. In his dreams he saw men beckoning him to
new countries; he had always a long unfulfilled program in his mind;
and, as death approached, he was still thinking of journeys into the
remotest corners of the known world.

124. Influence Over Men.--Another element of his character near akin
to the one just mentioned was his influence over men. There are those
to whom it is painful to have to accost a stranger even on pressing
business; and most men are only quite at home in their own set--among
men of the same class or profession as themselves. But the life he had
chosen brought Paul into contact with men of every kind, and he had
constantly to be introducing to strangers the business with which he
was charged. He might be addressing a king or a consul the one hour
and a roomful of slaves or common soldiers the next. One day he had to
speak in the synagogue of the Jews, another among a crowd of Athenian
philosophers, another to the inhabitants of some provincial town far
from the seats of culture. But he could adapt himself to every man and
every audience. To the Jews he spoke as a rabbi out of the Old
Testament Scriptures; to the Greeks he quoted the words of their own
poets; and to the barbarians he talked of the God who giveth rain from
heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

When a weak or insincere man attempts to be all things to all men, he
ends by being nothing to anybody. But, living on this principle, Paul
found entrance for the gospel everywhere, and at the same time won for
himself the esteem and love of those to whom he stooped. If he was
bitterly hated by enemies, there was never a man more intensely loved
by his friends. They received him as an angel of God, or even as Jesus
Christ himself, and were ready to pluck out their eyes and give them to
him. One church was jealous of another getting too much of him. When
he was not able to pay a visit at the time he had promised, they were
furious, as if he had done them a wrong. When he was parting from
them, they wept sore and fell on his neck and kissed him. Numbers of
young men were continually about him, ready to go on his errands. It
was the largeness of his manhood which was the secret of this
fascination; for to a big nature all resort, feeling that in its
neighborhood it is well with them.

125. Unselfishness.--This popularity was partly, however, due to
another quality which shone conspicuously in his