The first one with the development of the kingdom of God. 70. There is a likeness between this and the lower wedgedshaped graft, representing the exile. When Assyria was destroyed, it was cut down like a fir tree, from the stump of which no new shoot arises. When Judah was destroyed it was like an oak tree, of which only the stump was left, but from the oak, as from the chestnut trees in the lawn by my study windows, there come new shoots which may grow larger than the original trees. This new shoot was Israel after the exile, which was again cut down, but from it grew the Kingdom of Christ far larger, more powerful, more glorious than the original kingdom from which it was an offshoot, by a new graft through Jesus Christ. RETURN. THE CONTINUED LIFE OF JESUS. THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. So, too, the nation of the Jews will be restored in Jesus Christ. By this diagram we can study the progress of the church during its first five or six years. It is a marvelous development, in the apostles themselves, in the Jewish Christians, in numbers, and in character. Have the scholars LEARN BY HEART the steps in the development of the gospel of the kingdom. DRILL them on the facts recorded in these chapters, in their relation to the progress of the gospel. EASTER LESSONS. Every event in the story of this quarter shows that Jesus has risen from the dead, that he is alive now, and what he is doing. What Jesus is doing to-day shows that he is alive now in heaven and working for us on earth. These lessons show the kind of things we should do if we are raised with Jesus into newness of life, the resurrection life. This story is a most beautiful Easter lesson. REVIEW BY WORD PICTURES. This is especially good for the younger classes. Or in the older ones different scholars may give the word pictures. There can be an actual frame, or one drawn on a blackboard. 1. A hill-top, near a village, overlooking a city. Twelve men are gathered together. One spreads out his hand and suddenly rises up into the sky and soars out of sight. The eleven gazing. Two angels appear and speak to them. A HILL-TOP NEAR A VIL- 2. I am in an enclosure, surrounded by beautiful buildings. Crowds of people are thronging the place. I see two men going through a beautiful gateway. Now they stop. Some one is asking them a question. They answer it. The man gets up, leaps, and runs, and shouts. Who were the three men, and what was done? 3. I see a dark, bare, but small underground room. I notice two men in it. It is night. A strange being suddenly appears. He is silently opening the doors, and the two men go out into the street. I look again. It is daylight. I see the same two men in a kind of colonnade with rows of pillars. Listen, they are talking very earnestly. Pretty soon some police officers come and stop them, and lead them away. I look again, and see the same two men in a large room, with richly dressed men sitting in a circle around it. One of them makes a speech. The two men are beaten and sent away. Can you name the men, the places, and what was done in each place? Witnesses. The 4. A company of leading men sitting round a hall. A court sits. prisoner, with a face shining like an angel's. An earnest speech. A mob. A vision. Stones thrown. A young man guarding some garments. A dying prayer. 5. I see a man walking along a lonely path toward the south. And there toward the east is coming a chariot drawn by two horses, accompanied by a retinue of persons. In the chariot is a dark-faced, handsomely dressed man, reading a book. Now the two men meet, and the man who was walking gets up into the chariot. By and by they come to a pool of water, and both of the men come down from the chariot, and the poor man baptizes the prince. They part and one goes—where? and the other goes—where? 1 2 3 L Study Verses 1-20. Acts 9 1-12. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS. Every event may be viewed from different standpoints, as a flower may be considered from the point of view of botany, or art, or medicine, or perfumery; as a thing of beauty, or as a part of the landscape. So we should consider Saul's conversion, first in reference to its effect on the church. Saul when transformed into Paul became the most influential man in all its history. Through him the church became the church for all nations and all ages, as Christ had intended it to be. After his conversion we see almost nothing of him for three years. He is like a foundation-stone of a lighthouse, laid deep under water; like a slender shoot, scarcely noticed among the forest trees around it, although it is to grow greater and more fruitful than all the others. This view will require but little time. Next we are to look upon Saul as an individual, and study his experience of conversion: its methods, its progress, and its essential features. A brief comparison with the way others became disciples will prevent any from thinking the manner of conversion must always be the same, and enable them to get at the true underlying principles. PLACE IN THE HISTORY, closely following the conversion of Stephen. The introduction. CO-OPERATIVE STUDY. These can be distributed the previous Sunday, for home study and class report and discussion. The early life of Paul. His character. Why he persecuted. The great conflict. Kicking against the pricks. THE REFERENCE LIBRARY. There are many books upon the life of Paul. Some of the latest, besides those on the apostolic age, named on pp. 8-10, are Lyman Abbott's Life and Letters of Paul ($1.50, Houghton); Selden's In the Time of Paul (75 cts., Revell); Dr. Speer's The Man Paul (75 cts., Revell); Orello Cone's Paul, the Man, the Missionary, and Teacher (somewhat radical, $2.00, Macmillan); Gilbert's Students' Life of Paul; Ramsay's St. Paul the Traveler ($3.00, Putnams, 1896). Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of St. Paul (many editions and prices) stands at the head for general readers. Stalker's Life of St. Paul (60 cts., Am. Tract Soc.); Lewin's Life of St. Paul ($9.00, London); Farrar's Life and Work of St. Paul (Dutton, all prices); Wm. Taylor's Paul the Missionary ($1.50, Harper's); The Epic of Saul, a poem by Prof. W. C. Wilkinson ($2.50, Funk & Wagnalls); The Spiritual Development of Paul, by G. Matheson, D.D. ($1.75, Randolph). Paul of Tarsus, by R. F. Bird ($2.00, Scribners), and A Life of St. Paul for the Young, by Geo. L. Weed (50 cts., Jacobs), are especially for young people. I. The Man Paul. 1. HIS NAMES. It was common among the Jews in foreign lands to have two names. Thatcher. Saul was Paul's Hebrew name, after the first king. Paul, meaning little, was his Roman name, inherited with his Roman citizenship. It was not uncommon among the Roman families. Hastings. It is probable that he had both names from childhood. His family name is nowhere given. 2. HE WAS BORN in Tarsus, probably about A. D. 2. 3. FAMILY AND SOCIAL POSITION. His parents were Jews of pure descent (Phil. 3: 5; Acts 23: 6), strict Pharisees in belief and life, possessed of Roman citizenship, which, says Professor Ramsay, “ may be taken as proof that his family was one of distinction, and at least moderate wealth.' - Paul the Traveler, pp. 36, 310–312. "It is certain," says McGiffert, "that his manners were those of a citizen of the world familiar with the habits of good society, . . . and that he felt at home in association with all classes of people, even in the presence of the supercilious scholars of Athens, or of magistrates, pro-consuls, and princes. He came, therefore, from an honorable and very likely wealthy family, whose dignity and influence must have been considerable.' - Apostolic Age, pp. 114-116. It is apparent from notices in the Epistles, as well as the Acts, that Paul was poor during his early missionary career, while later, in Cesarea and Rome and the voyage between, he appears as a man of distinction and means. Professor Ramsay interprets this as meaning that Paul was disowned and cast off by his family as an apostate and foe to his race and his religion, on account of his becoming a Christian. So he himself says in Phil. 3: 8, that for Christ's sake he had suffered the loss of all things, and counted them but refuse; while later he inherited from his father's estate, so that on his voyage Paul had servants and enjoyed much respect, "such as a penniless traveler without a servant to attend on him would never receive either in the first century or the nineteenth.". - Paul the Traveler, pp. 34, 312-316. HIS PERSONAL TRAITS. "He HIS EDUCATION. Till he was about twelve years old Paul lived in the atmosphere of a cultured, refined, scholarly university town. "It is impossible," says Professor Thatcher, "not to see a great difference between him and the twelve in this respect." breathed a Grecian atmosphere in his boyhood, but he did not receive a Greek education." The Hebrews" regarded Greek literature, and with some show of reason, as grossly immoral," and would no more have allowed their boys "to study the Greek poets and dramatists than a Puritan in the reign of Charles II. would have set his boy to study the dramatic literature of that age." See Abbott's Life and Letters of Paul, pp. 19-22. At an early age he was sent to Jerusalem, where he studied the Law under Gamaliel (Acts 22: 3; 5: 34). The whole atmosphere of Jerusalem must have greatly influenced him, for he was of a deeply religious nature. As to his personal appearance we are uncertain. The statement he quotes concerning himself (2 Cor. 10: 10) is a sneer of his enemies that "his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." It may have some basis of truth. From all we can gather he was a man of not more than medium stature, and with possibly some personal defect, but a man of physical strength and gracious attractiveness, giving such an impression of power that he could quell mobs to listen, and impress audiences of princes and potentates. At Lystra he was compared to a heathen god, his friend regarded as Jupiter from his size, and Paul as Mercury, who is always represented as vigorous and graceful and eloquent. "In the Acts of Paul and Thekla, the first Christian romance, written about 150 A. D., there is a description of Paul which is probably based on a true tradition. In this he is described as a man small in size, bald-headed, bandy-legged, well built, with eyebrows meeting, rather long-nosed, and with motions full of grace, for sometimes he seemed like a man and sometimes like an angel. His manner was singularly winning.'" Professor Thatcher. For the story of Paul and Thekla, see Ramsay's Church in the Roman Empire, or Conybeare and Howson, chap. 6, or Mrs. Jamieson's Sacred and Legendary Art. John of Antioch (6th century) and the pseudo-Lucian (4th century) confirm this general impression: "with a genial expression of countenance he was sensible, earnest, easily accessible, sweet, and inspired with the Holy Spirit." HIS CHARACTER. We can easily see that Paul must have had a winsome character, greatly increased after his conversion. He had the nature which could write the glory of love in I Cor. 13. He had a strong will, an intense, passionate nature that conquered all obstacles; a deep, religious nature, desiring to do right, and to serve God, full of aspirations and longings after the good. The best description of his From a Photograph by Bonfils. Place where Paul was let down in a Basket (Damascus). mental characteristics is in Lyman Abbott's Life and Letters of Paul. He was a seer and a prophet, a great orator, a poet, not scholastic or philosophical. He was not a Calvin, but rather a n Isaiah, Plato, Browning, "but a Browning on fire with a moral intensity such as |