The apostle’s first epistle was to his beloved brethren, in Thessalonica,—­the first of that remarkable series of theological essays which in all subsequent ages have held their position as fundamentally important in the establishment of Christian doctrine.  They are luminous, profound, original, remarkable alike for vigor of style and depth of spiritual significance.  They are not moral essays like those of Confucius, nor mystic and obscure speculations like those of Buddha, but grand treatises on revealed truth, written, as it were, with his heart’s blood, and vivid as fire in a dark night.  In these epistles we see also Paul’s intense personality, his frank egotism, his devotion to his work, his sincerity and earnestness, his affectionate nature, his tolerant and catholic spirit, and also his power of sarcasm, his warm passions, and his unbending will.  He enjoins the necessity of faith, which is a gift, with the practice of virtues that appeal to consciousness and emanate from love and purity of heart.  These letters are exhortations to a lofty life and childlike acceptance of revealed truths.  The apostle warns his little flock against the evils that surrounded them, and which so easily beset them,—­especially unchastity and drunkenness, and strifes, bickerings, slanders, and retaliations.  He exhorts them to unceasing prayer, the feeling of constant dependence, and hence the supreme need of divine grace to keep them from falling, and to enable them to grow in spiritual strength.  He promises as the fruit of spiritual victories immeasurable joys, not only amid present evils, but in the glorious future when the mortal shall put on immortality.  Especially and repeatedly does he urge them to “have also that mind which was in Christ Jesus,” showing itself in humility, willingness to serve others, unselfish consideration of others, even the preference of others’ interests before their own,—­a combination of the homely practical with the divinely ideal, such as the world had never learned from any earlier philosophy of life.

Paul at last felt that he must revisit the earlier churches, especially those of Syria.  It was three years since he had left Antioch.  But more than all, he wished to consult with his brethren in Jerusalem, and to be present at the feast of the Passover.  Bidding an affectionate adieu to his Christian friends, he set out for the little seaport of Cenchrea, accompanied by Aquila and his wife Priscilla, and then set sail for Ephesus, on his way to Jerusalem.  In his haste to reach the end of his journey he did not tarry at Ephesus, but took another vessel, and arrived at Caesarea without any recorded accident.  Nor did he make a long visit at Jerusalem, probably to avoid a rupture with James, the head of the church in that city, whose views about Jewish ceremonials, as already noted, differed from his.