'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

New Zealand Tablet, 9 July 1914, Page 3

'STAND FAST IN THE FAITH'

(A Weekly Instruction specially written for the N.Z t Tablet by ‘Ghimkl’.) EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHURCH (V) ST. PAUL (Continued.) Ihe enthusiastic preaching of the Apostles immediately after Pentecost soon came into conflict with the same powerful authorities who had secured the death of Jesus. The blood of Stephen, the first martyr, is shed, and at that scene we notice one who was destined by God to be a great apostle. The young man from Tarsus must have been inspired with fanatical hatred against the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, whose denunciations of woe against the Pharisees were not forgotten, for we find him showing his complete agreement with the bloody act, which his co-religionists are perpetrating, by keeping the clothes of those who are stoning the brave deacon. But the martyr’s prayer is not offered in vain. Saul may cause the adherents of the Saviour in Jerusalem to be imprisoned and scourged, he may hasten northward to Damascus with authority from the Sanhedrin to smother the flames of the new worship which are already faintly burning there; but the same Jesus whom Stephen saw is reigning in heaven while His Body the Church is thus persecuted on earth.’ On the journey, as the travellers were approaching the city of Damascus itself, came the great experience that all of a sudden completely transformed Saul. Concerning this event, which passed unnoticed by pagan historians of the time, though in its effects it was of world-wide importance, we possess two sources of information; many hints in the apostle’s writings, and three sketches in the Acts of the Apostles, two from Paul himself and one from St. Luke. The accounts, when combined, tell this story; At mid-day, as the fierce persecutor draws near to Damascus, a bright light shines from heaven ; and while the rest of his company are dazzled and struck to the earth, terrified with a strange supernatural sound, Saul alone can distinguish the words addressed to him from heaven, “ Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” He answers, ‘‘Who art Thou, Lord.” And the same voice replies, ‘‘l am Jesus Whom thou persecutest.” Instantly, by the grace of God, he submits himself entirely and casts himself in subjection at his Saviour’s feet, crying, “ Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” But he must not only submit to Jesus Christ, he must also, proud, noble, and learned as he is, submit to the despised followers of Jesus of Nazareth; and so the voice answers, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” He obeys, though blind, and continues three days without food in constant, persevering prayer for forgiveness to Him Who he now knows alone can give it to him. His petition is received, and Ananias, a disciple of Jesus Christ at Dasmascus, is sent by special revelation to lay his hand upon him and to say, “ Brother Saul, receive thy sight.” Immediately there fell, as it were, scales from the eyes of Saul, and he looks up upon Ananias, his first brother in Christ. Ananias unfolds to him what God has destined him to become, and urges him at once to “arise and be baptised, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord. “Saul was baptised and henceforth went by the name of Paul.” ’ (Bp. Burton.) For the past hundred years critics outside the Catholic Church have tried hard to explain away the incidents of the Damascus journey by natural causes. Saul, it is said, already had a vision of Christ in his mind, and under a set of favorable circumstances on the way to Damascus took it for a real apparition of Christ. He himself evolved the picture of Christ from his own inner consciousness; or, as others say, God evolved it for him. You ask for evidence of this theory. The critics are ready: ‘Saul, you must know, had all along strong practical doubts about his religious state. He experienced pricks of conscience. He asked him-

self: Is Christ right after all ? Is He—this Nazarene, — the Messias? Perhaps, after all. He is; and therefore I am wrong. And in such a doubtful state Saul witnessed the martyrdom of St. Stephen. This made his doubts more practical, his conscience stings more poignant. ' It was in this frame of mind he set out for Damascus. The heat of the desert, etc., worked on his nervous constitution, with the result that he fell into a sort of ecstatic stupor, and then the vision took place.’ Of course this is all imagination on the part of the critics; they simply elaborate a theory and then read it into the Scriptures. The Saul depicted for us in the sober history of the Acts of the Apostles has no doubts at all about his religion ; lie is a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a convinced fanatic, if ever there was one. And yet as a result of what happened on the way to Damascus he becomes an ardent follower of that Person whose religion he had up to this moment detested. Ever after, he remained firm in the belief (we know he stated it explicitly more than once) that he had actually seen Christ risen, that the apparition was real; this, indeed, was the foundation of the apostle’s wonderful career. This is enough for us: we look upon the event as a real occurrence, not a dream.