ly the leading man in the small Christian
community at Damascus, was informed, in a vision, of the change which
had happened to Paul, and was sent to restore his sight and admit him
into the Christian Church by baptism.

Nothing could be more beautiful than the way in which this servant of
God approached the man who had come to the city to take his life. As
soon as he learned the state of the case, he forgave and forgot all the
crimes of his enemy and sprang to clasp him in the arms of Christian
love. Certain as may have been the assurance which in the inner world
of the mind Paul had in those three days received of forgiveness, it
must have been to him a most welcome reassurance when, on opening his
eyes again upon the external world, he was met with no contradiction of
the visions he had been looking on, but the first object he saw was a
human face bending over him with looks of forgiveness and perfect love.
He learned from Ananias the future the Saviour had appointed him: he
had been apprehended by Christ in order to be a vessel to bear His name
to Gentiles and kings and to the children of Israel. He accepted the
mission with limitless devotion; and from that hour to the hour of his
death he had but one ambition--to apprehend that for which he had been
apprehended of Christ Jesus.

CHAPTER IV

HIS GOSPEL

Paragraphs 51-67.

51-53. SOJOURN IN ARABIA.
54-58. FAILURE OF MAN'S RIGHTEOUSNESS.
56. Failure of the Gentiles. 57. Failure of the
Jews. 58. The Fall the ultimate Cause of Failure.
59-65. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. The New Adam. The New Man.
66, 67. LEADING PECULIARITIES OF THE PAULINE GOSPEL.

51. Sojourn in Arabia.--When a man has been suddenly converted, as
Paul was, he is generally driven by a strong impulse to make known what
has happened to him. Such testimony is very impressive; for it is that
of a soul which is receiving its first glimpses of the realities of the
unseen world, and there is a vividness about the report it gives of
them which produces an irresistible sense of reality. Whether Paul
yielded at once to this impulse or not we cannot say with certainty.
The language of the book of Acts, where it is said that "straightway he
preached Christ in the synagogues," would lead us to suppose so. But
we learn from his own writings that there was another powerful impulse
influencing him at the same time; and it is uncertain which of the two
he obe