The life and work of St. Paul

288 *Hfi LifE ANto wofcK of st. PAtfL.
proffered aid. Tefc all who knew him knew well that the aid canie unsought,
and that, asjfar as Paul's own personal life was concerned, he was utterly
indifferent to privations, and set the example of an unflinching endurance
rendered easy by a perfect trust in God. 1
For three Sabbaths in succession he went to the synagogue, and argued
with the Jews. It might well have been that the outrage at Philippi, and its
still lingering effects, would have damped] his zeal, and niado him shrink from
another persecution. But, fresh as he was from such pain and peril, he
earned on his discussions with undiminished force and courage, 5
explaining
the prophecies, and proving from them that the Messiah was to suffer, and to
rise from the dead, and that " this is the Messiah, Jesus, whom I am preaching
to you." 3 The synagogue audience was mainly composed of Jews, and of
these some wore convinced and joined the Church. 4
Conspicuous among
them for his subsequent devotion, and all the more conspicuous as being
almost the only warmly-attached convert whom St. Paul won from the ranks
5 of "the circumcision," was Aristarchus, the sharer of St. Paul's perils from
mob-violence at Ephesus, of his visit to Jerusalem, of his voyage and ship.
wreck, and of his last imprisonment. A larger number, however, of proselytes
and of Greeks accepted the faith, 8 and not a few women, of whom some were
in a leading position. This inveterate obstinacy of the Jews, contrasting
sadly with the ready conversion of the Gentiles, and especially of women, who
in all ages have been more remarkable than men for religious earnestness, is a
phenomenon which constantly recurs in the early history of Christianity.
Nor is this wholly to be wondered at. The Jew was at least in possession of
a religion, which had raised him to a height of moral superiority above his
Gentile contemporaries ; but the Gentile of this day had no religion at all
worth speaking of. If the Jew had more and more mistaken the shell of
ceremonialism for the precious truths of which that ceremoaialism was but the
integument, he was at least conscious that there were deep truths which lay
enshrined behind the rites and observances which | he so fanatically cherished.
But on what deep truths could the Greek woman rest, if her life were pure,
and if her thoughts had been elevated above the ignorant domesticisrn which
was the only recognised virtue of her sex P What comfort was there for her
in the cold grey eyes of Athene, or the stereotyped smile of the voluptuous
Aphrodite? And when the Thossalonian Greek raised his eyes to the
1 Phil. iv. 11, 12.
2 1 Thess. ii. 2, en-appqa-iacrdfXTji/ Acts xvii. ; 2, SieAcVeTo avrotf. The teaching of the synagogue
admitted of discussions and replies (John vi. 25, &c.) : as it does to this day in the
Rabbinic synagogues.
* Acts Xvii. 3, Sicu'Otycoi' ical irapariBfucvos.
4 One of these was Secundus (Acts xx. 4), and, perhaps, a Gaius (xix. 29). The names
are common enough, but it is a curious coincidence to find them, as well as the name
Sosipater, inscribed among the Tolitarchs on the triumphal arch of Thessalonica.
6 Acts six. 29 ; xx. 4 ; Col. iv. 10,