3i6 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD 5t0.ti-7Cire5tglcit-V510tW51011`t5t0.ski10. St. P A U L, the APOSTLE to the GENTILES. TH I S eminent and laborious apollle was. a native of Tarfus, and a de- fcendant from the ancient flock of Abra- ham. He was born about two years before the bleffed JESUS, and belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, the youngeft fon of Jacob, who thus prophecied of him, Ben- jaminJhall raven as a wolf;. in the morn- ing heJhall devour the prey, and at night he Jhall divide the fpoil; a prophetical charaaer which Tertullian and others will have to be accomplished in our apoisle : for, in his youth, or the morning of his days, he perfecuted the churches, deflroy- ing the flock ofthe Almighty ; he devoured the prey : in his declining age, or evening of his days, he became a phyfician of the _nations, feeding and difiributing, with the greateft care and affiduity, the fheep of CHRIST, the great Shepherd of Ifrael. The place of this apofsle's nativity, was Tarfus, the metropolis of Cilicia, fituated about three hundred miles diftant fromJe- rufalem ; it was exceedingly rich and populous, and a Roman municipium, or free corporation, invefled with the privi- leges of Rome by the two firft emperors, as a reward for the citizens firm adherence to the Ca fars in the rebellion of Craffus. St. Paul was therefore born a Roman citi- zen, and he often pleads this privilege on his trials. The inhabitants of Tarfus ufually fent their children into other cities for learning and improvement, efpecially to Jerufalem, where they were fo numerous, that they had a fynagógue of their own, called the fynagogueof the Cilicians. To this capital our apofle was alfo fent, and brought up at the feet of that eminent rabbi Gamaliel, 3 in the moll: exaf knowledge of the law of Mofes : nor did he fail to profit by the inflruaions of that great mailer; for he fo diligently conformed himfelf to his pre- cepts, that, without boafling, he afferts of himfelf, that touching the righteoufnefs of the law, he was blamelefs, and defied even his enemies to allege any thing to the contrary, even in his youth. He joined himfelf to the felt of the Pharifees, the mots flrift order of the Jewish religion; but, at the fame time, the proudefs, and the greateft enemies to CHRIST and his holy religion, as evidently appears by the charactergiven of them by the evangeliis, and our Lord's defcription of that felf- righteous feés. RefpeCing his double capacity, ofJewish extraétion and Roman freedom, he had two names, . Saul and Paul, the former Hebrew, and the latter Latin. It was common for the defcendants of Benjamin to give the name Saul to their children ever fince the time of the firft king of Ifrael, who was chofen out of that tribe; and Paul was a name as common amongft the Romans. We muli alfo confider his trade oftent-making as a part of his edu- cation, it being the confiant praCice of the Jews, to bring up their children to fume honeft calling, that, in cafe of neceffity, they might provide for themfelves by the labour of their own hands, without be- coming burdenfome to the public. Having obtained a thorough knowledge ofthe fciences cultivated by the Jews, and being naturally of a very hot and fiery temper, Saul became a great champion for the law of Mofes, and the tradition of the elders, which he confidered as a zeal
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