PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Acts of the Apostles, Vol. 1
Stokes, George Thomas · 136,331 words · 162 reading sections
_St. Stephen'S Defence And The Doctrine Of Inspiration._
Protestants themselves, however, are subject to the same erroneous methods. They form a theory about the Holy Ghost and His operations. They conclude, as is true, that He is Himself right, and just, and true in all His doings, and then they conclude that all the men whom He chose in the earliest age of the Church, and …
947 wordsSECTION 122_St. Stephen'S Defence And The Doctrine Of Inspiration._
III. Let us briefly gather yet another lesson from this passage. The declaration of the Church's catholicity and the universal nature of Christian worship contained in verses 47-50 deserve our attention. What did St. Stephen say?--"But Solomon built Him a house. Howbeit the Most High dwelleth not in houses made with ha…
889 wordsSECTION 123_The First Christian Martyrdom._
"And they cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. …
1,418 wordsSECTION 124_The First Christian Martyrdom._
[132] Epistle of the Church of Lyons in Eusebius, _Eccles. Hist._, v. 1. This letter relates the earliest Celtic martyrdoms of which we have any knowledge. They took place at the annual Convention of the Celtic tribes of Gaul, which assembled at Lyons and Vienne. These conventions were much the same as the assembly…
1,278 wordsSECTION 125_The First Christian Martyrdom._
III. Again, the locality, the circumstances, and the surroundings of Stephen's martyrdom deserve a brief notice. The place of his execution is pointed out by Christian tradition, and that tradition is supported by the testimony of Jewish custom and of Jewish writings. He was tried in the Temple precincts, or within sig…
661 wordsSECTION 126_The First Christian Martyrdom._
Stephen is hurried by the mob to this spot outside the Holy City, and then they proceed in regular judicial style so far as their fury will allow them. Dr. John Lightfoot, in his great work _Horæ Hebraicæ_, dealing with this passage, notes how we can trace in it the leading ideas and practices of Jewish legal processes…
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[135] Dr. John Lightfoot in his _Horæ Hebraicæ_ on Acts vii. 58, when dealing with this incident, enters into copious details as to the Jewish method of execution by stoning. Stephen's death was a type of the vast majority of future martyrdoms, in this among other respects: it was a death suffered for Christ, just a…
1,129 wordsSECTION 128_The First Christian Martyrdom._
Then, again, we have the final words of Stephen, which are full of important meaning, for they bear witness unto the faith and doctrine of the apostolic Church. They stoned Stephen, "calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit;" while again a few moments later he cried, "Lord, lay not this sin to t…
950 wordsSECTION 129_The First Christian Martyrdom._
[137] See on this point a note in Liddon's _Bampton Lectures_, 14th edition, pp. 531-43, on the worship of Jesus Christ in the services of the Church of England. V. The execution of St. Stephen was followed by his funeral. The bodies of those that were stoned were also suspended on a tree, but there was no oppositio…
750 wordsSECTION 130_The First Christian Martyrdom._
The last results we note in this passage of Stephen's death are twofold. Stephen's martyrdom intensified the persecution for a time. Saul of Tarsus was made for a while a more determined and active persecutor. His mental position, his intellectual convictions, had received a shock, and he was trying to re-establish him…
500 wordsSECTION 131_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
"And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ.... But there was a certain man, Simon by name, which beforetime in the city used sorcery, and amazed the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, sayin…
730 wordsSECTION 132_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
[141] The very name Apostle connotes for us an extraordinary office and dignity, placing the Twelve upon an exalted plane far above all others. But the Jewish Council knew nothing of this. The term Apostle was in common use amongst the Jews. To us it seems almost presumptuous to apply the name to any but the Twelve…
812 wordsSECTION 133_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
It is well, however, to note, where and when we can, the sources whence information may have been gained, and fortunately this book of the Acts supplies us with instruction on this very point. A quarter of a century later the same Saul who, doubtless, helped to make St. Philip fly on this occasion from Jerusalem, was d…
945 wordsSECTION 134_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
So it was with the Master, Christ Jesus. He bestowed His Divine instruction and imparted His Divine doctrine, but as the time for the outpouring of the Spirit and the foundation of the Church had not yet come, the total result of the personal work and labours of the Incarnate God was simply one hundred and twenty, or a…
777 wordsSECTION 135_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
There he successfully deceived the people for some time. We have early notices of his success in the Imperial city. Justin Martyr is a writer who came close upon the apostolic age. He wrote an Apology for the Christians, which we may safely assign to some year about 150 A.D. At that time he was a man in middle life, wh…
680 wordsSECTION 136_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
[143] The story of the quarrels between Simon Magus and St. Peter has been used by the Tübingen school of critics in Germany to support their theory of a fundamental opposition between St. Paul and St. Peter. See Dr. Salmon's _Introduction_, chap. xix., for a full statement of this strange view. These statements o…
767 wordsSECTION 137_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
[145] Moll's work on hypnotism, which we have already several times quoted, admits the reality of Eastern magic, accounting for the mango trick which Indian jugglers perform, and which every Indian resident has seen, on the ground that even vegetables can be hypnotised. It may be hard for us to admit it, but such b…
654 wordsSECTION 138_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
[146] See Acts xvi. 6-10, compared with Gal. iv. 13. And as it was with St. Paul so was it with his companions. Timothy was exhorted to betake himself to human remedies to cure his physical weakness, while when another apostolic man, Trophimus, was sick, he was left behind by the Apostle at Miletus till he should get …
863 wordsSECTION 139_Simon Magus And The Conversion Of Samaria._
V. The results of Philip's teaching and work in Samaria were threefold. (1) The Samaritans believed Philip, and among the believers was Simon. There are some people who teach faith and nothing else, and imagine that if they lead men to exercise belief then the whole work of Christianity is done. This incident at the v…
740 wordsSECTION 140_The Apostles And Confirmation._
"Who, but a Christian, through all life That blessing may prolong? Who, through the world's sad day of strife, Still chant his morning song? "Such is Thy banquet, dearest Lord; O give us grace, to cast Our lot with Thine, to trust Thy word, And keep our best till last."[147] [147] _The Christian Year_, 2nd Sund…
734 wordsSECTION 141_The Apostles And Confirmation._
We have in this section of primitive Church history a two-fold division: the action of the Apostles on one side, the attitude and conduct of Simon Magus on the other. Each division has quite distinct teaching. Let us in this chapter take note of the Apostles. I. The Apostles who were at Jerusalem heard of the conversi…
784 wordsSECTION 142_The Apostles And Confirmation._
Peter and John were the persons despatched as the apostolic delegates to complete the work begun by Philip. We can see spiritual reasons which may have led to this choice. Peter and John, with James his brother, had been specially favoured with Christ's personal communications, they had been admitted into His most inti…
1,123 wordsSECTION 143_The Apostles And Confirmation._
[148] See about this curious sect of the Hemero-baptists Lightfoot's _Colossians_, pp. 402-407. Or to take another case. The _Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ has been already referred to and described. It is manifestly a manual dealing with the Church of apostolic times, and there we find reference to customs which …
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The Epistle to the Hebrews was written by one of the second generation of Christians, one of the generation who could look back to and wonder at the miracles and gifts of the apostolic age. The writer of the Hebrews tells us himself that he was in this position; for when speaking, in the opening of the second chapter, …
963 wordsSECTION 145_The Apostles And Confirmation._
[151] See Tertullian on Prayer, in his Works, vol. i., pp. 188-92, as translated in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library. Human nature is ever the same. The latest sect started in the present generation will be found acting on the same principles as the Christians of the apostolic age. The practices and ceremonial of their fi…
655 wordsSECTION 146_St. Peter And Simon Magus._
[153] Thus in 1 Cor. xi. 2 St. Paul says, "Now I praise you that ye remember me in all things, and hold fast the traditions, even as I delivered them to you," and then goes on to discuss the question of veiling of women, showing the character of the traditions thus delivered. With this verse may be compared similar…
767 wordsSECTION 147_St. Peter And Simon Magus._
I cannot see how this argument is to be evaded without rejecting the testimony of Tertullian and denying what we may call the historic memory and continuity of the Church at the close of the second century. Upon the testimony of Tertullian we very largely depend for our proof of the canonicity of the books of the New T…
972 wordsSECTION 148_St. Peter And Simon Magus._
Many, as I know, ministering in societies where confirmation after the ancient model has been rejected, have bitterly lamented its disuse as depriving them of a solemn appointed time when they should have been brought into closer contact with the lives, the feelings, and the consciences of the lambs of Christ's flock. …
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Simon Magus had a mere intellectual knowledge of the truth, and that mere intellectual knowledge, apart from a moral and spiritual conception of it, plunged him into a deeper fall than otherwise might have been the case. Simon Magus was a typical example of this, and successive centuries have offered many notable imita…
986 wordsSECTION 150_St. Peter And Simon Magus._
Then we have the address of St. Peter to this notorious sinner. It is very plain-spoken. The Apostle had been himself a great sinner, but he had not been harshly or roughly dealt with, because he had become a great penitent. St. Peter was most sympathetic, and could never have spoken so sharply as he did to Simon Magus…
598 wordsSECTION 151_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
"But an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza: the same is desert. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who …
972 wordsSECTION 152_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
[158] The primitive Church never made this mistake. The great missionaries who dealt with the heathen in the second century were profoundly skilled in philosophy, several of them being philosophers by profession. Aristides, whose long-lost _Apology_ has just been recovered, Justin Martyr, and Tatian were Christian …
860 wordsSECTION 153_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
III. Now turning from such general considerations, we may compare the two incidents, St. Philip's activities and St. Peter's labours, in several aspects. _We notice a distinction in their guidance._ Greater honour is placed on Philip than upon Peter. An angel speaks to Philip, while St. Peter seems to have been left to…
956 wordsSECTION 154_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
[160] The verse John v. 4 of the Authorised Version has now been relegated to the margin of the Revised Version. IV. This leads us to the next point. Philip and Peter were both guided, the one externally, the other internally; but whither? They were led by God into precisely the same south-western district of Palesti…
877 wordsSECTION 155_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
"Westward the course of Empire takes its way;" that the Gentile world, not the Jewish, was to furnish the most splendid triumphs to the soldiers of the Cross. Our Lord steadily restrained Himself within the strict bounds of the chosen people, because His teaching was for them alone. His Apostles already indicate their…
706 wordsSECTION 156_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
Let us see, moreover, what we are told concerning this typical African convert. He was an Ethiopian by birth, though he may have been of Jewish descent, or perhaps more probably a proselyte, and thus an evidence of Jewish zeal for Jehovah. He was an eunuch, and treasurer of Candace, Queen of the Ethiopians. He was like…
779 wordsSECTION 157_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
[162] See the article "Meroë" in Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_, for a long account of the land whence the eunuch came. And then we have set forth the results of the eunuch's communion with the heaven-sent messenger. There was no miracle wrought to work conviction. St. Philip simply displayed that…
732 wordsSECTION 158_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
VI. Let us in conclusion note one other point. Our readers will have noticed that we have said nothing concerning the reply of Philip to the eunuch's question, "What doth hinder me to be baptized?" The Authorized Version then inserts ver. 37, which runs thus: "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thy heart, thou…
884 wordsSECTION 159_Evangelistic Work In The Philistines' Land._
We believe in one God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth: And in Jesus Christ His Son, * * * * * Born of the Virgin Mary. * * * * * He was pierced by the Jews, He died and was buried: The third day He rose again: He ascended into Heaven. * * * * * He is about to come to judge.[165] * * * * * [165] _Texts …
305 wordsSECTION 160Index.
Abercius, St., vi. _Acta Sanctorum_, 111, 162. _Acts of the Apostles_, authenticity of, 11. ---- authorship of, 8, 11. ---- title of, 1. Altus, centurion, 110. Ananias and his wife, chap, xi., 225-228. Antinomians, 134. _Apocryphal Acts_, 2. ---- _Gospels_, 79. Apollinarian heresy, 124. Apostles' Creed, 417.…
650 wordsSECTION 161Index.
---- ---- _Clement of Rome_, 166, 335. ---- ---- _Essays_, 268. ---- ---- _Supernatural Religion_, 239. ---- ---- _Commentaries on Epistles_, v, 195, 269, 376. Lightfoot, Dr. J., _Horæ Hebraicæ_, 64, 84, 97, 125, 147, 158, 177, 181, 182, 233, 260, 272, 333, 335. Lipsius, Professor, 25. Locke, J., 402. Lucian, 2…
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