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_Story Of The Life Of St. Paul, The Apostle._
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Story Of The Life Of St. Paul, The Apostle.
By M. F. S., (Mary Seymour)
Author of
"Legends of the Saints,"
"Stories of the Saints,"
"Stories of Martyr Priests,"
"Tom's Crucifix and other Tales,"
"Catherine Hamilton,"
"Catherine Grown Older,"
"The Three Wishes," &c.
_London_
R. Washbourne, 18 Paternoster Row.
1877.
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To The Fathers Of The Sacred Heart
For Foreign Missions,
Who, Obeying Their Vocation,
Are Devoting Their Lives
To The Apostleship of Heathen People,
This Story Of The Life Of
The Great Apostle Of Nations Is
_Dedicated_
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Preface.
Of all the Christians that have ever lived, there is, perhaps,
not one whose life is invested with a greater interest than that
of St. Paul the Apostle. A Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, of the
strictest sect of the Pharisees, highly educated, and brought up
under the eye of the chief doctor and teacher of that time, a man
of position among the Jews, he must necessarily have been one of
the most conspicuous of the early converts to Christianity; even
had his conversion not been miraculous.
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But to us Gentile Christians, St. Paul, the Hebrew of the
Hebrews, stands in a very special relation; for he, as the
Apostle of the Gentiles, reminds us that we have a claim to the
promises which God made to Abraham--promises which the
parenthetical dispensation of the Law could in no way disannul.
It is in his writings especially that we read of the liberty of
Christians, and of the necessity, power, and abundance of the
grace of God; of the personal relation to God in which all true
religion consists; of conscience, which makes the just man a law
to himself; and of a simple interior godliness which he speaks of
as Christ being formed in us.
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But while he insists on our spiritual freedom, he dwells no less
strongly on our duties--on the sincere charity that we owe one to
another; the care we should take to avoid scandal; the interior
preparation with which we should approach the holy sacraments;
and the truth and reality that should pervade our lives.
St. Paul, too, is a great example and teacher of the way in which
we should conduct ourselves towards unbelievers and the civil law
of the State. For we find him not only showing charity to all
men, and respect and submission to the magistrates and rulers in
all that was lawful, but also availing himself of all his civil
rights and privileges as a Roman citizen.
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And does not the condition of our own times increase and
intensify the interest which must always attach to the life of
this great Apostle? The wide-spread structure of mediaeval
Christendom is broken up, and public opinion is no longer on the
side of right because right is the Will of God. Nations frame
laws and constitutions which recognise neither the Church, nor
the God Who founded it.
As it was in the days of St. Paul, so is it now: material
prosperity, luxury, and pleasure, are the ends for which men
live. The Church, now as then, is a private community of
believers, depending, after the grace of God, on the good-will of
its members individually, and on no authority derived from civil
governments; indeed, there is hardly a nation upon earth in which
the Church is even free, unless it be ignored.
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Those that are without look upon it now with much the same
feelings of fear, wonder, hatred, or contempt as men regarded it
in the days of the Apostles. Many a Gallio lives now indifferent
to all religions; many a Demetrius who judges of religion simply
by the gain it brings to the craftsmen; many an Agrippa who is
all but a Christian; many a polished Nero ready to persecute.
Meanwhile, we that are within are cheered by the same hopes, and
tried by many of the same temptations, as were the lot of the
early Christians.
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May the great Apostle of the Gentiles guide and help us in times
which are growing more and more like to his own, and obtain by
his prayers that Christ may live in us by grace, and truth, and
peace.
W. J. B. R.
_January_, 1877.
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Story Of The Life Of St. Paul, The Apostle.
Chapter I.
A year had scarcely passed after the death of Christ, when a
young man of honourable birth and great learning visited the city
of Jerusalem at the time of the religious festivals, and there
discovered that people of every rank were being attracted to a
new faith--the faith which Jesus had taught from His own lips
while He dwelt on earth, and which His Apostles were now
preaching in the midst of danger, difficulty, and unbelief.
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Saul was filled with the fiercest indignation. His father was a
Pharisee who had carefully trained his son in their strict and
austere rules. From his earliest years he had been instructed in
the laws and traditions of the Jews by Gamaliel, the most noted
teacher of that day, and he had far excelled his companions in
the acquirement of that knowledge which was so highly valued by
the sect to which he belonged; and now, in his first anger and
hot zeal, the young man believed it his duty and his glory to
root out the Christian truth which _he_ deemed heresy, and
to destroy all who avowed themselves followers of Jesus of
Nazareth.
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Tarsus, in Cilicia, was Saul's native city, and he must have been
dwelling there during the period of our Lord's public ministry,
for no record exists of his having witnessed any of the wondrous
scenes connected with the life and death of Christ; and it is
supposed that, after completing his studies at Jerusalem, he
returned to his home, remaining there until the year 35, when his
career of persecuting cruelty began by the martyrdom of St.
Stephen, about the time of the Feast of Pentecost. The Scripture
narrative does not mention Saul's name as one of those who took
Stephen captive, but probably he was among the number who
listened to that speech before the council, when we are told that
the martyr's face was "as the face of an angel."
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It is at the scene of the stoning that we hear of Saul--the young
man at whose feet the witnesses laid down their garments, thus
choosing him for their commander and chief; and when the dying
Saint cried, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit," and, "Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge," Saul was there, consenting to his
death.
Little did the fierce and angry multitude think of the marvels
which St. Stephen's dying prayer would work, pleading effectually
with God, and securing the conversion of the young man Saul, who
was then one of the most bitter enemies of the Christian Church.
Perhaps, in those last moments, it was permitted the martyred
Saint to understand in some measure some of the purposes of the
Almighty in his sufferings and death--to know, maybe, that very
near him, in the ranks of the cruel and persecuting throng, stood
the man who had been chosen as the agent to carry out the
gracious designs of Providence towards the Gentile world.
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However, the stoning of the Proto-martyr was followed for some
considerable time by a course of merciless severity. Saul
scourged, imprisoned, and put to death, men and women to whom the
name of Christ was dearer than aught else, even than life;
driving them by thousands from Jerusalem, and even pursuing them
into their hiding-places, that he might force them back to die.
Thus it came about that Saul was journeying to Damascus.
It was well known that many of the persecuted Christians had
sought refuge in that city, and Saul, "breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," went to the
high priest to obtain from him authority to seize all who were
known to be believers in the new faith, and to bring them back to
Jerusalem.
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His journey was almost accomplished. Already the walls of the
then beautiful city were within his sight; his heart beat high
with triumph, when suddenly he was stayed, and, swifter than
gleam of lightning, an unnatural brilliancy encompassed Saul and
his attendants, who, confused and dazzled, fell prostrate on the
ground.
A voice from heaven was heard--not in tones of anger or reproach,
to terrify the bold persecutor of Christians, but sweetly,
softly, sorrowfully it sounded in his ear, speaking words which
none but he could understand--
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?"
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Oh, wondrous power of the gentleness of Jesus! The haughty
Pharisee became in that brief moment humble and yielding as a
little child, and answered, "Who art thou, Lord?"
"I am Jesus whom thou persecutest," said the heavenly voice.
Those who were with Saul heard not these words, nor was it
permitted them to see Christ. They were only conscious of the
overwhelming brilliancy of the flood of light, and knew too that
a strange voice seemed speaking--the privilege of beholding in
vision the Saviour of the world was reserved for the man who had
so deeply grieved Him.
"Lord, what wouldst Thou have me to do?" inquired the now humbled
Pharisee, and the answer came at once--
"Go into the city, and there it shall be told thee what thou
shalt do."
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It was a hard and humiliating command to one like Saul!
_He_--so well versed in classical learning, honoured for his
superior attainments, followed by numbers who trusted implicitly
in his wise counsels--must he indeed in submissive obedience
learn from the lips of man what was the Will of God?
Was it not also harder still to hear that he should be required
to teach the very faith he had openly despised to the Gentiles,
for whom, as a Pharisee, he had the deepest contempt and scorn?
It _was_ hard to human nature, but Divine grace was strong,
and Saul did not hesitate, but suffered his attendants to lead
him to Damascus, still blind from the effect of the wondrous
light which had shone upon and around him, there to do whatever
God should direct.
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In the grand old city, in a street called "Straight," which is
said still to exist, there dwelt near the eastern gate a man
named Judas, who received Saul into his house. While staying
there, a vision was granted to the sufferer, promising him
relief, and naming a Christian man of that city who should
speedily come and visit him.
This man was Ananias, who also was directed from heaven to seek
out Saul of Tarsus, the well-known persecutor of Christians.
That name had a terror for the servants of God in Damascus, and
Ananias was alarmed.
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"Behold, he prays," the voice had said, and yet the Christian
hesitated, for he knew fall well that Saul had received from the
high priest authority to bind all who were followers of Jesus.
But the command, "Go thy way," stayed his many doubts, and,
confiding in God's care, Ananias set out for the house of Judas.
Arriving there, he laid his hand on Saul, saying that God had
sent him that he might receive once more his sight and be filled
with the Holy Ghost; and at once, by the power of the Almighty,
he was blind no longer, and, by the direction of Ananias, he
received baptism, and avowed himself from henceforth to be among
the followers of Christ.
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Having recovered his strength, Saul entered the Jewish synagogue
in Damascus to proclaim the message of the Son of God whom he had
before rejected and despised, and the people there asked each
other in amazement if this could be he who had come to the city
as the enemy of Christians.
Their surprise served only to animate Saul with still greater
zeal in preaching that the promised Messiah, so long expected,
had really dwelt upon the earth in the person of Jesus of
Nazareth, the crucified God.
Shortly after his conversion, Saul travelled into the desert
regions of Arabia, to fit himself by prayer and solitude for his
future work; to learn those lessons of self-knowledge and
self-distrust, without which no active work can be done for God's
sole glory; and--separated from the business of this world--to
hold communion with his Creator.
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Three years of silence and retirement--years in which the once
well-known Pharisee was almost forgotten by the crowd who had
followed him in his old days of influence and power--and then
Saul came forth to do his Master's work imbued with those deep
principles of spiritual life which should sustain and guide him
in the arduous labours which he was about to undertake on his
return to Damascus, and the Jewish people there.
But just as fiercely, just as deeply as Saul had once hated the
holy Stephen, so did the Jews in the city hate and resolve to
destroy him.
A plot was laid for his apprehension, and three men were
stationed at the different gates of Damascus in order to slay him
if he should try to escape; but his friends placed him in one of
the large, strong baskets common in the East, and let him down by
ropes from the window of a house close to the city wall; and thus
freed he made his way to Jerusalem.
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Arrived there, Saul asked eagerly for the disciples of Jesus, but
they were afraid that he only sought to betray them; for,
although three years had passed since his conversion, it had not
become known in Jerusalem, and neither St. Peter nor St. James,
who were there, believed that Saul was a Christian.
It was a fresh humiliation for that proud, lofty nature to be
thus mistrusted and rejected by Christ's own Apostles, but it
served to deepen his contrition for his former bitter persecution
of the Church. One friend was raised up for him in St. Barnabas,
who, remembering the honour and distinction which had attended
Saul's departure from Jerusalem, pitied him in this humiliating
return, and undertook to make known the wonderful story of his
change of heart to the other Apostles.
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Hearing this, they were no longer fearful, but welcomed Saul as
one of their brethren, and gladly permitted him to share in their
work, so that he at once began to labour for the conversion of
the Grecian Jews in the city.
But they remembered him as one of their own party, one whom they
had honoured as a Pharisee, and who had been their leader in the
work of persecution; and these facts made them so much the more
bitter in their hatred, and they began to conspire against his
life.
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One day, while Saul prayed in the temple, he fell into that
strange supernatural state of ecstasy in which the prophets of
old, and the Apostles and Saints of later times, have received
messages and revelations from Heaven. It was the Lord Jesus
Christ Who thus in vision appeared to His servant, bidding him
leave Jerusalem because the Jews there would not receive his
words, and declaring it to be the Divine purpose that he should
journey afar off--to the Gentiles.
Doubtless, in the freshness and fervour of his newly-felt love,
Saul would have chosen rather to remain in the city and give up
his life for God, but with that great faith and ready submission
of will which grace had implanted in his heart, he yielded
without hesitation; and, going down to Cæsarea, entered a ship
bound for Syria, and made his way to Tarsus, where he remained
for many years.
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During that time Saul's life was secluded, and very few positive
records of it remain; but it was then he took short voyages to
the different towns on the coast, and suffered the shipwrecks
which are mentioned in his Epistles to the Corinthians. There,
too, he endured some of that hunger and thirst, scourging and
imprisonment, which he suffered for the sake of Christ, and
received, as it is believed, many of those wonderful revelations
which God granted as a help and consolation in his trials, as
well as in preparation for the still greater difficulties which
were hidden in the future.
All this time the Jews, who were still unbelievers, pursued Saul
with the deepest hatred and longing for revenge.
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He had forfeited his patrimony on becoming one of the sect of
Christians, and he had then no Gentile friends to help and to
pity him, yet he was content; for, as he tells us in his Epistle
to the Philippians, he esteemed "all things to be but loss for
the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord."
Meanwhile, St. Peter had visited the different towns and
villages, and at length, reaching Joppa, took up his abode in the
house of a man named Simon, by trade a tanner.
There, one day at noontide, as he reclined in Eastern fashion
upon the housetop, he turned his heart to God, and, forgetting
all earthly things, became absorbed in contemplation.
A feeling of intense, supernatural hunger came upon him then, and
as his friends prepared food, he fell into a rapture, and saw the
heavens open, and a sheet descend which contained animals of
every description.
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St. Peter had the strong Jewish regard for the distinctions of
the law concerning the clean and the unclean, therefore when a
voice directed him to kill and eat of these animals, he answered,
"Far be it from me, for I never did eat anything that is common
or unclean."
A second time the voice spoke to him. "That which God hath
cleansed do not thou call common," it said; and when this
mysterious vision had been three times repeated, the sheet was
drawn up to heaven again.
In the same manner that the Jews avoided eating such food as the
old ceremonial law of Moses deemed unclean, so they shunned all
intercourse with the Gentiles as an unclean nation.
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This remarkable vision was God's way of teaching St. Peter that
the prejudices of his life must be laid aside, and as fully as
grace was poured out upon the Gentile world, so he must also
admit them to all the blessings of the Christian Church.
While St. Peter pondered over this wondrous revelation of God's
Will, two servants and a soldier came to the tanner's house, and
asked if one Simon, surnamed Peter, was lodging there.
They came from Cornelius, an officer in the Roman army, who dwelt
in Cæsarea, a fine city and seaport some thirty-five miles from
Joppa. We read in Scripture that Cornelius was a devout man, and
that he gave alms to the people, and spent much time in prayer.
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He must, therefore, have been conscientiously following the light
he had, and praying to know God's Will; and such humble constant
prayer can never be disregarded by Heaven. So it happened that
one evening as Cornelius prayed, a heavenly visitor appeared to
him, speaking in gentle tones of love, and yet he was alarmed,
and exclaimed, "What is it, Lord?"
Then he heard that his prayers and his alms had gone up as a
memorial before the throne of God, and he was bidden to send men
to Joppa, who should bring to him Peter, then lodging with a
tanner in his humble dwelling upon the sea-shore.
We have already seen these messengers reaching the dwelling of
the Apostle; and while they asked for him, the Holy Spirit made
their arrival known to St. Peter, and inspired him to go with
them, for it was God Who sent them.
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Immediately leaving the housetop, the Apostle went to the door,
and heard how the messengers had come from Cornelius, and also
that he had been directed by an angel to send to Joppa.
Strong though his Jewish prejudices had been, love of his
Master's will and his Master's work were still stronger, and St.
Peter made the Gentile visitors welcome for the night, and
departed with them next day for Cæsarea, taking with him some of
his Christian brethren.
When they reached the house of Cornelius, they found him with his
friends, assembled to receive the much-desired visitor; and
meeting St. Peter at the portico of his house, he prostrated
himself with the greatest reverence and humility, recognising the
Apostle as the visible head of the Christian Church, and the
representative of Jesus Christ.
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St. Peter raised him from the ground, and entering the house,
began speaking of the old Jewish law which had prohibited
intercourse with other nations, telling his hearers that God now
commanded all those restrictions to end, and therefore he came
among them as readily as if they were his own Jewish brethren.
Cornelius then related the favour which had been granted him, and
said that they were all there assembled to hear the words of life
from the lips of the Apostle.
St. Peter now tells the glad news of Christ's coming amongst men.
He tells them that the once despised and outcast Gentiles are not
only invited to receive God's grace, but are to be in all things
equal partakers with the Jewish people--that Christ, of Whose
resurrection and ascension they had already heard, had given an
express commission to His Apostles to preach the Gospel to all
nations.
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Suddenly his address is interrupted. It is a scene second only to
that of Pentecost, for the Holy Ghost comes down upon these
Gentile converts, and they begin to speak with tongues, to the
surprise of St. Peter and his companions. If any lingering
feeling of Jewish superiority had been left in their hearts, this
unmistakable proof of God's gracious purposes towards the
Gentiles destroyed it for ever.
If special grace and special gifts were thus bestowed from
Heaven, St. Peter, as head of the Church on earth, must not fear
to admit them to every privilege it was his to bestow, and he
therefore desired that they should be baptized.
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Thus began that mission to the Gentiles which opened a new era in
the world's history.
The Apostles had thought much of the blessings and honours
intended for their own people, but they had not fully
comprehended how broad, how extended Christ's kingdom was to
become. So God wonderfully interposed, and called into His
service one who was better fitted to be the Apostle of the
Gentiles than St. Peter with his zeal, or St. John with his
ardent love,--even Paul the persecutor, but afterwards the great
and glorious servant of the Christian Church.
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