III.

PAUL'S ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF BEFORE AND AFTER CONVERSION.

'If any man thinketh that he hath whereof he might glory in the flesh, I

more.

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ."— Phil. 3: 4, 7.

IN

N these words we have the apostle's different opinion of himself before and after conver

sion.

We could not succeed in finding a better specimen of an apparently religious man before conversion, than Saul. He had deep reverence for God. He observed all the requirements of the faith in which he was brought up. We probably err if we think that his conduct toward Christians was from a blood-thirsty disposition. It was zeal for his religion that made him a persecutor. It grieved him to think that the Christians should seek to overturn such a religion as Moses had received from God. No miracles claimed to be wrought by Christ, he thought

could go beyond the miracles of the Old Testament. That religion was built on miracles, beginning with Israel in Egypt, the burning bush, the Red Sea, Sinai, Horeb, the conquest of Canaan, Mount Hor and Nebo.

The idea that a man who had been crucified between two thieves, while his timid followers fled, should be deified, after being stolen away from his sepulchre, all power in heaven and on earth be claimed for him; that such men as Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus a ruler, and Stephen, should be duped by him, only exasperated him; he felt that strong measures were needed to crush the growing delusion. Not from mere love of giving pain, but from zeal for God, he became a persecutor.

When it became necessary to put such a man as Stephen to death, he was glad, no doubt, that natural courage did not fail; he consented to it, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. In all this, he was still an accomplished scholar, a prominent member of Jewish society, but an unbeliever, which in view of demonstrative evidence was inexcusable. Yet if any one had accused him of cruelty from the love of giving pain, no doubt he would have resented it, and would have defended himself by setting forth the enormous imposture which he would say he was piously seeking to expose.

No one can read the religious papers of our times in days of high religious excitement, without seeing how far even cultivated men can go in opposing others who differ from them. Let some one who has become prominent in the community as a champion of their sect become a convert to an opposite faith, and you will see in the studied sarcasms of some, perhaps their vituperation, open pity, the abandonment of him to what they consider deserved neglect, not to say contempt, for daring to impugn their faith. If these things are done in our day by those who claim to be Christians, we cannot wonder that the growing success of the Nazarene's supposed imposture, should have carried even such a man as Saul of Tarsus beyond the bounds of humanity.

All this time he was a liberal scholar, a polite, courteous, and in private, kind man. He could talk about Moses and the prophets, the Levitical law, the ceremonies of religion, the rules which ought to regulate one's behaviour in society, how much mint, anise, and cummin were a proper measure of one's piety, if he wished to be scrupulous in keeping the law. It was a great satisfaction to him that all the externals of his religious history were so unexceptionable.

There was no question that he had been circumcised the eighth day; his lineage was undoubted; the Scribes had verified it; in the

tribe of Benjamin he delighted to find his name. written. Young people loved to be told that they were of the tribe of "little Benjamin; " they could not but feel even when grown up that there was fondness on the part of Providence for all of that tribe.

Young Saul had proved to the High Priest and all the estate of the elders that he was a true Israelite of that tribe. All the paths of distinction were open to him; but more than all, his pharisaic strictness in keeping the law, joined to his unquestionable Jewish descent, and his ardent piety evinced by his being willing to persecute for the defence of Moses and the prophets; his determination to uphold the religion of the fathers, cost him what it might on the score of personal feeling, made him willing to challenge comparison with any young religionist the world

over.

Indeed, from what we know of Paul in his writings we are ready to believe that all which he says of himself in the text is far from boasting. For we may venture to say that the world fails to furnish us with a more lovely natural character than he evidently possessed. We may not suppose that he grew at once from a malignant fiend to such a perfect specimen of a man as his epistles show him to be. He must have had in him the germ of those remarkable quali

ties which he manifested in his intercourse with the Christians of his day. We infer from his writings that he suffered greatly from the tempers of men; that the behaviour, of some professing to be Christians, was irksome to him in the extreme; yet can we anywhere find such greatness as marks his words of reproof?

Instead of studying Lord Chesterfield for principles of politeness in our intercourse with one another, it may be safely said, that a careful observance of the treatment by Paul, of people who had given him occasion for offence, is the best guide to men and manners, to that true politeness which springs from benevolence. One cannot read, for example, the words of Paul to the Corinthian Christians, and remember their conduct at the Lord's table, and not wonder at the kindness which prevails in his reproofs. Paul must have had in his natural character a foundation for such things as he here and elsewhere exhibits; much as he owed to sovereign grace we feel that he was a man greatly to be loved, and worthy to be studied; he could not by imitation have acquired at once those traits of character which we find in his writings. Judging from the effects of conversion since his day, we are made to feel that he must have had many amiable traits either by nature or education.

At the risk of seeming to digress from my sub