he was with them going in and going out at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord: and he spake and disputed against the Grecian Jews; but they went about to kill him. And when the brethren knew it, they brought him down to Cæsarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

When, at the time of his "wonderful Conversion," Saul said to his Lord, "What wilt Thou have me to do?" he laid down the principle on which his whole after life and ministry was based.

The words of a well-known hymn may well be taken as descriptive of S. Paul's feelings at this crisis of his spiritual history:

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
Lead Thou me on;

The night is dark, and I am far from home,
Lead Thou me on.

Keep Thou

feet; my

I do not ask to see

The distant scene; one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone,

And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

After his "retreat" in Arabia, Saul returned to Damascus. If we are right in supposing that he had not yet borne witness to Christ at Damascus, he would naturally desire to proclaim to the Jews of that city that Gospel which he had found to be "the power of God unto salvation.”

He may also have wished to follow back the clue of God's guiding Providence by returning to the place where the Lord had appeared to him.

On his arrival at Damascus he began to proclaim the Gospel, of the power of which he was himself such a wonderful instance. His preaching was probably of the simplest description; indeed, he would only have to tell his own story, in order to bring conviction to the hearts of all who were not hardened against the truth.

But the more successful his witness was, the greater was the opposition which it roused. That opposition increased to persecution, and would have ended in his murder if his own special converts had not taken measures to ensure his safety. Here is his own account of the matter:-"In Damascus the governor guarded the city in order to take me, and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands." (2 Cor. xi. 32, 33.)

We can hardly help pausing for a moment to reflect what that journey to Jerusalem must have been to the new convert. With what profound emotion he would pass the place where the Lord had appeared unto him! How the whole scene would come back to him!

We cannot be surprised that the Christian community at Jerusalem should regard Saul with suspicion and dislike. Nor is it strange that it was S. Barnabas, the Son of Consolation, that was the first to give him the right hand of fellowship, and to welcome him as a brother in Christ.

It is of this visit that Saul afterwards wrote:

Gal. i. 18: Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Kephas, and tarried with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

During this time, short as it appears to have been, Saul boldly proclaimed the truth in the synagogues of the foreign Jews, and carried on the work which Stephen had begun. But his work was soon cut short; the Jews, worsted in argument, betook themselves to their accustomed weapons of persecution.

And then following the advice of the brethren, in which Saul would recognize the guiding of his Master's hand, he went to his early home at Tarsus. There he waited, not idly or uselessly you may be sure, but patiently till a further call should come, and the Lord's will concerning him be further manifested.

What this call was, and how it came to him, we shall see in the next chapter.

D

E left Saul at Tarsus waiting for his final call; waiting till the Lord's will respecting him should be made clear.

We must now see in what shape the call came, and what were the circumstances which led to it.

The martyrdom of S. Stephen had been, as we have seen, the signal for a fierce persecution against the Church in Jerusalem, and so we read that—

Acts xi. 19: They therefore that were scattered abroad upon the tribulation that arose about Stephen, travelled as far as Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to none save only to Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number that believed turned unto the Lord. And the report concerning them came to the ears of the Church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas as far as Antioch: who, when he was come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad; and he exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. And he went forth to Tarsus to seek for Saul: and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came to pass that even for a whole year they were gathered together with the Church, and taught much people; and that the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

MISSION

Thus it was that the call to a special field of labour in the Lord's Vineyard came to Saul at Tarsus.

He would not thrust himself into a field of work, without being quite sure whether it was the special field for which his Lord intended him.

And so also we may be sure, if we have really given ourselves to Christ, if we have said from our hearts, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" that the Lord's will concerning us will be made known somehow.

If we wait in faith and humility, the way will be made plain to us. The call may come in many different ways. It may come by the invitation of a friend, as it did to Saul at Tarsus: it may come at the solicitation of strangers, as it did to S. Peter at Joppa: it may come from the bent and inclination of our own minds: it may come by the force of circumstances, as again and again it came to S. Paul. in his after life.

The great thing is to have faith, to believe that we have a call; patience to wait for its coming; courage to follow it when it does come.

But now let us be sure that we quite understand S. Luke's narrative which we have just read.

The Christian believers who first ventured to preach the Gospel to the heathen at Antioch, and who were so unexpectedly and abundantly blessed in their work, were simple lay-folk as we should call them, holding no special office in the Christian Community.

But we must never allow ourselves to forget that Christ had sent His Church, not merely to convince men's minds and to influence their lives, but to make them citizens of His Kingdom. The life of Christianity was a corporate life. Believers were