teachers, advised the Council to submit the whole case of the prisoners to the judgment of God. "If this counsel or this work be of men," he said, "it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." The apostles were dismissed, after having been beaten and commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus. But they departed from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

§ 165. Continuation.-(Stephen.)

Acts 6:8, &c.-As the Church had at the beginning observed the ceremonial law with great care and precision, the people regarded the believers with much favor. But in proportion as the disciples, whose number was greatly multiplied, became convinced that Christianity was designed to be a universal religion, and assumed an attitude opposed to the outward and lifeless ceremonial service of Judaism, the hatred of the people was developed. This tendency to cultivate religion with greater freedom and spirituality, appeared with unusual distinctness in Stephen, the most eminent of the seven deacons; he was full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and richly endowed both with knowledge and with the power to do signs and miracles. A discussion in which he

was engaged with the rulers of the Hellenistic synagogue, furnished his opponents with the first opportunity for accusing him before the Council of having spoken blasphemous words against the temple and the law. When he stood forth to defend himself, his face seemed to be the face of an angel, radiant with the brightness of the Spirit that dwelt in him. He delivered an address, in which he reviewed the history of the old covenant, declared most positively and energetically that he firmly believed in the divine revelations of the Old Testament, and, at the same time, contrasted the faithfulness and wonderful character of the grace of God with Israel's perverse and hardened mind, both of which were revealed through the whole course of that history. But he was interrupted in his discourse by the excitement which

his words had already produced in the Sanhedrin, and he closed with a direct reference to the evidences which they gave of their own hardness of heart. They gnashed on him with their teeth, but he looked up into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God; and he said: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." Then they cried out, stopped their ears, cast him out of the city, and stoned him. Stephen, the first of the long list of Christian martyrs, prayed: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" He kneeled down, and expired, after saying: "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!" (A. D. 39.)

OBS. As the Sanhedrin or Council did not possess authority to inflict capital punishments, the stoning of Stephen was not a legal execution, but a tumultuous violation of the law. - Stephen died, but Paul, who had consented to his death, was called to supply his place, and conducted the work which he had commenced, to a most glorious issue.

§ 166. Conversion of the Samaritans.

Simon the Sorcerer.

The Ethiopian Eunuch.

1. Acts 8: 1, &c. -The slaughter of Stephen was the signal for a general persecution of the Church. Paul (§ 167) was one of the most active of its enemies; he entered every house in search of the Christians, and dragged men and women to prison. The members of the Church in Jerusalem were thus scattered for a season, but the apostles did not depart from the place. Now this dispersion of the believers became the source of a blessing of incalculable value these scattered members of the church carried the Gospel, which had hitherto been confined within a narrow circle, to all the cities of Judea and Samaria. Philip, one of the seven deacons, preached Christ in the city of Samaria, and gathered in abundance the fruit which the Lord's labors had already prepared. (§ 143. 2.)—A certain man, named Simon, who was celebrated in that region as a sorcerer, and even regarded as an emanation of God, on seeing the signs and wonders which were done by Philip, was convinced of the divine character of the new doctrine, and was baptized. When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of

God, they sent Peter and John thither. They arrived, prayed for those who had been baptized, and, laying their hands on them, communicated to them the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost. When Simon saw the effect of the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money on condition that they would enable him also to communicate the Holy Ghost to any on whom he might choose to lay his hands. But Peter, filled with holy indignation, replied: "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money!" and charged him to repent of the wickedness of his heart. Simon was subdued by this severe rebuke, and expressed himself in the language of penitence; the deep impression, however, which he received, appears to have been soon effaced, as it is stated elsewhere [by the early Christian writers] that he subsequently resumed the practice of his magic arts.

2. Acts 8:26, &c.-Philip was then directed by the angel of the Lord to repair to the road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. He there met a man that sought the Lord, an officer of Queen Candace of Meroe (in Ethiopia), returning from Jerusalem, whither he had gone to worship. As it is not stated whether he was a Jew or simply a proselyte of the gate, it seems more probable that he was a Jew by birth. Philip approached his chariot by the command of the Spirit, and when he heard him read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah (§ 101. 2), he said to him: "Understandest thou what thou readest?" The eunuch answered: "How can I, except some man should guide me?" and added, in reference to the prophetic passage which he had read: “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?" Then Philip explained the passage and preached to him Jesus. In the mean time, they came to a certain water, and the eunuch said: "See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Philip answered: "If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest." The eunuch gladly confessed his faith: "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God," and Philip baptized him. He went on his way rejoicing, but Philip was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was found at Azotus: and passing through, he preached in all the cities, until he came to Cesarea, where he afterwards resided permanently (Acts 21 : 8.)

§ 167. The Conversion of Paul.

1. Paul, whose Jewish name was Saul, was born in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. His parents, who were Jews of the tribe of Benjamin (2 Cor. 11: 22; Phil. 3 : 5), but also enjoyed the privileges of Roman citizens (Acts 16: 37; 22: 25, &c.), sent him at an early age to the school of the celebrated Gamaliel (Acts 22: 3, § 164. 2), in Jerusalem, for the purpose of being educated as a scribe. He was also taught a mechanical trade, according to the custom of the times, namely, that of a tentmaker or weaver. (Acts 18: 3.) He adopted the spirit of Pharisaism with great decision and unquestionable sincerity, and defended with equal zeal both the truths which it inculcated and the excrescences and errors with which it was encumbered. He was thus naturally led to assume a hostile attitude with respect to Christianity. Thoroughly imbued with Pharisaic principles, he hated the new doctrine and its adherents with all the strength of his ardent disposition. He beheld the stoning of Stephen with exultation, and afterwards regarded no duty as more sacred than that of searching for the hated Christians and committing them to prison. His zeal extended beyond the limits of Jerusalem, and, furnished with authority by the high-priest, he proceeded to Damascus, for the purpose of directing his inquisitorial energy there also against the hated sect (A. D. 40).

2. Acts 9: 1, &c. (ch. 22:3, &c.; 26: 9, &c.) — But an arm that was stronger than his own, now arrested him. The cheerfulness with which Stephen died, and the exalted feeling with which he prayed for his enemies, could certainly not have failed to produce an impression on a man like Paul, and fix a sting or goad in his soul which, in the Lord's hands, performed its hidden work. He may have thus been inwardly prepared for the wonderful event which awaited him, even while he gave full sway to his Pharisaic fanaticism. As he journeyed and came near Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly shone round about him, and he saw the Lord in the brightness of the glory of his heavenly majesty (9: 27; 26.: 16; 1 Cor. 9: 1; 15: 8). Trembling and astonished, he fell to the earth, and heard a voice

saying to him: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?. . . . I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks (goads)."-"Lord," said he in great fear, "What wilt thou have me to do?" The Lord informed him that he should ascertain all in Damascus. When he arose from the earth, he was blinded by the effulgence of the heavenly glory which his eyes had beheld (22: 11), and was led by the hand of the men who journeyed with him; these had observed the light but seen no man, and heard a voice but not understood the words. His inward natural strength had departed, like the strength of his body, and his own light was extinguished. Thus he remained three days in Damascus, blind and helpless, and waited, with fasting and praying, for the things that should follow. A certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias, had, in the mean time, been commissioned by the Lord to seek Paul, and when he exhibited hesitation, the Lord added: "Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.' Then Ananias went to Paul who had been prepared for this meeting by a vision, put his hands on him, and addressed him. Immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized (A. D. 40).

3. Acts 9: 20, &c. - Paul straightway preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God; but all that heard him were amazed, for they knew the purpose for which he had come to Damascus. But he increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. During his abode in that city, where he remained three years, he took a journey to Arabia (Gal. 1 : 17), undoubtedly for the purpose of laboring in behalf of the Gospel. The Jews of Damascus, who regarded him with deadly hatred, at last took counsel to kill him. They watched the gates day and night in order to prevent his escape, but the disciples conducted him by night to the wall, and let him down in a basket; he reached Jerusalem in safety, three years after his conversion (Gal. 1 : 18, A. D., 43). The disciples in that city were unwilling to trust him, until Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles.