and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and lais APOSTLES, c. 47 whether he was fcourged before his exe- cution : he was however allowed the pri- vilege of a Roman citizen, and therefore beheaded. As he was led to the place of execution, he is faid to have converted three of the foldiers fent to guard and condo& him, and who foon after became martyrs to the faith. Being come to the place, which was the Aquæ Salviæ, three miles from Rome, he cheerfully, after a folemn pre- paration, gave his neck to the fatal {lroke ; and from this vale of mifery, his fpirit paired to the blefsful regions of immortality, to the kingdom of his beloved Mailer, the great Redeemer of the human race, in the propagation of whole gofpel, he had fo long and faithfully laboured. His mortal part was buried in the Via O{lienfts, about two miles from Rome ; and about the year 317, Con{lantine the Great, at the inftance of Pope Syl- vefter, built a {lately church over his grave, adorned it with an hundred marble co- lumns, and beautified it with the mof ex- quifite workmanfhip : but this church being thought too fmall for the honour of fo great an apofile, Valentinian, by a refcript to Sauftius, prefe& of the city, caufed it tobe taken down, and a much larger ftruc- cure to beereEled, which was finifhed after his death by Theodófius ; and further beau- tified, at the perfuafion of Leo, bifhop of Rome, by the emprefs Placida. According to Nicephorus, St. Paul was of a low and fmall fiature, fomewhat(loop- ing; his complexion was fair, his counte- nance grave, his head fmall, his eyes fparkling, his note high and bending, and his hair thick and dark, but mixed with grey. His conftitution was weak, and often fubje& to diftempers : but how mean foever the cabinet might be, there was a treafure within precious and valuable, as will fufli- ciently appear, if we view the accomplifh- ments of his mind. His judgment was clear and folid, his underftanding quick, and hismemory thong and clear; all which were greatlyimproved by art, and the advantages ofa liberal edu cation. The fchools of Tarfus and Jeru- falem had fharpened his difcurfive faculty by logic and the artsof reafoning, in{lruEted him in the inftitutions of philofophy, and adornedhis mind with every kindof human learning. A fufficient proof; that it is not unlawful to bring the fpoils of Egypt into the fervice of the fanéluary ; and to make ufe of the advantages offoreign ftudies and human literature to divine and excellent purpofes. He feems indeed to have been educated purpofely to qualify him for be- ing the apatite of the Gentiles, to contend with and confute the grave and the wife, the acute and the fubtle, the Page and the learned of the heathenworld, and to wound them with arrows from their own quivers. He feldom made ufe of learning and phi- lofophy ; it being more agreeable to the defigns of the gofpel, to confound, by the plain doélrineof the crofs, the wifdom and learningof the world. Though thefe were great accomplifh- ments, yet they were only a fhadow of that divine temper of mind he enjoyed, and which difcovered itfelf through the whole courfe of his life. He was humble to the loweft Rep of abafement and con- defcenfion, none ever thinking better of others, or more meanly of himfelf. And though, when he had to deal with envious and malicious adverfaries, whoendeavour- ed, by vilifying his perfon, to obtruEl his miniffry, he knew how to magnify his of- fice, and to let them know that he was not inferior to thechiefefl ofthe apofiles ; yet, at other times, he always declared to the world, that he confidered himfelf as an abortive, or an untimely birth, as the leaft of the *files, les, not meet to be called an aliofile; and, as if this were not enough, he formed a word on purpofe to exprefs his humility, Riling himfelf Elachifloteron, lefs:than the leaf! of the faints; nay, the very chief.of 'inners. How freely and frequently does he con- fefs, that, before his converfion, he was a blafphemer, a perfecutor, a perfon that injured
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=