synagogs, declaring Jesus to be the Son of God.[1435]

When Saul returned to Jerusalem, the disciples were doubtful of his
sincerity, they having known of him as a violent persecutor; but
Barnabas, a trusted disciple, brought him to the apostles, told of his
miraculous conversion and testified of his valiant service in preaching
the word of God. He was received into fellowship, and afterward was
ordained under the hands of the apostles.[1436] His Hebrew name, Saul,
was in time substituted by the Latin Paulus, or as to us, Paul.[1437] In
view of his commission to carry the Gospel to the Gentiles, the use of
his Roman name may have been of advantage, and particularly so as he was
a Roman citizen and therefore could claim the rights and exemptions
attaching to the status of citizenship.[1438]

It is no part of our present purpose to follow even in outline the
labors of the man thus peremptorily and miraculously called into the
ministry; the fact of Christ's personal manifestations to him is the
sole subject of present consideration. While in Jerusalem Paul was
blessed with a visual manifestation of the Lord Jesus, accompanied by
the giving of specific instructions. His own testimony is to this
effect: "While I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him
saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for
they will not receive thy testimony concerning me." In explanation of
his rejection by the people, Paul confessed his evil past, saying,
"Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that
believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I
also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the
raiment of them that slew him." To this the Lord replied: "Depart; for I
will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles."[1439] Once again, as he lay
a prisoner in the Roman castle, the Lord stood by him in the night, and
said: "Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in
Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome."[1440]

Paul's personal witness that he had seen the resurrected Christ is
explicit and emphatic. With his enumeration of some of the risen Lord's
appearances he associates his own testimony, as addressed to the
Corinthian saints, in this wise: "For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the