WHATEVER was the precise object of this journey to Arabia, and whatever was its duration, certain it is that the Apostle returned thence to Damascus (Gal. i. 17), and preached boldly in the name of Jesus (Acts ix. 27). On this occasion, however, the Jews, unable to confute his arguments, resolved to assassinate him, but their design reached his ears, and every precaution was taken by the Christians that night to secure him from danger.
This, however, was a matter of no little difficulty. In consequence either of hostilities between the Romans and Herod Antipas on the one side and Aretas king of Petra on the other789, or of the assignment of Damascus by Caligula, the successor of Tiberius, to Aretas, the city was held by the Ethnarch790 of this monarch (2 Cor. xi. 32), and the Jews having won him and his soldiers over to their side, a strict watch was kept day and night to prevent the Apostle’s escape, and deliver him over to execution (Acts ix. 24). In this emergency, therefore, the disciples taking advantage of an unguarded part of the wall and the darkness of the night, let him down in a basket from a window, which opened on the outer country791 (Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33). Thus delivered from circumstances of great peril, the Apostle turned his steps towards Jerusalem, being desirous, as he informs us, to become acquainted with Peter792, and in the Holy City he arrived three years793 after his conversion (Gal. i. 18).
But his escape had been too hurried to allow him to bring with him letters of commendation; when, therefore, he attempted to join himself to the disciples (Acts ix. 26), they were all afraid of him, and could not believe that he was united with them in the bonds of a common discipleship. But now it was that Barnabas, who, as we have seen794, may have become acquainted with him at Tarsus, took him by the hand and brought him to the Apostles, and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road to Damascus, and how in that city he had already spoken boldly in His Name (Acts ix. 27). Thereupon Peter, and James the Lord’s brother795 (Gal. i. 18, 19), in the absence of the other Apostles, probably on some mission to the churches of Judæa, Galilee, and Samaria (Acts ix. 31), gave him the right hand of fellowship, and for a period of 15 days796 (Gal. i. 18) he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem (Acts ix. 28).
As might be expected, the chief sphere of his activity was in the synagogues of the Hellenists, where he had before distinguished himself as a zealous opponent of Stephen. Now, however, he disputed with the same energy and force in support of the very doctrines which he had then persecuted (Acts ix. 29), and brought down upon himself the same furious opposition which had caused the death of the first Martyr. A plot was formed to secure his assassination, and the disciples perceived that he must retire from the work he had commenced in Jerusalem. The Apostle, himself, was unwilling to quit a place, where his former zeal against the faith was so well-known, and his sincerity, as he hoped, would be appreciated (Acts xxii. 19, 20). But as he was one day praying in the temple, he fell into a trance (Acts xxii. 17), and saw his Lord, who said to him, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me; and when he hesitated to obey the command and pleaded his former zeal in persecuting the faith as a reason why he should stay, the injunction to leave the city was repeated, Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles (Acts xxii. 21).
Thus assured that Jerusalem was not to be the field of his labours, he allowed the brethren to convey him to Cæsarea-on-the-sea797, whence he took ship and sailed to Tarsus, his native city, and there probably devoted himself to preaching in its synagogue, and to missionary activity798 in the regions of Syria and Cilicia799 (Gal. i. 21). His brief visit to Jerusalem had not been without some result. He had seen and was recognised by Peter and James, and though he remained for the present personally unknown to the churches of Judæa800, yet the intelligence which reached them from time to time801 that their persecutor of former days was now preaching the Faith, filled them with thankfulness, and they glorified God in him (Gal. i. 22–24).
While the Apostle was thus employed amidst the familiar scenes of his childhood, the churches throughout Judæa and Galilee and Samaria, lately disturbed by his unceasing animosity, had peace, increased in numbers, and walked in the fear of the Lord (Acts ix. 31). The rest, however, which they thus enjoyed, may perhaps be ascribed to another cause besides the conversion of their late persecutor802. In A.D. 36 Pontius Pilate, as we have already seen803, was sent to Rome by Vitellius. Thereupon Marcellus was sent out as procurator of Judæa in his place, but on his arrival at Cæsarea was directed to make way for Marullus804. In the following year, A.D. 37, Vitellius was recalled from Syria, and was succeeded in that prefecture by Petronius, while Theophilus805 succeeded his brother Jonathan in the office of high-priest. But a still more important event in the same year was the death of Tiberius806, and the accession of Caligula. Releasing Herod Agrippa807, the grandson of Herod the Great, from his prison at Rome, where Tiberius had confined him, he appointed him king of Trachonitis, which had belonged to Herod Philip’s tetrarchy, and bestowed upon him also the tetrarchy of Lysanias808. But the new emperor was scarcely seated on the throne, before in his insane vanity he ordered divine honours to be paid to himself throughout the empire809, and directed that a golden colossal statue of himself should be placed in the Holy of Holies at Jerusalem. The execution of this mandate was entrusted to Petronius, and having ordered Sidonian workmen to make the statue, he moved up with his troops to Ptolemais, prepared to set it up by force. But no sooner did intelligence of what was intended reach the Jews than one universal feeling of horror pervaded the nation, and thousands assembled from all quarters without distinction of rank or age or sex, imploring the prefect to desist from carrying out his instructions. Shrinking from the horrible task of commencing a war of massacre and extermination which he saw was inevitable, if the statue was set up, Petronius hesitated, wrote to expostulate with his master, and put off the execution of the order. At the same time Herod Agrippa, then at Rome, implored his patron to pause, and a deputation from Alexandria, headed by the learned and venerable Philo, set forth the stern requirements of the Jewish Law. But Caligula was inexorable, and it is impossible to say what would have been the result810, had he not been assassinated811 on the 24th of January, A.D. 41. Thus the Jews were delivered from this terrible indignity.
The rest, then, which the Christians now enjoyed, may not improbably be ascribed to the distractions of Caligula’s reign, and to the fact that the Jewish authorities were wholly occupied with frustrating his mad designs. Taking advantage, therefore, of this period of repose the Apostle Peter made a visitation of the different churches founded in Palestine, and amongst other places went down to Lydda, anciently called Lod812 (1 Ch. viii. 12; Neh. vii. 37), and afterwards Diospolis, situated about 9 miles from the sea-port of Joppa. Here finding a man afflicted with paralysis, who had kept his bed for upwards of 8 years, he addressed him in his Master’s name, Æneas, Jesus Christ healeth thee, whereupon he rose immediately, restored to perfect soundness. The cure of such a man was quickly noised abroad throughout his own town and the neighbouring plain of Sharon, and contributed in no small degree to the spread of the Church in those regions.
While still at Lydda the Apostle received intelligence that the Christian society at Joppa had sustained a grievous loss by the death of a widow of substance, named Tabitha813 or Dorcas, who had been wont not only to minister with her own hands to the wants of the poor, but in providing clothing for them. The death of such a person caused great regret at Joppa, and the Apostle was no sooner informed of it by messengers, who intreated his presence, than he set out, and on his arrival was conducted to the upper chamber, where the body lay prepared for the burial (Acts ix. 37–39), surrounded by many widows, who stood by weeping, and shewed him the many proofs of the kindness of their benefactress.
Like his Master before him in the chamber of the daughter of Jairus814, the Apostle thereupon put these mourners forth, and kneeling down815 engaged in prayer. Then turning to the body he pronounced the words Tabitha, arise (Acts ix. 40), whereupon her eyes instantly were opened, and seeing Peter she sat up. Taking her by the hand the Apostle then raised her from the spot where she had lain prepared for burial, and calling in the widows presented her to them alive. The fame of this miracle, confirming as it did the impression already made at Lydda, quickly spread, and caused an accession of many to the Christian Church; and the Apostle perceiving an opportune field of usefulness thus opened to him, tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner (Acts ix. 43).
DURING the Apostle’s stay at Joppa an event occurred destined to have no small influence on the spread of the Church.
Cæsarea, as has been already stated, was the head-quarters of the Roman government in Judæa816. Among the troops quartered there was a cohort of Italians817, possibly volunteers, and amongst its officers was a centurion named Cornelius, a devout man, who had learned to worship the one true God818, and was well known for his almsgiving and uprightness of life (Acts x. 2). One day, about the ninth hour, the hour of prayer, he beheld in a vision an angel who informed him that his prayers and alms were not forgotten before God, and bade him send for the Apostle, now lodging at Joppa, who would tell him what he should do, and inform him concerning that faith which had already excited much attention in the neighbourhood819 (Acts ix. 42).
Obedient to the heavenly vision the centurion summoned two of his servants, and a devout soldier attached to his own person, and sent them with the necessary instructions to Joppa. As the three drew near their destination, the Apostle Peter, who had retired for devotion to the flat820 housetop of his lodging by the seaside821 at the noontide hour of prayer (Acts x. 9), fell into a trance, and saw the heaven opened, and a great sheet-like vessel822, let down by its four corners, till it rested upon the earth (Acts x. 11). As he observed it closely, he noticed that it contained all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and he heard a Voice saying, Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But this the Apostle, who from earliest childhood had observed the strict precepts of the Levitical Law823, stedfastly declined to do: he had never eaten anything common or unclean. Then the Voice spoke again, saying, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common, and when the strange scene had been repeated three times, probably with the same command, the same remonstrance, and the same reply824, the vessel was received up again into heaven (Acts x. 15, 16).
The Apostle was deeply moved, and while meditating on the possible meaning of what he had beheld and heard, the messengers of Cornelius had arrived, and were making enquiries for him, and at the same moment the Spirit bade him go down and accompany them whithersoever they went, doubting nothing (Acts x. 19, 20). Thereupon he descended from the housetop, and having learned from the men the purport of their errand, he brought them in and hospitably entertained them (Acts x. 21–23).
The next day he set out with them towards Cæsarea, attended by certain of the brethren from Joppa, and on entering the house of Cornelius found him in the midst of many of his relatives and intimate friends, whom he had assembled to listen to the Apostle’s words. As he crossed the threshold (Acts x. 25), the centurion went forth to meet him, and falling down at his feet would have worshipped him. But Peter raised him up, and reminded him that he also was a man, and then addressed himself to the assembled company. They all knew, he said, that he was a Jew, and how unlawful it was for one of that nation to associate with or enter the house of a foreigner: but God had shewed him that he was not to call any man common or unclean, and therefore he had come without delay, and now desired to know the reason for which he had been sent (Acts x. 28, 29).
Then Cornelius recounted the particulars of his vision (Acts x. 30–33), and requested the Apostle to announce to him and his assembled friends what he, as a messenger of God, had to say to them. Thus assured that all things had occurred under the Divine guidance, the Apostle opened his mouth, and having acknowledged that God was indeed no respecter of persons, but accepted out of every nation all that feared Him and worked righteousness, proceeded to proclaim the glad tidings of his risen Lord. He told them of His life of love; of His victories over disease and the spirit-world (Acts x. 38); of His death by the hands of men (Acts x. 39); of His resurrection, and His appearances afterwards, not to all the people but to chosen witnesses, even the Apostles, who had eaten and drunk with Him (Acts x. 40, 41); of His exaltation to heaven and His future coming to judge the world; of the commission he and the rest of the Twelve had received to proclaim to all that believed in Him the remission of sins (Acts x. 42, 43).
While he was still speaking, the events of the day of Pentecost were repeated in the house of the Roman soldier. To the astonishment of the Jewish Christians who had accompanied the Apostle from Joppa, the gift of the Holy Ghost was poured out upon the Gentiles, and they heard them speaking in various dialects and magnifying and praising God (Acts x. 46). Now fully awakened to the meaning of the vision on the housetop, the Apostle enquired whether any could forbid that these, who had already evidently received the gift of the Holy Ghost, should be admitted to the rite of baptism, and then ordered that it should be administered; and thus he who had first preached the resurrection to the Jews, baptized the first converts at Jerusalem, and confirmed the first-fruits of the church in Samaria, now, under direct communication from heaven, first threw down the barrier which separated proselytes of the gate from Israelites, and admitted them on an equal footing into the Christian Church825.
The news of such an event was not long in reaching Jerusalem, and provoked not only enquiry and comment, but actual complaint, so that when the Apostle returned thither, he found himself warmly censured by not a few of the more exclusive section of the “circumcision,” who complained that he had consorted and eaten with men who were uncircumcised826 (Acts xi. 1–3). Thereupon Peter recounted all the particulars of his visit to Cæsarea from the beginning; how he had seen a vision at Joppa, and how a Divine Voice had accompanied and interpreted it; how the messengers of Cornelius had arrived while he was pondering over the vision, and he had been bidden to accompany them nothing doubting827; how taking with him six impartial witnesses (Acts xi. 12), who were then present, he had proceeded to the house of Cornelius, and on his arrival was told of another vision which the good centurion had beheld, the “very counterpart and index of his own;” how when he had only begun to speak and to touch upon the Gospel History, the infallible sign of the Divine Presence had been manifested, and the Holy Ghost had fallen on his Gentile hearers as on the disciples in Jerusalem at the beginning; how this had recalled to his mind his Lord’s words, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and he had admitted them to baptism; for who was he, after this visible proof of the Divine Presence, that he could withstand God? (Acts xi. 4–17). The question contained its own answer, and the Christians at Jerusalem not only held their peace, and desisted from further reprehension of the Apostle, but glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life (Acts xi. 18).
Meanwhile events had occurred at other and more distant places than Cæsarea, shewing that the Christian Church was no longer to be confined to the Jews only or to the sacred land of Palestine. The Christians, whom the persecution that followed after the stoning of Stephen828 had driven from the Holy City, travelled in different directions, to Phœnicia, the neighbouring island of Cyprus, and to Antioch829, the metropolis of Syria (Acts xi. 19). For some time they confined their ministrations to the Jews only, but at length some of them, men of Cyprus830 and Cyrene, on their arrival at Antioch, began to preach the word even to the Gentiles, and with such success that a great number became believers, and turned unto the Lord (Acts xi. 21).
Tidings of these events reaching the Church at Jerusalem, in accordance with the precedent already acted upon in Samaria (Acts viii. 14), it was resolved to send to Antioch one in whom they had entire confidence, and who might report on all that had occurred. The person selected for this important duty was no other than Barnabas, the son of exhortation, himself a Hellenist, a native of Cyprus, and in all probability well acquainted with Antioch, one known to be a good man, full of the Holy Ghost, and of faith (Acts xi. 24).
Accordingly Barnabas set out, and on his arrival found much to approve in the ministrations of the Hellenistic teachers. They had evidently been blessed with great success, and he laboured earnestly to advance it, exhorting all to cleave to the Lord with full purpose of heart. His own endeavours did not lose their reward, for the church at Antioch received many additions to its numbers (Acts xi. 24), but Barnabas saw that a wise master-builder (1 Cor. iii. 10) was required for the work, and he therefore set out for Tarsus to fetch Saul. Once more, then, the two met, and Saul proceeded with his friend to the Syrian metropolis, and there side by side they continued to labour for a whole year, and so greatly were their exertions blessed, and so numerous were the additions made to the Church, that it was clear the disciples could no longer be confounded with any sect or party of the Jews. Standing out, then, as a separate community, they acquired a distinctive title, and it was first at Antioch, whose inhabitants were notorious for inventing names of derision831, that the honourable appellation of Christians was first applied to them (Acts xi. 26). This name they were not likely to assume themselves832, nor is it probable that it was bestowed upon them by the Jews. They called them in hatred and contempt the sect of the Nazarenes833 (Acts xxiv. 5), and Christ being equivalent to Messiah, they were not likely to apply to them a term they themselves held sacred834. The name, therefore, probably originated with the Gentiles, and with the Romans rather than the Greeks. The disciples would often speak of Christ as their leader and chief, and the heathens835 would naturally call them in mockery and derision Christians, or the Followers of Christ, just as the partisans of Marius were called Mariani, of Pompeius Pompeiani, of Otho Othoniani, of Vitellius Vitelliani, of Herod Herodiani.
While the two Apostles were thus employed, there arrived at Antioch, A.D. 42, certain prophets836 from Jerusalem, one of whom named Agabus stood up and announced that a great famine was at hand, which in fact came to pass during the reign of Claudius Cæsar (Acts xi. 28), a reign distinguished for earthquakes, bad harvests, and general scarcity837. Having full faith in his prophetic words the Christians in the Syrian metropolis838 determined to send relief, every man according to his ability, to their poorer brethren at Jerusalem, and Saul and Barnabas were selected to convey their contributions to the Holy City (Acts xi. 29, 30)839.
ABOUT the time when these delegates from the church at Antioch arrived on their errand of Christian love at Jerusalem, a severe calamity befell the Church there. On the accession of Claudius, A.D. 41, Herod Agrippa, who had taken an active part in securing his succession840, was rewarded by the addition of Judæa and Samaria to the tetrarchies of Philip and Antipas which he had already received, and ruled as king over a territory as widely extended as that governed by his grandfather841.
Arriving at Jerusalem, A.D. 42, he dedicated in the Temple, as a memorial of the Divine protection, the golden chain with which he had been presented by Caligula, and which was of equal weight with the iron one he had worn when imprisoned by Tiberius842, and endeavoured to ingratiate himself with his subjects by the strictest profession of Judaism. He offered sacrifice every day; paid the expenses of certain Nazarites on completing their vows843; abstained from every legal impurity; remitted the house-tax of the inhabitants of Jerusalem844; encircled the new suburb of Bezetha with a wall; and prepared to strengthen the entire fortifications of the city845.
Thus determined to ingratiate himself with the Jews, and doubtless at the suggestions of their chiefs, he resolved to take measures for the suppression of Christianity. Accordingly, in A.D. 44, he seized the Apostle James, the brother of St John, and without any apparent process of Jewish law846 summarily slew him with the sword (Acts xii. 2), thus early admitting him to his Master’s baptism847 (Mtt. xx. 23). Perceiving that this atrocity rendered him exceedingly popular with his subjects848, he arrested Peter also at the feast of the Passover, and committed him to the custody of four quaternions of soldiers849 (Acts xii. 4), intending at the close of the festival to bring him forth before the people and gratify them with his death.
Great was the sorrow of the Church at the prospect of the Apostle’s execution, and unceasing and not ineffectual prayer was made to God in his behalf. For on the night before the day fixed for the spectacle of his martyrdom, while the Apostle was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and the sentinels without were carefully guarding the doors, a light suddenly shone into his cell, and an angel touched him on the side, and bade him rise up quickly. Thereupon he arose, and his chains fell from off his hands. Gird thyself, resumed the angel, and bind on thy sandals. The Apostle did so, and casting his garment about him, and scarcely believing the reality of what was going on, followed his celestial guide through the first and second ward, and thence through the iron gate, which opened of its own accord, into the street of the city (Acts xii. 5–10).
Then the angel departed, and the Apostle realising for the first time the fact of his deliverance, repaired to the house of Mary850, a sister of Barnabas, where many were gathered together praying. As soon as he had knocked at the door, a damsel named Rhoda came forth to open it, but recognising his voice was so transported with joy that she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the door. Those within, however, declared that she was mad, that she had seen his angel or ghost, and refused to believe her words. Meanwhile the Apostle stood without knocking, and at length the door was opened, and the disciples were assured that it was he and no other. They would have expressed their joy with loud thanksgivings, but holding up his hand he beckoned to them to be silent, and then having recounted all that had befallen him, bade them carry the joyful news to James the Lord’s brother and the rest of the disciples (Acts xii. 11–17). With these words he betook himself to some secure hiding-place.
The morning dawned, and the soldiers rising from their slumbers were overwhelmed with astonishment at finding their prisoner gone, and while with no small stir they were endeavouring to make out what had become of him, Herod sent for them, and when he could not ascertain any tidings respecting their prisoner, ordered them to be put to death, and then left Jerusalem for Cæsarea (Acts xii. 19).
Before the autumn, however, a terrible end had overtaken the tyrant. Tidings reached Judæa of the triumphant return of Claudius from his expedition to Britain851, and shows similar to those at Rome were commenced at Cæsarea, which was crowded with people from all quarters. On the second day852 of the festival the king, clothed in magnificent robes, entered the glorious theatre853 which his grandfather had built, and sitting down on his throne (Acts xii. 21) proceeded to give an audience to certain ambassadors from the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon. For some reason the people of these Phœnician cities had given him offence, and through the intercession of Blastus, the royal chamberlain, they now sought a reconciliation and a renewal of friendly relations, which was a matter of no small importance, since Phœnicia, as in ancient times854, depended on Palestine for its supplies of corn and oil (Acts xii. 20). It was early morning855. The sun’s rays fell upon the apparel of the king glistering with silver tissue, and the excited multitude sitting in a great semicircle, tier above tier, on the stone seats of the theatre, were dazzled with the brightness which flashed forth from the monarch’s robes. Presently he spoke, and they shouted, It is the voice of a god and not of a man. The king made no attempt to repress their adulation, and in the midst of this idolatrous ostentation an angel of God smote him, and he was carried out of the theatre, smitten with a terrible internal disorder, and eaten of worms856 (Acts xii. 23). After lingering five days in excruciating agony he died in the fifty-fourth year of his age, having reigned seven years, four over part of his dominions, and three over the whole of Palestine857, and leaving behind him one son, Agrippa, and three daughters, Drusilla, Berenice, and Mariamne858.