The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-05-04
PAUL THE ORATOR.
BIZ HON. ). xSnRrsos HARRIS, BALTIMORE.

multuous session, and the seventy mem.
bers of the Sanhedrim, fierce with anger
and hurrying to infict vengeance, pour
ed forth from the hall Gazith.
The type of religious enthusiasm
they represented had just been dciantly
confronted by spirit Of moro exalted
faith than their own ; and although for
the moment, by a mockery of justice
and tho clamor of suborhcd witnesses,
they had passed upon the proto-martyr
Stephen sentence they had long before
lost the power to infict, their action,
instead of closing, only inaugurated the
great conflict between the opposing
systems represented by themselves and
their victim.
Foremost among them, as they were
merged in the vengeful multitude that
crowded the outer court of the
Temple awaiting the issue of the trial,
was Saul of Tarsus, himself an Elder,
and member of the Sanhedrim. His
voice had confirmed the sentence, and
his impatience for its execution added
fresh impulse to the ferocity of the mob
as with wild outcries and curses it swept
through the Damascus gate towards the
rocky edges OF the ravins of Jehosha-
phat. In the terrible tragedy that en-
sued, he was conspicuous actor and
while none regarded its progress with
more complacent conviction of its per-
feet propriety and justice, mono exceed
ed him in the savage delight with which
he assisted in its details. The stricken
and bleeding victim represented to him
an abhorred sect and blasphemous pre-
tension, for which his remedy was ex-
tirpatiou. Had he lived later in the cen.
turtles, Torquemada would have embrac.
cd him as brother, and the Inquisition
honored him as q saint.
In the first flush Of manhood, his
ardent temperament and strong passions
were fully enlisted in the work. This
was his first victim but he rapidly
added to the list. Swift vengeful
and INSCRIPTIONS, he hunted the objects
of his wrath from refuge to refuge, with
an eagerness and success that quickly
gave him recognized prc.eminencc in the
naughty sect to which he belonged. Into
the sanctuary Of happy homes bust with
his myrmidons, and with bitter mockery
and scourging he hurried their unhappy
inmates to Imprisonment and dcath.-
Woman, even, was not secure from his
cruelty, for he had respect neither to
age nor sex. And to the ferocity OF
persecution he added the mcanncss of
degrading and unworthy insult for he
strove to compel his helpless victims to
blaspheme the Holy One they adorcd.
His very name became a terror, and
men fed before him as from q raving
beast for tho uurclcnting ardor
Of mercilcss bigotry possessed him
wholly.
And all this was consistent with the
dominant traits of his character. Not
in vain, before hi. infancy, had walked
in broad phylactcries a father of tho
straightest sect. Not in vain had he
been nurtured in its strictest
faith. Trained in the most eminent
sch ools Of Tarsus, and Jcrusalem-at
which latter city he had been resident
for seventeen ycars,-he studied in the
school of llillcl, under tho celebrated
Gamalicl, famous alike for his profound
knowledge of the Jewish law and his
intimate acquaintance with general
literature. Under such teaching, he
became imbued with thorough knowl-
edge of the mysteries and refncments
of his peculiar faith, the traditions of
the fathers, the muster pieces Of Greek
literature, and acquired that singular
skill in dialcctics characteristic of the
school to which he belonged. He
combined in himself the qualities that
indicated future greatness and when
the term of his study was completed,
there was hardly his equal to be found
in Jerusalem for knowledge of the law
and general crudition, while in compli>
ance with custom among his people,
he was practical master of a mechani-
cal craft.
lie was thoroughly in earnest in what
he believed /; desperately in earnest in
what lie did. He was just what birth,
education, and surroundings had made
him, and with concentrated energy he
plunged into the career they indicated
as his appropriate sphere. Rapidly ho
won the honors such natures always
compel. Well born and affluent, cele,
brated for his learning and accomplish
ments, moving in the highest ranks of
q cultivated and polished society, clio
qucnt in speech and rcsolute in action,
he speedily gained high position and
influence, and his ambitious spirit
might have well anticipated its fullest
qualification in the brilliant future that
seemed to be expanding before him.
Over the threshold of a far different
career he passed. from Jerusalem, clothed
with the confidence Of his peers and the
authority Of the Sanhodrim, to scourgc,
pcrsecute, aud imprison at his own will ;
and Immediately there gathered around
him the circumstances from which was
evolved the new character we propose to
consider.
"sce Naples, and then die" say the
dwellcrs in that fair city that rises in
surprising lovcliness from the blue
margin of tho Mediterranean Sea. See
Damascus, and thea die, with yet greater
force might have said the Oriental,