The fears of Ananias being thus quieted, he immediately obeyed the heavenly vision, repaired to the house of Judas, and laid hands upon Saul, saying, "That JESUS who appeared to thee in the way, hath sent me to restore thy sight, and by the infusion of his spirit, to give thee the knowledge of those truths which thou hast blindly and ignorantly persecuted; but who now is willing to receive thee by baptism into his church, and make thee a member of his body."

This speech was no sooner pronounced, than there fell from his eyes, thick films resembling scales, and he received his sight, and after baptism conversed freely with the Christians of Damascus. Nor did he only converse with them; he also to the great astonishment of the whole church, preached the gospel to those Christians he came down with an intention to destroy, boldly asserting, that Jesus was the Christ the Son of God; and proving it to the Jews with such demonstrative evidence, that they were confounded, and found it impossible to answer him, or disapprove his arguments.

St. Paul did not stay long at Damascus after his conversion; nor did he return to Jerusalem, but being commanded to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, he retired into Arabia Petræ, where he received a full revelation of all the mysteries of Christianity; for he himself declares, that he conversed not with flesh and blood. And having preached in several parts of that country some time, he returned again to Damascus, applying himself with the utmost assiduity to the great work of the ministry, frequenting the synagogues there, powerfully confuting the objections commonly made by the descendants of Jacob against JESUS of Nazareth, and converting great numbers of Jews and Gentiles to the faith.

This apostle was indeed remarkably zealous in his preaching, and blessed with a very extraordinary me thod of reasoning, whereby he proved the fundamental

points of Christianity beyond exception. This irritated the Jews to the highest degree: and. at length, after two or three years continuance in those parts, they found means to prevail on the governor of Damascus to have him put to death: but they knew it would be difficult to take him, as he had so many friends in the city; they therefore kept themselves a continual watch, searched all the houses where they supposed he might conceal himself, and also obtained a guard from the governor to observe the gates, in order to prevent his escaping from the place.

His Christian friends were far from deserting him in this distress; they tried every method that offered to procure his escape: but finding it impossible for him to pass through either of the gates of the city, they let him down from one of their houses through a window in a basket, over the wall, by which means the cruel designs of his enemies were rendered ineffectual. St. Paul having thus eacaped from his malicious persecutors, repaired to Jerusalem, and, on his arrival, addressed himself to the church: but they knowing well the former temper and principles of this great persecutor, shunned his company, till Barnabas brought him to Peter, who was not yet cast into prison, and to James our Lord's brother, bishop of Jerusalem, informing them of his miraculous conversion, and that he had preached the gospel with the greatest boldness in the synagogue of Damascus; upon which they gladly received him, and entertained him fifteen days with the greatest hospitality and affection.

He was remarkably assidious during this interval, in preaching the gospel of the Son of God, and confuting the Hellenistic Jews, with the greatest courage and resolution. But snares were soon laid for him, as malice can as easily cease to be, as to remain inactive; and being warned by God in a vision, that his testimony would not be received at Jerusalem, and therefore it was necessary for him to depart and preach the gos

pel to the Gentiles. Accordingly, being conducted by the brethren to Cæsarea Philippi, he set sail for Tarsus, his native city; from whence he was soon after brought by Barnabas to Antioch, to assist him in propagating Christianity in that city. In this employment he spent one whole year, and had the pleasure of seeing the gospel flourish in a very remarkable manner in those parts.

Here the disciples first acquired the name of Christians, for before they were styled Nazareens; but this appellation soon prevailed all over the world, and the former was in a few ages, almost entirely laid aside.

A terrible famine, foretold by Hygabus, happened about this time, in several parts of the Roman empire, particularly in Judea; which induced the Christians at Antioch to compassionate the miseries of their brethren at Jerusalem; and, accordingly raised considerable contributions for their relief, which they sent to the capital of Judea by the hands of Barnabas and Saul, who immediately after executing their commission, returned to Antioch. But while they were performing the public exercices of religion, it was revealed to them by the Holy Ghost, that they should set apart Barnabas and Saul, to preach the gospel in other places, which was accordingly done, and they were immediately deputed for that service by prayer, fasting, and the imposition of hands.

They first of all visited Selucia, where they did not continue long, but sailed for Cyprus; and at Salamis, a great city in that island, they preached in the synagogue of the Jews. From hence they removed to Paphos, the residence of Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of the island, a man of great wisdom and prudence, but miserably seduced by the wicked artifices of BarJesus, a Jewish impostor, who syled himself Elymas, or the magician, vchemently opposed the apostles, and

kept the proconsul from embracing the faith, as preached by them.

However, the proconsul called for the apostles, who, after severely checking Elymas for his malicious opposition to the truth, told him the divine vengeance was now ready to seize upon him; and immediately he was deprived of his sight. The vengeance of the Almighty, in depriving him of the use of his bodily eyes, bere a remarkable analogy to the blindness of those of his mind, which were so wilfully and maliciously shut against the light of the gospel, and also endeavoured to keep others in darkness and ignorance. This miracle convinced the proconsul of the truth of the doctrines taught by the apostles and made him a convert to Christianity.

After this remarkable success in Cyprus, St. Paul repaired to Phrygia and Pamphilia, and taking Titus with him in the room of Mark, who was gone to Jerusalem, travelled to Antioch, the metropolis of Pisidia. Soon after their arrival, they entered the synagogue of the Jews on the Sabbath-day, and after the reading of the law, Paul being invited by the rulers of the Synagogue, delivered himself in the following manner: "Hearken, all ye descendants of Jacob, and ye that fear the Almighty, to the words of my mouth. The God of Israel made choice of our fathers, and loved them, when they had no city of their own to dwell in, but were strangers and slaves in Egypt, bringing them from thence with a mighty hand and a stretched out arm; fed them in the wilderness forty years, and would not suffer his anger to rise against them, though they often provoked him in the desert. On their arrival in the land he promised their fathers, he destroyed the nations that inhabited it, and placed them in that fruitful country, dividing it to them by lot, for their inheri

tance.

"As soon as they were settled in the land, he gave

them judges during four hundred and fifty years, till Samuel the prophet: but on their desiring a king, he placed over them Saul, the Son of Kish, a Benjamite, who reigned about forty years; and after his death he placed David on the throne of Israel, giving him this testimony, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. And according to his promise, the Almighty hath raised up to the sons of David a Saviour, JESUS which is CHRIST the Lord. The baptism of repentance having been preached before his coming by John: and as the forerunner executed his office, he asked his followers, Whom think ye that I am? You must not mistake me for the Messiah; he will soon follow me, but I am not worthy to perform the meanest office for him.

Therefore, ye descendants of Abraham, and all others who fear the Almighty, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and rulers of Israel, being ignorant of him, and the voices of the prophets though read every Sabbath in their synagogues, fulfilled their predictions by condemning the immaculate Son of the Most High. They found indeed no fault in him, though they earnestly desired Pilate that he might be crucified.

"Every thing that had been written by the prophets concerning him, being now fulfilled, they took him from the tree, and deposited his body in the chambers of the grave: but death had no power to detain him: his Almighty Father raised him from the habitations of the dead. After which, he was seen during many days by his disciples who attended him from Galilee, and who are the witnesses, chosen by Omnipotence, of these great and miraculous works. And we now declare unto you glad-tidings, namely, That the promise made by the Almighty to our forefathers, he hath performed to us, their children, by raising JESUS from the dead. The prophet David also said, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. He also foretold, that he should return