was clear for
Paul's career, and a door was immediately opened for his entrance upon
it. Almost simultaneously with the baptism of the Gentile family at
Caesarea a great revival broke out among the Gentiles of the city of
Antioch, the capital of Syria. The movement had been begun by
fugitives driven by persecution from Jerusalem, and it was carried on
with the sanction of the apostles, who sent Barnabas, one of their
trusted coadjutors, from Jerusalem to superintend it.

This man knew Paul. When Paul first came to Jerusalem after his
conversion and assayed to join himself to the Christians there, they
were all afraid of him, suspecting the teeth and claws of the wolf
beneath the fleece of the sheep. But Barnabas rose superior to these
fears and suspicions and, having taken the new convert and heard his
story, believed in him and persuaded the rest to receive him. The
intercourse thus begun only lasted a week or two at that time, as Paul
had to leave Jerusalem; but Barnabas had received a profound impression
of his personality and did not forget him. When he was sent down to
superintend the revival at Antioch, he soon found himself embarrassed
with its magnitude and in need of assistance; and the idea occurred to
him that Paul was the man he wanted. Tarsus was not far off, and
thither he went to seek him. Paul accepted his invitation and returned
with him to Antioch.

72. The hour he had been waiting for had struck, and he threw himself
into the work of evangelizing the Gentiles with the enthusiasm of a
great nature that found itself at last in its proper sphere. The
movement at once responded to the pressure of such a hand; the
disciples became so numerous and prominent that the heathen gave them a
new name--that name of "Christians," which has ever since continued to
be the badge of faith in Christ--and Antioch, a city of half a million
inhabitants, became the headquarters of Christianity instead of
Jerusalem. Soon a large church was formed, and one of the
manifestations of the zeal with which it was pervaded was a proposal,
which gradually shaped itself into an enthusiastic resolution, to send
forth a mission to the heathen. As a matter of course, Paul was
designated for this service.

73. The Known World of that Period.--As we see him thus brought at
length face to face with the task of his life, let us pause to take a
brief survey of the world which he was setting out to conquer. Nothing
less