A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

John McClintock & James Strong • SECTION 119

Section 119

← McClintock & Strong Cyclopaedia — Volume 8

of a larger history, and ii fixes the journey and the cessation of one form of activity, however, only threw

death a- after the eighth year of Trajan. It i- uncer- him forward into another. It is noticeable that the < - i t v

tain whether the other apocryphal fragment professing of Samaria is the first Bcene of his activity (Acts \iii>.

to give an account of his labors in Greece is pari of the He i- the precursor of Paul in hi- work, as Stephen had

same work, bul it is al least equally legendary. He ar- been in his teaching. It falls to hi- lot, rather than to

rives in Allien- eh. tin. I. like ilie other apostles, as Christ that of an apostle, to take that lir-t step in the victory

had commanded, in an outer cloak and a linen tunic, over Jewish prejudice and the expansion of the Church,

Three hundred philosophers dispute with him. They according to it- Lord's command. As a preparation for

find themselves baffled, and send h>r assistance to Ana- thai work there may have been the Messianic hopes

nias, the high-priest at Jerusalem. He puis on his which were cherished by the Samaritans no less than

pontifical robes, ami goes to Athens at the head of tive I >y the Jews (John iv, 25), the recollection of the two

hundred warriors. They attempt to seize on theapos- days which had witnessed the presence there of Christ

tie. and are all smitten with hlindness. The heavens and hi- disciples (ver. 40), even perhaps the craving

open: the form of the Son of Man appears, and all the lor spiritual power- which had been roused by the

idols of Athens fall to the ground; and so on through strange influence of Simon the Sorcerer. The scene

a succession of marvels, ending with his remaining two which brings the two into contact with each other, in

years in the city, establishing a Church there, and then which the magician has to acknowledge a power over

going to preach the Gospel in I 'an Ida i ibid, p. 95 104 I. nam re greater than his own. is interesting rath< t as be-

Another tradition represents Scythia as the scene of longing to the life of the heresiarch than to thai of the

his labors (Abdias, Hist. Apost. in Fabricius, Cod. Ajioc. evangelist See Simon Magus. It suggests the in-

AT. '/'. i. 739), and throw- the guill of his death upon quiry whether. we can trace through the distortions and

the l-'.liioniit - 1 icta Sanctorum, May 1 |.— Smith. perversions of the "hero of the romance of heresy," the

In pictorial art Philip is represented as a man of influence of thai phase of Christian truth which was

middle age, scanty heard, and benevolent face. His likely to he presented by the preaching o| the Ildle-

attribute i- a cross which varies in form -sometimes a nisiie evangelist

small cross in hi- hand ; again, a high cross in the form of a T, or a stall' with a small cross at the top. It has three significations: it may represent the power of the cross which he held before the dragon; or his martyr- dom : or his mis-ion a- preacher of the cross of ( ihrist He is the patron— aim of Brabant and Luxembourg. His anniversary is .May I. Phil'ip tiii: Evangelist (<t>i\nnroc !> i!>ayytX

This step is follow.-, l by another. He is directed by an angel of the Lord to take the road that led down from Jerusalem to Gaza on the way to Egypt. See Gaza. A chariot passes by in which there is a man of another race, whose complexion or whose die— showed him to he a native of Ethiopia. From the time of Psam- metichus there had been a large body of Jews settled in i hat region, and the eunuch or chamberlain at the court

errfe), one of the original seven deacons in the Christian of Candace might easily have come across them and

Church. A.D.29. The first mention ofthis name occurs their sacred books, might have embraced their faith,

in the account of the dispute between the Hebrew and and become by circumcision a proselyte of righteousness.

Hellenistic disciples in Acts vi. He was one of the seven He had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He may

appointed to superintend the daily distribution of food have heard there of the new sect. The history that

ami alms, and so to remove all suspicion of partiality, follows is interesting as one of the few records in the

The fact that, all the seven names are Greek, makes it X. T. of the process of individual conversion, and one

at lea-i very probable that they were chosen as belong- which we may believe Luke obtained, during Ids resi-

ing to the Hellenistic section of the Church, represent- dence at Csesarea, from the evangelist himself. The

atives of the class which had appeared before the apos- devout proselyte reciting the prophecy which he does

ties in the attitude of complaint. The name of Philip not understand— the evangelist-preacher running al full

stands next to that of Stephen ; ami this, together with speed till he overtakes the chariot the abrupt question

— the simple-hearied answer — the unfolding, from the starting-point of the prophecy, of the -lad tidings of

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