murderers of Stephen, and to personally conduct a campaign, with the idea of

exterminating the heresy of the Nazarenes.  Such was the character of the

`chosen vessel' who was destined, by grace, to shake traditionalism and

legalism to their fall, and to stand alone with God, preaching `the faith

which once he destroyed' (Gal. 1:23).

To stay here, however, would be but to give a one -sided view of the

character of Saul of Tarsus.  Writing by inspiration of God, in the full

light of his acceptance in the Beloved, he says concerning his past,

`touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless' (Phil. 3:6).

According to the teaching of the rabbis, there were 248 commands and

365 prohibitions of the Mosaic Law, which formed part of the `hedge of the

law'.  These laws and prohibitions, without exception, in letter as well as

spirit, and with the almost infinite number of inferences which were deduced

from such laws, were to be obeyed.  The belief was current that if only one

person could attain unto this perfection for but one day, the Messiah would

come, and the glory of Israel be ensured.  This hope then, together with a

nature which must spend and be spent upon that to which for the time being

the possessor is attached, was the force which actuated Saul of Tarsus, and

through him breathed out threatenings and slaughter.

In eight separate passages does Scripture refer to the terrible

persecutions with which Saul of Tarsus was prominently associated.  It is

written, `he made havoc of the church' (Acts 8:3).  The word used here is

that used in the LXX of Psalm 80:13 of the uprooting by wild boars.  He

dragged men and women to judgment and prison; he devastated in Jerusalem

those that called upon the name of Jesus.  In the epistle to the Galatians

the apostle tells us how he persecuted the early saints beyond measure (Gal.

1:13).  To the Corinthians (1 Cor. 15:9) and to the Philippians (Phil. 3:6),

he recounts with sorrow how he persecuted the church.  To the day of his

death he never forgot that grace which had changed a blasphemer, a

persecutor, and an injurious bigot (1 Tim. 1:13), the very chief of sinners,

into the chiefest of the apostles.  Truly, he `persecuted this way unto the

death' (Acts 22:4).

How fully he was permitted to enter into the sufferings and afflictions

of the faith the Scriptures amply testify.  Alone, forsaken by all earthly

friends, he was permitted to drain to the dregs the bitter cup of religious

persecution.  Stoned and left for dead, beaten with rods on five occasions by

the order of some ruler of the synagogue, imprisoned, betrayed, suffering the

anguish of hunger, thirst, nakedness, shipwreck, and finally martyrdom, he

fulfilled the opening words of his commission, `I will shew him how great

things he must suffer for My Name's sake' (Acts 9:16).

As Saul of Tarsus, or Paul the apostle, this man was not content to do

things half -heartedly.  His zeal for the time at least stamped out the

activity of the heresy of the Nazarene in Jerusalem, but from other cities

news arrived that this pernicious weed had taken root.  Unsatiated by the

blood of the saints shed in Jerusalem, he desired to vindicate his Pharisaic

claims by up -rooting the Christian faith in the distant city of Damascus.

Armed with the necessary warrant from the high priest, the persecutor started

upon his journey of 150 miles in a frame of mind expressed in the

unparalleled term, `breathing out threatenings and slaughter'.  How long the

journey took we do not know; but taking the nature of the roads, the climate,

and the Eastern method of travelling, authorities have estimated that it

occupied the better part of a week.