey dwindle into insig- nificance when compared with the adventure of these men. It means a new continent for 233 234 LIFE AND LETTERS.OF SPAPAUL Christ! Somewhere in those distant hills of Europe the pursuivant of a mighty cause awaits these men. But will they find him? The next day was the Sabbath. But Phi- lippi was a pagan city and cared nothing for the Lord or for his holy day. Three strangers sought a synagogue in vain. Out- side the gates there was a proseuche, or ‘‘place where prayer was wont to be made,”’ and a company of devout women, Jewesses and ‘‘proselytes’’ of Jewish faith, were there engaged in worship when — no doubt to their amazement and perhaps embar- rassment — the three strangers appeared in their midst. In accordance with the custom of the synagogue they were invited to speak on the lesson of the day: ‘‘If ye have any word of exhortation for us, say on.’’ (See Luke 4:16; Acts 13:15, ete.) We have no report of Paul’s sermon, but it goes without saying that he preached on ‘‘This Jesus is the Christ.”’ And then and there they found the ‘‘man of Macedonia.’’ The forerunner of all Christian converts on the continent of Eu- rope proved to be a woman; as it is written: PAUL’S COMPANIONS 235 “A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, heard us; whose heart the Lord opened that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household she besought us saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord come into my house and abide there.” Acts 16:14, 15. This is not much of a biography, but we must make the most of it; since — except for a few brief and somewhat vague allu- sions — this is substantially all we know of her. But there is a good deal here for one who is able to read between the lines. First, she was a native of Thyatira. Now Thyatira was in Mysia, a pagan country which Paul had greatly desired to enter with the Gospel message, but when he ‘‘assayed to go’”’ with his companions ‘‘the Spirit suf- fered them not.’’ (Acts 16: 7,8.) It would appear, however, that the desired end was accomplished through the conyersion of Lydia; the probability being that she was the means of establishing the church which afterward flourished in that city. (Rev. 2: 18-29.) Second, she was a ‘‘devout’’ woman, that is a ‘‘proselyte’’ or convert from paganism 236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL to the Jewish religion. As a worshiper of the true God she was in the way of discover- ing God revealed in his only begotten Son. There are many ‘‘devout’’ people who are not Christians but, in so far as they are earnest seekers after truth, they are certain to accept Christ when they behold him. Third, her heart was open. The Lord had so opened it that on hearing that Jesus was the prophesied and long-looked-for Messiah she ‘‘attended”’ to the message and received him. This is salvation; this is ‘‘justification by faith’’; this is what it means to be a Christian, no more and no less. Fourth, she was ‘‘baptized’’; that is, she made an open confession of her faith. The Church has only two sacraments: one 1s bap- tism, which as an initiatory rite commits the initiate to the open and avowed service of Christ; the other is the Lord’s Supper, in which the church-member at stated times re- news his covenant. When Lydia was bap- tized with her household she gave it to be understood that she and her children were - prepared to stand up and be counted for Christ. PAUL’S COMPANIONS beef Fifth, she opened her house to Paul and his companions. This meant more than the eustomary hospitality of the Orient: 1t was an expression of gratitude for the great service they had rendered her, and also a recognition of the new and wonderful bond of fellowship which every believer finds in the company of Christian friends. ‘‘ Birds of a feather flock together.’’ ‘‘Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love!’’ There is a sequel. It was not long before the campaign in Philippi came to a sudden end. The healing of the demoniacal malady of a slave girl, whom her masters had used as a pythoness with much profit to them- selves, led to a riot and the arrest of Paul and Silas as disturbers of the peace. They were scourged and cast into prison. That night there was an earthquake which shook the prison walls and released the prisoners. Their jailer, whose life under the Roman law was forfeit in case of their escape, threw himself upon their mercy, crying, ‘‘Men and brethren, what shall I do?’’ Never was a better chance to preach the Gospel, and Paul immediately took advantage of it, saying, 238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house.’’ And behold the man believed and ‘‘ was baptized and all his straightway.”’ A strange conversion and how different from lydia’s! Her heart was gently ‘fopened’’ by the Spirit, while it took an earthquake to convert him. But so it is written: ‘‘There are diversities of opera- tions, but it is the same God which worketh allin all.’’ (1 Cor. 12:6.) Not all are born into the Kingdom in the same way. Some Christians can remember the very day and hour when, after long conviction, they were eloriously blinded for a season, like Saul of Tarsus, by a light above the brightness of the sun; others remember their conversion as the quiet falling of the dew or the break- ing of a new day; while others still cannot at all remember the beginning of their Chris- tian life. God works as he will. The New Jerusalem has twelve gates and every gate is of pearl; let no one insist that another shall pass through the same gate by which he entered into the Celestial City. The story of Lydia ends with a scene in PAUL’S COMPANIONS 209 the church at Philippi. Eleven years have passed. The minister, possibly Epaphro- ditus, is reading to the congregation a letter just received from Paul, a prisoner at Rome. In view of the relations of Lydia with Paul and with the Philippian church it is strange that the letter makes no mention of her. Perhaps she was dead, or had re- moved to some other city. Or possibly we may discover her in the modest company re- ferred to in these words: ‘‘I entreat thee, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel, whose names are in the book of life.’”’ (Phil. 4:3.) In any case Lydia is worthy to be named among those who ‘‘labored together’? with Paul. She journeyed with him in spirit and shared with him the hardships of his ministry. ‘*Let her works praise her in the gates.”’ It is sometimes said by way of criticising the Church that ‘‘the women keep it up.’’ In large measure this is true. It is also true that the women are the main support of our domestic life. If it were not for the gra- cious influence of our mothers and wives and daughters what sort of homes would our 240 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL homes be? And the women stand back of our schools and hospitals and all institutions that make for the betterment of the com- munity. Moreover of late their leaven has so beneficently leavened the lump of national affairs that I doubt if the crustiest bachelor in America would suggest a return to the good old times when not infrequently our ballots were cast in dramshops to an accom- paniment of ribald profanity. It is just oc- casion for regret that so many Christian women, like Lois, are yoked up with pagan Greeks who, cumbered with much service in the marketplace, can find neither time nor inclination to serve God. To utter a gibe at the Church because Lois is there with her boy Timothy is to show a singular ignorance of analogy and the eternal fitness of things. All hail to the Lydias of the Church, the ministering women whose hearts are open to truth and in whose lips is the law of kind- ness! By the memory of the mother of our Lord and of the mothers that bore us, of the sisters that guided our early feet and the wives who fill and furnish our homes with labor of love, we take shame to ourselves PAUL’S COMPANIONS 241 that ever a man presumes to cast a slur on woman’s devotion to Christ. All hail to our elect ladies! If ever we get to heaven we shall find them there be- fore us—and not alone. It is written of Christian that, fleeing from the City of De- struction, he left his household behind him; but Christiana would not go without her children. At heaven’s gate we shall meet them, mothers like Hannah and Christiana, mothers like yours and mine; and as they enter with the sunlight of blessing in their faces, we shall hear them saying, ‘‘ Here, Lord, am I and they whom thou hast given me!’’ Wy i on ci ee as ite te ar eee nna VII AQUILA AND PRISCILLA 243 I will sing you first this song: ‘“‘When saints do sleepy grow, let them come hither And hear how these two pilgrims talk together; Yea, let them learn of them in any wise, Thus to keep ope their drowsy, slumb’ring eyes.” 244 VIT AQUILA AND PRISCILLA In 54 4.D., this man and his wife were pur- suing their trade as tentmakers at Corinth, whither they had come in pursuance of a recent edict of the Emperor against the Jews. (Acts 18:1-3.) It chanced that at that time Paul was carrying on an evan- gelistic campaign in the same city, and. being a tent-maker by trade and needing work, he found his way to Aquila’s shop. As he plied the needle he related to his fel- low-workmen the wonderful story of his con- version and explained the Good News. They welcomed it gladly and were known thence- forth as followers of Christ. Of all Paul’s helpers none were to prove themselves more helpful than these two. A lonely man, he was in constant need of the comfort which such a home-making couple could provide for him. A few years later Paul went to Ephesus 245 246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL and they with him. He soon departed for Jerusalem however to attend one of the an- nual feasts, and his work was left in their hands. Meanwhile a learned Jew of Alexan- dria, named Apollos, had come to the city and, being eloquent and mighty in the Serip- tures, was teaching ‘‘diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John.’’ In other words, be perceived that the times were out of joint and anticipated the coming of the kingdom; but the larger truths of the Gospel were as yet unknown to him. In some manner he came under the influence of Aquila and Priscilla, and ‘‘they expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.”’ (Acts 18: 24-26.) This appears to have been the first Theological Seminary of the Christian Church: primitive, indeed, yet it may be doubted whether in all the world there was another institution of ]learn- ing where the truth was more sincerely or comprehensively taught. Not Zeno’s Painted Porch, nor Plato’s Academy, nor Gamaliel’s school at Jerusalem could have so well equipped Apollos for his work as an evangelist. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 247 In Paul’s first Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 16:19) mention is made of Aquila and Priscilla and ‘‘the church that is in their house.’’ This probably means no more than that, at stated times, the followers of Christ met and worshiped together at their family altar: nevertheless the domestic circle is thus invested with a peculiar sanc- tity as the germ of that great organism which we call the Church of God. Later they were at Rome as Paul’s helpers. It would appear that they had been involved in some sort of persecution, from which they had rescued Paul at the peril of their lives. (Rom. 16:3-5.) And again mention is made of ‘‘the church that is in their house.’’ A strange contrast this to St. Peter’s in the Rome of to-day! That humble church in the tentmakers’ home had no tiaraed Pope, no imposing College of Car- dinals, no elaborate paraphernalia of wor- ship; yet great was God’s blessing upon it. The last mention of Aquila and Priscilla finds them back at Ephesus in the year 66. (2 Tim. 4:19.) There is a tradition that on the 8th of July — the day set apart for them -248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL in the martyrology of the Romish Church —the faithful couple were led out beyond the walls and beheaded. It is easy to fill in the details of the pathetic picture; each looked at the other with eyes full of love, as if to say, ‘‘ Farewell; fear not!’’ There was a flash of the blade, and they were at home with God. The story of Aquila and. Priscilla is a beautiful idyl of home-life. The religion of Christ 1s singular in the emphasis which it puts upon the privileges and responsibilities of the domestic sphere. It is written that when Sayka-Muni had discovered ‘‘the Great Truth,’’ and had determined to devote himself to its propagation, he came to his home in the night-time and, finding his wife - asleep, with her infant beside her, he softly kissed her, said farewell and went his way. This was Mahabanish kramana, ‘‘the Great Renunciation.’’? He saw his home thence- forth no more, but, sitting under the sacred Bo-tree, gave himself to meditation, losing himself in contemplation of the Ineffable One. How striking the contrast between this and the life of Jesus! At the home in PAUL’S COMPANIONS 249 Nazareth he was ‘‘subject unto his par- ents’’; at the home in Bethany he found rest and comfort during the troubled years of his ministry; at the home in Cana he laid his benediction upon the delights of social life; and when he would portray the glories of heaven, he spoke not of a city, nor of a better country, nor of a garden of delights, but of home, sweet home. ‘‘In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”’ Here ws a pleasant picture also of wedded love. Aquila and Priscilla are always named together, as if they were inseparable; but, singularly, the order varies, suggesting that there was no strife for the pre-eminence. It reminds us of what Jeremy Taylor said: ‘‘When God created woman, he made her not of Adam’s head, as if she were to rule over him; nor out of his feet, as if he were to rule over her; but from his side, close by his heart, because he should ever love and honor and protect her.’’ In these days of loose thinking and looser living in these premises, it is well to empha- 250. ‘LIFE AND LETTERS OF SESPAUL size the fact that wedlock 1s a divine ordt- mance. It is not a sacrament; wherever so regarded, as among all the Latin nations, immorality prevails. But this union was ordained of God in the time of man’s inno- cency. ‘‘It is not good,’’ he said, ‘‘for man to be alone’’; wherefore he made woman to be his helpmeet. The generic man, the so- cial unit, is not one but two in one; as it is written, ‘‘Male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam.’’ (Gen. 5: 2.) This union is, further,- pronounced to be “honorable in all.’ A Scotch girl to whom her minister had said, ‘‘Janet, it 1s a very serious thing to be married,’’ answered with- out hesitation, ‘‘Aye, minister, I ken it isa serious thing to be married, but it 1s more serious no’ to be.’’?’ The humor of the canny lass was quite eclipsed by her philosophy. There is such a thing as ‘‘single blessed- ness’’; but it stands as the exception and not the rule. Blessedness is a path for two. It has been truly said of wedlock, ‘‘It halves our sorrows and doubles our joys.’’ But there are two conditions affixed to an PAUL’S COMPANIONS ol ideal marriage. One is mutual love. There is no place in the divine economy for a ‘‘marriage of convenience.’’ It 1s a per- version of the order of nature and a trav- esty on the ordinance of God. You may carpet your floors with softest velvet, cover your walls with richest tapestries, fill the at- mosphere with music of harp and dulcimer, and spread your table with all rare and deli- eate viands; but if love be wanting your home will be no better than a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. On the other hand, the nearest approach to heaven is ‘‘love in a cottage.’’ The hail may rattle on the roof, the snows sift under the eaves, the grate be cold and the larder empty; the wolf may howl at the door, the King of Terrors him- self may stand beckoning at the threshold, but if love abides within, all’s well. A man in public life, well-known and dis- tinguished among our law-makers, whose domestic establishment is a proverb for hos- pitality and whose wife is a recognized leader in society, recently said, ‘‘Our hearts go back longingly to the days when we lived in a home of two rooms, practising petty 252. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL economies to make both ends meet ; when we were apart from the world and alone with each other; those were our happiest days.’’ Love is better than beauty or wit; Love is better than gold; Love is not found in the marketplace; Love is not bought and sold. The other condition of ideal happiness is to be joined in the Lord. It has been wiselv said, ‘‘Be not unequally yoked together.’’ (2 Cor.6:14.) This is an old-fashioned pre- cept; but its wisdom is certified by the sor- row of many lives. It is obvious that when husband and wife are at odds concerning the fundamental facts of religion they are not ‘‘united as one.’’ A Christian thinks more of his religion than of anything else; it is his meat and drink; it is the very air he breathes. The name of his Saviour is as ointment poured forth; he lives for Christ, and is willing to die for him. How, under such circumstances, can one be happily joined to another who is averse to such con- siderations or quite indifferent to them? The advice of Paul to couples who are thus PAUL’S COMPANIONS 253 matched but not mated is found in 1 Cor- inthians 7: 12-17: but an ounce of preven- tion is worth a pound of cure. A duet of musical instruments. is impossible except as they are keyed to the same pitch. There are many who, failing to remember this, have married in haste to repent at leisure. The family altar is the heart of the Chris- tian home. It is as true now as in the days of Obed-edom that God prospers the home where the ark abides. In the morning, when each member of the household sets forth upon a day of unknown duties and dangers, is it not well to kneel together and offer prayer like that of the Breton mariner, ‘‘O Lord, keep me; my boat is so little and the ocean so wide’’? At eventide is it not well to invoke the protecting care of God? In the hour of sorrow, when sickness invades the home or when there is a crape on the door, there are strength and comfort and hope in clasping hands at the doorway of the Holiest of All. It is a grave responsibility which a father takes who allows his children to grow up to maturity and pass out into the responsibilities of life without having heard 254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL his voice lifted in their behalf at the throne of the heavenly grace. We glory in our American homes; but be- fore the foundations of this Republic were laid the Christian home had its place among the Scottish hills. ‘‘The church in the house’’ was kept up at peril of life and con- fiscation of goods by those who were pledged to Christ’s crown and covenant! Very many of our lyrics of domestic life are of Scottish birth. One of them is ‘‘The Cotter’s Satur- day Night.’’ The steps of the weary worker are quickened as he catches sight of the light in the window: His wee bit ingle, blinkin’ bonnilie, His clean hearthstane, his thriftie wifie’s atte The lisping infant prattling on his knee, Does a’ his weary carking cares beguile, And makes him quite forget his labor and his toil. * * * % The cheerfu’ supper done, wi’ serious face They, round the ingle, form a circle wide; The sire turns o’er, wi’ patriarchal grace, The big ha’-Bible, ance his father’s pride; His bonnet reverently is laid aside, His lyart haffets wearing thin an’ bare: Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, PAUL’S COMPANIONS 255 He wales a portion with judicious care; And “Let us worship God!” he says with solemn air. * Ws * * From scenes like these old Scotia’s grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad. And another is ‘‘John Anderson, My Jo.’’ The faithful wife, on whose cheeks the rose has faded, in whose eyes the light is dim, looks up into the face of her gray-haired companion and sings with quavering voice: “John Anderson my jo, John, When we were first: acquent, Your locks were like the raven, Your bonnie brow was brent; But now your brow is beld, John, Your locks are like the snaw; But blessings on your frosty pow, John Anderson my jo! “John Anderson my jo, John, We clamb the hill thegither; And mony a canty day, John, We’ve had wi’ ane anither. Now we maun totter down, John, But hand in hand we'll go; And sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson my jo.” 256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL And another of these home-songs tells of the Reconciliation. The husband has quarreled with his gude-wife and speaks entreatingly: “Thou hast sworn by thy God, my Jeanie, By that pretty white hand o’ thine, And by a’ the lowing stars o’ heaven That thou wad aye be mine. “And I hae sworn by my God, my Jeanie, And by that kind heart o’ thine, By a’ the stars sown thick o’er heaven, That thou shalt aye be mine. “Then foul fa’ the hands that wad loose sic bands And the heart that wad part sic love; But there is nae hand can lose my band But the finger o’ Him above. “Come here to me, thou lass 0’ my love, Come here and kneel wi’ me: The morn is fu’ o’ the presence o’ God, And I canna pray without thee. “The Book maun be ta’en when the carle comes hame Wi’ the holy psalmodie; And thou maun speak o’ me to thy God, And I will speak o’ thee.” But Aquila and Priscilla, husband and wife, were also partners wn faithful service. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 257 It would appear that they shared the duties of their workshop. It is much to say that they were not ashamed of manual toil, since in those days it was regarded as the business of slaves. The life of Jesus as the Carpenter of Nazareth has done much to reverse that judgement, although there are still some who deem it more honorable to live by the sweat of their fathers’ faces than of their own. But these tentmakers of Pontus were not ashamed of their craft. It is safe to say moreover that the product of their labor was known for its excellent quality. Their tents were made of honest goat’s-hair, sewn with honest seams and disposed of at an honest price. The trade-mark ‘‘A. & P.’’ would mean much among the dwellers in tents of those days. But Aquila and Priscilla did not confine their attention to handicraft; they were in the higher service of the kingdom of Christ. Though not in holy orders, they were faith- ful in the preaching of the Gospel and showed its excellency in their walk and con- versation. ‘The supreme need of our time is not more preachers but more consecrated 258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL laymen; more men and women ready to ex- emplify their religion in the common duties of life. It was a goodly sight when the Crusader rode forth from his walled castle, clad in chain armor, his plume waving, banner fly- ing, lance poised, in quest of valorous deeds. The world looked on while he strove in the tourney or championed the weak and help- less or fought for the conquest of the Holy Sepulchre. But it is a grander sight before God when a man, with no blazonry of pomp or circumstance, addresses himself day by day to labor of love and patience of hope. Such an one was Charles Kingsley of gra- clous memory, of whom his wife wrote: ‘The outside world must judge him as an author, a preacher, a member of society, but those only who lived with him in the inti- macy of every-day life at home can tell what he was as aman. Over the real romance of his life and over the tenderest, loveliest pas- sages in his private letters a veil must be thrown, but it will not be lifting it too far to say that if in the highest, closest of earthly relationships a love that never failed PAUL’S COMPANIONS 259 —pure, patient, passionate — for six-and- thirty years, a love which never stooped from its own lofty level to a hasty word, an impatient gesture or a selfish act, in sickness or in health, in sunshine or in storm, by day or by night, could prove that the age of chiv- alry has not passed away forever, then Charles Kingsley fulfilled the ideal of a ‘most true and perfect knight’ to the one woman blest with that love in time and to eternity. ‘Tio eternity, for such love is eternal, and he is not dead. He himself, the man, the lover, husband, father, friend — he still lives in God, who is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”’ Are such lives unnoticed? Nay, they are ‘fcompassed about with witnesses.’’ The galleries are filled! The Master himself looks on; and every word that his diffident follower speaks in the interest of truth and righteousness, every stretching forth of the helping hand, every denial of self, is re- corded in heaven. It is said that the vibra- tion of the atmosphere produced by speech is so rapidly diffused that within twenty hours the entire aerial envelope of the earth 260) BIRR sain DSI DS CIGRS@O hese A rg is affected by it. Our life puts on a serious aspect when we pause to consider that the very air into which we are speaking is a vast auditorium, wherein our utterances are pre- served forever. This puts an emphasis upon the precept, ‘‘Do ye nexte thynge.’’ Let us not complain of the narrowness of our sphere, but rather seek earnestly to fill it. ‘‘Go down to thy house,’’ said Jesus to the man of Gadara, who, in gratitude for heal- ing, desired to follow Christ as a disciple — ‘*Return to thine house and show how great things God hath done unto thee.”’ In memory of the quiet but useful lives of the many Aquilas and Priscillas whom we have known, let us do with our might whatsoever our hands find to do, at home, in the marketplace, in the fellowship of the evangel; and may the God whose eyes run to and fro through all the earth take knowl- edge of the work of our hands and establish it upon us. VII ME OMIO Se) VTC DYE Nee i ELH SCRIPTURES”’ 261 Then said the Interpreter, “The Comforter be always with thee, good Christian, to guide thee in the way that leads to the city.” So Christian went on his way, saying, “Here I have seen things rare and profitable, Things pleasant, dreadful, things to make me stable In what I have begun to take in hand: Then let me think on them, and understand Wherefore they showed me were, and let me be Thankful, O good Interpreter, to thee.” 262 VALET APOLLOS: ‘“‘MIGHTY IN THE SCRIPTURES” Au that we know of Apollos is gathered from a single paragraph in the Acts of the Apostles with a few casual references in the Epistles. As we put together these scat- tered items of information we shall find our- selves reading A. TALE oF Four CITIEs. The paragraph referred to is as follows: A certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia the 263 264 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL brethren wrote exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scrip- tures that Jesus was the Christ. Acts 18: 24-28. . IT. ALEXANDRIA The early life of Apollos was spent in this wonderful city, which was the meeting-place of Eastern and Western civilization in the early centuries of the Christian era. Here was the forum where Paganism, Judaism and Christianity met for what proved to be a conclusive discussion of their respective claims. The learning of the world was cen- tered there. Greek philosophers touched elbows with Jewish rabbis and Christian fathers. The lines of controversy by degrees converged upon the Old Testament; for the better understanding of which a translation was made out of the Hebrew into the Greek language: and that translation, the Septua- gint, remains as a monument of erudition to this day. The name of Apollos would indicate that he was a Jew by adoption only. His par- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 265 ents would scarcely have named him after ~ Apollo had they rot been worshipers of the pagan gods; though, like multitudes of others in Alexandria, they had probably be- come ‘‘proselytes,’’ ate is, Wonshipens of the true God. In any case it is certain that Apollos was ‘instructed in the way of the Lord.’’ In his study of the Old Testament he had dis- covered the golden thread of Messianic prophecy running through all its pages from the protevangel of Paradise, respecting the Seed of woman who was to come in the ful- ness of time to ‘‘bruise the serpent’s head,”’ down to Malachi’s glowing vision of the Sun of Righteousness who should ‘‘arise with healing in his wings.’’ Then came the news from a far country that John the Baptist was heralding the near approach of the Messiah and calling upon the people to repent and prepare the way before him. ‘'T’o this the young student of the Seriptures responded with a ready heart. So far he was able to go and no farther. He knew only ‘‘the baptism of John,’’ that is, the baptism unto repentance 266 LIFE:-AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL and preparation for the coming of Christ. — He lived up to his hght and was prepared to welcome more light whenever it should come to him. What more does the good God ask of any man? This is the secret of ‘‘growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ.’’ An earnest seeker after truth — with no hood- wink over his eyes and an open door for rev- elations from above — will always find it. And his path will surely lead him into the presence of him who said ‘‘I am the Truth.”’ For so it is written, ‘‘To him that hath shall be given.’’ There is always more light ahead for those who walk as children of the day. Il. EPpnersus So it happened that Apollos ‘‘came to Ephesus.’’ Though no reason is given for his coming to that city of blind Jews and pleasure-loving pagans, it may be surmised from the fact that on his arrival he immedi- ately ‘‘spake and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus’? up to the full measure of his hight. His information was PAUL’S COMPANIONS 267 limited to what he had been able to learn of the Messiah from his acquaintance with the Old Testament plus the teaching of John the Baptist: but this was enough to move him with an earnest desire to propagate the truth. It was like a fire in his bones; for as a man of fervent spirit he could not rest until he had told these benighted people the Good News. What a man have we here! He did not, like Jonah, have to be told twice to go with his message of hope to a people who needed it, nor did he fall asleep in the hold of a vessel on his way. Here he is, ‘‘speaking boldly in the synagogue.’’ Great things are to be expected of such a man. It chanced that among his hearers in the synagogue were two people who had been converted through the ministry of Paul on his previous visit to this city : the tent-maker Aquila and his wife Priscilla. (Acts 18: 1-3.) They were humble folk, by no means on a level with Apollos in education or so- cial life; but their hearts went out to him as one feeling his way through the twilight toward the Truth. They ventured to ap- 268) LIFE AND LEISEERS OFVs P2PAUEL proach him, talked with him, ‘‘took him unto them, and expounded unto him the Way of God more accurately.’’ (The name by which the followers of Christ were called at that time was ‘‘people of that Way.’’) Let us get this picture before us: A tent- maker’s shop; a man and his wife busy at their trade; before them an Alexandrian scholar drinking in their words. Was ever a Theological Seminary like that? But what if our Theological Seminaries were to make a note of it? What if Aquila and Priscilla chairs were established for the ‘‘more ac- curate exposition of the Way’’? Why not? Theology is good but religion is better. The Way is everything. Doctors of Divinity are mere lay figures unless they are evangelists over and above all. — III. CorrmntH Now turn to First Corinthians 3: 1-6: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet PAUL’S COMPANIONS 269 now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. It thus appears that Apollos had found his way to Corinth. (Acts 19:1.) Here was a larger parish for him. The city swarmed ‘with tradesmen and pleasure-seekers from everywhere. What a field for a preacher equipped as Apollos now was with the pan- oply of the Gospel! By reason of his learn- ing and eloquence he forged to the front. Tt was not long before the members of the Corinthian Church began to contrast his up- standing figure and commanding oratory with the ‘‘mean presence’? and modest speech of Paul their former pastor. Then came a division into parties. Some said, ‘‘I am of Paul,’’ others, ‘‘I am of Apollos,’’ and they were pulling apart. Alas, that there should be such divisions in the body of Christ! 270 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Up to this time, so far as we know, Paul and Apollos had never met. News of the sad state of affairs in the Corinthian Church reached Paul as he was off somewhere in Macedonia, on his second missionary journey; and he immediately sat down and wrote to Corinth about it. (1 Cor. 3: 1-9.) His reference to the trouble gives us a clear sidelight into the character of Paul. He be- trays not a sign of envy or jealousy toward this unknown man who had apparently un- dermined ‘him in the affections of his former parishioners, but sinks all personal con- siderations in fraternal magnanimity and loyalty to Christ. (1 Cor. 4:6.) Not long after this Paul met Apollos and a friendship began which continued during the remainder of their lives. It was in Ephesus, about 4.p. 57. (1 Cor. 16:12.) The probability is that Apollos had left Corinth on account of the feeling of partisanship that developed among the Christians there. Paul wanted him to go back but he would not. ‘‘I besought him much,”’ he says, ‘‘but it was not at all his will.’’ Here was a strife between two brethren, neither of whom was PAUL’S COMPANIONS 271 willing to win glory at the cost of the other: a blessed exhibit of ‘‘the mind that was in Christ Jesus,’’ who said, ‘‘ Whosoever would be first among you shall be servant of all.’’ IV. NICOPOLIS Hight years have passed. Paul, after his imprisonment in the Praetorian camp at Rome, has ‘‘escaped from the mouth of the lion.’’* Old, half blind and worn out, he straightway plans another missionary journey. It reminds one of the old couplet “Tumble me down, and I will sit Exultant on my ruins yet.” He takes ship with a group of helpers and, leaving Titus on the island of Crete to minister in that difficult field, sails on to Macedonia where he pauses to rest and preach in the ancient city of Nicopolis. While there he writes a letter to Titus for his encouragement and sends it by the hand of Apollos, who is accompanied by a ‘lawyer’? named Zenas, of whom we know * Nero, for obvious reasons, was familiarly known as “The | Lion.” . 2/2, “LIFE ANDIVETIEERS OF Sie PAuUr no more. (Titus 3:13.) Not long after the writing of this letter Paul was re-arrested and carried back to Rome to his execution. This ends the story of Paul and his friend. The story of Apollos, though so brief and fragmentary, gives us the portrait of a man remarkable first as a scholar, second as an orator of unusual ability; third as an en- thusiast, ‘‘fervent in spirit’’; and fourth, as ‘‘one mighty in the Scriptures.’’ This last characteristic was the secret of his power. And this power is within the reach of every Christian who will take it. There is many a humble mother in Israel, unfamiliar with the wisdom of the schools, who will re- ceive titular honors in heaven because, to quote the words of Cowper, she ‘‘just knew, and knew no more, her Bible true.”’ In Froude’s life of John Bunyan he says that while writing ‘‘Pilgrim’s Progress”’ in Bedford jail, he had only two books; but ‘fone of these,’’ he adds, ‘‘was the Bible, which of itself alone is a liberal education.’’ Many a man has found it so. The best people in the world are those PAUL’S COMPANIONS 273 who know the Bible and live up to it. The most efficient preachers are those whose preaching is in line with the promise, ‘‘My word shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’’ The best course of study ever marked out for those who would fit themselves for use- fulness in the Christian life is that which Paul prescribed for a young friend: ‘‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a work- man that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’’ (2 Tim. 2: 15.) Se ly ih ie Cas tags AAI at o, yes erg gies Ve teat pe rip, bis ae § ye egal AF Er. BEAL rei ote Rae NC seh 0 pica Uy saan. vss Sah a3 as Oe BARI ATS GOMER eet Ee aie eae Ones HGR Loreal ne Liane: rahe ore taipiah | f Vi Ti eget vite a ae Teh; Det tb ep tap {Oe : : pea sy: poate bey fe th fi aanitt Wee eM tr cea Pai trey LOA Nahisiee Wiberitere Won bbe Dive ake sabe aes i stat ae byt t ot mieday . vies ral (secede dl Soe dito SP iescpapeoest birenckyi nthe ibate, 4 , et? 9 ne Ease} te Oth Far ath G ei te eters oy any ste ree ie i ve i - r oF a, a" el i ; : ial ar oo B RE re Wasatch at ee ee: uae ie 2 Re IX “ONE MNASON OF CYPRUS” A he So thither they came; and he called at the door, and the old man within knew his tongue as soon as ever he heard it; so he opened the door, and they all came in. Then said Mnason their host, “How far have ye come to-day?” So they said, “From the house of Gaius our friend.” “I promise you,” said he, “you have gone a good stitch. You may well be weary: sit down.” So they sat down. 276 TX “ONE MNASON OF CYPRUS” It was when Paul was on the closing lap of his third missionary journey that he first met this man. He was then going up to Jerusalem at peril of his life. His Ephesian friends came over to Miletus, where his ship was swinging at anchor, to give him fare- well. In vain did they endeavor to dissuade him from his purpose: he was under orders and must go. Whereupon a number of them, among whom was Mnason, volunteered to accompany him. Here is Luke’s account of Wes “There went with us also certain of the disciples of Cesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge.” This is all the information we have re- specting this man: but a good deal can be made of it by a proper use of the imagina- tion. There are people who seem to think 277 278 “LIFE-AND LET CERSSOP Ss ara E that the only use of the imagination is in drawing the long bow: on the contrary it is impossible to tell the truth without it. A mere statement of fact is not the whole truth, any more than a man is a man until he have flesh on his bones. If one would read the sum total of anything he must always read between the lines. Otherwise, for example, how are we going to read the story of the Prodigal Son? I say, ‘‘The father of the Prodigal used to come down to his gate day after day and look away beyond the hills and wonder and hope and’’— ‘‘Not at all,’’ says the literalist; ‘‘there is nothing like that in the story.’’ Quite right; nevertheless, the story wouldn’t be wholly true without it. | I say, ‘‘When the boy came back his father was so glad to see him that he not only ‘went out to meet him while he was yet a great way off’ but threw his arms around his neck and drowned his voice with kisses. ’’ ‘*That’s pure invention,’’ says Simon Pure. But let us see. You remember the speech the penitent boy composed when he was sit- ting on the trough in the swine-field: ‘‘T will PAUL’S COMPANIONS 219 arise and go unto my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants’ ’’: and you remember how he ar- rived with his carefully prepared speech on the tip of his tongue but only delivered a part of it. Just as he was about to apply for a situation as hired servant there came an interruption; that was when ‘‘his father fell upon his neck and kissed him.’’ Now put two and two together and you can under- stand why the speech of the prodigal ended with a dash. So I say it is impossible to get the whole truth without using one’s imagina- tion in reading between the lines. I. A moment ago it was observed that - Paul’s first meeting with Mnason was on the seashore at Miletus. Of course the story does not say so; but why should it say “‘one Mnason’’? If Paul and he had been previ- ously acquainted is it likely that he would have been referred to in that way ? It. We are informed that Mnason was ‘fof Cyprus,’’ an island in the Mediterra- nean which played no unimportant part in 280: (LIFE ANDIERIVUERS Olesa PAG history. Cato, Cicero, Alexander and no end of other celebrities were in one way or another associated with it. To have a home in Cyprus was to be a man of some import- ance in those days. III. He had also a home in Jerusalem; from which we infer that he was a man of substance. Not every one can afford, even in these prosperous times, to have a summer home in the mountains and a winter home by the sea. Moreover the house in Jerusa- lem was commodious enough to afford en- tertainment for the proprietor’s friends. Thus everything seems to intimate that Mnason was a prosperous man. And, in his prosperity, 1t would appear that he regarded himself as a steward, using aright what the Lord had entrusted to him. IV. He was ‘‘a disciple.’’ It was not the common fashion as yet to speak of the fol- lowers of Christ as ‘‘Christians’’; but to be called disciples, or pupils of Christ, was a great honor. To sit at his feet, learning of him, is to be growing in wisdom every day. This was why he said of Mary of Bethany that she had ‘‘chosen the good part which PAUL’S COMPANIONS 281 should not be taken away from her.’’ (Luke 10: 42.) V. He was ‘“‘an old disciple.’’ In the year 46 Paul had visited Cyprus, on his first missionary journey; but, apart from the conversion of Sergius Paulus, the Gov- ernor of the island, there was little to show for his ministry there. (Acts 13:4-12.) The probability is that Mnason was somewhere else at the time; but on his return he would be likely to hear all about the apostle’s mes- sage: and possibly this was when he accepted Christ. If so he was now fifteen years ‘‘old’’ in the Christian life. VI. But the better rendering is ‘‘an early disciple.’? (R. V.) As such he may have heard the preaching of Christ himself and been converted by it. Or perhaps he was among those Cretans (Acts 2:11) who, in the open court at Jerusalem, under the power of the Holy Ghost, were ‘‘pricked in their heart,’’ crying, ‘‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’’ If so, he may then have heeded the call of Peter, ‘‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ.’’ This would make him thirty 282. iLIFE AND( DET VERS OF Ste PAUL years ‘‘old’’ in the Christian life. A ‘‘dis- ciple’’ for thirty years and still going to school. This is as it should be: for in the University of Truth one is never too old to learn. And think what a fund of helpful experience this faithful pupil must have ac- quired in the meantime; how he must have grown in the knowledge of Christ and of the great verities and practicalities that center in him! VII. He was a broad-minded Christian. How do we know that? From the fact that — he was in accord with Paul’s missionary work. If Paul were to present his plans in some of our modern churches there are pro- fessing Christians who would say, ‘‘Why go to the regions beyond when there are so many of the unconverted here in Jerusalem ? ‘Charity begins at home.’’’ But Mnason’s charity, while it began at home, was not so wizened as to stay there. He may have heard the Master say, ‘‘Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’’; and he knew that followers of Christ could only fulfill that commission by going, and PAUL’S COMPANIONS 283 keeping on going, until they should have earried the Gospel to the last man. VIII. And, finally, Mnason was a hospit- able man. His entertainment of Paul was, however, more than mere compliance with a custom which was universal in the Orient of those days: it was a happy recognition of the fellowship of saints. ‘‘Be not forget- ful to entertain strangers,’’ says one of the inspired writers, ‘‘for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’’ (Hebrews 13:2; cf Gen. 19: 1-3.) The sojourn of Paul in Mnason’s home in Jerusalem must, in- deed, have been like an angel’s visit. What an interchange of rich experience there would be between these veterans, the old missionary and his genial host! Here we shall have to leave them. Paul’s ‘patient continuance’’ was drawing to a close. While a guest in that home in Jeru- salem he was arrested and placed in the Castle of Antonia; thence to prison in Ceesarea; thence to Rome and a martyr’s death. But old Mnason may have lingered on. ‘‘Old Mnason?’’ What is finer than a 284 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Lapland winter? In the rare atmosphere of a hfe maturing under the shadow of the Cross one can look so far both ways! As one’s vessel leaves her moorings the skipper toasts ‘‘The friends astern!’’ and farther out, ‘*‘The friends ahead!’’ A mother in Is- rael, much given to gazing upward, said, ‘‘I always see the letter W yonder, as plain as if it were written across the sky.’’ It stood for ‘‘Welcome.’’ The Lord be praised for such an outlook! But, if we live to grow old, may we never be so engaged with either the retrospect or the prospect as not to be able to address ourselves with holy zeal and pur- pose to the business immediately in hand; which is to make each passing moment of our lives endear us more and more to the Father’s heart by loyalty to his beloved Son. xX EPAPHRODITUS: COMRADE IN ARMS 285 Now Mr. Great-heart was a strong man, so he was not afraid of a lion. But yet when they were come up to the place where the lions were, the boys that went before were now glad to cringe behind, for they were afraid of the lions; so they stepped back and went behind. At this their guide smiled and said, “How now, my boys; do you love to go before when no danger doth approach, and love to come behind so soon as the lions appear?” 286 xX EKPAPHRODITUS: COMRADE IN ARMS THE story is of a Journey made by a kind- hearted man to relieve the need of an old minister who had worn himself out in the service of Christ. It is told in a nutshell. See Philippians 2: 25-30 and 4: 18. The most important parish Paul ever had was in the Pretorian camp at Rome. He was a prisoner, to be sure, chained to a sol- dier day and night: but he ‘‘dwelt in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him.’’ (Acts 28:30, 31.) He began his ministry there a.p. 63, and for two years continued to teach ‘‘those things which con- cern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confi- dence, no man forbidding him.’’ In giving an account of his circumstances at this time he says, ‘‘I suffer trouble as an evil-doer even unto bonds: but the word of 287 288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL God is not bound.”’ (2 Tim. 2:9.) He could always count on one hearer at least, namely, the soldier chained to his wrist: and we may be sure he preached the Gospel to him. There were other soldiers, too, who would be talking with one another over what Paul had to say. These men of the Roman army were recruited from all nations and lable to be sent at any moment to a remote part of the world; and certainly they would carry the Gospel with them. Besides, there were ‘‘members of Cesar’s household,’’ that is, influential persons attached to the imperial service, who would naturally desire to hear Paul: and we are definitely informed that some of these were converted to Christ. (Phil. 4:22.) It is probable also that other citizens of Rome would be curious to inter- view a prisoner whose extraordinary learn- ing was everywhere spoken of. So Paul had no lack of an audience. And if there were any spare moments he knew how to fill them. Four of his weightiest Epistles were written during this imprison- ment, being dictated to some friendly aman- uensis and signed with a chained hand. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 289 Those letters, like leaves of the tree of life, went fluttering out to the scattered churches and down the ages even to us. A busy parish, indeed, but a wearing one. Paul was now an old man, weary with a life- time of unremitting toil and burdened with ‘oft infirmities.’”? A sick old man! And poor; for being unable to longer support himself by his trade as a tent-maker, he was, like Elijah by the brook Cherith, wholly de- pendent on the ravens of God. And the ravens did not fail him. In the city of Philippi, away in Mace- donia, the Christians heard that their old friend and minister was in need. What was to be done? A ‘‘donation party,’’ of course. They made up a purse and chose a trust- worthy man to carry it to him. Here is where Epaphroditus comes in. He was the messenger. In acknowledging the gift Paul Says: “T have all and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.” 290-."; LIFE ANDIEE TTERS OR SPS PAUL On reaching Rome the messenger at once betook himself to the Preetorian camp. The last time he had seen Paul was probably five or six years before in Philippi, where the Christians kept the Passover with him. (Acts 20:6.) Itis safe to say that Epaphro- ditus was greatly moved by the change which the intervening years of toil and suf- fering had wrought upon his old friend. But no time was lost in condolences; the ques- tion was, how could he help him? It was not enough to relieve his physical wants; he needed some one to stand by him in his min- istry ; and this Epaphroditus resolved to do. He must have been a man of independent means: else how could he afford to make the long journey from Philippi to Rome and prolong his absence for an indefinite time? He must have remained with Paul for some months, probably more than a year — a long vacation for a man who was far from home and travelling at his own charges. But what a vacation it must have been for him; listen- ing to Paul’s ‘‘breathing thoughts in words that burn’’ and helping him in a hundred ways! PAUL’S COMPANIONS vine As the time drew near for his return a letter was written for him to carry back to the Philippian Church. In the beginning of this letter Paul says: “T thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now.” And further on: “T supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphrodi- tus, my brother and companion in labor and fellow- soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.” By this we are given to understand (1) that Epaphroditus while at Rome was taken 292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL desperately ill, being ‘‘nigh unto death’’; (2) that his sickness was the result of his earnest devotion to ‘‘the work of Christ’’; (3) that he was homesick, ‘‘longing after you all’’; (4) that somehow his friends at Philippi were advised of his illness and were ‘‘sorrowful’’ on that account; (5) that when Epaphroditus heard of their sorrow he was ‘‘full of heaviness’’; (6) that his re- covery was due to a special ‘‘mercy’’; and (7) that as he was now returning to Phi- lippi, he and Paul with all his other friends would unite in thanksgiving to God. Now above all this, observe the threefold tribute which Paul pays to this man. I. He ealls him ‘‘my brother.’’ On a gravestone in a churchyard in Eng- land is a name followed by this brief inscrip- tion: ‘*The Friend of Milton.’’ What honor in those simple words; but how much more to have been a brother of Paul! We are all sons of God by creation; but alas! alienated through sin. Were it not for the interposi- tion of Christ we should be hopelessly dis- inherited; but through him we receive ‘‘the spirit of adoption whereby we ery Abba, PAUL’S COMPANIONS 293 Father’’; and so, being sons, we are also heirs, ‘‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away.’’ Not only so, we are thus brought into a new relation with each other by virtue of which we rightly call ourselves ‘‘brethren.”’ All this through him who, by his sacrificial interest in our welfare, became the ‘‘ First- born among many brethren,’’ that is to say, the Elder Brother of all who believe in him. But Paul meant even more than this. For, as Christ himself had a special place in his heart for John, Peter and James, ‘‘the chosen three,’’ so we naturally come closer to some of our friends than to others. It is obvious that Epaphroditus, whose name means ‘‘lovable,’? had made for himself a singular place in Paul’s affection. How indeed could it have been otherwise, consid- ering that year of intimacy and mutual min- istry on the Palatine Hill? II. He also calls him ‘‘my companion in labor.”’ | | This must mean that he made himself use- ful in his ministry. Every pastor knows 294 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL what a gracious and blessed thing it is to have the support and co-operation of the lay- men and lay-women of the parish. There are all sorts of people on the formal roll of every church; some of them recalcitrant. more of them smilingly indifferent, but others ‘‘ecompanions in labor.”’ In looking back over the fifty years of my ministry I pay tribute gratefully not only to my Elders and Deacons, but to many ‘‘ministering women’ and _ oftentimes humble men who, like Aaron and Hur, have held up my hands in the heat and burden of the day. How could I ever have gone on without them ? In the gallery of the London Tabernacle a lone old woman used to sit, Sunday after Sunday, picking out a score of strange faces in the congregation for whom to pray during the week. Any one would have said she was past her usefulness: but when Spurgeon officiated at her funeral he gratefully re- ferred to her as his ‘‘best helper.’? Who knows how many souls she had prayed into the kingdom of God? ITI. Paul’s last word as to Epaphroditus PAUL’S COMPANIONS 295 is his best one: he calls him ‘‘my fellow- soldier.’’ | There is something pathetic in Paul’s fre- quent references to military service. He was himself the last man to be chosen as a soldier; but how ambitious he was to put on the whole armor of Christ and serve him in the high places of the field! And was ever a more gallant knight than he, or ever a more puissant defender of the faith? But they say, ‘‘The faith needs no de- fence; it can defend itself.’’ It is slackers who speak that way. Christians who make their influence tell are such as hold them- selves in readiness to maintain the truth with a kindly but uncompromising front against all comers. ‘‘Here I stand,”’ said Luther; ‘‘I cannot otherwise; God help me’’; and with his hammer on the Chapel door at Wittenberg he sent the thunders of the Reformation rolling around the world. Such a man was Paul; and in Epaphro- ditus he found a kindred spirit. In Rome they were under the shadow of the pagan gods. When God was blasphemed or the Cross reviled or the Scriptures assailed 296 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL could these two co-workers in arms keep si- lence, think you? Nay, as ‘‘fellow-soldiers”’ they stood with shields overlapped and lances poised for the defence of truth and righteousness. O God, to us may grace be given To follow in their train! XT ONESIMUS: A SLAVE 297 Now a little before it was day good Christian, as one half amazed, brake out into this passionate speech: “What a fool,” quoth he, “am I, thus to he in a dun- geon, when I may as well walk at liberty! I have a key in my bosom, called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.” Then said Hopeful, “That is good news; good brother, pluck it out of thy bosom and try.” 298 XI ONESIMUS: A SLAVE THE story of Onesimus is a melodrama in five scenes. Scene I. In the house of Philemon at Colosse, A.D. 56. For two years Paul had been preaching in Ephesus and the adjacent towns. One of these nearby towns was Colosse, where Paul made the acquaintance of Philemon, a weaver of prominence. It is quite possible that Paul, who made his living by the kin- dred trade of tentmaking, had applied to Philemon for work. In due time, almost as a matter of course, this weaver was con- verted to Christ. His wife Apphia and his son Archippus were baptized with him: and presently we hear of ‘‘the church in the house of Philemon,’’ which was destined to play an important part in subsequent events. In this house Paul was accustomed to hold divine service, with the family and neigh- 299 300 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL bors gathered about him. The slaves of Philemon were also present, of whom he probably had a considerable number en- gaged in his shop and warehouses. Get the picture in mind: Paul preaching in an open court; before him Philemon with his wife Apphia and his son Archippus; friends, neighbors and many slaves among whom was Onesimus, his face troubled and resentful. He was probably a captive of war, the Roman custom being to reduce all such to slavery. If so, his bitter heart was poor soil for Gospel seed. The injustice of his bonds rankled within him. He was at odds with fate, with his master and with God. Scene IT. In the Pretorian camp at Rome. A.D. 64. Hight years have passed. In the mean- time many things have happened. Paul had gone hither and yon on his missionary jour- neys, crossing deserts and climbing moun- tains to preach the Gospel of Christ. He had endured ‘‘perils of robbers, perils by his own countrymen, perils by the heathen, perus in the city, perils in the wilderness, PAUL’S COMPANIONS 301 perils in the sea.’’ He had known ‘‘wear1- ness and painfulness, hunger and thirst, fastings often, cold and nakedness.’’ He had been stoned more than once and had suf- fered shipwreck. Five times he had ‘‘re- ceived forty stripes save one.’’ He had tasted prison fare in many cities. He had spent two dreary years in the Castle at Cesarea; after which, falling back on his rights as a Roman citizen, he had made his appeal to Cesar. He had now reached Rome. Though a prisoner in the barracks he was allowed a certain measure of free- dom, being permitted to dwell in ‘‘his own hired house’’ and to receive his friends. One day a wretched man in rags and tatters came to visit him. He was worn and emaciated, with a hunted look in his eyes. It was the slave Onesimus, who had heard the Gospel in the house of Philemon so long ago. Paul received him, won his confidence and brought him to the saving knowledge of Christ. Then came his confession: he had escaped from his master and had made his way through danger and difficulty to Rome, a thousand miles away. It sounds like the 302 ~~ LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST, PAUL stories we used to hear of negroes fleeing through the Dismal Swamp with blood- hounds baying behind them. The runaway had hoped, no doubt, to lose himself among the throngs of Rome; for there is no wilder- ness like a great city: but conscience pur- sued him. He confessed to Paul that he was not only a fugitive but a thief. He had robbed his master. How could he become a Christian with that frightful shadow over him? The advice of Paul was that he should at once return to his master and give him- self up. Scene III. On shipboard, somewhere on the Adriatic. The slave, in pursuance of Paul’s advice, has taken passage for Colosse. He carries with him a precious scroll, a letter addressed by Paul to his old master. He takes it from beneath the lapel of his cloak and reads it. Here it is.* | “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved and fellow-worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow- soldier, and to the church in thy house: Grace to you * The Epistle to Philemon. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 303 and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always, making mention of thee in my prayers, hearing of thy love and of the faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; that the fellowship of thy faith may become effectual in the knowledge of every good thing which is in you, unto Christ. For I had much joy and com- fort in thy love; because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through thee, brother. Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting, yet for love’s sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus. I beseech thee for my child whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus, who once was unprofitable to thee, but now is profitable to thee and to me: whom I have sent back to thee in his own person, that is, my very heart: whom I would fain have kept with me, that in my behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the Gospel: but without thy mind I would do nothing: that thy goodness should not be as of neces- sity but of free will. For perhaps he was therefore parted from thee for a season, that thou shouldest have him for ever: no longer as a servant, but more than a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much rather to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself. But if he hath wronged thee at all, or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account: I 304 . LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL Paul write it with mine own hand; I will repay it: that I say not unto thee that thou owest to me even thine own self besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord: refresh my heart in Christ. Having confidence in thine obedience I write unto thee, knowing that thou wilt do even beyond what I say. But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you. Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee: and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow-workers. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. This is, in some ways, the most remarx- able of all Paul’s letters. (1) Observe its brevity: only twenty-five verses. (2) Its courtesy: it has been ealled ‘‘the polite Epistle.’’ (8) Its rhetorical finish. Most of Paul’s letters are distinguished for strength and directness; this betrays the scholarly culture of a man who had gradu- ated from the University of Jerusalem. (4) It is the only one of his letters addressed to alayman. The others are either general, parochial or pastoral. (5) It was written with Paul’s own hand. In other cases he PAUL’S COMPANIONS 305 made use of an amanuensis; which was nec- essary not only by reason of his age and in- firmities but because he was a prisoner in bonds. Here, however, the writing is his very own; and his friendship for Philemon is emphasized by that fact. It is safe to say the lines were uncertain and the characters rude; but what would we not give to see that tremulous autograph, ‘‘I, Paul, with mine own hand”’; ‘‘The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.’’ In this letter Philemon is enjoined to re- ceive his former slave and forgive all. Not even the theft must be remembered against him. ‘‘If he hath wronged thee at all,’’ writes Paul, ‘‘or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account. IJ, Paul, write it with mine own hand; I will repay it.’’ This sounds like a promissory note; but considering the financial status of Paul it could scarcely be expected that he would ever pay it. He re- minds Philemon, however, that he has a run- ning account with him which he proposes to draw on: ‘‘That I say not unto thee that thou owest to me even thine own self be- sides.’’ But he engages that Onesimus shall 306 ~ LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL make all possible restitution, saying, ‘‘He who was in time past unprofitable shall now be profitable unto thee.’’ Further still he enjoins Philemon to receive his slave no longer as a slave but as a fellow-Christian, saying, ‘‘If then thou countest me a partner, receive him as myself.’’ Onesimus had for- merly been a shiftless bondman; but hence- forth he was to be not only a ‘‘brother be- loved’’ but a profit-sharer in the service of Christ. Here verily is the Christian spirit; for in this fellowship there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all. So runs the philosophy of the Gospel. Down go the artificial walls of caste! How hard it is for us to realize it! We are slow to admit that blood is thicker than water; and that in the atoning blood of Christ a kin- ship is created which bridges the gulf be- tween prince and peasant, between master and man, between the stately housewife and Cinderella at her kitchen fire. Scene IV. At the doorway of Philemon’s house in Colosse. The critical moment of the runaway’s life PAUL’S COMPANIONS 307 has come. He has been sustained thus far by a Power above his own; shall that Power now fail him? His heart is in his throat as he approaches Philemon’s house. He knocks; the door opens; he stands face to face with his old master. Of what is Phile- mon thinking, with that masterful look in his eyes? Of the bastinado? He takes the scroll and opens it. As he reads he changes countenance: the angry wrinkles are smoothed out; a warm hand is extended, ‘‘Welcome, Onesimus, my brother in Christ !’’ So ends the story, like the ‘‘Mystery of Edwin Drood.’’ But tradition furnishes a sequel ; it says that Onesimus became a faith- ful toiler in the shop of Philemon; that he lived a consistent Christian life; that in later years he became pastor of the Colossian Church, and that he finally sealed his faith- fulness with martyrdom, going up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Scene V. At Heaven’s Gate. What a meeting between Master and slave! They have been together in glory for nineteen hundred years. How little now 308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL must seem all differences of birth, of culture and adventitious circumstance, such as once so widely separated them. There are two concluding thoughts that press upon us. One is, Progress is a fact. The slave-market in Rome was the indus- trial center of the world at the beginning of the Christian era. The imperial armies went forth to conquest and returned with long processions of captives who were then ex- posed for sale. There were only two thou- sand patricians or independent men in the city of Rome and half a million slaves. The auction block furnished the shops with toilers, the arena with gladiators and the brothels with inmates. These slaves lived like cattle in stalls or ergastule; and when they died they were thrown to the fishes or cast into pits. All this was horrible beyond words. God knew it; and he proposed to do away withit. But his ways are not our ways. Christ came into the world to break every chain and bid the oppressed go free. The Gospel is full of abolitionism; but not like that of John Brown of Osawatomie. There is more of patient love and less of battle in te PAUL’S COMPANIONS 309 The Kingdom of Heaven is hkened to leaven which works noiselessly but in due time leavens the lump. Our Lord set certain great principles in motion which were des- tined to bring about the desired result. He gave the world his Golden Rule: ‘‘Do unto others as ye would be done by.’’ How glori- ously that principle has been at work! We are told by scientists that leaven is a mass of living cells; that fermentation 1s not death and decay but a manifestation of life. So is God’s love in the world. God is love, and love is life. God has manifested himself in Christ, who said, ‘‘I am come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly.’’ His Gospel is love alive. Its influence is transforming the world. Men and nations are drawing closer together and seeing face to face and eye to eye. We may not precipitate the Golden Age; but we can lend a hand to bring it in. We can fall in with those who follow the conquering Christ and, by interpreting di- vine love in terms of practical life, we may hasten the coming of the time when all alike shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 310 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL The world has been drawing nearer and nearer to the brotherhood of man as it has learned more and more of the Fatherhood of God. All civilization is to-day embraced within the charmed circle which we eall Christendom; and of the nations within its bounds there is not one which tolerates slavery. ‘‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’’ The other concluding thought is of the transforming power of the Gospel. In Luther’s exposition of this Scripture he says ‘‘We are all Onesimi’’; by which I suppose he means that we are all fugitives from justice; ‘‘for there is no difference; all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.’’ Weare runaways from truth and duty, from conscience and from God: and by the mediation of Christ we are brought back and reconciled. Christ stands for us at the bar of offended Justice; and the plea which he there makes is the very same that Paul made for Onesimus; to wit, ‘‘If this man hath wronged thee or oweth thee aught, put that to mine account. I, Christ, with mine own hand: I will repay it.”’ PAUL’S COMPANIONS ul! Nor is that all. He proposes to recon- struct us; so that whereas we have been un- profitable servants we may now be profitable unto God. He turns us right about face. He regenerates us by his Spirit; so that ‘‘old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’’ He who truly submits himself to the power of Christ gets a new mind, a new heart, a new conscience and a new will. Is there any power on earth ex- cept the Gospel which can do that? We speak of the mystery of regeneration; but however mysterious it may be there is no denying it. The miracle is constantly going on. How often have we seen a drunkard taken out of the gutter and set upon his feet by the grace of God! How often have we seen a forlorn woman taken out of her shame and restored to character and self-respect by the Gospel! We may not be able to ex- plain it; but there it is. Blessed be God for his unspeakable gift! f d re Ti | cay ee ce oh aor i ares rae Mead Sale, ¥ h, (: PUR e eet ah ue ie rin ay f M4 § i, i WER AAAS ED eeoryt ye hi ry om haar ‘ye ig al ; ROE PEL OLR sti as rea & Ohh) APR Sh La + ribs i" Pas] J > f 7. digs ae OS Ub oe ih Ph tp i b ; is 14 Lu Se ie ope? j Rr eR Mn AiYs RU onan ou aL Ty Bet haa fe ; q oh Si oalict eOaR NOS SMD Tyrer ay: pais ie 4 ak Rha ery is Nsig 4) EME: Sige: ‘ MARU CRD deRhaes © eae Ree chay TP ene Wicy yey eek: Ty UALR ANTS Ot ae: ya ie a tT ORY ‘hie ie et ~~ biysprriang > ‘= Daiie NOI © Aaa mites om 0 ag 5 aE | VERA sas ST as, MEA pit yi Hh. ier, ane ot Naeaitg Fi F, ve | a b Tiina suas sere Wane ay ae ae Nie ‘k shat Re Nba 10g} ray ant yore may. 00 Min at WeaeT ee oa MEMes city area te oe PENG Hay ha Lain or) tae iaantyea ey Heh ee iH ee Li vf HDLC u ae ont. i Wag his Balt gat Ruy Pie Ges ; cag aah | Bike , an sont pte PACA SY aie ae Aa Fig aah. “ Ht ee te vtit tale fx He4 a un, ait 1G Ry ue “ty oF pera me ft Tide Bas “iat te vit ‘ 4 ‘ 7 ISN voit tr} en oak haath i Natit, Re: bh iia eae” Tuite oc bey yin oe uy Yonica t : a eae ay . * ng saat ale A ane hy Yt arsine shi va i ene i“ ee Pi dike SAN ae, bee os! ue ince | iy 7 De ee eer aon ae iat Hi ea Hi trie. a aie ae yt PEAR MOA. Ae > FT 4 oat vet y Pa Rapids 4 Ray lil He aa host: nal i net! } r er er ate | m ME Nr: EPL Ee ni Oe i page Ag AAR } ; 4 ie es , i seta Abstr ts lye: BRAK Biante t ont st ie pee tS at Ce ty nal i Ot , ms i Mies ai is Hy a) Ta a af Be hetane “ Ae: a as ; res bd XIT SOSTHENES: “MY BROTHER” 313 After this it was noised abroad that Mr. Valiant- for-truth was taken with a summons by the same post as the other, and had this for a token that the sum- mons was true; that his “pitcher was broken at the fountain.” When he understood it he called for his friends and told them of it. Then said he, “I am going to my Father’s; and though with great diffi- culty I have got hither, yet now I do not repent me of all the trouble I have been at to arrive where I am. My sword I give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it.” 314 XIT SOSTHENES: “MY BROTHER” WE have only two passing references to this man. But we remember that it was a pair of faint footprints in the sand that gave Robinson Crusoe a companion in his lone- liness and changed the desolate island of Juan Fernandez into a Republic. The first reference to Sosthenes is in the year 54, in connection with Paul’s second missionary journey. On reaching Corinth the apostle settled down to an evangelistic campaign which lasted a year and a half. He began preaching in the synagogue, per- suading the Jews that ‘‘this Jesus is the Christ.’’ The master of the synagogue, by name Crispus, was converted and — losing his position, of course — was succeeded by Sosthenes, who appears to have been a de- voted Jew. 315 316 ~LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL This was the beginning of trouble. Paul was driven out of the synagogue and made his headquarters ‘‘hard by’’ in the house of one Justus, where many Gentiles were con- verted during eighteen months of Paul’s ‘‘teaching the word of God among them.”’ This led to the arrest of Paul on a trumped-up charge; and, inasmuch as Sos- thenes was in court and conspicuous there as the ruler of the synagogue, there is good eround for assuming that he was the com- plainant in the case. The proceedings are recorded thus: “And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: but if it be a question of words and names and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat.” This afforded the Gentiles an occasion for venting their spleen against the despised Jews, of which they took immediate advan- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 317 tage by beating Sosthenes ‘‘before the judg- ment seat.’”’ It is safe to say that Sosthenes crept away from that disorderly court with a bitter heart that day: but possibly the beating which he there received was the best thing that could have happened to him. It may have turned his thoughts toward Paul as a fellow-sufferer and moved him toward a more reasonable view of the Gospel. This is one of the important uses of adversity. Simon of Cyrene might never have become a Christian but for the fact that the mob on Via Dolorosa seized upon him and ‘‘com- pelled him to bear the ecross.’’ Luther was converted by the sudden and violent death of a companion. Many a prodigal has been brought to his senses by a famine in the land. | “Blest be the sorrow, kind the storm That drives us nearer home.” In any case, something must have oc- curred to reverse the attitude of Sosthenes toward Christ; for the next and only time we hear of him is five years later, a.p. 59, 318. LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL where he appears as a companion of Paul. The First Epistle to the Corinthians, which was written at Philippi in that year, begins thus: Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. If this was the same Sosthenes — and I see no reason for thinking otherwise — he had followed many of his coreligionists into the conclusion that ‘‘this Jesus is the Christ.’”” The man whom Paul could eall his ‘‘brother’’ must have been very near to | him. Could it possibly mean that Paul, so strenuous in maintaining his own dignity as an apostle, was prepared to receive this man into the fraternity of ‘‘the Apostolic succes- sion’’? If to be an apostle is to be ‘‘a sent one,’’ then all who go in pursuance of the Great Commission are apostles by divine right. PAUL’S COMPANIONS 519 However that may be, it certainly means that Sosthenes was a yoke-fellow of Paul’s in the service of Christ; else how could he yoke up with him in a greeting ‘‘to them that are called and sanctified in Christ Jesus’’! For to what are we ‘‘called’’ but to his serv- ice; and unto what are we ‘‘sanctified’’ but the holiness that expresses itself in loyalty to him? But ‘‘my brother’’ means more even than that; 1t designates the closest tie of personal friendship. No man ever craved friendship more than Paul; his letters are heavy with loneliness whenever no comrade is beside him. The handclasp was everything to him. If a single lesson only is to be drawn from the brief monograph of this man, let it be The Importance of Friendship mm the Chris- tian Infe. “‘T'wo are better than one: . . . for if they fall, the one will lift up his fel- low: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to help him Up? A youth on coming to the city is naturally disposed to clasp hands with almost anybody who greets him in a friendly way. It is so 320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL lonely in this populous wilderness that the first comer is likely to be first served. Yet what immeasurable possibilities of good or evil influences are in that first handclasp! Character, usefulness, happiness, even eter- nal destiny may be wrapped up in it. A man once bought a parrot of a sea- captain and found to his horror that it had contracted the habit of swearing. In the hope of reforming it he borrowed from a pious neighbor another parrot that had been taught to say its prayers. The natural thing came to pass; both parrots were presently engaged in a vigorous competition of pro- Lani yan 7 It is searcely necessary to say that the friend who is to be ‘‘my brother’’ must be in sympathy with me in the important plans and purposes of my life. ‘‘Can two walk together except they be agreed ?’’ My friend must have tastes and ambitions like mine; else he cannot be truly responsive to me. We must be agreed as to the underlying prin- ciples of life. Sympathy suggests the mag- net; antipathy, the repulsion of the negative pole. T’'wo persons who are antipathetic PAUL’S COMPANIONS 321 may get on comfortably as long as they keep their distance; but they are mutually repel- lant at close quarters. This is the reason why no Christian can wisely strike hands in a covenant of friend- ship with one who denies the truth of the Gospel, which is the very heart and center of his life. To the one Christ is all in all; to the other He hath no form nor comeliness and there is no beauty that he should desire Him. It is recorded in the biography of John Angell James that at the age of thirteen he was taken out of school and apprenticed to a linen-draper. On the first night, on being assigned to a dormitory with other appren- tices, he waited anxiously as they were re- tiring to see whether there were any Chris- tians among them. He seemed to be the only one. All went to bed without saying their prayers; and he, lacking the courage that makes heroes, followed the fashion. This continued for a fortnight, when an incident occurred that changed the whole tenor of his hfe. A new apprentice came who, on retir- ing, knelt down beside his bed; and little 322 LIFE AND LETTERS OF STSPAUL John did likewise. That was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. ‘‘I shall always bless God,’’ he wrote, ‘‘for the friendship of Charley B.’’ Happy is the Christian youth who, in ike manner, finds a kindred spirit and ‘‘grapples him to his soul with hooks of steel.’’ One Friend there is who stands the test of all ordeals and is faithful unto death — aye, and beyond it. Heisa Friend ‘‘that sticketh closer than a brother.’’. The proof of his fidelity has been put to the utmost strain and endured it. The friendship of Jonathan for his rustic friend David was effectively tried and ap- proved when he left the palace and went out after David, then an exile hunted like a partridge among the hills, and ‘‘sought him in the wood.’”’ This is precisely what Christ did for us in our extremity; when there was no eye to pity and no arm to help, He ‘sought us in the wood.’’ He made bare His arm in our behalf, befriended us, took our burden upon Him, died to save us. He is a friend in all sorts of weather. His prom- ise 1s, ‘‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. ”’ PAUL’S COMPANIONS 323 Blest friendship of Jesus! It stands all tests, endures all trials, triumphs over death itself and lasts forever. He is the ‘‘first- born among many brethren,’’ the Elder Brother of us all. A friend so true has reason to expect fidelity in us. ! U . = mao he oT ayy bes Pat 4 ES St 5), : > Pe. A ; AUR PENES Sidr a) Rh ae te marae ae, TD [SMRRy HE DEL RUS ce VEYR een NTR? saad “Come a little way with me, and I will teach thee about the way thou must go. Look before thee; dost thou see this narrow way? It was cast up by the patriarchs, prophets, Christ and the apostles, and it is as straight as a rule can make it. This is the way thou must go.” 326 XIII TITUS: “MY PARTNER” Pau had a warm place in his heart for earnest youth. Three of his most faithful helpers were young men. There was John Mark, son of the widow Mary of Jerusalem; who set out with Paul on his first missionary journey and, after flinching in the face of danger, recovered himself and became as unswervingly true as steel. Then Timothy, ‘‘the gentle youth of Lystra,’’ who was chosen to be Paul’s courier on his second journey, his suecessor in the pastorate of the Ephesian Church and his ‘‘true yoke- fellow’’ to the very end. And now comes Titus, who by reason of his singular tact, good judgment and unfailing courage was selected for many difficult tasks. John Mark was a Jew by lineage; Tim- othy was of mixed blood, his father a Greek, and his mother a Jewess; but Titus was an 327 328 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL unadulterated pagan (Gal. 2:3), brought up to worship the Olympian gods. He was one of Paul’s converts. This 1s indicated by the words ‘‘mine own son”’ (Titus 1:4). Paul was foster-father to all the young men referred to: and there is no tie of consanguinity so close and tender as that which binds the brought soul to the bringer. There is an anticipation of the very joy of heaven in it. I. The first mention of Titus is in con- nection with the Council at Jerusalem in the year 92. This was just after the first missionary journey; when the mother church at Jeru- salem was insisting that Gentile converts must become proselytes to Judaism and sub- mit to the requirements of the Levitical law, as a sort of half-way house on the way to a Christian profession. Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles, felt called upon to champion their rights. It was this that took him to the Council at Jerusalem. He was accompanied by Barnabas his colleague and Titus (Gal. 2:1-5). There was a special reason for taking Titus with him, as we shall see. PAUL’S COMPANIONS ahd At this far distance it is scarcely possible to realize the vital issues that were involved in the conclusions of that early Council. A candle was lighted there which was destined to throw its beams along all the succeeding ages. The question under discussion was centered on Titus; who, as it appears, de- manded admission to the Church on the sole condition of faith. He stood on his two feet as the original Non-conformist, declin- ing to yield an inch to the Judaizers who as Paul says ‘‘sought to bring us into bond- age.’’ All praise to the courage of this young man! Let him line up with Luther in the great protest, ‘‘Here I stand; I can- not otherwise; God help me!’”’ For the note that rang out in that Council was the very same that fifteen centuries later was des- tined to await the dormant religious world; namely, the doctrine of Justification by Faith, which was then characterized as ‘‘the article of a standing or a falling church.’’ II. The next appearance of Titus was eight years later, 4.p. 60. A year before this Paul had written his First Epistle to the Corinthians; which is the severest of his let- 330 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ters. In his absence the members of the Cor- inthian Chureh had fallen into evil ways. They had separated into parties, saying ‘‘I am of Paul,’’ and ‘‘I of Apollos’’ and ‘‘I of Cephas.’’ Moreover, many had been led away by false teachers into all manner of fantastic heresies: while still others had drifted back into complicity with the wor- ship of false gods. One man in particular, evidently an influential member of the church, was known to be living in shameless sin and yet nothing had been done. No won- der Paul’s letter was filled with burning words of reproof. No wonder, either, that it stirred up a great commotion in the Corinthian Church. So hot was the indignation of the people there against Paul that it really looked as if they would have nothing more to do with him. What was to be done? It was useless for Paul to think of going to Corinth in his own behalf, since no welcome would await him. He might send some one to represent him, if only a man of sufficient tact, firmness and sound judgment could be found. Titus proved to be that man. He went to Corinth PAUL’S COMPANIONS Soi and remained long enough to restore faith, harmony and discipline among the church members there. Meanwhile Paul was carrying on an evan- eeclistic campaign in Ephesus. He had ar- ranged to meet Titus at T'roas on his return from Corinth, and took pains to be there at the appointed time: but there were no signs of Titus. He improved the time, how- ever, by preaching and with signal success. ‘‘A great and effectual door’’ was open be- fore him (2 Cor. 2:12, 13), but so anxious was he to hear from Corinth that he had ‘‘no rest in his spirit.’’ He set out accordingly to find Titus. This is the only occasion, so far as the record goes, when Paul ever failed to enter an open door. A happy surprise awaited him. On meet- ing with Titus he learned that all the diffi- culties in Corinth had been satisfactorily ar- ranged, and that the Christians there had settled down to fraternal co-operation in service. The news was so far beyond what Paul had expected or hoped for (‘‘What sorrow of a godly sort, what earnest care, yea, what clearing of yourselves, what fear, 332) | LIF CAN DILEDTERS ORs Ue PAUL what indignation, what longing, what zeal, what avenging!’’) that he immediately sat down and wrote another letter, the Second HKpistle to the Corinthians, which is as loving and congratulatory as the former Epistle was reproachful and severe. The credit for this happy adjustment of affairs at Corinth was, under God, most largely due to Titus, who as Paul’s inter- mediary had shown himself a diplomatist of singular ability. The way was now clear for the apostle to carry on his evangelistic work without let or hindrance. ‘‘I am filled with comfort,’’ he writes, ‘‘I am exceeding joy- ful. God hath greatly comforted me by the coming of Titus.’’ Elsewhere he speaks in more enthusiastic terms; ‘‘Thanks be unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ!’’ Old, weary and burdened with oft infirmities, he deems himself, in this new evidence of sustaining grace, a very con- querer, bringing new conquests to the glory of God. But this was not all that Titus had accom- plished at Corinth. While Paul was jour- neying hither and yon among the Gentiles, PAUL’S COMPANIONS Oe. his fellow-countrymen at Jerusalem were suffering from famine; and wherever he went he besought the Gentile Christians to honor the broad-minded fellowship of the Gospel by contributing to their need. The Corinthians had thus far made an inade- quate response to his appeal; but the report of Titus encouraged Paul to renew that ap- peal with greater urgency. ‘‘Now he that ministereth seed to the sower increase the fruits of your righteousness.’? Whether they complied or not is another matter; but certainly Titus had opened the way for an enlargement of their hearts. One thing is clear; he believed, as all Christians should, that ‘‘social service,’’ while not the primary function of the Church, must ever go hand in hand with the winning of souls. III. The next we hear of Titus is five years later (A.D. 65) in the island of Crete. Mean- while Paul had been arrested and confined as a prisoner in the Pretorian camp at Rome. On being brought to trial before Nero he was ‘‘delivered out of the mouth of the lion.’’ (2 Tim. 4:16, 17.) When released he at once prepared for another missionary 334, LIFE ANDI LETTERS‘ OP STs PAUL journey. The ship on which he and his com- panions sailed touched at the island of Crete, where a few unorganized believers were making a brave struggle to maintain their Christian life. The people there were no- torious for lying, indolence and sensuality: which was all the more reason why the Chris- tians among them must be cared for. But who, in that little group of missionaries, could be trusted with so difficult a field? Who but Titus? No doubt the parting cost a wrench; but he was left behind, and the ship sailed on. On reaching Nicopolis the old apostle was constrained to rest a while; and he took the oceasion to write a letter of instruction and encouragement to the young minister in his hard parish (the Epistle to Titus). Here ends the record of Paul. It was probably in Nicopolis that he was rearrested and carried back to Rome where, after a brief confine- ment in the Mammertine jail, he was led forth to his execution under the walls. IV. But we have one more reference to — Titus, though brief and incidental. While Paul was in the Mammertine awaiting his PAUL’S COMPANIONS 335 second trial he wrote a letter to Timothy in which he begged him to come. Listen to the lonely old man: ‘‘Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me. Only Luke (the ever faithful physician) is with me. Demas hath forsaken me; having loved this present world. (Poor Demas; this is‘all we know about him.) Crescens is gone to Galatia (on a necessary errand, no doubt, and Titus nLOmWalmeatiea (2 sDime, 42 907105) To Dalmatia — a pagan country up among the dangerous hills on the border of the Adriatic Sea! Why there? Had the wan- derlust of Paul taken possession of him? Was he gone upon a mission of salvation to souls in the regions beyond? If so, all the blessings of the Lord go with him! So shall he best perpetuate the influence of his worn- out captain. One word more before we part company with this young man. The word in Greek is koinonos, which our translators have aptly rendered ‘‘partner’’; that is a yokefellow and profit-sharer in one’s business. Now listen to Paul: ‘‘If any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner.’’ (2 Cor. 8:23.) Great 336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL eredentials! Of no other of his companions does he speak in that way. And it meant more than to be partner with Paul; for to join hands with Christ’s work- men is to be partner with Christ himself in labor of love and patience of hope. The time may come when we shall hear further of Titus’ mission to Dalmatia: in the mean- time let us give heed to the injunction, ‘‘In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that’’; and let us rest in the promise, ‘‘He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoic- ing, bringing his sheaves with him.”’ XIV, PHGBE: THE ‘“‘DEACONESS’” 337 Then they told him of Mercy, and how she had leit her town and her kindred to come along with Christiana and with her sons. -At that the old honest man said, “Mercy is thy name: by mercy shalt thou be sustained and carried through all those difficulties that shall assault thee in thy way.” 338 XIV PH@BE: THE ‘‘DEACONESS” It will be remembered that Paul on his second missionary journey stopped at Cor- inth for an evangelistic campaign of a year and a half. There were many converts to show for it; among them such notable ones as Aquila and Priscilla, Crispus the ruler of the synagogue and Sosthenes his successor, Justus in whose house Paul preached after being driven out of the synagogue and Gaius ‘‘mine host,’’ evidently an influential man. Just across the narrow isthmus, not ten miles from Corinth, lay the busy seaport town of Cenchrea, where Paul probably preached as in other suburban places. Pres- ently (A.D. 55) a church was organized there, and Phoebe became a member of it. Five years later Paul was again in Cor- inth and while there wrote his Epistle to the Romans; an inspired masterpiece of logie which struck the keynote of orthodoxy 339 340 .LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL for the universal church through all the sue- ceeding ages. It chanced that Phoebe was just then meditating a journey to Rome and the conveying of this Epistle was entrusted to her. The last chapter of the Epistle is devoted to salutations: it begins thus: “T commend unto you Phebe our sister, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: that ye receive her in the Lord as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succorer of many, and of myself also.” By this it would appear, first, that Phoebe was a woman of some consequence, since she had planned a long journey on business of her own: second, that she was prominent as ‘fa servant’’ in the affairs of the Cenchrean church. Third, that she held an official po- sition of some sort connected with the relief of the poor. The Greek word here rendered ‘‘succorer’’ is prostatis, literally, one who stands by in case of need. In classical Greek the word was used of the trainer in the Olympic games, who stood by the athletes to see that they were properly trained and not PAUL’S COMPANIONS 341 overtrained and rightly girded when they lined up for the signal. In my first parish I had a Board of Dea- cons who were willing but comparatively in- efficient, owing to the fact that their access to the mothers and children who needed assistance was greatly limited in the neces- sity of the case. We solved the difficulty by appointing two women to supplement their work; with the result not only that the inner- most places of needy homes were made accessible, but that the Deacons themselves were greatly helped and encouraged, and that the Diaconate was no longer ‘‘a fifth wheel,’’ but a most efficient arm of the church service. That was forty years ago; and the plan continues in that parish to this day. By this brief reference to Phoebe we are moved to a consideration of the position of women generally in the Christian Church. It is a singular fact — and unaccountable without a due regard to the divine origin of Christianity — that the only countries where womanhood is duly honored are those em- braced within the charmed circle known as 342 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL ‘‘Christendom,”’ that is, such as are under the luminous shadow of the Cross. The first of the Messianic prophecies, uttered at the gateway of Paradise imme- diately after the fall, announced that the coming Christ was to be ‘‘the seed of wo- man’’; and in the fulness of time ‘‘the Lord of all good Christians was of a woman born.’’ By that supernatural birth all wo- manhood was honored. “And Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour; for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name!’ ” In the ministry of Jesus he constantly ana consistently honored the ‘‘ministering wo- men’’ who attended upon him and served him in manifold ways. Compare his atti- tude with that of Mohammed, whose Surah on womanhood in the Koran is entitled. ‘‘The Cow,’’? and whose heaven is peopled with harems of houris for men. Or compare it with the treatment of women in India, where a woman’s only hope of heaven is in PAUL’S COMPANIONS 343 the remote contingency that some time, in the endless circle of transmigrations, she may chance to be born a man! The attitude of the apostles in this partic- war was like that of their Master. Read again the story of John’s foster-care of the bereaved mother of Jesus, in John 19: 25-27. Read of the many services rendered by wo- men to Paul in his missionary work and his grateful tributes to them. At this point it is likely that some one is thinking of what Paul said to the women of Corinth and Ephesus about the shame of worshipping ‘‘with their heads unveiled”’ (1 Cor. 11:5) and about ‘‘keeping silence”’ in the churches. (1 Cor. 14:34; 1 Tim. 2: 11, 12.) Let it be remembered, however, that in Ephesus there were thousands of so- called ‘‘priestesses’’ whose persons were con- secrated to the licentious worship of the Olympian gods, that thousands of women of like character were devoted to ‘‘great Diana of the Ephesians,’’ and that their abomina- ble calling was advertised by their uncov- ered heads and their vociferous part in the temple rites; and Paul’s words will appear 344 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL in amore reasonable light. The veil of mod- esty is the peculiar adornment of a Christian woman. In the Gospel she has a blessed opportu- nity of serving in three distinct coigns of vantage. The first is the home. God be praised for the Christian home! What a realm for a queen! ‘‘Wife,’’ ‘‘mother,’’ ‘‘daughter,’’ ‘‘sister’? — what sacred memories gather around those words in Christian lands! It 1s so everywhere. An American tourist and his Turkish dragoman were once passing through Cairo when an old woman spoke to the dragoman, who immediately turned and spat in her face. In answer to the American’s remonstrance he said, ‘‘ Pooh, what should I do? She’s my mother!’’ Would that be possible, think you, in any country where the Gospel holds sway ? The second of the peculiar spheres of use- fulness open to women in Christian lands is Charity. Who shall do justice to their ‘‘la- bor of love and patience of hope’’? There was a woman, back in the time of the Cri- mean war, who used to make her way at PAUL’S COMPANIONS 345 night among the wounded with a lamp in hand, administering ‘‘first aid’’ to suffering bodies and souls. J can remember seeing her picture and under it the familiar name by which the grateful soldiers knew her, ‘‘The Lady with the Lamp.’’ How many such ministering women there have been; how many under the blessed shadow of the Red Cross in these last days! The third and most important sphere of woman’s work is in the Church: sometimes as deaconesses; more frequently as ‘* proph- etesses’’ or Biblical teachers, like the daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9). The Sun- day Schools of Christendom are (strange word!) manned by women. And what shall be said of their efficiency in the great mis- slonary propaganda at home and abroad? The mothers and daughters in the zenanas of the Orient are accessible to their devoted ‘‘succorers’’; many have been their con- quests for Christ. ‘‘Give them of the fruit of their hands, and let their own works ‘praise them in the gates!”’ Now, behold, I show unto you a great mys- tery. In view of all the foregoing how is it 346 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL that any thoughtful woman in this land of light can refrain from loving and serving Christ! The most seemly tributes she can pay in return for his benefactions are neither tears of remembrance nor spices for his anointing, but the gold and myrrh and frankincense of grateful love and devotion. So let all the women of Israel, like Mary of Magdala, fall down before him with the cry “Rabbom! my Master!’’ DAV A BODY GUARD 347 “This book will make a traveler of thee, If by its counsel thou wilt ruléd be.” JOHN BUNYAN 348 XV A BODY GUARD Pauwt set out on his third missionary jour- ney in the year 53. On reaching Ephesus he found a field ripe for the sickle and re- mained three years. He then pushed on by easy stages to Corinth, where he spent three fruitful months. He was now forty-seven years of age and physically a worn man. This was perhaps the reason for his assem- bling a group of trusty friends to accompany him from then on. (Acts 20: 1-4.) To begin with, there was faithful Tim- othy, his spiritual son. The next was So- pater, a native of Berea and therefore | probably a Biblical expert. Then Secundus of Thessalonica, of whom we know nothing more. The next, Tychicus, was destined to prove himself a faithful companion and efficient servitor in many ways. (Hph. 6221; Col.4: 7:2. Tim. 4:12.) JDropigms was soon obliged to drop out of the company, being left behind at Miletus sick. (2 Tim. 349 350 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL 4:20.) Old Gaius of Derb had been bap- tized by Paul (1 Cor. 1:14) and never for- got it. He showed his gratitude not only by entertaining Paul but by suffering with and for him. (Acts 19:29). And finally there was Aristarchus of Thessalonica, a fellow- sufferer (Acts 19:29): who was with Paul on his last eventful voyage (Acts 27:2) and shared the hardships of his weary imprison- ment at Rome. (Col. 4:10; Philemon 24.) I. Observe that these seven were nobodies, that is, their achievements were not in the lime-light. Practically all that we know of them is that they were associated with Paul in missionary work. But that is enough. Their virtues and accomplishments are re- corded in heaven. ‘‘The Master praises: what are men?”’ 3 II. Observe how Paul, in gathering this gsroup of helpers about him, anticipated one of the most important conclusions of our modern Missionary Boards, namely, the Value of the Phalanx. Time was when men, and occasionally wo- men, went out all alone with their message to the regions beyond; but never now. Ex- PAUL’S COMPANIONS 351 perience has taught the importance of (to use a good old word now obsolete) ‘‘opitu- lation.’’ Little wonder that Paul’s heart sank within him when, standing alone in the mar- ket-place of Athens, he beheld on every side the evidences of ‘‘a city wholly given to idol- atry’’: little wonder: that he longed ‘‘for Silas and Timotheus to come to him with all speed.’’ By the time he was ready to pur- sue his third missionary journey he had come to fully realize the importance of havy- ing a competent staff of helpers. They ad- vanced to their work like a Spartan phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, with shields over- lapped: and their co-operation yielded a harvest which could never have been gath- ered from the seed-sowing of a lone man. A group of young Christians at Oxford sot together at the flood-tide of infidelity two hundred years ago for mutual prayer and conference. They were dubbed ‘‘The Holy Club’’; but in spite of the jeering op- position of their fellow-students they went right on. And how far that little candle threw its beams! At graduation they 352\' LIFE-AND« LIFE ANDILE PRERSIORS iy PAUG his Golden Rule: “Do unto others as ye would be done by.” How gloriously that principle has been doing its beneficent work in the progress of the ages! The world has been drawing nearer and nearer to the brotherhood of man as it has learned more and more of the Fatherhood of God. All civilization is to-day embraced within the charmed circle which we call Chris- tendom; and of the nations within its bounds there is not one which tolerates slavery. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” We are told by scientists that leaven is a mass of living cells; that fermentation 1s not death and decay, but a manifestation of life. So is God’s love in the world. “God is love,” and love is life. God has manifested himself in Christ, who said, “I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.” His Gospel is love alive. Its influence is transforming the world. Men and nations are drawing closer together and seeing face to face and eye to eye. We may not precipitate the Golden Age; but we can PAUL’S LETTERS ah lend a hand to bring it in. We can fall in with those who follow the conquering Christ and, by interpreting divine love in terms of practical life, we may hasten the coming of the time when all alike shall enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God. XIV THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS “THE ANONYMOUS EPISTLE” We come now to Paul’s fourteenth letter. Of course you know there are those who say Paul did not write it. So far as the inspired truth of the Epistle goes it makes little or no difference whether he did or not; but I think Paul was its author, and my reasons are the very ones that are urged against it. (1) Its anonymity. The presumption is that Paul, having written one Epistle to the Romans, would not willingly close his career without writing another to his own country- men for whose salvation he professed an over- mastering concern. (Rom. 9:3.) © But he was in such bad odor with the Jews on ac- count of his insistence that Jesus was their Messiah, that he would certainly deem it un- wise to address them over his own name. In writing to the Gentiles he could boldly say, “TI, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, salute 520 PAUL'S LETTERS 521 you,” but not in approaching a people who were bitterly prejudiced against him. (2) Its rhetorical style. They say the dic- tion of the Epistle is unlike Paul. No doubt, in some respects, this is correct; but suppose the original was written in Hebrew, as there is good reason to believe, and translated into Greek by his faithful and learned friend Luke, is it not likely that there would be some twisting and turning and polishing of rhetorical phrases in the process? Neverthe- less there are enough Pauline ear-marks to warrant the conclusion that scarcely any one else could have written it. (3) But the tout ensemble is the main argu- ment for its Pauline authorship. The propo- sition, though treated from a different stand- point, is precisely that of the Epistle to the Romans, to wit, Justification by Faith; and Paul stands forth above all others as the his- toric advocate and defender of that “‘postu- late of a standing or a falling church,” as Luther called it. The two great Epistles com- plement each other so perfectly that it is dif- ficult to account for either their agreements J22" " LIFE ANDER TDERSION Ss SPAUL or their differences except on the assumption that one composer was behind them. The title of the Epistle is The Priestly Of- fice of Christ. In the first two chapters the inspired au- thor shows that Jesus as our atoning High Priest is superior to angels. This rests upon his claim as the Son, the begotten Son, and the only begotten Son of God. “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son: this day have I begotten thee?” In the next two chapters he shows that Christ as our High Priest is superior to Moses, who was regarded by the Jews as second only to God himself. This rests upon the fact that Moses, however great, was a servant, while Christ as a Son claimed to be co-equal with the I’ather. ‘Then too Moses as representing the Law “could not enter in,” while Christ as “Joshua” or Jesus leads his people by way of Calvary into the Land of Rest. In chapters 5-8 he shows the superiority of Christ to Aaron. ‘This is based upon the fact that Aaron was a man, serving in an of- PAUL’S LETTERS 523 fice “ordained of men in things pertaining to God,” while Christ is “a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The mys- terious figure of Melchizedek here introduced must not be invested with the supernatural; the simple and significant fact being that he was not of Israel nor of the Aaronic line, but a devout priest of some alien tribe, of whose history, that is, the “beginning and end of his days,” little or nothing was known. He belonged to the universal order of priesthood made up of those who everywhere wait upon God. ‘To this superior order, rather than to that of Aaron, did Christ belong, inasmuch as he dwelt beyond the horizons of all human ordination. In chapters 9, 10 he affirms the superiority of Christ to Levi. The family of Levi were the administrators of the ceremonial or Levit- ical Law. ‘This most elaborate cult of rites and ceremonies was intended to keep alive the Messianic hope until Christ should appear. When he came these types and symbols nat- urally and automatically ceased to be bind- ing, being fulfilled in him, as shadows vanish at the break of day. Thus it is written he 524 LIFE AND LETTERS OF ST. PAUL blotted out “the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Col. 2:14, 15.) In chapter 11 we reach the climax of the argument. In this wonderful chapter we have “the Canticle of Faith.” “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” There are those who regard believers as a credulous folk; but faith, so far from being credulity, is substantial and evidential: only it has to do with things beyond the purview of the physical senses. It has pleased God to equip man with a sixth sense for the ap- prehension of spiritual truth. By the use of this sense, which distinguishes him from all the lower orders of life, he is able, as Kepler said, “to think God’s thoughts after him.” A man without faith is a materialist, being shut up within the circumscription of his fin- ger-tips. How much better is he than a sheep? By faith we solve the problems that have to do with our eternal destiny. The PAUL'S LETTERS . 525 men whose names are enshrined in this monu- mental eleventh of Hebrews were all heroes of faith. They dreamed dreams and saw vis- ions of something better than yellow dust or Sodom-apples or fading wreaths of laurel. They had the far-away look; and that far- away look was fixed on the remote figure of One “whom kings and prophets longed to see and died without the sight.” Now observe the strange anticlimax: “These all, having obtained a good report, through faith, received not the promise.” Why not? “God having provided some bet- ter thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” ‘Thus do the ends of history come together in Christ. These fath- ers labored in faith and, behold, how we have entered into their labors. Go back to the be- ginning of the Epistle and read again: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir ‘of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” 526. LIFE AND LETTERSjOF ST. PAUL This chapter really concludes with the two first verses of the next, in which we, as the heirs of our believing forefathers, are urged to look to Jesus as the “author and finisher” of faith. Great verses these: ““Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easi- ly beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. Toles) Chapters 12 and 13 contain, as the logical terminus ad quem of all that: goes before, an exhortation to leave the rudiments of the Gospel and press on to higher levels of truth and character; which does not mean that we are to forsake the fundamentals, but to “leave” them as a flower leaves its bud, or a stream its fountain, or a growing youth his childhood in pressing on toward the fulness PAL To Vici VERS ay of the measure of the stature of a man. And this is to be done by a constant increase in faith as we keep our eyes fixed upon him who is “the author and finisher” of it. And then the benediction, in which the anonymous author betrays his identity: for here is the sign-manual of Paul, “Grace be with you all. 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