d
life was pure (Acts 23:1; 24:16). Paul differed from
Christ in that he was a man who sought the cities and
drew his illustrations from them, while Christ was much
in the country and drew his illustrations from country life.
But in this study of and work for the city Paul was but
carrying out the commands of Christ.

+Industrial.+--It was required of every Jew father that
his boy should learn some trade by which he might
support himself should necessity require it. It was a
common Jewish proverb that "he who taught his son no trade
taught him to be a thief." Paul was taught the trade of
tent making. "The hair of the Cicilian goats was used
to make a cloth which was especially adapted for tents for
travelers, merchants, and soldiers." He afterwards
found this trade very useful in his missionary work
(Acts 18:3; 20:34; 1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8).

THE WORLD AS PAUL SAW IT

+This World+ was very different from the world as we
see it to-day. This makes it difficult for us to appreciate
his work at its full value. Now, Christianity is the great
religion of the world; then it was unknown, outside a very
limited circle of believers. The state and society were
organized upon a different basis and were in strong
opposition to the new religion.

+Political.+--The world was under the dominion of the
Romans. They, in conquering it, broke down the
barriers that had separated tribe from tribe and nation from
nation. Yet it was a comparatively small world for all
interests centered about the Mediterranean Sea. Before
the Romans the Greeks had been in possession of a part
of this world and had permeated and penetrated the whole
of it, with their art, language, and commerce. With the
upheavals of war and the tribulations that had befallen
the Jews, they were everywhere scattered abroad and had
their synagogues in most of the cities.

+Religious.+--For the Romans, Greeks, and conquered
nations and tribes, it was an age of scepticism. While the
gods and goddesses in the great heathen temples still had
their rites and ceremonies observed yet the people, to a
large degree, had ceased to believe in them. The Roman
writers of the period are agreed in the slackening of
religious ties and of moral restraints. Yet it was the policy
of the state to maintain the worship of the gods and
goddesses. Any attack upon them or their worship was
regarded as an offense against the state.

+The Difficulties+ o