Chapter VII
THE TRIAL BEFORE PILATE――THE CONDEMNATION. A.D. 30.
WHAT amount of knowledge Pilate already possessed of the Saviour’s person and character is not known. But he could not fail to have been surprised, on this occasion, at the earnest request so early in the morning to decide the question respecting the Teacher from Galilee. The deputation from the Sanhedrin would not enter his prætorium, lest they should incur pollution, and be unable to keep the Passover (Jn. xviii. 28). Yielding, therefore, to the popular custom[531], with political tact he came forth from his palace (Jn. xviii. 29), and enquired the nature of the accusation against the Redeemer.
At first they replied evasively, and as if they felt hurt at the question, If this fellow were not a malefactor we would not have delivered Him unto thee (Jn. xviii. 30). But this would not satisfy Pilate, and he replied ironically[532], Then take ye Him, and judge Him according to your law, as if anxious to refer the whole matter back to themselves. To this the Jews replied that it was not lawful for them to put any one to death (Jn. xviii. 31), and having thus intimated that the Redeemer had committed a crime, for which the punishment of death was due, artfully put forward a charge, which, as a Roman procurator, Pilate could not overlook. We found this fellow, said they, perverting our nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that He is Christ a King (Lk. xxiii 2).
Though Pilate must have known the Jews too well to imagine that the Sanhedrin would really hate and persecute One, whose sole crime was an anxiety to free them from the Roman power[533], he saw that the case could not be hastily put aside, involving as it did three grave charges; (i) seditious agitation, (ii) attempted prohibition of the payment of the tribute-money, and (iii) the assumption of the suspicious title of “King of the Jews.”
It was clearly necessary that he should at least examine the Accused, and, as a procurator[534], he was bound to conduct the examination himself.
Withdrawing, accordingly, with the Redeemer into the interior of the prætorium (Jn. xviii. 33), he began by enquiring, Art thou the King of the Jews? (Jn. xviii. 33; Mtt. xxvii. 11). To this the Holy One replied by asking the governor whether he put this question of himself, or at the suggestion of others (Jn. xviii. 34). Apparently offended at such a rejoinder, and disclaiming all communion with the prejudices of the Jews[535], Pilate responded that he was not a Jew; His own countrymen, and the ruling powers of the nation, had brought Him before his tribunal, what had He done?
Thus interrogated the Saviour replied by an assertion of the real nature of His kingdom: My kingdom, said He, is not of this world; had my kingdom been of this world, then would my servants have contended that I should not be delivered to the Jews: My kingdom is not from hence. Art Thou[536], then, a king? enquired the wondering governor. Thou sayest it, answered the Redeemer; for I am a King. For this purpose was I born, and for this purpose came I into the world, that I might bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My Voice (Jn. xviii. 37, 38). These mysterious words from the lips of One, whose life seemed to be entirely at his mercy; this denial that He was a king in a worldly sense, and the implication that in another sense He was[537]; this declaration that the object of His birth and of His life was to bear witness to the truth, increased the procurator’s perplexity. What is truth? he asked, partly in sadness, partly in irony, partly from a real inability to discern the connection of such an abstract matter with “the present question, with a question of life and death, with a capital charge brought by the national council before the supreme tribunal[538].” He could connect a kingdom with power, but not with truth.
The only sect Pilate could have ever heard of that believed in such a kingdom was the Stoics[539], and their opinions he would naturally regard as those of visionary enthusiasts. The Accused might be a dreamer, but certainly He was not one who had done anything deserving of the sword of the civil power, and going out to the Jewish deputation standing before the gate (Jn. xviii. 38), he declared his conviction of His innocence; he found no fault in Him (Lk. xxiii. 4).
But this was the signal for a furious clamour on the part of the chief priests and the members of the Sanhedrin. He stirreth up the people, they cried, teaching throughout all Judæa, beginning from Galilee even unto this place (Lk. xxiii. 5). Pilate thereupon turned once more to the Accused, and enquired what answer He had to give to these charges (Mtt. xxvii. 13). But the Holy One continued silent, and answered not a word. This increased still further the astonishment of the procurator (Mtt. xxvii. 14; Mk. xv. 5), but he fancied he had discovered an escape from the dilemma. The word Galilee had not escaped his ears (Lk. xxiii. 6). Galilee was in the jurisdiction of Herod-Antipas, who was now present in the city as a worshipper at the Feast (Lk. xxiii. 7), and by sending the case before him[540], he might at once rid himself of a troublesome responsibility[541], and conciliate one, with whom he had hitherto been on no friendly terms[542] (Lk. xxiii. 12). Having assured himself, therefore, that the Accused was a Galilæan (Lk. xxiii. 6), he sent Him before Herod’s tribunal.
The tetrarch of Galilee[543], as we have seen before, had often heard of the Saviour, and had long desired to see Him[544] (Lk. xxiii. 8). He was highly pleased, therefore, when informed who was awaiting an audience with him, and hoped his curiosity to see some sign of supernatural magical power might be gratified. With this view he put many questions to Him, but the Redeemer maintained an imperturbable silence. Meanwhile the chief priests and scribes, who had followed into the presence of Herod, persisted in their furious accusations. But neither their charges nor the questions of the tetrarch could induce the Holy One to utter a word. Provoked at being thus disappointed of the object of his hopes, Herod’s superstitious curiosity was exchanged for scorn. He did not venture indeed to condemn the Accused to death, and saw that there was nothing He had done which rendered Him liable to punishment, but he did not scruple to insult Him, and therefore handed Him over to his soldiers, amongst whom probably, as in his father’s body-guard[545], were Gaulish and Thracian barbarians, who treated the Holy One with every kind of indignity (Lk. xxiii. 11). This done, he sent Him back to the Roman procurator, clad in a purple robe, and the ill-feeling between the two was from that day exchanged for friendship (Lk. xxiii. 12).
Perplexed, as Pilate probably was, at finding the case thus thrown back upon his hands, he was more than ever convinced that the Holy One was entirely innocent of such grave charges as had been made against Him. He therefore summoned the chief priests and rulers of the people (Lk. xxiii. 13) together, and once more declared his conviction that their accusations could not be sustained, and added that in this he was fortified by the judgment of Herod also. He offered, however, to scourge Him before letting Him go (Lk. xxiii. 16).
This first symptom of weakness and irresolution was not lost upon the Jewish rulers, and their followers assembled before the prætorium, and the proposition merely to scourge the meek Sufferer found little favour with them. Pilate therefore resolved to try another method of making the proposed acquittal more acceptable[546].
It appears to have been a custom, the origin of which is wholly unknown[547], to release at the season of the Passover any prisoner whom the people might select. There was at this time in confinement a celebrated (Mtt. xxvii. 16) bandit, named Barabbas[548], who with others had committed murder in an insurrectionary tumult (Mk. xv. 7) in the city (Lk. xxiii. 18). The procurator therefore, in accordance with this custom, proposed to the Jews that they should select for release one of the two, either Barabbas, a condemned murderer and insurgent, or the Prophet of Nazareth. He saw clearly that it was envy of His fame and popularity (Mk. xv. 10) which had induced the ruling powers to accuse the Holy One, and he hoped by this appeal to the people to procure His release. Indeed so certain does he appear to have been that they would select for release One, whom thousands had so lately welcomed with loud Hosannas as their Messiah, that he ascended and sat down upon the judgment-seat[549] as if to ratify and formally accept their decision (Mtt. xxvii. 19).
But at this moment, as if to increase his perplexity, an attendant approached bearing a message from his wife[550] imploring him to have nothing to do with the just person (Mtt. xxvii. 19) standing before his tribunal. During the night she had probably been roused by the messengers[551] of the high-priest requesting a Roman guard, and a fearful and harrowing morning (Mtt. xxvii. 19) dream concerning the righteous Prophet of Nazareth had induced her thus to appeal to her husband in His behalf.
Pilate’s feelings of awe and amazement were now intensified, and his determination to release his Prisoner increased. But the chief priests and the Sanhedrists had improved their opportunity while he was listening to his wife’s message, and when he composed himself afresh to receive their decision, he saw that malice and bitter, determined hatred had done their work. Persuaded by their teachers, the multitude cried out, Not this Man, but Barabbas. In vain the procurator tried to stem the torrent, in vain he expostulated (Mk. xv. 9), in vain he re-asserted his conviction of the innocence of the Accused. Loud clamour, and furious faces, and uplifted hands, told him that the feelings of the throng were excited beyond such efforts. Equally powerless was a solemn and significant action, by which he strove to represent in the most striking manner possible, how strongly he was convinced of the perfect innocence of the Holy One. Calling for water, he washed his hands publickly (Mtt. xxvii. 24) before the whole multitude, saying, I am guiltless of the blood of this Just Person: see ye to it. His blood be upon us and upon our children, was the frantic reply, and Pilate saw that further opposition would only increase the tumult (Mtt. xxvii. 25).
One hope, however, he still seems to have retained[552]. Perhaps that tossing clamorous throng would be satisfied with the infliction of a punishment only less terrible than death. Perhaps the inhuman scourge of the Roman soldiers would be enough[553], without the penalty of crucifixion, for which so many were already clamorous. He gave the order, therefore, that He should be scourged, and appears to have again sat down on the judgment-seat while the command was carried into effect.
The soldiers executed his orders with their wonted severity, and then flung around the bleeding body of the Divine Sufferer a purple[554] robe (Mtt. xxvii. 28; Jn. xix. 2), and placing a reed in His right hand (Mtt. xxvii. 29), and a crown of thorns[555] upon His head, bowed the knee before Him, and in cruel mockery saluted Him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews (Mtt. xxvii. 29; Mk. xv. 18). Not satisfied with this outrage, they took the reed and struck Him with it on the head, and spat in His face (Mtt. xxvii. 30; Mk. xv. 19), and heaped upon Him every kind of indignity.
The scourging appears to have been inflicted within the prætorium (Mtt. xxvii. 27), and when it had been carried out, Pilate himself went and led forth the Sufferer wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe (Jn. xix. 4, 5), and presented Him to the people, saying, Behold the Man[556]. Would not this spectacle of terrible suffering suffice? Could cruelty demand yet more? Crucify Him was the cry of the chief priests and their attendants (Jn. xix. 6). The sight of so much suffering so meekly borne drew forth no pity, and no relenting. Take ye Him, and crucify Him, replied the procurator; for I find no fault in Him. We have a law, rejoined the Jews, and by our law[557] He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.
These last words roused afresh all Pilate’s fears (Jn. xix. 8). Taking his bleeding, lacerated Prisoner once more within the prætorium he enquired anxiously, Whence art Thou[558]? But the Holy One made him no reply. Startled by this continued silence the procurator asked whether He did not know that he had power to release Him, and power to crucify Him. Thou couldest have had no power at all against Me, was the mysterious reply, unless it had been given thee from above; therefore he[559] that delivered Me unto thee hath the greater sin (Jn. xix. 11). This answer, so calm, so gentle, so full of mystery, made a deep impression on Pilate, already awed by the message of his wife, and still more by the infinite patience of the accused, and he resolved to make one last effort to release Him (Jn. xix. 12). But it was too late. A cry, far more formidable to himself than any he had yet heard, struck upon his ears: If thou let this Man go, cried the Jews, thou art not Cæsar’s friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Cæsar (Jn. xix. 12). It was a crafty, well-chosen cry. Pilate knew that the Jews already had matter for accusation against him[560], and could well divine the consequences, if they accused him before the gloomy suspicious Tiberius of sparing a prisoner who had been accused of treason[561]. Loss of place, degradation, banishment, perhaps a death by torture, stared him in the face. His fears for his own personal safety turned the scale. He must save himself[562], even though he sacrificed One whom he had confessed to be innocent. Once more, therefore, he took his seat upon the tribunal (Jn. xix. 13), but even now he could not resist the impulse to bid the Jews bethink themselves before it was too late. Behold your King, said he. His words were the signal for uproarious cries of Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him! Shall I crucify your King? asked the procurator. We have no king but Cæsar, replied the chief priests (Jn. xix. 15), thus renouncing altogether the hope of the Messiah in order to satisfy their thirst for the Redeemer’s blood, and Pilate seeing it was useless to prolong the controversy, pronounced the word, the irrevocable word, Let Him be crucified (Joh. xix. 16).
Chapter VIII
THE CRUCIFIXION. A.D. 30.
THUS the Holy One was formally delivered into the hands of the soldiers[563], who instantly made their preparations for His crucifixion. The place of execution was a spot of slightly rising ground without the gates of the city, called, probably from the shape of its rounded summit[564], Golgotha[565], the place of a skull (Mtt. xxvii. 33; Jn. xix. 17). Thither, therefore, after stripping Him of the purple robe, and putting on Him His own garments (Mtt. xxvii. 31; Mk. xv. 20), the soldiers led Him forth bearing[566], as was customary, the Cross on which He was to suffer (Jn. xix. 17), attended by a centurion[567], and two malefactors who were to be crucified with Him[568] (Lk. xxiii. 32).
As they proceeded from the city, the Redeemer, exhausted by the grievous sufferings He had already undergone, sank under the heavy weight of the Cross, and the soldiers meeting one Simon[569] of Cyrene in Northern Africa, coming from the country[570], laid hold upon him, and compelled[571] him to assist in bearing it (Mtt. xxvii. 32; Mk. xv. 21; Lk. xxiii. 26). And so the mournful procession was resumed, followed by a great multitude, amongst which many women began to utter loud laments at the sad spectacle. Turning to these daughters of Jerusalem the exalted Sufferer with superhuman composure bade them weep not for Him, but for themselves; for nameless sorrows awaited them, days when they would bless the wombs which had never borne, and the paps that had never given suck, when they would cry to the mountains to fall upon them, and to the hills to cover them[572] (Lk. xxiii. 28–31).
On reaching the appointed place, the hole for the Cross was dug in the ground, and the customary stupefying potion[573] of wine mingled with myrrh was offered to the Holy One. He touched it with his lips (Mtt. xxvii. 34), but would not drink it, being resolved to preserve His senses clear, and to endure all the coming agony in the full possession of His consciousness. Then the soldiers stripped Him of His garments, nailed His hands and feet to the Cross[574], placed over His head the title[575] which Pilate had written in three languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin,
This is Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews,
and between the two malefactors, one on His right hand and the other on His left (Isai. liii. 12), the Redeemer hung suspended between heaven and earth, breathing forth even under the hands of His murderers words of infinite love, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Lk. xxiii. 34).
It was now about the third hour[576] (Mk. xv. 25), and the quaternion or party of four soldiers[577] (Jn. xix. 23), with their centurion (Mtt. xxvii. 54), whose special duty it was to see that the bodies of those who suffered by crucifixion were not taken away, sat down and watched (Mtt. xxvii. 36). According to custom, the clothes of the Redeemer had become their perquisite. Of the outer garment they made four parts, probably loosening the seams[578]. But the inner garment[579] was without seam, woven from the top throughout (Jn. xix. 23). That they might not rend this garment, therefore, they drew lots for it whose it should be, and thus unconsciously fulfilled the words of the Psalmist, They parted My raiment among them; and for My vesture they did cast lots (Ps. xxii. 18; Jn. xix. 24).
While, however, the soldiers were thus employed, and the high-priests were busy wrangling with Pilate respecting the title he had placed upon the Cross, a few faithful ones had ventured to draw near the suffering Redeemer. Near His Cross stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas[580], and Mary Magdalene (Jn. xix. 25), and with them the Apostle John. Looking upon His mother, and seeing standing by her the disciple whom He loved, He said to her, Woman, behold thy son, and to the disciple, Behold thy mother, and from that hour the Apostle took her to his own home[581] (Jn. xix. 27).
But soon others than these faithful ones drew near. The passers-by began to vent their mockery and bitter gibes upon The Redeemer. Some reminded Him in derision of His deep saying at the first Passover of His public ministry, and bade Him who could destroy the Temple and build it in three days, save Himself (Mtt. xxvii. 39, 40; Mk. xv. 29). Others, and especially the chief priests, bade Him if He was in truth the Son of God, the Messiah, and King of Israel (Mtt. xxvii. 42; Mk. xv. 32), come down from the Cross. The soldiers also took up their words, and drawing near offered Him in mockery their sour wine[582] (Lk. xxiii. 36), and required Him, if, as His title portended, He was the King of the Jews, to deliver Himself, and soon even the crucified malefactors followed their example, and cast the same in His teeth (Mtt. xxvii. 44; Mk. xv. 32).
But as the weary time wore on, the feelings of one of the two, won over by the heroic bearing of the Saviour and His infinite patience, underwent a striking change. He began to reprove the other for his revilings (Lk. xxiii. 40). They indeed were suffering justly, and receiving the reward of their misdeeds, but the Holy One in their midst had done nothing amiss. This avowal, made amidst all His present agony and degradation, was a great step, but soon it led to another. The more the penitent malefactor reflected on the sinlessness of Him who hung beside him, the more he contrasted it with his own shortcomings, the more the light streamed into his soul, and at length the eye of faith opening to discern the invisible, and the conviction dawning upon him that this was his Lord, the true King of the Jews, he turned and said, Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom, and received the comforting reply, This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise (Lk. xxii. 43).
But now the greatest and most mysterious period of the Passion drew near. Already nature herself had begun to evince her sympathy with the awful scene that was being enacted. At the sixth hour, the hour of noon, the clearness of day began to be obscured. A fearful darkness[583] gradually spread over the whole land (Mtt. xxvii. 45; Mk. xv. 33; Lk. xxiii. 44)[584], and deepened in intensity till nearly the ninth hour, the hour of the evening sacrifice. Meanwhile the Holy One began to be sensible of the burning thirst, which is the most painful aggravation of a death by crucifixion, and gave expression to it in words (Jn. xix. 28). Close at hand stood a vessel full of vinegar, and one of the soldiers took a sponge, and filling it with the fluid put it on a hyssop-reed, and raised it to His lips. At this moment the Redeemer gave utterance to the prophetic words of the xxiind Psalm, in which, in the bitterness of his heart, David had complained of the desertion of his God, and said, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? (Mk. xv. 34).
On hearing this exclamation, some of those standing near, either misapprehending His words, or in wilful mockery, declared that He called not on Eli, God, but on Elias, whose appearance was universally expected as the sign of the Messiah’s kingdom. They would, therefore, have waited to see whether the great prophet would really come (Mk. xv. 36), and would have arrested the compassionate hand that was raising the vinegar. But the moment of release was near. As soon as He had tasted the vinegar (Jn. xix. 30), the dying Redeemer cried with a loud voice, It is finished; Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit, and gave up the ghost.
These last words had hardly been uttered before a wondrous event took place in the Temple. The veil, the beautiful veil, inwrought with figures of Cherubim, which separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy, was suddenly rent in twain from the top to the bottom[585] (Mtt. xxvii. 51; Mk. xv. 38; Lk. xxiii. 45), and at the same moment the earth trembled with the convulsion of an earthquake, and the rocks were rent, laying open many of the sepulchres with which they were perforated on all sides of the city[586] (Mtt. xxvii. 52).
These marvellous incidents made a deep impression, not only on the centurion and his soldiers who had been stationed to watch the cross, but on the multitudes who had been spectators of all that had occurred, and the women and kinsmen of the Holy Sufferer who stood gazing afar off (Mtt. xxvii. 55; Mk. xv. 40). The people beating their breasts in deep but unavailing sorrow (Lk. xxiii. 48) began to pour back with fearful forebodings into the city, while the Roman officer, who though he had often looked upon death and its victims in various forms, had never witnessed such a death as this[587], under the influence of deep emotion testified that He, who had been condemned as a blasphemer, was indeed a righteous man (Lk. xxiii. 47), nay more, that He was in truth the Son of God[588] (Mtt. xxvii. 54; Mk. xv. 39).
Chapter IX
THE BURIAL AND RESURRECTION. A.D. 30.
THE day was now far advanced. Unconscious that the true Paschal Lamb, the antitype of all previous sacrifices, had offered up Himself upon the altar of His Cross for the sins of the whole world, numerous bands of householders were gathering towards the Temple to slay their victims and make ready for the Feast[589]. The morrow being a high day, at once the Sabbath and the solemn fifteenth of Nisan[590] (Jn. xix. 31), the Jewish rulers would be more than usually anxious that the bodies of the Saviour and the two malefactors should not remain upon the cross, profaning the sanctity of their great national festival, and violating one of the strict injunctions of their law[591].
It was not indeed the Roman custom to remove the crucified from the cross. Instead of shortening their agonies the Roman law had left them to die by a lingering[592] death, and suffered their bodies to moulder under the action of the sun and rain[593], or to be devoured by wild beasts[594]. The more merciful Jewish custom, however, did not allow such barbarities, and their Roman masters had made an express exception in their favour. The Jewish rulers therefore repaired to Pilate, and requested that the legs[595] of those on Golgotha might be broken and their bodies removed (Jn. xix. 31). The Procurator gave his consent, and the soldiers entrusted with the task repaired thither, and broke the legs of one malefactor and then of the other. When however, they came to the Body of Jesus, they found that He was dead already (Jn. xix. 33). Unconsciously fulfilling, therefore, the typical language of Scripture respecting the Paschal Lamb, which declared that not a bone of it should be broken (Ex. xii. 46; Ps. xxxiv. 20), and a prediction that men should look upon Him whom they pierced (Zech. xii. 10), they abstained from breaking His legs, but one of them, as if resolved to give a stroke of itself sufficient to cause death, thrust his spear[596] into His side, whence immediately there flowed forth Blood and Water, a wondrous incident, of which the Evangelist St John was himself a spectator (Jn. xix. 35).
Meanwhile, before the tidings of the Saviour’s death could reach the ears of Pilate, Joseph of Arimathæa[597], a man of wealth (Mtt. xxvii. 57), a member of the Sanhedrin (Lk. xxiii. 50), and a secret disciple of Jesus (Jn. xix. 38), who had not consented to the cruel resolution of the rest to put Him to death (Lk. xxiii. 51), boldly went in to the Procurator, and requested that the Body of the Redeemer might be given up to him (Mk. xv. 43). Filled with astonishment that death had so speedily taken place, Pilate called in the centurion who had kept watch on Golgotha, and enquired whether this was really the case (Mk. xv. 44). Assured that it was so, he freely granted the request, and Joseph having purchased fine linen (Mk. xv. 46) repaired to Golgotha, to take down the Holy Body. Here he was joined by Nicodemus (Jn. xix. 39), who, probably informed of his successful petition to the procurator, had brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound[598] weight (Jn. xix. 39). Together, then, they took down the Body, wrapped it in the linen clothes, sprinkled the myrrh and aloes amongst them, and conveyed the Holy One to a tomb which was close at hand. It was a new tomb, wherein no man had ever yet been laid (Lk. xxiii. 53), and had been hewn by Joseph himself out of a rock in a garden, which he possessed hard by Golgotha (Jn. xix. 41). Hither they bore the Body, and in the presence of Mary Magdalene, Mary the Mother of Joses, and other women who had followed the Saviour during His lifetime from Galilee (Mtt. xxvii. 61; Mk. xv. 47; Lk. xxiii. 55), laid it in the receptacle[599], and with the utmost despatch, for the Sabbath was drawing on (Lk. xxiii. 54), rolled a great stone to the entrance, and departed.
Thus He, who all His life long had been the poorest of the poor, made His grave with the rich (Is. liii. 9), and received the anointing of the great ones of the earth. But though the outward temple of His body had been destroyed, the Pharisees and chief-priests could not forget the mysterious saying of His that in three days He would raise it up, and probably were not altogether unaware of the more direct assertions He had made to His Apostles respecting the same subject[600]. These words now recurred to them with such alarming force that on the morning after the Crucifixion, though it was their great Paschal Sabbath, they met together, and repairing to the residence of Pilate, informed him of what that Deceiver had said, and requested that the sepulchre might be made secure till the third day, lest His disciples should come and steal Him away, and give out that He had risen (Mtt. xxvii. 63, 64).
With the curtness of one who felt himself fatigued and wearied out, the Procurator replied, Ye have, or rather, Take[601] a watch, and make it secure as ye know how. Accordingly with the guard thus deputed they went their way, sealed[602] the stone at the entrance of the sepulchre with their official seal in the presence of the soldiers, and then consigned to them the duty of watching the tomb of the Holy One.
Though both Joseph of Arimathæa and Nicodemus had assisted in embalming the Body of the Saviour, it had necessarily been done in haste, and the women who had witnessed the entombment resolved to complete it, and on the evening of the Crucifixion had prepared spices and ointments for that purpose (Lk. xxiii. 56). With these, then, early in the morning of the first day of the week, while it was yet dark (Jn. xx. 1), Mary Magdalene[603], Mary the Mother of James, and Salome (Mk. xvi. 1), set out for the sepulchre, their thoughts occupied on the way with the natural question who would roll away the great stone[604] they had seen fitted into its appointed place (Mk. xvi. 3).
While they were thus musing, and, as it would seem, were as yet some distance from the sepulchre, the earth quaked beneath their feet with a mighty convulsion (Mtt. xxviii. 2), and an angel descended and rolled away the stone and sat upon it; his countenance was like lightning and his raiment white as snow, and before him the Roman sentinels fell prostrate for fear, and became as dead men (Mtt. xxviii. 3, 4).
Bewildered by the sudden earthquake, the women advanced nearer, and beheld the stone rolled away from the tomb (Mk. xvi. 4; Lk. xxiv. 2). Summoning courage two of them thereupon entered in (Lk. xxiv. 3), and became assured of the fact that the tomb was empty, that the Holy Body they had seen securely placed therein, was there no longer.
While, however, they were standing bewildered at this unexpected discovery, one of their number, Mary Magdalene, had already hurried back to Jerusalem. The sight of the stone rolled away had roused her worst apprehensions, and she could think of nothing but that the Body of her Lord had been taken away and the tomb violated. Resolved, therefore, to seek more effectual aid than such as weak women could afford, she ran with all speed to Simon Peter[605], and announced to him and the Apostle John, who was apparently with him, that the tomb was empty, and she and her companions[606] of the morning knew not whither the Body of their Lord had been conveyed (Jn. xx. 2). On receiving this startling intelligence the two apostles forthwith set out towards the tomb (Jn. xx. 3), followed by Mary Magdalene herself (Jn. xx. 11).
Before, however, they reached the spot, the women who had remained behind, and who had ventured into the open sepulchre, had received other and still more startling tidings. As they were standing irresolute and bewildered by the sight of the empty tomb, there appeared to them two (Lk. xxiv. 4), or, as it seemed to others of their number, one of the heavenly host (Mk. xvi. 5) in mortal guise indeed but clad in glistering apparel, who announced to them, while ready to fall prostrate in alarm and terror, that their Lord was risen: there was no need for them to seek the living amongst the dead (Lk. xxiv. 5); He had told them that on the third day He should rise again (Lk. xxiv. 7), and thus His words were fulfilled; the spot, where they had seen Him laid, did not contain Him now (Mk. xvi. 6); let them, therefore, go to His Apostles, and announce the joyful tidings that their risen Lord was going before them into Galilee, and there they should see Him (Mtt. xxviii. 7).
Without losing a moment (Mtt. xxviii. 8), agitated at once by mingled fear and joy (Mk. xvi. 8), which sealed their lips to any whom they chanced to meet upon the road (Mk. xvi. 8)[607], the women hurried with all speed to the Apostles, and recounted their cheering tidings (Lk. xxiv. 9). But in their deep sorrow (Mk. xvi. 10) the Eleven regarded the words of the women as no better than an idle tale (Lk. xxiv. 11), and could not credit their announcement, on which the latter, saddened it may be by their refusal to believe, returned once more to the sepulchre.
Meanwhile the two Apostles, Peter and John, had been running thither with all speed, to ascertain the truth of what they had heard from Mary Magdalene. Outrunning his fellow Apostle, John first reached the tomb, and stooping down saw[608] the linen clothes lying there, but probably from feelings of awe entered not in. The characteristic energy of Peter overcame such feelings, and entering in he steadily contemplated the state of the sepulchre and the position of the grave-clothes; there lay the swathing-bands in one place (Jn. xx. 6); there was the napkin which had been about His head, not lying with the rest of the clothes, but folded up in another spot by itself. There was nothing to indicate disorder or confusion, or any violation of the tomb. Encouraged by the other’s boldness, the Apostle John also now ventured to enter in, and surveyed the condition of the sepulchre, and though as yet neither of them understood the announcements of the resurrection contained in the Scripture (Jn. xx. 9), yet he could not resist the evidence of his senses[609]. The position of the grave-clothes precluded the idea that the Holy Body had been removed by enemies: he believed that his Lord had risen, and turned back towards Jerusalem[610] with his fellow Apostle, who marvelled at what had taken place (Lk. xxiv. 12).
But these signs did not carry conviction to the mind of Mary, who had followed them, but more slowly. Unable to tear herself away from the sepulchre, she stood outside weeping (Jn. xx. 11), and stooping down beheld two angels in white standing, the one at the head, the other at the feet, where the body of her Lord had lain, who said to her, Woman, why weepest thou? She replied, They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him; and turning away even from their sympathy, beheld One standing near, in whom she did not recognise her Lord, but who repeated the angels’ question why she wept? Thinking it was the keeper of the garden, and that he could give her further information, she replied, Sir, if thou hast borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him, and I will take him away (Jn. xx. 15). She had hardly spoken, when the Stranger addressing her in well-known intonations, said, Mary. Instantly she knew who He was. Prostrating herself before Him, she called Him in the Hebrew dialect Rabboni (Jn. xx. 16), and apparently in her bewildered joy sought to clasp the feet of His risen Body. But this might not be. The relations between herself and the mighty Conqueror of death were changed. Touch Me not[611], said He, for I am not yet ascended unto My Father: but go unto My brethren, and tell them, I am about to ascend to My Father, and your Father, to My God, and your God (Jn. xx. 17). And Mary went, and thus she, out of whom the Lord had cast seven demons, became the first messenger of His resurrection to His disciples[612].
Soon, however, the other women, who had brought the first tidings to the Apostles, and who appear to have also returned towards the sepulchre, were met by their risen Lord (Mtt. xxviii. 9), who saluted them with the word Hail. Thereupon they drew near and worshipped Him, and, like Mary Magdalene, were bidden to announce to His brethren the joyous news that He was going before them into Galilee (Mtt. xxviii. 10).
As they departed to execute His commands, certain of the Roman sentinels entered into the city and recounted to the chief priests all that had occurred (Mtt. xxviii. 11). On the receipt of this startling intelligence, a meeting of the Sanhedrin was convened, and it was resolved that by some means the miraculous disappearance of the Body of the Redeemer must be concealed. Accordingly the soldiers were called in, and by dint of heavy bribes (Mtt. xxviii. 14) persuaded to give out, that, while they were sleeping at their posts, the disciples had come and stolen away the Body of their Master, and this story obtained a very general circulation amongst the Jews.
Chapter X
THE GREAT FORTY DAYS AND THE ASCENSION. A.D. 30.
THUS the morning of the world’s first Easter-day passed away, and the risen Saviour had revealed Himself to Mary Magdalene and the other ministering women.
Early in the same afternoon two[613] of the disciples, Cleopas[614] and another, whose name is not recorded, set out from Jerusalem in the direction of the village of Emmaus[615] (Lk. xxiv. 13). As they went, they conversed earnestly about the events that had so lately occurred in the Holy City, and that with heavy hearts, for every hope was buried in their Master’s grave. While they were thus engaged, He of whom they spake drew near, and accompanying them along the road began to enquire the meaning of their sorrowful looks, and of the earnest conversation they were holding with one another. Not recognising Him (Comp. Lk. xxiv. 16; Mk. xvi. 12), and surprised that even a stranger at Jerusalem could be ignorant of the event which filled their hearts and had stirred their whole capital, they proceeded to give full vent to their disappointed hopes. Jesus of Nazareth, they said, had appeared amongst them, and had proved Himself a Prophet[616], mighty both in word and deed, before God and all the people; they had joined themselves to Him in the full belief that He was the long promised Redeemer of Israel, but their chief priests and rulers had condemned and crucified Him[617], and three days had now passed since His death: some women, indeed, of their company had gone to His tomb early that morning, and had returned with the mysterious tidings that His Body had disappeared, and that they had seen a vision of angels, who declared that He was alive, and on this certain disciples had repaired thither also and found that the Body indeed had disappeared, but they had not seen their risen Lord (Lk. xxiv. 19–24).
Such was the touching record of their deep disappointment. But to their surprise it evoked serious reproof instead of sympathy from their companion. O foolish, and slow of heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken, said He: ought not the Messiah to have suffered these things, and to have entered into His glory? and then beginning from Moses and all the Prophets He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things relating to the Messiah’s work and person (Lk. xxiv. 26, 27).
Meanwhile the hours had sped quickly, and by the time He had finished speaking, the two disciples found themselves close to Emmaus (Lk. xxiv. 28). Their Companion appeared to be going further, but they could not bear the idea of parting with One, who had opened up such new fields of hope. Abide with us, said they earnestly; the day is far spent, and it is towards evening; nor did they cease till they had constrained Him to enter their abode (Lk. xxiv. 28, 29).
There they quickly prepared an evening meal, and their Companion, assuming the office of “Master of the House,” took bread, and pronouncing probably the grace[618], with which the Jews commenced their meals, proceeded to distribute it amongst them (Lk. xxiv. 30). But while so doing, the tone of His voice, or some well-known gesture, or, it may be, the marks of the nails in His hands, revealed to them who He was. Their eyes were opened and they recognised Him, and at the same moment He vanished out of their sight (Lk. xxiv. 31).
Certain now who it was that on the road had caused their hearts to burn within them, as He talked with them and opened up the Scriptures, they instantly hurried back, though it was dark, to Jerusalem, and ascended to the upper-room, where the Apostles and others were assembled with closed doors for fear of the Jews[619] (Lk. xxiv. 33; Jn. xx. 19). They thought they were the bearers of strange and welcome tidings. But their companions had equally joyous news for them. The Lord was risen indeed, and by a special appearance had revealed Himself to the repentant Simon[620] (Lk. xxiv. 34; comp. 1 Cor. xv. 5).
Then they told their tale, and suddenly, while they yet were speaking, and perhaps replying to the others’ doubting questions[621], the Lord stood in their midst (Lk. xxiv. 36; Jn. xx. 19), and saluted them with the words, Peace be unto you. Terrified by so sudden an apparition, they imagined that they beheld a spectre or phantom, and shrunk back. But He calmed their fears. Why are ye troubled, He enquired, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. But though He shewed them His hands and His side (Jn. xx. 20), their joy still struggled with unbelief (Lk. xxiv. 41) and bewilderment, on which He enquired whether they had anything to eat, and when they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and of an honeycomb, the remains probably of their evening meal, He took and ate in their presence (Lk. xxiv. 42, 43). Then with the reiterated salutation, Peace be unto you (Jn. xx. 21), He proceeded, As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you; and with these words He breathed on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained (Jn. xx. 23).
On the evening, however, of this first Easter-day, when the risen Saviour thus manifested Himself to the Apostles, and bestowed upon them the firstfruits[622] of the effusion of the Holy Spirit, one of their number, Thomas[623], was not present. Why he was not has been much debated. Some suppose it was owing to an accident. Others imagine that he had thrown away all hope, that he had concluded it was impossible that his crucified Lord could ever revive. Certain it is that he was not with the rest in their wonted place of meeting. When, therefore, he was informed by the others of the wondrous appearance in the upper-room, he utterly refused to believe it. Unless, said he, I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe (Jn. xx. 25). Slow of faith, subject to despondency, ever ready to take the darker view of things, and to distrust extraordinary good news all the more because it was good, he could not accept the evidence of his fellow Apostles in so weighty a matter as the resurrection of his Lord, he must see and touch Him for himself[624].
Seven days passed away, and no recorded appearance of the risen Saviour was vouchsafed. On the eighth, the first day of the week, the Apostles were again assembled in the upper-room. On this occasion Thomas was not absent. Hope probably had revived, and he expected some removal of his doubts. While, then, the doors were shut as before from fear of the Jews, suddenly the familiar words, Peace be unto you (Jn. xx. 26), struck on the astonished ears of the assembled Eleven, and their risen Lord stood in their midst. Knowing all things, knowing therefore all the hesitation and doubt of His apostle, with infinite condescension He gave him the required sign. Thomas, said He, reach hither thy finger, and see My hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side, and be not faithless but believing (Jn. xx. 27).
Whether the Apostle touched his Lord or not is not recorded. The impression is that he did not. But whichever was the case, certain it is that the effect upon him was instantaneous. All his doubts fled away like the morning mist. In the fulness of believing faith, he exclaimed, My Lord and my God. Because thou hast seen Me, replied the ever-merciful One, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen Me, and yet have believed (Jn. xx. 29).
At some period after this last appearance, though when exactly we are not told, obedient to their Lord’s repeated commands, the Apostles returned to the region of Galilee[625] and the familiar neighbourhood of the lake of Gennesaret. Here once more amidst old haunts, and quiet scenes of nature, some of them resumed, probably for the sake of their daily sustenance[626], their former occupations as fishermen; and on one occasion, seven of their number, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael Bar-Tolmai, James, John, and two others, whose names are not mentioned, entered into a boat at eventide and plied their craft[627] (Jn. xxi. 1–3). Hour after hour passed away, and still they toiled but took nothing. Just, however, as the morning broke (Jn. xxi. 4), and the sun bursting forth began to reveal distinctly each cleft and broken cliff[628] down the rocky sides of the hills fringing the lake, a Voice was heard through the still morning air, saying, Children, have ye any meat? They answered, No. Thereupon the Voice spake again, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and ye shall find (Jn. xxi. 6).
Ready after the ill success of the previous night “to take any suggestion by whomsoever offered,” they did so, and straightway found themselves unable to drag the net in again by reason of the multitude of the fish they had enclosed. Awakened partly by the incident itself, partly perhaps by the Voice of the Stranger, to the recollection of a former and similar experience (Lk. v. 5)[629], the Apostle John felt sure He knew who was standing on the beach, and said to Simon Peter, It is the Lord (Jn. xxi. 7). Instantly the son of Jonas, eager, ardent, impetuous as of old, girding his fisher’s coat[630] about him, flung himself into the lake, and by swimming and wading reached the shore, followed by the rest in the boat dragging the net with the fish they had caught.
On landing they not only found themselves in the presence of their risen Lord, but perceived mysterious provision made for their wants after the wearying night. On the smooth margin of the lake[631] was a fire of charcoal[632], and fish laid thereon and bread, and the Redeemer bade them add to these some of the fish they had just brought to land. In obedience to this command Peter drew the net to shore, and brought of the fish, which numbered a hundred and fifty and three (Jn. xxi. 11), and then all sat down to the early morning meal as in former days, when dwelling with Him by the shore of that same lake. And now too, as at Emmaus, the risen Saviour as Master of the family took of the bread and fish, and distributed unto them, while they, filled with reverential awe, though certain that it was He, did not venture to question[633] Him with regard to the exact “state of His holy personality[634].”
When the meal was over, turning to the Apostle Peter the risen Saviour enquired, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest[635] thou Me more than these? Yea, Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee, replied the Apostle, but not as on the sad evening of the Betrayal, exalting himself on his own faithfulness above his fellow-disciples[636] (Jn. xxi. 15). Feed My lambs, responded his Lord. A second and yet a third time was the question repeated, till the Apostle touched probably by this reminder of his three denials, and flinging himself on the Omniscience of the Holy One made answer, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee. Once more the command Feed My sheep was given, and thus the Apostle was restored to his old place in the circle of the Twelve (Jn. xxi. 16, 17).
But this was not all. The Apostle was to learn what great things he must suffer for the Master, who had thus reinstated him in his Apostolic office. When thou wast young, the Lord continued, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not (Jn. xxi. 18). And with this intimation of the death that awaited the Apostle, of a day when he should be bound to the cross, and his hands be extended upon it[637], He added, Follow Me, i.e. even unto that martyr’s death for His name which He had just foretold[638]. Apparently not understanding the meaning of the command, the Apostle interpreted it literally, and while advancing perceived the “loved disciple” also following, and filled with a desire to know what lot awaited him, enquired, Lord, and what shall this man do? (Jn. xxi. 21). But the question, whatever was its precise motive, was gently put by: If I will that he tarry till I come, replied the Saviour, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me; which intimation of long tarrying in store for St John, in contrast to the sharper discipline for which his fellow Apostle was destined, originated the mistaken idea that the “loved disciple” was to leave the world without undergoing the penalty of death (Jn. xxi. 23).
This was the third occasion on which the Saviour appeared to His Apostles after His resurrection, and it was probably now that He gave them specific directions respecting a manifestation to a still larger assembly, which was not long delayed. For apparently a short time after this last appearance, the Eleven repaired to a mountain[639] in Galilee which He Himself had indicated (Mtt. xxviii. 16), and there He appeared not only to them but in all probability to the five hundred brethren of whom St Paul speaks[640] (1 Cor. xv. 6). Even now some doubted whether they were really beholding their Lord (Mtt. xxviii. 17), but the Eleven no sooner saw Him than they offered Him their reverent adoration (Mtt. xxviii. 17), which He accepted, and declared that now all power was given Him in heaven and in earth, and at the same time gave them His great commission;
Go ye into all the world, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have told you, and lo! I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Mtt. xxviii. 19, 20; Comp. Mk. xvi. 15–18).
And now the great Forty Days (Acts i. 3) were rapidly drawing to a close[641]. Warned it may be by the Saviour Himself, or attracted by the near approach of the festival of Pentecost[642], the Apostles and their companions left Galilee and returned to Jerusalem. There once more amidst the scene of His late sufferings they saw their risen Lord, and for the last time received from His own Divine lips instruction in the things concerning the kingdom of God, and learned to trace in the prophetic Scriptures, in the Law, and in the Psalms, intimations of the sufferings and resurrection of the Messiah (Lk. xxiv. 44–48). There too they received His last command to remain in Jerusalem (Acts i. 4) till the promise of the Eternal Father should receive its accomplishment, and they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and endued with power from on high (Acts i. 5; Lk. xxiv. 49).
At last one day He bade them accompany Him along the road towards Bethany and the Mount of Olives (Lk. xxiv. 50), associated with so many memories of the risen Lazarus, of the Triumphal Entry, and the last sad days in His earthly life.
Convinced that something mysterious was about to happen, and with their carnal hopes still set on the idea that He was about to commence His long-looked for reign, they began to enquire, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel (Acts i. 6)? But their enquiries were solemnly silenced. It was not for them to know the times or the seasons, which the Father had put in His own power. A time was at hand when, on the descent of the Holy Spirit, they should receive power, and become witnesses to their Lord in Jerusalem, and all Judæa, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts i. 8).
Thus conversing they followed Him even to the borders of the district of Bethany, to one of the secluded hills which overhang the village of Bethany on the Eastern slope of Olivet[643]. There they received His last solemn and abiding blessing (Lk. xxiv. 50), and while His hands, bearing the marks of the wounds which man had inflicted, were yet uplifted in benediction (Lk. xxiv. 51), He began to be parted from them, and there came a cloud (Acts i. 9), in which slowly and gradually He rose from Olivet, till at length He was lost to sight, and ascended up to that highest heaven, where He was in the glory of the Father before the world was.
Long time stood the Eleven looking wistfully upwards, and watching Him as He receded more and more from view (Acts i. 10). At length two angelic beings clad in white apparel addressed them, saying, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who hath been taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven (Acts i. 11).
And then all was over. With hearts subdued and solemnized the Apostles returned to the Upper Room at Jerusalem, and there continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary[644] the mother of Jesus, and with His brethren (Acts i. 14).
Chapter I
THE ELECTION OF MATTHIAS――THE PENTECOSTAL EFFUSION. A.D. 30.
IN accordance with the command of their lately ascended Lord, the Apostles remained in the Holy City, and there continued with one accord in prayer and supplication (Acts i. 14) with the rest of the little company. This now amounted in all to about 120 (Acts i. 15), and consisted of
1. The Eleven,
2. The Virgin, the women who had accompanied the Saviour from Galilee to Jerusalem, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna, Susanna, and others,
3. The brethren[645] of the Lord, who though at an early period they were not for but against Him (Jn. vii. 5), now undoubtedly believed on Him,
4. The other disciples.
Though the duty enjoined upon them at this time, was that of patient waiting for the bestowal of the promised gift of the Holy Ghost, one thing could be done by way of preparation for the work they were called to perform. They could restore their original number as it was composed by their Lord, and fill up the gap which the treachery of Judas had made in their body.
Accordingly, the Apostle Peter, already beginning to take that lead for which his natural gifts no less than the prophetic words of the Saviour had destined him, stood up in their midst, and called attention to the deserted seat of the traitor. He had fallen, as they all knew, and after a terrible end[646] had gone to his own place (Acts i. 25). The language of inspired prophecy had not been silent respecting his shameful treachery, but the same Psalms (Ps. lxix. 25; cix. 8), which had foreshadowed his fall, had spoken also of the election of another to take his charge or office of oversight (Acts i. 20). He advised, therefore, that they should proceed to choose a new Apostle, and suggested, as the conditions of his election, that he should be one who had companied with them from the beginning to the close of their Lord’s official ministry, from the Baptism of John to the Ascension, and so be qualified in an especial degree to be a witness of His Resurrection (Acts i. 22).
His suggestion found favour with the assembled body of the brethren, and they nominated two of their number, who eminently possessed their confidence, as also the special qualifications thus laid down. One was Joseph Bar-Sabas, surnamed Justus, and Matthias, of whom, however, nothing further is known in the New Testament[647]. These they put forward, and leaving to the Lord the final determination, they prayed that, as the Searcher of hearts, He would indicate whom He had selected for the office, and then gave forth their lots[648], and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the Eleven Apostles (Acts i. 26).
Thus quietly and without observation was the first seed sown of what was destined to grow into a great tree[649] (Mtt. xiii. 31–33). Never did it seem more unlikely that the religion of the crucified Redeemer could be revived. The City had been restored to peace, as though nothing extraordinary had taken place. The Roman guard had been bribed to contradict any rumour that might be bruited about of the Resurrection; in the popular estimation the death of Jesus had extinguished all ideas that He was the Messiah; and no leader of any weight appeared likely to rally the little band of His once attached followers[650]. The triumph of the Sanhedrin appeared complete.
But this was the very hour when the new Faith was to achieve its first conquest. Ten days passed away after the Ascension. The Fiftieth, the day of Pentecost[651], the Feast of Weeks, was come[652]. The Holy City, crowded with strangers from every quarter of the then known world, presented a scene of unusual animation. There was scarcely a region but had its representative in its streets. Not only from Palestine[653] itself, but from the lands beyond the Euphrates, whither the Israelites had been carried by the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities[654], Parthia and Media, Elam[655] and Mesopotamia[656]; from the various districts of Asia Minor, Cappadocia and Pontus[657], Phrygia and Pamphylia, as well as those fringing the Western coast-line, Mysia, Lydia, and Caria, and now comprehended under one name, Roman Asia[658]; from the islands of the Mediterranean[659]; from populous Alexandria and the flourishing region of Cyrene[660]; from the capital of the West itself, Jews and Hellenists, “proselytes of righteousness[661]” and “proselytes of the gate,” had flocked to take part in the great Festival (Acts ii. 9–11).
All gathered together in one place, the disciples were awaiting any indications of the Divine will, when suddenly there arose out of heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting (Acts ii. 2), and simultaneously tongues as if of fire[662] distributed[663] themselves amongst and settled upon each one of them (Acts ii. 3). The Strengthener, the Comforter, had come, the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and though poor, illiterate, and obscure men of Galilee, found themselves by the operation of the indwelling Spirit able to speak not only in their own rough unpolished language, but in as many dialects as were represented that day at Jerusalem[664] (Acts ii. 4).
Meanwhile the noise[665], with which the mighty rushing wind had descended from heaven, had been audible all over the city, and attracted a great multitude to the abode of the disciples. Arriving there they were confounded to find natives of the despised region of Galilee speaking of the wonderful works of God, not only in the language, but the very dialect of the language, which each recognized as his own (Acts ii. 6). In the minds of most this strange portent excited emotions of serious awe. What meaneth this? they exclaimed; are not all these which speak Galilæans? There were not wanting, however, some who ascribed the strange sounds they heard to the effects of drunken excess; these men, said they, are full of new wine (Acts ii. 13).
Thereupon the Apostle Peter stood up with the Twelve, and having in a loud voice indignantly refuted the charge of drunkenness by a reference to the hour of the day, the third only from sunrise[666] (Acts ii. 15), proceeded to explain the meaning of what they heard and saw.
“Eight hundred and fifty years before, as they knew from the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the prophet Joel (ii. 28, 29) had foretold the coming of days, when God would pour out of His Spirit on all flesh, not on one or two only, but upon His people generally without distinction of age or rank or sex, upon sons and daughters, upon young men and old, upon servants and handmaidens (Acts ii. 17, 18). Thus had the prophet spoken, and this day they beheld the fulfilment of his words. Jesus of Nazareth, a Man approved[667] amongst them by miracles[668], and wonders, and signs, which God had wrought by Him in their midst, as they themselves knew full well, they had taken and by the wicked hands of Roman soldiers had crucified and slain. But in so doing they had not frustrated the gracious purposes of Him who had sent Him. All things had happened according to His determinate counsel and foreknowledge (Acts ii. 23), and He had raised up that same Jesus, and had loosed the pangs of death, because it was not possible that He could be permanently mastered by them. For He, of whom the Psalmist had said that God would not leave His soul in Hades[669] nor suffer Him to see corruption, could not be the patriarch David. He had died and been buried, and his ashes had long reposed in the tomb which was before their eyes. It was not of himself that he had thus spoken, but of Another, the fruit of his loins, whom as a prophet he foreknew God would raise up to sit upon his throne; and this King was no other than Jesus (Acts ii. 32). Him God had raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of power, and made both Lord and Christ, and He had that day bestowed upon His disciples those wonderful gifts which they saw and heard, the expressions and indications of the presence of the Spirit promised by the Father.”
Such was the substance of the Apostle’s words, and though they clashed with the strongest prejudices of those who had so short a time before given such fearful evidence of their hatred of that crucified Saviour, they produced a deep impression. Pricked to the heart they addressed him and the rest of the Eleven, saying, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Repent[670], was the reply, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts ii. 38); for the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off[671], even as many as the Lord their God shall call. These and many other similar words of his were not lost; many received them gladly, and were baptized, and the same day there were added to the Church about three thousand souls[672] (Acts ii. 41).
Chapter II
ACTIVITY OF THE APOSTLES PETER AND JOHN. A.D. 30.
THUS at the Feast which celebrated the ingathering of the natural harvest, a rich harvest of souls was for the first time gathered into the Christian garner, the Church assumed its separate and organised existence, and its members gave themselves up to the full requirements of their new life:
1. They continued[673] steadfastly, or waited constantly upon the Apostles’ doctrine (Comp. Mtt. xxviii. 20), by whose hands many wonders and signs were wrought (Acts ii. 43), and who were enlightened to remember and commissioned to teach all that their Lord had said and commanded (Jn. xv. 26; xvi. 13).
2. They persevered in fellowship and communion with one another[674], cultivating and fostering a spirit of mutual love, and instead of living each for themselves, had all things common, selling their possessions and lands, and parting them to all men, as every man had need (Acts ii. 42–45).
3. They attended constantly on the breaking of the Bread[675], and thus consecrated their chief daily meal with the celebration of that Feast, which shewed forth (1 Cor. xi. 26) their Lord’s death, and the sacrifice He had offered.
4. They were stedfast also in their attendance at the public prayers[676] in the Temple, at the stated hours of the national worship (Acts ii. 42, 46), praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And in the Temple occurred the next eventful incident in the history of the early Church. Two of the Apostles, Peter and John, were going up thither at the ninth hour[677], the hour of prayer and the offering of the evening sacrifice. At the entrance they encountered a man lame from his birth, who was in the habit of being laid day by day at the Gate known as the “Beautiful Gate[678],” for the purpose of exciting the compassion and appealing to the charity of the passing worshippers. On the present occasion he appealed to the two Apostles, and supplicated their aid. Thus accosted they stopped, and fixing upon him an earnest gaze, bade him look on them (Acts iii. 4). Expecting perhaps some charitable offering, he did so[679], when Peter addressing him said, Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk (Acts iii. 6, 7), and with the words took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and he, who had been lame from his birth, found strength suddenly restored to his crippled feet[680] and ankles, found himself able to spring up, stand, and walk, found himself able to accompany the Apostles into the Temple, and there give thanks to God (Acts iii. 8).
The cure of such a man in such a manner was quickly noised abroad amongst the worshippers crowding the Temple-courts. Filled with wonder and amazement the people ran together with one accord into the porch or colonnade of Solomon[681], and there beheld the two Apostles, and clinging[682] to them in the first transport of grateful attachment, the very man they had so long and so often seen sitting for alms at the Beautiful Gate (Acts iii. 11). It was a meet occasion for addressing the astonished throng, and Peter commenced one of those heart-stirring discourses, whereby in these early days, as his Lord had predicted, he strengthened his brethren (Lk. xxii. 32).
“Why marvel ye, said he, at this? Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by magical power or holiness of our own we have caused that this man should walk? The God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whom for years ye have owned and worshipped, He and no other has been working by us. Though ye delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate His Servant[683] Jesus, and demanded that, in place of the Holy One and the Just, a murderer, Barabbas, should be granted unto you; though ye killed the Prince of life, yet God hath raised Him from the dead, and our faith in His Name hath restored this cripple, as your eyes behold (Acts iii. 16).
“In ignorance, indeed, ye and your rulers did this. But in so doing ye fulfilled a mysterious purpose of Divine Love, even the counsels of that God, who predicted by the mouth of all His prophets that Christ should suffer. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, and that so[684] seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and He may send unto you Christ Jesus, whom the heavens must retain till the times of the restitution of all things, of which God from the beginning hath spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets. Moses, your great lawgiver, said when your fathers stood before the awful mount of Sinai, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you from among your brethren. Him shall ye hear according to all things whatsoever He shall say unto you, and it shall be, that every soul which shall not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people (Deut. xviii. 15, 18). This Prophet hath appeared in the person of Jesus, and to you first[685] hath God sent Him forth, blessing you in turning away each one from your iniquities (Acts iii. 17–26).”
This powerful address had a still greater effect than the previous discourse of the Apostle. Upwards of five thousand avowed themselves believers in the Crucified, and swelled the ranks of the Christian Church (Acts iv. 4). But it had other issues also. The Sanhedrin, which had hitherto stood aloof[686] from all notice of the movements of the Apostles, resolved to act with decision. As the evening of this eventful day closed in, the priests, the captain of the Levitical guard[687], and the Sadducees[688], naturally annoyed at the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead through the power of a risen Saviour, laid hands on the two Apostles and the healed cripple[689] (Comp. Acts iv. 14), and committed them to prison, intending on the morrow to institute a formal trial (Acts iv. 3).
Accordingly on the next day the rulers, the elders, and scribes, Annas[690] the high-priest and Caiaphas, John[691] and Alexander[692], and others of the pontiff’s family, assembled probably in their hall Gazith, and when the Apostles had been placed in the midst of the judicial circle, enquired by what authority and by virtue of what commission they had acted as they had done.
Thereupon Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts iv. 8), again stood forward, and boldly declared that the miracle of the previous day was due entirely to the mighty working of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, but whom God had raised from the dead. He was the Stone whom, in the language of the cxviiith Psalm, they the builders of the nation and its appointed teachers had rejected as worthless, but which had become the head of the corner, nor was there in any other the Salvation, for which all hoped; for there was no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby they could be saved (Acts iv. 8–12).
The boldness, power, and knowledge, which this speech betrayed, astonished the Sanhedrin beyond measure, and the more so when they reflected that the speaker and his fellow Apostle were of the common class, unlearned and ignorant[693], in whom they recognised[694] the obscure followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts iv. 13). The miracle, indeed, which they had wrought could not be gainsaid, for the restored cripple, a man more than 40 years of age (Acts iv. 22), stood beside them (Acts iv. 14), ready to support by his testimony the power by which he had been so marvellously healed. It was deemed, therefore, inexpedient to go into the question of evidence, and after a secret conference (Acts iv. 15) it was resolved to prevent, if possible, the spread of the report of the miracle amongst the people, and to forbid for the future any preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus.
Accordingly the Apostles, who had been ordered to withdraw during the consultation, were recalled and informed of their decision. But they absolutely declined to act upon it. They could not, they said, refrain from proclaiming what their own eyes had seen and their own ears had heard, or hearken to the council rather than to that God, whose commissioned witnesses they were. After further threats, therefore, they were dismissed; for the Sanhedrin saw plainly that they had done nothing deserving punishment, and the popular feeling ran so strongly in their favour, that they dared not resort to violence (Acts iv. 21).
Thus released they returned to the rest of the disciples, and recounted all that had occurred. Their tidings had not the effect of lessening the courage of their hearers. Lifting up their voices with one accord to the Lord and Maker of heaven and earth, they declared their conviction of the vanity of the machinations of their rulers against the Supreme and the Messiah whom He had sent. Herod, and Pontius Pilate, the nations and people of Israel, had gathered themselves together against their Master, but only to do what His hand and counsel had foreordained should come to pass. The threats, therefore, of their foes they regarded not, and only prayed that, while[695] the Lord stretched forth His hand to heal, and caused signs and wonders to be performed through the Name of His holy servant Jesus, they themselves might receive still greater strength to preach His Word (Acts iv. 23–30).
Their petition received an immediate and sensible response. The place where they were assembled was shaken as by an earthquake, and a fresh and special communication of the Holy Ghost filled them with still greater boldness to proclaim their message and deliver their testimony (Acts iv. 31).
Chapter III
ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA――RENEWED HOSTILITY OF THE SADDUCEES. A.D. 30–34.
THUS terminated the first collision of the Christian community with the ruling powers at Jerusalem. Within that community itself all as yet went well. While the Apostles with increased power gave forth their testimony to the resurrection of their Lord, the disciples proved the sincerity of their convictions by the self-denial of their lives. All being of one heart and of one soul (Acts iv. 32), they regarded their possessions as belonging to a common fund, and such as were possessed of lands or houses sold them, and brought the price and laid it at the Apostles’ feet, who caused distribution to be made thereof according to the requirements of each (Acts iv. 35).
Of this self-denying goodwill no one afforded a brighter example than a man of the tribe of Levi[696], and a native of Cyprus, whose name was Joseph, or, as he was called by the Apostles, Barnabas[697], the Son of Consolation, or rather of Exhortation, on account of the extraordinary gifts of inspired discourse and exhortation by which he was distinguished[698] (Acts iv. 36). His estates, which were probably considerable, he sold, and rejoiced in the distribution of the price amongst his poorer brethren.
Before long, however, a sad incident occurred, which told of evil already at work within the Christian society. A certain man named Ananias, with the privity of his wife Sapphira, sold a possession, and having appropriated a portion of the price, laid the remainder at the Apostles’ feet, giving it to be understood that that was the whole sum he had received (Acts v. 1, 2). But his aspiration after high honour amongst his brethren with so little cost to himself did not escape the detection of the Apostle Peter. Fixing his eye upon him as he brought the portion and laid it before him, he enquired how he had permitted Satan to tempt him to deceive the Holy Ghost. While it remained, said he, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God (Acts v. 4). At these words, so stern, so solemn, and yet so true, reading his heart to its lowest depths, the wretched man was utterly overwhelmed, and fell down and gave up the ghost. When the awe of the assembly at this instant judgment on the sin of hypocrisy had somewhat subsided, the young men[699] who were present rose up, and wrapping the body in the usual burial clothes[700] bore it forth to a tomb without the city[701] (Acts v. 6).
Three hours had scarcely elapsed before his wife Sapphira, not knowing what had occurred, entered the place where the disciples were met together, and was straightway asked by Peter whether she and Ananias had really sold the farm for the price which the latter had alleged. To this she replied in the affirmative, and thus made her husband’s sin her own, and deliberately confirmed the fraud. The Apostle had not denounced the awful judgment, which had befallen her husband, he had only denounced the offender. But now he not only denounced the sin, but declared its instant penalty, saying, Behold the feet of them which buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Thus informed at one and the selfsame moment of her husband’s fate and her own, she too dropped down a corpse, and was instantly conveyed to the grave by those who had just returned from burying Ananias (Acts v. 8–10).
The effect of this terrible but just judgment was very great. Fear came upon all who saw and all who heard what had taken place, and the Apostles, by whose hands many signs and wonders continued to be wrought, acquired still greater reverence. Those who did not yet believe, forbore to join themselves to the Christian society rashly or from light motives, while the common people, impressed with a sense of the supernatural power possessed by the Apostles, brought forth their sick, and placed them on beds and couches in the streets, that they might have the benefit even of Peter’s shadow passing by[702] (Acts v. 15). Soon the populations of the towns round about Jerusalem imitated their example, and experienced the effects of the healing word as addressed either to the sick or those possessed by unclean spirits (Acts v. 16).
The excitement thus aroused could not escape the notice of the Sanhedrin. Annas and Caiaphas and the Sadducaic faction saw that they must make another effort to suppress the new sect so quickly gaining adherents in their very midst. Accordingly they caused the Apostles to be seized and cast into the common prison, and on the morrow calling together the whole Council, sent their officers to summon them into their presence.
When, however, they reached the prison, the officers found indeed the doors fast closed, but the prisoners had disappeared! On receiving this intelligence the high-priest and the Sanhedrin[703] were in the utmost perplexity, which was still further increased by the entrance of a messenger, announcing that the Apostles were in the Temple, where indeed they had been since daybreak, having been released by an angel during the night (Acts v. 18–25). Thereupon the Captain of the Levitical guard was despatched to fetch them, and even he found himself obliged to act with caution and gentleness, for the feelings of the people were largely on the side of the Apostles, and stones were ever ready at hand in the precincts of the Temple, to furnish weapons for a tumultuous resistance[704].
But the Twelve readily accompanied the officers, and presented themselves before the Sanhedrin, and in reply to the high-priest’s complaint that they had not obeyed the injunctions of the council to forbear preaching in the Name of Jesus, evinced even more boldness and resolution than before. Peter, once more their spokesman, declared that obedience was due to God rather than to man, for he had raised up from the dead that same Jesus, whom they had crucified and slain, and exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. To the fact of His resurrection they were witnesses, and their testimony they were bound to deliver (Acts v. 29–32).
These words, breathing such dauntless resolution, roused the Council to the utmost fury, and the majority, especially the Sadducaic party, were eager for the execution of their prisoners. But the rising of one of their number was the signal for calmer measures.
This was the famous Rabbi Gamaliel[705], an illustrious teacher of the Law, who was held in the utmost reverence by the people, and according to Jewish tradition was the president of the Sanhedrin. He advised that the Apostles should withdraw for a while, and then proceeded to urge his brethren to moderation and calmness. There was no need, he said, for any apprehension from such an obscure band of Galilæans. Could not the Council recall how a few years before one Theudas[706] had arisen, boasting himself to be some great one, and had collected a body of 400 followers? But what was the issue? Was he not slain, and as many as followed him dispersed and annihilated? And then again in the days of the taxing did there not rise up[707] Judas of Galilee, who also drew away much people after him? But was he a whit more successful? Did he not perish with all his followers? Let these instances, he continued, suffice, and let the assembly refrain from these men. If their work or counsel was of men, it would come to nought, but if it was of God, it would be impossible to overthrow it, and they ought to be on their guard lest they should by any chance be found fighting against God[708] (Acts v. 34–39).
The weight of the speaker’s name and his high reputation prevailed over the bitterness of faction. His prudent advice was adopted. The Apostles were recalled, and after being beaten with rods, were dismissed with strict injunctions to abstain from speaking any more in the name of Jesus (Acts v. 40). But threats and stripes were alike ineffectual to seal their mouths. They went forth from the council rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer for the Name of their Master, and ceased not publicly in the Temple courts, and privately from house to house, to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah (Acts v. 41, 42).
Chapter IV
THE INSTITUTION OF DEACONS――MARTYRDOM OF STEPHEN. A.D. 34–36.
UP to this time, it will be observed, the attempts to put down the new Faith had come from the Sadducaic party. Separated in no respect from the nation, the members of the Christian society attended the festivals, worshipped in the Temple and the Synagogue, and observed the ordinances of the Law side by side with the “breaking of the Bread” from house to house[709]. Conforming, then, to national rites and usages, and agreeing with the Pharisees in opposition to the Sadducees respecting the resurrection of the dead, their relations with the more moderate portion at least of the former were of an amicable character[710].
But they were now destined to incur the hostility of both sects alike. Their own numbers, so far from suffering any diminution in consequence of the recent persecutions, steadily increased, and were swelled by the adhesion of multitudes of men and women (Acts v. 14), both Hebrews or Jews proper, and Hellenists or Jews of the Grecian speech[711]. For some time the same brotherly love which had prevailed before, distinguished all alike, and out of the common fund daily distribution was made according to the requirements of each person and household.
But before long in the midst of this general benevolence arose suspicions that the distribution was not made with perfect fairness. Between the Jews who spoke the sacred tongue of Palestine, and those scattered in different lands, who had adopted the Grecian language[712]; between the zealous Aramæan, who read the Scriptures in the Hebrew, and the Hellenists, who read the Septuagint, and whose most learned teachers strove to “accommodate Jewish doctrines to the mind of the Greeks, and to make the Greek language express the mind of the Jews,” there had long been a feeling of mutual jealousy and dislike.
This now reproduced itself even within the Christian community. There arose a murmuring between the “Hellenists” and the “Hebrews,” on the ground that the widows of the former were overlooked in the daily distribution[713] (Acts vi. 1). Such complaints, if not checked, might lead to disastrous results. Accordingly the Apostles met together, and having assembled the general body of the disciples (Acts vi. 2), urged that it was not meet to expect them to leave the ministry of the word and serve tables, and advised that seven men of good report, full of the Holy Ghost and of practical wisdom, should be selected, who might devote themselves to the superintendence of this distribution, while they confined themselves to the more spiritual functions of their office (Acts vi. 3, 4). The proposal met with universal acceptance, and the general body of the disciples submitted to the Apostles seven men, whose names appear to indicate that they were of Hellenistic, rather than Jewish extraction, Stephen[714], Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas[715] a proselyte of Antioch (Acts vi. 5). The Twelve approved of the selection, and after offering prayer they laid hands upon them[716], and thus solemnly consecrated them to their office[717].
Thus a danger, which threatened a breach in the Christian community, was happily removed by a wise and liberal concession. The Hellenists were introduced into the actual ministry of the Church, and the admission of a body more free than their Hebrew brethren from local and national prejudices was doubtless divinely ordered to pave the way for still greater results. Meanwhile the Word of God had free course and was glorified, the multitude of the disciples in Jerusalem was largely increased, and a great company even of the priests, whose antecedents and prepossessions would be all strongly against such a step, became obedient to the faith (Acts vi. 7).
One of the “Seven” now admitted into the ministry of the Church was destined to be the proximate cause of its first collision with the Pharisaic party, and to prepare the way for the admission of the Gentiles into the Christian fold. This was Stephen, a man full of faith and power, of irresistible spirit and wisdom. Though appointed to superintend the distribution of secular funds, he soon became eminent for other gifts, and not only wrought great wonders and signs amongst the people (Acts vi. 8), but proved himself able to argue with the Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria, of Cilicia[718] and Roman Asia, as also the Libertini[719] or enfranchised Jews, in their several synagogues in Jerusalem, and that with such wisdom and power that they were unable to confute his arguments, or resist the spirit by which he spake (Acts vi. 10).
Freed by the circumstances of his birth and education from mere local and national prejudices, he appears to have spoken strongly of the fulfilment of the Mosaic ordinances[720] by the Founder of the Christian Church, and to have proclaimed that a time was at hand when, in the words of the Holy One to the woman of Samaria[721], men should worship the Father in spirit and in truth, not in the Temple only, or in Jerusalem only, but everywhere throughout the world. This teaching roused a furious opposition, and unable to oppose the eloquent Hellenist by fair means, those whom he addressed had recourse to artifice. Having privily suborned[722] men, who affirmed that they had heard him utter blasphemous words against the Temple and the Law; that they had heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the national sanctuary and change the rites which Moses had ordained; they succeeded in stirring up the people, as also the ruling powers of the nation (Acts vi. 12). Accordingly an assembly of the Sanhedrin was convened, Stephen, who had in the meanwhile been apprehended, was placed before them, and the charges formally preferred against him.
As he stood in the midst of the council-hall, the members of the Council looked steadfastly upon him and observed his face as it had been the face of an angel (Acts vi. 15) lighted up with supernatural radiance and serenity. At length, as in the case of the trial of his Lord[723], the high-priest enquired what he had to say respecting the accusations brought against him, and Stephen commenced his reply, “the framework of which was cast in a summary of the history of the Jewish Church[724],” and treated of all the great epochs of the national existence,――from Abraham to Joseph,――from Joseph to Moses,――from Moses to David and Solomon[725]. Keeping in mind the charges, of which he was accused, he shewed that the Divine blessing had not been confined to the Jews solely as inhabitants of the sacred land of Palestine, or as partakers in the Temple-worship.
The original cradle of their faith was not Palestine but Mesopotamia, and not only had the patriarch Abraham been called from the far distant land of the Chaldæans (Acts vii. 2–5), but whole centuries of the nation’s existence had been spent in a strange country. In Egypt the Divine blessing had not failed to rest upon the piety of Joseph (Acts vii. 6–10), or upon the descendants of Jacob, when they all went down and sojourned there (Acts vii. 11–16). In Egypt God raised up Moses their great Deliverer, preserved his life from the machinations of Pharaoh, and so ordered events that he became learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and mighty in words and in deeds[726] (Acts vii. 17–22). In Midian He revealed Himself to him in the vision of the Burning Bush, and sent him forth to lead the ransomed people towards the Promised Land; but though by his hands their fathers had received the Law, it had not kept them from idolatry[727]; though he had set up the tabernacle of witness, it had not kept them from setting up the tent of Moloch, and the star of their god Remphan[728] (Acts vii. 22–44): nay, when, on the subjugation of the Canaanitish nations, that Tabernacle had been brought into Canaan, and was there after a long delay exchanged for the Temple, on which the Jews threw the whole stress of their ♦dependence, neither Solomon himself who built it, nor the prophets[729] had ever regarded it as in the highest sense the dwelling-place of the Most High (Acts vii. 44–50).
Thus far the great Hellenist was heard with patience. “It was the story of the Chosen People, to which every Jew listened with interest and pride[730].” But now,――perhaps perceiving that his hearers had caught the real drift of this review of their national history,――perhaps carried away by the retrospect of their narrow and persistent opposition to the divine counsels which it suggested,――in a strain of holy indignation he rebuked the unbelieving hypocritical disposition of the Jews, whose conduct in reference to the divine communications had been the same from the time of Moses up to that very moment[731]; who had always resisted the Holy Ghost, persecuted the prophets, and slain those that had predicted the coming of the Just One; who had betrayed and murdered Him, and had not kept the Law which they had received by the disposition of angels (Acts vii. 50–53).
This severe though just rebuke was the signal for an outburst of wrath and fury on the part of his judges. They were sawn asunder[732] in their hearts, and gnashed upon him with their teeth. Perceiving what was coming, and unaffrighted by their tumultuous rage, he looked up to heaven, and exclaimed, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man[733] standing[734] on the right hand of God (Acts vii. 56). This last declaration was more than the Sanhedrin could bear. Breaking forth into a loud yell (Acts vii. 57), they stopped their ears, as if to close them against any more words of blasphemy, and rushing upon him with one accord led him forth outside the city gate to stone him[735] (Lev. xxiv. 16). The instruments of punishment were collected, the witnesses threw off their loose outer garments (Deut. xvii. 7), laid them at the feet of a young Pharisee, a prominent member of the Cilician synagogue, named Saul, and hurled the first stones. As they fell, the martyr cried to Him whose form he had so lately seen standing at the right hand of God, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit (Acts vii. 59). Then falling on his knees, he exclaimed with a loud voice, in the words of his Master on the Cross, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and――in the touching language of the narrator, “who now uses for the first time the word, since applied to the departure of all Christians, but here the more remarkable from the bloody scenes in the midst of which the death took place――he fell asleep[736] (Acts vii. 60).”
Chapter I
DISPERSION OF THE CHRISTIANS――ACTIVITY OF PHILIP. A.D. 36.
THE martyrdom of the great Hellenist, who was conveyed to his grave amidst much lamentation by devout men[737] (Acts viii. 2), was the signal for a furious persecution of the Christians. The protection with which the prudence of Gamaliel had hitherto shielded them was now withdrawn. Pharisee and Sadducee alike[738], in the absence or with the connivance of the Roman procurator[739], turned against the hated sect, and the young Cilician of Tarsus, who was consenting to the death of Stephen (Acts viii. 1), and probably was now or shortly afterwards a member of the Sanhedrin[740], found himself able to give vent to the full fury of his zeal.
Resolved to make havoc of the Church (Acts viii. 3), he invaded the dwellings of those who professed adherence to the Christian faith, dragged forth their inmates, whether men or women, and committed them to prison (Acts viii. 3, xxvi. 9, 10, xxii. 3). Some of these persecuted people he scourged, often, in many synagogues (Acts xxvi. 11); some he strove to compel to blaspheme the Holy Name whereby they were called (Acts xxvi. 11); others he brought before the Sanhedrin, and when it was decided that they should be put to death, gave his vote against them[741] (Acts xxvi. 10), so that his fame as an inquisitor spread beyond the boundaries of Palestine, and reached even the distant city of Damascus (Acts ix. 13).
From a persecution instigated by such a zealous leader the disciples fled in different directions throughout Judæa and Samaria, and even further north still, to Phœnicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (Acts xi. 19), but the Apostles remained firm at their posts, and for the present did not leave Jerusalem (Acts viii. 1).
Amongst those, who were thus dispersed abroad, was one of the “Seven” who had been elected with Stephen to superintend the distribution of the funds of the Christian society. Between Judæa and Galilee lay the district of Samaria, the inhabitants of which, though shunning and shunned by the Jew, “yet clung to the same promises and looked forward to the same hopes[742].” Thither Philip now went down, and entering one of its towns[743], began to proclaim the message of Glad Tidings to its people, and performed many miracles, casting out demons, and healing many that were lame and paralysed. He was received with no less readiness than the Holy One Himself, when sitting on Jacob’s well[744], He declared Himself the Messiah to the woman who was a sinner. With one accord the Samaritans gave heed to his words (Acts viii. 6).
At this time there was present in the neighbourhood a man, who made no small stir in his day, by name Simon[745]. By his skill as a magician he had succeeded in astounding the people of Samaria to such a degree that he found votaries amongst all ranks and all ages, and was pronounced to be the Power of God which is called Great[746] (Acts viii. 10). But in Philip he found a rival whom he could not resist. He might astonish and perplex, but Philip could do more. He could heal, and restore gladness to many a saddened home (Acts viii. 12). The magician, therefore, soon found himself deserted, and many, both men and women, left him, and believing the Glad Tidings announced by the Evangelist, were admitted into the Church by baptism (Acts viii. 12). These results made a deep impression on the mind of Simon, and he too professed himself a believer, and received baptism at the hands of Philip (Acts viii. 13).
Meanwhile news that the despised Samaria had received the word of God reached the ears of the Apostles at Jerusalem, and they dispatched Peter and John[747] thither on a special mission of enquiry. They on their arrival prayed that some of those extraordinary gifts, which followed and attested the effusion of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, might be bestowed upon the Samaritan believers, and laid their hands upon them (Acts viii. 17), whereupon the endowments, for which they had prayed, were vouchsafed, and attested the planting of a Church in Samaria, standing in an equal rank with the first Church at Jerusalem[748].
Astonished as Simon had been at the miracles of Philip, he was still more astonished at the results of the imposition of the hands of the two Apostles, and he tried to bribe them to bestow upon him the same peculiar power (Acts viii. 18, 19). This mercenary proposal opened their minds to the real character of the man, and with the same just severity with which he had rebuked Ananias, Peter now denounced the wickedness of the pretender, and declaring that his heart was not right in the sight of God, that he had neither part nor lot in the matter, bade him pray that peradventure his evil intentions might be forgiven (Acts viii. 20–22). Struck dumb by the plain-spoken truthfulness of the Galilæan fisherman, and awakened rather to feelings of apprehension of the Divine vengeance than to repentance[749], Simon implored the Apostles to intreat the Lord for him, that none of the things which they had threatened might come to pass (Acts viii. 24)[750].
After this encounter Peter and John extended their missionary labours to many other villages of the Samaritans[751] (Acts viii. 25), and then returned to Jerusalem. But other work was reserved for Philip, for a Divine intimation bade him go toward the south, along the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. Of the roads leading to this well-known city[752], one by Ramleh passed through town and villages; another, better adapted for carriages, through Hebron, and thence through a district comparatively little inhabited[753], and exposed to the incursions of southern marauders, whence it was called desert[754] (Acts viii. 26). The latter was the one which the heavenly Voice bade the Evangelist take, and as he traversed it, probably ignorant of the cause wherefore he was sent, he perceived a chariot, in which one sat reading as he rode. This was a man of Ethiopia[755], a eunuch, the chief officer of Candace, queen of Meröe, and steward of all her treasure, who had come up to worship at one of the Feasts at Jerusalem, and was now returning (Acts viii. 27, 28). Bidden by the heavenly Voice to join the Stranger, Philip quickened his steps, and presently overheard him reading aloud[756], probably in the Septuagint Version[757], the words of the prophet Isaiah (chap. liii. 6, 7):
He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened He not His mouth: in His humiliation His judgment was taken away: and who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.
Understandest thou what thou readest? enquired Philip. How can I, answered the other, unless some man should guide me? and he besought him to get up and sit down by his side. Then the conversation began. I pray thee, said the eunuch, of whom is the prophet speaking this? of himself, or of some other man?
Thereupon Philip opened his mouth, and told him who that “Man” was, and preached the glad tidings of Him, who died, and rose again, and ascended into heaven. As he went on, the eunuch was filled with an ardent desire to embrace the faith, and, being probably informed by Philip of the last command of his ascended Lord to the Apostles, on reaching a stream of water, enquired whether aught could hinder his being baptized? Thereupon the chariot was stayed[758], and the two went down to the water[759], and Philip baptized him, and then, either in consequence of some sudden inward summons or by a miraculous withdrawal, was instantly caught away, so that the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing (Acts viii. 39). Meanwhile Philip had passed on to Azotus, the ancient Ashdod[760], and thence evangelizing all the towns[761] in his way, and following the coast-line, proceeded to Cæsarea on the Sea[762] (Acts viii. 40).
Chapter II
THE CONVERSION OF ST PAUL. A.D. 36 or 37‒A.D. 40.
IN His parting charge to His Apostles the Saviour had declared that they should be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts i. 8). In exact accordance with this order the Church, as we have seen, was first founded in Jerusalem (Acts ii. 1), then spread to the cities round about (Acts v. 16), and after the martyrdom of Stephen to Samaria (Acts viii. 5–25). Provision was now to be made for its extension to the Gentiles, and for this purpose a fitting instrument was raised up in the person of no other than the young Cilician Pharisee, whom we have seen consenting to the death of the first Martyr, and making havoc of the Church.
At this point, then, it will be well to group together such particulars of his early life as have come down to us.
1. Saul, or as he was afterwards called Paul, was born at Tarsus (Acts ix. 11, xxi. 39, xxii. 3), the capital of Cilicia, situated on the banks of the Cydnus, a river famous for the dangerous fever caught by Alexander while bathing, and for the meeting of Antonius and Cleopatra. Even in early times it was a place of consequence[763], and after belonging to the empire of the Seleucidæ, and for a short time to that of the Ptolemies, espoused the cause of Cæsar during the civil wars, was then named Juliopolis[764] in honour of a visit from him, and made a free city[765] by Augustus. Under the early Roman emperors it was famous as a seat of education, and in this respect could vie even with Athens and Alexandria, and could boast of several Stoics, such as Athenodorus, the tutor of Augustus, and Nestor, the tutor of Tiberius. As a place of commerce, it was a meeting-point for Syrians, Cilicians, Isaurians, and Cappadocians.
2. The family of Saul were strict Jews, though Hellenists in speech, and of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. iii. 5). Neither his father’s nor his mother’s names are mentioned, but we have notices of his sister, and his sister’s son (Acts xxiii. 16), and of some more distant relatives (Rom. xvi. 7, 11, 21).
3. Born probably during the later years of the reign of Herod, or the earlier of his son Archelaus[766], as the son of a Pharisee (Acts xxiii. 6), he was circumcised on the eighth day (Phil. iii. 5), and received the name of Saul[767]. But from his earliest years he probably had two names, “Saul the name of his Hebrew home, Paul[768] that by which he was known among the Gentiles.”
4. From his father he inherited a great privilege, that of Roman citizenship. How his father acquired it is unknown. He may have obtained it for a large sum of money (Comp. Acts xxii. 28), or it may have descended to him, or it may have been bestowed upon him in recognition of some service rendered during the civil wars to some influential Roman[769].
5. In conformity with the usual custom of his nation, one of whose proverbs was that He who taught not his son a trade, taught him to be a thief, the youthful Saul was instructed in the art of making tents[770], of the hair-cloth known as Cilicium, and supplied by the goats of his native province.
6. Carefully nurtured under his father’s roof, speaking Greek, and acquainted with the Septuagint version[771] of the Old Testament, he was removed, probably between the age of 10 and 15, to Jerusalem[772], where he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel[773], and under the superintendence of this wise and candid teacher made progress in his knowledge of Jewish rites above many of his contemporaries in his own nation, and became distinguished for extraordinary zeal for the traditions handed down from his fathers[774] (Gal. i. 14). Under the same teacher he probably added to that knowledge of Greek and of the Septuagint, as also of the elements of Gentile learning, which he had brought with him from Tarsus, a more exact acquaintance with the original Hebrew, as also with the hidden and mystical meaning of the Scriptures; a knowledge of aphorisms, allegories[775], and the opinions of the learned; as also the facility of quick and apt quotation; while the study of Greek authors[776] would not be altogether discouraged.
Such was the early life, and such was the training of the champion of the Pharisaic party, who was now to become the great Apostle of the Gentiles.
In his determination to make havoc of the Church, Saul was not content to persecute its members at Jerusalem. Breathing forth threatenings and slaughter against them, he determined to seek them out wherever they might be found, and with this intention requested letters of the high-priest[777] empowering him to seize any of “the Way,” whom he might find in the city of Damascus, whether men or women, and convey them thence to Jerusalem to be punished (Acts ix. 1, 2, xxvi. 12, xxii. 5).
Armed with these credentials, he set out with a considerable retinue, and having probably passed through Shechem, then called Neapolis, and Samaria, and thence through Galilee towards the sea of Tiberias, crossed the Jordan[778], and made his way along the dreary barren uplands which stretch between the base of Antilibanus and the city of Damascus.
It was on the last, probably the sixth day[779] of this long journey, that about noon (Acts xxii. 6, xxvi. 13), when the sun was burning with the fulness of its noontide heat, that the beautiful city[780] appeared in view. But just as the object of his journey seemed to be attained, suddenly a light, brighter even than that fiery sun, flashed upon the persecutor and his companions (Acts ix. 6, xxvi. 13). Struck dumb with fear he and they fell to the ground (Acts ix. 7, xxvi. 14), and then from the inmost depths of the incomprehensible light there came a Voice, which all heard, but one only was enabled to understand[781] (Acts xxii. 9, ix. 8), and a Form appeared, which none saw save one, the persecutor himself (Acts xxii. 14; 1 Cor. xv. 8). Saul, Saul, said the Voice in distinct articulate words in the Hebrew tongue (Acts xxvi. 14), why persecutest thou ME? Who art Thou, Lord? replied the stunned and confused Pharisee. I am JESUS, was the answer, Whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the goad[782] (Acts xxvi. 14). Trembling and astonished the persecutor went on, Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? and in reply was directed to arise and go into the city, and there it should be told him what he was to do (Acts ix. 11).
Thereupon he arose, but when he opened his eyes, all was dark around, for they were blinded by the brightness of the light and the majesty of the Son of God. His companions who had stood speechless listening to the voice[783], but seeing no man (Acts ix. 7), now took him by the hand (Acts ix. 8), and led him into the city, and through the street called “Straight[784]” to the abode of one Judas (Acts ix. 11).
For three days the blindness continued, and during this period he neither ate nor drank (Acts ix. 9), but remained engaged in solitary prayer (Acts ix. 11) unvisited either by the Christians, who had been alarmed by the intelligence of his approach, or the Jews, who could not sympathise with his present condition. At length one drew near to reveal the Divine will respecting him[785].
There was living at this time in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, held in high estimation amongst all the Jews resident there (Acts xxii. 12). To him the Lord appeared in a vision, and bade him seek out in the house of Judas for one called Saul, for behold he was praying, and had seen in a vision a man coming in, and laying his hand upon him that he might recover his sight. At first Ananias would have declined the mission, knowing well the character of him to whom he was to go, and the purpose for which he had visited Damascus. But his objections were overruled; he who had been a persecutor was designed by the Lord to do great things, and to him he must go (Acts ix. 11–16).
Thereupon Ananias went, entered the house, and beholding the triumphant persecutor lying exhausted and fasting, laid his hands upon him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord hath sent me, even Jesus who appeared unto thee on the way as thou camest, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost (Acts ix. 17). He had scarcely spoken when from the eyes of the new disciple of the risen Saviour there fell as it had been scales, and looking up he beheld the face of Ananias (Acts xxii. 13), and learned the object of the heavenly vision, and the purpose for which the God of his fathers had chosen him (Acts xxvi. 18). Thereupon he arose and was baptized, and having taken meat was strengthened for the work that lay before him.
The arrival of the delegate of the Sanhedrin was no secret among the Christians at Damascus, and the words of Ananias testify to the fame he had acquired as a persecutor of their body. Great, then, must have been their surprise when they heard of the change which his spirit had undergone, and still more when they saw him entering the synagogues (Acts ix. 20), and fearlessly declaring his conviction that that Jesus, whose followers he had come to imprison, was the Son of God. The first effect upon those who heard him was blank amazement, for they were well acquainted with his previous history, and the object of his visit, and they clearly saw that the astounding change which had come over him could not be ascribed to any wayward, irregular impulse, for his energy gathered renewed strength day by day, and the Jews were unable to confute the arguments by which he proved that Jesus was the long-promised Messiah (Acts ix. 21, 22).
After the lapse, however, of some days, it became clear that it would not be safe for him to continue his labours. The fury of the Jews would naturally be roused to the utmost pitch, and it became necessary that he should leave the city. But instead of going up to Jerusalem to consult those who were Apostles before him (Gal. i. 17), he departed to Arabia[786], either the region which bordered on Syria and Mesopotamia and included Damascus itself[787], or the Sinaitic peninsula, the scene of the giving of the law. What was the purpose of this journey we are not told. Perhaps it was to undertake some missionary enterprise, perhaps to engage in solitary communion[788] with Him who had called him to be an Apostle, before he entered upon his active labours.
Chapter III
ST PAUL’S FIRST VISIT TO JERUSALEM――PETER AT JOPPA. A.D. 40.
WHATEVER was the precise object of this journey to Arabia, and whatever was its duration, certain it is that the Apostle returned thence to Damascus (Gal. i. 17), and preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts ix. 27). On this occasion, however, the Jews, unable to confute his arguments, resolved to assassinate him, but their design reached his ears, and every precaution was taken by the Christians that night to secure him from danger.
This, however, was a matter of no little difficulty. In consequence either of hostilities between the Romans and Herod Antipas on the one side and Aretas king of Petra on the other[789], or of the assignment of Damascus by Caligula, the successor of Tiberius, to Aretas, the city was held by the Ethnarch[790] of this monarch (2 Cor. xi. 32), and the Jews having won him and his soldiers over to their side, a strict watch was kept day and night to prevent the Apostle’s escape, and deliver him over to execution (Acts ix. 24). In this emergency, therefore, the disciples taking advantage of an unguarded part of the wall and the darkness of the night, let him down in a basket from a window, which opened on the outer country[791] (Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33). Thus delivered from circumstances of great peril, the Apostle turned his steps towards Jerusalem, being desirous, as he informs us, to become acquainted with Peter[792], and in the Holy City he arrived three years[793] after his conversion (Gal. i. 18).
But his escape had been too hurried to allow him to bring with him letters of commendation; when, therefore, he attempted to join himself to the disciples (Acts ix. 26), they were all afraid of him, and could not believe that he was united with them in the bonds of a common discipleship. But now it was that Barnabas, who, as we have seen[794], may have become acquainted with him at Tarsus, took him by the hand and brought him to the Apostles, and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, and how in that city he had already spoken boldly in His Name (Acts ix. 27). Thereupon Peter, and James the Lord’s brother[795] (Gal. i. 18, 19), in the absence of the other Apostles, probably on some mission to the churches of Judæa, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts ix. 31), gave him the right hand of fellowship, and for a period of 15 days[796] (Gal. i. 18) he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem (Acts ix. 28).
As might be expected, the chief sphere of his activity was in the synagogues of the Hellenists, where he had before distinguished himself as a zealous opponent of Stephen. Now, however, he disputed with the same energy and force in support of the very doctrines which he had then persecuted (Acts ix. 29), and brought down upon himself the same furious opposition which had caused the death of the first Martyr. A plot was formed to secure his assassination, and the disciples perceived that he must retire from the work he had commenced in Jerusalem. The Apostle, himself, was unwilling to quit a place, where his former zeal against the faith was so well-known, and his sincerity, as he hoped, would be appreciated (Acts xxii. 19, 20). But as he was one day praying in the temple, he fell into a trance (Acts xxii. 17), and saw his Lord, who said to him, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me; and when he hesitated to obey the command and pleaded his former zeal in persecuting the faith as a reason why he should stay, the injunction to leave the city was repeated, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles (Acts xxii. 21).
Thus assured that Jerusalem was not to be the field of his labours, he allowed the brethren to convey him to Cæsarea-on-the-sea[797], whence he took ship and sailed to Tarsus, his native city, and there probably devoted himself to preaching in its synagogue, and to missionary activity[798] in the regions of Syria and Cilicia[799] (Gal. i. 21). His brief visit to Jerusalem had not been without some result. He had seen and was recognised by Peter and James, and though he remained for the present personally unknown to the churches of Judæa[800], yet the intelligence which reached them from time to time[801] that their persecutor of former days was now preaching the Faith, filled them with thankfulness, and they glorified God in him (Gal. i. 22–24).
While the Apostle was thus employed amidst the familiar scenes of his childhood, the churches throughout Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, lately disturbed by his unceasing animosity, had peace, increased in numbers, and walked in the fear of the Lord (Acts ix. 31). The rest, however, which they thus enjoyed, may perhaps be ascribed to another cause besides the conversion of their late persecutor[802]. In A.D. 36 Pontius Pilate, as we have already seen[803], was sent to Rome by Vitellius. Thereupon Marcellus was sent out as procurator of Judæa in his place, but on his arrival at Cæsarea was directed to make way for Marullus[804]. In the following year, A.D. 37, Vitellius was recalled from Syria, and was succeeded in that prefecture by Petronius, while Theophilus[805] succeeded his brother Jonathan in the office of high-priest. But a still more important event in the same year was the death of Tiberius[806], and the accession of Caligula. Releasing Herod Agrippa[807], the grandson of Herod the Great, from his prison at Rome, where Tiberius had confined him, he appointed him king of Trachonitis, which had belonged to Herod Philip’s tetrarchy, and bestowed upon him also the tetrarchy of Lysanias[808]. But the new emperor was scarcely seated on the throne, before in his insane vanity he ordered divine honours to be paid to himself throughout the empire[809], and directed that a golden colossal statue of himself should be placed in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. The execution of this mandate was entrusted to Petronius, and having ordered Sidonian workmen to make the statue, he moved up with his troops to Ptolemais, prepared to set it up by force. But no sooner did intelligence of what was intended reach the Jews than one universal feeling of horror pervaded the nation, and thousands assembled from all quarters without distinction of rank or age or sex, imploring the prefect to desist from carrying out his instructions. Shrinking from the horrible task of commencing a war of massacre and extermination which he saw was inevitable, if the statue was set up, Petronius hesitated, wrote to expostulate with his master, and put off the execution of the order. At the same time Herod Agrippa, then at Rome, implored his patron to pause, and a deputation from Alexandria, headed by the learned and venerable Philo, set forth the stern requirements of the Jewish Law. But Caligula was inexorable, and it is impossible to say what would have been the result[810], had he not been assassinated[811] on the 24th of January, A.D. 41. Thus the Jews were delivered from this terrible indignity.
The rest, then, which the Christians now enjoyed, may not improbably be ascribed to the distractions of Caligula’s reign, and to the fact that the Jewish authorities were wholly occupied with frustrating his mad designs. Taking advantage, therefore, of this period of repose the Apostle Peter made a visitation of the different churches founded in Palestine, and amongst other places went down to Lydda, anciently called Lod[812] (1 Ch. viii. 12; Neh. vii. 37), and afterwards Diospolis, situated about 9 miles from the sea-port of Joppa. Here finding a man afflicted with paralysis, who had kept his bed for upwards of 8 years, he addressed him in his Master’s name, Æneas, Jesus Christ healeth thee, whereupon he rose immediately, restored to perfect soundness. The cure of such a man was quickly noised abroad throughout his own town and the neighbouring plain of Sharon, and contributed in no small degree to the spread of the Church in those regions.
While still at Lydda the Apostle received intelligence that the Christian society at Joppa had sustained a grievous loss by the death of a widow of substance, named Tabitha[813] or Dorcas, who had been wont not only to minister with her own hands to the wants of the poor, but in providing clothing for them. The death of such a person caused great regret at Joppa, and the Apostle was no sooner informed of it by messengers, who intreated his presence, than he set out, and on his arrival was conducted to the upper chamber, where the body lay prepared for the burial (Acts ix. 37–39), surrounded by many widows, who stood by weeping, and shewed him the many proofs of the kindness of their benefactress.
Like his Master before him in the chamber of the daughter of Jairus[814], the Apostle thereupon put these mourners forth, and kneeling down[815] engaged in prayer. Then turning to the body he pronounced the words Tabitha, arise (Acts ix. 40), whereupon her eyes instantly were opened, and seeing Peter she sat up. Taking her by the hand the Apostle then raised her from the spot where she had lain prepared for burial, and calling in the widows presented her to them alive. The fame of this miracle, confirming as it did the impression already made at Lydda, quickly spread, and caused an accession of many to the Christian Church; and the Apostle perceiving an opportune field of usefulness thus opened to him, tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner (Acts ix. 43).
Chapter IV
THE CONVERSION OF CORNELIUS. A.D. 41–43.
DURING the Apostle’s stay at Joppa an event occurred destined to have no small influence on the spread of the Church.
Cæsarea, as has been already stated, was the head-quarters of the Roman government in Judæa[816]. Among the troops quartered there was a cohort of Italians[817], possibly volunteers, and amongst its officers was a centurion named Cornelius, a devout man, who had learned to worship the one true God[818], and was well known for his almsgiving and uprightness of life (Acts x. 2). One day, about the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, he beheld in a vision an angel who informed him that his prayers and alms were not forgotten before God, and bade him send for the Apostle, now lodging at Joppa, who would tell him what he should do, and inform him concerning that faith which had already excited much attention in the neighbourhood[819] (Acts ix. 42).
Obedient to the heavenly vision the centurion summoned two of his servants, and a devout soldier attached to his own person, and sent them with the necessary instructions to Joppa. As the three drew near their destination, the Apostle Peter, who had retired for devotion to the flat[820] housetop of his lodging by the seaside[821] at the noontide hour of prayer (Acts x. 9), fell into a trance, and saw the heaven opened, and a great sheet-like vessel[822], let down by its four corners, till it rested upon the earth (Acts x. 11). As he observed it closely, he noticed that it contained all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and he heard a Voice saying, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But this the Apostle, who from earliest childhood had observed the strict precepts of the Levitical Law[823], stedfastly declined to do: he had never eaten anything common or unclean. Then the Voice spoke again, saying, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common, and when the strange scene had been repeated three times, probably with the same command, the same remonstrance, and the same reply[824], the vessel was received up again into heaven (Acts x. 15, 16).
The Apostle was deeply moved, and while meditating on the possible meaning of what he had beheld and heard, the messengers of Cornelius had arrived, and were making enquiries for him, and at the same moment the Spirit bade him go down and accompany them whithersoever they went, doubting nothing (Acts x. 19, 20). Thereupon he descended from the housetop, and having learned from the men the purport of their errand, he brought them in and hospitably entertained them (Acts x. 21–23).
The next day he set out with them towards Cæsarea, attended by certain of the brethren from Joppa, and on entering the house of Cornelius found him in the midst of many of his relatives and intimate friends, whom he had assembled to listen to the Apostle’s words. As he crossed the threshold (Acts x. 25), the centurion went forth to meet him, and falling down at his feet would have worshipped him. But Peter raised him up, and reminded him that he also was a man, and then addressed himself to the assembled company. They all knew, he said, that he was a Jew, and how unlawful it was for one of that nation to associate with or enter the house of a foreigner: but God had shewed him that he was not to call any man common or unclean, and therefore he had come without delay, and now desired to know the reason for which he had been sent (Acts x. 28, 29).
Then Cornelius recounted the particulars of his vision (Acts x. 30–33), and requested the Apostle to announce to him and his assembled friends what he, as a messenger of God, had to say to them. Thus assured that all things had occurred under the Divine guidance, the Apostle opened his mouth, and having acknowledged that God was indeed no respecter of persons, but accepted out of every nation all that feared Him and worked righteousness, proceeded to proclaim the glad tidings of his risen Lord. He told them of His life of love; of His victories over disease and the spirit-world (Acts x. 38); of His death by the hands of men (Acts x. 39); of His resurrection, and His appearances afterwards, not to all the people but to chosen witnesses, even the Apostles, who had eaten and drunk with Him (Acts x. 40, 41); of His exaltation to heaven and His future coming to judge the world; of the commission he and the rest of the Twelve had received to proclaim to all that believed in Him the remission of sins (Acts x. 42, 43).
While he was still speaking, the events of the day of Pentecost were repeated in the house of the Roman soldier. To the astonishment of the Jewish Christians who had accompanied the Apostle from Joppa, the gift of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Gentiles, and they heard them speaking in various dialects and magnifying and praising God (Acts x. 46). Now fully awakened to the meaning of the vision on the housetop, the Apostle enquired whether any could forbid that these, who had already evidently received the gift of the Holy Ghost, should be admitted to the rite of baptism, and then ordered that it should be administered; and thus he who had first preached the resurrection to the Jews, baptized the first converts at Jerusalem, and confirmed the first-fruits of the church in Samaria, now, under direct communication from heaven, first threw down the barrier which separated proselytes of the gate from Israelites, and admitted them on an equal footing into the Christian Church[825].
The news of such an event was not long in reaching Jerusalem, and provoked not only enquiry and comment, but actual complaint, so that when the Apostle returned thither, he found himself warmly censured by not a few of the more exclusive section of the “circumcision,” who complained that he had consorted and eaten with men who were uncircumcised[826] (Acts xi. 1–3). Thereupon Peter recounted all the particulars of his visit to Cæsarea from the beginning; how he had seen a vision at Joppa, and how a Divine Voice had accompanied and interpreted it; how the messengers of Cornelius had arrived while he was pondering over the vision, and he had been bidden to accompany them nothing doubting[827]; how taking with him six impartial witnesses (Acts xi. 12), who were then present, he had proceeded to the house of Cornelius, and on his arrival was told of another vision which the good centurion had beheld, the “very counterpart and index of his own;” how when he had only begun to speak and to touch upon the Gospel History, the infallible sign of the Divine Presence had been manifested, and the Holy Ghost had fallen on his Gentile hearers as on the disciples in Jerusalem at the beginning; how this had recalled to his mind his Lord’s words, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and he had admitted them to baptism; for who was he, after this visible proof of the Divine Presence, that he could withstand God? (Acts xi. 4–17). The question contained its own answer, and the Christians at Jerusalem not only held their peace, and desisted from further reprehension of the Apostle, but glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life (Acts xi. 18).
Meanwhile events had occurred at other and more distant places than Cæsarea, shewing that the Christian Church was no longer to be confined to the Jews only or to the sacred land of Palestine. The Christians, whom the persecution that followed after the stoning of Stephen[828] had driven from the Holy City, travelled in different directions, to Phœnicia, the neighbouring island of Cyprus, and to Antioch[829], the metropolis of Syria (Acts xi. 19). For some time they confined their ministrations to the Jews only, but at length some of them, men of Cyprus[830] and Cyrene, on their arrival at Antioch, began to preach the word even to the Gentiles, and with such success that a great number became believers, and turned unto the Lord (Acts xi. 21).
Tidings of these events reaching the Church at Jerusalem, in accordance with the precedent already acted upon in Samaria (Acts viii. 14), it was resolved to send to Antioch one in whom they had entire confidence, and who might report on all that had occurred. The person selected for this important duty was no other than Barnabas, the son of exhortation, himself a Hellenist, a native of Cyprus, and in all probability well acquainted with Antioch, one known to be a good man, full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith (Acts xi. 24).
Accordingly Barnabas set out, and on his arrival found much to approve in the ministrations of the Hellenistic teachers. They had evidently been blessed with great success, and he laboured earnestly to advance it, exhorting all to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. His own endeavours did not lose their reward, for the church at Antioch received many additions to its numbers (Acts xi. 24), but Barnabas saw that a wise master-builder (1 Cor. iii. 10) was required for the work, and he therefore set out for Tarsus to fetch Saul. Once more, then, the two met, and Saul proceeded with his friend to the Syrian metropolis, and there side by side they continued to labour for a whole year, and so greatly were their exertions blessed, and so numerous were the additions made to the Church, that it was clear the disciples could no longer be confounded with any sect or party of the Jews. Standing out, then, as a separate community, they acquired a distinctive title, and it was first at Antioch, whose inhabitants were notorious for inventing names of derision[831], that the honourable appellation of CHRISTIANS was first applied to them (Acts xi. 26). This name they were not likely to assume themselves[832], nor is it probable that it was bestowed upon them by the Jews. They called them in hatred and contempt the sect of the Nazarenes[833] (Acts xxiv. 5), and Christ being equivalent to Messiah, they were not likely to apply to them a term they themselves held sacred[834]. The name, therefore, probably originated with the Gentiles, and with the Romans rather than the Greeks. The disciples would often speak of Christ as their leader and chief, and the heathens[835] would naturally call them in mockery and derision Christians, or the Followers of Christ, just as the partisans of Marius were called Mariani, of Pompeius Pompeiani, of Otho Othoniani, of Vitellius Vitelliani, of Herod Herodiani.
While the two Apostles were thus employed, there arrived at Antioch, A.D. 42, certain prophets[836] from Jerusalem, one of whom named Agabus stood up and announced that a great famine was at hand, which in fact came to pass during the reign of Claudius Cæsar (Acts xi. 28), a reign distinguished for earthquakes, bad harvests, and general scarcity[837]. Having full faith in his prophetic words the Christians in the Syrian metropolis[838] determined to send relief, every man according to his ability, to their poorer brethren at Jerusalem, and Saul and Barnabas were selected to convey their contributions to the Holy City (Acts xi. 29, 30)[839].
Chapter V
MARTYRDOM OF ST JAMES――DEATH OF HEROD. A.D. 44.
ABOUT the time when these delegates from the church at Antioch arrived on their errand of Christian love at Jerusalem, a severe calamity befell the Church there. On the accession of Claudius, A.D. 41, Herod Agrippa, who had taken an active part in securing his succession[840], was rewarded by the addition of Judæa and Samaria to the tetrarchies of Philip and Antipas which he had already received, and ruled as king over a territory as widely extended as that governed by his grandfather[841].
Arriving at Jerusalem, A.D. 42, he dedicated in the Temple, as a memorial of the Divine protection, the golden chain with which he had been presented by Caligula, and which was of equal weight with the iron one he had worn when imprisoned by Tiberius[842], and endeavoured to ingratiate himself with his subjects by the strictest profession of Judaism. He offered sacrifice every day; paid the expenses of certain Nazarites on completing their vows[843]; abstained from every legal impurity; remitted the house-tax of the inhabitants of Jerusalem[844]; encircled the new suburb of Bezetha with a wall; and prepared to strengthen the entire fortifications of the city[845].
Thus determined to ingratiate himself with the Jews, and doubtless at the suggestions of their chiefs, he resolved to take measures for the suppression of Christianity. Accordingly, in A.D. 44, he seized the Apostle James, the brother of St John, and without any apparent process of Jewish law[846] summarily slew him with the sword (Acts xii. 2), thus early admitting him to his Master’s baptism[847] (Mtt. xx. 23). Perceiving that this atrocity rendered him exceedingly popular with his subjects[848], he arrested Peter also at the feast of the Passover, and committed him to the custody of four quaternions of soldiers[849] (Acts xii. 4), intending at the close of the festival to bring him forth before the people and gratify them with his death.
Great was the sorrow of the Church at the prospect of the Apostle’s execution, and unceasing and not ineffectual prayer was made to God in his behalf. For on the night before the day fixed for the spectacle of his martyrdom, while the Apostle was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the sentinels without were carefully guarding the doors, a light suddenly shone into his cell, and an angel touched him on the side, and bade him rise up quickly. Thereupon he arose, and his chains fell from off his hands. Gird thyself, resumed the angel, and bind on thy sandals. The Apostle did so, and casting his garment about him, and scarcely believing the reality of what was going on, followed his celestial guide through the first and second ward, and thence through the iron gate, which opened of its own accord, into the street of the city (Acts xii. 5–10).
Then the angel departed, and the Apostle realising for the first time the fact of his deliverance, repaired to the house of Mary[850], a sister of Barnabas, where many were gathered together praying. As soon as he had knocked at the door, a damsel named Rhoda came forth to open it, but recognising his voice was so transported with joy that she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the door. Those within, however, declared that she was mad, that she had seen his angel or ghost, and refused to believe her words. Meanwhile the Apostle stood without knocking, and at length the door was opened, and the disciples were assured that it was he and no other. They would have expressed their joy with loud thanksgivings, but holding up his hand he beckoned to them to be silent, and then having recounted all that had befallen him, bade them carry the joyful news to James the Lord’s brother and the rest of the disciples (Acts xii. 11–17). With these words he betook himself to some secure hiding-place.
The morning dawned, and the soldiers rising from their slumbers were overwhelmed with astonishment at finding their prisoner gone, and while with no small stir they were endeavouring to make out what had become of him, Herod sent for them, and when he could not ascertain any tidings respecting their prisoner, ordered them to be put to death, and then left Jerusalem for Cæsarea (Acts xii. 19).
Before the autumn, however, a terrible end had overtaken the tyrant. Tidings reached Judæa of the triumphant return of Claudius from his expedition to Britain[851], and shows similar to those at Rome were commenced at Cæsarea, which was crowded with people from all quarters. On the second day[852] of the festival the king, clothed in magnificent robes, entered the glorious theatre[853] which his grandfather had built, and sitting down on his throne (Acts xii. 21) proceeded to give an audience to certain ambassadors from the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon. For some reason the people of these Phœnician cities had given him offence, and through the intercession of Blastus, the royal chamberlain, they now sought a reconciliation and a renewal of friendly relations, which was a matter of no small importance, since Phœnicia, as in ancient times[854], depended on Palestine for its supplies of corn and oil (Acts xii. 20). It was early morning[855]. The sun’s rays fell upon the apparel of the king glistering with silver tissue, and the excited multitude sitting in a great semicircle, tier above tier, on the stone seats of the theatre, were dazzled with the brightness which flashed forth from the monarch’s robes. Presently he spoke, and they shouted, It is the voice of a god and not of a man. The king made no attempt to repress their adulation, and in the midst of this idolatrous ostentation an angel of God smote him, and he was carried out of the theatre, smitten with a terrible internal disorder, and eaten of worms[856] (Acts xii. 23). After lingering five days in excruciating agony he died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, having reigned seven years, four over part of his dominions, and three over the whole of Palestine[857], and leaving behind him one son, Agrippa, and three daughters, Drusilla, Berenice, and Mariamne[858].
III. THE CHURCH OF THE GENTILES
Illustration: A MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE APOSTOLIC HISTORY.
London and New York: Macmillan & Co. Stanford’s Geographˡ Estabᵗ. London
SECTION I.
First Missionary Tour of Paul and Barnabas.
Chapter I
CYPRUS, PERGA, THE PISIDIAN ANTIOCH. A.D. 45, 46.
THE martyrdom of Stephen exercised, as we have seen, an important influence on the development of the Church, scattering the disciples over heathen lands. The martyrdom of James the son of Zebedee marks a no less important epoch. It seems to have been the signal for the withdrawal of the Apostles from Jerusalem[859]. The special work assigned there to Peter, the Apostle of the Circumcision, was over. He had founded the Church, opened its gates to Jews and Gentiles, and laid down the conditions of their admission. Consigning, therefore, the direction of the Christian society in Jerusalem to James the Lord’s brother (Gal. i. 19), the Apostles departed to enter upon wider fields of action.
After completing the object of their journey, and proving the fellowship that existed between the disciples in Syria and Palestine, Saul and Barnabas, accompanied by a kinsman of the latter[860], John surnamed Mark, returned to Antioch. In the Syrian metropolis the three were joined by other teachers, Simeon, surnamed Niger[861], Lucius of Cyrene[862], and Manaen[863] a foster-brother[864] of Herod the tetrarch (Acts xiii. 1), and together they continued to instruct and build up the Church. At length while, on one occasion, they were engaged in a solemn service of prayer and fasting, the Holy Ghost intimated, probably through one or more of the prophets then present (Acts xiii. 2), that Barnabas and Saul should be set apart to accomplish a special work, for which they had been called.
In accordance with this intimation, after a solemn religious service (Acts xiii. 3), the hands of the chief members of the church at Antioch were laid upon the two, and accompanied by Mark they repaired to Seleucia[865], and thence sailed to Cyprus, where amongst their connections and friends[866] it might be expected that Barnabas and his kinsman might labour with good results, and where there was already the nucleus of a Christian Church.
After a few hours’ sail, therefore, they reached Salamis[867], the eastern port and ancient capital of the island, and preached the word in its synagogues, of which there appear to have been several. Thence they travelled to Paphos[868], at the south-western extremity of Cyprus, the seat of the Roman government and the residence of the proconsul[869], Sergius Paulus. At his court was one of those Jewish sorcerers, whom we have already seen encountering the Apostle Peter in Samaria[870], named Bar-jesus, or, as he called himself in Arabic, Elymas, the wise (Acts xiii. 8). Provoked at the willingness of the proconsul to listen to the preaching of the newly-arrived teachers, he offered a strenuous opposition to his wishes. But Saul, or, as he is now for the first time called Paul[871], fixed his eyes upon him, and in the plenitude of that power which he possessed from the Holy Ghost, sternly rebuked him for thus seeking to pervert the right ways of the Lord, and denounced an instantaneous judgment: the hand of the Lord should be upon him, and he should be blind, nor see the sun for a season. This privation, which the Apostle had himself experienced, was instantly inflicted on the sorcerer, and he had to seek the aid of others in going from place to place (Acts xiii. 11). Such a vivid exhibition of miraculous power produced a deep impression upon the proconsul, and he believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord (Acts xiii. 12).
From Paphos the three sailed in a north-westerly direction to the harbour of Attaleia[872] in Pamphylia[873], and thence up the river Cestrus 6 or 7 miles inland to the town of Perga[874] (Acts xiii. 13). Here Mark, either yearning after the home he had left at Jerusalem, or affrighted by the perils he was likely to encounter[875], departed from his companions, and returned to Jerusalem, while the others pressed on alone to Antioch in Pisidia, a town of considerable importance, having been built by the founder of the Syrian Antioch[876], and since then advanced by Augustus to the dignity of a Roman colony[877].
The population of the Pisidian Antioch was mixed, consisting of Greeks, Romans, and native Pisidians, but the influence of the Jews was considerable, and they had succeeded in making not a few converts. Having waited, therefore, for the ensuing Sabbath, Paul and Barnabas repaired to the synagogue, and after the regular service[878] were bidden by the president of the synagogue, if they had any word of exhortation, to address those assembled (Acts xiii. 15).
Thereupon Paul rose up, and beckoning with his hand delivered his first address of which we have any record. Like the discourse he had himself heard from the lips of Stephen[879], it was based on the history of the Jewish nation. The call of Abraham, the Wanderings in the wilderness, the occupation of Canaan, the period of the Judges[880], the election of the first King, the accession of David; all these important events were touched upon in their order (Acts xiii. 16–22). Of David’s seed, he then proceeded, God had promised (2 Sam. vii. 12) to raise up a Saviour, and this promise he had fulfilled. Duly heralded by His predicted Forerunner (Acts xiii. 24, 25), the promised Saviour had appeared in the person of Jesus. The rulers, indeed, of Jerusalem, not knowing Him, or the real meaning of the words of the prophets read in their ears every Sabbath-day, had constrained Pilate to put Him to death, had crucified, and laid Him in a sepulchre; but God had raised him from the dead, and He had been seen after His resurrection[881], not by strangers, but by those familiar with His person, who had been His companions from Galilee to Jerusalem (Acts xiii. 26–31), who were His witnesses to the people of Israel. By His death and resurrection He had truly accomplished the ancient prophecies[882], which could not refer to their forefather David (who was dead, and had long mouldered in the tomb); and now through Him was offered to all the forgiveness of sins, even of those from which they could not have been delivered by the Law of Moses[883].
Such was the purport of the Apostle’s first recorded sermon. Its immediate effect was a deep impression upon those who heard it. As they left the synagogue many[884] besought the Apostles that these words might be repeated in their hearing on the next Sabbath, and not a few, both Jews and proselytes, accompanied them from the synagogue, and listened to their exhortations that having received the word they would not let it slip, but continue steadfastly in the grace of God (Acts xiii. 43).
Accordingly when the next Sabbath came round almost the whole city was assembled to hear the word, multitudes of Gentiles pressing in with the Jews and proselytes. This was more than the stricter section of the Jews could bear, and filled with envy at the assembly of so many strangers, they made an uproar, and opposed the word spoken by Paul with contradictions and even blasphemy (Acts xiii. 45).
Their opposition only nerved the Apostles with still greater boldness, and they openly proclaimed the course they would now adopt. In accordance with their Master’s directions, they had addressed themselves first to members of their own nation, but since they despised their message, and deemed themselves unworthy of eternal life, they would turn to the Gentiles[885]. This declaration many of the latter then present received with joy, and became believers, so that the word of the Lord was published abroad through the whole region (Acts xiii. 49).
This success provoked still greater opposition. Through the female proselytes in the city the Jews gained the ear of the chief authorities, and succeeded in raising a storm of persecution against the Apostles, and expelling them beyond the limits of the colony (Acts xiii. 50). They did not leave it, however, without a solemn protest against the impiety of its inhabitants. In obedience to their Master’s directions[886], they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and while, in spite of the persecution that had been raised, the little band of Christians were filled with joy and the Holy Ghost (Acts xiii. 52), they proceeded to cross the barren uplands[887] which separate Antioch from the plain of Iconium.
Chapter II
VISIT TO LYSTRA, DERBE――DISPUTES AT ANTIOCH. A.D. 48–50.
ON reaching Iconium[888], as they had done at Antioch, the Apostles repaired to the synagogue, and there proclaimed their message with such success, that a great multitude both of Jews and Gentiles embraced the faith. Thereupon the unbelieving Jews repeated the tactics already found so successful at Antioch. They excited the minds of the Gentile population against the brethren, and stirred up a furious opposition (Acts xiv. 2). On this occasion, however, the Apostles did not feel themselves called to leave the city immediately. They remained at Iconium some considerable time, and spoke boldly in the Name of their Divine Master, who attested the truth of their words by many miracles and signs. In the end the population was divided. The one, including the influential classes, sided with the Jews, the other with the Apostles. At length a conspiracy was formed with the connivance of the magistrates (Acts xiv. 5) to insult and even stone them, and Paul and Barnabas, recognising the signal to leave, betook themselves to the neighbouring Lycaonian towns, Lystra[889] and Derbe[890].
Lystra was the place first visited, and here there was no synagogue, and apparently but few Jews. It was a small town in a wild district and amongst a rude population speaking a dialect of their own, and serving the gods many and lords many of primitive heathenism. The Apostles therefore could only make known their message by repairing to places of public resort, and addressing themselves to such groups as curiosity or interest might gather together. On one of these occasions, a man, who had been a cripple from his birth (Acts xiv. 8), and who probably sat for alms in the public thoroughfare, listened to them with deep attention. Thereupon the Apostle Paul, moved with compassion, and probably sensible of the necessity of some miracle to attest his authority, as also perceiving that the man had faith to be healed, fixed his eye upon him and addressing him in a loud voice, said, Stand upright on thy feet. In an instant the man sprang up, and leaped, and walked.
Such a cure of such a man in such a manner was speedily noised abroad, and the multitudes gathering together no sooner saw what had been done, than they lifted up their voices, saying in their native Lycaonian dialect[891], The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men (Acts xiv. 11). That the gods, in the form of mortal men, did often visit the earth, was a cherished belief amongst many heathen nations, and nowhere more than in the very district now visited by the Apostles[892]. The tutelar deity of Lystra was Zeus, Jupiter, and at the entrance of the town he had a temple, where he was worshipped as its founder and protector. The inhabitants therefore rushed to the conclusion, that in the Apostle Barnabas, probably in consequence of his venerable appearance, they beheld none other than the “father of gods and men,” while in his companion, who was the chief speaker, they thought they recognised Hermes, or Mercury, the god of eloquence, and the frequent companion of Jupiter on his visits to earth[893].
The news that these deities had honoured Lystra with their presence quickly spread, and reached the ears of the priest of Jupiter. Accordingly he and his assistants soon appeared with oxen and garlands before the residence of the Apostles, prepared to offer sacrifice in their honour. Perceiving for the first time the object of these proceedings, Paul and Barnabas rushed forth from their abode, and meeting the procession approaching the vestibule[894], exclaimed, Sirs, what do ye? we also are men of like passions with you. And then they went on to declare the real purport of their coming, which was to persuade them to turn from the worship of such false gods, to the living and life-giving God, the Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein, who in the past generations had permitted all nations[895] to walk in their own ways, interposing not by any visible judgment or by any world-wide revelation, but who had not left Himself without witness, doing good to the creatures of His hand, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with joy and gladness (Acts xiv. 15–17).
Even this appeal hardly prevailed upon the people to abandon their intentions. At length they reluctantly retired, and led away the victims without offering them in sacrifice to the Apostles. The impression, however, thus made was on the surface only, and was soon to give place to an entire revulsion of feeling. It had become known at Antioch and Iconium, whither the Apostles had retired. From both places, therefore, certain of the Jews made their way to Lystra, and stirred up the minds of the people against their newly-arrived visitors, representing, it is not improbable, that they were impostors, and practised magical arts[896]. Thereupon, with the fickleness for which they were proverbial, the Lycaonians turned upon the men they had so lately been willing to adore, and actually stoned Paul[897], and supposing him to be dead dragged him forth out of their town.
Some disciples[898], however, had been made even in Lystra, and these did not now desert their teacher in the hour of peril. While they were standing around him, and probably using means for his restoration, the Apostle arose, and returned with them to his abode. A longer stay was clearly dangerous, and therefore on the morrow he and his companion left for the neighbouring town of Derbe, and thence, having preached the Word and made several disciples (Acts xiv. 21), they returned through the several towns they had visited, exhorting the disciples to abide constant in the faith, and reminding them that through much affliction they must enter the kingdom of God. Moreover in the several churches they had established they now appointed elders[899], and after prayer and fasting, solemnly presented them before the Lord (Acts xiv. 23). Thence they proceeded to Perga, and after preaching the Word there, to the sea-port of ♦Attaleia. There they took ship, and sailing to Seleucia reached Antioch, and on their arrival summoned the brethren, and announced to them the success of their mission, and the many proofs they had witnessed that God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles (Acts xiv. 27).
Arrived at Antioch, the Apostles continued there for some time, A.D. 47–50, strengthening and confirming the faith of the Church, and during their stay began that contest with the Judaizing Christians with which St Paul was destined to be so largely occupied.
It had by this time become clear that the Christian faith, instead of being the purest and highest form of Judaism, was to prove itself a world-wide universal religion, and that its Jewish elements were to be absorbed and vanish away. In every nation and in every place, at Joppa, at Cæsarea, at Antioch, in rude village-towns like Lystra and Derbe, as well as populous cities like Perga and Iconium, it was seen that God accepted without respect of persons those that feared Him and worked righteousness (Acts x. 34, 35).
Such a revolution of feeling towards the Gentile world[900] could not be at once received with entire acquiescence. At Jerusalem, in sight of the Temple, and in the midst of all the associations of his faith and national history, the exclusive feelings, which the Jew carried with him wherever he went, were concentrated and intensified[901]. Hitherto there had been no attempt to define the mutual relations of Jewish and Gentile converts. “All such questions, it would seem, had been tacitly passed over, neither side perhaps being desirous of provoking discussion[902].” Events, however, now occurred, which rendered necessary a solution of the question.
Certain false brethren[903] (Gal. ii. 12) went down from Judæa to Antioch (Acts xv. 1), and creeping in unawares[904], began to observe with no favourable eye the extent to which the Jewish Law was relaxed in favour of the Gentile Christians, and their liberty in Christ Jesus vindicated (Gal. ii. 4). Before long they began to insinuate, not that the observance of certain ceremonies in themselves indifferent was advisable for the sake of expediency, but that the rite of circumcision was essential for salvation; Except ye be circumcised, said they to the Gentile Christians, ye cannot be saved (Acts xv. 1).
To such a doctrine no one was more opposed than the Apostle Paul. To the subjection which these teachers required, he would not advise his Gentile converts to yield, no, not for an hour (Gal. ii. 5). The consequence was, that no small dissension and disputation arose between himself and Barnabas on the one hand, and the false teachers on the other, and no slight anxiety and perplexity harassed the minds of the disciples.
At length it was resolved that he and Barnabas with certain others should go up to Jerusalem, and seek an interview with the Apostles and Elders, with the object of settling the dispute[905]. Any hesitation the Apostle might have felt about the expediency of the course proposed was removed by a special revelation[906] (Gal. ii. 2) which conspired with the declared view of the church at Antioch, and intimated to him that the journey found favour with God, and that an authoritative settlement of the question was necessary to the well-being of the Christian churches[907].
Accordingly he himself, accompanied by Barnabas, a Jew and a Levite by birth, and therefore a fair representative of the circumcision, Titus, a living example of the power of God among the heathen[908], and some of the Christian brethren of the towns through which they passed, set out on their memorable journey.
Chapter III
THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. A.D. 50.
FOLLOWING the coast-line of Phœnicia[909], and then traversing the midland districts of Samaria and Judæa, the deputation from the church at Antioch proclaimed in every town they entered the conversion of the Gentiles, and caused great joy among all the brethren (Acts xv. 3). On their arrival at Jerusalem they were welcomed by the Apostles present, as also by the elders, and recounted to them all that God had done by their instrumentality amongst the Gentiles. Very soon, however, the Pharisaic section in the Church which the emissaries at Antioch represented, put forward their objections. They rose up and insisted that the Gentile converts should be circumcised and instructed to conform to the Mosaic Law (Acts xv. 5). Their sentiments, put forward with such determination, revealed the importance of the crisis, and it was resolved that a formal assembly of the church should be convened.
In the interval, knowing how much depended on the decision now invoked, the Apostle Paul held private interviews[910] (Gal. ii. 2) with the more prominent members[911] of the Church, and especially with James, Peter and John, the great Pillars of the new society, and used every effort to remove the prejudices against the reception of heathen converts without conforming to the requirements of the Law, and to avoid misunderstanding as to the great principle he had proclaimed wherever he had preached――the freedom of the Gentile churches.
At length the council met, and consisted of the Apostles, elders, and general body of disciples. The debate was earnest, and led to much disputing (Acts xv. 7), in the midst of which Peter rose up, and reminded his hearers that these recent converts in Syria and Cilicia were not the first Gentile believers[912]. “He himself had been chosen some years before[913] to preach the word to ‘those without’ and admit them into the Christian Church, and God who knoweth the hearts had shewn that He was no respecter of persons, for He had bestowed upon them the same miraculous gifts as upon the Jews, and had purified their hearts by faith. In the face of these facts, then, he for his part could not believe it was right to tempt God by laying upon the necks of the new converts a yoke[914] which neither they themselves nor their fathers had been able to bear, and from which they had only been delivered by the salvation offered through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts xv. 11).”
This address of the Great Apostle of the circumcision was received with attention by the Council, and in the midst of the general silence (Acts xv. 12) Paul and Barnabas rose, and were eagerly listened to while they recounted in a continued narrative what God had wrought by their instrumentality among the Gentiles in Antioch and Cyprus and the cities of Pamphylia and Lycaonia, and declared how He had attested their labours by the signs and wonders which He had enabled them to perform (Acts xv. 12).
When they had concluded, another speaker arose to address the assembly. This was James, the brother of the Lord, to whom the direction of the Church at Jerusalem had apparently been committed[915]. No man was more calculated to command the earnest attention and deference of all present. Austere[916] and inflexibly upright[917], so that both Jews and Christians called him James the Just, resembling not only in the earnestness of his exhortations, but even in his outward garb[918], the Baptist or one of the prophets of the older Dispensation, he might be expected to conciliate even the Pharisaic section in the Council.
He began by reminding those present of the reality of the conversion of the household of Cornelius to which Peter[919] had alluded (Acts xv. 14). This taking of a people from amongst the Gentiles was not contrary to, but a direct fulfilment of, the words of ancient prophecy (Amos ix. 11, 12)[920], which foretold that the tabernacle of David should be gloriously revived, and the worship of Jehovah extended to all nations. What, therefore, had occurred in Syria and Cilicia, in Pamphylia and Lycaonia, need not excite any astonishment. God, to whom all things are known from the beginning, was but fulfilling His eternal counsels, and the words He had Himself spoken by the mouth of His holy prophets. His judgment, therefore, was that they should not trouble the minds of believers from amongst the Gentiles, or lay upon them any obligations beyond those necessary to ensure peace and goodwill amongst them and their Jewish brethren. The latter from ancient times and from immemorial usage were wont to hear the Law read in their synagogues every Sabbath-day, and any direct violation of its vital principles could not fail to give the deepest offence. He advised, therefore, that the Gentile converts should be required to abstain (1) from that which had been polluted by being offered in sacrifice to idols[921]; (2) from the flesh of animals which had been strangled[922]; (3) from the eating of blood[923]; (4) from fornication, and those licentious orgies, which were so closely connected with heathen sacrificial feasts, and nowhere more than in the centres of those very countries about which they had been speaking, the sanctuaries of Antioch[924] and Paphos[925].
These sentiments found acceptance with the majority. Titus[926] was not compelled to submit to circumcision (Gal. ii. 3), and the course adopted by Paul was entirely approved by the other Apostles. James, Peter, and John, who had the reputation of being Pillars[927] of the truth, gave to him and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship (Gal. ii. 9), and agreed to recognise unreservedly his independent mission to the heathen as well as their own to the Jews (Gal. ii. 9). One condition only was annexed, that in his journeys among the Gentiles and the dispersed Jews he would not forget the wants and the sufferings of the poorer brethren at Jerusalem[928].
Thus the dispute was settled, and a circular letter (Acts xv. 23) was drawn up embodying the views of the Council. This was entrusted to Paul and Barnabas, and they accompanied by certain chief men[929] among the brethren (Acts xv. 22), Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas or Silvanus[930], returned to Antioch, and the whole body of the disciples having been assembled, read it in their ears. Great was the joy manifested at the contents, and no less welcome the consolation after so much discussion and perplexity (Acts xv. 31), which was in no small degree increased by the fact that Judas and Silas, being both “prophets,” exhorted and confirmed the brethren in the enjoyment of that free and unfettered liberty now assured to them. After some days they returned to Jerusalem, but Paul and Barnabas prolonged their stay in the Syrian capital, and together with many others proclaimed the message of Redemption, and employed themselves in the general work of Christian instruction (Acts xv. 35).
During their stay, for some reason which is not specified, Peter came down to Antioch (Gal. ii. 11). At first he lived in free and social intercourse with the Gentile converts, met them on terms of equality, and ate with them at the Agapæ and on other occasions, in the true spirit of the recent decree, and as he had done in the house of Cornelius (Gal. ii. 12). Before long, however, there arrived from Jerusalem certain brethren, either deputed by James on some special mission, “or invested with some powers from him, which they abused[931]” (Gal. ii. 12). They brought with them their old Pharisaic[932] repugnance against intercourse with uncircumcised heathen, and awed by their presence the Apostle of the Circumcision began timidly to withdraw and separate himself[933] from those whom he had lately met on free and equal terms.
Such conduct roused the deepest indignation in the heart of Paul. Through fear of the converts from Judaism[934] Peter was violating the very principle of the late decree, and by his example causing others to vacillate. Not only the other Jewish converts resident at Antioch[935] (Gal. ii. 13), who had mingled freely with the Gentiles, but even his friend and colleague Barnabas, who had defended their cause at Jerusalem, was carried away with the flood of their dissimulation[936] (Gal. ii. 13). It was clearly necessary to interfere, and accordingly he withstood his fellow Apostle to the face (Gal. ii. 11), and rebuked him before all. The dissimulation he had practised carried with it its own condemnation. If he, born and bred a Jew, had made it his principle to discard Jewish customs and to live with the freedom of a Gentile, why did he practically[937] coerce the Gentiles into Judaism. Both of them, though born to all the privileges of the elect nation, not sinners[938], as they used proudly to call the Gentiles, convinced that a man could not be justified by the works of the Law but by faith in Jesus Christ, had become believers in Him, that of that justification they might become partakers. How, then, could he seek to impose on others the yoke of conformity to the works of the Law?
What ensued upon this indignant rebuke is not recorded. It is not probable that any actual quarrel took place between the two[939]. Though the character of Peter was impulsive and susceptible of quick and sudden changes, it was loving, generous, and forgiving. Certain it is that afterwards he was not ashamed to allude to the Epistles of his beloved brother Paul (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16), albeit that the censure upon himself finds a place in one of them, and though afterwards they seldom met, yet their lives were united in the propagation of one great cause, and in their deaths they were not divided[940].
SECTION II.
St Paul’s Second Missionary Journey.
Chapter I
THE SHARP CONTEST――TOUR IN PHRYGIA AND GALATIA. A.D. 51.
THE sphere of the labours of St Paul, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, having been publickly recognized at Jerusalem, he did not deem it right to linger at Antioch, and therefore proposed to Barnabas that they should revisit the places where they had preached the Word of God, and founded churches. To this his fellow Apostle assented, but was unwilling to undertake the journey unless his relative John Mark accompanied them (Acts xv. 37). St Paul, however, was by no means inclined to suffer one, who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia, and had not gone with them to the work, to become again their companion on a journey requiring resolution and undaunted courage. Barnabas, on his side, was equally earnest in desiring that his kinsman should accompany them, and the consequence was nothing less than a sharp contention between the two, which at last ended in a mutual separation[941]. They agreed to choose each a different path, and to labour independently. Barnabas, therefore, taking with him John Mark[942] sailed to Cyprus, there, doubtless, though the details of his labours are not recorded, to superintend with advantage the churches already planted there, and to quicken and confirm their spiritual growth.
St Paul, on the other hand, selecting for his companion Silas or Silvanus, who had returned from Jerusalem, and commended by the brethren to the grace of God (Acts xv. 40), proceeded to form his own field of labour, instead of trespassing on that of another[943]. As his late colleague, therefore, had selected an insular, so he chose a continental sphere of operations, and traversed Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches[944], and probably exhibiting the circular epistle from the church of Jerusalem.
From Cilicia he and his companion then passed into Lycaonia[945], and once more visited the towns of Derbe and Lystra. In the latter place he found a pleasing proof that his labours during his previous visit had not been in vain. In Timothy, who has been already mentioned[946], who had been carefully nurtured from childhood in the knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures by his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois (2 Tim. i. 5), who had witnessed the persecutions which the Apostle had undergone, and now as a Christian enjoyed the confidence of the church at Lystra and Iconium (Acts xvi. 2, 3), he saw one well fitted to do more than supply the place of John Mark, and invited him to become his companion. Timothy, on his part, was ready and willing to join him, and on account of the Jews who were numerous in the town and neighbourhood[947], and probably for the sake of his admission into the synagogue in which the Apostle intended to preach, submitted to the rite of circumcision (Acts xvi. 3). Before many witnesses (1 Tim. vi. 12) he was then[948] solemnly ordained by the laying on of the hands of the whole assembly of the elders, and of the Apostle himself (2 Tim. i. 6), to do the work of an Evangelist, and proceeded with him and Silas, visiting the churches already founded, and exhibiting the decrees of the Council at Jerusalem (Acts xvi. 4).
The effect of this visitation was speedily felt. Strengthened by the superintendence of three such earnest labourers, the churches were established in the faith, and increased in number daily (Acts xvi. 5). The first part of their mission completed, the three advanced in a northerly direction through Phrygia[949] and Galatia[950] (Acts xvi. 6). In the last-named district it does not seem to have been the intention of St Paul to have preached the Gospel, being probably anxious at once to bear his message to the more important and promising district of proconsular Asia[951] (Acts xvi. 6). But a sharp and violent attack of a malady, to which he was subject, and which he calls a thorn in the flesh[952], the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him (2 Cor. xii. 7), prostrated his physical strength, and he was constrained to linger in Galatia[953] (Gal. iv. 13, 14).
But though the Apostle appeared in the capitals of Galatia――Pessinus, Ancyra and Tavium――bowed down with physical infirmity, he was received with peculiar kindness by the warm-hearted[954] Gauls. They did not despise nor loath the temptation in his flesh (Gal. iv. 14). They welcomed him as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus, nay, they would have plucked out their own eyes, and have given them to him[955] (Gal. iv. 15). His announcement of a crucified Saviour (Gal. iii. 1) they received with eagerness and deep fervour, and many, both Jews and Gentiles, men and women, freemen and slaves[956] (Gal. iii. 27, 28), professed themselves believers, and the churches of Galatia were added to those of Cilicia, Lycaonia and Phrygia.
Considering the circumstances under which this visit was made, it is not probable that it was very protracted, but at first the Apostles were somewhat uncertain in what direction to turn, for new fields of labour opened to them on different sides. At one time they thought of proceeding in a south-westerly direction to the populous cities of proconsular Asia[957], but received a Divine intimation that this was not to be the scene of their labours (Acts xvi. 6). They then turned towards Mysia[958], and were essaying to proceed into Bithynia[959], when a monition from the Divine Spirit, the Spirit of the glorified Redeemer[960], caused them to abandon this route also. Passing, therefore, by the district of Mysia without pausing to evangelise it[961], they proceeded in a north-westerly direction towards the shores of the Ægean, and arrived at Alexandria Troas[962] (Acts xvi. 8).
There they stayed for the night, and now, after the Apostle Paul had doubtless been pondering deeply over the nature of the supernatural intimations which had been leading him[963], the mystery was solved. During the night there appeared to him in vision[964], a man from the opposite shores of Macedonia, beseeching him and saying, Come over and help us (Acts xvi. 9). The morning dawned, and the purport of the heavenly vision was discussed by the Apostle with his companions Silas and Timothy, and a new colleague, Luke the beloved physician (Col. iv. 14), who had now joined him, either by pre-arrangement, or by a providential meeting, or perhaps in consequence of his feeble state of health[965]. They were not long in coming to a conclusion. The vision could have but one meaning. The Lord was assuredly calling them to carry the glad tidings of salvation to the European shores (Acts xvi. 10). Without further delay, therefore, they sought means for crossing over, and having found a vessel on the point of sailing for Europe they embarked and proceeded on their voyage.
Chapter II
PAUL AND SILAS AT PHILIPPI. A.D. 52.
THE wind blew fair, when the Apostle and his companions left Troas, and running before it in a straight course they reached, probably the same night[966], the island of Samothrace, and there came to anchor[967]. The next day, passing under the lee of the island of Thasos, they reached the Macedonian harbour of Neapolis, and thence passed inland a distance of about 10 miles to Philippi[968], the first[969] city which the traveller would reach in this part of Macedonia, and a Roman military colony[970] (Acts xvi. 12).
Here the Apostle and his companions stayed some days (Acts xvi. 12). Being a military and not a mercantile city, the number of Jews here was small, and consequently there was no synagogue. There was, however, a Proseucha, a House or Place of Prayer, a slighter[971] and more temporary structure than the regular places of Jewish worship, outside the gate[972], on the banks of the Gaggitas, the fountains of which gave the ancient name to the city[973]. Those who met here for worship consisted chiefly of women (Acts xvi. 13), and amongst them was one, named Lydia, a proselytess[974] (Acts xvi. 14) of Thyatira[975] (Rev. i. 11), a town in proconsular Asia, famous ever since the days of Homer for its dyed goods, for the reception of which she had an establishment at Philippi.
On the Sabbath the newly-arrived strangers joined the little company by the river-side, and sitting down[976] in the attitude of teachers, spoke to the women there assembled. Lydia was an earnest listener, and the Lord opened her heart, so that she gave heed to the word spoken by Paul, and together with her household was admitted into the Church by baptism, probably in the waters of the stream that flowed by the Proseucha. Thus the Gospel found a lodgment in Europe, and Lydia, grateful for the spiritual things, which the Apostle had ministered unto her, was anxious to minister to him and his companions of her temporal things. Since ye have deemed me a believer in the Lord, said she, come into my house, and there abide. She would take no refusal, and Paul and the rest accepted her offer of hospitality.
At no great distance from Philippi[977] was an oracle of Dionysus, the prophet-god of the Thracians. Thence, or from some similar establishment, there came a damsel possessed with the spirit of divination[978], who had been hired by certain Philippian citizens, and brought much gain to her owners by her soothsaying (Acts xvi. 16). Meeting the little company of Christians as they went to and fro from the Proseucha, she followed Paul crying out, These men are the servants of the most High God, who are come to announce unto you the way of salvation. This continued many days. At length grieved that this testimony should be borne by one possessed with an evil spirit, Paul turned, and in the name of his Divine Master commanded the evil spirit to leave her, whereupon the word of power was instantly obeyed, and the damsel was restored to her right mind (Acts xvi. 18).
Perceiving that now all hope of any future gain was gone, the owners of the damsel, filled with anger, seized Paul and Silas, and dragged them into the forum (Acts xvi. 19) before the duumviri or authorities of the colony, charging them with creating a disturbance in the place, and introducing innovations in their religion[979]. Such an accusation quickly roused the feelings of the populace, and a furious mob beset the Apostle and his companion as they stood before the magistrates. To retain their popularity the latter saw that they must give in to the popular feeling, and ordered the lictors to strip off the clothes of the accused and scourge them[980] (Acts xvi. 22). The order was forthwith executed, and faint and bleeding from the infliction of many stripes (1 Thess. ii. 2), they were thrust into prison, and the jailer was strictly enjoined to keep them safely. Anxious to fulfil his instructions to the letter, he thrust them into the inner prison, probably a dark, cold, pestilential cell[981], and made their feet fast in the stocks[982] (Acts xvi. 24).
But though shamefully intreated (1 Thess. ii. 2), and thrust under a false charge into a loathsome dungeon, the Apostle and his companion were not in despair. At midnight they were praying and singing hymns to God, while the rest of the prisoners listened with eager attention. But deliverance was near at hand. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison to its foundations, every door was opened, every fetter was loosed (Acts xvi. 26). Roused from sleep the jailer instantly concluded that his prisoners had escaped, and drawing his sword was on the point of laying violent hands upon himself, when the voice of the Apostle Paul was heard calling out loudly, Do thyself no harm, for we are all here (Acts xvi. 28).
On this the jailer called for lights, and leaped into the inner prison, and trembling with alarm fell down before Paul and Silas, and then leading them forth said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Believe, was their reply, in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, and then they proceeded to explain to him and the members of his family, who probably crowded around, what belief in Jesus meant (Acts xvi. 32). The word fell upon good ground, and in the self-same hour, late as it was, the rough Roman officer washed the stripes of his prisoners, and was baptized together with all his house. Then taking them up into his house he set food before them, and as a believer rejoiced in his new-found faith (Acts xvi. 34).
By this time the morning had dawned, and messengers arrived from the magistrates. Either alarmed at the earthquake, or conscience-stricken with having acted with unnecessary harshness, they had come to a different decision respecting the Apostles, and the lictors now bore their orders that they should be released. The jailer received these instructions with the utmost joy, and going with the messengers announced these commands to the Apostles. But St Paul declined to go in peace, as he suggested (Acts xvi. 36). He and his companion, uncondemned, and without any form of trial, had been openly scourged, and thrust into prison, in direct violation of their rights as Roman citizens[983]. He refused, therefore, to accept such a secret and ignominious release. Let them come themselves, said he, and lead us forth (Acts xvi. 37).
Without delay the messengers conveyed the intelligence that the prisoners were Roman citizens to the magistrates, who were in no little alarm, when they discovered what an insult they had unwittingly offered to the Majesty of the imperial city. Hastening, therefore, to the prison, they earnestly besought the Apostles to depart from the colony. Accordingly they came forth, and with quietness and dignity repaired to the house of Lydia, and having seen and bidden farewell to the Christian brethren departed (Acts xvi. 40). Timothy, however, and Luke, appear to have remained for the present behind, to water the seed sown, and to build up the newly-formed Philippian Church.
Chapter III
THESSALONICA, BERŒA, ATHENS. A.D. 52.
LEAVING, then, their first Macedonian converts, Paul and Silas proceeded along the great Roman road, known as the Via Egnatia, to Amphipolis[984], and thence through Apollonia[985] to Thessalonica[986]. In the latter city was the[987] chief synagogue of the Jews in this part of Macedonia (Acts xvii. 2), and hither Paul repaired, and for three consecutive Sabbaths argued with those of his own nation from their own Scriptures, opening them up to them, and shewing that the Messiah there predicted was no temporal Prince or earthly Conqueror, but One who should suffer and rise from the dead, and that He had appeared in the person of that Jesus, whom he announced to them (Acts xvii. 3; Comp. 1 Thess. i. 10, iv. 14, v. 9, 10).
His words were variously received. Some, including a considerable number of the Greek proselytes and of the influential women, believed. But the Jews, furious at the spread of such obnoxious tenets, gathered together a mob of idlers from the markets and landing-places, threw the town into an uproar, and falling upon the house of Jason[988], where the Apostle was lodging, sought to drag him and his companion before the demus, or assembly of the people[989]. Unsuccessful, however, in finding them, they hurried Jason and certain of the brethren before the magistrates, and charged them with violating the decrees of Cæsar[990] in asserting that there was another King, namely Jesus (Acts xvii. 7). This charge caused the magistrates considerable perplexity. Instead, however, of visiting the Apostle with any punishment, they contented themselves with taking security[991] from Jason and the rest for their future good conduct, and the maintenance of peace, and then set them at liberty.
But though the city was thus quieted, the position of the Apostle was one of great danger. Without delay, therefore, the brethren sent him and Silas under cover of night in a south-westerly direction to Berœa[992]. Here also there was a synagogue, and here Paul found far more candid, generous, and willing hearers than he had met with at Thessalonica. The Berœans not only accepted the message he preached, but searched the Scriptures, and that daily, to see whether his arguments were well founded. The consequences were soon apparent. The promise seek, and ye shall find was fulfilled, and many, both Jews and Gentiles, men and women, and amongst the latter sex some of the highest rank, professed themselves Christians (Acts xvii. 12).
But the work thus auspiciously commenced was not destined to go on unimpeded. After no long interval the Jews of Thessalonica, hearing that Paul was preaching with success at Berœa, followed in his track[993], and threw the town into commotion. The danger was imminent, and perceiving that the ceaseless animosity of the Jews rendered any further labours in Macedonia useless for the present, the brethren conveyed the Apostle to the nearest sea-port[994], probably Dium[995], and thence by ship to Athens. Silas and Timotheus, who probably had rejoined the Apostle at Berœa, had meanwhile been left there, to strengthen the faith of the new converts, but on the return of those who had conducted Paul to Athens, received his injunctions to join him with all speed (Acts xvii. 15).
Thus the disciple of Gamaliel, once a Pharisee, now a Christian and an Apostle, found himself in the far-famed centre of Grecian culture, the pride of the ancient world, the patroness of Art, Science, and Literature. While awaiting, alone and among strangers, the arrival of his companions, his spirit burned within him, as he beheld on every side proofs of the point to which the inhabitants of the glorious city carried their religious instincts, and the idols and idol-temples with which it was crowded[996]. Even here, however, he commenced in his usual manner. On each Sabbath-day he repaired to the synagogue (Acts xvii. 17), and preached to the Jews and proselytes, and during the week he was to be found in the busy Agora at the foot of the Acropolis and the Areopagus, conversing with any who would listen to his words.
In such a place and among such a people he was not likely to lack an audience. All the Athenians and the strangers that were there, writes St Luke, spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing (Acts xvii. 21). To them, therefore, the coming of one like the Apostle, burning with zeal, and setting forth with learning and ability new and unheard-of doctrines respecting Jesus and the Resurrection (Acts xvii. 18), would be certain to awaken no little interest. Amongst others, who heard him and marvelled at his words, were certain of the world-famous Epicurean and Stoic schools of philosophy. On them his preaching produced a varied effect. Some treated it with scorn, saying, What doth this babbler[997] mean? Others remarked that he appeared to be setting forth certain new divinities. At length they determined to ascertain the point more closely, and taking him to the Areopagus[998], requested to know[999] the meaning of what he preached (Acts xvii. 19, 20).
So the Apostle took his stand, alone[1000] and unaided, “his bodily aspect still showing what he had suffered from weakness, toil, and pain,” on the summit of the hill of Areopagus (Acts xvii. 22) in the midst of temples, statues and altars dedicated to the gods many and lords many of the heathen world. Horror-struck as he must have been at the spectacle of idolatry which confronted him on every side, he yet with peculiar prudence did not begin by attacking in intemperate language the national worship of his hearers. During his brief sojourn in the city he had observed an altar with the inscription, To an unknown God[1001] (Acts xvii. 23). “Taking his stone,” therefore, to use the expressive language of Chrysostom, “out of their own brook,” he determined to make this inscription and the mournful testimony it bore to the vanity of heathenism his text, and from it to speak to them words of eternal life.
This altar, he began, like all things else he had seen in their city, proved their carefulness in religion[1002], their earnest desire to worship, and at the same time their ignorance in worshipping. “The unknown God,” whose power, by their own confession, they acknowledged, he would declare unto them. The Lord of heaven and earth, who had made the world and all things therein, dwelt not in temples made with hands[1003]. He was subject to no exigencies, which made him need anything from his worshippers, seeing that He gave to all life, and breath, and all things. For all the nations of mankind, originally made by Him of one blood[1004], He had assigned the seasons of their existence and the bounds of their habitation, to the end that they should feel after Him, if haply they might find Him, though in truth He was not far from any of them, as one of their own poets had said,
For we are also His offspring[1005].
As the offspring, therefore, of God, and endowed with the faculty of knowing Him, they ought not to have imagined that the Godhead was like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by the art and device of man. Such imaginations they might have indulged in times past of ignorance. But these God had overlooked[1006], and now commanded all men everywhere to repent, for He had appointed a day, wherein He would judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He had ordained, and of this He had given to all a pledge and an assurance, in that He had raised Him from the dead (Acts xvii. 30, 31).
At this point the Apostle’s address was suddenly interrupted. Some who heard him broke out into laughter, regarding the idea of the resurrection as ridiculous. Others, in the spirit of Felix afterwards (Acts xxiv. 22, 25), said they would hear him again on the subject; and thus amidst mingled indifference and division, the hearers of the Apostle dispersed, and he departed from among them. The word spoken, however, did not fall utterly to the ground. Dionysius, a member of the Court of Areopagus, a woman named Damaris[1007], and some others, professed themselves believers in that Redeemer and Judge of all mankind, whom he had preached to them.
Chapter IV
ARRIVAL AND STAY OF ST PAUL AT CORINTH. A.D. 52, 53.
AFTER a stay at Athens, the duration of which is not recorded, the Apostle Paul repaired to Corinth, a place eminently adapted to be the centre of missionary operations, being the capital of the province[1008] of Achaia, a large mercantile city, and inhabited by a large number of Jews. At this time the number of the latter was unusually large, owing to a decree issued by the emperor Claudius, in A.D. 50, directing their expulsion from Rome (Acts xviii. 2). The imperial edict here alluded to by St Luke is probably the same as that mentioned by Suetonius[1009], who relates that Claudius drove the Jews from the capital, “because they were incessantly raising tumults at the instigation of a certain Chrestus,” a name used by mistake, there is little reason to doubt, for Christus, and pointing to mutual hostilities between the Jews and Christians respecting the Messiah[1010].
Among those thus banished were two natives of Pontus in Asia Minor, named Aquila and Priscilla, who on their way homewards by the ordinary maritime track across the isthmus of Corinth, had settled down there for the present, and engaged in the manufacture of tents, probably of the Cilicium[1011], or hair-cloth, already mentioned as an important article of trade in the Levant. Whether they were already converted to Christianity or not is doubtful, but as workers at a common trade the Apostle came and attached himself to them (Acts xviii. 3), and the intimacy now commenced lasted during the whole of St Paul’s life, and his new found friends became not only partakers of a common faith, but rendered him the most important services.
While, however, he laboured working with his own hands (1 Cor. iv. 12), he did not neglect his great work as an Apostle. According to his usual practice, he repaired every Sabbath-day to the synagogue, and endeavoured to persuade both the Jews and Gentiles there present (Acts xviii. 4) to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. Nor were his labours unsuccessful. Many, both Jews and Gentiles, professed themselves believers. Amongst these was the house of Stephanas, whom the Apostle calls the first-fruits of Achaia (1 Cor. xvi. 15). Another convert, and one of considerable note, was Crispus, a ruler of the synagogue (Acts xviii. 8); a third was Gaius, or Caius, with whom he afterwards lodged. All these he baptized with his own hand (1 Cor. i. 14–17).
After he had been thus labouring about two or three months, Silas and Timothy returned from Macedonia (Acts xviii. 5), and relieved the Apostle’s intense anxiety respecting the churches he had planted there (1 Thess. i. 2; ii. 13; iii. 6), informing him of the continuance of their faith and love, of their fond remembrance of himself, and their eager desire to see him again (1 Thess. iii. 6). The effect of this welcome news seems to have been an instantaneous increase of the zeal and resolution with which he prosecuted his labours. Already there were signs of opposition to the progress of the truth, and he had begun his work at Corinth in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling (1 Cor. ii. 3). But now a weight was taken off from his mind (1 Thess. iii. 1–6), and he was pressed in the spirit, or, according to a preferable reading, he was pressed by the word[1012] (Acts xviii. 5). His zeal was a positive pain to him. His anxieties removed, he felt he could not restrain the impulse to give utterance to the Word of God, and to apply himself with redoubled energy to his work.
Satisfactory, however, as had been in the main the tidings brought by Silas and Timothy from Thessalonica, some irregularities which had crept in, and some mistaken notions the new converts entertained, required correction. Since the Apostle’s visit several of their relatives and friends had died, and they feared that these departed Christians would lose the happiness of witnessing their Lord’s second coming, which they conceived to be close at hand (1 Thess. iv. 13–18). Under the excitement of the same expectation others had abandoned their lawful callings, and fancying that they need not work claimed the support of the richer members of the church (1 Thess. iv. 11, 12). Others, again, had not learned to subdue their carnal appetites (1 Thess. iv. 1–8), and there were symptoms of a lack of order (1 Thess. iv. 9, 10), and a tendency to despise the gift of prophesying, or inspired teaching, in comparison with other and more showy gifts (1 Thess. v. 20; comp. 1 Cor. xiv.).
For these reasons he addressed his first Epistle to the Thessalonians. Meanwhile the progress of the Church at Corinth had awakened the determined opposition of the Jews, who not only obstinately opposed the truth, but poured forth coarse blasphemies on the name of Jesus (Acts xviii. 6). Accordingly the Apostle confronted them sternly, and declaring that their blood must rest upon their own heads, announced his intention of turning to the Gentiles, and made the house of a Gentile convert named Justus, which was contiguous to the synagogue, the place of his public teaching (Acts xviii. 7). The difficulties of his position were thus much increased, and so greatly was he discouraged, that, though Crispus remained faithful, and many of the Corinthians had embraced the faith, he appears to have thought of withdrawing from the city[1013]. But while he was thus hesitating, the Lord Jesus appeared in a vision of the night, and bade him be not afraid, but speak forth boldly, for He was with him, and He had much people in the city (Acts xviii. 8–10). Thus encouraged the Apostle resumed his labours, and continued them without any apparent interruption for a space of eighteen months.
During this period intelligence received from Thessalonica induced him to address a second Epistle to the Church there. His previous letter had not abated the excitement connected with the expectation of the Saviour’s speedy advent. A fanatical section had even laboured to increase it, claiming imaginary revelations from the Spirit (2 Thess. ii. 2), and the authority of a rumoured letter from the Apostle himself in support of their views (2 Thess. ii. 2). To discourage such ideas, and that neglect of daily employments (2 Thess. iii. 6–16) to which they led, the Apostle wrote again, A.D. 53, explaining more fully certain signs he had already told them must precede the Redeemer’s second coming (2 Thess. ii. 1–12), and exhorting the Thessalonians to an orderly and diligent life after the example he had himself set when present in their city (2 Thess. iii. 8, 9).
Thus while continuing to labour at Corinth, did he seek to promote the growth of the Churches he had planted in Macedonia. By this time a new proconsul of Achaia had arrived in the person of Gallio[1014], the brother of Seneca the philosopher, and of Mela, whose son Lucan was the author of the Pharsalia. The new governor had the reputation of being a man of remarkable sweetness of disposition and great popularity, whom “every one loved too little, even he who loved him most[1015].” Accordingly the Jews thinking they might presume with impunity upon his easy temper, with accord set upon Paul and dragged him before his judgment-seat[1016], alleging the old charge that he persuaded men to worship contrary to the law (Acts xviii. 13). When, however, the Apostle was on the point of entering upon his defence, Gallio, probably acquainted with commotions of the same kind at Rome and with the nature of the Jewish opposition to Christianity, refused to listen to it. If the question brought before him had been some act of crime or wickedness, it would have been only reasonable that he should have heard it through. But if, as it appeared to him, it was merely a question of doctrine, of words and names and Jewish law, he would have nothing to do with it, they must see to it themselves; and he drove them from the judgment-seat (Acts xviii. 16).
This decision had a remarkable result. The mob[1017], always unfriendly to the Jews, seized Sosthenes, one of the rulers of the Synagogue[1018], or perhaps the successor of Crispus, and began to beat him in the very presence of the proconsular tribunal. But Gallio left him to his fate, and cared for none of these things (Acts xviii. 17). Thus the assurance given to the Apostle in the late vision was fulfilled. Though bitter enemies had set upon him, none had “hurt” him, and it had been proved that the Lord had much people in the city.
Having tarried, therefore, at Corinth yet a good while, he took his leave of the brethren, and after[1019] terminating a religious vow, taken for some unknown reason, by cutting his hair at Cenchreæ[1020], sailed, accompanied by Silas and Timothy, Priscilla and Aquila, in the direction of Syria. A voyage of about 13 or 15 days brought them to the port of Ephesus. There Aquila and Priscilla remained, while the Apostle, after only staying long enough to hold one conference with the Jews in their synagogue, hastened on by sea with his other companions to Cæsarea, and thence by land to Jerusalem, in time to keep the great national festival of Pentecost (Acts xviii. 20–22). His stay was very brief, and after saluting the Church there he returned to Antioch, from which he had been so long absent, and there continued some time (Acts xviii. 23).
SECTION III.
_St Paul’s Third Missionary Journey, and Imprisonment at Cæsarea._
Chapter I
VISIT TO EPHESUS. A.D. 54–57.
AFTER staying some time at Antioch, the Apostle resolved to enter upon his third missionary journey. Accompanied, it is probable, by Timothy[1021], he began by a systematic visitation of the Churches he had planted in Galatia and Phrygia, establishing all the disciples in the true principles of the Gospel (Acts xviii. 23), and exhorting them to evince their sympathy with their brethren in Judæa, by weekly collections in behalf of the poorer Christians (Comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 1, 2).
While he was thus employed there arrived at Ephesus a certain Jew of Alexandria, named Apollos[1022], an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures (Acts xviii. 24). He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and was acquainted with the main facts of the Saviour’s earthly history, but had received no other baptism than that of His forerunner. Aquila and Priscilla listened to his eloquent words in the synagogue of Ephesus, and having sought his acquaintance, did much to correct his imperfect conceptions of Christian doctrine, and to explain to him more accurately the way of God (Acts xviii. 26). Though trained in the schools of Alexandria, Apollos was not above receiving instruction from these humble natives of Pontus, and when made fully acquainted with the Christian doctrine was desirous of crossing over into Achaia. On communicating his wishes to the brethren at Ephesus, he received from them much encouragement; and furnished with letters of introduction to the disciples in Achaia, set out for Corinth, where he contributed important aid to the establishment of the Christian Church, employing his extensive acquaintance with Scripture to the confutation of Jewish disputants, and proving incontestably that Jesus was the Messiah (Acts xviii. 28).
Thus where Paul had planted, Apollos watered, and God gave an abundant increase (1 Cor. iii. 6). Meanwhile that Apostle’s circuit through the Galatian district being ended, in accordance with a promise he had made (Acts xviii. 21) he also came to Ephesus. Here Aquila and Priscilla were awaiting him ready to aid him in his work[1023]. They had already dispatched to the Church of Corinth an eloquent teacher, and now there was present a company of about twelve men (Acts xix. 7), who, like Apollos, were acquainted only with John’s baptism, and who were probably introduced to the Apostle by his friends from Pontus. Thereupon he enquired of them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye became believers[1024]? To this they replied that they had not so much as heard of Him and of His great outpouring on the day of Pentecost. This led to further enquiry on the part of the Apostle as to the nature of the baptism they had received, and becoming aware that they had only been made partakers of John’s baptism of repentance and preparation, he proceeded to speak of a yet higher baptism to which it was intended to lead up. On this the men were baptized into the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the imposition of the Apostle’s hands were endued with miraculous gifts and enabled to speak with tongues and to prophesy (Acts xix. 4–7).
Ephesus now became the centre of St Paul’s missionary labours. Repairing, according to his invariable practice, to the synagogue, he was employed during three whole months (Acts xix. 8) in arguing with the Jews from their own Scriptures, and persuading them that the kingdom of God was truly come, and that Jesus was no other than the long promised Messiah. While some believed and joined themselves to the Christian Church, others were hardened and disobedient, and began openly to calumniate the Apostle’s doctrine before the people. Perceiving this, and resolved that their example should not contaminate the rest, he resolved to abandon his attendance at the synagogue, and separating the disciples transferred his instructions to the school of one Tyrannus, probably a teacher of rhetoric or philosophy to the young of Ephesus, and who may or may not have been himself a convert (Acts xix. 9).
This continued for two years, A.D. 55–57, and during this period the labours of the Apostle were carried on with unceasing energy. Not only in the school of Tyrannus, but from house to house he went about amongst the brethren, instructing them in their most holy faith, and warning them with tears (Acts xx. 20–31) to hold fast that which they had been taught, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts xx. 21). The result of such labours, carried on by the Apostle himself, and probably by his immediate[1025] converts, was speedily perceptible. An important church was founded at Ephesus itself, over which “presbyters” were appointed to preside (Acts xx. 28), and the Word was made known throughout the Roman province of Asia, and probably contributed to the foundation of the seven famous churches of that region (Acts xix. 10).
Ephesus, it must be borne in mind, was no common city[1026]. The capital of the province, the principal emporium of trade on the nearer side of Mount Taurus, it claimed with Smyrna the honour of being one of the “eyes” of Asia. Though Greek in its origin it was half Oriental in the prevalent worship and the character of its inhabitants, and contained the famous temple of Diana, or Artemis, deemed by the ancients one of the wonders of the world[1027]. The original temple, built at the expense of all the Greek cities in Asia, the erection of which was begun before the Persian, and lasted even through the Peloponnesian war, was set on fire by Herostratus on the night that Alexander the Great was born. But in its place there soon arose a still more sumptuous structure, on which all that art and skill could achieve was freely lavished. The Temple-area was 425 ft. long by 220 in breadth, and was surrounded by 127 marble columns, 60 ft. high, each the gift of kings, and 36 of them beautifully ornamented. The roof was supported by columns of green jasper, eight of which may be seen in the mosque of St Sophia at Constantinople, whither they were removed by the emperor Justinian after the temple had been destroyed by the Goths. The altar, richly adorned, was the work of Praxiteles, and here and there were statues from the chisels of the most eminent sculptors. The walls were adorned with the finest paintings in the world, the master-pieces of Apelles and Parrhasius, while the sacred precincts, to the extent of a furlong from the building, offered an inviolable sanctuary to all who sought an asylum there.
The presiding deity of this magnificent pile was an ancient, black, wooden idol, said to have fallen down from heaven, representing Artemis, not the huntress-goddess of the Greeks, but an Asiatic divinity[1028], the impersonation of nature, the prolific “mother of life,” as shown by the many breasts represented on her image.
Round this worship of Artemis there clustered a host of minor superstitions, and Ephesus was at this time the head-quarters of the magical arts. Here were to be bought charms and incantations of all kinds; amulets to preserve men from bodily danger; formulas to ward off the influence of demons; mysterious symbols called “Ephesian letters,” copied from the inscriptions on various parts of the idol, deemed a safeguard against all kinds of evil. These arts were not studied merely by strolling vagabonds, for the purpose of imposing on idle women and ignorant men; they were believed by the educated, and studied by men of letters, who wrote many books on the subject, opening up the secrets of the art, which were highly valued and fetched great prices.
Here, then, was a new field for the efforts of the Apostle, and in this stronghold of heathenism it pleased God to work special miracles by his hands (Acts xix. 11), so that napkins[1029] and aprons[1029] brought from his body were enabled to communicate a healing power, to expel disease and deliver the possessed. Such miracles produced a deep impression on those who witnessed them, and before long, as in the case of Moses in Egypt, certain Jewish exorcists, who wandered about the Asiatic cities, strove to effect the same marvellous results by their enchantments. Fancying that the Name of Jesus was used by the Apostle as a kind of spell, and was in fact his secret, they also began to pronounce the same over the possessed saying, We adjure you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preacheth (Acts xix. 13).
One particular family, consisting of seven brothers, sons of one Sceva, a Jewish High-priest[1030], were especially addicted to this practice, and on one occasion while thus engaged the evil spirit answered, Jesus I recognise[1031], and Paul I know, but who are ye? and thereupon the possessed flung himself upon them, and with the terrible strength of a madman and a demon drove them forth naked and wounded from the house. This incident was quickly noised abroad throughout all Ephesus, became known both to Jews and Gentiles, and proved that the power of the name of Jesus was one “fatal to counterfeit and impossible to resist.” Fear fell upon all. The magicians of Ephesus confessed that this was the finger of God, and many of the converts, who even as Christians had continued the practice of “curious, or magical arts, and had not parted with their books of charms,” confessed their errors, and publickly burned the magic scrolls in the presence of the Church. An estimate of the value of these books was made, and was found to amount to upwards of 50,000 pieces of silver[1032], so mightily grew the word of the Lord and prevailed (Acts xix. 20).
Chapter II
LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS――DISTURBANCE AT EPHESUS. A.D. 57.
DURING the Apostle’s stay at Ephesus disastrous intelligence arrived from Corinth. The Church established there combined two distinct elements, Jews or proselytes and Gentiles, of whom the latter were the most numerous. The natural jealousy between these two bodies repressed during the Apostle’s presence, had burst out on his departure, and divided the Church into various parties. Some affected fidelity solely and exclusively to St Paul himself (1 Cor. iii. 4); others, probably the Jewish section, to Peter and the brethren of the Lord (1 Cor. i. 12, ix. 5); a third, fascinated by the eloquence and learning of the Alexandrian Apollos (1 Cor. i. 12), had attached themselves to him, and probably “hung halfway between the extreme Jewish and the extreme Gentile party;” while a fourth abjured all devotion to any human teachers, and styled themselves the “Christ” party (1 Cor. i. 12).
In addition to these evils the Gentile faction pushed their views of Christian freedom beyond all due bounds. The profligacy that disgraced the inhabitants of Corinth and made their name a byword was openly avowed and gloried in (1 Cor. v. 1). To such a pitch, moreover, did they carry their disputes that lawsuits were brought into Roman and Greek courts of Justice (1 Cor. vi. 1–8), and instead of shrinking from the contaminating influence of sensuality at the sacrificial feasts, they freely frequented them even in the colonnades of the temples (1 Cor. viii. 10): the women threw off the head-dress which the customs of Greece and of the East required (1 Cor. xi. 2–16); the most solemn ordinance of the Church was profaned by disorderly and reckless festivity (1 Cor. xi. 17–34); the most showy “gifts” were desired to the disparagement of those which tended only to instruct and improve (1 Cor. xii. 1, xiv. 1–4); mixed marriages were freely contracted (1 Cor. vii. 10–17); and the doctrine of the Resurrection was either denied or emptied of all meaning (1 Cor. xv. 12).
Rumours of these disorders had reached the Apostle from time to time, and he had already sent Timothy[1033] and Erastus (Acts xix. 22) from Ephesus to Macedonia, desiring the former if possible to continue his journey to Corinth, and recall to the Church there the image of his own teaching and life. But after their departure members of the household of Chloe arrived informing him that the factions had reached a still more formidable height (1 Cor. i. 11), and that an incestuous marriage, scandalous even to the heathen, of a man with his father’s wife, had been allowed to be contracted without rebuke (1 Cor. v. 1). This determined the Apostle to write the first of his extant letters[1034] to the Corinthians and other Christian communities in the province of Achaia (comp. 1 Cor. i. 2), in which he treated of all these points, directed that the incestuous offender should be expelled from the Christian community, and replied to various questions, which three members of the Corinthian Church, Fortunatus, Stephanas, and Achaicus (1 Cor. xvi. 17), themselves the bearers of the Epistle, had brought for his solution relating to the controversies respecting sacrificial feasts, meat offered to idols, the right of divorce, and the exercise of spiritual gifts in the public ministrations of the Church.
At the time he dispatched this letter, it was the Apostle’s intention to proceed through Macedonia to Corinth, and after spending the winter there (1 Cor. xvi. 5, 6; Acts xix. 21) to proceed to Jerusalem, whence he contemplated a journey to Rome itself (Acts xix. 21). Till Pentecost, however, he resolved to stay at Ephesus (1 Cor. xvi. 8), for there a great door was opened to him, and there were many adversaries against whom he had yet to contend. But these designs were destined to be rudely interrupted.
It was now about the month Artemisius, or the month of Artemis[1035], when the annual festival of the goddess was observed throughout Greece and Asia, and a vast concourse of people from all quarters would be brought together. The preaching of the Apostle had by this time produced a great effect both in Ephesus and throughout proconsular Asia, and a great multitude had avowed themselves believers (Acts xix. 26). Consequently the sellers of portable shrines[1036] of Diana found their trade sensibly diminished, and no small tumult arose about the Way. Prominent among the malcontents was a certain Demetrius, a master-manufacturer of these silver shrines, who found employment for a large body of workmen. These he now called together, and others similarly employed, and set forth the damage which their trade had sustained, and the danger lest the temple of the great goddess Diana, which not only Asia but all the civilized world held sacred, should fall into disrepute. His words found eager listeners, and an excited cry arose, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 28). The commotion thus aroused quickly spread, and the thousands of citizens and strangers, whom the games had attracted to Ephesus, made a general rush towards the theatre. Failing on the way in their attempt to seize St Paul[1037], they dragged thither two of his companions, Gaius and Aristarchus of Macedonia. News of the danger of his friends would have urged the Apostle to venture thither himself, but the disciples, aided by the Asiarchs[1038], who exercised high authority during the games, induced him to remain in privacy, and not venture to incur inevitable risk. Meanwhile the crowded seats of the theatre presented a scene of the utmost confusion, some crying one thing and some another, and the majority not knowing why they were come together (Acts xix. 29–32). At length the Jews, not unwilling to injure the Apostle’s cause, and anxious to clear themselves, put forward one Alexander, who may possibly have been the coppersmith mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 14, and being connected in trade with Demetrius might have been expected to have some influence with the people. So he stood forth and beckoned with his hand for silence. But he was soon recognised as a Jew, and one unanimous cry which lasted upwards of two hours arose from the tumultuous throng, Great is Diana of the Ephesians (Acts xix. 34).
When this had partially subsided, another effort was made to calm the storm. The Town-clerk[1039] or Recorder, who was the lawful president of the assembly, stood forward and reminded his hearers that the city of Ephesus was beyond all question the devoted “warden[1040]” of the great goddess Diana and the image that came down from the sky. The statements of a few unknown foreigners could not contradict a fact so patent to all the world. Let them, therefore, avoid doing anything rash or inconsiderate, especially as St Paul and his companions had neither profaned their temple nor uttered calumnious words against the goddess. If Demetrius and his friends had any just cause of complaint, it could be decided in the assize-courts[1041], then open, or by an appeal to the proconsul, or, if necessary, in the regular assembly. Above every thing, let the present tumultuous proceedings be discontinued, which could only bring down upon them the displeasure of the Romans, who could not be expected to tolerate such causeless and disorderly doings, however willing to indulge an ancient and loyal city (Acts xix. 35–40).
With these arguments the cautious man of authority tranquillized the assembly, and the crowd dispersed to their own homes. Thus by the intrepidity of his friends[1042] Aquila and Priscilla, and the interposition of a Greek magistrate, the Apostle’s life was saved; and having assembled the disciples and given them his last farewell, set out towards Macedonia (Acts xx. 1), and accompanied, it is not improbable, by Tychicus and Trophimus, reached Alexandria Troas[1043]. (Acts xx. 4, 5.)
Chapter III
TROAS――SECOND JOURNEY TO GREECE. A.D. 57, 58.
ON the occasion of his former visit to Troas[1044] the Apostle had been able to stay but a very short time. Now, however, though disturbed in mind by the late outbreak, he occupied himself for some time in preaching the Word (2 Cor. ii. 12). But a cause of still deeper anxiety harassed him. He had sent Titus to Corinth, either with or soon after the first Epistle, to superintend the great collection now being made for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem, to enforce the instructions contained in his Epistle, and to report the state of the Corinthian church; and he had directed him to return through Macedonia and rejoin him probably at Troas[1045], where he hoped to have arrived shortly after Pentecost. But the late tumult had driven him sooner than he had intended from Ephesus, and he waited for Titus at Troas with a heart full of anxiety respecting the Church at Corinth. Day after day passed, and still Titus came not. At length the suspense became unbearable, his spirit had no rest (2 Cor. ii. 13) in the prolonged absence of his brother, and though at Troas a door was opened to him of the Lord, and he was enabled to lay the foundation of a flourishing church, he resolved to sail to Macedonia, hoping the sooner to meet Titus on his return.
Bidding farewell, therefore, to the disciples, he embarked, and probably, as before[1046], landing at Neapolis, pressed on to Philippi. There he paused, and for a while was cheered by the zeal and warm affection of his Philippian converts (2 Cor. viii. 1, 2). But still he could think of nothing but Corinth. “Corinth, and Corinth only, was the word which would then have been found written on his heart[1047].” Timothy, indeed, appears to have met him at Philippi (comp. 2 Cor. i. 1), but till Titus arrived his flesh could find no rest; he was troubled on every side, without were fightings, within were fears (2 Cor. vii. 5).
At last the long-expected messenger reached Philippi, and bore with him tidings sufficiently cheering to relieve the Apostle of the chief load of his anxieties. His first Epistle had not only been received, but bore good fruit. The majority of the Corinthian church had submitted to his injunctions, and were deeply repentant for the sins they had committed (2 Cor. vii. 7–11); the incestuous person had been excommunicated (2 Cor. ii. 6), and afterwards forgiven (2 Cor. ii. 10); and the collection for the poor Christians at Jerusalem had made good progress (2 Cor. viii. 10). All, however, was not as it ought to be. The parties which claimed the authority of Christ, aided by an emissary from Palestine (2 Cor. xi. 4), who had brought letters of commendation from Jerusalem, had grown so powerful as to openly assail both the Apostle’s authority and his character, charging him with selfish motives, with fickleness, timidity, and self-distrust, and disparaging his inartificial speech, and the insignificance of his bodily presence (2 Cor. x. 10).
The news that the Corinthians had generally submitted to his injunctions, removed a load from the Apostle’s mind, and filled him with overwhelming thankfulness, but the insinuations of his adversaries roused in him the utmost indignation. Titus was, therefore, immediately directed to return to Corinth with instructions to continue the collection, and bearing a second Epistle, in which the Apostle expressed his heartfelt satisfaction at the tidings brought by Titus (2 Cor. i.‒vii.), urged the speedy completion of the contributions (2 Cor. viii. ix.), and vindicated his Apostolical character against the assertions of his Judaizing opponents (2 Cor. x.‒xiii.).
With this Epistle, then, Titus accompanied by Luke (2 Cor. viii. 18) and Trophimus, set out for Corinth, while St Paul, as yet unwilling to revisit that city, continued to prosecute his labours in the northern regions of Greece, and to accomplish those plans which he had been unable to complete during his previous visit to Macedonia. But not satisfied with preaching the word in the towns of that province bordering on the Ægean, he appears now to have penetrated into the interior, and even beyond them, to the shores of the Adriatic, fully preaching the Gospel round about unto Illyricum[1048] (Rom. xv. 19).
This tour probably occupied the summer and autumn of A.D. 57, and then having no more place in those parts (Rom. xv. 23), he removed with the approach of winter to Achaia, and took up his abode at Corinth (Acts xx. 2). But while here in the house of Gaius he could enjoy the society of Erastus and Stephanas, of Fortunatus, Achaicus, and others of the brethren, his heart was saddened[1049] by painful intelligence concerning the state of the Galatian Churches. The circumstances under which these churches[1050] were founded have been already noticed, as also the peculiar affection with which the Apostle had been received there. Now however he learned that his restless enemies the Judaizers, who had been thwarting him at Corinth, were busy also in Galatia, insisting on the necessity of circumcision (Gal. v. 2, 11, vi. 12, 13), inculcating nothing less than submission to the whole ceremonial law (Gal. iii. 2, iv. 21, v. 4, 18), impugning his own credit, representing him as no true Apostle, as having derived his knowledge of the Gospel at second hand, and as nothing in comparison with James, Peter, and John, the Pillars of the Church at Jerusalem (Gal. ii. 2, 9, &c.). Their teaching he heard with the deepest sadness, had completely fascinated[1051] (Gal. iii. 1) the easily impressible Galatians, and already many had embraced their doctrines with the same alacrity that they had welcomed himself when he proclaimed Christ crucified amongst them. On receiving this intelligence, the Apostle deemed it right to take instant measures for checking the evil before it became incurable, and accordingly addressed them in an Epistle[1052], in which he strenuously defended his own independent Apostolic authority (Gal. i. 11, ii. 21), showed that the doctrine of these Judaizers was calculated to destroy the very essence of Christianity, “to reduce it from an inward and spiritual life to an outward and ceremonial system” (Gal. iii. iv.), and exhorted them once more to walk in a manner worthy of that state of freedom and not of bondage, into which they had been called (Gal. v. vi.).
The Apostle’s present stay at Corinth continued upwards of three months (Acts xx. 3), and he probably employed himself not only in convincing and silencing the gainsayers who opposed him, as he had declared he would (2 Cor. xiii. 1–6), and in visiting other churches in the province of Achaia, but also in superintending the great collection for the poorer Christians at Jerusalem, about which he felt so solicitous. This collection was now completed, and certain treasurers were nominated by the whole Church, with whom the Apostle was to carry it on his contemplated journey to Jerusalem (1 Cor. xvi. 3).
Meanwhile a Christian matron, named Phœbe[1053], of the port of Cenchreæ, was about to sail in an opposite direction to Rome upon some private business. St Paul therefore availed himself of the opportunity thus afforded of addressing an Epistle to the Church in that city, which he already intended to visit speedily, and with the members of which, though they had not seen his face in the flesh, he yet appears, from the numerous salutations at the close of the Epistle, to have been well acquainted. When this Church was founded is uncertain. Christianity may have been planted in Rome by some of the strangers from that city present on the day of Pentecost (Acts ii. 10), or by believing Jews attracted thither in the early days of Christianity, and who had been converted by St Paul’s own preaching. Whichever is the correct opinion, the Church there appears to have been numerous, and though in the first instance its members were probably Jews, who had been converted in the eastern parts of the Empire, they had received large accessions from the Gentiles (Rom. i. 13). Between these two parties disputes had arisen respecting the obligation of the Mosaic law, and while the one could not bring themselves to acknowledge their Gentile brethren as their equals in Christian privileges (Rom. iii. 9–29, xv. 7–11), the other could not make sufficient allowance for Jewish prejudices respecting the observation of days and the eating of meats (Rom. xiv.). Long desirous of visiting the Church at Rome, and probably informed of its condition by Aquila and Priscilla, now resident there[1054] (Rom. xvi. 3), he deemed it his duty, as the Apostle of the Gentiles, to compose the differences between the two sections of the Roman Church, to lay down, in opposition to the Judaizers[1055], the great doctrine of justification by faith only (Rom. i.‒viii.), to explain the mystery of the rejection of the Jews and the admission of the Gentiles into the Christian covenant (Rom. ix.‒xi.), and to inculcate on all the duty of mutual forbearance respecting the matters in dispute, and the need of a holy and a Christian life (Rom. xii.‒xv. 13).
Anxious to visit Jerusalem before his projected journey to Rome, the Apostle at the close of his three months’ stay in Corinth intended to go by sea to Syria and probably from the port of Cenchreæ (Acts xx. 3). Though, however, his intended visit to the Holy City had for its object the supplying of the wants of the poorer Christians there by the great collection, which had been so long in progress, he could not look forward to it without grave misgiving, knowing as he did the inveterate hostility of the Judaizers towards himself (Rom. xv. 30–32). But even before he could set sail the enmity of the Jews at Corinth ripened into a plot against his life (Acts xx. 3). He resolved, therefore, to make a change in the proposed route, and instead of going to proconsular Asia by sea, he went by land through Macedonia, Berœa, Thessalonica, and Philippi, towards the spot where he had first landed on the shores of Europe. His companions on this occasion were Sopater, a native of Berœa, Aristarchus and Secundus of Thessalonica, Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus, and two Christians from proconsular Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus (Acts xx. 4). The whole of this company did not at once cross over to Asia with St Paul, but while he and Luke remained at Philippi, preceded the rest to Troas. It was now the season of the Passover, and the Apostle and his companion remained at Philippi till the feast was ended, and then sailed from Neapolis, and after a voyage, which, probably from unfavourable weather, occupied upwards of five days[1056] (Acts xx. 6), reached Troas, and there joined the other disciples and abode seven days. We have no details respecting the Apostle’s labours during the early part of this week, but on the evening of the Sabbath preceding the day appointed for the ship to sail, the Christians were assembled in an upper-room, lighted up by many lamps, celebrating that Breaking of the Bread which now formed so essential a part of their religious services (Acts xx. 7). Impressed with the feeling that the morrow was appointed for his departure, and that the present opportunity might not again recur, St Paul was prolonging his discourse till midnight, when overcome by weariness and the heat of the room, a young listener, named Eutychus, sank into a slumber, and suddenly falling from the balcony where he sat was dashed upon the floor below and taken up dead. Much confusion thereupon ensued and no little lamentation (Acts xx. 10), but St Paul went down and embracing the body said to the bystanders, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him. Thereupon he was taken up alive, and amidst joy and thankfulness the Eucharistic feast, combined then, as was usual, with a common meal, was resumed, and the Apostle continued his discourse till the dawn of day.
The ship was now ready to sail, and the Apostle’s companions went on board. It was arranged, however, that he himself should join the vessel at Assos, a little more than 20 miles distant, and thus secure a few more hours with the disciples at Troas. To Assos, therefore, he proceeded by land, and there embarking, sailed with the rest of his companions to Mitylene, the chief city of Lesbos, and separated from Assos by a narrow channel. Another day’s sail brought them to Chios, whence having put in at Samos they lay to for the night at Trogyllium, a cape and town on the Ionian coast. The following morning they got as far as Miletus, the ancient capital of Ionia, about 50 miles south of Ephesus. Here they landed, and St Paul, who was hastening forward to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by Pentecost, sent a messenger to Ephesus to request the elders of the Church to meet him there. They quickly obeyed his summons, and the Apostle took leave of them in an affecting and impressive address, in which he reminded them of his past labours amongst them (Acts xx. 18–21), expressed his conviction that bonds and imprisonment awaited him at Jerusalem (Acts xx. 22–24), and in the most solemn manner warned them to tend the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers, and to defend the Church of God, which He had purchased with His own blood, against grievous wolves, which he too surely foreboded would enter in among them (Acts xx. 25–31).
Having given them these warnings, and finally commended them to God and the word of His grace, he knelt down on the shore and prayed with them, and then with an outburst of natural grief they fell upon his neck and kissed him again and again[1057], sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more (Acts xx. 38).