The apostolic age - 1904 Author:James Vernon Bartlet Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Saul the Persecutor. 37 some twenty-five years later (xxi. 8). Among traces of his labors we may reckon " the saints " at Lydda and " the disciples " at Joppa... more » visited by Peter on a tour of inspection (ix. 32 IV.). Meantime Luke's narrative doubles back to record the most momentous event in the history of Apostolic Christianity, the conversion of Saul the Pharisee, whom it left in the full fervor of his persecuting zeal at Jerusalem (viii. 3). To use his own words in Galatians, (i. 2±), Saul was bent on " making havoc " of the new faith, being persuaded that it was his duty to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Accordingly he shut up many of the Saints in prisons, having received such authority as belonged to the high-priestly rulers ; he tried to compel many to blaspheme the name of Jesus by pains and penalties inflicted in many a synagogue; and even voted for the extreme penalty of death where this was feasible. But not content with smiting the heretics, both men and women, in their headquarters, his fury impelled him to pursue them even beyond Judaea, to foreign cities. Among these Damascus would naturally be chief. And so to Damascus Saul hied, with full commission from the high priests in letters to their " brethren "at the head of the sj'iiagogues in Damascus, in order to bring such of' the heretical " way" as he might find to Jerusalem for punishment (xxvi. 9-12; xxii. 5, 19; ix. 2). Possibly it was fugitives from Jerusalem that Saul had mainly in view. But in any case it does not seem that there was as yet any organized Christian life in Damascus (ix. 2; xxii. 12). Into the personal details of Saul's conversion we shall have to enter subsequently in connection with his special religious history. Here we have only to notice its sequel, so far a...« less