IN His parting charge to His Apostles the Saviour had declared that they should be His witnesses _in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth_ (Acts i. 8). In exact accordance with this order the Church, as we have seen, was first founded in Jerusalem (Acts ii. 1), then spread to the cities round about (Acts v. 16), and after the martyrdom of Stephen to Samaria (Acts viii. 5–25). Provision was now to be made for its extension to the Gentiles, and for this purpose a fitting instrument was raised up in the person of no other than the young Cilician Pharisee, whom we have seen consenting to the death of the first Martyr, and _making havoc_ of the Church. At this point, then, it will be well to group together such particulars of his early life as have come down to us. 1. Saul, or as he was afterwards called Paul, was born at Tarsus (Acts ix. 11, xxi. 39, xxii. 3), the capital of Cilicia, situated on the banks of the Cydnus, a river famous for the dangerous fever caught by Alexander while bathing, and for the meeting of Antonius and Cleopatra. Even in early times it was a place of consequence[763], and after belonging to the empire of the Seleucidæ, and for a short time to that of the Ptolemies, espoused the cause of Cæsar during the civil wars, was then named Juliopolis[764] in honour of a visit from him, and made a _free city_[765] by Augustus. Under the early Roman emperors it was famous as a seat of education, and in this respect could vie even with Athens and Alexandria, and could boast of several Stoics, such as Athenodorus, the tutor of Augustus, and Nestor, the tutor of Tiberius. As a place of commerce, it was a meeting-point for Syrians, Cilicians, Isaurians, and Cappadocians. 2. The family of Saul were strict Jews, though Hellenists in speech, and of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. iii. 5). Neither his father’s nor his mother’s names are mentioned, but we have notices of his sister, and his sister’s son (Acts xxiii. 16), and of some more distant relatives (Rom. xvi. 7, 11, 21). 3. Born probably during the later years of the reign of Herod, or the earlier of his son Archelaus[766], as the son of a Pharisee (Acts xxiii. 6), he was _circumcised on the eighth day_ (Phil. iii. 5), and received the name of Saul[767]. But from his earliest years he probably had two names, “Saul the name of his Hebrew home, Paul[768] that by which he was known among the Gentiles.” 4. From his father he inherited a great privilege, that of Roman citizenship. How his father acquired it is unknown. He may have obtained it for _a large sum_ of money (Comp. Acts xxii. 28), or it may have descended to him, or it may have been bestowed upon him in recognition of some service rendered during the civil wars to some influential Roman[769].