Evening star., 1916-09-30
By Rev. H. T. Stevenson.

When Paul crossed the threshold of
tGe castle prison adjoining the temple,
after addressing the mob that had tried
10 murder him. he entered upon lie
o. captivity which would only be ter
minated by his death. The studies now
enter upon new phase Of apostolic
history that proves the provtdential part
&. even PauIs Imprisonment in estab-
fishing the center of Christianity at
lone. The Roman commander. who
v-.,h his prisoner without success used
= third degree" treating Paul as
G ~ -.on Jewish slave. was embarrassed
e-suse his prisoner claimed his rights
- 2 Roman citizen. and because he was
ret familiar with the Semettc. speech OF
TIC natives he did not understand the
cause Of the controversy AS ciNIt
officer he properly brought PAU oeIore
The sanheGrin so that he might unoef-
sfird the nature of the hostility against
tHe prisoner, which he was certain was
ff = religious nature
,.rar upon the following day. the great
ee ,-,cil OF the Jews had assembled ~
= -ro:,se to the commanders call, Can
,'f-S LySias conducted Paul before II.
sa';-d il to order and stated WY ne
r. q. .o1lvered the sanhedr:n. This Is the
b: time that the great religious boay
8. -srerred to in the history OF the
,-~--e'i,- Church. l. had passed upon
-. "a and the esriy church, and the last
..-,-.,.r unity To indorse the unth OF .tie
,-s,-i-. ...t. religion was presented 20 the
"a erctfs leaders Of the nation "hen a
|f.-- -r member Of their council was pre-
r"rte+ before them to be tFled ior no
80 crime than that he was a Chris
ti.-. .Tue supreme hour in the nations
] fxtc-v arrived when God. through the
roI,a:, authorities. placed Paul peiore
fhe r~e1t council so that under the IN
sri-a-lon OF the Holy Spirit the apostle
al rE
eft - win i;s members for Christ
T-..cre YVES no effort made by the
J.,.Ie=t court Of the nation to iiscer-
1,ir ,he facts, Of the case or TO weigh
-. evidence Of Paul. whose conversion,
.f,a---.ed career and conGuests Tor
.-tI:et and The church would have JUS
tfe4 il in reversing its adverse de-
{ =.,rls against Christianity. The at
,'tilde of the court was revealed by
1re orders Of the high priet. who OBJ
S-. ,ed TO PauTs first statement OF
lis Lefense. that he had acted con-
a--ol;!oGsly IA ALI that he had done.
=. faUly because he had used me
'--rr's. as i citizen" which Ananias
-" sirued as an unconscious confession
- his guilt that he had renounced the
faith OF his fathers for that OF the
Greeks or heather gentiles. The un-
warranted action of the high priest.
whose life Josephus has painted as
one mass of darkness, guilty or every
scrine that could defle personal charac-
ter and debase official dignity, was IL
t1egal and tyrannical. 1t proved 10 Paul
rthat he had no chance for fair trial
because they had entered the court
pretudiced against him and his cause.
There was only one thing for the
: apostle to do il he desired to maintain
the favor of the Roman commander. so
he publicly reproved the hypocrisy of
the high priest. tried to destroy his
rule by breaking up the unholy alliance
that since the days of the stoning of
Stephen had united the Sadducees and
Pharisees in opposition to Christian
ity. Paul, who had always claimed to
be as a Pharisee a member of the pa
,riotic and popular peoples party. tried
10 win the Pharisee members of the
sanhedrin by his argument that the
nlied throuxE the resurrection from
the dead, and that the resurrection OF
Christ was the guarantee Of the world g