The life and work of St. Paul

98 THE LIFE AND WOKE OF ST. PAUL.
legs which sprang from their preaching the Word in widor districts. The
Apostles, he adds, remained. What was the special reason for this we do
not know but as the Lord's direct ; permission to the seventy to fly before
persecution 1 would have sanctioned their consulting their own safety, it
may have been because Jesus had bidden them stay
the end of twelve years. 2
in Jerusalem till
If, as St. Chrysostom imagines, they stayed to
support the courage of others, how was it that the shepherds escaped while
the flock was being destroyed ? Or are we to infer that the main fury
of the persecution foil upon those Hellenists who shared the views of
the first martyr, and that the Apostles were saved from molestation by
the blameless Mosaism of which one of the leading brethren no less a
person than James, the Lord's brother was so conspicuous an example P
Be that as it may, at any rate they did not fall victims to tho rage which
was so fatal to many of their companions.
In two of his speeches and four of his letters does St. Paul revert to this
crime of an erring obstinacy. Twice to the Galatians does he use the same
strong metaphor which was applied to his conduct by the Damascene believers.3
He tells the Corinthians 4 that he was "the least of the Apostles, not
meet to be called an Apostle, because he persecuted the Church of God."
5 Ho reminds the Philippians that his old Hebraic zeal as a Pharisee had
shown itself by his " persecuting the Church." And oven when the shadows
of a troubled old age were beginning to close around him, keen in the sense
that he was utterly forgiven through Him who " came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief," ho cannot forget the bitter thought that,
though in ignorance, he had once been " a blasphemer, and persecutor, and
injurious." 8 And when he is speaking to those who knew the worst hi his
speech to the raging mob of Jerusalem, as ho stood on the steps of the Tower
of Antonia he adds one fact more which casts a lurid light on the annals of
the persecution. He shows there that the blood of Stephen was not the only
blood that had been shed not the only blood of which the stains had
incarnadined his conscience. He tolls the mob not only of the binding and
imprisonment of women as well as men, but also that he " persecuted this
way unto the death."1 Lastly, in his speech at Csesarea, he adds what ia
perhaps the darkest touch of all, for he says that, armed with the High
Priest's authority, he not only fulfilled unwittingly the prophecy of 8
Christ
by scourging the Christians " often " and " in every synagogue," but that,
when it came to the question of death, he gave his vote against them, and that
ho did his best to compel them to blaspheme. 9 I say " did his best," because
Matt. x. 23.
2 A brief visit to Samaria "to coiifirm the churchea" (Acts viil. 14) would not
militate against this command.
8 Gal. i. 13, whore he alao says that he persecuted them beyond measure (*