e damsel; that is, by
the influence of suggestion probably, he freed the girl from the
thraldom of the abnormal condition of mind which had hitherto made her
doubly a slave.

While we are engaged with the subject of Paul's female converts and
acquaintances, it ought not to seem out of place if we give a little
notice to that remarkable piece of literature which was popular in the
early Church, and is known as the _Acts of Paul and Thecla_. It is
certain that the main facts set forth in this legend were credited by
such prominent ancient writers and theologians as Cyprian, Eusebius,
Augustin, Gregory Nazianzin, Chrysostom, and Severus Sulpitius.
Chrysostom especially gives a very clear indication of his belief in the
story of Paul and Thecla. Basil of Seleucia wrote the history of Thecla
in verse. Baronius, Archbishop Wake, and also the learned Grabe consider
the facts as being authentic history. On the other hand, Tertullian says
that it was forged by a presbyter of Asia, who confessed that he
invented the account out of respect for Paul. And again, it is held that
The _Acts of Paul and Thecla_, as we have it, is not the original book
of the early Christians.

At any rate, even though it be nothing more than an imaginative
creation, inasmuch as an account of Thecla and her companionship with
Paul was extant early as the second century, as is proved by its being
mentioned by Tertullian, it is surely worthy of attention for it shows,
at a time so contiguous, how the age of the Apostles was pictured.

The scene is laid in the beginning at Iconium, whither Paul had fled
from Antioch in Pisidia, as is related in the thirteenth chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles. There he is received by Onesiphorus and Lectra his
wife. In their house the Apostle preaches. At a window in a nearby house
sits the young maiden Thecla. She hears Paul's words, and is so
captivated by his discourse that nothing can tear her away. As her
mother says, she is there continuously, "like a spider's web fastened to
the window." At this rather long range the Gospel teaching takes effect
in her heart, and she becomes a convert to Christianity. Her mother and
Thamyris, her lover, endeavor by various means to divert her mind from
these things; but it is all in vain. Thamyris, chagrined because the
maiden no longer loves him, procures the arrest and imprisonment of
Paul. Thecla, by bribing the jailers with her ear-rings and silver
looking-glass, procures ad