PAUL, the great apostle of the Gentiles, was born of Jewish parents at Tarsus, in Cilicia, and inherited from them the rights of Roman citizenship. His original name was Saul. Ile was educated first in his native city, then in the zenith of its reputation for its schools of literature and philosophy. where he doubtless learned to speak and write Greek; and afterwards. to be perfected "in the law of his fathers," was sent to Jerusalem, where he studied under Gamaliel, a great Jewish doctor, and became one of the strictest, most zealous, and most ardent Pharisees. 'Whether it was here or at Tarsus that he acquired his knowledge—which we have no reason to believe was ever very deep—of the philosophy and literature of Greece, cannot be ascertained. According to the wholesome rule observed among the Jews, that every person should learn some trade, Saul became a tent-maker, and at this trade lie afterwards labored (Acts xviii. 3) for his support. A few years after the death of Jesus, he became, as might have been expected from his training and temperament, a furious adversary of the new sect of Christians. We are told (Acts vi. 9) that the Jews of the Cilician synagogue at Jerusalem were among those who disputed with Stephen, and it is natural to suppose that the young and brilliant, zealot, eager for disputation, was conspicuous among the crowd of Jewish students who poured out of their synagogues (of which, according to the Talmud, there were 480 in the holy city), in the insolence of their youth and scholarship, to crush the ignorant followers of the Nazarene. This supposition is rendered highly probable by the fact that he was present at the martyrdom of Stephen, which followed almost immediately. having charge of the raiment of them that slew him. lie now became a prominent actor in the great persecution of the Christians that broke out at Jerusalem. The mysterious circumstances that led to and attended his conversion are familiar to all readers of the Acts of the Apostles, and need not be recapitulated here. After a solitary sojourn in Arabia—perhaps to calm his perturbed spirit in communion with God, and to solemnly prepare himself for his new mode of life—on his return to Damascus, he changed his name to Paul, and resumed or began (it is not quite clear which) his apos tolic labors. Naturally he became an object of intense hostility to the unbelieving Jews in that city. They resolved to kill him; but his friends contrived a way of escape, and he fled to Jerusalem, where at first he was received with suspicion by the disciples, but afterwards, through the kind offices of Barnabas, with great cordiality. He now "spoko boldly in the name of Christ," disputing also against the "Grecians"—i.e., the Hellenistic Jews—with dangerous success, for his opponents sought to take his life. Again he was obliged to flee. and betook himself to his birthplace, Tarsus, where he seems to have remained till Barnabas brought him to Antioch (not far off), to assist in the great work of evangelization going on in that city. After a short visit to Jerusalem in the year of the 'famine, 44 A.D., they were set apart by the prophets and elders of the church at Antioch for the evangelization of the more distant Jews. From Seleucia they proceed on their first missionary expedition to the southern districts of Asia Minor, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, where they tenet, especially in some places, with considerable success, in preaching- the gospel. It is very interesting to notice how gradually the light of Christianity dawned on the mind of the apostle. Ile did not grasp all at once its grand design. It was not even by abstract reflection that he arrived at it. Circum stances of quite an outward sort forced him to the sublime conclusions of his creed. It was when the Jews of Pisidian Antioch, enraged at his preaching the gospel indiscrim inately to their Gentile fellow-townsmen and themselves, "contradicted and blasphemed" him, that he boldly announced Christ as the universal Redeemer. After the return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, they continued to labor in that city for a long time, till dissensions having arisen about the circumcision of Gentile converts, he, along with Barnabas and others, was chosen to go up to Jerusalem, to get the opinion of the apostles and elders there on the question, about A.D. Paul and Barnabas now returned to
Antioch, where they continued to teach and preach, till a yearning grew up in the heart of the former to revisit his Gentile. converts in Asia Minor. In his second expedition, Paul was accompanied by Silas instead of Barnabas, and traversed the whole of Asia 3Iinor from south to north, evangelizing with great success, after which the two mission aries crossed the ./Egean and landed in Europe, planting at Philippi, the capital of Thracian Macedonia, the first Christian church in that continent. The details of his visits to Thessalonica, Bsrea, Athens, and Corinth are, doubtless, familiar to our readers, and need not ha given here. We can only notice his appearance at Athens. where, on Mars's hill, before a crowd of the citizens, among whom were Epicurean and Stoic pld losophers, he delivered that magnificent discourse in which he declared to the Athenians the charaCer of the "unknown" God. On his return to Asia Minor he visited Ephesus, where. as usual, he "reasonea" with the Jews in their synagogue; sailed thence to Gtesa•ea, in Palestine. and proceeded to Jerusalem "to keep the feast;" after which he again returned to Antioch, the center from which his operations radiated. Thus closed his veowl evangelistic journey. The third journey of Paul commenced probably about 51 A.D., and extended over much the same district as the previous one. At Ephesus. where Inc remained for a period of two years and three months, his efforts were power fully seconded by the eloquence of the great Alexandrian convert, Apollos. Here it is recorded (Acts xix.) that "God wrought special miracles by the had of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Lr explanation of this very eurions procedure, which has a disagreeable resemblance to ordinary legerdemain, it has been suggested, that as Ephesus was a city noted for its exorcisms, spells, mid incanta tions—the famous Ephelria grammata sold at a high price to the ignorant and supersti tious popuiace—this style of miracle was an accommodation to their belief in magic. and demonism, and intended to show them, according to their own way of regarding things, the superiority of Christ's power to that of the evil spirits of heathen worship.
From Ephesus Paul went up to Jerusalem with a presentiment that heavy evils were about to fall upon him through the ever-maddening malice of the Jews. The Jewish populace were goaded into the wildest fury by the very sight of Paul. The capt. of the Roman guard, Claudius Lysias, had to interfere to save him from being torn to pieces; but as 40 Pharisees had sworn neither to eat nor drink till they had taken his life, he was sent by night, under a strong escort, to the Roman governor Felix, at. Cmsarea, where he was unjustly detained a prisoner for two years. Having finally appealed to the Roman emperor, according to the privilege of a Roman citizen, he was sent to Rome. On the voyage thither he suffered shipwreck at Melita (probably Malta), in the spring of 01 A.D. At Rome lie was treated with respect, being allowed to dwell " for two whole years in his own hired house." His first thoughts were, as usual, directed towards his Jewish brethren in the city; but, on the whole, he made little impression on them. Whether he ever left the city or not cannot be positively demon strated, but it is believed by many critics, from a variety, of considerations, that he did obtain his liberty about 64 A.D., and that he made journeys both to the e. and to the w., revisiting Asia Minor, and carrying out his long-cherished wish of preaching the gospel in Spain. Meanwhile occured the mysterious burning of Rome, generally attrib uted to Nero, who threw the blame on the Christians, and in consequence subjected them to a severe persecution. Among the victims was Paul, who, according to tradi tion, suffered 67 A.D.—See Life and Epistles of St. Paid, by Conybeare and 'Towson; Baum's Paulus; LiPsius, Der „olpostel Paulus (1869); Renan, Saint Paul (1869); Pfleiderer, Der Pautini.smus (1873; transl. 1878).