Chapter XI: Part 11

Among the nameless herd of Stephen’s murderers and disputants, there was one only whose name has been preserved from the impenetrable oblivion which hides their infamy. And that name now is brought to the mind of every Christian reader, without one emotion of indignation or contempt, for its connection with this bloody murder. That man is now known to hundreds of millions, and has been for centuries known to millions of millions, as the bright leader of the hosts of the ransomed, and the faithful martyr who sealed with his blood the witness which this proto-martyr bore beneath the messengers of death to which his voice had doomed him. In the synagogue of the Cilicians, which was so active in the attack on Stephen, was a young man, who was not behind the oldest and the fiercest, in the steady, unrelenting hate which he bore to this devouring heresy. He gave his voice amid the clamors of the mob, to swell the cry for the death of the heretic; and when the stout murderers hurled the deadly missiles on the martyr’s naked head, it was he who took charge of the loose garments which they had thrown off, that they might use their limbs with greater freedom. Neither the sight of the saintly martyr, kneeling unresistingly to meet his bloody death, nor the sound of his voice, rising in the broken tones of the death-agony, in prayer for his murderers, could move the deep hate of this young zealot, to the least relenting; but the whole scene only led him to follow this example of merciless persecution, which he here viewed with such deep delight. Abundant opportunities for the exercise of this persecuting spirit soon occurred. In connection with the charge against Stephen, which, however unfounded, brought him to this illegal death, there was a general and systematic disturbance raised by the same persons, against the church in Jerusalem, more particularly directed, as it would seem, against the Hellenist members, who were involved, by general suspicion, in the same crime for which Stephen, their eminent brother, had suffered. Saul now distinguished himself at once above all others, by the active share which he took in this persecution. Raging against the faithful companions of the martyred Stephen, he, with the most inquisitorial zeal, sought them out, even in their own quiet dwellings, and violating the sanctity of home, he dragged out the inmates to prison, visiting even on helpless women the crime of believing as their consciences prompted, and without regard to delicacy or decency, shutting them up in the public dungeons. As soon as the storm began to burst on the new converts, those who were in any special danger of attack very properly sought safety in flight from the city, in accordance with the wise and merciful injunction laid upon the apostles by their Lord, when he first sent them forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,――“When they persecute you in one city, flee into another.” The consequences of this dispersion, however, were such as to turn the foolish rage of the persecutors to the solid advantage of the cause of Christ, and to show in what a variety of ways God can cause the wrath of man to praise him. For all those who were thus driven out of their peaceful homes, became missionaries of the word of truth, among the people of the various cities and countries through which they were scattered. All those of whose wanderings we have any account, seem to have journeyed northward and north-westward, probably all of them foreign Jews, who naturally returned home when driven out of Jerusalem. Some of these went, in this way, to the Phoenician coast, to Antioch, and to Cyprus, all laboring to extend the knowledge of that truth for which they were willing sufferers. But of all those who went forth on this forced mission, none appear to have been more successful than Philip, who stood next to the martyred Stephen on the list of the seven Hellenist servants of the church, and who appears to have been second not even to his great fellow-servant in ability and energy. His home was in Caesarea, on the sea-coast; but he had higher objects than merely to take refuge in his own domestic circle; for instead of thus indulging his feelings of natural affection, he also turned his course northward, and made his first sojourn in the city of Samaria, where he immediately began to preach Christ to them, as the common Messiah, so long desired by Samaritans as well as Jews. Here, the people being ruled by no tyrannical sectaries, like the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the various orders of ecclesiastical power in Jerusalem, were left entirely to follow the impulse of their better feelings towards the truth, without the fear of any inquisition into their movements. Under these happy circumstances of religious freedom, they all with one accord gave heed to the preaching of Philip, hearing and seeing the wonderful works of kindness which he did. For foul spirits, which, possessing many sufferers, had long wasted their bodies and deranged their minds, now at the word of this preacher of Christ, came out of many of them, crying with a loud voice in attestation of the irresistible power which had overcome them. Many also that were affected with palsies and that were lame, were healed in the same miraculous manner; so that, in consequence of this removal of so many bodily and spiritual evils, there was great joy in the city, at the arrival of this messenger of mercy. But before the coming of Philip, the people of Samaria had been the subjects of arts of a somewhat different kind, from a man who could claim for his works none of the holy character of disinterested humanity, which belonged to those of the preacher of Christ. This was one Simon, a man who, by the use of some magical tricks, had so imposed upon the simple-minded citizens, that they were profoundly impressed with the notion, which he was anxious to make them believe, namely, that he was a great man. To him they all, both young and old, paid the deepest reverence, in consequence of the triumphant ability displayed by him in the arts of sorcery; and so low were their notions of the nature of miraculous agency, that they concluded that the tricks which he played were tokens of divine interposition in his favor, and universally allowed that he was himself a personification of the mighty power of God. But when Philip came among them, and exhibited the genuine workings of the holy spirit of God, they immediately saw how much they had been mistaken in their previous estimate of its operations, and changed their degraded notions, for a more just appreciation of its character. On hearing the word of truth so fully revealed and supported, they believed in the new view which he gave them of the kingdom of God on earth, and in the name of Jesus Christ; and were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself, overwhelmed with the evidences of a higher power than any that he knew, confessed the fallacy of his own tricks, and submissively owned the power of God as manifested in the words and deeds of Philip, with whom he now remained, a humble and wondering observer of the miracles and signs wrought by him.

THE VISIT TO SAMARIA.

In the mean time, the apostles had remained at Jerusalem, apparently not directly affected by the persecution against Stephen and his friends, or at least not disturbed by it so as to be prevented from remaining at their original post, in the discharge of duty. For, a true regard for the instructions long ago given them by their Master, would have required them to leave Jerusalem, if the opposition to their preaching became so settled and extensive as to prevent them from advancing the cause of Christ there, more rapidly than they might in other places. The spirit with which they had been taught to meet tyrannical opposition, was not one of idle bravado or useless pertinacity, but of deliberate and calculating steadiness in their plan, which knew when to prudently give way, as well as when to boldly withstand. It is therefore fair to conclude, that the persecution here referred to, was so limited as not to be directed against the apostles themselves, nor to hinder their useful labors. If any of them had been imprisoned during this persecution, certainly the rest would have been blamable for not escaping; but the fact that they remained perfectly free, appears from their leaving the city without delay, on the occasion which now required their presence and assistance elsewhere. For as soon as they heard of the preaching of Philip at Samaria, and of the willingness with which the Samaritans had received and believed the first communications of the word, they immediately sent to them Peter and John, who, as the chief teachers of the doctrines of Christ, might give the new converts a fuller preparation for their duties in their calling, than could be expected from one so lately commissioned as the zealous preacher who had first awakened them. These two great apostles, having come down to Samaria, prayed for the believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for this heavenly gift had not yet been imparted to them; the only sign of their acceptance into the new faith having been their baptism by the hands of Philip, who does not seem to have been empowered to indue others with the same divine spirit which he had so abundantly received on himself. But the apostles laying their hands on them, as they had before done with such powerful effect on Stephen, Philip and their fellow-servants, now also inspired these second fruits with the same divine energy, which was instantly made manifest in them, by the usual signs. As soon as Simon saw the display of the new powers, with which those were suddenly gifted who had been made the subjects of this simple ceremony, he immediately concluded that he had at last found out the means of acquiring those miraculous powers at which he had been so deeply amazed, and which he thought he could make vastly profitable to himself in his business, as a very decided improvement upon his old tricks. Thinking only of the motive which always moved _his_ mind to the bestowment of such favors, he immediately took out the money he had gained by his impositions on the people, and offered the apostles a handsome share of it, if they would simply give him the valuable privilege of conferring this divine agency on all upon whom he should lay his hands, in the same manner as they. But his mercenary hopes were soon blasted by the indignant terms in which Peter rejected his insulting proposal. “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God could be bought with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Change thy mind, therefore, from this wickedness of thine, and ask God, if indeed there is any possibility, that the iniquity of thy heart may be forgiven thee; for I see that thou art still full of the bitterness of thy former poisons, and bound fast in the chains of thy old iniquities.” Simon, hushed and overawed in his impertinent offers by this stern rebuke, sunk into a penitent tone again, and begged of them that they would pray for him, that the doom to perish with his money, as declared by Peter, might not fall on him. Of the depth and sincerity of his penitence, no good testimony is left us; but his submissive conduct, at best, seems to have been rather the result of a personal awe of the apostles, as his superiors in supernatural powers, than prompted by any true regard for their pure faith, or any just appreciation of their character and motives. The apostles, however, waited no longer to enlighten the mind of one so dark in his views of the divine agency; but after they had borne witness to the truth of Philip’s words and doctrines by their own preaching, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans, on the way. Philip also, having had his labors thus triumphantly crowned by the ministrations of the apostles, left Samaria, and turned his course southwards, towards Gaza, under the impulse and guidance of a divine spirit. On this journey, occurred his most interesting adventure with the lord high treasurer of the Ethiopian queen, after which Philip was found at Ashdod, on the sea, from which place, journeying northwards again, he went preaching through all the towns on the coast, till he arrived at his home, at Caesarea.

Illustration: JAFFA――JOPPA.

THE BEGINNING OF PEACE.

Soon after the return of the apostles to Jerusalem, an event occurred, which had a more mighty influence on the progress of the Christian religion than any other that had occurred since the ascension of Jesus. The members of the church who still withstood the storm of persecution in the city, were struck with no small amazement by the sudden appearance, before them, of Saul of Tarsus, the most bloody persecutor of their Hellenist brethren, who, having exhausted the opportunities for the gratification of his spite against them in Jerusalem, had gone to Damascus, to seize such as there supposed themselves safe in following the new faith. This man, yet stained, as it were, with the blood of Stephen, now presented himself to them as a convert to the gospel, prepared to join them as a brother. The whole affair seemed to bear so decidedly the aspect of a palpable imposition, that they altogether refused to have any thing to do with him, and suspected the whole to be a deep-laid snare, on the part of this bloody foe of the gospel, who now appeared to be seeking, by false professions, to get into their confidence, that he might have the means of betraying them to utter ruin. But Barnabas, who was better acquainted with Saul, detailed to the church all the wonderful circumstances so fully, that they no longer hesitated to receive him as a brother and fellow-laborer. This remarkable conversion was of vast benefit to the cause of the gospel, not only by bringing to its aid the services of a laborer so competent, but also by removing from among its adversaries one who had been a leader and a contriver of every plot of mischief. As soon as he left the ranks of the foe, the vindictive persecution, which had raged ever since the death of Stephen, ceased, as though it had lost its great author and main support, by the defection of Saul of Tarsus. Indeed, the last act of this persecution, which is recorded, was directed against this very man, who had once been a leader in it, and drove him out of the city which had been the scene of his cruelties. Therefore, the churches had rest throughout all Judea, and Galilee, and Samaria, strengthening and advancing in piety, and filled with the impulses of the Holy Spirit. This opportunity of quiet seemed peculiarly favorable for a minute survey of the condition of these scattered churches, most of which had grown up without any direct agency of the apostles, and therefore needed their attention at this critical period.

THE SURVEY OF THE CHURCHES.

The most proper person for this responsible charge, was the great leader of the apostolic band; and Peter, therefore, taking the task readily upon himself, went through all the churches, to give them the advantages of the minute personal ministry of a chief apostle, who might organize them, and instruct the disciples in their peculiar duties as members of a new religious community. On this tour of duty, passing down from the interior towards the sea-coast, he came to Lydda, about forty or fifty miles from Jerusalem, and about twelve from the sea. Here there was a company of the faithful, whom he visited, to instruct them anew, and to enlarge their numbers, by his preaching and miracles. A particular case is recorded as having occurred here, which displayed both the compassion of Peter and his divine power to heal and strengthen. Among the friends of Christ whom he visited here, was an invalid, whose name, Aeneas, shows him to have been a Hellenist. This man had for the long period of eight years been deprived of the use of his limbs, by a palsy, which, during that tedious interval, confined him to his bed. Peter, on seeing him, said, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals thee. Arise, and make thy bed for thyself.” The command to spread and smooth the couch, which he now quitted in health, was given, that he might show and feel, at once, how fully strength was restored to his hands as well as his feet. This miracle soon became known, not only to the citizens of Lydda, but also to the people inhabiting the extensive and fertile plain of Sharon, which stretched to the northward of Lydda, along the coast, from Joppa to Caesarea, bounded on the west by the highlands of Samaria. The effect of this display of power and benevolence, was such, on their minds, that, without exception, they professed their faith in Christ.

_Lydda._――This was a place of far more importance and fame,
than would be supposed from the brief mention of its name in the
apostolic narrative. It is often mentioned in the writings of
the Rabbins, under the name of לוד (_Ludh_,) its original Hebrew
name, and was long the seat of a great college of Jewish law
and theology, which at this very period of Peter’s visit was
in its most flourishing state. This appears from the fact that
Rabbi Akiba, who raised the school to its greatest eminence,
was contemporary with the great Rabban Gamaliel, who bears an
important part in the events of the apostolic history. (The
data of this chronological inference I find in Lightfoot.) It
is easy to see, then, why so important a seat of Jewish theology
should have been thought deserving of the particular notice
and protracted stay of Peter, who labored with remarkable
earnestness and effect here, inspired by the consciousness
of the lasting and extensive good, that would result from an
impression made on this fountain of religious knowledge. The
members of the college, however, did not all, probably, profess
themselves followers of Christ.

It is also described as possessing some importance in addition
to its literary privileges. Josephus (Antiquities XX. vi. 3.)
mentions “Lydda” as “a village not inferior to a city in
greatness.” Its importance was, no doubt, in a great measure
derived from the remarkably rich agricultural district which
surrounded it. This was the plain of Sharon, so celebrated in
the Hebrew scriptures for its fruitful fields and rich pastures,
――its roses and its flocks. (Solomon’s Song ii. 1: Isaiah xxxiii.
9: xxxv. 2: lxv. 10: 1 Chronicles xxvii. 29.) “All this country
is described by Pococke as very rich soil, throwing up a great
quantity of herbage; among which he specifies chardons, rue,
fennel, and the striped thistle, ‘probably on this account
called the holy thistle.’ A great variety of anemonies, he
was told, grow in the neighborhood. ‘I saw likewise,’ he adds,
‘many tulips growing wild in the fields (in March;) and any
one who considers how beautiful those flowers are to the eye,
would be apt to conjecture that these are the lilies to which
Solomon, in all his glory, was not to be compared.’”――[Modern
Traveler, p. 57.] Its distance from Jerusalem is ascertained,
by Lightfoot, to be one day’s journey, as it is stated with
some circumlocution in the Mishna. It was destroyed, as Josephus
relates, by Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who marched his
army through that region, in the beginning of the war, which
ended in the destruction of Jerusalem. Under the peaceful times
of the later Roman sway in Palestine, it was rebuilt, and called
Diospolis. But like many other such instances, it has lost its
temporary heathen name, and is now called by its old scripture
appellation, _Ludd_. Travelers describe it as now a poor village,
though the stones to be seen in the modern buildings show that
it has been a place of great consequence.

The New Testament name _Lydda_, (Λυδδα,) by which Josephus also
mentions it, is only so much changed from the Hebrew _Ludh_,
as was necessary to accommodate it to the regular forms and
inflexions of the Greek language. Lightfoot well refutes the
blunder of many modern geographers who make the two names refer
to different places. This learned author is remarkably full in
the description of this place, and is very rich in references
to the numerous allusions which are made to it in the Talmudic
writings. See his _Centuria Chorographica_, (Chapter 16,)
prefixed to Horae Hebraica et Talmudicae in Matthew.

_Aeneas._――This name is unquestionably Greek, which seems to
show the man to have been a Hellenist; and that he was already
a believer in Christ, would appear from the fact of Peter’s
finding him among the brethren there.

THE VISIT TO JOPPA.

Hardly had this instance of divine favor occurred in Lydda, when a new occasion for a similar effort presented itself, in the neighboring seaport town of Joppa. A female disciple of the faith of Christ, in that city, by name Tabitha, or in the Greek, Dorcas, (both names meaning Gazelle,) had distinguished herself and honored her religious profession, by the generous and charitable deeds which constantly employed her hands. This lady, so respected by all, and so loved by the poor, who gave witness to her goodness,――such an honor to the religious community which she had joined,――seemed to have so nobly done her part in life, that the order of Providence had apparently called her to rest from these labors, in that sleep from which no piety nor usefulness can save or recall their possessor. After a few days of illness, she died, and was, after the usual funeral ablutions, laid in an upper chamber, to await the burial. In the midst of the universal grief for this sad loss, the members of the church at Joppa, knowing that Peter was in Lydda, within a few hours’ journey, sent two messengers to him, to beg his presence among them, as some consolation in their distress. Peter, on hearing of this occasion for his presence, with great readiness accompanied the messengers back, and on arriving at Joppa, went straight to the house of mourning. He was immediately led into the chamber, where he found a most affecting testimony to the nature of the loss which the afflicted community had suffered. Around the dead, stood the widows who, in their friendlessness, had been relieved by the sympathy of Dorcas, now pouring their tears and uttering their lamentations over her, and showing that even the garments which they wore were the work of her industrious hand,――that hand which, once so untiring in these labors of love, was now cold and motionless in death. From that resistless doom, what mortal voice could ever recall even one so amiable and useful? But, while they were sorrowing thus, Peter ordered them all to leave him alone with the dead; and when all witnesses were removed, he kneeled and prayed. The words of that prayer are not recorded; and it is only by its successful efficiency that we know it to have been that fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man, which availeth much. It was such a prayer as, of old, the son of Shaphat offered over the dead child of the Shunamite, when alone with him; and its effect was not less mighty. Rising at length, and turning towards the body, he said “Tabitha, arise!” Awaking from the unbreathing sleep of death, as from a light slumber of an hour, she opened her eyes, and when she saw the majestic man of God alone, and herself robed for the tomb, she sat up and gazed in amazement. Peter, then, giving her his hand, lifted her from the funeral couch, and calling in the brethren and the widows; he presented her to their astonished eyes, alive. Their overwhelming joy and wonder, we are left to imagine. The story, when made known through the city, brought many to acknowledge the truth of that religion whose minister could work such wonders; and many believed in Christ. The field of labor which now opened to Peter in this place, seemed so wide that he did not continue his journey any further at that time, but took up his abode, for several days, in Joppa, lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, whose house stood by the sea, near the water.

_Joppa_, now called _Jaffa_.――This was from very early times a
place of great importance, from the circumstance of its being
the nearest seaport to Jerusalem. It is mentioned in reference
to this particular of its situation, in 2 Chronicles ii. 17,
where it is specified (in Hebrew יפו _Japho_) as the port to which
the cedar timber from Lebanon should be floated down in rafts,
to be conveyed to Jerusalem for building the temple. It stood
within the territories of the tribe of Dan, according to Joshua
xix. 46, and lies about East-North-east from Jerusalem. Strabo,
(xvi.) in describing it, refers to it as the scene of the
ancient Grecian fable of Andromeda rescued from the sea-monster
by Perseus. He describes its site as “quite elevated,――so much
so, indeed, that it was a common saying that Jerusalem might
be seen from the place; the inhabitants of which city use it
as their seaport, in all their maritime intercourse.” Josephus
mentions that it was added to the dominions of Herod the
Great by Augustus. Its present appearance is thus described by
travelers.

“It is situated in latitude 32 degrees 2 minutes North, and
longitude 34 degrees 53 minutes East, and is forty miles West
of Jerusalem. Its situation, as the nearest port to the Holy
City, has been the chief cause of its importance. As a station
for vessels, according ♦to Dr. Clarke, its harbor is one of
the worst in the Mediterranean. Ships generally anchor about a
mile from the town, to avoid the shoals and rocks of the place.
The badness of the harbor is mentioned, indeed, by Josephus.
(Josephus, Antiquities, book xv. chapter 9.) * * * The road
is protected by a castle built on a rock, and there are some
storehouses and magazines on the sea-side. The coast is low,
but little elevated above the level of the sea; but the town
occupies an eminence, in the form of a sugar-loaf, with a
citadel on the summit. The bottom of the hill is surrounded with
a wall twelve or fourteen feet high, and two or three feet thick.
* * * There are no antiquities in Jaffa: the place would seem to
be too old to have any――to have outlived all that once rendered
it interesting. The inhabitants are estimated at between four
and five thousand souls, of whom the greater part are Turks
and Arabs; the Christians are stated to be about six hundred,
consisting of Roman Catholics, Greeks, Maronites, and Armenians.”
[Modern Traveler, Palestine, pp. 41, 42.]

♦ “io” replaced with “to”

_Dorcas._――This is the Greek translation of the old Hebrew צבי
(_Tsebi_,) in the Aramaic dialect of that age, changed into תביתא
(_Tabitha_,) in English, “_gazelle_,” a beautiful animal of the
antelope kind, often mentioned in descriptions of the deserts
of south-western Asia, in which it roams; and not unfrequently
the subject of poetical allusion. The species to which it is
commonly supposed to belong, is the _Antilopa Dorcas_ of Prof.
Pallas, who named it on the supposition that it was identical
with this animal, called by the Greeks, Δορκας, (_Dorkas_,) from
Δερκο, (_Derko_,) “to look,” from the peculiar brightness of
“its soft black eye.”

THE CALL TO THE HEATHEN.

The apostles had now, with great zeal and efficiency, preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the worshipers of the true God, beginning at Jerusalem, and spreading the triumphs of his name to the bounds of the land of Israel. But in all their devotion to their Master’s work, they had never had a thought of breaking over the bounds of the faith of their fathers, or of making their doctrine anything else than a mere completion or accompaniment to the law of Moses; nor did they imagine that they were ever to extend the blessings of the gospel to any who did not bow down to all the tedious rituals of the ancient covenant. The true power of their Lord’s parting command, “Go and teach _all nations_,” they had never felt; and even now, their great chief supposed that the change of heart and remission of sins, which he was commissioned to preach, were for none but the devout adherents of the Jewish faith. A new and signal call was needed, to bring the apostles to a full sense of their enlarged duties; and it is among the highest honors vouchsafed to Peter, that he was the person chosen to receive this new view of the boundless field now opened for the battles and triumphs of the cross. To him, as the head and representative of the whole band of the apostles, was now spread out, in all its moral vastness and its physical immensity, the coming dominion of that faith, whose little seed he was now cherishing, with but a humble hope; but whose stately trunk and giant branches were, from that small and low beginning, to stretch, in a mighty growth, over lands, and worlds, to him unknown. Thus far he had labored with a high and holy zeal, in a cause whose vastness he had never appreciated,――every moment building up, unwittingly, a name for himself, which should outlast all the glories of the ancient covenant; and securing for his Master a dominion which the religion of Moses could never have reached. He had never had an idea, that he with his companions was founding and spreading a new religion;――to purify the religion of the law and the prophets, and to rescue it from the confusion and pollutions of warring sectaries, was all that they had thought of; yet with this end in view, they had been securing the attainment of one so far above and beyond, that a full and sudden view of the consequences of their humble deeds, would have appalled them. But though the mighty plan had never been whispered nor dreamed of, on earth,――though it was too immense for its simple agents to endure its full revelation at once,――its certain accomplishment had been ordained in heaven, and its endless details were to be fully learned only in its triumphant progress through uncounted ages. But, limited as was the view which the apostles then had of the high destiny of the cause to which they had devoted themselves, it was yet greatly extended from the low-born notions with which they had first followed the steps of their Master. They now no longer entertained the vagary of a worldly triumph and a worldly reward; they had left that on the mount where their Lord parted from them, and they were now prayerfully laboring for the establishment of a pure spiritual kingdom in the hearts of the righteous. To give them a just idea of the exalted freedom to which the gospel brought its sons, and to open their hearts to a Christian fellowship, as wide as the whole human family, God now gave the apostolic leader an unquestionable call to tell to the world the glad tidings of salvation, for all men, through a new and living way, by change of heart and remission of sins. The incidents which led to this revelation are thus detailed.

The peace and good order of Palestine were now secured by several legions, whose different divisions, larger or smaller according to circumstances, were quartered in all the strong or important places in the country, to repress disorders, and enforce the authority of the civil power, when necessary. Besides this ordinary peace-establishment of the province, there was a cohort which took its name from the circumstance that it had been levied in Italy,――a distinction, now so rare, in consequence of the introduction of foreign mercenaries into the imperial hosts, as to become the occasion of an honorable eminence, which was signified by the title here given, showing that this division of the Roman armies was made up of the sons of that soil which had so long sent forth the conquerors of the world. Of all the variety of service required of the different detachments of the army, in the province which it guarded, by far the most honorable was that of being stationed next the person of the governor of the province, to maintain the military dignity of his vice-imperial court, and defend his representative majesty. Caesarea, on the sea-shore, was now the seat of the Roman government of Palestine; and here, in attendance on the person of the governor, was this aforesaid Italian cohort, at the head of a company in which, was a centurion named Cornelius. Though nothing is given respecting his birth and family but this single name, a very slight knowledge of Roman history and antiquities enables the historian to decide, that he was descended from a noble race of patricians, which had produced several of the most illustrious families of the imperial city. Eminent by this high birth and military rank, he must have been favored with an education worthy of his family and station. It is therefore allowable to conclude, that he was an intelligent and well-informed gentleman, whom years of foreign service, in the armies of his country must have improved by the combined advantages of a traveler and a disciplined warrior. Of his moral and religious character such an account is given, as proves that his principles, probably implanted in early life, had been of such firmness as to withstand the numerous temptations of a soldier’s life, and to secure him in a course of most uncommon rectitude in his duties towards God and towards man. In the merciful exercise of his power over the people whose safety and quiet he came to maintain, and, moreover, in the generous use of his pecuniary advantages, he passed his blameless life; and the high motive of this noble conduct, is discovered in the steady, pure devotion, in which he employed many hours of daily retirement, and in which he caused his whole family publicly to join, on proper occasions. Thus is he briefly and strongly characterized by the sacred historian: “devout, and fearing God with all his house; giving much alms, and praying to God always.”

_Noble race of patricians._――The _gens Cornelia_, or “Cornelian
race,” was unequaled in Rome for the great number of noble
families sprung from its stock. The Scipios, the Sullas, the
Dolabellas, the Cinnas, the Lentuli, the Cethegi, the Cossi,
and many other illustrious branches of this great race, are
conspicuous in Roman history; and the Fasti Consulares, record
more than sixty of the Cornelian race, who had borne the
consular dignity previous to the apostolic era. This is always
a _family_ name, and Ainsworth very grossly errs in calling it
“the _praenomen_ of several Romans.” Every Roman name of the
middle and later ages of the commonwealth, had at least three
parts, which were the _praenomen_, marking the individual,――the
_nomen_ marking the _gens_, (“race,” “stock,”) and the
_cognomen_, marking the family or division of that great stock.
Thus in the name “Publius Cornelius Scipio,” the _last_ word
shows that the person belonged to the Scipio family, which by
the _second_ word is seen to be of the great Cornelian stock,
while the first shows that this member of the family was
distinguished from his relations, by the name of Publius.
(See Adams’s Roman Antiquities, on Names.) Wherever this name,
Cornelius, occurs, if the whole appellation of the man is given,
this comes in the middle, as the _nomen_, marking the race;
as is the case with every one of those quoted by Ainsworth,
in his blundering account of the word. See also Sallust, (The
Catilinarian Conspiracy, 47, 55,) in defense of this peculiar
limitation of the word to the _gens_. Not a single instance can
be brought of its application to any person not of this noble
patrician race, or of its use as a mere individual appellation.
I am therefore authorized in concluding that this Cornelius
mentioned in the Acts was related to this line of high nobility.
It might, perhaps, be conjectured, that he had borrowed this
name from that noble race, from having once been in the service
of some one of its families, as was common in the case of
freedmen, after they had received their liberty; but this
supposition is not allowable; for he is expressly particularized
as belonging to an _Italian_ division of the army, which fact
excludes the idea of that foreign origin which would belong
to a slave. The Jews having but one name for each man, seldom
gave all of a Roman’s name, unless of a very eminent man, as
Pontius Pilate, Sergius Paulus, and other official characters;
but selecting any one of the three parts which might be most
convenient, they made that the sole appellative, whether
_praenomen_, _nomen_, or _cognomen_. As in Luke ii. 2: Acts
xxiii. 24: xxv. 1: xxvii. 1: xxviii. 7, &c.

Illustration: JERUSALEM, FROM THE LATIN CONVENT.
Luke xxi. 24.

_The Italian cohort._――The word Σπειρα (_Speira_) I translate
“_cohort_,” rather than “_legion_,” as the older commentators
did. Jerome translates it “_cohortem_,” and he must have known
the exact technical force of the Greek word, and to what Latin
military term it corresponded, from his living in the time when
these terms must have been in frequent use. Those who prefer
to translate it “legion,” are misled by the circumstance, that
Tacitus and other writers on Roman affairs, mention a legion
which had the distinctive appellation of “_the Italian Legion_;”
while it has been supposed that these ancient authors make no
mention of an Italian _cohort_. But the deeply learned Wetstein,
with his usual vast classical research, has shown several such
passages, in Arrian and others, in which mention _is_ made
of an Italian cohort; and in Gruter’s inscriptions, quoted by
Kuinoel, there is an account of “a volunteer cohort of _Italian_
soldiers in Syria;” and Palestine was at this time included
with Syria, under the presidency of Petronius. This inscription,
too, justifies my remark as to the high character of those who
served in this corps. “Cohors militum Italicorum _voluntaria_”
seems to imply a body of soldiers of a higher character than the
ordinary mercenary mass of the army, being probably made up of
_volunteers_ from respectable families of Italy, who chose to
enlarge their knowledge of the world by foreign military service,
in this very honorable station of life-guard to the Roman
governor, as Doddridge and others suppose this to have been.
(See Doddridge on this passage; also C. G. Schwartz in Wolff,
Cur. Philology in loc.) It is considered also as fairly proved
that the “Italian _legion_” was not formed till a much later
period; so that it is rendered in the highest degree probable
and unquestionable, that this was a _cohort_, and, as Schwartz
and Doddridge prove, not a mere ordinary cohort, making the
tenth part of a common legion of 4200, but a distinct and
independent corps, attached to no legion, and devoted to the
exclusive honorable service above mentioned. (See Bloomfield,
Kuinoel, Rosenmueller, &c.)

_Devout._――Some have tried hard to make out that Cornelius was
what they call “a proselyte of the gate;” that is, one who,
though not circumcised, nor conforming to the rituals generally,
yet was an observer of the _moral_ law. But Lardner very fully
shows that there were not two sorts of proselytes; all who bore
that name fully conforming to the Jewish rituals, but still
called “strangers,” &c.; because, though admitted to all the
religious privileges of the covenant, they were excluded from
the civil and political privileges of Jews, and could not be
freeholders. Cornelius must then have been a mere Gentile. (See
Lardner in his life of Peter; also Kuinoel and Bloomfield.)

_Caesarea._――This is another of those cities enlarged or rebuilt
by the princes of the Herodian line, and honored with the
names of the imperial family. This city stood on the sea-shore,
about 30 miles north of Joppa; and (Modern Traveler) 62
north-north-west from Jerusalem. (600 stadia Josephus.) It has
been idly conjectured by the Rabbinical writers, that this was
the same with Ekron, of the Old Testament, Zephaniah ii. 4;
while the Arabic version gives it as Hazor, Joshua xi. 1,――both
with about equal probability. The earliest name by which it
can be certainly recognized, is Apollonia, which it bore when
it passed from the Syro-Grecians to the Maccabean princes.
Its common name, in the time of Herod the Great, was πυργος
Στρατωνος, _turris Stratonis_, “Straton’s castle,” from the name
of a Greek pirate who had built a strong hold here. Herod the
Great made it the most splendid city in his dominions, and even
in all the eastern part of the Roman empire; and in honor of
Augustus Caesar, called it Caesarea Augusta. It was sometimes
called Caesarea _Palestinae_, to distinguish it from Caesarea
_Philippi_; for Palestine was then a name limited to the
southern part of the coast of the Holy Land, and was bounded on
the north by Phoenicia. This city was the capital of the whole
Holy Land throughout the period of the later Herodian and Roman
sway.