One of the visitors from distant lands was an officer of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had come from that country to attend the celebration at Jerusalem and was returning, when by divine direction Philip left Samaria to join him on the homeward road. This officer accepted the company of Philip on the way, and the latter presented the new doctrine with such ability that the Ethiopian officer, who was well acquainted with the Scriptures through the Greek translation (the Septuagint), became the first recorded convert from that distant country of Ethiopia. CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL. =10. At the stoning= of Stephen there was a young man present who made himself conspicuous by keeping the outer garments of those who engaged in the act of stoning the martyr. This man was Saul, a Hebrew name, afterward changed into the Roman form of Paul. He was a native of Tarsus, a large and celebrated city of Cilicia, a district on the northern coast of the Mediterranean, but the most eastern on that coast. Tarsus was a city of learned institutions and learned men. The tutors of two emperors of Rome dwelt there, and it was a favored city in many respects, being a place of large commerce. Young Saul was sent to Jerusalem at an early age and became a pupil of Gamaliel. This Gamaliel was considered not only one of the most learned in the Hebrew literature but also in the Greek, and he was president of the Sanhedrin. He afterward transferred the locality of the Sanhedral schools from Jerusalem to Jamnia, the Jabneel of Josh. 15:11. =11. Jabneel=, or =Jabneh=, now called Yebneh, is thirteen miles due south of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, and must be distinguished from the Jamnia seaport four and a half miles northwest, which is sometimes referred to by the same name, but not so in Scripture. In the time of the Maccabees the coast town was a more important seaport than Joppa. During the crusades Jabneh was called Ibelin.[184] It is built on a hill and is four miles from the sea. =12. In carrying out his enmity= against the Christians Saul determined to visit Damascus, where several synagogues existed. Damascus was about 150 miles by road northeast from Jerusalem. Obtaining letters of introduction from the high-priest, he set out to accomplish his purpose. On the way, before entering Damascus, he was arrested by a supernatural vision and was changed from the condition of a bitter and determined enemy to that of an equally determined advocate of the Christian faith, and, after a season of apparent preparation, he returned to Jerusalem. But this addition to the Christian community was attended with such vexation and such disappointment to the Jews that “they went about to slay him,” and it was thought best by his brethren that Saul should depart for Tarsus. At his departure the persecution ceased. AZOTUS, CÆSAREA, LYDDA, JOPPA.