For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.—Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, _even_ unto the end of the world. Amen.—_St. Matt. xviii: 20; xxviii: 20._ _NOTE BY THE ARTIST_ _Yet this is not the close of the Great Story, and the painter’s work is incomplete unless he endeavors to visualise the Truth, that, as the Master has promised, his presence and his blessing are with his faithful worshipers even unto the end of the world. The picture represents no special people or period, and the Byzantine architecture most fitly symbolizes One, Universal Church, of which Jesus Christ is the Founder and the Head._ 80] He was great in _his early opportunities_. He was born at Tarsus, and had a better education than any of the other apostles. His family were well off. It is no argument against this to say that he was a tent-maker by trade. For it was customary among the Jews, even with the richest families, to teach their sons some useful trade. Paul went through the best schools that were to be had then. He had studied all about history, and philosophy, and poetry. And he was learned also in all matters concerning the religion of the Jews. He tells us himself that he was “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel”—who was, at that time, the most famous of all their teachers. He was _great_ in his _prejudices_. He was a real Jew in this respect. They all had very strong prejudices against people who differed from them in their religion. But Paul was stronger in his prejudices than even his countrymen were. We see this in the first mention that is made of him in the New Testament. This was at the death of the first martyr, St. Stephen. The wicked men who stoned him, we are told, “laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was Saul.” And then we see the strength of his prejudice in the fierceness of the persecution which he carried on against the followers of Jesus. He “breathed out threatenings and slaughter” against them. He was “exceeding mad against them.” Not content with imprisoning and putting to death those who lived in Jerusalem, he “persecuted them even unto strange cities.” Furnished with letters from the chief priests, he went as far as Damascus, that he might seize and bring bound to Jerusalem any of the followers of Jesus found there. How unlikely it seemed that one who was so very strong in his prejudices should ever, himself, become a follower and an apostle of Jesus!