THE CONVERSION OF S. PAUL.

JANUARY 25.

"The leader of that martial crew

Seems bent some mighty deed to do,
So steadily he speeds,

With lips firm closed and fixed eye,
Like warrior when the fight is nigh."

Most of our Church Services are celebrated on the death-day of the Apostle or Saint whose example and memory we honour; but that of S. Paul is appointed to be holden on the anniversary of the day on which he became a believer in, and a follower of CHRIST-therefore called the Conversion of S. Paul.

For this change in the usual order there are three reasons:-first, the hope and example that no sinner, repenting, need despair of pardon for Saul had been a grievous persecutor of Christians, and as he himself says, For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me

JESUS CHRIST might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe."

Secondly, for the great joy that all the Church felt that a man of so much power and talent should be won in her early days to preach the Gospel.

And thirdly, in respect of the wonderful manner of his conversion. Also because of its high advantage to the infant Church of CHRIST: for whilst the other good, earnest, zealous Apostles preached and taught, each one in his own particular province, S. Paul had "the care of all the Churches," and travelled, and taught, and laboured for thirtyfive years, all through the known world.

As we say in the Collect, "O God, Who, through the preaching of the blessed Apostle S. Paul, hast caused the light of the Gospel to shine throughout the world."

When the Jews so cruelly stoned S. Stephen, those who had borne false witness against him, and threw the first stones at him, took off their upper garment, a loose kind of scarf or cloak, commonly worn, and laid them, to be taken care of, at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul. This young man was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, and he was also a free citizen of Rome. He was born at Tarsus, the chief city of Cilicia in Asia Minor, famous for riches and

learning. There Saul received an excellent education, and he was afterwards sent to Jerusalem, to one of the most learned doctors there, Gamaliel, to be instructed in the Jewish laws and religion. So he became the most learned of all the Apostles. He was a Pharisee, and being a very sincere and earnest and zealous man, he observed their laws and customs very strictly, and thought he was only doing his duty when he persecuted the Christians.

This he did so zealously, and indeed so cruelly, that he won for himself high favour amongst the Jewish rulers, and easily obtained from them permission to go to Damascus, in order to imprison and persecute the Christians there.

Damascus, in Syria, a country north-east of Palestine, was the most beautiful city in the world, and very ancient. When Lot was taken captive and Abram went to rescue him, he pursued the robbers as far as Damascus : and Abraham's steward, Eliezer, who travelled to find a wife for Isaac, and brought home Rebecca, was a native of Damascus.

The city is situated in the midst of a large plain, twenty-five miles in circumference, and this valley looks like one immense garden, surrounded on all sides by dreary grey mountains. One bright river winds round the city, and another passes through

it; and rivulets are trickling on all sides, so that it is always a rich and beautiful green, filled with noble trees, mixed with orchards and gardens. In the midst of these is the city; but, as you go along the plain, you cannot see the houses, they are so hidden by the lofty palms and other trees; but from the hills around you see the minarets of the churches, and the domes of five hundred palaces, gleaming white among the green

trees.

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One very renowned art in Damascus was the manufacture of swords. In former warlike ages a Damascene blade was thought a gift fit for a king. They were so finely tempered that a thin gauze veil might be cut clean through, (that is, without fret or jag) as it floated in the air. So beautifully wrought were they, steel inlaid with gold, that you could hardly tell which was the steel and which the gold. The people of Damascus still excel in the art of inlaying metals with gold.

This was, no doubt, considered a very important city in the time of the Apostles, or Saul would not have been so solicitous to go there.

So, "breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the LORD," he led his band of soldiers, and was within half a mile of the city, when "suddenly there shined about him a light from heaven :"

"One moment-and to earth he falls :
What voice his inmost heart appals ?-
Voice heard by him alone;

For to the rest both words and form
Seem lost in lightning and in storm,
While Saul, in wakeful trance,
Sees deep within that dazzling field
His persecuted LORD revealed

With keen yet pitying glance."

When he rose from the earth he was blind, and the soldiers whom this strong warlike person had been heading for so cruel a purpose, had to lead him by the hand, as if he were a child, into the city. This personal blindness was a fit emblem of the spiritual blindness in which he had lived.

In the deepest humility, for he felt that it was indeed JESUS, the Crucified, Who had spoken to him, Saul fasted, and prayed, and humbled himself for three days; when a devout Christian, named Ananias, by God's command, restored his eyesight for he had remained blind-and conferred on him Holy Baptism, in the name of our risen LORD. Of this SAVIOUR, in Whom he now, to the very core of his heart, believed, Saul continued the earnest, zealous, and powerful advocate to the last hour of his life.

It is said that Saul (henceforward called Paul) studied and prayed in Arabia, in deep solitude, for three years, before he entered on the work of his life, the conversion of the

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