PART II.

LETTERS WRITTEN BY SAUL TO DIF

FERENT PERSONS,

İMMEDIATELY AFTER HIS CONVERSION.

LETTER I. SAUL TO SIMEON.

LETTER II. SAUL TO JOSEPH AND SAMMA, THE TWO WITNESSES AGAINST STEPHEN

LETTER III. SAUL TO GAMALIEL,

LETTER IV. SAUL TO ANANIAS.

PART II.

LETTER I.

SAUL TO SIMEON.

On the change of his opinion with respect to Jesus. Testimony and praise of Christ. His narrative of what had passed. Exhortation to belief in Jesus.

DEAR SIMEON!

IF what I tell thee appear incredible, still thou mayest believe what I say; and if I acquaint thee with unheard of things, do not consider me as one who has lost his understanding. I have not lost my senses; I have found them. I was a madman: for he who acts against himself is a madman; he who rejects the best, and treads under foot the most beautiful, is insane. I am become wise, who was a fool: I am restored to the soberest sobriety. I am become-wilt thou believe it? or rather, when I call the Lord, who knowest all things, to witness, wilt thou doubt what I say?—I am become a Christian; a Christian from thorough conviction. The slanderer of Jesus, Saul, thy friend and brother, is become his worshipper.-His worshipper?-Yes, His most sincere and reverential worshipper. In a

word, Simeon, I believe what I thought incredible: I believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. In this faith I will live and die, that he who suffered on the cross lives as king of Heaven and Earth, and is worthy to be worshipped as the God of Israel.

To this all-victorious faith, which nothing can overcome, am I brought by the unmeasurable grace of Jesus the Messiah.

Wilt thou believe me when I say, the King of Heaven himself in person appeared to me in the clear light of noon day, on the public highway, not far from Damascus ? He spoke to me with a human voice, and I answered Him face to face. I beheld Him with my own eyes, and heard Him with own ears. my His maO Simeon, Simeon! jesty, and the divine light of His countenance, are indescribable, inconceivable, surpass all imagina

tion. The whole creation seems to vanish and sink into nothing before Him. Whoever beholds Him sees nothing but Him. In His presence no man can contemplate any thing, can think of any thing beside Him. In Him our whole being is absorbed. We can call nothing else good, great, or excellent, that is not He. He is, if I may be allowed to say it, wholly alone, and all things only in Him. And this eternal Son of God, who is above all compare, has had mercy on me, and forgiven my folly against Him. I am, what I never dared conjecture it was possible I should ever become, a Christian, a disciple of Jesus, a preacher of His Gospel, a wit

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ness of His sovereignty, a living testimony, that with Him all things are possible. He lives with me, and in me. He fills my whole soul. whole soul. I cannot, I will not cease to think of Him for a moment. All things that were gain, for His sake I reckon loss; all things of no account with Him I esteem as mere dross. I hate all things that He hates, and love only what is dear to Him. Nothing, that He hates, can deserve to be loved: nothing, that He loves, can deserve to be hated.

O Simeon, how had Satan blinded me! How could I speak, as I spake; how act, as I acted! So long as I have breath shall I be ashamed of my conduct toward the most adorable of all men, of my rage against the head and prototype of all that is worthy to be adored. It is incomprehensible to me, how I still dare look at myself, or at any wise and good man. But the unbounded mercy of Christ upholds me, and the power of His spirit enables me to atone for many things, that seemed inexpiable. As I have pulled down, I will build up; as I have made sorrowful, I will comfort; as I have killed, I will bring to life: all with the grace and in the power of my Lord, Jesus Christ. I must have died of grief, if He had not given me the desire and strength to make amends for so many evils, which I have occasioned. Dear Simeon, O how totally different He is, from what all Israel conceives! and still so as the prophets describe Him. Daniel could not have seen Him with more beauty sitting on the clouds of Heaven, than I saw Him. Isaiah did not

behold Jehovah seated with more majesty on his throne, than I beheld Him clothed with light. What David says of the Messiah in the forty fifth, seventy second, and hundred and tenth psalms, or wherever else his words may seem to allude to Him, is true of Jesus in the highest and most spiritual sense; and what is not yet fulfilled will as certainly be fulfilled in Him, as many things, that appeared absolutely incredible, have in Him already been literally accomplished.

What is any where written in Scripture of the God of Israel is applicable to Him, and is displayed in Him in the most lively manner. Is it written:

He, the Lord, creates all things whatever he will, in Heaven or on Earth: (and what more can be said of a God?) this is true of Jesus of Nazareth. He actually creates whatever He will, either in Heaven, or on Earth.' He pours out His Spirit upon all flesh. Those that have eyes He maketh blind, and the blind He maketh to see. The hearts of all men are in His hand. He leads them

whithersoever He will; and recalls whom He will

out of the regions of Death.

He rules in the name

of God, with the power of God, in the stead of God. God is in Him; and through Him is our God. The God of all mankind, such as sinful, mortal man needeth, such as he may conceive and enjoy, is He whom I worship under the human name of Jesus Christ. Thus, Simeon, are my thoughts changed respecting Jesus. As I was desirous of

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