chief priests, scribes, and elders of the
people. What cared they that no sentence had been pronounced against
him, or that they were acting in reckless defiance of Roman law? Devout
men bore the mangled body to its burial; and all the disciples lamented
greatly. Persecution increased, and members of the Church were scattered
through many lands, wherein they preached the gospel and won many to the
Lord. The blood of Stephen the martyr proved to be rich and virile seed,
from which sprang a great harvest of souls.[1426]

CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF TO SAUL OF TARSUS, LATER KNOWN AS PAUL, THE
APOSTLE.

Among the disputants who, when defeated in discussion, conspired against
Stephen and brought about his death, were Jews from Cilicia.[1427]
Associated with them was a young man named Saul, a native of the
Cilician city of Tarsus. This man was an able scholar, a forceful
controversialist, an ardent defender of what he regarded as the right,
and a vigorous assailant of what to him was wrong. Though born in Tarsus
he had been brought to Jerusalem in early youth and had there grown up a
strict Pharisee and an aggressive supporter of Judaism. He was a student
of the law under the tutelage of Gamaliel, one of the most eminent
masters of the time[1428] and had the confidence of the high
priest.[1429] His father, or perhaps an earlier progenitor, had acquired
the rank of Roman citizenship, and Saul was a born heir to that
distinction. Saul was a violent opponent of the apostles and the Church,
and had made himself a party to the death of Stephen by openly
consenting thereunto and by holding in personal custody the garments of
the false witnesses while they stoned the martyr.

He wrought havoc in the Church by entering private houses and haling
thence men and women suspected of belief in the Christ, and these he
caused to be cast into prison.[1430] The persecution in which he took so
prominent a part caused a scattering of the disciples throughout Judea,
Samaria, and other lands; though the apostles remained and continued
their ministry in Jerusalem.[1431] Not content with local activity
against the Church, "Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and
desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found
any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them
bound unto Jerusalem."[1432]

As Saul and his attendants neared Damasc