Scenes from the life of St. Paul

Front matter

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SCENES

LIFE OF ST. PAUL.

Preface

This book, it is hoped, will meet a want long felt by many of the teachers in our Sunday-schools. It is essentially a class-book for our elder scholars, and aims at giving such an account of the great Apostle of the Gentiles as will enable our young people to form some notion of the struggle amidst which the Christian religion was planted in the world.

The writer kept steadily in view the fact that he was preparing a class-book to be read, not in one or tw r o sittings, but in short portions, spread over many weeks. This will account for some repetitions which might otherwise seem out of place. At the same time, feeling that such a book might prove acceptable to many of the younger members of our congregations, the writer has tried to throw in the repetitions he thought necessary in the way least calculated to make them tedious to the more continuous reader.

The writer has to acknowledge his obligations to a great many works, and more especially to Milman's " History of Christianity ;" Conybeare and Howson's " Life and Epistles of St. Paul ;" Neander s " Planting viii PREFACE.

of Christianity ;" the works of Professors Jowett and Stanley; Martineau's "Studies of Christianity;" the Rev. J. H. Thorn's " St. Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians: their Spirit and Significance ;" the series of books " On the State of Man before and after the Promulgation of Christianity ;" and some valuable essays in the " National Review/' In quoting from the New Testament the writer has not always used the authorized version, but availed himself of the translations of Mr. E. Taylor, Mr. Sharpe, and others.

The purpose which the book was intended to serve made it necessary that several deeply-interesting questions, arising out of the study of St. Paul's life, should be passed over in silence, or only slightly alluded to. The writer has followed, as closely as possible, the narrative of the Acts, and left to the critic and the scholar the settlement of much that would have carried him away from the purpose he had in view. It is hoped, however, that the book will prove suggestive, both to the teacher and his pupils; and by stimulating thought, lead to farther researches in the same field.

It has been suggested to the writer, that it would be a good thing to continue, in a series of class-books, the history of Christianity down to the present time. The labour would be too great for one person to

PREFACE. ix

undertake, unless he could devote a very large portion of his time to it, and the want is partly supplied by a little book already in use in our Sunday-schools, entitled, " Scenes from Christian History ;" but should the present book be favourably received by those for whom it has been prepared, the writer will follow it up by another, on the Keligious History of England — the materials for which he has in a large part already collected.

It only remains further to say, that if the little map which has been placed at the beginning of this volume should not be found large enough when the book is used as a class-book, a very serviceable map may be purchased for four shillings from the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

CONTENTS,

Chap.

Page

Conclusion ....

. 359

Chapter I. Enteoductoby-the Peoyidence Of God In Histoet

" Darkness o'er the world was brooding, Sadder than Egyptian gloom ; Souls by myriads lay in slumber, Deep as of the sealed tomb.

Earth had lost the links which bound it

To the throne of light above ; Yet an eye was watching o'er it,

And that eye was full of love.

Like a glorious beam of morning,

Straight a ray pierced through the cloud,

Spirits mightily awakening

From their dark and heavy shroud.

Still that ray shines on and brightens,

Chasing mist and gloom away ; Happy they on whom it gathers,

With its full and perfect day."

G-ASKELL.

-A t, B _

^ ^ D T

PARTS OF

EUROPE & ASJA-,

TO ILLUSTRATE.

SCENES

FROM THE

LIFE OF ST. PAUL,

CHAPTER L

INTRODUCTORY. — THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD IN HISTORY.

There is no book so widely circulated, and so frequently read as the New Testament; but to read it as it should be read by those who seek to profit by it, requires, at least, some mental preparation. The book gives an account of the origin and early promulgation of Christianity in the world — shows us how fierce the struggle was through which our religion had to pass before it gained a footing in the world. But, born in a Christian land, and educated among Christian institutions, it is a difficult thing for us to go back in thought and realize the time when Christianity was itself a heresy, battling against popular superstitions, and in danger of being crushed by Jewish and Pagan persecution. We propose, in the following pages, to exhibit some of the more prominent scenes

B in the life of one of the greatest missionaries of early Christianity, and to illustrate them by information gathered from the writings of men who have devoted much time to the study of this subject. We do this in the hope that it may excite in the minds of some of our readers the desire to know more about the origin and early diffusion of our religion, and thus make their reading of the New Testament at once more interesting and instructive.

Our interest in St. Paul lies, mainly, in his labours and sufferings as the Missionary of the Cross. It may be well, therefore, as a preparation for the study of his life, to take a brief review of the more important facts connected with the introduction of Christianity into the world.

The moral revolution brought about by the new religion was very striking indeed, but it is one extremely difficult to realize, unless we have some notion of the moral and religious condition of the world before the coming of Christ. The subject is so vast that, within the limits of an introductory chapter, it seems hardly worth while to approach it. Nevertheless, if we can give our young readers even a faint idea of the three great parties with whom the Apostle had to mingle in his frequent missionary journeys, something will be gained; those who want to pursue the subject further will find more ample details in Messrs. Conybeare and Howson's "Life and Epistles of St. Paul/' DeanMilman s " History of Christianity,'' and, more particularly, in a very interesting series of books, published by Parker and Son, " On the State of Man before and after the Promulgation of Chris* tianity." From these sources, mainly, our epitome is drawn.

Of Judaism, as a system of religious belief arid worship, it is not necessary to say much. Leaving out of view its claim to be a special revelation of divine truth, we would observe that it was the most remarkable system of religion that had ever been given to any people. As expounded by Psalmists and Prophets, it seems often to anticipate the sublimest teachings of Christ himself. In Greece and Rome, too, there were great men, who, like solitary watch-towers, rose above the surrounding darkness ; philosophers who could talk sublimely of the One true God who filled all things, of loving virtue for its own sake, and of a life after death. Still, this superiority must be claimed for the Jewish Psalmists and Prophets — they never taught that their system of religious thought was for the privileged few. The poorest peasant of Galilee or Judsea had the same part in it as the wisest Rabbi of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, Judaism was wedded to a system of religious forms which fostered national pride, and rendered it unfit ever to become other than a local religion. Moreover, after the return from the Captivity in Babylon, Judaism degenerated very rapidly. The Persian doctrines regarding evil and evil spirits did much to destroy its primitive simplicity, while the rise of the Pharisees, who were a numerous sect nearly 150 years before the birth of Christexalted the traditions of the elders above the Law and the Prophets, and so developed the ceremonial part of Judaism, that all spirituality was crushed out of it by a weary load of soul- destroying forms. The Canon of

b 2

4 SCENES FROM THE LIEE OE ST. PAUL.

Scripture was now closed, and God had ceased to be an ever-present help in time of trouble. " The Old Hebrew seers/' says the Rev. Charles Kingsley, " were men dealing with the loftiest and deepest laws : the Eabbis were shallow pedants. The Old Hebrew seers were righteous and virtuous men : the Eabbis became, in due time, some of the worst and wickedest

men who ever trod this earth And yet,

among these hapless pedants there lingered nobler thoughts and hopes. They could not read the glorious heir-looms of their race without finding in them records of antique greatness and virtue, of old deliverances worked for their forefathers, and what seemed promises, too, that that greatness should return. The notion that these promises were conditional, that they expressed eternal moral laws, and declared the consequences of obeying those laws, they had lost long ago. By looking on themselves as exclusively and arbitrarily favoured by Heaven, they were ruining their own moral sense. Things were not right or wrong to them, because right was eternal and divine, and wrong the transgression of that eternal right. How could that be ? For then the right things the Gentiles seemed to do wouldberight to the Divine mind ; and that supposition, in their eyes, was all but impious. None could do right but themselves, for they only knew the law of God. So, right with them had no absolute or universal ground, but was reduced, in their minds, to the performance of certain acts commanded exclusively to them, — a form of ethics which rapidly sank into the most petty and frivolous casuistry as to the outward performance of these acts. The sequel of those ethics is known to all the world, in the spectacle of the most unrivalled religiosity and scrupulous respectability, combined with a more utter absence of moral sense, in their most cultivated and learned men, than the world has ever beheld before or since."*

The political condition of Palestine was no better than the religious. Alexander Jannseus, who reigned about 80 years before the birth of Christ, when raised to the throne, took 800 rebels who had held out against him for a considerable time, caused them all to be crucified, and, while they were yet hanging on the cross, he ordered their wives and children to be brought out and slaughtered before their eyes. He, himself, commanded the tables to be spread, and entertained his concubines to a sumptuous feast in a place from whence the horrible spectacle could be seen. After the death of Alexander a dispute between his two sons caused the Etonians to interfere, and, 40 years before the birth of Christ, Herod was made Sovereign of Judaea, by a decree of the Eoman Senate. He was neither of royal blood, nor even of the Jewish nation, and obtained possession of Jerusalem only by a siege and the slaughter of his opponents. Yet Herod was little more than a nominal king, and the large sums which he had to pay to Rome for its protection, compelled him to burden the Jewish people with heavy taxes which rendered his rule especially odious. The nation, therefore, was ripe for rebellion whenever an opportunity offered itself, and was only restrained through the fear of Eoman interference. Yet. amidst all

# Alexandria and her Schools.

this suffering and tyranny, the hopes of the people turned to the promised Son of David, in whom, they firmly believed, the royal line of Judah would be restored. It was not a moral deliverer they so much expected, as one who would set them politically free, and exalt them above Gentile nations.

Among the Greeks and the Eomans, religion, if less used as a cloak to hide pride and selfishness, w r as still further divorced from truth and life. The early Greek was essentially a child of the imagination. To surrender himself to her glowing charms, to draw arguments for her truth from the pliant melody of his language, was his delight, long before he had attained to that activity of intellect which placed him in the van of the world's civilization. The Greek mind was also remarkable for the strength of its devotional feelings, hence legend and tradition assumed invariably either a religious or a patriotic character. The Greek, with his quick eye for all that was beautiful in colour and graceful in form, found his Scripture in unclouded skies and the solemnities of night, and to his sensitive imagination the fairest objects of nature became invested with a living personality. As the country advanced in wealth and civilization temples were built and ceremonies instituted in honour of the gods ; till all that could charm the senses and dazzle the imagination became blended with the popular religion. The ceremonies introduced were many of them derived from Egypt, where the manners of the people were licentious, and they proved fatal to the simple virtues of the wild tribes who, in their wanderings, had confined themselves to the plain acts of homage which such a life would permit. Thus the temples gradually became scenes of the grossest corruption. The triumph over Persia gave the only element wanting to complete the dissolution of manners, namely, riches, and thenceforward Athens was the seat not only of learning, but of vice of no ordinary kind. Corinth alone, whose commerce afforded even more wealth, seems to have outrun it in corruption.

But while these corrupting influences were silently undermining the stern simplicity of Greek manners, the progress of knowledge was proving no less fatal to the religion of Mythology. The devout imagination of the elder Greek, which made him listen with awe to the wildest fables, now gave place to cold and sober reason. Poetry had been religion hitherto, now religion was becoming mere poetry. Humanizing the Deity naturally produced in a more scientific age a familiarity fatal to respect. So, too, when man became better acquainted with his own nature, he w r as less satisfied with gods cast in a human mould. To remedy these defects in the popular religion, Philosophy came to its aid. It began to polish up the mythological tales and traditions, to allegorize and discover hidden meanings in them, and so refine and explain them away as to take from them even the semblance of reality. . Thus religion ceased to be a moral power, and instead of helping man to develop the better and nobler side of his nature, it became a powerful instrument in corrupting and degrading him. Yet, from time to time, in Greece, as in Judaea, men had arisen to utter a protest against the disgusting ceremonies and degrading superstitions of the popular faith and worship, and to speak a brave and timely word on behalf of public virtue. Among the higher philosophers of Greece a pure and simple Theism was generally received. But this philosophy, even in democratic- Greece, was only for the few. The many were supposed to be utterly beneath it, and, it must be confessed, they did their best to be worthy of this reproach. It was not possible, however, that the people should be long blind to the indifference of the higher classes to the fables and ceremonies which those classes sanctioned with their presence or their silence, and this helped to destroy even the last remnant of that reverential feeling with which the people had been accustomed to look upon the ceremonies and fables. Thus the sacrifices began to be regarded only as a pleasant means of obtaining a good meal, and the ceremonies as a respite from labour, which offered also a little amusement. But the gods thus brought down to the level of men, ceased to command even respect from large masses of the people. How could it be otherwise ? No better faith was taught the people, and their superiors appeared to have none ; the result was, that the masses became brutalized, and careless of everything save sensual pleasure.

The same state of things was brought about in Borne, and by similar causes, with this difference, perhaps — the Roman was endowed with a more inflexible will than the Greek, and hence he struggled more valiantly against the downward tendencies of Polytheism. But his struggle was of no avail. He, too, fell, and his fall was only different from that of the Greek, because it was lower — into a sensualism more gross and barbarous still.

Thus "it is impossible to read ancient history," says the author of the work " On the State of Man before the Promulgation of Christianity/' " without seeing that this process of corruption went on in every nation where polytheism prevailed ; and though the States which had consolidated the elements of their greatness under a purer system resisted for a time the progress of decay, it was not the less sure; and one empire after another exemplified the truth of the view we have taken. Public follows private immorality, as surely as plants which have grown in the shade produce flowers and seed when the sun reaches them ; and public immorality weakens the hands of government, and ends in the complete dissolution of the empire, which can no longer find men of integrity to administer public affairs honestly and courageously." Thus when the spiritual faith dies out in the heart of the nation, political decline is sure to follow. This was the case in both Greece and Palestine, and for some time before the birth of Christ they could hardly be said to have an iudependent existence at all.

The dispersion of the Jews, caused by the conquests of Alexander the Great, brought Jew and Greek into immediate contact for the first time. The conquests of Alexander caused new cities to spring up as the centres of political life, and opened up new lines of communication as the channels of commercial activity. The east and the west were suddenly united, and the

B 3 learning and the arts of Greece found their way into the mountain ranges of Pisidia and Lycaonia. The Tigris and the Euphrates became Greek rivers. The language of Athens was heard among the Jewish colonies of Babylon; and a Grecian Babylon was built by Alexander, and called by his own name.* Jews became the students and commentators of Plato, and as familiar with the poetry and philosophy of Greece, as with the writings of the Psalmists and Prophets of their native land. This, without doubt, did much to soften down national prejudices, and helped to widen the breach between the foreign and the home-bred Jew, and with the universal spread of the Greek tongue, helped to prepare a way for the Gospel. But the Greeks were too corrupt to hold long the dominion thus gained. On the death of Alexander, the empire which he had conquered fell to pieces, and was distributed among his generals. The independent kingdoms thus formed held together, with varying fortunes and success, till Rome, by successive conquests, became mistress of the civilized world.

Wherever the Greek w r ent, science and commerce, philosophy and poetry, followed in his path. In literature and the arts, Borne did little more than imitate Greece. Yet Borne had its own characteristics, and these were quite as marked as those of any nation either in ancient or modern times. The idea of law and organization had grown with the growth of this singular people, and wherever they went it was carried with them like a mysterious presence. Universal

* Convbeare and Howson.

conquest and permanent occupation were the ends at which they aimed ; strength and organization the characteristics of their sway. Onward their legions went along the Eoman roads which pursued their undeviating course over plains and mountains, and bound the eternal city to the farthest extremities of the provinces, and wherever they went, governors and judges followed in their path. And yet it would be a great mistake to suppose that when the world was thus brought under the dominion of Koine, any real principle of unity held its different parts together. The Emperor was deified only because men were enslaved. There was no true peace when Augustus closed the temple of Janus, and set himself to conserve what had already been conquered. The empire was only the order of external government, upheld by brute force, while a chaos both of opinions and morals was within.- The old systems of civilization were manifestly passing away. Eome alone possessed any signs of vitality, and even she had entered on her downward course, and was fast becoming the slave of her own army. And yet, amidst all these signs of disorganization and decay, it is not difficult to trace the hand of Divine Providence busily at work preparing the w T ay for a new and a nobler order of things. The dispersion of the Jews, with their sublime conception of the One true God who made the heavens and the earth, and governs all things with perfect justice, helped to familiarize men's minds with a truth which must be the basis of all true worship. The all but

* Milman.

universal diffusion of the Greek tongue was preparing a medium for the transmission of Christian thought and sentiment throughout the civilized world. And as no ancient tongue was so plastic or so beautiful as the Greek, none could he so well adapted for this purpose. Again, the wide- spread dominion of Eome made it necessary that good roads should he kept up between the city and the most distant provinces of the empire. These roads, by facilitating commerce, made the peaceful intercourse of nation with nation much easier than it had ever been before. They also became highways, along which the Christian missionary could travel with his message of glad tidings to the toiling, suffering, and sorrowing masses of all lands. The general reader of history may look at all this, and say it was the result of mere chance, that Jesus was born into a world thus needing a deliverer, and, unconsciously, preparing a variety of agencies which were to facilitate the spread of his doctrines, through a happy union of circumstances. But to us it seems as clearly the work of Divine Providence, as the rising and setting of the sun, or the periodic revolution of the seasons. The winter winds sweep over woods and fields, leaving trees and hedge-rows bare and desolate, but future springs will be more green, and future summers more gorgeous for that desolation. We readily admit that God is governing the world of unconscious matter, why should we seek to exclude Him from the world of mind ?

Chapter II. The New Keligion

' Ever would I fain be reading, In the ancient Holy Book, Of my Saviour's gentle pleading, Truth in every word and look.

How when children came he bless' d them.

Suffer' d no man to reprove, Took them in his arms, and press' d them

To his heart with words of love.

How to all the sick and tearful, Help was ever gladly shown :

How he sought the poor and fearful, Call'd them brothers and his own.

How no contrite soul e'er sought him,

And was bidden to depart : How with gentle words he taught him,

Took the death from out his heart..

Still I read the ancient story,

And my joy is ever new, — How he lived so pure and holy,

How he still is kind and true.

How the flock he gently ieadeth, Whom his Father gave him here :

How his arms he widely spreadeth, To his heart to draw us near.

Let me come, my Lord, unto thee ;

Let my heart with tears o'ernow ; Melted by thy love, revere thee ;

Blest in thee, 'mid joy or woe."

CHAPTER IT.

THE NEW KELIGION.

The New Testament, as most of our readers know, is not a single book, but a number of distinct books, written by, at least, eight different persons, and gathered, in early Christian times, into one volume. It comprises 27 books, and is usually divided into three portions, namely, Historical, Epistolary, and Prophetical. The four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles form the Historical portion. The 21 Epistles, or letters, written by the Apostles to individuals, to particular churches, and to the general Church, form the Epistolary portion. The book of Revelation forms the Prophetical portion. These books give us an account of the origin of Christianity, a history of the first efforts made to propagate it in the world, and brief sketches of its Founder, and some of its first missionaries and teachers. The New Testament is accepted by all Christians as the rule, or standard, of Christian faith and practice, though some do not regard all the books of which it is composed as of equal value, or authority, holding that the words of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels, are of higher authority than those of Paul or John.

In the Gospels we have an account of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The first three are largelytaken up with events which took place in Galilee, and with the closing scenes of Christ's life in Jerusalem. They describe Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, of w T hom Psalmists had sung and Prophets prophesied, and dwell more on the outward events of his life than on philosophical speculations regarding his Nature, Person, and Mission. In them we have an account of the Sermon on the Mount, with its heavenly beatitudes^ and noble lessons of practical religion, exalting the love of God and the love of man — being and doing good — far above mere ceremonial worship and the belief of a traditional creed. In them we read those wonderful parables of the Sower who went forth to sow, the good Samaritan, the Publican and Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and many others, so brimful of Jewish life, yet so true to our human experience, that, after the lapse of eighteen centuries, they speak to our hearts in tones so deep and true, as to kindle our divinest sympathies and purest affections. Heading them to-day, we are not surprised to hear that the multitudes to whom they were first spoken, said of him who uttered them, " Surely never man spake as this man/* We,' too, if we have read them in the proper spirit, must many times have felt the same thought rise in our minds. The Gospel of John dwells less on the outward events of Christ's life, and more on his nature and mission. The events which this Gospel narrates bring more vividly before us Christ's life in Jerusalem. The discourses which it records seem, at first sight, more mystical and less practical

THE NEW RELIGION. 17"

than the parables and discourses of the other three. The writer is more anxious to give us a glimpse of the inner life of Jesus, and to describe his relationship to God on the one hand, and humanity on the other, than to prove that he was the -Messiah for whom the Jewshad been so anxiously looking. Evidently, therefore, St. John w T as not writing to Jewish converts, but to Gentiles as well, and at a time sufficiently remote from the death of Jesus to leave room for the growth of such questions as he seeks to meet. And this agrees well with the tradition which describes the Apostle as writing his Gospel, at an advanced age, in Ephesus, when heresies of Gentile origin were beginning to threaten the peace of the Church. But the chief interest of these Gospels must ever be sought in the life they record. We all know how much better it is to teach men by example than by precept, and here we find neither a code of dry rules, nor a number of elaborately drawn-out doctrines, but a life so beautiful in its sweet simplicity, yet so sublime in its moral victories, that while it speaks to our hearts with all the plenitude of a brother's love, it so transcends our actual experience as to be for ever calling upon us to leave the dull, beaten path on which we daily plod, and rise, through sterner conflict with evil, to its own freedom, holiness, and love.

The history of the Acts of the Apostles was written by St. Luke. It contains the record of what was done by the disciples after the death of their Master, and gives a brief sketch of the labours and sufferings of some of the first Christian missionaries. Not much is known of St. Luke personally; he is generally supposed, however, to Lave been a native of Antioch, in Syria, and a physician by profession. He was for several years the companion of St. Paul in his missionary travels ; hence we are largely indebted to St. Luke for what we know of the life and travels of St. Paul, and shall frequently require to quote from, or refer to, the Acts of the Apostles in the following pages. Of the 21 Epistles in the New Testament 14 have been ascribed to Paul, though it seems very doubtful whether he was the author of more than 13. The Epistle to the Hebrews bears his name in our New Testament, but the question of who was the author of that letter has long been a matter of uncertainty, and the evidence on which it is supposed to be the production of the Apostle is very slight indeed. The writings of St. Paul, however, form a very important portion of the New Testament, and as they were called forth by events in the Apostle's life, and the condition of the churches planted by him, some knowledge of his life and the nature of his work is necessary even to a general understanding of them. We shall also quote from them, and refer to them when they throw light on the scenes of St. Paul's life into which we propose to enter. The other Epistles and the book of Revelation do not come much within the limits of our subject.