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A.D. 34.

It has been said "that, to combine the ceremonial shortcoming of the eunuch with the imperfect faith of the Samaritan, is to arrive at the admission of the Gentiles[56]." Preparation had been made in both these instances for the carrying out of the Divine scheme by means of St. Philip, whose fellow-Deacon had gladly laid down his life in witnessing to the truth of it; and now God's great instrument for the conversion of the gentile world was to appear.

Conversion of Saul.

The furious persecutor Saul was struck to the earth by the sight and voice of the Lord, whose disciples at Damascus he was bent upon ill-using; and his miraculous conversion was followed by his baptism and the devotion of all his powers to the promulgation of that "Faith which once he destroyed."

His fitness for his mission.

It is not hard to perceive in St. Paul a peculiar fitness for the work to which God called him. His zeal and self-devotion, deep affections, and warm sympathies, were joined to clearness of judgment and great intellectual powers; whilst, from the circumstances of his birth and education, he had much in common with both Hebrew and Hellenist Jews. Though born in the Greek city of Tarsus, where he came in contact with the classical ideas and learning of which traces appear in his writings, his father was a Hebrew, and sent him to finish his education at Jerusalem under the care of the learned Pharisee Gamaliel. Thus he became zealous in the Law; and hence his deep tenderness for his brethren of the seed of Israel, and his thorough insight into their feelings and prejudices, were united to an acquaintance with gentile ways of life, classic learning, and foreign modes of thought.

With St. Paul's conversion came a time of peace and increase to the Church, during which St. Peter's first Apostolic journey took place, undertaken with the especial view of strengthening, by the Laying on of Hands and by Apostolic preaching and counsel, those who, throughout Judea and Samaria, had been regenerated and made "saints" by Holy Baptism[57].

[1] 2 St. Peter i. 4.

[2] Rev. xxi. 14.

[3] St. Luke vi. 12–16.

[4] "Apostle" is derived from the Greek word "Apostolos," i.e. "one sent." The Apostles were "sent" by Christ, the Great High Priest and Chief Pastor of the Church, Who comprehended in Himself the whole of the Christian Ministry, whilst the Apostolic Office comprehended all that could be delegated to man. This comprehensive Apostolic Office was afterwards broken up into the three Orders of—1. Deacons; 2. Priests and Bishops in one; 3. Bishops. After the special work of Bishops was defined (see chap. iv.), Priests were Priests only, and not Bishops, unless they had special consecration to the higher office.

[5] Acts i. 3.

[6] St. John xiv. 26.

[7] St. Matt. xxviii. 19.

[8] St. Matt. xxviii. 20.

[9] St. Luke xxii. 19, 20.

[10] St. John xx. 21, 22.

[11] St. Matt. xxviii. 20.

[12] Acts i. 13, 14.

[13] Acts ii. 42, 46. It is said (St. John iv. 2) that "the disciples of Jesus baptized;" but this baptism, like that of St. John Baptist, was a "baptism of repentance," not of Regeneration—a preparation for the Gospel, not a consequence of it. So the preaching of the Apostles, spoken of in St. Matt. x. 7, was (like the Baptist's preaching) an announcement that "the Kingdom of Heaven" was not come; but "at hand," and an exhortation to make ready for it.

[14] St. Luke xxiv. 49.

[15] Ps. lxxxvii. 3.

[16] Acts ii. 1–3.

[17] Isa. xi. 2, 3.

[18] Acts ii. 1–13.

[19] Acts ii. 14–41.

[20] St. Matt. xvi. 18.

[21] Acts ii. 47.

[22] Acts iii.

[23] Acts iv.

[24] Acts iv. 36, 37.

[25] Acts v. 12–16.

[26] Acts ii. 41–47.

[27] 2 Thess. ii. 15. See also ch. iii. 6. 1 Cor. xi. 2. "Ordinances," margin "Traditions."

[28] Acts ii. 46 (margin).

[29] Acts iv. 31–37.

[30] Eph. v. 29, 30.

[31] Poems by Prof. Bright..

[32] Acts iii. 1.

[33] Acts iii. 11.

[34] Acts v. 42.

[35] Acts xiii. 5. 14; xiv. 1; xvii. 1, 2; xviii. 4.

[36] Acts xxi. 26–33.

[37] Acts v. 1–14.

[38] Acts vi. 1, &c.

[39] Deacon, from "Diaconos," a Greek word, meaning a ministering attendant.

[40] Acts vi. 7.

[41] Rev. ii. 6. 15.

[42] Acts viii. 5. 38.

[43] See Office for "Making of Deacons," Book of Common Prayer.

[44] Cp. Acts iv. 1, 2, 5, 6, and Acts v. 17.

[45] Acts ii. 47; iv. 21; v. 13. 26.

[46] Acts v. 34–40.

[47] It seems not unlikely that Saul of Tarsus in Cilicia was one "of them of Cilicia" mentioned in Acts vi. 9.

[48] St. Luke xii. 11, 12.

[49] Acts vii. 56.

[50] Acts viii. 1. 4.

[51] Acts xi. 19, 20.

[52] It may be, that the recollection of our Saviour's visit to the neighbouring city of Sychar, or Sichem [St. John iv.], would help to influence the Samaritans.

[53] From the rather indistinct account of Simon's death, it seems probable that he became a victim to such a temptation as the "Cast Thyself down," which was set before our Lord.

[54] Acts xi. 19, 20.

[55] Acts xi. 26.

[56] See "Some Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age," by the late Professor Shirley, p. 27.

[57] Acts ix. 32.