that ran east and west, north and south. These cities were linked together by the arteries along which commerce flowed. It is small wonder that Ramsay calls one of his books St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen. He was a drummer for Christ who knew where to go and how to present his cause. He would begin where he could get a foothold, where there was a chance to put in an entering wedge as in Cyprus with the influence of Barnabas. He used the Jews whenever he could as a starting-point. He would win men and women of influence, if he could, as Sergius Paulus at Salamis in Cyprus and "the chief women" in Thessalonica. But he had most success with the common people in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:26-31) as elsewhere. Paul was not ashamed to win slaves to Christ and to call himself a slave of Jesus Christ. In his letters he addressed special paragraphs to the Christian slaves who found in Christianity the one ray of hope in a darkened world.

Paul would push on to harder fields, but he held what he had won. He was thoroughly evangelistic, but he sought to establish firmly the work before he left it. He was not afraid of Perga in Pamphylia with its pirates and mosquitoes nor of Pisidia with its perils of rivers and of robbers. Paul knew when to leave a field and when to make a stand. Sometimes he left under compulsion as from Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Philippi, Thessalonica. Sometimes he left under the impulse of a call elsewhere as from Troas to Macedonia. But Paul always had the whole field on his heart, the anxiety for all the churches (2 Cor. 11:28), wherever he was. So he had native pastors

appointed to carry on the work when he was gone. He sent messengers with letters of instruction and encouragement. He tried to build up the character of those already saved as he pushed the work on to harder and wider fields. Timothy and Titus are but two of many who helped Paul lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes for Christ all over the Roman Empire. When he was in prison, he was still the leader of the hosts of God. His energy was unceasing.

Paul met persecution with wisdom and with courage. He did not court opposition. He was not seeking the martyr's crown. He left Antioch in Pisidia before attack was made, but in Lystra he waited for the actual onset. But Paul pushed his propaganda for Christ with the vision of victory. He would lose a battle and win a campaign. He had no thought of surrender or of ceasing his work. He was helped by some, hindered by others, left alone by still more. It mattered not. The Lord Jesus always stood by his side. He was always sure of that. Sometimes at critical moments he had a vision of the Lord who cheered him on to fidelity. At the very end the Lord Jesus stood by Paul and strengthened him (2 Tim. 4:17) so that he despised Nero and his lions. Undismayed, he looked on suffering for Christ as a gift of grace and a mark of glory. Death to him was but the ushering in of Christ with whom he would forever more be at home. That is the spirit of Jesus that mastered Paul and that will conquer the world if missionaries at home and abroad carry on as Paul did, Paul the Master Missionary Statesman of the Ages.

CHAPTER IX

PAUL'S INTEREST IN YOUNG MINISTERS

Paul was converted when a young rabbi, a graduate of the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and he knew by bitter experience what it was to be a young minister in a hostile environment. The call to preach and to work among the Gentiles came at the time of his conversion or at least was made plain to Paul a few days afterwards in Damascus. We do not know the age of Paul at this time, but it was not long after the death of Stephen when he was called "a young man named Saul" (Acts 7:58). He was almost certainly not over thirty-five, probably several years younger. He was a man of parts and of the schools and already the leader of current Judaism when he suddenly enlisted under the banner of Jesus Christ whose cause he had sought to destroy. On Paul's return from Arabia and Damascus to Jerusalem, he was the object of suspicion and distrust by the disciples there till Barnabas stood sponsor for the sincerity of the new convert, the quondam wolf that now appeared as a sheep in the fold (Acts 9:26-28). It is clear that Paul never forgot this generous act on the part of Barnabas and it made him only too glad to join hands with him at a later time in the work in Antioch

(Acts 11:25) that led to the great campaign among the Gentiles (13:1-3). It is undoubtedly true that Paul's keen interest in younger preachers had this touch of personal experience. Barnabas had befriended Paul. In his turn Paul gave the helping hand to other younger servants of Christ. To be sure, when he was Paul the aged, he saw in the younger ministry the hope of the future. His plans and his purposes centered largely in their training as is plain in the Pastoral Epistles. Looked at from this standpoint much of the criticism of the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles is beside the point.

But Paul's interest is at first personal, not ecclesiastical and doctrinal. He soon began a search for young men who showed signs of usefulness in the work for Christ. There is no phase of the minister's work that offers a richer reward than the discovery of young men whom the Lord can use in the Kingdom. Many of them are diamonds in the rough, but they will take polish and gain lustre and retain hardness if the real diamond. One must be on his guard not to do the calling himself instead of God. It requires wisdom and insight to be able to see the marks of the Spirit of God in the raw and callous young man who is struggling with his destiny. Paul had the gift in marvellous fashion. He was not equally fortunate in all his "finds," for men differ and always will. But it is a rich vein to work in Paul's career to search for his points of contact with the multitude of fellowworkers who co-operated with him. The evidence is very slight in many cases, but in some we can trace Paul's steps a good deal of the way. It will pay us

to see Paul at work with the young ministers whom he gathered round him from time to time.

In the case of John Mark it seems clear that he was a protégé of Barnabas, his cousin, who persuaded Paul to let him go along in the first tour "as their attendant" (Acts 13:5), whatever that may mean (see my "Making Good in the Ministry: A Sketch of John Mark"). Paul figures in the life of this young preacher as the candid critic who will not condone his grievous blunder at Perga when he refused to go on with the mission and went back to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Paul utterly refused to have Mark go again with them in the second tour even though the refusal led to a break with Barnabas (Acts 15:36-41). At first Paul seems to appear in an unfavorable light in this stern refusal to give Mark a second chance. But the time came when Paul saw that Mark had made good. Then Paul rejoiced in his success and in the end found Mark useful to him for ministering (2 Tim. 4:11), possibly while a prisoner in Rome for the first time (Col. 4:10) when he may even have read Mark's Gospel. At any rate Paul wished Timothy to bring Mark with him to be with Paul in the last days of his life on earth. Some young ministers cannot stand criticism, however just it may be and however needful. Time vindicated the wisdom of Paul's stand about Mark. It brought Mark face to face with his crisis and he responded to the wise guidance of Barnabas and came to be Peter's interpreter. His Gospel reveals the marks of his life with Peter (see my Studies in Mark's Gospel) and shows that Mark had in him the making of a man that was worth while. It is not