specially commissioned for this work by the Sanhedrim, who doubtless regarded with encouraging complacency the ardent zeal for Pharisaism of this promising and already distinguished young man. There is indeed reason to suppose that he himself was at this time a member of the Sanhedrim. Some think that his 'consenting' to the death of Stephen, implies that he consented when the martyr was condemned. Whether so or not, it is thought probable that he was at least afterwards elected into the supreme court of judicature, perhaps to recompense the zeal he had shown against the new doctrines on that occasion; for, in referring to the affairs of this time at a later period, he says not only that he exercised his powers by a commission from the high priest, but also that, when the followers of Christ were put to death, he gave his vote against them. He could only have given his vote as one of the Sanhedrim; and it may reasonably be doubted whether the very important commission which he subsequently received, when he went to Damascus, would have been entrusted to any one who was not a member of that body, his introduction into which might be materially promoted by the fact that Gamaliel, whose favourite pupil he seems to have been, was its president.

Out of this arises an important consideration—that to be a parent was a condition of admission to that assembly, because those whose hearts were softened by the paternal relation were supposed to be more humane, more inclined to mercy than others. Besides, among the Jews it was accounted scarcely reputable for a man to remain unmarried after eighteen years of age; and marriages in general were very early. If, therefore, Saul belonged to the Sanhedrim, the probability is that he was at this time married, and the father of a family. But if so, it would seem that his wife and child, or children, did not long survive, for otherwise it is scarcely possible but that some allusion to them would be found in the subsequent narrative, or in the Epistles; and it is clear that, if he ever had a wife, she was not living when he wrote the First Epistle to the Corinthians. 1 Cor. vii. 7, 8.

In describing the proceedings of this man against the Lord's

disciples, St. Luke says, 'As for Saul, he made havoc of the church.' How strong this expression! He ravaged abroad, as a tiger hunting for his prey; entering into every house, and haling men and women'-separating the parent from the child, distressing the protector and the orphan-' committed them to prison,' whence probably, in many cases, death alone delivered them. But it is to be remembered that this strong language is employed by one who was in after years the intimate friend and associate of St. Paul, and is but an echo of the terms in which he himself always speaks of this part of his career. In fact, that Saul was quite the foremost acting man in this persecution, is clear from all the incidents which transpire, particularly from the high commission which subsequently acknowledged and rewarded his service against heresy. How widely and prominently his name was connected with this persecution, appears from the circumstance that Ananias of Damascus had heard by many of this man, how much evil he had done to the saints at Jerusalem.'1

From the cruelties practised upon them, and from the efforts made to compel them, as Paul afterwards confessed," 'to blaspheme' that worthy name whereby they were called, the disciples naturally fled in all directions, probably at the instance of the apostles, who, however, as the governing body, felt it their duty to face the peril of remaining at Jerusalem, that the dispersed disciples might know where to apply for the counsel and aid they might require under their altered circumstances. Their departure, also, would have imparted too desultory a character to the dispersion, and might have tended to render it comparatively unproductive (humanly speaking) of the advantages which resulted from it.

These advantages were great—so great as to open a new and advanced period of Christian history. In its first epoch, over which we have passed, the Christian society consisted of Jews only, who had hitherto remained in the city of Jerusalem. Many, indeed, of those who, on the day of Pentecost, had come thither from various regions, seem, after their return home, to 1 Acts ix. 13. 2 Acts xxvi. II.

have imparted to their countrymen some idea, however imperfect, of Christian doctrine; yet its appointed teachers had hitherto remained within the walls of Jerusalem, nor had they taught in any other country. The congregation at Jerusalem was, therefore, numerous. But it had not separated itself from the Jewish communion; for we read that, during the whole of this period, the apostles and the other Christians yielded obedience to the Sanhedrim in all matters not contrary to what they knew to be God's will, and frequented, at the stated hours of prayer, the temple, where the apostles taught. But this persecution had a most salutary widening influence, both externally and internally, upon the church. Instead of confining the benefits of Christianity to the limits of Jerusalem, where its glorious Author had so lately finished his course upon earth, the believers of this faith, trained under the apostles, and disciplined by adversities, went forth prepared and eager to make known the truth in which they believed, and many of them well qualified by natural and acquired endowments, and by the gifts of the Spirit, to labour effectually for its advancement; and hence we shall soon see Christian societies growing up in each of the various regions to which they were dispersed abroad. With this outward expansion there was a corresponding inward expansion. Away from Jerusalem the disciples became more free from the trammels of Judaism, and grew to be increasingly conscious of the independence of their divine faith, and its intrinsic sufficiency as a doctrine destined, without foreign aid, to impart divine life and salvation to all men, among all nations without distinction.

These were splendid results from what, at the first view, seemed so threatening as the persecution following the death of Stephen. But if there be any circumstance which particularly displays the supreme majesty of God, and his controlling power over the affairs of men, it is when those events which we ignorantly call evil, and which appear to us teeming with destruction, are not only removed without the accumulated horrors which we dreaded, but actually leave behind them the most beneficial effects. Then are we satisfied that 'the Most High

ruleth in the kingdom of men ;' then do we gratefully acknowledge: This is thy hand, and Thou, Lord, hast done it.'

Dr. Kitto might have given even more prominence to the important topic he introduces at the close of this evening's reading. The 'great persecution' which sprung up at Jerusalem proved, under the overruling power of God, a great blessing. It infused into the church a new life. It converted the little society, hitherto concentrated at Jerusalem, into a grand missionary agency, with its ramifications extended over many lands. It was God's own means of compelling the disciples to obey the last command of their risen Lord: 'Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.' This persecution, therefore, may be regarded as marking the opening of a new epoch-an epoch in which true religion cast off the trammels of race and country, and went forth on its glorious mission of peace and salvation to all mankind; an epoch, too, in which missionary work and enterprise were not confined to the apostles and commissioned ministers of the church, but in which every Christian became a missionary, preaching the word in every locality to which persecution drove him. Baumgarten remarks on this passage, with equal truth and power: 'The hunted and persecuted Christians enter upon the work and office of the apostles; no one had called them; no one had instituted them; no one had given them their commission; and yet they nevertheless preach the word while the apostles are silent; they nevertheless boldly proclaim with their mouths the testimony of Jesus, although they had witnessed the bloody consequences of so doing in the death of Stephen. What is it, then, that renders the simple member of the community at Jerusalem capable of such high dignity? It is the Spirit with which all the Christians had been anointed and filled. He it is who supplies whatever was deficient in them as regarded human ordinances; He it is who furnishes them with a power and might that overcomes all human weakness.'

Forty-second Week-Second Day.

PHILIP THE EVANGELIST.-ACTS VIII. 5-24.

ALTHOUGH the apostles remained at Jerusalem, the deacons went away. The considerations already suggested concerning

them, with the vehemency with which one of their number had been opposed and brought to his death, render it probable that all of them were special objects of hostile attention on the part of the Jews; and as the dispersion of the church left no room for the exercise of their distinguishing office, there was no paramount duty to detain them at Jerusalem. Whither they went we do not know, except of one only of their number. This was Philip, whose name is second (after that of Stephen) in the list of the deacons, and whose place is also second in the apostolical record; being, in fact, the only one of the surviving deacons whose name recurs in it, or of whose labours we have any information.

He went to Samaria, where, although near, he was much safer than he would have been in many more distant placesin Damascus, for instance; for the Jews had no synagogues in Samaria, as they had in many heathen lands; nor had the Sanhedrim any influence or power there. Indeed, an attempt on their part to exercise authority over one resident in that territory, would have assuredly been deeply resented and resisted by the Samaritans, and might have led to a popular commotion.

It was not, however, from any prominent regard to his greater safety in Samaria than at other places out of Judea, that Philip made that province the place of his retreat; the hope of being there of service in his Master's cause, was doubtless a prevailing motive with him. The place to which he went is described as 'a city [not the city] of Samaria ;' which we take to have been Shechem or Sychar, and not the city of Samaria itself, which had been rebuilt by Herod, and to which he had given the name of Sebaste, the Greek for 'Augusta,' in compliment to his patron, the emperor Augustus. This was nominally the metropolis of the district; but Shechem was really the more important place, and the chief seat of the Samaritans. Here our Lord had been in person some four years before; and there can be no doubt that there were many among the inhabitants who retained a lively recollection of that visit, by which, as well as by their comparative freedom from the politi