XXX.

“And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad through out the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the Word."—Acts, viii. 1-4, (except the first clause of the first verse.)

In the previous chapter we have an account of the cruel death of Stephen by stoning; and, by the second verse of the passage before us, we find that he did not die unlamented: 'Devout men,' it is said, 'carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.' They did not lament the happiness to which he had been taken; but they grieved that one so able, so holy, so faithful, and so useful, had been so suddenly snatched from them, and that by so painful a death.

We cannot say in what way their lamentation was expressed beyond their spirits being deeply affected at his departure; nor is it necessary for us to know. They were holy men, men who loved Christ, men who could not see their brother in Christ disgraced in the eyes of the world without paying him all the honour and respect which lay in their power. They would, first, therefore, collect his mangled remains, and then convey them to the grave, thus showing that they sympathized with him, notwithstanding the treatment which he had received, and that they also were followers of Him whom Stephen loved, and for whose name's sake he had suffered.

The death of Stephen appears to have been the commencement of a general persecution against the church at Jerusalem; that is, against the body of believers in Christ Jesus joined together in Christian fellowship in that city. The probable cause of it was the continued testimony of the disciples as to the resurrection of Christ. This was so

important a matter that, if it were true, it was at once a condemnation of the conduct of the Jews in putting Jesus to death, as well as a proof that He was, in truth, their Messiah, the sent of God. The disciples knew, too, that it was this great truth which stamped an impress of divinity on their teaching; that, if Christ rose from the dead, then all was true which He had taught; that if He did not rise, as their scribes and elders wished the Jewish people to believe, then He was an impostor and no truth was in Him. This was the view which St. Paul took, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, where he says: If Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain, ye are yet in your sins.'

This truth being then so important, the disciples bore testimony to it in all its glorious fulness, constantly setting it forth, and boldly declaring that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom the elders and scribes had crucified, had been raised by God from the dead. It was this which gave point to their preaching, and influenced so many to receive Him as the Saviour, and as their Saviour. Their assertions being made boldly, and God sealing their truthfulness by enabling them to work miracles, to heal the sick, to cast out unclean spirits, to speak in other languages than their own, to restore the lame to strength, induced multitudes to believe in Christ, and to accept of Him as the prophet that was to come into the world.

This daily and growing success of the disciples of Christ tended more and more to embitter His enemies against them. That His cause should be increasing, and that in opposition to all that they could say and do against it, was to them a source of the deepest mortification; and it raised up in them a spirit of continued action to put it down by main force, and to drive it out of their city. Although it is stated that those who were particularly concerned in opposition to Stephen were persons who belonged to the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and of Asia, yet we cannot but think, that it was in combination with the elders, and scribes of Jerusalem, that they did it-that the elders and scribes there assented to it, and knew of what was going to be done, and gave every encouragement to it that they could, even if they did not suggest the proceeding in the first instance. And if so the proceeding against Stephen

was only the first act of what they intended to carry out. Whether it was so, or not, the persecution went forward. They only struck down, at first, one of the chiefs among the followers of Christ; but they proceeded to destroy the whole body, to break up, as they thought and intended, the cause of Christ in Jerusalem altogether. One of the chief agents engaged in this work was the young man at whose feet those, who stoned Stephen, laid down their garments while they took away his life. He assented to their proceeding, doubtlessly looked on with delight and thanked God when the martyr breathed his last. after-part of his life he said: 'And when the blood of thy martyr, Stephen, was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of those that slew him.'

In an

And this was not the only act of slaughter in which this young man was engaged. As the taste of blood gives wild beasts a greater desire for more, so this first slaughter of a servant of Christ gave this young man a desire for further outraging the followers of Christ in Jerusalem. And having obtained authority for it from the chief priest he proceeded to cause much mischief to the church or congregation of believers in Christ in Jerusalem. The 3rd verse of my text states that 'he made havoc of the church.' The word here rendered havoc is frequently applied to savage beasts destroying sheep and ravaging the fruits of the earth, causing by their savage propensities great slaughter and destruction. And, as a savage beast, Saul set to work to destroy those who believed on the name of Christ in Jerusalem, entering into every house, and, where finding followers of Christ in the households, dragging them away and committing them to prison, punishing them in all the synagogues and compelling them to blaspheme, being exceedingly mad against them, and giving his voice against them when any of them were put to death. Conduct such as this, sanctioned by the authorities, not only alarmed believers but dispersed them. They fled for their lives, and that, in accordance with the direction of Christ: When they persecute you in one city, flee ye unto another.' Persecuted in Jerusalem, so that their lives were in jeopardy, they became scattered, some going in one direction and some in another. The figure used is that of seed being scattered, some falls in one spot and some in

another. So some believers went into the country of Judea, and some into Samaria; and some we find went afar off, even as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch.

Such personal and relative suffering must have been endured as no one can conceive of without feeling sympathy for the sufferers. It was overruled, however, for the extension of the Redeemer's kingdom. Many of those thus scattered abroad became preachers of the cross of Christ. They carried with them the glad tidings in respect to the grace of God, and the way of obtaining the pardon of sin by faith in the sacrifice and righteousness of Jesus Christ, inviting and exhorting, at the same time, those to whom they bore the welcome news to go to the throne of grace, that they might obtain mercy and find grace to help them in time of need, assuring them that if they did it, they would find acceptance with the Most High. And this helped forward the cause of Christ — helped to establish, if not to lay the foundation of, those churches which we read of being formed throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, and of their walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and of being multiplied.

But in connection with this dispersion of the church at Jerusalem there is one circumstance which must not be passed over unnoticed. They,' (the church) it is stated, were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea, and Samaria, except the Apostles.' How was this? Why were not the Apostles scattered abroad, as well as the other christians at Jerusalem? For a very important reason, but one not generally understood. The Apostles had a confined mission for a certain time. From the day of Pentecost to the time when the kingdom of heaven should be opened to the Gentiles, when the church became catholic, general, or open to all, and which took place when Peter preached to Cornelius and his Gentile friends, the Apostles had to go amongst the nations of Palestine preaching the gospel to the circumcision only,* imparting

* 'Ye shall be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the land,' (the land of Palestine), a text illustrating the expression of all the nations as mentioned in Mat. xxviii. 19-20: "Make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them (the desciples) into the name of the Father and of the

to those, whom they made disciples to Christ among them, the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit; that is, enabling those upon whom they laid their hands to speak with new tongues and to prophesy. And during this time, (which was a period of three and a half years) while they were carrying on this work among the cities of Israel, the Saviour promised to protect them from all fatal harm, assured them that they need have no fear on account of His enemies or their own, since His providence should attend them, and His power be exercised over them, to screen, or save, them from all fatal personal harm in the prosecution of the work which he thus assigned them for the period referred to.

We will not say that all the Apostles were in Jerusalem at the time of the scattering abroad of the disciples, or the church, from thence. Some, during this time, might be, and I think it highly probable that they were, labouring in different parts of Palestine, making the most of the time allotted to them, before the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles or the kingdom of heaven should be opened to men of every race, kindred, and nation. If so, then it was only some of the Apostles which were referred to in the expression, 'all were scattered abroad except the Apostles.' Still, whether all the Apostles were in Jerusalem at the time, or only some, the protecting providence and power of their Master would be over them in or out of Jerusalem. He would not permit a hair of their head to be touched so as for them to be mortally injured. The first of them that suffered was James; but he did not suffer till some years after the three and a half years had expired* to which we have referred. Stephen and others suffered fatally during the time, but they were not Apostles to whom the especial promise of protection had been made. They had the general promise that if they lost their life, they should find it, but not being Apostles Christ did not promise to screen them from all fatal harm for the time specified; and that because they had not the same important work to perform which the Apostles had.

Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you all the days to the end of the age!"

*In a Bible with references, now before me, printed at Oxford, 1869, the date of his suffering is put as taking place in A.D. 44.