LIBRARY
OF TIIK
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
GIFT OF"
Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH.
Book
Clay i
'ranci
Received October, 1894.
Accessions No . 5*7 */- 66 Cla&s No .
=
PAUL
THE PREACHER.
" MU zeal must needs put him open a mighty diligence and industry in the execution of his office
warning, reproving, entreating, persuading, "preaching in season and out of season." by night and by
ilny, by sea and land; no pains too much to be taken, no dangers too great to be overcome. For five and
thirty years after his conversion, he seldom stayed long in one place ; from Jerusalem, through Arabia ,
AsU, Greece, round about to Illyricuni, to Rome, and even to the utmost bounds of the Western world,
fully preaching the gospel of Christ:" running (saith St Jerome) from ocean to ocean, like the sun in
the heavens, of which it is said, " his going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the
<nnli of it :" sooner wanting ground to tread on, than n desire to propagate the fuilh of Christ. Xiccphorus
compares him to a bird in the air, that in a few years flew round the world j Isidore the Pelusiot, to a
winded hu>bandman, that flew from place to place to cultivate the world with the most excellent rules
and institutions of lite. And while the other apoetles did, as it were, choose this or that particular pro-
vince as tin- iii-iin sphere of their ministry, St Paul overran the whole world to its utmost bounds and
corners, planting all places where he came with the divine doctrines of the gospel. Nor in this course
w he tired out with the dangers and difficulties that he met with, the troubles and oppositions that were
raised against him." CAVE.
PAUL THE PREACHER;
popular and |lradiral drxposili
DISCOUKSES AND SPEECHES,
AS RECORDED
THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
BY JOHN EADIE, D.D., LL.D.,
PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE TO THK UNITED PKESBYTF.RIAX CHURCH.
words of St Paul arc not dead words ; they arc living creatures, and have hands and feet "
Lt'THFF.
NEW YOKE:
EGBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 530 BROADWAY.
1859.
GLASGOW:
PU1STEO BY WILLIAM M \CKC.NZItt.
PREFACE.
THE following pages are simply what they profess to be
in the title neither a life of Paul, nor a commentary on
the "Acts," but an honest and hearty attempt to explain
and apply in a popular and practical shape to the common
reader, the spoken words of the apostle. So that there is
no array of minute criticism or technical exegesis, no for-
mal quotation of authorities, or classified enumeration of
conflicting views. My uniform effort has been to bring
out briefly and clearly the apostle's meaning, without much
regard to the form which the exposition may assume ; to
give the result without detailing the process ; to be in
short as the dial of the watch, which shows the hour while
it conceals the mechanism. The various chapters are not
sermons bearing on the subject, nor disquisitions on allied
or collateral topics, though my aim has been throughout
to press the truth on the attention and conscience ; for
what brought salvation then is fraught with the same
blessing still the gospel of the first century being in no
sense different from that of the nineteenth. Though I
have endeavoured to realize the more striking scenes in the
apostle's travels, and reproduce my impressions of them,
still the labour has been almost wholly expended on the
PREFACE. VI
addresses themselves,, and this volume^ therefore, differs in
contents and purpose as well from the excellent volumes
of Lewin, Coneybeare and Howson, as from those of
others of secondary note who have made a prey of these
distinguished authors. Nor need I give a list of commen-
tators which may have been consulted. The longer dis-
courses will be found in new translations,, not indeed
claiming classical precision, but giving what is thought
to be a broad, correct, and easy version of the original.
When any words of the authorized version are printed in
Italics, followed by a dash, some direct explanation of the
term or phrase is subjoined.
It is humbly hoped, in fine, that the volume may be
useful in giving ordinary readers a juster and fuller con-
ception of the creed and preaching, the life and work, of
the great apostle of the Gentiles, who, amidst all diversities
of place, time, audience, and immediate theme, made it
his constant business to preach Christ crucified. May we
know Him to be "the power of God" and the "wisdom
of God," and experience that change of heart which is
only effected by such a manifestation of His truth and
glory as He vouchsafed to Saul of Tarsus.
JOHN EADIE.
13 LAX3DOWNE CRESCENT.
May, 1869.
CONTENTS.
Pago
I. SAUL AT DAMASCUS, ... ... ... ... ... ... 1
II. SAUL AT JERUSALEM, 23
III. SAUL AT ANTIOCH IN SVKIA, ... ... 35
IV. SAUL IN CYPRUS, ... ... 50
V. PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA, ... ... 6.">
VI. PAUL AT ICONIUM ... 113
VII. PAUL AT LYSTKA, 120
Vfll. PAUL AT PHILIPPI, 139
IX. PAUL AT THESSAIX>NICA, ... ... 159
X. PAUL AT ATHENS, ... ... ... ... ... ... 177
PART L, 187
PART II., 203
PART III., 222
XI. PAUL AT CORINTH, 243
XII. PAUL AT EPHESUS 270
XIII. PAUL AT TROAS, 295
XIV. PAUL AT MILETUS, 309
PART I. INTRODUCTORY APPEAL TO THE PAST His
FIDELITY, ... 312
PART II. ANTICIPATIONS OF THE FUTURE His COURAGE, Slfi
PART III. His CHARGE, 325
PAKT IV. THE FAREWELL, 340
PART V. CONCLUDING APPEAL TO THE PAST His
DISINTERESTEDNESS, 31 i
Vlll CONTENTS.
XV. PAUL AT JERUSALEM rmge
I. SPEECH FROM THE STAIRS OF THE GARRISON. ... 352
II. BEFORE THE SANHEDRIM. ... ... ... ... 36o
XVI. PAUL AT CESAREA
I. BEFORE FELIX, 379
II. BEFORE FELIX AND DRUSILLA. ... ... ... 393
III. BKFOIIK FESTUS, 404
IV. BEFORE FESTUS AND AGRIPPA. ... ... ... 408
XVII. PAUL ON THK VOYAGE TO ROMK, -... ... ... ... 423
XVIII. PAUL IN ROME, ... 430
PAUL THE PKEACHEE.
ISAUL AT DAMASCUS.
HIS FIRST APPEARANCE AS A PREACHER.
ACTS ix. 19-25 ; GAL. i. 17 ; 2 COK. xi. 32, 33.
A PROFOUND and permanent change had suddenly passed
over Saul in the immediate vicinity of Damascus. The
Saviour had shown Himself in glory, and spoken a few
words of gracious power to him. The brightness of the
vision had dazzled him into blindness, and with a smitten
heart and faltering step he was led by his companions
through the gate into the city. He had hoped to make
the old Syrian capital the field of new triumphs, as he beat
down the rising faith, and punished with merciless rigour
the adherents of Jesus of Nazareth. But " it is not in man
that walketh to direct his steps." The sunny landscapes
through which he was passing suddenly lost their charm
for the sightless traveller, and his mind's eye was turned
inward on his own heart and history ; the noise of so many
rills "streams from Lebanon" dancing and singing
through the gardens that surround Damascus, must have
fallen faintly upon his ear, for there still rung in it a
louder voice " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me ;"
A
2 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
and that was the knell of his previous life. As he moved
along with all that awkwardness which one so suddenly
bereft of vision must have exhibited, even though "the
men which journeyed with him " guided his steps, his
rapt spirit could be but little disturbed by the hum of
the streets and the clamour of the bazaars. The scene
of his fancied victories had in a moment become the scene
of deepest anguish and self-prostration. Christ had way-
laid him, and a brief challenge from His lips had at
once arrested the present enterprise. For, it is only when
Christ speaks that conversion really takes place; it is
only when the soul apprehends His glory that it bows
to His will, and feels the checks and impulses of His grace.
Ananias was induced to overcome his natural scruples and
visit Saul at his lodgings, in the street called " Straight ;"
and the first Christian face which Saul looked upon with
complacency, was that of the " disciple " at whose bidding
his blindness departed, and by baptism at whose hands he
was formally admitted into the church. He had seen the
serenity of Stephen's countenance when it beamed like
that of an angel, but his rage had been whetted by his
victim's composure. Now his eyes suddenly opened on a
visitor, who had styled him " Brother Saul," and it must
have been a troubled and mysterious gaze which he cast
upon him as he heard him repeat the words " Jesus who
appeared unto thee by the way."
Saul had not been " forsaken," though he had been "cast
down ;" the three days of his soul's agony were to issue
in peace. His spiritual life, like that of plant and flower,
had germinated in darkness, and had been watered by
FIRST THROB OF LIFE. 3
tears and prayers ; but it was soon to welcome the light,
and be trained to a healthful activity and expansion.
" Light is sweet," and ere the scales had fallen from his
eyes, his inner vision had been blessed with a glimpse of
the truth "the light of the glorious gospel of Christ"
had shined in his heart. He had undergone in an instant
the mightiest of all changes the soul of man can pass
through, and which, in general experience, is often as
sudden as with him whom Christ had thus surprised.
There may be meditations and resolves and deep search-
ings of spirit a succession of those terrible pangs which
make the heart stand still, or of those perilous balancings
of probable destiny, when the soul sends itself forward
to the judgment, and strives to realize it 5 there may be
these anxious flutterings about the boundary, but still on
this side of it till in a moment the line is crossed, and
" old things are passed away j behold, all things are become
new." As there is a first throb of the heart in the
implantation of physical life, so is there a first pulsation of
the soul through the energy of spiritual existence. This
phenomenon is no mental novelty. There is an instant
in which one is frequently conscious of renouncing one
opinion and entertaining another, preceded, it may be, by
scepticism, struggle, and oscillation, the results of con-
flicting proofs. Conviction may work its way slowly, and
up to a certain point, though in the end the conclusion is
suddenly gained; the words may linger long on the
tongue, till, by an impulse quick as thought, they are at
length pronounced. Amidst the mysteries of the will, this
palpable fact is often disclosed that while one may take
4 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
long to make up his mind ; his mind is finally made up
by one effort and in that second of time when preference
loses its passive character, and inducement ceasing to be a
potential becomes an efficient motive. The instant in
which Saul heard Jesus name him was that of a total and
immediate revolution, for the truth rushed at once upon
him that Jesus was true and divine, dwelling in glory,
and possessed of sovereign power. The miracle lay not in
the change itself, but in the way in which it was effected ;
the ordinary agencies of argument and remonstrance being
superseded by the vision, which, from its very nature,
created instantaneous impression and belief.
Still unrelieved of all his astonishment, and, perhaps,
scarcely able at times to believe or realize the change
which had come over him, Saul " was certain days with
the disciples which were at Damascus." What mingled
sensations must have been felt on both sides a wolf
among the flock ; he, scarcely able to identify himself in
the midst of the new associates whom he had travelled all
the way from Jerusalem to devour ; and they with diffi-
culty regarding him as a brother, at whose threatened
approach they had been so terrified. What Charles IX.
would have been to a trembling company of Huguenots
after the blood and panic of St. Bartholomew, had he
avowed himself a protestant, and, lowering his sceptre,
besought their forgiveness and fellowship ; what Laud
would have been to a secret assembly of Puritans, had he
owned himself a convert, and flinging his mitre to the
ground, asked with tears to be admitted to their commu-
nion ; what Claverhouse would have been to a nocturnal
SUEPKISE AT DAMASCUS AND JERUSALEM. 5
meeting of Covenanters, had he suddenly burst in among
them, protesting that now he was one of them, and claim-
ing, as he tossed his sword from him, their commiseration
and prayers that must Paul have been to the disciples at
Antioch. The whole scene was so strange, that they must
have been somewhat bewildered, while " they rejoiced for
the deliverance." Where were now the letters and the
commission from the inquisitors in Jerusalem ? Where
now the terror produced by the well-known project "to
bind all that call on Thy name ? " The thunder-cloud had
dissolved as it approached.
On the other hand, there must have been in Jerusalem no
little anxiety for intelligence of Saul's doings at Damascus,
with high anticipations of his success. It must have been
felt by his employers, that whatever ardour and an un-
flinching sense of duty could do, would be done by him.
The business was felt to be safe in the experienced hands
of him of Tarsus. But no tidings came no roll of
persons arraigned, imprisoned, or tortured. What then ?
Probably flying rumours preceded strange whispers/the
origin of which could not be traced ; and yet each member
of the Sanhedrim might, in his perplexity, be asking his
neighbour if he had heard them. Something unusual
must have occurred something that could not well be
explained. At last there burst upon them the news that
Saul had turned renegade ; that their trusted and favourite
agent had betrayed them ; nay, that he had actually gone
over to the enemy, and was openly preaching the hated
faith. The council would scarcely credit such a rumour,
but it was soon and amply confirmed. No doubt they
6 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
were stunned ; and some might mutter in their rage and
wonder "The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are
dissolved, we bear up the pillars of it." Who could have
dreamed that one so deeply committed as Saul; one so
high in confidence, and who had lived but to suppress the
infant religion ; one who had volunteered to go on such an
errand, so fully equipped with credentials, ay, and so
sharply goaded on by his own zeal and fury who could
ever have dreamed that he, of all men, should waver, far
less apostatize ? The riddle could not be solved, though
many explanatory hypotheses would soon be in circulation^
and every solution but the true one received. The frantic
commotion at Jerusalem is the counterpart of the joyous
amazement at Damascus. Judaism had lost, Christianity
had won ; the loss was deplored or cursed, but the gain to
that age and all ages after it could not be calculated.
For it was not simply the sudden stoppage of a bloody
and malignant career, nor the mere peace of the saints in
Damascus. There lay in that change not only the germ of
a mighty power and many a successful sermon, but there
also sprang from it toil and travel beyond the narrow limits
of Judea, the conception of a gospel offered to men without
distinction of blood or nation, and the composition of those
letters of solace and warning, instruction and precept, which
form so large a portion of the New Testament. Saul became
the living repository of Christ's chosen purpose, as a " light
to lighten the Gentiles," and he wrought out that ideal of
a church which the Lord had sketched to him, and which,
rising above what was local and temporary, gladdened
Antioch and penetrated Eome, despaired not of Athens
HIS COURAGE. 7
and shrank not from Corinth ; which, in short, has hallowed
Europo ; and shall stretch itself over the world.
" Lord ! thou wilt surely greet
Souls for Thy service meet ;
No bars of brass can keep Thine own from Thee.
O ! vainly Earth and Hell
Guard their grand captives well
Against the glimpses of Thy radiancy.
Thou streamest on their startled eyes,
And makest them Thine own by some Divine surprise.
" Forth from the leaguer fell
Wherein Thy foemen dwell,
The glorious captains of Thy host Thou takest ;
The mighty souls that came
To quench the sacred flame,
The bearers of the Heavenly Fire Thou makest;
And hands that vexed Thy people most
Do wave the greenest palms of all the Martyr Host.
" The light not vainly glowed
On that Damascus road :
O not for nought that Voice Divine was heard,
The foeman was overthrown,
The champion made Thine own
When right against Thee in hot haste he spurred :
Then streamed forth the world to win
The mighty burning flame of Love which hate had been."
But Saul's mental temperament was neither blighted
nor changed. A brief and single declaration of the his-
torian reveals his nature, and portrays the first appearance
of PAUL THE PREACHER " Straightway he preached
Christ in the synagogues that he is the Son of God."
So soon as his own opinions were formed, he began to
urge them. He could as yet have no full or adjusted
knowledge of the gospel; for he neither received it nor
8 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
was taught it "of man, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ" in a series of disclosures, made to him in all
probability during his subsequent long stay in the deserts
of Arabia, where alone and without disturbance he was
brought face to face with the Lord, and had laid bare
to his inspection the truth and relations, the connections
and evidences of that great scheme, in the "defence and
confirmation" of which he spent his life and met his
death. But in the meantime he acted up to his light
what views he had he dared to express. He longed to
disentangle others from the errors which had so long en-
slaved himself, for his was one of those practical natures in
which conviction is identical with action. " Straightway
he preached :" no wasting of strength by oscillation of pur-
pose no pang of shame that he must teach the religion
which he had laboured, with stripes, and chains, and blood,
to exterminate no compromise with his feelings, as if he
should only hint his doubts, and try to bring the question
to a quiet discussion. He would not wear any disguise
" Straightway he preached." He had come to the truth,
and he instantly was in an agony to inform others ; for he
knew their wants and also their prejudices. The Master's
commission pressed upon him, and he must at once make
amends for the havoc which he had wrought in the
churches. Therefore he entered on the work, heedless
of what might be thought of him, of what opprobrious
epithets might be heaped upon him, or what ferocious
enmity might be excited against him. Name and fame,
with all objects of youthful aspiration, he threw aside,
nor once cast a longing glance at them. " What things
A MORAL MIRACLE. 9
were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.' 7 And
he preached with constitutional intrepidity. He did
not quietly ask a few of the more pious and peaceful
Jews to his apartments "in the house of Judas" to talk
over, without danger, the topics of dispute. He did not
suggest such a timorous course, as if alarmed at his
change, or doubtful of his tenacity. No. " Straightway he
preached in the synagogues." Fearlessly he entered into
their religious assemblies, and preached in the places where
he had expected to scourge and torture the Christians,
making them, as he had uniformly done in Judea, scenes
of violence and outrage, of tears and blasphemy. It was a
novel spectacle, and his audience could scarcely believe in
its reality. It was passing strange, even to disciples. He
whose rumoured coming had so terrified them, was now
their ablest and boldest advocate. Such a moral miracle can
the grace of Christ achieve. The assemblies of the Jews
must have been convulsed with agitation wonder on one
countenance, incredulity on another the eye of one suf-
fused with tears, and the teeth of another gnashing in
frenzy ; while some tortuous spirits might cherish a forlorn
hope that possibly the whole was a deep intrigue a piece of
daring hypocrisy to detect the Christians, and sweep them
off in one resistless shock. And yet that earnestness
could scarcely be assumed those calm and commanding
tones came from the heart : life and spirit were in those
weighty and well-chosen words.
And the speaker did not fence about the subject, suggest
some compromise, or deal in vapid generalities; but he
openly and distinctly preached "Jesus, that He is the Son
10 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
of God. " This was the pith and marrow of the controversy ;
not simply that Messiah was divine, or that the great Deliv-
erer should be superhuman, but that Jesus the babe of
Bethlehem "despised and rejected" of the nation, seized
and " hanged upon a tree " was the Son of God. Son of
God was, in fact, a name of the Messiah. Nathaniel uses it
" Kabbi, thou art the Son of God." Peter employed it
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God."
" Art thou the Son of the Blessed?" asked Caiphas, " and
Jesus said, I am." " Whosoever," adds the beloved dis-
ciple, " shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God." The Angel of the
Covenant, so often referred to in Hebrew narrative and
oracle, and who is identifiable with the promised Saviour,
was divine no created Angel, but the Son of God often
appearing in man's form, as if delighting to anticipate his
future assumption of humanity. " I am Jesus," said the
voice which arrested Saul, " the voice from the excellent
glory ;" and, therefore, he argued that this Jesus who had
spoken to his inmost soul, and filled it with a new life and
power, was the Son of God. His first sermon only told in
other words that " God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life." The Son of Mary was
the Son of God, the divine and divinely-promised Saviour.
Now the proofs that Messiah should be the Son of God
must have been taken principally from the Old Testament.
The references in "the Law and the Prophets" must have
been the leading steps of the demonstration. Nor are
they few nor unimpressive. The names of Messiah are
NAMES OF MESSIAH. 11
significant and full of mystery, and He who wears them
must be divine. Thus, in Genesis, He is the woman's
' Seed,' and He alone of all men was born of a virgin the
1 Seed ' of Abraham, too, in whom all the nations of the
earth were to be blessed and ' the Shiloh' springing out
of Judah, to whom l the gathering of the people shall be : 7
in Exodus, the occupant of the burning bush Jehovah's
' Angel ' and yet Jehovah himself i I AM THAT I AM,' the
name of uncaused and unchanging Essence : in Leviticus,
the God of that tabernacle, the splendour of whose golden
furniture was dimmed by the resident glory of its divine
Architect : in Numbers, the King and Lawgiver, with the
cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, the symbols
of His awful and protecting presence: in Deuteronomy,
the ' Prophet like unto Moses,' raised up from among his
brethren, Jehovah speaking to him face to face for so it
was with the son of Amram : in Joshua, the l Captain of the
Lord's Host' with the drawn sword, before whom Jericho
fell without the stroke of a battering ram, or the digging of
a trench : in Judges, the i Angel who did wondrously,' and
went up in the smoke and flame of Manoah's accepted sac-
rifice : in the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, the
Head and Guardian of the Theocracy, for under it to fear
God and to honour the king were one and the same thing :
in Job, the l Daysman who can lay His hand upon both,' and
the ' Kedeemer who shall stand at the latter day upon the
earth : ' in Psalms, ' David's Son and David's Lord, 7 the
Priest-king 'for ever, after the order of Melchisedec,' whose
body was prepared for him by God, and which, though it
went down to the grave, did not "see corruption:" in
12 SAUL AT DAMASCUS.
Proverbs, the incarnate 'Wisdom, by Him, brought up
with Him, rejoicing always before Him:' in the Song of
Songs, the august Bridegroom, whose royal splendour is
equalled by his conjugal affection : in Isaiah, the i Servant
of Jehovah,' despised and scorned, ' wounded for our trans-
gressions, and bruised for our iniquities;' slain, but yet
crowned and compensated for His sufferings, having
divided to Him 'a portion with the great,' Himself ' divid-
ing the spoil with the strong : ' in Jeremiah, the ' Lord our
Kighteousness : ' in Ezekiel, i the likeness of a Man ' on
the sapphire- throne, served by the cherubim, and guiding
the mystic mechanism of ' the wheel within the wheel : ' in