potism and brutality of the Caesars
and their favorites, had so undermined the moral sentiments and
religious feelings of the masses that scepticism, fraught with shocking
vices and unnatural crimes, coupled with contemptible hypocrisy and
ridiculous superstition, demoralized the masses and brought truth itself
into ill-repute. To add to all this there came the steady decline of the
Jewish state, the growing demonstration of fast-approaching ruin, and,
in consequence thereof, the growth of superstition among the Hebrews,
among whom a class of mystics sprang up, who professed to know what God
and his angels do, speak, and think in the secret cabinet of heaven,
where the throne of the Almighty stands, splendidly and minutely
described by those mystics who supposed that they received superior
knowledge by special impressions from on high, without study or research
on their part; and expected to see the status of social and political
affairs suddenly changed by miraculous interpositions of the Deity,
without human exertion and cooperation. This state of affairs was highly
favorable to Paul's stupendous enterprise.

But who was Paul himself? Notwithstanding all the attempts of the author
of the Acts to mystify him into as mythical a character as the Gospels
made of Jesus, Paul is an open book in history. We have his genuine
epistles, in which he gives considerable account of himself and his
exploits. We have one portion of the Acts in which, contrary to the rest
of that book, the author narrates in the first person plural, "we,"
which appears to be taken from the notes of one of Paul's
companions--Luke, Timothy, Silas, or any other. Then we have the
_Talmud_, with its numerous anecdotes about _Acher_, as the rabbis
called Paul, which are of inestimable value to the historian. These
sources enable us to form a conception of the man. A few remarks on his
life will be found interesting.

Paul is not a proper name. It signifies "the little one." The author of
the Acts states that his name was Saul. But, it appears, he knew no more
about it than we do, and changed the P of Paul into an S, to make of it
the Hebrew name Saul. In his epistles he invariably calls himself Paul,
and not Saul. So the author of the "we" portion of the Acts always calls
him Paul. Passing under an assumed name, the rabbis called him _Acher_,
"another," _i.e._, one who passes under another or assumed name. They
maintain that his name was Elisha ben Abujah.