[Illustration:  The crucifixion.]

[Illustration:  “He is Risen!”]

Paul went on preaching and teaching in Rome for two years, living in a house which he hired, and he brought many to Jesus.  He was a man of excellent education and a powerful preacher.  His Epistles, given in the Bible, are full of power and the fire of conviction, and he did a wonderful work for the great cause in which he believed with all his heart.

Paul was physically small and deformed; but mentally he was a giant.  He had been taught the knowledge of the Romans, and was therefore well fitted to take up this new cause in a manner which would appeal to educated people as well as to those who had no learning.

[Illustration:  The last supper.]

[Illustration:  The descent of the holy ghost.]

From the time of his conversion until his death he labored faithfully in the ministry of Christ, fearing no persecution or hardship when he could do the Master’s bidding and teach His holy will.  The work which he did was a wonderful work, and his influence in the Christian world has been a very remarkable one.  Brave, untiring, devoted to the cause of Christ, he at last lost his life in that cause, adding another to the list of martyrs whose memory the world loves and reveres.

The story of Paul’s experiences reads like those tales of adventure which are so full of absorbing interest that when once they have been taken up, we do not feel like laying them down again until they are finished.

This is true also of many others of the Bible stories, and great authors have taken their themes from them for the writing of books which have become famous.

The more we study the Bible, the more wonderful it becomes, and the more we learn that in that marvelous book are set forth nearly all the experiences of which human life is capable, with the teaching which each of these experiences should bring and the lesson to be learned by the reading of them.  In all the world there is not another collection so wonderful as this.

DAVID.

David, the son of Jesse, was a beautiful boy, who could charm by his wonderful music.  But he was to be more than a “sweet singer,” for Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, declared that he should be King of Israel, and poured the sacred oil upon his head.

Saul, who was then the King of Israel, had spells of insanity, and David was sent for to try and calm him by his music.  In this he was so successful that after a time the king seemed to be entirely cured; so David returned to his home, and staid there quietly until his father sent him to the camp of the Israelites, with food for his brothers.

He found Saul’s army in great commotion, because Goliath, a mighty warrior of the Philistines, had come out before both armies and had offered to fight any man who should be sent against him.