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A Study of St. Paul, His Character and Opinions
A Study of St Paul His Character and Opinions Author:Sabine Baring-Gould 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: CHAPTER I THE TWELVE The Twelve limited in their education—The Pentecostal Gift gave zeal and spiritual force, but could not supply educational defects— A po... more »ssible scheme suggested—The important work effected by the Twelve—Paul's work supplemented theirs—The history of Rabbin- ism—Training of the memory among the Jews—Importance of this for the Twelve—And that they should remain in Jerusalem—Further account of Rabbinism—Illustration of Rabbinic interpretation—The great achievement of the Pharisees—To them was due the unique position of the Jewish nation—Defects in their system—Hatred of the Gentiles—The degradation of the High-priesthood—This tended to make the Synagogue the religious centre—May have helped on the progress of the Gospel—The material on which the Twelve had to work—The proselytes—Cause of the attraction of Mosaism—Few heathens became fully incorporated—Proselytes of the Gate—Spread of Jewish customs in the Old World—The Diaspora—Jews in Alexandria—In Rome—Relaxation of strictness of observance—The fitness of Paul for the office of Apostle to the Diaspora and their converts. The Apostles of Jesus Christ were drawn from the humblest class: some were fishermen, one a tax-gatherer, all without more education than such as was afforded in the Jewish schools, an education calculated to contract the brain and envelop the heart in a cobweb of prejudice that would impede its pulsation. They had never been brought into contact with the men outside the prickly hedge of the Law; they knew nothing of the practical common-sense of the Roman, the subtle and searching mind of the Greek. They had probablynever heard of the great river of philosophy that flowed through the classic world, i'lato, that searcher after God, was unknown to them even by name, and their early trai...« less