belief in the Law. Its strictest observance seemed to bring him no nearer God, or to bring down the Messiah from heaven. The ceremonial part was easy enough, once he thoroughly understood it, and had the leisure to observe it; but the moral and spiritual part, that he could never wholly master. The Law said, "Thou shalt not steal"—this also he could obey well enough; but when it said, "Thou shalt not covet," there was implied some control over the very desires of his heart, the deepest ambitions of his soul; and try as he would he could not "kill out desire."

His cruelty as a persecutor may have been in part the very result of his inner unrest. Like the persecutors of heretics in the later Middle Ages, he "thought he did God service" in this way. Let their bodies perish-he was saving their souls in spite of their folly and obstinacy! It satisfied him, in a way, to be doing something --something with a purpose which he told himself was worthy and just.

The examples of the persecuted. But what must have been the effect upon his troubled conscience of his experience with these poor simple believers in Jesus, uneducated for the most part, but courageous, loyal to their Master, and unafraid to die? What must have been the impression made upon him by the dying martyr Stephen, his face shining with the brightness of an angel's, his eyes glistening with the splendor of a heavenly vision as he knelt and prayed for his persecutors? It might be a long way that Paul had yet to travel before he should "see the Lord" and gain inner peace and confidence. But at least he would not rest content with any half-way measures, with half-truths, and hazy "general beliefs" about religion. Either the Law was wholly true and good or it was positively false and bad. Either the

Christians were utterly wrong, deluded, steeped in sin, so that it was a mercy to save their souls with rod and lash, or they were absolutely in the right. Either Jesus of Nazareth was an impostor and deceiver, a perverter of the people, and accursed (as proved by his death on the cross), or he was the true Messiah, he was the Man from Heaven, he was Israel's King in disguise.

Whether true or false, Paul was soon to discover, and this discovery marked the turning point of his whole life.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Look up on a sequence map (for example, in Breasted's Ancient Times, pp. 552, 553) the political changes which took place in Asia Minor during the last two centuries B. C.

2. Cilicia was a famous region in ancient history. Locate the Cilician Gates, Tarsus, Issus. For what were they famous? (See ancient history, encyclopedia, or Bible dictionary.)

3. Read in your ancient history the account of civilization in the eastern Mediterranean world between Alexander the Great and the early Cæsars (for example, Breasted, Chapter XXI, and study the illustrations).

4. Look up the meaning of Roman citizenship in the first century. It was a great protection to travelers all over the world. Why?

5. How do you account for Paul's persecution of the followers of Jesus? Remember that he was an earnestly religious man with a "zeal for God." Is "sincerity" alone enough to justify one's conduct? Or must we be right as well as sincere?

6. Look up Acts 22:3-5; 26: 4, 5, 9-11; and Galatians 1: 13, 14, where Paul himself refers to his youth and early manhood.

7. Why is Paul sometimes called "Saul"?

8. God gives to each one of us certain peculiar advantages, all our own, in our birth-place, our parents and ancestors, our early home, education and experiences. He expects us to measure up to these, and use all our advantages in the best possible way. What are some of your advantages? How ought you to use them in God's service?

CHAPTER IX

PAUL'S CONVERSION

PAUL had not himself known Jesus "in the flesh." He may have seen him, perhaps after his condemnation by the priests. He must surely have known something about him, because the whole city of Jerusalem was stirred by the events which took place just before Passover in the year 29. But if Paul had known Jesus personally, even in the least degree, we may be sure he would have mentioned it in his letters. Perhaps his bitter opposition to the disciples of Jesus would not have occurred if he had ever known their Master. As it was, he fanatically persecuted One who was to him only a name (Acts 26:9) and the beliefs of whose followers were only a "Way"-a heresy and delusion (Acts 22: 4).

"For I actually believed it my duty," as he afterward related this part of his career, "to do all I could against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Even in Jerusalem I did this—and shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And by punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. And so frantic was I against them that I persecuted them even in the cities outside" (Acts 26:9-11).

ON THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS

Twenty-five miles northeast of the snow-capped summit of Mount Hermon, on the very border of the desert, lay the old Syrian city Damascus. Here there were

many Jews, and among them followers of Jesus. How there came to be disciples of Jesus in Damascus this early (about 35 A. D.) we do not know. Probably visitors from Jerusalem or pilgrims returning from the feasts had brought the "good news" with them. Or perhaps some of the disciples "scattered abroad" at the time of Stephen's death (Acts 8: 1) settled there. We must remember that the book of Acts does not give us a complete record of the growth of the church, but only a selection from such accounts as had been handed down by tradition to the time of the writer-fifty years later.

The vision and the Voice.-Paul was now carrying on his persecution outside the cities of Palestine. He had secured letters from the hierarchy in Jerusalem authorizing him to bring thither for trial any whom he found professing the new faith. His present destination was Damascus. The road there led down across Samaria and the valley of Esdraelon, across Galilee-where Jesus, whose very name he hated, had spent his ministry— then up into the high, flat, dry wilderness which stretched for fifty miles northeastward to the walls of the city. This last part of the journey took a whole day on horse, from long before dawn until late at night, resting some hours in the heat of the day; and even longer than that by caravan. It led across lonely miles of desert-the desert, where men in all ages have seen visions and heard voices from heaven. Like Moses, Elijah and Amos, and even the Arab, Mohammed, Paul was to pass through a strange, mystical experience before he reached Damascus.

It was midday. Already they were approaching the city and its walls and towers could be made out in the distance ahead. The heat was oppressive, the sun