Here and there, indeed, voices are to be heard in the Judaism of the New Testament period which attest a real sense of sin. The Fourth Book of Ezra,[99] in particular, struggles seriously with the general reign of evil in the lives of men, and can find no solution of the terrible problem. "Many have been created, but few shall be saved!" (4 Ezra viii. 3). "Or who is there that has not transgressed thy covenant?" (vii. 46). Alas for the "evil heart" (vii. 48)! In a very interesting manner 4 Ezra connects the miserable condition of humanity with the fall of Adam; the fall was not Adam's alone but his descendants' (vii. 118). At this point, it is interesting to compare 2 Baruch,[100] which occupies a somewhat different position; "each of us," declares 2 Baruch, "has been the Adam of his own soul." And in general, 2 Baruch takes a less pessimistic view of human evil, and (according to Charles' estimate, which may be correct) is more self-complacent about the Law. But the profound sense of guilt in 4 Ezra might conceivably be a step on the way to saving faith in Christ. "O Lord above us, if thou wouldst ... give unto us the seed of a new heart!" (4 Ezra viii. 6). This prayer was gloriously answered in the gospel of Paul.[101] [99] See Box, in Charles, _Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament_, 1913, ii, pp. 542-624; Schürer, _Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes_, 3te und 4te Aufl., iii, 1909, pp. 315-335 (English Translation, _A History of the Jewish People_, Division II, vol. iii, 1886, pp. 93-104). The work of Charles has been used freely, without special acknowledgment, for the citations from the Jewish apocalypses. [100] See Charles, _op. cit._, ii, pp. 470-526; Schürer, _op. cit._, iii, pp. 305-315 (English Translation, Division II, vol. iii, pp. 83-93). [101] Compare Box, in Charles, _op. cit._, p. 593. See also Emmet, _loc. cit._ It must be remembered, however, that 4 Ezra was completed long after the Pauline period; its attitude to the problem of evil certainly cannot be attributed with any confidence to Saul of Tarsus, the pupil of Gamaliel. It is significant that when, after the conversion, Paul seeks testimonies to the universal sinfulness of man, he looks not to contemporary Judaism, but to the Old Testament. At this point, as elsewhere, Paulinism is based not upon later developments but upon the religion of the Prophets and the Psalms. On the whole, therefore, especially in the light of what was said above, it cannot be supposed that Saul the Pharisee held a spiritual view of law, or was possessed of a true conviction of sin. Paul was convicted of his sin only when the Lord Jesus said to him, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."