should be chosen from the body of believers, and presented to them, that they might be ordained by Imposition of Hands to minister to the bodily wants of the poor and aged. This was the first inst.i.tution of the Order of Deacons[39], the lowest of the three holy offices which were to be continually handed down and perpetuated in the Church. Thus did the Apostles begin to impart to others such a portion of the ministerial grace, of which they themselves had been at first the sole recipients, as might enable those whom they ordained to aid them, in a subordinate degree, in the work of building up the mystical Body of Christ.
[Sidenote: Increasing conversions.]
This fresh proof of the vitality of the Church through the active, living Presence of her Divine Head, was followed by a new feature in the still increasing conversions to her fold. It was no longer the poor and the unlearned only, or chiefly, who listened to the teaching of the Apostles, {18} "a great company of the Priests were obedient to the Faith[40]," while, on the other hand, a growing and more bitter spirit of persecution was soon to develope itself.
Section 8. _The Martyrdom of St. Stephen._
[Sidenote: A.D. 34. The Seven Deacons.]
St. Stephen, the foremost and saintliest of the Seven Deacons, and St.
Philip, the second in order, are the only two of whom we have any further mention in the Book of Acts; but it is believed that the last named, Nicolas of Antioch, was the author of the heresy of the Nicolaitanes, which our Blessed Lord twice over tells us that He hates[41]. Nicolas seems in this way to be a sad reflection of the awful example set by the traitor Judas, the last reckoned Apostle.
[Sidenote: Their functions.]
It is clear that the ministrations of the first Deacons were not of necessity confined to the "serving of tables," which was the primary occasion of their appointment. St. Philip both preached and baptized[42]; and St. Stephen brought down upon himself the hatred and malice of the Jews by the boldness and power of his preaching. Both preaching and baptizing do still, under certain restrictions, "appertain to the office of a Deacon[43]."
[Sidenote: Probably all h.e.l.lenists.]
Judging from the names of the Seven Deacons, there seems good reason for supposing that they were all or most of them Grecians or {19} h.e.l.lenists. St. Stephen was undoubtedly a h.e.l.lenist, and his early training made him a ready instrument for the work to which the Holy Ghost had called him. Freed by education from many of the a.s.sociations and feelings which bound his Hebrew brethren to the Holy City and the Temple, he could realize more plainly than they could do, the future of the Christian Church apart from both these, and boldly proclaimed his convictions. [Sidenote: St. Stephen"s preaching rouses Hebrew prejudices.] By this conduct he aroused all the deeply-rooted prejudices and exclusive pride of the Jewish mind, even amongst those who, like himself, were h.e.l.lenists, and to whom he seems more particularly to have addressed himself. Up to this time, what opposition there was to the teaching of the Apostles, seems to have come chiefly from the unbelieving sect of the Sadducees[44]; for the people had espoused the cause of the Christian teachers[45], and the Pharisees had advocated lenient conduct towards those who confessed, as they themselves did, a belief in the Resurrection[46]. [Sidenote: The Pharisees join with the Saducees in opposition to the Church.] But now all was altered; priests and people, Sadducees and Pharisees, were alike vehement against those who ventured to a.s.sert that the "Holy Place and the Law" should ever give way to a Holier than they; and foremost amongst the persecutors was the fiery, earnest, intellectual man who was afterwards the holy Apostle Paul[47].
[Sidenote: St. Stephen"s speech a direct Inspiration.]
The defence of the heavenly-minded Deacon before {20} his malicious and bloodthirsty enemies must be looked upon as a direct Inspiration of the Holy Ghost, a fulfilment of our Blessed Lord"s promise to His Church[48], and a Divine commentary on Old Testament History, showing that G.o.d"s mercies were not restrained to any particular place or country, and upbraiding the Jews with their abuse of their many privileges and their rejection of the Saviour. But the words of this first Christian "Apology against Judaism" fell for the time on unheeding ears; and its only present apparent result was the violent and yet triumphant death of him who had been chosen to utter it.
[Sidenote: His blessed martyrdom.] Beneath the stoning of the enraged mult.i.tude, the First Martyr "fell asleep," blessed in his last moments with a foretaste of the Beatific Vision[49].
Section 9. _Results of St. Stephen"s Martyrdom._
[Sidenote: A.D. 34. Good brought out of evil for the Church.]
We may here pause to recollect how G.o.d had all along been bringing forth good out of seeming evil, in what concerned His Church. The first _dawnings of persecution_ drew down increased "boldness" in answer to thankful prayer; the first great necessity for exercising the _judicial office_ of the Church was followed by "great fear" and multiplied conversions, as well as by the first miracles of healing wrought in the Church; the first _schism_ was the occasion of the origin of the Order of Deacons, directly after which event we hear of "a great company of the priests being obedient to the Faith," {21} the first _martyrdom_ helped to bring about the conversion of the chief persecutor; and now the first _general persecution_ which came upon the Church was to have for its result a far more widely-spread diffusion of the knowledge of the Kingdom of G.o.d than had before taken place.
[Sidenote: Extension of the Church according to our Lord"s promise.]
This extension of the Church was in exact accordance with our Lord"s words to His Apostles just before His Ascension, that they should be witnesses unto Him "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Jerusalem was already "filled with" their "doctrine," and now the disciples were "scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria," and "went every where preaching the Word[50]." [Sidenote: Still confined to Jews, and Samaritans, or to proselytes.] Still it would seem that they confined their preaching to such as were either Hebrews, or Grecians, i.e.
foreigners more or less professing Judaism[51]; or, as in the case of the Samaritans, to such as were of mixed Jewish descent, and clung to the Law of Moses, though with manifold corruptions; or, again, to proselytes like the Ethiopian eunuch. The Apostles, we read, continued at Jerusalem, doubtless by G.o.d"s command and under His special protection.
[Sidenote: Conversion of Samaria.]
The conversion of the despised city of Samaria was effected by the instrumentality of the Deacon St. Philip[52], whose preaching and miracles were followed by the baptism of large numbers of the people, and, amongst them, of one Simon {22} of Gittum, better known as Simon Magus (i.e. the magician, or sorcerer), who had claimed supernatural powers, and given himself out to be an emanation from the Deity, or even G.o.d Himself. [Sidenote: St. Peter and St. John sent to confirm.]
St. Philip, as a Deacon, could not complete the gift begun in Holy Baptism, and St. Peter and St. John were sent down by the Apostles from Jerusalem, that they might confirm the Samaritan converts by prayer and the Imposition of Hands. Confirmation in those early days of the Church was wont to be accompanied by a bestowal of miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost; and the wondrous signs following upon this, the first Confirmation mentioned in G.o.d"s history of His Church, led the still unbelieving Simon to long for the ability to confer similar powers.
[Sidenote: The unbelief of Simon Magus.] He dared to offer money to the Apostles with this view, and drew from St. Peter such a reproof as for a time pierced through even the heart which had hardened by an abuse of holy things. But this penitence was of short duration. He became the author in the Church of a deadly heresy called Gnosticism, mixing up what he had learnt of the doctrines of Christianity with heathen philosophy and sinful living, and making pretence of being endowed with miraculous gifts. [Sidenote: His end.] This first heretic is said to have perished miserably whilst endeavouring to fly through the air at Rome[53], St. Peter praying at the same time that he might no longer be suffered to hinder the salvation of souls.
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[Sidenote: The Gospel preached in Antioch.]
Another important result of the Sauline persecution was the preaching of the Gospel in the important city of Antioch by the Greek-speaking Jews who sought refuge there[54], and who addressed themselves to their h.e.l.lenist countrymen. It was in this city, the third in rank in the Roman Empire, and afterwards the mother of Gentile Christendom, that the first branch of the Church speaking Greek as its original tongue, was now beginning to have its foundation; and it was also here that the disciples were first called by the honourable name of Christians[55].
Section 10. _The Conversion of St. Paul._
[Sidenote: A.D. 34.]
It has been said "that, to combine the ceremonial shortcoming of the eunuch with the imperfect faith of the Samaritan, is to arrive at the admission of the Gentiles[56]." Preparation had been made in both these instances for the carrying out of the Divine scheme by means of St. Philip, whose fellow-Deacon had gladly laid down his life in witnessing to the truth of it; and now G.o.d"s great instrument for the conversion of the gentile world was to appear.
[Sidenote: Conversion of Saul.]
The furious persecutor Saul was struck to the earth by the sight and voice of the Lord, whose disciples at Damascus he was bent upon ill-using; and his miraculous conversion was followed by his baptism and the devotion of all his powers to the promulgation of that "Faith which once he destroyed."
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[Sidenote: His fitness for his mission.]
It is not hard to perceive in St. Paul a peculiar fitness for the work to which G.o.d called him. His zeal and self-devotion, deep affections, and warm sympathies, were joined to clearness of judgment and great intellectual powers; whilst, from the circ.u.mstances of his birth and education, he had much in common with both Hebrew and h.e.l.lenist Jews.
Though born in the Greek city of Tarsus, where he came in contact with the cla.s.sical ideas and learning of which traces appear in his writings, his father was a Hebrew, and sent him to finish his education at Jerusalem under the care of the learned Pharisee Gamaliel. Thus he became zealous in the Law; and hence his deep tenderness for his brethren of the seed of Israel, and his thorough insight into their feelings and prejudices, were united to an acquaintance with gentile ways of life, cla.s.sic learning, and foreign modes of thought.
With St. Paul"s conversion came a time of peace and increase to the Church, during which St. Peter"s first Apostolic journey took place, undertaken with the especial view of strengthening, by the Laying on of Hands and by Apostolic preaching and counsel, those who, throughout Judea and Samaria, had been regenerated and made "saints" by Holy Baptism[57].
[1] 2 St. Peter i. 4.
[2] Rev. xxi. 14.
[3] St. Luke vi. 12-16.
[4] "Apostle" is derived from the Greek word "Apostolos," i.e. "one sent." The Apostles were "sent" by Christ, the Great High Priest and Chief Pastor of the Church, Who comprehended in Himself the whole of the Christian Ministry, whilst the Apostolic Office comprehended all that could be delegated to man. This comprehensive Apostolic Office was afterwards broken up into the three Orders of--1. Deacons; 2.
Priests and Bishops in one; 3. Bishops. After the special work of Bishops was defined (see chap. iv.), Priests were Priests only, and not Bishops, unless they had special consecration to the higher office.
[5] Acts i. 3.
[6] St. John xiv. 26.
[7] St. Matt. xxviii. 19.
[8] St. Matt. xxviii. 20.
[9] St. Luke xxii. 19, 20.
[10] St. John xx. 21, 22.
[11] St. Matt. xxviii. 20.
[12] Acts i. 13, 14.
[13] Acts ii. 42, 46. It is said (St. John iv. 2) that "the disciples of Jesus baptized;" but this baptism, like that of St. John Baptist, was a "baptism of _repentance_," not of _Regeneration_--a _preparation_ for the Gospel, not a _consequence_ of it. So the preaching of the Apostles, spoken of in St. Matt. x. 7, was (like the Baptist"s preaching) an announcement that "the Kingdom of Heaven" was _not come_; but "at hand," and an exhortation to make ready for it.