IN ANOTHER SCHOOL

"All the scholastic scaffolding falls as a ruined edifice, before one single word—faith."

Teachers Compared.

For several days immediately following his wonderful conversion and his restoration to sight, Saul "was with the disciples who were at Damascus." Saul had now entered another school, but how different from the one in which he sat at the feet of the learned Gamaliel! There he listened to instruction from the most learned men of his day; now he is listening to men who were thought unlearned. There he received training of the intellect; now he is receiving training of the soul. There he studied blindly; now he studies, truly seeing! His instructor is one of the faithful men whom he had despised and whom he came to arrest. "Not Peter, or James or John, no great and eminent apostle need be sent for, to instruct the learned and highly talented Saul; but Ananias, some poor, simple-hearted Christian of whom the Divine word has never before made mention, is fully sufficient, in God's hand, to teach this most richly endowed of all the early converts."

True Zeal.

As he listened, hour after hour, during those few memorable days, his soul became fired with a true zeal; and we can imagine hearing him say to his new teachers,

"Set on your foot. And with a heart new fir'd I follow you."

"And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God."

Jews Amazed.

We are not told whether any of the men who accompanied him to Damascus became converted. Perhaps one or two did; but, undoubtedly, some of them thought Saul had turned traitor. So also did the Jews in Damascus, who were amazed, and said to one another, "Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came here for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests?" But the more they opposed him, the more eloquently he defended the name of Jesus and proved to them that Jesus is the Christ.

The School of Solitude.

After a few days of fiery disputations in the synagogues, Saul concluded to leave Damascus and go into retirement; so, bidding his new friends goodby, he went into Arabia in the mountains near the Red Sea. Here he received instruction in the School of Solitude.

"O sacred solitude! divine retreat!
Choice of the prudent! envy of the great!
By thy Pure stream, or in thy waving shade,
We court fair wisdom."

Like Moses, Elijah, John the Baptist, and even the Savior Himself, Paul now sought to be alone with God, and to learn how to get his spirit in communion with the Holy Spirit.

How long he remained there, we do not know. All he says about this journey is: "I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus."

HIS FLIGHT FROM DAMASCUS

No sooner had he returned to the city of his conversion, than he began to preach again in the synagogues. Again the Jews began to dispute him, and again he confounded them. Day after day, and week after week the religious controversy continued until the Jews could stand it no longer, and "took council to kill him."

Every Gate Guarded.

Around the city of Damascus was a high wall, and no one could go in or out except through the gates. Therefore, when the Jews decided to kill Saul, the first thing they did was to make sure he could not escape. So they placed guards at every gate, and "watched day and night to kill him."

Friends.

But Saul had his friends as well as enemies, and he had one Friend who had chosen him for a great and useful mission, and as long as Saul was faithful, his life would be spared until this special work was done. Through inspiration or otherwise, Saul knew that his enemies were lying in wait for him, so he kept out of their way.

Over the Wall.

Fortunately, one of his friends lived in a house built right near the wall of the city; and from here, some of the disciples assisted Saul to escape. They put him in a basket, and then watching carefully to see that no enemies were in sight, they carried Saul to the top of the wall, and let him down on the other side. Thus it happened that while the wicked guards were watching day and night to entrap Saul, that disciple of the Master was making his journey back to Jerusalem.

WITH THE DISCIPLES IN JERUSALEM

Returns to Jerusalem.

Three years before, he left Jerusalem as an officer of the Sanhedrin, bearing a special commission, and accompanied by attendants and officers. He left with enmity in his heart for every person who professed to believe in Jesus Christ. Now he journeys back alone, rejected by those whom he had served, a fugitive from the Jews who, a few years before, awaited to welcome him as a hero! But Saul is happier now alone as he is than when he went in pomp to arrest God's servants. And yet he can look forward to no welcome in Jerusalem! His old friends and teachers think he has turned traitor to their cause, and the Apostles of Jesus doubt his conversion. "They were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple."

Barnabas.

But there was one, an old friend and true, a classmate, and fellow townsman who extended to Saul the glad hand of fellowship. That was Barnabas, who "took him, and brought him to the apostles," declaring how Saul had been converted by a light, and the voice of the Lord, and how he had preached in Damascus in the name of Jesus.

With this testimony, the Apostles accepted Saul, and gave him their companionship. Soon Saul was preaching in Jerusalem as boldly as he had in Damascus. In his disputes with the Grecians, he evidently confounded them as he had those in Damascus, and with the same effect—"They went about to slay him."

Back to Tarsus.

When the brethren learned this, "they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus" back to his old home, to his parents and to his sister. But what a changed man from what he was when he left to practice in Jerusalem. In name he was still "Saul of Tarsus;" but in nature he was Paul the disciple of Jesus Christ.

MAP, ST. PAUL'S FIRST JOURNEY

CALLED TO ASSIST BARNABAS

During the persecution in which Stephen was martyred, the Saints scattered to different places, and where ever they went, they preached the Glad Tidings of Great Joy. "And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord."

Christians.

A large number of these converts gathered in Antioch and it was there as you already know that the Saints were first called Christians. It was first applied to them in derision just as the word "Mormon" was first applied to the Church in this day, but later was accepted as an honorable title.

Barnabas Seeks Saul.

Barnabas, who "was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith" was appointed to look after the Saints in that great city. Finding a great missionary opportunity in that field, and desiring able assistance in carrying on the great work assigned him, Barnabas decided to go to Tarsus, his old home, and try to find Paul. What a happy time these old playmates must have had when they met once again in the familiar scenes of their boyhood days! We are not told what they did, nor what they said, nor what their old friends and relatives thought of their new religion. We do know, however, that Paul accepted the call to go with Barnabas to Antioch. There "they assembled themselves in the Church, and taught much people." This seems to have been Paul's first definite assignment in the Church.