Critical Examination of the Life of St. PaulAnnet, Peter
Religion
Critical Examination of the Life of St. Paul
Annet, Peter
Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Paul, after some days, departed from Corinth, he cut off his hair to
fulfil a vow he had made, and which apparently obliged him to be present
at Jerusalem, in order to sacrifice in the temple, according to the law.
Whence we see that our Apostle had not yet totally abandoned the Jewish
religion, and that he judged it good policy, occasionally to manoeuvre
with the Jews. In fact we continually see him sometimes practising, and
at others decrying, Judaism. From Jerusalem, Paul went to Antioch, where
he remained some time, but the activity of his mind soon put him in
motion. After having crossed the high provinces of Asia he came to
Ephesus, where he found the secret of uniting to his sect the disciples
of St. John the Baptist, whom he rebaptized, and made them acquainted
with the Holy Ghost of whom they had no idea. Having now increased his
party by these new recruits, Paul set about preaching in the synagogue,
but finding the Jews rather untractable, he withdrew himself, and
separated his disciples from them. He then commenced teaching in a
separate school and performing miracles to confirm his discourses; he
cured the sick, and especially those possessed, in which he succeeded
much better than those of the Jews, who endeavoured from his example to
attempt such cures. These miracles converted many persons.
Nevertheless, the preaching of Paul at Ephesus gave rise to an affair,
which had nearly proved very troublesome. The Goldsmiths of this city
derived much profit from the manufacture of little silver shrines of
Diana, the patroness of the Ephesians These artisans were much disturbed
with the preaching of our apostle, who decried the gods, and might thus
occasion the ruin of their trade; their clamour alarmed the people, and
caused a great commotion; the public, as is generally the case, when the
affair relates to religion, grew very violent, without knowing why. They
comprehended, in general terms, that their religion and its patroness
were attacked; and there needed nothing more to inflame their zeal.
However the town-clerk of the city having explained to them that
their goddess was in no danger, succeeded in calming the fury of
the superstitious populace, and thus extricated our apostle from his
embarassments.
Paul, however, thought proper to quit a city, in which he had run such
a risk, and again put himself in motion. Arrived at Troas he recommenced
preaching, when his sermon, being a little too long, sent a young man to
sleep, who fell from the third story into the street: they took him up
for dead, when our Apostle having embraced him, assured them that he
lived, the author of the Acts, takes this fact for a miracle, and tells
us gravely that Paul raised a dead man on this occasion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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