The life and work of St. Paul

ISi IHE LIFE AND WORK O? SO?. PAUL.
brethren whose poverty and persecutions he came to share. Then it was (h*t-
Barnabas canie forward, aud saved Saul for the work of the Church. The
same discrimination of character, the same charity of insight which afterwards
made him prove Mark to be a worthy comrade of their second mission, in spite
of his first defection, now made him vouch unhesitatingly for the sincerity of
Saul. Taking him by the hand, he led him into the presence of the Apostles
the term being here used for Peter, 1 and James the Lord's brother, 2 and the
elders of the assembled church and there narrated to them the circumstances,
which either they had never heard, or of the truth of which they had not yet been
convinced. He told them of the vision on the road to Damascus, and of the
fearlessness with which Saul had vindicated his sincerity in the very city to
which he had come as an enemy. The words of Barnabas carried weight, and
his confidence was^contagious. Saul was admitted among the Christians on
a footing of
"
friendship, going in and out among them." To the generosity
and clear-sightedness of Joseph of Cyprus, on this and on a later occasion, the
Apostle owed a vast debt of gratitude. Next only to the man who achieves
the greatest and most blessed deeds is he who, perhaps himself wholly incapable
of such high work, is yet the first to help and encourage the genius of
others. "We often do more good by our sympathy than by our labours, and
render to the world a more lasting service by absence of jealousy, and recog-
nition of merit, than we could ever render by the straining efforts of personal
ambition.
No sooner was Saul recognised as a brother, than he renewed the ministry
which he had begun at Damascus. It is, however, remarkable that he did not
venture to preach to the Hebrew Christians. He sought the synagogues of
the Hellenists in which the voice of Stephen had first been heard, and disputed
with an energy not inferior to his. It was incumbent on him, though it was a
duty which required no little courage, that his voice should be uplifted in the
name of the Lord Jesus in the places where it had been heard of old in
blasphemy against Him. But this very circumstance increased his danger.
His preaching was again cut short by a conspiracy to murder him. 3
It was useless to continue in a place where to stay was certain death.
The little Galilcean community got information of the plot. To do the Jews
justice, they showed little skill in keeping the secret of these deadly
1 Acts ix. 27 ; GaL i. 19. The true reading in GaL i. 18 seems to be " Kephas " (N, A, B,
and the most important versions) ; as also in iL 9, 11, 14. This Hebrew form of the
name also occurs in 1 Cor. ix. 5 ; xv. 6. Although elsewhere (e.g. ii. 7, 8) St. Paul uses
"Peter" indifferently with Cephas, as is there shown by the unanimity of the MSS., it
seems clear that St. Paul's conception of St. Peter was one which far more identified him
with the Judaic Church than with the Church in general. In the eyes of St. Paul, Simon
was specially the Apostle of the Circumcision.
2 Gal. i. 19, frepoi/ Se riav o.TtotTTo\