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N 



THE NEW YORK 
PUBLIC L "RARY 




PAUL ON THE CASTLE STAIRS. P. 1 



FRO M 



OLIVET TO PATMOS 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY 



IN 



PICTURE AND STORY 



BY 



LOUISE SEYMOUR HOUGHTON, 

AUTHOR OF "BIBLE IN PICTURE AND STORV/' ** LIFE OF CHRIST IN PICTURE AND 

STORY," ETC. 



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AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 



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COPYRIGHT. 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

"893. 



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CONTENTS, 



BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM pack 5 

PROGRESS AMONG THE JEWS -. 16 

AND IN ALL JUD-EA AND IN SAMARIA — 36 

SAUL, WHO IS ALSO CALLED PAUL 56 

AMONG THE GENTILES .-. 67 

THE FIRST PERSECUTION 83 

AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH ._ - 94 

THE SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY .- - 116 

THE THIRD MISSIONARY TOUR _ 153 

PAUL, A PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST 191 

READY TO BE SACRIFICED _ 212 

THE LATER YEARS OF THE CENTURY - 228 

£i THE GENERAL EPISTLES AND THEIR WRITERS 232 

O 
UJ 

^ THE REVELATION 244 



&: 



List op IlaLustrations 



Paul on the Castle Stairs -.- Frontispiece. 

Jerusalem and Kedron, from the North of the Mount 

of Olives PACK 7 

A Gate of Jerusalem 9 

Temple Area and Mount of Olives, from City Wall ._ 11 

The First Christian Sermon 15 

For the Relief of the Flock 17 

The Lame Man Miraculously Healed 19 

Larnaca, a City of Cyprus 23 

Nikosia - 24 

Sudden Death of Sapphira 26 

The Shadow of Peter Passing By 28 

Southern Wall of the Temple Area 30 

St. Stephen's Gate, Jerusalem - 35 

The Stoning of Stephen. — - -— yj 

The Hill of Samaria - 39 

A Tower of Samaria 40 

Apostles Preachmg — 41 

Modern Gaza 43 

Philip and the Ethiopian Chamberlain _ 44 

Damascus Gate, Jerusalem 46 

Public Gardens, Damascus .-_ 48 

A Great Light from Heaven _ 50 

Bab-esh-Shurky, Eastern Gate of Damascus _. 52 

Tarsus, the Birth-place of Paul _ 53 

Straight Street, Modern Damascus _. 56 

" Brother Saul, . . . Recover thy Sight " _. 58 

Houses on the Walls of Damascus __ 59 

Lydda - 60 

JaflFa * 62 

Ruins at Csesarea 65 

Orange Gardens near Jaffa, with the Plain of Sharon 

and the Mountains of Kphraim ___ 66 

Street in Jaffa _ 68 

Peter in the House of Cornelius 71 

Paul's Escape from Damascus 75 

Falls of the Cydnus, near Tarsus 76 

Ruins of Cyrene -.. 78 

A Lesson in Tent-Making ._ - 81 

Modem Jerusalem 1 82 

The Angel in Peter's Prison 85 

Peter's Release _ 86 

Modern Tyre __ 89 

Ruins of Paphos 91 

Elymas Stricken with Blindness -.. 93 

Mount St. Croix, Perga __ 95 

Paul in the Synagogue of A ntioch 97 

Ruins of a Palace in Iconium 99 

Timotheus Studying the Scriptures - loi 

The Lame Man Healed 103 

They would have Done Sacrifice .- 105 

People of Syria _ 108 

Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives from Scopus no 

Site of Idalion, Cyprus, looking South from the Village 115 
Map showing the Missionary Tours of the Apostle 

Paul 117 



Troas... 119 

Embarking for Europe _> 121 

Paul and Lydia at the River Side 122 

The Slave-Girl of Philippi _ 124 

The Jailer Entreating Paul and Silas - 126 

In the Synagogue of Thessalonica - 128 

Ancient Athens _ 134 

Hadrian's Arch in Athens 136 

Paul in Athens. 138 

View from Acropolis, Athens ; with the King's Palace 

and Mt. Lycabeitus 140 

Paul at the House of Aquila and Priscilla 143 

Ancient Corinth _ 144 

Salon iki (Thessalonica) 146 

Ephesus __ _ 151 

Paul in the Synagogue 153 

The Place where Ephesus Stood 156 

Burning the Books... _ _ 159 

Glimpse of Corinth 161 

Imploring Paul Not to Go into the Theatre __. 163 

Temple of Diana in Paul's Day 165 

Modern Corinth ._ 167 

Laying in Store _ 169 

Ruins of Corinth ._ 171 

Roman C^hristians Reading Epistle 174 

Potter's Wheel 176 

Olive-Branch, with Flowers and Fruit - 177 

Miletus -. - _ 180 

The M«)untains of Lebanon _. 183 

Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives 187 

Paul before Felix 195 

Paul before Agrippa 199 

Sidon . -- , 201 

" They all came safe to land " 205 

Paul at Malta _. 206 

Puteoli 207 

The Appinn Way. - - 209 

Ruins of the Roman Forum 210 

Paul in Chains 213 

Hierapolis - .- 215 

Ruins of Laodicea - — *.. 219 

The Salutation of Paul 227 

High Priest Offering Sacrifice _ 230 

The Hebrew Tabernacle . _ 231 

Ruins of Babylon 233 

A Gateway at Bilhynia 238 

Monastery in Patmos — 240 

John in the Grotto - 246 

Smyrna from the Sea..- - 247 

Ruins above Smyrna -- 24^ 

Pcrgamos - - 249 

Thyatira 251 

Ruinsof a Christian Church, Sardis -- -.- 253 

Sardis. - 255 

Philadelphia -- - 2.57 

The River Euphrates -.- - 260 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS. 




BEGINNING AT JERUSALEM. 
I. 

^VKRY boy and girl knows that we reckon the hegmmngoi modem 
history from the Birth of Christ. Every time we date a letter or 
a Gocument, every time we mention the year in which an event 
occurred, we bear involuntaiy witness to the fact that the most 
stupendous event in the history of the human race was the Incar- 
nation of the Sou of God. All that has ever happened or ever 
will happen upon this globe dates forward or backward from the 
time when the Lord from heaven appeared on earth in the form 
of a little child. 

And yet. though no more marvellous thing can ever take 
place than that wondrous Birth, the actual central point of the 
world's life, that which changed the character of the world's 
history was not the coming down of the Lord from heaven, but 
the ascension of Jesus into heaven. Let us consider for a mo- 
ment what is meant by this, in respect to the history of mankind. 

Up to the moment of the Ascension, the one thing that was most plainly to 
be noticed among the peoples of the world was separation. The Jews were a 
Peculiar People, chosen by God out of all nations, and kept separate and distinct 
from all others. Even in times when it would seem that nothing else was possible 
but that they should be hopelessly lost among the stranger peoples in the midst of 
whom they were scattered, they still were kept a distinct people. They were kept 
thus distinct by the special power of God and for a special purpose. Yet we must 
notice that to a certain degree all the peoples of the ancient world were separate peo- 
ples. Nation was set over against nation ; each desired to be entirely distinct from all 
others, and kept itself so as far as possible. There was no bond of union between 
people and people. There was no desire for any such bond, no dream that union of 
any kind was possible. To the Jews all the outside world were Gentiles; so to the 
Greek or the Roman all the outside world were barbarians: there was no conceivable 
tie between those who were in their fold and those who were out. The stronger 
people might overcome the weaker and blot out their name from the earth, Th' 



6 FROM OUVET TO PATMOS: 

indeed often happened, and when it did the individuals of the conquered nation 
might be received into the conquering nation and become a part of it. But when 
they did so they lost their own identity. There was no way by which, preserving 
their identity either as a nation or as individual members of a nation, union between 
two distinct gfroups of mankind could take place. Such a thing had never been so 
much as thought of. 

But Jesus lived in the world for thirty years and then ascended into heaven, and 
from that moment a new power was given to mankind : the power of being brothers 
while yet members of different nations, natives of different countries, speaking differ- 
ent languages, practising different customs. This brotherhood of mankind seems not 
so wonderful to us, for we have always recognized it, but when we stop to consider 
what this really means, we see that it is indeed very wonderful. The Christian 
Church, or even one single branch of it in any place, may have among its members 
natives of a dozen different countries — people of various colors, white and black, 
red Indians and yellow Chinese — and yet that church is one body, one community, as 
truly as the members of your native village are one community, as truly as the people 
of the United States, or of England, or China are one nation. Now this great change 
that came into the world— the new principle of human brotherhood we call it — 
came when Jesus Christ left this world and ascended into heaven. It was then that 
his gfreat work for men among men began, in the building up of his Church, the 
spiritual nation. This spiritual nation is to spread over all the world and unite within 
itself men of all peoples and languages, to form one brotherhood with Christ, who 
makes them all one in the bond of love. 



II. 

During forty days after Jesus arose from the dead he remained, so far as we can 
know, on earth. He was not with his disciples all the time, but only appeared to them 
now and again, sometimes to one alone, sometimes to the Eleven, for Judas was dead. 
Once or twice he appeared to a large number of those who believed in him. We can 
understand now why our Lord took such a course as this. It was to make his disciples 
understand and really feel that even when he was absent from their sight he was actu- 
ally present with them. If he had remained with them all the time during those forty 
days it would have been as hard for them to feel this when at last he left them to re- 
turn into heaven as it would have been at any time before his death. They would 
have been almost as crushed and hopeless at the Ascension as they were when Jesus 
was crucified. And if he had not appeared to them more than once or twice after the 
resurrection they would soon have found it hard to believe that he had risen from 
the dead at all. They would have come to think that perhaps they had deceived 
themselves, perhaps they had only had a sort of vision of him, and they certainly 
would not have been able to preach with convincing power that Christ was risen 
indeed. 



8 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

But these six weeks of Jesus* frequent appearances and disappearances, while 
it taught them that they could not have him always with them, also gave them a sense 
of constant communion with him. They felt that he knew where they were and what 
they were doing, even when they did not see him among them, and they began to 
understand in some measure that it was not necessary that he should remain on earth 
in order to be with them always, as he had promised to be. They learned to under- 
stand that whether absent or present his love and guidance would be always theirs ; 
and so they became prepared for that final parting which was not in reality a parting, 
since it could not deprive them of the assurance that he was their ever-present Saviour 
and friend. 

The day came before long. They had been in Galilee and had more than once 
met him there ; but now, perhaps at his direction, they were in Jerusalem again. He 
came to them as they were gathered together and gave them his farewell admoni- 
tions. He bade them not depart at once from Jerusalem, but wait there for the prom- 
ise which God had given, and which they had heard through him. That promise was 
the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter whose coming he had foretold while taking 
the LavSt Supper with them on the night before he was crucified. Now he explained 
to them more fully what was meant by this promise. He reminded them of John the 
Baptist and his baptism. That had been the baptism of repentance, a token of the 
washing away of sin. But the baptism which the Father had promised was of the 
Holy Spirit, and it would be the means of bringing them into a true union with (iod 
in Jesus Christ. For this glorious baptism they were to wait at Jerusalem until God 
sent it upon them. ** Not many days hence ** it would come ; they might cheer them- 
selves with this certainty during their time of waiting. 

Perhaps it was immediately after this command, perhaps a day or two later, that 
Jesus came to them and led them out through one of the gates of the city, down into 
the valley of the Kedron, and so past the village of Siloam, towards the Mount of Olives. 
It was a walk they had often taken with him in former days. They knew that some- 
thing very diflferent from anything they had ever yet experienced was about to happen, 
but even yet they did not know what it actually would be. They were aware that their 
Lord's time of humiliation was over ; they felt that the time of his exaltation had come ; 
but the manner of it was something they did not yet understand. Like all their coun- 
trymen they had been brought up to believe that the Messiah was coming to reign on 
earth. They knew that Jesus was the promised Messiah, and it was not strange, since 
they had not yet received the Holy Spirit, that they should suppose that Jesus was 
about to manifest himself to the whole nation in some marvellous way which would 
make every one see clearly that he was indeed the Messiah whom they were hoping 
for. Then, they thought, all the Jews would own him for their King, and the king- 
dom of heaven would begin at once on earth. All men would be converted to Juda- 
ism and to a belief in the Messiah of the Jews, and Jerusalem would become the capi- 
tal of the world, a true Holy City where Jesus would reign in righteousness, with 
all mankind his obedient and willing subjects. 

The question which they asked as they walked along showed that something like 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




i!^^ 



i GATF. OF JERUSALEM. 



this had been in their minds. "Lord," they said, "restorest thou at this time the 
kingdom to Israel ?" 

Their Lord's answer showed them their mistake. " It is not for you to know 
times and seasons," he began. " Do not ask me if this is the time for this or that great 
event. The Father takes care of the times. But he will give yon power so to work 
as to hasten that glorious time of my reign over the hearts of all men. He will bap- 
tize yon with the Spirit, and then you shall witness for me in Jerusalem ; and not here 



lo FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

only, but in all Judaea and in Samaria also, and to the very end of the earth." In 
these words Jesus shows the order in which the Church would grow in future years. 

The words may sound a little severe, but they are not so. They were not a 
farewell, for the sense of communion between Christ and his disciples was not to be 
lost at his ascension. It was only the solemnity of the command and the promise 
that gave the words this serious tone. As in the parable he had once told them the 
Lord was going a far journey, and he must needs apportion to every one the work 
that needed to be done during his absence. 

The little company had reached the Mount of Olives, had come perhaps to the place 
where Christ had wept over Jerusalem, or to that where the children had met him 
with their cries of ** Hosanna !'* only a few days before he was crucified. It was not 
on the side towards Gethsemane, the garden where he passed his bitter hour of 
agony, for that is on the westerly side of the Mount, and this, we are told, was the 
side towards Bethany, which lies on the southeast of the Mount. He was still talking 
to them when, while they listened and gazed, he began to rise from their midst. How 
far he rose we know not ; he was still plainly within their view when a bright cloud 
passed between him and them. It was such a cloud as led the children of Israel by 
night in the wilderness, such a cloud as filled the tabernacle as a token of Jehovah's 
presence. It was the Shechinah, or visible manifestation of God, into which our Lord 
was received. 

They could hardly grieve that he was gone, they were so well persuaded that the 
bosom of his Father was his proper place, and so sure that though absent from their 
sight he would be ever present with their hearts. But they could not refrain from 
gazing after him, and while they gazed two men in white apparel stood before them. 
No doubt these were angels, and probably the disciples knew them to be such, 
though the account in Acts does not say so. The heavenly visitants told the disciples 
that Jesus was now gone finally from their sight ; there was no use in their gazing 
thus after him ; but they might know that the time would come when he would 
return again from heaven. 

They believed the angels and immediately obeyed the will of Jesus as they 
remembered his commands. He had told them to wait at Jerusalem, and thither they 
all returned. 



III. 

Ten wonderful days followed upon the Ascension of Jesus into heaven. The 
Eleven had returned to Jerusalem to wait for " the promise." Let us try to realize 
what those ten days of quiet waiting were to them. They had seen their Lord depart 
into heaven, yet they felt very conscious of his presence with them. They could 
think of nothing else but him — the words that he had spoken to them while he was 
yet with them, the prayers they had heard him offer, the work that he had left for 
them to do. And all the time, deep under everything else, lay the expectation of the 
wondrous gift, " the promise of the Father." They have only a dim presentiment of 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




TENPIE ARFA AND M UNT OF 



what it can be. Much of the time they sit silent in awed expectation, like those who 
sit before the curtain which hides some wondrous panorama, watching "like them 
that watch for the morning." Their every breath must have been a prayer. 

They were not the only disciples of Jesus present. In that " highest room " where 
they dwelt, the roof-chamber of some Jerusalem disciple's house — perhaps that of 
Nicodemus, perhaps that of Mary the mother of Mark — there gathered together day 
by day all the other believers who were in Jerusalem at that time. We are told just 
who they were; "the women " who had been Christ's faithful friends, Salome and 
Joanna and Mary Magdalene, and the sisters Mary and Martha, no doubt, and Mary 
the mother of the Lord. His brothers too were there. They had not believed in him 
at first, but Paul tells us that after the resurrection Jesus appeared once privately to 
his brother James, and perhaps that was the beginning of faith with all his brothers. 
At any rate, from this time on we have reason to believe that they were true disciples. 
Besides these nearest and dearest ones there were probably the Seventy whom our 
Lord had once commissioned to preach, and still others earnest disciples, for Luke 
tells us that the whole number was one hundred and twenty. One thing we must 
notice — that the women were not screened off from the others as in the synagogues, 
but mingled with them all on equal terms. The Eleven were no longer called disci- 
ples, for the time of their discipleship — that is, their training— was now past. Hence- 
forth we find them called apostles, which means "those sent," for they were now to 
be sent out to teach others. No doubt they made some beginning of their work even 
during this time of waiting, by reading the Scriptures with the other disciples and 
repeating to them what their Lord had taught them of the meaning of various 
' passages. 



12 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

It was perhaps when they had been reading the one hundred and ninth Psalm, 
which speaks of one who had fallen from his oflBce in the Church, that Peter took the 
occasion to bring before the little assembly a matter of great importance — the appoint- 
ment of one to do the duty of Judas, who had fallen from his place among the apos- 
tles. Something that Jesus had said to them before his death made Peter feel sure 
that it was his intention there should still be twelve apostles, notwithstanding Judas' 
fall. It was necessary that the one who should take Judas* place should have known 
the Lord Jesus during all his ministry, from his baptism by John the Baptist till his 
ascension, in order to be a competent witness of his resurrection from the dead. 
Peter did not undertake to select the candidate for this office ; he left that to the 
Church. (Though they did not yet call themselves by this name, yet this little body 
of believers was in fact the Christian Church.) The Church itself would not presume, 
any more than the Eleven, to appoint an apostle ; no one but Jesus could do that ; but 
they could ascertain who among their number were proper candidates for the office. 

Probably among those present there were not more than two men. besides the 
Eleven, who had followed Jesus from the very first. There were certainly two, 
Matthias and Joseph Barsabas, called the Just, We shall perhaps have occasion to say 
a little about this Joseph Barsabas at a future time ; although we never hear again of 
any of his works, his very surname, the Son of Wisdom, and the appellation his conduct 
had won for him, the Just, gives us a good idea of him, and of the character won by 
men who had followed our Lord through his earthly ministry. 

When the two candidates were found the Church offered a solemn prayer, appeal- 
ing to Jesus to show which of these two he had chosen for his apostle. And then 
they cast the lot, in the assured belief that the Lord would so indicate his will ; and 
as the lot fell upon Matthias, **he was numbered with the eleven apostles." 

In all this proceeding they acted, as they would naturally do, according to the 
forms of the Jewish Church. It was the law of the Jews that there must be at least 
one hundred and twenty persons in every assembly transacting public business, and 
Luke has already told us, perhaps for this very reason, that there was precisely that 
number present. And the lot was the usual way of appealing to the dedsion of God, 
the way that Moses had appointed and that the Jews had always followed. This, how- 
ever, was the last time that the Christian Church would need to appeal to it. The 
Holy Spirit would soon be in its midst for its guidance. 

We never hear of Matthias again in the New Testament, but that is no reason why 
we should suppose he was not an active and useful apostle. We do not hear, indeed, 
of any of the Eleven whom Jesus chose while on earth except Peter, James, and John : 
but we have no reason to doubt that they were all continually engaged in the work 
of spreading the gospel. In all ages of the world the Lord has had a far larger num- 
ber of faithful servants who worked for him without being known to history than 
of those whose names are recorded. This is a lesson of encouragement to us. 
Though unknown to the world, such disciples are well known to Him ; their names 
are written in more durable than human records, and they will be owned of Him 
when He numbers his jewels. 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CP.NTVRV. 13 

IV. 

HE feast of Pentecost was a very joyful festival of the Jews, yet it had 
also its solemn associations. It wa-s the " Day of the First-fruits," when 
L the two wheaten loaves, made from the first sheaves cut in the field, 
were offered to God, and when hospitality and " free-will offerings " in 
the temple were the nde. And it also, at least after the return from 
Captivity, commemorated the giving of the Law on Sinai. It occurred 
just fifty days after the Passover {whence its Greek name Pentecosfl. 
and therefore in the year we are now reading about it came precisely 
ten days after the ascension of our Lord. It was at the Passover of 
that year, as we remember, that our Saviour had died for the salvation 
of the world, thus fulfilling all that was signified in the Passover feast 
and offering. And now a further fulfilment of its meaning was 
about to occur on the day of Pentecost ; for that which the giving of the Law signified 
to the Jewish Church was more than paralleled by the gift of the Holy Spirit, which 
was now sent down upon the little Christian community. On that early morning the 
whole body of believers was " with one accord " assembled in " the same place " where 
they were wont to meet. This, as we have learned, was the " highest room " in some 
believer's house ; the room of honor built upon the roofv and accessible from the street 
by an outer staircase. There is no doubt that they all were engaged in united prayer 
that "the promise" might now be fulfilled, and we may certainly believe that their 
hearts were especially prepared to receive the wondrous ble.s.sing. 

Suddenly there came a strange sound — strange, because though it was like that of 
a ru.shing mighty wind, there was no motion of the air. The whole house wherein 
they were assembled felt the reverberation of the sound, and it was soon echoed 
abroad throughout the city, startling many into attention and wonder. But now, in 
the upper room, was given a second .sign, an appearance like as of flame, in shape 
like tongues of fire, which for a few moments rested on the head of each one of those 
pre.scnt. The fire was the token that the apostles were to be both purified and 
illuminated, the tongues showed the consecration of human speech to the service of 
the gospel. By the tongue, not by the sword, were its conquests to be made. The 
flame-like appearance rested upon each one, for the whole church shares in the purifi- 
cation and illumination, and each member of it has the call to spread the glad tidings. 
We do not learn that any but the disciples saw the appearance as of tongues of 
fire ; but now a third sign was given, which, like the first, reached the knowledge of 
the public. The apostles began to speak in other tongues, uttering the praises of God 
in all languages. This was a token that the church was to spread among all peoples 
of the earth. We cannot but think that a mysterious and joyful sense of exaltation 
took possession of this assembly, but we are not to think that the sounds they uttered 
were mere ecstatic cries, such as people utter who feel intensely but know not what 
they feel. These men spoke intelligibly, and though in languages heretofore un- 
known to themselves, they were the true languages of peoples of that time. 



14 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

Always at the annual festivals there were great numbers of strangers in Jeru- 
salem, men who had come up from other parts of Palestine, and from far-distant 
countries, to worship in the temple. But there were at all times a great many foreign 
Jews in the city. Jews of the Dispersion they were called, because they were the 
descendants of those who had not returned from the Captivity five hundred years 
before, or who during the centuries since then had taken up their abode in foreig-u 
lands for business or other purposes. Wherever they might have been born, the more 
devout Jews loved Jerusalem above all other places. If possible they sent their sons 
there to be educated ; and it was their highest ambition to spend their last days there 
and be buried in its holy ground. Many of them, having amassed a sufficient fortune, 
came there even in middle life to pass their remaining years in study of the Scriptures 
and in worship. At the time that we are now reading about, history tells us that of 
the five hundred or more synagogues in Jerusalem a large proportion were of these 
foreign Jews. Besides these were a good many of the more thoughtful Gentiles who, 
being dissatisfied with their heathen religion, had adopted the religion of the Jews. 
Some of these were proselytes, others were simply called the " devout." 

The attention of these men had been arrested by the mysterious sound which 
was so like a mighty wind yet with none of the external effects of wind. They would 
feel sure that it was a token from God, though of what they could not divine. But 
now came a startling piece of news, borne along to them from tongue to tongue. In 
the upper room on the roof of a certain house, were men who were saying marvellous 
things in many languages. Surely this was a sign from God, and doubtless connected 
with that other token which had surprised them so. With one accord they hastened 
towards the place, streaming from all parts of the city, their numbers ever augment- 
ing, until they reached the place and saw and heard for themselves. From whatever 
part of the world they had come, whatever the language of their nativity, from one or 
another of these inspired speakers they heard in their own tongue something of the 
wonderful works of God. 

We must suppose that as the crowd increased the disciples had come down by the 
outer staircase into the street, and now standing forward amid the group, Peter 
preached his first sermon, the first Christian sermon that was ever uttered. 

This sermon is a very remarkable one in itself. It is all the more remarkable 
when we consider that Peter was an uneducated and, up to the time of Christ's for- 
giveness of his denial, a cowardly man. He was not illiterate or ignorant : no Jew 
was that, for the system of popular instruction was very thorough. And besides that 
Peter had been nearly three years under instruction by Christ, he had doubtless spent 
a part of the ten days of waiting in careful preparation for the preaching which he 
knew would be largely his future work. But he had not had any scholarly training ; 
and we cannot account for the clear reasoning and moving eloquence of this sermon in 
any other way except that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

Peter began by a defence against the accusation that the disciples had been drink- 
inof. and that therefore the marvellous utterances which had been heard were to be 
attributed to the effect of wine. It was only the third hour of the day, nine in the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAS CENTURY. 




HKImTIAN SI^KMOS'. 



moraing, he said : it was too early for such a thing to be possible. Then he went on to 
give the true explanation of the wonderful event, reminding his hearers that the proph- 
et Joel had foretold a time when God's Spirit would be poured out on men and women. 
The greater part of his audience were learned and "devout" men; they would re- 
member this prophecy, for the fulfilment of which, indeed, pious Jews were all the 
time hoping. Then having shown that this was indeed the beginning of that earnest- 
ly longed-for prophetic time, Peter went on to prove to them that Jesus is the Jle.ssiah 
who. as they believed, was to come in the days of which Joel prophesied. He did not 
at this point in his sermon actually call Jesus by the name Messiah ; had he done ,so, 
these devout Jews would not have listened to him. He spoke of our Lord as a man, 
and then by three convincing arguments proved that he must have been the Chri.st- ■ 
that is, the Messiah. These arguments were, first, the wonderful works which all of 



i6 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

them had seen or heard of ; second, his resurrection from the dead after they, by 
wicked hands, had crucified and slain him, with his ascension into heaven, just as the 
Scripture had foretold. To all this, Peter said, he and his companions were able to 
bear witness. The third proof was this gift of the Spirit ; which they now themselves 
beheld. It was all precisely according to the Scripture, as no one knew better than 
themselves, who were learned in the Scriptures. 

They could not but own that Peter was right. They saw that this Jesus, whom 
they had crucified, was the very Christ for whom the nation had been looking, and 
they were pierced in their hearts with the consciousness of their sin. ** Brethren, 
what shall we do?" they cry, in anguish of soul. The affectionate word "brethren " 
shows that they are not only convinced of sin, but ready to forsake it and do God's 
will at last, if it be not too late. The Holy Spirit was moving their hearts also. 

Peter's answer was the answer which must be given to every conscience-stricken 
soul: Repent. Then he brought God's gracious promise of forgiveness to their 
minds. The power of God was mighty to save that day, and before night had fallen 
three thousand souls had been added to the number of baptized believers in Jesus. 



PROGRESS AMONG THE JEWS. 

I. 

The increase in the number of disciples from one hundred and twenty to more 
than three thousand made certain changes necessary in the customs of the body of 
believers. It was not possible for them all to meet together in the upper room where 
their assemblies had hitherto been held, and they had no larger hall of meeting. 
They did not indeed feel the need of such a place, for they had as yet no idea that 
they were not still members of the Jewish Church. Though it is perfectly proper 
for us to call these three thousand believers the Christian Church, for that in fact 
they were, they did not call themselves by that name for several years after this time ; 
not indeed until the Jewish Church had cast them out. They still attended the 
temple worship every day ; but in addition to that they met together in small compa^ 
nies, in the houses of those believers who lived in Jerusalem, celebrating the Lord's 
Supper and being instructed by the apostles and others of the early believers. The 
hearts of all these brothers were so knit together by love, so warmed with the sense of 
gratitude to God, and they were so earnestly desirous to serve the Lord Jesus by min- 
istering to his followers, that those who had property or comforts of any kind gladly 
shared them with those who had none, holding all that they possessed simply as a 
trust put into their hands for the service of the brethren. 

A sense of brotherhood so strong as to lead to this whole-hearted sharing of 
property was especially needed just at this time, for a great many of the new converts 
were strangers in Jerusalem, having simply come up thither, some of them from far- 
distant lands, to attend the feast. It would have been very hard for them at once to 
tear themselves away from their fellow-converts and go back to their homes, and it 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




■OR THE KKLIEF OF THE POOK OF THE FLOCK. 



would not have been a good thing for them to do so, for they needed to be instructed 
in Christian truth. But if they were to stay in Jerusalem some one would need to 
look after their daily wants ; and the spirit of unity which was universal among the 
believers made this a simple and easy thing. 

The practice of holding all things in common did not last in the Church more than 
a few years, for it ceased after a time to be necessary. But the spirit which made it 
possible while it was needed was a true Chri.stian spirit, and it ought to rule in all 
our hearts to-day. It ought not to be the case that any Christian values this world's 
goods more highly than he values the opportunity to minister to those who are in 
need. All that we have ought to be' held as a tru.st for the good of our fellow-men 
and used in such a way as to do the widest and most real good. If this was the spirit 
of Christians to-day we should see the Church growing far more rapidly than it now 
does ; for while this spirit did prevail we are told that " the Lord added to them day 
by day those that were being saved." 



II. 

For a year or more, probably, this happy state of things prevailed. The new 
converts were being instructed, growing in grace and'iu the knowledge of their Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ, by the teaching.? of those who had known and loved him 

3 



i8 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

on earth and by the teachings of the Holy Spirit in their own hearts. During this 
time the apostles did " many signs and wonders/* but they were not such as to attract 
much attention outside the ranks of the believers. The signs were probably intended 
rather for the strengthening of the believers* faith than for the conversion of the 
multitude. Those who were brought to Christ were many, for they soon reached the 
number of five thousand ; but they were won rather by the beautiful example of 
Christian love than by any evidences of miraculous power. 

A change was about to come, however. One day as Peter and John were going 
into the temple, as they were wont to do, at the hour of the evening sacrifice, they 
came upon a pitiful little group. There was a lame man, one who had never walked, 
having been a paralytic from his birth, whose friends were carrying him, as they had 
done morning and evening for many years, to place him at the Beautiful Gate of the 
temple, that he might beg from those who came to be present at the morning and 
evening sacrifice. This custom of placing beggars at the temple gates has prevailed 
in all ages and among people of all religions. In some countries of Europe beggars 
may be seen to this day, blind and halt and maimed, sitting at the doors of cathe- 
drals and churches. 

Which of the temple gates was called " the Beautiful *' is not certainly known. It 
seems likely to have been the eastern gate, called Shushan, which was the one nearest 
to Solomon's Porch, in which we soon afterwards find the two apostles. 

When the beggar saw Peter and John coming in, he asked an alms of them, as 
he would have done of any passer-by. Peter answered him, " Look on us," fixing 
his eyes upon him in a way that made the beggar feel sure that here was some one 
who was truly interested in him, and from whom he might expect some great good. 
He little thought how great a good he was to receive when Peter said. *' Silver and 
gold have I none, but what I have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Naza- 
reth, walk !'' And when the beggar heard the words, and felt the firm clasp of the 
apostle's hand, a sudden faith took possession of him. He had heard that name Jesus 
of Nazareth many times, perhaps, as he sat there year after year at the temple 
gate : he had probably heard something of the wonderful things which had lately 
taken place in Jerusalem. And a sudden sense of strength possessed him. Leaping 
up, he found that he could stand — yes, and walk; and, full of joyful gratitude, 
walking and leaping and praising God, he entered the temple courts with Peter and 
John. 

A wild excitement immediately arose among those who had assembled for 
worship. They all knew this man ; he had begged of them for years, and they 
could not doubt that he was cured. The wonder was not only that he was cured, 
but that he attributed the cure, not to the two men who appeared to have wrought it, 
but to God. As the strange news flew from mouth to mouth, men came hurrying 
from every side across the temple courts, gathering around the apostles and the lame 
man in the wide-pillared cloister called Solomon's Porch. '* Greatly wondering" 
they were, and eager to hear it all explained. 

As we should expect, Peter took this opportunity to preach Jesus, for he would 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 19 

not for anything that men should think this cure had been wrought by him and 
John in their own power. 

There was a difference between the sermon Peter now preached and that of 




THE LAME MAN MIRACULOUSLY HEALED.. 



Pentecost, because those who were now listening were not strangers, Jews of the 
Dispersion, like those who were gathered together at the former time, but dwellers 
in Jerusalem, and well aware of all that had occurred when Jesus was crucified. 
Peter therefore needed only to allude to that fact to bring it all before their minds, 
and then he went on, with great boldness, but also with great tact, to show them the 
terrible mistake they had made when they had "denied him to the face of Pilate," 
even when, as they must well remember, Pilate " was determined to let him go." For 
Jesus, he showed them, was that minister and representative of "the God of our 
fathers " whose coming the prophets had foretold. He was not the teacher of a new 



20 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

religion, but the very centre of the faith in which they had been brought up. They 
had killed him, but God had raised him from the dead, and now he was ascended into 
heaven in order to give them time for repentance. He called upon them, therefore, 
to repent, that their sins might be blotted out, even the terrible sin of having rejected 
their own promised Saviour. 



III. 

Peter's sermon was never finished, for as he was in the midst of it the captain of 
the temple police suddenly appeared upon the scene. This was not a Roman officer, 
but ver>'' probably a priest, put in charge of a body of Jewish police whose special 
business it was to keep order in the temple, and especially to see that no Gentile 
penetrated any farther into the sacred precincts than that outer court which was 
appropriated to their use. It may have been the very officer who had headed the 
band sent out by the chief priests with Judas to arrest Jesus. 

With this captain came a number of the priests. Doubtless it was the priests 
who, as soon as they had finished their duty of oflfering the evening sacrifice, had 
summoned this captain. With the party came also, we are told, **the Sadducees," 
The Sadducees were the freethinkers among the Jews. They did not believe in a 
spiritual world, nor in the existence of angels ; they did not believe that there would 
be any resurrection. They were in general of the wealthy and influential class. It is 
in fact almost always the case that those who do not believe in spiritual things are of 
the class who have the good things of this world in abundance, for the poor and 
sorrowful feel the need of a religion that gives them something to hope for. The 
Sadducees were the aristocrats of the Jews ; they were anxious to be a power in the 
world s affairs, and to stand well with the cultured Greeks and the influential 
Romans. This, even more than their laxity of belief, made the Pharisees dislike 
them ; for the Pharisees were intensely proud of their Jewish nationality, and con- 
temptuous of all the world besides. The Pharisees were great students of the Law 
of Moses, though they sadly misapprehended its true teachings, and had almost 
smothered them under a huge mass of traditional interpretations and comments. 
They were, however, the learned men of their race, and in general they were devout, 
though bigoted and blind to truth. The priests, unhappily, were mostly Sadducees, 
for it was the priestly families who were the aristocracy of the Jewish nation, and in 
their ambition they were willing to give up the faith which for so many centuries had 
distinguished the Jews from other nations, the faith which they had been especially 
set apart to preserve. The Sadducees did not care ver}' much when the apostles 
accused them of having wickedly put Jesus to death : they were too proud to take 
much account of the accusations of a number of poor and uninfluential men. But 
what they could not tolerate was the preaching of the resurrection of Jesus: 
this went against all their beliefs and was far enough from their wishes. Up to 
this time, perhaps, in their contempt of the disciples of Jesus, they had not paid 
attention to their preaching ; perhaps they did not really know what it was all about 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN' CENTURY, 21 

But when the doctrine of the resurrection was actually taught in the temple, in their 
very hearing, they determined to stop it at once. The temple guard was summoned 
and the apostles were arrested. 

It was too late for a trial that night. The healing of the lame man had taken place 
at three o'clock, the Jewish ninth hour. The excitement about this cure and Peter's 
sermon would occupy the time till sundown, when the priests would be through with 
the evening sacrifice. So Peter and John were shut up in one of the many rooms 
which adjoined the temple courts, and a guard was posted outside, to make sure that 
they did not escape. There was little indignity and no discomfort in such detention ; 
the Sadducees did not think it necessary to be severe with the men ; they felt sure 
that they could easily silence them. 

The next morning Peter and John were summoned to appear before the Sanhe- 
drin. This was the Supreme Council of the Jews, and was composed of both Phari- 
sees and Sadducees. Before this council our Lord had been tried, though illegally, 
for his trial was at night, which the law did not permit. His sentence, however, 
was delayed until the morning to give some show of justice to the proceeding. The 
Sanhedrin always sat in a circle, and therefore the apostles, on being brought in, 
were placed "in the midst." A trial before this council was always public, and this 
gave an opportunity to the grateful man whom they had healed to come bravely in 
and place himself beside them. 

The first question asked was not about the sermon, but about the miracle. The 
Sanhedrin did not pretend to deny that a miraculous cure had been wrought ; they 
believed fully in miracles, though the Sadducees, at least, attributed miracles to 
magic. The Jews of those days were celebrated for the practice of magic. History 
tells us that there were many Jewish magicians in Egypt and in Rome at this time, 
and we shall hear of more than one Jewish magician as we study the book of 
Acts. Their idea of magic was that certain names, such as Solomon, Abraham, and 
others, had a mysterious power by which miracles were wrought ; so now the doctors 
of the law asked, not, ** Why did you preach the resurrection?" but ** By what name 
did you heal this man ?" 

Through the indwelling and illuminating power of the Holy Spirit Peter was 
ready with -his answer. He began by pointing attention to the fact that he and John 
were called in question for a good deed, though it was generally supposed that men 
were brought to trial for bad deeds, not good ones. Still he did not press this point, 
but went on to say that as to the name in which this deed was done, he could tell them 
at once that it was the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, him whom they had crucified. 
The form of the name, as Peter pronounced it, was the very one which Pilate had 
written for a superscription above the head of Christ as he hung on the cross, and no 
doubt those who listened to Peter remembered this well. They had rejected and 
crucified Jesus, Peter went on, but God had raised him from the dead and made him 
the chief corner-stone on which the Church of the future would be built. The Sad- 
ducees had asked for a name. This was the name, and on it, whatever they might 
think, their only hope of salvation was founded. 



22 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

IV. 

Such boldness as Peter showed here surprised the Sanhedrin. Men of his 
class, unlearned in the niceties of the Jewish law, were apt to stand very much in awe 
of the rabbis. In this sense Peter and the other apostles were ** unlearned and igno- 
rant." They were not illiterate ; no Jew was that ; but they had not given special 
study to the " traditions of the elders " about the Law of Moses. The boldness and 
freedom with which these men spoke made the members of the Sanhedrin look at 
them more narrowly, and now they recognized them as having been among the fol- 
lowers of Jesus, whose death was too recent for them to have forgotten him or those 
who were with him. Even to their minds this would account in some degree for the 
ease and freedom with which Peter spoke, for Jesus had been acknowledged as in 
some sort a rabbi or teacher. The members of the Sanhedrin themselves had at 
times given him this title, and his followers might be expected to be somewhat more 
learned than the common multitude. 

They decided then that it was useless to tr>'' to silence these men by argument. It 
was equally impossible to do so by denying the miracle which Peter and John had 
wrought, since the lame man that was healed was standing beside the disciples, a 
living witness to the fact. So they concluded simply to see what threatening would 
do. They had caused Peter and John to go aside for a time while they discussed 
their case, but now they recalled them and commanded them very strictly to do 
nothing more in the name of Jesus, nor to teach about him. 

But threats had no effect upon the apostles. ** Whether it be right in the sight 
of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye," said they. You who 
consider yourselves the representatives of God and the fountain of justice must know 
which course would be the right one, but " as for us, wc can do no otherwise than 
speak the things we have seen and heard." 

There was nothing to do tfien but to let the apostles go. There was really no 
ground for punishing them, and they were so much in favor with the people of the 
city that it would not have been safe to condemn them without a cause, as their 
Master had been condemned. So the apostles were dismissed, and hastening back to 
the company of believers they all with one accord blessed God for having manifested 
his power, and prayed that still greater boldness might be granted to them all to 
testify for him. And when they had prayed the answer came at once in an outward 
sign of that power of God to which they had appealed. The place where they were 
was shaken, while at the same time the Holy Spirit came into their hearts with new 
efficacy and they were able to testify to the truth more convincingly than ever before. 



V. 

The effect of this first attempt to silence the apostles, with the consequent new 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, was to bind the disciples more closely together than 
ever. They now began to see that they were actually a body separate from the 



THK FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



23 




Jewish Church, and their hearts glowed 
with love to one another, all the stronger 
and purer for that sense of separation. 
They were willing to spend and be spent 
in the service of each other. Danger 
was imminent and each might soon 
need all he had for his own use, but it 
began to seem impossible to them to 
call anything that they had their own. 
As in a true family the love which binds 
tiie members together is stronger than 
any sense of property, so with these 
believers in Christ. They were so com- 
pletely one in him that no divided inter- 
ests were possible. Those of them who 
had ready money shared it with the 
others who had none, and as the money 
became exhausted those who had houses 
and lands sold them and brought the 
money to the apostles, laying it down at 
their feet in token that it was entirely 
at their disposal for the benefit of all. 
From this money a distribution was 
made to every one that was in need. 
Any one who knows the warm feeling 
which such true love as this arouses will 
think it quite to be expected that the 
effect of this unity of feeling was a great 
increase of power in the apostles' preach- 
ing, as well as an increase of grace in 
the entire community. 

One of the most zealous of these 
devoted brethren was a man named 
Barnabas, of whom we shall hear much 
more as we go on with the story of the 
times nearest to Christ. He was a Le- 
vite of the Dispersion, his home being 
on the island of Cyprus. Cyprus was at 
that time a beautiful country, with no 
less than fifteen flourishing cities lying 
along the sea or in the shelter of the 
two mountain ranges which cross the 
island. It was a favorite resort of the 



24 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Jewish people and a strong centre of Jewish influence. Now the cities are all desolate 
except Nikosia, the capital, and Larnaca, once a very flourishing seaport, Attium, but 
now a mere straggling town- The once beautiful and fertile plain is now an unculti- 
vated waste. Even at its worst, however, it must always be a place of interest to 
Christians, as having been the home of Barnabas and, as we shall learn later on, the 
scene of the first preaching of the scattered believers and of the early ministry of 
St. Paul. 

We do not know what town was the birthplace of Barnabas, but wherever it was 
he owned a patrimony there. Being a Levite, according to the law of Moses he would 




have had no land that he could sell had he not been a Jew of the Dispersion. This 
piece of land in Cyprus was his very own to dispose of as he thought best, and he 
gladly sold it and laid the money at the apostles' feet. 

Barnabas is one of the loveliest characters in the early history of Christianity. His 
proper name was Joses or Joseph, but the apostles gave him the surname Barnabas, 
which means the son of exhortation, that is, one especially gifted in moving people 
to right conduct and right feelings. There is a very old legend about him which 
has lately been found to have a fairly good foundation. It tells that he was educated 
at Jerusalem under the great Rabbi Gamaliel, as St. Paul was, and early formed a 
friendship with Paul ; that being in Jerusalem when our Lord was there (which Paul, 
as we shall see later, probably was not) he was converted by seeing the miracle at 
Bethesda. It says farther that he then was the means of the conversion of his aunt 
Mary, the mother of the evangelist Jiark. This Mary it was, according to the 
legend, in whose house the Lord's Supper was instituted, and Mark was the young man 
bearing the pitcher of water who showed the disciples the way thither. It was in 
Mary's house that the disciples continued to meet after the ascension of our Lord. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



25 




This legend is very possibly in the main 
true, and it helps to explain the relations 
between Barnabas and Paul after the con- 
version of the latter. From various refer- 
ences to Barnabas in the book of Acts we 
can gather that he was tall and imposing 
in appearance, warm hearted and sympa- 
thetic, a man of intense feeling and not 
always perfectly judicious, but lovely in 
character, and exerting a strong influ- 
ence over those with whom he came in 
contact. None of Christ's servants are 
perfect, but the diverse characters and 
talents of those whom he raises up, from 
age to age, to serve him, are well worthy 
of study. 



VI. 

People of earnest and lovely character often unconsciously engraft their own 
enthusiasm upon people of quite a different nature. This was the case with Bar- 
nabas. Two people found his example so contagious that they were moved to imitate 
it, though they did not share that unselfish love of the brethren which actuated 
Barnabas. They saw that he was admired as well as loved by his fellow-believers, and 
they wanted to gain a similar praise. Ananias and Sapphira were among the believers 
in Jesus, but they had little of the grace of God in their hearts. They still were selfish 
and they cared for the praise of men, and those two faults make it hard for one to be 
true. They cared for money, and therefore they devised a plan by which, as they 
thought, they might share the honor bestowed on unselfish men like Barnabas, and yet 
keep a part of their property for their own personal use. They sold their land, as the 
others did, and like the others Ananias came with a sum of money and laid it at the 
apostles' feet, as they sat in the position of teachers in the assembly of the brethren. 
But the money which Ananias brought was only a part of what he had received for 
his land, although by his manner he seemed to say that it was the whole. 

Peter, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, was quick to detect the hypocrisy of Ananias. 
He also saw the true character of his sin. Though the sin was partly against the 
church, the lie was to the Holy Ghost, who is the living Spirit of the church. The 
question which Peter addressed to Ananias shows that though he attributed the sin 
to the influence of Satan, he blamed Ananias for yielding to Satan's influence. " Why 
hast thou allowed Satan to fill thy heart with the purpose to lie ?" is what the words 
mean. He reminds Ananias that the sharing of property, though it had become a 
custom, was not a law, and no one need follow the custom who did not choose to 



36 FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 

do so. The land of Ananias was his own ; he was not obliged to sell it, nor, having 
sold it, to give away the whole or any part of the price. But he had no right to a 
reputation for brotherly kindness which was not really his. 

It seems strange at first that Peter did not call upon Ananias to repent. We 
almost feel impelled to ask why God did not give him time for repentance. But 
we must consider that this was a deliberate and purposed sin ; Ananias knew its 
character when he planned it as well as when Peter detected it. There is, however, a 
deeper and more awful reason than this for the sudden death of Ananias. By his 
deliberate sin against the Holy Spirit, who is the source of Life, he had driven that 
Life for ever out of his heart. What remained for him but to die ? What remains 
to any one but death when he deliberately drives from himself the Lord and Giver 
of Life ? His days may be prolonged, but from that hour he is virtually no more, 

When Ananias heard 
the words of Peter he fell 
at his feet without a word, 
dead. All those who wit- 
nessed the awful event 
were filled with fear. They 
were afraid, not of the 
power of God but of the 
power of sin. It was for 
the church's sake that the 
sentence of death went 
forth so speedily against 
Ananias. In that period 
of excitement and enthu- 
siasm the whole church 
might easily have learned 
to think lightly of sin but 
for this awful lesson of the 
way that God looks upon it in the professed followers of his Son. 

In the Upper Room where the apostles sat to administer the affairs of the 
church there were several young men. They probably did not form a separate class 
of helpers or officials such as afterwards was organized in the church, but it is very 
likely that they had volunteered their services to act in any way that might be needed, 
and therefore were sitting near at hand ready to be called upon. At a signal perhaps 
from Peter, they now rose up, and removing the dead body of Ananias, they pre- 
pared it for burial — without a coffin, as was the custom of those times — and carried it 
away to the tomb. It was the custom of the Jews to bury their dead on the very day 
of death, but why was Ananias buried without the knowledge of his wife ? It natural- 
ly seems to us that Peter was unfeeling to allow such a thing, until we remember 
that Sapphira was a partner in her husband's guilt, and that for the .sake of the whole 
church it was important to have the awfulness of the sin made as evident as possible. 




SUDDKN DEATH OF SAPI'H 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 27 

Three hours after the death of Ananias—probably the next hour of prayer, for 
the believers still observed the Jewish hours of prayer — Sapphira, uneasy perhaps at 
her husband's prolonged absence, entered the room. She must have noticed some- 
thing peculiar in the way in which she was received. She had looked for applause 
for the generosity of herself and her husband, but on the contrary she saw on every 
face an expression of grief, of awe, of horror, or of sympathy. To her look of bewildered 
inquiry Peter answered by a question as to the price of the land that had been sold. 
Here was an opportunity given to Sapphira to repent and retrieve her fault. She 
must have seen doubt or incredulity on Peter's face, but she brazens it out and 
answers, " Yes, we sold it for so much," doubtless mentioning the amount that Ananias 
had brought to the apostles. Then Peter solemnly asks her how it was possible that 
she and her husband had dared thus to put to the test the Spirit of Truth which was 
so manifestly present in the church ; adding, as the footsteps of the young men were 
heard returning from the burial of Ananias, that those who had carried her husband 
to his burial should also carry her thither. And without a word she too fell down dead 
and was carried out and buried beside her husband. 

One important effect of this terrible lesson was that the apostles were held in 
higher esteem than ever by the mass of the believers. No man durst join himself to 
them, we are told ; that is, none of the others so much as thought of assuming to be their 
equals in anything. Up to this time, what with the genuine humility of the apostles 
and the spirit of brotherhood and of service which animated them, it would not have 
been strange if the new converts had failed to recognize their true dignity as apostles 
and witnesses of the Lord. But no one could for a moment imagine himself equal to 
them in anything after the awful witness to their power which had been given in the 
death of Ananias and Sapphira. 

Another marked result of this event was that after this no one thought of joining 
the believers from any motive except the highest. And this was a very important 
thing. For by this time the religion of Jesus had become popular. Already in Jeru- 
salem there were more than five thousand who professed it ; and but for this striking 
lesson of the necessity of holiness in the believers, many might have professed to 
believe from interested motives. The believers themselves were moved by the lesson 
they had received to seek more earnestly after holiness. They met more openly and 
in larger numbers, their chief gathering-place being that cloister of the temple called 
Solomon's Porch, where our Lord had taught when in Jerusalem. And the power of 
the Spirit was so prefsent with them that many men and women were able to believe. 
This we must believe was the immediate result of that new effort after holiness which 
followed upon the death of Ananias and Sapphira. The Holy Spirit loves to dwell 
with those who long after purity of heart and life. So many indeed were added that 
from this time forward no account of the number was kept. With all this an increase 
of power was given to the apostles, so that they were the instruments of miracles 
such as their Lord had wrought. The sick were brought into the streets in the 
belief that the very shadow of Peter would bring healing. We are not told that any 
were actually cured by Peter's shadow, but many were cured by the power of God, 



28 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

and the fame of these cures spreading, the sick were brought from all the cities 
around, and were healed every one. Christianity seeks to remove suflfering and 
sorrow, as well as sin. 




THE SHADOW OF PETER PASSING BY. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 29 



VII. 

In the opinion of the apostles the important matter was not the miracles they 
wrought, but the -truths they taught and the numbers of those who by their teaching 
were led to believe. In the book of Acts the miracles are not long dwelt upon 
and appear only to have been mentioned when some important thing resulted 
from them. But the Sanhedrin did not consider these miracles to be unimportant. If 
they had been ** grieved " when, after the healing of the lame man, Peter had attrib- 
uted the cure to the power of the risen Christ, they now were ** filled with indigna- 
tion" at these miracles, seeing that they made the people all the more ready to 
accept the teachings of the apostles. Without waiting to ask how it would affect the 
temper of the populace, they sent out and arrested the apostles and put them in prison 
to await trial. 

Which of the apostles were arrested we can only conjecture. Peter alone is men- 
tioned by name, but there seems every reason to suppose that both John and his 
brother James were imprisoned with him, for we know that James was so prominent 
a believer that when, some years afterwards, Herod began to persecute the church, 
his first act was to put James to death. Perhaps with these three there were still 
others of the Twelve shut up in the common prison. 

They did not stay there long. A miracle was wrought in their behalf, but only 
the fact without any of the particulars is told us. The angel of the Lord opened the 
prison doors in the night and brought these apostles forth, and bade them go back 
to the temple and preach the words of life through Jesus. In the early morning, 
therefore, they took their usual places in Solomon's Porch and began to teach the 
people who gathered about them. 

When the time came for the Sanhedrin to convene they sent the officers to the 
prison to bring the apostles before them. Though the council probably assembled in 
one of the chambers adjoining the temple, they had not heard that their prisoners were 
already in another part of that vast edifice teaching the truths which they were trying 
to silence. The officers soon came back with the strange report that they had found 
the prison properly shut and guarded, but no prisoners within. This report caused 
consternation in the council ; did it mean that the prisoners had bribed the guards, 
or did it mean that some power far beyond their control was intervening ? 

While they were looking at one another in silent dread some one came and told 
them where the apostles were. We are not told who it was that brought this news, 
but from the wording of the passage we may gather that it was one who bore no 
good-will to the Sanhedrin. Probably by this time the apostles were in higher favor 
with the people than the rabbis. It would probably have been perfectly safe for 
them to resist the officials whom the Sanhedrin at once sent to summon them, for the 
people would doubtless have stood by them. We are expressly told that the officials 
were in dread of a popular outbreak, and we can see that they conducted themselves 
very cautiously. The apostles, however, gave them no reason for fear; they were 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 31 

perfectly ready to submit to the constituted authority, as Jesus had bidden them do, 
and they at once obeyed the summons to appear before the Council. 

No sooner were they in presence of the Sanhedrin than the high-priest rebuked 
them for having disobeyed the command which had been given them before not to 
speak in " this name." He showed a very striking reluctance to utter the name of 
Jesus, of which probably by this time he felt a superstitious fear. He certainly felt 
a fear of some kind. " You intend to bring this man's blood upon us," he cried, still 
avoiding the mention of the name, but showing how craven was his spirit in view of 
the wonderful events of the past few days. 

If the high-priest was a conscience-stricken coward, Peter was strong in a holy 
boldness. The last time he had been in that presence he had put it to the council to 
decide whether he ought rather to obey God's command or theirs. Now he decides 
that question for them. *' We ought to obey God rather than men,*' he begins, and 
then goes on to set forth once more the fact that Jesus whom they had slain was the 
Messiah, that he was Saviour as well as Prince, and that God had taken him up into 
heaven to give the nation time to repent of their sins and be forgiven. 

The words of Peter cut his hearers to the very heart ; they could not gainsay 
them, they would not yield to them. It seemed impossible to allow the apostles to 
go on preaching such things as these, and yet they knew that there was only oneway 
to silence them. Therefore they began to consult as to how they might put them to 
death. 

Happily, not all in that assembly were so bitter against the apostles. One of 
the rabbis, named Gamaliel, counselled wiser measures. This rabbi, who is best 
known to us as the teacher of Paul and perhaps also of Barnabas, was one of the most 
influential men of his day ; he was one of the seven great doctors in the Law to whom 
the Jews gave the title of special respect, Rabban, or the Old Man ; in later times he 
was referred to as " the Beauty of the Law." He was, as history tells us, a wise 
and enlightened man, and he could see how very disastrous to the Jewish state it 
would be to put these apostles to death without a proper cause. When the high- 
priest's party began to discuss the matter, he rose up, and after giving orders to 
remove the apostles into a room apart, he gave his opinion of the matter and his 
counsel as to what was best to do in the case. 

St. Luke tells us the important fact that Gamaliel was a Pharisee. We know 
that the majority of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees, and that there was a very strong 
dijfference both in opinion and in character between these two sects. The Sadducees 
were bloodthirsty and cruel, and entirely opposed to a spiritual view of things. 
The Pharisees, though laying far too much stress on forms, were in fact more spirit- 
ually minded. The doctrines of the apostles favored their way of thinking, and if true 
would make it impossible for the Sadducees any longer to deny the existence of 
spirits. Therefore the Pharisees at this time were willing enough to let the apostles 
alone, although they were overcome by the greater numbers of the other party. But 
Gamaliel was more than all a believer in the power of God. He could not believe 
that any cause could prosper of which God disapproved ; he dreaded above all things 



32 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

to be " found fighting against God," believing that only those doctrines which were 
true would in the end prevail. 

He therefore warned the Sanhedrin to take fully into consideration what it was 
that they proposed to do. He reminded them how many false teachers had arisen 
even within their own memory, and how they had all in one way or another come to 
naught, because their teachings were false. So it would be with these men if what 
they taught was not true. Their doctrines in that case would die the natural death 
of falsehood and there would be no need of intervention from the Sanhedrin. But if 
what the apostles taught was true it was a very awful thing to trj' to put it down, for 
the voice of truth is indeed the voice of God. It was a noble defence, coming as it 
did from one who was not fully persuaded, and as far as we know never was persuaded, 
of the truth of the apostles* teaching; and it was effective with the Sanhedrin. 
They gave up the thought of putting the apostles to death. In fact the sober second 
thought, for which the speech of Gamaliel gave them time, brought back the fear 
of arousing the indignation of the populace. They gave orders, however, that the 
apostles should be beaten. Such a punishment might degrade them in the eyes of 
the people. 

The apostles were men, like other men ; they felt both the pain and the shame of 
the stripes, but far above these they felt the joy of being counted worthy to suffer for 
the fiavte, St. Luke does not find it necessary here to mention that name which to 
them was above every name, but he tells us how the punishment affected the 
apostles. From this time on, daily, both in the temple and from house to house, 
they ceased not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. 



VIII. 

For some time after this, perhaps a year or more, the body of believers was 
unmolested by the authorities. Gamaliel's wise counsel had recommended itself to 
the Sanhedrin, or at least they were convinced that it was not safe to interfere with 
the disciples of Jesus, as long as they stood so high in popular favor. If ever the tide 
turned, they were ready to step in ; till then things must be allowed to take their 
course. There followed, therefore, a period of calm, a period, we must believe, of 
cdificatio7i, of building up the body of believers in their faith. They met daily in 
larger or smaller groups for prayer and communion and the teaching of the apostles. 
They attended on the services of the temple as usual ; the prosperous shared their 
goods with those who had need, and for a time all seemed to be going on well. 

The first difficulty came from the quarter from which so many religious difficul- 
ties come ; it arose out of the benevolences of the brethren. As is still often the 
case, the poor began to look upon the charity of the rich as their right, and to com- 
plain when they did not get what they considered their share. Natural jealousies 
came in to make the matter worse : the Grecians, that is, the Greek-speaking Jews of 
the Dispersion, asserted that the widows of their people were neglected in the daily 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY, 33 

distribution. This was probably true ; at least St. Luke does not say that the accusa- 
tion was unfounded. Though the apostles were holy and inspired men, they were 
not sinless nor above human weakness ; they probably had taken less interest in the 
foreign widows than in those of their own countr}^ 

But though not sinless, they were ever ready to see their faults and try to repair 
them. They perceived at once that they had erred in undertaking too much. Their 
business was to preach the gospel and commune with Christ in prayer. Other men, 
who had not been chosen by Jesus as his witnesses, could equally well administer the 
finances. The apostles would not even lay themselves open to suspicion by saying 
who these administrators should be, but, after defining the character essential for 
this service, threw the choice upon the Church. '* Look ye out among you seven 
men of honest repute, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,'* they said. 

This plan was entirely satisfactory, and the spirit of conciliation being very 
active, as it should be in such a case, they chose seven men, who appear by their 
names to have been, with one exception, of the class of the malcontents ; that is, they 
were Grecians, or Jews of the Dispersion. The one exception was not a Palestinian 
Jew, but a proselyte, named Nicolas. We hear in the future of only two of these 
seven men, Stephen and Philip ; but this is no proof that the others were not men of 
faith and power. We hear nothing definite of any of the Twelve except Peter, 
James, and John, but we know that all the others were worthy and active apostles. 
And, further, we hear of no more murmurings — a proof that these men successfully 
accomplished the business to which they were ordained. We are also expressly told 
of a new increase of power in the Church ; there were many new converts, and for 
the first time the power of the gospel reached the Jewish priesthood : ** a great com- 
pany of the priests,'' we read, ** were obedient to the faith." 

Among these new officers of the Church (they are generally called deacons, 
though the name is not given them in the New Testament account) one man was 
especially noted. Stephen was evidently a man of a culture far superior to that of 
the apostles, and being a Grecian he had seen far more of the world. But these gifts, 
though very valuable for the work he had to do, were rendered all the more effective 
by the fact that he " was full of grace and powers He '* did great wonders and miracles 
among the people," aided, we may suppose from what follows, by his powers of argu- 
ment and of oratory. 

Thete were at this time no fewer than five hundred synagogues in Jerusalem, 
and a large number of these belonged to the Grecian Jews. Some of these Grecians 
had been prisoners, taken to Rome and then set at liberty, from which they received 
the appellation " Libertines," or freed-tnen. 

These had their own synagogues, and so had the men of Cyrene, of Alexandria, of 
Cilicia and Asia. Stephen, who preached and ** disputed " often in these synagogues, 
doubtless often met in the synagogue of Cilicia a young man named Saul, of whom 
we shall hear much in future. Saul, as we shall see, was a very close reasoner, after 
the Jewish mode of reasoning, but neither he nor any of his compeers could resist the 
wisdom and the spirit by which Stephen spoke. 

5 



34 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Up to this time they had tolerated the disciples, perhaps had even looked favor- 
ably upon them, but they could not endure to get the worst of an argument -with 
them. When Stephen vanquished them by his reasoning they determined to put 
him down, by foul means if not by fair. They hired witnesses, therefore, to say that 
they had heard Stephen speak against Moses and against God. Then, having- stirred 
up a popular ferment in this way, they caught Stephen and brought him before the 
Sanhedrin, with the accusation that he was constantly speaking blasphemy ag-ainst 
the temple and the Law, saying that Jesus of Nazareth would some time destroy the 
Law and change the customs which Moses had instituted. 

The Sanhedrin saw that this was the opportunity they had long been waiting- for. 
Popular opinion had at last turned, and they might safely do their work on this dis- 
ciple of the hated Jesus of Nazareth. Doubtless their hearts burned with impatience 
to silence this man, who they saw was one of the strong supporters of the new faith. 
But as they sat around in council, listening to these false accusations, all that looked 
at him were struck with sudden surprise : they saw his face as the face of an angeL 
No fear, no dread, no agitation, was visible. In the midst of that bitterly hostile 
assembly his countenance gleamed with a supremely blessed consciousness of the 
presence of his Lord. 

IX. 

The accusations had all been made, and now the high-priest arose in his place 
and put to the prisoner the solemn question, " Are these things so?" Now Stephen 
might speak in his own defence. The Acts gives his speech at length. One who 
reads it hastily and without understanding the Jewish methods of argument may not 
see that there is in it any direct answer to the high-priest's question, nor to the accu- 
sations of the witnesses ; but this is a mistake. The speech was precisely such as 
those who heard him would understand to be a proper defence against the accusations 
which had been brought forward. It answers the charges in precisely the way that 
would best appeal to his hearers. 

He had been accused of changing the customs of the Jews, and so he began away 
back in the early history of the Jewish people to show that their customs had never 
been fixed, but had been continually changing all through their history, from the 
time of Abraham. The true Jewish method, he showed them, was change, growth, 
development. They, who were refusing to grow, to admit any new light, were acting 
contrary to the spirit of their history and to the teachings of God through all the past. 

Then he showed that it was not he, but his hearers, who were disobedient to 
Moses. Moses had predicted the coming of the Messiah, but they refused to see that 
this prediction had been fulfilled in Jesus. Again they accused him of speaking 
against the holy place ; but God had shown them all through their history, from the 
time of the burning bush, that every place is holy where he is, and that the temple 
is by no means the only place where he is to be found. They had said that he spoke 
evil of the law ; but again he appealed to history and showed that their fathers had 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



35 



always resisted the law, and in this too they were like their fathers. From the very 
time of Moses they had not kept the law, although they must have known it was from 
heaven from the way in which it was given them. 

Those who heard these fearless and true words felt them strike upon their hearts 
like an intolerable torture, but the torture aroused no penitential sorrow, only rage ; 
they gnashed upon him like wild beasts. He knew now that there was no further 
use in trying to convince them, to make them sorry for their sin and ready to accept 
Jesus as a Saviour. And as he looked away from them and upward, a wondrous 
vision was presented to him. The heavens seemed to open and give him a glimpse 
of the glory of God and of Jesus the Saviour. Instantly he uttered an exclamation 
describing what he saw: " Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man 
standing on the right hand of God 1" 

It was too much 
for the enraged scribes 
and elders to endure ; 
the members of the 
council cried aloud and 
stopped their ears. The 
multitude who had wit- 
nessed the public trial 
now broke all bounds 
and rushed upon him 
with one accord. The 
Sanhedrin did not try 
to stop them, perhaps 
they even joined in the 
wild onset. Out of the 
council room, across 
the temple courts, they 
rudely drag their pris. 

oner. Even in their fury they remember the old Mosaic law, that a culprit may 
suffer death by stoning only outside the gate, and they drag him to the northeastern 
gate of the temple, out into the city streets and through the gate now called by his 
name, to the "place of stoning" outside the city. 

It was the beneficent law of Moses that the witnesses on whose testimony a man 
was condemned to death must cast the first stone ; this would make men more careful 
how they testified against a prisoner. These witnesses felt no hesitation; they at 
once prepared to begin the stoning by pulling off their loose outer robes. These 
they laid at the feet of a young man who had doubtless been prominent in the pro- 
ceedings against Stephen. This was the young man Saul, of whom we shall soon 
hear again. He was certainly not one who had urged the witnesses to testify falsely, 
for his whole life shows him to have been true. Indeed, he was probably not as yet 
a member of the Sanhedrin ; but he had been so firmly persuaded that, the followers 




36 FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 

of Jesus were all wrong and must be put down, that he had done all in his power to 
bring them, as he thought, to justice. At his feet, therefore, the witnesses laid their 
clothes before casting the first stones. But these first stones had hardly fallen ivhen 
the multitude rushed in to do their part. The cruel stones rained thick and fast upon 
Stephen, while he was calling upon the Lord, commending his spirit to him, and 
praying for his murderers in the same spirit in which our Saviour had prayed for 
those who nailed him upon the cross, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." And 
then, under the shower of stones, he died, so calmly and so peacefully that all that 
could ever be remembered of his death-hour was that ** he fell asleep." 



AND IN ALL JUD^A AND IN SAMARIA. 

I. 

There was one person present on whom the marvellous scene of Stephen's 
death made an impression never to be effaced. That person was the young man 
Saul, who "was consenting to his death.'* But for the time that impression seemed 
to work harm rather than good to the cause of Christ. This first taste of blood had 
set the multitude frantic ; or rather this shocking outrage had for the time cowed 
those who favored the disciples, and so it gave the Sanhedrin the opportunity to carry 
out their own designs. The rulers now made a deliberate attempt to trample out 
this new doctrine — *' The. Way, which they call heresy/* as Paul afterwards charac- 
terized it. 

On the very day of Stephen's death, therefore, a violent persecution broke out, 
and Saul was foremost among the persecutors. The believers were scattered. All 
who could flee from the city sought refuge in outlying districts of Judaea or in Sama- 
ria. Many went farther still, being Grecians, that is, Jews of the Dispersion. Up to 
this time they had remained in Jerusalem because of their attachment to the new- 
faith, or their desire for further instruction. They now returned to their old homes, 
wherever these might be. 

Many of the disciples, however, could not get away. Their home being Jerusa- 
lem, they were not able to leave at short notice, and the fiery zeal of Saul was too 
swift for them. Rushing from house to house, wherever believers in Jesus were 
known or suspected to be living, he and his band of willing helpers seized upon men 
and even upon women, and dragged them off to prison. There they took measures, 
by scourging probably, or by other torture, to compel them to blaspheme the name of 
Jesus. The intensity of Saul's determination to stamp out the hated sect soon gained 
him a place in the Sanhedrin. And there, whenever a disciple of Jesus was brought 
up for trial, he gave his vote with those who condemned him to death. 

So sudden and so terrible had been the outburst of persecuting furj'' that even the 
body of the martyr Stephen would have lain unburied but for the piety of certain 
God-fearing men, who, though not believers in Jesus, had been impressed by the 
beauty of Stephen s life and death. They prepared the poor broken body for burial, 




THE STONING OF STEPHEN, 



38 ' FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

and saw that all the customary honors of lamentation, such as we read of at the death 
of Jairus' daughter, were given him. 

The disciples were scattered. Was the Church then dead ? No, this seeming 
disaster was for it the beginning of a new and far larger life. For wherever the dis- 
ciples went, they went ** preaching the word.'* In the villages of Judaea, and in the 
cities of Samaria, and farther and farther still, in Phoenicia and Syria, in the island 
of Cyprus and on the shores of Africa, as the weeks and months went on, the sound 
of the glad tidings spread ever farther and farther. It was as when a stone is thrown 
into the bosom of a lake : the circles widen and widen until the whole surface of the 
water is stirred. 

The apostles, however, had not gone away from Jerusalem. Jesus had long 
before bidden them to flee before the face of persecution, and if they had been in 
imminent danger they would doubtless have obeyed this command, for the infant 
Church was not able to spare them yet. But we remember that the Twelve "were at 
this time so much admired and respected by the people that even the Sanhedrin had 
thought it not best to molest them. And since the time when Gamaliel had coun- 
selled the rulers to let them alone and see if the movement would not die a natural 
death, the apostles had wisely done little to draw upon themselves public attention^ 
but had occupied themselves in building up the Church from within. It was the 
Seven, who were younger, and, being Jews of the Dispersion, more highly educated 
men, who had lately been prominently before the public, speaking in the synag'ogues 
and carrying on arguments with those who disputed their teachings. And thus in 
the providence of God, when all the other teachers were fugitives, the apostles could 
remain quietly in Jerusalem, to strengthen the hearts of the persecuted believers and 
keep alive the light of the mother Church, which in these early days was 
to the life of the churches soon to be formed by those who were scattered abroad. 

Of the Seven who had recently been ordained, the one who next to Stephen 
celled in power was Philip. The New TcvStament does not tell us anything about his 
early life, and though there are many legends about him in the writings of Christians 
who lived two or three centuries later, he is there so confused with the apostle Philip 
that we cannot tell which of the incidents relate to him. We cannot, indeed, be sure 
that any of them are true. We know, however, from the book of Acts, that at this 
time he did a very important work for the church. 

Philip was one of those who went to Samaria. We cannot tell certainly to what 
city he went, whether to Sychar, a village near the ancient Shechem, where Abraham 
built his first altar and Joseph was buried, where our Lord once preached for two 
days with wonderful success, or to Samaria itself, the capital of the district. As Sy- 
char was at that time a small town, and the place where Philip preached appears to 
have been a large city, it seems more probable that the place was Samaria. This was 
the city that Omri, the father of Ahab, had built for his capital nine hundred years 
before, and that Herod the Great had rebuilt with great splendor. Long after this 
time it came to be believed, though with no probability, that John the Baptist was 
buried in Samaria, and a fine church was built by the Crusaders over the supposed 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




L OF SAMARIA. 



place of his tomb. The ruins of this church are standing now, but the city is gone ; 
and only a small hamlet remains on the summit of the beautiful hill, which when 
Philip went there was crowned with palaces and noble public buildings. 

Philip found a great excitement prevailing in the city when he arrived there. A 
certain man named Simon was there practising sorcery, or magic. At that period the 
practice of magic was very common all over the world, and it was implicitly believed 
in. The Jews were especially gifted in the arts of magic, and were celebrated for their 
skill in incantations, many of them being performed, it was believed, in the power of 
some great name. Abraham, Moses, or Solomon. We know from Latin writers that 



40 



FROM Of.IVRT TO PATMOS: 



there were many Jewish sorcerers in Rome at that time, and it has lately come to 
light, by means of some newly-found manuscripts of very early date, that there were 
many Jewish sorcerers in Eg^ypt also. But this Simon (often surnamed Magus, or the 
Magician) seems to have excelled all others who practised these arts. His magfical 
doings so amazed the people of Samaria that they felt impelled to call him " the God- 
power called Great," meaning possibly the Messiah, for whom (as we know from what 
the woman of Samaria said to our Lord) they were anxiously looking. 

Probably it was to counteract the influence of Simon that God employed Philip 
in working marvellous "signs," or, as we commonly call them, "miracles," in this 
city of Samaria. He not only healed the sick and the paralyzed, but he also cast 
out evil spirits, a thing of which we hear very little after our Lord left the earth. 
These wonderful works created great joy among the people of the city, and they 
believed what Philip taught them about Jesus, and were baptized in great numbers. 

If the people had before Philip's coming been amazed at Simon's incantations, he 
in his turn was equally amazed at Philip's doing.'f. lie ceased to try to persuade the 
people that he was the great tJod-power ; 
he saw now that there was One more pow- 
erful than he. In a certain sense he be- 
lieved, or imagined that he believed, in 
Jesus ; that is, as all the signs were wrought 
in the name of Jesus, he knew that there 
was a virtue in that name not existing in 
any of the names in which he had prac- 
tised his arts. Probably he looked upon 
baptism as a sort of initiation into a soci- 
ety that knew the secret of the power of 
Jesus' name. He therefore asked to be 
baptized, and as Philip, though an instru- 
ment of God in doing very wonderful 
things, was not omniscient, he did not 
perceive the false character of Simon's 
conversion. He therefore baptized him. and Simon attached himself closely to Philip, 
paying especial attentitm to the miracles, hoping, doubtless, to learn their secret. 

Philip's work in Samaria was so wonderful, and resulted in so many conversions, 
that the tidings of it could not fail to reach, in time, the ears of the apostles in Jeru- 
salem. Naturally it caused them serious anxiety. The vSamaritan.s, as we learned in 
reading the life of Christ, were not full Jews, and the Jews looked down upon them 
with a contempt which the Samaritans amply repaid in hatred. The apostles had 
learned from Jesus to neither hate nor despise the Samaritans, hut it had not yet 
come home to them that any but true Jews could become believers in Jesus and be 
admitted to the number of his followers. The Twelve therefore agreed to send 
Peter and John to Samaria, to inquire into the truth of the reports and to do what 
seemed to them best under the circumstances. 




^^: 



'KK llF bAMAKIA. 




APOSTLES PREACHING. 



42 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

On arriving in Samaria and looking carefully into the matter, Peter and John saw 
that the work which Philip was doing was a genuine one. These. Samaritans were 
true believers, and Philip had done right in baptizing them. The hearts of Peter and 
John were opened to take in the larger idea of Christ's Church which this fact 
implied, and they prayed the Lord to complete the work in these Samaritans by 
sending upon them the Holy Spirit. After prayer, they laid their hands upon the 
converts and the Holy Spirit was gfiven to them. The prayer showed that there was 
nothing magical in this gift of the Spirit, that it came direct from God. Even the 
converted men and women might, but for the prayer, have thought mistakenly upon 
this subject, so accustomed were they to look for magic in everything. 

Simon, though he had been baptized, was not among those upon whom the 
apostles laid their hands. No doubt they had not been satisfied with the evidence 
he had given of being changed. Now, when he saw the transformation which the 
Holy Spirit wrought in these believers, a change in some degree like that wrought 
at Pentecost, he earnestly coveted this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit. In his 
blind self-seeking he offered money to the apostles, asking that they bestow this 
power also upon him, so that on whomsoever he laid his hands they might receive the 
Holy Spirit. 

The apostles heard the request with horror, yet not with the same degree of con- 
demnation with which Peter had met the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. They had 
had far greater spiritual advantages than this poor benighted Simon Magus. There- 
fore Peter s stern reply was not meant to call down vengeance upon Simon. " Thy 
money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be pur- 
chased with money!" was not a prediction of Simon's destruction, but the warm 
expression of holy indignation. But it was true, what Peter went on to say : * Thou 
hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." 
Years after, when Peter was writing his first epistle, he seems to have thought of 
this request of Simon's, when he reminded his readers that they were not redeemed 
with corruptible things, such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. 

Simon's case was not hopeless. Peter went on to urge him to repent and pray for 
God's forgiveness. He did not say that Simon would surely be forgiven, for he did 
not wish Simon nor any one else to suppose that he himself had the power to forgive 
sins. That power belongs to God alone. But Simon was evidently very far from 
being in a repentant frame of mind. He was afraid, fearing that by his blunder he 
had laid himself open to some dreadful calamity, and he wished to escape it. He 
thought that Peter and John were in especial favor with God, and he begged them to 
pray for him. But he asked them to pray, not that he might be forgiven, but that he 
might not be punished. Is not this what some of our own prayers for forgiveness 
really mean ? 

We are not told whether Simon ever truly repented or not. All we hear is 
that the apostles and Philip, having finished their ministry in this city of Samaria, 
turned their faces homeward, preaching the gospel in the Samaritan villages as they 
went along. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




DERN GAZA, 



11. 

It was while they were thus returning towards Jerusalem that Philip received a 
new commission to a special work. An angel spoke to him, we are told, and bade him 
hasten southward till he came to the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, which led through 
the desert. 

We wonder why God sent an angel thus to Philip and did not rather speak to him 
in his heart by the Holy Spirit, at this time, 
as was generally the way. Perhaps Philip 
had special need of help to his faith just 
now. He had made a mistake in admitting 
Simon to the Church, and it would be very 
natural for him to doubt whether he was 
qualified to work for the spread of the gos- 
pel. And our Heavenly Father, who sup- 
plies all the needs of his children, may have 
sent this angel for the express purpose of 
proving to Philip beyond a doubt that his 
services were still wanted in the spread of the gospel. 

It may have been hard for Philip to leave the company of the apos- 
tles Peter and John, and the grand work they were doing, and go away 
by himself to that "desert road." But he went at once, and he was not 
long in learning that God had some very important work for him to do there. Gaza 
was a city in the very southwestern part of Palestine, on the sea-coast, near the 
boundary of Egypt. There were two roads from Jerusalem to this city. The most 
southerly one led for a part of the way through the desert wilderness region of south- 
western Judsea. The city itself is one of the oldest in the world. We hear of it as 
early as the tenth chapter of Genesis, and all along through the early history of Israel 
it was closely connected with their fortunes. As it was the gateway to Egypt, it was 
on the route of trade, and therefore very important to the prosperity of the Jews, and 
it was also the gateway of great armies— those of the east coming through Palestine 
to attack Egypt, and those of Egypt going eastward to meet their foes. It was not 
permanently conquered by the children of Israel for a very long time after they 
entered the Promised Land, and until it was conquered it was often a thorn in the 
side of Israel. It was equally obstinate in resisting Christianity. Though a church 
was planted there not long after the time we are now reading of, it was not until four 
hundred years later that the heathen temples were destroyed. 

Philip probably did not go to Jerusalem, but by some direct path to the nearest 
point in the desert road to Gaza. God directed his footsteps so that he had not gone 
far on his road when he was overtaken by a chariot in which sat a man who was 
evidently a person of consequence. He was no other than the chamberlain (an impor- 
tant State oflScial) of the Queen of Ethiopia. Ethiopia was not the same country now 
called by that name ; it was the region south of Egypt, which is at present known as 



44 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Nubia, Abyssinia, and Sen- 
naar. For centuries the north- 
ern part of this district was 
under the rule of a line of 
female sovereigns whose title 
was Candace, as the title of 
the Egyptian kings was Pha- 
raoh. A great many Jews 
were in this countrj', as in- 
deed there were in every 
country. There were espe- 
cially good opportunities for 
trade in Ethiopia at that time, 
as it was then closely con- 
nected with India, and the 
Jews were already beginning 
to be the great traders of the 
world. 

We do not know wheth- 
tlie chamberlain was an 
Ethiopian or a Jew : nor, sup- 
, posing him to have been an 
Ethiopian, do we know wheth. 
er he was a proselyte to Juda- 
ism or not. We know that 
he had been up to Jerusalem 
to worship in the temple and 
wa-s now on his way home ; 
but hi.story tells us that there 
were at this period a great 
many intelligent and thought- 
ful pagans who were dissatis- 
fied with the gods of their people and who recognized in the God of the Jews one 
more worthy of their worship. Such men were wont to go from time to time to 
Jerusalem to offer homage to (iod by .sacrificing in his temple, although they by no 
means accepted the Law of Moses. But there is one very good reason for supposing 
that this chamberlain, if an Ethiopian, was a proselyte ; for at the time when his 
chariot overtook Philip he was reading in the book of the prophet Isaiah. It is 
probable that he chose this more dreary desert road home expressly that he might 
be uninterrupted in his study ; but God had something better in store for him than 
the opportunity for solitary study. 

When Philip saw the chamberlain the Spirit bade him go and join himself to 
this chariot. There was no need now of an angel to tell Philip what to do ; he could 




PHrilP AND THE ETHI >P1A' 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 45 

once more recognize the voice of the Spirit in his heart. Philip at once ran up beside 
the chariot and broke in upon the chamberlain's reading with the question, "Yea, but 
understandest thou what thou art reading?'' The chamberlain was too desirous of 
enlightenment to resent this question from a stranger. No doubt Philip's appearance 
was that of a man of intelligence and good breeding ; it was such as to inspire confi- 
dence, for the great man of Ethiopia at once answered, ** How should I, except some 
man should guide me?" And he begged Philip to come into the chariot and sit 

beside him. 

The chamberlain had been reading aloud from the Greek translation of the 
prophet Isaiah, and the passage was that wonderful fifty-third chapter, which so 
strikingly describes the earthly career of our Lord : ** He was led as a sheep to the 
slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth," and 
the verse that follows. 

The chamberlain interrupted himself here to ask Philip whether the prophet 
spoke these words of himself or of some other man. This was a question often discussed 
by the Jewish rabbis, for they could not understand the teaching of a suffering Mes- 
siah. Philip, however, understood, and he at once told the chamberlain the story of 
Jesus' life and death, and made clear that He was the fulfilment of this prophecy. 
We would expect that a man so devout, so humble, so willing to be taught, as this 
Ethiopian, would quickly respond to such teaching. vSuch a mind is peculiarly open 
to the illumination of the Holy Spirit. He both understood and believed. He 
desired to join himself to the number of believers; although he was going to a far 
country, where no one knew of Christ, he wanted to be enrolled among his disciples. 

On that desert road there is no pond or lake, but there may be here and there a 
spring and a little stream. As they came to such a place as this the chamberlain 
exclaimed, *'See, here is water!" and begged that Philip would baptize him without 
delay. Philip consented : they alighted from the chariot and the chamberlain was 
baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

There is a tradition which says that he was baptized by the name of Indicus, and 
that he subsequently went to India and evangelized that country. However that may 
be, we can hardly doubt that such a man as he would be active in teaching the truth 
about Christ Jesus, and we know that the Abyssinian Church was founded at a very 
early date. 

But now, when the words of baptism had been spoken, a marvellous thing 
occurred. Philip was caught away by the power of the Spirit, and the Ethiopian saw 
him no more. Philip's work for this man was done ; he could now commune with 
the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and rejoicing he went on his way. 

When next Philip was heard of he was at Azotus, a city some distance north of 
Gaza. There the Spirit seems to have placed him, and from this place he went on, 
preaching and probably baptizing in the towns and villages. He finally reached 
Caesarea, though not for some time after this ; how long we do not know. There the 
narrative of the book of Acts leaves him for the time, and there, twenty years after, 
we shall find him again. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



in. 

Meantime, how were the persecuted Christians of Jerusalem faring? Saul 
and his band had made very thorough work with them. Those who were not dead 
were pretty well scattered, and still Saul's intense desire to stamp out the faith in 
Jesus was not satisfied. This was not because he was more bloodthirsty than the 
other members of the Sanhedrin, but because he aloue saw that the realization of 
Christianity must bring about the extinction of Judaism, Loyal Jew that he was, 
this thought was intolerable to him, and so hot and furious was his purpose to extin- 
guish the belief in Jesus that he seemed literally to be breathing out threatenings and 
slaughter. He knew that they had been scattered, and he pursued them as he after- 
wards said, " even unto strange cities," no matter how distant, as long as his power 
could reach them. 




DAMASCUS GATE, JERUSALEM. 



Now it was in the wonderful providence of God that at the time of the planting 
of the Christian Church nearly all the civilized world was under the Roman govern- 
ment. The distinguishing characteristic of that government was aX'na.ys justice. No 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 47 

matter how much certain people might be despised by the proud Romans, they were 
all under one law, and such rights as they were supposed to have were deemed sacred. 
So now, when Saul desired to carry his persecution of the believers beyond the 
limits of Palestine, he was a little doubtful where to turn, for there were few places 
indeed where it was probable that he would be permitted to prosecute men merely be- 
cause they believed something which he did not believe. 

There was one very notable city, however, which at that time, owing to some 
arrangement between the emperor and the Arabian king, was almost entirely inde- 
pendent and self-governing, and in which, though a Gentile city, the Jews had wide 
influence. This city was Damascus, in eastern Syria. Many Jews of the highest 
respectability were living in Damascus at this time. So great was their influence that 
a large proportion of the Gentile population had accepted the Jewish ^ith. Especial- 
ly was this the case with the women, nearly all of whom, history tells us, were Jewish 
proselytes. Damascus, being the gateway to the East, was a very important city, and 
Saul would consider it a matter of special moment to prevent the new belief, which he 
considered a most dangerous heresy, from getting a foothold here. Therefore being, 
as he afterwards said, "exceeding mad *' against the believers, he went to the high 
priest and applied for letters of commendation to the synagogues of Damascus, asking 
their help in the arrest of the heretics, and that they should be given over to Saul, 
that he might bring them, bound, to Jerusalem, for trial and punishment by the San- 
hedrin. It was so contrary to the Jewish custom to persecute women that the fact 
that they were especially mentioned in this letter is a strong witness to the urgency of 
Saul's zeal. In later years it was one of the memories which gave him especial sorrow. 

Saul's request was granted, and armed with his letters and accompanied by a 
goodly escort, he set forth. The party went out from Jerusalem by the northern or 
Damascus Gate, travelling along the great Roman road, then recently built, which led 
through Samaria and across the Jordan south of the Lake of Gennesaret, and so out 
upon the dreary wastes of the great Syrian plain. It is a hot and distressing journey. 
One gains the crest of a low, stony hill, only to see a succession of such hills swelling 
on and on before him like the waves of the sea. There is little vegetation ; the hot 
sand scorches the eyes, the burning sun beats pitilessly upon the head, the air is like 
that of a furnace. 

Most travellers over this weary way spend the mid-day hours in rest, beneath the 
shadow of tent or awning, but Saul was too eager to waste an hour in rest. Through 
the torrid heat he still pressed on. The journey of about one huhdred and sixty 
miles usually requires six days, but probably it was during the morning of the fourth 
or fifth day that Saul and his company arrived at the point earnestly longed for by all 
travellers, where Damascus bursts upon the view. In the midst of the broad desert 
ocean it lies " like an island of Paradise,'* one of the most enchantingly beautiful cities 
of the world. Embosomed in orchards it lies, stately with tall poplars festooned with 
luxuriant vines, and watered by sparkling rivers, the " streams from Lebanon *' of which 
the prophets wrote, and which Naaman very naturally thought more likely to be life- 
giving than the turbid river Jordan. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




Damascus has the longest story of any city in the world, for of all the cities now 
existing it is the earliest to appear on the pages of history. It was a noted town in 
Abraham's time ; it was the " head of Syria " when Isaiah wrote, and it is the head of 
Syria still. It has played an important part in the world's life both in ancient and 
modern days. This was the city to which Raul was hastening. But the lovely vision 
which it presented to his eager gaze was probably not half so much in his thought as 
the help that he there expected to find in carrying out the cruel work in which he 
verily thought that he was doing God service. 



IV. 

Saul did not linger to refresh his burning eyes with the cool vision of trees and 
flowers and running streams, but pressed on towards the city. It was noon, and the 
party were drawing near the gates, when suddenly a great light shone out from 
heaven — far above the brightness of that mid-day sun. It was not lightning, it was no 
natural appearance : it was the light of the glory of God as revealed in Christ Jesus. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 49 

No one could stand before its intolerable brightness : the whole company were smitten 
to the ground. Terror took hold of all : and when a voice spoke from heaven it 
seemed to all but the one to whom it was addressed an unintelligible sound. That 
one was Saul. He heard the voice, he saw the glorious form of Him who spoke. The 
words were, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me ?" 

The answer seems to have come involuntarily from Saul's lips, " Who art thou, 
Lord?" And in the reply, "I am Jesus, whom thou art persecuting,*' Saul learned 
two things which he never forgot, and which formed the foundation of his preaching 
through all the rest of his life. These two things were that Jesus is the Son of God, and 
that He is one with his people. In persecuting them Saul had been persecuting Him. 

There is one thing worthy of especial notice : that when Saul saw that he had 
been doing wrong, he at once, witlK)ut a struggle, turned from the wrong and sought 
to do right. ** Trembling and astonished," but made willing in the day of God s 
power, he asked, ** Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?'* Years after, writing to the 
Philippians, he says of this time that he was apprehended by Christ. As one suddenly 
seizes and takes possession of a runaway slave, so Christ took sudden possession 
of Saul, and he yielded himself at once without a question. This prompt surrender 
was characteristic of one whose earnest desire all the time had been to serve God, 
though he was so mistaken as to the way and the spirit of true service. 

His request for instruction was not directly answered. The Lord said to him, 
" Arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do." He was not 
yet prepared to receive his orders ; he must have time for reflection, for realizing the 
meaning of what had happened. The voice ceased, the figure of the Lord Jesus 
passed away from his sight, and he arose from the ground. His companions too arose. 
The vision had not been for them, and when they recovered from its immediate effect 
they were as they had been before. But the effect upon Sauls spiritual nature was 
fot the time reflected in his physical nature. ** For the glory of that light," the im- 
pression of which never passed away from his soul, his eyes were now closed to earth- 
ly things. Nothing must for the time distract his thoughts from the marvellous rev- 
elation ; and the man who but an hour before was exultantly hastening towards Da- 
mascus as towards a scene of triumph is now helplessly led by the hand into the city. 

In after times there may have been some who doubted whether Saul actually saw 
Jesus in his real person, or whether he had merely had a vision of him. It has been 
said by some recent writers that his mind having been much on Jesus during this 
journey, as the cause of the heresy which he was trying to root out, when the light 
from heaven blazed upon him his excited brain pictured to him the form of Him who 
had been in his thoughts. But, aside from the fact that such thoughts would not 
tend to produce such an hallucination, Saul himself never doubted that he had seen 
Jesus. Twenty years after he wrote, " Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord ?" and 
in another place, enumerating the number of times that Jesus was seen after the 
resurrection, he wrote, ** Last of all he was seen of me also." It was on this personal 
interview with Jesus that he based his claim to be considered an apostle on an equal 
footing with the Twelve. 



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L GREAT LIGHT FROM HEAVEN. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 51 

Another evidence that Saul actually saw Jesus and heard him speak is that the 
language which Saul heard was the Aramaic, the language which Jesus spoke while 
on earth, not the Greek in which the book of Acts is written. It may be a mystery 
hard to understand, and harder still to explain, but we have no good ground for 
doubting that the Lord Jesus, in that glorified human body in which he ascended to his 
Father, did appear to Saul and speak to him in the language in which he had spoken 
his parables and uttered wondrous words of forgiveness and of love. 



V. 

The gate by which Saul entered Damascus is still shown ; it is that on the 
eastern side of the city, as there is good reason to suppose that the new Roman road 
by which Saul travelled led around to the entrance on that side. Through this stately 
gateway Saul's companions led him, and along the street called Straight, to the house 
of one Judas, where it had been arranged that he was to lodge. Judas was probably 
a Pharisee, and one whom Saul counted on for aid in searching out the believers in 
Jesus and bringing them to judgment. He was doubtless surprised enough to see 
Saul led in by the hand, blind and helpless, but for the time no explanation was made. 
All that Saul wanted was a room where he could be entirely alone for the night, and 
he was soon conducted to the room set apart for his use. 

For three days and nights Saul sat in that room, silent in the darkness, absorbed 
in his own thoughts. Those must have been very bitter hours. It is an awful thing 
for a true man to discover that the actions which he has deemed right and honorable 
and praiseworthy are all mistaken and wrong. And Saul was a true man. Not that 
he was sinless. He had long before realized the corruption of his nature, and knew 
the terrible struggle with sin. But he had earnestly desired to do right. More than 
most men he had desired it, for he believed that a glorious reward awaited the 
successful effort. The rabbis taught that if any Jew should keep the whole law per- 
fectly but for a single day, the Messiah would immediately appear; and there are 
tokens in Paul's writings that he longed for the prize of this high calling and endeav- 
ored to meet all the requirements of the law. True, he had felt, more deeply than 
most men felt, the wretchedness of the law of sin which was in his members ; and he 
never ceased to grieve over the remembrance of his persecutions of the Church. He 
was not worthy to be an apostle, because of this, he said, though he felt sure that he 
had obtained mercy for even this sin, because he did it ignorantly in unbelief. His 
virtuous youth fitted him to be the recipient of the wondrous revelation of Christ, 
and was a source of power through all his ministr>\ Let no one think that by giving 
way to sin in youth he is gaining an experience of ** life " which will help to fit him 
for serving his generation in later years. 

For three days and nights, then, Saul sat in the darkness, too much absorbed in 
thought and feeling to eat or drink. He was learning the lessons which he would 
need in his subsequent ministry; he was being shown the insufficiency of such 
righteousness as he had all along been trying to secure by perfectly keeping the law ; 



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he was lamenting the spirit tliat he had shown in his reeeiit work, and rejoicing in the 
glorious abundance of thu free grace of the Lord Jesus, with the renewing and purify- 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 53 

ing effect wrought in the heart of man by his love and sacrifice. He was learning at 
least the rudiments of all the truths which he afterwards taught in his sermons and 
epistles. 

SAUL, WHO IS ALSO CALLED PAUL. 

L 

Now, while Saul is sitting in the darkness, is a good time for us to look back and 
learn something of his early life. What do we know, certainly, about him ? 

From various notices in his speeches and epistles we have been able to learn a 
good deal. We know that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, "a Hebrew of the 
Hebrews,'' a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. We know also that he was a 
Grecian, or Jew of the Dispersion. His home was Tarsus, in Cilicia, This city was 
beautifully situated in a fertile plain between the grand mountains of the Taurus 
range and the Mediterranean Sea. Through the plain and through the city, dividing 
it into two equal parts, flowed the river Cydnus, crystal cold from the snowy heights. 
Tarsus was one of the three great seats of heathen learning of the time, Athens and 
Alexandria being the other two. 

We must not suppose, however, that the boy Saul ever was a student in the great 
university of Tarsus. So strict a Jew as his father would never put his son in a 
heathen school. Nevertheless he could hardly fail to profit by the atmosphere of 
culture which surrounded him, and he gives evidence in his writings of having felt 
this influence. It was the Jewish custom to teach every boy a trade, and Saul 
learned that of weaving strong goats*-hair cloth for tent coverings, this being a very 
common industry in Tarsus. To this day one may see the Cilician plain dotted with 
tents of goats'-hair cloth, such as the great apostle of the Gentiles learned to make 
when he was a boy. 

When he grew old enough, Saul was sent to Jerusalem to study " at the feet of " 
the great rabbi, Gamaliel. As mention is made in later times of his having a nephew 
in Jerusalem, his sister's son, it is commonly supposed that this sister may have been 
enough older than he to have been married and settled in Jerusalem before he went 
there, so that he could be sent direct from the shelter of his father's roof to hers. 
Among Saul's fellow-students under Gamaliel we may probably count Barnabas, the 
** son of consolation." So at least we are told in a very ancient and well authenti- 
cated tradition, and there is much in the later history of Saul which makes this seem 
probable. 

We may on good grounds suppose that when our Lord began his public ministry 
Saul had already finished his studies and set out upon the teaching tour which was 
usually appointed to those who aspired to become rabbis ; for there is not the slightest 
evidence that Saul ever met Jesus while on earth, and every reason to suppose that 
he did not. 

Saul is known by two names, Saul and Paul, and it is probable that both were 
given him in his childhood, after a very common custom of the Jews. It is to be 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




THE BIRTH-PLACE OF PAUL. 



noticed, however, that he is not called by the two names interchangeably. Up to a 
certain time in his life he is invariably called Sanl ; after that time he is invariably 
called Paul. Various conjectures have been made to account for this fact ; the most 
reasonable seems to be that while his work was entirely among his Jewish brethren 
he preferred to be called by his Jewish name ; after he began to work principally 
among the Gentiles it seemed better for him to be known under his Roman name. 
The reason for this is not very clear, but it is the best explanation which the degree 
of our knowledge permits. 

Saul had the high and valuable honor of Roman citizenship. How he attained it 
we do not know. Tarsus was indeed a " free city," but that fact seems not to have 
conferred citizenship upon all its inhabitants, for some who knew Paul to be a native 
of Tarsus were not aware of his Roman citizenship. He said once that he was " free- 
born," so that his father must have achieved citizenship in some way. 

We have already learned something of Saul's character, and know that he had 
been a young man of blameless life, of high spiritual aspirations, and of very firm 
convictions. Such men are often mistaken, but they are never bigoted. They are 
open to conviction and ready to receive whatever new light may come to them. So 
it was with Saul. And now, having received a marvellous revelation which com- 
pletely reversed all his former views, he sits, blinded for the time to outward things, 
and in his soul a dark bewilderment, not knowing as yet how lo readjust his notions 
of right and duty to meet the new view which has flashed upon him. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 55 

II. 

One thing we are told of what Saul did during those three days of darkness and 
mental agony: he prayed — intimately communing with the Saviour who had become 
the Lord of his new life. He had gained that new knowledge of God, through the 
revelation of Christ, that made prayer the natural expression of the intense feeling 
that now shook his soul. And at last, on the third day of his dark loneliness, while 
the believers dared not come to him and he could not endure the presence of the 
unbelieving Jews, a vision was sent to strengthen him. We are expressly told that 
this was a vision, in order that we may not suppose that his view of Jesus on the road 
to Damascus was only a vision. He saw a man coming to him who laid his hands 
upon him as in brotherly love, and to Saul in his vision, at the touch of that man's 
hands his sight appeared to be restored. 

The vision was soon to become a reality. Among the believers in Damascus was 
a good man named Ananias. We do not know anything definite about him, but we 
can gather from the account that he was a citizen of Damascus, probably converted 
by the teachings of some of the scattered Jews. He too had a vision on the same day 
with Saul, whether in sleep or in an hour of prayer we cannot tell. All we know is 
that Christ spoke to his soul in a way he could not mistake, bidding him go into a 
certain street of the city called Straight Street, to the house of a man named Judas, 
and inquire for Saul of Tarsus. The reason given to Ananias was that Saul was pray- 
ing, and had seen Ananias himself in a vision restoring his sight. 

This command was probably very perplexing to Ananias. Saul was notorious 
among the believers in Damascus. They knew that he had taken a prominent part 
in the martyrdom of Stephen and in the terrible persecutions which followed. They 
had doubtless been warned by the believers in Jerusalem that he was coming to 
Damascus to hunt out the believers and bring them to trial. No rumor of what had 
happened to him on the way was likely to have reached them. Judas, in whose 
house Saul was staying, was probably a prominent Pharisee ; Saul, no doubt, before 
setting out on his journey, had arranged to stay with him because he was in sympathy 
with Saul's purposes and ready to lend active aid in carrying out his plans. To learn, 
therefore, that Saul was actually in Judas* house would not reassure Ananias. He 
was so deeply perplexed by the command that he even ventured, in his vision, to 
remonstrate : " Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done 
at Jerusalem, and how he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call 
upon thy name." 

But the answer came, " He is a chosen vessel unto me." Something also of the 
work and the sufferings which were appointed for Saul was shown to Ananias, and he 
could no longer hesitate. 

There is at the present time a street in Damascus called Straight. It extends 
from the gate Bdb-esh-Shurky more than a mile to the B4b-el-Yahy. It is anything 
but straight and is hardly even a street. Travellers describe it as a crooked, narrow 
lane. But there are some Roman remains which make it appear probable that in 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 57 

New Testament times it was a stately avenue, bordered by pillared buildings, a 
proper street for the residence of a prominent man like Judas, and worthy of its 
name. Along this street, then, Ananias went, and reaching the house inquired for 
Saul and was taken to his room. It must have been a pitiful sight that met his view, 
a man weak from want of food and almost paralyzed with intense feeling, sightless, 
stretched perhaps upon his couch, or lying on the floor. Certainly he was no object 
of dread. The heart of Ananias was moved rather with Christian love ; he went to 
Saul and laying his hands upon his head said, *' Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus 
that appeared to thee on the road as thou camest, hath sent me that thou mightest 
recover thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.'* 

What unspeakable comfort must have spread itself abroad in Saul's soul at the 
touch of these kindly hands and the sound of the friendly voice saying ** Brother!" 
But there was far more than this. Here was one who came to him direct from Him 
who had appeared to him on the road. The promise that he should be told what he 
was to do was now to be made good. But how? By his receiving again his sight and 
being filled with the Holy Ghost. In that moment Saul's vision returned to him 
again. Precisely how it came about we do not know ; we are only told that it seemed 
to him that something like scales fell from his eyes. The power of the Holy Spirit 
came upon him and he arose and was baptized and partook of food. We notice that 
he was baptized not by an apostle but by a simple disciple. We see too that he 
received the Holy Ghost at the time of baptism, when there was no apostle present, 
and not at some later time, as seems to have been the general way. It is not diffi- 
cult to see why this was so ordered by God. If Saul had been baptized by an apos- 
tle, or if the Holy Spirit had come upon him only when the hands of an apostle were 
laid upon him, people might in after years have said that he was not a true apostle, 
not on equal terms with Peter and John and the others of the Twelve. No one 
could say this now, for the person through whose instrumentality Saul was admitted 
into the number was so obscure and unofficial that it was perfectly evident that he 
was only an instrument, and that Saul's commission came direct from Christ himself. 

This then was the answer to Saul's question, " What wilt thou have me to do?" 
His sight was restored and he was filled with the Spirit. To have power given us to 
do a thing is to receive command to do it, and so, as we are told, *' straightway " he 
preached Christ in the synagogues, the theme of his preaching being not merely that 
Jesus was the expected Messiah, but that he was the Son of God, and the only Saviour 
of men. 

Of course Saul did not remain in the house of Judas after his baptism. He would 
no longer be welcome there, nor would he find himself in congenial society. He 
would wish for every reason to be with the disciples of Jesus. Most of them, proba- 
bly, were very poor, for the greater number of the early converts were of that class. 
Saul had been brought up in refinement, but he would feel more at home and be far 
happier with the humblest ** brother " in the Lord than with the cultivated Pharisee. 

We do not know in what part of Damascus these humble brethren lived. The 
Jewish quarter now is south of Straight Street, and the Christian quarter is north of 
8 



58 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

it, the greater number of the present inhabitants of Damascus being Mohammedans. 
We shall later find that there is reason to think that some at least of the believers 
lived in houses on the wall, such as are seen in Damascus to^ay, but we do not know 
that Saul lodged in one of those houses. 

Saul's stay in Damascus was not, however, long. "Certain days," Luke tells us. 




•' BROTHER SAUL, 



he was "with the disciples " and preaching in the synagogues. But he felt the need 
of thought, of communion with Jesus, of yet farther teachings of the Holy Spirit, and 
very shortly he went away by himself into the Arabian desert that stretches almost 
from the gates of Damascus far away to the southward. Precisely where he went we 
cannot say, but there are certain passages in his Epistles which suggest that he may 
have gone to the Desert of the Wanderings, to the mountain where the Law was 
given to Moses. That would surely be a most impressive place in which to study the 
relations between the law of Moses, which had hitherto been so precious to him, and 
the gospel of Christ, in which from this time he was to find his glory. 

How long he stayed there we cannot tell. We know that there were three 
years between his conversion and his next visit to Jerusalem, and probably a consid- 
erable part of that time was spent in Arabia. He had much to think about. He 
had to re-read his Bible, the Old Testament, in the light of the knowledge of Christ ; 
he had to learn how its prophecies met and were fulfilled in Him ; he had to see just 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




HOUSES ON THE WALLS OF DAMASCUS. 



how and in what manner he had fulfilled the law ; he had to make clear to his own 
mind just what was the gospel which he himself had to teach. All this required a 
long time. For two years, probably, and perhaps longer than that, Saul was in the 
desert. How was the Church faring during this time ? 



Other things than the conversion of Saul were occurring to put a stop to the 
persecutions of the believers in Jesus. Not very long after he went into Arabia the 



6o 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Koman emperor, Caligula, in his insane desire for honor and homage, resolved upon 
nothing less than to have his own statue placed in the temple at Jerusalem. So 
awful au outrage upon all that the Jews held most sacred effectually turned their 
attention away from minor matters. Besides, they did not wish to arouse Caligula's 
displeasure ; and so it came about that for a time " the Church had rest " from perse- 
cution. When he died, as we shall later see, persecution broke out again. 

The apostles would be sure to make the most of the time of peace for building 
up on a more secure foundation the little churches that had been founded here and 
there by the scattered believers. We very soon hear of Peter as going about among 
all the new converts on some such a tour of inspection and encouragement as he had 
already taken with John in Samaria. This time, however, he went not northward to 
Samaria as before, but westward, over the hills of Gibeon, to the broad maritime 
plain which for centuries in the far back past had been the home of the Philistines. 
He must have gone through Kirjath Jearim, the city of forests, where for twenty 
years the Ark of God rested after it was sent back by the Philistines ; and through 
Aijalon, where Joshua commanded the sun to stand still. And so he came to Lydda, 

a town in the plain be- 
tween the mountain and 
the sea. How many stops 
he made on the way we do 
not know, but he seems to 
have been moving about 
"among the saints," as 
the believers now began 
to be called, for some lit- 
tle time before he arrived 
at Lydda. This town, 
though about half the 
population were Gen- 
tiles, was at that time 
a celebrated seat of Jew- 
ish learning ; it is said 
that there were no few- 
LVDDA. er than seventy schools 

here a little later on. 
We have no reason to suppose, however, that the believers were among the edu- 
cated people of the town. 

The only one of whom we hear by name was probably a Jew of the Dispersion, 
for he had a Greek name, ^neas. He had been for eight years a paralytic — so long 
that he could have no hope of a cure. He seems not to have been in a public 
place, like the impotent man whom Jesus healed at the Pool of Bethesda : probably 
Peter, having heard that one of the brethren was thus afBicted, visited him in his 
house. 







THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 6i 

When Peter saw him he spoke a word of command, as his Master had done at the 
Pool of Bethesda, but with one very important difference — Jesus simply bade the 
man arise, take up his bed, and walk ; Peter said, ** -ijEneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee 
zvhole ; arise and make thy bed." He did not pretend to do the work in his own name 
nor by his own strength, but in the name of the Lord and in his strength. It is a 
minor difference that he did not bid him carry his bed, for it was already in its proper 
place, but simply prepare it for being left for the day ; until night he would have no 
further use for it. For he arose immediately at Peter's word, perfectly sound and well. 

This cure produced a great sensation. The news was heralded all along the 
great plain of Sharon, that country of roses, of which Solomon in his Song of Songs 
sang the beauty, that country of flocks and herds of which the prophets spoke. The 
report of what Peter had done moved the population so strongly that a great many 
were added to the number of believers in Jesus. 

The news of this remarkable cure spread as far as Joppa, " the beautiful." This 
town is now known as Jaffa, the seaport town from whence in 1893 the first railroad 
in Palestine was opened, running from Jaffa to Jerusalem. Joppa is one of the 
most ancient cities in the world, and has seen very many changes. For a great many 
centuries it was the only seaport of Palestine. It was there that the rafts which 
Hiram, King of Tyre, sent for the building of the temple were received, and it was 
from Joppa that the prophet Jonah tried to run away from the command of the Lord. 

Now when the brethren in Joppa heard of the healing of the lame man they 
decided to send at once for Peter, for they were in great affliction. A certain good 
woman, named Tabitha or Dorcas, who had been most useful in the Church, had 
fallen ill and died, and all the little community were mourning her loss, for she had 
been continually employed in making clothing for the poor and in ministering to 
their wants; and as probably most of the believers were poor, there were few who had 
not shared her bounty. Now, however, she was dead, and when they had prepared 
her for burial their thoughts turned at once to Peter, who was not far away. Joppa 
is only ten miles from Lydda, and it did not take long for the believing friends of 
Dorcas to decide to send two messengers to ask Peter to come to them. 

If they expected that Peter would raise their friend from the dead, they were 
people of remarkably strong faith. The healing of ^neas, wonderful as it was, could 
hardly. have warranted that hope; and we have no account anywhere in the New 
Testament of people asking that one should be raised from the dead ; even the sisters 
of Lazarus, who knew our Lord so well, did not do that. Probably, however, these 
disciples in Joppa did not actually expect Peter to restore Dorcas to life. They were 
in great affliction, and there was that holy apostle only ten miles away. They natu- 
rally turned to him for comfort. Perhaps they felt as the heart-broken father of the 
epileptic boy felt when he said to Jesus, ** If thou canst do anything, have mercy upon 
us ;" perhaps with a clearer faith than his they felt as Martha did when she said to 
Jesus, " I know that even now, whatsoever thou shalt ask of God, God will give it thee.'* 
At any rate they sent two messengers to Peter with the importunate message, ** Thou 
mayest not hesitate to come to us." 



62 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS; 



Peter did not hesitate. Without delay, for the case was urgent in a country where 
burial takes place on the day of death, he arose and went with the messengers. He 
reached the house and was shown to the upper cliambcr, that room of honor and of 
privacy, where the precious body had been laid. There were no sounds of wailing 
music and loud lamentation, such as Jesus bad heard in the house of Jairus when his 
little daughter lay dead, such as would be heard in almost every Jewish house; the 
believers in Jesus did not thus hopelessly lament over their dead. But there were 
many true mourners gathered around the bier ; all the widows whom Dorcas' bounty 
had made comfortable stood there weeping and showing to one another the robes 

and under- garments which Dorcas 
had made and given them, and 
telling iiow many of such garments 
she had made for them in time 
past. 

It was a proper and a beautiful 
way of testifying their respect ; 
but when Peter ■ 
evidence of mourning must be 
checked Like Jesus ^^heD he 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 63 

raised the little daughter of Jairus to life, Peter sent them all out of the room. But after 
that he did something which Jesus did not do : he kneeled down and prayed. It was 
not in Peter to perform this miracle by his own word of power. Jesus could command ; 
Peter must entreat. But it was not long before he felt the assurance that the favor 
he sought was given him ; and then, turning to the cold form that lay near him, he 
said, " Tabitha, arise !*' 

His command was obeyed ; the dead woman's eyes were unclosed ; then, as she 
saw Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and lifted her from the bier, and going 
to the door called to the widows and the other believers and presented her to them 
alive. 

It was not for her own sake that Tabitha was restored to life ; not even for the 
sake of the poor to whom she was so important. It was for the sake of the kingdom 
of Christ, the Church which he had purchased with his precious blood. Many in that 
busy city heard the news. They were not a religiously disposed community ; they 
were too much absorbed in their commerce and their gains to feel the pressure of any 
spiritual need. But the marvellous intelligence of the raising of Dorcas to life did 
make an impression upon them. For the first time they were willing to pause in 
their busy traffic and think of things that reach beyond this life. Peter was quick to 
perceive the value of such an opportunity. Joppa, through its ships and commerce, 
was in touch with nearly all the world; through it the gospel might penetrate to far 
distant regions ; and he therefore decided to remain for some time and carry on the 
work which opened before him. 

One would naturally suppose that Tabitha's house would be the home of the 
apostle during his stay in Joppa. She was probably one of the few persons of ample 
means in the little community. But no; Peter made his home with one of the 
humbler brethren. In the house of Simon, the tanner, by the seaside, he took a 
lodging. A tanner, by the very nature of his trade, which made it necessary for him 
to touch dead bodies, was deemed by strict Jews to be half unclean. We shall see 
before long why it was, in the providence of God, that Peter chose the tanner's house 
for his home. 



AMONG THE GENTILES. 

I. 

All through the history of the Jews, until the time of Christ, they were a sepa- 
rate people. This was the purpose of God, that they might keep the faith until the 
nations of the world should be prepared to receive the revelation of God in Christ. 
Now it is a very suggestive fact that while they were separate the sea was a barrier 
between them and other peoples. In general, especially in the early days before 
railroads and great highways, the sea has been the highway of men. But Palestine had 
no seaport during all these centuries except that of Joppa ; and even Joppa was not 



64 FROM OLIVET TO P ATM OS: 

a good harbor. The coast stretches along the Mediterranean in an almost unbroken 
line, with no bays nor inlets to afford a safe haven for vessels. And therefore during 
the centuries before the birth of Christ the busy traffic of the Mediterranean passing 
between Egypt and Asia Minor, Northern Africa and the islands of the sea. Southern 
Europe and Phoenicia, passed Palestine entirely by. But when the fulness of time 
had come and the Son of God was about to appear on earth, six years before the birth 
of Christ (B. C. lo), Herod the Great built the magnificent seaport city Caesarea, which 
was to be the gateway by which the gospel was to pass out from Judaism to bless the 
Gentile world. 

There is hardly a spot in all Palestine so desolate to-day as that whereon Caesarea 
was built. A heap of ruins inhabited by wild beasts, a few fishermen's huts on the 
beach — this is Caesarea now. But in the time of the apostles it was one of the most 
beautiful cities in Palestine. Herod had built a long mole out into the sea, making a 
safe and commodious harbor ; he had laid out magnificent streets and adorned them 
with fine statues ; he had built stately palaces and erected a superb temple " to Caesar 
and Rome,'* so lofty that it could be seen by the sailors far out at sea, and had 
surrounded the city on the landward side with an impregnable wall. He named this 
august city for the Emperor Augustus, and great public games were held here once 
in five years in honor of the emperor. The population was mainly Gentile, but there 
were also many Jews living there. Among them not long after this was Philip, but 
at the time at which we have now arrived he was probably still on that evangelizing 
journey northward from Azotus, where we last heard of him after the conversion of 
the Ethiopian chamberlain. 

n. 

Among the Gentile inhabitants of Caesarea was a Roman soldier named Come- 
lius. He was a centurion, an officer in command of a sixth part of a cohort, or about 
a hundred men. The cohort to which he was attached was called the Italian band, 
its members being picked men from Italy, instead of men enlisted in the country, 
after the usual Roman custom in Palestine. 

At this time a great number of the more thoughtful Gentiles had given up their 
heathen beliefs and modes of worship, finding them entirely insufficient to satisfy 
their spiritual needs. A great number had found no new belief to take the place of 
that which they had abandoned, but very many of them had turned to Judaism, as 
offering them a higher satisfaction than any other religion they knew of. A good 
proportion of these had become proselytes under one form or another, attaching 
themselves more or less closely to the Jewish Church. But many who acknowledged 
the God of the Jews as the only true God and their God felt the ceremonial rites and 
customs of the Jews to be too burdensome, or looked upon them as a purely national 
affair, and contented themselves with worshipping him in their own way. Where in 
the New Testament we find Gentiles called devout or God-fearing we may generally 
understand that men of this class are meant. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 65 

Cornelius appears to have been one of these God-fearing men. He seems, how- 
ever, to have been more spiritually-minded than most of the men of this class. He 
was not only devout himself, but his influence and example had brought the mem- 




RUINS AT C^SAKI 



bers of his household to the same state of mind. Besides this, he was much given 
to prayer, and gave much alms, especially to the poor among the Jewish people. It 
was doubtless his interest in their God that made him take this peculiar interest in 
them. This is almost a Christian sentiment, a sense of union between men because 
they are connected with the same God ; but Cornelius did not know this. He was, 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 67 

however, held in very high favor by the influential Jews of Caesarea, and his reputa- 
tion seems to have extended even farther than the limits of this citv. 

There seems to have been a special reason for the fervor of Cornelius* prayers. 
He had probably heard of the new Way of religion among the Jews ; he had perhaps 
been drawn by it and desired to adopt it as his own personal religion. But one thing 
stopped him : was it necessary for him to become a Jewish proselyte, to submit to 
circumcision and undertake to observe the ceremonial law, before he could accept 
the Way of Jesus ? Questions like these must have been very perplexing and very 
painful ; and it can hardly be doubted that much of his prayer was for light on this 
question. 

So earnest was he in prayer one day that he remained fasting until the ninth 
hour — three in the afternoon. At that hour he seems to have had a special season 
of prayer, more earnest perhaps than any that had gone before. It was while thus 
engaged that he had a wonderful vision. He saw it, evidently, the account tells us ; 
that is, not as in a dream, when all that the dreamer sees is within himself, in his 
own mind. What Cornelius saw was outside of his mind ; it was an angel of God, 
and though we do not know what form the angels usually wear, the one that Corne- 
lius saw was in the form of a man, certainly not such a winged being as those gen- 
erally portrayed in works of art. There was something so august and imposing in 
the appearance of this man that as Cornelius looked fixedly upon him he was over- 
come with a feeling of awe. He felt sure that this was more than man, and, brave 
soldier and courtly gentleman that he was, he spoke fearlessly yet humbly, " What is 
it, Lord r 

The answer came at once. Cornelius was told that his prayers and his alms had 
been observed by God ; they were the evidence that he was living up to a faith which 
was as high as his present state of knowledge made possible ; and so God would grant 
him that further knowledge of his will which Cornelius so earnestly desired. He 
was bidden to send to Joppa and ask for one Simon, surnamed Peter. The mes- 
sengers would find him lodging with one Simon, a tanner, who lived (on account of 
his trade) in a house near the sea-shore. Peter, the angel said, would tell Cornelius 
what he should do. 

If the perplexity of Cornelius as to what he ** ought to do'* had been with regard 
to the necessity of his becoming a Jewish proselyte before he could learn the Way of 
Jesus, the very fact that Peter was lodging with a tanner would be a great encourage- 
ment to him. Peter could not, certainly, be one of those strict Jews who insisted 
upon that minute observance of the ceremonial law which the Gentiles found such a 
barrier to the adoption of the Jewish faith, or he would not be in daily intercourse 
with a man who, a gp-eat part of the time, mtist be ceremonially unclean. Cornelius 
therefore probably began at once to feel hopeful, and, the angel having departed, he 
called one of the soldiers who was attached most closely to him, a God-fearing man 
like himself, and despatched him, with two of his household servants, to Joppa. 

Joppa is thirty or more miles south of Caesarea. The day was already drawing 
towards a close, it being past three o'clock ; but the messengers departed at once, 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY, 69 

perhaps planning to go as far as Apollonia before night, and resting there make the 
remainder of the journey the next day. An ordinary day's journey in the East was 
about twenty miles. 

III. 

Meanwhile it was necessary to prepare the apostle for their coming. 
Though he did not know it, Peter was now about to receive the complete fulfilment 
of the promise of the Lord Jesus that the Church should be built upon him. On 
the day of Pentecost he had laid the foundations of the Church among the Jews ; 
to-day he was to lay the foundations of the Gentile Church. Peter was not to be the 
apostle to the Gentiles; that was to be the especial province of Saul, who is also 
called Paul ; but for that very reason it must be Peter who takes the initial steps. 
Otherwise there might be a feeling among the Gentiles, and among the Jews too, 
that they were not all one Church, but two Churches. 

It is difficult to realize how deep and wide was the' chasm between Jew and 
Gentile at this time. We may gain some notion of it by considering the g^lf that 
separates us from the Chinese who are in our midst, or the difficulty which white 
persons find in bringing themselves to associate in all respects on equal terms with 
.colored people. But it would not be nearly as hard for a white family to make inti 
mate friends of a colored or a Chinese family to-day as it was in- those times for Jews 
to admit Gentiles to associate with them on equal terms. 

Peter therefore needed a lesson, and if a wonderfully impressive lesson was given 
him, we may be sure that it was not one whit more impressive than was necessar)\ 
It was noon on the next day, and the messengers from Cornelius were drawing near 
to Joppa, when Peter went up upon the house-top to pray. He too had special reasons 
for asking counsel of God. The question of the Gentile converts must have been 
weighing on his mind. He had been for some time now in a region where the 
Gentiles were very numerous. Many of them, doubtless, had shown an interest in 
the truths he had been teaching. What must he do with these Gentiles? Must he 
first endeavor to bring them into the Jewish Church before admitting them to fellow- 
ship with the believers in Jesus ? 

It was one of the regular hours of prayer that Peter took for asking for light 
upon his perplexities. It was also the time for the noonday meal, and with all his 
anxieties he felt the common wants of humanity. His prayer over, Peter became 
aware that he was very hungry and asked for his dinner. While waiting for the 
food to be prepared he fell into a trance in which the Spirit taught him, by a sym- 
bolic illustration, what was the will of God in the question which perplexed him. 

In his trance he saw heaven opened and a great sheet, fastened at the four cor- 
ners to some undefined support in the opening above it. let down to the earth. In 
this great sheet were some of all kinds of beasts — a type of all creation. Clean and 
unclean were there together, and while Peter asked himself the meaning of the 
strange sight a voice said, " Arise, Peter, kill and eat." 



70 FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 

In his trance Peter answered, " Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything^ that 
is common or unclean." The loathing of a Jew for food that he considers ceremo- 
nially unclean is very genuine. Jewish people who have been treated in Christian 
hospitals have sometimes died simply because the food was abhorrent to them from 
the way it was prepared. And Peter's answer was the natural and involuntary reply 
to such an invitation as this. 

The answer to his protest must have astonished him beyond measure : " What 
God hath cleansed call thou not common." It was so entirely contrary to anything 
that Peter had ever dreamed of as possible that the vision had to be repeated three 
times before its full significance could reach his intelligence. Even then Peter could 
hardly admit the conviction that was forcing itself upon him. He saw the symbolical 
meaning of the trance : to eat food is to receive something foreign into one's own 
body. Could it possibly be the will of God to admit the ceremonially unclean Gen- 
tiles into the Church of Christ ? 

He had forgotten his hunger and was still absorbed in this question when the 
messengers of Cornelius, having entered the city and passed along its narrow streets, 
reached the water-side and stood before the tanner's house. Having called aloud, 
after the common custom, to arouse the persons within doors, they asked the man who 
answered their call whether Simon, surnamed Peter, were lodging there. Peter had 
not heard or had not heeded their call, but now the Spirit told him that he had to do 
with these strangers. ** Make no question, but arise and get thee down and go with 
them, for it is I who have sent them," was the inspired command. He obeyed at 
once, and presenting himself at the door told the messengers that he was the man 
they were seeking and asked their errand. Their reply must have convinced him 
that this embassage was directly connected with the symbolical teaching he had 
just received. Gentiles though the messengers were, he invited them into the house 
and gave them a lodging, keeping them for the remainder of the day and the follow- 
ing night, that they might rest from their journey. It is not likely that he ate with 
them : they would desire that as little as he. 

Early next morning they set out together on the return journey, six of the 
brethren of the Church in Joppa being of the party. The return occupied a part of two 
days, as the outward journey had done. It was the morrow after their departure from 
Joppa that they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them, and had called 
together a large party of his kinsfolk and intimate friends, both to show honor to 
Peter and to give them a share in the blessings he expected to receive through his 
guest. When he saw the apostle and his escort approaching, Cornelius hastened to 
meet them, and fell down upon his knees before Peter. It was not that he worshipped 
him as divine, but that in the Oriental style he received him as the ambassador of a 
Divine Being. 

Peter raised him up, as any ambassador might have done, reminding him that he 
himself was after all only a man, and talking together they walked along to the house. 
Within, Peter found a large party assembled, and without delay he explained his 
coming. Reminding them that it was unlawful for a Jew to keep company with those 




PETER IN THE HOUSE OF CORNELIUS. 



72 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

of another nation, he told them that he had received a special teaching from God on 
this matter, and therefore he had come without gainsaying as soon as he was sent for. 
What then was their purpose in sending for him ? 

At this Cornelius began and told all the particulars of his vision of four days 
before, and expressed his gratification at Peter's coming. When he had finished 
Peter gave utterance to the great truth which all these events had been ordered to 
show: "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every 
nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him.'* Not that 
the Gentiles were accepted by God by virtue of their righteousness, but that no 
righteous man would be rejected by God by reason of being a Gentile. He then 
went on to preach the life and death and resurrection of Jesus, and the forgiveness of 
sins through faith in his name. 

The preaching was received into honest hearts, and while Peter was yet speak- 
ing the Holy Spirit fell upon them. It was shown somewhat as the gift of the Spirit 
had been shown at Pentecost by the gift of tongues, but there seems to have been an 
important difference : it is not said here, as at Pentecost, that they spoke with ot/ier 
tongues. Perhaps this was simply a powerful ecstatic utterance such as we meet 
afterwards in the history of some of the churches, principally meant as a sign to those 
who did not believe. 

The believers who had come with Peter saw in the conduct and utterances of 
these Gentiles a strong proof of their acceptance with God. They were quite ready 
with an answer to Peter's question if any of them could forbid Christian baptism to 
those who had already received the Holy Spirit. None of them certainly was inclined 
to hesitate, and to some of them Peter delegated the duty of baptizing Cornelius 
and all those who gave the same evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

The grateful Caesareans could not consent to be at once deprived of their teacher, 
and they kept him with them for some days, learning from him all he had time to 
teach of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and tlie way of salvation through 
him. 

IV. 

The reports that were carried from Caesarea to Jerusalem greatly disturbed the 
apostles and brethren there. Not that they were jealous because " the Gentiles had 
received the word of God,'* but that they could not understand how it was possible 
that Peter had not insisted on their becoming circumcised and joining the Jewish 
Church. As yet neither the apostles nor any other believers in Jesus had any idea 
that they were anything but true Jews. They had not given up attendance no the 
temple and synagogue worship ; they had no distinctive name, though the system of 
truth they taught was often called The IVay^ to show that it was a new phase or form 
of Judaism. They no longer offered sacrifices, of course, for they knew that all the 
types of the old system were fulfilled in Christ ; but while they saw that the truths 
manifested by Jesus had perfected the system of truth given by lawgiver and prophet, 
they had no notion that the old system had by that very fact been done away with. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 73 

They did not perceive that, Christ being come, the entire ceremonial of the Jewish 
worship was as much a thing of the past as was the offering of sacrifices. Nor did 
they understand that the believers were no longer to be kept distinct from the world, 
as their fathers had been ; they did not yet perceive that in Christ Jesus all are one. 
Only one man, as yet, had seen what must be the natural outcome of Christ's teach- 
ings ; this was Saul of Tarsus. It was because he perceived that the religion of Jesus, 
if it spread, would of necessity involve the abolishing of Judaism that, being 
** exceedingly zealous towards the law," he had been " exceedingly mad " against 
the followers of Jesus. But as yet none of the Twelve had realized that, Christianity 
being the fruit of which Judaism was the flower, Judaism must fade and vanish away 
in its development. 

Therefore when Peter went up to Jerusalem after his stay in Caesarea he was 
called to account for his conduct with regard to the converted Gentiles of that city. 
It needed only that he should tell them the whole story from the beginning — his 
trance, the embassy from Cornelius, and the witness of God to His purpose in this 
matter by the gift of the Holy Ghost, for them to withdraw their complaint against 
him and to rejoice with heartfelt joy that the sovereign purpose of God included the 
salvation not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also. The summing up of Peter's 
story brought with it profound conviction : " Inasmuch then as God gave them the 
like gift as unto us, what was I that I could withstand God ?** And they glorified 
God, saying, "Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." 



V. 

Meanwhile what had Saul of Tarsus been doing since his withdrawal into 

Arabia ? 

For more than two years, probably, he remained in those desert solitudes, study- 
ing the Old Testament in the light of the death and resurrection of Jesus, readjusting 
all his notions of what its true teachings were, and working out for himself that sys- 
tem of religious belief which has formed the basis of all Christian doctrine, being 
guided and taught by the indwelling Holy Spirit. In the stillness of the Arabian 
wastes, under the very shadow perhaps of Sinai, he learned what was the true mean- 
ing and purpose of the Law and what the true office of the Christ, the Messiah for 
whose coming he had so ardently longed. Before his conversion he had *' known the 
Messiah after the flesh," not in his actual person, but, as he supposed, as a human 
king and conqueror, who was to raise the Jewish people to the highest pinnacle of 
earthly grandeur. In his conversion, however, he had learned to know him "after 
the Spirit ;" to see that his kingdom was a spiritual one, and that not worldly tri- 
umph, but the divine likeness, was the gift which he offered to men. As his mind 
became clear upon these and other points, the desire to preach the unsearchable 
riches of Christ once more became strong within him. He left the desert and 
returned to Damascus, to take up the work which he had begun with so much success 
immediately after his conversion. 

lO 



74 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

His preaching now was crowned with similar success. So powerfully indeed 
did he argue that Jesus who had been put to death was in very deed the Christ, that 
it was not long before the rabbis and learned Jews took alarm. They felt it necessary 
to silence this bold preacher. Now began the first of that long series of perils which, 
fourteen years after, Paul recapitulated to the Corinthian Christians, ** perils of 
waters, perils of robbers, perils by his countrymen, perils by the heathen, perils in 
the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brethren." 
His present perils were from his own countrymen. The Jews, convinced that nothing 
short of death would silence this powerful preacher, won over to their side the 
ethnarch, who was governor of the city under the Arabian king Aretas. He put a 
garrison at their disposal, and the gates of the city were watched night and day. 
Paul had doubtless been withdrawn into' some place of hiding by the faithful 
brethren, and there seemed no prospect of speedily arresting him except by way- 
laying him as he was trying to make his escape from the city. In this purpose, 
however, they were frustrated. Perhaps, as has been already suggested, the house 
in which Saul was hiding was built upon the wall, as Rahab's was in Jericho, accord- 
ing to the custom of those and former times. If not, he was secretly conveyed by 
night to such a house, and, a large basket having been provided, he was let down 
over the wall in it, and under cover of the darkness made his escape from the city. 
We do not know that he ever returned to Damascus again. 

Very naturally he directed his footsteps to Jerusalem. He was anxious to see the 
apostles, and especially Peter, who could tell him much that he earnestly desired to 
hear. When we remember that Saul had quitted Jerusalem " breathing out threat- 
enings and slaughter" against the believers, we shall not be surprised that "they 
were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple." News travelled 
slowly in those days, and probably there had been no opportunity, after it became 
evident that Saul must leave Damascus, for the disciples in that city to send word to 
the brethren in Jerusalem that Saul was one of their number and had done good 
work in the name of Jesus. 

There was one man in Jerusalem, however, who was able to vouch for Saul. 
This was his old friend and comrade, Barnabas, to whom he had probably confided 
all that had happened. Always coming to the help of the Church in the moment 
of emergency, Barnabas could now come forward and tell the brethren the whole 
story of Saul's conversion ; how he had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, and 
had since preached boldly in his name. This sufficed to set all fears at rest, and the 
Church of Jerusalem gladly received Saul into their fellowship. 

For fifteen days he was in Jerusalem, in the especial company of Peter. We would 
like to learn definitely what these two talked about during that time, but it is not 
hard to conjecture. Saul must have ardently longed to learn about the earthly life of 
Jesus, and there are abundant evidences in his Epistles to prove that at some time 
before they were written he had become familiar with all its details. And that time 
could have been none other than these fifteen days during which he was the constant 
companion of one of the three nearest friends of Jesus during his earthly ministry. 




PE FROM DAMASCUS. 



76 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Intimate conversation, however, was not the only occupation of this time. He 
'" came in and went out " with the apostles, sharing their work. We are particularly 
told of his boldness in preaching, and that he addressed himself especially to the Jews 
of the Dispersion, defending the claims of Jesus to the Messiahship in that very 
synagogue of the Cilicians, perhaps, where he himself may have argued against 
Stephen three years or more before. 

The experience of Stephen came near being repeated in the experience of Saul. 
The "Grecians" " went about to slay him," as they had once gone about to slay 
Stephen. Perhaps they had now no such leader as Saul himself had been, intense 
and e^er in his championship, and afraid of no measures that would silence the 
teacher of unwelcome doctrine. However that may be, the brethren interfered to 
save Saul's life by conveying him to a place of safety. At first he seems to have been 
reluctant to go. It needed a special revelation from heaven to induce him to give up 
the effort to work for his own brethren of Israel in Jerusalem. Twenty years after 
this he himself told the story of how at this time he was in the temple, praying, when 




FALLS OF THE CVDNUS, NEAR TARSUS. 



in a trance he saw Jesus, who bade him make haste and go away from Jerusalem, for 
the Jews would not receive his testimony. Even then he was inclined to demur. In 
his trance he replied to Jesus that as the Jews knew how zealous he had once been 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 77 

against the faith, and how he had even been prominent in the martyrdom of Stephen, 
they could hardly refuse to receive his testimony in favor of that faith nov/. But the 
command to depart was repeated ; and with it came the revelation that his special 
work was to be among the Gentiles. Saul was not disobedient to this command, and 
now he yielded to the wishes of the brethren. Secretly they escorted him to Caesarea, 
and thence he took ship to his old home. Tarsus in Cilicia, where he would be in 
safety from the machinations of the Jews. 



VI. 

We have already seen how the persecution which arose after the death of Ste- 
phen scattered the believers. Up to that time they had been, to the number of 
several thousands, gathered together in Jerusalem. A great many of these believers 
were " Grecians," Jews whose homes were elsewhere, but who having come to Jeru- 
salem for one reason or another, and having become believers in Jesus, had been 
reluctant to leave the company of the disciples and return to their own homes. In 
the "scattering" they were now made the messengers of God to carry the truth to 
far-distant countries. Some of them, we have seen, went to various parts of Palestine 
and the nearer cities of Syria, as far as Damascus. Others of them went still farther. 
The homes of some of these men were in Phoenicia, that narrow strip of country 
lying along the Mediterranean, stretching north from the western boundary of Gali- 
lee. From time immemorial Phoenicia had been a great commercial country. Its 
chief cities, Tyre and Sidon, had famous harbors, and the earliest explorers and 
sailors known to history were Phoenicians. In the time of Kin^- Solomon the people 
of Phoenicia excelled in many arts which were needed for the building of the temple, 
and from that time to the time of Christ there had been intimate commercial relations 
between the two countries. 

Antioch, the capital of all Syria, lies far to the north of Phoenicia. It is a beauti- 
ful city on the river Orontes, under the shadow of the Taurus and Lebanon moun- 
tains. We shall hear much of Antioch in connection with the New Testament 
Christians, and we now find that in the time of scattering a great many of the 
believers had fled to this city. Not all of these were natives of Antioch. Some of 
them were natives of the island of Cyprus ; others came from far-off Cyrene, a part 
of Libya on the north coast of Africa, west of Egypt. There were many Jews in 
Cyrene ; it was estimated that they formed a fourth part of the population. It was a 
Cyrenian who helped our Lord to bear his cross on the way to his crucifixion, and 
one of the prominent teachers in the Church of Antioch, later on, was from Cyrene. 

These men, having taken refuge in Antioch, had begun preaching the word there 
to none but Jews ; but before the time when Peter was sent to Cornelius, or at least 
before that event became generally known, the Gentiles of Antioch had become 
interested in the teachings of these disciples, and a great many of them believed and 
turned to the Lord. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 




RUINS OF CVRENE, 

News of this fact was brought to the apostles and brethren in Jerusalem, just as 
the news of the conversion of the Samaritans had been, some time earlier, and like 
that it caused a natural anxiety. These Greeks might be proselytes, and if so all was 
well ; but what if it should prove that some of them were not proselytes ? It was 
evidently the duty of the apostles to know just what was being done, and as before 
they had sent Peter and John to Samaria, so now they send a representative to look 
into the matter and to keep control of the movement, that everything should be done 
as it ought to be. 

This choice of an envoy was a very happy one, as it was none other than Barna- 
bas. We know how sympathetic and earnest he was, how ready to throw himself 
into any interesting work ; how liberal too and fair-minded he was, able to see all 
sides of a question while yet remaining honest and loyal to the truth and thoroughly 
devoted to the interests of the Church. Being himself a Jew of the Dispersion, a 
native of Cyprus, he had a larger acquaintance with men than if he had been born 
and brought up in Palestine, He understood the Gentile character, and knew its 
capabilities as well as its limitations. 

Barnabas then was despatched from the Church at Jerusalem with the order " to 
go as far as Antioch," stopping along the way to inquire into the progress of the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 79 

truth, and finally to make a thorough investigation of the condition of things in the 
Syrian capital. 

Arrived in Antioch he found things quite different from what he had expected. 
The grace which these Gentile converts showed was too evidently ** of God " for him 
to gainsay it or try to check it. He did not indeed desire to check it. On the con- 
trary, his heart rejoiced at the sight, for he was a thoroughly good man, full of the 
Spirit of God, and ready therefore to be glad in the progress of His kingdom, even if 
it was promoted by measures different from what he himself would have suggested. 

His arrival in Antioch naturally gave new stimulus to the work. " Much people 
was added unto the Lord." 

vn. 

The work of evangelizing grew so rapidly that Barnabas soon found the need 
of more regular and systematic help than he could count upon from the believers 
who were only casually in Antioch, or who were occupied with the cares of business. 
Naturally his thoughts reverted to his old friend who had now been for some time, 
perhaps three or four years, in the seclusion of his early home in Tarsus. Barnabas 
may have been told by Saul how God had commissioned him especially to work 
among the Gentiles ; but whether this was the case or not, he knew Saul well enough 
to feel sure that he was the very helper he needed. He therefore departed for Tar- 
sus to seek him. 

Saul had surely not spent the years of his seclusion in utter idleness. We may 
believe that he had turned every day to good account. Tarsus, as we know, was a 
noted seat of learning, and though it was not probable that Saul as a boy had been 
taught the wisdom of the Gentiles, it is very certain from his Epistles and some of 
his sermons that at some period of his life he became familiar with the methods and 
with the views of the Greek philosophers, and gained some acquaintance with their 
literature, and there is no other time except this when he could have studied these 
things. He also preached the gospel ; we need no revelation, surely, to tell us that 
Saul would do this. We are not indeed told in the New Testament that he did so, 
but we are told of churches in Syria and Cilicia of which Paul later took the over- 
sight, and it seems necessary to date their foundation to this period. At this time, 
too, Saul must have encountered some of those "perils" of which he afterwards 
wrote. He would be peculiarly liable to " perils by robbers " and "by the heathen," 
in his journeys in this region. The mountain fastnesses of the Taurus were infested 
with banditti, and though Tarsus itself was a centre of culture, the surrounding 
country was peopled by a rude, almost barbarous race, who would be likely to handle 
roughly any unwelcome visitor. 

Among those who heard the gospel from Saul were doubtless they of his own 
household. We hear afterwards of some of his kinsmen who were believers, and we 
know of a nephew who afterwards was instrumental in saving his life. Though we 
are not told in so many words that this young man was a believer, it seems probable 
that he was. 



8o FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

We may think of Saul then as sometimes listening in the porticos to the disputes 
of the Greek philosophers, sometimes walking abroad in deep meditation, on the 
broad plain dotted over by the goats'-hair tents of the country people, and again as 
penetrating the mountain recesses on journeys to other cities, always bearing coura* 
geously whatever of hardship or danger might await him, that so he could carry 
the gospel to those who were ready to receive it. Or we may think of him yet again 
as busy with that trade of weaving goats'-hair tent-coverings such as the country people 
used. It was the trade which he had been taught in boyhood, and to it he more than 
once in after life turned for the means of livelihood. He would probably need it 
now, since he could no longer practise the profession of rabbi, for which he had been 
educated. From this mode of life he was now summoned by Barnabas, and together 
the two returned to Antioch. There for a year they labored side by side, building 
up a Church which was to be both the " mother Church of Gentile Christianity " 
and the " seminary of missionary activity." 



VIII. 

Antioch was peculiarly adapted to become such a point of departure. It was 
then, and until Constantinople was built several centuries later it continued to be, 
the chief city of the East, or at least second only to Alexandria. It had been 
founded about three centuries before Christ, and was celebrated for the beauty and 
magnificence of its public buildings. It was noted also for its heathen rites, being 
particularly dedicated to Apollo, whose world-famous grove Daphne was in the envi- 
rons. From the nature of the worship there carried on, the population became 
notorious for profligacy, while on the other hand a large number were much addicted 
to sorcery, under the power of Jewish magicians, of whom there was an unusually 
large number in the city. There was in fact a large Jewish population ; but the 
gospel does not seem to have found many adherents among them. 

It came about naturally from this fact that, as we are told, " the disciples were 
called Christians first in Antioch." As the number of Gentiles in the Church soon 
far exceeded that of Jews, it was impossible that the Church should long be looked 
upon merely as one of the many .sects into which the Jewish Church was divided, 
such as Pharisees, Sadducees. Essenes, and the like. It ceased to be known merely 
as "a Way" of Judaism, and its members were recognized simply as the disciples 
of Jesus. The name Christian is formed after the Roman method in such cases, 
from the Greek word Christ. Who gave it to the believers is an interesting ques- 
tion. It surely was not the Jews, for Christ means Messiah, and to call the believers 
by that name would have been to acknowledge that Jesus was the Messiah. As cer- 
tainly was it not given by the believers to themselves. They never called themselves 
by this name. It occurs only twice after this in the New Testament, once in Acts 
and once in i Peter, and both times with reference to what others called them. It 
must therefore have been given by the heathen Gentiles. As the people of Antioch 
were noted for giving nicknames, some people have assumed that the title was given 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



81 




in contempt, but this seems not 
probable. It is far more likely 
that it was given in good faith, 
from the fact that the chief 
contention of the gospel preach- 
ers was that /cstis was Christ ; 
and if it afterwards became a 
term of opprobrium it would 
probably be because most of 
the Christians were men of the 
lower orders. 

During the year of Saul's 
preaching here, the Church re- 
ceived a visit from certain prophets who belonged to the Jerusalem Church. We often 
find the office of prophet mentioned in the annals of the New Testament Church. 
They appear to have been specially inspired teachers, but though on this occasion 
they predicted a future event, teaching, not prediction, was their principal business. 
They now, by the mouth of one of their number, Agabus by name, foretold a griev- 
ous famine that was soon to take place and which was to be especially felt in Jeru- 
salem. Upon this the hearts of the Christians of Antioch were moved to a course 
which had never before been followed, but which was the first in a long series of 
events of which our munificent gift of corn and money to the famine-stricken 
Russians is the latest example. They determined to take up a contribution accord- 
ing to their ability and send it to the brethren in Jerusalem. These Gentile Chris- 
tians recognized their debt to Jewish Christianity, and were glad of an opportunity to 
testify to it. Their conduct in giving " according to their ability " gives an example 
which all Christians should follow. 



IX. 

For some time now the Palestinian Church had enjoyed rest from persecution. 
This was chiefly because, as we have already seen, the Jews had been too much 
occupied with other things to busy themselves with the doings of the disciples of 
Christ, being entirely absorbed with the attempted outrages of the emperor. Caligula. 
All their energies were concentrated upon the effort to ward off his endeavors to 
secure for himself divine honors in Jehovah's temple. How long they would have 
succeeded in postponing the dreadful day it would be hard to tell ; but in the midst 
of his outrageous career Caligula was murdered, and the Jews were relieved of the 
dread of a calamity far more awful than death. 

Before his death Caligula had made Herod Agrippa I. king of Pale.stine. This 
Herod was the grandson of Herod the Great, who was king when our Lord was born, 
and nephew of Herod Antipas, to whom Pilate sent Jesus at the time of his trial and 
condemnation. Herod Agrippa I, was a thoroughly bad man, proud, self-seeking. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




MODERN JERUSALEM. 

and self-indulgent. He was, however, a very strict and bigoted Jew, though without 
a particle of true religion. He was hated by the Jewish people, as all his family were, 
they being not Jews in race, but Idumasans or Edomites, Herod's life had been one 
of many changes ; brought up as a boy with Caligula, he had been cast into a prison 
by the Emperor Tiberius, and though liberated and raised to high honors when 
Caligula came to the empire, he by no means felt safe upon his throne after Caligula- 
died and Claudius came to the empire. He therefore cast about to see how he could 
ingratiate himself with the Jews, and was not long in discovering that to persecute 
the disciples of Jesus would be the best possible way. True, the people, the common 
people, "magnified" the disciples, admiring and trusting them; but Herod cared 
little about the people; it was the authorities whom he wanted to gain over — the 
scribes and Pharisees, the rabbis and the priests. 

He therefore set on foot a new persecution of the Church. He probably caused 
some of the more prominent members to be arrested and scourged, and finally he 
even went so far as to arrest Jame.s, the brother of John, who was the head of the 
Jerusalem Church, and caused him to be put to death by the sword. 

These were dark days for the Christian Church. The trials of that time were 
probably aggravated by the famine of which we have liad intimation. Some little 
comfort was doubtless afforded by the visit of Barnabas and Saul, bearing the con- 
tributions of the Antioch brethren to the needs of the poor saints; but that visit was 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 83 

necessarily a brief one. They probably went up in secret, and we are especially told 
that they went back again as soon as they had accomplished their errand. It is not 
likely that they even saw more than a very few of the disciples ; it is doubtful if they 
saw any of the apostles, as Paul did not mention this visit in his list of the times that 
he had seen them, and the apostles would feel it their duty not to expose themselves 
unnecessarily at such a time as this. It is indeed quite probable that Barnabas and 
Saul did not actually enter Jerusalem at all. Prudence would counsel their stopping 
in some outlying village, and there arranging for an interview with such confidential 
persons as would take charge of their bounty. They came on no question of doctrine 
or duty, and there was no necessity for an interview with the apostles. In fact we are 
expressly told that the gift was sent from Antioch not to the apostles, but to the elders 
of the Jerusalem Church. These were men appointed by the church, as the Seven had 
been among whom were Stephen and Philip, to superintend the charities of the church 
and attend to its various interests. We are not definitelv told of the ordination of anv 
body of elders in Jerusalem, as we are told of the ordination of the Seven, but all along 
through the history of the progress of the gospel into other cities and countries we 
hear frequently of the ordination of elders in every church. 

As to the meeting of Barnabas and Saul with the Jerusalem elders, however, we 
hear nothing. All we know with certainty is that their visit was brief, and that when 
they went back to Antioch they were accompanied by the cousin of Barnabas, a young 
man named John Mark, who is generally believed to be the writer of the second Gospel. 



THE FIRST PERSECL'TIOX. 

I. 

It was probably during these dark days of the Christian Church — perhaps before, 

perhaps after the death of James the brother of John- that the first written book of 

the Church appeared, the oldest of the Xew Testament books. This is the General 

£pistle of James. Its author was James, the brother of Jesus, who during his lifetime 

bad not been one of his disciples, not even a believer in him. After the resurrection 

Jesus appeared to his brother, and he was then convinced of His Me.ssiahship. The 

'^^hole tenor of his Epistle points to that time as the period of his conversion. Un- 

ft^ jke the Epistles of Peter, which are full of the memories of the blessed companion- 

^liip in which he had lived with the Lord Jesus during his earthly life, the Ep:.stle of 

I^ antes speaks only of the risen l-rord. But he became an ardent disciple, and after the 

lom of James, the son of Zebedee. he Wcts made head of the Jerusalem Church. 

James was a remarkably fine character. Like his father Joseph, he was conspic- 

for justice^ an idea which at that time included reverence of the Mosaic Law. 

tut he was not like the Pharisees, scrjpulous for the small matters, the *• mint, ani.se. 

cummin " of obser\'anc^, while neglecting the weightier matters of justice, judg- 

and mercy. There was no superstition in his love for the Law. When God was 

^X^evealed to him in Christ, his delight in the Law became all the greater, though at the 



84 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

same time more enlightened. Thenceforth it became to him a " royal law," a " law 
of liberty," ruling the affections of the heart as well as the outward conduct. 

He wrote his Epistle with two purposes in view : to comfort the brethren under 
the sorrows of Herod's persecution, and to warn them against certain errors into 
which as an infant church they were likely to fall. His love for the Law made him 
the more earnest that it should not be misapprehended, and that its true relation to 
the believers in Jesus should be clearly understood. 

THE EPISTLE OF JAMES. 

The opening words of the Epistle are very striking : James the servant of the Lord, 
He does not call himself His brother; perhaps he thinks it would appear like an 
attempt to set himself up above the other brethren ; rather he would be, as Jesus 
had said, the servant of them all. But it is evident that he knows himself to be well 
known ; he does not try to explain who he is. He writes to Jews only, not to Gen- 
tiles, as not only the opening of his Epistle shows, but also the fact that he has nothing 
to say against the gross sins which at that period characterized the Gentiles, but from 
which Jews were remarkably free. The sins which he warns against ore Javish sins: 
pride, a tendency to fawn upon the great and to despise the poor, greed for wealth, 
and a disputatious spirit. Parts of his Epistle are evidently addressed to Jews who 
were not Christians, a fact which shows that the Epistle was written early, before the 
division between Jews and Christians was made clearly evident. 

The keynote of the Epistle is comfort, as was needed in a time of persecution. He 
urges his readers to patience, to a deeper trust in God» and to a more sober valuation 
of temporal blessings. The loss of such things is not a matter for mourning ; the 
only perfect gifts are those that God sends. They are not to deem that they are too 
severely tried, nor to be discouraged because the return of Christ to earth is delayed, 
but are urged to take Job for their model, whose patience and trust were so great 
The sins that James warns them against as Christians are the sins of immature or 
half-enlightened Christians — sins of temper, presumption, love of wealth, and espe- 
cially the danger of profession without practice. The faith which he estimates 'as 
dead and worthless without works is not the faith which Paul afterwards expounds 
and teaches, but faith as the Jews understood it : namely, belief in the unity of God 
and assent to the doctrines of the law. The works which he urges are not the ritual- 
istic observances which the Jews held to be good works, but those which springy out 
of a Christian faith, works such as the Jews entirely undervalued — service of others, a 
brotherly love which has no reference to worldly condition, prayer, and the commit- 
ting of all cares to God. 

Although the Epistle contains no allusion to the earthly life of Jesus, it is every- 
where pervaded with the memory of his teachings. There is hardly a paragraph 
that does not contain some echo of the Sermon on the Mount or of other utterances 
of Jesus. There are even several allusions to unrecorded sayings of his, which, from 
the fact that they appear again in the writings of Peter and John, were evidently 
treasured up in the memory of those who had known and loved Jesus in the flesh. 



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PETERS RELEASE. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 87 

Christian community ! Many of the members were in hiding, many were in dire 
straits by reason of the famine, but the one thought that occupied them was the case 
of Peter. Prayer was offered for him continually, and when at last the day of his trial 
drew near, as many as could do so assembled in the house of Mary, the aunt of 
Barnabas and mother of John Mark, to spend the night in praying for him. 

Herod had doubtless heard of the miraculous deliverance of Peter and John 
from prison some years before, for he had taken unusual precautions for Peter's 
security : he had put him in charge of four bands of four soldiers each, in order that, 
the watch being frequently shifted, there would be no danger of the soldiers sleeping 
on their post. According to custom, Peter was chained to two of these soldiers, the 
other two keeping watch respectively at the inner and outer doors of the prison. 
Herod himself had been thus chained to two soldiers during his imprisonment in the 
time of the Emperor Tiberius. 

Peter must have thought more than once durmg those eight days of imprison- 
ment of his deliverance from that same prison by an angel years before, and perhaps 
at first he had hoped for a like intervention now. But as the days wore on he proba- 
bly came to the conclusion thai it was not the purpose of (lod at this time to save 
him from condemnation and death. His mind was entirely at rtst upon the subject. 
On this last night before his trial lie was peacefully sleeping between the two soldiers 
who guarded him, his interests havini^ been put unreservedly into the keeping of 
his Lord. So soundly was he sleeping;- tiiat he failed to be awakened by a light 
which shined in the prison in the dead of night. Even the touch of an angel's hand 
did not completely arouse him. It was necessary for the angel to raise him up, say- 
ing, "Arise up quickly," before he was sufficiently awake to know what he was doing; 
and even then, the chains having fallen from his hands, he still needed the angel's 
admonition, first to fasten his belt and put on his sandals, and again to put on the 
outer garment which he had laid aside for sleeping. 

Having prepared himself thus for going out of the prison, he followed the angel, 
though still not perfectly sure that he was awake, and deeming that this was all a 
vision. They passed the guard who lay before the door of the dungeon, and the 
one who kept the door of the prison, and cro.ssing the court they came to the outer 
gate, which swung open before them. ** Through the gate and down the seven steps " 
they went, as an old manuscript tells us; and then silently along one street. There 
the angel departed and left Peter alone. 

It was not till then that Peter came to a sense of the realitv of all that had taken 
place. Now at last he understood that (lod had actually sent an angel and delivered 
him out of the hand of Herod, and that the expectation of the Jews would be baffled. 
Having seen clearly that it was the purpose of God thus to deliver him, he considered 
what steps he ought himself to take. After reflection he decided to go first to the 
house of Mar}% the mother of Mark, and let the Church know through her what had 
taken place. Mary was apparently a widow of some social standing. She at least 
had a house in Jerusalem, and it appears to have been a general meeting-place of the 
Christians. The very natural tradition is that in her house was that guest-chamber 



83 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

in which Jesus ate the Last Supper with his disciples, and that her son, John Mark, 
was the young man bearing a pitcher of water, who showed the disciples the way to it. 

Late as was the hour when Peter was delivered from prison, a band of devoted 
disciples were assembled in Mary's house praying for him. As they heard a knock 
they sent a girl named Rhoda, probably a servant of the house, to peep out through 
the little wicket in the door and see who it was, for in those troublous times there was 
need of extreme caution. She doubtless asked who was there, for Peter spoke to her. 
She had often heard his voice in the gatherings of the disciples in her mistress' 
house and she recognized it at once. Full of excitement at so unexpected an event, 
she forgot to unbar the door, and running into the room told those who were there 
that Peter was outside. 

Of course they did not believe her. Though they had been praying for his deliv- 
erance, they had by no means expected to see him among them that very night. 
They thought the girl was mad, that anxiety and excitement had turned her head. 
She, however, persisted in her assertion, upon which they came to the conclusion that 
it must be his angel. The Jews believed that every man had a guardian angel, and 
some of our Lord's sayings appear to countenance that belief. Their supposition that 
the angel had assumed the form of Peter might be due to their bewilderment Many 
persons, however, suppose that the damsel thought Peter was dead and his spirit stood at 
the door ; but her belief in ghostly appearings is no proof that they ever occur. How- 
ever, as Peter kept on knocking, some of those within hastened to the door. Their 
amazement at seeing him there would have broken out into loud exclamations but 
that he checked them by a motion of his hand. A noise at that time of night might 
have brought the authorities upon them. Briefly explaining to them how he had 
been delivered, he bade them bring the news to James, then head of the Church in 
Jerusalem, and to the brethren. Then he hastened away into some place of hiding, 
we are not told where. 

The consternation of the soldiers next morning may be imagined. Herod and 
the Jews were hardly less disturbed. But even the examination of the guards by 
torture failed to elicit any explanation of Peter's mysterious disappearance, and after 
having condemned them to death Herod returned to Caesarea. 



in. 

Herod was not long left to persecute the Church. It was April when he 
returned from Jerusalem to Caesarea; in August he was dead. His death is a 
matter of history ; St. Luke narrates it briefly, but very strikingly. Herod had some 
cause, or thought he had, to be displeased with the people of Tyre and Sidon, the 
famed cities of Phoenicia. Perhaps he thought they took undue measures to divert 
commerce from his capital, Caesarea. to their own ports. At any rate his wrath was 
enough to trouble them greatly. They could ill afford to risk the disfavor of the 
king of Palestine, especially in this period of scarcity, for Phoenicia had been, from 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 89 

the days of Solomon, more or less dependent on Palestine for food. They therefore 
sent a deputation to Cassarea, and having made friends with the king's chamberlain, 
Blastus, they endeavored through him to make their peace with the king. 

Desiring so to overawe them that they would never again dare to risk his dis- 
pleasure, Herod took advantage of an approaching festival to impress the ambassadors 
with his power and majesty. The first day of August was the emperor's birthday, 
and on this year came round the time for the public games which once in four years 
were celebrated in his honor. The second of August was also the third anniversary 




MODERN TYRE. 

of Herod's having been made king over all Palestine. The time seemed propitious 
for some special display of his majesty, and Herod went to the theatre arrayed in a 
magnificent robe of silver tissue, and from his throne, .so placed as to catch the rays 
of the rising sun upon his resplendent garb, he harangued the audience. They, per- 
liaps dazzled by the splendor of his appearance, cried out with a great shout. " It is 
the voice of a god and not of a manl" Strict Jew though he was, believer in the one 
only true God, Herod's strong ambition and overweening vanity would not let him 
disclaim the flattery. "Because he gave not God the glory," Luke tells us, he was 
immediately smitten with a loathsome disease, and after a few days of excruciating 
agony he died miserably. 



90 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

AND TO THE END OF THE EARTH. 

I. 

We have now come to an important epoch in the history of the Church. Hith- 
erto it has been concerned now with one, now with another of the apostles, chiefly 
perhaps with Peter. Henceforth the whole story will centre around the person of 
Saul of Tarsus. This, however, is not what makes this an epochal period. It is that 
a new thought at this time became dominant in the work of the Church — the thought 
of organized missionary effort. True, the Church had always, through force of cir- 
cumstances, been a missionary Church, but this had been an unorganized or accidental 
circumstance. The time had come for the work that had been done incidentally to 
be taken up of set purpose, recognizing that this was the true business of the Church, 
and that it was Christ's command to preach the gospel not in Judaea and Samaria 
only, but to the end of the earth. 

For several years after the awful death of Herod the Church had rest. Herod 
Agrippa H. was only seventeen years old when his father died, and the government 
was therefore put into the hands of a Roman procurator, Cuspius Fabius. He hated 
and despised the Jews, and they could not expect him to cooperate with them in 
persecuting the Christians. Therefore the persecutions came to an end for a while. 

For several years after this, probably four, Barnabas and Saul remained in 
Antioch, busily engaged in building up the Church there. They were not alone in 
this work. There were no less than five men at least who shared their duties. Three 
of them were prophets, teachers directly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Barnabas was 
one of these prophets, the other two being Simeon, called Niger, and Lucius of 
Cyrene. Simeon Niger (the Black) was probably an African proselyte. Lucius also 
was from Africa, from the country which, as we have learned, was west of Egypt. 
They were perhaps of the number of those men of Cyrene who had first carried the 
gospel to Antioch, and they may have remained there all these years. 

The other two were called teachers. This was a lower rank in the New Testa- 
ment Church, its members not being so largely inspired by God. Manaen was the 
older of the two teachers in Antioch. He must have been an old man now, as he 
had been brought up with Herod Antipas. the murderer of John the Baptist, the 
Herod who consented to the death of our Lord. Antipas was now an exile in Lyons 
in Gaul, but Manaen had chosen the service of Jesus, and this had saved him from 
sharing both the crimes and the punishment of his master. 

The second of the teachers mentioned was Saul. His name stands at the end of 
the list of those concerned in the welfare of the Church, but it will not be there much 
longer. 

These prophets and teachers were observing a period of fasting in connection 
with their service of the Church. This service appears to have been one of more than 
usual solemnity, and it was probably connected with what we read of immediately 
afterwards. The Christian teachers must have seen all around them opportunities 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



91 



for a far more extensive work than had yet been undertaken, and they had probably 
come to God for instruction as to what they were to do under the circumstances. And 
they received the answer that Barnabas and Saul were to be set apart to this very work 
of evangelization. A second solemn service of prayer and fasting followed; the 
brethren laid their hands upon the heads of the two who had been designated for 
this work. This act was not by way of giving them authority to perform it, but of 
showing that the Church associated itself with them in their future labors, and so 
sent them away. So they departed, and with them John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, 
to be their minister or attendant. 

Naturally the thoughts of Barnabas turned towards his old home, Cyprus. He 
would want to take Paul there, and he would desire to carry the gospel thither. 
They went down the Orontes, therefore, doubtless by boat, for the river was naviga- 
ble for large vessels at that time. Sixteen miles below, at the mouth of the Orontes, 
was Selucia, the seaport of Antioch ; from it might be seen on a clear day the moun- 
tain summits of Cyprus, and between it and Salamis, on the eastern extremity of that 
island, many vessels passed and repassed. In one of these vessels they found passage, 
and soon landed at Salamis. There were many Jews in this city, attracted thither, 
probably, by its large opportunities for commerce. .There were certainly two syna- 
gogues there, and possibly more, and in them Barnabas and Saul preached, though 
without making much impression upon 
their hearers. 

Their stay was therefore not pro- 
longed, but passing through the island, 
a distance of about a hundred miles, 
they came to Paphos, at the western 
extremity of Cyprus. It was the capi- 
tal and residence of the Roman gov- 
ernor ; a very profligate city, much ad- 
dicted to the worship of the heathen 
goddess Venus, who, according to the 
legend, had been cast up by the sea at 
this very place. The town was more 
than a thousand years old when the apostles viisited it ; it has now for many centuries 
been in ruins. 




KUINS Ot PAPHOa 



II. 
Two men who dwelt in Paphos are introduced by name into the account of the 
apostles' visit. These are Sergius Paulus, the proconsul or Roman governor of 
Cyprus, and a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-jesus. This sorcerer, or false prophet, 
was closely attached to the person of the proconsul ; and we need not wonder at this, 
even though we learn that Sergius Paulus was a " prudent " — that is, an intelligent — 
man, of an inquiring mind. In these days intelligent people do not deal with sot- 



92 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

cerers, but we have already seen that Jewish sorcerers and necromancers were in 
high favor in the heathen world. Some of the more thoughtful pagans of Greece 
and Rome and Egypt were dissatisfied with their religion and were seeking for some- 
thing better, and it was probably this desire for a higher form of religious belief 
which had led Sergius Paulus to seek the companionship of Bar-jesus. Some time 
later than this a historian says that there were two schools of sorcery in Paphos, one 
of them Jewish, and they may have been in existence at this earlier date. Bar-jesus 
enjoyed a special celebrity. He was called also by the Arabic name Elymas, or the 
Wise One. This latter name, in Greek, is the same word by which we know the " wise 
men '* who came from the East to Jerusalem at the time of our Lord's birth. 

Ely mas had certainly not been able to satisfy the proconsul's earnest desire to 
find the true religion ; for when Sergius Paulus heard of the arrival of Barnabas and 
Saul he sent for them and asked them to tell him about God. Elymas, however, did 
not wish to lose his influence over the governor, and he strenuously opposed the 
teaching of the apostles. They seem to have been all three in the presence of the 
proconsul, the apostles explaining their religion and Elymas objecting, for at last 
Paul — here for the first time called Paul — fixed his eyes upon the sorcerer and sternly 
called him to account for his actions. It is very significant that Paul calls him 
•* Child of the Devil," a strong contrast to the name Bar (son of) Jesus, which he 
called himself. ** Enemy of all righteousness," Paul calls him again, for Elymas was 
far more anxious to keep the governor under his own influence than to promote the 
cause of righteousness, and he therefore, in Paul's words, did not " cease to pervert 
the right ways of the Lord." As a token of God s displeasure and a strong warning 
both to the sorcerer and the proconsul, Paul told Elymas that he should be tempo- 
rarily blind. The prophecy was instantly fufilled ; the sorcerer's sight first became 
dim, as if a mist veiled his eyes, then it went out in total darkness, and he went 
groping, trying to find some one who would lead him by the hand. 

The awful warning was not lost upon Sergius Paulus; he knew now whose 
" teaching " was right, whether that of Elymas or that of God through these apostles. 
He believed without further hesitation, and though we are not told of his baptism 
we have reason to suppose that he was baptized. We are told nothing further of 
Elymas ; but as his blindness was only to be ** for a season," we have a right to trust 
that it wrought for good to him, and that he too believed. We are told nothing more 
about Paphos, in fact ; but surely the conversion of the proconsul would have turned 
many minds to attend to the preaching of the apostles, and we are not forbidden to 
conjecture that they found much fruit of their labors in this city. 

One thing is very noticeable : Saul, who up to this time has not been known by 
any other name, is here called Paul, and is henceforth known by no other name than 
Paul. A great many conjectures have been made as to the reason of this change of 
name, but the most natural seems to be the most reasonable one. We have before 
considered the possibility that he, like many of his contemporaries, Simon Peter, 
Joses Barnabas, John Mark, Joseph Barsabas, and others, probably had two names, 
Saul and Paul. His father, who was a Roman citizen, for some reason perhaps con- 



94 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

nected with this citizenship, had given his son a Roman as well as a Jewish name 
Now that he is entering upon his mission to the Gentiles it is entirely natural that h 
should take his Roman name ; probably, indeed, he had often borne that name whe 
among the Gentiles, though it had not before been recorded, as his Jewish friendf 




would naturally call him by his Jewish name. The reason why we find him calle 
Paul from this time seems not difficult to find. In the verv next verse after the 
account of the proconsul's conversion we are told of ** Paul and his company," and it 
is possible that Luke, who wrote the Acts, had become one of this " company " at 
Paphos. There are certain slight touches in the story of the event at Paphos whicli. 
look like the account of an eye-witness. Now Luke, who was of the Dispersion, prob- 
ably always called Paul by his Roman name. When he writes about him from hiij 
own knowledge, that is, always after this time, he naturally gives him the name by 
which he himself always called him. In the earlier part of the book of Acts, whicli 
he took, as he tells us in the preface, from other documents or from the accounts of 
other witnesses, he as naturally calls the apostle by the name which he found given 
to him by those whose accounts he followed. These were Jews, and called the apostle 
by his Jewish name. Here in the place where the two names meet, that is, where 
Luke passes from written documents to his personal knowledge, he explains, once for 
all, that Saul is ** also called Paul,** and never afterwards calls him anything but Paul. 
Though Paul took no new name at this time, the substituting of the one name 
for the other marks a very important period in his life. St. Augustine long ago 
noticed this. He says, " Paul suffers what Saul inflicted : Saul stoned and Paul was 
stoned ; Saul inflicted scourgings on Christians, Paul five times received forty stripes 
save one ; Saul hunted the Church of God, Paul was let down in a basket ; Saul bound, 
Paul was bound.** This contrast — a very true one — dates back of course almost to 
the conversion of Paul ; but the time of his first missionary journey, at which we 
first know of the change of names, was almost as important an epoch for the Church, 
and also for himself, as the date of his conversion. 



IIL 

From this time we hear not about ** Barnabas and Saul,** but of ** Paul and Barna- 
bas.*' After the remarkable events at Paphos, Paul takes the first place. It is " Paul 
and his company ** who *' loose from Paphos *' in a ship bound for Asia Minor. The 
distance is not great ; there were probably many small crafts plying between Paphos 
and the Bay of Attaleia. Three rivers break through the mountain range that 
borders this bay. One of these is the Cestrus, a river then navigable, though now an 
impassable bar has been formed at its mouth. Probably the ship which carried Paul's 
company sailed the seven miles up the river to the city of Perga. This was one of the 
chief cities of Pamphylia, the province which bordered Cilicia on the west. It was 
chiefly celebrated for its temple of the goddess Diana, in whose honor an annual 
festival was held. The people of Pamphylia were a wild, rough race, very like those 




T CI/R/STIAX CliXTURV. 95 

who inhabited the moun- 
tainous parts of Cilicia. It 
is probable that the inhab- 
itants of the Pamphylian 
cities partook much more 
of the character of the coun- 
try people than did those 
of a metropolitan city like 
'i'arsiis. " Perils of rol)- 
bers" as well as perils of 
rivers were probably immi- 
nent in that city of Pcrga, 
at the very base of the high 
mountains down the prec- 
ipices of which the river 
Cestriis rushed at some sea- 
sons of the year a foaming 
torrent. There are reasons 
for thinking that the timti 
was tJie month of May, 
when the rivers would be. 
swollen with the melted 
snow. Down on the plain 
the weather might already 
be intolerably hot, but 
higher up the mountain it 
would still lie cold. What- 
ever were the dangers that 
threatened the missionary 
company, they wore .sure- 
ly ])reUy .serious, for John 
Mark was entirely disheart- 
ened by them. Against 
the remonstrances of I'aul, 
if nut of Barnabas, he de- 
parted from them and re- 
turned to Jerii.salem, prol>- 
ably by sea to Antioch or 
one of the Ph(enician ports. 
The apostolic company 
found something in the 
circmnstanees not favora- 
ble to tiieir remaining in 



96 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Perga, for they departed at once and crossed the mountains into Pisidia which lies 
north of Pamphylia. Their first stopping-place was Antioch, a city built by the same 
Greek emperor, Seleucus, who built the more noted city, Antioch in Syria, whence the 
apostles had set out. Antioch in Pisidia had become a Roman colonial and Latin was 
probably spoken quite as much as Greek in the city, while the lower classes doubtless 
spoke their native Pisidian tongue. There were Jews in the city, not in large 
numbers, for they had only one synagogue, but they had evidently gained an influ- 
ence over the thinking part of the community. Many of the Gentiles of this city had 
become like Cornelius, devout and God-fearing, and if not proselytes, certainly 
attendants on the synagogue worship. 

On the first Sabbath after their arrival the apOwStles went, according to their 
custom, to the synagogue. The services were then, as now, begfun by the recitation 
of written prayers by a religious official called the Apostle or Angel of the synagogue. 
Then came the reading of the lesson from the Law, followed by the second lesson 
from the Prophets, each part being taken by a different person, for no fewer than 
seven persons must take part in the synagogue service. Then there came an exposi- 
tion or exhortation from one or more persons, and last of all the benediction and the 
**Amen.*' It is easy to see that, as was perfectly natural, the forms of the e'arly Chris- 
tian worship were largely modelled upon the synagogue service. 

It was after the reading of the Prophets on this day that the rulers of the syna- 
gogue called upon the strangers whom they saw seated in the assembly, inviting 
them, if they had any word of exhortation for the assembly, to speak it. And Paul 
arose, and making a gesture which was probably both significant and characteristic, 
for it is often spoken of in the Acts, he began one of the most important of his 
recorded sermons. If he had been in Palestine he would have uttered this sermon 
sitting, as our Lord did his sermon in the synagogue of Nazareth, for that ancient 
Jewish custom was still followed in Palestine. The Jews of the Dispersion had 
adopted the Greek and Roman custom of standing to speak, and Paul had been 
familiar with that custom in the synagogues of his native Tarsus. 



IV. 

The sermon which Paul preached on this important occasion has many points 
of likeness to Stephen's speech before the Sanhedrin, and there is no doubt that 
Paul's method of teaching was in some degree influenced by his memory of Stephen. 
The principal characteristic of Stephen's speech, however, its historic method, was 
not peculiar to him ; it was the method adopted by the Jewish teachers from time 
immemorial. Moses, when he had a lesson to teach to Israel in the desert, began by 
recapitulating the nation's history from the time of Abraham. Solomon followed the 
same method, and so did psalmists and prophets all down through the ages. 

Paul then, after a few words of address, which included with the " men of Israel " 
all those present not of Israel who feared God, began with a brief review of God's an- 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



97 



cient mercies, showing how all along through centuries of weakness and unworthiness 
and sin God's free grace and mercy and patience had ever followed the Jewish people. 
In the wilderness he had borne them "as a nurse beareth her child;" in the tumults 
and dangers of their entry into the Promised I^nd he had given them judges, and 
later prophets and kings, until the time of his crowning mercy, the sending of the 
promised Saviour. For his coming John the Baptist had prepared the way ; in his 
coming early prophecy had been fulTdled. 

Having thus briefly shown that all past history had been under the direct guid- 
ance of God, Paul went on to show that the salvation brought by this Saviour was 
ofEered to those to whom he was now speaking, both Israelites and God-fearing Gen- 
tiles. For they in Jerusalem had failed to understand the teachings of the prophets 




PAUL IN THE SY 



and had rejected this Saviour. In doing this they had not frustrated the plan of 
God ; they had indeed only fulfdled prophecy ; and though they had put him to death 
God had raised him from the dead. The witnesses to this fact were yet living, and 
these apostles had now come hither to announce to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles 
that the ancient promise of God to the fathers was completely fulfilled in the coming 
of a Messiah over whom death had no dominion. By this Messiah the fullest justifi- 
cation from sin was offered to them. Those who had most earnestly tried to serve 
God, best knew that the law of Moses could not justify them ; but belief in this Jesus, 
»3 



98 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

the promised Saviour, could and did justify all, both Jews and Gentiles, from si 
The sermon closed with a solemn warning not to mistake or think lightly of th 
message now brought to them from God. 

The sermon ended, the apostles, for some unexplained reason, departed from th 
synagogue, not waiting for the close of the service. As they were going out many 
those present besought them to return and preach again on the next Sabbath ; b 
the promise that they would do so did not satisfy these eager listeners. No soone 
was the congregation dismissed than many of the Jews and devout Gentiles follow 
Paul and Barnabas to their lodging. There they received a more personal teachin 
and many of them believed. These received the further teaching of the grace on 
God, in which they were to "abide,** recognizing it as an ever-present power foa 
holiness. 

We have no record of the events of the intervening week. Probably Pau 
procured for himself, if not for his companions, the means of working at the 
of tent-making, by which the wants of the missionary party must be supplied. Thei 
leisure hours were assuredly spent in teaching, for by the following Sabbath the 
interest in the apostles and their message had become general, and " almost the whole 
city ** assembled in the synagogue ** to hear the word of God.** The eagerness of the 
Gentiles to hear and their readiness to appropriate to themselves the benefits brought 
to the world through their Messiah aroused the jealous exclusiveness of the Jews. 
Filled with envy, they became blind to the glorious truth that the very reason why 
they were " a chosen people '* was in order that they might become the channel of 
blessing to the world ; and, jealous of their privilege, they set about undermining the 
apostles* influence with the Gentiles, ** contradicting and blaspheming.** 

The time had come for a new stand and a bold one. Paul and Barnabas had 
been sent out on a mission to the Gentiles, but they had felt it their duty and privi- 
lege to offer the gospel to the Jews first. Now, however, the Jews, by refusing their 
high calling to be the channel of life to the world, had pronounced themselves to 
be unworthy of eternal life, and the apostles plainly announce that they accept the 
decision of the Jews and turn themselves to the Gentiles. And they quoted a 
passage of Scripture in which the Messiah is expressly announced as a Light to the 
Gentiles to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. So glorious an announcement 
filled the hearts of the God-fearing Gentiles with joy. They glorified God and a large 
number of them believed in Jesus. 

For some time the apostles made this city the headquarters of their work, preach- 
ing and teaching in all the region round about Antioch. But the sight of Gentiles 
turning to God stirred up the jealousy of the Jews. They could not openly antago- 
nize them, but they knew a more efficient method. As in Damascus, a large number 
of the ** honorable women ** of Antioch in Pisidia were Jewish proselytes. It was not 
very difficult for the hostile Jews to win these women over to their side, and when 
they were gained over it was not difficult to reach their husbands through them and 
thus to arouse a persecution against Paul and Barnabas. The apostles were expelled, 
not merely from Antioch, but from the *' coasts ** thereof — those parts of the open 







THE FIRST CURISTIA.X CENTURY. 



99 



c<iuntry when? Ihey had probably been carr\-ing on a successful work. The disciples 
went away withimt violence, merely shaking off the dur^t of their feet as a token 

n,gainst them, as Jesus had comniandecl. Then they took up their journey to another 

place. 



Tin:Y turned their footsteps northward, over the bold Taurus Mountains, until 
they came to a city beautifully situated between the mountains and a blue lake. It 
>A?aM the city of Iconium, the capital of Lycaonia, an important city at that time, lying 
L\.\. the junction of three great Roman roads. The apostles, who had been in perils in 
the city and in perils by their own countrymen in Antioch, may also have met with 
other perils in the journey over the robber-infested mountains to Iconium, notwith- 
>itanding the Reman roads; but no accoimt of the journey is given. Whatever the 
clangers, they were not suHicieiit to disturb that joy in ihe Holy Spirit with which 
thfv were filled. 




There were Jews in Iconium, though not so many as in some other places, for we 
read of only one synagogue. Few as they were compared to the rest of the popula- 
tion, they had gained a considerable influence, and many of the Gentiles had become 
proselytes, or were at least of the " devout. God-fearing " class. Paul and Barnabas at 



^^«cA»V 



lOO FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

once went into the synagogue, and there spoke with such power that a g^eat multi- 
tude, both of the Jews and Greeks, believed. The field seemed opening with prom- 
ise, although the Jews who did not believe stirred up against the apostles those 
Gentiles who had taken no interest in the movement. This, however, did not deter 
the apostles from their work. Seeing so many who were truly interested, they 
remained there a long time, declaring the truth to them. At the same time, as a 
means of proving to those who did not believe that their work was of God, He 
wrought at their word many signs and wonders among the people. 

But the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles were not disposed to be convinced. The 
rulers of both factions came together to consult how best to silence these men. 
They could not arrest and carry them before the Roman authorities, for the apostles 
had not broken any law. The best way would be secretly to stir up the common people 
" to use them despitefully and stone them." This plot came to the apostles' ears. It 
was a proof that for the time at least there was no use in their working in Iconium. 
They fled therefore from that city, going still farther into the interior. Crossing the 
wide plain which almost surrounds Iconium stretching far to south and east, they 
journeyed southeastward. In that direction the dark mass of the Kara^dagh Moun- 
tain looms up black and isolated in the surrounding plain, while in the farther dis- 
tance the snow-capped summit of Argoeus rises high above the mountains that circle 
the horizon. 

r 

Not many miles away from Kara-dagh they came to the town of Lystra. It was a 
rude and primitive place, somewhat off the regular line of travel. The inhabitants 
spoke by preference their own Lycaonian dialect, probably a mixture of Greek and 
Syriac, but they spoke also Greek in their business and other public dealings — very 
much as the inhabitants of some of the Swiss valleys speak French or Italian for busi- 
ness purposes, but their own Romanisch dialect in their family life. There was no 
synagogue here ; it was not such a place as would attract Jews, who preferred more 
stirring towns, where business was brisk. The people of Lystra, simple homely folk 
that they were, listened willingly enough to the apostles* preaching, although they 
were hardly conscious of spiritual needs which would make them give a very eager 
welcome to the truths they heard. 

Here and there, however, were those who received the word with gladness and 
became true disciples. Among them was a young man who was destined to have a 
great work to do in the Christian Church. His name was Timotheus, and he was the 
son of a Jewish mother and a Greek father. From infancy he had been carefully 
taught the sacred Scriptures by his pious mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, 
and his young heart had expanded to receive the truth which they contained. Now 
when he heard Paul preach he saw that in Jesus was that fulfilment of prophecy for 
which he had been taught to pray, and he accepted the teaching without hesitation. 
It is probable that he enjoyed an unusual amount of personal instruction from Paul. 
The apostle calls him " mine own child in the faith," and nothing would be more 
natural than that Paul would be especially drawn towards this promising Jewish 
youth, one of the few of his brethren according to the flesh in the whole city. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




Nothing is more likely indeed than that Paul .ind Barnabas lodged in the hou-st 
Eunice during their stay in Lystra. 



For some time the apostles made Lystra their headquarters, working probably at 
their trade and preaching the gospel "in the region that lieth round about" it, as 
well as in the city itself. As there was no synagojjue in Lystra, their preaching was 
done in any public place which might be available : most frequently the forum or 
market-place, where they would find the largest number of hearers. It was whik- 
preaching in some open place in Lystra one day that Paul's attention was attracted by 



I02 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

an unusually earnest listener. It was a lame man who was sitting in this public 
place, perhaps for the purpose of begging, though if so he had forgotten his purpose 
for the time. It is not probable that Paul knew that which was actually the fact, that 
this man had never walked, having been a cripple from his birth; but there was 
something in the man*s eager expression, in his intently listening attitude, that made 
Paul look at him a second time, with that fixed, searching gaze that we know was 
peculiar to him. Everything in the man s bearing showed that he was listening not 
from idle curiosity or ignorant wonder ; he was ardently drinking in the truth, with 
a growing faith which was not to be mistaken. Seeing that he had faith enough to 
avail for his healing, Paul checked himself in his teaching and, raising his voice in a 
way to attract not only the cripple's attention but that of the multitude, he cried to 
him, " Stand upright on thy feet !'* 

The answer to the call was instantaneous. The man recognized that it was him- 
self who was addressed, and without a word of doubt or a moment's hesitation, feel- 
ing a new current of strength throbbing through his whole body, he gave a leap of 
glad response, stood upright, and walked. The case was not like that of the man whom 
Peter healed at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, for that man seems to have had no 
faith at all, or at least none that was founded on any true knowledge of Jesus, whereas 
this man had apparently been one of Paul's more or less frequent listeners, and under- 
stood something of the basis of faith, the death and the life of Jesus. This man 
therefore did not need, as did that lame man in Jerusalem, that the at)OStle should 
lift him up ; nor were there any of the successive steps in his case such as are noted 
by Luke in describing the healing of the lame beggar of Jerusalem. Again, there is 
in this command of Paul no mention of the name of Jesus, although unquestionably 
the miracle was performed by his power. This man was sufficiently instructed to 
know in whose name the cure was performed, while the other man had perhaps never 
learned about Jesus before, though he probably knew him by name. 

But the healing of this man caused an excitement no less intense than that of 
the other. The effect upon the spectators' minds, however, was by no means the 
same in the two cases. The dwellers in Jerusalem were " filled with wonder and 
amazement," but these people of Lystra, though amazed, did not wonder, for they 
felt sure that they understood the meaning of the marvellous sign. Lifting up their 
voices in the native dialect to which in times of strong excitement they naturally 
reverted, they shouted, in the Lycaonian tongue, " The gods are come down to us in 
the likeness of men !" 

The time had been when all Greeks believed that their gods now and again took 
human form and came down to earth and mingled with men. That time, however, 
was long past, so far as the more cultivated Greeks of the great cities were concerned. 
Either they had ceased to believe at all in the gods, as such, or their religion had 
become too intelligent to permit them to believe such legends as these. But here in 
remote Lycaonia many things conspired to keep up this belief. They were not a 
cultured people, to beg^n with ; they still retained the ideas of an older time, having 
had too little intercourse with the world to learn how fast such beliefs were becoming 




THi. LAME MAN HEA 



I04 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

things of the past. Then there was everything in their surroundings to make them 
adhere to this particular notion. The very province of Lycaonia was named from 
Lycaon, to whom it was believed that Zeus had appeared in human form. And in 
this very part of Lycaonia, close to Lystra, had occurred, it was believed, that visit 
of the two gods, Zeus and Hermes, or, as the Romans called them, Jupiter and Mer- 
cury, to the aged couple, Philemon and Baucis, which the poet Ovid relates, and 
w^hich our own Hawthorne has put into beautiful form in his ** Wonder Book." 
These Lystrians, then, were quite prepared to believe that the gods might again 
visit their country in human form. They even supposed that they recognized the 
very gods, and distinguished them one from another. Barnabas, the tall, majestic 
man, dignified yet benign, was, they were sure, Zeus or Jupiter, the ** father of gods 
and men.'* Paul, younger, slighter, more talkative and more animated, they believed 
to be Mercury or Hermes, whom they pictured to themselves as a lithe, active, well- 
proportioned, and vigorous youth, the messenger and spokesman of the gods. From 
this description of Mercury we may gain some idea of how Paul really looked. 

Paul and Barnabas had no notion that this was the Lystrians* way of accounting 
for the lame man s cure. They did not understand the Lycaonian dialect, and did 
not know what the excited cries of the populace meant. They saw that the high 
state of excitement which was prevailing made it impossible for them to teach the 
people any more that day, and they therefore slipped away quietly to their own lodg- 
ings, purposing to wait for a better time before going on with their work. 

What then must have been their surprise not long after to hear a confusion of 
soimds drawing near to their own dwelling, and on looking out to see a crowd 
approaching, headed by the august figure of the priest of the tutelary god of the 
city, Jupiter, and a somewhat orderly procession leading oxen and carrying garlands 
and the necessary paraphernalia of sacrifice ! There could be no misunderstanding 
such a sight : the whole city was intent on paying divine honors to the two visitors 
whom they believed to have come down from heaven. 

Filled with horror at the bare thought that such a mistake was possible, Paul 
and Barnabas rent their garments — the instinctive expression of deep grief with a 
Jew— and rushed out into the midst of the crowd, exclaiming against any such action. 
** We are men, as you are," they cried ; " we have come here expressly to teach you to 
turn away from your gods, which are mere vanity, utter nothingness, and to show 
you the true God, the truly living, who has made heaven and earth and the sea and 
all that is in them." And then they went on to teach them about the true God. If 
they had only considered, they told them, they might have learned from all they saw 
about them that there was such a God. He had not left them without a witness of 
himself in his kindly and beneficent acts, sending rain upon their fields and giving 
them bounteous harvests, making their hearts glad with abundant food. It was 
impossible that such gods as they believed in could do this. 

It was not easy to turn the people from their intention. A popular excitement 
of this sort is always hard to quiet ; and though the apostles' remonstrances might 
keep the Lystrians from actually ofTering sacrifice to them, it was not so easy to 




EY WOULD IIAVK IWJNK SACRIFICE, 



io6 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

induce them to give up their persuasion that men who could perform such a miracle 
must be more than human. 

Men in such a state of mind are always ready to yield without much reason to the 
first strong influence, and a sudden change very soon came about in the opinions of 
the Lystrians. For some of those Jews of Antioch and Iconium who had been hostile 
to the apostles came to Lystra just at this time, and in the excited state in which the 
people were, they found it not difficult to persuade them that the miracle had been 
performed not by the power of the gods, but by the help of evil spirits. Immediately 
the tide of feeling turned. Awe changed to horror, and rushing upon the apostles 
they stoned Paul, at whose word the lame man had been healed. They meant to put 
him to death, and they believed indeed that they had done so, for under the hail of 
stones Paul became unconscious. Supposing him to be dead, they dragged him out- 
side of the city walls and left him for the wild beasts to devour. 

Intense as was the popular feeling against Paul, there were some in that city who 
had believed in Christ, and this little band gathered in speechless grief around the 
bruised and bleeding body of their friend and teacher. But while they stood thus 
gazing upon him Paul revived from this apparent death, and rising up went back 
with them into the city. 



^^ 



VII. 



' / .J HE apostles could do no good by staying in Lystra while the excitement 
was so high. The next morning, therefore. Paul and Barnabas departed 
and passed on to Derbe, which was in a southeasterly direction, still 
nearer to the mountains than Lystra. Like Lystra it was a Lycaonian 
city ; but it was under a different government from Lystra, and apparently 
the laws were more strictly enforced, for we hear of no disturbances 
having taken place there. A large number of the inhabitants listened 
to the apostles' preaching and teaching, and doubtless the nucleus of a 
church was formed. 

Derbe is not far from the Cilician Gates, that famous pass in the 
mountains by which the road goes from the interior to the sea-board 
province of CiUcia. Paul might in a few hours have found his way 
through the Gates to the security of his native province and the rest 
and quiet of his own home in Tarsus. But Paul wa^ not seeking rest and quiet. In 
those cities where he had lately preached there were many believers. Their faith, 
though real, was not yet mature, and it was very likely to be shaken by the knowl- 
edge of the trials which the apostles had been called to endure. Paul and Barnabas 
resolved therefore to go back by the way that they had come, in order to build up 
these immature believers in the faith. Retracing their steps across the Lycaonian 
plain, they made their way back to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch, comforting and 
encouraging the disciples in each of these cities, explaining to them that they were 
not to be disheartened by trouble since all that happened was in God's plan. In 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 109 

Syria and Cilicia " confirmingr the churches.** Some of these churches he had already 
founded while living in Tarsus and in Antioch, but no doubt he now went on with 
work of the same kind. Now to travel about among the rude, wild people of the 
remoter parts of Syria was by no means pleasant and could not have been always safe, 
and it was therefore during this period, probably, that Paul underwent some of these 
trying experiences. They are not related in the book of Acts because they did not 
directly affect the general progress of the Church of Christ. The apostles were not 
concerned to have anything set down as history except those things which directly 
bore upon this all-important point. 



VIII. 

There were troubles ahead which Paul and the other apostles would consider far 
more to be dreaded than " perils *' of robbers or of the wilderness ; and these troubles 
the writer of the Acts tells us about. We cannot tell how long it was after Paul and 
Barnabas returned to Antioch that some Jews of Judsea arrived there. They pre- 
tended to be disciples of Christ, but in reality they were those " false brethren ** from 
whom, as Paul tells us, he was at one or another time in peril. They professed to 
have been sent by the apostles at Jerusalem, and they went spying about among the 
Gentile Christians to see if they kept the Jewish ceremonial law. Finding that they 
did not do so, they came out boldly with the announcement, ** Except ye be circum- 
cised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved.'* 

Such a teaching must have caused an immense stir in the Antioch Church. 
These earnest, simple-hearted believers would be much distressed by the thought that 
they had omitted a duty which the Master, Christ, expected them to perform. And 
Paul and Barnabas would be even more greatly disturbed by a teaching which made 
salvation to depend upon something other than faith in Christ. They therefore 
earnestly opposed these dangerous teachings. But the Church was perplexed and 
very much disturbed, and finally it was thought best that Paul and Barnabas and 
some members of the Antioch Church should go up to Jerusalem and lay the whole 
matter before the apostles and elders there. This decision of the Church was 
enforced by a revelation from God which Paul received, bidding him go up to Jeru- 
salem to attend to this matter. 

We do not know precisely who formed the delegation that went up with Paul 
and Barnabas, except that Titus was certainly and Luke very probably of the party. 
Titus was a young Gentile convert who afterwards accompanied Paul on some of his 
missionary tours. It appears that Paul took him with him at this time that he might 
be a living witness to the fact that a Gentile might be a genuine and very efficient 
Christian, and might possess the power of the Holy Ghost, without being circum- 
dsed. The party of delegates was for a time accompanied by a considerable number 
of Christians of Antioch, who " brought them on their way " as an escort, but eventu- 
ally retomed and left the delegation to go on alone. They went up by the great sea- 



no FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 

coast road that leads along the base of the majestic mountains of Lebanon which 
tower above the Phcenician cities. They found Christian brethren all along the way, 
Jews of the Dispersion, or proselytes, the fruit of the preaching of the scattered Jew- 
ish converts or of Paul and Barnabas themselves. To them they declared the conver- 
sion of the Gentiles, giving unspeakable joy to those who heard this glorious news. 

Thus they came into Samaria, where the news they had to give caused the same 
rejoicing. Then leaving Samaria they entered Judaea, and passing through Lydda, 
where Peter had healed ^neas of desperate disease, they struck eastward across the 
hill-country. As they rounded the hill Scopus, six or seven miles north of Jerusalem, 
a glorious view of the Holy City burst upon the eyes of the strangers from Antioch 
and the apostles who for so many years had been strangers to their own land. There 




JERUSALEM AND THE MOUNT OF OLtVES F 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. m 

is nowhere, not even from the ilount of Olives, so grand and beautiful a view of Jeru- 
salem as is gained by this approach. 

In Jerusalem the travellers were received by the whole Church, who met them 
with the utmost kindliness and good- will. It was a time of peace and safety for the 
Jewish Christian Church, quite unlike those troublous times in Jerusalem when Paul 
left it fifteen years before as the persecutor Saul, or as it had been in later times on 
his visits there. He had twice visited Jerusalem since his conversion : once he had 
been obliged to flee to Tarsus to escape death by a Jewish plot ; the second visit was in 
a time of persecution, when he brought up the alms of the Antioch Christians and 
perhaps did not even enter the city. On this third visit he was in no personal 
danger ; but the whole Church of Christ was in peril much more serious than any 
danger from persecution. There was the gravest danger that the essential meaning 
of Christianity would be lost, and a fatal doctrine be made binding upon the Church, 
bringing it into bondage to that "yoke of the law" from which Jesus Christ had set 

it free. 

It was not strange that the " Pharisees who believed/' of whom there was a 
great number, should honestly feel persuaded that the Law of Moses was binding 
upon all Christians. For thousands of years the Jewish people had been taught that 
circumcision was a necessary rite, and it is not easy to give up any notion that has 
become so thoroughly ingrained. This would be difficult for any Jew; it was 
especially difficult for the Pharisees, who had always made it their especial business 
to stand for the defence of the Law. These Christian Pharisees of Jerusalem, some 
of whom had probably studied with Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, stoutly maintained 
that it was necessary that all Gentile converts should be circumcised and should keep 
the Law of Moses. They insisted that Titus himself should be circumcised ; but to 
this Paul would by no means consent. 

The delegates from Antioch first had a private conference with the Jerusalem 
apostles, who quite agreed with them that the teachings of the false brethren had 
been wrong. The next step was to call the whole Church together in solemn con- 
clave, with the apostles and elders and Paul's delegation, that they might all under- 
stand the subject thoroughly, and that the consciences of the whole Church should 
be satisfied with the decision which must finally be made. 

Peter therefore arose first and reminded them how, long before this, God had 
chosen him to declare the gospel to the Gentiles, and had taught him that there was 
no diflFerence in the sight of God between Jew and Gentile, if only their hearts were 
alike purified by faith ; both were alike clean in his sight. He reminded them how 
hard it was even for Jews to keep the Law, who had been trained to obey it all their 
lives, and had inherited a love for it and pride in it from a long line of ancestors ; it 
was surely too much to ask of the Gentiles, and it was certainly not necessary that 
they should keep it, since the Church held that all, Jew and Gentile alike, were saved 
by the g^race of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by the keeping of the ceremonial Law. 

Peter's speech had silenced the assembly, which before that had been discussing 
the matter informally, and probably with some heat and confusion. They were now 



112 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

ready to listen to the delegates from Antioch, and first Barnabas and then Paul told 
the story of their missionary work, and how God had blessed and owned it by making 
them the instruments of miracles among the Gentiles. When they had finished, 
James, the Lord's brother, who doubtless was the presiding officer at this meeting, 
arose and pointed out that the revelation which Peter had received at the time of Cor- 
nelius' conversion was precisely what might have been expected, since it was pre- 
cisely what the prophets, hundreds of years before, had said would be the case. 

The opinion of James, in any question that concerned the Law of Moses, would 
have great weight. He was celebrated for his love of the Law, and for his delighted 
obedience to its precepts. He was also entirely trusted for his good judgment and 
thorough love of justice. The proposition which he made was therefore accepted 
with general satisfaction. It was that the Gentile Christians be not burdened with 
the yoke of the Law, but that they should be admonished to refrain from joining in 
the idol feasts of the heathen about them and the lawless rites that accompanied 
them, and that they should not eat certain kinds of food which their fellow-Christians, 
the Jews, would be offended by. The Gentile Christians knew what the Jewish 
practices were ; they could easily understand that Christian kindness forbade them 
to do things, however innocent, which would shock the prejudices of their Jewish 
brethren. If it would be trying to us to be forced to associate on equal terms with 
Chinese poor, or with the Esquimaux who live on blubber and eat with their fingers, 
it would be very much more trying to the Jewish Christians to associate with Gentile 
brethren, who ate the blood of animals and other things counted unclean by the 
Jews. It made it very hard for Jewish Christians even to sit down at the Lord s 
table with their Gentile brethren. It was only fair that the Gentiles should conform 
to the Jewish customs in these respects. And not only was it their duty to consider 
the Jewish believers, it was quite as much their duty not to repel those Jews who 
were not believers, whom they ought rather to try to win to the gospel. 

But it was most essential that neither Jewish nor Gentile Christians should 
think that anything was necessary to salvation except faith in Christ — not circum- 
cision nor the ceremonial Law. This the Jerusalem Christians had begun to under- 
stand, and they were therefore not unwilling, after James had spoken, to subscribe to 
a letter which was written to be sent to the church at Antioch. This letter expressly 
said that those persons who had gone to Antioch to urge the necessity of circumcision 
and the keeping of the Law had done so without authority ; that the Church, guided 
by the Holy Spirit, desired to lay upon the Gentile Christians no other command than 
that they should not eat animal food which was slaughtered in a way that made it 
seem unclean to the Jewish brethren, nor join in the impure practices of their 
heathen neighbors. The letter fully endorsed the authority of Paul and Barnabas, 
** men that have hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," and 
gave notice that other brethren would be sent to Antioch with them as bearers of 
this letter, that they might further declare the same things. 

This letter is of especial interest as being, next to the Epistle of James, the oldest 
document of the Christian Church. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



^ 


^Wk 


'l\ 



IX. 

FTER the great church meeting there was a private interview of Paul 
with Peter, James, and John. It is not mentioned in the Acts, for it 
had no importance in the actual life of the Church at this time, but 
to Paul it was a matter of personal interest, and he tells of it in his 
Epistle to the Galatians. It is also of great interest to us, who would 
gladly know far more than we do of the experiences of the apostles. 
This interview was the only time, so far as we know, when John, " the 
beloved disciple," met Paul in intimate personal intercourse; it is 
also the last that we hear of John until we find him, in the Revela- 
tion, an exile on the island of Patmos. In this interview the three 
Jerusalem apostles gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul, recog- 
nizing that his call to the apostolate was equally sacred and equally ■ 
-direct from Christ with their own, and recognizing that his special work was among 
the Gentiles, as theirs was among the Jews. One favor they had to ask of him ; it 
-was that he should get his Gentile converts to share their comparative abundance 
with the poor Christians of Palestine, and this Paul readily agreed to do. And this, 
as we leam from his later history and from his Epistles, he did do more than once. 

The great question of conformity to the Jewish Law being thus settled, the 
Antioch delegation returned home, being accompanied by two delegates from the 
Jerusalem Church. One of these was a certain Judas Barsabas, of whom we know 
nothing certainly, but that he was a prophet, although a very interesting conjecture 
has been made with regard to him. In the Upper Chamber, in the days immediately 
following the ascension of Jesus, when the little band of believers inquired who 
among them were fitted by knowledge of Christ's earthly life to take the place 
among the Twelve lost by the betrayer, Judas, there were found to be two, Matthias, 
on whom the choice of the Holy Spirit fell, and one Joseph, called Barsabas or " the 
scm of wisdom," and also sumamed "the Just." Now at this first great council, 
when the Church wished to send two men back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas 
to carry its important decision to the Gentile churches, they chose Judas called 
Barsabas, " the son of wisdom." It may of course be only a coincidence ; but when 
we recall to mind that James, the Lord's brother, was called " the Just," that Joseph, 
the reputed father of the Lord, was especially recognized as " a just man," and that 
"wisdom," as imderstood by the Jews, was very closely allied with " justice " as they 
onderstood it, a very interesting and beautiful conjecture becomes at least admissible. 
We know that our Lord had four brothers, James and Joseph and Judas and Simon. 
We know that during his lifetime they did not believe in him, but that after his res- 
urrection he appeared to the eldest, James, who thenceforth became an ardent believer, 
a " pillar " in the Church, the head of the mother Church, Jerusalem, after the death of 
James the brother of John. What more natural, what more satisfying, than to believe 
that the other brothers too became ardent disciples ? We would expect the children 



1 14 FROM OLIVE T TO PA TMOS : 

brought up by Joseph and Mary to be "just** and "wise," as we know that one of 
them at least was. Of course Joseph, the brother of Jesus, if a believer and a man 
both just and wise, would fill the conditions required for apostleship. Having known 
Jesus from the beginning, he would be a competent witness of his life and teaching; 
and the choice of his name as a candidate would be the most natural thing in the 
world. And when the Church needed a responsible and trustworthy man to carry an 
important decision to Antioch, who would be more willing to go and more fit to send 
than Judas, the brother of Jesus, if he was a believer and a " son of wisdom," as well 
as a "prophet*? 

We cannot be certain that either of these interesting conjectures is correct ; but 
surely they are not impossible. We, however, hear no more about Judas until we 
read his Epistle written many years later — if indeed this Judas is the brother of our 
Lord. The other delegate sent at this time we shall hear a good deal about. He 
was Silas, and was also a prophet. Both these two were "chief men among the 
brethren." It seems probable that John Mark went back with this party. 

On their arrival in Antioch the whole church was called together and the letter 
read. The reading of it caused great joy among the brethren ; it was a strong conso- 
lation to learn that they were not bound by the burdensome ceremonial law of the 
Jews. The few commands that were laid upon them, those of them who had been 
proselytes to Judaism were accustomed to, and even those who had never been 
proselytes were familiar with them from what they had seen among the Jewish 
people. These commands would not be felt very heavily by any one, and therefore 
on hearing them "they rejoiced for the exhortation," which in itself was also a "con- 
solation.** 

They were now in just the mood to listen to further teaching, and the prophets 
Judas and Silas exhorted them, showing them much of truth that they had not 
known, and confirming them in their Christian profession. Having thus remained 
for some time in Antioch, Judas returned to Jerusalem, and perhaps some other 
member of his deputation with him. As for Silas and Mark, they appear to have 
remained in Antioch, though they also may have gone back to Jerusalem and 
returned in Peter's company, or even after Peter had come. 

From the Epistle to the Galatians we learn that some time after this (probably 
not very long) the Antioch church received a visit from the apostle Peter. He was 
exceedingly friendly with the Gentile Christians, eating with them and not putting 
any difference between them and himself. Before long, however, some others came 
down from Jerusalem who gave themselves out as having been sent by James. 
Perhaps they were, for we shall see later on that James continued to the last to be 
anxious t\id^. Jewish Christians should keep the Law, and he may have sent these men 
to see how it was with the few Jewish Christians of Antioch. Now those of us who 
remember how easily Peter was influenced in the days of our Lord, and how much 
he feared public opinion, will hardly wonder to hear that he changed his conduct 
when these men appeared, and would no longer eat with Gentiles. Many of the 
Jewish Christians followed his example; and even Barnabas, who had so boldly 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



•15 



preached the gospel and so manfully stood up for his friend Paul when other men 
were afraid of him, even Barnabas was " carried away by their dissimulation," we are 
told; though we are not told that Barnabas himself actually dissimulated. 

Paul was naturally indignant at Peter's conduct, and he took the opportunity in 
some public assembly openly to reprove him and to oppose the course he had chosen. 
It was not only that Peter was using double-dealing ; he was the cause of others 
losing faith and courage. This is the last we hear of Peter except in his own Epistles, 
but it is pleasant to know from them that he felt affectionately towards Paul after all 
those years. Though quick to fall away from his high resohitions, he was equally quick 
to accept reproof, as on that dreadful night when he denied his Lord. Doubtless. 
though we are not told so, he saw the force of Paul's rebuke and went back to that 

fellowship with the 
Gentile Christian.s 
which he himself 
had been the fir^^t 
to practise. 

It was probably 
some time after this 
that Paul .said to 
Barnabas, " Come, 
letusturnagainand 
visit our brethren 
in every city where 
we have preached 
tht word of the 
Lord and see how 
they do." His heart 
yearned over these 
converts of his, and 
he wanted to see 
their faces once 
more and to make 
sure that they were 
all doing well. 

Barnabab was willing he insisted however, that his young cousin Mark should 
be of the party To this Paul would not consent He did not wish to run the risk 
of his work being hindered, perhap.s at a critical moment. Mark wa.s precisely the 
man, at this early period at least, to fail them in times of difficulty and danger, as he 
had done before at Perga. Paul's refusal was decisive, but Barnabas was equally 
determined not to yield. Holy apostles though they were, they came to sharp con- 
tention on this subject. At last they agreed to go by two different ways. Barnabas 
took Mark and sailed away to Cyprus, and .so disappears from the New Testament 
story. Paul chose Silas and started off by land to the nojrthward. It would seem as 




IDAUON e^lK 



ilF MLLAI 1- 



n6 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

if the Church did not approve of Barnabas going off independently in this way, for 
we hear nothing of commendation of his step, while of Paul and Silas we are expressly 
told that they were recommended by the brethren to the grace of God. We are not, 
however, to think that Paul and Barnabas parted in anger. It is far more likely that 
they "agreed to disagree" and amicably divided the mission field between them. 
Some years later, writing to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of Barnabas as if he were 
well known to them, and as if in certain things he himself and Barnabas were of one 
opinion and practice, although they had been so widely separated in their work. It 
is impossible that Paul should have cherished unkind feelings towards the old friend 
who was the very first to welcome him into the company of the apostles. 



THE SECOND MISvSIONARY JOURNEY. 

I. 

The route of Paul and Silas was first over that Syrian country in which Paul had 
so faithfully labored before, though no details of his work have been g^ven us. We 
do not know what places he visited, though we know that he went to every place 
where a little company of believers was to be found. His work in Syria ended, he 
would cross Mt. Amanus by the " Syrian Gates,'* a gorge in the mountain, and so 
enter the broad, fertile plain of "Flat Cilicia," the eastern part of that province. 
Here again we do not know what cities were visited, though we feel sure that Paul's 
native city. Tarsus, must have been one. By degrees they journeyed into the wilder, 
robber-haunted regions of " Rough Cilicia,'* the western part of the province, and so 
through the magnificent mountain pass of Taurus called the **Cilician Gates," and out 
upon the high table-land of Cappadocia. Very near to them now was Derbe, and 
that city, we are told, they visited. We may imagine the glad welcome with which 
Paul was greeted, the inquiries after Barnabas, the introduction of Silas ; but nothing 
of all this is told in the New Testament. 

The next point was Lystra, where Paul had been stoned after being well-nigh 
worshipped as a god. Here was also a little band of faithful Christians, and none of 
them, we may believe, was Paul more rejoiced to meet than the young Timotheus. He 
had been growing in grace since Paul had left him behind at his last visit, and now 
was held in high esteem by the Christian brethren, not only of his native town, 
Lystra, but of the neighboring city, Iconium. He was now pointed out by some 
Christian prophets, who were either of Paul's party or living in Lystra, as the one 
whom God had chosen to be Paul's assistant. When Paul learned that this was the 
case he persuaded Timothy to be circumcised. At a first view this seems as if Paul, 
like Peter, was going back from his principles ; but when we look into the matter we 
see that this was not the case. To Paul, as he often said, circumcision was nothing 
and uncircumcision nothing, but faith was everything, and he carefully taught his 
Gentile converts not to seek for circumcision. There were, however, in all the cities 



ii8 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

where Paul was to go, many strict Jews, whom, though his peculiar mission was to 
the Gentiles, he yet hoped to win. To go among them accompanied by an uncircum- 
cised Jew would have been to disgust and repel them. They all knew that Timo- 
thy's father was a Greek; that though he might have been carefully taught the 
Scriptures by his mother and grandmother, his father would surely not have allowed 
him to be circumcised, and thus he was still " unclean " in the eye of the Jewish law. 
Therefore Paul, who was willing to be weak when among the weak, that he- might 
gain some of them to the faith, induced Timothy to be circumcised, that no prevent- 
able obstacle might interfere with the conversion of his own brethren of the seed of 
Israel, whose salvation was continually his heart's desire and prayer to God. 

So far as this was concerned, even Silas, who was probably one of the strict 
Pharisaic Christians, would probably have revolted at the thought of being intimately 
associated during the whole time of this missionary tour with one who was ceremo- 
nially unclean. This alone would have been in Paul's mind a good reason for con- 
forming to the Jewish custom, so long as no higher principle was involved, for Paul 
would never do anything by which his brother might stumble or be made weak. 
Timothy, therefore, was circumcised ; and shortly afterwards he appears to have been 
formally dedicated to his work as an evangelist and attached to the mission party. 

Having visited the churches in that region where Paul and Barnabas had 
preached — a work which doubtless occupied considerable time, though no details of 
it are given — they went on, probably by the great caravan road from Iconium, 
towards the interior of Asia Minor. Now they were entirely on new ground, unless 
they went first to Antioch in Pisidia. No mention is made of any such journey, how- 
ever, and possibly the Christians of Antioch came to Iconium to see Paul during his 
stay there. It was not long before the mission party left the broad military road 
which was carrying them to the northwest, and turned to the eastward through 
Phrygia and Galatia. Perhaps Paul's intention was to go to the district of Pontus, 
where there were many Jews, and where, as we know from Peter's first Epistle, 
there were Christian churches not long after this, founded surely by some other 
apostle. But whatever was his supposed destination, an attack of illness detained 
him in Galatia. The people of this province were an entirely different race from any 
other inhabitants of Asia Minor. They were Celts, like the Irish and French : their 
very name was the same as that of the Gauls, the ancient French people, and they 
seem to have had all the impulsive warmth of heart and enthusiasm, and the same 
power of endurance, that we find in the French and Irish of to-day. They received 
the smitten apostle as if he had been an angel of God. His bodily weakness, so far 
from lowering him in their eyes, called out all the enthusiastic service of their warm 
and loving nature. They were ready to pluck out their own eyes, if by such means 
they could have helped to make him well. On the other hand, Paul was quite as 
eager to do them service. He did not consider himself excused by illness from the 
duty of bringing his devoted people to Christ. In season and out of season he 
preached the gospel, and the Holy Spirit gave effect to his words. These loyal and 
chivalrous Galatians became ardent Christians. To be sure, their lively and impres- 



I20 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

At every decisive point in Paul's life he seems to have had a vision of unseen 
things. When he was converted, when he was in the temple at Jerusalem after his 
conversion, when the important question of the relation of the Gentiles to the Law had 
to be settled, and later on, at other important moments, the vision came. No moment 
of them all could be more important than this, when he was considering what field 
he ought next to work upon ; and therefore at this time too God sent a vision to him. 
He thought he saw standing beside him a man whom by his appearance he recog- 
nized as not an Asiatic, but a European ; a man of Macedonia, who implored him 
saying, " Come over into Macedonia and help us.** Such a vision was quite enough 
for Paul. He made no delay, but " immediately " set about his preparations to cross 
the ^gean Sea into Europe, being entirely certain that God had called him to preach 
the gospel in Macedonia. 

Who were his companions in this journey into an unknown land? Silas, we 
know, and Timotheus were with him ; and as at this point the story in Acts begins 
to be told in the first person, we gather that Luke had again joined the party. Per- 
haps, indeed, " the beloved physician,** for such Luke was, had heard of Paul's illness 
in Galatia and had hastened thither. In Paul's impaired health, the result of his 
many tribulations, Luke had perhaps found a call of God as clear as that which sum- 
moned Paul to Macedonia ; for though he is not always at Paul's side after this, he 
appears to be always at his command, and much of the time his immediate com- 
panion. 

n. 

It would not be difficult, in an important seaport town like Troas, to find a vessel 
about to cross the -^gean to Macedonia. Paul and his companions embarked on a 
bright, clear day, when the wind was blowing strongly from the south. Such a wind 
was necessary to overcome the swift current which sets southward through the Dar- 
danelles (Hellespont) into the Archipelago. On a later occasion it took Paul five days 
to cross this sea from Greece to Troas, but now the vessel ran swiftly before the wind 
and that very night anchored under the lee of the lofty island of Samothracia. On 
the next day, sailing west by north, they reached Neapolis. This is a seaport town of 
Macedonia, near the boundary of Thrace ; it lies on a promontory at the foot of Mt. 
Symbolum. At the present day it is a Turkish village called Cavalla. 

Neapolis was the seaport of Philippi, as Seleucia was the seaport of Antioch. 
Philippi, about twelve miles inland by the Roman road, lay on a broad and fertile 
plain between two mountain ranges, and was watered by a little stream, the Gangas 
or Bourtrabachi River, as it is now called. Its history has some interesting features. 
Founded by Philip of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great, it was here that 
Mark Antony and Octavius (Augustus Caesar) conquered Brutus and Cassius ; and in 
memory of this victory Augustus made it a colonia ; that is, a city having all the 
rights and privileges of Rome. Its inhabitants were Roman citizens and had all the 
advantages and protection of the strictly administered Roman law. Under the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 

Roman rule Greece was divided in 
to two provinces, Macedonia on the 
north and Achaia on the sonth. 
The Macedonians were less culti- 
vated, but also less demoralized, 
than the Achaiaos, and were better 
adapted therefore for the begin- 
ning of a work of evangelization. 

Philippi was the first city of 
Macedonia which Paul visited, for 
he made no stop in the seaport Ne- 
apolis. He tarried at Philippi a 
considerable time. He was the first 
to preach publicly the doctrine of 
the One True God in this great 
city, for here there were no Jews, 
or at least 50 few as to have no syn- 
^ogue. There was a little " pray- 
ing place" by the river-side, but 
we hear only of women as going 
there, and they were probably most- 
ly proselytes, like the many other 
Gentile women of whom we have 
heard. 

Of course Paul and his compan- 
ions went to the "praying place" 
when the Sabbath came— the Jew. 
ish, not the Christian Sabbath— for 

that was the day when he would find those devout women at that place. It was not a 
building, perhaps only an open place, perhaps with a roof overhead, but the sides not 
closed in. There the Christian teachers sat down and talked, somewhat informally 
but very earnestly, to the women who gathered there. Paul was the chief speaker, 
and he told them, we may be very sure, of the One God and of his Son Jesus Christ, 
who had come to take away the sins of the world : how he had lived, what he had 
done, how he had died and risen again. And they listened, we may be sure, with 
deep interest, being, as they must have been, serious-minded women, anxious at least 
to do right. 

Among them was a woman named Lydia, who was not a Philippian, nor indeed 
a BtiTopean at all. She was from Thyatira, a city of that very province of Asia where 
Patil had been forbidden to preach, Lydia was a dealer in that purple dye for which 
ever since the days of Homer Thyatira has been celebrated. To this day ancient inscrip. 
tions of the guild of dyers can be found in that city. Lydia appears to have come to 
PhUi^i on business, and as she had a house there we may suppose that she had large 
i6 




MIIARKING FOR EUROPK. 



122 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

commercial ability and had come to establish a branch house of her regular busini 
The branch house once established, she probably returned to Thyatira, for her nami 
not mentioned among those to whom Paul sent greetings in his Epistle to the Phi 
plans, as it would surely have been had she still been there. 




PAUL AND LVDIA AT THE RIVER-SIDE. 



Lydia was one of those devout Gentiles of whom we so often hear, and she n 
not so absorbed in her business cares but that she had time to go to the praying pi 
on the Sabbath. There, while she was listening to the things that Paul was sayii 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 123 

the Lord opened her heart ; the words of the apostle took on a clear meaning and 
came home to her conscience. She believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The next step in such a faith as hers is confession. Lydia was baptized, and all 
her household, and then a strong desire took possession of her to do what she could 
to help on Paul's mission to the Oentiles of Europe. She implored Paul to make her 
house his headquarters, and he consented. How long the mission party remained in 
Philippi we are not told, but we can see that it must have been a considerable time, 
for a strong and zealous church was formed here. From the Epistle which Paul 
afterwards wrote to this church, and from allusions in other Epistles, we can gather 
that the whole Philippian Church followed Lydia's example in being deeply inter- 
ested in the success of the European mission ; that it was more wealthy than most 
of the infant churches, and generously disposed to contribute to the expenses of the 
work. The Philippian Church was the only one which Paul ever permitted to sup- 
port him. Elsewhere, as during his first journey in Asia Minor, he always supported 
himself by working at his trade of tent-making ; but here he was supported by the 
brethren, and even after he had gone on his way they once and again contributed to 
his necessities. 

The meeting-place of the Christians was still that place by the river-side where 
the apostles had first met the devout women. Now as Paul and his companions were 
going thither they were once and again met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divi- 
nation, believing herself and believed by others to be possessed by a daemon which 
through her told future events. This girl had been very profitable to her owners by 
her divinations, which people were willing to pay money for. But whenever the poor 
creature saw Paul and Silas she would become distressed and agitated. She would cry 
out, ** These men are the servants of the most high God, who are come to announce 
unto us the way of salvation." Doubtless she believed that the dccmon which pos- 
sessed her was a god, as the Greeks called their lesser gods daemons ; but she thought 
that the God which the apostles preached was a greater deity than her daemon and had 
power over it. She had no purpose of bearing witness to truth in her exclamation ; 
it was the mere raving of a diseased or dominated mind. Even if this had been a 
supematuralas well as a true testimony, Paul would not have wished it to come from 
such a source. But in truth his heart was ** painfully grieved '* at the sight of this 
young woman, so fearfully dominated by an evil spirit ; and he finally commanded 
the spirit in the name of Christ to come out of the girl. 

His command was at once obeyed, but the result was disastrous for the apostles. 
The young woman's owners, perceiving that all hope of their gains through her 
means had " gone out '* in the ** going out " of the daemon, rushed upon Paul and Silas 
and dragged them to the open forum or market-place, where sat the city judges. In 
this strictly governed Roman colony men would not dare resort to mob violence, but 
the owners of the g^rl were able so to misrepresent the case as to meet their own pur- 
poses. " These men,** they cried, ** have exceedingly disturbed this city ; though they 
are Jews, they presume to teach us, Romans ! trying to introduce customs which we 
cannot legally adopt.'* They said nothing about the slave girl ; though she had lost 




THE SLAVE-GIRL OF PHILIPPI, 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 125 

lier commercial value, they could not ask the city authorities to make good the loss to 
them ; but they could at least secure their revenge upon the apostles. 

The city judges, deeming the case too difficult for them, referred it to the 
praetors, the two chief Roman magistrates. The populace took sides with the accu- 
sers and clamored for the punishment of the two strangers. And indeed the accusa- 
tion as it was presented appeared to the magistrates to warrant the popular excitement. 
Dreading lest excitement should become violence on the part of the mob, without 
even giving the apostles a trial, the praetors commanded the lictors to strip their clothes 
down their backs and beat them with rods. This was one of the three times when, 
as Paul tells the Corinthians, he suffered this shameful and painful punishment. 

Why did not Paul and Silas at once tell the praetors that they were Roman citi- 
zens and thus avoid the degrading torture ? At another time ia his life, as we shall 
see later, Paul did make his citizenship known and thus escaped scourging, but it 
was c^ertainly not his custom to do so, as we can see from his own account of his suffer- 
ings. We may gain some light upon this question a little further on ; for the present 
we only know that the apostles submitted to the undeserved punishment, and after 
** many stripes " had been "laid upon them," they were cast into prison, and their 
feet were thrust into stocks — cruel instruments of wood which prevented their assum- 
ing a comfortable position. They were confined in the innermost ward of the prison, 
which, as prisons were then built, must have been dark and filthy, probably under- 
ground. 

III. 

There in the prison, in the darkness and discomfort of midnight, the apostles 
communed with God in songs of praise. They " prayed, singing praises," Luke 
writes, as if they had nothing to ask Ood for, but only to give thanks unto his name. 
All the prisoners heard them, lying awake on their hard stone beds in the dead of 
night, while those lovely songs of holy joy rang through the prison wards. 

While they were listening, the prison was shaken by a mighty earthquake, so 
great and accompanied with such other superhuman power that every one's fetters fell 
oflf and all the doors of the prison swung open. The prisoners, terrified at the dread- 
ful convulsion of nature, instead of seeking freedom in flight appear to have rushed into 
the inner ward where the apostles were, as though they felt, without knowing why, 
that these men full of hallelujahs would not be afraid, and in their brave companion- 
ship, like a child in its mother s arms in the dark, they lost their own sense of terror. 

The jailer, however, awakened from his sleep by the earthquake, knew nothing 
of such a source of comfort. Seeing the prison doors yawning open, he supposed that 
the prisoners had seized the opportunity for flight, and knowing that his life must 
answer for his prisoners* security, he was about to kill himself. But Paul, who from 
the darkness of his inner cell could distinguish something of what was going on out- 
side, where there was a degree of light, siiw from the jailer's distracted motions what 
he was about to do, and called aloud, ** Do thyself no harm, for we are all here !" 



FKOM OLIVET 70 PATMOS: 




THE JAir.ER ENTREATING PAUL 



At this cheering and calming word the jailer called his helpers to bring lights, to 
light up the prison and make search as to the whereabouts of the prisoners, while he, 
springing into the dungeon, fell down before the apostles. Perhaps he now recalled 
to mind the power these men had exerted over the slave girl's dsemon, and connect- 
ing it with the earthquake, thought Paul and Silas were favorites of the gods, if not 
gods themselves. He hastened then to bring them out from their inner prison into 
the outer ward, and there he humbly implored them, in terror of the indignity which 
he had unwittingly offered to superior beings. " Lords, what must I do to be saved ?" 

But Paul and Silas were quick to direct his mind away from themselves to Him 
who indeed could save him from a real danger which even now he probably did not 
undeistand. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," they said, "and thou shalt be 
saved, and thy household." 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY, 127 

He did not know all the rich meaning of these blessed words, though he may 
liave heard about the glad tidings of great joy without believing them ; but his heart 
opened to receive them as they went on to explain their meaning to him and to his 
-family who wonderingly gathered around. 

Reverently then he led them out into the prison-court to the tank or fountain, 
£ind having tenderly washed them from their bloody stripes, there, as the water 
liad purified them from the blood of their unmerited sufferings, the waters of spirit- 
Tial blessing were applied to him and his family ; they were baptized into the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Then bringing them into his 
liouse (a part of the prison building of course), he set food before them, being full of 
joy that he and all his house had been led to believe in God. Luke expressly says 
that they believed in " God,* because having been a heathen, belief in the Lord Jesus 
Christ also involved belief in the One God. Whenever we are told of the conversion 
of Si Jew, we are always told that he believed in ''the Lord*' because he already be- 
lieved in the One God. 

When morning came a message from the praetors came also. They may or may 
not have heard of the earthquake, which may not have been felt beyond the prison 
enclosure, but they had now had time to think the matter over, and being Roman 
mag^trates, with that strong reverence for justice which was a part of the Roman 
nature, they felt ashamed of the course they had taken on the previous day. They 
wanted to forget it and have it forgotten as soon as possible ; they therefore sent to 
the jailer the message, " Let those men go." 

Now was the time for Paul to bring their fault home to them ; not indeed for 
his own sake, for his safety was assured in any case, but for the sake of those Chris- 
tians who might in future time be exposed to the violence of ill-disposed people, and 
dependent on the justice of the magistrates. Therefore instead of quietly accepting 
his release and that of Silas, when the jailer, accompanied by the lictors who brought 
the message, told him that they might ** go in peace,'* he replied with dignity, ** They 
have beaten us openly, uncondemned, jts ivho are Romans, and now do they thrust us 
out secretly ? Nay, verily ; but let them come in their own persons and fetch us out.** 
The injury to the gospel had been public; for the sake of the church as well as for 
the honor of Christ in this country which had but now first heard of Ilim, the repara- 
tion must be as public as tlic offence. A secret dismissal might be made to appear as 
if the apostles had escaped, and so the cause of Christ be none the better. Those 
words, us who are Romans, were enough. Paul well knew, to bring the magistrates to 
terms ; for a Roman citizen was exempt from stripes or torture, and to offer a legal 
wrong to a Roman citizen was to offend the majesty of the Roman state. 

The magistrates were quick to see all that their weakness on the previous day 
might involve for them — not only the loss of favor with that very multitude to whose 
clamor they had so weakly yielded, but the displeasure of the emperor himself. 
Therefore they came and " gave fair words " to the apo.stles, and escorted them out of 
the prison, begging them courteously that they would depart out of the city. This 
the apostles were willing enough to do, when once they had set the affairs of the 




IN THE SYNAGOGUE OF THESSALONICA. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 129 

infant church in order. They returned therefore to the house of Lydia, and having 
caused the brethren to be assembled and having given them their final exhortations, 
xsrhich must have been at such a time a form of comfort, and having arranged that 
l^uke was to be left behind to build up the infant church, Paul and Silas, accompanied 
\yy Timothy, departed from Philippi. 



IV. 

The great military' roads of the Roman Empire were as notable a witness to the 
character of that empire as the railway system of to-day is a witness to the character 
of nineteenth century civilization. They stretched in every direction, binding all 
parts of the empire closely with its centre and capital, and traces of them exist in 
many places to this day. One of the most important of all these great roads was the 
Via Egnatia^ the Egnatian Way, which stretched from Rome to Brundusium (Brin- 
disi) and from Apollonia, on the opposite side of the Adriatic, to the Hellespont and 
thus to Troas. Paul had come to Philippi by that Egnatian Way, which practically 
included the passage of the sea. Now he sets forth upon it again, journeying to the 
westward. 

Thirty-three miles southwest from Philippi lay Amphipolis; thirty miles farther 
on, Apollonia (not the city of that name on the Adriatic), and thirty-seven miles be- 
yond Apollonia was Thessalonica. It is probable that the apostolic party made these 
cities their halting-places for the nights, arriving in Thessalonica on the evening of 
the third day after leaving Philippi. At Thessalonica Paul planned to remain for 
missionary work. 

Thessalonica was a very flourishing and interesting city, and more than almost 
any other ancient city of the East has kept its prestige to the present day. Its be- 
ginnings were far back, but in the time of Alexander the Great it was enlarged by 
the husband of Alexander's sister and named after her. At the time of Paul it was 
a " free city " of the empire, like Tarsus and Troas, having its own independent 
government, with an assembly or senate of the people, its governing officers having 
even the power of life and death over its own citizens. It was also the capital of 
Macedonia and the residence of the Roman governor of the province. In after times 
it became famous in the history of Christendom, being the scene of many martyr- 
doms and a bulwark of the empire against the northern barbarians. At the present 
day, under the name Salon iki, it is a busy commercial city of some 70,000 inhabi- 
tants. 

It was always a busy commercial city, even in the time of Paul, and therefore we 
should expect it to contain a good many Jews. This was indeed the case, and we 
read that "the synagogue '* (of the district) was situated here. 

To this synagogue Paul immediately betook himself after his usual manner. 

Though he knew himself to be sent especially to the Gentiles, and though he had 

been again and again persecuted by his Jewish brethren, yet still and ever his heart's 
17 



I30 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved, and he never lost 
an opportunity to oflfer the gospel to them. Here in Thessalonica for three succes- 
sive Sabbaths he spoke in the synagogue, discussing with the rabbis and attendants 
the truths of the gospel which he offered to them. These points were in brief three : 
that the Old Testament Scriptures taught that the promised Messiah was to be a 
sufifering Messiah, that after being put to death he was to rise again, and **that this is 
the (Messiah) Christ, namely Jesus whom I preach unto you." 

Many of those who heard him believed, but not all of them were Jews. Many of 
them were of those "devout" Greeks whom we have everywhere found attending 
the synagogue worship and believing in the God of the Jews. Here also, as in many 
other places, among the converts were many of the ** chief women '* of the city. Not 
all of the converts, however, were people of wealth and position. The admonitions 
g^ven in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians show that many of them were small 
traders and mechanics, and it is evident that the church which Paul had founded Wiis 
not as well to do as that of Philippi, for here Paul took up again his old trade of tent- 
making. He twice received contributions from Philippi while he was in Thessalonica. 

From the letters which Paul afterwards wrote to this church we learn that the 
Thessalonians at first " joyfully received ** him, not being deterred by what they may 
have heard of the shameful treatment of the apostles at Philippi, nor by the marks of 
recent sufifering which they still wore when they arrived. The Epistles give other 
suggestions of reasons why at first Paul's preaching was so welcome. The Jews of 
the Dispersion were always longing for the coming of Messiah to set up his kingdom 
in Jerusalem, when, as they believed, the Jewish nation would be lords over all the 
world ; and Paul met this longing by very vivid descriptions of the glories of the 
kingdom which Christ would found on his second coming to earth. The Gentiles of 
Thessalonica would be particularly attracted by the doctrine of the resurrection, 
which he made to predominate in his Thessalonian teachings. Inscriptions are still 
to be found in that city which show the utter hopelessness of the pagan inhabitants 
of that time in the view of death. 

Though we hear only of three Sabbaths of preaching in the synagogue, it is very 
certain that the apostles remained here much longer than that. It is not two years 
after this that Paul writing to the Thessalonians from Corinth speaks of how the word 
of God had ** sounded out like a trumpet*' from them through all Macedonia and 
Achaia, and it is certain that during the apostles' stay or soon after, Thessalonica 
became an important centre of evangelizing work. But the apostles had been only 
three weeks there when, as had so often happened, the Jews who did not believe 
began to be envious because of the number of Gentiles who accepted the apostles* 
teachings. Paul therefore thought it best to absent himself from the synagogue, but 
he did not give up his work among the Gentiles who were so ready to accept his 
teachings. These teachings were very thorough, notwithstanding the ** much conten- 
tion'* in which they were given. Again and again in his Epistles he alludes to 
what they knew both of his teachings and his doings and sufiferings while among them. 
They also were not without their share of persecution, as the Epistle shows. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




as we read it i 



V. 

I HE persecution became open at last. The unbelieving Jews gathered 
a mob of the lowest and most vicious men of the city and with 
much uproar besieged the door of a certain Jason, with whom the 
apostles were lodging, intending to bring them before the popular 
assembly or senate of the city. Jason is a Greek name, but by 
many Jews was adopted for Joshua, and there are some things to 
indicate that this Jason was a relative of Paul, and that he after- 
wards followed him to Corinth. At any rate he was the host and 
loyal friend of the apostles. Either he hid Paul and Silas or they 
had at this time left the city on a visit to the outlying regions, for 
the apostles were not found when the mob reached Jason's house. 

Determined not to be balked, they dragged Jason and certain 
other believers before the rulers of the city, with a complaint which, 
1 Luke's account, seems very remarkable, both because it so entirely 
suits the actual condition of things in that city, as history shows it to have been, and 
because it corre.sponds so closely with the accusation of Christ himself which the Jews 
made before Pilate. They say that the apostles are trying to turn the world upside 
down {reverse the actual condition of things) by teaching that there is some other 
king than Ca;sar, namely, Jesus. 

Now this was in a subtly false way based upon the truth, as we may see by looking 
at what Paul had taught about tJie second coming of Christ and the kingdom he was 
establishing, and it is possible I but not likely) that the blinded Jews did take spiritual 
teachings in a literal meaning. However this may be, the accusation was well suited 
to the situation. Thessalonica was a free city : it had not to be specially careful about 
observing the Roman ctatams, but it was very necessary that it should preserve the 
favor of. the Roman emperor. In Philippi, on the other hand, a military colony, the 
Roman customs were all-important, and there the accusation had been that the apostles 
taught customs that were not lawful for Romans. 

In all these we see how very accurate Luke has been in reporting the really 
essential things— those small points which are so important, but which are so apt to 
be overlooked by an ignorant or an unfaithful witness. There is one special point in 
the entire account which is of great interest in this respect — the titles which Luke 
gives to the rulers of the various cities which Paul visited. In our English Bible this 
is not so noticeable, for the translators have used the same English word for several 
Greek ones, there being no such offices now in existence as some that were then 
known. But in every case Lube uses the right name for the form of government 
which existed in each city at the time Paul visited it. Here in Thessalonica he calls 
the rulers poUtarchs. Now in no ancient Greek writer do we find such an office 
mentioned ; but there is an arch in Saloniki, spanning the main street, which dates 
from a little before Paul's time, and bears an inscription saying that it was raised 
'* by the seven politarcks." So perfectly accurate is Luke in these particulars. 



132 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



The politarchs were much disturbed by this accusation. It was important to them 
to keep peace with CsBsar, and yet they did not want to take any step which would be 
likely to interfere with the privileges of their free city. Then they had the popular 
assembly to consider (it is translated simply "the people" in our English Bible). 
How many of them would side with the Jews and how many with the Gentile Chris- 
tians ? The Jews were in very bad repute at Rome about this time, and it might not 
be pleasing to Ceesar to have too much notice taken of their complaints or of their 
quarrels among themselves. Besides, the real culprits were not before them. The 
apostles had not been found, but only the man with whom they lodged and certain in- 
oflrensive persons who believed in their teachings. The politarchs seem to have taken 
the worst course possible. They bound over Jason and his companions to keep the 
peace, making them the sureties that no disturbance should come from the apostles' 
teachings, and then let them go. They seem to have taken money from them, but it 
was not of the nature of bail for the appearance of the apostles for trial, but rather 
by way of forfeit if they did not succeed in keeping things quiet. 

Manifestly there was only one thing to do. It was impossible to control the 
actions of the ill-disposed Jews and the mob at their command so long as the apostles 
were in town. Nor would Paul wish to get the brethren into needless difficulties. It 
was arranged to send Paul and Silas away that very night. Timothy, who being a 
subordinate had not been so prominent, might safely be left behind to continue the 
work of building up the church. From Paul's first letter it is clear that before leaving 
he had organized the church and had ordained its officers from its own membership. 




if EREA, the town to which the apostles went on quitting Thessalonica, 
was an important town fifty miles southwest from that city. It lay 
near two beautiful rivers in the slope of the Olympian range. There 
was a colony of Jews there, and the first step which the apostles took 
on reaching the city was to go to the synagogue. The Jews of Berea 
must have been men of far greater candor and openness of mind than 
most of their race at this period. As usual Paul's most emphatic teach- 
ing was that the Old Testament bore witness to just such a Messiah as 
Jesus of Nazareth had been ; and day after day, after hearing this 
teaching in the synagogue or in more private places, these Berean Jews 
diligently searched the Scriptures to see whether indeed the things 
which Paul taught were warranted by them. Finding that all Paul's 
teaching was borne out by the Scriptures, they cordially embraced the new doctrines. 
As in every other place where the gospel was preached, so in Berea there were Gentiles, 
especially "women of honorable estate," who also received the truth. A church was 
soon founded there, and we may believe it to have been unusually strong and sound, 
since it needed no such special admonitions as Paul addressed to the other churches. 



THE FIRS T CHRIS TIA X Ch NTUR V. , 2 ; 

Tier conimercia: value, they could not ask the city nuthorities to make ^^(/A ih^ ]'//. >/, 
th'^-ni : bui thev culd a: least secure their reven^^e upon the apo^tl^-s. 
"" The^citv rjid^e?. deeming the case too di^Ticult for t/i'jrn, r^-R-rp:': x \<, v-,': 
Draetors. the W.ch:-: Roman magistrates. The populace t-. .k -i^I^^s v/iib •}.- a'//:- 
t' ,\.^^ ,-/ -.= •-' -""--^ n— -xhrnent of the two stran'^^ers. /-.:.': \rA*'jA tr. ';;.//;•: vr 

>^7^ ..i^C C-Ji— •---— --- -— *- ^-'--~- ^ -^ _ ^ 

lion Si 1- ^^^ --^-^— -*- - -r r^ - — ^ o . . 

c!\ en ^-•-— s "— ^ T -■•■-*•- — • - ^ ^ ^^ • 

-, - - v- -'- - -— ' *--:.- •'-,:.-*- V-**- -■-•< T'-'-^ ".vr.i; (,-•- o* *;■-'" *' "'••- *" '- .' • '••' 

c3own tneir ^acJC^ an — -.t-i- .— ,c— . *••-..- - •• • a... •'.... ..« ->. .- - ,...«, .*,... 

r^** i iifc*- «.*.-.> *— V \- - - -— • — -— - - — • • 

_.. -• " ... ... 

zensanitnu? av.:- — r -Vi..--.-5 — - - - • - •'*.. 

« ■-A - ■ : " __ . '- . *- . - .•- -^— c'* • -~ *.""* -1-— '. •" ' » .- - • ,, ^ 

"was certainly ":t .i"> -us*:n:t: i: >. .-^ ■ - — *-"^ -■•.... 

-. • «... 
lusfs. V»c mav ^-am f mr .:.:n. .;• - , ----.. .. - r •.. 

xve on.v rcn.-^ — ji. —r jt-«.*..r- - - — -- -- . . 

• ■ m'^*^v ^•••""•c^ naz. irfr-rn .ail uT'in "r.*jm 

feet were thns: :n:: ?t:«:'-:s— :r--j'. :n*:r-n:.jn> 






/ . . * . . . 






• • " — 



T n rr T Pf"***" * ""a ' fr *"*"*" l'"n -.Hir" ''~.^ _ -■- - . . 

%^-hich. as pr:>:n5 -Atrt tntn'i-..: m.-: r.a- j :.:r. 
ground. 






» i r » 









. a 1 



There in :nt '-sin :n :nr :a-V-t - ml 
wnwe>. .fli .- — -/ — ♦ — ^ .. -: V .-•-... . _. 

• • «•«. •* ... 

nielli.. »\ — c w--. >c .- -. ?... ._. -inj.i 

W ::::e tney wt:t ..--- 1/ -t -r -• n - i- -': . 
great and accomoan-.Tl t-. -. : -_ --^- - -^--- .,-,, . 

on and all the co:r^ :: m- -- . - v-—:- --r^- ■; - ._. 
ful convulsion of natnr^ « -.-ii - ..^. ^ -..-:':. ^ : -. - 
the inner ward wh--:t v.>. i.nr/\r, .--- i.- -1 :.': 
that these men fni: '.: ni. r,- :-^-^ v :. i - - ,, ."-. 
ship, like a child in: Vr —-.:..- ,-~^ ., ._. ^i "" .' 

The jailer, ho-*ev*rT ^^tui.^,^^ ' - i. --- 
of such a source of ^j^^zlz-j-. \^^^ .:.-*--. - .'. 
the prisoners had s^-ju^-l 



• •- 






•." » 



. . . . '•«■ 






» - r y 

- ■ 'f 






answer for his pri.son*m i^rr-:.- -^, ^.^ , . .. 
the darkness of his ini^r •-: ,r.., .. ."^ ;;; ' 
side, where there was 5. i-^:;^, ,> :?;:/ IV --* -^ 
he was about to do, and 'jsOiw: 5^^^ • 1. .,. 



f^ -^iyir.""::— ' •--...._ .. -.- 



I' 



FROM OLIVET 'lO PATMOS: 




At this cheering; and calining word the jailer called his helpers to bring lights, to 
light up the prison and make search as to the whereabouts of the prisoners, while he, 
springing into the dungeon, fell down before the apostles. Perhaps he now recalled 
to mind the power these men had exerted over the slave girl's dsemon, and connect- 
ing it with the earthquake, thought Paul and Sitas were favorites of the gods, if not 
gods themselves. He hastened then to bring them out from their inner prison into 
the outer ward, and there he humbly implored them, in terror of the indignity which 
he had unwittingly offered to superior beings, " Lords, what must I do to be saved ?" 

But Paul and Silas were quick to direct his mind away from themselves to Him 
who indeed could save him from a real danger which even now he probably did not 
understand. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,'* they said, "and thou shalt be 
saved, and thy household." 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 127 

He did not know all the rich meaning of these blessed words, though he may 
liave heard about the glad tidings of great joy without believing them ; but his heart 
opened to receive them as they went on to explain their meaning to him and to his 
family who wonderingly gathered around. 

Reverently then he led them out into the prison-court to the tank or fountain, 
and having tenderly washed them from their bloody stripes, there, as the water 
liad purified them from the blood of their unmerited sufferings, the waters of spirit- 
ual blessing were applied to him and his family ; they were baptized into the name 
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Then bringing them into his 
liouse (a part of the prison building of course), he set food before them, being full of 
joy that he and all his house had been led to believe in God. Luke expressly says 
'that they believed in " God,'* because having been a heathen, belief in the Lord Jesus 
Christ also involved belief in the One God. Whenever we are told of the conversion 
of Sijew, we are always told that he believed in ''the Lord,'' because he already be- 
lieved in the One God. 

When morning came a message from the praetors came also. They may or may 
not have heard of the earthquake, which may not have been felt beyond the prison 
enclosure, but they had now had time to think the matter over, and being Roman 
magistrates, with that strong reverence for justice which was a part of the Roman 
nature, they felt ashamed of the course they had taken on the previous day. They 
wanted to forget it and have it forgotten as soon as possible ; they therefore sent to 
the jailer the message, ** Let those men go." 

Now was the time for Paul to bring their fault home to them ; not indeed for 
his own sake, for his safety was assured in any case, but for the sake of those Chris- 
tians who might in future time be exposed to the violence of ill-disposed people, and 
dependent on the justice of the magistrates. Therefore instead of quietly accepting 
his release and that of Silas, when the jailer, accompanied by the lictors who brought 
the message, told him that they might ** go in peace," he replied with dignity, " They 
have beaten us openly, uncondemned, us who are Romans, and now do they thrust us 
out secretly ? Nay, verily ; but let them come in their own persons and fetch us out.** 
The injury to the gospel had been public; for the sake of the church as well as for 
the honor of Christ in this country which had but now first heard of Him, the repara- 
tion must be as public as the offence. A secret dismissal might be made to appear as 
if the apostles had escaped, and so the cause of Christ be none the better. Those 
words, us who are Romans, were enough. Paul well knew, to bring the magistrates to 
terms ; for a Roman citizen was exempt from stripes or torture, and to offer a legal 
wrong to a Roman citizen was to offend the majesty of the Roman state. 

The magistrates were quick to see all that their weakness on the previous day 
might involve for them — not only the loss of favor with that very multitude to whose 
clamor they had so weakly yielded, but the displeasure of the emperor himself. 
Therefore they came and " gave fair words " to the apostles, and escorted them out of 
the prison, begging them courteously that they would depart out of the city. This 
the apostles were willing enough to do, when once they had set the affairs of the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY, 129 

xsifant church in order. They returned therefore to the house of Lydia, and having 
claused the brethren to be assembled and having given them their final exhortations, 
"which must have been at such a time a form of comfort, and having arranged that 
I-,uke was to be left behind to build up the infant church, Paul and Silas, accompanied 
t>y Timothy, departed from Philippi. 



IV. 

The great military' roads of the Roman Empire were as notable a witness to the 

c^haracter of that empire as the railway system of to-day is a witness to the character 

cjf nineteenth century civilization. They stretched in every direction, binding all 

-parts of the empire closely with its centre and capital, and traces of them exist in 

xnany places to this day. One of the most important of all these great roads was the 

Via EgnatiOy the Egnatian Way, which stretched from Rome to Bnindusium (Brin- 

disi) and from ApoUonia, on the opposite side of the Adriatic, to the Hellespont and 

thus to Troas. Paul had come to Philippi by that Egnatian Way, which practically 

included the passage of the sea. Now he sets forth upon it again, journeying to the 

'v^'estward. 

Thirty-three miles southwest from Philippi lay Amphipolis; thirty miles farther 
on, ApoUonia (not the city of that name on the Adriatic), and thirty-seven miles be- 
yond ApoUonia was Thessalonica. It is probable that the apostolic party made these 
cities their halting-places for the niglits, arriving in Thessalonica on the evening of 
the third day after leaving Philippi. At Thessalonica Paul planned to remain for 
missionary work. 

Thessalonica was a very flourishing and interesting city, and more than almost 
any other ancient city of the East has kept its prestige to the present day. Its be- 
ginnings were far back, but in the time of Alexander the Great it was enlarged by 
the hu.sband of Alexander's sister and named after her. At the time of Paul it was 
a " free city " of the empire, like Tarsus and Troas, having its own independent 
government, with an assembly or senate of the people, its governing officers having 
even the power of life and death over its own citizens. It was also the capital of 
Macedonia and the residence of the Roman governor of the province. In after times 
it became famous in the history of Christendom, being the scene of many martyr- 
doms and a bulwark of the empire against the northern barbarians. At the present 
day, under the name Salon iki, it is a busy commercial city of some 70,000 inhabi- 
tants. 

It was always a busy commercial city, even in the time of Paul, and therefore we 
should expect it to contain a good many Jews. This was indeed the case, and we 
read that "the synagogue ** (of the district) was situated here. 

To this synagogue Paul immediately betook himself after his usual manner. 
Though he knew himself to be sent especially to the Gentiles, and though he had 
been again and again persecuted by his Jewish brethren, yet still and ever his heart's 



I30 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

desire and prayer to God for Israel was that they might be saved, and he never lost 
an opportunity to oflfer the gospel to them. Here in Thessalonica for three succes- 
sive Sabbaths he spoke in the synagogue, discussing with the rabbis and attendants 
the truths of the gospel which he offered to them. These points were in brief three : 
that the Old Testament Scriptures taught that the promised Messiah was to be a 
suffering Messiah, that after being put to death he was to rise again, and ** that this is 
the (Messiah) Christ, namely Jesus whom I preach unto you." 

Many of those who heard him believed, but not all of them were Jews. Many of 
them were of those "devout'* Greeks whom we have everywhere found attending 
the synagogue worship and believing in the God of the Jews. Here also, as in many 
other places, among the converts were many of the " chief women " of the city. Not 
all of the converts, however, were people of wealth and position. The admonitions 
g^ven in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians show that many of them were small 
traders and mechanics, and it is evident that the church which Paul had founded was 
not as well to do as that of Philippi, for here Paul took up again his old trade of tent- 
making. He twice received contributions from Philippi while he was in Thessalonica. 

From the letters which Paul afterwards wrote to this church we learn that the 
Thessalonians at first " joyfully received *' him, not being deterred by what they may 
have heard of the shameful treatment of the apostles at Philippi, nor by the marks of 
recent suffering which they still wore when they arrived. The Epistles give other 
suggestions of reasons why at first Paul's preaching was so welcome. The Jews of 
the Dispersion were always longing for the coming of Messiah to set up his kingdom 
in Jerusalem, when, as they believed, the Jewish nation would be lords over all the 
world ; and Paul met this longing by very vivid descriptions of the glories of the 
kingdom which Christ would found on his second coming to earth. The Gentiles of 
Thessalonica would be particularly attracted by the doctrine of the resurrection, 
which he made to predominate in his Thessalonian teachings. Inscriptions are still 
to be found in that city which show the utter hopelessness of the pagan inhabitants 
of that time in the view of death. 

Though we hear only of three Sabbaths of preaching in the synagogue, it is very 
certain that the apostles remained here much longer than that. It is not two years 
after this that Paul writing to the Thessalonians from Corinth speaks of how the word 
of God had ** sounded out like a trumpet'* from them through all Macedonia and 
Achaia, and it is certain that during the apostles' stay or soon after, Thessalonica 
became an important centre of evangelizing work. But the apostles had been only 
three weeks there when, as had so often happened, the Jews who did not believe 
began to be envious because of the number of Gentiles who accepted the apostles* 
teachings. Paul therefore thought it best to absent himself from the synagogue, but 
he did not give up his work among the Gentiles who were so ready to accept his 
teachings. These teachings were very thorough, notwithstanding the ** much conten- 
tion" in which they were given. Again and again in his Epistles he alludes to 
what they knew both of his teachings and his doings and sufferings while among them. 
They also were not without their share of persecution, as the Epistle shows. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




(, HE persecution became open at last. The unbelieving Jews gathered 
a mob of the lowest and most vicious men of the city and with 
much uproar besieged the door of a certain Jason, with whom the 
apostles were lodging, intending to bring them before the popular 
assembly or senate of the city. Jason is a Greek name, but by 
many Jews was adopted for Joshua, and there are some things to 
indicate that this Jason was a relative of Paul, and that he after- 
wards followed him to Corinth. At any rate he was the host and 
loyal friend of the apostles. Either he hid Paul and Silas or they 
had at this time left the city on a visit to the outlying regions, for 
the apostles were not found when tlie mob reached Jason's house. 

Determined not to be balked, they dragged Jason and certain 
other believers before the rulers of the city, with a complaint which, 
as we read it in Luke's account, seems very remarkable, both because it so entirely 
suits the actual condition of things in that city, as history shows it to have been, and 
because it corre.sponds so closely with the accusation of Christ himself which the Jews 
made before Pilate. They say that the apostles are trying to turn the world upside 
down (reverse the actual condition of things) by teaching that there is some other 
king than Csesar, namely, Jesus. 

Now this was in a subtly false way based upon the truth, as we may see by looking 
at what Paul had taught about the second coming of Christ and the kingdom he was 
establishing, and it is possible (but not likely) that the blinded Jews did take spiritual 
teachings in a literal meaning. However this may be, the accusation was well suited 
to the situation. Thessalonica was a free city ; it had not to be specially careful about 
observing the Roman customs, but it was very necessary that it should preserve the 
favor of, the Roman emperor. In Philippi, on the other hand, a military colony, the 
Roman customs were all-important, and there the accusation had been that the apostles 
taught customs that were not lawful for Romans. 

In all these we see how very accurate Luke has been in reporting the really 
essential things — tho,se small points which are so important, but which are so apt to 
be overlooked by an ignorant or an unfaithful witness. There is one special point in 
the entire account which is of great interest in this respect— the titles which Luke 
gives to the rulers of the various cities which Paul visited. In our English Bible this 
is not so noticeable, for the translators have used the same English word for several 
Greek ones, there being no such offices now in existence as some that were then 
known. But in every case Luke uses the right name for the form of government 
which existed in each city at the time Paul visited it. Here in Thessalonica he calls 
the rulers politarchs. Now in no ancient Greek writer do we find such an office 
mentioned; but there is an arch in Saloniki, spanning the main street, which dates 
from a little before Paul's time, and bears an inscription saying that it was raised 
" by the seven politarchs." So perfectly accurate is Luke in these particulars. 



132 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



The politarchs were much disturbed by this accusation. It was important to them 
to keep peace with Cassar. and yet they did not want to take any step which would be 
likely to interfere with the privileges of their free city. Then they had the popular 
assembly to consider (it is translated simply "the people" in our English Bible). 
How many of them would side with the Jews and how many with the Gentile Chris- 
tians ? The Jews were in very bad repute at Rome about this time, and it might not 
be pleasing to Caesar to have too much notice taken of their complaints or of their 
quarrels among themselves. Besides, the real culprits were not before them. The 
apostles had not been found, but only the man with whom they lodged and certain in- 
offensive persons who believed in their teachings. The politarchs seem to have taken 
the worst course possible. They bound over Jason and his companions to keep the 
peace, making them the sureties that no disturbance should come from the apostles' 
teachings, and then let them go. They seem to have taken money from them, but it 
was not of the nature of bail for the appearance of the apostles for trial, but rather 
by way of forfeit if they did not succeed in keeping things quiet. 

Manifestly there was only one thing to do. It was impossible to control the 
actions of the ill-disposed Jews and the mob at their command so long as the apostles 
were in town. Nor would Paul wish to get the brethren into needless difficulties. It 
was arranged to send Paul and Silas away that very night, Timothy, who being a 
subordinate had not been so prominent, might safely be left behind to continue the 
work of building up the church. From Paul's finst letter it is clear that before leaving 
he had organized the church and had ordained its officers from its own membership. 




if EREA, the town to which the apostles went on quitting Thessalonica, 
was an important town fifty miles southwest from that city. It lay 
near two beautiful rivers in the slope of the Olympian range. There 
was a colony of Jews there, and the first step which the apostles took 
on reaching the city was to go to the synagogue. The Jews of Berea 
must have been men of far greater candor and openness of mind than 
most of their race at this period. As usual Paul's most emphatic teach- 
ing was that the Old Testament bore witness to just such a Messiah as 
Jesus of Nazareth had been ; and day after day, after hearing this 
teaching in the synagogue or in more private places, these Berean Jews 
diligently searched the Scriptures to see whether indeed the things 
which Paul taught were warranted by them. Finding that all Paul's 
teaching was borne out by the Scriptures, they cordially embraced the new doctrines. 
As in every other place where the gospel was preached, so in Berea there were Gentiles, 
especially " women of honorable estate," who also received the truth. A church was 
soon founded there, and we may believe it to have been unusually strong and sound, 
since it needed no such special admonitions as Paul addressed to the other churches. 



134 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



near. There was only a point to round and the ship was in the harbor of Phalerum, 
one of the two seaports of Athens. Paul was two hundred miles away from his per- 
secutors when he entered this harbor after a voyage of probably three or four days. 



VII. 

There is no need to tell any intelligent boy or girl that in the time of St. Paul, 
Athens, though a conquered city and sadly fallen from its early glory, was still the 
centre of culture, of art, of poetry, the home of beauty, of thought, above any other 
place in the world. Most beautiful for situation, with its encircling mountains, its 

lovely harbor, its three remarkable heights — the Acropolis, the Pnyx. and Mars Hill — 




ANCTFVT ATHENS 



^ THE FIRS r CHRIS TIA N CENTUR Y, 135 

it was still more beautiful for the marvellous works of art, works which have never 
since been equalled, which crowded its streets and porticos. Statues of the heathen 
deities were so frequent that as one of their own writers wSaid, it was more easy to 
meet a god than a man, and busts of the great men of Grecian history, from Solon 
down, were everywhere conspicuous. Something indeed had been destroyed by the 
Romans, but the great destructions of these marvellous work of art took place in later 
days. To-day Athens is more celebrated for its ruins than for anything of modern 
workmanship that it possesses. 

The sight of the marvellous works of art, architecture, painting, sculpture, which 
surrounded Paul on all sides moved him very strongly, but not as they would move 
us now. Then they spoke of a paganism, an idolatry which sapped the very vitals of 
character; 7iow the paganism of Greece has lost its power to harm us, and such works 
of beauty as it has bequeathed to us may. be inspiring by their beauty, with no ele- 
ment of danger from their suggestions of paganism. It was not a sign that Paul was 
uncultured (though it is true that the best Hebrew culture had no place for beauty of 
this kind) that he saw in those works of art only idols, dangerous to man and dishon- 
oring to God. They u'crc idols then, and therefore they were both dangerous to man 
and dishonorable to God, and to have passed over this fact and considered only the 
fact of their beauty would have proved Paul to be less, not more, than the man he 
was. The lonely days while Paul ** waited for Silas and Timotheus " he spent in 
"attentively considering** these things. We have seen, again and again, how neces- 
sary was congenial Christian companionship to the loving heart of the great apostle. 
He was never quite himself when all alone. Nevertheless his sense of loneliness did 
not hinder him from working. Accustomed as he had been from childhood to the 
public exhibition of idolatry in Tarsus, his soul was stirred to its very depths by see- 
ing the city ** wholly full of idols,*' and his days were spent in conversation either 
with the Jews in their synagogue (the site of which is now unknown) or with the 
Athenians in their Agora or market-place. 

Four hundred and fifty years before, vSocrates had ** reasoned '* with the Athe- 
nians in this very Agora. The truths which he taught, truths higher than any other 
uninspired man has ever reached, had long ago been practically forgotten. Now 
there were four schools of philosophers who ruled the thinking of the Greeks, chief 
among them those of the Stoics and the Epicureans. The Stoics taught that God per- 
vaded all matter and could not exist independently of matter : in this respect their 
belief was something like that of the Pantheists of the present day. They believed 
in no such thing as spirit ; the soul, like the body, was material, and therefore a res- 
urrection was impossible. Theoretically the Stoics cared neither for pleasure nor 
pain, believing that there was nothing good in the first and nothing evil in the last. 
The Epicureans were atheists. They believed that the gods took no interest in 
human affairs, but sat aloof and cared only for their own pleasure, and that this was 
well, for the only good was pleasure — the only evil, pain ; that there was no right or 
wrong except as the result was pleasure or pain, and that the proper conduct of man 
was to imitate the gods in caring only for his own individual pleasure. These sects of 



> 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




philosophers could not logically believe in the pagan deities, but they thought it well 
that the common people should believe in them, and doubtless few of them were so 
thoroughly logical as not to give to them some measure of belief themselves. 

Members of both these schools encountered Paul as he was conversing in the 
Agora. The Epicureans ridiculed him : " What would this babbler say?" they asked 
in scorn. The Stoics said, perhaps thoughtfully, perhaps contemptuously, " He seems 
to be a setter forth of new dasmon.s," because he preached of Jesus and the resurrec- 
tion. We may observe that it was precisely this of which Socrates had been accused 
and for which he was put lo death — the setting forth of " new dsemons," 

Whatever they thought of Paul's teachings, they had no thought of putting him 
to death ; they were not enough in earnest for that. But they were quite desirous to 
hear more. Luke gives us the reason for this : the Athenians were always eager to 
hear new things. They seem to have felt that there was a certain solemnity in Paul's 
teachings, for they led him away from the busy Agora, where people were coming 
and going all the time, to that solemn seat of justice which occupied the summit of 
Areopagus, or Mars Hill. Here, according to the legend, their great god Mars had 
himself at one time been tried for a crime, and ever since that time this had been the 
place where religious courts were held, an august and awful place. Paul, however. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 137 

^^iwas not led there as a prisoner to be tried, but was rather taken there as to the most 
s^uitable place in which to explain teachings that concerned matters of religion. The 
:x-ock-hewn steps still remain up which Paul was conducted, and the rock-hewn benches 
■^v^hich formed the seat of justice, and probably some of the Areopagite judges— among 
"tihem a certain Dionysius, of whom we shall hear more — occupied their usual places 
n this seat, though not at this time in the capacity of judges, but only of listeners 
ore or less interested. 

The assembly being gathered and Paul having taken his place upon the defend- 

nt s stone, called from time immemorial the vStone of Impudence, the formal question 

^^ras put to the apostle, ** May we know what this new teaching is that is spoken by 

"thee ? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears ; we would know there- 

ifore what these things mean." 

As Paul stood there facing those who questioned, he could look across to the 
summit of Acropolis, and see there the magnificent statue of the goddess, as the 
Athenians probably called it, the great Athena Polias, the patron of the city, 
Minerva, the fabled daughter of Jupiter. A sight of that glittering statue, the best 
idea of the godhead which the Athenians knew, would bring all the more forcibly to 
his mind the invisible presence of the (}od, the One and only Lord whom he knew 
and served. And probably this helped in some degree to fashion the speech which 
he now uttered. 

It is very certain that we have not in the Acts of the Apostles the whole of Paul's 
speech. What we have occupies not more than two minutes in the reading, and Paul 
certainly would not so neglect this important opportunity as to speak so briefly as this. 
The account doubtless gives us a summary of his discourse, clothed for the most part 
in Paul's own words. The English translation, even in the Revised Version, fails to 
give accurately the meaning of the Greek. Fixing upon his audience that keen, pen- 
etrating gaze which is often alluded to in the Acts as specially characteristic of Paul, 
and stretching out his hand in the impressive manner peculiarly his own, he began, 
not after the Jewish form of address, but after that of the people before whom he was 
speaking : 

"Athenians! I observe that in every respect you are unusually religious. 
For as I walked about your city gazing about me on the objects of your devotion, 
I found among them an altar on which had been carved an inscription. To an 
Unknown God. Whom, therefore, ye unconsciously adore, Him I am declaring unto 
you." 

Paul did not mean by this that he supposed this altar with its strange inscription 
(noticed also by heathen writers of the time) was erected in honor of Jehovah, the 
God of the Jews, of whom the Athenians must have heard, though they knew noth- 
ing of his character. What he meant was something like this : in the first place, he 
could not be held to be ** a setter forth of strange daemons," since the Athenians them- 
selves admitted other gods than those they knew of ; then the presence of such an 
altar (and historians tell us that there were many such in and near Athens) showed 

that the Athenians were not satisfied with their own gods ; that they felt a yearning 
18 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




PAUL IN ATHENS. 



for some higher or different power from any that they supposed their gods to possess, 
and that he was now about to show them that the God whom he proclaimed (who was 
indeed the God of the Jews) did meet precisely those needs of which they were more 
or less fully conscious. Therefore amid the hushed attention of the assembly he went 
on to explain the nature of his God, to them Unknown. 

"The God who made the universe and all things in it, he being the natural Lord 
of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands [such as Athens was 
full of], nor is he in need of anything, so as to be served by human hands [by offer- 
ings at an altar], seeing that he is himself the giver to all of life and breath and all 
things [that is, he was not identical with matter, as the Stoics taught], and he made of 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 139 

one blood all the nations of men to dwell on the whole face of the earth, ordaining to 
each the immutable limits of their time and of their habitation, thus inspiring them 
to seek God, if after all, groping in their darkness, they might find him. Though in 
reality he is not far from each one of us; for in him we live and move and are ; as 
some also of your own poets have said : 

" ' For we are even his offsprinj;^.' " 

Here Paul taught that his (iod was not the God of the Jews only, but of all na- 
tions of the earth. In this, and in the general doctrine of God here announced, there 
was much that met the views of the vStoics, though it lifted their teaching up into the 
spiritual plane, of which they took no account, for they did not believe there was any 
such thing as spirit apart from matter. And purely spiritual as was PauFs teaching 
here, its points of contact with the doctrines of the Stoics made it easy even for the 
Epicureans to understand him, for they knew the Stoical teachings, if only to contra- 
dict them : while the marked difference between Paul's teaching and that of the 
Stoics would make the Epicureans all the more ready to listen to him with interest. 
So all followed Paul's words in silence while he went on to apply the wonderful truth 
he had just taught. 

** Seeing then that we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the 
divine is like gold or silver or brass, graven by the art and genius of man. However, 
those past times of ignorance God hath overlooked, but now he commandeth all men 
everywhere to repent, because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the 
world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained. Of which he hath 
given assurance unto all, in that he hath raised Him from the dead." 

So far they had listened with some sympathy, but here was a doctrine, that of 
the Resurrection, which both Stoics and Epicureans refused with contempt. A burst 
of laughter interrupted the apostle, with jeers such as the Athenians, of all people, 
best knew how to put into words. The crowd began to melt away ; they had lost all 
interest in the subject, and only a few, a little more polite than the others, but no more 
really touched, stopped to say, in the spirit of Felix some years later, ** We will take 
some other time to hear you on this subject." 

It was the first time in all Paul's Christian experience that he had utterly failed to 
reach the hearts of his hearers. Even here he had not really failed, for one of those 
men who probably sat before him on the stone benches of the Areopagus, Dionysius, 
did, sooner or later, come to believe in the truths he had heard and accept the Risen 
Saviour Paul had sought to preach. There is a tradition that he afterwards became 
the head of the Athenian church. And a woman named Damaris and some few 
others also believed, either then or later, and before long they formed the nucleus of 
a Christian church, which in the next three centuries bore notable witness for Christ 
and furnished many martyrs and teachers to the cause. But Paul saw none of this 
fruit of his labors. As far as he knew, he had utterly failed. He went back from 
Areopagus to his lonely lodging, wherever that might be, and taught no more, as far 
as we know, in Athens. He did not, however, immediately leave the city, but still 



/ 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY, 141 

waited for Silas and Timotheus to arrive from Berea. Nothing is said of their arrival 
in the Acts, but from the Epistles to the Thessalonians we find that Timothy appears 
to have come first and to have brought such news of the condition of things in Thes- 
salonica that Paul deemed it best to send him back there immediately, willing ** to be 
left in Athens alone," desolate as he must have felt, for the sake of this beloved if 
troublesome church. And after Timothy had gone back, before vSilas had yet arrived, 
we may think perhaps that it was on some clear day when, taking his solitary walk to 
the top of Acropolis, he looked over across the gulf and saw the temples glittering on 
the heights of Corinth forty miles away, that he decided to leave this beautiful city, 
the centre of a worldly wisdom that closed the heart to spiritual influences, and carry 
the gospel to that other city, the centre of worldly wealth, where, one would suppose, 
there was likely to be even less opportunity for the gospel to enter in. But Paul 
was divinely guided in his resolve to go to Corinth, for there he was to enter upon 
one of the most fruitful periods of a richly fruitful life. 



VIII. 

The city of Corinth at the time when Paul visited it has been aptly called '* the 
Vanity Fair of the Roman world." It was wealthy and corrupt beyond all other 
cities, given no less to pleasure than to money-getting, thronged by sailors and idlers 
and traflBckers from all parts of the world, most of whom felt as irresponsible as to 
the moral quality of their actions as men away from home are apt to feel. There was 
also in this wealthy and busy city an enormous proportion of slaves, a class who in 
the nature of things can hardly have any moral standard of their own, and the posses- 
sion of whom tends to foster immorality in their masters. Corinth had been nearly 
destroyed by the Romans about two hundred years before this, and had lain in ruins 
for nearly a century ; but it had been rebuilt by Julius Caesar, and was now one of the 
most gorgeously magnificent cities in the Roman Empire. The products of all quar- 
ters of the world came into its splendid harbors on both sides of the isthmus ; here 
the Isthmian games were celebrated, and the wild beast fights which in refined and 
cultured Athens would never have been tolerated ; here, in short, heathenism was 
rampant, and corruption and vice so prevalent that Paul, in writing to the Corinthian 
church years after this, qualified his admonition that they were to keep aloof from 
vicious people with the admission that in that case they would have to go out of the 
world. We must remember that the Jews with all their faults were never given to 
immorality, and that Paul had led from his youth up a life of singular purity, before 
we can appreciate how deep and dreadful an impression the wickedness of Corinth 
made on him. The Epistle to the Romans, written from Corinth, gives us an insight 
into the horror with which he saw what went on around him. 

It was, as Paul afterwards reminded the Corinthians, " in weakness and in fear 
and in much trembling" that he first came among them. And no wonder. He had 
been through tremendous experiences since that time when, hardly recovered from 



142 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

the dangerous illness which attacked him in Galatia, he had seen the vision in Troas 
and heard the Macedonian cry, ** Come over and help us." In Philippi he had been 
** shamefully entreated," scourged and cast into prison. In Thessalonica he had been 
persecuted and cast out ; from Berea he had been obliged to flee for his life ; in Athens 
he had suffered the agonies of loneliness and contemptuous neglect of the message 
which was more precious to him than life. It is quite probable that a return of the 
malady to which he was subject (what it was we are nowhere told) was upon him 
when he left Athens, and we may feel sure that his bodily pains were increased by 
his anxiety about the beloved Thessalonian church. 

Yet at Corinth his first step is to arrange for the earning of his own living. There 
was a special reason for this in Corinth, as there had been in Thessalonica, the two 
cities where we hear the most about Paul's earning his own livelihood. In both 
cities there were large numbers of Jews, and wherever there were many Jews there 
were sure to be some of those impostors, professors of magic arts, of which, as we 
have already learned, the most notorious were Jews. Now as Paul came preaching a 
new doctrine of spiritual things, he took care not to have his sacred mission con- 
founded with that of these magicians. They of course made a profit of their profession. 
Paul will toil for his living, in order that neither his money-loving brethren, the Jews, 
nor those money-loving Gentiles, the wealthy Corinthian traders, shall think that he 
wants to make anything out of them or live on their bounty while teaching them about 
God. He will take up again the old trade of tent-making, which he learned as a boy 
in Tarsus, and which since his apostolate he has more than once practised. 

The large Jewish colony in Corinth was just at this time considerably increased 
because the Emperor Claudius, displeased or disquieted by the conduct of the Jews in 
Rome, had ordered them all to leave that city. Many of the exiled Roman Jews came 
to Corinth, among them a husband and wife named Aquila and Priscilla. They were 
natives of Pontus, a district of Asia Minor near the Black Sea, though they had lately 
been living in Rome. And as we are told that Jews of Pontus were present in Jeru- 
salem at the time of Pentecost and heard Peter's sermon, we may think, perhaps, that 
they were among the earliest Christian converts. The trade of these people was tent- 
making, and they appear to have carried on the business on so large a scale as to be 
quite rich, for their house, both in Rome and afterwards in Ephesus, was large 
enough to be used as the meeting-place of the Christian Church in those cities. As 
Paul's trade was the same as theirs, he immediately joined himself with them. Per- 
haps he first merely applied to them for work, as they must have employed a good 
many people ; but they received him into their house, which became his Corinthian 
home. He was not, however, dependent on them, but shared their labors. 

On the Sabbath (that is, Saturday, the Sabbath of the Jews) Paul did not work, 
but as his habit was he went to the synagogue and spoke of Christ. Not only Jews 
were persuaded by his arguments, but also Greeks, for in Corinth, as in the other 
cities we have read about, there were Greeks who were dissatisfied with their heathen- 
ism and disposed to learn whether the God of Israel might not better meet their reli- 
gious needs. 




■AUL AT ■JlfK mH'SF (IK A'J''n.A AM' rHlSCIT.r.A, 



144 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Paul had not been long in Corinth, it would appear, when his heart was more 
than cheered by the arrival of Silas and Timotheus. Though not so lonely here as 
he had been in Athens, nor with so much reason for discouragement as he had had 
there, he felt the need of old and well-tried friends; no new friends could take their 
place in his heart. These brethren were not only the bearers of news from the 
churches he had founded in Macedonia, but also of another of those contributions bv 




ANC FNT C R NTK 



which the Philippian church " once and again " ministered to Paul's necessities. This 
gift of money had an influence upon Paul's preaching which assuredly those who sent 
it had not anticipated. Not only did it relieve Paul from the necessity of constant 
labor, the evidence it gave of the continued zeal and unshaken affection of his Philip- 
pian converts fired his own zeal anew. He felt himself constrained by the word, or as 
our Lord once said of himself, straitened, until he had preached the gospel to these 
Corinthians in all its fulness. His preaching took on a new earnestness and empha- 
sis; he testilied, with all the emotion and enthusiasm of which he was capable, that 
the crucified Jesus was the very Messiah the Jews were looking for. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 145 

The fiery zeal of his preaching awoke the opposition of the Jews. True, the ruler 
of the synagogue, Crispus, and all his household, were converts to the religfion of 
Jesus, but in general Jewish opposition was very strong — all the more so, perhaps, 
from jealousy of the Greeks, many of whom now openly avowed their faith in Jesus. 
The Jews opposed themselves and blasphemed, we are told, and they doubtless would have 
been glad to invoke the city authorities against Paul ; but Corinth, one of the most 
important of Roman colonies, had a more intelligent set of officials than those of 
Philippi and Thessalonica. So the Jews contented themselves with railing, while 
Paul, by a most solemn and significant act, showed that he now gave over the at- 
tempt to influence them. He shook his robe, as if to shake oflf the very dust of the 
synagogue, and said, " Your blood be upon your own heads ; I am innocent of it. 
From henceforth I will go to the Gentiles.'* 

There was a certain Gentile convert named Justus who lived close by the syna- 
gogue, and he offered his house for a meeting-place of the Christians. Thenceforth 
for some months Paul preached and taught in this place, and the number of converts 
increased continually. 

Perhaps at the time of the violent opposition of the Jews, Paul was inclined to be 
discouraged, to doubt even whether he had been following the leadings of God in 
abandoning Macedonia, to which he had certainly been divinely summoned, and com- 
ing to Achaia, even though he had only done so to save his life. He had, as he 
thought, failed in Athens, and here in Corinth his mission seemed likely to be a 
failure too. It was probably because of some feeling of discouragement like this 
that at this time God sent him a gracious vision. The Lord himself seemed to stand 
beside him telling him not to fear, to go on preaching, for He himself was with him. 
No one should harm him, and there were many people in that city whom the Lord 
had numbered for his own. 

So for many months Paul went on working and preaching in Corinth. He prob- 
ably preached in the neighboring towns and villages too, for we know that not long 
after this there was a church in Cenchrea, the seaport on the opposite side of the 
isthmus. And it was also during this time that Paul wrote the first letter of his 
which has been preserved to the Christian Church, the First Epistle to the Thessa- 
lonians. The reports of Timothy had made him feel the need of giving yet further 
help to this perplexed and afflicted church. Persecution was increasing upon them ; 
enemies had suggested to them doubts whether Paul really cared for their afflictions, 
and this doubt, with the temptation of old habit, had led many of them to relapse 
into the sins of their former life. Paul saw that they needed not only instruction, but 
a sense of his continued interest in them. But here in Corinth, in the midst of an 
active and widely extending work, he could not spare Timothy for a third journey to 
Macedonia, and therefore it was that Paul wrote this letter. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 

The keynote of this Epistle is hope : its animating spirit is love. This is the 
more noticeable because there was need for much admonition and even reproach in 
19 



146 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



this Epistle, and Paul did not shrinlc from either; but nothing is more evident than 
that the errors of the Thessalonians did not shake Paul's love for them or his confi- 
dence in them. They had gravely mistaken some truths growing out of his teachings : 
they thought that since, as they supposed, the Lord Jesus was speedily coming again, 
there was no use in working for their bread or continuing faithful in any secular 
duty ; they gave themselves up to religious excitement, and looked to their richer 
brethren for support. As a natural result they were greatly distressed about those 
Christian brethren who had already died. They feared that such would after all lose 
all the happiness of the second coming of Christ. With all this they were still suf- 
fering from the persecution of enemies ; so that they needed not only reproof and 
instruction, but comfort, Paul was precisely the man to give them all three. 




SALONIKl (THESSALONICA). 

It is to be noticed that Paul, with the genuine humility which was a part of his 
character, associates the names of Silas and Timothy with his own as senders of this 
letter, though nothing is clearer than that it is all from Paul's own mind if not all 
from his own pen. The letter properly begins, after the fashion of the times, with 
the name of the writer, and then follows the beautiful salutation, " grace and peace." 
" Peace " was the salutation of the Jew ; that of the Greek was " rejoic-e ;" the Christian 
salutation unites both, but gives them a higher tone, especially than the Gentile 
greeting. After the salutation come a few words of commendation : thankfulness for 
the witness which the Thessalonians had been able to give, commendation of the 
reality of their faith in Christ, with the assurance that Paul thanks God continually 
for this and continually remembers them in his prayers. Then he reminds them of 
the character of his teachings, and recalls how they had tried to imitate his conduct, 
so that they had become models to all other believers, who saw that they had given 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 147 

up their idolatry and were serving the living God and waiting for the return of 
the Saviour. 

In the second chapter he reminds them of the circumstances of his coming 
among them after the outrage at Philippi, and recalls the manner of his ministry 
among them, praises them again for their constancy under persecutions, especially 
from the Jews, who are repeating their nation's sin of crucifying Christ in persecuting 
his followers, and tells them how gladly he would have gone to them in their afflic- 
tions, and how, being prevented from doing this, he had been willing for their sake 
to be left alone in Athens, sending Timothy back again to sustain them. Fearing 
lest their faith might be shaken by the news which had probably come to them of the 
afflictions which he had suffered, he tells them that it was precisely what the Lord 
himself had forewarned him of, and therefore no cause for dismay ; while, on the 
contrary, the news of their constancy had been a great comfort to him in his afflic- 
tions. He prayed that they might be kept continually steadfast until the appearing of 
Jesus Christ. 

Then follow instructions as to how they ought to conduct themselves. They are 

"^^ramed against impurity, the besetting vice of Greek life at that period, exhorted to 

ve one another as brothers, and to be diligent in their daily duties. As to the 

pecial subject of their anxiety, the condition of their departed friends, he gives 

pecial explanation. Death will not prevent their sharing in the joy and glory of 

Lord's appearing ; but they who still live must be watchful, careful in duty one 

o another, and especially loving and dutiful to their spiritual teachers. The letter 

to a close with particular admonitions to this latter class — the presbyters whom 

had ordained to be over the church — and ends with a prayer for blessing upon 

^he whole church, with a request for their prayers, and the invocation of the grace of 

our Lord Jesus Christ upon them all. 

We do not know who carried this letter to Thessalonica, but we can easily imag- 
ine the joy with which it was received and the eagerness with which the Thessalo- 
nian church tried to follow out its teachings. 



LX. 

Troubles were thickening around Paul ; the Jews were becoming more and 
more bitter against him, though at the same time his heart was strengthened by the 
conversion of many among the Gentiles. We know the names of only a few of these. 
One was Stephanas, who with his household accepted the truth even before the ruler 
of the synagogue, Crispus, did so. Paul never forgot the joy with which he welcomed 
that Gentile household, " the first-fruits of the gospel in Achaia,** into fellowship with 
himself in Christ. Then there was one Gains or Caius, who afterwards " extended 
hospitality " to Paul ; and after the open rupture with the Jewish synagogue the num- 
ber of Gentile converts rapidly increased. Many of the Corinthians began to believe, 
when they heard, and came to receive baptism. Nearly all of them, we must believe, 
were from the lower classes. " Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble ** 



148 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

were called, Paul says, writing to the Corinthians some years afterwards, but many 
who had been wicked and degraded were brought by the power of the gospel into th^ 
light and power of the Truth. All this greatly exasperated the Jews. They certainlj^ 
harassed Paul in every way possible to them, and it is plain from his second letter tc^ 
the Thessalonians that they caused him great grief. 

The need of a second letter to the Thessalonians soon became evident. Word- 
came to Paul that they had greatly misinterpreted those passages in his letter which, 
referred to the second coming of Christ, and were living even more exclusively in re- 
ligious excitement, less in the practice, of daily duty, than before. This was in fact 
very natural in their case, for the glorious teaching of a resurrection from the dead 
met one of their deepest sources of sorrow. There are burial inscriptions yet exist- 
ing in Saloniki, the modern Thessalonica, which date from about the time of Christ, 
which speak the most utter hopelessness in the view of death. It was by a natural 
reaction that the promise of eternal life by a resurrection from the dead made all the 
interests of the present life seem of little account. But this state of mind was not 
truly Christian, for Christianity sets a high value on the opportunities of this life ; and 
Paul therefore wrote a second letter, not contradicting in any respect what he had 
said in the first one, but opening out more fully some of its teachings, so that they 
should not in future misunderstand him. There were also some among the Thessa- 
lonians who pretended to have received a direct revelation that the second coming of 
Christ was at hand, and others who had asserted that they had received another letter 
from Paul, perhaps even had circulated a forged letter purporting to be from him, mak- 
ing the same revelations. It was very important that Paul should show the falsehood 
of these pretensions. 

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. 

The opening words are the usual salutation, in which as before Paul joins the 
names of Silas and Timothy with his own, and wishes the Thessalonians grace and 
peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus. 

Then, as in the first letter, he gives thanks for their faith and love in the midst 
of persecutions and afflictions, telling them that these are a token that they have a 
share in God's heavenly kingdom. For the time is coming when those who " trouble " 
them shall be themselves troubled, while they who believe shall rejoice in the glori- 
ous appearance of the Lord from heaven, accompanied by his angels. Seeing then 
that they shall be witnesses of His glory, he prays that they may be careful to be found 
worthy of the wondrous grace and mercy of the Lord. 

But, since they had misunderstood his former teachings about this appearance of 
the Lord, he goes on to amplify what he had then said, first warning them not to 
accept the teachings of that forged letter attributed to him. Paul's explanation of his 
teaching respecting the coming of the Lord is difficult to understand, because it was 
not at that time safe for him to write openly of things which might be considered 
treason against the emperor, and because we have not the clew which he gave those 
readers by referring to things he had said when among them. The early Christians 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



149 



were very apt to make use of obscure allusions and hints with reference to the Roman 
Empire during those centuries when the Roman Empire was still heathen, and in the 
reference to the " man of sin " and the " lawless one " we may probably find such allu- 
sions. After this explanation Paul again speaks, with thanksgiving, of their faith and 
their evident call of God, and admonishes them to hold fast by his teachings. 

Then comes the practical section of the letter, beginning with a request for their 
prayers for the progress of his work, for he is beset with opposition from the Jews of 
Corinth. He warns the Thessalonians that some of their number are not acting prop- 
erly, neglecting to earn their own living. He reminds them of the different example 
he had set them : how he had earned his own bread while among thera, even though 
being their minister he had a right to expect them to support him ; doing this to set 
tbem an example and recommend his own teaching, " If any man will not work 
neither shall he eat." He entreats them, on the contrary, not to be weary in well 
doing, and to separate themselves from those who refused to obey the admonitions he 
had given, and concludes by praying the Lord of peace to give them his blessing of 
peace. 

So far the letter had been dictated, either to Timothy or Silas. Now, however, 
I^aul takes the pen in his own hand and adds a salutation. " This," he says, " shall be 
"the token of the genuineness of every Epistle," that they may not again be deceived 
"by a forgery. He bids them notice carefully how he writes, that they may recognize 
liis hand in future, and closes with invoking the grace of Jesus Christ upon them all. 



X. 

\ T was probably before this letter was written that a very important 
event occurred in Corinth, namely, the recall of one proconsul of 
Achaia and the .sending from Rome of another to take his place. The 
new proconsul, Gallio, as he is called in the Bible — Lucius Junius 
Annaeus Gallio, as secular history names him — was the brother of 
Annans Seneca, the great philosopher, who is known at least by name 
to boys and girls who arc studying Latin. Seneca was the tutor of 
the young Ca;sar who afterwards became the Emperor Nero, and it was 
perhaps owing to his influence that his brother Gallio was made pro- 
consul or governor of Achaia. He was a man greatly beloved by his 
friends and acquaintances : " the sweet Gallic," they called him ; a man 
who to Roman dignity and seriousness united the grace and culture of the Greek. 

With all his culture he had the same contempt for the Jewish people that was 
common among the Romans of his time, and, to the shame of Christians, is common 
in the Christian world still. Notwithstanding which, the Jews had good grounds for 
thinking his arrival in Corinth a favorable moment for making a demonstration 
against Paul. The Roman governors almost to a man were very anxious to gain 
popularity ; they were politicians of the type we call demagogues. To gain and to 




I50 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

retain popularity it was necessary to make much of those who were most likely to be 
disturbing elements, while the peaceable, those who quietly accepted things as they 
were and were not likely to cause trouble, could be neglected or oppressed with 
impunity. This was the way of Pilate in condemning Jesus to please the Jews; this 
was the way afterwards of Festus, who kept Paul imprisoned for the same reason ; 
this, the Jews thought, would be the way of Gallio. With one accord, therefore, they 
made an onset upon the apostle, and dragging him before the judgment-seat of 
Gallio, they accused him of trying to overturn the religion of Moses. Though Rome 
was pagan, it was the custom of the empire to tolerate the religions of all subject 
peoples, and the Jewish religion was one of the " lawful " religions ; the endeavor of 
these Jews was to show that Paul's teachings were " unlawful.'* Paul was about to 
defend himself from this charge, probably by explaining that his teachings were but 
the natural development of Judaism, but Gallio peremptorily interfered. Since they 
had no moral wrong nor open violation of the law to accuse Paul of, they had no case 
at all, he said. He did not care by what name they called their Messiah, whether 
Jesus or another: their law, which only concerned ceremonial duties, was nothing to 
him, as governor of the province ; it was exclusively their own aflfair, and they must 
settle it among themselves. And so he commanded them to depart from the judg- 
ment-seat. 

The Greeks, with whom Paul was very popular, were indignant at this outrage of 
the Jews upon the apostle, and no sooner were the accusers dismissed than the Greeks 
fell upon them. Especially was the chief ruler of the synagogue the object of their 
rage, he being the chief accuser of Paul. This office, since the conversion of Crispus, 
had been held by a certain Sosthenes. Him the Greeks at once seized, and inflicted a 
beating upon him before the very judgment-seat. Gallio did not interfere to protect 
him, just Roman though he was. It was common enough in Rome to see the Jews 
embroiled with Gentiles ; they seemed everywhere to be a troublesome race, and 
this time certainly they were getting what they deserved. And so he let things take 
their course. Gallio was, like his brother Seneca, a true Stoic, caring for none of the 
things of the every-day world. 

Paul's safety being once again assured, he remained for some time longer in 
Corinth, probably visiting and " setting in order " the churches lately formed in the 
neighboring towns. In all, his stay in Corinth lasted a year and a half, but at last, in 
the spring probably of the year 53, he decided to go back to Syria, hoping to be at Je- 
rusalem in time for a feast which appears to have been Pentecost. He sailed from 
the port of Cenchraea in a ship bound for Syria by way of Ephesus. Priscilla and 
Aquila went with him, and it is possible that the fact that they were going just then 
to Ephesus on business decided Paul to take this route. Before he sailed, however, 
he cut his hair, which he had allowed to grow long in consequence of a vow, as was 
prescribed by the Mosaic Law. Thus we see that even yet he was perfectly ready to 
be obedient to the Law in all things that were not fulfilled and done away with by 
the life and death of Christ. What his vow was about we do not know. Some scholars 
think it was Aquila, not Paul, who made the vow. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




Ee hesus, at the time when Paul visited it. was 
aver> flourishing; and beautiful city of that province 
of Asia " iu which, on Paul's outward journey, the 
HrU Ghost had forbidden him to preach. It is 
the extreme southwesterly province of Asia Minor. 
the pro\ince in which were situated the cities of 
those seven churches to which John, in the Apoca- 
lypse (Revelation!, was bidden to write. The prov- 
ince is watered by many beautiful rivers, especially the Hermus and the Ma;ander, 
names familiar to students of ancient history. A smaller river was the Cayster. in the 
level valley of which are .some hills near the sea, and upon these hills Ephesus, the 
capital of the province, was built. It was connected by two great Roman roads with 
Phrygia and Galatia on the north, and, by way of Iconium, with the Euphrates in the 



152 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

far east. The district is the cradle of the early mythology out of which Greek paganism 
sprang, and the great glory of the city was an image of the goddess Diana (more prop- 
erly Artemis), a black, ngly image, very diflferent from the beautiful Greek represen- 
tations of that goddess, but which none the less they believed to have fallen from 
heaven. The city had many grand buildings, chief among them the Stadium, a vast 
area 687 feet in length, enclosed by noble porticos, and the great theatre, open to the sky, 
which afterwards was strikingly connected with Paul's history. Most beautiful of all 
was the temple in which the famed image of the goddess Diana was enshrined, a 
magnificent marble building standing at some distance from the city and united -with 
it by a superb colonnade, the pillars of which were the first instances of Ionic archi- 
tecture. Very recently the ruins of this temple have been excavated by order of the 
English Government, and many things have been brought to light which beautifully 
illustrate St. Luke's story in the Acts and show how accurate he was in his details. 

It was a voyage of several days from Corinth to Ephesus, and the ship seems to 
have arrived on a Friday evening, the beginning of the Sabbath, for Paul went at 
once to the synagogue and taught. He was not planning to remain in Ephesus ; he 
was to go on to Syria with his ship; but while that was discharging its cargo he 
seized the opportunity to proclaim the truth to his countrymen. There were a great 
many Jews in Ephesus, and Paul's first announcement of the coming of the Messiah 
awoke so much interest among them that they begged him to stay and tell them 
more. This, however, he could not do. The probability of soon finding another ship 
going in the right direction was doubtful ; if he was to reach Jerusalem in time for 
the feast, he must go on with the vessel in which he had come. He could only g^ve 
them his promise that he would return as soon as possible, and taking his leave of his 
two friends, Priscilla and Aquila, Paul and his other companions reembarked and 
sailed to Caesarea. In that city, where he was afterwards to endure a long imprison- 
ment, he seems to have made no stop, hastening on by land to Jerusalem. It was 
probably September of the year 53 A. D. 

He had been absent at least four years, and it was doubtless a great joy to him to 
meet James and the other prominent members of the mother church, and to narrate 
to them many details of the glorious news of the opening of Europe to the preaching 
of the gospel. But St. Luke gives us no particulars of this visit. We are not even 
told whether or not Paul arrived in time to " keep the feast," which was his strong 
desire in going. It seems probable that Luke did not go to Jerusalem with Paul ; all 
we are told is that after a short sojourn in that city Paul went to Antioch by way of 
Caesarea. Silas appears to have remained in Jerusalem, which was his home. 

In Antioch Paul probably spent several months, taking grateful rest among those 
beloved friends and fellow-workers who were " first called Christians " in the Church 
which had set him apart to his mission to the Gentiles. This appears to have been 
his last visit to the scene of his early labors. When the heavy snows of winter had 
melted, leaving the passes of the Taurus Mountains open to travel, he once more set 
forth upon his missionary journey ings. 




■Aur, IN INK sv\Ai;()i;u 



154 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



THE THIRD MISSIONARY TOUR. 




I. 

T was early in the spring of 54 A. D., probably, that Paul bade adieu to 
the Christians of Antioch. From allusions in the. Epistles we have 
reason to believe that Caius and Aristarchus of Macedonia, and Erastus 
of Corinth, who had accompanied Paul on his jouniey from that city, 
and also Timothy and Titus, were of Paul's party. Luke certainly was 
not, or we should have had a more detailed account of Paul's move- 
ments at this time. Leaving Antioch. the apostle and his companions 
must have gone through Cilicia, visiting Paul's home in Tarsus, and 
probably the other churches which he had founded in that province 
years before. Their way would next lead them through the region 
of Paul's first missionary tour ; they may have visited Timothy's old home, and the 
churches in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and perhaps Antioch in Pisidia, with other cities 
in Phrygia and Galatia, where Paul had founded important churches. Through all 
this widely extended visitation Paul's chief business was not evangelization; the 
Christian churches which he had founded were expected to do this ; they were the 
** leaven " which was to leaven the whole lump of Gentile paganism. Paul's object in 
this visitation was to "strengthen" these churches, teaching them how to order their 
services and explaining spiritual things yet more fully, that so they might the better 
do their work. We learn from the Epistles that Paul, in setting the churches in 
order at this time, made arrangements for a regular system of contributions for the 
needs of the Palestinian Christians, who during all the apostolic period appear to have 
been far poorer than their Gentile brethren. In the letter Paul afterwards wrote to 
the Galatians he reminds them of his injunction that on the first day of the week each 
should contribute " as the Lord had prospered him ;" and this rule is the rule of the 
Christian Church everywhere. 

Meanwhile, in Ephesus, Paul's Corinthian friends, Aquila and Priscilla, had also 
been a " leaven " of truth. Not presuming to teach, they had attended the worship 
of the synagogue. But in their own household they were a little Christian commu- 
nity, and often, no doubt, they celebrated the Lord's death by the supper which he 
had ordained. Some of those Ephesian Jews who had been interested in Paul's 
teaching on the one Sabbath of his visit probably came to them at times to talk over 
these things ; but there was no outward evidence that the leaven was working, no 
attempt to form a Christian church. In the course of time, however, another visitor 
appeared who aroused a new interest in this subject. This was one ApoUos, an Alex- 
andrian Jew, who in Alexandria had probably heard of the life and perhaps of the 
death of Jesus, though knowing nothing more about him than had been taught by 
his forerunner, John the Baptist. 

It seems at first strange that more than twenty years after the resurrection and 
ascension of Christ, any Jew who knew about Jesus at all should know only so much 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 155 

about him as John the Baptist had taught. When we stop to consider, however, the 
strangeness disappears. We know from the Gospels that John's preaching created a 
ferment which was felt to the most distant communities of the Jewish people. The 
whole Jewish nation was at that time eagerly and impatiently awaiting the Messiah's 
coming ; they knew that he was to be heralded by a prophet and they recognized 
John as that prophet. The teachings of such a prophet as John would spread like 
wildfire among the Jews. But the excitement which Jesus created was of a diflferent 
sort. He was not at all the Messiah the Jews wanted, and in a time when there are 
no general means of communication news travels slowly, except where it is spread by 
people who are greatly interested. So ApoUos, learned as he was, knew little about 
Christ. He had heard the teachings of John and, being mighty in the Scriptures, he 
had become convinced that Jesus was the Messiah and had accepted him as such; 
l>ut he was ignorant of what Christ had actually taught ; he " knew only the baptism 
of John." As far as he knew, however, he was anxious to spread abroad what he had 
learned. Alexandria was at that time the great centre of Jewish culture, and ApoUos 
AAras a man of extraordinary ability, skilled in the wisdom of his people and very elo- 
quent and persuasive in speech. He taught in the Ephesian synagogue with won- 
derful power, the Jews listening to him the more willingly because they were already 
i nterested in this subject through Pauls preaching. 

Aquila and Priscilla, however, at once perceived that Apollos knew very little of 
Christian truth. They did not contradict him nor try to set him right in public. If 
they had done this they would probably have created two parties of so-called Chris- 
tians almost before there were any Christians at all. They were too wise and too 
^ood to make such a mistake. They invited Apollos privately to their house, and 
"there told him the story of Christ's life and death, his resurrection and ascension, and 
X'epeated to him the lessons they had heard from Paul. It is easy to imagine the 
eagerness with which Apollos received this instruction. Learned and brilliant as he 
^'as, he did not think it beneath him to receive instruction from these business people, 
these tent-makers. On the contrary, he was all the more apt and eager a pupil, be- 
cause his mind was so well trained. 

During this time Aquila and Priscilla, who doubtless kept up a business connec- 
tion in Corinth and had correspondents among the Christians there, received word 
that there were grave disorders in the Corinthian church. Troubled by this intel- 
ligence, it must have been welcome news when Apollos told them that he desired to 
go to Corinth. They could see that his acute and well-trained mind — trained in all 
the subtleties of Greek philosophy as well as in the learning of the Jews— was pre- 
cisely fitted to deal with the difficulties at Corinth. They therefore gave him letters 
of introduction to the Corinthian presbyters, and he set forth. 

Arriving at Corinth, Apollos soon made his influence strongly felt. His marvel- 
lous eloquence, his ready speech, his deep learning, appealed to the Greek people, 
while his enthusiastic conviction of the truth of the gospel and his sympathetic nature 
gained him many personal friends. The result of this popularity was not entirely 
happy. The Corinthian church, from the character of its converts, was always in the 



IS6 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



early days a hard church to deal with, and now it became split up into factions. Cer- 
tain members liked the teachings of ApoUos far better than those of Paul. Others 
naturally took sides with Paul. A quarrelsome and factious spirit is very contagious. It 
was not long before the Jewish Christians in the Corinthian church went back to the 
old grievance about the observance of the Law. They insisted that Peter and the other 
apostles did not agree with Paul on this point, and they preferred to rank themselves 
as followers of Peter. A fourth party, more contentious still, refused to acknowledge 
any apostolic teacher, and said that they would believe nothing but what Christ him- 
self had taught. We may be sure that Apollos did not approve of this split into par- 
ties, Paul thoroughly trusted him, as we see from two of his Epistles, and said 
that Apollos had done a good work in " watering " what he himself had " planted " in 
Corinth. Both these men were self-sacrificing, and both were wise. Later on Paul 
wanted Apollos to go back to Corinth, for he saw how skilful he was in dealing with 
the Greek mind ; but Apollos declined to go, not wishing to do anything which 
would look like undermining Paul's influence. 




E PLACE WHERE EPHESUS STOOD. 
II 



It was perhaps some time after Apollos had gone to Corinth, that Paul, having 
finished his tour in Galatia and Phrygia, came to Ephesus to fulfil the promise he 
had made the Jews of that city a year or more before. Here he remained for three 
years ; and here he founded one of the largest and most influential churches of the 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 157 

early Christian centuries. It was in Ephesus that the apostle John, the beloved dis- 
ciple, spent his last years, after he was released from exile on the island of Patmos, 
and some of the greatest Christian teachers of the early centuries were brought up 
in the Ephesian Church. 

The place where Ephesus stood is now little more than a reedy marsh. Until 
a. few years ago there were hardly any traces visible of the magnificent buildings for 
A-vhich this city was celebrated. But in Paul's time and for long afterwards it was 
one of the greatest commercial cities in the world. Of late years careful excava- 
't.ions have brought to light many important ruins, so that it is possible now, with the 
Inelp of the published accounts, to form a very good notion of what the city was like 
in the days of its glory. 

Ephesus was built partly upon a small plain, which lay along the sea, and partly 
on the hills which surrounded this plain. The beautiful River Cayster flowed 
^through it to the bay, which then formed one of the finest harbors in the world. 
INow the river has dwindled to a tiny stream, and mud and driftwood fill the harbor 
iDy which Ephesus was once connected with all the cities of Europe. By land the 
<:ity was connected with all the important towns of Asia, for it was the centre of a 
^eat network of Roman roads. The population therefore was of a very mixed char- 
acter. Chief among the splendid buildings of the city were the theatre and the temple 
of Diana (Artemis), both of which enter into the story of Paul's work in Ephesus. The 
temple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was said of it that it 
was the finest thing the sun shone on. The theatre was one of the largest places of 
assembly ever built, open to the sky like all theatres of the time, its interior and exte- 
rior both very magnificent. Though entirely in ruins, it is not difficult to form a good 
opinion of what it was like, from descriptions of ancient writers and from the remains 
which have lately been discovered. Probably the picture given on page 1 5 1 is not far 
from correct. 

As in all the great trading cities, there were many Jews in Ephesus, and prob- 
ably a number of synagogues. In one of these synagogues there was a little group 
of religious men who, like Apollos when he came to Corinth, believed in Christ, 
though they knew no more about him than what they had gathered from the teachings 
of John the Baptist. Almost Paul's first question to them was whether they had 
received the baptism of the Holy vSpirit. These brethren could not understand the 
question. But when Paul told them the wonderful story of the life of Jesus on earth, 
and of the descent of the Holy Spirit after his death to be the very life of the Chris- 
tian Church, they were glad to be baptized again into the name of Christ, and imme- 
diately after, Paul having laid hands upon them, they received the wondrous gift, and 
at once gave proof of it by speaking with tongues and prophesying. 

This event greatly cheered and encouraged Paul. For three months he devoted 
himself to teaching in the Jewish synagogues, supporting himself, as he had done in 
Thessalonica and Corinth, by working with Aquila and Priscilla at his trade of tent- 
making. Ephesus carried on a verj' large trade in tents, so there could be no lack 
of work for Paul to do. He earned enough for the support not of himself only but of 



158 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

those who were with him. These were the Greek brethren whose names have been 
already mentioned, who had not, like Paul and all Jews, been taught a trade by which 
they could maintain themselves when other things failed. 

Within three months however the reaction came ; the Jews began talking against 
Paul and hardening their hearts against his teachings. When Paul discovered this he 
knew that his work in the Ephesian synagogues was done, and he invited those who 
believed in Jesus to come out from the synagogue and follow him. Among the 
converts who were not Jews was a certain teacher of philosophy or rhetoric named 
Tyrannus. He now offered his school or lecture-hall to Paul, and for two years this 
was the place of Christian assembly and Christian teaching. Daily we are told, not as 
before only on the Sabbath days, Paul lectured or preached concerning the truths of 
the Christian faith. 

More than this, Paul made Ephesus the centre of an important missionary work* 
The cities in which were those ** seven churches of Asia " of which the Revelation 
tells us, were all in the same province with Ephesus, a small province of Asia Minor 
called Proconsular Asia. It was during Paul's stay in Ephesus that these churches 
were founded. Not all of them by Paul himself ; some of them were gathered by his 
companions and disciples ; but over them all Pauf exercised a careful supervision. 

Long before the birth of Christ Ephesus had been celebrated as the honie of 
magical arts. When, about two years before, the Emperor Claudius had banished 
all Jews from Rome, he had included in the edict all astrologers and magicians. 
That edict, as we remember, had been the occasion of Paul's meeting with Aquila and 
Priscilla in Corinth; it was also the cause of a great many magicians coming to 
Ephesus, where they would feel sure of a welcome. It was perhaps because there 
was a good deal of magic work going on in Ephesus that God now made Paul the instru- 
ment of genuine miracles. People were healed by the mere touch of handkerchiefs 
or aprons which Paul had used, (the aprons probably while working at his trade). 
This method was the best way to teach the magic-loving Ephesians that the Chris- 
tians* God was far more powerful than those deities by whose help their magical 
practices were supposed to be performed. 

There was in Ephesus a certain Jewish priest of note who had seven sons who 
practised magic. They now undertook to perform their arts in the name of Jesus, in 
whose name Paul's miracles were worked. But the result was not what they expected. 
They had invoked the name of Jesus in order to cast out an evil spirit, but on hearing 
that name the spirit refused to obey their authority, though expressly acknowledging 
the power of Jesus. And the possessed man leaped upon them and so overpowered 
them that they were entirely discomfited and lost all their reputation as exorcists. 

The news of this spread rapidly, and produced a great effect upon the Ephesians. 
They felt sure now that the power of Jesus was something far greater than anything 
their own magicians knew. The magicians themselves felt the same conviction. Many 
of them openly confessed their intention to give up these practices. So much were 
they in earnest that they at once collected all the books and manuscripts by which 
they had carried on their trade, and burned them publicly in the market-place. 




KUKNINil Tf[E BOOKS. 



i6o FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

These books were very costly. All books were costly in those days, when print- 
ing was unknown and the materials used in writing were made by hand. These books 
were especially costly because they were based upon the ** Ephesian letters/* which 
were mysterious and unintelligible words, in very ancient characters, engraven on the 
image of the goddess Diana which was in the Ephesian temple. The value of the books 
which were burned was reckoned up afterwards and was found to be from seven to ten 
thousand dollars, a sum of far greater purchasing value then than now. Such a sacri- 
fice of property, though in part perhaps the result of a contagious excitement, was a 
good proof that these sorcerers really meant to give up their magic arts. 



III. 

There are certain reasons for thinking that some time before this Paul made a 
hurried visit to Corinth, and that either going or coming he was shipwrecked, and 
passed that " night and day in the deep " of which he writes in Second Corinthians. 
Whether this was so or not, it is certain that at this time he received news from 
Corinth which greatly disturbed him ; reports were brought of that factious spirit 
which had sprung up during the visit of ApoUos, and of other evils even worse 
than this. 

It seemed necessary to send some one at once to restore order, and in th<i early 
spring of the year 57 Paul sent Timothy and Erastus to Corinth. Erastus was a 
Corinthian and would be well known to all the church, while Timothy, Paul's special 
companion and " minister," would be recognized by them as having a right to assume 
a certain authority. These two went, however, not by the shortest way to Corinth 
but through Macedonia, probably visiting the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and 
Berea on the way. After their departure further news came from Corinth. It was 
brought by some members of the family of Chloe, who was a distinguished Corinthian 
Christian. These visitors gave Paul so vivid an idea of the disorders of the church 
that about Easter of the same year he wrote a letter to the Corinthians. 

This is one of the longest of Paul's letters, and it is the most varied in its con- 
tents. Much of it treats of matters especially affecting the church to which it was 
addressed, and these teachings in their details are applicable only in principle to the 
Church of Christ everywhere ; but many of the most precious spiritual truths, truths 
of universal application, are found in this Epistle. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 

Like all Paul's letters, the letter begins, after the usual salutations, with commen- 
dation. No person and certainly no church of Christ is wholly bad; Paul found 
much to be thankful for in the Corinthian Church, and like a wise teacher he first 
brings this to light. True, it was not so much the goodness of Corinthians as the 
grace of God to them for which he found reason to be thankful. They all had good 
spiritual gifts, he said, and lacked nothing in this respect. 

But notwithstanding this grace, they had permitted party spirit to divide them in 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



i6i 



a most uochristian way, each party thinking themselves in possession of the true 
wisdom. But the only true wisdom was to believe in Christ and to seek to under- 
stand spiritual things. 

Then he goes on to reprove them for some very grave faults. They had taken 
it for granted that since they were redeemed by Christ their conduct did not matter. 
Corinth was a notoriously immoral city ; these Christians had been brought up from 
infancy in the midst of all sorts of immoral practices, and they naturally did not hold 
such in the same abhorrence as people who had been differently educated. So Paul 
sets before them very plainly the iniquity of such practices, telling them that no one 
-who indulges in immorality should be counted among Christians so long as he con- 
i the brethren were not to associate. 

Some of the Corinthian Christians had 



"tinues in his evil ways. With such 



been really perplexed as to what was the 
proper way to look upon such questions as 
marriage and divorce and the various rela- 
tions between men and women. They 
had written to Paul for instruction on these 
points, asking also whether it was wrong 
to eat meat sacrificed to idols ; and Paul 
next answers these questions, showing the 
spiritual law which should govern conduct 
in all such matters. 

There had been those who had dis- 
puted Paul's authority, saying that as he 
had not been one of the Twelve he was 
no true apostle, and Paul undertakes to vindicate his apostleship and shows that by 
his conduct, if in no other way, he had proved that he was a true apostle. And finally 
he gives special instructions as to the conduct of men and women in public assemblies, 
explains the meaning and proper mode of administering the Lord's Supper, teaches 
what is meant by the resurrection, in what consists true charity (Christian love), how 
spiritual gifts should be used, and the right methods of Christian beneficence, closing 
with salutations and greetings. 




GLIMPSE OF CORIJJTIi. 



IV. 

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he had told them that he hoped soon to see 
them, bnt he would remain at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great door was open 
to him in Ephesus — a great opportunity of usefulness. This certainly appeared to 
be the case. Since the burning of the magical books the Christians had been held 
in high respect, and their infiuence had been strongly felt. But a very serious change 
was close at hand. 

The First Epistle to the Corinthians was written, as is evident from many allu- 



I62 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

sions in its pages, about the Passover time, which in the year 57 A. D. fell on April 5. 
Pentecost in that year would therefore come on May 26. Now the entire month of 
April was given up in Ephesus to the celebration of the Artemisia, or festival of the 
great goddess Artemis, called in the Acts Diana. This goddess, Diana of the Ephe- 
sians^ was one of the most celebrated of heathen deities. Not indeed because of her 
beauty. Her image was a rudely carved and ugly block of wood, such as we see rep- 
resented on the coins of Ephesus, different enough from the graceful and beautiful 
statues of the Greek Artemis or the Roman Diana. It was the popular belief that 
this image fell down from heaven, and that the crowning glory of the city of Ephesus 
was that it had been chosen as the custodian of this sacred image. The temple which 
was built for its shrine was, as we have seen, one of the most glorious buildings in 
the world ; and one of the chief industries of the city was the making of miniature 
copies, in silver, of this temple and of the image, to be sold to devotees of the goddess. 

The annual festival, the Artemisia^ was celebrated with great enthusiasm. Dur- 
ing the whole month the city was thronged with visitors from all countries, and the 
wildest revelries took place. The whole population gave themselves up to enjoy- 
ment. Misrule was the only rule; games, races, drunkenness, license of all kinds 
were the order of every day. 

At least, so it had always been up to that time. Now, in this third year of Paul's 
sojourn in Ephesus, the number of Christians had so increased, and the influence of 
Christian ideas was so strong, that their effect upon the celebration of the Artemisia 
was very marked and by no means satisfactory to those who found their proht in this 
celebration. Chief among these was a certain silversmith named Demetrius, who was 
prominent in the guild of shrine-makers of which we have spoken. Within the past 
few years excavations in the site of Ephesus have brought to light inscriptions giving 
the precise size and weight of these little shrines and images, and showing that they 
were made in enormous quantities. They formed indeed one of the staple trades of 
the city. Anything which would interfere with that trade would naturally cause anx- 
iety, especially among those whose livelihood depended upon it. Demetrius, having 
called together all people interested, harangued them in a way remarkably well fitted 
to stir them up to active measures for putting an end to this check upon their prosper- 
ity. He began by attributing the falling off of the demand for their wares to ** this 
Paul," whose influence was felt not only in Ephesus but in the whole province (Pro- 
consular Asia). Then, touching lightly upon the loss to themselves, if Paul's teach- 
ing that " they are no gods which are made by hands " were to be accepted, he dwells 
strongly on the menace to the glory of their goddess and of their city which lies in 
such teachings. " Now," he says, " Asia (the province) and all the world worships 
this goddess ;" and inscriptions lately found show that all Asia Minor did worship 
her. And within a few years the little statues and shrines of Diana of the Ephe- 
sians have been found in Marseilles and in Spain, showing that Ephesian sailors had 
actually carried her worship into " all the world," as far as it was then known. 

The eloquence of Demetrius produced a tremendous effect. His audience had 
doubtless been swelled by all the idlers within hearing, and when he stopped speak* 




'""•°'"™ "■"■"<"•"" ™T0 T„ „„„„ 



1 64 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

ing the mob set up a wild shout, the national watchword, " Great is Artemis (Diana) 
of the Ephesians!*' At the cry men came running from all directions. A sudden 
rush was made for the house where Paul lived. They did not find him there, and 
seizing upon two of his companions, Caius and Aristarchus, they dragged them 
tumultuously to the theatre, the usual place of assembly. The theatre always stood 
open ; it was capable of holding 30,000 persons, and on this tumultuous day it proba- 
bly held a very large number. 

The news soon came to Paul's ears, and with his customary bravery he at once 
purposed to go to the theatre. His Ephesian friends, who better understood the 
character of the mob, urgently dissuaded him. Even the rulers, the Asiarchs, being 
among his friends, sent word entreating him to keep quiet and aloof from the scene 
of disturbance. Paul, as wise as he was heroic, acceded to their request. 

Meantime in the theatre the noise and confusion became greater, few know- 
ing precisely what they were there for. The Jews, who hated Paul, thought it was 
now a good opportunity to make it clear that they were in sympathy not with the 
Christians but with the heathen. They put forward one of their number, a certain 
Alexander, who may have been that ** Alexander the coppersmith " of Ephesus who 
Paul later said had done him much evil. He made certain gestures demanding si- 
lence, and for a moment thought that there would be an opportunity for him to 
speak. But very shortly it became known in the crowd that he was a Jew. They 
could not think that he was more in favor of their idol worship than of the Christians* 
belief, and their cries were redoubled. For nearly two hours they shouted incessantly, 
** Great is Diana of the Ephesians !** precisely after the manner of this excitable and 
turbulent people, as other writers have described it to us. Historians tell us of more 
than one other instance of the Ephesians acting in precisely the same way, shouting 
out one cry for hours at a time. 

On this occasion they were finally interrupted by an officer called the recorder or 
town clerk. It appears to have been his duty to keep order in the city, and perhaps 
he had tried to do so at this time, but was unable to get a hearing until they had 
shouted themselves hoarse. As soon as he saw his opportunity he seized it. He was 
a skilful orator, and knew precisely how to play upon the feelings of his audience. 

** Ephesians !" he began, ** what human being is there who is not aware that the 
city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Artemis and of the image which 
fell down from Jupiter?" What if a few unimportant people contradict this fact ; all 
the world knows better. Such was his meaning. " Seeing then that this fact cannot 
be disputed,*' he went on, ** ye ought to be quiet and to do nothing rash." And then, 
having calmed his audience down, he went on to bring them to a more rational view 
of things: "These men whom ye have brought here (Caius and Aristarchus) are 
neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess ;'* they have therefore done 
nothing against the honor or the religious feelings of the people at large. " But if 
any special class, such as the silversmiths for example, think themselves aggrieved by 
their teachings or conduct, the courts are open and the proconsuls are here (the ses- 
sions are going on) ; let them proceed therefore in an orderly way." 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



165 



From this speech of the recorder we learn something of the great prudence and 
courtesy with which Paul had carried on his ministry in Ephesus, Although he cer- 
tainly knew that "an idol is nothing in the world," yet he had never spoken con- 
temptuously of that misshapen image of the goddess Diana which the Ephesians held 
in such reverence. What the recorder says about the courts being open is one of the 
minor facts which show the careful accuracy of Luke. We know from history that 
the circuit court of the province was held in Ephesus during the Artemisian festival. 
In general there was only one proconsul in each province, but just at this time there 
■were two in Asia ; for Silanus, who had been consul, had lately been poisoned by two 
of his under officers ; and as Nero had hated Silanus, he rewarded his assassins by per- 
initting them to govern the province together. The fact that Luke docs not explain 
this state of things, but assumes that his readers will understand it, is one of many 
evidences that his account was written almost at the very date when the events occurred. 



-f^ 




The speech of the recorder closed with a reminder that if that day's tumult 
reached the ears of the emperor it might go hard with the city and cost them some of 
the privileges they now enjoyed : for if it was inquired into they had certainly no 
good reason to offer for having made such a disturbance. By the time he had reached 
this point the mob were sufficiently cooled down to see the force of all he had urged ; 
they therefore dispersed and went their several ways. 



i66 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



V. 



Although no harm had resulted from the uproar, Paul was too wise to run any 
further risks. It was plain that new tumults might break out any day during this 
month of wild festivity ; he therefore gave up his plan of remaining in Ephesus until 
the last of May (Pentecost) and calling a meeting of the church, he bade them fare- 
well and set forth to go to Macedonia. Luke, who had been in Philippi during all the 
years since Paul had left him there in 52 A. D., tells us nothing about Paul's journey, 
nor about any of the events of the next ten months, till Easter A. D. 58 ; but a careful 
study of the Epistles brings to light a very clear outline of Paul's movements during 
this period. 

Departing from Ephesus, then, probably by sea, which, was the easiest mode of 
travel, Paul went first to Troas, that city in which years before he had seen a vision 
and heard a call to go over to Europe to preach the gospel. Two of his Ephesian 
converts, Tychicus and Trophimus, went with him ; we have already seen that Paul 
never liked to travel or to live alone. Many students of the Bible think that he was 
so nearly blind that he could not easily go about unaccompanied ; that this was the 
" thorn in the flesh " of which he so feelingly speaks, and that it was the result of that 
blindness which he had suffered in consequence of the awful light which shone upon 
him at the time of his conversion. If this is the case, if Paul's vision was so impaired 
that he could hardly go about alone, we have all the more reason to marvel at the 
extent and variety of his labors. 

Paul intended to remain some time at Troas. and to lay the foundation of a church 
there ; but something occurred to change his plan. This was the non-arrival of Titus. 
Shortly after sending his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul had despatched Titus to 
Corinth : his anxiety about that church was very great, and he longed to hear in what 
spirit they had received that letter. He was so anxious to see Titus and hear all about 
the Corinthians that he could hardly endure the suspense of his absence. His spirit 
had no rest because Titus did not join him in Troas. Yet he preached the gospel as 
faithfully as if he were not consumed with a great anxiety, and the good tidings met 
a ready acceptance. 

But Paul was too uneasy to remain long in Troas, and taking ship he sailed once 
more across the ^gean Sea, and landing at Neapolis, went directly to Philippi. In this 
city was the most satisfactory church that Paul ever founded. It must have been an 
unspeakable refreshment to him to find himself among these " dearly beloved " Phil- 
ippians once more. Here too he met Timotheus and Luke. 

At Paul's first visit to Macedonia he had encountered much opposition and perse- 
cution. Their feeling against him had however quieted down long before this present 
visit, so that he was able now to carry on a very extensive work. " Round about even 
to lUyricum," on the western coast of Macedonia, he preached the gospel. Neither 
the impaired health from which he appears at this time to have been suffering, nor the 
deep depression of spirits caused by his anxiety about the Corinthian church, was 
allowed to interrupt his preaching and evangelizing work. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




Titus came at last with the anxiously awaited news from Corinth. In certain 
important respects it was better than perhaps Paul had allowed himself to hope. His 
letter had produced very much the effect he had desired ; the Corinthians had repented 
of their sins, had excommunicated one notoriou.s sinner, and had made a contribution 
for the poor Christians of Palestine. Still there were .some among them who felt evil 
disposed towards Paul. This party accused him of raising this collection for his own 
beneBt — an accusation peculiarly unjust and inconsistent, because this very party had 
formerly pretended to doubt tliat Paul was truly an apostle because he had worked for 
his own living while in Corinth, instead of being supported by the church, as was the 
practice of the other apostles. 

Although the disaifected party in Corinth was now in the minority, Paul was 
greatly distressed by the mere fact that there was such a party, because it meant far 



1 68 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

more than personal dislike of him. In fact the old trouble which long before had 
shown itself in the Antioch church, the question, namely, whether Christianity was to 
be a mere Jewish sect or whether it was to be a great world-religion, had now reached 
the church of Corinth, and was the true secret of the unkind feeling towards Paul. A 
certain teacher— Paul calls him a false apostle — had come to Corinth, armed with let- 
ters of commendation from some of the chief men in the Jerusalem church ; and this 
man had openly denied Paul's apostleship and disputed his teachings, insisting that 
the Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the Jewish Law before they could become 
members of the Christian Church. We know how strenuously Paul had combatted this 
sort of teaching years before in Antioch : how he had gone up to Jerusalem to bring 
the question to a final issue, and how clearly it had there been decided that the Jewish 
ceremonial law was not binding upon Gentiles. Now after so long a time to find the 
old trouble revived in Corinth was a matter of deep aflfliction to Paul. That his claim 
to be an apostle should be again called in question was a matter of more than personal 
importance, for his right to teach and found churches depended on the fact that he had 
been personally called and commissioned by Christ himself. It seems probable that 
at this time, too, the malady from which he always suffered was aggravated for some 
reason ; so that many circumstances conspired to weaken his usually brave spirit. 

However, he did not neglect duty because his heart was sore and his physical 
strength small. No sooner did he learn from Titus of the actual state of things in 
Corinth than he sat down to write, or rather to dictate, a second letter to that church. 
This Epistle is especially marked by a twofold line of thought, as of a major and a 
minor strain in a piece of music. Joy over the repentant and well-doing members of 
the little community and sorrow and indignation at the false doctrines and wrongful 
accusations of the usurping teacher from Jerusalem, love and warning, alternate on 
nearly every page. No other Epistle gives so deep a revelation of Paul's own heart as 
this one. 

. THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS. 

The Epistle begins, like all PauVs letters, with words of greeting, followed by 
words of commendation. Paul gives thanks to God for the relief from anxiety given 
him by the good report which Titus had brought ; and he expresses his confidence 
that the Corinthians will continue to do well in future. Even here, however, is a note 
of sadness: they have doubted him, thinking that he did not intend to keep his 
promise of visiting them. In a few touching words he alludes to the imminent danger 
in which he had been in Ephesus, and to the torture of spirit he had suffered while 
waiting for news from Corinth. This brings him to the question of his mission to 
them, and the reality of his apostleship. It is a great and most responsible calling, 
but he is made sufficient for it by the power of God. Not, indeed, that this power lifts 
him above human weakness : he has the treasure of God's grace in a frail earthen ves- 
sel (like the lamps in Gideon's pitchers) ; he has many sorrows and trials both without 
and within, but all these things only go to prove the excellency of the power of God, 
which can make so weak a man able to do such great things. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 169 

This may seem to them like " commending " himself, but in fact it is not so. It 
is as Christ's ambassador that he thus speaks, not as being himself any great one ; but 
as a minister of God he does " commend " himself to them, and he appeals to them for 
sympathy because his sympathy with them is so great. The Corinthians are always 
in his heart ; the fact that they are trying to do better makes him overflow with joy in 
all his afHiction. He is not sorry that his former letter gave them pain, because it 
also made them cease from sin and try to be pure, and live seemly Christian lives. 




Then he goes on to set before them the conduct of the Macedonian Christians as 
in certain things an example to them, especially in the matter of the contribution for 
the poor Christians of Palestine, reminding them too of the example of Jesus Christ, 
who, thotigh he was rich, impoverished himself for their sakes. He therefore encour- 
^es them to go on and complete the collection that they had begun a year before, 
telling them that Titus, one of the bearers of this letter, has volunteered to go back to 
them to help on in this matter. With him, Paul says, he sends two other brethren 
who have been chosen by the Macedonian churches to accompany him when he 



I70 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

carries the contributions to Jerusalem ; for lie wishes to guard himself against all sus- 
picion of taking any of this money for his own use. He urges them to liberality, 
reminding them of the unspeakable gift of God to them. 

After this Paul goes on to defend his authority as an apostle, against the dispara- 
ging accusations of that emissary from the Judaizers of Jerusalem. And in the course 
of this spiritual self-justification 'comes that magnificent roll-call of the sufferings 
which he had up to this time endured for the gospel's sake. It shows how few of all 
the trials and sorrows of Paul's life are recorded for us in the Acts : " In labors more 
abundant, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft : from 
the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one, thrice was beaten with rods, 
once was stoned, thrice suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the 
deep : in journeyings often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my country- 
men, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brethren ; labor and 
travail ; in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, often in want of bread to eat, in 
cold and nakedness ; beside these things that are without, there is that which presseth 
upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches." And then he goes on to tell of the 
visions and revelations of the Lord, in which, so long as fourteen years before, he had 
been caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, impossible to utter ; and 
of the ** sharp stake piercing his flesh,*' the painful disease, whatever it may have been, 
which, as they knew, had been sent, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him, lest he should 
be exalted overmuch. Are not these, he asks, sufficient proofs of his call and commis- 
sion from Christ ? Are they not enough to offset against the trivial fact that he did not 
permit himself to be supported by them when he was with them ? He is coming to 
them again, but neither this time will he permit them to contribute to his necessities ; 
he would rather spend himself for them. And he prays that they may be perfected, 
adds a few words of admonition and promise, and closes with general salutations and 
the apostolic benediction. 



VI. 

This letter was carried to Corinth by Titus and two brethren whose names we 
do not know, but who may perhaps have been Luke and Trophimus. The latter was 
an Ephesian who had accompanied Paul from Ephesus, and who, as we shall after- 
wards see, went to Jerusalem with him. Luke had been in Philippi during the past 
six or seven years, and this Epistle was probably written from Philippi. Shortly 
after despatching it Paul himself went to Corinth, where he spent three months. 
There was very important business for Paul to settle in Corinth, such as the internal 
order of the church, the fuller explanation of those matters of right and wrong 
about which the Corinthians were still so much in the dark, and the strenuous opposi. 
tion to those Judaizing teachings which were doing so much harm at this time in 
that church. In setting forth from Macedonia for Corinth Paul must have felt that 
there was much very hard work before him. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




S OK COKINTH, 



We do not know whether he went by land to Corinth or, as on his first visit, by 
sea. We are not told of any halt in Athens, and if, as is probable, it was now late 
in the autumn, when travelling by sea was dangerous, it is very likely that he went 
by land. 

Almost the first thing that came to his ears on reaching Corinth was bad news 
from Galatia and Rome, namely, that teachers of the same stamp as that one who had 
come to Corinth from Palestine had also reached those remote places and had 
stirred up doubt and controversy in those churches, calling Paul's apostleship in 
question and insisting that the Jewish ceremonial Law should be kept. This was 
surely very sad news for Paul, especially with respect to Galatia, where he had worked 
in person. He had loved the (lalatian people very much, while they in turn had been 
very devoted to him, especially during the long illness from which, as we remember, he 
had suffered while among them. Tu hear therefore that they had been moved from 
the firm foundation on which he had built them up as Christians, and had accepted 
teachings so very different from the gospel of salvation by faith in Jesus, caused 
him exquisite pain. In the midst of the busy and exacting cares which came upon 
Paul at Corinth, he found time to write a very urgent, earnest, and persuasive letter 
to the Galatians. 



172 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS. 

This letter falls naturally into three pretty nearly equal parts, each containing two 
chapters as they are divided in our Bible. These three parts may be called respect- 
ively, personal, historical, and practical, each part covering one of the points which 
had called forth this letter from Paul. 

The first or personal section replies to the old accusation that Paul was not prop- 
erly an apostle, not having been either taught or ordained by Christ. The very 
opening words, " Paul, an apostle, not from man nor yet through man, but through 
Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead," show the line of 
argument that he intends to take. He reminds them of what they had already heard 
of his own early life — how he had been a persecutor of the believers in Christ, until 
he had been miraculously called by him and set apart to the apostolate. Even after 
that he had received nothing in the way of enlightenment or teaching from the 
other apostles, but had gone away by himself into distant Arabia, with no other 
teacher than the Holy Spirit. He reviews his various visits to Jerusalem and his 
interviews with the apostles to show that not only had he received no authority from 
them, but that they had recognized that his calling and authority were entirely equal 
to their own. And he reminds them that in the very question as to whether the 
keeping of the Jewish Law was essential to membership in the Christian Church he 
had stood out boldly against Peter himself and had proved Peter in the wrong. 

Thus he comes to the second part of his letter, the question whether or not they 
ought to obey the Jewish Law. He appeals to their own experience : had they received 
salvation through the keeping of that Law, or simply by faith in Christ ? The covenant 
of God with Abraham was a covenant of promise, and the whole ceremonial Law was 
designed to keep alive faith that the promises would be fulfilled. But in the coming 
of Christ the promises had all been fulfilled ; those who now went back to the Law 
virtually denied this, and went back from freedom into bondage. 

This brings him to the third part of the letter, the practical outcome of these facts. 
What was the freedom which in Christ they now enjoyed ? was it not freedom to do 
right? Certainly it could not be freedom to sin, for that was even unthinkable of 
men redeemed from sin by the death of Christ upon the cross. And he sets forth 
the character of the true follower of Christ, the love, joy, peace, long-suffering, and 
other Christian graces which he manifests, the bearing of one another's burdens, the 
continual courage in well-doing in spite of obstacles. 

In conclusion Paul takes the pen from his amanuensis and writes at least a few 
lines with his own hand) as the large letters in which they are written testify, for the 
Galatians are quite familiar with the fact of PauVs defective eyesight. Once more 
he returns to the painful question of circumcision, reiterating that neither circumcision 
nor uncircumcision is of any importance, that the thing to make certain of is that 
one is a new creature by the grace of God. And so with an invocation of peace 
upon those who lay hold on this truth — "who walk according to this rule " — and the 
apostolic benediction, he closes. 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



vir. 



HERE is no account given us of the measures which Paul took during 
his stay in Corinth to purify the church from the errors and confusion 
into which it had fallen. In fact, beyond the simple notice that his visit 
lasted three months, there iii not another word about Corinth in the New 
Testament. We know from the Second Epistle, which he had written 
shortly before coming, that he intended to use strenuous measures to 
bring about peace and purity ia the church, and there is every reason to 
believe that he succeeded. For there are still extant letters from a certain 
Clement, whom Paul speaks of as his ■' fellow-laborer " in his letter to the 
Philippians ; and these letters of Clement's describe the Corinthian church 
\ some years after this time as in a very satisfactory condition, Clement 

especially mentions the ripeness of their knowledge of Christian truth, 
their pure and blameless lives, and their freedom from party spirit. These three 
were the very points in which they had failed before Paul's present visit, and for 
which his letter had reproved them : so we may believe that Paul's methods at the 
present time were effective in bringing about the needed reforms. 

Doubtless during the three months of his stay in Corinth Paul visited the other 
churches which he had founded in Achaia and set their affairs also in order. He 
surely completed that collection for the poor saints at Jerusalem which he had so 
deeply at heart. And at the same time he was laying his plans for a still more ex. 
tensive missionary journey as soon as he should have made a visit to Jerusalem, pur- 
posing to visit Rome, and to go even as far as Spain, which was almost the western 
limit of the known world and quite the limit of the civilized world ; for the wild na- 
tives of Britain, which had been known to the Romans about a hundred years, could 
hardly be called civilized men at this time. 

There was already, as we remember, a Christian church at Rome, although Paul 
had never been there, nor, so far as is known, had any of the other apostles. Aquila 
and Priscilla had originally been members of the Roman church, and the doctrines of 
Christianity had by this time gained a considerable following in that city, through 
the teachings doubtless of the Christian Jew.s of the Dispersion, But the peace of the 
Roman church, like that of the Corinthian church and of the churches of Galatia, had 
lately been disturbed by the teachings of those Judaizing Christians who insisted 
upon confining the benefits of Christ's salvation to those who had already come into 
the Jewish fold. And to counteract these dangerous teachings Paul now interrupts 
his arduous labors in Corinth to dictate a letter to the Christians of Rome. His 
amanuensis, it is interesting to notice, was a certain Roman, Tertius by name, who for 
some reason was in Corinth at this time. 

Although Paul had never visited Rome he was well known by reputation to the 
church of that city, and personally to very many of its members. He even had rela- 
tives living in Rome, some of whom, as he says, were in Christ before him. He 
wrote, therefore, not as to strangers, but as to friends ; and we may be very sure that 



174 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



when the letter reached Rome, being carried thither by Phoebe (a wealthy Christian 
widow who served the church of Cenchrea, near Corinth, as deaconess, and now went 
to Rome apparently on some law business of her own), it was very eagerly received. 
We can ima^ne the Christians meeting together in some accustomed place to read 
the letter aloud and talk over its contents. In many respects this is the most import- 
ant of all Paul's writings. He was now fully matured in Christian experience and 




in understanding of the Spirit's teachings. More than this, he had now had ample 
opportunity to see all round the question of the relation of the Jewish Law to the 
Christian faith. He had touched upon the question in his second letter to the Corin- 
thians, had gone into it more deeply in his letter to the Galatians, and he was now 
fully prepared to sift the whole matter to the very bottom, and so set forth the true 
bearings of the question as to set controversy on this subject for ever at rest. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 175 

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. 

Two facts in the dealings of God with men had to be explained : the substitution 
of the gospel for the Law, and the substitution of the Gentiles for Israel as the chosen 
people of God. The first part of the Epistle treats of the first of these facts, the 
second part of the second. The conclusion sums up with practical reflections and an 
application of the truth to the special needs of the Roman church. 

It is noticeable that in the opening words Paul does not call himself an apostle, 
but a bond-servant (slave) of Jesus Christ. His apostleship had not been called in ques- 
tion in Rome, as in Corinth and Galatia, and there was no need therefore to assert it. 
Rather he would remind them of that in which his soul rejoiced — that he had given 
himself wholly to Christ, to do his will in all things. The salutation given, 'his first 
words are of thanksgiving for the faith which the Romans had so signally shown 
that the reputation of it was known through all the world. Then comes an expres- 
sion of Paul's deep longing to see them and to preach to them in person that gospel 
which is the power of God to righteousness. 

This brings him to the vindication of his own teaching. He has substituted the 
gospel for the Law ; true, but why ? In the first place, it is evident that, whereas 
the Law was given to the Jews, yet Gentiles need salvation as well as Jews. No one 
knows better than the Roman Christians, who see all around them the awful evidences 
of Gentile depravity, that the Gentiles need to be redeemed from the corrupting in- 
fluences of sin. But the Jew, who knows the Law of God, is also sinful ; he does not 
save himself by obedience to the Law, for he does not perfectly obey it ; nor, evi- 
dently, does circumcision avail to make him holy. The Law itself condemns him ; 
therefore some other way of salvation is necessary for Jew as well as Gentile. 

This way is found in Christ, who offers it to all men, not as something that can 
be earned by works, but as something to be received by faith. This salvation is sal- 
vation from sin ; the gift of a righteousness procured by Christ, and to be appropri- 
ated by faith in him. This is indeed precisely in harmony with God's plan from the 
first All that Abraham had received he had received by faith, and the Christian re- 
ceives salvation in the same way. The result is a life of peace with God in this 
world, and the assurance that the love of God which is experienced here will continue 
through all eternity, averting that wrath which but for the merit of Christ's death, by 
faith appropriated, would have been justly due for sin. As sin had come into the 
world through one man's disobedience, bringing death as its natural consequence, so 
righteousness and eternal life came into the world by the perfect obedience of one 
Man, the Saviour Jesus ; his grace abounding even more than the sin of man. 

But no one is to think that, because Christ's grace is so full and free, therefore he 
may go on and sin as much as he likes, secure of pardon in the end. Indeed, such a 
thing is unthinkable, for every one who is really united to Christ by faith, and so the 
object of his grace, is by that very fact dead to sin, and cannot live in sin any longer. 
Being free from the bondage of the Law, he can now serve God in newness of life. 
And though the body may for a time fall under the power of death, it is only for a 




i;6 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS.- 

time. Nothing can break the bond between the redeemed soul and God, and the 
future of that soul is assured : neither life nor death, nor things present nor things to 
come, can separate him from God's love which is manifest in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

But how has it come about that the Gentiles have been substituted for the chil- 
dren of Israel in God's plan of the redemption of the world ? This is a sad and dark 
problem : for had not the Jews the promise of God ? But the truth is, no merely 
physical fact, like descent from Abraham, could give 
a man a right to inherit promises which are spiritual. 
The inheritance, like the promise, must be due to the 
free favor of God. As the potter, turning his wheel, 
exercises his own right of judgment as to what use he 
shall put each lump of clay, being perfectly instructed 
in his trade and so able to judge rightly, so God deals 
with his creatures. But this method, which might 
seem to be arbitrary and unjust, is not so, because 
God, being perfectly good and perfectly loving and 
perfectly wise, actually does deal with each lump of 
clay called man in the way which is really most merci- 
ful, although to our short sight it may not appear so. 
poiTER's WHEEL ^'■'" '^^ ^^"^^ ^^ *^^* Isracl had the opportunity 

to attain righteousness and so become heir to the 
promises in the only possible way, that is, through faith ; and instead of doing so, 
and accepting Christ, he preferred his own way and rejected him. The Gentiles on 
the contrary, so far as they have accepted Christ, have become heirs of that promise 
which Israel has refused. Nevertheless, God has not rejected Israel : the salvation 
of the Gentiles is indeed the method he has chosen by which ultimately to bring about 
the salvation of the Jews. 

Therefore the Gentiles are not to be puffed up and boast because they have been 
chosen and Israel apparently rejected. As well might the shoots of the wild olive 
boast because some twigs of the cultivated olive had been cut away that they might 
be grafted in. The whole process is indeed for the perfecting of the nobler tree, the 
cultivated olive ; and so the grafting in of the Gentiles is meant after all for the 
saving of the Jews. This is the reason why Paul works so earnestly for the salvation 
of the Gentiles : not because he loves his own people less, but more, and desires thus 
to fall in with God's plan for their final salvation. The end will show the holiness 
and the loving-kindness of God's ways, when Israel following after the Gentiles will 
finally enter the kingdom of God. And then will be proved the depth of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. 

After this follow the practical exhortations which naturally flow from such high 
truths as these. Those who have been redeemed at such a price as the death of 
Christ, and for such a purpose as the bringiug of the rest of the world to the same 
precious privileges, should live holily, think of themselves modestly, realize the bond 
which binds them to their fellow-believers, of whatever degree, and earnestly and 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



177 



seriously practise the duties of their calling, 
putting their gifts to the most faithful use, and 
doing all from love to the Saviour who has so 
greatly loved them. 

The application to the special needs of the 
Roman church now follows. There were some 
brethren weak in the faith ; they must be ten- 
derly borne with, and shielded from all that 
might disturb their faith. The whole church 
must be mutually forbearing, not judging one 
another, but helping one another, and remem- 
bering the strong bond of love to Christ which 
binds them all in one spiritual body. 

In conclusion Paul justifies his taking upon 
himself to write to them, by the .special com- 
mission to the Gentiles which he had received 
from God. Having now nearly completed his 
work in the East he hopes soon to visit them, 
and aided by them to carry the gospel into re- 
gions still more remote. He recommends 
Phosbe, the bearer of this letter, to their good 
offices, especially in the matter of business which calls her to Rome, and sends .salu- 
tatioQS to a large number of the Roman brethren by name- To the.se salutations Ter- 
tius, the scribe who writes at Paul's dictation, adds his own greetings and the greetings 
of other brethren then in Corinth. And the Epi.stle closes with a glorious doxology 
of praise to God. 




OLIVE-BHA.SCH, WITH FLOWERS AND KRUIl 



vin. 

The three months of Paul's sojourn in Corinth brought him to the early spring 
of the year 59 A, D. The time for his vi.sit to Jerusalem was now at hand, and the 
season for seafaring having arrived, he proposed to take ship from Cenchrea for some 
port in Syria. But the Jews of Corinth, who had probably nourished a grudge against 
Paul ever since the time when they had so ignominiously failed to prevail on the 
governor Gallio to silence him, had been concocting a plan to silence him effectually, 
probably by assassination. Just in time to evade them Paul heard of this scheme, 
and instead of going to Cenchrea to take ship, as his enemies expected him to do, he 
secretly left Corinth by land, journeying by the northern road back into Macedonia. 
This change in his plan gave him an opportunity once more to visit the churches in 
Berea and Thessalonica, as well as in Philippi. 

It was nearly the time of the Jewish Passover when Paul reached Philippi, and that 
feast with its higher Christian significance bemg very dear to him, he decided to tarry 
at Philippi long enough to keep it with the beloved brethren of the Philippian church. 



178 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

many of whom were Jews by birth. Luke was at this time in charge of the church of 
Philippi, as he had been for six or seven years, since Paul had left him there at the 
close of his first visit. If, as we have supposed, he had been one of the bearers of the 
Second Corinthian Epistle he had returned almost immediately to Philippi, for his 
name is not mentioned as one of Paul's companions on the journey from Corinth ; but 
when Paul left Philippi after this visit Luke went with him. 

Paul had had several travelling companions from Corinth, and others perhaps had 
joined him at Berea and Thessalonica, for when they reached Philippi they were a 
party of eight. Two of these, Tychicus and Trophimus, had come with Paul from 
Ephesus ; Caius of Derbe and Timotheus were also from Asia Minor. Sopater*s home- 
was in Berea, and there were two men from Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus. 

When Paul decided to remain for a fortnight or so in Philippi, these seven com- 
panions of his made up their minds to push on across the -^gean Sea and wait for 
him at Troas. We are not told their reason, but it is not diflBcult to conjecture what 
it was. With the exception of Timothy they were all Gentiles, and they not only had 
no personal interest in the celebration of the Passover, but their presence at that feasts 
uncircumcised as they were, would surely give pain to the Jewish Christians. For we 
cannot too often remind ourselves that it was perfectly natural that Jewish Christians, 
however truly they might welcome Gentiles into the Church of Christ, should still feel 
unpleasantly about associating with uncircumcised men at their own national festivals. 
We American Christians, who though willing to sit down at the Lord's table with a 
negro or a Chinese brother are still unwilling to meet them everywhere on equal 
terms, should certainly be very slow to blame the Jews for a feeling towards the 
Gentile brethren which was rooted in something far other and nobler than mere race 
prejudice. Paul, who perfectly understood this feeling, though he was far too broad- 
minded to share it, was always careful to guard against occasions of oflfence in this 
respect, and he would therefore think it wise to send the Gentile brethren on to Troas 
while he himself remained to celebrate, with the Jewish Christians of Philippi, the 
great national festival of their race. 

The week of unleavened bread which follows the Paschal feast was fully over 
when Paul and Luke set sail from Neapolis, the seaport of Philippi, for Troas. The 
first time that Paul had crossed the ^gean he had made the voyage from Troas to 
Neapolis in two days ; but either calms or contrary winds now detained them, and it 
was five days before they reached port and were joined by the companions who had 
preceded them. 

Paul was exceedingly anxious to reach Jerusalem in time for the feast of Pentecost, 
and the time was none too long to allow for a journey which was entirely dependent on 
chance opportunities of transportation. But the delay at sea was only the prelude to 
a still longer delay at Troas. The ship in which they were sailing waited at that port 
a whole week before continuing on its way. However impatient Paul may have been 
to go forward, he made the most of the delay for building up the little church at Troas. 
Finally the ship was ready to sail on Monday morning, and on the evening before, 
the evening after the first day of the week (which closed at sundown) the whole church 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 179 

assembled to celebrate the Lord's Supper and hear Paul preach. The place was an 
upper chamber in some private house ; it was crowded, and many lamps made the air 
close and heavy. Paul, all on fire with the truths which he had to present to this 
people, preached on, unheeding the flight of time, until midnight had arrived. In the 
audience was a young man, Eutychus by name, who finally gave way under heat and 
weariness and fell into a deep sleep. He was sitting in a window, left open for the 
air, and presently lost his balance, fell from the window to the ground, and was killed 
by the fall. We can imagine the confusion and terror which followed, and how Paul, 
breaking off in his sermon, hastened down into the court, stilled the agitation of the 
.bystanders, and recalled the young man to life. With feelings of the deepest thanks- 
giving, not unmixed with awe, the members of the church now assembled around the 
Eucharistic feast. And after the formal service had ended the brethren still lingered. 
They could not bring themselves to say farewell to Paul nor he to them. All night 
they continued in earnest conversation, until with morning dawn the time for the 
sailing of the ship arrived. 

The companions of Paul went on board, but he did not embark with them. There 
is a long promontory south of Troas which ships have to round ; on its southern side 
lies Assos, not more than half as far away by land as by sea. Paul perhaps had de- 
termined to seize the opportunity for solitary thought and prayer — so difficult to find 
on shipboard — by going on foot to Assos, nineteen miles distant by the fine Roman 
road which at that time led across the base of the promontory. At Assos he rejoined 
the ship, and as no delay occurred at this point, they at once sailed away to Mitylene, 
about ten miles distant, on the island of Lesbos. 

At Mitylene the ship took harbor for the night, probably because this was the time 
of the moonless nights, and the navigation of the waters hereabouts was intricate. 
The next day they sailed past the island of Chios, being, it would appear by the word 
Luke uses, becalmed, so that it was not till the day following that they put in at 
Samos, probably to discharge some cargo. The same evening they ran down to Trogyl- 
lium, where they spent the night, probably because the captain did not wish to try to 
make the harbor of Miletus in the darkness. Early next morning, passing right in 
front of the bay of Ephesus, but not putting into that city, they ran into the harbor of 
Miletus. 

This town is thirty miles from Ephesus, and as Paul learned that the ship was 
likely to be detained there for several days he sent a messenger to Ephesus to sum- 
mon the elders of that church to Miletus to meet him. He might have sent from 
Trogyllium, which is nearer Ephesus than Miletus, but as the ship had no occasion to 
stop there, there was not time. In Miletus the captain purposed to remain a few days, 
and this gave the opportunity Paul desired. He might indeed have gone to Ephesus 
himself, and thus have seen the whole church in a much more satisfactory way. But 
that would have been to run the risk of the vessel sailing away without him, and such 
a risk he was unwilling to take. 

The news that Paul was so near must have spread gladness through the Ephesian 
church ; and yet there must have been some sorrow because all could not see him. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




The elders hastened to obey the summons. Arrived at Miletus, a long and solemn 
interview took place. There were many important subjects on which Paul wished to 
speak to them, and this, perhaps, was his last opportunity to admonish or teach them. 

Although we have nearly twenty verses of Paul's discourse to these elders, it 
is probable that this is only a summary or epitome of what he said to them. Yet 
surely it very perfectly preserves the spirit and tone of his address. Luke would 
never forget the deep emotion with which Paul spoke, the solemn earnestness, 
the warm love, and the undertone of sadness as of a last farewell. Perhaps even now 
a vague premonition of the trials that awaited him was casting a shadow over Paul's 
spirit. Though his mind was full of plans for carrying the gospel to the very ends of 
the earth, he doubted whether he should ever see these beloved brethren again. 
These mingled feelings are evident in every line of the summary of Paul's discourse 
which Luke has preserved to us. Probably we have indeed in much of this sum- 
mary the very words he spoke, though without his amplifications and illustrations of 
the thoughts here given. 

Paul began by reminding the Ephesian elders of his own manner of life among 
them and the strict school of adversity in which he had been tried. The words in 
which he describes the method of his life and teachings might sound a little like 
boasting if we did not remember that of late years Paul had been grievously assailed, 
his apostleship questioned, and his motives doubted. It was not to be hoped that the 
false teachers who had wrought havoc in Galatia would pass Ephesus entirely, and for 
the sake of the Ephesians he must jtistify himself and maintain his authority as an 
apostle. Therefore it is necessary for him to remind them of his faithfulness, and of 
the efficacy of his method. He had taught them both publicly (having no secret doc- 
trines which he would impart only to the few) and from house to house, taking pains to 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. i8i 

bring the truth home to individuals. And the principal theme of his teachings had 
been those great truths of which he had lately been writing to the Romans, and which 
are the most essential duties for all men — repentance towards God and faith in Jesus 
Christ. Bearing in mind that false teachers were sure sooner or later to urge upon 
them the claims of the Mosaic law, he assured them that he had kept back from them 
nothing that was profitable to them. 

He then went on to give some indication of his plans for the future. He is going 
to Jerusalem, not knowing what awaits him there, though the Spirit had repeatedly 
warned him (apparently by the mouth of Christian prophets in the various cities he 
had passed through) that bonds and afflictions were before him. But such things were 
powerless to deter him from what he deemed his duty : his aim was not to escape 
suffering, but to finish with joy the course that God had laid down for him, and to 
testify as long as he lived to the gospel of the grace of God. 

Yet in view of repeated warnings which the Holy Spirit had sent him, Paul 
thought it hardly possible that he should ever visit Ephesus or see the Ephesian 
brethren again. We know that he was mistaken in this : there is every reason to 
believe that Paul did revisit this region some years later, probably after the book of 
Acts was written. Paul did not speak as a prophet nor in the spirit of prophecy when 
he expressed a conviction that he would not again see these brethren ; but simply gave 
utterance to a strong presentiment that this interview with them was his last. He 
therefore called them solemnly to witness that he was not responsible for the sins or 
blindness of any of the Ephesians, since he had faithfully declared to them the whole 
counsel of God. 

. Then came the last words of earnest and faithful admonition. " Take heed to 
yourselves," he says to the Ephesian elders. They must never be so absorbed in the 
work of the church as to neglect their own religious life and walk with God. Only 
in the power of such a life and walk could they faithfully care for ** the flock over 
which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers.*' He was the more careful to warn 
them of their duty to **the flock," that is, the company of Christians, because he fore- 
saw that false teachers would soon come among them, as dangerous and destructive 
as wolves : and this presentiment or forecast of Paul's, as we shall see, was entirely 
correct. Therefore he bade them watch, remembering the warnings which for three 
years he had given them, even with tears. He commended them to the grace of 
God, and then bringing up his own example as having coveted none of their worldly 
goods, but having worked for his own living, he tells them that they also ought to 
labor and support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 
" It is more blessed to give than to receive." 

These words of the Lord Jesus are not in any of the four Gospels which we have, 
but there were surely many of the Lord's sayings in the memories of the men who 
knew him on earth, and repeated by them to other believers, which were not recorded 
in the Gospels. As the apostle John said, if all of them had been recorded, the world 
would hardly hold the books which would be written. 

When Paul had finished his long address to the Ephesians, he knelt down in the 



i82 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

midst of them and prayed. It was probably on the shore, in some place a little retired 
but not perhaps very far from the ship's anchorage. And when the prayer was ended 
they probably received some signal that it was time for the travellers to reembark. The 
parting was very hard. The Ephesian friends wept bitterly as they gave their friend 
and teacher the kiss of farewell. Their sorrow was not merely for the present part- 
ing, but for those words of his that presaged that this interview was their last on earth. 
But the farewells were said at last, and subdued and quiet, they conducted Paul and 
his companions to the place where the ship, ready to set forth, awaited their return. 



IX. 

The Greek word which describes this parting seems almost to imply that Paul 
had to be snatched away from his Ephesian friends as if by force. The ship put out 
from shore and, the wind being favorable, a run was made to Cos that same evening — 
a distance of forty miles. If the day was fair, as doubtless it was, Paul and his com- 
panions may have had glimpses of the island of Patmbs lying under the setting sun — 
that island to which, in after years, the apostle John was banished and where he had 
his wonderful revelation. 

The harbor of Cos was at that time a very fine one, and though at the present day 
partly filled up by washings from the island it is still one of the best harbors in that 
part of the Mediterranean. As they lay in harbor that night Luke the physician may 
have recalled with interest that there was a medical school in the city which according 
to tradition was founded by -^sculapius, whom the Greeks considered the patron of 
physicians. 

The next morning, the wind being still fair, that is, the northwesterly wind that 
generally prevails at this season of the year (April or May), they passed safely through 
the narrow channel between Cos and the mainland, and rounding the cape now called 
Crio, the ancient Cnidus, they went as far as the famous and beautiful city of Rhodes, 
famous in ancient history for its colossal statue of Apollo, one of the seven wonders of 
the world. That statue however had been destroyed by earthquake more than two 
centuries before Paul's visit. Rhodes was the point from which Greek geographers 
reckoned latitude and longitude, and it was celebrated for its beautiful climate. It lies 
on an island of the same name not far from the mainland and in sightf of the last 
ranges of the Taurus Mountains. 

From Rhodes they sailed to Patara, a city on the mainland. Here Paul and his 
companions were fortunate enough to find a vessel sailing to Phoenicia. The ship 
that they were in seems to have been in the coasting trade, and to go on in her might 
have been very much to lengthen their journey, besides taking them by a very round- 
about route. To find a ship therefore just ready to cross the wide sea diagonally to 
Phoenicia was a very fortunate circumstance. If the wind continued in the northwest, 
as was to be expected, they could comfortably run before it to Tyre, and all doubt of 
reaching Jerusalem in time for Pentecost would be set at rest. The Phoenician-bound 



1 84 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

ship seems to have been all ready to set sail when they arrived in Patara, and the 
apostle and his company had only to transfer themselves from one vessel to the other 
in order to go forward without delay. 

The distance from Patara to Tyre was about three hundred and forty miles, and with 
a fair wind they probably made the passage in three days, passing to southward of the 
island of Cyprus. The ship was probably bringing a load of gjain or wine to Tyre» 
which, as we know, had always been dependent on other countries for food, and it 
remained a week in that harbor, unloading its cargo, and probably taking on a new 
cargo of the stuffs or other merchandise for which Tyre was famous to carry to Ptole- 
mais and other ports. 

In Tyre there was at least a little company of believers, whose existence dated 
from the first dispersion of the Christians in Jerusalem after the death of Stephen. It 
seems not to have been a large nor a flourishing Christian community, although some 
of its members had prophetic power. Paul had doubtless visited Tyre more than once on 
his journeys between Antioch and Jerusalem years before ; he was very welcome now, 
and a week was passed in intimate and helpful Christian communion. Only one cloud 
shadowed their intercourse : the Tyrian prophets foresaw that great danger awaited 
Paul in Jerusalem, and warned him against going. They did not, however, succeed 
in inducing him to give up a journey to which he felt that duty strongly called him. 

At the close of the week the ship was ready to depart, and the whole Christian 
community of Tyre, with wives and children, escorted the apostolic party to the shore. 
There, kneeling down on the sand, as at Miletus, they commended one another to 
God before saying farewell. 

The ship was to put in at Ptolemais, a very ancient city, originally called Acco 
(as in the book of Judges), and still existing under the name of Acre, the most cele- 
brated sea-fortress of the eastern Mediterranean shores. The short day s sail from 
Tyre — thirty miles — is in full view of the Lebanon range. At this point Paul and 
his companions decided to leave the ship and make the rest of the journey by land, 
their movements being thus more under their own control. 

One day they passed in Ptolemais with the brethren whom they found there — 
converts of the same period as those of Tyre. Longer they did not wish to remain, 
being eager to push on as far as Caesarea. This stage was an easy one of between 
thirty and forty miles, and accustomed to foot travel as they all were, they would make 
it in one day. They were now near enough to Jerusalem to calculate with certainty on 
the length of time necessary for the remainder of the journey, and their voyage by 
sea having been unexpectedly rapid and prosperous they could afford themselves the 
pleasure and solace of a somewhat lengthened visit in Caesarea. 

There was a flourishing church in Caesarea, and prominent among its teachers 
was Philip the Evangelist, one of the Seven, whom we last saw on the road between 
Jerusalem and Gaza, fully twenty years before. Philip had long lived in Caesarea, and 
with him his four daughters, all of whom had the prophetic gift. Another prophet 
joined this company during Paul's visit. It was Agabus, who fourteen years before 
had come from Jerusalem to Antioch and prophesied of the impending famine. He 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 185 

^^seems to have heard in Jerusalem of Paul's proposed visit to that city, and to have 
^come to Caesarea expressly to warn him of the danger which it would involve. He 
emphasized his warning by a symbolic action. Taking Paul's girdle he bound his 
own hands and feet, saying, " Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jeru- 
salem bind the man to whom this girdle belongs, and they shall deliver him into the 
hands of the Gentiles." 

It is not surprising that not only Luke and Pauls other companions, but his 
friends in Caesarea, should have been moved even to tears in their efforts to dissuade 
Paul from going into certain danger. It is more difficult to understand Paul's persist- 
ence in carrying out his plan of going, in spite of repeated warnings and urgent en- 
treaties. Not only the explicit teachings of Jesus with regard to the propriety of 
avoiding persecution, but Paul's own sense of the importance of his life to the welfare 
of the church, would naturally deter him from going on to Jerusalem in the face of 
danger ; so it appears at least at a first glance, but mature consideration must lead us 
to believe that neither obstinacy nor recklessness was at the bottom of Paul's determi- 
nation to go on at all hazards. Important as was his life to the welfare of the church, 
the successful discharge of his mission to Jerusalem was in his opinion even more im- 
portant. That mission was in the first place to carry to the poor saints at Jerusalem 
that sum of money which for years he had been engaged in collecting ; but this was 
not its principal object. More important still was the question of those disturbers of 
the peace of the church, those false apostles, who had been seeking to undermine 
Paul's work in Asia Minor and Greece, calling his apostleship in question, and — a still 
more vital matter — insisting that all Gentile Christians should be circumcised and 
keep the Mosaic Law. These Judaizing teachers, or at least that one of them who 
went to Corinth, had borne letters of commendation which purported to come from 
the heads of the church in Jerusalem. It was to the last degree important that this 
whole matter should be cleared up, and this menace to the peace and to the very life 
of the church summarily done away with. For this cause Paul was ready not only to 
be bound but also to die at Jerusalem, if need were. And when the brethren saw 
how vital a matter it appeared to him, they desisted from their entreaties, saying, 
" The will of the Lord be done." 

The feast of Pentecost was drawing near, and the apostolic party set forth on the 
last stage of their long journey. Several of the brethren of Caesarea accompanied 
them, and with them one Mnason, originally of Cyprus, but now resident in Jerusa- 
lem, one of the early converts to Christianity. It was at his house that Paul and his 
companions were to lodge. 



X. 

A HEARTY welcome awaited Paul and his friends on their arrival in Jerusalem. 
In his letter to the Romans, written just before setting forth from Corinth on this 
journey, some months before, Paul had begged of the Roman brethren their prayers 

24 



1 86 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

that he might on arriving at Jerusalem be delivered from the Jews who hated him, 
and be kindly received by the Christian brethren ; and all along the journey, as we 
have seen, the dread of what might happen to him in Jerusalem had hung over him 
like a pall. But so far as his reception by the brethren was concerned, he had surely 
had nothing to fear. They received him gladly, and when, the next day after his 
arrival, he went to see James, the president or overseer of the Jerusalem church, his 
welcome was no less warm and kindly. The occasion was a meeting of all the pres- 
byters or elders of the church, and Paul seized the opportunity to relate the story of 
the great things God had wrought by his ministry among the Gentiles. Of course he 
must have touched upon the trials he had encountered, but he did it in such a way as 
not to throw too dark a shadow over the wonderful work of the Spirit in Gentile 
hearts; so that at the close of his address his hearers glorified God with solemn 
thanksgiving for all his marvellous works. 

It is evident, however, that they understood the gravity of the complications 
which had arisen from the false and prejudiced reports of those Judaizing teachers 
who were trying to undermine Paul's authority. They saw how important it was to 
have the exact truth made known as to Paul's position with regard to the Mosaic 
Law. The majority of the Jerusalem church, being Jews, naturally kept a great part 
of the ceremonial Law, and with such a course Paul had no controversy. He himself 
loved that Law, so far as it was not done away with in being fulfilled by Christ ; he 
was simply unwilling that it should be supposed to be a ground of salvation or made 
a condition of Christian church membership. All this James and the presbyters 
knew ; but they also knew that a great many of the Jerusalem Christians were 
strongly prejudiced against Paul. False reports had been circulated, and widely be- 
lieved, that Paul, not content with insisting that the Gentile converts should not be 
compelled to keep the Mosaic Law, which also the Jerusalem church believed to be 
proper, had also taught the Christian Jews to forsake the Law of Moses — a thing 
which seemed to them horrible. To prove this report utterly false the presbyters 
proposed that Paul should do an act which would manifest to all whom it might con- 
cern that he himself walked orderly and kept the Law. There were four of the 
brethren who, having taken on them temporarily the Nazarite vow, were now about 
to discharge themselves of its obligation by the usual sacrifices. These sacrifices 
were very costly, and it was always considered an act of great piety for some more 
wealthy person to assume a share of the expenses. It was proposed that Paul should 
take upon himself this duty, purifying himself and sharing in their later observances, 
and thus proving to every one that he still regarded the Law with reverence. This 
Paul was very ready to do, and having purified himself the very next day he went into 
the temple with the four men to offer the prescribed sacrifice. 

Now at every Pentecost season, as at that immediately after the Ascension of 
Christ, the city was crowded with stranger Jews from all parts of the world. Among 
them were many from Ephesus, members of those synagogues in which Paul had 
taught three months, with the sole result of embittering their members against him 
and against the gospel. Many had been the plots and the lyings-in-wait of these 



1 88 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Ephesian Jews against Paul, but all their schemes to injure him had proved unavail- 
ing. Now, in the temple on one of. the days when he is engaged in the ceremonies 
required by the discharge of the Nazarite vow, they recognize him, and all their anger 
and hatred are aroused to frenzy. They had already seen him in the city with Troph- 
imus, whom they recognized as an Ephesian and a Gentile, and they leaped to the 
conclusion that Paul had brought Trophimus into that sacred enclosure, which even 
according to Roman law it was death for a Gentile to enter. There was discovered 
about twenty years ago a block of marble bearing the inscription to that eflFect, which 
must often have been read by our Lord and his disciples as they went in and out 
of the temple. 

In the crowded state of the temple at such a time it was easy to stir up a disturb- 
ance. These Ephesians fell upon Paul with loud cries of " Men of Israel, help !*' add- 
ing that this man everywhere spoke against the people (that is, Israel) and the Law, 
and had polluted the holy place by bringing Gentiles into it. 

Such a cry was more than enough to raise a tumult at such a time as this. The 
whole city was moved by it ; people came hurrying from all quarters. Those within 
the temple fell upon Paul and with rude cries and ruder blows roughly dragged him 
out of the inner court, being restrained from killing him then and there only by 
respect for the sacred place. The Levites, hastening to the spot, closed the gates the 
moment the mob were in the court of the Gentiles. 

Still raining heavy blows upon their captive, they were dragging him across the 
wide enclosure, with intent to kill him, perhaps by throwing him over the wall down 
the sheer precipice of more than a hundred feet, when they were suddenly brought to 
a halt. The Roman soldiers, on the alert during a feast time, when the overcrowded 
city always threatened a disturbance of one kind or another, had seen the sudden out- 
break from their fortress, the tower of Antonia, which commanded a view of the 
temple precincts. Without a moment's delay the captain, Claudius Lysias, called to 
him centurions and soldiers and hastened to the scene of confusion. At the appear- 
ance of the Roman soldiers the crowd ceased to maltreat their victim, and at a word 
from the captain he was at once chained by each hand to a Roman soldier, as much 
for his own protection as for his safe keeping. The air resounded with cries and ap- 
peals of the multitude ; it was impossible to learn, in this confusion, who the man was 
or what was his offence. The captain presumed that he was a certain Egyptian who 
had lately headed a rebellion, and -who, though the rebellion had been quelled, had so 
far escaped arrest. But whoever he might be, it was necessary to secure him from the 
violence of the mob, and since it was impossible to do so by other means, Claudius 
Lysias ordered some of his soldiers to carry the prisoner upon their shoulders up the 
stairs that led into the fortress. As he was thus carried the people pressed on behind, 
all crying, " Away with him !" 

When they reached the top of the stairs, a little beyond the reach of the howling 
mob, Paul first broke his own silence by saying to the chief captain, " May I speak 
unto thee?" Surprised at hearing Greek spoken by a man whom he supposed to be 
an unlettered Egyptian, the captain uttered his astonishment, asking Paul if he was 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 189 

mistaken in supposing him to be the Egyptian rebel. Paul replied that he was not an 
Egyptian, but a Jew, a citizen of a city of good renown, even Tarsus, and as such 
having the right to a hearing, ending his explanation with a request that he might 
speak to the people, whose howls and cries were probably now dying away as they 
saw themselves robbed of their victim. 

Claudius Lysias gave consent, and Paul, lifting his chained hand, made a signal 
to the people, asking for quiet. With the quick revulsion of feeling common with 
mobs, the noisy cries suddenly ceased, and in the midst of a great silence Paul 
spoke to them in the Hebrew tongue. 

*' Men, brethren, and fathers," Paul began, ** hear me, and let me now defend my- 
self to you." 

The sound of the Hebrew words made a deep impression : this Grecian Jew who 
had been accused of want of reverence for the Lord and the sacred places, spoke, it 
appeared, the sacred language. The silence became even more intense as Paul went 
on to explain where he was born, how strictly he had been educated in the Law, and 
how zealous he had been in all the observances of his people, persecuting the men of 
the Way even unto death, as the high priest and the Sanhedrin could testify. He told 
them of his wonderful experience on the way to Damascus, and how he had there 
learned to know Jesus and in consequence had given himself to his service. He told 
how, having come to Jerusalem, full of desire to testify of Jesus among his former 
friends, he had seen him in a trance and had been warned by him to leave Jerusalem 
because the people of that city would not receive his testimony. He repeated to them 
the argument which had seemed to him so cogent that he had even ventured with it 
to withstand the divine command, urging that as the men of Jerusalem had known of 
his zeal against Christ's followers, since they had witnessed that he had consented to 
the death of the martyr Stephen, they would therefore, as he believed, be the more 
ready to receive his testimony now ; and told how in answer to this the Lord had told 
him that his mission was not to the Jews, but that he was to be sent to the Gentiles. 

So far the crowd had listened with eager attention, but now, incensed at the mere 
mention of a mission to Gentiles, they broke out into fierce cries, ** Away with such a 
fellow from the earth ! It is not fit that he should live I" And the tumult became 
even hotter and wilder than before. 

The chief captain may not have understood a word of Paul's speech, but he could 
see by the actions of the mob that his defence had not been satisfactory to them ; from 
their conduct he drew the natural conclusion that Paul had been guilty of some great 
crime, and as the surest way of getting at the truth of the matter he gave orders that 
the prisoner should be examined by flogging. Paul was accordingly led into the 
castle, and the preliminary ceremony of binding him with thongs was begun ; but 
Paul knew that here was an occasion when he might with good hope of success appeal 
to the respect of his captors for the Roman law. ** Is it lawful," he asked the attend- 
ing centurion, " for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned ?" 

The question was too important to be slighted. The centurion immediately 
appealed to the chief captain, who felt that this was a matter to be investigated. He 



I90 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

came at once to Paul, and inquired more fully into the grounds of his Roman citizen- 
ship. He himself had purchased this privilege at a great price, he said. Paul replied 
that he was free bom ; his parents or some remoter ancestor having gained citizenship 
either by purchase or by valuable service. The chief captain was struck even to awe 
by this intelligence ; he stopped the preparations for flogging, and being still very anx- 
ious to know what was the nature of the prisoner*s crime, the next day he issued a 
summons to the Sanhedrin to convene and caused Paul to be brought before them. 

Many in that assembly were personally known to Paul : with some of them he 
had been educated, with many in that august semicircle he had sat and given his 
voice for the persecution of Christians. Surely they remembered him, though twenty 
years of hard service and heavy cares must have greatly changed his outward appear- 
ance. The steadfast look with which he regarded these rulers of his people may have 
recalled his earlier appearance to their minds, for it seems to have been characteristic 
of him. Very quietly but firmly he began, *' Brethren, I have lived before God in all 
good conscience till this day." 

Here a brutal insult interrupted him ; the high priest Ananias, unmindful both of 
his own high oflSce and of the courtesy towards an accused man which it called for, 
commanded that some one near Paul should smite him on the mouth. The dastardly 
insult roused Paul's indignation : he replied with words which were certainly no more 
severe than the occasion called for, though more severe than in his circumstances may 
have been prudent : ** God shall judge thee, thou whited wall ! sittest thou to judge me 
according to the Law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the Law ?" The 
words evoked a cry of indignation which was better deserved by the high priest's own 
conduct. " Re vilest thou God's high priest ?" the members of the council cried. There 
was a certain irony in the gentleness of Paul's reply. He had not recognized him as 
the high priest, for Ananias had become high priest only a few years before, and if, as 
was quite likely, he was not acting as president of the council there was no reason why 
Paul should recognize him. If he had done so, Paul said, he would not have spoken 
thus, since it is written, ** Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people." 

This episode was more than suflicient to show Paul that he had no hope of justice 
from this tribunal, and with a ready tact and insight he at once created a diversion in 
his favor by a personal appeal which would rouse the factional spirit of the members 
of the Sanhedrin. Part of them were Pharisees, part Sadducees ; and with the cry that 
he was a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, and that the root and essence of the matter 
for which he was called in question was the hope of a resurrection from the dead, 
he at once transferred the centre of interest from himself to a vexed question among 
the rabbis and priests themselves. The Pharisees, who were strong believers in a spirit 
world and a resurrection from the dead, could find no fault in Paul. If, as he had 
been understood to say, an angel or spirit had spoken to him, what then ? But the Sad- 
ducees would admit no possibility of the kind. They did not believe in angels or 
spirits. The contest grew hot and heavy : between friend and foe there was danger 
that Paul would be torn in pieces. Once more the chief captain had to intervene and 
rescue him by force, carrying him to the only safe refuge, the fortress. 



192 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

No such serenity enfolded his enemies. They were full of anxious activity. The 
morning had no sooner dawned than forty of them entered into a conspiracy by one 
means or another to compass Paul's death. So determined were they to carry out this 
design that they bound themselves with an awful oath not to eat or drink until it was 
done. The plan they proposed was simple enough : they asked the Sanhedrin to 
signify to the chief captain that it was deemed desirable once more to examine Paul ; 
and as soon as he was before that body, they were ready to overpower his escort of 
Roman soldiers and assassinate him. 

Though it would appear from the surface of Luke's narrative that this plot origi- 
nated with men outside of the Sanhedrin, it is probable that this is not the case. The 
" forty men " probably belonged to the infamous band of Sicarii (dagger-men) or pro- 
fessional assassins, whom Felix had lately introduced into Palestine, and who were one 
of the greatest scourges that country ever knew. They professed the greatest rever- 
ence for the Mosaic Law, and made any supposed transgression of it a pretext for 
murdering those to whom they were hostile. All parties hired the services of this 
atrocious band, and there is little room to doubt that, though the first open overtures 
to the Sanhedrin came from them, they had been secretly approached by some mem- 
ber or members of that body. 

The plan which they suggested was perfectly feasible, and would have succeeded 
had it not in some way leaked out. It is very well worthy of notice that all the con- 
spiracies formed against Paul did leak out in time for him to save himself : it was so 
at Ephesus, it was so at Corinth, it was so now. Probably there were secret Christians 
everywhere, to whom the designs of enemies became known. By some providence, at 
any rate, they became known to Paul's sister's son, who was living at this time in 
Jerusalem, and whom with his family Paul had doubtless seen since his arrival, 
although Luke makes no mention of it. Paul was not kept so close a prisoner but 
that his nephew was permitted to come to him ; and when the young man had told 
his uncle what he had heard, Paul at once called a centurion and asked him to lead 
the young man to the chief captain, as he had a matter of importance to lay before him. 

It was not difficult to convince Claudius Lysias that this communication was in- 
deed important. He doubtless knew enough of the doings of the Sicarii and of those 
who supported them to be quite ready to apprehend the full bearing of this plot. 
Dismissing the young man with strict injunctions of secrecy, he made arrangements 
to send Paul that very night, under a strong escort, to Caesarea, where he would be 
under the immediate protection of the governor. He wrote a letter to the governor 
giving an account of the circumstances (not omitting to set his own services in the 
most favorable light) ; and at nine in the evening the party was despatched, Paul 
being guarded by no less formidable a force than two hundred foot-soldiers, seventy 
cavalry, and two hundred spearmen, with a spare horse for the prisoner himself, that 
the journey might be accomplished with the utmost despatch. The large escort shows 
how great respect the chief captain had for the dignity of law, which would be viola- 
ted by the assassination of a prisoner, and also how great respect for the person of a 
man, though a prisoner, who had the proud honor of being a Roman citizen. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 193 

At the rapid foot pace of a forced march along the fine Roman road which led 
northward from Jerusalem along the mountain ridges of Judaea and then across the 
plain of Sharon towards the coast, Paul and his escort reached Antipatris in the early 
morning. Here the foot-soldiers turned back, the danger of surprise being past. 
Paul and his mounted escort continued on their northward way until afternoon, when 
they entered Cccsarea, and the centurion in charge gave Paul over into the custody of 
the governor, Felix. 




II. 

] ELIX, who was the Roman governor of Syria at the time of Paul's im- 
prisonment, was a thoroughly bad man. Tacitus, a historian of his 
own time, describes him as having "the power of a king with the 
mind of a slave." He was tyrannical, revengeful and cowardly, licen- 
tious and corrupt. Not long before this he had, with the aid of a 
magician who with considerable reason is supposed to be Simon 
Magus, enticed away from her husband Drusilla, the great grand- 
daughter of Herod the Great and daughter of that Herod Agrippa 
who had died so miserably at Tyre about sixteen years before. 
This was the man before whom Paul was now brought. Having read 
the letter which the chief captain had sent by the centurion, wherein 
it was mentioned that Paul was a Roman citizen, Felix asked the 
question which would naturally first occur to him — To what province does he belong ? 
for no Roman governor would willingly infringe the authority of another. Having 
heard that he was of Cilicia. a province too remote to give rise to any complications, 
he simply gave orders for the prisoner's safe keeping until such time as his accusers 
should appear. 

Paul had not long to wait. It was the Roman law that causes should be tried 
without delay, and as soon as the Jews received word of Paul's whereabouts the high 
priest Ananias went to Cssarea accompanied by a deputation from the Sanhedrin and 
a hired advocate or lawyer. It was only five days after Paul was despatched from 
Jerusalem that they appeared in Cassarea, and as soon as the proper hour had arrived, 
Felix took his place upon the judgment-seat, Paul was led in, and the advocate of the 
Jews, TertuUus, began to make his accusation. 

TertuUus was probably a young Roman lawyer. The law permitted both accusers 
and accused to hire a lawyer, and as the business of the courts of law was transacted 
in Latin {as it was in England till about a hundred years ago) it was almost necessary 
that those who did not speak Latin well should do so. It was therefore a customary 
thing for young lawyers to go into the provinces to gain experience. TertuUus seems 
to have already acquired the arts necessary for a good pleader in those days. He 
began with a compliment to the governor, by which he hoped to dispose Felix to look 
favorably upon the side he himself represented. " Seeing that by thee we enjoy much 
peace, and that by thy providence evils are corrected for this nation, we accept it in 



194 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

all ways and in all places, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness." Felix had 
indeed a few years before gained himself a good name by successfully quieting a 
g^eat disturbance instigated by the very high priest, Ananias, who was now Paul's 
accuser. Tertullus then proceeded to accuse Paul of three grave crimes : sedition 
(the crime most dreaded by the Roman authorities, and to which the Jews were 
especially addicted) ; heading a new religious sect, the Nazarenes, contrary to Mosaic 
Law ; and the profanation of the temple, which, as we have seen, was against Roman 
as against Jewish law. The purpose of this accusation, artfully insinuated though not 
openly expressed, was to make Felix think Paul's offence a matter proper to be dealt 
with by Jewish law, in the hope that he might again be given into the custody of the 
Sanhedrin, when assuredly he would soon have been assassinated. For we shall 
shortly learn that the Jewish authorities had by no means givien up their hope of 
making away with Paul by secret conspiracy. 

Felix, having heard the accusation, signified to Paul that he might make his de- 
fence. This Paul was well able to do, and, as he began by saying, he did it ** cheer- 
fully," because he knew that Felix, having now been for several years governor of 
Judsea, understood enough of Jewish customs to be able to appreciate the arguments 
he would bring forward. In the first place, as it was only twelve days since his 
arrival in Jerusalem, seven of these having been passed in strict custody, it was im- 
possible that he could have stirred up a sedition. Felix would know that it was 
probable he had arrived, like thousands of others, just ip time for the feast; besides, 
It would not be difficult for him to ascertain the very day of Paul's arrival. As to the 
second accusation, that he headed a sect, this was by no means a crime against Mosaic 
Law. There were already several Jewish sects, those of the Pharisees and Sadducees 
being the most conspicuous ; he, like the adherents of both these sects, worshipped 
the God of their fathers, and also shared with the Pharisees the hope of a resurrec- 
tion. As to the temple, he had not profaned it ; on the contrary, he had brought 
gifts to it and was performing in it some of the most sacred ceremonies of the Jewish 
faith when he was arrested. It was certain Jews of Ephesus who had moved against 
nim in the first place. Why had they not now appeared before Felix if they had any 
controversy with him ? 

Felix, who knew a good deal about *' the Way " — for there were many Christians 
in Caesarea and even among his own soldiers — then dismissed the court and remanded 
Paul to prison, remarking that he would proceed farther in the investigation when 
Claudius Lysias should arrive. He was, however, interested in what Paul had said 
about his religious belief ; the more so because his present wife, Drusilla, was a Jew- 
ess. Drusilla too became interested, or at least her curiosity was aroused by what 
Felix told her of this remarkable prisoner. It was not long before they sent for him 
and made some inquiries as to his doctrines. And when Paul boldly and earnestly 
talked to this unscrupulous couple of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
come, his words struck to the heart of at least one of them, the base and venal gov- 
ernor. How Paul's words affected Drusilla we do not know, but there is no reason 
to think that, sinful woman that she was, she was in the least touched by them. Dm- 




PAUL BEFORE FELIX. 



ige FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

silla, it is interesting; to remember, perished with the son whom she had by her un- 
lawful union with Felix, in the famous eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed Pom- 
peii and Herculaneum, more than twenty years later, in A. D. 79, 

As for Felix at this time, he trembled at Paul's words ; yet he felt no desire to be- 
come a better man. He sent Paul back to prison, promising to hear him again at 
some future time. We do not learn, however, that he ever sent for him again. And 
as Paul's accusers did not reappear, nor Claudius Lysias arrive, there was no shadow 
of reason why Paul should have been kept a prisoner. But the corrupt governor be- 
lieved that if Paul were detained long enough he or his friends would raise money for 
a bribe. He therefore kept him a prisoner for the two years that he yet continued to 
be governor of Judsea, and when at the end of that time he was recalled, and Festus 
sent to replace him, he left Paul a prisoner still. 



HI. 

\ OR these two years then Paul was a prisoner in Cxsarea. His impris- 
onment was not severe. He was in charge of a centurion, and was 
expressly permitted '•indulgence," or a certain degree of personal 
liberty, while hts friends were allowed free access to him. Doubtless 
Philip came often. Cornelius, the centurion, if still stationed in Csesa* 
rea, would be sure to seek him. In all probability Luke spent most of 
the time with Paul, for we know that he had accompanied him to Jeru- 
salem, and also that he was of Paul's company when at last he was sent 
to Rome. 

How did Paul busy himself during these two years of imprison- 
ment ? So energetic and tireless a man would surely not enjoy a life 
of idleness. We would naturally look to find a great number of letters 
to the churches written during this time. Since he could not work for 
the spread of the gospel, he would surely labor for the rooting and 
grounding of those who already believed. 
Strangely enough, as it at first appears, we have not one line written by Paul 
during this time, nor any reason to suppose that he wrote anything. The truth is, 
Paul, though tireless so far as his heart and will were concerned, was by no means 
incapable of fatigue ; and at this time, after twenty years of such arduous toil and such 
painful sufferings as few men have known, he was very nearly worn out. And look- 
ing back from this distance it is not difficult, in the events which appeared so disas- 
trous at the time — groundless arrest, false accusations, unwarrantable imprisonment — 
to see the good hand of God, ordaining for his overwrought servant retirement and 
rest. 

And Paul had the grace to perceive that this was what God designed for and 
desired of him. Unlike many who, when laid aside, chafe and fret, fancying them- 
selves indispensable to the work of the world and the church, thus wasting their small 
strength and utterly losing the gracious results prepared for them, Paul yielded him- 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 197 

self entirely to repose. We may be sure that he rejoiced in this opportunity for 
almost unlimited communion with God. He who had so coveted a few hours aJone 
with God that he had gone on foot from Troas to Assos to secure a little solitude now 
had two years of almost unchecked intercourse with his Divine Father and Saviour. 
And the epistles which he afterwards wrote show a far deeper personal knowledge of 
Christ than even the grandest of those mighty letters which he had written before 
this time. 

It is not necessary to suppose, however, that the church in Caesarea did not profit 
by Paul's sojourn in the prison of that city. His friends had free access to him, and 
it would be his joy and refreshment to take counsel with them. And his prayers, 
not for Caesarea only but for the Church of Christ everywhere, were surely a power 

for good. 

It was the year 60 A. D. when Felix was replaced by Festus. Almost the first act 
of the new governor was to visit Jerusalem, the most important and most difficult to 
govern of all the cities under his authority. Scarcely had he arrived there when he 
was earnestly importuned by the chief priests to have Paul brought to Jerusalem 
for trial, their purpose being to have men lie in wait for him along the road and put 
him to death. Evidently their hatred of Paul had not cooled in these two years ; they 
had only been silent because they had had no hope that Felix would listen to them. 
They had however managed so to inflame the populace of Jerusalem with hatred of 
Paul that they too clamorously begged that Paul might be brought to Jerusalem to 
be tried. 

To this Festus would not consent, but he told the Jews that on his return to 
Caesarea they might appear against Paul and he should be tried without delay. Ac- 
cordingly on the very day of Festus* return the Jews arrived in Caesarea, and on the 
next morning Paul was brought into court. What was the surprise of Festus to learn 
that, far from being a notorious and dangerous criminal, as he had supposed, the whole 
question was of matters of the Jewish faith, of which Festus knew little and for which 
he probably cared less. But Festus, like Felix, was anxious to please the Jews. It was 
to gain their good will and support in the searching inquiry that was about to be made 
into his government of Judea that Felix had left Paul in chains when he went out of 
office : it was to gain their support in his future actions that Festus was now inclined 
to deliver this prisoner into their hands for trial by their own law. He therefore pro- 
posed that Paul should go to Jerusalem and be judged by the Jews. 

Paul knew better than Festus did the dangers that awaited him if he were once 
given over into the power of the Jews, and with quick and ready intelligence he averted 
these dangers. Now, he saw, was the time to make use of his Roman citizenship. In 
whatever court tried, or before whatever tribunal summoned, the Roman citizen had a 
right to demand a trial before the emperor himself. And Paul therefore promptly 
and with dignity asserted this right. To the Jews he had done no wrong, as they well 
knew : he refused to be tried by them ; and pronouncing the potent words, ** / appeal 
unto CcBsar^'' he forever removed himself from their jurisdiction. 

There were a few cases, of most flagrant crime, in which even a Roman might 



198 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

not appeal to Caesar. Festus therefore conferred with his council to make sure that 
Paul had not committed any such offence, and having ascertained this fact beyond 
doubt returned to the judgment seat and pronounced the important sentence- 
** Thou hast appealed unto Caesar ; unto Caesar shalt thou go." 



IV. 

Paul having appealed to Caesar was now in an especial sense the ward of the 
Roman governor. It would have been an ineffaceable stain upon the name of Festus 
had harm come to such a prisoner while under his care, and it was his urgent duty to 
lose no time in sending him, under safe guard, to Rome for trial. At the same time 
it was customary and necessary to send with such a prisoner all the papers relative to 
the case, and in this respect Festus was in some perplexity. He had not been able to 
get a clear notion of the nature of those crimes of which the Jews accused Paul, and 
could not at all understand the clamor and urgency with which the entire community 
of the Jews in Jerusalem had insisted on his condemnation. He therefore was much 
relieved when a circumstance occurred which gave him an opportunity of coming to 
a clearer understanding of the matter. 

This circumstance was the visit of Herod Agrippa II., king of Chalcis, and his 
sister Bernice. These were the brother and sister of Drusilla, the son and daughter 
of Herod Agrippa I. Bernice some time later formed a union with Titus, who com- 
manded the Roman forces at the destruction of Jerusalem and afterwards became 
emperor. The visit which Agrippa and Bernice now made to Festus was one of com- 
pliment, on the occasion of his becoming governor of Judea. Festus, who knew that 
Agrippa was well acquainted with the Jewish law and entirely at home in Jewish 
customs, took this occasion to get some clearer notion of Paul's offence. At the first 
opportunity he rehearsed the story of '* a certain prisoner '* whom he had found in 
Caesarea on his arrival, telling Agrippa that he could not understand the charges 
against him, but that they seemed to concern one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul 
affirmed to be alive. If Agrippa would help him to get at the bottom of these things 
it would be a satisfaction to him : for it appeared to him a piece of folly to send a 
prisoner to Rome and not to send word what were the charges against him. 

Agrippa had certainly heard both of Jesus and Paul, and was probably pleased 
with the opportunity of seeing a man of whom rumor had said much. He expressed 
a desire to hear what Paul had to say ; the morrow was appointed for a hearing, and 
arrangements so made that the hearing should be a striking and august occasion. 
Agrippa and Bernice came into the audience chamber in festal array, attended by the 
principal men of the city and of the army ; the prisoner was brought forth ; and, after 
a few words of introduction by Festus, Agrippa gave Paul permission to speak for 
himself. 

Paul's speech before Agrippa is one of the best known chapters in the Acts, and 
a masterpiece of oratory. 




PAUL BEFORE 



200 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

After expressing his gratification at being permitted to speak before one so com- 
petent to understand and appreciate what he had to say, Paul described the manner of 
his early life and education, told how, after the strictest sect of his religion, he had 
lived a Pharisee, and briefly touching upon the probability that God would raise the 
dead gave a description of his persecuting the believers in Jesus, of his sudden arrest 
in this career by the vision of Jesus, and his conversion to faith in him. As he went 
on to show what indeed the religion of Jesus was, Festus, who probably was growing 
weary of all this, interrupted him with the ejaculation, ** Paul, thou art beside thyself ; 
much study turns thee to madness/' Paul disclaimed this suggestion of his incompe- 
tence, appealing to Agrippa to confirm what he had said, since he could not have 
failed to hear of all that had taken place with respect of Christ, and calling upon 
Agrippa to avow that he believed the prophets, who had testified of all these things. 
To this Agrippa replied that he saw that Paul would like to make him a Christian ; 
and Paul answered that he would indeed be glad to see Ag^ppa, and all who heard 
him, like himself in everything except his chains. 

But this was becoming too personal to suit the king. He rose up hastily, and 
with him his sister, the governor and their immediate attendants. Having withdrawn 
a little, Agrippa, Festus and Bernice discussed the case of Paul. It was clear to them 
all that he had done nothing worthy of punishment : that indeed he might with ut- 
most propriety have been set at liberty if he had not made this impossible by appeal- 
ing to Csesar. 

Clearly there was nothing now to do but to despatch Paul as soon as possible to 
Rome. There was at that period, and for long after, no passenger service between 
Palestine and Rome. Even the Emperor Vespasian, when, ten years later, he wanted 
to make this very journey, had to go by a merchant ship just as Paul and his compan- 
ions had done in the journey from Macedonia to Jerusalem. In the present case, it 
was soon learned that a vessel of Adramyttium was about to sail for that port — proba- 
bly to put in for the winter, for the autumn was now drawing on. Adramyttium was 
not at all in the direct line of their journey : it was a city in the northwestern part of 
Asia Minor, not very far from where Constantinople now stands. But there was 
always a possibility of coming across some other vessel on the way bound in some 
more direct line for their destination, just as had been the case with Paul at Patara, 
and it was therefore decided to send the prisoners by the ship of Adramyttium. 

Paul was not the only prisoner. We do not know who the others were, but 
probably these were not common criminals, but Roman citizens who had committed 
some political crime. Whatever their crime they had probably exercised their privi- 
lege of Roman citizens just as Paul had done, by appealing to Caesar. 

There were others beside prisoners on the boat. Luke was there, faithfully 
determined to follow Paul wherever fortune or misfortune might lead him, and the 
Thessalonian Aristarchus, who had long been a faithful disciple of Paul and who 
afterwards shared his imprisonment. He had already narrowly escaped death in 
Paul's behalf, having been one of the two Christian brethren who were dragged by 
the mob into the theatre at Ephesus at the time of the riots. He had come up to 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



201 



Jerusalem two j-ears before in Paul's company, ami had probably been much with him 
<iuring his imprisonment. 

The prisoners were put into the charj^e of a certain Julius, a centurion of the 
"' Italian band," of which Cornelius, we remember, was also a centurion, Julius, from 
all we can leam of him, appears to have been an excellent man ; courteous and very 




kindly to bis prisoners, and careful of their comfort as far as was possible on such a 
journey. We do not hear of his conversion to Christianity, but we cannot believe that 
he could be several months in the companionship of Paul without being won over to 
his faith. 

36 



202 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

The very next day after sailing from Cassarea the vessel touched at Sidon, per- 
haps for purposes of trade. Here there was the nucleus of a church, by whom founded 
or when we have not been told. Paul had visited Sidon more than once on his 
journeys between Antioch and Jerusalem : but even if he had seen no one of the 
Sidonian Christians face to face they would all have been his " brethren " and he 
theirs. The centurion Julius perceiving the tie between them ** courteously entreat- 
ed " Paul, and gave him liberty to refresh himself in the company of these friends 
during the stay of the ship in that port. 

The next day the autumn winds began to be " contrary," their prevailing direction 
at this season being westerly. This was a warning that the period of dangerous, 
navigation was close at hand. The direct route to Adramyttium runs south of the 
island of Cyprus, but for better protection from the winds the captain took the course 
"under the lee " of Cyprus, on the northeast side of the island, and thence " across the 
sea which is oiBE Cilicia and Pamphylia," taking advantage of a current which sets 
along these shores and would help him to make headway notwithstanding the contrary 
winds. Across this Pamphylian gulf Paul, with Barnabas and Mark, had sailed from 
Salamis on his first missionary voyage. 

At this time, however, the ship did not put in at any Pamphylian harbor (as when 
the little missionary party landed at Attaleia) but stretched across to the province of 
Lycia, and cast anchor in the port of Myra. 

Here the expectation of Julius as to means of travel was realized. A grain-ship 
of Alexandria, bound for Italy, was lying in the harbor of Myra, and to it the captain 
transferred his prisoners and their companions. It must have been a pretty large 
ship, for it carried two hundred and seventy -six passengers, besides a large and valu- 
able cargo. The weather continued unfavorable: they "sailed slowly many days" 
before reaching Cnidus, " with difficulty." On the voyage towards Jerusalem, Paul 
sailing over this very route had gone in two days from Cos to Patara. The distance 
between Myra and Cnidus is not very much greater. Myra lies east of Patara and 
Cnidus not quite so far east of Cos : but at this time the voyage against an adverse 
wind was very tedious and trying. The ships of those days being made with one 
large sail, which brought nearly all the strain on one part of the vessel, could not sail 
as near the wind as ships of the present day can do. 

Though they at length found themselves off Cnidus they could not make the 
harbor in the teeth of the gale ; and turning southward they managed to get under 
the lee of the large island of Crete. But after rounding Cape Salmone they were 
again exposed to the westerly wind ; it was with great difficulty that, coasting along, 
they managed at length to get to a place called Fair Havens, where they put in. 
There was no town there, merely a good anchorage or harbor, but the city of Lasea 
was not far away. 

For some time the vessel remained at Fair Havens, the captain hoping, though 
without much reason, for a lull in the western wind. The haven, having no base of 
supplies at hand, was not commodious to winter in, and the ship's captain was very 
desirous to get away. Paul, however, impelled either by what he had learned of the 



204 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

It was on the fourteenth night of this awful danger, the wind, still tempestuous 
and the ship totally unmanageable, that indications of nearing land (probably the 
sound of breakers) were observed by the experienced seamen, and soundings proved 
their conjectures correct. Four anchors were cast out, in the forlorn hope that they 
might avail to keep the ship oflE shore at least till daylight, but the leak gaining, and 
the condition being desperate, the sailors made an attempt to get away with the only 
boat. It was the vigilance of Paul that detected this cowardly proceeding; he at once 
reported it to the centurion and soldiers, and they promptly cut the ropes, the boat 
being doubtless swamped at once. Had the sailors got away it would have been im- 
possible so to manage the stranding of the ship as to save the passengers* lives. 

The crisis was evidently at hand. Paul besought them all to break their long 
fast, once more encouraging them by the assurance of safety. He set them an exam- 
ple, blessing the bread and beginning to eat, at which they all took heart and ate. 
This done they threw overboard the gargo of grain, that the inevitable beaching of 
the ship might be done under the most favorable conditions. 

Day had dawned and land was visible, though none of the sailors recognized it. 
They now took immediate steps to run the vessel ashore ; but, by some misadventure, 
instead of reaching a cove which had offered a safe place for grounding they got 
caught between two currents. The fore part of the ship ran into the sand, and being 
immoveable, while the stern was at the mercy of the waves, the vessel at once began 
to go to pieces. In this moment of danger the soldiers, who were responsible for the 
prisoners, fearing that some of them would swim ashore and escape, proposed that 
they should all be killed ; but the centurion, determined to secure Paul's safety, for- 
bade this inhuman proceeding. And now they all took to the sea, some swimming 
and some on boards and spars, and after a short struggle every one arrived safe on 
land. 



V. 

They had been cast upon the island of Malta, then sparsely peopled with men of 
Phoenician origin, " barbarous people " alike to Roman, Greek, and Jew. The inhab- 
itants, however, rude and primitive though they may have been, were kindly. They 
received the shipwrecked travellers with hospitality and kindled a fire to warm them, 
drenched as they were not only by the sea but by a cold rain that had set in. 

They must all have been desperately tired, but Paul knew that the safest thing 
for every one was activity and he immediately set the example, foraging about for 
wood to keep up the needed and most welcome fire. While he was putting some 
sticks upon the fire a viper came " out of the heat " and fastened on his hand. To the 
superstitious people of the island this could have only one meaning : this man must 
be a murderer, who, though he had somehow escaped righteous retribution on the 
sea, was still pursued by relentless vengeance and had now met his doom. Furtively 
watching to see him fall down dead, or exhibit other evidence of poisoning, to their 
astonishment they saw him shake off the snake and show no signs of harm. Impres- 




"THEY ALL CAME SAFE TO LAND. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




PAUL AT MALTA. 

sionable and prone to revulsion of feeling as the hardly less ignorant people of Lystra 
had been on another occasion, they now immediately changed their minds and decided 
that Paul was a god. 

The monuments found on the island of Malta show by their inscriptions that the 
governor of this island was called neither Procurator nor Propraetor, as in all the 
other provinces we have had occasion to look into, but simply head man, the title by 
which Luke calls him. This head man, Publius, who was in office when the ship- 
wrecked strangers were cast upon his shores, received them with courtesy, and gave 
them a generous hospitality. The father of Publius was at this time suffering from 
an aggravated form of dysentery. St. Paul went to the sick man, prayed, laid his 
hands upon him, and he was healed. Naturally this miracle, especially as it followed 
so soon upon the affair of the viper, created a great sensation. The sick were brought 
to Paul from all parts of the island and were healed, while the grateful and admiring 
populace heaped honors and favors not upon Paul only, but on his companions for 
his sake. 

It was late in October or early in November when the ship was cast upon the 
shore of Malta, and there was no alternative but to remain there for the winter. 
Spring comes early in that region however, and by the time February had arrived a 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 207 

ship of Alexandria which had wintered in the island was ready to depart. The captain 
of this ship, which sailed under the " sign " of Castor and Pollux, the celebrated nau- 
tical twins of Grecian mythology, received the shipwrecked party into his ship — a 
large one it must have been — and set sail for Syracuse, not far away. Here they made 
a three days* stop. There is a tradition that Paul founded the Sicilian church, and 
whether or not this is true it is probable that he made the most of these three days to 
preach the gospel among the many Jews of that great commercial city. 

From Syracuse, the wind not being favorable, they merely ran across the Straits 
of Messina to Rhegium ; but the next day a fair wind sprang up, and they went straight 
on to Puteoli, the end of their sea journey. 

Puteoli, now called Pozzuoli, is beautifully situated on a small bay that forms a 
part of the Bay of Naples. It was a favorite resort of the Romans, and the head- 
quarters of the Egyptian grain trade. Cicero, who had a villa near Puteoli, tells us 
that the arrival of the Alexandrian ships was always an object of great interest to the 
inhabitants. All other ships entering the bay were obliged to strike topsails ; the 
Alexandrian corn ships might enter under full sail. We may imagine Paul and his 
companions landing amid a crowd of interested spectators ; but their interest was not 
in the arrival of the prisoners (a common enough sight) but in the arrival of the food. 
Among these gazers Paul and his companions would pass almost unnoticed. 

But there were others in that crowd pressing forward to give Paul an earnest 
greeting, for there were "brethren" in Puteoli, the fruits of the preaching of the 
scattered Christians, as the Roman church probably was also, and they had heard that 
Paul was coming. It is a strong and singular testimony to the esteem in which Paul 
was held by Julius that he was permitted to remain a whole week with the Christians 
of this city. 

That was doubtless a blessed and refreshing week. At its close the prisoners, 
their friends and their escort moved forward along the great highway that leads to 
Rome, the ** Queen of Roads," the oldest and the most travelled road in Italy. Puteoli 
was not indeed directly on the line of the Appian Way, which went to Capua and 
Brundusium ; but there was a good road, thcCampanian Way, which led from Puteoli 
to Capua. 

From Capua to Rome is 125 miles, and news of the travellers' arrival had probably 
gone before them from Puteoli to the Christian brethren in Rome. 

About two thirds of the distance had been made when Julius with his charges 
came to the famous Pontine Marshes, through which for twenty miles a canal had 
been dug by order of Augustus, with a view to draining the morass. We cannot tell 
whether Julius caused his company to be conveyed in barges through this canal or 
whether they walked on the pavement which had been constructed beside it ; probably 
the latter. However that may be, a very cheering welcome was awaiting Paul at the 
village at the end of the canal, Appii riorum, or, as it is called in the Revised Version, 
the Market Place of Appius. A deputation from the Roman church was there to meet 
him. Very probably among them were those kinsmen of his to whom he had sent 
greetings in his letter to the Romans ; and perhaps there were others whom he there 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



209 



mentioned by came. This beautiful welcorae^the thirty miles of foot journey from 
Rome to Appii Forum showing how eager the brethren were to meet him and to 
show him respect — went to Paul's heart like a balm. Though he had given no sign 
of discouragement during the long months of trial since he had left Caesarea, we know 
that he must have had some dark hours when thinking of the emperor Nero, to whom 




THE APPIAN WAY. 



he had appealed his cause, and the small degree of likelihood there was that he would 
find consideration, or even justice, at the bar of one whi) had already begun to show 
some of the cruel qualities which characterized his later years. But the first hint of 
dark hours is given here at Appii Forum, when, seeing the loving welcome in the 
faces of the brethren of Rome, Paul ■' thanked God and took courage. ' 

Ten miles farther on there was another greeting : a second party of Christians 
had come out from Rome as far as a certain cross-road hamlet named from the Three 
Taverns it contained. How much lighter must have been Paul's step, as much lighter 
as his heart, as he trod the seventeen miles that yet lay between him and Rome, sus- 
tained by the sympathy and reverence of these unknown yet well-known brethren. 

The beautiful villas which then bordered this part of the Appian Way are all in 
ruins now, but still it is an impressive experience to those who have the privilege to 
27 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




RUINS OF THE ROMAN FORUM. 

pass to-day along; that ruined Way which once was pressed by the feet of Paul. The 
road led over the Alban Hills and then down into the broad plain known as the Cam- 
pagna of Rome. From the northern slope of the hills Paul could see the city lying 
in this plain, its suburbs reaching out almost to the hills; and as he descended to 
the level the road was bordered by great mausoleums erected for the last resting- 
places of illustrious families of Rome. They drew near the walls, entered by the 
Porta Capena, passing under the aqueduct that supplied the city's famous baths with 
water, and so at last went by the Sacred Way up which the triumphal processions 
used to pass into the far-famed Roman Forum, the great market-place so closely 
bound up with all the history of Rome, The forum was in truth the heart of Rome. 
Here was the Golden Milestone, to which every road in all the Roman provinces, 
however distant, pointed and converged. All around it were stately palaces, and on 
one side that " house of Ciesar," the imperial palace, in one of the courts of which, the 
praetorium, Paul was for a time a prisoner. 

Arrived at the prietorium, the centurion Julius immediately sought out Bumis, 
the PrEetorian Prefect, and gave over to his' custody the prisoner who had so long 
been his charge, and whom he had learned so truly to respect and trust, if not to love. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTUR Y. 211 

History shows us that Burrus was one of Nero's best and wisest advisers, and Paul was 
in good hands under his care. He at once showed himself disposed to continue the 
course of consideration for Paul which Julius had shown. He separated Paul from 
the great herd of prisoners and gave him quarters by himself, a soldier being deputed 
to guard him, being bound to him doubtless by a chain, after the Roman custom. 



VI. 

It was very natural that Paul's first desire should be to set himself right with his 
fellow-countrymen. There was a large number of Jews in Rome, and in the early 
days of Nero they enjoyed a great degree of toleration, so that their religious opinions 
came to have a wide influence. Paul lost no time in summoning the chief men of the 
Jewish colony to meet him at his quarters. We may wonder that these dignified and 
influential men should be ready to assemble at the call of an obscure prisoner ; but we 
must remember that Paul was not obscure. Though a prisoner he was a Roman citizen 
and a prisoner of state, and among the Jews both of these facts would give a fellow-coun- 
tryman a special distinction. They accepted his invitation then, and being assembled 
in Paul's prison he explained to them the reason for his appeal to Caesar ; that he had 
no accusation to make against his nation, but also that he was innocent of any offence 
against his people or the customs of the fathers. In fact it was for the Hope of Israel, 
the faith in that Messiah whose coming they all longed for, that he was bound with that 
chain. The Jews replied that they had received no advice concerning him from Jeru- 
salem, either by letter or by messenger ; that they would be glad to have him further 
explain his views, for as for the sect to which he belonged they had always heard it 
spoken against. Paul, we may be sure, was more than willing to expound his views 
to them ; and a time was appointed for another meeting. 

Why the Jews of Jerusalem had sent no advice about Paul to their brethren at 
Rome may perhaps most naturally be explained by the fact that there had been no 
time : if their messengers had not started at the unfavorable season, as they would 
hardly have done, they would now be on the way, as the season for travel had but just 
opened. It is not at all likely that they had ceased to feel that rancor against him 
which they had cherished for more than two years. Still it is probable that, so far as 
Paul's appeal to Caesar was concerned, they knew it was useless for them to appear. 
There was nothing in their grievance against Paul which in Nero's eyes would be 
worth a moment's consideration. 

At the appointed time the Jews returned to Paul's lodging, and a lengthy discus- 
sion ensued. From morning till evening Paul explained his views, bringing Scripture 
to show that they were the natural and desirable development of the teachings of 
Moses and the prophets. Some of his hearers were convinced, others not : the differ- 
ent parties joined in the discussion, but so far as they were concerned it came to 
nothing. They finally gave up trying to come to an agreement, and went away, after 
Paul had solemnly assured them that by this course they were deliberately blinding 



212 FROM- OLIVET TO PATMOS : 

their own eyes and closing their own ears and hardening their own hearts to the 
truth. 

There is no doubt that during this period Paul had had intercourse with the 
Christians of Rome, some of whom were Jews, others Gentiles. But from this time 
on he threw himself more earnestly into the affairs of the church, seeking especially 
to draw the Gentiles around him to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

The kindly disposition of Burrus, the Pr^torian Prefect, towards Paul soon mani- 
fested itself by another act of consideration. He allowed him to remove from the 
PrEEtorium entirely and dwell in a hired house of his own. True, he was surely 
guarded : being usually chained by the arm to a soldier. But not his friends only, 
but strangers, all who wished to confer with him, were allowed access to him, and 
no hindrance to his preaching was in any way offered. 




READY TO BE SACRIFICED. 

I. 

1 HE narrative in the Acts breaks off abruptly in this place. Probably 
the book was written shortly after this, while Paul was a prisoner in 
his " own hired house " and Luke with him ; no more was told 
because no more had happened. But from the letters which Paul 
wrote during this imprisonment and afterwards we can gain a pretty 
vivid idea of much that transpired after the close of the Acts. 

We know, in the first place, that a great many Roman soldiers 
were led to Christ by Paul during this time. There must have been 
several soldiers detailed to relieve one another in guarding PanI, he 
being night and day chained to one. It was not possible that they 
could be so constantly with him, hearing his preaching, witnessing his holy life, his 
prayers, his patience, and not be won to the service of his Master. And mingling with 
the rest of the guard and with the attendants in the emperor's household as they 
must have done, how natural that this iflfluence should extend among them ; that 
others should attend Paul's preachings, talk of him among themselves, and finally 
come under the power of the gospel. This, we know, is what actually took place. 

The church in Rome was of course his special care. He could not go to them but 
they could come to him, and probably his house became the regular place of meeting. 
How impressive must have been his preaching, his words emphasized from time to 
time by the clanking of the chain which bound him ! 

The enlightenment and conversion of those who knew nothing of the gospel 

greatly occupied him. Many came to hear him out of curiosity, others because their 

hearts were moved by something they had heard : but few could be brought into 

direct relations with this strong and saintly man and not be won by his teachings. 

His imprisonment was continually cheered and his heart comforted by the pres- 



214 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

ber of the Philippian church, who brought a contribution from that church for the 
relief of PauVs necessities. We have already seen the alacrity and delight with which 
the Christians at Philippi ministered to Paul's temporal needs. For nine years they 
had had no opportunity to do so, but news of Paul's transference to Rome having 
reached their ears, they made up a contribution and forwarded it by Epaphroditus, 
who was going to Rome. On the way he seems to have encountered grave peril, and 
to have been very ill in consequence. The news of his illness had reached Philippi 
and caused great sorrow and bewilderment. To calm this feeling, to thank and com- 
mend this people who were so dear, was in part the object of this letter, the highest 
purpose of which was to convey to the Philippian church the rich results of Paul's re- 
cent experiences. 

THE EPISTLE TO THE PHILIPPIANS. 

It has already been remarked that this epistle is almost entirely free from reproof. 
It is full of sacred joy ; Paul rejoices in the love to him of this church, so dear to 
his heart, and in the evidence that it is earnestly dedicated to God's service. One 
feels all through it that thrill of exultation which, in the midst of the anxiety with 
which he was awaiting his trial, had come to him by the visit of Epaphroditus. The 
opening greeting is intensely affectionate, the thanksgiving that follows it has a pe. 
culiar uplift of joy in the sense he has that they are thoroughly in fellowship with 
him ; his prayer for their still further progress rings with the confidence of fulfilment. 

He hastens next to reassure them as to his own condition, and the good that has 
resulted from his imprisonment, both to those who were without and those who were 
within the church. He had indeed met something of that Judaizing spirit that had 
made so much trouble in Palestine and in Macedonia and Asia, but he believes it will 
all redound to the spread of the gospel, and is certain that whatever happens to him- 
self, whether life or death, in either event Christ will be magnified. 

Then he exhorts them to seek after a higher type of religion, and to follow closely 
after Christ's example of renunciation. He tells them that it is his intention shortly 
to send to them Timothy (whose name is joined with his own in the salutation, showing 
that Timothy had before this come to Rome), and he reminds them of Timothy's claim 
upon their regard and obedience. But still more earnestly he recommends that they 
should appreciate the zealous services of Epaphroditus, the bearer of the epistle, who 
had hazarded his life in carrying out their commission and bringing their gifts to Paul. 

Then, with an interjected reminder of the duty and privilege of rejoicing in the 
Lord, he goes on to warn them of the Judaizers : reminds them that he had as much 
reason as any one to boast in his Jewish descent, but that he counted all privileges of 
race or birth or education as worthless, compared with the excellency of the knowledge 
of Christ Jesus. He held himself up as an example of not resting in formalism on the 
one hand, nor giving way to indulgence on the other ; but making a constant effort to 
grow more like Christ. 

There were two women in the Philippian church who had been eminently useful, 
but who now had fallen into dissension. Paul begs them to be reconciled with one 



2i6 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

second year of the imprisonment, Paul received a visit from Epaphras, a member of 
the church of Colosse, who brought word of the condition not of that church only, but 
of the neighboring churches of Hierapolis and Laodicea. Paul had not, so far as we 
know, personally founded any of these churches, though they were all the direct result 
of his ministry in Ephesus. A glance at the map of Asia Minor will show the geo- 
graphical relation of these three cities to Ephesus. Laodicea is on the great Roman 
road which leads nearly due east from Ephesus, being distant from it about a hundred 
miles. Just ten miles farther east from Laodicea on the same great road is Colosse, 
while Hierapolis forms the northern apex of a triangle, being about ten miles distant 
from both of these cities. 

The church of Colosse, it is believed, was founded by two men who in Ephesus 
heard Paul preach and accepted the gospel, Epaphras and Philemon. The other two 
churches were without question founded at about the same time and by similar means. 
Now Epaphras comes to Rome, bringing news to Paul of the condition of these 
churches, and especially of a new form of error which was springing up in them : 
error which took on several aspects, and which was partly due to the progressive, in- 
quiring spirit which characterized these towns. 

The fundamental characteristic of this error was the claim that a privileged few 
had a higher wisdom than was attainable by the many. One of the alleged discoveries 
of this wisdom was that there was a series of angelic mediators between God and man, 
who, rank above rank, could bring men into closer relations with God than they could 
attain by Christ. And another was the assumption that there was something inherently 
sinful in matter ; that the only possibility of entering into communion with God, who 
is spirit, is by rigorous asceticism, by which the material part of man is mortified and 
the spiritual thus freed from sin. For, in the minds of those who hold this theory, sin 
dwells not in the affections and the will but in the flesh. 

To show the fallacy and hurtfulness of such doctrines Paul wrote a letter to the 
church at Colosse. 

THE EPISTLE TO THE COLOSSIANS. 

This epistle also joins the name of Timothy with that of Paul in the opening 
salutation. Though there is no epistle of Paul's which g^ves the slightest evidence 
that any one joined him in writing it, there is hardly one which does not bear witness 
to the strong social instinct of Paul, the desire to be associated with some brother be- 
loved in whatever he does. So he gladly joins with his own the salutations of any 
who may be with him at the time. 

The epistle begins in Paul's own method, with thanksgiving for the progress that 
the Colossians had made in Christian faith and love, followed by a beautiful prayer 
for their further progress, that they (who made such claim to special wisdom) might 
be " filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understand- 
ing." The prayer is gradually merged in a contemplation of the high truths, open to 
all men, of which their supposed higher and special wisdom is in fact only a travesty—* 
namely, that God has himself delivered them from the power of darkness, that is, of 



2i8 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

founders of the church of Colosse. Onesiinus had probably been a profligate and un- 
scrupulous man, and there is no reason to suppose that he of his own accord sought 
out Paul on arriving in Rome. His purpose in coming to Rome was probably so to 
lose himself in the crowd of this great city as never to be discovered and claimed by 
his master. Through some providence, we know not what, Onesimus was brought to 
hear Paul preach. He believed the gospel, and, convicted to the heart, acknowledged to 
Paul his sins against his master, Philemon. Bad as Onesimus had been before his con- 
version, he was a man of good capacity. Paul saw that he might be made a useful 
servant of the gospel ; he would have been glad to keep him at Rome and make use 
of him there. But the rights of Philemon were paramount. Though Paul, knowing 
Philemon's consecration, believed that he would be willing to give up his slave if the 
furtherance of the gospel might thereby be promoted, he would not take that consent 
for granted. And therefore he counseled Onesimus to go back to his master in the 
company of Tychicus, who was to bear the epistle to the church of Colosse ; and in 
order to make it a less painful step for Onesimus, he offered, not only to give him a 
letter to Philemon, but also himself to refund to Philemon the money of which Onesi- 
mus had robbed him. The letter which Paul wrote to Philemon is a beautiful example 
of Christian courtesy, and also a valuable lesson on the relations of masters and slaves — 
an important matter in the Christian Church at that period and for long after. 

THE EPISTLE TO PHILEMON. 

The salutation is from Paul and Timotheus, not only ** to Philemon, our beloved 
and fellow worker," but also to his wife, "Appia our sister," and further, to "Archippus 
our fellow soldier,** who from a notice in Colossians seems to have been in Colosse on 
a special mission, and also " to the church in thy house.'* Thanksgiving for the faith 
of Philemon follows, with a prayer that it may communicate itself to others. A little 
glimpse of the heart of the writer comes next : ** for I had much joy and comfort in 
hearing of thy love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through 
thee, brother.*' 

His confidence that Philemon would recognize the claim he had upon him made 
Paul bold to put his request before him as a matter of duty, yet he preferred to put it 
as a matter of love. There is a volume of revelation of the eflfect of long years of 
suflfering upon Paul in the sweetness with which, ** being such a one as Paul the aged," 
he prefers rather to beseech his friend as for a favor, than demand a thing as a 
matter of authority. Paul was barely sixty years old, and sixty years, to a temperate 
and active-minded man, is not old age. But Paul was worn out with many labors, and 
many sorrows : he had come, not to the querulousness into which a life undisciplined 
degenerates with advancing years, but to the sweetness and tenderness of a ripened 
maturity, that sort of tenderness and sweetness that even young people have had the 
opportunity to see in those who have grown old at the side of Christ. And so this 
worn and feeble man, " now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ," beseeches, instead of 
directing or laying down a command — revealing with a word how exceedingly near 
to his heart is the favor which he asks : " I beseech thee for my child whom I have 



220 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Ephesians " is in fact the one to Laodicea. There are plausible reasons for this theory : 
the fact that not a single personal message is sent, whereas after nearly three years in 
Ephesus Paul must have had many personal friends : and also the fact that in some 
of the oldest manuscripts the name Ephesians does not occur, while once it is put 
in by a later hand. All the reasons together, however, are not strong enough to 
prove that this letter was written to Laodicea. It is however very probable that it 
was a circular letter, written primarily indeed for the Ephesian church, but intended 
also for the neighboring churches, Smyrna and Sardis, perhaps Pergamos, and possi- 
bly the three in the group with Colosse. If this was the case several copies of the 
letter would be made, a blank for the name being left in each except the one intended 
for Ephesus. In this blank would be written the name of the church the copy was 
ultimately sent to. In later years, copyists perplexed by the different names would 
naturally leave a blank, and just as naturally some reviser or reader of the manuscript 
might put the word Ephesus in such a blank. 

To whomsoever it was written, the Epistle to the Ephesians is, as has been said, 
one of the most remarkable works the world has ever seen. The profundity of the 
book is amazing ; that Paul should have expected his readers to understand it shows 
that he must have known them to be well instructed, and this is one argument for its 
having been primarily intended for the Ephesians, since no other church received 
such continuous instruction from Paul, extending over so long a period. The Epistle 
will bear unlimited study and still reveal new strength and new light. Yet there lies 
upon its very surface a wealth of instruction and a vast amount of spiritual power. 



THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. 

HE subjects of this Epistle are very much those of the Epistle to the 
Colossians, but Paul here goes more deeply into them, and expands 
his thoughts more fully. A list has been made of the topics, the 
phrases and sentences in which the two resemble one another ; their 
number is astonishing. Yet though there are more than forty of such 
resemblances there is not the slightest sameness or repetition in the 
fe^AiXt^'y two Epistles. The Epistle to the Ephesians bears no other name in 
^%; i-r the salutation than Paul's, and as there are no greetings at the close'no 
names are joined with his there. The letter was sent by Tychicus, 
whether at the same time with that to Colosse or some months later can- 
not be determined. 

It first takes up the subject of the unity of the Church as the Body 
of Christ. It was God's eternal purpose of love to unite all things in his Son, making 
Jews and Gentiles one body in him. In a prayer more comprehensive and beautiful 
than any other except the last prayer of Jesus, Paul speaks of the hope to which 
God has called the Ephesians, and the power by which he is fulfilling that hope— a 
power no less great than that by which he raised Jesus from the dead. They, being 
Gentiles, were dead in sin, but God also raised them up to a new life of righteousness 
and good works. 




222 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

the Adriatic to ApoUonia, and so through Macedonia by the great Eg^natian Road, 
which was perhaps the most travelled of all the Roman roads. He probably paid 
short visits to the various Macedonian churches, especially Philippi, and crossing the 
-^gean to Ephesus, visited Colosse, Laodicea, and perhaps all of the seven churches 
of Asia. 

We know that Paul had long cherished a desire to preach the gospel in Spain, 
and from Clement's writingjs we gather that he did so. He probably went by sea 
from Asia Minor, for there was now a very special reason for avoiding Rome or its 
vicinity. The very year after Paul's acquittal occurred that great fire in Rome of 
which every one wlio has studied history has learned. Nero chose to lay it at the 
door of the Christians and to make it the pretext for a terrible and most bloody perse- 
cution. Naturally Paul would keep as far as possible away from the power of this 
ferocious emperor. 

If Paul went to Spain it was probably in the year 64, and he may have remained 
there more than a year. There were Jewish proselytes in all the cities on the Spanish 
coast, and among them Paul would make coaverts who would form the beginning of 
Christian churches. 

Though Paul would not needlessly expose himself to the power of Nero, neither 
would he refrain, for fear of him, from going where he appeared to be needed. Word 
came to him of false teachers in Ephesus, and if indeed he was at this time in Spain 
he immediately left there — for we know that he now went to Asia. There he seems to 
have hurried from city to city ; arranging affairs as best he could and putting the 
churches under the care of the younger men whom he had trained. He probably felt 
that the time was short : he was really ** Paul the aged " now, being between sixty and 
seventy years old. And apart from his age he felt his time to be short : he knew that 
in every city there were those who would be glad to curry favor with Nero by giving 
up so prominent a Christian to death. More than one sign of haste appears in the 
brief hints that his letters give of his movements. At Miletus he left Trophimus 
sick— being probably compelled to hasten away for safety. He quitted Troas so 
abruptly that he left his cloak behind, and what he doubtless valued still more highly, 
some books and parchment rolls. In Ephesus he seems to have been in imminent 
danger through the machinations of Alexander, a coppersmith or brass-founder, who 
perhaps felt the same enmity towards him and on the same account that Demetrius, 
the silversmith, had felt years before, and who perhaps was the very Jew who had 
opposed him at that time. It was perhaps because of Alexander's plots that Paul 
quitted Ephesus suddenly, leaving Timotheus in charge of the Ephesian church. 
Passing over to Macedonia he thence wrote a letter to Timothy, whom he felt to be 
in special need of counsel in view of the perplexing state in which the Church of 
Ephesus was at that time. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 

The letter begins, after the salutation, by reminding Timothy of the reason why 
he had been left in Ephesus — namely, to labor for the purity of the gospel. False 



224 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

men who should be chosen to hold church offices, and the sort of restraint that should 
be put upon " unruly men " in the church. Directions are next given for the way in 
which Titus is to minister to the different classes of Christians : the aged men and 
women, the younger men and women, and slaves. The effect of freely offered grace 
upon all who accept it is then described : it ought to be the means of their sanctifica- 
tion. Of this Titus shall himself be an example, commending this grace to all, Titus 
is bidden to hold himself in readiness for a summons to Nicopolis, where Paul pro- 
poses to winter : he is counselled to help Zenas and Apollos in the journey they are 
started upon, and to teach the people of his charge to form habits of profitable 
industry- 

VIII. 

' ICOPOLIS, where Paul proposed to spend the winter of 67 A. D., was 
probably the city of that name in Epirus, Macedonia. It was well 
situated to be a centre of visitation to those churches in Illyrium 
which Paul had probably founded some time before. It is probable 
that Titus did join Paul there, as he had been requested to do, but he 
certainly did not remain there long, for Paul soon sent him to labor 
in Dalmatia. We do not know precisely who was with Paul in Nico- 
polis, but probably Demas, Crescens and Luke, and perhaps Erastus, 
the chamberlain of Corinth. 
Sometime in the course of this winter Paul's labors in Nicopolis were suddenly 
interrupted by his arrest. The Christians were now recognized as not simply a "sect" 
or " way " of Judaism, but as entirely distinct from that church, and therefore not 
under the toleration which Rome granted to those who professed the religion of 
Moses. This would bring Christianity under the head of " new religions," which it 
was unlawful to introduce. Though we do not know the precise ground of the arrest, 
it was probably something of this sort. Whatever its cause, the fact of it seems to 
have been rather appalling to the minds of Paul's friends. Two of them at least found 
their courage unequal to the risk of standing by him : Crescens hurried away to Gala- 
tia, Demas went to Thessalonica. Perhaps Crescens was the bearer of some message 
from Paul to the Galatian churches : he does not seem to have abandoned his faith 
though he abandoned his friend and master in his hour of need. But Demas forsook 
not only Paul, but Christ ; " having loved this present world " he went away from the 
scene of danger. Erastus, if he had been with Paul, seems to have returned to his 
home in Corinth before the arrest. 

The journey to Rome was probably made by land to some port on the Adriatic, 
which it was not always dangerous to cross even in mid-winter. And so, by the great 
road from Brundusium Paul once more approaches Rome, accompanied only by the 
faithful Luke. This time his imprisonment is more severe than before : there is no 
friendly Julius to arrange for his kindly treatment. He suffered "hardship in bonds 
as a malefactor," he wrote to Timothy, comforting himself the while with the reflec- 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 225 

tion, " the word of God is not bound." His friends still had access to him, though not 
without some difficulty. Linus, afterwards bishop of Rome, Pudens, the son of a sena> 
tor, and Claudia, his British bride, with Eubulus and '' all the brethren *' sent saluta^ 
tions by him to Timothy. Onesiphorus coming to Rome on business from Ephesus ' 
" oft refreshed" him by his visits, seeking him out diligently, not being appalled by 
Paul's chain, though it was a token of what might occur to himself as a Christian. 
By these visits- he repeated the ministrations which in happier times he had often prof- 
fered the apostle in Ephesus. 

The appearance of Paul before the tribunal probably took place soon after his 

arrival in Rome. He was not now that somewhat august personage, a Roman citizen 

who had appealed to Caesar. His case would come before a lower court, and though 

his citizenship was untouched, it could not avail to save him from accusation nor to 

shield him from the operation of the law or the emperor's caprice. So imminent was 

the danger that even his best friends dared not identify themselves with him. " No 

Qum stood by me, but all forsook me," he wrote afterward. Yet he was never more 

gloriously companioned, for he adds, " The Lord Jesus stood by me and strengthened 

me." He was able even to make the most of the opportunity to ** proclaim the glad 

tiding^" so that all the Gentiles who hung about the court might hear; and 

'whether by reason of his eloquence, or by the fact of his citizenship, he "was 

delivered out of the lion's mouth " — by which he probably means, from the exposure 

to wild beasts which was so frequent a punishment of Christians during Nero's 

persecutions. 

Though he succeeded in defending himself from the accusations, he was not 
acquitted, but was remanded to prison. He knew very well what would be the out- 
come of it all, and he was quite prepared. " I am now ready to be oflfered and the 
time of my departure is at hand," he writes to Timothy. ** I have fought the good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." And his triumphant faith 
saw already the reward : " Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteous- 
ness which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me in that day." His earthly 
judge might be unrighteous, and give him over to death, but the Supreme Judge was 
righteous and would reverse the sentence by turning ignominy and pain into glory 
and reward. 

The time spent in prison awaiting a second hearing was a sorrowful and yet a 
glorious time. Paul was not affrighted at the prospect of death, but his tender heart 
was sorely wounded by the defection of friends from himself, and still more by their 
falling away from the gospel of Christ. The letter which he wrote to Timothy from 
his prison tells him sadly '' all that are in Asia turned away from me," and looks for- 
ward with discouragement to the falling away of many from the faith. Yet there is 
no writing from Paul's pen which breathes a more triumphant spirit or utters a purer 
note of thankfulness than this last letter, written, under the very shadow of death, to 
cheer the deep despondency of his " beloved child " Timothy, discouraged by conflicts 
and apostasies at Ephesus. The forces of evil are many and strong, but the Lord on 
high is mightier than alL 

29 



226 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

THE SECOND EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 

Again, as in the early days, Paul recalls to mind that he is " an apostle of Jesus 
Christ by the will of God." After a benediction upon Timothy, he g^ves exultant 
thanks for the unfeigfned faith of his dear disciple and son, putting him in remem- 
brance of the precious gift of God to him, and rousing him to courage. Timothy is 
not to be cast down by the imprisonment of Paul, but is to be willing even to suflEer 
hardship with him for the sake of the gospel. Paul himself is not daunted by his 
suflferings, for he knows whom he has believed, and is persuaded that He is able to 
gfuard that which he has committed unto Him against the day of trial. Timothy also 
is to guard the deposit that has been committed to him — the "pattern of sound words " 
which he has heard from Paul, and the vocation put upon him by the Holy Spirit. 

The service of Christ may bring suffering, but it has its abundant compensations, 
Paul goes on to say ; Timothy should be strong in the gjace that is in Him, and pass 
on the sacred deposit, the gospel, to men competent to continue the work. He must 
not be entangled with trivial things ; the athlete in the arena puts all his mind upon 
one thing — how much more the Christian, whose reward is of so much greater value 
than the laurel crown g^ven to the victor. Timothy must contend for the faith, 
avoiding the indulgences which his youth might find especially attractive. 

A solemn warning of the moral corruption that threatens the church follows. 
Let Timothy not yield to it, but remember his sacred duties and be ready to suffer 
hardship. This Paul dwells on more than once because he wants Timothy to come to 
him, dangerous as such a step may be. 

The mention of trial brings Paul's thoughts back to himself, but as to one who 
has a triumphant hope before him. " I am already being offered (as a drink offering 
is poured out), and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good 
fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith." Yet even in the thrill and 
exultation of triumph the yearnings of human affection are felt. " Do thy diligence 
to come shortly to me " . . . " Take Mark and bring him with thee ;" and then that 
reminiscence of his trial, of which we have already heard. Greetings and a benedic- 
tion close the Epistle. " The Lord be with thy spirit. Grace be with you," are Paul's 
last written words. 



IX. 

We do not know certainly that Timothy reached Rome in time to gfratify the 
yearning desire of the aged apostle's heart, but it seems probable ; for in the Epistle to 
the Hebrews it is said that Timothy had been set at liberty, and his imprisonment 
would be more likely to have occurred at the time of Paul's trial than afterwards. For 
if Paul had already been put to death when Timothy arrived he would have gone away 
before his presence was known. But the time of their intercourse must have been short, 
for in the month of May of that year, most probably, Paul was led forth to die. His 
Roman citizenship saved him from torture ; his death was the swift one of decapita* 



/ 




THE SALUTATION OF PAUL. 



22g 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



tion. There are few visitors to Rome at the present day who do not follow that road 
that leads out beyond the city walls to where the beautiful ciiurch of St. Paul stood — 
until lately destroyed by fire — to mark the spot where he suffered. His death was by 
the axe, and his head having fallen, his friends carried the beloved body, worn with 
so many joumeyings, so many cares, and laid it away to rest in the sacred security of 
the Catacombs. His warfare was accomplished, his victory was achieved, the crown 
of glory was his ; he had entered into the " joys forevermore " which are found in the 
presence of the Saviour whom he had so much loved and who had so much more 
loved him. 



THE LATER YEARS OF THE CENTURY. 

\ BOUT the time that Paul, confined in his Roman prison, was " ready 
to be ofiEered," the time of his departure being at hand, that is, some- 
where about the year 67 or 68 A. D., the Epistle to the Hebrews was 
written. We do not know by whom it was written, for no evident 
token of its authorship is given. It has been attributed to Paul, to 
Barnabas, to Luke and to Apollos, but without general agreement on 
any one of these names. The principal reasons for doubting that 
Paul wrote it are, that the style is somewhat different from that of 
his other writings, that the point of view is different (although the 
truths agree with his), and that the writer seems to speak of himself as 
one who had been taught, not directly by Christ, but by those who had 
heard him. As Paul always insisted strongly that he had been taught 
by Christ and not by men, this does not seem like him. Nor is it 
certain to whom the Epistle is addressed, although both title and 
contents show it to have been written for Jewish Christians. The 
opinion most generally held is that it was written to the Jerusalem church, though 
some very careful students of the Bible have thought that it was written to the church 
in Alexandria, which was probably almost as largely Jewish as the Jerusalem church 
itself. The purpose for which it was written is very clear ; it was to encourage the 
church in a time of great trial, and especially to keep its members from falling back 
into Judaism — ^showing how the Mosaic dispensation unfolds into the Christian. 

There was a special reason why the Jewish Christians would be tempted to go 
back to Judaism at this time. In the first place, they were somewhat disheartened. 
They had expected that Jesus would return during the lifetime of the generatioa 
which was alive at the time of his death, and now, thirty-five years or more after the 
Ascension, that generation was rapidly passing away, with yet no signs of his coming. 
They had supposed that all Israel would shortly be converted to Christianity, and just 
before this time, in the year 66 A, D., there had been a new outburst of religious zeal 
among the Jews, and as a nation they were more firmly fixed in their religion than 
ever. The Christian Church too had lost its chief leaders. James, the head of the 
Jerusalem church, had been martyred in the year 63. Peter and Paul, if not already 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 229 

put to death (on the supposition that Paul wrote this Epistle) were in prison and 
likely soon to be cut off. Certainly it was natural that these Christians should be dis- 
heartened, and need just such encouragement as is given by this Epistle. More than 
this, there was a special temptation to go back to Judaism, because the revolt against 
Rome made all Jews feel very patriotic, and Christian Jews would feel drawn to cast 
in their lot with their brethren of Israel. 

If Paul was not the writer of the Epistle it was certainly written by some one 
who knew his writings well, especially the Epistle to the Romans. Both Luke and 
Apollos must have been thoroughly acquainted with Paul's writings, though of these 
two it seems more probable that Apollos wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews. The 
purpose of the Epistle being chiefly to keep Jewish Christians from relapsing to 
Judaism, the method adopted was to show, more clearly than had ever been done 
before, that the religion of Moses was actually fulfilled in the religion of Jesus ; that 
Judaism was a preparatory religion, always meant to be transitory, a religion of types 
and shadows, looking forward to a reality to come. 

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 

The tradition of the Jews, to which both Stephen in his defence and Paul in the 
Epistle to the Galatians refer, was that the Law was given by the medium of angels, 
and the Jews, especially in the time of Christ and later, had (with the exception of 
the Sadducees) a great reverence for angels. The author of this Epistle therefore 
begins his argument for the Christian religion by showing that Christ was far superior 
to the angels. He argues this first from Scripture, showing that those passages where 
man is spoken of as superior to angels are actually fulfilled not in men in general, but 
in Jesus, the Son of man. God never calls angels his sons ; the angels are ministering 
spirits sent forth to do service to men, who are heirs of salvation ; but he does call this 
Son of man his Son. It is, the writer says, a gravely dangerous thing to reject the 
testimony of Scripture on such a point as this. Still they must see that it is not every 
man to whom those Scripture testimonies could apply, but only to Him who, being the 
Son of God, became man and endured the humiliations of manhood in order, through 
suffering, to be consecrated the High Priest of mankind. 

A distinguishing characteristic of Jesus was his faithfulness ; and so, before going 
on to consider just how Jesus is the High Priest of mankind, the writer stops to con- 
trast him with those ** mediators of the old covenant," Moses and Joshua, by whom 
the law was given and the nations brought to realize the blessings of the covenant of 
God with Israel. Moses was faithful and so was Jesus — but the faithfulness of Moses 
was of a lower type than the faithfulness of Jesus, in just the way that the faithfulness 
of a servant differs from that of a son. So, too, of the rest which the nation obtained 
through Joshua, who led them into the Promised Land : it was not a perfect rest. But 
the rest that jesus gives to them who believe is a perfect rest — the very Sabbath rest 
of God. For as God rested from his works, so those who trust in Jesus also rest from 
their worka, so far as building a hope of salvation on them is concerned. This brings 
the thought back to the High-priesthood of Jesus, and the next thing is to show pre- 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




HIGH PRIEST OFFERING SACRIFICE. 



cisely what this is, and bow it was higher and more perfect than the high-priesthood 
of the sons of Aaron. 

A high-priest must be not only called of God, but he must have sympathy with 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



231 




HE HtBRbW TABERNACLE 



-men. Jesus was called of God, and yet he was so entirely one with men that in his 
"human experience he learned, as men must learn, obedience through suffering. Be- 
sides, the priesthood to which he was called was of a far higher order than that of 
Aaron : it was after the order of Melchizedek. 

Now Melchizedek was in a very remarkable way a type of the perfect priesthood. 

As far as our knowl- 
edge of him is con- 
cerned, he has no 
pedigree, nor any 
fixed term of life. 
We know nothing of 
his father or mother, 
nothing of his birth 
or death : he first ap- 
pears to us as king of 
Righteousness, king 
of Peace, and priest 
of God Most High, a 
man in the perfec- 
tion of strength and 
power, and of such 
dignity that even 

Abraham paid him tithes, though Abraham was the head and representative of the 
Jewish nation, Aaron included. It was such a one, rather than Aaron, who most fitly 
represented the royal High-priesthood of Jesus. 

And how does Jesus fulfil his High-priesthood ? In a far more perfect way than 
any priest of Aaron's line had ever done. His is a better ministry. The high priest's 
ministry had all been a figure. Once every year he had performed his highest service. 
Passing, through the outer room of the tabernacle with its emblematic furniture, he 
had entered the most sacred place, the Holy of Holies, where none but he might enter, 
and even he not without blood, in token of the death-doom from which sinful man 
must be ransomed. But Jesus, with one offering — that of himself — entered once for 
all into the true Holy of Holies, the presence of God, having obtained an eternal 
redemption, not needing to be renewed year by year. 

So, too, was the Sanctuary of Christianity a better one than that of the Jews. The 
Jewish sanctuary was of this world, made with bands, in its very nature transient. 
But the greater and more perfect heavenly tabernacle through which Jesus entered 
the Holiest Place of all, God's presence, is not of man's building. And the new cov- 
enant of which he is the mediator is far above that given through Moses. For the 
old covenant took the repetition of acts of sin as certain, and provided for repeated 
offerings of atonement ; but the new covenant puts the law of God in the heart, and 
looks to the perfect redemption of men from the power of sin. What the old sacri- 
fices could not do, the willing self-sacrifice of Jesus did perfectly. 



232 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

Then, if believers in Jesus have always the right, in him, to enter into the true 
Holy of Holies, the presence of God, why when special trial and temptation come 
should they turn back to the old and insufficient covenant ? These Christians to whom 
the Epistle is addressed are indeed living in a time of trial ; let them — not turn back 
to Moses but— -draw near to their great High Priest in fulness of faith, remembering 
that he is faithful. If in the days of the old covenant it was a deadly sin to despise 
Moses* law, how much greater a sin to despise the covenant of grace through the 
blood of Christ ! Nay, let them remember the many afflictions through which they 
have already passed, and let them hold on in faith, because the reward will surely 
come. 

Do they feel bewildered as to what is the nature of that faith through which they 
may hope to triumph ? Let them look back over the long roll of Israel's heroes — men 
of faith thougl; with little of the light that has dawned upon them, in Christ Faith 
is that which sustains in the trials of every age and every condition : it is that which 
looks forward to an unseen and future good, confidently expecting it on the word of 
God, and therefore enabling its possessor to overlook the trials and agonies that lie 
between. This was what sustained Abel and Enoch and Abraham, and Isaac and 
Jacob and Moses, this was what gave even Rahab and Gideon and Samson their power, 
this was what carried that nameless host of believers triumphant through fire and 
sword, through destitution and affliction, through tortures and death. 

Then, with the consciousness that all these victorious ones are witnesses of their 
struggles, let these struggling Christians take new heart — lay aside, not their faith but 
their sins, and endure until the end. For all this trial is but the loving discipline of 
a Father who would make them fit to enter into exceeding joy. The material world 
with its trials and its disciplines will soon give place to the Spiritual and the Eternal. 

Let them anticipate that world by the performance of all those duties toward their 
fellow men which prove them to be coming always into that closer unity which is a 
type of and a preparation for the future life : brotherly love, helpful hospitality, sym- 
pathy, purity, simplicity, trust in God, obedience to authority, steadfastness in faith, 
thankfulness, self-sacrifice. And then comes the first glimpse of the personality of 
the writer — Pray for us — and the hope of being soon restored to them. Then follows 
a beautiful prayer for the perfecting of those to whom he writes, the news that 
Timothy is set at liberty, and the hope of joining him in a visit to these people, who- 
ever they may be ; a salutation to their rulers and a message of salutation from " the 
Italians," and " Grace be with you all." 



THE GENERAL EPISTLES AND THEIR WRITERS. 

It is many years since the apostle Peter disappeared from the New Testament 
narrative. The last we heard of him was at Antioch, and then we only heard of him 
because he acted in a way that Paul rightly judged to be wrong : dissimulating his true 
belief in order to keep in favor with the Judaizers. But we are not to suppose him 




NS OF BABYLON. 



234 FROM OLIVET TO PATHOS: 

inactive all these years ; on the contrary, we may be very sure that his whole time and 
all his energies and powers had been given to the building up of Christ's church. Ac- 
cording to the agreement between Paul and the other apostles, they were to devote 
themselves especially to the work among the Jews while he went to the Gentiles, and 
this we know they did. Yet as we have seen Paul everywhere oflEering the gospel first 
to the Jews, so we shall shortly see reason to believe that Peter never refused to oflfer 
it to the Gentiles, and that in the regions where he especially worked there were 
Gentiles as well as Jews in the church, just as there were Jews as well as Gentiles in 
Paul's churches. In what regions Peter worked we do not know certainly. We have 
seen that some of the Corinthians in their time of factious division called themselves 
by his name, though it is improbable that they were influenced to do so by his pres- 
ence. Probably the influence came from pretended emissaries from him. We are pretty 
sure that Peter was not in Jerusalem at the time of Paul's last visit. At least, about the 
time of Paul's first letter to Timothy, that is about 66 or 67 A. D., we have a letter 
from Peter which speaks as if he were in Babylon. Mark is with him, and we know 
that Mark, after having been in Rome with Paul during a part of his first imprison- 
ment, was in Ephesus with Timothy not long before Paul's death. There was of 
course time for him to have gone to Babylon in the interval of four or five years. 

It is somewhat singular that though Peter speaks as if he were in Babylon the 
early fathers all held that by Babylon he meant Rome. The Revelation, which was 
probably written not very long after this Epistle (about 68 A. D.), uses the name 
Babylon allegorically or figuratively for Rome, and it is possible, even though Peter 
wrote a year or two before John, that in the terrible tribulations of those days, begin- 
ning with Nero's persecutions in 64 A. D., the figure had come into general use among 
Christians. It seems more natural, however, to believe that the literal Babylon is 
meant. If so, Peter did not remain there very long after writing this Epistle, for 
there is evidence that he was crucified at Rome in the last days of Nero's persecution, 
probably very near the time of Paul's martyrdom. 

The occasion of Peter's first Epistle was a visit of Silas, (called Silvanus in the 
Epistle) bringing tidings of a persecution which in a time of general persecutions was 
especially bitter to those to whom he wrote. It was very natural that Nero's cruel 
example should be followed by those in authority under him in the provinces, but it 
may be that the persecutions in Rome itself are meant. Those to whom the letter 
was addressed had been scattered by their trials : perhaps from Rome, perhaps from 
some other place. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF PETER. 

" The elect " to whom Peter wrote were now scattered abroad in the northern 
provinces of Asia Minor. Pontus, south of the Black Sea, was the kingdom of Pole- 
mon, a Jewish proselyte whose wife Bernice had been enticed away by Felix. Bithy- 
nia, also on the Black Sea, west of Pontus, was the home of a large number of Chris- 
tians, as we learn from a letter written not long after this by Pliny, then Proconsul of 
the province. Galatia was a large province east of Pontus stretching from the Black 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 235 

Sea almost to the Mediterranean, settled by Celts from Gaul two centuries before 
Christ. Cappadocia was still further east, north of Cilicia. Proconsular Asia was the 
large province on the -^gean, in which were the ** seven churches ** of the Revelation, 
including Ephesus. 

Although Peter calls those to whom he writes the "elect of the Dispersion " he 
does not mean the Jewish Dispersion. It is certain that many of them were Gentiles. 
He speaks of the sins of their former ignorance, says that they were formerly " no 
people" but now are **the people of God," and that before their conversion they 
"wrought the desire of the Gentiles." These things he would certainly not say of 
Jews, who always recognized themselves under the term " the people. ' Yet from 
other passages we know that he is also addressing Jews, as we should naturally expect. 

Two things are very striking in this letter. One is that far from antagonizing 
Paul, as the false Judaizing teachers pretended that he did, he gives every evidence 
of knowing Paul's letters and of teaching precisely what Paul taught. There are a 
great many places in this Epistle which show that Peter had read (and agreed with) 
the Epistles to the Romans and the Ephesians. There are also a great many places 
which show that he nearly knew the Epistle of James by heart. So these three 
apostles, Peter, James and Paul, though so different in temperament and character, 
were in close accord in their views of truth. This is an important point, for there are 
many who say that the Epistle of James contradicts the teachings of Paul. Even 
Luther thought so : but that was because Luther had not some important helps to the 
study of the Bible that we now have. 

The second thing about this Epistle is wonderfully beautiful : it is the revelation 
of Peter s own character — of his marvellous growth in grace since those impetuous 
years of his early Christian life when he made so many and such grave mistakes. 
Reading this letter of his, we get into his very heart and see Jesus written all over it. 
The Epistle is saturated with the memory of Christ s words, his acts, his life. The 
sufferings of Christ in the flesh, his resurrection, his example of meekness, reviling 
not again, his bearing the sins of men on the cross, his girding himself to serve them 
on the night when he was betrayed, his parables of sheep and shepherd, his words to 
Thomas, " blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed," all these are 
shown to be constantly present to Peter as he writes. 

He begins with a salutation, and an exultant thanksgiving for God's mercies : the 
aflaictions Christians suffer are not to be compared with the blessings that result from 
them ; they have a living hope of a glorious future inheritance. And even in the 
present, in the midst of afflictions, they greatly rejoice, so present and real is their 
consciousness of Jesus and of his salvation, so great their privilege compared with 
that even of the prophets who were before them. 

This being so, let them have courage, take new hope, be calm in affliction, obe- 
dient, holy, because God is holy and they have been redeemed from sin at an infinite 
price — the precious blood of Christ. Then let them put away all sin, and realizing 
that they are "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation," show forth the praise 
of God. 



236 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Believers in Christ tave very solemn duties with regard to the unbelieving world. 
They should live a noble life to the glory of God, submitting to lawful authority ; 
whether as citizens, as slaves, as wives, as husbands, as members of society ; enduring- 
trial patiently, and disarming hostility by following the beautiful example of Jesus in 
his life on earth. 

Believers in Christ have also duties to one another : to cultivate the spirit of 
prayer, the spirit of love, to show hospitality, to use all their gifts for the service of 
the brethren and the glory of God. They are not to be bewildered by the fiery trial 
of persecution which is theirs ; it makes them partakers in Christ's sufferings, which 
is rather a matter for rejoicing. 

Then come words of special advice ; the presbyters among them are to tend the 
flock of God willingly and not merely for hire, without arrogance but with a sense of 
the importance of their example ; the younger men are to be submissive, humble. 
All are to be sober and watchful against the snares of the adversary, the devil, and to 
be steadfast in the faith ; and the God of all grace, who called them to his eternal 
glory, shall himself stablish and perfect them after they have suffered a little while. 
Silvanus is accredited as Peter's messenger, salutations are sent: "She that is in 
Babylon." whether the church or tJie sister (Peter's wife) cannot be decided, sends 
greetings, and so also does " Marcus, my son ;" who bears the same relation of affec- 
tion to Peter that Timothy and Titus bear to Paul. They are to salute one another 
with a kiss of love, and the last words are, " Peace be with you all that are in Christ" 

THE EPISTLE OF JUDE. 

J^^EGINNING to read the short Epistle of Jude, we find it opens with 
v^^l/^'i*'\!^ *^^ words of true humility, " Judas, the bond-servant of Jesus Christ 
V^'^K^J iWn ^^^ brother of James." It seems most natural to believe that the writer 
was the brother not of James only but also of Jesus, though he pre- 
ferred to call himself his servant, as indeed he was. And it seems 
not improper to fancy that we may see in him that faithful servant of 
Jesus Christ and of his Church who acted as bearer of the message to 
Antioch. And if a " chief man." as the Judas of the Acts was said 
to be, and as the brother of Jesus would naturally be, this would be 
all the more reason for his writing authoritatively to Christians. 

Though we have no certain acquaintance with this writer, yet it 
,-(,-, is not difficult to read something of his character in his Epistle. He 

],•/ is not calm, like his brother James: the sensual sins which are in 

the church make him burn with indignation. Like James, he is 
well read not only in the Scriptures but in the other literature of his country, the 
literature we call "apocryphal." He makes one quotation from the book of Enoch, 
which, written about a hundred years before this time, preserved a tradition about 
that antediluvian saint ; and he alludes to a tradition preserved in a book called The 
Assumption of Moses, of about the same date. In this he is not unlike his brother 
James, who alludes to two books now to be found in the Apocrypha. Nor indeed is 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 237 

he unlike Paul, who in 2 Timothy alludes to the tradition of a certain Jannes and 
Jambres who withstood Moses, an occurrence not narrated in the Old Testament. 
This is precisely what we might expect of men so intelligent as the disciples of Jesus 
were ; they were familiar with books widely read in their time. 

Though the Epistle of Jude opens with a greeting, we are not told to whom it is 
addressed ; but probably, like the Epistle of James, written many years before, it was 
addressed to the Christians of the Jewish Dispersion. It was apparently written 
about the same time with 2 Timothy, or about 67 A. D. — the troublous time when not 
only persecutions but false doctrines were wasting the Church. We have seen already 
what these false doctrines were : an assumption of a certain wisdom — gnosticism it is 
generally called, from a word meaning to know — and a theory that the conduct of a 
redeemed man was a matter of no importance. These doctrines are very dreadful to 
Jude, and he combats them vigorously. He wanted to write of the common salvation, 
but he is constrained to urge them to contend earnestly for a pure faith, because false 
teachers have come in and turned the grace of God into an excuse for sin, thus vir- 
tually denying their Lord and Master Jesus Christ. 

The false teachers of the Jews were, as Paul told Titus, fond of Jewish fables. 
Jude therefore undertakes to expose their errors in precisely the way that would come 
most closely home to them, by quoting traditional stories to show them that not only 
Scripture but tradition showed the evil that befalls those who sin. The disobedient 
Israelites were destroyed in the wilderness after having been rescued from Egypt. 
The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for their sins of impurity. 
Balaam and Korah are examples of the same thing. The disobedient angels are kept 
in everlasting bonds to the final judgment. Just such sinners are they who mar the 
purity of the Christian church — self-seeking shepherds, rainless clouds, fruitless trees, 
wandering stars — to all of whom destruction will surely come. Not from men will come 
the punishment — not even from an archangel ; but from the Lord himself. Yet there 
are ** beloved '* ones among these sinners ; in danger indeed of being led away by 
their specious teaching and example. A word of solemn warning and reminder is 
given to the true believers, of admonition and counsel. And then that most beautiful 
of all the benedictions closes the Epistle, most appropriate as addressed to these erring 
ones — commending them to Him who is able to guard them from stumbling, and to 
set them before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy. 

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF PETER. 

Not very long after the Epistle of Jude was sent forth Peter was moved to 
write a second letter. He as well as Jude had learned of the mischief wrought by these 
false teachers, these gnostics and tempters to sin. Jude*s letter had also been brought 
to him — perhaps Jude himself sent it — and Peter, struck with horror at what he has 
heard, once more takes up the pen. He will write to all who have obtained a ** like 
precious faith ** with himself, to warn them against these deadly evils. 

It is not surprising to see that Peter follows closely in the line of Jude's thought, 
nor that he takes up and elaborates some of Jude's teachings. Yet Peter's letter is as 



238 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 




I GATEWAY IN DITHYNIA. 



exactly like himself as Jude's is like himself. All through this second Epistle we find 
the man of ardent love for Jesus, the man whose mind is saturated with memories of 
Jesus' life : with his words, his acts. The day when the apostle and his two nearest 
friends were with Jesus " in the holy mount " of Transfiguration and heard the voice 
come to him from " the excellent glory ;" the words of his Lord as to the " putting off 
of his tabernacle " or, as John said, " the death he should die ;" all these and many 
others were present in Peter's mind when he wrote. 

It is noteworthy that he here calls himself Simon Peter ; perhaps because Simon 
or Symeon is the name by which he is best known among the Jewish Christians to 
whom he chiefly addresses himself here. He begins at once to combat the two chief 
errors of the time, by reminding them that God has granted to them all things that 
" pertain to life and godliness," and that the knowledge of him who has called them 
is the true and desirable knowledge. To be partaker of the divine nature and so 
escape the corruption that is in the world is the chief thing to seek after. And he 
shows them how they should go on adding virtue to virtue and so make their calling 
and election sure. 

He is always ready to remind them of these things, but especially now, as he is 
assured that he is soon to " put off his tabernacle," and he wants them to be able after 
his departure to call all these things to remembrance. For he has not followed cun- 
ningly devised fables after the fashion of these false teachers of theirs ; he has been 
an eye-witness of the majesty of Christ and can speak from knowledge. 

He warns them against false teachers, who deny even the Master that bought 
them and only want to " make merchandise " of the believers. For warning he brings 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. ajp 

tip the same illustrations that Jude used — the disobedient angels, the destmction of 
Sodom, the sin of Balaam — and uses the same epithets descriptive of unprofitable Chris- 
tians, but with a new and larger significance. He teaches not only that the wicked 
shall be punished but that the good shall be kept out of temptation and delivered, 
like Noah and Lot. But they must remember the awful responsibility of wandering 
from God after having once known him. 

He tells his readers that this second Epistle he writes to bring to their minds the 
teachings they have already received. He warns them not to be discouraged because 
the return of Jesus seems to have been delayed. God's purposes seem slow of accom> 
jdishment but they are sure, and men should be careful to become godly, in view of 
the certainty of his judgements. Indeed, they who look for a new heaven and a new 
«arth ought to be especially diligent to be found blameless. There is an allusion to 
pRtil's letters which are hard to understand, a warning not to wrest the Scriptures to 
their own destruction, an admonition to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ, 
and the Epistle ends with an ascription of glory to Him. 

This is our last sight of the great Apostle Peter, the warm-hearted, impulsive, 
once erring man now ripened into noble and generous obedience. It is probable that 
he suffered crucifixion within a few months after this letter was written. Jude seems 
Dot to have fallen into the hands of persecutors. He lived, it is believed, nearly until 
the reign of Domitian, 8i A. D. Of the others, we know that Timothy, having been 
imprisoned, probably during Paul's life, was set at liberty probably at Nero's death. 
He returned to Ephesus, where he lived a number of years, perishing in the reign of 
Domitian, or even later, in one of those Artemisian riots that were so common, and in 
one of which, as we know, Paul's life was in imminent danger. 

THE BELOVED DISCIPLE. 

HE last time that we saw John he was in Samaria with Peter, enquir- 
ing into the conversion of the Samaritans and laying hands upon 
them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. That was the very 
early period of the Christian Church. Where had he been in the 
mean time ? 

As he was almost always associated with Peter in his work as 
far as we have any account of it, so we may believe that the two 
were closely associated all the time until the death of Peter. Both 
were " pillars " of the church at Jerusalem. Both were absent when 
Paul made his last visit to that city, and there is as much reason 
for believing that John was in Rome with Peter during Nero's 
persecution as for believing that Peter was there and was crucified. 
When Peter was killed John managed to escape, or else he was 
exiled from Rome to the island of Patmos. We have of course no knowledge from 
the Bible that either Peter or John was in Rome ; but the early fathers have pre- 
served the tradition that they were there, and we know that Jestis foretold the cruci- 
fizion of Peter and indicated that John was to live longer. It was while John was on 




240 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



the island of Patmos that he was vouchsafed those marvellous visions which he pre- 
served in the Book of Revelation. 

There are two opinions as to the date of this book and of John's exile. Many 
scholars place it in the reign of Domitian, 8i-g6 A. D.: that is, after the death of Jude. 
There seems however to be a large amount of probability in the earlier date : the reign 
of Nero, somewhere between 66 and 68 A. D. 

The Revelation is probably John's earliest writing. As, however, it is placed at 
the end of the Bible, and for the reason probably that it is the fitting close of a volume 
of revelation, it will also here be postponed to the end of the book, and the Epistles of 
John will be read first, , 

Patmos is a small island in the ^gean Sea, not more than a day's sail from 
Ephesus, and only 24 miles from the coast of Asia Minor, It was used by the Romans 
as a place of banishment for criminals, being rocky and barren and thinly peopled. 
But since the Apostle John's exile there it 
has become almost holy ground. There is 
a grotto about half-way up one of the hills 
which tradition reveres as the place where 
John took refuge, and where he saw his vis- 
ions. On the top of the high hill is an old 
monastery named for him. 

On being released from exile, perhaps 
by the death of Nero, John went to Eph- 
esus, where he spent the remainder of his 
life, nearly or quite thirty years. He prob- 
ably had visited Ephesus before ; at least 
the description of Babylon in Rev. 18:12 
seems to have been in a degree taken from 
his remembrance of this city The words 
which speak of trafiic in " slaves and in 
souls of men " are very characteristic of 
Ephesus. 

It was very natural that after the destruc- 
tion of Jerusalem John should go to Ephe- 
sus. It was the city that after Rome and 
perhaps Alexandria offered the largest and 
most hopeful sphere of usefulness. It was 
an extremely rich and cultured city, Pliny 
calls it " The Light of Asia." A great many 
Christians were there ; the church was a 
strong and growing one. Yet many untoward influnces from without pressed upon 
the Christians of this city. Idolatry crowded them on all sides. The errors of Gnos- 
ticism abounded, that "science, falsely so called," of which Paul warned Timothy when 
he was first put in charge of this very Ephesian church. 




MONASTERY IN PATMOS. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 241 

According to tradition John spent all his later life in Ephesus, and he lived until 
the close of the first century. About the year 85, it is supposed, or some sixteen 
years or more after he left Patmos, John probably wrote his Gospel, and, not long 
after, his First Epistle. This Epistle is probably the last word from any of the apos- 
tles to the Christian Church. John wrote two other letters which have been pre- 
served, but they were to private individuals, not to, primarily, the church. 

This First Epistle was meant to be a companion to John's Gospel, and the object 
of both is stated to be that readers might believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that 
believing they might have eternal life. Though intended for the readers of his 
Gosfjel, the First Epistle differs from it in this respect i that it not only teaches 
truth, as the Gospel does, but also points out error. It has been called a postscript to 
the Gospel. 

The Epistle was addressed to the whole church, but with special reference to the 
Ephesian Christians and those of the other churches in Asia. We find no quotations 
from the Old Testament, and the letter closes with a warning against idolatry which 
must have been written for converts from heathenism. The tone of the Epistle is 
that of an old man — not old in the sense of aged, senile, but one who has had a long 
experience^ — writing to a younger generation, as a father might write to his sons. 

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN. 

StJ^ OINING the Epistle directly on to the Gospel, the first four verses 
are an introduction : and this is probably the reason why the usual 
form of salutation and address is entirely omitted. John seems 
to be in haste to bring his sure personal knowledge of Jesus to 
those who had not known Him in the beginning, to help them to 
believe on Him and rejoice in Him. John had seen with his eyes. 
his hands had even handled, Him who is the Word of life, and he 
wanted to bring his readers into fellowship with himself in that 
knowledge of Jesus which gives a man fellowship with both the 
Father and the Son. 

The body of the Epistle has two parts, in each of which a 
great thought is paramount : God is Light ; God is Love. Under 
both these thoughts the possibility and the beauty of fellowship 
with God are shown. God is Light : then let us not walk in 
darkness, doing things that will not bear the light ; let us not cling 
to sin, nor yet deny that we have sinned, but confess our sin, that it may be forgiven. 
And when it is forgiven we shall receive power to abide in Christ. Walking in ^the 
light we have a true love to the brethren. Walking in the light many things are 
excluded : the love of the world, friendship with the enemies of Christ, denial of 
Christ. Christians are to strive always to "abide in Christ," that they may become 
righteous and thus give proof that they are in him. 

The second part of the Epistle is devoted to bringing out the most wonderful of 




242 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

all truths— God is Love. This marvellous truth has so taken possession of John that 
he returns to it again and again. " Behold what manner of love the Father hath be- 
stowed upon us, that we should be called children of God !" he writes, and then goes 
on to show how the sonship of which many people do give evidence is the greatest 
and surest proof that God is Love. And the test of sonship, like the test of illumination, 
is not great works but righteousness. If righteousness is the proof that one is walking 
in the Light of God, the proof that one is walking in the Love of God is also right- 



Its effect may be to make the world hate Christians. At that they need not be 
surprised. Let them go on, nothing daunted, imitating as far as may be the exafaiple 
of Christ, not yielding to their own inclinations nor being moved either by the allure- 
ments of the Power of Darkness or the contempt which evil disposed men always 
feel for those who are seeking to do right. Whatever may be the opinion of others 
regarding them, it is possible and a duty for them to know whether or not they have 
the Spirit of God. 

Some people may profess that they too have the Spirit of God when they have 
not ; so John gives careful directions how the church may recognize whether or not 
people who make these professions are really under the guidance of the Spirit. And 
then comes the appeal, " Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God." The 
true character of God's love is marvellously given, in all its details, and the character 
of a human being's love for God is shown. It is possible to know whether or not our 
love to God is of the same nature as the love of God for men. And that brings John 
to the great truth about life : he who loves, and only he, is truly alive. Those who 
do love God, unseen though be is, have the life imperishable, being knit up in fellow- 
ship with him who is Life. And those who are in this fellowship will keep themselves 
from idols, no matter how strong the pressure from the idolaters that surround them 
in all these Asian cities. 

THE SECOND EPISTLE OF JOHN, 

'^ OHN'S Second letter, unlike the First, is not a general Epistle : it is 
addressed to an individual, but whether a person or a church is not 
entirely clear. The address may be either to " the elect lady" or to 
some church thus personified; but it is probably to a Christian 
widow, whose children John (" the Elder " he calls himself here) 
had met somewhere on his visitations among the Asian churches, 
and with whom he had been greatly delighted. The Epistle is 
mainly of counsel and warning. The exhortation is to " walk in 
the truth," the warning gainst "deceivers," false teachers, who 
deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. The elect lady is told 
to do nothing to encourage such deceivers— not receive them into 
her house nor bid them God speed. This, not because they are 
sinners, but because they are avowed enemies and haters of Christ, 
and will not admit that his life on earth was a reality. John has much to say to the 





THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 243 

elect lady but he will not write more, because he hopes soon to see her. He closes 
by sending her a greeting from her nephews, probably young men who have left their 
native city and are living in Ephesus for biisiness purposes. 

THE THIRD EPISTLE OF JOHN. 
J HIS also is addressed to an individual, "the well beloved Gaius" or 
Caius. There are several people of that name in the New Testament 
history, and it is impossible to know which of them was the one to 
whom this letter was written. There were a Gaius of Corinth, one of 
Macedonia, one of Derbe, and others : one Gaius was the Bishop of 
Pergamos. The one here addressed seems to have been not an apostle 
or teacher, but a well to do, intelligent and devout layman. The letter 
is not official, like Paul's letter to Timothy and Titus, but friendly, like 
his letter to Philemon. 

There is a strong similarity between this Epistle and that to the 
"elect lady," notwithstanding that the Second Epistle was almost all 
of counsel and warning and this is mainly encouragement. John re- 
joices because he has heard that Gaius is walking in the truth, and he hopes that 
his health, which seems to have been impaired, may prosper as much as his soul 
prospers. There is to John no greater joy than to hear that his children in the faith 
(one of whom Gaius must have been) are walking in the truth. The hospitality of 
Gaius seems to have been very noteworthy. John commends him strongly for it, and 
specially recommends to him some persons who at this time are travelling for the 
furtherance of the gospel. For this reason some Bible students believe that this 
Gaius was the one who was Paul's host in Corinth : but the condition of the church to 
which he belonged, as suggested in this letter, does not seem to be like that of Corinth 
at this period. 

Very different from Gaius was a certain Diotrephes, who opposed even John him- 
self. This Diotrephes seems to have been the head of the church to which Gaius 
belonged, and to have been very arbitrary as well as narrow-minded, "casting out" 
those who differed from himself. Against such a spirit, as well as against such a 
person, Gaius is warned. But another brother, Demetrius, was well reported of, and, 
as John vouches, deservedly. Perhaps this Demetrius was the head of that mission 
band whom John had just commended to Gaius. There are other things John wants 
to say to Gaius, but he expects to see him soon and then they can speak face to face. 
Evidently John was not yet so infirm but that he was contemplating another visita- 
tion among the churches. But this is the last we see of him in the Bible, for the 
Revelation belongs to an earlier date. The well-known tradition is that John lived 
to be more than a hundred years old and died in Ephesus, and that in the extreme 
of age and feebleness he used to be carried into the church, where he would simply 
say, " Little children, love one another." Love was the very breath of the beloved 
disciple's life. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



THE REVELATION. 
I. 




O parallel exists for this book. In some respects the Book of Daniel is 
like it, and doubtless John knew the book of Daniel well ; but there 
is much more dissimilarity than resemblance between the two. The 
greater part of Revelation seems hard to understand. There are three 
chapters in the beginning of which the meaning is not di£Gcult to find, 
and the imagery of the two chapters at the close is beautifully clear 
and intelligible. But between these two portions we have much that 
seems very obscure, though with occasional passages of thrilling sug- 



In beginning the reading of this book it is well to keep certain 
things in mind. John received these visions, and probably wrote 
this book, in a time of general and very bitter persecution ; there surely was a reason 
of timeliness for the giving of the revelation by him to the Church just then, yet 
there must also have been a degree of danger in circulating such a book, especially 
since it has much to say about the Empire. So we find that some things are written in 
an enigmatic way, some are studioiisly concealed. Some are to be understood only by 
those who will carefully study them. But the Revelation as a whole was not an enig- 
matical book. Its purpose surely was to edify those who first received it. It was 
also intended for the edification of those future readers who should see the prophe- 
cies it contained fulfilled. And if it was meant to be intelligible and instructive to 
those who first received it, it ought to be intelligible and instructive to all careful 
readers from that time until the end of all earthly things makes its prophecies per- 
fectly clear. 

For centuries it was believed that the book contained definite and detailed pre- 
dictions of things that were to happen in the near future, and an immense deal of 
ingenuity was expended in calculating the precise date at which future events would 
occur, and in other such investigations. It would seem that those things which God 
has hidden must have been hidden for a good purpose, and that the things which he 
has revealed were revealed for some better purpose than simply to enable us to fore- 
cast the future. In other words, the book of Revelation must have a meaning appli- 
cable to the present and to every present time. It must have been intended, like the 
rest of the Bible, to influence the hearts and the conduct of its readers in all ages by 
teaching truths which they could not otherwise have learned. And it is the truths 
taught in the Revelation which we should especially attempt to find. 

This book has been called a book of Christian Politics, and in one sense this is a 
good name for it. For while it certainly treats in figures of the relations of world 
powers to one another, the evident purpose of the book is to show the connection be- 
tween things in earth and things in heaven ; to show that there is no impassable gulf 
between things seen and things unseen, and that the doings of nations and rulers and 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 245 

great ones of the earth are observed in heaven as matters of eternal importance. 
And the very impressive teaching of the whole book seems to be this : from first to 
last the writer is observing things that transpire on earth from before the throne of 
God. Should not this always be our point of view in looking upon things of human 
interest ? Our relations with one another in society, in business, in politics, would 
take on truer and nobler proportions if they were always viewed in the perspective in 
which John saw the things he has written in this book — from before the throne of 
God. 

In such attempts as we make to understand the symbolic imagery we shall be 
greatly helped by remembering that it is all based on the symbolism of the Old Testa- 
ment. That symbolism has been interpreted by the coming of Christ ; and with the 
interpretation of the Old Testament we have a key for the interpretation of this book. 
Another thing to bear in mind is that we have no right to interpret one symbol as 
figurative and another, closely connected with it, in a literal sense. The interpretation 
should be consistent as well as harmonious. Above all we should try to read it from 
the point of view of the first readers. For this it is necessary to know something of 
their history and the circumstances under which they received it. 

An important and very helpful thing to notice is the very artistic construction of 
this book. It is like a beautiful and highly finished poem, a perfect work of art. This 
is especially noticeable in the Epistles to the Seven Churches, in the second and third 
chapters, but it is very evident throughout the book. The table of contents is given 
in the verse where Jesus tells John to write the things that he has seen, the things 
that are, and the things that shall be hereafter. The book divides naturally into three 
unequal portions which treat of these three things. 



II. 

HE keynote of this book is The Revelation of the Risen Christ as the 
Lord God. It begins with the title : " The Revelation of Jesus Christ." 
The opening verse tells who gave it — God : for whom— his servants; 
for what purpose — to show them the things that must shortly come to 
pass; through whom given — an angel; to whom— John. The saluta- 
tion to the Seven Churches of (Proconsular) Asia is different from that 
in any other Scripture, and is incomparably grand, rising indeed from 
the contemplation of the churches to that of the Head of the Church : 
" Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own 
blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; 
to him be glory and dominion forever. Amen." 

Next comes a most sublime picture of the second coming of 
Christ: it seems to have fallen almost involuntarily from John's pen, 
forced into being by the intensity of his realization of that wondrous 
appearance ; for he immediately afterward begins a description of the circumstances 
under which the revelation was received. He was in Patmos, in exile, and in the 




dr' 



246 FROM OLIVET TO PA TMOS: 

Spirit, one Lord's day ; his whole being possessed by a sense of the invisible, the iaSu- 
ence of the Spirit of God. So he heard behind him a trumpet voice announcing- 

Jesus, the First and the 
Last, and bidding John 
write what he saw and send 
it to the seven churches. 
Turning, John beheld a 
symbolic appearance of the 
Saviour which we cannot 
picture to ourselves liter- 
ally with profit, but which 
taken ideally represents a 
glorious truth. For these 
symbols of stars and can- 
dlesticks and two-edged 
sword mean light, glory, 
holiness, teaching. These 
are what Christ is to his 
people. And he is in the 
very midst of his church, 
which is the seven candle- 
sticks, and the church^the 
seven stars entirely encom- 
passed by his power and 
protection — is held in his 
right hand. The number 
seven, here and throughout 
the Bible, symbolizes com- 
pleteness, the whole : the 
seven churches, though ac- 
tually existing then, and 
particularly addressed for 
their own spiritual benefit, 
typify the whole Church ; 
and the warnings and en- 
couragements addressed to 
them are addressed to the whole Church of Christ through all time. 

The Epistles which John wrote to the seven churches are, as has been said, highly 
artistic in form. Each church is addressed by one of the symbols by which Christ has 
just been described ; each is specially addressed through his " angel " in words meant 
for all. Each is bidden to hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. Each begins 
with those impressively solemn words, " I know thy works," and each closes with a 
promise given not to all the members, but to those of them who overcome. 




JOHN IN THE GROTTO. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



III. 



The first church addressed was that one in Ephesus which we know so well, 
which Paul founded and built up with great cost to himself, and to which Timothy 
was probably ministering at this time. It is not impossible that Timothy is addressed 
as the " angel " of the church, his works and labor and patience commended, and his 
refusal to give way to evil workers and false apostles praised. Yet he had left his first 
love. If this was Timothy we are reminded of some of Paul's admonitions in his 
Epistles to Timothy : it seems not impossible that a man of his temperament would 
flag and lose heart and interest after such incessant oppositions and difficulties ; yet we 
cannot be certain that by the " angels " of the churches any man is meant, and we can- 
not be sure that these words are addressed to Timothy. To the church through this 
"angel" comes the command to repent and return to its first condition of faithful 
service : yet even in rebuke another word of commendation is added — those of Ephe- 
sus hate the deeds of certain evil doers, the Nicolaitans, who were enemies of Christ. 
And then comes the beautiful promise to " him that overcometh :" to him " will I give 
to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God." These words bring out the 
glorious truth that the purpose of God in creation is not thwarted by the entrance of 
sin into the world, but that in the celestial paradise all that shall come to glorious 
perfection which in the earthly paradise came to sorrowful failure. 




FROM THE SEA. 



The church of Smyrna was about forty miles north of Ephesus, in one of the most 
beautiful cities of Asia Minor. Its works and tribulation and poverty and the blas- 
phemy of its enemies were all known to Jesus. Great tribulations were in store for 
it : some of its members were to be cast into prison. Perhaps this was a prophecy of 



248 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



Polycarp, the disciple of John who was the head of the Smyrna church some time 
later, and who died at the stake in a time of persecution. But surely in his martyrdom 

he realized the promise here given : 
" He that overcometh shall not be 
hurt of the second death." 

The Church of Pergamos was 
north of Smyrna, in a city now al- 
most- entirely in ruins. It was a 
wicked city — the throne of Satan 
was there, according to the dreadful 
description in this Epistle. The 
church there had held fast its faith, 
not denying the name of Christ, 
giving one of its members, Antipas, 
to martyrdom for his name. Yet 
there were a few things even against 
this church of confessors: it har- 
bored in its bosom those who taught 
sensual doctrines, the doctrine of 
Balaam and of the Nicolaitans, who 
used their Christian liberty as an 
opportunity to sin. For this they 
must repent : but to him that over- 
came should be given to eat of the 
hidden manna, and he should re- 
ceive a white stone with a new 
name inscribed upon it, known only 
to himself and his Lord. This is 
the bliss of secret communion with 
Christ — perfect fellowship with him, 
and an appropriation of him which 
no one can know who has not ex- 
perienced it. 
The church of Thyatira was perhaps founded by Lydia, for this was her home — 
though she had another home, in Philippi, where she received the gospel from Paul. 
It was an inland city, southeast from Pergamos. The church there was very zealous ; 
its " works " are twice commended. Yet it too had its faults — one very like that of 
Ephesus and Pei^amos : " the woman Jezebel " was probably of that same party of 
libertines and sensualists to which they of Balaam and the Nicolaitans belonged. 
Terrible warnings of the judgment decreed for this wicked woman and those who 
adhered to her are given ; but no " burden " was to be put upon the others, and to 
"him that overcometh" shall be given power over nations, and he shall receive 
Christ's morning star — the symbol of royalty. He shall receive even that power 




RUINS ABOVE SMYRNA. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



249 



which the second Psalm gives to Christ— to rule sinners with a rod of iron and break 
them to shivers like a potter's vessel. 

The church of Sardis was in one of the most corrupt cities of Asia Minor, and it 
had not kept itself free from corruption : it had a name to live, and was dead. An 
awful doom was pronounced as impending over this ctiurch if she did not repent: yet 
even in Sardis were found a few who had kept undefiled from the prevailing corrup- 
tion. " They shall walk with me in white " is the blessed announcement ; and then 




the promise to those who should overcome : they too should be clothed in white rai- 
ment, the token of purity, and the Saviour would confess their names before God. 

Philadelphia is about twenty-seven miles southeast from Sardis, in a situation so 
beautiful that the modern name for the half-ruined city is "the Beautiful." The 
church here was in a very hopeful state, for although it had but little strength it still 
had kept the word of Christ and had not denied his name. There were some Jews in 
Philadelphia who had stoutly resisted the Christians, but in the end they should yield 
to the Christians and learn that Christ loved those who professed his name. And the 
glorious promise was given to this faithful little church that Christ would help it in 
the day of temptation, and make them that overcame pillars in the temple of God, 
essential parts of it, and he would write upon them the name of the Triune God. 
32 



250 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



There was still one church to write to — that of Laodicea ; one of the little triplet of 
churches, witl; Hierapolis and Colosse, of which we have already read. This church, 
unlike the most of the others, was wealthy. Perhaps it was for that reason that it was 
lukewarm — neither cold nor hot, taking little interest in the things of Christ. It was 
far from realizing the wretched and dangerous condition in which it was, and so a 
strong message of reproof and counsel was sent, to arouse it to a sense of its condition. 
With the reproof came the explanatiou : " As many as I love I rebuke and chasten," 
and the behest : " be zealous therefore, and repent," And then follow those well- 
known, most impressive words, which at one time or another come home to every one 
who is instructed in Christian truth : " Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any 
man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him 
and he with me." And to him that overcame, in cold, dead Laodicea, Christ would 
grant to sit down with him in his throne, even as he had sat down with his Father in 
His throne. 



IV. 
OST diiBcult to understand is that portion of the Revelation on 
which we now begin : the part that extends from the beginning 
of the fourth to the end of the twentieth chapters. Before begin- 
ning upon it, it may be well to explain that three ways of inter- 
preting this book have been found, all very different, yet none so 
diflferent from the church's view as to subject its holder to the 
charge of heresy for adopting it. The first of these methods re- 
gards the book as written entirely for the early church, and holds 
that all its prophecies were fulfilled at that time ; the second, on 
the contrary, teaches that the Revelation was written for the ben- 
efit of the church, but its contents were a description of what 
would happen at a distance of time far removed from its writer and 
first readers, the Last Judgment. The third method of interpre- 
tation sees in the book the whole series of events that have occurred since the time 
when it was written, with all that will occur until the end of time. 

According to the third method, the prophecies are repeatedly and are being con- 
tinually fulfilled, while their highest fulfillment is yet to come, at the last judgment. 
To understand this we may look back to the Old Testament types of Christ, and to 
some of the Old Testament prophecies. The 72A Psalm, for example, refers prima- 
rily to Solomon, who in certain respects was a type of Christ; and so to the people 
who lived near Solomon's day that Psalm seemed to have been fully met by Solomon's 
glorious reign. But in Christ the prophecies of the Psalm are seen to have a much 
more complete and glorious fulfilment. So with nearly all the types and ceremonies 
of the Old Testament ritual. In the same way, perhaps, many of the prophecies of 
the Revelation have already been fulfilled, and more than once, and yet their highest 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



251 



fulfilment remains to be seen when the Lord Jesus returns to this world for the final 
judgment. In all three methods of interpretation, probably, there is a degree of truth. 

The vision or revelation begins with the fourth chapter. The messages to the 
seven churches were fin- 
ished ; and after this 
John " beheld, and lo, a 
door open in heaven." 
Through this door John 
had a vision of the di- 
vine glory. It is de- 
scribed, as such a vision 
can only be described, 
in figurative language : 
a throne with a rainbow 
round it and One sitting 
in it, describable only 
by a comparison with 
costly precious stones. 
Upon lesser thrones 
round about were seated 
twenty-four elders, rep- 
resenting the twelve 
beads of the tribes of 
Israel and the twelve 
apostles — the glorified 
representatives of the 
people of God. Before 
the throne was a great 
sea of glass, transparent 

as crystal, and four mystical living creatures" around the throne, something hke 
those described in Daniel's prophecy. They represent the Cherubim and Seraphim 
who are continually praising God. And the worship offered by angels and living 
creatures is portrayed as unceasing ascriptions of praise and adoration. 

We must bear in mind that this awe-inspiring presence-chamber of God is the 
place from which all the subsequent vision is beheld. There in the Spirit John takes 
his place: and thence he beholds the things that were and are and shall be. And 
all through the vision ascriptions of praise and acts of worship are going on ; all the 
events of this world are seen from before the throne of God. 

From this place John saw a sealed book ; written all over, but sealed ; and no one 
was found worthy to open it until the Saviour appeared, in the form of a Lamb who, liv- 
ing, still bore the marks of death. The book was doubtless the same that afterwards 
appears as the Book of Life. And when the Lamb took the book the living creatures 
and the elders sang a new song of praise to Him who was slain and who has redeemed 




THYATIRA. 



252 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

men to God from every nation and made them priests and kings to God. And the 
chorus was taken up by myriads on myriads of voices, the countless number of the 
redeemed, ascribing power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory 
and blessing to the Lamb. And as the mighty volume of praise rolled on, even the 
brute creation and the dead joined in it, for the redemption of mankind is the release 
of all nature, as Paul had already taught in his Epistle to the Romans. 

When the Lamb opened the first seal of the Book of Life the first living creature 
said " Come !*' and a white horse and rider, typical of triumph, rode forth and went on 
his conquering way — a symbol of the woes that, before the second coming of Christ, 
are to come upon the earth through the spirit of conquest that is abroad. When the 
second seal was opened a red horse with his rider came forth, armed with a sword, the 
type of slaughter. With the opening of the third seal rode forth a black horse and 
his rider with a pair of balances, indicating scarcity of food ; and with the opening of 
the fourth came forward a pale horse with his rider. Death, These are the four g^eat 
vicissitudes of human existence due to the entrance of sin into the world. 

With the opening of the fifth seal John was first made aware of the presence of 
martyr souls under the altar, who cried out — not, we may be sure, in a spirit of 
vengeance, but with a burning desire for the triumph of that cause for which they 
had suffered — asking the Lord how long before he would avenge their deaths. The 
response was most suggestive : the white robe of purity and of victory was given to 
each one of them, and they were bidden to have patience until the testimonies of all 
martyr souls that were yet to suffer had been gathered in. 

With the sixth seal was a great earthquake and such signs in heaven as Jesus 
when on earth had taught his disciples would precede his coming. The terrors of that 
description were realized to some extent at the destruction of Jerusalem, and it is no 
wonder that men thought that after that awful time the Lord must speedily appear. 
But since then there have been again and again social and physical convulsions well 
nigh as terrible. Each in its turn is a partial fulfilment of this prophecy, and to the 
generation which experiences it a preparation for the final coming of the Lord. 

After the opening of the sixth seal there was a vision of four angels who re- 
strained the four winds from blowing until the servants of God had been sealed. 
This act was performed by another angel entrusted with the seal of God, who sealed a 
typical number, 144,000, from the twelve tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each tribe. At 
the close of this ceremony an innumerable company out of every nation appeared, 
clothed in the white robes of innocence and carrying the palm of victory, loudly 
ascribing praises to God and the Lamb. These had come out of the great tribulation 
foretold by Daniel and by Jesus : the terrible times of Antiochus Epiphanes, in the 
second century before Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem, shortly to take place ; 
and doubtless they include those who since then have gone through times of persecu- 
tion and great calamity. These have a place of special privilege among the blessed : 
they serve God day and night in his temple and God spreads his tabernacle over them. 

Then the seventh seal was opened and there was silence in heaven. The signs of 
Christ's coming were all fulfilled : everything was ready for the final judgment. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



V. 

Still He did not come. Again and again in the history of the Christian dispensa- 
tion has the time appeared to be at hand, and he has not come. This is prefigured in 
the Revelation. And yet in a sense he has come. Nation after nation, one social or 




political system after another, has been judged and condemned and has passed out of 
view. The prophecies are always being fulfilled, and at last, in His own time, the 
final consummation will come. 

Now, after the silence, begins a new series of prophetic acts, again in a cycle of 



254 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

seven. Seven angels standing before God, each with his trumpet, waited only for an- 
other angel with a censer to add incense to the prayers of all the saints which were 
laid upon the golden altar before the throne, and then to scatter the fire upon the 
earth, the same prayers being the instruments of God's mercy to his saints and of his 
vengeance upon his enemies. Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and it brought 
hail and fire and blood upon the earth : the second angel sounded, and a disastrous 
eruption from a great volcano followed : the third trumpet sounded, and a symbolic 
star called Wormwood fell into the waters and poisoned them so that many died : the 
fourth trumpet sounded, and a great horror of darkness fell upon the earth : and an 
eagle flying in mid-heaven uttered a shriek of " Woe, woe to the inhabitants of the 
earth " because of the greater terrors yet to come. 

When the fifth angel sounded, the key of the pit of the abyss was given to a star 
that had fallen from heaven — that is, a fallen angel — and when he opened it a cloud 
of smoke came up and with it destructive creatures, like locusts for number but like 
scorpions for power of evil. Only to them who had the seal of God in their foreheads 
could they do no harm. But to others the torment of these fearful creatures— part 
insect, part beast, part human, marshalled by their king Abaddon the Destroyer — ^was 
so terrible that they vainly sought for death. It has generally been held that this 
** woe " prefigures the conquest of Mohammed, which was a very terrible dispensa- 
tion ; and although it cannot be taken to represent it in detail, yet if the figure be not 
pressed too far, if it be understood in the large way in which prophecy should always 
be understood, that conquest probably meets this prophecy more nearly than any 
other event of history. 

The second woe came with the sounding of the sixth trumpet. A voice from the 
horns of the golden altar called for the loosing of the four angels who were bound in 
the great river Euphrates. It is impossible to tell whether the river is here to be un- 
derstood literally or typically ; the angels were prepared for ** the hour and day and 
month and year " that God had decreed for the destruction to be accomplished by 
them. They had an immense army of horsemen — not human in their appearance 
but perhaps meant to typify the terror caused by the Parthian armies of John's day, 
which were the most formidable barbarian force known. Dreadful destruction was 
wrought by this army, but those who survived were not any the more willing to re- 
nounce their idolatries. This plague it appears was not sent upon unfaithful Chris- 
tians but on pagans ; and perhaps the pagan spirit which is now being cultivated by a 
certain class of highly cultured men may find this prophecy again fulfilled. 

Between the sixth and seventh seal we had a pause for the sealing of the Israel- 
ites and the description of the palm-bearing multitude : so between the sixth and 
seventh trumpets there is a pause for the vision of an angel with the little book and 
the prophecy and vision of the two witnesses. A mighty angel descended from 
heaven with a little book in his hand and uttered a great cry, to which the thunders 
replied, and then announced with a most solemn oath that no more time should be lost, 
but that the revelation of God should be finished as soon as the seventh angel should 
sound. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



255 



At that the vision changes. A voice from heaven bids John go to the angel, who 
is standing not in heaven but on earth, upon the sea and land, and take from his hand 
the little book. And when John did so the angel bade him eat it (as Ezekiel had 
been bidden eat the roll) and while in his mouth it would be sweet as honey — as the 
words of God are to those who delight to commune with him — its after-taste should be 
bitter, for the revelation of God's judgment must cause his people sorrow because there 
are those who must endure God's wrath. But when John had eaten the book and 
found it as the angel bad said, he was told that his earthly work would not be ended 




when this vision was over : he must prophesy (as he had already done) " before many 
peoples and nations and tongues and kings ;" and this he doubtless did do during the 
thirty years of life that remained to him after his exile was over. 

John being now on earth i."; next sent to measure the temple and the altar in Je- 
rusalem — this part of his vision recalling the prophecies of Ezekiel and Zechariah. 
Only the temple itself, not its courts, is to be measured, for the courts are to be given 
over to profanation by the Gentiles. The description is very like what our Lord says, 
in Luke's Gospel of the destruction of Jerusalem ; but here some numbers are men- 
tioned which recall Daniel and Ezekiel. It has generally been taken for granted that 
the forty and two months during which Jerusalem should be desecrated, and the 1260 



256 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

days mentioned immediately after, with the " time, times and half a time " (3 J years) 
of a later passage, are to be taken typically, a day for a year, and many ingenious cal- 
culations have been made on this basis as to the date of the end of the world. They 
have all failed and such calculations probably always will fail. Prophecy is not given 
us in order that we may learn the day or the hour that were hidden even from Jesus 
when on earth, but for the teaching of spiritual truth. 

The voice which had announced to John the profanation of the holy city now 
says that two witnesses shall be sent thither to prophecy 1260 days, clothed in sack- 
cloth : that for a time they shall be miraculously protected, but that when they have 
finished their testimony the beast (not before mentioned) shall arise from the abyss 
and kill them ; that their dead bodies shall lie in the streets of the city, to the great 
rejoicing of those to whom they had testified, and that after three days and a half they 
shall rise from the dead and be raised up into heaven. And then, after a great earth- 
quake which shall destroy a portion of the population, the inhabitants shall repent 
and give glory to God — as is generally understood, by confessing their sins. 

Who are meant by the witnesses is a much discussed question. It used to be 
taken for granted that they were Enoch and Elijah, but it seems more probable that 
they are Moses and Elijah. The city " spiritually called Sodom and Egypt " is Jeru- 
salem. How this prophecy is to be fulfilled it is difficult to say, but some Bible 
students understand it literally, as what must occur before the Jewish people as a 
people repent and accept the Saviour. This was the end of the second woe and the 
third was to come quickly. Still it did not come as yet. The seventh trumpet 
sounded, and great voices in heaven uttered praise because the kingdom of the world 
is become our Lord s and his Christ's, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 
four and twenty elders worshipped and ascribed praise to God. 



VI. 

ERE, as in every case in this Revelation, to mark the end of a series 
of seven signs, there are " lightnings and voices and thunderings 
and an earthquake and great hail." But in this place, in preparation 
for a "great sign " which is to appear in heaven, the heavenly tem- 
pie is opened and John sees the ark of the covenant therein. The 
apostle has returned from earth and is now in heaven again before 
the throne of God, 

The great sign now appears, a woman clothed with the sun, the 
moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She 
is about to give birth to a child, and a great red dragon or more 
properly, serpent, with seven crowned heads and an immense tail 
which swept the stars out of their places as it moved, is waiting to destroy the child 
that should be bom. The symbolism of this passage is in part very clear: the child 
to be bom is Jesus, and the dragon is the embodiment of unsanctified power, which. 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 



257 



as for instance in Herod and later in the Sanbedrin, determined on his destruction. 
The woman has been generally understood to be the Christian Church, except by the 
Church of Rome, which interprets this passage as of the Virgin Mary. But in a sym- 
bolic passage it is not likely that a literal person like the mother of Jesus would be 
introduced, and neither does the Christian Church, the bride of Christ, seem properly 
to be typified by his mother. We may rather see in this woman the Jewish Church, 
of which Christ was the true son. 

When the child was bom it was caught up into heaven, out of the dragon's 
power ; as Jesus was preserved from the powers of evil which threatened him at his 
birth. The woman fled into the wilderness, to be cared for by the messengers of 
God for 1260 days. For more than fifteen hundred years the Jewish Church has 
been kept alive in the wilderness — scattered among the nations. The time of her 
humiliation is not yet over, but it will come in the hour that God has appointed ; and 
then, as Paul devoutly believed, "all Israel shall be saved." 





PHILADELPHIA. 



The vision of war in heaven, between Michael and his angels and the dragon, 

which follows this " great sign," cannot refer to the angels who left their first estate 

before the creation of man, for this is after the Incarnation. It rather refers to that 

event, whatever it may have been, which took place when our Lord while on earth 

33 



258 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

beheld Satan fall from heaven. There was a loud voice of rejoicing in heaven, be- 
cause the accuser of the brethren (Satan) was cast out of heaven, for he accused them 
night and day. This name. Accuser, reminds us of Job, and of the sneers upon his 
piety uttered by Satan in the very presence of God. 

The dragon, cast down from heaven, persecuted the woman — a reference proba- 
bly to the persecution of the Jews after the wars of Titus (68-70) and Hadrian (A. D. 
131). But the persecutions of Jews by Christians in later centuries, and even to the 
present day, are as truly the dragon's doings as the cruelties of the pagan emperors 
of Rome. The methods employed by the dragon to overcome the woman, the floods 
of water which he poured out of his mouth, were all rendered harmless by the power 
of God, and the marvellous preservation of the Jews through centuries of unparalleled 
affliction seems to be typified here. It is probable, however, that the persecutions 
of Christians by the Roman Emperors is also shown in this figure. We know that 
Titus who destroyed Jerusalem was as anxious to blot out the religion of the Chris- 
tians as that of the Jews. 

The next vision is of a beast coming out of the sea with seven heads and ten 
horns. This vision has many points of similarity with one of Daniel's ; and as Dan- 
iel's vision related to the world-powers of the time shortly following, the same seems 
to be the case here. This leopard-like beast, with the feet of a bear and the mouth of 
a lion, empowered with great authority by the dragon, is the spirit of Antichrist. It 
may take many forms, and it has done so. It is impossible to say that the Roman 
Empire or the Roman Church, through all the history of each, has been the sole em- 
bodiment of this spirit. Antichrist is found wherever an antichristian spirit is. It 
receives power from the devil just as the Christian Church or the Christian world 
receives power from God. The dragon gave this beast power over every tribe and 
people and tongue and nation — precisely what the tempter offered to Christ — and he 
drew to his own worship all those whose names had not been written in the Lamb's 
book of life. 

Another beast now comes up from the earth who exercises all the power of the 
first beast. He is afterward called the False Prophet. He is described as a lamb 
speaking like a dragon ; that is, he looks like Christ and is like Satan. His relation 
to the beast is much the same as that of a true prophet to God. He does great won- 
ders, largely like those done by true prophets such as Elijah. He puts his mark 
upon every one who will serve him, and no one may carry on traffic but those who 
have his mark. In the persecution under Diocletian (A. D. 303-311) no one but 
pagans or those who would consent to use pagan formulas was allowed to do busi- 
ness. The " number " of this beast is said to be 666, and men of understanding are 
challenged to count it ; that is, to see what name can be spelled with, the characters for 
666 (probably Greek letters). The true name, moreover, must not only in this 
respect, but in others also, answer the description given of the beast. No satisfactory 
result has yet been found, though the ingenious conjectures have been almost num- 
berless. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 




VIII. 

g NE of the most beautiful of all the visions follows — of the Lamb on 
Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand who 
have his name and his Father's written on their foreheads. These are 
sometimes identified with the 144,000 of the house of Israel who were 
Gp^i\S14^ffi/i ^^^^^' ^'^'i sometimes — more generally, perhaps — are understood to 
~J^^l^g/J be a class of sanctified persons among the elect. But the use of this 
^ ■ passage by the Episcopal Church in the service for Holy Innocents' 

Day seems to lend support to a suggestion offered by a mother, not a 
scholar but a deep student of the word of God, namely, that these 
symbolize those who die in infancy. It is peculiarly fitting that such 
should be especially attached to the Lamb, the glorified Saviour. It 
seems not strange that only they who have never known actual sin 
should be able to understand the mystic song of the heavenly harpers 
before the throne. And the description suits these little redeemed ones better than 
any other class, however victorious over the temptations of the world. Undefiled, 
virgin bodies have they who have been taken from the evil that is in the world before 
opportunity to grossly transgress has come to them. They follow the Lamb whither- 
soever he goeth : they were redeemed from among men, being the early fruit unto 
God and the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile— no spoken sin — so they 
are in a sense without fault before the throne of God. 

The vision of the angel with the everlasting gospel follows, and then that of an- 
other angel who announces the fall of Babylon the great, by reason of her many sins. 
Here, as in our Lord's picture of the Last Judgment, in Matthew, the preaching of 
the gospel comes before-judgment. The destruction of Babylon was not the punish- 
ment of ignorant but of determined sin. These angels are followed by a third who 
announces the dreadful doom of those who worship the beast and receive his mark 
in their foreheads. The patience of the saints is said to be fortified by the knowl- 
edge of this doom, as might well be the case in a time of persecution ; and at such a 
time they who die in the Lord are indeed blessed, removed from the dire temptation 
to deny him and from the horrors of persecution, for in death they may rest from 
their labors, for their works follow with them, kept safe by God against the glorious 
day of Christ's appearing. 

A vision of the Last Judgment follows ; not necessarily because in the order of 
history it comes immediately after the fall of Babylon or the persecutions, but because 
it will encourage the patience of the saints if they contemplate it at such a time. One 
like the Son of man— the Lord Jesus indeed in person — appears upon a white cloud 
with a sharp sickle with which he reaps the earth. It is only his own followers whom 
he gathers in ; he is followed by an angel with a sharp sickle who gathers the clusters 
of the earth-vine, that is, the wicked, and treads out their blood in the great wine- 
press of the wrath of God. 



FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 



IX. 

Another series of seven now begins: the seven vials containing^ the seven 
plagues — " the last, for in them is filled up the wrath of God." But first those who 
have come off conquerors over the beast stand on the sea of glass before the throne, 
mingled now with fire from the great glory, and with harps of God in their hands 
sing the song of Moses, the song of redemption from Egypt and the terrors of the 
Red Sea, a song which is also the song of the I^mb, by whom men are redeemed. 

The heavenly temple is opened again, and seven angels clothed in glory come 
out and receive from one of the living creatures under the throne the seven golden 
vials full of the wrath of God. Until these shall have been poured out no one may 
enter into the temple, which is filled with smoke, typifying the glory and power of God. 

The first vial was poured out upon the earth, and a grievous and noisome sore 
fell upon the worshippers of the beast. The second angel poured his vial upon the 
sea and it was turned to blood and every living thing died. The third vial was 
poured upon the rivers and fountains and they became blood ; the fourth was poured 
out upon the sun and its heat became unendurable, so that men blasphemed God, bat 




THE EUPHRATES. 

yet did not repent. The fifth vial was poured out upon the throne of the beast, and 
darkness fell upon his kingdom, with intolerable sufferings for his servants. The 
sixth was poured out upon the great river Euphrates, and it was dried up, that the 
way of the kings from the East might be prepared. This last clause makes it seem 
probable that the Euphrates is here taken literally, not typically, for it was the weak- 
est frontier of the Roman Empire at this time. 



THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 261 

Between the sixth and seventh vials, as between the sixth and seventh trumpets 
and the sixth and seventh seals, occurs a vision that does not belong to the series. 
Three unclean spirits, spirits of demons, issue like frogs from the mouths of the 
dragon (Satan), the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet. These demon spirits 
could work signs and were now going forth to prepare the kings of the world for the 
battle of the great day of the Almighty, and to gather them together on the plain, 
Armageddon. Some words of Christ were apparently heard by John and written down 
in this place : " Behold, I come as a thief ; blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his 
garments, lest (the thief having stolen them) he walk naked and they see his shame." 

Now the seventh vial is poured out, and the preliminaries of judgment begin — 
thunders, lightnings, a great voice, an earthquake. And Jerusalem was divided into 
three parts ; for though she is to accept Christ at last, it will not be till the decisive 
war with Antichrist is at least begun. And the cities of the nations fall, and great Baby- 
lon begins to receive her doom, and convulsions of nature occur ; hailstones of extraor- 
dinary weight falling, and men blaspheming God because of the greatness of the plague. 

Now comes the judgment of the wicked city which has filled up the measure of 
her wickedness. John is taken by one of the angels who had the seven vials and led 
into the wilderness, where he sees a gorgeously attired woman sitting on a scarlet- 
colpred beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The 
woman's dreadful name was written on her forehead : " Mystery, Babylon the great, 
the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." She was drunk with the blood 
of saints and martyrs. The angel explains the mystical meaning of this horrid sight 
in words of such significance that few students doubt as to their meaning. The 
beast, that " was and is not," that " shall ascend out of the abyss and go into perdi- 
tion," is Nero, the bloody, sensual tyrant who killed himself in June, 68 A. D. The 
seven heads of the beast are the seven hills of Rome, but they have a double signifi- 
cance, meaning also seven kings. These are generally supposed to mean seven Ro- 
man emperors, but if the spirit of Antichrist is typified by the beast, they may mean 
kingdoms or empires. The ten horns, which are ten kings who have received no 
kingdom as yet, may denote the kingdoms of modem Europe, all of which have a 
certain relation to the Roman Empire. They cannot all be identified, and as they 
are to have power only " one hour," a very short time, we may suppose that the condi- 
tion here portrayed is not yet realized. The ten horns are all on one head ; this head 
has already received a deadly wound before the empire (which this head represents) 
is nearly overthrown by the conversion of other sovereigns to Christianity. 

All these powers make war with the Lamb but are eventually to be overcome, be- 
cause those that are with him (Christians) are called and chosen and faithful. The 
ten horns will hate the scarlet woman whom they once delighted in, and will treat her 
with most vile and outrageous contempt — a prophecy which has been fulfilled over 
and over in the plunder and burning of Rome, by her emperors, by the barbarians, 
by the French and the Germans in modem times. 

And now another strong angel descends from heaven and cries mightily that 
Babylon the great is fallen and become the habitation of all unclean things. T 



262 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

description of her former glories and of her awful punishment, and of the lamentations 
uttered over her destruction by the kings of the earth, is in poetry and is very sub- 
lime. It is concluded by the rejoicing in heaven that now at last God has avenged 
the holy apostles and prophets (who in the early part of the Revelation cried, " How 
long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood ?") and that the wicked city may never 
more work wickedness. The poem ended, further thanksgivings are uttered by a 
great voice of much people in heaven, and the four-and-twenty elders and the four 
living creatures fall down and worship God amidst mighty thunderings and the voice 
of the multitude saying, " Alleluia : for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !" 



X. 

I OW, judgment having been wrought upon the wicked, the time of 
gladness and rejoicing has fully come, and it is the time for the mar- 
riage of the Lamb. His wife, the church, has made herself ready. 
Fine linen garments, clean and white, which are the righteousness 
of saints, have been put upon her, and the blessed ones are called to 
the marriage. 

The glory of this vision was so unspeakably great that John fell 
at the feet of the angel who spoke, to worship him, adoring God in the 
person of the angel, his representative. But the angel checked him : 
he was John's fellow-servant, only God was to be worshipped ; they 
who have the testimony of Jesus need no other representative of God. 

The vision changed, and a rider. Faithful and True, came forth from heaven 
seated on a white horse, to judge and make war in righteousness. On his head were 
many crowns, and he had a name written upon him that no man knew, and a vesture 
dipped in blood — not of his enemies, for he is One who conquers by shedding his own 
blood. His name was called " The Word of God." He was followed by all the armies 
of heaven, clothed in fine linen, riding on white horses. And as he went to smite 
the nations and rule them with a rod of iron, and tread the wine-press of God's wrath, 
a name was seen written on his vesture, King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Now an angel appears standing in the sun and calling to all the birds of heaven 
to gather at the battle-field, where they may gorge themselves with the flesh of kings 
and mighty men. And the beast, Antichrist, has gathered all the kings of the earth 
and their armies to make war against the heavenly Captain and his host in the great 
battle of Armageddon. But the issue of that conflict is not doubtful. The beast and 
the false prophet are taken and cast alive into a lake of fire and brimstone, their 
armies are slain, and the fowls fill themselves with their flesh. 

At this an angel comes down from heaven carrying a great chain and the key of 
the abyss, and he lays hold of the dragon, the old serpent, Satan, and binds him and 
casts him into the abyss and seals the door for a thousand years, that he may deceive 
the nations no more during all that time. 




THE FIRST CHRISTIAN CENTURY. 263 

The day of the first resurrection has come. Thrones are set, upon which the 
saints of the Most High are placed. Martyrs and saints rise and live and reign with 
Christ a thousand years — a period which should be taken symbolically, if the 1,260 
days are so taken ; and when this long period of bliss is expired Satan must be loosed 
for a season. It is not easy to understand where are the nations whom he is to 
deceive. This is one of the places where all rules of interpretation fail. But the 
glorious truth is clearly taught that when Satan and his followers, Gog and Magog 
and their tribes, attempt to make war upon the " beloved city," the Christian Church, 
the direct interposition of God breaks down their schemes. The armies are devoured 
by fire from heaven, and the devil that deceived them is cast into the burning lake, 
where the beast and the false prophet are to remain forever and ever. 

The day of the general resurrection has now dawned, the g^eat white throne is 
set, and from the majesty of Him who sits upon it earth and heaven flee away. The 
dead, small and great, stand before God : the sea has given up its dead, and Hades 
and the grave give up their inhabitants. The book of life is opened, and all are judged 
according to their works. Now death and Hades are destroyed. And whosoever was 
not found written in the book of life is cast into the lake of fire — the second death. 

And now, the whole wide realm of God being purified of sin and death, the new 
heavens and the new earth are prepared. There is no more sea, for the sea is a figure 
of that which separates men, and in this beatific life no enforced separation can be. 
The holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, adorned as a 
bride for her husband. And a great voice out of the throne speaks to every heart : 
" Behold, the Divine Presence is with men, and he will tabernacle with them, and 
they shall be his peoples (all nations of them), and God himself shall be with them, 
and shall wipe all tears from their eyes. And death shall be no more ; neither shall 
there be sorrow, nor crying, nor pain any more ; the first things are passed away." 

This voice of benediction was the voice of an angel, but now from the Throne 
comes the voice of God himself : " Behold, I make all things new ... I am Alpha 
and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him jthat is athirst of the 
fountain of the water of life freely (without price). He that overcometh shall inherit 
these things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son." 

Even in the midst of perfect light and love and joy there comes — for our warning 
surely — an allusion to those cowardly and unfaithful and abominable souls who could 
have no part in these things, whose part was the second death. 

Another vision is now vouchsafed to John. One of the seven angels which had 
the vials full of the seven last plagues came and talked with him and offered to show 
him the Bride, the Lamb's wife. He carried him away in the spirit to a high moun- 
tain and showed him the holy city Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven. 
It has the glory of God, a light like a stone most precious, clear as crystal, and it 
has a great and high wall and twelve gates, guarded by angels and bearing the names 
of the twelve tribes of Israel, representative now of all redeemed ones, the chosen 
people of God. It has twelve foundations, with the names of the apostles inscribed 
upon them. It lies foursquare. The angel measures it with a golden reed and it i** 



264 FROM OLIVET TO PATMOS: 

twelve thousand furlongs (that is, about 344 square miles). All the measurements, 
height as well as length, are equal, for this description is figurative, meaning that the 
city is perfect in all its proportions. The superstructure of the wall is of jasper and 
the houses pure transparent gold. The foundations are of precious stones, diamonds, 
sapphires, and other jewels ; each gate is a single pearl. But the crowning glory of the 
city is that there is no temple there, for God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple 
of it. Nor is there any need of sun and moon, for the glory of God lightens it and the 
Lamb is the light of it. And the nations walk in the light of it, and the kings of the 
earth bring their glory unto it. And the gates are never shut, for there is no night 
there, and no one can be admitted but those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. 

Out from the throne of God and of the Lamb flows a river of water of life, bright 
as crystal. It flows along the broad street between fair rows of the tree of life, the 
mystic tree that bears twelve manner of fruits and whose leaves are for the healing 
of the nations, undoing all the sad eflFects of the fatal tree in the earthly Paradise. All 
that could work evil has passed away : the throne of God and of the Lamb is there, 
and his servants shall serve him, and shall see his face, and wear his name in their 
foreheads. Blessed are they who can endure that beatific vision, the Face of God ! 

It is time that the beloved disciple, blessed now beyond all other men, return to 
his sense of exile and the duties of his earthly life. The angel again assures him that 
the vision is faithful and true, and that God has let him see it that he may know what 
is shortly to come to pass. Then, speaking in the name of Christ, he adds : " Behold, I 
come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book !'* 

Again overwhelmed by the majesty of the vision John falls down to worship, 
and is prevented by the angel's assurance that he is his fellow-servant. He bids him 
not seal the book, for it was meant not for a few but for the whole church. The 
time is at hand : it is hardly possible for men to change their characters, for Christ is 
coming quickly to reward every man according to his work. He repeats the words 
uttered in the beginning of the visions by the Father, " I am Alpha and Omega,** 
pronounces a blessing on those who are striving so to live that the power to approach 
the tree of life may be theirs, and tells what manner of people must be shut out from 
the city by the very nature of their hearts and lives. Then there is one more descrip- 
tion of Christ — " the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.** 

He has said he will come quickly, so John, speaking in the person of the Church 
on earth, the Bride, and in the name of the faithful who are inspired by the Spirit, 
says to him, " Come !'* and let him that hears this prayer join his own to it and say, 
" Come.** And let him that is athirst come to Him who is coming to his Church. 
" Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life without money and without price.*' 

The solemn character of these visions makes it most important that their record 
shall never be tampered with, and John adds a warning against this. Then Christ, 
who has testified to these things, answers the repeated entreaty " Come !** with ** Yea, 
I come quickly.** Amen ; come, Lord Jesus. It is the prayer of John's heart ; the 
prayer of all who are learning to know and love Him, of all upon whom rests the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



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