The life and work of St. Paul

CTPRUS. 196
high conrietiofl tliat God had called him to a special Apostolate " to make
the Gentiles obedient by word and deed ;" 1 the enthusiasm of humanity,"
which made him ready to associate, for their souls' sake, whether with men
who had once been thieves and drunkards, or with sweet, innocent, and gentle
2 women ; the courtesy which made him equally at home among slaves and
among kings ; the power of style which rose or fell with the occasion, sometimes
condescending to the humblest colloquialism, sometimes rising to the
most impassioned eloquence ; the clearness of insight which always kept one
3 end in view, and sacrificed all minor points to attain it; the total emancipation
from that slavery to trifles which is the characteristic of small minds,
and is ever petrifying religion into formulae, or frittering it away into cere-
monial ; the spirit of concession ; the tact of management ; the willingness to
bear and forbear, descend and condescend ; the tolerance of men's prejudices ;
the contented acceptance of less than was his due. And there were in the
soul of Paul qualities more precious for his life's work than even these.
There was the tenderness for his converts which makes his words ever sound
as though he were ready to break into sobs as he thinks on the one hand of
their affection, on the other of their
4
ingratitude ; there was the conviction
which makes him anticipate the very fiat of the throne of
5
judgment, and
vehemently to exclaim that if an angel were to preach a different gospel it
6 would be false ; there was the missionary restlessness so often found in the
great pioneers of salvation, which drives him from city to city and continent
to continent in the cause of God ; there was the ardent and imaginative im-
pulse which made it the very poetry of his life to found churches among the
Gentiles as the first messenger of the Gospel of peace ;
7 and last, but per-
haps most important of all, there was the perfect faith, the absolute self-
sacrifice, self-obliteration, self-annihilation, which rendered him willing, nay
glad, to pour out his whole life us a libation to be led in triumph from city
to city as a slave and a captive at the chariot-wheels of Christ.
The immense personal ascendency of St. Paul has almost effaced the recollection
of the fellow-workers to whose co-operation he owed so much but ; we
must not forget that throughout the perilous initiatives of this great work, he
had Barnabas ever at his side, to guide him by his calm wisdom, and support
him by his steady dignity. Barnabas, the friend of his youth, perhaps the
school-fellow of his studies, who had taken him by the hand ; who had drawn
him from his obscure retirement; who had laboured with him at Antioch;
who had been his fellow-almoner at Jerusalem was still sharing his difficul-
ties, and never envied or murmured when he saw himself being gradually subjugated
by the powerful individuality of a younger convert. To us Barnabas
must always be a less memorable figure than Paul, but let us not forget that
up to this time he had held a higher rank, and wielded a more authoritative
Rom. iv. 18. 1 Cor. vi. 9 11. 1 Cor. Ix. 19.
* 1 Thess. il. 7, 11 ; Gal. ir. 19 ; 1 Cor. ir. 15 ; Philem. 10.
s Bom. ii. 16. Gal. i. 8.
' Rom. x. 18; XT. 18; Gal. i. 16; 1 Cor. L 1; lii. 10; ix. 16; 2 Cor. xt 3.