Chapter 11

THE FIRST SEIZURE OF THE APOSTLES.While the apostles were thus occupied in speaking words of wisdom to the attentive people, they were suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the guards of the temple, who, under the command of their captain, came up to the apostles, and seizing them in the midst of their discourse, dragged them away to prison, where they were shut up, for examination on the next day, before the civil and ecclesiastical court of the Jews. This act of violence was committed by order of the priests who had the care of the temple, more immediately instigated by the Sadducees, who were present with the priests and guards when the arrest was made. The reason why this sect, in general not active in persecuting Jesus and his followers, were now provoked to this act of unusual hostility, was, that the apostles were now preaching a doctrine directly opposed to the main principles of Sadducism. The assertion that Jesus had actually risen from the dead, so boldly made by the apostles, must, if the people believed it, entirely overthrow their confidence in the Sadducees, who absolutely denied the existence of a spirit, and the possibility of a resurrection of the dead. It was now evening, and the apostles being thus dragged away abruptly, in the midst of their discourse, the people were obliged to disperse for the night, without hearing all that the speakers had intended to say; yet even the fragment of discourse which they had heard, was not without a mighty effect. So convincing and moving were these few words of Peter, and so satisfactory was the evidence of the miracle, thatalmost the whole multitude of hearers and beholders seems to have come over in a mass to the faith of Christ; for converts to the astonishing number of five thousand are mentioned by the sacred historian, who all professed their belief in Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, and the healing.The guards of the temple,&c.——This was the same set of men above described, as made up of the Levite porters and watchmen of the temple. See note on page111. Also Lightfoot Horae Hebraica in Actsiv.1.——Rosenmueller,ibid.and Kuinoel. But Hammond has made the mistake of supposing this to be a detachment of the Roman garrison.THEIR FIRST TRIAL.The next morning the high court of the Jewish nation, having the absolute control of all religious matters, was called together to decide upon the fate of the apostles, and probably also of the lame man whom they had cured. This great court was the same whose members had, by unwearied exertions, succeeded a few weeks before, in bringing about the death of Jesus, and were therefore little disposed to show mercy to any who were trying to perpetuate his name, or the innovations which he had attempted against the high authority of the ecclesiastical rulers of the nation. Of these, the principal were Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests, with John and Alexander, and many others, who were entitled to a place in the council, by relationship to the high priests. Besides these, there were the rulers and elders of the people, and the scribes, who had been so active in the condemnation of Jesus. These all having arrayed themselves for judgment, the apostles and their poor healed cripple were brought in before them, and sternly questioned, by what power and by what name they had done the thing for which they had been summoned before the court. They stood charged with having arrogated to themselves the high character and office of teachers, and what was worse, reformers, of the national religion,——of that religion which had been, of old, received straight from God by the holy prophets, and which the wisdom of long-following ages had secured in sanctity and purity, by entrusting it to the watchful guardianship of the most learned and venerable of a hereditary order of priests and scholars. And who were they that now proposed to take into their hands the religion given by Moses and the prophets, and to offer to the people a new dispensation? Were they deep and critical scholars in the law, the prophets, the history of the faith, or the stored wisdom of the ancient teachers of the law? No; they were a set of rude, ill-taught men, who had left their honestbut low employments in their miserable province, and had come down to Jerusalem with their Master, on the likely enterprise of overturning the established order of things in church and state, and erecting in its place an administration which should be managed by the Nazarene and his company of Galileans. In this seditious attempt their Master had been arrested and punished with death, and they whose lives were spared by the mere clemency of their offended lords, were now so little grateful for this mercy, and so little awed by this example of justice, that they had been publicly haranguing the people in the temple, and imposing on them with a show of miracles, all with the view of raising again those disturbances which their Master had before excited, but too successfully, by the same means, until his death. In this light would the two apostles stand before their stern and angry judges, as soon as they were recognized as the followers of Jesus. And how did they maintain their ground before this awful tribunal? Peter had, only a few weeks before, absolutely denied all connection and acquaintance with Jesus, when questioned by the mere menials in attendance on his Master’s trial. And on this solemn occasion, tenfold more appalling, did that once false disciple find in his present circumstances, consolations to raise him above his former weakness? Peter was now changed; and he stood up boldly before his overbearing foes, to meet their tyranny by a dauntless assertion of his rights and of the truth of what he had preached. Freshly indued with a courage from on high, and full of that divine influence so lately shed abroad, he and his modest yet firm companion, replied to the haughty inquiries of his judges, by naming as the source of their power, and as their sanction in their work, the venerated name of their crucified Master. “Princes of the people and elders of Israel, if we to-day are called to account for this good deed which we have done to this poor man, and are to say in whose name this man has been cured; be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, and whom God raised from the dead, this man now stands before you, made sound and strong. This crucified Jesus is the stone which, though rejected by you builders, has become the chief corner stone; and in no other name is there salvation, (or healing;) for there is no other name given under heaven, among men, by which any can be saved,” (or healed.) When the judges saw the free-spoken manner of Peter and John, observing that they were unlearned men, of the lower orders,they were surprised; and noticing them more particularly, they recognized them as the immediate personal followers of Jesus, remembering now that they had often seen them in his company. This recognition made them the more desirous to put a stop to their miracles and preaching. Yet there stood the man with them, whom they had healed, and with this palpable evidence before their eyes, how could the members of the Sanhedrim justify themselves to the people, for any act of positive violence against these men? These high dignitaries were a good deal perplexed, and sending the apostles out of the court, they deliberated with one another, and inquired, “What can we do with these men? For there is a general impression that they have done a great miracle, among all who are now in Jerusalem, both citizens and strangers, and we cannot disprove it. Still we cannot let these things go on so, nor suffer this heresy to spread any further among the people; and we will therefore charge them threateningly to use the name of Jesus no more to the people.” Having come to this conclusion, they summoned the prisoners once more into the court, and gave them a strict command, never to teach any more nor utter a word in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John, undismayed by the authority of their great judges, boldly avowed their unshaken resolution to proceed as they had begun. “We appeal to you, to say if it is right in the sight of God to obey you rather than God. For we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard?” The judges being able to bring these stubborn heretics to no terms at all, after having threatened them still further, were obliged to let them go unpunished, not being able to make out any plea against them, that would make it safe to injure them, while the popular voice was so loud in their favor, on account of the miracle. For the man whom they had so suddenly healed, being more than forty years old, and having been lame from his birth, no one could pretend to say that such a lameness could be cured by any sudden impression made on his imagination.Salvation, (or healing.)——The Greek word here in the original,Σωτηρια, (Soteria,) is entirely dubious in its meaning, conveying one or the other of these two ideas according to the sense of the connection; and here the general meaning of the passage is such, that either meaning is perfectly allowable, and equally appropriate to the context. This ambiguity in the substantive is caused by the same variety of meaning in the verb which is the root,Σαω, (Sao,) whose primary idea admits of its application either to the act of saving from ruin and death, or of relieving any bodily evil, that is, of healing. In this latter sense it is frequently used in the New Testament, as in Matthewix.21, 22. commonly translated “made whole.” Also, Markv.28, 33:vi.56:x.52. In Lukevii.50, and inviii.48, the same expression occurs, both passages being exactly alike in Greek; but the common translation has varied the interpretation in the two places, to suit the circumstances,——in the former, “savedthee,” and in the latter,“madetheewhole.” In this passage also, Actsiv.12, the word is exactly the same as that used in verse 9, where the common translation gives “made whole.” The close connection therefore between these two verses would seem to require the same meaning in the word thus used, and hence I should feel justified in preferring this rendering; but the general power of the verb makes it very probable that in this second use of it here, there was a sort of intentional equivoque in the writer and speaker, giving force to the expression, by the play on the meaning afforded by the present peculiar circumstances.THEIR RENEWED ZEAL.The apostles, as soon as they were released from this unjust confinement, went directly to their own companions, and reported all that the high priests and elders had said to them. And when the disciples heard of the threats which these tyrannical hierarchs had laid on their persecuted brethren, with one mind they raised a voice to God in a prayer of unequalled beauty and power, in which they called upon the Lord, as the God who had made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all in them, to look down upon them, thus endangered by their devotion to his cause, and to give them all boldness of speech in preaching his word; and to vindicate their authority still further, by stretching out his hand to heal, and by signs and miracles. No sooner had they uttered their prayer than they received new assurance of the help of God, and had new evidence of a divine influence. “The place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled again with the Holy Spirit, and spake the word of God with renewed boldness.” This first attack upon them, by their persecutors, so far from dispiriting or disuniting them, gave them redoubled courage, and bound them together still with the ties of a common danger and a common helper. “All those who believed were of one heart and one soul,” and were so perfectly devoted to each others’ good, that “none of them said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but held them as the common support of all.” And in spite of the repeated denunciations of the Sadducees and the Sanhedrim, the apostles, with great power and effect, bore witness of the resurrection of their Lord; and the result of their preaching was, that they were all in the highest favor with the people. Neither was any one of them suffered to want any comfort or convenience of life; for many that owned houses and lands at a distance, turned them into ready money by selling them, and brought the money thus obtained, to the apostles, with whom they deposited it in trust, for distribution among the needy, according to their circumstances. This was done more particularly by the foreign Jews, many of whom were converted at the pentecost,when, being gathered from all parts, they heard for the first time of the Messiah, from the mouths of his apostles, and saw their words supported by such wonders. Among these was a native of Cyprus, by name Joseph, a Levite, who so distinguished himself by his labors of love among them, and gave such promise of excellence as a teacher of the new faith which he had adopted, that the apostles honored him with a new name, by which he was ever after known, instead of his previous one. They called him Barnabas, which means “the son of exhortation,” no doubt referring to those talents which he afterwards displayed as an eminent and successful minister of the gospel.Raised a voice.——This is literal; and can mean nothing more than the common modern expression, “unite in prayer,” with which it is perfectly synonymous. The judicious Bloomfield (Annotations in Actsiv.24,) observes, “We cannot rationally suppose that this prefatory address was (as some conjecture) not pronouncedextempore, but a pre-composed form of prayer, since the words advert to circumstances not known until that very time; as, for instance, the threatenings of the Sanhedrim, (verse 29,) of which they had been but just then informed; and the wordsἀκουσαντες ὁμοθυμαδον ῃραν φωνηνwill not allow us to imagine any interval between the report of Peter and John, and the prayer.” Kuinoel’s view is precisely the same.Were in the highest favor with the people.——Very different from the common translation, “great grace was upon them all.” But the Greek word,Χαρις, (Kharis,) like the Latingratia, (in the Vulgate,) means primarily “favor;” and the only question is, whether it refers to the favor of God or of man. Beza, Whitby, Doddridge,&c.prefer the former, but Kuinoel justly argues from a comparison of the parallel passages, (ii.47, andiv.34,) that it refers to their increasing influence on the attention and regard of the people, which was indeed the great object of all their preaching and miracles. Grotius, Rosenmueller, Bloomfield and others, also support this view.Deposited in trust.——This is a free, but just version ofετιθουν παρα τους ποδας, (etithoun para tous podas,) Actsiv.35, literally and faithfully rendered in the common translation by “laid at the feet;” but this was an expression very common not only in Hebrew, but in Greek and Latin usage, for the idea of “deposit in trust;” as is shown by Rosenmueller’s apt quotations from Cicero, “ante pedes praetoris in foro expensum est auri pondo centum,” Defence of Flaccus, chapter 28; and from Heliodorus,παντα τα εαυτου τιθεναι παρα τους ποδας βασιλεως. But Kuinoel seems not to think of these, and quotes it as a mere Hebraism.Barnabas, son of exhortation.——This is the translation of this name, which seems best authorized. A fuller account of it will be given in the life of Barnabas.ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA.The great praise and universal gratitude which followed Barnabas, for this noble and self-denying act of pure generosity, was soon after the occasion of a most shameful piece of imposition, ending in an awful expression of divine vengeance. Led by the hope of cheaply winning the same praise and honor which Barnabas had acquired by his simple-minded liberality, a man named Ananias, with the knowledge and aid of his wife Sapphira, having sold a piece of land, brought only a part of the price to the apostles, and deposited it in the general charity-fund, alleging at the same time, that this was the whole amount obtained for the land. But Peter, having reason to believe that this was only apart of the price, immediately questioned Ananias sternly on this point, charging him directly with the crime of lying to God. He remarked to him that the land was certainly his own, and no one could question his right to do just as he pleased with that, or the money obtained for it; since he was under no obligation to give it away to the poor of the church. But since he had of his own accord attempted to get a reputation for generosity, by a base and avaricious act of falsehood, he had incurred the wrath of an insulted God. No sooner had Ananias heard this awful denunciation, than, struck with the vengeance he had brought on himself, he fell lifeless before them, and was carried out to the burial by the attendants. His wife soon after coming in, not having heard of what had happened, boldly maintained her husband’s assertion, and repeated the lie most distinctly to Peter. He then declared his knowledge of her guilt, and made known to her the fate of her husband, which she was doomed to share. The words had hardly left his lips, when they were confirmed by her instant death, and she was at once carried out and laid with her husband. The effect of these shocking events on the minds of the members of the church generally, was very salutary; exhibiting to them the awful consequences of such deliberate and hardened sin.Attendants.——The common English translation here gives the expression, “young men,” which is the primary meaning of the Greekνεανισκοι, (neaniskoi,) and is quite unobjectionable; but the connection here seems to justify and require its secondary use in application to “servants,” “attendants,”&c.This interpretation has the authority of the learned Mosheim, who considers the persons here mentioned, to have been regularly appointed officers, who performed the necessary duties about the assemblies of the disciples, and executed all the commands of the apostles. He says, “unless you suppose theseyoung mento have been of this sort, it is hard to understand why they alone instantly rose up and carried out the bodies of Ananias and his wife, and buried them. But if you suppose them to have been men discharging an official duty in the public assembly, you see a reason why, even without orders, they took that sad duty upon themselves. And that there were public servants of this sort in the first Christian church, no one certainly can doubt, who will imagine for himself either its circumstances or the form of the assemblies of that age. For instance, there were the places of meeting to be cleaned,——the seats and tables to be arranged,——the sacred books to be brought and carried away,——the dishes to be set out and cleared off,——in short, there were many things to be done which absolutely required particular men.” (Mosheim, Commentary de rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum,p.114, b.) This passage is quoted by Kuinoel, and is so clear in its representation of the circumstance, as to justify me in translating it entire.THE INCREASING FAME OF THE APOSTLES.The apostles, daily supported anew by fresh tokens of divine aid, went on in their labors among the people, encouraged by their increasing attention and favor. So deep was the impression of awe made by the late occurrence, that none of the rest of the church dared to mingle familiarly with the apostles, who nowseemed to be indued with the power of calling down the vengeance of God at will, and appeared to be persons too high and awful for common men to be familiar with. Yet the number of the church members, both men and women, continued to enlarge, and the attendance of the people to increase, so that there was no place which would accommodate the vast crowd of hearers and beholders, except the great porch of Solomon, already described, where the apostles daily met the church and the people, to teach and strengthen them, and to work the cures which their Master had so often wrought. So high was the reputation of the apostles, and so numerous were those who came to solicit the favor of their healing power, for themselves or friends, that all could not get access to them even in the vast court of the temple which they occupied, insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, along the path which the apostles were expected to pass, that at least the shadow of Peter, passing by, might overshadow some of them. Nor was this wonderful fame and admiration confined to Jerusalem; for as the news was spread abroad by the pilgrims returning from the pentecost, there came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and those who were affected by evil spirits, and they were healed, every one.Mingle familiarly with them.——Commonly translated, “join himself to them,” which conveys a totally erroneous idea, since all their efforts were given to this end, of making as many as possible “join themselves to them.” The context (verse 14,) shows that their numbers were largely increased by such additions. “Yet no one of the common members (οἱ λοιποι) dared mingle familiarly (κολλασθαι) with them; but the people held them in great reverence.” Actsv.13.Met the church and people.——This distinction may not seem very obvious in a common reading of the Acts, but inv.11, it is very clearly drawn. “Great fear was upon the whole churchandon all the hearers of these things.” And throughout the chapter, a nice discrimination is made betweenὁ λαος, (ho laos,) “the people,” or “the congregation,” andἡ εκκλησια, (he ekklesia,) “the church.” See Kuinoel inv.13, 14.The shadow of Peter.——This is one of a vast number of passages which show that high and perfectly commanding pre-eminence of this apostolic chief. The people evidently considered Peter as concentrating all the divine and miraculous power in his own person, and had no idea at all of obtaining benefit from anything that the minor apostles could do. In him, alone, they saw the manifestations of divine power and authority;——he spoke and preached and healed, and judged and doomed, while the rest had nothing to do but assent and aid. Peter, then,wasTHEgreat pastor of the church, and it is every way desirable that over-zealous Protestants would find some better reason for opposing so palpable a fact, than simply that Papists support it.THEIR SECOND SEIZURE AND TRIAL.The triumphant progress of the new sect, however, was not unnoticed by those who had already taken so decided a stand against it. The Sadducees, who had so lately come out against them,were not yet disposed to leave the apostles to enjoy their boldness with impunity. The high priest Annas, who had always been the determined enemy of Christ, belonging to the Sadducean sect, was easily led to employ all his authority with his brethren, against the apostles. He at last, provoked beyond endurance at their steady and unflinching contempt of the repeated solemn injunction of the Sanhedrim, whose president and agent he was, rose up in all his anger and power, and, backed by his friends, seized the apostles and put them into the common jail, as inveterate disturbers of the peace of the city, and of the religious order of the temple. This commitment was intended to be merely temporary, and was to last only until a convenient time could be found for bringing them to trial, when the crowd of strangers should have retired from the city to their homes, and the excitement attendant on the preaching and miracles of the apostles should have subsided, so that the ordinary course of law might go on safely, even against these popular favorites, and they might be brought at last to the same fate as their Master. After the achievment of this project, “a consummation most devoutly to be wished” by every friend of the established order of things, the sect which was now making such rapid advances would fall powerless and lifeless, when its great heads were thus quietly lopped off. This seems to have been their well-arranged plan,——but it was destined to be spoiled in a way unlooked for; and this first step in it was to be made the means of a new triumph to the persecuted subjects of it. That very night, the prison doors were opened by a messenger of God, by whom the apostles were brought out of their confinement, and told, “Go, stand and speak in the temple, to the people, all the words of this life.” According to this divine command, they went into the temple and taught, early in the morning, probably before their luxurious tyrants had left their lazy pillows. While the apostles were thus coolly following their daily labors of mercy in the temple, the high priest and his train called the council together, and the whole senate of all the children of Israel, and having deliberately arrayed themselves in the forms of law, they ordered the imprisoned heretics to be brought forthwith into the awful presence of this grand council and senate of the Jewish nation and faith. The officers, of course, as in duty bound, went to execute the order, but soon returned to report the important deficiency of the persons most needed to complete the solemn preparation for the trial. Their report was simply, “The prison trulywe found shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without, before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within.” Here was a non-plus, indeed; all proceedings were brought to a stand at once; and “when the high priest and the chief officer of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them, whereunto they would grow.” But these eminent dignitaries were not left long to perplex their sage heads about the unworthy objects of their tender solicitude; for some faithful sycophant, rejoicing in such a glorious opportunity to serve the powers that were, came running to tell them, “Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” This very simple but valuable piece of information relieved the grave judges very happily from their unfortunate quandary; and without further delay, a detachment of officers was sent to bring these unaccountable runaways to account. But as it appeared that the criminals were now in the midst of a vast assemblage of their friends, who were too perfectly devoted to them to suffer them to receive any violence, it was agreed to manage the thing as quietly and easily as might be, and to coax them away if possible to the tribunal. To insure the still and effectual performance of this order, the captain of the temple himself went with the officers, and quietly drew the apostles away, with their own consent, and without any violence; for the minions of the law knew perfectly well that the least show of injury towards these righteous men, would insure to those who attempted it, broken heads and bones, from the justly provoked people, whose deserved indignation would soon make the very stones to rise in mutiny for the defence of their beloved teachers and benefactors. The apostles themselves, however, showed no unwillingness whatever to appear before their bitter persecutors again, and presented themselves accordingly, with bold unflinching fronts, before the bar of the Sanhedrim. When they were fairly set before the council, the high priest, turning his lately perplexed face into “a look of austere dignity,” asked them, “Did we not particularly charge you, that you should not teach in his name? And now, indeed, in open contempt of our authority, you have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine, and mean to bring this man’s blood upon us?” They, the high priest and his supporters, had, at no small pains and trouble, effected the death of Jesus, and had naturally hoped that there would be an end of him; but here now were his disciples constantly using his name to the excitable populacein their daily teachings, thus keeping alive the memory of these painful incidents which it was so desirable to forget, and slowly plotting the means of avenging upon the Sanhedrim the death of their Master. To this sort of address, Peter and all the other apostles, who now shared the fate of their two distinguished friends, replied, even as had been said on the previous summons, “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree: him now has God uplifted to sit beside his own right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, to give to Israel a change of heart and views, and remission of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and what is far more, so also is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey him, as the reward and the sign of their obedience.” This bold and solemn speech, breathing nothing but resistance against all hindrances, and steady persistance in their course,——and denouncing, too, as murderers, the judges, while it exalted their victim to honors the highest in the universe, was not at all calculated to conciliate the friendly regard of the hearers of it, but roused them to the most violent and deadly hate. Deeply wounded and insulted as they were, they determined to try remonstrance no longer; but in spite of the danger of popular ferment, to silence these audacious bravers of their authority, in death. While they were on the point of pronouncing this cruel decision, the proceedings were stayed by Gamaliel, a man of vast learning and influence, an eminent Pharisee of great popularity, and beyond all the men of that age, in knowledge of the law of Moses and of Hebrew literature. This great man, rising up in the midst of their wrathful resolutions, moved to suspend the decision for a few minutes, and to withdraw the prisoners from the bar, until the court could form their opinions by deliberating with more freedom than they could in the presence of the subjects of the trial. As soon as the apostles were put out of the court, Gamaliel addressed them, prompted by a noble humanity, as well as by a deep knowledge of human nature, and acting in accordance, also, with the general principles of the Pharisees, who were very averse to cruelty and bloodshed, and were generally disposed to punish even criminals in the mildest ways. Possibly, too, he might have been affected by some jealousy of the forwardness of the rival sect. His words were these: “Men of Israel! take care what you do to these men. For you know that, not long ago, rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, and gathereda gang about him, to the number of four hundred. But as soon as the attention of our Roman masters was drawn to his outrageous doings, they put him entirely down at once, killing him and breaking up his band, by slaughter and banishment; so that without any trouble or exertion on our part, all this sedition was brought to nought. And when, after him, Judas the Galilean raised a great party about him, in the days of the taxing, this rebellion against the government met with the same inevitable fate, from the resistless soldiery of Rome; and all this was done without any need of interference from us. And now, with these remarkable instances in view, I warn you to let these men alone, and leave them to determine their fate by their own future conduct. For if, in all their active efforts of seeming benevolence, they have been prompted by any base ambition to head a faction, which may raise them to the supreme power in religious and political affairs, and by a revengeful wish to punish those concerned in the death of their Master;——if, in short, their plan or their work is a mere contrivance of men, it will come to nought of itself, without your interference, as did the two miserable riots which I have just mentioned. But if, inspired by a holier principle of action, they are laboring with pure love of their converts; if all these wonderful cures which you consider mere tricks and impostures, shall prove to be true miracles, wrought by the hand of God, and if their plan be of God,——you cannot overthrow it; and do you look to it, sirs, that you do not find yourselves at last fighting against God.” This noble and sensible speech, aided by the high rank and great weight of character which belonged to the speaker, instantly hushed all the lately outrageous proposals which had been made against the prisoners. If there were any in the council who did not feel satisfied with his reasoning, they were wise enough to acquiesce, with at least the appearance of content. They knew too well, that Gamaliel, supported by his unbounded popularity with the whole nation, and his eminently exalted character for justice and virtue, was abundantly able to put down every appearance of opposition, and set the apostles free, in spite of high priest and Sadducees. Adopting his resolution, therefore, they called in the apostles, and having vented their paltry malice by beating them, and having exposed themselves to new contempt by repeating their oft-despised command, that the apostles should not speak in the name of Jesus, they let them go, being fully assured that the first use the apostles would make of their freedom would be to break this idleinjunction. For they went out of the judgment-hall, rejoicing that they were honored by suffering this shameful treatment in their Master’s name. They now recalled to mind his early words of encouragement, which he had given them in a wise determination to prepare them for evils of which they had then so little notion. The passage from the sermon on the mount was particularly appropriate to their present circumstances. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my name’s sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” Comforted by such words as these, they returned to their labors as before, and daily, in the temple, and moreover in private houses, ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ, in the very face of the express prohibition of their thwarted persecutors.Messenger.——This is a fair and literal interpretation ofαγγελος, (angelos,) and one justifiable in every place where it occurs in the Bible. Wherever it is applied to a supernatural being sent from God, the connection will abundantly explain the term, without rendering it by a different word. Thus I have chosen to do, and to leave each reader to judge for himself, from the other attendant circumstances, of the character of themessenger. See Kuinoel in loc.All the words of this life.——I here follow the common translation, though Kuinoel and most interpreters consider this as ahypallage, and transpose it into “all these words of life.” But it does not seem necessary to take such a liberty with the expression, since the common version conveys a clear idea. “The words ofthislife” evidently can mean only the words ofthatlife which they had before preached, in accordance with their commission; that is, of life from the dead, as manifested in the resurrection of Jesus, which was in itself the pledge and promise of life and bliss eternal, to all who should hear and believe these “words.” This view is supported by Storr, and a similar one is advanced by Rosenmueller, in preference to anyhypallage.Change of heart.——I have in general given this translation ofΜετανοειτε, (Metanoeite,) as more minutely faithful to the etymology of the word, and also accordant with popular religious forms of expression; though the common translation is unobjectionable.Deeply wounded.——In the Greek,διεπριοντο, (dieprionto,) fromδιαπριω, “to saw through;” in the passive, of course, “to be sawn through,” or figuratively, “deeply wounded in the moral feelings.” This is the commonly translated, “cut to the heart,” which I have adopted, with such a variation of the words as will assimilate it most nearly to common modern forms of expression. But Kuinoel prefers the peculiar force of the middle voice, (where this word can be made, owing to the identity of the imperfect tenses of the two voices,) given by Hesychius, “to gnash the teeth,” doubtless taken from the similarity of sound between “sawing,” and “grating the teeth.” This sense being also highly appropriate here, to men in a rage, makes the passage perfectly ambiguous, and accordingly great authorities divide on the point. In such cases, it seems to me perfectly fair to consider the phrase as originally intended for an equivoque. Luke was Grecian enough, doubtless, to know the two meanings of this form, and must have been very careless if he did not think of it as he wrote it down; but either meaning is powerfully expressive of the idea here, and why should he reject or explain it? It is rather an advantage and a charm than otherwise, in a language, to possess this ambiguity, making occasionally a richly expressive play of meanings.It seems, however, more in accordance with Luke’s ordinary expressions, to prefer the passive sense, as in Actsvii.54,ταις καρδιαις(“to their hearts”) is added, there, of course, requiring the passive. For similar forms of expression, see Lukeii.35: Actsii.37.——Consult Bretschneider in loc. In favor of the passive sense, see Bloomfield, Rosenmueller, Wolf, Hammond and Gataker. On the middle sense, Kuinoel, Beza and Wetstein.Gamaliel.——I shall give a full account of this venerable sage, in the beginning of the life of Paul.In the temple and in private houses.——Actsvi.42. In the Greek,κατ’ οἶκον, (kat’ oikon,) the same expression as inii.46, alluded to in my note on pages139,140. Here too occurs precisely the same connection withἐν τῳ ἱερῳ, (en to hiero,) with the same sense of opposition in place, there alluded to. The indefinite sense, then, rather than thedistributive, is proper here as there, showing that they preached and taught not only in their great place of assembly, under the eastern colonnade of the temple, (v.12,) but also in private houses, that is, at their home, or those of their friends. The expression “from house to house,” however, is much less objectionablehere, because in this passage it can give only anindefiniteidea of place, without any particular idea ofrotation; but in the other passage, in connection with “the taking of food,” it makes an erroneous impression of their mode of life, which the text is meant to describe.THE APPOINTMENT OF DEACONS.The successful progress of their labors had now gathered around them a great church, numbering among its members a vast throng both of Hebrew and of foreign Jews. The apostles being devoted wholly to their high duties of prayer and preaching, were unable to superintend particularly the daily distribution of the means of support to the needy, out of the charity-fund which had been gathered from the generous contributions of the wealthy members of the church. Among the foreign Jews who had joined the fraternity of the disciples, were many of those who, by education, language and manners, though not by race or religion, were Greeks. These, with the proselytes, being fewer than those who adhered to the genuine manners and language of Palestine, had comparatively little weight in the administration of the affairs of the church, and had no hand in the distribution to the church poor. Being a minority, and being moreover looked on with invidious eyes by the genuine Hebrews, as a sort of half renegades, they were overlooked and put back, in the daily ministration to the needy, and to such a degree, that even the helpless widows among them were absolutely suffering through this neglect. The natural consequence was, that murmurs and open complaints arose among them, at this shameful and unbrotherly partiality. As soon as the report of the difficulty reached the ears of the twelve, they immediately called a full church-meeting, and laid the matter before it in these words. “It is not proper that we should leave the preaching of the word of God, to wait on tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven reputable men, full of a holy spirit and of wisdom, whom we may intrust with this business;while we continue to give our time up wholly to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This wise plan pleased all parties, and the church proceeded to elect the proper persons for the charge. To soothe the feelings of the Hellenists, the whole seven were chosen from their number, as the names (which are all Greek) fully show. This makes it probable that there were already persons appointed from among the Hebrews, who had administered these charities from the beginning, and whose partial management of these matters had given offense to those whom they slighted. The seven Hellenists now chosen to this office, were Stephen, resplendent in spiritual and intellectual endowments; Philip, also highly distinguished afterwards by his successful preaching; Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch; by which last circumstance, (as well as by the case of Barnabas,) is shown the fact that some Hellenist converts, from a distance, had settled at Jerusalem, and permanently joined the followers of Christ. These seven being formally elected by the church, were brought in before the apostles, for approval and confirmation. And after they had prayed, they laid their hands on them, in token of imparting to them the blessing and the power of that divine influence which had inspired its previous possessors to deeds so energetic and triumphant. The efficiency of this prayer and benediction, in calling down divine grace on the heads thus touched by the hands of the apostles, was afterwards most remarkably demonstrated in the case of two of the seven, and in the case of the first of them, almost immediately.Greeks.——The original word here is notἙλληνες, (Hellenes,) butἙλληνιστοι, (Hellenistoi,) which means notGrecians, butGrecizers; that is, those who imitated Grecian language or customs.Genuine Hebrews.——By these are meant those who used the Hebrew language still in their synagogues, as the only sacred tongue, and looked with much scorn on the Hellenists, that is, those foreign Jews, who, from birth or residence in other lands, had learned the Greek as their sole language in common life, and were thus obliged to use the Greek translation, in order to understand the scriptures. This matter will have a fuller discussion in another place. Lightfoot has brought a most amazing quantity of learned and valuable illustration of this difference, from Talmudic literature. (Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Actsvi.1.)CHRIST’S FIRST MARTYR.Stephen, after thus being set apart for the service of the church, though faithfully discharging the peculiar duties to which he was called, did not confine his labors to the mere administration of the public charities. The word of God had now so spread, under the ministry of the apostles, that the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was greatly enlarged, and that not merely from thelower and ignorant orders; but a great number of the priests, who, in their daily service in the temple, had been frequently unintentional hearers of the word preached in its courts, now professed themselves the submissive friends of the new faith. This remarkable increase excited public attention more and more, and required redoubled exertions to meet the increasing call for instruction. Stephen, therefore, immediately entered boldly and heartily on this good work; and, inspired by a pure faith, and the confidence of help from above, he wrought among the people such miracles as had hitherto followed only the ministry of the apostles. The bold actions of this new champion did not fail to excite the wrath of the enemies of the cause of Christ; but as the late decision of the Sanhedrim had been against any further immediate resort to violent measures, his opponents confined themselves to the forms of verbal debate for a while. As Stephen was one of those Jews who had adopted the Greek language and habits, and probably directed his labors more particularly to that class of persons, he soon became peculiarly obnoxious to those Hellenist Jews who still held out against the new doctrine. Of the numerous congregations of foreign Jews that filled Jerusalem, five in particular are mentioned as distinguishing themselves by this opposition,——that of the freed-men, or captive Jews once slaves in Rome, and their descendants,——that of the Cyrenians,——of the Alexandrians,——the Cilicians and the Asians. Some of the more zealous in all these congregations came out to meet Stephen in debate, with the polished points of Grecian logic which their acquaintance with that language enabled them to use against him. But not all the combined powers of sacred and profane literature availed any thing against their learned and inspired opponent. Prepared beforehand, thoroughly, in all sorts of wisdom, and borne on resistlessly, moreover, by that divine influence whose movements they could see but could not understand, he foiled them completely at all their own weapons, and exposed them, in their low bigotry and stupidity, baffled and silenced by his single voice. But among all the refinements and elegances with which their classical knowledge had made them acquainted, they had failed to learn that noblest effort of the rhetorical art, which is to know how to bear a fair defeat in open debate, gracefully. These low-minded, half-renegade bigots, burning with brutal rage for this defeat, which their base behavior made more disgraceful, determined to find a means of punishing him, which no logic nor rhetoriccould resist. They found men base enough for their vile purposes, and instructed them to testify that they had heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. On the strength of this heinous charge, they made out to rouse some of the people, as well as the elders and the scribes, to a similar hostile feeling; and coming upon him with a throng of these, they seized him and dragged him away to the Sanhedrim, to undergo the form of a trial. They then brought forward their perjured witnesses, who testified only in vague terms of abuse, “This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus, the Nazarene, will destroy this place, and will do away with the customs which Moses delivered to us.” This was, after all, a kind of accusation which brought him more particularly under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, whose leader had lately so decidedly befriended the apostles; for that sect guarded with the most jealous care all the minute details of their religion, and were ever ready to punish, as a traitor to the national faith and honor, any one who spoke slightingly, or even doubtingly, of the perpetuity of the law of Moses, and its hallowed shrine. Perhaps there was no one of all the sayings of Jesus himself, which had given deeper offense than his remark about destroying the temple and re-building it in three days, which his silly hearers took up seriously, and construed into a serious, blasphemous insult of the chief glory of the Jewish name, and bore it in mind so bitterly, as to throw it back on him, in his last agonies on the cross. Such a saying, therefore, when laid to the charge of Stephen, could not but rouse the worst feelings against him, in the hearts of all his judges. But he, calm and undisturbed amid the terrors of this trial, as he had been in the fury of the dispute, bore such an aspect of composure, that all who sat in the council were struck with his angelic look. The high priest, however, having heard the accusation, solemnly called on the prisoner to say “whether these things were so.” Stephen then, with a determination to meet the charge by a complete exhibition of his views of the character and objects of the Jewish faith, ran over the general history of its rise and progress, and of the opinions which its founders and upholders had expressed concerning the importance and the perpetuity of those types and forms, and of the glorious temple which was their chief seat, when compared with the revelation to be expected through the prophet promised tothem by God and foretold by Moses. Warming as he went on, he quoted the poetical words of Isaiah, on the dwelling-place of the Almighty, as not being confined to the narrow bounds of the building which was to them an object of such idolatrous reverence, as the sole place of Jehovah’s abode, but as being high in the heavens, whence his power and love spread their boundless grasp over sea and land, and all nations that dwelt beneath his throne. As the words of the prophet of the fire-touched lips rolled from the voice of Stephen, they kindled his soul into an ecstacy of holy wrath; and in open scorn of their mean cruelty, he broke away from the plan of his discourse, bursting out into burning expressions of reproach and denunciation, which carried their rage away beyond all bounds of reason. Conscious of their physical power to avenge the insult, the mob instantly rose up, and hurried him away from the court, without regard to the forms of law; and taking him without the city, they stoned him to death, while he invoked on them, not the wrath, but the mercy of their common God. In such prayers, gloriously crowning such labors and sufferings, he fell asleep, commending his spirit to the hands of that Lord and Savior, whom it was his exalted honor to follow, first of all, through the bitter agonies of a bloody death.THE PERSECUTION.Among the nameless herd of Stephen’s murderers and disputants, there was one only whose name has been preserved from the impenetrable oblivion which hides their infamy. And that name now is brought to the mind of every Christian reader, without one emotion of indignation or contempt, for its connection with this bloody murder. That man is now known to hundreds of millions, and has been for centuries known to millions of millions, as the bright leader of the hosts of the ransomed, and the faithful martyr who sealed with his blood the witness which this proto-martyr bore beneath the messengers of death to which his voice had doomed him. In the synagogue of the Cilicians, which was so active in the attack on Stephen, was a young man, who was not behind the oldest and the fiercest, in the steady, unrelenting hate which he bore to this devouring heresy. He gave his voice amid the clamors of the mob, to swell the cry for the death of the heretic; and when the stout murderers hurled the deadly missiles on the martyr’s naked head, it was he who took charge of the loose garments which they had thrown off, that they might use their limbs with greater freedom. Neither thesight of the saintly martyr, kneeling unresistingly to meet his bloody death, nor the sound of his voice, rising in the broken tones of the death-agony, in prayer for his murderers, could move the deep hate of this young zealot, to the least relenting; but the whole scene only led him to follow this example of merciless persecution, which he here viewed with such deep delight. Abundant opportunities for the exercise of this persecuting spirit soon occurred. In connection with the charge against Stephen, which, however unfounded, brought him to this illegal death, there was a general and systematic disturbance raised by the same persons, against the church in Jerusalem, more particularly directed, as it would seem, against the Hellenist members, who were involved, by general suspicion, in the same crime for which Stephen, their eminent brother, had suffered. Saul now distinguished himself at once above all others, by the active share which he took in this persecution. Raging against the faithful companions of the martyred Stephen, he, with the most inquisitorial zeal, sought them out, even in their own quiet dwellings, and violating the sanctity of home, he dragged out the inmates to prison, visiting even on helpless women the crime of believing as their consciences prompted, and without regard to delicacy or decency, shutting them up in the public dungeons. As soon as the storm began to burst on the new converts, those who were in any special danger of attack very properly sought safety in flight from the city, in accordance with the wise and merciful injunction laid upon the apostles by their Lord, when he first sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,——“When they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” The consequences of this dispersion, however, were such as to turn the foolish rage of the persecutors to the solid advantage of the cause of Christ, and to show in what a variety of ways God can cause the wrath of man to praise him. For all those who were thus driven out of their peaceful homes, became missionaries of the word of truth, among the people of the various cities and countries through which they were scattered. All those of whose wanderings we have any account, seem to have journeyed northward and north-westward, probably all of them foreign Jews, who naturally returned home when driven out of Jerusalem. Some of these went, in this way, to the Phoenician coast, to Antioch, and to Cyprus, all laboring to extend the knowledge of that truth for which they were willing sufferers. But of all those who went forth on this forced mission, none appear tohave been more successful than Philip, who stood next to the martyred Stephen on the list of the seven Hellenist servants of the church, and who appears to have been second not even to his great fellow-servant in ability and energy. His home was in Caesarea, on the sea-coast; but he had higher objects than merely to take refuge in his own domestic circle; for instead of thus indulging his feelings of natural affection, he also turned his course northward, and made his first sojourn in the city of Samaria, where he immediately began to preach Christ to them, as the common Messiah, so long desired by Samaritans as well as Jews. Here, the people being ruled by no tyrannical sectaries, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the various orders of ecclesiastical power in Jerusalem, were left entirely to follow the impulse of their better feelings towards the truth, without the fear of any inquisition into their movements. Under these happy circumstances of religious freedom, they all with one accord gave heed to the preaching of Philip, hearing and seeing the wonderful works of kindness which he did. For foul spirits, which, possessing many sufferers, had long wasted their bodies and deranged their minds, now at the word of this preacher of Christ, came out of many of them, crying with a loud voice in attestation of the irresistible power which had overcome them. Many also that were affected with palsies and that were lame, were healed in the same miraculous manner; so that, in consequence of this removal of so many bodily and spiritual evils, there was great joy in the city, at the arrival of this messenger of mercy. But before the coming of Philip, the people of Samaria had been the subjects of arts of a somewhat different kind, from a man who could claim for his works none of the holy character of disinterested humanity, which belonged to those of the preacher of Christ. This was one Simon, a man who, by the use of some magical tricks, had so imposed upon the simple-minded citizens, that they were profoundly impressed with the notion, which he was anxious to make them believe, namely, that he was a great man. To him they all, both young and old, paid the deepest reverence, in consequence of the triumphant ability displayed by him in the arts of sorcery; and so low were their notions of the nature of miraculous agency, that they concluded that the tricks which he played were tokens of divine interposition in his favor, and universally allowed that he was himself a personification of the mighty power of God. But when Philip came among them, and exhibited the genuineworkings of the holy spirit of God, they immediately saw how much they had been mistaken in their previous estimate of its operations, and changed their degraded notions, for a more just appreciation of its character. On hearing the word of truth so fully revealed and supported, they believed in the new view which he gave them of the kingdom of God on earth, and in the name of Jesus Christ; and were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself, overwhelmed with the evidences of a higher power than any that he knew, confessed the fallacy of his own tricks, and submissively owned the power of God as manifested in the words and deeds of Philip, with whom he now remained, a humble and wondering observer of the miracles and signs wrought by him.THE VISIT TO SAMARIA.In the mean time, the apostles had remained at Jerusalem, apparently not directly affected by the persecution against Stephen and his friends, or at least not disturbed by it so as to be prevented from remaining at their original post, in the discharge of duty. For, a true regard for the instructions long ago given them by their Master, would have required them to leave Jerusalem, if the opposition to their preaching became so settled and extensive as to prevent them from advancing the cause of Christ there, more rapidly than they might in other places. The spirit with which they had been taught to meet tyrannical opposition, was not one of idle bravado or useless pertinacity, but of deliberate and calculating steadiness in their plan, which knew when to prudently give way, as well as when to boldly withstand. It is therefore fair to conclude, that the persecution here referred to, was so limited as not to be directed against the apostles themselves, nor to hinder their useful labors. If any of them had been imprisoned during this persecution, certainly the rest would have been blamable for not escaping; but the fact that they remained perfectly free, appears from their leaving the city without delay, on the occasion which now required their presence and assistance elsewhere. For as soon as they heard of the preaching of Philip at Samaria, and of the willingness with which the Samaritans had received and believed the first communications of the word, they immediately sent to them Peter and John, who, as the chief teachers of the doctrines of Christ, might give the new converts a fuller preparation for their duties in their calling, than could be expected from one so lately commissioned as thezealous preacher who had first awakened them. These two great apostles, having come down to Samaria, prayed for the believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for this heavenly gift had not yet been imparted to them; the only sign of their acceptance into the new faith having been their baptism by the hands of Philip, who does not seem to have been empowered to indue others with the same divine spirit which he had so abundantly received on himself. But the apostles laying their hands on them, as they had before done with such powerful effect on Stephen, Philip and their fellow-servants, now also inspired these second fruits with the same divine energy, which was instantly made manifest in them, by the usual signs. As soon as Simon saw the display of the new powers, with which those were suddenly gifted who had been made the subjects of this simple ceremony, he immediately concluded that he had at last found out the means of acquiring those miraculous powers at which he had been so deeply amazed, and which he thought he could make vastly profitable to himself in his business, as a very decided improvement upon his old tricks. Thinking only of the motive which always movedhismind to the bestowment of such favors, he immediately took out the money he had gained by his impositions on the people, and offered the apostles a handsome share of it, if they would simply give him the valuable privilege of conferring this divine agency on all upon whom he should lay his hands, in the same manner as they. But his mercenary hopes were soon blasted by the indignant terms in which Peter rejected his insulting proposal. “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be bought with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Change thy mind, therefore, from this wickedness of thine, and ask God, if indeed there is any possibility, that the iniquity of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I see that thou art still full of the bitterness of thy former poisons, and bound fast in the chains of thy old iniquities.” Simon, hushed and overawed in his impertinent offers by this stern rebuke, sunk into a penitent tone again, and begged of them that they would pray for him, that the doom to perish with his money, as declared by Peter, might not fall on him. Of the depth and sincerity of his penitence, no good testimony is left us; but his submissive conduct, at best, seems to have been rather the result of a personal awe of the apostles, as his superiors in supernaturalpowers, than prompted by any true regard for their pure faith, or any just appreciation of their character and motives. The apostles, however, waited no longer to enlighten the mind of one so dark in his views of the divine agency; but after they had borne witness to the truth of Philip’s words and doctrines by their own preaching, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans, on the way. Philip also, having had his labors thus triumphantly crowned by the ministrations of the apostles, left Samaria, and turned his course southwards, towards Gaza, under the impulse and guidance of a divine spirit. On this journey, occurred his most interesting adventure with the lord high treasurer of the Ethiopian queen, after which Philip was found at Ashdod, on the sea, from which place, journeying northwards again, he went preaching through all the towns on the coast, till he arrived at his home, at Caesarea.JAFFA——JOPPA.THE BEGINNING OF PEACE.Soon after the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, an event occurred, which had a more mighty influence on the progress of the Christian religion than any other that had occurred since the ascension of Jesus. The members of the church who still withstood the storm of persecution in the city, were struck with no small amazement by the sudden appearance, before them, of Saul of Tarsus, the most bloody persecutor of their Hellenist brethren, who, having exhausted the opportunities for the gratification of his spite against them in Jerusalem, had gone to Damascus, to seize such as there supposed themselves safe in following the new faith. This man, yet stained, as it were, with the blood of Stephen, now presented himself to them as a convert to the gospel, prepared to join them as a brother. The whole affair seemed to bear so decidedly the aspect of a palpable imposition, that they altogether refused to have any thing to do with him, and suspected the whole to be a deep-laid snare, on the part of this bloody foe of the gospel, who now appeared to be seeking, by false professions, to get into their confidence, that he might have the means of betraying them to utter ruin. But Barnabas, who was better acquainted with Saul, detailed to the church all the wonderful circumstances so fully, that they no longer hesitated to receive him as a brother and fellow-laborer. This remarkable conversion was of vast benefit to the cause of the gospel, not only by bringing to its aid the services of a laborer so competent, but also by removing from among its adversaries one who had been a leaderand a contriver of every plot of mischief. As soon as he left the ranks of the foe, the vindictive persecution, which had raged ever since the death of Stephen, ceased, as though it had lost its great author and main support, by the defection of Saul of Tarsus. Indeed, the last act of this persecution, which is recorded, was directed against this very man, who had once been a leader in it, and drove him out of the city which had been the scene of his cruelties. Therefore, the churches had rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, strengthening and advancing in piety, and filled with the impulses of the Holy Spirit. This opportunity of quiet seemed peculiarly favorable for a minute survey of the condition of these scattered churches, most of which had grown up without any direct agency of the apostles, and therefore needed their attention at this critical period.THE SURVEY OF THE CHURCHES.The most proper person for this responsible charge, was the great leader of the apostolic band; and Peter, therefore, taking the task readily upon himself, went through all the churches, to give them the advantages of the minute personal ministry of a chief apostle, who might organize them, and instruct the disciples in their peculiar duties as members of a new religious community. On this tour of duty, passing down from the interior towards the sea-coast, he came to Lydda, about forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem, and about twelve from the sea. Here there was a company of the faithful, whom he visited, to instruct them anew, and to enlarge their numbers, by his preaching and miracles. A particular case is recorded as having occurred here, which displayed both the compassion of Peter and his divine power to heal and strengthen. Among the friends of Christ whom he visited here, was an invalid, whose name, Aeneas, shows him to have been a Hellenist. This man had for the long period of eight years been deprived of the use of his limbs, by a palsy, which, during that tedious interval, confined him to his bed. Peter, on seeing him, said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals thee. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself.” The command to spread and smooth the couch, which he now quitted in health, was given, that he might show and feel, at once, how fully strength was restored to his hands as well as his feet. This miracle soon became known, not only to the citizens of Lydda, but also to the people inhabiting the extensive and fertile plain of Sharon, which stretched to the northward of Lydda, along the coast,from Joppa to Caesarea, bounded on the west by the highlands of Samaria. The effect of this display of power and benevolence, was such, on their minds, that, without exception, they professed their faith in Christ.Lydda.——This was a place of far more importance and fame, than would be supposed from the brief mention of its name in the apostolic narrative. It is often mentioned in the writings of the Rabbins, under the name ofלוד(Ludh,) its original Hebrew name, and was long the seat of a great college of Jewish law and theology, which at this very period of Peter’s visit was in its most flourishing state. This appears from the fact that Rabbi Akiba, who raised the school to its greatest eminence, was contemporary with the great Rabban Gamaliel, who bears an important part in the events of the apostolic history. (The data of this chronological inference I find in Lightfoot.) It is easy to see, then, why so important a seat of Jewish theology should have been thought deserving of the particular notice and protracted stay of Peter, who labored with remarkable earnestness and effect here, inspired by the consciousness of the lasting and extensive good, that would result from an impression made on this fountain of religious knowledge. The members of the college, however, did not all, probably, profess themselves followers of Christ.It is also described as possessing some importance in addition to its literary privileges. Josephus (AntiquitiesXX.vi.3.) mentions “Lydda” as “a village not inferior to a city in greatness.” Its importance was, no doubt, in a great measure derived from the remarkably rich agricultural district which surrounded it. This was the plain of Sharon, so celebrated in the Hebrew scriptures for its fruitful fields and rich pastures,——its roses and its flocks. (Solomon’s Songii.1: Isaiahxxxiii.9:xxxv.2:lxv.10: 1 Chroniclesxxvii.29.) “All this country is described by Pococke as very rich soil, throwing up a great quantity of herbage; among which he specifies chardons, rue, fennel, and the striped thistle, ‘probably on this account called the holy thistle.’ A great variety of anemonies, he was told, grow in the neighborhood. ‘I saw likewise,’ he adds, ‘many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March;) and any one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye, would be apt to conjecture that these are the lilies to which Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be compared.’”——[Modern Traveler,p.57.] Its distance from Jerusalem is ascertained, by Lightfoot, to be one day’s journey, as it is stated with some circumlocution in the Mishna. It was destroyed, as Josephus relates, by Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who marched his army through that region, in the beginning of the war, which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. Under the peaceful times of the later Roman sway in Palestine, it was rebuilt, and called Diospolis. But like many other such instances, it has lost its temporary heathen name, and is now called by its old scripture appellation,Ludd. Travelers describe it as now a poor village, though the stones to be seen in the modern buildings show that it has been a place of great consequence.The New Testament nameLydda, (Λυδδα,) by which Josephus also mentions it, is only so much changed from the HebrewLudh, as was necessary to accommodate it to the regular forms and inflexions of the Greek language. Lightfoot well refutes the blunder of many modern geographers who make the two names refer to different places. This learned author is remarkably full in the description of this place, and is very rich in references to the numerous allusions which are made to it in the Talmudic writings. See hisCenturia Chorographica, (Chapter 16,) prefixed to Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Matthew.Aeneas.——This name is unquestionably Greek, which seems to show the man to have been a Hellenist; and that he was already a believer in Christ, would appear from the fact of Peter’s finding him among the brethren there.

THE FIRST SEIZURE OF THE APOSTLES.While the apostles were thus occupied in speaking words of wisdom to the attentive people, they were suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the guards of the temple, who, under the command of their captain, came up to the apostles, and seizing them in the midst of their discourse, dragged them away to prison, where they were shut up, for examination on the next day, before the civil and ecclesiastical court of the Jews. This act of violence was committed by order of the priests who had the care of the temple, more immediately instigated by the Sadducees, who were present with the priests and guards when the arrest was made. The reason why this sect, in general not active in persecuting Jesus and his followers, were now provoked to this act of unusual hostility, was, that the apostles were now preaching a doctrine directly opposed to the main principles of Sadducism. The assertion that Jesus had actually risen from the dead, so boldly made by the apostles, must, if the people believed it, entirely overthrow their confidence in the Sadducees, who absolutely denied the existence of a spirit, and the possibility of a resurrection of the dead. It was now evening, and the apostles being thus dragged away abruptly, in the midst of their discourse, the people were obliged to disperse for the night, without hearing all that the speakers had intended to say; yet even the fragment of discourse which they had heard, was not without a mighty effect. So convincing and moving were these few words of Peter, and so satisfactory was the evidence of the miracle, thatalmost the whole multitude of hearers and beholders seems to have come over in a mass to the faith of Christ; for converts to the astonishing number of five thousand are mentioned by the sacred historian, who all professed their belief in Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, and the healing.

THE FIRST SEIZURE OF THE APOSTLES.

While the apostles were thus occupied in speaking words of wisdom to the attentive people, they were suddenly interrupted by the entrance of the guards of the temple, who, under the command of their captain, came up to the apostles, and seizing them in the midst of their discourse, dragged them away to prison, where they were shut up, for examination on the next day, before the civil and ecclesiastical court of the Jews. This act of violence was committed by order of the priests who had the care of the temple, more immediately instigated by the Sadducees, who were present with the priests and guards when the arrest was made. The reason why this sect, in general not active in persecuting Jesus and his followers, were now provoked to this act of unusual hostility, was, that the apostles were now preaching a doctrine directly opposed to the main principles of Sadducism. The assertion that Jesus had actually risen from the dead, so boldly made by the apostles, must, if the people believed it, entirely overthrow their confidence in the Sadducees, who absolutely denied the existence of a spirit, and the possibility of a resurrection of the dead. It was now evening, and the apostles being thus dragged away abruptly, in the midst of their discourse, the people were obliged to disperse for the night, without hearing all that the speakers had intended to say; yet even the fragment of discourse which they had heard, was not without a mighty effect. So convincing and moving were these few words of Peter, and so satisfactory was the evidence of the miracle, thatalmost the whole multitude of hearers and beholders seems to have come over in a mass to the faith of Christ; for converts to the astonishing number of five thousand are mentioned by the sacred historian, who all professed their belief in Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, and the healing.

The guards of the temple,&c.——This was the same set of men above described, as made up of the Levite porters and watchmen of the temple. See note on page111. Also Lightfoot Horae Hebraica in Actsiv.1.——Rosenmueller,ibid.and Kuinoel. But Hammond has made the mistake of supposing this to be a detachment of the Roman garrison.

THEIR FIRST TRIAL.The next morning the high court of the Jewish nation, having the absolute control of all religious matters, was called together to decide upon the fate of the apostles, and probably also of the lame man whom they had cured. This great court was the same whose members had, by unwearied exertions, succeeded a few weeks before, in bringing about the death of Jesus, and were therefore little disposed to show mercy to any who were trying to perpetuate his name, or the innovations which he had attempted against the high authority of the ecclesiastical rulers of the nation. Of these, the principal were Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests, with John and Alexander, and many others, who were entitled to a place in the council, by relationship to the high priests. Besides these, there were the rulers and elders of the people, and the scribes, who had been so active in the condemnation of Jesus. These all having arrayed themselves for judgment, the apostles and their poor healed cripple were brought in before them, and sternly questioned, by what power and by what name they had done the thing for which they had been summoned before the court. They stood charged with having arrogated to themselves the high character and office of teachers, and what was worse, reformers, of the national religion,——of that religion which had been, of old, received straight from God by the holy prophets, and which the wisdom of long-following ages had secured in sanctity and purity, by entrusting it to the watchful guardianship of the most learned and venerable of a hereditary order of priests and scholars. And who were they that now proposed to take into their hands the religion given by Moses and the prophets, and to offer to the people a new dispensation? Were they deep and critical scholars in the law, the prophets, the history of the faith, or the stored wisdom of the ancient teachers of the law? No; they were a set of rude, ill-taught men, who had left their honestbut low employments in their miserable province, and had come down to Jerusalem with their Master, on the likely enterprise of overturning the established order of things in church and state, and erecting in its place an administration which should be managed by the Nazarene and his company of Galileans. In this seditious attempt their Master had been arrested and punished with death, and they whose lives were spared by the mere clemency of their offended lords, were now so little grateful for this mercy, and so little awed by this example of justice, that they had been publicly haranguing the people in the temple, and imposing on them with a show of miracles, all with the view of raising again those disturbances which their Master had before excited, but too successfully, by the same means, until his death. In this light would the two apostles stand before their stern and angry judges, as soon as they were recognized as the followers of Jesus. And how did they maintain their ground before this awful tribunal? Peter had, only a few weeks before, absolutely denied all connection and acquaintance with Jesus, when questioned by the mere menials in attendance on his Master’s trial. And on this solemn occasion, tenfold more appalling, did that once false disciple find in his present circumstances, consolations to raise him above his former weakness? Peter was now changed; and he stood up boldly before his overbearing foes, to meet their tyranny by a dauntless assertion of his rights and of the truth of what he had preached. Freshly indued with a courage from on high, and full of that divine influence so lately shed abroad, he and his modest yet firm companion, replied to the haughty inquiries of his judges, by naming as the source of their power, and as their sanction in their work, the venerated name of their crucified Master. “Princes of the people and elders of Israel, if we to-day are called to account for this good deed which we have done to this poor man, and are to say in whose name this man has been cured; be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, and whom God raised from the dead, this man now stands before you, made sound and strong. This crucified Jesus is the stone which, though rejected by you builders, has become the chief corner stone; and in no other name is there salvation, (or healing;) for there is no other name given under heaven, among men, by which any can be saved,” (or healed.) When the judges saw the free-spoken manner of Peter and John, observing that they were unlearned men, of the lower orders,they were surprised; and noticing them more particularly, they recognized them as the immediate personal followers of Jesus, remembering now that they had often seen them in his company. This recognition made them the more desirous to put a stop to their miracles and preaching. Yet there stood the man with them, whom they had healed, and with this palpable evidence before their eyes, how could the members of the Sanhedrim justify themselves to the people, for any act of positive violence against these men? These high dignitaries were a good deal perplexed, and sending the apostles out of the court, they deliberated with one another, and inquired, “What can we do with these men? For there is a general impression that they have done a great miracle, among all who are now in Jerusalem, both citizens and strangers, and we cannot disprove it. Still we cannot let these things go on so, nor suffer this heresy to spread any further among the people; and we will therefore charge them threateningly to use the name of Jesus no more to the people.” Having come to this conclusion, they summoned the prisoners once more into the court, and gave them a strict command, never to teach any more nor utter a word in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John, undismayed by the authority of their great judges, boldly avowed their unshaken resolution to proceed as they had begun. “We appeal to you, to say if it is right in the sight of God to obey you rather than God. For we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard?” The judges being able to bring these stubborn heretics to no terms at all, after having threatened them still further, were obliged to let them go unpunished, not being able to make out any plea against them, that would make it safe to injure them, while the popular voice was so loud in their favor, on account of the miracle. For the man whom they had so suddenly healed, being more than forty years old, and having been lame from his birth, no one could pretend to say that such a lameness could be cured by any sudden impression made on his imagination.

THEIR FIRST TRIAL.

The next morning the high court of the Jewish nation, having the absolute control of all religious matters, was called together to decide upon the fate of the apostles, and probably also of the lame man whom they had cured. This great court was the same whose members had, by unwearied exertions, succeeded a few weeks before, in bringing about the death of Jesus, and were therefore little disposed to show mercy to any who were trying to perpetuate his name, or the innovations which he had attempted against the high authority of the ecclesiastical rulers of the nation. Of these, the principal were Annas and Caiaphas, the high priests, with John and Alexander, and many others, who were entitled to a place in the council, by relationship to the high priests. Besides these, there were the rulers and elders of the people, and the scribes, who had been so active in the condemnation of Jesus. These all having arrayed themselves for judgment, the apostles and their poor healed cripple were brought in before them, and sternly questioned, by what power and by what name they had done the thing for which they had been summoned before the court. They stood charged with having arrogated to themselves the high character and office of teachers, and what was worse, reformers, of the national religion,——of that religion which had been, of old, received straight from God by the holy prophets, and which the wisdom of long-following ages had secured in sanctity and purity, by entrusting it to the watchful guardianship of the most learned and venerable of a hereditary order of priests and scholars. And who were they that now proposed to take into their hands the religion given by Moses and the prophets, and to offer to the people a new dispensation? Were they deep and critical scholars in the law, the prophets, the history of the faith, or the stored wisdom of the ancient teachers of the law? No; they were a set of rude, ill-taught men, who had left their honestbut low employments in their miserable province, and had come down to Jerusalem with their Master, on the likely enterprise of overturning the established order of things in church and state, and erecting in its place an administration which should be managed by the Nazarene and his company of Galileans. In this seditious attempt their Master had been arrested and punished with death, and they whose lives were spared by the mere clemency of their offended lords, were now so little grateful for this mercy, and so little awed by this example of justice, that they had been publicly haranguing the people in the temple, and imposing on them with a show of miracles, all with the view of raising again those disturbances which their Master had before excited, but too successfully, by the same means, until his death. In this light would the two apostles stand before their stern and angry judges, as soon as they were recognized as the followers of Jesus. And how did they maintain their ground before this awful tribunal? Peter had, only a few weeks before, absolutely denied all connection and acquaintance with Jesus, when questioned by the mere menials in attendance on his Master’s trial. And on this solemn occasion, tenfold more appalling, did that once false disciple find in his present circumstances, consolations to raise him above his former weakness? Peter was now changed; and he stood up boldly before his overbearing foes, to meet their tyranny by a dauntless assertion of his rights and of the truth of what he had preached. Freshly indued with a courage from on high, and full of that divine influence so lately shed abroad, he and his modest yet firm companion, replied to the haughty inquiries of his judges, by naming as the source of their power, and as their sanction in their work, the venerated name of their crucified Master. “Princes of the people and elders of Israel, if we to-day are called to account for this good deed which we have done to this poor man, and are to say in whose name this man has been cured; be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, and whom God raised from the dead, this man now stands before you, made sound and strong. This crucified Jesus is the stone which, though rejected by you builders, has become the chief corner stone; and in no other name is there salvation, (or healing;) for there is no other name given under heaven, among men, by which any can be saved,” (or healed.) When the judges saw the free-spoken manner of Peter and John, observing that they were unlearned men, of the lower orders,they were surprised; and noticing them more particularly, they recognized them as the immediate personal followers of Jesus, remembering now that they had often seen them in his company. This recognition made them the more desirous to put a stop to their miracles and preaching. Yet there stood the man with them, whom they had healed, and with this palpable evidence before their eyes, how could the members of the Sanhedrim justify themselves to the people, for any act of positive violence against these men? These high dignitaries were a good deal perplexed, and sending the apostles out of the court, they deliberated with one another, and inquired, “What can we do with these men? For there is a general impression that they have done a great miracle, among all who are now in Jerusalem, both citizens and strangers, and we cannot disprove it. Still we cannot let these things go on so, nor suffer this heresy to spread any further among the people; and we will therefore charge them threateningly to use the name of Jesus no more to the people.” Having come to this conclusion, they summoned the prisoners once more into the court, and gave them a strict command, never to teach any more nor utter a word in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John, undismayed by the authority of their great judges, boldly avowed their unshaken resolution to proceed as they had begun. “We appeal to you, to say if it is right in the sight of God to obey you rather than God. For we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard?” The judges being able to bring these stubborn heretics to no terms at all, after having threatened them still further, were obliged to let them go unpunished, not being able to make out any plea against them, that would make it safe to injure them, while the popular voice was so loud in their favor, on account of the miracle. For the man whom they had so suddenly healed, being more than forty years old, and having been lame from his birth, no one could pretend to say that such a lameness could be cured by any sudden impression made on his imagination.

Salvation, (or healing.)——The Greek word here in the original,Σωτηρια, (Soteria,) is entirely dubious in its meaning, conveying one or the other of these two ideas according to the sense of the connection; and here the general meaning of the passage is such, that either meaning is perfectly allowable, and equally appropriate to the context. This ambiguity in the substantive is caused by the same variety of meaning in the verb which is the root,Σαω, (Sao,) whose primary idea admits of its application either to the act of saving from ruin and death, or of relieving any bodily evil, that is, of healing. In this latter sense it is frequently used in the New Testament, as in Matthewix.21, 22. commonly translated “made whole.” Also, Markv.28, 33:vi.56:x.52. In Lukevii.50, and inviii.48, the same expression occurs, both passages being exactly alike in Greek; but the common translation has varied the interpretation in the two places, to suit the circumstances,——in the former, “savedthee,” and in the latter,“madetheewhole.” In this passage also, Actsiv.12, the word is exactly the same as that used in verse 9, where the common translation gives “made whole.” The close connection therefore between these two verses would seem to require the same meaning in the word thus used, and hence I should feel justified in preferring this rendering; but the general power of the verb makes it very probable that in this second use of it here, there was a sort of intentional equivoque in the writer and speaker, giving force to the expression, by the play on the meaning afforded by the present peculiar circumstances.

THEIR RENEWED ZEAL.The apostles, as soon as they were released from this unjust confinement, went directly to their own companions, and reported all that the high priests and elders had said to them. And when the disciples heard of the threats which these tyrannical hierarchs had laid on their persecuted brethren, with one mind they raised a voice to God in a prayer of unequalled beauty and power, in which they called upon the Lord, as the God who had made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all in them, to look down upon them, thus endangered by their devotion to his cause, and to give them all boldness of speech in preaching his word; and to vindicate their authority still further, by stretching out his hand to heal, and by signs and miracles. No sooner had they uttered their prayer than they received new assurance of the help of God, and had new evidence of a divine influence. “The place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled again with the Holy Spirit, and spake the word of God with renewed boldness.” This first attack upon them, by their persecutors, so far from dispiriting or disuniting them, gave them redoubled courage, and bound them together still with the ties of a common danger and a common helper. “All those who believed were of one heart and one soul,” and were so perfectly devoted to each others’ good, that “none of them said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but held them as the common support of all.” And in spite of the repeated denunciations of the Sadducees and the Sanhedrim, the apostles, with great power and effect, bore witness of the resurrection of their Lord; and the result of their preaching was, that they were all in the highest favor with the people. Neither was any one of them suffered to want any comfort or convenience of life; for many that owned houses and lands at a distance, turned them into ready money by selling them, and brought the money thus obtained, to the apostles, with whom they deposited it in trust, for distribution among the needy, according to their circumstances. This was done more particularly by the foreign Jews, many of whom were converted at the pentecost,when, being gathered from all parts, they heard for the first time of the Messiah, from the mouths of his apostles, and saw their words supported by such wonders. Among these was a native of Cyprus, by name Joseph, a Levite, who so distinguished himself by his labors of love among them, and gave such promise of excellence as a teacher of the new faith which he had adopted, that the apostles honored him with a new name, by which he was ever after known, instead of his previous one. They called him Barnabas, which means “the son of exhortation,” no doubt referring to those talents which he afterwards displayed as an eminent and successful minister of the gospel.

THEIR RENEWED ZEAL.

The apostles, as soon as they were released from this unjust confinement, went directly to their own companions, and reported all that the high priests and elders had said to them. And when the disciples heard of the threats which these tyrannical hierarchs had laid on their persecuted brethren, with one mind they raised a voice to God in a prayer of unequalled beauty and power, in which they called upon the Lord, as the God who had made heaven, and earth, and sea, and all in them, to look down upon them, thus endangered by their devotion to his cause, and to give them all boldness of speech in preaching his word; and to vindicate their authority still further, by stretching out his hand to heal, and by signs and miracles. No sooner had they uttered their prayer than they received new assurance of the help of God, and had new evidence of a divine influence. “The place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled again with the Holy Spirit, and spake the word of God with renewed boldness.” This first attack upon them, by their persecutors, so far from dispiriting or disuniting them, gave them redoubled courage, and bound them together still with the ties of a common danger and a common helper. “All those who believed were of one heart and one soul,” and were so perfectly devoted to each others’ good, that “none of them said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but held them as the common support of all.” And in spite of the repeated denunciations of the Sadducees and the Sanhedrim, the apostles, with great power and effect, bore witness of the resurrection of their Lord; and the result of their preaching was, that they were all in the highest favor with the people. Neither was any one of them suffered to want any comfort or convenience of life; for many that owned houses and lands at a distance, turned them into ready money by selling them, and brought the money thus obtained, to the apostles, with whom they deposited it in trust, for distribution among the needy, according to their circumstances. This was done more particularly by the foreign Jews, many of whom were converted at the pentecost,when, being gathered from all parts, they heard for the first time of the Messiah, from the mouths of his apostles, and saw their words supported by such wonders. Among these was a native of Cyprus, by name Joseph, a Levite, who so distinguished himself by his labors of love among them, and gave such promise of excellence as a teacher of the new faith which he had adopted, that the apostles honored him with a new name, by which he was ever after known, instead of his previous one. They called him Barnabas, which means “the son of exhortation,” no doubt referring to those talents which he afterwards displayed as an eminent and successful minister of the gospel.

Raised a voice.——This is literal; and can mean nothing more than the common modern expression, “unite in prayer,” with which it is perfectly synonymous. The judicious Bloomfield (Annotations in Actsiv.24,) observes, “We cannot rationally suppose that this prefatory address was (as some conjecture) not pronouncedextempore, but a pre-composed form of prayer, since the words advert to circumstances not known until that very time; as, for instance, the threatenings of the Sanhedrim, (verse 29,) of which they had been but just then informed; and the wordsἀκουσαντες ὁμοθυμαδον ῃραν φωνηνwill not allow us to imagine any interval between the report of Peter and John, and the prayer.” Kuinoel’s view is precisely the same.

Were in the highest favor with the people.——Very different from the common translation, “great grace was upon them all.” But the Greek word,Χαρις, (Kharis,) like the Latingratia, (in the Vulgate,) means primarily “favor;” and the only question is, whether it refers to the favor of God or of man. Beza, Whitby, Doddridge,&c.prefer the former, but Kuinoel justly argues from a comparison of the parallel passages, (ii.47, andiv.34,) that it refers to their increasing influence on the attention and regard of the people, which was indeed the great object of all their preaching and miracles. Grotius, Rosenmueller, Bloomfield and others, also support this view.

Deposited in trust.——This is a free, but just version ofετιθουν παρα τους ποδας, (etithoun para tous podas,) Actsiv.35, literally and faithfully rendered in the common translation by “laid at the feet;” but this was an expression very common not only in Hebrew, but in Greek and Latin usage, for the idea of “deposit in trust;” as is shown by Rosenmueller’s apt quotations from Cicero, “ante pedes praetoris in foro expensum est auri pondo centum,” Defence of Flaccus, chapter 28; and from Heliodorus,παντα τα εαυτου τιθεναι παρα τους ποδας βασιλεως. But Kuinoel seems not to think of these, and quotes it as a mere Hebraism.

Barnabas, son of exhortation.——This is the translation of this name, which seems best authorized. A fuller account of it will be given in the life of Barnabas.

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA.The great praise and universal gratitude which followed Barnabas, for this noble and self-denying act of pure generosity, was soon after the occasion of a most shameful piece of imposition, ending in an awful expression of divine vengeance. Led by the hope of cheaply winning the same praise and honor which Barnabas had acquired by his simple-minded liberality, a man named Ananias, with the knowledge and aid of his wife Sapphira, having sold a piece of land, brought only a part of the price to the apostles, and deposited it in the general charity-fund, alleging at the same time, that this was the whole amount obtained for the land. But Peter, having reason to believe that this was only apart of the price, immediately questioned Ananias sternly on this point, charging him directly with the crime of lying to God. He remarked to him that the land was certainly his own, and no one could question his right to do just as he pleased with that, or the money obtained for it; since he was under no obligation to give it away to the poor of the church. But since he had of his own accord attempted to get a reputation for generosity, by a base and avaricious act of falsehood, he had incurred the wrath of an insulted God. No sooner had Ananias heard this awful denunciation, than, struck with the vengeance he had brought on himself, he fell lifeless before them, and was carried out to the burial by the attendants. His wife soon after coming in, not having heard of what had happened, boldly maintained her husband’s assertion, and repeated the lie most distinctly to Peter. He then declared his knowledge of her guilt, and made known to her the fate of her husband, which she was doomed to share. The words had hardly left his lips, when they were confirmed by her instant death, and she was at once carried out and laid with her husband. The effect of these shocking events on the minds of the members of the church generally, was very salutary; exhibiting to them the awful consequences of such deliberate and hardened sin.

ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA.

The great praise and universal gratitude which followed Barnabas, for this noble and self-denying act of pure generosity, was soon after the occasion of a most shameful piece of imposition, ending in an awful expression of divine vengeance. Led by the hope of cheaply winning the same praise and honor which Barnabas had acquired by his simple-minded liberality, a man named Ananias, with the knowledge and aid of his wife Sapphira, having sold a piece of land, brought only a part of the price to the apostles, and deposited it in the general charity-fund, alleging at the same time, that this was the whole amount obtained for the land. But Peter, having reason to believe that this was only apart of the price, immediately questioned Ananias sternly on this point, charging him directly with the crime of lying to God. He remarked to him that the land was certainly his own, and no one could question his right to do just as he pleased with that, or the money obtained for it; since he was under no obligation to give it away to the poor of the church. But since he had of his own accord attempted to get a reputation for generosity, by a base and avaricious act of falsehood, he had incurred the wrath of an insulted God. No sooner had Ananias heard this awful denunciation, than, struck with the vengeance he had brought on himself, he fell lifeless before them, and was carried out to the burial by the attendants. His wife soon after coming in, not having heard of what had happened, boldly maintained her husband’s assertion, and repeated the lie most distinctly to Peter. He then declared his knowledge of her guilt, and made known to her the fate of her husband, which she was doomed to share. The words had hardly left his lips, when they were confirmed by her instant death, and she was at once carried out and laid with her husband. The effect of these shocking events on the minds of the members of the church generally, was very salutary; exhibiting to them the awful consequences of such deliberate and hardened sin.

Attendants.——The common English translation here gives the expression, “young men,” which is the primary meaning of the Greekνεανισκοι, (neaniskoi,) and is quite unobjectionable; but the connection here seems to justify and require its secondary use in application to “servants,” “attendants,”&c.This interpretation has the authority of the learned Mosheim, who considers the persons here mentioned, to have been regularly appointed officers, who performed the necessary duties about the assemblies of the disciples, and executed all the commands of the apostles. He says, “unless you suppose theseyoung mento have been of this sort, it is hard to understand why they alone instantly rose up and carried out the bodies of Ananias and his wife, and buried them. But if you suppose them to have been men discharging an official duty in the public assembly, you see a reason why, even without orders, they took that sad duty upon themselves. And that there were public servants of this sort in the first Christian church, no one certainly can doubt, who will imagine for himself either its circumstances or the form of the assemblies of that age. For instance, there were the places of meeting to be cleaned,——the seats and tables to be arranged,——the sacred books to be brought and carried away,——the dishes to be set out and cleared off,——in short, there were many things to be done which absolutely required particular men.” (Mosheim, Commentary de rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum,p.114, b.) This passage is quoted by Kuinoel, and is so clear in its representation of the circumstance, as to justify me in translating it entire.

THE INCREASING FAME OF THE APOSTLES.The apostles, daily supported anew by fresh tokens of divine aid, went on in their labors among the people, encouraged by their increasing attention and favor. So deep was the impression of awe made by the late occurrence, that none of the rest of the church dared to mingle familiarly with the apostles, who nowseemed to be indued with the power of calling down the vengeance of God at will, and appeared to be persons too high and awful for common men to be familiar with. Yet the number of the church members, both men and women, continued to enlarge, and the attendance of the people to increase, so that there was no place which would accommodate the vast crowd of hearers and beholders, except the great porch of Solomon, already described, where the apostles daily met the church and the people, to teach and strengthen them, and to work the cures which their Master had so often wrought. So high was the reputation of the apostles, and so numerous were those who came to solicit the favor of their healing power, for themselves or friends, that all could not get access to them even in the vast court of the temple which they occupied, insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, along the path which the apostles were expected to pass, that at least the shadow of Peter, passing by, might overshadow some of them. Nor was this wonderful fame and admiration confined to Jerusalem; for as the news was spread abroad by the pilgrims returning from the pentecost, there came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and those who were affected by evil spirits, and they were healed, every one.

THE INCREASING FAME OF THE APOSTLES.

The apostles, daily supported anew by fresh tokens of divine aid, went on in their labors among the people, encouraged by their increasing attention and favor. So deep was the impression of awe made by the late occurrence, that none of the rest of the church dared to mingle familiarly with the apostles, who nowseemed to be indued with the power of calling down the vengeance of God at will, and appeared to be persons too high and awful for common men to be familiar with. Yet the number of the church members, both men and women, continued to enlarge, and the attendance of the people to increase, so that there was no place which would accommodate the vast crowd of hearers and beholders, except the great porch of Solomon, already described, where the apostles daily met the church and the people, to teach and strengthen them, and to work the cures which their Master had so often wrought. So high was the reputation of the apostles, and so numerous were those who came to solicit the favor of their healing power, for themselves or friends, that all could not get access to them even in the vast court of the temple which they occupied, insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, along the path which the apostles were expected to pass, that at least the shadow of Peter, passing by, might overshadow some of them. Nor was this wonderful fame and admiration confined to Jerusalem; for as the news was spread abroad by the pilgrims returning from the pentecost, there came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and those who were affected by evil spirits, and they were healed, every one.

Mingle familiarly with them.——Commonly translated, “join himself to them,” which conveys a totally erroneous idea, since all their efforts were given to this end, of making as many as possible “join themselves to them.” The context (verse 14,) shows that their numbers were largely increased by such additions. “Yet no one of the common members (οἱ λοιποι) dared mingle familiarly (κολλασθαι) with them; but the people held them in great reverence.” Actsv.13.

Met the church and people.——This distinction may not seem very obvious in a common reading of the Acts, but inv.11, it is very clearly drawn. “Great fear was upon the whole churchandon all the hearers of these things.” And throughout the chapter, a nice discrimination is made betweenὁ λαος, (ho laos,) “the people,” or “the congregation,” andἡ εκκλησια, (he ekklesia,) “the church.” See Kuinoel inv.13, 14.

The shadow of Peter.——This is one of a vast number of passages which show that high and perfectly commanding pre-eminence of this apostolic chief. The people evidently considered Peter as concentrating all the divine and miraculous power in his own person, and had no idea at all of obtaining benefit from anything that the minor apostles could do. In him, alone, they saw the manifestations of divine power and authority;——he spoke and preached and healed, and judged and doomed, while the rest had nothing to do but assent and aid. Peter, then,wasTHEgreat pastor of the church, and it is every way desirable that over-zealous Protestants would find some better reason for opposing so palpable a fact, than simply that Papists support it.

THEIR SECOND SEIZURE AND TRIAL.The triumphant progress of the new sect, however, was not unnoticed by those who had already taken so decided a stand against it. The Sadducees, who had so lately come out against them,were not yet disposed to leave the apostles to enjoy their boldness with impunity. The high priest Annas, who had always been the determined enemy of Christ, belonging to the Sadducean sect, was easily led to employ all his authority with his brethren, against the apostles. He at last, provoked beyond endurance at their steady and unflinching contempt of the repeated solemn injunction of the Sanhedrim, whose president and agent he was, rose up in all his anger and power, and, backed by his friends, seized the apostles and put them into the common jail, as inveterate disturbers of the peace of the city, and of the religious order of the temple. This commitment was intended to be merely temporary, and was to last only until a convenient time could be found for bringing them to trial, when the crowd of strangers should have retired from the city to their homes, and the excitement attendant on the preaching and miracles of the apostles should have subsided, so that the ordinary course of law might go on safely, even against these popular favorites, and they might be brought at last to the same fate as their Master. After the achievment of this project, “a consummation most devoutly to be wished” by every friend of the established order of things, the sect which was now making such rapid advances would fall powerless and lifeless, when its great heads were thus quietly lopped off. This seems to have been their well-arranged plan,——but it was destined to be spoiled in a way unlooked for; and this first step in it was to be made the means of a new triumph to the persecuted subjects of it. That very night, the prison doors were opened by a messenger of God, by whom the apostles were brought out of their confinement, and told, “Go, stand and speak in the temple, to the people, all the words of this life.” According to this divine command, they went into the temple and taught, early in the morning, probably before their luxurious tyrants had left their lazy pillows. While the apostles were thus coolly following their daily labors of mercy in the temple, the high priest and his train called the council together, and the whole senate of all the children of Israel, and having deliberately arrayed themselves in the forms of law, they ordered the imprisoned heretics to be brought forthwith into the awful presence of this grand council and senate of the Jewish nation and faith. The officers, of course, as in duty bound, went to execute the order, but soon returned to report the important deficiency of the persons most needed to complete the solemn preparation for the trial. Their report was simply, “The prison trulywe found shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without, before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within.” Here was a non-plus, indeed; all proceedings were brought to a stand at once; and “when the high priest and the chief officer of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them, whereunto they would grow.” But these eminent dignitaries were not left long to perplex their sage heads about the unworthy objects of their tender solicitude; for some faithful sycophant, rejoicing in such a glorious opportunity to serve the powers that were, came running to tell them, “Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” This very simple but valuable piece of information relieved the grave judges very happily from their unfortunate quandary; and without further delay, a detachment of officers was sent to bring these unaccountable runaways to account. But as it appeared that the criminals were now in the midst of a vast assemblage of their friends, who were too perfectly devoted to them to suffer them to receive any violence, it was agreed to manage the thing as quietly and easily as might be, and to coax them away if possible to the tribunal. To insure the still and effectual performance of this order, the captain of the temple himself went with the officers, and quietly drew the apostles away, with their own consent, and without any violence; for the minions of the law knew perfectly well that the least show of injury towards these righteous men, would insure to those who attempted it, broken heads and bones, from the justly provoked people, whose deserved indignation would soon make the very stones to rise in mutiny for the defence of their beloved teachers and benefactors. The apostles themselves, however, showed no unwillingness whatever to appear before their bitter persecutors again, and presented themselves accordingly, with bold unflinching fronts, before the bar of the Sanhedrim. When they were fairly set before the council, the high priest, turning his lately perplexed face into “a look of austere dignity,” asked them, “Did we not particularly charge you, that you should not teach in his name? And now, indeed, in open contempt of our authority, you have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine, and mean to bring this man’s blood upon us?” They, the high priest and his supporters, had, at no small pains and trouble, effected the death of Jesus, and had naturally hoped that there would be an end of him; but here now were his disciples constantly using his name to the excitable populacein their daily teachings, thus keeping alive the memory of these painful incidents which it was so desirable to forget, and slowly plotting the means of avenging upon the Sanhedrim the death of their Master. To this sort of address, Peter and all the other apostles, who now shared the fate of their two distinguished friends, replied, even as had been said on the previous summons, “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree: him now has God uplifted to sit beside his own right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, to give to Israel a change of heart and views, and remission of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and what is far more, so also is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey him, as the reward and the sign of their obedience.” This bold and solemn speech, breathing nothing but resistance against all hindrances, and steady persistance in their course,——and denouncing, too, as murderers, the judges, while it exalted their victim to honors the highest in the universe, was not at all calculated to conciliate the friendly regard of the hearers of it, but roused them to the most violent and deadly hate. Deeply wounded and insulted as they were, they determined to try remonstrance no longer; but in spite of the danger of popular ferment, to silence these audacious bravers of their authority, in death. While they were on the point of pronouncing this cruel decision, the proceedings were stayed by Gamaliel, a man of vast learning and influence, an eminent Pharisee of great popularity, and beyond all the men of that age, in knowledge of the law of Moses and of Hebrew literature. This great man, rising up in the midst of their wrathful resolutions, moved to suspend the decision for a few minutes, and to withdraw the prisoners from the bar, until the court could form their opinions by deliberating with more freedom than they could in the presence of the subjects of the trial. As soon as the apostles were put out of the court, Gamaliel addressed them, prompted by a noble humanity, as well as by a deep knowledge of human nature, and acting in accordance, also, with the general principles of the Pharisees, who were very averse to cruelty and bloodshed, and were generally disposed to punish even criminals in the mildest ways. Possibly, too, he might have been affected by some jealousy of the forwardness of the rival sect. His words were these: “Men of Israel! take care what you do to these men. For you know that, not long ago, rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, and gathereda gang about him, to the number of four hundred. But as soon as the attention of our Roman masters was drawn to his outrageous doings, they put him entirely down at once, killing him and breaking up his band, by slaughter and banishment; so that without any trouble or exertion on our part, all this sedition was brought to nought. And when, after him, Judas the Galilean raised a great party about him, in the days of the taxing, this rebellion against the government met with the same inevitable fate, from the resistless soldiery of Rome; and all this was done without any need of interference from us. And now, with these remarkable instances in view, I warn you to let these men alone, and leave them to determine their fate by their own future conduct. For if, in all their active efforts of seeming benevolence, they have been prompted by any base ambition to head a faction, which may raise them to the supreme power in religious and political affairs, and by a revengeful wish to punish those concerned in the death of their Master;——if, in short, their plan or their work is a mere contrivance of men, it will come to nought of itself, without your interference, as did the two miserable riots which I have just mentioned. But if, inspired by a holier principle of action, they are laboring with pure love of their converts; if all these wonderful cures which you consider mere tricks and impostures, shall prove to be true miracles, wrought by the hand of God, and if their plan be of God,——you cannot overthrow it; and do you look to it, sirs, that you do not find yourselves at last fighting against God.” This noble and sensible speech, aided by the high rank and great weight of character which belonged to the speaker, instantly hushed all the lately outrageous proposals which had been made against the prisoners. If there were any in the council who did not feel satisfied with his reasoning, they were wise enough to acquiesce, with at least the appearance of content. They knew too well, that Gamaliel, supported by his unbounded popularity with the whole nation, and his eminently exalted character for justice and virtue, was abundantly able to put down every appearance of opposition, and set the apostles free, in spite of high priest and Sadducees. Adopting his resolution, therefore, they called in the apostles, and having vented their paltry malice by beating them, and having exposed themselves to new contempt by repeating their oft-despised command, that the apostles should not speak in the name of Jesus, they let them go, being fully assured that the first use the apostles would make of their freedom would be to break this idleinjunction. For they went out of the judgment-hall, rejoicing that they were honored by suffering this shameful treatment in their Master’s name. They now recalled to mind his early words of encouragement, which he had given them in a wise determination to prepare them for evils of which they had then so little notion. The passage from the sermon on the mount was particularly appropriate to their present circumstances. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my name’s sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” Comforted by such words as these, they returned to their labors as before, and daily, in the temple, and moreover in private houses, ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ, in the very face of the express prohibition of their thwarted persecutors.

THEIR SECOND SEIZURE AND TRIAL.

The triumphant progress of the new sect, however, was not unnoticed by those who had already taken so decided a stand against it. The Sadducees, who had so lately come out against them,were not yet disposed to leave the apostles to enjoy their boldness with impunity. The high priest Annas, who had always been the determined enemy of Christ, belonging to the Sadducean sect, was easily led to employ all his authority with his brethren, against the apostles. He at last, provoked beyond endurance at their steady and unflinching contempt of the repeated solemn injunction of the Sanhedrim, whose president and agent he was, rose up in all his anger and power, and, backed by his friends, seized the apostles and put them into the common jail, as inveterate disturbers of the peace of the city, and of the religious order of the temple. This commitment was intended to be merely temporary, and was to last only until a convenient time could be found for bringing them to trial, when the crowd of strangers should have retired from the city to their homes, and the excitement attendant on the preaching and miracles of the apostles should have subsided, so that the ordinary course of law might go on safely, even against these popular favorites, and they might be brought at last to the same fate as their Master. After the achievment of this project, “a consummation most devoutly to be wished” by every friend of the established order of things, the sect which was now making such rapid advances would fall powerless and lifeless, when its great heads were thus quietly lopped off. This seems to have been their well-arranged plan,——but it was destined to be spoiled in a way unlooked for; and this first step in it was to be made the means of a new triumph to the persecuted subjects of it. That very night, the prison doors were opened by a messenger of God, by whom the apostles were brought out of their confinement, and told, “Go, stand and speak in the temple, to the people, all the words of this life.” According to this divine command, they went into the temple and taught, early in the morning, probably before their luxurious tyrants had left their lazy pillows. While the apostles were thus coolly following their daily labors of mercy in the temple, the high priest and his train called the council together, and the whole senate of all the children of Israel, and having deliberately arrayed themselves in the forms of law, they ordered the imprisoned heretics to be brought forthwith into the awful presence of this grand council and senate of the Jewish nation and faith. The officers, of course, as in duty bound, went to execute the order, but soon returned to report the important deficiency of the persons most needed to complete the solemn preparation for the trial. Their report was simply, “The prison trulywe found shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without, before the doors; but when we had opened, we found no man within.” Here was a non-plus, indeed; all proceedings were brought to a stand at once; and “when the high priest and the chief officer of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them, whereunto they would grow.” But these eminent dignitaries were not left long to perplex their sage heads about the unworthy objects of their tender solicitude; for some faithful sycophant, rejoicing in such a glorious opportunity to serve the powers that were, came running to tell them, “Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.” This very simple but valuable piece of information relieved the grave judges very happily from their unfortunate quandary; and without further delay, a detachment of officers was sent to bring these unaccountable runaways to account. But as it appeared that the criminals were now in the midst of a vast assemblage of their friends, who were too perfectly devoted to them to suffer them to receive any violence, it was agreed to manage the thing as quietly and easily as might be, and to coax them away if possible to the tribunal. To insure the still and effectual performance of this order, the captain of the temple himself went with the officers, and quietly drew the apostles away, with their own consent, and without any violence; for the minions of the law knew perfectly well that the least show of injury towards these righteous men, would insure to those who attempted it, broken heads and bones, from the justly provoked people, whose deserved indignation would soon make the very stones to rise in mutiny for the defence of their beloved teachers and benefactors. The apostles themselves, however, showed no unwillingness whatever to appear before their bitter persecutors again, and presented themselves accordingly, with bold unflinching fronts, before the bar of the Sanhedrim. When they were fairly set before the council, the high priest, turning his lately perplexed face into “a look of austere dignity,” asked them, “Did we not particularly charge you, that you should not teach in his name? And now, indeed, in open contempt of our authority, you have filled all Jerusalem with your doctrine, and mean to bring this man’s blood upon us?” They, the high priest and his supporters, had, at no small pains and trouble, effected the death of Jesus, and had naturally hoped that there would be an end of him; but here now were his disciples constantly using his name to the excitable populacein their daily teachings, thus keeping alive the memory of these painful incidents which it was so desirable to forget, and slowly plotting the means of avenging upon the Sanhedrim the death of their Master. To this sort of address, Peter and all the other apostles, who now shared the fate of their two distinguished friends, replied, even as had been said on the previous summons, “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree: him now has God uplifted to sit beside his own right hand, to be a Prince and a Savior, to give to Israel a change of heart and views, and remission of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and what is far more, so also is the Holy Spirit, which God has given to those who obey him, as the reward and the sign of their obedience.” This bold and solemn speech, breathing nothing but resistance against all hindrances, and steady persistance in their course,——and denouncing, too, as murderers, the judges, while it exalted their victim to honors the highest in the universe, was not at all calculated to conciliate the friendly regard of the hearers of it, but roused them to the most violent and deadly hate. Deeply wounded and insulted as they were, they determined to try remonstrance no longer; but in spite of the danger of popular ferment, to silence these audacious bravers of their authority, in death. While they were on the point of pronouncing this cruel decision, the proceedings were stayed by Gamaliel, a man of vast learning and influence, an eminent Pharisee of great popularity, and beyond all the men of that age, in knowledge of the law of Moses and of Hebrew literature. This great man, rising up in the midst of their wrathful resolutions, moved to suspend the decision for a few minutes, and to withdraw the prisoners from the bar, until the court could form their opinions by deliberating with more freedom than they could in the presence of the subjects of the trial. As soon as the apostles were put out of the court, Gamaliel addressed them, prompted by a noble humanity, as well as by a deep knowledge of human nature, and acting in accordance, also, with the general principles of the Pharisees, who were very averse to cruelty and bloodshed, and were generally disposed to punish even criminals in the mildest ways. Possibly, too, he might have been affected by some jealousy of the forwardness of the rival sect. His words were these: “Men of Israel! take care what you do to these men. For you know that, not long ago, rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody, and gathereda gang about him, to the number of four hundred. But as soon as the attention of our Roman masters was drawn to his outrageous doings, they put him entirely down at once, killing him and breaking up his band, by slaughter and banishment; so that without any trouble or exertion on our part, all this sedition was brought to nought. And when, after him, Judas the Galilean raised a great party about him, in the days of the taxing, this rebellion against the government met with the same inevitable fate, from the resistless soldiery of Rome; and all this was done without any need of interference from us. And now, with these remarkable instances in view, I warn you to let these men alone, and leave them to determine their fate by their own future conduct. For if, in all their active efforts of seeming benevolence, they have been prompted by any base ambition to head a faction, which may raise them to the supreme power in religious and political affairs, and by a revengeful wish to punish those concerned in the death of their Master;——if, in short, their plan or their work is a mere contrivance of men, it will come to nought of itself, without your interference, as did the two miserable riots which I have just mentioned. But if, inspired by a holier principle of action, they are laboring with pure love of their converts; if all these wonderful cures which you consider mere tricks and impostures, shall prove to be true miracles, wrought by the hand of God, and if their plan be of God,——you cannot overthrow it; and do you look to it, sirs, that you do not find yourselves at last fighting against God.” This noble and sensible speech, aided by the high rank and great weight of character which belonged to the speaker, instantly hushed all the lately outrageous proposals which had been made against the prisoners. If there were any in the council who did not feel satisfied with his reasoning, they were wise enough to acquiesce, with at least the appearance of content. They knew too well, that Gamaliel, supported by his unbounded popularity with the whole nation, and his eminently exalted character for justice and virtue, was abundantly able to put down every appearance of opposition, and set the apostles free, in spite of high priest and Sadducees. Adopting his resolution, therefore, they called in the apostles, and having vented their paltry malice by beating them, and having exposed themselves to new contempt by repeating their oft-despised command, that the apostles should not speak in the name of Jesus, they let them go, being fully assured that the first use the apostles would make of their freedom would be to break this idleinjunction. For they went out of the judgment-hall, rejoicing that they were honored by suffering this shameful treatment in their Master’s name. They now recalled to mind his early words of encouragement, which he had given them in a wise determination to prepare them for evils of which they had then so little notion. The passage from the sermon on the mount was particularly appropriate to their present circumstances. “Blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my name’s sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.” Comforted by such words as these, they returned to their labors as before, and daily, in the temple, and moreover in private houses, ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ, in the very face of the express prohibition of their thwarted persecutors.

Messenger.——This is a fair and literal interpretation ofαγγελος, (angelos,) and one justifiable in every place where it occurs in the Bible. Wherever it is applied to a supernatural being sent from God, the connection will abundantly explain the term, without rendering it by a different word. Thus I have chosen to do, and to leave each reader to judge for himself, from the other attendant circumstances, of the character of themessenger. See Kuinoel in loc.

All the words of this life.——I here follow the common translation, though Kuinoel and most interpreters consider this as ahypallage, and transpose it into “all these words of life.” But it does not seem necessary to take such a liberty with the expression, since the common version conveys a clear idea. “The words ofthislife” evidently can mean only the words ofthatlife which they had before preached, in accordance with their commission; that is, of life from the dead, as manifested in the resurrection of Jesus, which was in itself the pledge and promise of life and bliss eternal, to all who should hear and believe these “words.” This view is supported by Storr, and a similar one is advanced by Rosenmueller, in preference to anyhypallage.

Change of heart.——I have in general given this translation ofΜετανοειτε, (Metanoeite,) as more minutely faithful to the etymology of the word, and also accordant with popular religious forms of expression; though the common translation is unobjectionable.

Deeply wounded.——In the Greek,διεπριοντο, (dieprionto,) fromδιαπριω, “to saw through;” in the passive, of course, “to be sawn through,” or figuratively, “deeply wounded in the moral feelings.” This is the commonly translated, “cut to the heart,” which I have adopted, with such a variation of the words as will assimilate it most nearly to common modern forms of expression. But Kuinoel prefers the peculiar force of the middle voice, (where this word can be made, owing to the identity of the imperfect tenses of the two voices,) given by Hesychius, “to gnash the teeth,” doubtless taken from the similarity of sound between “sawing,” and “grating the teeth.” This sense being also highly appropriate here, to men in a rage, makes the passage perfectly ambiguous, and accordingly great authorities divide on the point. In such cases, it seems to me perfectly fair to consider the phrase as originally intended for an equivoque. Luke was Grecian enough, doubtless, to know the two meanings of this form, and must have been very careless if he did not think of it as he wrote it down; but either meaning is powerfully expressive of the idea here, and why should he reject or explain it? It is rather an advantage and a charm than otherwise, in a language, to possess this ambiguity, making occasionally a richly expressive play of meanings.It seems, however, more in accordance with Luke’s ordinary expressions, to prefer the passive sense, as in Actsvii.54,ταις καρδιαις(“to their hearts”) is added, there, of course, requiring the passive. For similar forms of expression, see Lukeii.35: Actsii.37.——Consult Bretschneider in loc. In favor of the passive sense, see Bloomfield, Rosenmueller, Wolf, Hammond and Gataker. On the middle sense, Kuinoel, Beza and Wetstein.

Gamaliel.——I shall give a full account of this venerable sage, in the beginning of the life of Paul.

In the temple and in private houses.——Actsvi.42. In the Greek,κατ’ οἶκον, (kat’ oikon,) the same expression as inii.46, alluded to in my note on pages139,140. Here too occurs precisely the same connection withἐν τῳ ἱερῳ, (en to hiero,) with the same sense of opposition in place, there alluded to. The indefinite sense, then, rather than thedistributive, is proper here as there, showing that they preached and taught not only in their great place of assembly, under the eastern colonnade of the temple, (v.12,) but also in private houses, that is, at their home, or those of their friends. The expression “from house to house,” however, is much less objectionablehere, because in this passage it can give only anindefiniteidea of place, without any particular idea ofrotation; but in the other passage, in connection with “the taking of food,” it makes an erroneous impression of their mode of life, which the text is meant to describe.

THE APPOINTMENT OF DEACONS.The successful progress of their labors had now gathered around them a great church, numbering among its members a vast throng both of Hebrew and of foreign Jews. The apostles being devoted wholly to their high duties of prayer and preaching, were unable to superintend particularly the daily distribution of the means of support to the needy, out of the charity-fund which had been gathered from the generous contributions of the wealthy members of the church. Among the foreign Jews who had joined the fraternity of the disciples, were many of those who, by education, language and manners, though not by race or religion, were Greeks. These, with the proselytes, being fewer than those who adhered to the genuine manners and language of Palestine, had comparatively little weight in the administration of the affairs of the church, and had no hand in the distribution to the church poor. Being a minority, and being moreover looked on with invidious eyes by the genuine Hebrews, as a sort of half renegades, they were overlooked and put back, in the daily ministration to the needy, and to such a degree, that even the helpless widows among them were absolutely suffering through this neglect. The natural consequence was, that murmurs and open complaints arose among them, at this shameful and unbrotherly partiality. As soon as the report of the difficulty reached the ears of the twelve, they immediately called a full church-meeting, and laid the matter before it in these words. “It is not proper that we should leave the preaching of the word of God, to wait on tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven reputable men, full of a holy spirit and of wisdom, whom we may intrust with this business;while we continue to give our time up wholly to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This wise plan pleased all parties, and the church proceeded to elect the proper persons for the charge. To soothe the feelings of the Hellenists, the whole seven were chosen from their number, as the names (which are all Greek) fully show. This makes it probable that there were already persons appointed from among the Hebrews, who had administered these charities from the beginning, and whose partial management of these matters had given offense to those whom they slighted. The seven Hellenists now chosen to this office, were Stephen, resplendent in spiritual and intellectual endowments; Philip, also highly distinguished afterwards by his successful preaching; Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch; by which last circumstance, (as well as by the case of Barnabas,) is shown the fact that some Hellenist converts, from a distance, had settled at Jerusalem, and permanently joined the followers of Christ. These seven being formally elected by the church, were brought in before the apostles, for approval and confirmation. And after they had prayed, they laid their hands on them, in token of imparting to them the blessing and the power of that divine influence which had inspired its previous possessors to deeds so energetic and triumphant. The efficiency of this prayer and benediction, in calling down divine grace on the heads thus touched by the hands of the apostles, was afterwards most remarkably demonstrated in the case of two of the seven, and in the case of the first of them, almost immediately.

THE APPOINTMENT OF DEACONS.

The successful progress of their labors had now gathered around them a great church, numbering among its members a vast throng both of Hebrew and of foreign Jews. The apostles being devoted wholly to their high duties of prayer and preaching, were unable to superintend particularly the daily distribution of the means of support to the needy, out of the charity-fund which had been gathered from the generous contributions of the wealthy members of the church. Among the foreign Jews who had joined the fraternity of the disciples, were many of those who, by education, language and manners, though not by race or religion, were Greeks. These, with the proselytes, being fewer than those who adhered to the genuine manners and language of Palestine, had comparatively little weight in the administration of the affairs of the church, and had no hand in the distribution to the church poor. Being a minority, and being moreover looked on with invidious eyes by the genuine Hebrews, as a sort of half renegades, they were overlooked and put back, in the daily ministration to the needy, and to such a degree, that even the helpless widows among them were absolutely suffering through this neglect. The natural consequence was, that murmurs and open complaints arose among them, at this shameful and unbrotherly partiality. As soon as the report of the difficulty reached the ears of the twelve, they immediately called a full church-meeting, and laid the matter before it in these words. “It is not proper that we should leave the preaching of the word of God, to wait on tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven reputable men, full of a holy spirit and of wisdom, whom we may intrust with this business;while we continue to give our time up wholly to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This wise plan pleased all parties, and the church proceeded to elect the proper persons for the charge. To soothe the feelings of the Hellenists, the whole seven were chosen from their number, as the names (which are all Greek) fully show. This makes it probable that there were already persons appointed from among the Hebrews, who had administered these charities from the beginning, and whose partial management of these matters had given offense to those whom they slighted. The seven Hellenists now chosen to this office, were Stephen, resplendent in spiritual and intellectual endowments; Philip, also highly distinguished afterwards by his successful preaching; Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch; by which last circumstance, (as well as by the case of Barnabas,) is shown the fact that some Hellenist converts, from a distance, had settled at Jerusalem, and permanently joined the followers of Christ. These seven being formally elected by the church, were brought in before the apostles, for approval and confirmation. And after they had prayed, they laid their hands on them, in token of imparting to them the blessing and the power of that divine influence which had inspired its previous possessors to deeds so energetic and triumphant. The efficiency of this prayer and benediction, in calling down divine grace on the heads thus touched by the hands of the apostles, was afterwards most remarkably demonstrated in the case of two of the seven, and in the case of the first of them, almost immediately.

Greeks.——The original word here is notἙλληνες, (Hellenes,) butἙλληνιστοι, (Hellenistoi,) which means notGrecians, butGrecizers; that is, those who imitated Grecian language or customs.

Genuine Hebrews.——By these are meant those who used the Hebrew language still in their synagogues, as the only sacred tongue, and looked with much scorn on the Hellenists, that is, those foreign Jews, who, from birth or residence in other lands, had learned the Greek as their sole language in common life, and were thus obliged to use the Greek translation, in order to understand the scriptures. This matter will have a fuller discussion in another place. Lightfoot has brought a most amazing quantity of learned and valuable illustration of this difference, from Talmudic literature. (Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Actsvi.1.)

CHRIST’S FIRST MARTYR.Stephen, after thus being set apart for the service of the church, though faithfully discharging the peculiar duties to which he was called, did not confine his labors to the mere administration of the public charities. The word of God had now so spread, under the ministry of the apostles, that the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was greatly enlarged, and that not merely from thelower and ignorant orders; but a great number of the priests, who, in their daily service in the temple, had been frequently unintentional hearers of the word preached in its courts, now professed themselves the submissive friends of the new faith. This remarkable increase excited public attention more and more, and required redoubled exertions to meet the increasing call for instruction. Stephen, therefore, immediately entered boldly and heartily on this good work; and, inspired by a pure faith, and the confidence of help from above, he wrought among the people such miracles as had hitherto followed only the ministry of the apostles. The bold actions of this new champion did not fail to excite the wrath of the enemies of the cause of Christ; but as the late decision of the Sanhedrim had been against any further immediate resort to violent measures, his opponents confined themselves to the forms of verbal debate for a while. As Stephen was one of those Jews who had adopted the Greek language and habits, and probably directed his labors more particularly to that class of persons, he soon became peculiarly obnoxious to those Hellenist Jews who still held out against the new doctrine. Of the numerous congregations of foreign Jews that filled Jerusalem, five in particular are mentioned as distinguishing themselves by this opposition,——that of the freed-men, or captive Jews once slaves in Rome, and their descendants,——that of the Cyrenians,——of the Alexandrians,——the Cilicians and the Asians. Some of the more zealous in all these congregations came out to meet Stephen in debate, with the polished points of Grecian logic which their acquaintance with that language enabled them to use against him. But not all the combined powers of sacred and profane literature availed any thing against their learned and inspired opponent. Prepared beforehand, thoroughly, in all sorts of wisdom, and borne on resistlessly, moreover, by that divine influence whose movements they could see but could not understand, he foiled them completely at all their own weapons, and exposed them, in their low bigotry and stupidity, baffled and silenced by his single voice. But among all the refinements and elegances with which their classical knowledge had made them acquainted, they had failed to learn that noblest effort of the rhetorical art, which is to know how to bear a fair defeat in open debate, gracefully. These low-minded, half-renegade bigots, burning with brutal rage for this defeat, which their base behavior made more disgraceful, determined to find a means of punishing him, which no logic nor rhetoriccould resist. They found men base enough for their vile purposes, and instructed them to testify that they had heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. On the strength of this heinous charge, they made out to rouse some of the people, as well as the elders and the scribes, to a similar hostile feeling; and coming upon him with a throng of these, they seized him and dragged him away to the Sanhedrim, to undergo the form of a trial. They then brought forward their perjured witnesses, who testified only in vague terms of abuse, “This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus, the Nazarene, will destroy this place, and will do away with the customs which Moses delivered to us.” This was, after all, a kind of accusation which brought him more particularly under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, whose leader had lately so decidedly befriended the apostles; for that sect guarded with the most jealous care all the minute details of their religion, and were ever ready to punish, as a traitor to the national faith and honor, any one who spoke slightingly, or even doubtingly, of the perpetuity of the law of Moses, and its hallowed shrine. Perhaps there was no one of all the sayings of Jesus himself, which had given deeper offense than his remark about destroying the temple and re-building it in three days, which his silly hearers took up seriously, and construed into a serious, blasphemous insult of the chief glory of the Jewish name, and bore it in mind so bitterly, as to throw it back on him, in his last agonies on the cross. Such a saying, therefore, when laid to the charge of Stephen, could not but rouse the worst feelings against him, in the hearts of all his judges. But he, calm and undisturbed amid the terrors of this trial, as he had been in the fury of the dispute, bore such an aspect of composure, that all who sat in the council were struck with his angelic look. The high priest, however, having heard the accusation, solemnly called on the prisoner to say “whether these things were so.” Stephen then, with a determination to meet the charge by a complete exhibition of his views of the character and objects of the Jewish faith, ran over the general history of its rise and progress, and of the opinions which its founders and upholders had expressed concerning the importance and the perpetuity of those types and forms, and of the glorious temple which was their chief seat, when compared with the revelation to be expected through the prophet promised tothem by God and foretold by Moses. Warming as he went on, he quoted the poetical words of Isaiah, on the dwelling-place of the Almighty, as not being confined to the narrow bounds of the building which was to them an object of such idolatrous reverence, as the sole place of Jehovah’s abode, but as being high in the heavens, whence his power and love spread their boundless grasp over sea and land, and all nations that dwelt beneath his throne. As the words of the prophet of the fire-touched lips rolled from the voice of Stephen, they kindled his soul into an ecstacy of holy wrath; and in open scorn of their mean cruelty, he broke away from the plan of his discourse, bursting out into burning expressions of reproach and denunciation, which carried their rage away beyond all bounds of reason. Conscious of their physical power to avenge the insult, the mob instantly rose up, and hurried him away from the court, without regard to the forms of law; and taking him without the city, they stoned him to death, while he invoked on them, not the wrath, but the mercy of their common God. In such prayers, gloriously crowning such labors and sufferings, he fell asleep, commending his spirit to the hands of that Lord and Savior, whom it was his exalted honor to follow, first of all, through the bitter agonies of a bloody death.THE PERSECUTION.Among the nameless herd of Stephen’s murderers and disputants, there was one only whose name has been preserved from the impenetrable oblivion which hides their infamy. And that name now is brought to the mind of every Christian reader, without one emotion of indignation or contempt, for its connection with this bloody murder. That man is now known to hundreds of millions, and has been for centuries known to millions of millions, as the bright leader of the hosts of the ransomed, and the faithful martyr who sealed with his blood the witness which this proto-martyr bore beneath the messengers of death to which his voice had doomed him. In the synagogue of the Cilicians, which was so active in the attack on Stephen, was a young man, who was not behind the oldest and the fiercest, in the steady, unrelenting hate which he bore to this devouring heresy. He gave his voice amid the clamors of the mob, to swell the cry for the death of the heretic; and when the stout murderers hurled the deadly missiles on the martyr’s naked head, it was he who took charge of the loose garments which they had thrown off, that they might use their limbs with greater freedom. Neither thesight of the saintly martyr, kneeling unresistingly to meet his bloody death, nor the sound of his voice, rising in the broken tones of the death-agony, in prayer for his murderers, could move the deep hate of this young zealot, to the least relenting; but the whole scene only led him to follow this example of merciless persecution, which he here viewed with such deep delight. Abundant opportunities for the exercise of this persecuting spirit soon occurred. In connection with the charge against Stephen, which, however unfounded, brought him to this illegal death, there was a general and systematic disturbance raised by the same persons, against the church in Jerusalem, more particularly directed, as it would seem, against the Hellenist members, who were involved, by general suspicion, in the same crime for which Stephen, their eminent brother, had suffered. Saul now distinguished himself at once above all others, by the active share which he took in this persecution. Raging against the faithful companions of the martyred Stephen, he, with the most inquisitorial zeal, sought them out, even in their own quiet dwellings, and violating the sanctity of home, he dragged out the inmates to prison, visiting even on helpless women the crime of believing as their consciences prompted, and without regard to delicacy or decency, shutting them up in the public dungeons. As soon as the storm began to burst on the new converts, those who were in any special danger of attack very properly sought safety in flight from the city, in accordance with the wise and merciful injunction laid upon the apostles by their Lord, when he first sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,——“When they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” The consequences of this dispersion, however, were such as to turn the foolish rage of the persecutors to the solid advantage of the cause of Christ, and to show in what a variety of ways God can cause the wrath of man to praise him. For all those who were thus driven out of their peaceful homes, became missionaries of the word of truth, among the people of the various cities and countries through which they were scattered. All those of whose wanderings we have any account, seem to have journeyed northward and north-westward, probably all of them foreign Jews, who naturally returned home when driven out of Jerusalem. Some of these went, in this way, to the Phoenician coast, to Antioch, and to Cyprus, all laboring to extend the knowledge of that truth for which they were willing sufferers. But of all those who went forth on this forced mission, none appear tohave been more successful than Philip, who stood next to the martyred Stephen on the list of the seven Hellenist servants of the church, and who appears to have been second not even to his great fellow-servant in ability and energy. His home was in Caesarea, on the sea-coast; but he had higher objects than merely to take refuge in his own domestic circle; for instead of thus indulging his feelings of natural affection, he also turned his course northward, and made his first sojourn in the city of Samaria, where he immediately began to preach Christ to them, as the common Messiah, so long desired by Samaritans as well as Jews. Here, the people being ruled by no tyrannical sectaries, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the various orders of ecclesiastical power in Jerusalem, were left entirely to follow the impulse of their better feelings towards the truth, without the fear of any inquisition into their movements. Under these happy circumstances of religious freedom, they all with one accord gave heed to the preaching of Philip, hearing and seeing the wonderful works of kindness which he did. For foul spirits, which, possessing many sufferers, had long wasted their bodies and deranged their minds, now at the word of this preacher of Christ, came out of many of them, crying with a loud voice in attestation of the irresistible power which had overcome them. Many also that were affected with palsies and that were lame, were healed in the same miraculous manner; so that, in consequence of this removal of so many bodily and spiritual evils, there was great joy in the city, at the arrival of this messenger of mercy. But before the coming of Philip, the people of Samaria had been the subjects of arts of a somewhat different kind, from a man who could claim for his works none of the holy character of disinterested humanity, which belonged to those of the preacher of Christ. This was one Simon, a man who, by the use of some magical tricks, had so imposed upon the simple-minded citizens, that they were profoundly impressed with the notion, which he was anxious to make them believe, namely, that he was a great man. To him they all, both young and old, paid the deepest reverence, in consequence of the triumphant ability displayed by him in the arts of sorcery; and so low were their notions of the nature of miraculous agency, that they concluded that the tricks which he played were tokens of divine interposition in his favor, and universally allowed that he was himself a personification of the mighty power of God. But when Philip came among them, and exhibited the genuineworkings of the holy spirit of God, they immediately saw how much they had been mistaken in their previous estimate of its operations, and changed their degraded notions, for a more just appreciation of its character. On hearing the word of truth so fully revealed and supported, they believed in the new view which he gave them of the kingdom of God on earth, and in the name of Jesus Christ; and were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself, overwhelmed with the evidences of a higher power than any that he knew, confessed the fallacy of his own tricks, and submissively owned the power of God as manifested in the words and deeds of Philip, with whom he now remained, a humble and wondering observer of the miracles and signs wrought by him.THE VISIT TO SAMARIA.In the mean time, the apostles had remained at Jerusalem, apparently not directly affected by the persecution against Stephen and his friends, or at least not disturbed by it so as to be prevented from remaining at their original post, in the discharge of duty. For, a true regard for the instructions long ago given them by their Master, would have required them to leave Jerusalem, if the opposition to their preaching became so settled and extensive as to prevent them from advancing the cause of Christ there, more rapidly than they might in other places. The spirit with which they had been taught to meet tyrannical opposition, was not one of idle bravado or useless pertinacity, but of deliberate and calculating steadiness in their plan, which knew when to prudently give way, as well as when to boldly withstand. It is therefore fair to conclude, that the persecution here referred to, was so limited as not to be directed against the apostles themselves, nor to hinder their useful labors. If any of them had been imprisoned during this persecution, certainly the rest would have been blamable for not escaping; but the fact that they remained perfectly free, appears from their leaving the city without delay, on the occasion which now required their presence and assistance elsewhere. For as soon as they heard of the preaching of Philip at Samaria, and of the willingness with which the Samaritans had received and believed the first communications of the word, they immediately sent to them Peter and John, who, as the chief teachers of the doctrines of Christ, might give the new converts a fuller preparation for their duties in their calling, than could be expected from one so lately commissioned as thezealous preacher who had first awakened them. These two great apostles, having come down to Samaria, prayed for the believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for this heavenly gift had not yet been imparted to them; the only sign of their acceptance into the new faith having been their baptism by the hands of Philip, who does not seem to have been empowered to indue others with the same divine spirit which he had so abundantly received on himself. But the apostles laying their hands on them, as they had before done with such powerful effect on Stephen, Philip and their fellow-servants, now also inspired these second fruits with the same divine energy, which was instantly made manifest in them, by the usual signs. As soon as Simon saw the display of the new powers, with which those were suddenly gifted who had been made the subjects of this simple ceremony, he immediately concluded that he had at last found out the means of acquiring those miraculous powers at which he had been so deeply amazed, and which he thought he could make vastly profitable to himself in his business, as a very decided improvement upon his old tricks. Thinking only of the motive which always movedhismind to the bestowment of such favors, he immediately took out the money he had gained by his impositions on the people, and offered the apostles a handsome share of it, if they would simply give him the valuable privilege of conferring this divine agency on all upon whom he should lay his hands, in the same manner as they. But his mercenary hopes were soon blasted by the indignant terms in which Peter rejected his insulting proposal. “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be bought with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Change thy mind, therefore, from this wickedness of thine, and ask God, if indeed there is any possibility, that the iniquity of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I see that thou art still full of the bitterness of thy former poisons, and bound fast in the chains of thy old iniquities.” Simon, hushed and overawed in his impertinent offers by this stern rebuke, sunk into a penitent tone again, and begged of them that they would pray for him, that the doom to perish with his money, as declared by Peter, might not fall on him. Of the depth and sincerity of his penitence, no good testimony is left us; but his submissive conduct, at best, seems to have been rather the result of a personal awe of the apostles, as his superiors in supernaturalpowers, than prompted by any true regard for their pure faith, or any just appreciation of their character and motives. The apostles, however, waited no longer to enlighten the mind of one so dark in his views of the divine agency; but after they had borne witness to the truth of Philip’s words and doctrines by their own preaching, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans, on the way. Philip also, having had his labors thus triumphantly crowned by the ministrations of the apostles, left Samaria, and turned his course southwards, towards Gaza, under the impulse and guidance of a divine spirit. On this journey, occurred his most interesting adventure with the lord high treasurer of the Ethiopian queen, after which Philip was found at Ashdod, on the sea, from which place, journeying northwards again, he went preaching through all the towns on the coast, till he arrived at his home, at Caesarea.JAFFA——JOPPA.THE BEGINNING OF PEACE.Soon after the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, an event occurred, which had a more mighty influence on the progress of the Christian religion than any other that had occurred since the ascension of Jesus. The members of the church who still withstood the storm of persecution in the city, were struck with no small amazement by the sudden appearance, before them, of Saul of Tarsus, the most bloody persecutor of their Hellenist brethren, who, having exhausted the opportunities for the gratification of his spite against them in Jerusalem, had gone to Damascus, to seize such as there supposed themselves safe in following the new faith. This man, yet stained, as it were, with the blood of Stephen, now presented himself to them as a convert to the gospel, prepared to join them as a brother. The whole affair seemed to bear so decidedly the aspect of a palpable imposition, that they altogether refused to have any thing to do with him, and suspected the whole to be a deep-laid snare, on the part of this bloody foe of the gospel, who now appeared to be seeking, by false professions, to get into their confidence, that he might have the means of betraying them to utter ruin. But Barnabas, who was better acquainted with Saul, detailed to the church all the wonderful circumstances so fully, that they no longer hesitated to receive him as a brother and fellow-laborer. This remarkable conversion was of vast benefit to the cause of the gospel, not only by bringing to its aid the services of a laborer so competent, but also by removing from among its adversaries one who had been a leaderand a contriver of every plot of mischief. As soon as he left the ranks of the foe, the vindictive persecution, which had raged ever since the death of Stephen, ceased, as though it had lost its great author and main support, by the defection of Saul of Tarsus. Indeed, the last act of this persecution, which is recorded, was directed against this very man, who had once been a leader in it, and drove him out of the city which had been the scene of his cruelties. Therefore, the churches had rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, strengthening and advancing in piety, and filled with the impulses of the Holy Spirit. This opportunity of quiet seemed peculiarly favorable for a minute survey of the condition of these scattered churches, most of which had grown up without any direct agency of the apostles, and therefore needed their attention at this critical period.THE SURVEY OF THE CHURCHES.The most proper person for this responsible charge, was the great leader of the apostolic band; and Peter, therefore, taking the task readily upon himself, went through all the churches, to give them the advantages of the minute personal ministry of a chief apostle, who might organize them, and instruct the disciples in their peculiar duties as members of a new religious community. On this tour of duty, passing down from the interior towards the sea-coast, he came to Lydda, about forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem, and about twelve from the sea. Here there was a company of the faithful, whom he visited, to instruct them anew, and to enlarge their numbers, by his preaching and miracles. A particular case is recorded as having occurred here, which displayed both the compassion of Peter and his divine power to heal and strengthen. Among the friends of Christ whom he visited here, was an invalid, whose name, Aeneas, shows him to have been a Hellenist. This man had for the long period of eight years been deprived of the use of his limbs, by a palsy, which, during that tedious interval, confined him to his bed. Peter, on seeing him, said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals thee. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself.” The command to spread and smooth the couch, which he now quitted in health, was given, that he might show and feel, at once, how fully strength was restored to his hands as well as his feet. This miracle soon became known, not only to the citizens of Lydda, but also to the people inhabiting the extensive and fertile plain of Sharon, which stretched to the northward of Lydda, along the coast,from Joppa to Caesarea, bounded on the west by the highlands of Samaria. The effect of this display of power and benevolence, was such, on their minds, that, without exception, they professed their faith in Christ.

CHRIST’S FIRST MARTYR.

Stephen, after thus being set apart for the service of the church, though faithfully discharging the peculiar duties to which he was called, did not confine his labors to the mere administration of the public charities. The word of God had now so spread, under the ministry of the apostles, that the number of the disciples in Jerusalem was greatly enlarged, and that not merely from thelower and ignorant orders; but a great number of the priests, who, in their daily service in the temple, had been frequently unintentional hearers of the word preached in its courts, now professed themselves the submissive friends of the new faith. This remarkable increase excited public attention more and more, and required redoubled exertions to meet the increasing call for instruction. Stephen, therefore, immediately entered boldly and heartily on this good work; and, inspired by a pure faith, and the confidence of help from above, he wrought among the people such miracles as had hitherto followed only the ministry of the apostles. The bold actions of this new champion did not fail to excite the wrath of the enemies of the cause of Christ; but as the late decision of the Sanhedrim had been against any further immediate resort to violent measures, his opponents confined themselves to the forms of verbal debate for a while. As Stephen was one of those Jews who had adopted the Greek language and habits, and probably directed his labors more particularly to that class of persons, he soon became peculiarly obnoxious to those Hellenist Jews who still held out against the new doctrine. Of the numerous congregations of foreign Jews that filled Jerusalem, five in particular are mentioned as distinguishing themselves by this opposition,——that of the freed-men, or captive Jews once slaves in Rome, and their descendants,——that of the Cyrenians,——of the Alexandrians,——the Cilicians and the Asians. Some of the more zealous in all these congregations came out to meet Stephen in debate, with the polished points of Grecian logic which their acquaintance with that language enabled them to use against him. But not all the combined powers of sacred and profane literature availed any thing against their learned and inspired opponent. Prepared beforehand, thoroughly, in all sorts of wisdom, and borne on resistlessly, moreover, by that divine influence whose movements they could see but could not understand, he foiled them completely at all their own weapons, and exposed them, in their low bigotry and stupidity, baffled and silenced by his single voice. But among all the refinements and elegances with which their classical knowledge had made them acquainted, they had failed to learn that noblest effort of the rhetorical art, which is to know how to bear a fair defeat in open debate, gracefully. These low-minded, half-renegade bigots, burning with brutal rage for this defeat, which their base behavior made more disgraceful, determined to find a means of punishing him, which no logic nor rhetoriccould resist. They found men base enough for their vile purposes, and instructed them to testify that they had heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. On the strength of this heinous charge, they made out to rouse some of the people, as well as the elders and the scribes, to a similar hostile feeling; and coming upon him with a throng of these, they seized him and dragged him away to the Sanhedrim, to undergo the form of a trial. They then brought forward their perjured witnesses, who testified only in vague terms of abuse, “This man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus, the Nazarene, will destroy this place, and will do away with the customs which Moses delivered to us.” This was, after all, a kind of accusation which brought him more particularly under the invidious notice of the Pharisees, whose leader had lately so decidedly befriended the apostles; for that sect guarded with the most jealous care all the minute details of their religion, and were ever ready to punish, as a traitor to the national faith and honor, any one who spoke slightingly, or even doubtingly, of the perpetuity of the law of Moses, and its hallowed shrine. Perhaps there was no one of all the sayings of Jesus himself, which had given deeper offense than his remark about destroying the temple and re-building it in three days, which his silly hearers took up seriously, and construed into a serious, blasphemous insult of the chief glory of the Jewish name, and bore it in mind so bitterly, as to throw it back on him, in his last agonies on the cross. Such a saying, therefore, when laid to the charge of Stephen, could not but rouse the worst feelings against him, in the hearts of all his judges. But he, calm and undisturbed amid the terrors of this trial, as he had been in the fury of the dispute, bore such an aspect of composure, that all who sat in the council were struck with his angelic look. The high priest, however, having heard the accusation, solemnly called on the prisoner to say “whether these things were so.” Stephen then, with a determination to meet the charge by a complete exhibition of his views of the character and objects of the Jewish faith, ran over the general history of its rise and progress, and of the opinions which its founders and upholders had expressed concerning the importance and the perpetuity of those types and forms, and of the glorious temple which was their chief seat, when compared with the revelation to be expected through the prophet promised tothem by God and foretold by Moses. Warming as he went on, he quoted the poetical words of Isaiah, on the dwelling-place of the Almighty, as not being confined to the narrow bounds of the building which was to them an object of such idolatrous reverence, as the sole place of Jehovah’s abode, but as being high in the heavens, whence his power and love spread their boundless grasp over sea and land, and all nations that dwelt beneath his throne. As the words of the prophet of the fire-touched lips rolled from the voice of Stephen, they kindled his soul into an ecstacy of holy wrath; and in open scorn of their mean cruelty, he broke away from the plan of his discourse, bursting out into burning expressions of reproach and denunciation, which carried their rage away beyond all bounds of reason. Conscious of their physical power to avenge the insult, the mob instantly rose up, and hurried him away from the court, without regard to the forms of law; and taking him without the city, they stoned him to death, while he invoked on them, not the wrath, but the mercy of their common God. In such prayers, gloriously crowning such labors and sufferings, he fell asleep, commending his spirit to the hands of that Lord and Savior, whom it was his exalted honor to follow, first of all, through the bitter agonies of a bloody death.

THE PERSECUTION.

Among the nameless herd of Stephen’s murderers and disputants, there was one only whose name has been preserved from the impenetrable oblivion which hides their infamy. And that name now is brought to the mind of every Christian reader, without one emotion of indignation or contempt, for its connection with this bloody murder. That man is now known to hundreds of millions, and has been for centuries known to millions of millions, as the bright leader of the hosts of the ransomed, and the faithful martyr who sealed with his blood the witness which this proto-martyr bore beneath the messengers of death to which his voice had doomed him. In the synagogue of the Cilicians, which was so active in the attack on Stephen, was a young man, who was not behind the oldest and the fiercest, in the steady, unrelenting hate which he bore to this devouring heresy. He gave his voice amid the clamors of the mob, to swell the cry for the death of the heretic; and when the stout murderers hurled the deadly missiles on the martyr’s naked head, it was he who took charge of the loose garments which they had thrown off, that they might use their limbs with greater freedom. Neither thesight of the saintly martyr, kneeling unresistingly to meet his bloody death, nor the sound of his voice, rising in the broken tones of the death-agony, in prayer for his murderers, could move the deep hate of this young zealot, to the least relenting; but the whole scene only led him to follow this example of merciless persecution, which he here viewed with such deep delight. Abundant opportunities for the exercise of this persecuting spirit soon occurred. In connection with the charge against Stephen, which, however unfounded, brought him to this illegal death, there was a general and systematic disturbance raised by the same persons, against the church in Jerusalem, more particularly directed, as it would seem, against the Hellenist members, who were involved, by general suspicion, in the same crime for which Stephen, their eminent brother, had suffered. Saul now distinguished himself at once above all others, by the active share which he took in this persecution. Raging against the faithful companions of the martyred Stephen, he, with the most inquisitorial zeal, sought them out, even in their own quiet dwellings, and violating the sanctity of home, he dragged out the inmates to prison, visiting even on helpless women the crime of believing as their consciences prompted, and without regard to delicacy or decency, shutting them up in the public dungeons. As soon as the storm began to burst on the new converts, those who were in any special danger of attack very properly sought safety in flight from the city, in accordance with the wise and merciful injunction laid upon the apostles by their Lord, when he first sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,——“When they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” The consequences of this dispersion, however, were such as to turn the foolish rage of the persecutors to the solid advantage of the cause of Christ, and to show in what a variety of ways God can cause the wrath of man to praise him. For all those who were thus driven out of their peaceful homes, became missionaries of the word of truth, among the people of the various cities and countries through which they were scattered. All those of whose wanderings we have any account, seem to have journeyed northward and north-westward, probably all of them foreign Jews, who naturally returned home when driven out of Jerusalem. Some of these went, in this way, to the Phoenician coast, to Antioch, and to Cyprus, all laboring to extend the knowledge of that truth for which they were willing sufferers. But of all those who went forth on this forced mission, none appear tohave been more successful than Philip, who stood next to the martyred Stephen on the list of the seven Hellenist servants of the church, and who appears to have been second not even to his great fellow-servant in ability and energy. His home was in Caesarea, on the sea-coast; but he had higher objects than merely to take refuge in his own domestic circle; for instead of thus indulging his feelings of natural affection, he also turned his course northward, and made his first sojourn in the city of Samaria, where he immediately began to preach Christ to them, as the common Messiah, so long desired by Samaritans as well as Jews. Here, the people being ruled by no tyrannical sectaries, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the various orders of ecclesiastical power in Jerusalem, were left entirely to follow the impulse of their better feelings towards the truth, without the fear of any inquisition into their movements. Under these happy circumstances of religious freedom, they all with one accord gave heed to the preaching of Philip, hearing and seeing the wonderful works of kindness which he did. For foul spirits, which, possessing many sufferers, had long wasted their bodies and deranged their minds, now at the word of this preacher of Christ, came out of many of them, crying with a loud voice in attestation of the irresistible power which had overcome them. Many also that were affected with palsies and that were lame, were healed in the same miraculous manner; so that, in consequence of this removal of so many bodily and spiritual evils, there was great joy in the city, at the arrival of this messenger of mercy. But before the coming of Philip, the people of Samaria had been the subjects of arts of a somewhat different kind, from a man who could claim for his works none of the holy character of disinterested humanity, which belonged to those of the preacher of Christ. This was one Simon, a man who, by the use of some magical tricks, had so imposed upon the simple-minded citizens, that they were profoundly impressed with the notion, which he was anxious to make them believe, namely, that he was a great man. To him they all, both young and old, paid the deepest reverence, in consequence of the triumphant ability displayed by him in the arts of sorcery; and so low were their notions of the nature of miraculous agency, that they concluded that the tricks which he played were tokens of divine interposition in his favor, and universally allowed that he was himself a personification of the mighty power of God. But when Philip came among them, and exhibited the genuineworkings of the holy spirit of God, they immediately saw how much they had been mistaken in their previous estimate of its operations, and changed their degraded notions, for a more just appreciation of its character. On hearing the word of truth so fully revealed and supported, they believed in the new view which he gave them of the kingdom of God on earth, and in the name of Jesus Christ; and were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself, overwhelmed with the evidences of a higher power than any that he knew, confessed the fallacy of his own tricks, and submissively owned the power of God as manifested in the words and deeds of Philip, with whom he now remained, a humble and wondering observer of the miracles and signs wrought by him.

THE VISIT TO SAMARIA.

In the mean time, the apostles had remained at Jerusalem, apparently not directly affected by the persecution against Stephen and his friends, or at least not disturbed by it so as to be prevented from remaining at their original post, in the discharge of duty. For, a true regard for the instructions long ago given them by their Master, would have required them to leave Jerusalem, if the opposition to their preaching became so settled and extensive as to prevent them from advancing the cause of Christ there, more rapidly than they might in other places. The spirit with which they had been taught to meet tyrannical opposition, was not one of idle bravado or useless pertinacity, but of deliberate and calculating steadiness in their plan, which knew when to prudently give way, as well as when to boldly withstand. It is therefore fair to conclude, that the persecution here referred to, was so limited as not to be directed against the apostles themselves, nor to hinder their useful labors. If any of them had been imprisoned during this persecution, certainly the rest would have been blamable for not escaping; but the fact that they remained perfectly free, appears from their leaving the city without delay, on the occasion which now required their presence and assistance elsewhere. For as soon as they heard of the preaching of Philip at Samaria, and of the willingness with which the Samaritans had received and believed the first communications of the word, they immediately sent to them Peter and John, who, as the chief teachers of the doctrines of Christ, might give the new converts a fuller preparation for their duties in their calling, than could be expected from one so lately commissioned as thezealous preacher who had first awakened them. These two great apostles, having come down to Samaria, prayed for the believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for this heavenly gift had not yet been imparted to them; the only sign of their acceptance into the new faith having been their baptism by the hands of Philip, who does not seem to have been empowered to indue others with the same divine spirit which he had so abundantly received on himself. But the apostles laying their hands on them, as they had before done with such powerful effect on Stephen, Philip and their fellow-servants, now also inspired these second fruits with the same divine energy, which was instantly made manifest in them, by the usual signs. As soon as Simon saw the display of the new powers, with which those were suddenly gifted who had been made the subjects of this simple ceremony, he immediately concluded that he had at last found out the means of acquiring those miraculous powers at which he had been so deeply amazed, and which he thought he could make vastly profitable to himself in his business, as a very decided improvement upon his old tricks. Thinking only of the motive which always movedhismind to the bestowment of such favors, he immediately took out the money he had gained by his impositions on the people, and offered the apostles a handsome share of it, if they would simply give him the valuable privilege of conferring this divine agency on all upon whom he should lay his hands, in the same manner as they. But his mercenary hopes were soon blasted by the indignant terms in which Peter rejected his insulting proposal. “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be bought with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Change thy mind, therefore, from this wickedness of thine, and ask God, if indeed there is any possibility, that the iniquity of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I see that thou art still full of the bitterness of thy former poisons, and bound fast in the chains of thy old iniquities.” Simon, hushed and overawed in his impertinent offers by this stern rebuke, sunk into a penitent tone again, and begged of them that they would pray for him, that the doom to perish with his money, as declared by Peter, might not fall on him. Of the depth and sincerity of his penitence, no good testimony is left us; but his submissive conduct, at best, seems to have been rather the result of a personal awe of the apostles, as his superiors in supernaturalpowers, than prompted by any true regard for their pure faith, or any just appreciation of their character and motives. The apostles, however, waited no longer to enlighten the mind of one so dark in his views of the divine agency; but after they had borne witness to the truth of Philip’s words and doctrines by their own preaching, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans, on the way. Philip also, having had his labors thus triumphantly crowned by the ministrations of the apostles, left Samaria, and turned his course southwards, towards Gaza, under the impulse and guidance of a divine spirit. On this journey, occurred his most interesting adventure with the lord high treasurer of the Ethiopian queen, after which Philip was found at Ashdod, on the sea, from which place, journeying northwards again, he went preaching through all the towns on the coast, till he arrived at his home, at Caesarea.

JAFFA——JOPPA.

JAFFA——JOPPA.

JAFFA——JOPPA.

THE BEGINNING OF PEACE.

Soon after the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, an event occurred, which had a more mighty influence on the progress of the Christian religion than any other that had occurred since the ascension of Jesus. The members of the church who still withstood the storm of persecution in the city, were struck with no small amazement by the sudden appearance, before them, of Saul of Tarsus, the most bloody persecutor of their Hellenist brethren, who, having exhausted the opportunities for the gratification of his spite against them in Jerusalem, had gone to Damascus, to seize such as there supposed themselves safe in following the new faith. This man, yet stained, as it were, with the blood of Stephen, now presented himself to them as a convert to the gospel, prepared to join them as a brother. The whole affair seemed to bear so decidedly the aspect of a palpable imposition, that they altogether refused to have any thing to do with him, and suspected the whole to be a deep-laid snare, on the part of this bloody foe of the gospel, who now appeared to be seeking, by false professions, to get into their confidence, that he might have the means of betraying them to utter ruin. But Barnabas, who was better acquainted with Saul, detailed to the church all the wonderful circumstances so fully, that they no longer hesitated to receive him as a brother and fellow-laborer. This remarkable conversion was of vast benefit to the cause of the gospel, not only by bringing to its aid the services of a laborer so competent, but also by removing from among its adversaries one who had been a leaderand a contriver of every plot of mischief. As soon as he left the ranks of the foe, the vindictive persecution, which had raged ever since the death of Stephen, ceased, as though it had lost its great author and main support, by the defection of Saul of Tarsus. Indeed, the last act of this persecution, which is recorded, was directed against this very man, who had once been a leader in it, and drove him out of the city which had been the scene of his cruelties. Therefore, the churches had rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, strengthening and advancing in piety, and filled with the impulses of the Holy Spirit. This opportunity of quiet seemed peculiarly favorable for a minute survey of the condition of these scattered churches, most of which had grown up without any direct agency of the apostles, and therefore needed their attention at this critical period.

THE SURVEY OF THE CHURCHES.

The most proper person for this responsible charge, was the great leader of the apostolic band; and Peter, therefore, taking the task readily upon himself, went through all the churches, to give them the advantages of the minute personal ministry of a chief apostle, who might organize them, and instruct the disciples in their peculiar duties as members of a new religious community. On this tour of duty, passing down from the interior towards the sea-coast, he came to Lydda, about forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem, and about twelve from the sea. Here there was a company of the faithful, whom he visited, to instruct them anew, and to enlarge their numbers, by his preaching and miracles. A particular case is recorded as having occurred here, which displayed both the compassion of Peter and his divine power to heal and strengthen. Among the friends of Christ whom he visited here, was an invalid, whose name, Aeneas, shows him to have been a Hellenist. This man had for the long period of eight years been deprived of the use of his limbs, by a palsy, which, during that tedious interval, confined him to his bed. Peter, on seeing him, said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals thee. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself.” The command to spread and smooth the couch, which he now quitted in health, was given, that he might show and feel, at once, how fully strength was restored to his hands as well as his feet. This miracle soon became known, not only to the citizens of Lydda, but also to the people inhabiting the extensive and fertile plain of Sharon, which stretched to the northward of Lydda, along the coast,from Joppa to Caesarea, bounded on the west by the highlands of Samaria. The effect of this display of power and benevolence, was such, on their minds, that, without exception, they professed their faith in Christ.

Lydda.——This was a place of far more importance and fame, than would be supposed from the brief mention of its name in the apostolic narrative. It is often mentioned in the writings of the Rabbins, under the name ofלוד(Ludh,) its original Hebrew name, and was long the seat of a great college of Jewish law and theology, which at this very period of Peter’s visit was in its most flourishing state. This appears from the fact that Rabbi Akiba, who raised the school to its greatest eminence, was contemporary with the great Rabban Gamaliel, who bears an important part in the events of the apostolic history. (The data of this chronological inference I find in Lightfoot.) It is easy to see, then, why so important a seat of Jewish theology should have been thought deserving of the particular notice and protracted stay of Peter, who labored with remarkable earnestness and effect here, inspired by the consciousness of the lasting and extensive good, that would result from an impression made on this fountain of religious knowledge. The members of the college, however, did not all, probably, profess themselves followers of Christ.

It is also described as possessing some importance in addition to its literary privileges. Josephus (AntiquitiesXX.vi.3.) mentions “Lydda” as “a village not inferior to a city in greatness.” Its importance was, no doubt, in a great measure derived from the remarkably rich agricultural district which surrounded it. This was the plain of Sharon, so celebrated in the Hebrew scriptures for its fruitful fields and rich pastures,——its roses and its flocks. (Solomon’s Songii.1: Isaiahxxxiii.9:xxxv.2:lxv.10: 1 Chroniclesxxvii.29.) “All this country is described by Pococke as very rich soil, throwing up a great quantity of herbage; among which he specifies chardons, rue, fennel, and the striped thistle, ‘probably on this account called the holy thistle.’ A great variety of anemonies, he was told, grow in the neighborhood. ‘I saw likewise,’ he adds, ‘many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March;) and any one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye, would be apt to conjecture that these are the lilies to which Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be compared.’”——[Modern Traveler,p.57.] Its distance from Jerusalem is ascertained, by Lightfoot, to be one day’s journey, as it is stated with some circumlocution in the Mishna. It was destroyed, as Josephus relates, by Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who marched his army through that region, in the beginning of the war, which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. Under the peaceful times of the later Roman sway in Palestine, it was rebuilt, and called Diospolis. But like many other such instances, it has lost its temporary heathen name, and is now called by its old scripture appellation,Ludd. Travelers describe it as now a poor village, though the stones to be seen in the modern buildings show that it has been a place of great consequence.

The New Testament nameLydda, (Λυδδα,) by which Josephus also mentions it, is only so much changed from the HebrewLudh, as was necessary to accommodate it to the regular forms and inflexions of the Greek language. Lightfoot well refutes the blunder of many modern geographers who make the two names refer to different places. This learned author is remarkably full in the description of this place, and is very rich in references to the numerous allusions which are made to it in the Talmudic writings. See hisCenturia Chorographica, (Chapter 16,) prefixed to Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Matthew.

Aeneas.——This name is unquestionably Greek, which seems to show the man to have been a Hellenist; and that he was already a believer in Christ, would appear from the fact of Peter’s finding him among the brethren there.

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