mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Jesus guarded the life of his servant, to whom he had appointed a great and glorious work. He could therefore say to King Agrippa: "Having obtained help of God, I continue to this day." Blessed are they, who are actively engaged in the Lord's service; they may have many trials by the way, but He, who for their sakes endured the cross, despising the shame, will uphold them by his grace, and at length give them a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

We might naturally expect, that a powerful opposition would be excited against a man, whose conversion to the faith of Christ afforded such an overpowering evidence to the truth of Christianity, and whose holy conversation in Christ condemned the worldliness of the Priests and Pharisees.

The more St. Paul, by his life and doctrine, demonstrated the power and excellency of the Gospel, the more inveterate was the enmity manifested against him.-The minds of the Jews, as a nation, were judicially blinded. They knew not the day of their visitation. The Lord would have gathered them, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and, they would not. Their language towards Jesus was: "We will not have this man to reign over us."-And to his faithful servant: Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live."-No arguments could convince them, no reasoning could persuade them, no miracles, wrought before their eyes,

could remove the stubbornness of their unbelief. Nothing, no nothing but the Almighty Power of the Spirit of God could bring them, as humble penitents, to the foot of the cross, make them to rejoice in the atonement of Jesus, and cause them to glorify God, by an entire submission to his will.

"Even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart, nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away." When that reviving period shall arrive, a new impulse will be given to the Christian Church; and the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

In reading the history of the infant Church, we might naturally expect that the disciples, on hearing of the conversion of Saul, would instantly hail it, as a glorious triumph of Christianity. But how faithfully does the sacred historian describe the feelings of the primitive Christians, who, knowing that Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, the more effectually to deceive and to destroy, dreaded lest they should be betrayed under the mask of friendship.

"When Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the Apostles, and declared unto them, how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."

What could be more natural, than that Saul,

having tasted the grace of Jesus, should be anxious to join himself to his beloved people.

The Apostle mentions this visit to Jerusalem, in his Epistle to the Galatians: "When it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood; neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were Apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother. Afterwards I came into the region of Syria and Cilicia, and was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they had heard only, that he which persecuted us in time past, now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed, and they glorified God in me."

When Saul first introduced himself to the church of Jerusalem, in the new character of an Apostle, we cannot be surprised at the tardy reception he met with, as the disciples would well remember the caution given to them by their divine Master-"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

How exactly does this accord with our own experience. Any sudden change of character generally excites a degree of suspicion in our minds, and makes us cautious, lest by coming, too hastily, to a favourable decision, we should become the

dupes of artful deception; and more especially, if an avowed enemy, suddenly professes himself to be our friend.

But, if there be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, is there no feeling of delight in the hearts of believers, when sinners, and especially persecutors, are converted to the faith of Christ? Assuredly there is,—and such holy joy was experienced by the saints at Jerusalem, when Barnabas had dissipated their fears, by bearing witness to the grace of Jesus manifested towards this bloody persecutor. The Apostles admitted Paul to the fellowship of the saints; they rejoiced over him; he was with them coming in, and going out, of Jerusalem; and in their Epistle to the Gentile converts on the subject of circumcision, they style him and Barnabas; "Beloved, chosen men, who had hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus."-Thus they bore testimony to the truth of his conversion; and they glorified God in him.

During his stay at Jerusalem, the zealous Paul was actively engaged in the work to which Jesus had appointed him. He spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians; but so violent was their enmity to the truth, that they went about to slay him; which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Cæsarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. "Then had the churches rest throughout all Judæa, and Galilee, and Samaria, and were edified: and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.”

There is one feature of peculiar prominence in the character of the Apostle, which must strike every attentive observer-the natural energy of his mind.

He pursued no half measures, he entered into no cold calculations; what he did, he did with all his heart. This he intimated, when pleading before King Agrippa: "I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth ;”—and he fully acted upon that conviction.

Being dark in his views of prophetic truth respecting the Messiah, he stumbled at that Stone which God had laid in Zion. Jesus was to him a rock of offence. Hence all his energies were called into action to suppress the growing Church of Christ, and to silence those who proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world. But, when enlightened by the Holy Ghost to see the glory of Emmanuel, and, to behold in the virgin's Son, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace: a total change took place within him. His native energies were then directed into a new channel. Being brought under the influence of holy love, his ardour, though unquenchable, was tempered by mildness.

With incessant toil he laboured to promote the cause of his beloved Saviour, esteeming no sacrifice too great to advance his kingdom. Forbearance and charity shed their sweetness over his character, while decision and courage proved the firmness of his faith. He was truly a burning