^^'^^ m BS 2410 .N4213 1844 Neander, August, 1789-1850. History of the planting and training of the Christian HISTORY PLANTINa AND TRAINING THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH APOSTLES. BY DE. AUGUSTUS NEANDER, OEDINARY PROFESSOR OP THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP BERLIN, CONSISTORIAL COUNSELLOR, ETC. STranslviteb from t\)z CTJjftlr IHtiftfon of tlje ©rfginal (Eerman, BY J. E. RYLAND. COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME, PHILADELPHIA: JAMES M. CAMPBELL & CO., 98 CHESTNUT STREET. SAXTON & MILES, 205 BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 1844. Philosophia quserit, religio possidet veritatem. J. PiCUS A MiRANDOLA. Kein andrer Gott als der Gott der Bible, der Herz zu Herz ist. NiEBDHR. C. SHERMAN, PRINTER. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND DR. F. EHRENBERG, ROYAL CHAPLAIN, MEMBER OF THE SUPREME CONSISTORY, ETC., ETC. My DEEPLY REVERED AND VERY DEAR FrIEND, I trust you will receive this work with all its defects as the offering of a sincere heart; as a small token of my cordial veneration and love, and of that sincere gratitude which I have long felt impelled to express, for the edification I have derived from your discourses. May a gracious God long allow you to labour and shine among us for the welfare of his church, with that holy energy which he has bestowed upon you, with the spirit o^ Christian wisdom and freedom, the spirit of true freedom exalted above all the strife of human parties, — which the Son of God alone bestows, and which is especially requisite for the guidance of the church in our times, agitated and distracted as they are by so many conflicts ! This is the warmest wish of one who with all his heart calls himself yours. Thus I wrote on the 22d of May, 1832, and after six years I again repeat with all my heart, the words expressive of dedication, of gratitude, and of devout wishes to the Giver of all perfect gifts. Since that portion of time (not unimportant in our agitated age) has passed away, I have to thank you, dear and inmostly revered man, for many important words of edification and instruction, which I have received from your lips in public, as well as for the precious gift* which has often administered refreshment to myself and others. Yes, with all ' my heart I agree with those beautiful sentiments which form the soul of your discourses, and bind me with such force to your person. God grant that we may ever humbly and faithfully hold fast the truth which does not seek" for reconciliation amidst contrarieties, but is itself unsought the right mean. God grant (what is far above all theological disputations,) that the highest aim of our labours may be to produce the image of Christ in the souls of men, — that to our latest breath we may keep this object in view without wavering, fast bound to it in true love, each one in his own sphere, unmoved by the vicissitudes of opinion and the collisions of party ! Let me add as a subordinate wish, that you would soon favour us with a volume of discourses, to testify of this "one thing that is needful." A. Neander. Berlin, 30th May, 1838. From the fulness of my heart I once more repeat the wishes and thanks before expressed, and rejoice that it is in my power to dedicate the third edition of this work to you, my inmostly dear and revered friend. A. Neander. Berlin, 2d August, 1841. * Alluding probably to a volume of Sermons already published. — Tr. TRANSLATOIl^S PE^FACE. Onlv a few woi'ds seem necessary by way of preface to the following transla- tion. It was begun tow&rds the close of 1840 ; but early in the present year the Translator having requested Dr. Neander to favour him with any corrections or ad- ditions which he might have made to the second edition (published in 1838), was informed, in reply, that a third edition was passing through the press : at the same time, an offer was most kindly made of forwarding the proof-sheets, by which means the translation will appear within a few weeks after the original, in its most approved form. It may be proper to state, that there were circumstances which rendered it de- sirable that as little delay as possible should occur in the pi-eparation of the English work. This demand for expedition may have perhaps occasioned more inadver- tencies than the modicum of negative re- putation allotted to litei'ary workmanship of this kind can well afford. The Trans- lator trusts, however, that he has, on the whole, succeeded in giving a tolerably cor- rect representation of the original, though, had time been allowed for a more careful revision, several minor blemishes might have been removed, and the meaning of some passages have been more distinctly brought out. The Author's great and long-established . reputation as an Ecclesiastical Historian, would render it unnecessary, even if not somewhat unseemly, to usher in this work with a lengthened descant on its merits. The impartial and earnest inquirer after truth, will not fail to be delighted with the marks it everywhere presents of unwearied research, extended views, and profound piety. No one would regret more than the excellent author, if the freedom of his inquiries should give pain to any of his Christian brethren ; still his motto must be " Amicus Socroles, magis arnica Veri- tas.'''' He is completely at issue with the advocates of certain views which have lately been gaining a disastrous preva- lence in this country. The decided tern^ in which he asserts the noble equality and brotherhood of Christian men, in opposi- tion to the antichristian tenet of a priest- hood in the sense not of religious instruc- tors, but of exclusive conveyors of super- natural influence,* will be little relished by those who would attempt to share the in- communicable prerogatives of the " one Mediator." But, as Dr. N. justly remarks in one of his earlier communications (for all of which the Translator is glad of an opportunity to express his heartfelt grati- tude), " the gospel itself rests on an im- movable rock, while human systems of theology are every where undergoing a pu- rifying process, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. We LIVE IN THE TIME OF A GREAT CRISIS !" This translation has been prepared at a distance from those helps which would have been within my reach at an eai'lier period, * By no writers has this error been more ably exposed than by Archbishop Wliately and Dr. Arnold; by the former, in " the Errors of Roman, ism traced to their origin in human nature," and by the latter, in the iiitroduction to a volume of discourses, lately published on "the Christian Life." — " To revive Christ's church is to expel the antichrist of priesthood, which, as it was foretold of him, 'as God siltetk in the temple of God, show- ing himself that he is God;' and to restore its disfranchised members, the laity, to the discharge of their proper duties in it, and to the conscious- ness of their paramount importance." p. 52. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. and soon after a change of residence had separated me from three friends especially, with whom most of the important topics in this work had been submitted to frequent and earnest discussion. Without the for- maJity of a dedication, my sense of the value of their friendship prompts me to make this allusion, which is connected with some of my most pleasing recollections. I wish also to express my obligations to Dr. Edward Michelson of the University of Leipzig, who not only gave up his in- tention of publishing a translation of this work, on being informed that I was en- gaged in a similar undertaking, but most readily favoured me with his opinion on various passages during the preparation of the manuscript. I have received, too, from a friend of Dr. Neander, with whose name I am not acquainted, the results of a very careful examination of the first six proof- sheets, which I gratefully acknowledge, and only regret that the whole work could not be submitted to his review previous to publication. A brief biographical notice of Dr. Ne- ander, extracted from the " Conversations- Lexicon," will probably not be unaccept- able to the readers of this work. J. E. Ryland. Northampton, November 2d, 1841. I BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. John Augustus William Neander, Ordinary Professor of Theology at Berlin, Consistorial Counsellor in the Royal Con- sistorium of the Province of Brandenburg, was born at Gottingen, January 16, 1789, and spent the greater part of his youth at Hamburg. In that city he received his education at the Gymnasium and Johan- neum, which then flourished under Grulitt's superintendence. He began his academi- cal studies at Halle in 1806, shortly after having renounced the Jewish faith and em- braced Christianity, and ended them in Gottingen under the venerable Planck. After a short residence in Hamburg, he removed in 1811 to Heidelburg, and there commenced as a theological teacher, by defending his essay, " De fidei gnoseosque ideee qua ad se invicem atque ad philo- sophiam referatur, ratione, secundum men- tem Clementis Alexandri." In the follow- ing year he became extraordinary professor of Theology in Heidelburg. He then pub- lished a work replete with a living fresh- ness of delineation and spirited discussion, " Uber den Kaiser Jidianus %md sein Zeitalter^'' which showed the hand of a master in this department of Church his- tory, and marked an extraordinary pro- gress in his power of thought and reflection. In the following year he received a call to the university of Berlin. His second mo- nograph, " Der heilige Bernard und sein Zeitalter," (1813), was enlarged in the last edition by an introduction on the first period of the scholastic philosophy. Ne- ander then turned his attention to the early period of the church, and produced a work on Gnosticism, " Genetische Entwickelung der vornehmsten gnostischen Systems," (1818). He delineated, with a special re- ference to life and practice, the character of a bishop who was distinguished as a preacher, pastor, and theological writer, in a work entitled, " Der heilige Chrysos- tomus und die Kirche, besonders des Ori- ents, in dessen Zeitalter." The third vo- lume of this work is designed to embrace the peculiar theological views of Chrysos- tom. Neander intended to leave the bio- graphy of Augustin to a friend, but we would rather hope, that we may receive it from himself, the creator and master of the new Patristic monographs, as he has opened the way to it by his work on Ter- tuUian, " Antignostikus Geist der Tertul- lianus," (1825). In his "Denkwirdigkeit- en aus der Geschichte des Christenthums und des christlichen lebens," 3 vols,, Ber- lin, 1822, 2d edit. 1825, (since translated into French), he has attempted the difficult task of imparting to general readers the substance of what is most important and interesting to that class in his Church His- tory. This work unfortunately reaches only to the times of Anschar.* All the works we have hitherto mentioned were only preparative to his " General History of the Christian Religion and Church," of which the design may be expressed most simply and clearly in the Author's own words. He states, that it had been from early life the object of his studies to exhibit Church History as a speaking evidence of the divine power of Christianity — as a school of Christian experience — a voice of edification, instruction, and warning, * Anschar or Ansgar, a French monk born at Corbie, in the diocess of Amiens, in tiic year 801. An interesting account of his labours in the North of Europe, is given by Dr. Neander in the 4th vol. of his " Allgemeine Geschichte," pp. 3-33. Tr. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE. sounding through all ages for all who are willing to listen to it. The first volume, in three parts, contains the history of the church from the end of the Apostolic age to the year 31 1 ;* the second volume, also in ' thi-ee parts, reaches to Gregory I. ; the third volume, appeared in 1831, the fourth appeared in 1836, and the fifth-has been published during the present year 1841, bringing down the history to the year 1294. The work of which a translation is now given first appeared in 1832. A collection of his smaller writings, including an ad- * Of this an English translation has lately ap- peared, in 2 vols. 8vo., by the Rev. H. J. Rose.— Tr. dress at the formation of the Berlin Bible Society, was published in 1829. Dr. Neander's lectures in the University extend to all branches of historical theo- logy, to the exegesis of most of the New Testament writings, to which he has added lectures on Systematic Theology. His labours in the Consistorium relate princi- pally to theological examinations. With an infirm state of health, he devotes all the time which hi? onerous official duties and literary avocations leave at his com- mand to intercourse with the students of theology. What he has done and is still doing in this respect — his devotion to the benefit of the young, cannot and need not be enlarged upon here. There are living attestations in abundance. PREFACE VOLUME I. OF THE FIRST EDITION. It was certainly my intention to have allowed my representation of the Christian religion and church in the apostolic age, to follow the completion of the whole of my Church History, or at least of the greater part of it ; but the wishes and entreaties of many persons, expressed both in writing and by word of mouth, have prevailed upon me to alter my plan. Those, too, who took an interest in my mode of conceiving the developement of Christianity, were justified in demanding an account of the manner in which I con- ceived the origin of this process, on which the opinions of men are so much divided through the conflicting influences of the various theological tendencies in this criti- cal period of our German Evangelical church ; and perhaps, if it please God, a thoroughly matured and candidly expressed conviction on the subjects here discussed, may furnish many a one who is engaged in seeking, with a connectin comprehension of his own views, even if this representation, though the result of protracted and earnest inquiry, should contain no new disclosures. As for my relation to all who hold the conviction, that faith in Jesus the Saviour by an excellent English theologian of the 17th century.t But I cannot agree with the conviction of those among them who think that this new creation will be only a repetition of what took place in the six- teenth or seventeenth century, and that the whole dogmatic system, and the entire mode of contemplating divine and human things,:}: must return as it then existed. On this point, I assent with my whole soul to what my deeply revered and be- t We meet with a beautiful specimen of such a spirit in what has been admirably said by a re- spected theologian of the Society of Friends, Joseph John Gurney : " It can scarcely be denied, that in that variety of administration, through which the saving principles of religion are for the present permitted to pass, there is much of a real adaptation to a corresponding variety of men. tnl coiidilion. Well, therefore, may we bow with thankfulness before that infinite and unsearchable Being, who in all our weakness follows us with his love, and through the diversified mediums of religion to which the several classes oHnie Chris- link for the ! tians are respectively accustomed, is still pleased to reveal to them all the same crucified Redeemer, and to direct their footsteps into one path of obe- dience, holiness and peace." See Observations on the distinguishing Views and Practices of the Society of Friends, by Joseph John Gurney, ed. vii. London, 1834. Words fit to shame theolo- gians who are burning with zeal for the letter and forms, as if on these depended the essence of reli- of sinful humanity, as it- has shown itself; gjon, whose life and spirit are rooted in facts, since the first founding of the Christian} t Well might the noble words of Luther be ap- church to be the fountain of divine ]ife, I pHed to those who cling to the old rotten posts of .,, -^ tr ^^ i ^u J ria scaffoldmg raised by liuman hands, as it they Will prove Itself the same to the end of I ^^.^ ^^^^^^^^ the divine building. "When at a time, and that from this faith a new crea- i window I have gazed on the stars of heaven, and tion will arise in the Christian church and j the whole beautiful vault of heaven, and saw no in our part of the world, which has been i piUarf o" which the builder had set such a vault; . ' • 1 . .1 i r • i vet the heavens fell not in ; and that vault stili preparmg amidst the storms of spnng— to , >^^^^^ ^^„^_ ^^^^ j,^^,.^ ^^^ ^i^^pl^ f^l,. ^^^ j^^j, all such persons I hope to be bound by the i about for such pillars and would fain grasp and bond of Christian fellowship, the bond of, feel them. But since they cannot do this, they " the true Catholic spirit^' as it is termed \ q^^^il^c and tremble, as if the heavens would cer- ^ I tainly fall in, and for no other reason than because they cannot grasp or see the pillars; if they could * This work was originally published in two , but lay hold of them, then the heavens (they think) volumes. | would stand firm enough." 2 PREFACE. loved friend, Steudel, lately expressed, so deserving of consideration in our times, and especially to be commended to the attention of our young theologians.* He admirably remarks, " But exactly this and only this, is the pre-eminence of the one truth, that it maintains its triumphant worth under all changes of form ;" and Niebuhr detected in the eagerness to restore the old, an eagerness for novelty ; " When the no- velty of a thing is worn away by use, we are prone to return to the old, which then becomes new again, and thus the ball is thrown backwards and forwards."! In t-ruth, whatever is connected with the peculiarities of the forms of human culti- vation, as these change, goes the way of all flesh ; but the Word of God, which is destined by a perpetual youthfulness of power to make all things new — abides for ever. Thus the difference existing be- tween these persons and myself, will cer- tainly show itself in our conception of many important points in this department of history, but in my judgment these dif- ferences are only scientific, and ought not to disturb that fellowship which is above all science. But I can also transport my- self to the standing-point of those to whom these objects must appear in a different light ; for the rise of such differences is in this critical period unavoidable, and far better than the previous indifference and lifeless uniformity. And even in zeal for a definite form, I know how to esteem and to love a zeal for the essence which lies at the bottom,! and I can never have any » In the Tubingen " Zeitschrift fur Theologie,'" 1832, part i. p. 33. Blessed be the memory of tliis beloved man, who left this world a few months ago, and is no longer to be seen in tlie holy band of combatants for that evangelical truth which vyas the aim, the centre, and the soul of his whole life, and the firm anchor of his hope in death, when he proved himself to be one of those faithful teachers of whom it may be said — " whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation." t One of the many golden sentences of this great man in his letters, of which we would re- commend the second volume especially to all young theologians. t Provided it be the true zeal of simplicity, which accompanies humility, and where sagacity does not predominate over simplicity ; but by no means that zeal which, in coupling itself with the modern coxcombry of a super-refined education, endeavours to season subjects with it to which it is least adapted, in order to render them palatable to the vitiated taste that loathes a simple diet; thing in common with those who will not do justice to such zeal, or, instead of treat- ing it with the respect that is always due to zeal and afTection for what is holy, with Jesuitical craft aim at rendering others suspected, by imputing to them sinister motives and designs. It was not my intention to give a com- plete history of the Apostolic age, but only what the title, advisedly selected, indicates. I have prefixed to it the Introduction from the first volume of my Church History, reserving the recasting of the whole work for a new edition, should God permit. In reference to the arrangement of the whole plan and the mutual relation of the parts of the representation, I must beg the reader to suspend his judgment awhile, till the completion of the whole by the publi- cation of the second part. It will be my constant aim to carry on to its conclusion the whole of the work I have undertaken on the history of the Church, if God continue to grant me strength and resolution for the purpose. Meanwhile, a brief compendium of Church History on the principles of my arrange- ment, but enriched with literary notices, will be published. iVIy dear friend Pro- fessor Rheinwald of Bonn having been prevented by his new duties from exe- cuting this work, it has been undertaken at my request by another of my friends, Mr. Licentiate Vogt,* already favourably known to the theological public by his share in editing the Homiliarium, and still more commended to the public favour by his literary labours on the Pseudo-Diony- sius, and the Life and Times of Gerson, Chancellor of Paris. May he receive from every quarter that public favour and en- couragement which his character, acquire- ments, and performances deserve. f A. Neanuer. Berlin, 29th May, 1832. and thus proves its own unsoundness. A carica- ture jumble of the most contradictory elements at which every sound feeling must revolt ! » Now Dr. Vogt, ordinary professor of Theo- logy, and pastor at Greifswald. t This wish for so peculiarly dear a friend, whose personal intercourse, so beneficial to my heart, I no longer enjoy, has been fulfilled. But his multiplied labours will not permit him to ac- complish the design mentioned above. Yet if it please God, another of my young friends will be found fitted for the task. PREFACE VOLUME n. OF THE FIRST EDITION.* I HAVE only a few words to say in ad- dition to the Preface of the first volume. The exposition of doctrines which occupies the principal part of the second half of this work, I was obliged to regulate as to quantity by the relation in which this work stands to the general history of the Church, and the proportion which the history of doctrine in the latter bears to the whole. Hence I have been obliged to leave un- touched many questions which would occur to the Christian theologian, who developes and elaborates the contents of the sacred records for the use of his own times ; my endeavours have been confined to repre- senting primitive Christianity according to its principal models of doctrine in its his- torical developement. In executing such a work, every man must be influenced by his own religious and doctrinal standing- point, by his views of the doctrines of Christianity, its origin, and its relation to the general developement of the human race. On this point no one can blame an- other for differing from himself; for a purely objective historical work, stripped of all subjectivity in its representation, un- tinctured by the individual notions of the writer, is an absurdity. The only ques- tion is, what point of view in the contem- plation of these objects most nearly cor- responds to the truth, and from this the clearest conceptions will be formed of the images presented in history. Without re- nouncing our subjectivity, without giving up our own way of thinking (a thing ut- terly impossible) to those of others, or rendering it a slave to the dogmas of any school which the petty arrogance of man would set on the throne of the living God," (for this would be to forfeit the divine free- dom won for us by Christ,) our efforts must be directed to the constant purifica- tion and elevation of our thinking (other- wise subject to sin and error) by the spirit of truth. Free inquiry belongs to the goods of humanity, but it presupposes the true freedom of the whole man, which commences in the disposition, which has its seat in the heart, aad we know where this freedom is alone to be found. We know, whence that freedom came which by means of Luther and the Reformation broke the fetters of the human mind. We know that those who have this beautiful name most frequently on their lips, often mean by it only another kind of slavery. It will now be my most earnest care and greatest satisfaction, to devote the time and strength not employed in my official labours, to the continuation of my History of the church to its termination, for which may- God grant me the assistance of his Spirit ! A. Neander. Berlin, 9th August, 1832. * This alludes to the Berlin edition of this work, which was published in two volumes. GENERAL PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Having, as I believe, sufficiently ex- plained in my former prefaces, the object of this work and the theological position it takes in relation toother standing-points, I have little more to add. What I have here expressed will serve to rectify several errors which have since been discovered, and to pacify, as far as possible, various complaints. Many things indeed find their rectification or settlement only in that con- stant process of developement and purifi- cation which is going on in a critical age. There is a fire kindled which must sepa- rate in the building that is founded on a rock, the wood, hay and stubble, from what is formed of the precious metals and jewels. There are imaginary wants which not only I cannot satisfy, but which I do not wish to satisfy. The activity shown of late years, in Biblical inquiries and the kindred branches of history, has enabled me to correct and amplify many parts, and to vindicate others from objections. A. Neander. Berlin, 30th May, 1838. PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. As to what I have said respecting the i position I have taken in reference to the ; controversies which are every day waxing fiercer, and distract an age that longs after a new creation, I can only reassert that, ., if it please God, I hope to abide faithful to these principles to my latest breath ! the ground beneath our feet may be shaken, but not the heavens above us. We will j adhere to that theologia ji^ctoris, which is j likewise the true theology of the spirit, the German theology as Luther calls it. The demand for this new edition was a call to improve the work to the utmost of my ability, and to introduce whatever new views appeared to me to be correct. Sound criticism on particular points will always be welcome to me ; the cavils of self-important sciolists I shall always de- spise. A. Neander. Berlin, 2d August, 1841. CONTENTS. BOOK I. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN PALESTINE, PRE- VIOUS TO ITS SPREAD AMONG HEATHEN NATIONS. CHAPTER I. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH ON ITS FIRST APPEARANCE AS A DISTINCT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. Preparation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, .... 17 The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, . . . . 18 The gift of tongues, . . . 20 Peter's discourse and its effects — his call to repentance, faith, and baptism, 26 CHAPTER II. THE FIRST FORM OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND THE FIRST GERM OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The formation of a community — one article of faith — Baptism into Jesus as the Messiah — probably only one baptismal formula — imperfect knowledge and mixed character of the first converts, ... 27 The first form of the Christian commimity and worship — the Agapos, . . 28 Community of goods— influence of Christi- anity on social relations — orders of monk- hood — the St. Simonians, . . 29 The case of Ananias and Sapphira, . 30 Adherence to the Temple-worship, . 31 The institution of Deacons, . . 32 The institution of Presbyters — originally for the purpose of government rather than of instruction, .... 35 Means of instruction — Teachers : fA^~K>i, we must understand such as for some special cause were just come to Jerusalem. Fur- ther, there were also those called Proselytes, who were found in great numbers at Jerusalem, for some special occasion, and this could be no other than the feast of Pentecost. Doubtless, by " all the dwellers at Jerusalem," v. 14, who are distin- guished from the Jews, are meant all who were then living at Jerusalem, without determining whether they had resided there always, or only for a short time. The whole narrative, too, gives the impression that a greater multitude of persons than usual were then assembled at Jerusalem. * Which may be found collected in a Disserta- tion by J. M. Danz, in Meuschen's Novum Testa- mentura e Talmude illustratum, p. 740. had also a reference to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai ;* hence, by way of distinction, it has been called the feast of the Joy of the Law.f If this be admitted, then the words of Christ respecting the new revelation of God by him, the new relation established by him between God and Man, which he himself under the designation of the New Covenant^ placed in opposition to the Old, — must have been vividly recalled to the minds of the disciples by the cele-, bration of this feast, and, at the same time, their anxious longing would be more strong- ly excited for that event, which according to his promise, would confirm and glorify the New Dispensation. As all who pro- fessed to be the Lord's disciples, (their number then amounted to one hundred and twenty, )§ were wont to meet daily for mutual edification, so on this solemn day * That ihey are justified in making such a re- ference, may be concluded from comparing Exodus xii. I, and xix. L X The word (f/5t6/iK«, n*")3i which has been used to denote both the Old and the New Dispen- sation, is taken from human relations, as signify, ing a covenant or agreement ; but in its application to the relation between God and man, the funda- mental idea must never be lost sight of, namely, that of a relation in which tliere is something re- ciprocal and conditional, as, in this case, a com- munication from God to man is conditionated by the obedience of faith on the part of the latter. § Without doubt, those expositors adopt the right view who suppose, that not merely the apostles but all the believers were at that time assembled ; for tliough, in Acts i. 26, the apostles are primarily intended, yet the ^«6>iTai' collectively form the chief subject (i. 15), to which the -iTavTK at the begin- ning of the second chapter necessarily refers. It by no means follows, that because, in ch. ii. 14, the apostles alone are represented as speakers, the assembly was confined to these alone ; but here, as elsewhere, they appear the leaders and repre- sentatives of the whole church, and distinguish themselves from the rest of the persons met toge- ther ; Acts ii. 15. The great importance of the fact.which Peter brings forward in his discourse, that the gifts of the "Spirit, which, under the Old Covenant were imparted only to a select class of persons, such as the prophets,— under the New Covenant, which removes every wall of separation in reference to the higher life, are communicated without distinction to all believers— this great fact would be altogether lost sight of, if we confined every thing here mentioned to the apostlrs. Throughout the Acts, wherever the agency of the Spirit is manifested by similar characteristics in those who were converted to a living faith, we perceive an evident homogeneity with this first great event. 20 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. I. they were assembled in a chamber,* which according to Oriental customs, was espe- cially assigned to devotional exercises. It was the first stated hour of prayer, about nine in the morning, and, according to what wfe must suppose was then the tone of the disciples' feelings, we may presume that their prayers turned to the object which filled their souls — that on the day when the Old Law had been promulgated with such glory, the New also might be glorified by the communication of the promised Spirit. And what their ardent desires and prayers sought for, what their Lord had promised, was granted. They felt elevated to a new state of mind, pervaded by a spirit of joyfulness and power, to which they had hitherto been strangers, and seized by an inspiring impulse to testify of the grace of redemption, of which now for the first time they had right perceptions. Ex- traordinary appearances of nature, (a con- junction similar to what has happened in other important epochs of the history of mankind), accompanied the great process then going on in the spiritual world, and were symbolic of that which filled their in- most souls. An earthquake attended by a whirlwind suddenly shook the building in which they were assembled, a symbol to them of that Spirit which moved their inner man. Flaming lights in the form of tongues streamed through the chamber, and floating downwards settled on their heads, a symbol of the new tongues of the fire of inspired * Such a chamber was built in the eastern style, with a flat roof, and a staircase leading to the court-yard, i/ts/jCov, n^7V» According to the narrative in the Acts, we must suppose it to have been a chamber in a private house. But, in itself, there is nothing to forbid our supposing that the disciples met together in the Temple at the first hour of prayer during the feast; their proceedings would thus have gained much in notoriety, though not in real importance, as Olsliausen m;iintains ; for it perfectly accorded with the genius of the Christian Dispensation, not being restricted to par- ticular times and places, and obliterating the dis- tinction of profane and sacred, that the first effu- sion of the Holy Spirit should take place, not in a temple, but in an ordinary dwelling. It is related indeed, in Luke xxiv. .53, that the disciples met continually in the temple, and hence it might be inferred that such was the case on the morning of this high feast ; but it would be possible that Luke when he wrote his gospel, had not such exact knowledge of the course of these proceedings, or only gave a summary account of them. emotion, which streamed forth from the holy filame that glowed within them.* The account of what took place on this occasion, leads us back at last to the depo- sitions of those who were present, the only persons who could give direct testimony concerning it. And it might happen, that the glory of the inner life then imparted to them, might so reflect its splendour on sur- rounding objects, that by virtue of the in- ternal miracle (the elevation of their inward life and consciousness, through the power of the Divine Spirit), the objects of outward perception appeared quite changed. And thus it is not impossible, that all which pre- sented itself to them as a perception of the outward senses, might be, in fact, only a perception of the predominant inward men- tal state, a sensuous objectiveness of what was operating inwardly with divine power, similar to the ecstatic visions which are elsewhere mentioned in Holy Writ. What- ever may be thought of this explanation, what was divine in the event remains the same, for this was an inward process in the souls of the disciples, in relation to which every thing outward was only of subordi- nate significance. Still, there is nothing in the narrative which renders such a sup- position necessary. And if we admit, that there was really an earthquake which fright- ened the inhabitants out of their houses, it is easily explained how, though it happen- ed early in the morning of the feast, a great multitude would be found in the streets, and the attention of one and another being at- tracted to the extraordinary meeting of the disciples, by degrees, a great crowd of per- sons, curious to know what was going on, would collect around the house.f The * Gregory the Great beautifully remarks : " Hinc est quod super pastores primes in linguarum specie Spiritus Sanctns insedit, quia nimirum quos reple- verit de se protinus loquentes facit." Lib. i. Ep. 25. As this account does not proceed immediately from an eye-witness, in some particulars that vivid- ness is wanting which we should otherwise expect. t The question is. How are we to explain the difficult words thc ^aiviif Ta^/Tnc, in Acts ii. 6 ? The pronoun TctuTtti leads us to refer the words to what immediately preceded, the loud speaking of the persons asscmliled. But then the use of the singular is remarkable. And since verse 2 is the principal subject, we may refer the pronoun T-at/Tiit to that; the ^evo/xswc of verse 6 seems also to cor- respond to the iyimo of verse 2. Not only is it more easy to refer the pronoun tcivth; to what im- mediately precedes in verse 4, but also verses 3 and 4 rather than verse 2, contain the most striking Chap. I.] IN PALESTINE. 21 question may be asked, By what was the astonishment of the bystanders especially excited-? At the first sight, the words in Acts ii. 7-11 appear susceptible of but one interpretation, that the passers-by were as- tonished at hearing Galileans who knew no language but their own, speak in a number of foreign languages which they could not have learnt in a natural way* — that, there- fore, we must conclude that the faculty was imparted to believers by an extraordinary operation of Divine power, of speaking in foreign languages not acquired by the use of their natural faculties. Accordingly, since the third centuryf it has been gene- facts in the narrative; it also entirely favours this construction, that f must be understood of the noise made by the disciples in giving vent to their feelings, and must be taken as a collective noun, ignifying a confused din, in which the distinclion of individual voices would be lost. * The words give us no reason to suppose that the bystanders took offence at hearing the disciples speak of divine things in a different language from the sacred one. t By many of the ancients it has been supposed — what a literal interpretation of the words ii. 8 will allow, and even favours — that the miracle con- sisted in this, that, though all spoke in one and the same language, each of the hearers believed that he heard them speak in his own; ^/ay fxiv i^nxiti- 6a/ (pav/iv, voK\a.( Si anouir^-ui." Gregory, Naz. orat. 44, f. 715, who yet does not propound this view as -peculiarly his own. It has lately been brought forward in a peculiar manner by Schneckenburger, in his Beitragen zur Einleitung in's Neue Testa- merit (Contributions towards an Introduction to the New Testament), p. 84. The speakers by the power of inspiration, operated so powerfully on the feel- ings of their susceptible hearers, that they in- voluntarily translated what went to their hearts into their mother tongue, and understood it as if it had been spoken in that. By- the element of inspi- ration, the inward communion of feeling was so strongly brought forth, tliat the lingual wall of separation was entirely taken away. But in order to determine the correctness of this mode of expla- nation, it may be of use to inquire, — If the lan- guage in which the hearers were addressed was quite foreign to them, the natural medium of hu- man intercourse would be wholly wanting, and would be thus compensated by a miracle which produced an internal understanding? Or was the Aramaic language of the speakers not altogether foreign to the hearers, only not so familiar as their mother-tongue ? But it was an effect of the inward communion produced by the power of spiritual in- fluence, that they more easily understood those who spoke in a language not familiar to them, the want of familiarity was not felt. What was ad- dressed to them was as intelligible as if spoken in their mother-tongue. In this way, although on the supposition of a powerful spiritual influence, by which the essence of the Pentecostal miracle is not denied but presupposed, it would be an expli- cable psychological fact. Men speaking with the rally admitted, that a supernatural gift of tongues was imparted on this occasion, by which the more rapid promulgation of the gospel among the heathen was facilitated and proiTioted. It has been urged that as in the apostolic age, many things were ef- fected immediately by the predominating creative agency of God's Spirit, which in later times, have been effected through human means appropriated and sanctified by it ; so, in this instance, immediate inspi- ration stoo'd in the place of those natural lingual acquirements, which in later times have served for the propagation of the gospel. But, indeed, the utility of such a gift of tongues for the spread of divine truth in the apostolic times, will appear not so great, if we consider that the gospel had its first and chief sphere of action among the na- tions belonging to the Roman Empire, where the knowledge of the. Greek and Latin languages sufficed for this purpose, and that the one or the other of these Ian- ardour of inspiration, made an impression on those who were not capable of understanding a language foreign to them, similar to what we are told of Bernard's Sermons on the Crusades in Germany : " Quod germanicis etiam populis loquens miro audiebatur affectu et de sermone ejus, quem intelli- gere, utpote alterius lingute homines, non valebant, magis quam ex peritissimi cujuslibet post euni loquentis interpretis intellecta loeutione, sedificari illorum devotio videbatur, cujus rei certa probatio tunsio pectorum erat et effusio lacrimarum." Ma- billon, ed. Opp. Bernard, torn. ii. p. 1119. And this would for the most part agree with the interpreta- tion of my honourable friend Dr. Steudel. But as to the first mode of explanation, we do not see what can allow or justify our substituting for the common interpretation of the miracle in question another, which does not come nearer the psycho, logical analogy, but, on the contrary, is farther from it, and does not so naturally connect itself with the narrative as a whole. We cannot allow an appeal to the analogy with the phenomena of animal magnetism, although, in referring to such an analogy, we find nothing objectionable, any more than in general to the analogy between the supernatural and the natural, provided the diffc- rence of psychical circumstances, and of the causes producing them, is not lost sight of. But still, in matters of science, where every thing must be well grounded, we cannot attach a value to such a document until it is ascertained what is really trustworthy in the accounts of such phenomena. As to the second mode of interpretation, it can only be maintained by our adopting the supposition, that we have not here a tradition from the first source, but only a representation, wiiich ultimately depends on the report of eye-witnesses, and if we hence allow ourselves to distinguish what the author pro- fesses to say, from the facts lying at the basis of his narrative. 22 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. guages, as it was employed in the inter- course of daily life, could not be altogether strange to the Jews, As to the Greek lan- guage, the mode in which the apostles ex- pressed themselves in it, the traces of their mother-tongue which appear in their use of it, prove that they had obtained a knowledge of it, according to the natural laws of lin- gual acquirement. In the history of the first propagation of Christianity, traces are never to be found of a supernatural gift of tongues for this object. Ancient tradition, which names certain persons as interpreters of the apostles, implies the contrary,* Also, Acts xiv. 11 shows that Paul possessed no supernatural gift of tongues. Yet all this does not authorize us to deny the reference to such an endowment in the former pas- sage of the Acts, if the explanation of the whole passage, both in single words and in its connexion, is most favourable to this interpretation. Nor do we venture to de- cide what operations not to be calculated according to natural laws could be effected by the power with which the new divine life moved the very depths of human na- ture ; what especially could be effected through the connexion between the internal life of the Spirit (on which the new creation operated with a power before unknown) and the faculty of speech. A phenomenon of this kind might have taken place once, with a symbolic prophetic meaning, indicating that the new divine life would reveal itself in all the languages of mankind, as Christi- * Thus Mark is called the i^/uxviv;, or sg.MnvsuTwc of Peter, (see Papias of Hierapolis in Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. iii. 39, compared with Irenseus, iii. 1). Tiie Basilidians say the same of one Glaucias, Clement's Stromata, vii. 765. On comparing every thing, I must decide ag-ainst the possible interpre- tation of those words favoured by several eminent modern critics — that they mean simply an expo- sitor, one who repeated the instructions of Peter in his Gospel, with explanatory remarks; — for this distinction of Mark is always prefixed to accounts of his Gospel, and at the same time from the fact of his acting in this capacity with Peter, his capa- bility is inferred to note down the report made by him of tlio Evangelical history. Thus certainly the passage in Papias must be understood; "Ma'g- KOC /u\v Sg^UVSUTw'c VliT^OV yiVOfXiVOS, oa-U ifjiVII/UOViV- (Tiv oK^i&Z; iy^*-^iv." The second fact is founded on the first, tliat he accompanied Peter as an in- terpreter. Some truth may lie at the basis of this tradition ; it might be, that although Peter was not ignorant of the Greek language, and could express himself in it, he yet took with him a disciple who was thoroughly master of it, that he might be as- sisted by him in publishing the Gospel among those who spoke that language. anity is destined to bring under its sway all the various national peculiarities ! A worthy symbol of this great event ! But we meet in the New Testament with other intimations of such a gift of the Spirit, which are very similar to the passages in the Acts ; and the explanation of these pas- sages is attended with fewer difficulties than that of the latter. If, therefore, we do not, contrary to the natural laws of exegesis, attempt to explain the clearer passages by the more obscure, we cannot fail to per- ceive that, in the section on spiritual gifts in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, some- thing altogether different from such a super- natural gift of tongues is spoken of. Evi- dently, the apostle is there treating of such discourse as would not be generally intel- ligible, proceeding from an ecstatic state of mind which rose to an elevation far above the language of ordinary communication. We may here adduce two passages in the Acts, which cannot possibly be understood of speaking in a foreign language ; x. 46, and xix, 6. How can we imagine that men, in the first glow of conversion, when first seized by the inspiring influence of Christian faith, instead of pouring forth the feelings of which their hearts were full, through a medium so dear and easy to them as their mother-tongue, could find pleasure in what at such a time would be a mere epideiktic miracle, unless the effect of being filled with the Spirit was to hurry them along, as bUnd instruments of a magi- cal power, against their wills, and to con- strain them to make use of a different lan- guage from that which at such a time must have been best fitted for the expression of their feelings ?* * I cannot comprehend what Professor Baum- lein maintains in his Essay on this subject, in the ^'' Sludien der Evangelischen Geistlichkeit Wiirtem- bergs" (Studies of the Evangelical Clergy of Wur- temberg) vi. 2. p. 119, "that in certiiin religious mental states, the speaking in foreign languages is by no means unnatural." It is plain that a man may easily feel himself impelled, when actuated by new feelings and ideas, to form new words ; as from a new spiritual life, a new religious dialect forms itself. But how, under such circumstances, it can be natural to speak a language altogether foreign, I cannot perceive, nor can I find any analogy for it in other psychical phenomena. Still less can I admit the comparison with the manifes- tations among the followers of Mr. Irving in Lon- don, since, as far as my knowledge extends, I can see nothing in these manifestations but the work- ings of an entimsiastic spirit, which sought to copy the apostolic gifl of tongues according to the com- Chap. I.] IN PALESTINE. 23 Both these suppositions are at variance with the spirit of the gospel, nor does any thing similar appear in the first history of Christianity. Such exhibitions would be peculiarly suited to draw away the mind from that which is the essence of conver- sion, and only to furnish aliment for an unchristian vanity. On the other hand, there seems a propriety in referring these passages to the utterance of the new things with which the mind would be filled, in the new language of a heart glowing with Christian sentiment.* Thus it may be ex- plained how, in the first pas'sage (Acts x. 46), the yXLiddaig \aXs7v is connected with " praising God," " praising God with the whole heart," when conscious of having through his grace received salvation ; and in the second passage. Acts xix. 6, with *goiTix.ci ^ttgia-fAdLTdL i^'.vTm icu.) Tra.vTcJ'nTrx'ic xa-Kouvruy TO. fAva-Ttipii Toubiov fniinyovuivm, quosetspiritales apostolus vocat." Though some persons think the term TravrcJ'ctTraK undoubtedly refers to the lan- guages of various nations, I do not see how that can be, according to its use at that time, though the original meaning of the word might be so un- derstood. It is particularly worthy of notice, that IrensEus represents this gitlt as one of the essential marks of Christian perlection, as a characteristic of the spirilales. We cannot well comprehend how he could suppose any thing so detached and acci- dental as speaking in many foreign languages, to stand in so close and necessary a connexion with the essence of Christian inspiration. Besides, he speaks of it as one of those gifts of the Spirit, which continued to exist in the church even in his own times. He evidently considers the y>.Z(rcrai; xnKih as something allied to TrfioipHTiviv. To the latter, he attributes the faculty of bringing to light the i hidden thoughts of men, and to the former that of publishing divine mysteries. He sees nothing but this in the gift of tongues at the effusion of the Holy Spirit, and, in reference to that event, places together " prophetari et loqui linguis," 1. iii. c. 12. Tertullian demands of Marcinn to point out among his followers proofs of ecstatic inspiration : " Edat i aliquem psalmum, aliquam visionem, aliquam ora- 1 tionem duntaxat spiritualem in ecstasi. i. c. amentia, I After having attempted to clear up these difl^erent points, we shall be better able to give a sketch of the whole scene on that memorable day. The shock of the earthquake occasions the concourse of many persons in the streets from various quarters, as the fes- tival had brought Jews and Proselytes from all parts of the world to Jerusalem. The assembling of the disciples attracts their notice ; by degrees a crowd of curious in- quirers is collected, many of whom pro- bably enter the assembly in order to in- form themselves accurately of the affair. The disciples now turn to these strangers, and, constrained by the impulse of the Spirit, announce to them what filled their hearts. The impression made by their words varies with the dispositions of their hearers. Some feel themselves affected by the energy of inspiration with which the disciples spoke, but can give no clear ac- count of the impressions made by the whole affair. Instead of asking themselves, " whence proceeds that power with which we hear these men speak who were not educated in the schools of the scribes?" si qua linguae interpretatio accesserit." Evidently in this cohriexion, the term lingua, expressing speaking in an ecstacy, which, since what is spoken in this state cannot be generally intelligible, an in- terpretation must accompany. Tertullian also, in the same passage {adv. Marcion, 1. v. c. 8), apply- ing the words in Isaiah xi. 2, to the Christian church, joins prophetari with linguis loqui, and attributes both to the Spiritus agnitionis, the TTViZfAt yvcuo-iuc. It further appears from what has been said, that the gift of tongues was con- sidered as still existing in tlie church ; and it is strange that the Fathers never refer to it apolo- getically, as an undeniable evidence to the heathen of the divine power operating among Christians, in the same manner as they appeal to the gift of healing the sick, or of casting out demons, although the ability to speak in a variety of languages which could not be acquired in a natural way, must have been very astonishing to the heathen. In Origen, in whose times the Charismata of the apostolic church began to be considered as some- thing belonging to the past, we find the first trace of the opinion that has since been prevalent, yet even in him the two views are mingled, as might be done by the distinction of the twofold mode of in- terpretation, the literal and the spiritual. Compare Ep. ad Roman, ed. de la Rue, I. iv. f 470. 1. vii. f. 602, de oratione § 2, tom. i. f 199. The opposition to Montanism, which had subjected the ykteo-inttc Ki\ih to abuse, as in the Corinthian Church, might contribute to sink into oblivion the more ancient interpretation. The ^ivocpmtuv, the xaxe/v sa^gcvac K*i axxt.7g/i7go7raic came to be considered aa a mark of the spurious Montanist Inspiration, Euseb. Hist. Eccl. v. 16. 26 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. I. their wonder is directed only to what was most external. How comes it to pass that these Galileans speak in foreign tongues 1 Others who have been impressed without any precise consciousness, give vent to their astonishment in general expressions, What can all this mean ? But those who were utterly unsusceptible and light-minded, ridicule and reject what they are unable to comprehend. The apostles held it to be their duty, to defend the Christian community against the reproaches cast upon it by superficial judges, and to avail themselves of the im- pression which this spectacle had made on so many, to lead them to faith in Him whose divine power was here manifested. Peter came forward with the rest of the eleven, and as the apostles spoke in the name of the whole church, so Peter spoke in the name of the apostles. The promp- titude and energy which made him take the lead in expressing the sentiments with which all were animated, were special en- dowments, founded on his natural cha- racter ; hence the distinguished place which he had already taken among the disciples, and which he long after held in the first church at Jerusalem. " Think not," said Peter,* " that in these unwonted appear- ances, you see the effects of ineliriety. These are the signs of the Messianic era, predicted by the prophet Joel ; the mani- festations of an extraordinary effusion of the Spirit, which is not limited to an indi- vidual here and there, the chosen organs of the Most High, but in which all share who have entered into a new relation to God by faith in the Messiah, This Mes- sianic era will be distinguished, as the pro- phet foretold, by various extraordinary ap- pearances, as precursors of the last deci- sive epoch of the general judgment. But whoever believes in the Messiah has no cause to fear that judgment, but may be certain of salvation. That Jesus of Naza- • Blcek has correctly perceived traces of a He- brew original in Acts ii. 24, where the connexion of the metaphor niake^ itv/ucut toi d*vaTov = n^tD ^^Dll ""• '7iN*P*, Psalm xviii. 5 and 6, which the Alexandrian renders by iiftva, accord- ing to the meaning of the word 72jn. ^^ nieok's review of Mayerhoff's " Hist. Kritischer Emleilung in die. Iiehrncurhen Schriflen," in the Sludien und Kritiken. 1«3G, iv. 1021. reth, whose divine mission was verified to you by the miracles that attended his earthly course, is the very Messiah pro- mised in the Old Testament. Let not his ignominious death be urged as invalidating his claims. It was necessary for the ful- filment of his work as the Messiah, and determined by the counsel of God. The events that followed his death are a proof of this, for he rose from the dead, of which we are all witnesses, and has been exalted to heaven by the divine power. From the extraordinary appearances which have filled you with astonishment, you perceive, that in his glorified state he is now opera- ting with divine energy among those who believe on him. The heavenly Father has promised that the Messiah shall fill all who believe on him with the power of the divine spirit, and this promise is now being ful- filled. Learn, then, from these events, in which you behold the pi-ophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled, the nothingness of all that you have attempted against him, and know that God has exalted him whom you crucified to be Messiah, the ruler of God's kingdom, and that through divine power, he will overcome all his enemies." The words of Peter deeply impressed many, who anxiously asked, What must we do ? Peter called upon them to repent of their sins, to believe in Jesus as the Messiah who could impart to them forgive- ness of sins and freedom from sin — in this i faith to be baptized, and thus outwardly to join the communion of the Messiah ; then would the divine power of faith be mani- fested in them, as it had already been in the community of believers ; they would receive the same gifts of the Holy Spirit, the bestowment of. which was simultaneous with the forgiveness of sins, and freedom from sin ; for the promise related to all be- lievers without distinction, even to all in distant parts of the world, whom God by his grace should lead to believe in Jesus as the Messiah. A question may be raised. Whether by these last words Peter intended only t!ie Jews scattered among distant nations, or whether he included those among the hea- then themselves who might be brought to the faith ? As Peter at a subsequent period, opposed the propagation of the gospel among the heathen, there would be an ap- parent inconsistency in his now making Chap. II.] IN PALESTINE. 27 such a reference. But there is really no | such contradiction, for the scruple which clung so closely to Peter's mind, was founded only on his belief that heathens could not be received into the community of believers, without first becoming Jewish Proselytes, by the exact observance of the Mosaic law. Now, according to the de- clarations of the prophets, he might expect that in the Messianic times, the heathen would be brought to join in the worship of Jehovah, so that this sentiment might occur to him consistently with the views he then held, and he might express it without giv- ing offence to the Jews. Yet this explana- tion is not absolutely necessary, for all the three clauses (Acts ii. 39,) might be used only to denote the aggregate of the Jewish nation in its full extent ; and we might rather expect that Peter, who had been speaking of the Jews present and their children, if he had thought of the heathen also, would have carefully distinguished them from the Jews. On the other hand, the description, "All that are afar ofl^, even as many as the Lord our God shall call," appears too comprehensive to justify us in confining it to persons originally belonging to the Jewish nation. Hence, it is most probable, that in Peter's mind, when he used this expression, there floated an indis- tinct allusion to believers from other na- tions, though it did not appear of sufficient | importance for him to give it a greater { prominence in his address, as it was his conviction, that the converts to Christianity from heathenism must first become Jews. CHAPTER II. THE FIRST FORM OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, AND THE FIRST GERM OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. The existence and first developement of the Christian church rests on an historical foundation — on the acknowledgment of the fact that Jesus was the Messiah — not on a certain system of ideas. Hence, at first, all those who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, separated from the mass of the Jewish people, and formed themselves into a distinct community. In the course of time, it became apparent, who were genuine, and who were false disciples ; but all who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah were baptized without fuller or longer instruc- tion, such as in later times has preceded baptism. There was only one article of faith which formed the peculiar mark of the Christian profession, and from this point believers were led to a clearer and perfect knowledge of the whole contents of the Christian faith, by the continual enlighten- ing of the Holy Spirit. Believing that Jesus was the Messiah, they ascribed to him the whole idea of what the Messiah was to be, according to the meaning and spiritof theOld Testament promises, rightly understood; they acknowledged him as the Redeemer from sin, the Ruler of the king- dom of God, to whom their whole lives were to be devoted, whose laws were to be followed in all things ; while he would manifest himself as the ruler of God's kingdom, by the communication of a new divine principle of life, which to those who are redeemed and governed by him im- parts the certainty of the forgiveness of sins. This divine principle of life, must (they believed) mould their whole lives to a conformity with the laws of the Messiah and his kingdom, and would be the pledge of all the blessings to be imparted to them in the kingdom of God until its consum- mation. Whoever acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, received him consequently as the infallible divine prophet, and implicitly submitted to his instructions as communi- cated by his personal ministry, and after- wards by his inspired organs, the apostles. Hence baptism at this period, in its pecu- liar Christian meaning, referred to this one article of faith, which constituted the essence of Christianity, as baptism into Jesus, into the name of Jesus ; it was the hoLy rite which sealed the connexion with Jesus as the Messiah. From this signifi- cation of baptism, we cannot indeed, con- clude with certainty, that the baptismal formula was no other than this. Still, it is probable, that in the original apostolic formula, no reference was made except to this one article. This shorter baptismal formula contains in itself every thing which is further developed in the words used by Christ at the institution of baptism, but which he did not intend to establish as an exact formula; the reference to God, who has revealed and shown himself in and by 28 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. II. the Son, as a Father ; and to the Spirit of the Father, whom Christ imparts to be- lievers 'as the new spirit of life; the Spirit of hohness, who by virtue of this interven- tion is distinguished as the spirit of Christ. That one article of faith included, there- fore, the whole of Christian doctrine. But the distinct knowledge of its contents was by no means developed in the minds of the first converts, or freed from foreign admix- tures resulting from Jewish modes of think- ing, wjiich required that religious ideas should be stripped of that national and car- nal veil with which they were covered. As the popular Jewish notion of the Messiah excluded many things which were charac- teristic of this idea, as formed and under- stood in a Christian sense, and as it in- cluded many elements not in accordance with Christian views, one result was, that in the first Christian communities which were formed among the Jews, various dis- cordant notions of religion were mingled ; there were many errors arising from the prevailing Jewish mode of thinking, some of which were by degrees corrected, in the case of those who surrendered themselves to the expansive and purifying influence of the Christian spirit ; but in those over whom that spirit could not exert such power, these erroi's formed the germ of the later Jewish-Christian (the so-called Ebio- nitish) doctrine which set itself in direct hostility to the pure gospel. Thus we are not justified in assuming that the Three Thousand who were con- verted in one day, became transformed at once into genuine Christians. The Holy Spirit operated then, as in all succeeding ages, by the publication of divine truth, not with a sudden transforming magical power, but according to the measure of the free self-determination of the human will. Hence, also, in these first Christian societies, as in all later ones, although originating in so mighty an operation of the Holy Spirit, the foreign and spurious were mingled with the genuine. In fact, in proportion to the might and energy of the operation, many persons were more easily carried away by the first impressions of divine truth, whose hearts were not a soil suited for the divine seed to take deep root and develope itself; and in outward appearance, there were no infallible marks of distinction between genuine and merely apparent conversions. The example of Ananias and Sapphii-a, and the disputes of the Palestinian and Hellenistic Christians, evince even at that early period, that the agency of the Spirit did not preserve the church entirely pure from foreign admix- tures. It happened then, as in the great religious revivals of other times, that many were borne along by the force of excited feelings, without having (as their subse- quent conduct proved) their disposition effectually penetrated by the Holy Spirit, The form of the Christian community and of the public Christian worship, the archetype of all the later Christian Cultus, arose at first, without any preconceived plan, from the peculiar nature of the higher life that belonged to all true Christians. There was, however, this difference, that the first Christian community formed as it were one fiimily ; the power of the newly awakened feeling of Christian fellowship, the feeling of the common grace of redemp- tion, outweighed all other personal and public feelings, and all other relations were subordinated to this one great relation. But, in later times, the distinction between the church and the family became more marked, and many things which were at first accomplished in the church as a family community, could latterly be duly attended to only in the narrower communion of Christian family life. The first Christians assembled daily either in the Temple, or in private houses ; in the latter case, they met in small com- panies, since their numbers were already too great for one chamber to hold them all. Discourses on the doctrine of salva- tion were addressed to believers and to those who were just won over to the faith, and prayers were offered up. As the pre- dominant consciousness of the enjoyment of redemption brought under its influence and sanctified the whole of earthly life, no- thing earthly could remain untransformed by this relation to a higher state. The daily meal of which believers partook as members of one family was sanctified by it.* They commemorated the last Supper of the disciples with Christ, and their bro- therly union with one another. At the close of the meal, the president distributed * Tlie liypothesis lately revived, that such insti- tutions were borrowed from the Essenes, is so entirely gratuitous as to require no refutation. Chap. II.] IN PALESTINE. 29 bread and wine to the persons present, as a memorial of Christ's similar distribution to the disciples. Thus every meal was consecrated to the Lord, and, at the same time, was a meal of brotherly love. Hence the designations afterwards chosen were, 8s7'!fvov xugi'ou and ciyk'^y].* From ancient times, an opinion has pre- vailed, which is apparently favoured by many passages in the Acts, that the spirit of brotherly love impelled the first Chris- tians to renounce all their earthly pos- sessions, and to establish a perfect inter- community of goods. When, in later times, it was perceived how very much the Chris- tian life had receded from the model of this fellowship of brotherly love, an earnest longing to regain it was awakened, to which we must attribute some attempts to efiect what had been realized by the first glow of love in the apostolic times — such were the orders of Monkhood, the Mendicant Friars, the Apostolici, and the Waldenses in the 12th and 13th centuries. At all events, supposing this opinion to be well * In Acts ii. 42, we find the first general account of what passed in the assemblies of the first Chris- tians. Mosheim thinks, since every thing else is mentioned that is found in later meetings of the church, that the koivuvia refers to the collec- tions made on these occasions. But the context does not favour the use of the word noiviDytu. in so restricted a signification, which, therefore, if it were the meaning intended, would require a more definite term. See Meyer's Commentary. Wc may most naturally consider it as referring to the whole of the social Christian intercourse, two principal parts of which were, the common meal and prayer. Luke mentions prayer last of all, probably because the connexion between the common meal and prayer, which made an essential part of the love- feast, was floating in his mind. Olshausen main- tains (see his Commentary, 2d ed. p. 629), that this interpretation is inadmissible, because in this enumeration, every thing relates to divine worship, as may be inferred from the preceding expression Mdixi>- But this supposition is wanting in proof According to what we have before remarked, the communion of the church and of the family, were not at that time separated from one another ; no strict line of demarcation was drawn between what belonged to the Christian Cultus in a nar- rower sense, and what related to the Christian life and communion generally. Nor can tlie rea- son alleged by Olshausen be valid, that if my interpretation were correct, the word KoivaivtA must have been placed first, for it is altogether in order that that should be placed first, which alone refers to the directive functions of the apostles, that tiien the mention should follow of the reciprocal Chris, tian communion of all the members with one an- other, and that of this communion, two particulars should be especially noticed. founded, this practice of the apostolic church ought not to be considered as in a literal sense the ideal for imitation in all succeeding ages; it must have been a de- viation from the natural course of social developement, such as could agree only with the extraordinary manifestation of the divine life in the human race at that parti- cular petiod. Only the S2nnt and disposi- tio7i here manifested in thus amalgamating the earthly possessions of numbers into one common fund, are the models for the church in its developement through all ages. For as Christianity never subverts the ex- isting natural course of developement in the human race, but sanctifies it by a new spirit, it necessarily recognises the division of wealth (based on that developement), and the inequalities arising from it in the social relations ; while it draws from these in- equalities materials for the formation and exei'cise of Christian virtue, and strives to lessen them by the only true and never failing means,* the power, namely, of love. This, we find, agrees with the practice of the churches subsequently founded by the apostles, and with the directions given by Paul for the exercise of Christian liberality, 2 Cor. viii. 13. Still, if we are disposed to consider this community of goods, as only the effect of a peculiar and temporary manifestation of Christian zeal, and foreign to the later developement of the church, we shall find many difficulties even in this mode of viewing it. The first Christians * As the influence which Christianity exercises over mankind is not always accompanied with a clear discernment of its principles, there have been many erroneous tendencies, which, though hostile to Christianity, have derived their nourishment from it, half-truths torn from their connexion with the whole body of revealed truth, and hence misunderstood and misapplied ; of this, the Saint Simonians furnish an example. They had before them an indistinct conception of the Cliristian idea of equality ; but as it was not understood in the Christian sense, they have attempted to realize it in a diflFerent manner. They have striven to ac- complish by outward arrangements, what Chris- tianity aims at developing gradually through the mind and disposition, and have thus fallen into absurdities. Christianity tends by the spirit of love to reduce the opposition between the indivi- dual and tlie community, and to produce an har- monious amalgamation of both. St. Simonianism, on the contrary, practically represents tlie pan- theistic tendency, of wliich the theory is so preva- lent in Germany in the present day ; it sacrifices the individual to the community, and thus deprives the latter of its true vital importance. 30 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. II. formed themselves into no monkish frater- nities, nor hved as hermits secluded from the rest bf the world, but, as history shows us, continued in the same civil relations as before their conversion ; nor have we any proofs that a community of goods was uni- versal for a time, and was then followed by a return to the usual arrangements of society. On the contrary, several circum- stances mentioned in the Acts of the Apos- tles, are at variance with the notion of such a relinquishment of private property. Peter said expressly to Ananias, that it depended on himself to sell or to keep his land, and that, even after the sale, the sum received for it was entirely at his own dis- posal, Acts V. 4. In the 6th chapter of the Acts, there is an account of a distri- bution of alms to the widows, but not a word is said of a common stock for the support of the whole body of believers. We find in Acts xii. 12, that Mary pos- sessed a house at Jerusalem, which we cannot suppose to have been purchased at the general cost. These facts plainly show, that we are not to imagine even in this first Christian society, a renunciation of all private property.* Therefore, when we are told, " The whole multitude of be- lievers were of one heart and of one soul, * Or we must assume, that as the power of the newly awakened feeling of Christian fellowship overcame every otlier consideration, and wholly repressed the other social relations tliat are based on the constitution of human nature, which after a while resumed their rights, and became appro- priated as special forms of Christian fellowship, and that as the church and family life were melted into one, it would well agree with the dcvelopement of a state so natural to the infancy of the church, that by the overpowering feeling of Cliristian tcl- lowship, all distinction of property should cease, which would be accomplished from an inward im- pulse williout formal consultalion or legal prescrip- tion. But after experience had shown how unte- nable such an arrangement was, this original com- munity of goods would gradually lead to the forma- tion of a common fund or chest, which would not interfere with tlie limits of private property. Rut in the Acts these two gradations in the social arrangements of the church might not be distinctly marked, nor would it be in our power to trace step by step the process of dcvelopement. Still, we want suflicicnt groimds for this assumption. The po- verty of the church at Jerusalem has been adduced as an ill consequence of that original community of goods. But this cannot be taken as a sure proof of the fact; for since Christianity at first found acceptance among the pnorer classes, and the distress of the people at Jerusalem in those times must have been extreme, it can be explained without having recourse to such a supposition. and had all things common," &c., it is not to be understood literally, but as a descrip- tion of that brotherly love which repressed all selfish feelings, and caused the wealthier believers to regard their property as belong- ing to their needy brethren, so ready were they to share it with them. And when it is added, " that they sold their possessions, and distribution was made to every man according as he had need," it is to be un- derstood according to what has just been said. A common chest was established, from which the necessities of the poorer members of the church were supplied, and perhaps certain expenses incurred by the whole church, such as the celebration of the Agapse, were defrayed ; and in order to increase their contributions, many per- sons parted with their estates. Probably, a union of this kind existed among the per- sons who attended the Saviour, and minis- tered to his necessities, Luke viii. 3 ; and a fund for similar purposes was afterwards formed by public collections in the aposto- lic churches.* This practice of the first Christians, as we have remarked, has been rendered me- morable by the fate of Ananias and Sap- phira. Their example shows, how far the apostles were from wishing to extort by outward requirements what ought to pro- ceed spontaneously from the power of the Spirit; they looked only for the free act- ings of a pure disposition. A man named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira, were anx- ious not to be considered by the apostles and the church as inferior to others in the liberality of their contributions. Probably, a superstitious belief in the merit of good works was mingled with other motives, so that they wished to be at the same time meritorious in God's sight. They could not, however, prevail on themselves, to surrender the whole of their property, but brought a part, and pretended that it was the whole. Peter detected the dissimula- tion and hypocrisy of Ananias, whether by a glance into the secret recesses of his heart, imparted by the immediate influence of God's Spirit, or by a natural sagacity derived from the same source, we cannot decide with certainty from the narrative. Nor is it a question of importance, for who * This is confessedly no new view, but one adcpted by Heumann, Mosheim, and others before them. Chap. IT.] IN PALESTINE. 31 can so exactly draw a line between the j divine and the human, in organs animated by the Holy Spirit? The criminality ofj Ananias did not consist in his not deciding to 'part with the whole amount of his pro- j perty ; for the words of Peter addressed to j him show that no exact measure of giving was prescribed ; each one was left to con- tribute according to his peculiar circum- stances, and the degree o/ love that ani- mated him. But the hypocrisy with which he attempted to make a show of greater love than he actually felt — the falsehood by which, when it took possession of his soul, the Christian life must have been utterly polluted and adulterated — this it was which Peter denounced as a work of the spirit of Satan, for falsehood is the fountain of all evil. Peter charged him with lying to the Holy Spirit; with lying not to men but to God ; since he must have beheld in the apostles the organs of the Holy Spirit speaking and acting in God's name — (that God who was himself present in the assembly of believers, as a witness of his intentions) — and yet thought that he could obtain credit before God for his good works. Peter uttered his solemn re- buke with a divine confidence, springing from a regard to that holy cause which was to he preserved from all foniign mix- tures, and from the consciousness of being in an office entrusted to him by God, and in which he was supported by divine power. When we reflect what Peter was in the eyes of Ananias, how the superstitious hypo- ciite must have been confounded and thun- derstruck to see his falsehood detected, how the holy denunciations of a man speaking to his conscience with such divine confi- dence must have acted on his terrified feel- ings, we shall find it not very difficult to conceive that the words of the apostle would produce so great an effect. The divine and the natural seem here to have been closely connected. What Paul so confidently as- serts in his Epistles to the Corinthians, of his ability of inflicting punishment, testifies of the conscious possession by the apostles of such divine power. And when Sapphira without suspecting what had taken place, three hours after, entered the assembly, Peter at first endeavoured to rouse her conscience by his interrogations; but since, instead of being aroused to consideration and repentance, she was hardened in her hypocrisy, Peter accused her of having concerted with her husband, to put, as it were, the Spirit of God to the proof,, whether he might not be deceived by their hypocrisy. He then menaced her with the judgment of God, which had just been in- flicted on her husband. The words of the apostle were in this instance aided by the impressicm of her husband's fate, and strik- ing the conscience of the hypocrite, |)ro- duced the same effect as on her husband. So terrible was this judgment, in order to guard the first operations of the Holy Spirit, before the admixture of that poison which is always most prejudicial to the ope- rations of divine power on mankind ; and to secure a reverence for the apostolic au- thority, which was so important as an ex- ternal governing power for. the develope- ment of the primitive church, until it had advanced to an independent steadfastness and maturity in the faith. The disciples had not yet attained a clear understanding of that call, which Christ had already given them by so many inti- mations, to form a Church entirely sepa- rated from the existing Jewish economy ; to that economy they adhered as much as possible.; all the forms of the national the- ocracy were sacred in their esteem, it seem- ed the natural element of their religious consciousness, though a higher principle of life had been imparted, by which that consciousness was to be progressively in- spired and transformed. They remained outwardly Jews, although, in proportion as their faith in Jesus as the Redeemer became clearer and stronger — they would inwardly cease to be Jews, and all external rites would assume a different relation to their internal life. It was their belief, that the existing religious forms would continue till the second coming of Christ, when a new and higher order of things would be esta- blished, and this great change they expect- ed would shortly take place. Hence the establishment of a distinct mode of worship was far from entering their thoughts. Al- though new ideas respecting the essence of true worship arose in their minds from the light of faith in the Redeemer, they felt as great an interest in the temple worship as any devout Jews. They believed, however, that a sifting would take place among the members of the theocracy, and that the better part would, by the acknowledgment 32 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. II. of Jesus as the Messiah, be incorporated with the Christian community. As the be- lievers, 'in opposition to the mass of the Jewish nation who remained hardened in their unbchef, now formed a community internally bound together by the one faith in .lesus as the Messiah, and by the con- sciousness of the higher life received from him, it was necessary that this internal union should assume a certain e.vternal form. And a model for such a smaller community within the great national the- ocracy already existed among the Jews, along with the Temple worship, namely, the Synagogues. The means of religious edi- fication which they supplied, took account of the religious welfare of all, and consist- ed of united prayers and the addresses of individuals who applied themselves to the study of the Old Testament. These means of edification closely corresponded to the nature of the new Christian worship. This form of social worship, as it was copied in all the religious communities founded on Judaism, (such as the Essenes) was also adopted to a certain extent at the first for- mation of the Christian church. But it may be disputed, whether the Apostles, to whom Christ committed the chief direction of affairs, designed from the first that be- lievers should form a society exactly on the model of the Synagogue, and, in pur- suance of this plan, instituted particular offices for the government of the church corresponding to that model — or whether, without such a preconceived plan, distinct offices were appointed, as circumstances required, in doing which they would avail themselves of the model of the synagogue with which they were familiar. The advocates of the first scheme (par- ticularly Mosheim) proceed on the undeni- ably correct assumption, that the existence of certain presidents at the head of the Christian societies, under the name of Elders (ir^efj'/SiJTS^oi) must be presupposed, though their apjjointment is not expressly mentioned, as appears from Acts xi. 30. The question arises, Whether even earlier traces cannot be found of the existence of such Presbyters? The appointment of deacons is indeed first mentioned as de- signed to meet a special emergency, but it seems probable that their office was already in existencc.'.It may be presumed, that the ai)ostles, in order not to be called off from the more weighty duties of their office, ap- pointed from the beginning such almoners ; but as these officers hitherto had been chosen only from the native Jewish Chris- tians of Palestine, the Christians of Jewish descent, who came from other parts of the Roman Empire, and to whom the Greek was almost as much their mother-tongue as the Aramaic, the Hellenists as they v/ere termed — believed that they were unjustly treated. On their remonstrance, deacons of Hellenistic descent were especially ap- pointed for them, as appears by their Greek names. As the apostles declared that they were averse from being distracted in their purely spiritual employment of prayer and preaching the word by the distribution of money, we may reasonably infer that even before this time, they had not engaged in such business, but had transferred it to other persons appointed for the purpose. Still earlier, in Acts v., we find mention made of persons under the title of vswts^oi, vsavirfxoi, who considered such an employ- ment as carrying a corpse out of the Chris- tian assemblies for burial as belonging to their office, so that they seem to have been no other than deacons. And as the title of younger stands in contrast with that of elders in the church, the existence of ser- vants of the church (5iaxovoi), and of ruling elders (t^^stfiSurs^oi), seems here to be equally pointed out. But though this supposition has so much plausibility, yet the evidence for it, on closer examination, appears by no means conclusive. It is far from clear that in the last quoted passage of the Acts, the narra- tive alludes to persons holding a distinct office in the church,* it may very naturally * Even after what has been urged by Meyer and Olshausen in their Commentaries on the Acts, against this view, I cannot give it up. In accord- ance with the relation in which, anciently, and especially among the Jews, the young stood to their elders, it would follow as a matter of course, that tlie young men in an assembly would be ready to perform any service which might be required. I do not see why (as Olshausen maintains), on that supposition, any other term than viunpot should have been used— for, if Luke had wished to desig- nate appointed servants of the church, he would not have used this indefinite appellation ; — nor can I feel the force of Olshausen's objection, that in tliat passage of the Acts, the article would not have been used, but the pronoun tivh. Luke in- tended to mark, no doubt, a particular class of persons, tlie younger contradistinguished from the elder, without determining whether all or only Chap. II.] IN PALESTINE. 33 be understood of the younger members who were fitted for such manual employment, without any other eligibility than the fact of their age and bodily strength. And, therefore, we are not to suppose that a con- trast is intended between the servants and ruling Elders of the church, but simply be- tween the younger and older members. As to the Grecian names of the seven deacons, it cannot be inferred with certainty from this circumstance that they all belonged to the Hellenists, for it is well known that the Jews often bore double names, one Hebrew or Aramaic, and the other Hellenistic. Still it is possible, since the complaints of the partial distribution of alms came from the Hellenistic part of the church, that, in order to infuse confidence and satisfaction, pure Hellenists were chosen on this occa- sion. But if these deacons were appointed only for the Hellenists, it would have been most natural to entrust their election to the Hellenistic part alone, and not to the whole church. Hence we. are disposed to believe, that the church was at first composed entirely of members standing on an equality with one another, and that the apostles alone held a higher rank, and exercised a direct- ing influence over the whole, which arose from the orignal position in which Christ had placed them in relation to other be- lievers ; so that the whole arrangement and administration of the affairs of the church proceeded from them, and they were first induced by particular circumstances to ap- point other church officers, as in the in- stance of deacons. As in the government of the church in general, the apostles at first were the sole directors, all the contributions towards the common fund were deposited with them (Acts v. 2), and its distribution, according to the wants of individuals, was altogether in their hands. From Acts vi. 2, it cannot be positively inferred, that the apostles had not hitherto been occupied with this secular concern. That passage may be understood some lent their assistance. But Olshausen is so far right, that if these are assumed to be regularly appointed servants of the church, they cannot be considered as? the forerunners of the deacons chosen at a later period, for manifestly these vsairs/io/ held a far lower place. I am glad to find an acute ad- vocate of the view I have taken in Rothe; see his work on the Commencement of the Christian Church, p. 162. to intimate that they had hitherto attended to this business without being distracted in their calling as preachers of the Word, as long as the confidence universally reposed in them and the unity pervading the church, lightened this labour ; but it assumed a very different aspect when a conflict of dis- tinct interests arose between the members. Meanwhjle, the number of the believers 'in- creased so greatly, that it is probable, had there been no other reason, that the apos- tles could not manage the distribution alone; but consigned a part of the business some- times to one, sometimes to another, who either offered themselves for the purpose, or had shown themselves to be worthy of such confidence. Still this department of labour had not yet received any regular form. But as the visible church received into its bosom various elements, the opposition existing in these elements gradually be- came apparent, and threatened to destroy the Christian unity, until by the might of the Christian spirit this opposition could be counterbalanced, and a higher unity de- veloped. The strongest opposition existing in the primitive church, was that between the Palestinian or purely Jewish, and the Hellenistic converts. And though the power of Christian love at first so fused together the dispositions of these two par- ties, that the contrariety seemed lost, yet the original diflference soon made its ap- pearance. It showed itself in this respect, that the Hellenists, dissatisfied with the mode of distributing the alms, were mis- trustful of the others, and believed that they had cause to complain that their own poor widows were not taken such good care of in the daily distribution,* as the widows of the Palestinian Jews ; whether the fact was, that the apostles had hitherto committed this business to Palestinian Jews, and these had either justly or unjustly incurred the suspicion of partiality, or whether the want of a regular plan for this business had oc- casioned much irregularity and neglect of * Neither from the expression J'ntx.cviit, vi. ], nor from the phrase Si^xovilv rpaTri^oii;, can it be in- ferred with certainty that the apostles alluded only to the distribution of food among the poor widows. We may be allowed to suppose that tliis was only one of the Tables of the service they performed, and that it is mentioned to mark more pointedly the distinction between the oversight of spiritual, and that of secular concerns. 34 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. II. individuals, or whether the complaint was grounded more in the natural mistrust of the Hellenists than in a real grievance, must be left undetermined, from the want of more exact information. These complaints, however, induced the apostles to establish a regular plan for conducting this business, and since they could not themselves com- bine the strict oversight of individuals, and the satisfaction of each one's wants* with a proper attention to the principal object of their calling, they thought it best to insti- tute a particular office for the purpose, the first regular one for administering the con- cerns of the church. Accordingly, they required the church to entrust this business to persons who enjoyed the general confi- dence, and were fitted for the office, ani- mated by Christian zeal, and armed with Christian prudence.f Seven such indi- viduals were chosen ; the number being accidentally fixed upon as a common one, or being adapted to seven sections of the church. Thus this office originated in the immediate wants of the primitive church, and its special mode of operation was marked out by the peculiar situation of this first union of believers, which was in some points dissimilar to that of the Jewish syna- gogue, or of later Churches. As it was called for by the pressure of circumstances, it certainly was not intended to be perfectly correspondent to an office in the Jewish synagogue, and can by no means be con- sidered parallel to that of a common servant of the Synagogue (Luke iv. 20), terir,ed jrn. tj^'»^A "n::V n»S:^'4 it was of higher importance, for at first it was the only one in the church besides the apos- tolic, and required a special capability in the management of men's dispositions, which might be employed in services of a higher kind, and was such as without doubt belonged to the general idea of (focpia. Nei- ther was this office altogether identical with •That they were required to undertake the business alone, instead of entrusting it to deputies, cannot be proved from the language in the Acts. t Acts vi. 3. Tlie word ttv^j/uu. (wliich is the true reading, for ayiou and icvfiou appear to be only giosscs), denotes tiiat inspiration for the cause of the gospel wliich is requisite for every kind of exertion for the kingdom of God ; yoc, as primus inter pares. In evidence of this, compare the first passage quoted from Luke with Mark, v. 22. This is important in re- ference to the later relation of bishops to presby- ters. The analogy to the Jewish synagogue al- lows us to conclude, that at the head of the first church at Jerusalem, a general deliberative col- lege was placed from the beginning, a notion which is favoured by a comparison with tlie col- lege of apostles ; and in the Acts, a plurality of presbyters always appears next in rank to the apostles, as representatives of the church at Jeru- salem. If any one is disposed to maintain, that each of these presbyters presided over a smaller part of the church at its special meetings, still it must be thereby established, that notwithstanding these divided meetings, tlie church formed a whole, over which this deliberative college of presbyters presided, and therefore, the form of government was still republican. But if it is probable that the whole church, which could not meet in one place, divided itself into several companies, still the as- sumption, that from the beginning the number of presbyters was equal to the number of places of assembling, and to these subdivisions of the col- lective body of believers, is entirely groundless, and in the highest degree improbable. 36 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [C H AP. I Christians, which in accordance with the enlightened spirit and nature of Christianity, was not confined to one station of life, or to one form of mental cultivation — was also the original one, we might from that conclude, that from the first, any one who had the ability and an inward call to utter his thoughts on Christian topics in a public assembly, was permitted to speak for the general improvement and edification.* But the first church differed from the churches subsequently formed among the Gentiles in one important respect, that in the latter there were no teachers of that degree of illumination, and claiming that respect to which the apostles had a right, from the position in which Christ himself had placed them. Meanwhile, though the apostles principally attended to the advance- ment of Christian knowledge, and as teachers possessed a preponderating and distinguished influence, it by no means fol- lows, that they monopolized the right of instructing the church. In proportion as they were influenced by the spirit of the Gospel, it must have been their aim to lead believers by their teaching to that spiritual maturity, which would enable them to con- tribute (by virtue of the divine life commu- nicated to all by the Holy Spirit) to their mutual awakening, instruction and improve- ment. Viewing the occurrences of the day of Pentecost as an illustration of the agency of the Divine Spirit in the new dispensation, we might conclude that, on subsequent oc- casions, that spiritual excitement which im- pelled believers to testify of the divine life, could not be confined to the apostles. Ac- cordingly, we find that individuals came forward, who had already devoted them- selves to the study and interpretation of the Old Testament, and to meditation on divine things; and when, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, they had become familiar with the nature of the gospel, they could with comparative ease devclope and apply its truths in public addresses. They re- ceived the gift for which there was an adap- tation in their minds^— the p^a^irfixa SiSadxa- * That in the Jewish Christian churches, public speaking in their assemblies was not confined to certain authorized persons, is evident from the fact, that James, in addressing believers of that class who were too apt to substitute talking for prac- tising, censured them, because so many without an inward call, prompted by self-conceit, put them- selves forwards in their assemblies as teachers. Xi'aff, and, in consequence of it, were inferior only to the apostles in aptitude for giving public instruction. Besides that connected intellectual developement of truth, there -were also addresses, which proceeded not so much from an aptness of the under- standing improved by its exercise, and act- incr with a certain uniformity of operation — as from an instantaneous, immediate, in- ward awakening by the power of the Holy Spirit, in which a divine afflatus was felt both by the speaker and hearers ; to this class, belonged the rf^ocpriTsTai, the p^agirff^a TT^oop-nrsTas. To the prophets also were as- cribed the exhortations (ifa^axXriasig), which struck with the force of instantaneous im- pression on the minds of the hearers.* The SiSadxaXoi might also possess the gift of ir^o(pr]Tsia, but not all' who uttered particular instantaneous exhortations as prophets in the church were capable of holding the office of 8i8a(fxa>M.-\ We have no precise information concerning the relation of the SiSa(fxakm to the presbyters in the primitive church, whether in the appointment of pres- byters, care was taken that only those who were furnished with the gift of teaching should be admitted into the college of pres- byters. Yet, in all cases, the oversight of the propagation of the Christian faith — of the administration of teaching and of devo- tional exercises in the social meetings of believers, belonged to that general superin- tendence of the church which was entrusted to them, as in the Jewish synagogues ; al- though it was not the special and exclusive offices of the elders to give public exhorta- tions, yet whoever might speak in their assemblies, they exercised an inspection over them. Acts xiii, 15, In an epistle written towards the end of the apostolic era to an early church composed of Christians of Jewish descent in Palestine (the Epistle to the Hebrews), it is presupposed that the rulers of the church had from the first pro- vided for the delivery of divine truth, and watched over the spiritual welfare of the * The Levite Joses, who distinguished himself by his powerful addresses in the church, was reckoned among the prophets, and hence was called by the apostles nj^^bi ^'3i Bot/!vajSac, and this is translated in the Acts (iv. 36) vlo? a-s.»V£a)f= t In Acts xix. 6, as a manifestation of the spi- ritual gifts that followed conversion, ^^cpnTiuW is put next to yxJuva-Mf xcimIv. Chap. II.] IN PALESTINE. 37 church, and therefore had the care of souls. Relative to the spread of Christianity among the Jews, the most remarkable fea- ture is the gradual transition from Judaism to Christianity as a new independent crea- tion, Christianity presenting itself as the crowning-point of Judaism in its consum- mation accomplished by the Messiah ; the transfiguration and spiritu«lization of Ju- daism, the new, perfect law given by the Messiah as the fulfilling of the old; the new spirit of the higher life communicated by the Messiah, gradually developing itself in the old religious forms, to which it gave a real vitality. Such is that representation of Christianity which is given in the Sermon on the Mount. First of all, Peter appears before us, and then after he had passed over the limits of the old national theocracy to publish the gospel among the heathen, James presents himself as the representa- tive of this first step in the developement of Christianity in its most perfect form. The transition from Judaism to Chris- tianity in general gradually developed itself, beginning with the acknowledgmentof Jesus as the Messiah promised in the Old Testa- ment ; and hence many erroneous mixtures of the religious spirit prevalent among the Jews were formed with Christianity, in which the Jewish element predominated, and the Christian principle was depressed and hindered from distinctly unfolding it- self. There were many to whom faith in the Messiahship of Jesus was added to their former religious views, only as an insulated outward fact, without developing a new principle in their inward life and disposition — baptized Jews who acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, and expected his speedy return for the establishment of the Mes- sianic kingdom in a temporal form, as they were wont to represent it to themselves from their carnal Jewish standing-point ; they received some new precepts from Him, j as so many positive commands, without i rightly understanding their sense and spirit, | and were little distinguished in their lives j from the common Jews. That Jesus faith- I fully observed the form of the Jewish law, | was assumed by them as a proof that that form would always retain its value. They clung to the letter, the spirit was always a mystery: they could not understand in what sense he declared that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. They adhered to not destroying it according to the letter, without understanding what this- meant according to the spirit, since what was meant hy fuljillmg it was equally un- known to them. Such persons would easily fall away from the faith which never had been to them a truly living one, when they found that their carnal expectations were not fulfilled, as is implied in the language of the Epistle to the Hebrews. As the common Jewish spirit manifested itself to be a one-sided attachment to externals in religion, a cleaving to the letter and out- ward forms, without any developement and appropriation of the spirit, a preference for the shell without the kernel ; so it appeared in the Jews as an opponent to the reception of the gospel, and to the renovation of the heart by it, as an overvaluation of the out- ward observance of the law, whether in ceremonies or in a certain outward pro- priety, and an undue estimation of a merely historical faith, something external to the soul, consisting only in outward profession, either of faith in one God as creator and governor, or in Jesus as the Messiah, as if the essence of religion were placed in either one or the other, or as if a righteousness before God could be thereby obtained. The genius of the gospel presented itself in op- position to both kinds of opus ojoeratuyn and dependence on works, as we shall see in the sequel. At first it was the element of Pharisaic Judaism, which mingled itself with, and disturbed the pure Christian truth ; at a later period Christianity aroused the attention of those mystical or theoso- phic tendencies, which had developed them- selves in opposition to the Pharisaism cleaving rigidly to the letter, and a carnal Judaism, partly and more immediately as a reaction from the inward religious ele- ment and spirit of Judaism, partly under the influence of Oriental and Grecian men- tal tendencies, by which the unbending and rugged Judaism was weakened and modi- fied ; and from this quarter other erroneous mixtures with Christianity proceeded, which cramped and dei)ressed the pure develope- ment of the Word and Spirit. We shall now pass on from the first in- ternal developement of the Christian Church among the Jews to its outward condition. 38 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. HI. CHAPTER III. THE OUTWARD CONDITION OF THE PRIMITIVE CHURCH: ITS PERSECUTIONS AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES. It does not appear that the Pharisees, though they had taken the lead in the con- demnation of Christ, were eager, after that event, to persecute his followers. They looked on the illiterate Galileans, as worthy of no further attention, especially since they strictly observed the ceremonial law, and at first ■ abstained from controverting the peculiar tenets of their party; they allowed them to remain undisturbed, like some other sects by whom their own interests were not affected. Meanwhile, the church was. en- abled continually to enlarge itself. An in- creasing number were attracted and won by the overpowering energy of spiritual influence which was manifested in the pri- mitive church ; the apostles also by the miracles they wrought in the confidence and power of faith, first aroused the atten- tion of carnal men, and then made use of this impression to bring them to an ac- knowledgment of the divine power of Him in whose name such wonders were per- formed, and to hold him forth to them as the deliverer from all evil. Peter especially, possessed in an extraordinary degree that gift of faith which enabled him to perform cures, of which a remarkable example is recorded in the third chapter of the Acts. When Peter and John at one of the usual hours of prayer, about three in the after- noon, were going into the Temple, they found at the gates of the Temple (whose precincts, as afterwards those of Christian churches, were a common resort of beg- gars) a man who had been lame from his birth. While he was looking for alms from them, Peter uttered the memorable words, which plainly testified the conscious pos- session of a divine power that could go far beyond the common powers of Man and of Nature: and which, pronounced with such confidence, carried the pledge of their ful- filment : "Silver and gold have I none ; but such as I have, give I thee; in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk." When the man, who had been universally known as a lame beggar, was seen stand- ing with joy by the side of his two benefac- tors, to whom he clung with overflowing gratitude, a crowd full of curiosity and astonishment collected around the apostles as they were leaving the Temple, and were ready to pay them homage as persons of peculiar sanctity. But Peter said to them, " Why do you look full of wonder on us as if we had done this by our own power and holiness 1 It is not our work, but the work of the Holy One whom ye rejected and delivered up to the Gentiles ; whose death ye demanded, though a heathen judge wished to let him go, and felt compelled to acknowledge his innocence." We here meet with the charge which ever since the day of Pentecost, Peter had been used to bring forward, in order to lead the Jews to a consciousness of their guilt, to repentance, and to faith. " God himself has by subse- quent events justified Him whom ye con- demned, and proved your guilt. That God who was with our Fathers, and revealed his presence by miraculous events, has now revealed himself by the glorification of Him whom ye condemned. Ye have put him to death, whom God destined thereto, to bestow on us a divine life of everlasting blessedness ; but God raised him from the dead, and we are the eye-witnesses of his resurrection. The believing confidence im- planted in our hearts by him, has effected this miracle before your eyes." Peter would have spoken in a different strain to obsti- nate unbelievers. But here he hoped to meet with minds open to conviction. He therefore avoided saying what would only exasperate and repel their feelings. After he had said what tended to convince them of their guilt, he adopted a milder tone, to infuse confidence and to revive the contrite. He brought forward what might be said in extenuation of those who had united in the condemnation of Christ, " That in igno- rance they had denied the Messiah,"* and that as far as they and their rulers had acted in igorance, it was in consequence of a higher necessity. It was the eternal counsel of God, that the Messiah should sufl^er for the salvation of men, as had been predicted by the Prophets. But now is the * Peter by no means acquits them of all crimi- nality, as the connexion of his words with what he had before said plainly shows; for he had brought forward the example of Pilate to point out how great was the criminality of those who, even in their blindness, condemned Jesus ; but ignorance may be more or less culpable, according to the difference of the persons. Chap. III.] IN PALESTINE. 89 time for you to prove, that you have erred only through ignorance, if you now allow yourselves to be brought to a sense of your unrighteousness by the fact of which you are witnesses ; if you now repent and believe in Jesus as the Messiah, and seek through him that forgiveness of your sins which he is ready to bestow. Thus only you can expect deliverance from all evil and full salvation ; for he is now hidden from your bodily eyes, and, exalted to heaven, reveals himself as invisibly efficient by miracles, such as those you have witnessed ; but when the time arrives for the completion of all things, that great period to which all the prophecies of the Old Testament point from the beginning, then will he appear again on earth to effect that completion ; for Moses* and the prophets have spoken beforehand of what is to be performed by the Messiah, as the consummation of all things. And you are the persons to whom these promises of the prophets will be fulfilled ; to you be- long the promises which God gave to your Fathers, the promise given to Abraham, that through his posterity all the families of the earth should be blessed. f As one day a blessing from this promised seed of Abraham shall extend to all the nations of the earth,:}: so shall it first be fulfilled to you, if you turn from your sins to him. The commotion produced among the peo- ple who gathered round the apostles in the precincts of the Temple, at last aroused the attention and suspicion of the priests, whose office it was to perform the service in the Temple, and to preserve order there. The * Peter here appeals to the passage in Deute- ronomy xviii. 15, 18, where certainly, according to the connexion, only the prophets in general, by whom God continually enlightened and guided his people, are contrasted with the false soothsayers and tnagicians of idolatrous nations. But yet, as the Messiah was the last of these promised pro- phets, to be followed by no other, in whom the whole prophetic system found its centre and con- summation, so far this passage in its spirit may justly be applied to the Messiah ; though we cannot affirm that Peter himself was distinctly aware of the difference between the right interpretation of the letter, according to grammatical and logical rules, and its application in spirit, not arbitrary in- deed, but grounded on an historical necessity. t This promise. Gen. xii. 3, xviii. 18, xxii. 18, according to its highest relation, which must be found in the organic developement of the kingdom of God, is fulfilled by the Messiah. t On the sense in which, at that time, Peter un- derstood this, t two apostles, with the cured cripple who kept close to them, were apprehended, and as it was now evening, too late for any judicial proceedings, were put in confine- ment till the- next day.* When brought before the Sanhedrim, Peter, full of holy inspiration, and raised by it above the fear of man, testified to the Rulers of the Jewish nation that 'only by the might of Him whom they had crucified, but whom God had raised from the dead, it had come to pass, that they *Gfr(3rer imagines that he can show that this narrative was only a legendary echo of the accounts in the Gospels, a transference of the miracles of Christ to the apostles, and often applies this mode of interpretation to the first part of the Acts. Thus he maintains, that the words in Acts iv. 7, " By what power and by what name have ye done this ?" are copied from the question addressed to Christ, Luke XX. 2 : " Tell us by what authority thou doest these things ?" and that this is proved to be a false transference, because the question stands in its right place in the Gospel history, but not in the narrative of the Acts ; " for, according to the Jewish notions, every one might cure diseases." But though the cure of a disease need not occasion any further inquiries, yet a cure, which appeared to be accomplished by supernatural power, might pro- perly call forth the inquiry. Whence did he who performed it profess to receive the power ? As it was understood by Peter, the question involved an accusation that he professed to have received power for performing such things, through his connexion with an individual who had been condemned by the Sanhedrim. This question was intended to call forth aconfession of guilt. Equally groundless isGfrOrer's supposition, that the quotation in Act« iv. 11, " This is the stone which was set at nought of you build- ers," refers to Matt. xxi. 42, and can only be un- derstood by such a reference. The connexion of the passage is sufficiently explicit, and is as fol- lows : " If ye call us to account for the testimony we bear to Jesus as the Messiah, ye will verify what was predicted in that passage of the Psalms. The Jesus of Nazareth condemned by the heads of the Jewish polity, is honoured by God to be made the foundation on which the whole kingdom of God rests. He has received from God the power by which we effect such miracles." Gfrfjrer further remarks, that the plainest proof that this narrative is defective in historical truth lies in verse 16, " What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by tiiem is manifest to all them that dwell in Jeru- salem, and we cannot deny it;" he asserts that these persons could not have so expressed them- selves. But if the author of this account has put in the mouth of the Sanhedrim, what he believed might be presumed to be the thoughts that in- fluenced their conduct, can it on that account be reasonably inferred, that the narrative is in the main unliistorical ? On the same plan by which GfrOrer thinks he can show that such narratives in the Acts are only imitations of those in the Gospels, we might easily nullify miach in later history, as merely legendary copies of earlier history. 40 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. III. beheld this man standing in perfect sound- ness before them. He was the stone de- spised by the builders, those who wished to be the leaders of God's people, who would become the foundation on which the whole building of God's kingdom would rest. Psalm cxviii. 22. There was no other means of obtaining salvation, but faith in him alone. The members of the Sanhedrim were astonished to hear men, who had not been educated in the Jewish schools, and whom they despised as illiterate, speak with such confidence and power, and they knew not what to make of the undeniable fact, the cure of the lame man ; but their preju- dices and spiritual pride would not allow them to investigate more closely the cause of the fact which had taken place before their eyes. They only wished to suppress the excitement which the event had occa- sioned, for they could not charge any false doctrine on the apostles, who taught a strict observance of the law. Perhaps also the secret though not altogether decided friends, whom the cause of Christ had from the first among the members of the Sanhedrim, ex- erted an influence in favour of the accused. The schism likewise between the Pharisaic and the Sadducean parties in the Sanhedrim, might have a favourable influence on the conduct of that assembly towards the Chris- tians. The Sadducees, who were exaspe- rated with the apostles for so zealously ad- vocating the doctrine of the resurrection, and who were the chief authors of the machinations against them at this time, were yet so far obliged to yield to the pre- valent popular belief, as not to venture to allege that against the disciples which most excited their enmity. Hence, without mak- ing any specific charge against the apostles, they satisfied themselves with imposing silence upon them by a peremptory man- date ; which, according to the existing ec- clesiastical constitution of the Jews, the Sanhedrim was competent to issue, being the highest tribunal in matters of faith, ■without whose sanction no one could be acknowledged as having a divine commis- sion. The apostles protested that they could not comply with a human injunction, if it was at variance with the laws of God, and that they could not bo silent respecting what they had seen and heard ; the Sanhe- drim, however, repeated the prohibition, and added threats of punishment in case of disobedience. Meanwhile this miracle, so publicly wrought — the force of Peter's address — and the vain attempt "to silence him by threats, had the effect of increasing the number of Christian professors to about two thousand. As the apostles, without giving themselves any concern about the injunction of the Sanhedrim, laboured ac- cording to the intention they had publicly avowed, both by word and deed, for the spread of the Gospel, it is not surprising that they were soon brought again before the Sanhedrim as contumacious. When the president reproached them for their diso- bedience, Peter renewed his former protes- tation. " We must obey God rather than man. And the God of our Fathers (he proceeded to say) is he who has called us to testify of what ye have forbidden us to speak. By his omnipotence, he has raised that Jesus whom ye crucified, and has ex- alted him to be the leader and redeemer of his people, that through him all may be called to repentance, and receive from him the forgiveness of their sins. This we testify, and this the Holy Spirit testifies in the hearts of those who believe on him."* These words of Peter at once aroused the wrath of the Sadducees and Fanatics, and many of them were clamorous for putting the apostles to death ; but amidst the throng of infuriated zealots, 07ie voice of temperate wisdom might be heard. Gamaliel, one of the seven most distinguished teachers of the Law (the Rabbanim), thus addressed the members of the Sanhedrim ; " Consider well what ye do to these men. Many * These words (Acts v. 32) are by many under- stood, as if by the term 7re/3-ag;^3vvT£c the apostles were intended, and as if the sense of the passage were this : We testify of these things, as the eye- witnesses chosen by Him ; and the Holy Spirit, in whose power we have performed this cure, testifies by the works which we accomplish in his name. Such an interpretation is certainly possible. But it is more natural, as we apply the first clause to the apostles, to apply the second to those who re- ceived their message in faith, and to whom the truth of this message was verified, independently of their human testimony, by the divine witness of the Holy Spirit, in their hearts; to whom the Holy Spirit himself gave a pledge, that by faith in Jesus, they had received forgiveness of sins and a divine life. This interpretation is also to be pre- ferred, because Peter, after the day of Pentecost, was always wont to appeal to that objective testi- mony which the Holy Spirit produced in all be- lievers. If tiie first interpretation were correct, the emphasis would lie on i/uii; — we, and the Holy Spirit by us ; indeed, the last clause should have been >i/xh to7j Tm^Af^dua-ii. Chap. III.] IN PALESTINE. 41 founders of sects and party-leaders have appeared in our day; they have at first acquired great notoriety, but in a short time they and their cause have come to nothing." He proved his assertion by several example? of commotions and in- surrections which happened about that pe- riod among the Jews.* They might safely leave this affair also to itself If of human origin, it would speedily corpe to an end ; but if it should be something divine, vain would be the attempt to put it down by hu- man power, and let them see to it, that they were not guilty of rebellion against God. ■ Too much has been attributed to these words of Gamaliel, when it has been in- ferred from them, that he was a secret ad- herent of the Gospel ;t the connexion he kept up with the Jewish schools of theology precludes such a supposition. By the tra- ditions of the Gemara we are justified in considering him as one of the freethinking Jewish theologians, which also we learn from his being in favour of the cultivation of Grecian literature ;^ and from his pecu- liar mental constitution, we might likewise infer, that he could be more easily moved by an impression of the divine, even in appearances which did not bear the stamp of his party. But many of his expressions which are preserved in the Mishna, mark him plainly enough to have been a strict Pharisee, such as he is described by his pupil Paul ; the great respect, too, in which * The mention of Theudas in Gamaliel's speech, occasions, as is well known, a great difficulty, since his insurrection seems as if it could be no other than that meniioned by Josephus, Antiq. xx. 5, 1 ; but to admit this would involve an anachro- nism. It is very possible that, at different times, two persons named Theudas raised a sedition among the Jews, as the name was by no means uncommon. Origen (against Celsus, i. 57) men- tions a Theudas before the birth of Christ, but his testimony is not of great weight, for perhaps he fixed the time by the account in the Acts. It is also possible that Luke, in the relation of the event which he had before him, found the example of Theudas adduced as something analogous, or that one name has happened to be substituted for an- other. In either ease it is of liltle importance. t In the Clementines, i. 65, on the principle of fraus pia, it is supposed that, by the advice of the apostles, lie remained a member of the Sanhedrim, and concealed his real faith in order to act for the advantage of the Christians, and to give them se- cret informations of all the designs formed against them. t See Jost's History of the Israelites, vol. iii. p. 170. he has ever been held by the Jews is a suf- ficient proof that they never doubted the soundness of his creed, that he could not be accused of any suspicious connexion with the heretical sect. On the one hand, he had a clear perception of the fact, that all fanatical movements are generally ren- dered more violent by opposition, and that what in itself is insignificant, is often raised into importance by forcible attempts to sup- press it. On the other hand, the manner in which the apostles spoke and acted made some impression on a man not wholly pre- judiced ; while their exact observance of the law, and hostile attitude towards Sad- duceeism, must have disposed him more strongly in their favour, and hence the thought might arise in his mind, that after all there was something divine in the cause they advocated. His counsel prevailed ; no heavier punishment than scourging was in- flicted on the apostles for their disobedience, and they were dismissed after the former prohibition had been repeated. Up to this time, the members of the new sect being strict observers of the law, and agreeing with the Pharisees in their opposi- tion to the Sadducees, appeared in a favour- able light to at least the moderate of the former.* But this amicable relation was at an end as soon as they came, or threat- ened to come, into an open conflict with the principles of Pharisaism itself; when the spirit of the new doctrine was more distinctly felt in that quarter, an effect pro- duced by an individual memorable on this account in the early annals of Christianity, the proto-martyr Stephen. The deacons, as we have already re- marked, were primarily appointed for a secular object, but in the discharge of their special duty frequently came in contact with home and foreign Jews ; and since men had been chosen for this office who were full of Christian zeal, full of Christian faith, and full of (christian wisdom and prudence, they possessed both the inward call, and the ability to make use of these numerous opportunities for the spread of the Gospel among the .lews. In these at- tempts, Stephen particularly distinguished himself As a man of Hellenistic descent and education, he was better fitted than a * See Schneckenburger's Essay in his " Beitra. gen zur Einleilung in's Neue Testament" p. 87. 42 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. III. native of Palestine for entering into the views of those foreign Jews who had syna- gogues for their exclusive use at Jerusalem, and thus leading them to receive the Gos- pel. The Holy Spirit, who hitherto had. employed as instruments for the spread of the gospel only the Palestinian Jews, now fitted for his service an individual of very different mental training, the Hellenistic Stephen ; and the result of this choice was very important. Although the Holy Spirit alone< according to the Saviour's promise, could lead the apostles to a clear perception of the contents of the whole truth* an- nounced by himself; yet the quicker or slower developement of this perception, was in many respects dependent on the mental peculiarity, and the special standing- point of general and religious culture of the individuals who were thus to be en- lightened by the Holy Spirit. In one indi- vidual, the developement of Christian know- ledge was prepared for by his previous standing-point ; and hence under the in- fluence of the Holy Spirit, a knowledge (yvwrfij) of Christian truth rapidly developed itself from faith (iridns) ; whereas, for an- other to attain the same insight, the bounds which confined his previous standing-point must be first broken down by the power of the Holy Spirit operating in a more imme- diate manner, by a new additional revela- tion (a*oxaXu4/ig). When Christ spoke to his apostles of certain things which they could not yet comprehend, but which must be first revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, he, no doubt, referred to the essence of re- ligion, to that worshipping of God in spirit and in truth, which is not necessarily con- fined to place or time, or to any kind what- ever of outward observances ; and with which the abolition of the Mosaic ceremo- nial law (that wall of separation between the chosen people of God and other nations, Ephes. ii. 14), and the union of all nations in one spiritual worship and one faith — were closely connected. The apostles had by this time understood, through the illu- mination of the Holy Spirit, the nature of the spiritual worship founded on faith, but the consequences flowing from it in relation * Christ did not promise the apostles indefinitely that the Holy Spirit should guide them into all things, but into the whole of the truth, whicli he came to announce for the salvation of mankind ; John xvi. 13. to outward Judaism they had not yet clearly apprehended. In this respect, their standing- point resembled Luther's — after he had at- tained a living faith in justification, in reference to outward Catholicism, ere he had by the further maturing of his Chris- tian knowledge, abjured that also — and that of many who before and since the Reforma- tion have attained to vital Christianity, though still to a degree enthralled in the fetters of Catholicism. Thus the apostles first attained to a full developement of their Christian knowledge, to a clear perception of the truth on this side, when by the power of the Holy Spirit they were freed from the fetters of their strictly Jewish training, which obscured this perception. On the other hand, the Hellenistic Stephen needed not to attain this mental freedom by a new immediate operation of the Holy Spirit, for he was already, by his early developement in Hellenistic culture, more free from these fetters, he was not so much entangled in Jewish nationality, and hence his Christian knowledge could on this side more easily and quickly attain to clearness of percep- tion. In short, Stephen was the fore- runner of the great Paul,* in his perception of Christian truth and testimony he bore to it, as well as in his conflict for it with the carnal Jews, who obstinately adhered to their ancient standing-point. It is highly probable, that he was first induced by his disputations with the Hellenists, to present the Gospel on the side of its opposition to the Mosaic law ; to combat the belief in the necessity of that law for the justification * " To which Baur of Tubingen has properly drawn attention in his ingenious essay, De orationis habit(B a Stephana, Act. c. vii. consilin. In trying to establish a divine objective or historical pragma- tism in the relative position of these two champions of the Christian faith (for which I am under obli- gations to Dr. Baur, who probably first drew my attention to it), I cannot agree with Dr. Schneck- enburger, who thinks he has detected a subjective pragmatism purposely framed by Luke. In tlic simple representation given by Luke from the no- tices of single facts lying before him, I cannot discover any direct intention to exhibit Stephen in his public character and in his disputations with the Jews as a prototype of Paul. (See Schneck- enburger's work on the Acts, pp. 172, 184). If sucii had really been his design, it would, I think, have been more strongly marked, after the manner of his times. Indeed, the views ascribed to Luke of becoming the apologist of Paul in opposition to tlio partisans of Peter, are of too artificial a cast, and too little supported by his own language, to induce me to approve of such an hypothesis. Chap. III.] IN PALESTINE. 43 and sanctification of men, and, what was connected therewith, its perpetual obliga- tion, and, then to show that the new spirit of the gospel freed it altogether from the outward forms of Judaism ; that the new spirit of religion required an entirely new form. As agreeably to the prophecy of Christ, the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, with which the Jews had hitherto considered the worship of God as neces- sarily and essentially connected, was now about to take place by means o^ the divine judgments on the degenerate earthly king- dom of God, through the victorious divine power of the Messiah, exalted to the right hand of his Heavenly Father — so would the whole outward system of Judaism fall with this its only earthly sanctuary, and the theocracy arise glorified and spiritual- ized from its earthly trammels. We can- not determine with confidence, to what extent Stephen, in his disputations with the Jews, developed all this, but we may infer with certainty from the consequences, that it would be more or less explicitly stated by this enlightened man. Hence it came to pass, that the rage of the Pharisees was now excited, as it had never yet been against the promulgators of the new doc- trine ; hence an accusation such as had never yet been brought against them — that Stephen had uttered blasphemous words against Jehovah and against Moses. We are told, indeed, that false witnesses de- posed against him that he ceased not to speak against the Holy City (the Temple) and the Law — that he had declared that Jesus of Nazareth would destroy the Tem- ple, and abrogate the usages handed down from Moses. But although these accusa- tions are represented as the depositions of false witnesses, it does not follow, that all that they said was a fabrication, but only that they had, on many points, distorted the assertions of Stephen, with an evil inten- tion. They accused him of attacking the divine origin and holiness of the law, and of blaspheming Moses; all which was very far from his design. Yet he must, by what he said, have given them some ground for their misrepresentations, for before, this time, nothing similar had been brought against the publishers of the gospel ; hence we may make use of their allegations to find out what Stephen really said. And- his defence plainly indicates that he by no means intended to repel that accusation as altogether a falsity, but rather to ac- knowledge that there was truth mixed up with it ; that what he had really spoken, and what was already so obnoxious to the Jews, he had no Avish to deny, but only to develope and establish it in its right con- nexion. And thus we gain the true point- of view for* understanding this memorable and often misunderstood speech. Stephen was seized by his embittered enemies, brought before the Sanhedrim, and accused of blasphemy. But though the minds of his judges were so deeply prejudiced by the reports spread against him, and they waited with intense eager- ness to see the man who had uttered such unheard of things — when he actually came before them, and began to speak, they were struck with the commanding expres- sion of his whole figure, with the inspired confidence — the heavenly repose and se- renity which beamed in all his features. In the Acts we are told, that he stood be- fore them with a glorified countenance, " as it were the face of an angel ;" and it is very probable, that many members of the San- hedrim had thus described the impression which his appearance made upon them. The topics and arrangement of his discourse were suited to confirm this impression, and to turn it to good account, to fix the atten- tion of his judges, and to put their minds in a more favourable position towards the speaker, thus gradually preparing them for that which he wished to make the m^n subject of his discourse. That discoiffse perfectly corresponds with the leading qua- lities ascribed to his character in the Acts. In his frank manner of expressing what he had learnt by the light of divine spirit, we recognise the man full of the power of faith, without the fear of man, or defer- ence to human opinion ; in his manner of constantly keeping one end in view, and yet, instead of abruptly urging it, gradually preparing his hearers for it, we recognise the man full of Christian prudence. The object of Stephen's discourse was not simple but complex ; yet it was so con- structed, that the different topics were linked together in the closest manner. Its primary object was certainly apologetical, but as he forgot himself in the subject with which he was inspired, his apologetic efforts relate to the truths maintained by him, and im- 44 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Chap. III. pugned by his adversaries, rather than to himself; hence, not satisfied with defend- ing, he' developed and enforced the truths he had proclaimed ; and at the same time, condemned the carnal ungodly temper of the Jews, which was little disposed to re- ceive the truth. Thus with the apologetic element, the didactic and polemic were combined. Stephen first refutes the charges made against him of enmity against the people of God, of contempt of their sacred institutions, and of blaspheming Moses. He traces the procedure of the divine pro- vidence, in guiding the people of God from the times of their progenitors ; he notices the promises and their progressive fulfil- ment, to the end of all the promises, the end of the whole developement of the the- ocracy — the advent of the Messiah, and the work to be accomplished by him. But with this narrative, he blends his charges against the Jewish nation. He shows that their ingratitude and unbelief proceeding from a carnal mind, became more flagrant in proportion as the promises were fulfilled, or given with greater fulness; and their conduct in the various preceding periods of the developement of God's kingdom, was a specimen of the disposition they now evinced towards the publication of the gos- pel.* The first promise which God made to the patriarchs, was that respecting the land which he would give to their posterity for a possession, where they were to wor- ship him. In faith, the patriarchs went forth under the guidance of God himself, which, however, did not bring them to the fulfilment of the promise. This promise was brought to the eve of its accomplish- ment by Moses. His divine call, the mira- cles God wrought for him and by him, arc especially brought forward, and likewise the conduct of the .lews while under his guidance, as unbelieving, ungrateful, and rebellious towards this highly accredited • In this species of polcniical discussion, Ste- phcn was a forerunner of Paul. De Wette justly notices, as a peculiarity of ihe Hebrew nation, that conscience was more alive among: ''lem than any olher people; often, indeed, ;in evil conscience, the feeling of puilt, the feeling of the high office assign- ed to it wiiich it cannot and will not discharge, the feeling of a schism between knowledge (the law) and the will, so that sin accumulates and comes distinctly into view; Rom. v. 20. Sec Sluclien nnd Kntikfn, 1 837, p. 10U3. On this account, the history of the Hebrew nation is the type of tlie history of mankind, and of men in general. servant of God, through whom they had received such great benefits ; and yet Moses was not the end of the divine reve- lation. His calling was to point to that prophet whom God would raise up after him, whom they were to obey like himself. The conduct of the Jews towards Moses is therefore a type of their conduct towards that last great prophet whom he announced and prefigured. The Jews gave themselves up to idolatry, when God first established among them by Moses a symbolical sanc- tuary for his worship. This sanctuary was in the strictest sense of divine origin. Moses superintended its erection according to the pattern shown to him by God. in a symbolic higher manifestation.* The sanc- tuary was a movable one, till at last, So- lomon was permitted to erect an abiding edifice for divine worship on a similar plan. With this historical survey, Stephen con- cludes his argument against the supersti- tious reverence for the temple felt by the carnally-minded Jews, their narrow-hearted sensuous tendency to confine the essence of religion to the temple-worship. Having expressed this in the words of the prophet Isaiah, it was a natural transition to speak of the essential nature of true spiritual wor- ship, and of the prophets who in opposition to the stiff-necked, carnal dispositions of the Jews had testified concerning it, and the Messiah by whom it was to be esta- blished among the whole human race. A vast prospect now opened before him ; but he could not complete the delineation of the august vision of the divine dispensations which was present to his imagination ; while gazing at it, the emotions it excited carried him away; his holy indignation gushed forth in a torrent of rebuke, against the ungodly, unbelieving, hypocritical dis- position of the Jews, whose conduct in re- ference to the divine communications had been the same from the time of Moses up to that very moment. " Ye stiff-necked, although boasting of your circumcision, yet who have never received the true cir- cumcision. Ye uncircumcised in heart and * Stephen probably wished to intimate ihat, in order to guard against idolatry, to whicii the Jews were so prone, it was necessary to confine the wor- ship of God to a fixed visible sanctuary, and, on the other hand, which is an idea that pervades the Epistle to the Hebrews, that this sanctuary could not communicate the divine, but could only repre- sent it in a figure. Chap. III.] IN PALESTINE. 45 ear (who want the disposition to feel and to understand what is divine), ye always with- stand the workings of the Holy Ghost. Ye do as your fathers did. As your fathers murdered the prophets who predicted the appearance of the Holy One, so have ye yourselves given Him up to the Gentiles, and thus are become his murderers. Ye who boast of a law given by God through the ministry of angels,* (as organs of making known the divine will), and yet are so little observant of this law!" Till this rebuke was uttered, Stephen had been quietly heard. But as soon as they perceived the drift of his discourse, their blind zeal and spiritual pride were roused. He observed the symptoms of their rage, but instead of being terrified thereby, he looked up to heaven, full of believing confidence in the power of Him of whom he testified, and saw with a pro- phetic glance, in opposition to the machi- nations of men against the cause of God, the glorified Messiah, denied by these men, but exalted to heaven, armed with divine power, and about to conquer all who dared to oppose his kingdom. This prophetic view was presented to him in the form of a symbolic vision. As he looked up to heaven, it appeared to open before his eyes. In more than earthly splendour, there ap- peared to him a form of divine majesty ; he beheld Christ (whose glorious image was probably present to him from actual early recollection) glorified and enthroned at the right hand of God. Already in spirit raised to heaven, he testified with full confidence of what he beheld. In all periods of the church, a blind zeal for ad- herence to the letter and ceremonial ser- vices has been wont to interpret a highly spiritual state which will not follow the rules of the reigning theological school, nor suffer it to be confined by ancient maxims, as mere fanaticism or blasphe- my ;t and so it was on this occasion. The * This was confessedly a frequent mode among- the Jews of marking the superhuman origin of the law; so tliat, according to Josephiis, Herod, in a speech to the Jewish army, made use of this uni- versally acknowledged fact, that the Jews had re- ceived their law from God (J'i C.yyixm wag* tou S-ssu ^atS-ovTa)»), in order to show how holy the ambas- sadors sent to them must be, who filled the same office as that of the angels between God and men ; dyyixoi = TT^ir^tK ;t«gux.«f. Joseph. Antiq. xv. 5, 3. t Thus, at the Council of Constance, it was con- members of the Sanhedrim stopped their ears, that they might not be defiled by his supposed blasphemies. They threw them- selves on Stephen, and dragged him out of the city, in order to stone him as a blas- phemer. It was sentence and execution all at once ; an act of violence without re- gular judicial examination ; besides, that according to the existing laws, the Sanhe- drim could decide only on disciplinary punishment, but was not allowed to exe- cute a capital sentence, without the concur- rence of the Roman governor. With the same confidence with which Stephen, amidst the rage and fury of his enemies, saw the Saviour of whom he testified, ruling victo- rious — with the same confidence he directed his eyes towards him in the prospect of death, and said, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit !" And as he had only Him before his eyes, it was his Spirit which led him to adopt the Saviour's last words, thus making him a pattern in death, as he had been in life. He who, when carried away with holy zeal for the cause of God, had so emphatically censured the baseness of the Jews, now that their fury attacked his own person, prayed only for this, that their sins might be forgiven. Thus we see in the death of Stephen the new developement of Christian truth appa- rently stopped : he died a martyr, not only for the truth of the gospel in general, but in particular for this free and wider appli- cation of it, which began yvhh him and seemed to expire with him, / Yet from the beginning, it has been the law of the deve- lopement of the Christian life, and will continue to be the same down to the last glorious result, which will consummate the whole with the final triumph over death — that out of death a new life co7nes forth, antl martyrdom for the divine truth, both in its general and particular forms, pre- pares its victory .^\xc\\ was the issue here. This first new developement of evangelical truth was checked in the germ in order to shoot forth with greater vigour, and to a wider extent, in the person of Paul, and the martyrdom of Stephen was one step in the process. If this new develope- ment had been fully exhibited at this time, the other publishers of the gospel would demned as a violation of ecclesiastical subordina- tion, that Huss had dared to appeal to Christ. 46 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Book II. liave been found unprepared for it, and not \ yet capable of receiving it. But in the '. meantinhc, these persons, by a variety of circumstances concurring in a natural way j under the constant guidance of the Holy ! Spirit, were prepared for this deeper insight ' into the truth. The martyrdom of Stephen was impor- tant in its direct eflects for the spreading of the faith, since it might be expected that, under the immediate impression made by the sight of such a witness, and of such a death, many minds not altogether unsus- ceptible, nor altogether deluded by the power of error, would be led to the faith ; but yet the indirect consequences were still more important, by which the third violent persecution was raised against the new church at Jerusalem. This persecution must have been more severe and extensive than the former ; for by the manner in which Stephen entered into conflict with Pharisaism, he had roused to hostilities against the teachers of the doctrine, the sect of the Pharisees, who had the most credit with the common people, and were powerful and active, and ready to leave no means untried to attain their object, what- ,ever it might be. The persecution pro- ceeding from this quarter would naturally mark as its special victims those who were colleagues in office with Stephen, as dea- cons, and who resembled him in their Hel- lenistic origin and education. It was, how- ever, the occasion of spreading the gospel beyond the bounds of Jerusalem and Judea, and even among the Gentiles. With this progressive outward developement of the gospel, was also connected its progressive inward developement, the consciousness of the independence and intrinsic capability of Christianity as a doctrine destined with- out foi-eign aid to impart divine life and salvation to all men, among all nations without distinction. Here, then, we stand on the boundary-line of a new era, both of the outward and inward developement of Christianity. BOOK II THE FIRST SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY FROM THE CHURCH AT JERUSA- LEM TO OTHER PARTS, AND ESPECIALLY AMONG HEATHEN NATIONS. Sajiaria, which had been a scene of j Christ's personal ministry, was the first place out of Judea where the gospel was preached by the apostles. Though the ' people of this country received no part of ^ the Old Testament as sacred excepting the j Pentateuch, yet from this portion of the j Scriptures they formed themselves to faith in a Messiah who was to come ; on him ' they placed their hopes, as the personage I who was to bring back all things to their right relations, and thus to be the universal Restorer.* Political considerations did not ' here, as among the Jews, obstruct the right * " 2r}'^r\ o"" Dnnn ; sec Ccsenius' Weill. Vqoo^''P'"°^^^'"'" '''' *■«"'«"«« nor «7n Thcologia, 1822; and his Carmina Samarilana, p. 75." apprehension of the idea of the Messiah ; an idea which was specially awakened among this people by feelings of mental and bodily misery, though they were defi- cient in that right understanding of it which could only be obtained from its progressive developement in the Old Testament ; nor could the deep feeling of the need of re- demption and restoration be clearly deve- loped among them. A lively but indefinite obscure excitement of the religious feeling, always exposes men to a variety of dan- gerous delusions. This was the case with the Samaritans. As at that time, in other parts of the East, a similar indefinite longing after a new communication from Heaven, — an ominous restlessness in the minds of men, such as generally precedes Book II.] IN PALESTINE, 47 great changes in the history of mankind, was diffused abroad ; so this indistinct anxiety did not fail to lead ^stray and to deceive many, who were not rightly pre- pared for it, while they adopted a false method of allaying it, A mixture of un- conscious self-deception and intentional falsehood moved certain Goet, who, with mystical ideas, proceeding from an amal- gamation of Jewish, Oriental, and Grecian elements, boasted of a special connexion with the invisible world ; and by taking advantage of the unknown powers of Na- ture, and by various arts of conjuration, excited the astonishment of credulous peo- ple, and obtained credit for their boastful pretensions. Such persons found at that time an easy access to the Samaritans in their state of mental excitement. To this class of men belonged a Jewish or Sama- ritan Goes, Simon, who, by his extraordi- nary magical powers, so fascinated the people, that they said he must be more than man, that he was the great Power which emanated from the invisible God, by which he brought forth the universe, now appearing on earth in a bodily form.* The idea of such an Intelligence emanat- ing from God, as proceeding from the first act of the divine self-revelation, the first link in the chain of developed life was spread abroad in various oriental-Alexan- drian and Alexandrian-oriental forms. The idea also of the incarnation of higher intel- ligences generally, and of this intelligence in particular, was by no means foreign to the notions prevalent in those parts. We can hardly consider every thing of this kind as a mere copy of the Christian idea of the incarnation, or recognise in it a symptom of the transforming power which the new * Possibly the words of which this Goes made use, are contained in the apocryphal writings of the Simonians , see Jerome's Commentary on Mat- thew, eh. xxiv. " Ego sum sermo Dei (o koj-oc), ego sum speciosus, ego paraclitus," (according to Philo, the Logos Advocate, ^ragaKXuroc /;csTHf, through the divine reason revealing itself in the phenomenal world (the voynov TTA^uSny/un tou x-ou- fAov), forms the connexion between God and tlie phenomena, what is defective in the latter is sup- plied. De Vita Mosis, i. iii. 673 ; De Migratione Abrahami, 406). Ego omnipotens, ego omnia Dei (according to Philo the Logos is the fjntT^oTrcKi; vultZv Twv (fuva/zsaiv toS ^vai). Still this is uncer- tain, for the sect of the Simonians might easily borrow these expressions, as they had borrowed other things, from Christianity, and attribute- them to Simon. Christian spirit exercised over the intellec- tual world ; for we find earlier traces of such ideas.* But the prevalence of such . ideas proves nothing against the originality of Christianity, or of any of its particular doctrines. On the one hand, we dare not refuse to acknowledge what could already form itself from the germs already given in the Old Testament, which was the pre- parative covering of the New, or from its spirit and leading ideas, which were directed to Christ, as the end of the divine revela- tions. On the other hand, we must recol- lect, that as from the new creation effected by Christianity, a powerful excitement was caused both of kindred and hostile minds, so also a great excitement of these minds preceded the great crisis, unconsciously anticipating and yearning after it ; a pre- sentiment that there would be such a reve- lation of the spiritual world as had not yet been made relating to the destinies of the human race. And from a teleological point of view, we recognise Christianity as the final aim of Divine Wisdom in conducting the course of human developement, when at this period we find the spiritual atmosphere pregnant with ideas, which served to pre- pare a more susceptible soil for Christianity and its leading doctrines, and to form a back-ground for giving relief to the exhi- bition of the divine transactions which it announced. Philip the Deacon being compelled to leave Jerusalem by the persecution which ensued on Stephen's death, was induced to take refuge in Samaria. He came to a city of that country,! where Simon was universally esteemed, and looked upon with wonder and reverence as a supernatural be- * In a Jewish apocryphal writing, the 3-gc(rat;;^^» 'l&)!r«<5), the patriarch Jacob is represented as an incarnation of the highest spirit living in the pre- sence of the divine Original Being, whose true divine name was 'Is-^awA, dviig og^Iiv ^-sov, the TrgaiTo- j,ovoc "cravToc i^'iou ^atov/xuav vtt^ Ssou, (similar ex- pressions to those used by Philo respecting tlie Logos), who was begotten before all angels, o b 7rpo ^vjv xitToupyo^ v^Zitk. Sec Origen, t. n. Joh. k 25. t It is not quite clear that the city of Samaria is intended ; for there is no reason, with some ex- positors of Acts viii. 5, to consider the genitive as the sign of apposition. As in the whole chapter, Samaria is the designation of the country, it is most natural to understand it so in this passage. In the 14th verso, by Samaria is certainly meant the country, and yet it does not follow that abso- lutely the whole land had received the gospel. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Book II. ing. When he saw the people so devoted to a destructive delusion, he felt impelled by his zeal for the cause of God and the salvation of men, to impart that to them which alone could give substantial relief to their spiritual necessities. But men in this situation were not yet susceptible of the spiritual power of truth ; it was needful to pave a way to their hearts by preparatory impressions on the senses. As Philip, by the divine aid, performed things which Simon with all' his magical arts could not effect, especially healing the sick (which he accomplished by prayer and calling on the name of Christ), he thus attracted the attention of men to Him in whose name and power he had ef- fected such things for them, and in their sight; he then took occasion to discourse more fully of Him, his works, and the king- dom that he had established among men, and by degrees the divine power of truth laid hold of their hearts. When Simon saw his followers deserting him, and was himself astounded at the works performed by Philip, he thought it best to acknowledge a power so superior to his own. He there- fore professed himself a disciple of Philip, and was baptized by him like the rest; but as the sequel proves, we cannot infer from this, that the publication of the gospel had made an impression on his heart ; it seems most probable that he secretly interpreted ■what had occurred according to his own views. The miracles performed by Philip had led him to the conviction, that he was in league with some superhuman spirit ; he looked on baptism as an initiation into the compact, and hoped that, by forming such a compact, he might obtain an interest in such higher power, and use it for his own ends ; he wished, in short, to combine the new magic or theurgy with his own. As we have already remarked. It was a stand- ing regulation in primitive times, that all those who professed to believe the an- nouncement of Jesus as the Messiah should be baptized. And when Simon renounced his magical arts, which were now quite out of repute, there was no ground for rejecting him. The information that despised Samaria was the first province out of Judea where the gospel found acceptance, caused great surprise among the Christians at Jerusalem. As the ancient prejudice against the Samari- tans had not quite worn away, and no ac- count had been received that, among the baptized believers, those wonderful works were manifested which, since the day of Pentecost, were considered as necessary concomitants of a reception into the Chris- tian communion, the apostles Peter and John were sent thither to investigate what had transpired, and, by virtue of their apos- tolic calling, to complete whatever might be wanting for the establishment of a Chris- tian community. We find, in the narra- tive of the Acts, no reason to impute the want of these operations of the Divine Spirit among the Samaritans in any degree to Philip's being only a deacon, as if he could not found a Christian society, and by preaching the gospel, and by prayer in the name of Christ, produce effects similar to those wrought by the apostles. But as in the reverse case, namely, the conversion of Cornelius, when the effects that commonly followed baptism then followed the preach- ing of the word, and preceded baptism, there was an internal reason for the order observed ; a longer prepared susceptibility of disposition promoted the more rapid operations of living faith ; so we naturally seek an internal reason for a different pro- cedure among the Samaritans. The effects to which we refer proceeded from the power of a living consciousness of redemption ob- tained, and at the commencement of the new spiritual creation were a mark of vital Christianity. If all were not influenced in an equal degree, yet all were to a certain extent moved by the power of the Divine, and susceptible enough to be vitally aroused and borne along by the impression of that Christian inspiration v/hich they saw before them, for the germ with which these mani- festations of the Spirit connected themselves already existed in their bosoms. It was, in a spiritual respect, as when a flame once broken forth, detects and kindles all the in- flammable materials in its neighbourhood. But among these Samaritans, the feeling of their religious and moral necessities, which living faith in the Redeemer presupposes and unites with, was not yet awakened, in consequence of their being drawn aside and disturbed by the influence of Simon. At first, they believed the declarations of Philip as they had believed in the magical illu- sions of Simon, since these gross sensible miracles demanded their belief. Those who had thus attained to faith, were still entirely Book II.] IN PALESTINE. dependent on the person of Philip as a worker of miracles. They had not yet at- tained the consciousness of a vital commu- nion with the Christ whom Philip preached, nor yet to the consciousness of a personal divine life. The indwelling of the Spirit was as yet something foreign to them, known only by the wonderful operations which they saw taking place around them. We have not a full account in the Acts of what was done by Peter and John, but simply the general results. No doubt these apostles carried on the work of Philip by preaching and prayer. After such a preparation, the believers were assembled, and the apostles prayed that Christ might glorify himself in them, as in all believers, by marks of the com- munication of divine life, employing the usual sign of Christian consecration, the laying on of hands. Manifestations now followed similar to those on the day of Pentecost, and the believers were thus recognised and attested to be a Chris- tian church, standing in an equal rank with the first church at Jerusalem. But Simon was naturally incapable of under- standing the spiritual connexion of these manifestations ; he saw in all of them merely the workings of magical forms and charms, a magic differing not in nature but only in degree from what he practised himself. Hence he imagined, that the apostles might communicate these magical powers to him also, by virtue of which all those on whom he laid hands would be- come filled with divine power, and with this view he offered them money. Peter spurned this proposal with detestation, and now first saw in its true light the real character of Simon, who, in joining him- self to believers, had pretended to be what he was not. Peter's terrible rebuke pre- sents him to us as a faithful preacher of the gospel, insisting most impressively on the supreme importance of disposition in every thing which is imparted by Chris- tianity in direct opposition to the art of magic, which disregards the necessary con- nexion of the divine and supernatural with the disposition of the heart, drags them down into the circle of the natural, and at- tempts to appropriate to itself divine power by means of something else than that which is allied to it in human nature, and the only possible point of connexion for 7 it.* These were Peter's words : " Thy gold, with which thou attemptest to traffic in impiety, perish with thee. Do not de- ceive thyself, as if with this disposition thou couldst have any part in what is promised to believers. Thou hast no share in this niatter,t for God, who sees what is within, is not deceived by thy hypocritical profes- sions. Before his eyes thy intentions are manifest. With sincere repentance for such wickedness, pray to God that he would be pleased to forgive thee this wicked de- sign." This rebuke made a great impres- sion at the time on Simon's conscience, inclined more to superstition than to faith, and awakened a feeling not of repentance for the sinfulness of his disposition, but of apprehension of the divine vengeance. He entreated the apostles that they would pray to the Lord for him, that what they had threatened him with might not come to pass. As is usual with such sudden impressions on the senses, the effect on Simon was only transient, for all the further notices we * The poetical fancies of Christian antiquity, which make Peter the representative of the prin- ciple of simple faith in revelation, and Simon the representative of the magical and theosophic ten- dency in the human mind, have important truths for their basis. t I cannot agree with those who understand xo^oc (Acts viii. 21) in the sense of the Hebrew ^I^TJ = 'gii^a, and suppose that Peter only told Simon that he could have no share in that thing-, in that higher power which he hankered after. In this general sense, 'g«//a is indeed used in the New Testament, but not the more definite term \oyni;. And according to this interpretation, Peter would say less than the context requires ; for look- ing at the connexion of v. 21 with 20 and 22, it is plain, he did not merely say, that Simon with such a disposition was excluded from participating in this higher power, but also from the kingdom of God, and thereby bring condemnation on him- self -Hence we understand the word xo^oc in the common New Testament meaning of the divine doctrine — " tiie doctrine or truth announced by us" — at the same time including tTwinSoniyZi, all that a person would be authorized to receive by the appropriation of this doctrine. I am not con- vinced by what Meyer in his commentary urges against this interpretation, that it is at variance with the connexion, in which there is no mention made of the doctrine. For in the mind of the speaker, the power of working miracles could not be separated from the publication of the gospel and faith in it; and as Simon in tlie disposition of his mind was far from the gospel, and could stand in no sort of fellowship with it, it followed as a matter of course, that he could have no sliare in the ability to work such miracles. 50 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Book II. have of him show that he soon returned to his former courses. About ten or twenty years later, we meet with a Simon in the company of Felix the Roman Procurator of Palestine, so strikingly resembling this man, that we are tempted to consider them as identical. The latter Simon* appears as a heartless magician,! to whom all persons, whatever their character, were welcome, provided they gave credit to his enchant- ments. With equal arrogance he dis- clairped all respect for the ancient forms of religion, and for the laws of morality. He was a confidant of the Roman Procurator Felix, and therefore could never have op- posed his vicious inclinations, but on the contrary made his magic subservient to their gratification; he thus bound him more closely to himself, as a single ex- ample will show. The immoral Felix had indulged a passion for Drusilla, sister of King Herod Agrippa, and wife of King Azizus of Emesa. Simon allowed himself to be the tool of Felix, for gratifying his unlawful desires. He persuaded Drusilla that by his superhuman power he could ensure great happiness for her, provided she married Felix, and managed to over- come her scruples of conscience against marrying a heathen. The character of this Simon is stamped on the later theoso- phic goetic sect of the Simonians, whose tenets were a mixture of the Oriental, Jewish, Samaritan, and Grecian religious elements. The germ of their principles may be plainly traced back to this Simon, though we cannot attribute to him the com- plete system of this sect as it existed in the second century. The two apostles returned again to Jeru- * On the other hand, there is the difference of country, for the Simon to whom we refer, and whom Josephus mentions (Antiq. book xx, eh. vii. § 2), was a Jew from Cyprus ; but Simon Magus, according to Justin Martyr, himself a native of Samaria, was born at a place called Gittim, in Samaria. Yet this evidence is not decisive, for a tradition so long after the time, though prevalent in the country where Simon made his appearance, might be erroneous. What has been said since I wrote the above, against the identity of the two Simons, is not demonstrative, though I willingly allow, that since the name of Simon was a very common one among the Jews, and such itinerant yo>,ra.i were not seldom to be met with, the time also not perfectly agreeing, the identity must be left rather doubtful. t fxdyov thct-i v^KHTTTOfxtvoY, says Josephus. salem, and as what they had witnessed convinced them of the susceptibility of the Samaritans for receiving the gospel, they availed themselves of the opportunity of publishing it in all the parts of the country through which they passed. But Philip extended his missionary journey farther, and became the instrument of bringing the first seeds of the gospel into Ethiopia (the kingdom of Candace at Meroe), though, as far as our knowledge of history goes,* without any important consequences. But, what is more deserving of notice, he pub- lished the gospel in the cities of Palestine, on the southern and northern coasts of the Mediterranean, till at last, probably after a considerable time, he settled at Csesaria Stratonis, where on his arrival he found a Christian society already formed, which he built up in the faith. Though the Christians of Jewish descent, who were driven by persecution from Je- rusalem, were by that event induced to spread the gospel in Syria, and the neigh- bouring districts, yet their labours were confined to Jews. On the other hand, the Hellenists, such as Philip and others, who originally came from Cyprus and Cyrene, made their way among the Gentilesf also, to whom they were allied in language and education, which was not the case with the Jews. They presented them with the gos- pel independent of the Mosaic law, without attempting to make them Jews before they became Christians. Thus the principles held by the enlightened Stephen, the truths for which, in part, he had suffered martyrdom, were by them first brought into practice and realized. And if in this way, inde- pendently of the exertions of the apostles * It is still a question whether the introduction of Christianity was not partially made before the mission of Frumentius on another side, and in a different part of Ethiopia ; whether many things in the doctrine and usages of the present Abyssinian church, with which we have been better acquainted by means of Gobat's Journal, do not indicate a Jewish-Christian origin. If I am not mistaken, the late Rettig has brought forward these ques- tions in the " Studien und Kritiken." Perhaps intercourse with that ancient church will open to us some sources of information for answering them. t In Acts XI. 20, the common reading iAhmirra; is evidently to be rejected, as formed from a false gloss, and the reading which refers to the Gen- tiles (ihKtivA;) must be substituted as undoubtedly correct. Book II.] IN PALESTINE. 51 in Judea, and the developement of Christi- anity in a Jewish form, churches had been raised of purely Hellenistic materials among the heathen, free altogether from Judaism, and if Paul had then appeared to confirm and extend this mode of operation, one consequence might have been, that the older apostles would have maintained with greater stiffness their former standing-point, in opposition to this freer- direction of Christianity, and thus, by the overweight of human peculiarities in the first pub- lishers of the gospel, a violent and irrecon- cilable opposition might have divided the Church into two hostile parties. It could not have happened otherwise if the gei-mi- nating differences, left altogether to them- selves as in later times, had been so deve- loped as to exclude all hopes of a reconci- liation, and the idea of an universal church, overcoming by its higher unity all human differences, could never have been realized. But this disturbing influence, with which the self-seeking and one-sided bias of human nature threatened from the beginning to destroy the unity of the divine work, was counteracted by the still mightier influence of the Holy Spirit, who never allows human differences to develope themselves to such an extreme, but is able to maintain unity in manifoldness. We may distinctly re- cognise the attractive divine power which gives scope to the free agency of man, but knows exactly when it is needful for the success of the divine work, to impart its immediate illumination, if we observe that at the precise moment when the apostles needed a wider developement of their Chris- tian knowledge for the exercise of their calling, and their former contracted views would have been highly injurious, what had been hitherto wanting was imparted to them, by a memorable coincidence of an internal revelation with a train of out- ward circumstances. The apostle Peter was the chosen instrument on this occa- sion. Peter made a visitation from Jerusalem to the churches founded in Judea, Samaria, and towards the west near the Mediterra- nean. The cures effected by him in Christ's name in the large town of Lydda,* and in the city of Joppa (Jaffa), a few miles dis- tant, drew upon him the universal attention of that very populous and extensive district on the coast of the Mediterranean, (the plain of Saron.) Many were converted by him to Christianity, and the city of Joppa became the central point of his labours. As the publication of his new doctrine made - such an impression in these parts, informa- tion respecting it would easily spread to Cajsaria Stratonis, a town on the seacoast about eight miles distant. In the Roman cohort which formed the garrison of this place, was a centurion, Cornelius* by * According to Josephus (Antiq. xx. 6, § 2), a town as large as a city, in later times a consider- able city under the name of Diospolis. * We must here take notice of what GfrOrer alleges against the historical truth of this narra- tive. He maintains, " that the principle, that the heathens were to be incorporated with the Chris- tian church by baptism, without the -observance of the Mosaic law, was first expressed by Paul, and that Peter was brought to acknowledge it by his influence. The conduct of Peter at Antioch, as it is described in the 2d chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, is inexplicable, if he attained his knowledge on this subject, in an independent manner, by a divine revelation. If, on the con- trary, it was only impressed upon him from with- out, by the preponderating influence of Paul, it is then easy to account for his again wavering under the opposite influences of the adherents of James." But whoever understands the relation of the divine and the hurnan to one another, in the develope- ment of the religious life, cannot be surprised, if in the soul of a man, who in general held a truth with divine confidence and clearness, the appre- hension of it should, in an unfavourable moment, undergo a transient obscuration, by the influence of foreign elements, which would afterwards be removed by the return of divine light. But it is by no means evident, that Peter at that time held an erroneous conviction. It was only the violence of a sudden impression, which, through the pecu- liarity of his natural temperament, had too much power over Peter, and made him practically faith- less to those principles which he had by no means abandoned from deliberate reflection. Paul even reproached him with thus acting in contradiction to his yjrinciples, that he who was living as a Gen- tile (s3-i'«wc ^Pf), now practically laid an injunction on the Gentile Christians, that they must submit to the Mosaic law. Certainly, a great change must have passed on Peter, if he had been brought so to act, that Paul could say to him that he him- self had been living as a Gentile. But if this was not connected with some previous preparation in the peculiar religious developement of Peter, it would be difficult to attribute it solely to Paul's influence. Paul nowhere asserts that Peter was first led by him to adopt these views: on the con- trary, he speaks of a revelation made by the Divine Spirit on ihis point to the apostles and prophets. Eph. iii. 5. If we look at the question in a purely psychological point of view, we may indeed pre- sume, that Peter could not have arrived at a con- viction of Christian truth on this point, without a 52 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Book II. name, a Gentile who, dissatisfied with the old popular religion, and seeking after one that would tranquillize his mind, was led by acquaintance with Judaism, to the foun- dation of a living faith in the one God.- Having with his whole family professed the worship of Jehovah, he testified by his benefactions the sympathy he felt with his fellow-worshippers of the Jewish nation ; and observed the hours of prayer customary to the Jews ; so that there is scarcely any room 'to doubt that he belonged to the class of Proselytes of the Gate. Nor can we infer the contrary from the circumstance that Peter and the stricter Jewish Chris- tians looked on Cornelius as an imclean person, and in many respects the same as a heathen. The Proselytes of the Gate were certainly permitted to attend the syna- gogue worship, which was a means of gra- dually bringing them to a full reception of Judaism. Yet the Jews who adopted the stricter maxims of the Pharisees, placed all the uncircumcised in the class of the un- clean, and avoided living and eating with such persons as defiling. Unless we sup- pose this to have been the case, what after- wards occurred in reference to the stricter pharisaical-minded Jewish Christians, and the Gentile Christians who had been partly severe mental struggle; and in this struggle of the divine and the human in his soul, that ecstatic vision would find its natural point of connexion, and occur at a critical juncture, to accomplish the victory of Christian truth, over the reaction of his Jewish mode of thinking. Nor can I with GfrOrer perceive in Acts xi. 3, the traces of a more correct account bearing evidence against the nar- rative. That Peter made no scruple of incorpo- rating Gentiles by baptism with the Christian church, might unquestionably be inferred, if he shunned not to eat and drink with them. Still, we might with equal confidence infer, that a Jewish teacher, who had no scruple to administer baptism to Gentiles, might not come to the con- clusion to consider them of equal rank in the Christian theocracy, and admit them to every kind of intercourse. But though Peter afterwards reckoned the publication of the gospel among the heathen as the special calling of Paul, and the publication of it among the Jews as his own, it is by no means contradictory, that he, when a special demand was made upon him, should exercise his ministry among the Gentiles; just as Paul, al. though the apostle of the Gentiles, gladly embraced the opportunity, when he could find an entrance among the Jews. But in Acts xi. 9, a different spirit speaks from that of the Petrine party, from whom, according to Gfrcirer, this narrative, and in general the first part of the Acts was derived. Proselytes of the Gate, would appear purely enigmatical. As to the remarkable manner in which this devout truth-seeking man (in whose heart God's- Spirit had awakened so lively a sense of his spiritual necessities) was led to mental peace, in order to have a clear conception of the whole proceeding, we must bear in mind that the Acts 'of the Apostles is not intended to develope all the circumstances which belong to the repre- sentation of the exact historical connexion of events ; and that in reference to the manner in which Cornelius was prompted to seek out Peter, his own narrative is the only immediate source of information. But we are not justified to assume that Corne- lius, who certainly could best testify of the facts relating to his own state of mind, of what he had himself experienced, was equally capable of clearly distinguishing the objective, the external matter of fact from the subjective of his own mental state, in what presented itself to him as an ob- ject of his own experience and perception. It was natural also for him not to think' of tracing out the connexion of the higher re- velations made to him, with the preparative natural circumstances ; but that the divine in the affair which wholly occupied his thoughts should remain alone in his re- membrance, and be brought forward in his narrative, while the preparatives in the na- tural connexion of causes and effects re- tired into the background. We are also permitted and justified to supply many circumstances, which though not expressly mentioned, are yet to be supposed ,• not in order to obscure what was divine in the event, but to glorify the manifold wisdom of God as shown in the way men are led to a participation of redemption, in the con- nexion of the divine and the natural, and in the harmony that subsists between na- ture and grace. Ephes. iii. 10. Cornelius had devoted himself for some days to fasting and prayer, which were frequently used conjointly by the Jews and first Christians — the former as the means of making the soul more capable (by de- taching it from sense) for undisturbed con- verse with divine things. This they were wont to do when, in an emergency from inward or outward distress, they sought re- lief and illumination from God. We may, therefore, presume that something similar Book II.] IN PALESTINE. 53 was the case with Cornelius; and naturally ask, What it was that so troubled him 1 From the whole narrative we see that his ardent longing was for religious truth that would bring peace and repose to his heart. Hence it is most probable, that on that ac- count he sought illumination from God by fervent prayer. And what occasioned his seeking it precisely at this time? From the words of the Angel to Coi:nelius, it is by no means certain that the apostle Peter was wholly unknown to him. Peter him- self, in his discourse before the family of Cornelius, Acts, x. 37, appears to have presumed that he had already heard of the doctrine of Christ. It is also probable, that a matter which had already excited such great attention in this district, and which was so closely related to his religious wants, had not escaped his notice. He had pro- bably heard very various opinions respect- ing Christianity ; from many zealous Jews judgments altogether condemnatory ; from others, sentiments which led him to expect that in the new doctrine he would at last find what he had been so long seeking : thus a conflict would naturally arise in his mind which would impel him to seek illu- mination from God on a question that so anxiously occupied his thoughts. It was the fourth day* since Cornelius had been in this state of mind, when, about three in the afternoon, one of the customary * It will be proper here to give the right inter- pretation of Acts X. 30. Many have interpreted the words as equivalent to — " Four days ago I fasted to this time," — namely, the ninth hour wlien he was speaking, and then only one fast- day was kept by Cornelius, in the ninth hour of which this happened. This agrees perfectly with the reckoning of the time. But the meaning of dTTo favours our rendering the passage, I fasted to the ninth hour of the fourth day in which this happened. Kuinoel's objection to this interpreta- tion is not pertinent; for, from the manner in which Cornelius expressed himself, it must be evi- dent that the vision happened on the ninth hour of the fourth fast-day. Now, this passage can be understood to mean, either that Cornelius was wont to fast four days throughout to three o'clock, or that for four days he fasted entirely to the ninth hour of the fourth day when this happened. But fasts, according to the Jewish Christian mode of speaking, did not imply an entire abstinence from all nourishment. I cannot agree with Meier's interpretation, as I understand it, that Peter meant that he had fasted four days, and on the fourth day, reckoning backwards, that is, the day on which the fast began, about three o'clock this event happened. Jewish hours of prayer, while he was call- ing on God with earnest supplication, he received by a voice from Heaven an an- swer to his prayers. The appearance of the angel may be considered as an objec- tive event. The soul belongs in its essence to a higher than the sensible and temporal order of things, and none but a contracted and arrogant reason can deny the possibi- lity of a communication between the higher world and the soul which is allied to it by its very nature. The Holy Scriptures teach us, that such communications from a higher spiritual world to individuals used to occur in the history of mankind, until the central point of all communications from heaven to earth, the Divine Fountain of life itself appeared among us, and there- by established for ever the communion be- tween heaven and earth ; John i, 52. We need not suppose any sensible appearance, for we know not whether a higher spirit cannot communicate itself to men living in a world of sense, by an operation on the inward sense, so that this communication should appear under the form of a sensu- ous perception. Meanwhile, Cornelius him- self is the only witness for the objective reality of the angelic appearance, and he can only be taken as a credible witness of what he believed that he had perceived. By the influence of the Divine Spirit, an elevation of the mind might be naturally connected with his devotion, in which the internal communication from heaven might be represented to the higher self-conscious- ness under the form of a vision.* Although, in the words of the angel, " Thy prayers and alms are come up before God," &c,, the expression is anthropopathic, and adapt- ed to the then Jewish mode of expression, this relates only to the form of the expres- sion. It is the divine in human form. It is marked throughout by the thought so worthy of God, that the striving of the devout anxiety of Cornelius, which was shown to the extent of his ability by prayer and works of love towards the worshippers of Jehovah, — of this germ of goodness, the fostering fatherly love of God had not been unmindful, — that God had heard the prayer of his longing after heavenly truth, and had * The word ''oe,^fAa (Acts x. 3) cannot here be decisive, since it may be used in speaking of an ecstatic vision, or of a vision as an objective fact. 64 THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH [Book II. sent him, in the person of Peter, a teacher of this truth. From the whole form of this narrative, it may be inferred that Cornelius considered the pointing out of Peter's place of residence, not as something that came to his knowledge in a natural way, but by a supernatural communication. It is in- deed possible that he had heard it men- tioned by others casually in conversation, but, as he had not thought further about it, it had completely escaped his recollec- tion, and now in this elevated state of mind what had been forgotten was brought back again to his consciousness, without his thinking of the natural connexion. After all, this" is only possible, and we are by no means justified in considering it necessary. The possibility therefore remains, that this information was communicated in a super- natural way. No sooner had Cornelius obtained this important and joyful certainty, than he sent two of his slaves, and a soldier that waited on him, who also was a Proselyte of the Gate, to fetch the longed-for teacher of divine truth. But this divine leading would not have attained its end, Peter would not have complied with the request of Cornelius, if he had not been prepared exactly at the same time, by the inward enlightening of the Divine Spirit, to acknow- ledge and rightly interpret this outward call of God. In the conjunction of remark- able circumstances which it was necessary should meet so critically, in order to bring about this important result for the histori- cal developement of Christianity, the guid- ing wisdom of eternal Love undoubtedly manifests itself. It was about noon, on the next day, when Peter withdrew to the roof of the house (built flat, in the oriental style) where lie lodged at Joppa, in order to otTer up his mid-day devotions. We can easily sup- pose, that the prayer of the man who had been so zealously occupied in publishing the gospel in that region, would especiallv relate to this great object, the extension of the kingdom of Christ. He might have heard frequent reports that here and there heathens had shown themselves suscepti- ble of the gospel, when proclaimed to them by the scattered Christian Hellenists ; he might have called to mind many intima- tions in the discourses of Christ ; new views respecting the spread of the gospel might have opened to his mind ; but he ventured not to surrender himself to these impressions, he was as yet too much fet- tered by the power of Jewish prejudices, -and hence, probably, a conflict was raised in his mind. While thus occupied in prayer, the demands of animal nature pressed upon him. He arose for the noon- tide meal, which must have been just ready. In the mean time, the meditations which had occupied him in prayer, ab- stracted him from sensible objects. Two tendencies of his nature came into collision. The higher, the power of the Divine, had the mastery over his spirit, and the power of sensuous wants over his lower nature. Thus, it came to pass, that the Divine and the Natural were mingled together,* not so as to obscure the Divine ; but the Divine availed itself of the reflection of the Natural as an image, a symbolic vehicle for the truth about to be revealed to Peter. The divine light that was breaking through the atmosphere of traditionary representations, and making its way to his spirit, revealed itself in the mirror of sensible images which proceeded from the existing state of his bodily frame. Absorbed in divine medita- tions, and forgetting himself in the Divine, Peter saw heaven open, and from thence a vessel, " as it had been a great sheet knit at four corners," f corresponding to the four quarters of the heavens, was let down to the earth. In this vessel he saw * What Plutarch says of such an appearance of the higher Ufe is remarkable : " ic d J'Jvct rZ* a/mx Kux-xui Kctrupigo/ntvaiv o-mfxaTfev olix. i7riK^xrt,vtn ^i&Aiai!, axxcr x.ux,Xa> /niv 'vtt' dva^xj)? (fisOfAivm, KaTm ii ovtv, is-^'jTtgCi/gxhVTtf/ nai 'A^OTrtc KAi 'A>,£^av- cf|ge/