“Dost thou not count such a conformity as a fellowship with dead works? I am minded that the gospel should be separate, and that the household of the New Faith should be counted no longer as a Jewish sect!”
“It hath seemed expedient to some that for the present the ordinances be continued for the sake of peace, but verily I am persuaded that our spiritual life hath been deadened thereby, and its power diminished. Now that thou art here to cast in thy lot with us, our zeal may be warmed, and we receive a quickening.”
It seems probable that the Sanhedrin had come to regard the church of Peter, James, and John as but one [pg 415]more sect added to the complex Jewish economy, which was willing to continue the established ritual. But in the movement of Jesus, and afterward of Stephanos and Saulus, it discerned a disturbing and vital force which in due time would logically supplant Judaism through the establishment of a religion radically different.
It was not difficult for Barnabas to reconcile the disciples to Saulus, for not only was his sincerity manifest, but his earnest aggressiveness in their behalf was bold and untiring.
The law of specific gravity among souls is no less invariable and operative than with fluids and solids. If a born commander be placed in the ranks of the private, he will not remain, for all the laws of the universe conspire to lift him into his fitting niche. The moral and spiritual dynamics of a great soul can no more stay pent up than the forces that stir a volcano into activity. The advent of Saulus into the Holy City ended all indifference and stagnation, and soon the various elements were glowing at a white heat.
But a few days elapsed after his arrival before he began teaching and preaching in the synagogues. Among all the enemies who sprung up to oppose his work and persecute him, none were more bitter and unrelenting than his former comrades of the Urim. These were the same who once had glorified him beyond measure.
The dignified Sanhedrin for the time was disposed to close its official ears to the work of their former agent and instrument, doubtless having in mind their moral discomfiture at the trial of Stephanos. They thought it more politic to leave the rabble to deal with him through [pg 416]some sudden outbreak than to take formal cognizance of his heresies through the procedure of a regular trial.
Saulus boldly entered into the synagogues of the Hellenists, and eloquently commended the New Faith, contrasting its power and beauty with the traditions, ordinances, and dead works of the Temple service.
One afternoon at a meeting in the synagogue of the Cyrenians, Saulus essayed to make an address according to previous announcement. It was in the same room where Stephanos had spoken with such zeal, and from which he had been dragged to trial and condemned.
Upon this occasion the enemies of Saulus gathered in strength, the members of the Urim, by secret understanding occupying the front seats, thoroughly organized for offensive action. He had been warned of trouble by the more prudent of his friends, but would not consent to abate one jot of his stirring presentation of the new gospel, and the contrasting hollowness of the whole ceremonial system.