gates night and day, with so much diligence, that he escaped from their hands only by being let down in a basket by the. wall. Nor did he find himself in greater safety at Jerusalem, whither he immediately repaired. Attempts were there also soon set on foot to destroy him; from the danger of which he was preserved, by being sent away to Cilicia, his native country. For some reason not mentioned, perhaps not known, but probably connected with the civil history of the Jews, or with some danger* which engrossed the public attention, an intermission about this time took place in the sufferings of the Christians. This happened, at the most, only seven or eight, perhaps only three or four years after Christ's death. Within which period, and notwithstanding that the late persecution occupied part of it, churches, or societies * Dr Lardner (in which he is followed also by Dr Benson) ascribes this cessation of the persecution of the Christians to the attempts of Caligula to set up his own statue in the temple of Jerusalem, and to the consternation thereby excited in the minds of the Jewish people; which consternation for a season suspended every other contest. of believers had been formed in all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria; for we read that the churches in these countries "had now rest, and were edified, and, walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied*." The original preachers of the religion did not remit their labours or activity during this season of quietness; for we find one, and he a very principal person among them, passing throughout all quarters. We find also those who had been before expelled from Jerusalem by the persecution which raged there, travelling as far as Phoenice, Cyprus, and Antioch†; and lastly, we find Jerusalem again in the centre of the mission, the place whither the preachers returned from their several excursions, where they reported the conduct and effects of their ministry, where questions o public concern were canvassed and settled, whence directions were sought, and teachers sent forth. The time of this tranquillity did not, however, continue long. * Acts ix. 31. Herod Agrippa, + Acts xi, 19. who had lately acceded to the government of Judea, "stretched forth his hand to vex certain of the church*." He began his cruelty by beheading one of the twelve original apostles, a kinsman and constant companion of the Founder of the religion. Perceiving that this execution gratified the Jews, he proceeded to seize, in order to put to death, another of the number; and him, like the former, associated with Christ during his life, and eminently active in the service since his death. This man was, however, delivered from prison, as the account statest, miraculously, and made his escape from Jerusalem. These things are related, not in the general terms under which, in giving the outlines of the history, we have here mentioned them, but with the utmost particularity of names, persons, places, and circumstances; and what is deserving of notice, without the smallest discoverable propensity in the historian, to magnify the fortitude, or exaggerate the sufferings of his party. When they fled for their lives, he Acts xii. 1. + Acts xii. 3-17. tells us. When the churches had rest, he remarks it. When the people took their part, he does not leave it without notice. When the apostles were carried a second time before the Sanhedrim, he is careful to observe that they were brought without violence. When milder counsels were suggested, he gives us the author of the advice, and the speech which contained it. When, in consequence of this advice, the rulers contented themselves with threatening the apostles, and commanding them to be beaten with stripes, without urging at that time, the persecution farther, the historian candidly and distinctly records their forbearance, When, therefore, in other instances, he states heavier persecutions, or actual martyrdoms, it is reasonable to believe that he states them because they were true, and not from any wish to aggravate, in his account, the sufferings which Christians sustained, or to extol, more than it deserved, their patience under them. Our history now pursues a narrower path. Leaving the rest of the apostles, and the original associates of Christ, engaged in the propagation of the new faith (and who, there is not the least reason to believe, abated in their diligence or courage) the narrative proceeds with the separate memoirs of that eminent teacher, whose extraordinary and sudden conversion to the religion, and corresponding change of conduct, had before been circumstantially described. This person, in conjunction with another, who appeared among the earlier members of the society at Jerusalem, and amongst the im-' mediate adherents* of the twelve apostles, set out from Antioch, upon the express business of carrying the new religion through the various provinces of the Lesser Asia†. During this expedition, we find that in almost every place to which they came, their persons were insulted, and their lives endangered. After being expelled from Antioch in Pisidia, they repaired to Iconiumt. At Iconium, an attempt was made to stone them; at Lystra, whither they fled from Iconium, one of them actually was stoned, and drawn out of the city for deads. These two men, though not Acts iv. 36. + Acts xiii. 2. Acts xiv. 19. |