Chapter II: Preface

The following volume terminates my survey and exposition of the Acts of the Holy Apostles. I have fully explained in the body of this work the reasons which led me to discuss the latter portion of that book more briefly than its earlier chapters. I did this of set purpose. The latter chapters of Acts are occupied to a great extent with the work of St. Paul during a comparatively brief period, while the first twenty chapters cover a space of well-nigh thirty years. The riot in Jerusalem and a few speeches at Cæsarea occupy the larger portion of the later narrative, and deal very largely with circumstances in St. Paul's life, his conversion and mission to the Gentiles, of which the earlier portion of this volume treats at large. Upon these topics I had nothing fresh to say, and was therefore necessarily obliged to refer my readers to pages previously written. I do not think, however, that I have omitted any topic or passage suitable to the purposes of the _Expositor's Bible_. Some may desiderate longer notices of German theories concerning the origin and character of the Acts. But, then, an expositor's Bible is not intended to deal at length with critical theories. Critical commentaries and works like Dr. Salmon's _Introduction to the New Testament_ take such subjects into consideration and discuss them fully, omitting all mere exposition. My duty is exposition, and the supply or indication of material suitable for expository purposes. If I had gone into the endless theories supplied by German ingenuity to explain what seems to us the simplest and plainest matters of fact demanding no explanation whatsoever, I am afraid there would have been little space left for exposition, and my readers would have been excessively few. Those who are interested in such discussions, which are simply endless, and will last as long as man's fancy and imagination continue to flourish, will find ample satisfaction in the eighteenth chapter of Dr. Salmon's _Introduction_. Perhaps I had better notice one point urged by him, as an illustration of the critical methods of English common sense. German critics have tried to make out that the Acts were written in the second century in order to establish a parallel between St. Peter and St. Paul when men wished to reconcile and unite in one common body the Pauline and Petrine parties. This is the view set forth at length by Zeller in his work on the Acts, vol. ii., p. 278, translated and published in the series printed some years ago under the auspices of the Theological Translation Fund. Dr. Salmon's reply seems to me conclusive, as contained in the following passage, _l.c._, p. 336: "What I think proves conclusively that the making a parallel between Peter and Paul was not an idea present to the author's mind, is the absence of the natural climax of such a parallel--the story of the martyrdom of both the Apostles. Very early tradition makes both Peter and Paul close their lives by martyrdom at Rome--the place where Rationalist critics generally believe the Acts to have been written. The stories told in tolerably ancient times in that Church which venerated with equal honour the memory of either apostle, represented both as joined in harmonious resistance to the impostures of Simon Magus. And though I believe these stories to be more modern than the latest period to which any one has ventured to assign the Acts, yet what an opportunity did that part of the story which is certainly ancient--that both Apostles came to Rome and died there for the faith (Clem. Rom., 5)--offer to any one desirous of blotting out the memory of all differences between the preaching of Peter and Paul, and of setting both on equal pedestals of honour! Just as the names of Ridley and Latimer have been united in the memory of the Church of England, and no count has been taken of their previous doctrinal differences, in the recollection of their first testimony for their common faith, so have the names of Peter and Paul been constantly bound together by the fact that the martyrdom of both has been commemorated on the same day. And if the object of the author of the Acts had been what has been supposed, it is scarcely credible that he could have missed so obvious an opportunity of bringing his book to its most worthy conclusion, by telling how the two servants of Christ--all previous differences, if there had been any, reconciled and forgotten--joined in witnessing a good confession before the tyrant emperor, and encouraged each other to steadfastness in endurance to the end."

But though I have not dealt in any formal way with the critical theories urged concerning the Acts, I have taken every opportunity of pointing out the evidence for its early date and genuine character furnished by that particular line of historical exposition and illustration which I have adopted. It will be at once seen how much indebted I am in this department to the researches of modern scholars and travellers, especially to those of Professor Ramsay, whose long residence and extended travels in Asia Minor have given him special advantages over all other critics. I have made a diligent use of all his writings, so far as they had appeared up to the time of writing, and only regret that I was not able to use his paper on St. Paul's second journey, which appeared in the _Expositor_ for October, after this work had been composed and printed. That article seems to me another admirable illustration of the critical methods used by our own home scholars as contrasted with those current abroad. Professor Ramsay does not set to work to spin criticisms out of his own imagination and elaborate theories out of his own inner consciousness even as a spider weaves its web; but he takes the Acts of the Apostles, compares it with the facts of Asia Minor, its scenery, roads, mountains, ruins, and then points out how exactly the text answers to the facts, showing that the author of it wrote at the time alleged and must have been an eyewitness of the Apostles' doings. While again by a similar comparison in the case of the apocryphal acts of St. Paul and Thecla he demonstrates how easily a forger fell into grievous mistakes. I do not think a better illustration can be found of the difference between sound historical criticism and criticism based on mere imagination than this article by Professor Ramsay.

In conclusion I ought to explain that I systematically quote the Fathers whenever I can out of the translations published by Messrs. T. & T. Clark, or in the Oxford Library of the Fathers. It would have been very easy for me to give this book a very learned look by adding the references in Greek or Latin, but I do not think I should have thus conduced much to its practical utility. The Fathers are now a collection of works much spoken of, but very little read, and the references in the original added to theological works are much more overlooked than consulted. It would conduce much to a sound knowledge of primitive antiquity were the works translated of all the Christian writers who flourished down to the triumph of Christianity. Authors who fill their pages with quotations in Latin and Greek which they do not translate forget one simple fact, that ten or twenty years in a country parish immersed in its endless details make the Latin and Greek of even good scholars somewhat rusty. And if so, what must be the case with those who are not good scholars, or not scholars at all, whether bad or good? I am often surprised noting how much more exacting from their readers modern scholars are in this direction than our forefathers of two hundred years ago. Let any one, for instance, take up the works composed in English by Hammond or Thorndike discussing the subject of Episcopacy, and it will be found that in every case when they use a Latin, Greek, or Hebrew quotation while they give the original they always add the translation. Finally I have to acknowledge, what every page will show, the great assistance I have derived from the Lives of St. Paul written by Archdeacon Farrar, Mr. Lewin, and Messrs. Conybeare & Howson, and to express a hope that this volume together with the previous one will be found helpful by some as they strive to form a better and truer conception of the manner in which the Church of the living God was founded and built up amongst men.

GEORGE T. STOKES.

ALL SAINTS' VICARAGE, BLACKROCK,
_Nov. 4th, 1892_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

THE TRAINING OF SAUL THE RABBI.

ACTS vii. 58; xxii. 3.

PAGE

St. Paul's Appearance on the Christian Stage and its
Results--The Tübingen Theory--His Parentage--Birthplace--
Testimony of St. Epiphanius--Early Friends--Education--
Trade--Gamaliel and his Influence--Evidence of Talmud--
Pharisaic Schools--Their Casuistry and Exegesis--Parallel
between Hagar and Sarah 1-21

CHAPTER II.

THE CONVERSION OF THE PERSECUTOR.

ACTS viii. 3; ix. 1-6.

Saul of Tarsus and St. Stephen--Saul and the Sanhedrin--
Conduct of Saul when Unconverted--Continuity of Judaism
and Christianity--Saul and Blasphemy of Christ--Sense of
Sin compatible with Sense of Forgiveness--Hooker on the
Litany--Jeremy Taylor on Humility--Saul's Mission to
Damascus--Domestic Tribunal permitted to the Jews by the
Romans--Used against the Men of the Way--Meaning of this
expression--Influence of it--Saul's Journey--Scene of
Conversion--Lord Lyttelton's _Observations upon St. Paul's
Conversion_--Supernatural Accompaniments appropriate
to--Apostle's own Narrative--Reflections of the
Venerable Bede 22-47

CHAPTER III.

THE NEW CONVERT AND HIS HUMAN TEACHER.

ACTS ix. 10, 11.

Saul and the Vision--Which probably produced Ophthalmia--
Portrait of St. Paul--Ananias of Damascus--Straight
Street--St. Chrysostom on the Spiritual Greatness of
Ananias--Seventeenth-century Travellers in Palestine--
Conversation between Jesus Christ and Ananias--Its
Theology--Meaning of word Saint--Protest against
Antinomianism--St. Paul and title Vas Electionis--And
Doctrine of Election--Balance of Doctrine--The New
Convert and Prayer 48-67

CHAPTER IV.

SAUL AND SINAI.

ACTS ix. 19, 20.

Visit of Ananias to House of Judas--Christ the True
Visitor--Keble's Hymn for Easter Monday--Restoration
of Saul's Sight--His Baptism--Language of Ananias--
Importance of this fact--Saul's Work in Damascus--
Narrative in Acts and in Galatians--Difficulties--
Reconciliation--Saul in Arabia--Ancient Explanations
of--Discipline of--Value of Seasons of Retirement--Waste
of Vital Spiritual Tissues in Activity--Abuse of this
Principle in Monasticism--Celtic Monasticism--Saul, the
Vas Electionis, trained like Jesus Christ 68-91

CHAPTER V.

THE FIRST GENTILE CONVERT.

ACTS x. 1-6.

The Turning-points of Primitive Church History--Conversion
of Saul and of Cornelius--Saul's earliest Ministry at
Jerusalem--His Escape to Tarsus--St. Peter and Church
in Joppa--Temporary Peace after Saul's Conversion--
Caligula's attempt to erect his Statue in Jerusalem--St.
Peter and Simon the Tanner--Time of Conversion of
Cornelius was Providential--Place, Cæsarea-by-the-Sea,
Providential--Cornelius, a Roman Centurion--The Legions
and Palestine--Modern Authorities confirm the Acts--New
Testament and Favourable Estimate of Soldiers--Catholic
Nature of Christianity--Value of Discipline--Lessons
Taught by Example of Cornelius 92-114

CHAPTER VI.

THE PETRINE VISION AT JOPPA.

ACTS x. 9-15.

St. Peter led to Joppa Unconsciously--His Period of
Repose--Joppa and Missions to the Gentile World--
Jonah--Peter and the Hour of Prayer--Value of Forms--
Canonical Hours--Tertullian's Testimony--Nature of
Peter's Vision--Conditioned by his Natural State--
Exactly suited to Destroy his Prejudices--John
Calvin's View--St. Peter at Cæsarea--His Sermon--Not
Latitudinarian, as some Think--But Truly Catholic--Peter
presupposes some Knowledge of Gospel Facts--Evidence of
Resurrection--Necessarily Limited--Unless Course of
Human Affairs was to be Upset--And God's Usual Laws set
Aside--Outpouring of Holy Ghost on Gentiles--Baptism
of Cornelius 115-141

CHAPTER VII.

THE HARVEST OF THE GENTILES.

ACTS xi. 26.

Reception of News of Gentile Conversion at Jerusalem--
Debate and Strife with St. Peter--The Early Church
Knew Nothing of the Privilegium Petri--Fable of Pope
Marcellinus--Origin of Antiochene Church--Foundation
of Antioch--Scenery and History--Orators and Water
Supply--Arrival of Barnabas and of Saul--Invention
of the Name Christians--Remarks of Archbishop Trench--
The Prophet Agabus and the Outgoings of Charity 142-163

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DEFEAT OF PRIDE.

ACTS xii. 1-3, 23, 24.

Contact of Sacred and Secular History in this Chapter--
Story of Herod Agrippa--Illustration of Principle of
Heredity--First Martyrdom among Apostles--Character of
James, Son of Zebedee--His Spiritual Eminence--His Death
a Real Answer to Prayer--St. Peter's Deliverance--Granted
to a Pleading Church--Angelic Interference--And the
Proprieties of Christianity--Clement of Alexandria and
the Pædagogue--Herod's Ostentation and Miserable Death--
Testimony of Josephus 164-187

CHAPTER IX.

ST. PAUL'S ORDINATION AND FIRST MISSIONARY TOUR

ACTS xiii. 2-4, 14; xiv. 1, 26.

Thirteenth Chapter may be called the Watershed of the
Acts--Calvin and St. Paul's Ordination--Title Apostle
Henceforth Applied to Him--Ember Seasons, Reason of--
First Formal Mission to the Gentile World--Outline of
Apostolic Tour--Saul and Sergius Paulus--Discoveries
of General Cesnola--St. Paul's Sermon at the Pisidian
Antioch--Jewish Jealousy and Opposition--Iconium--Lystra
and Greek Legends--Discovery of Site of Lystra--Roman
Police in Asia Minor--Dialects of Asia Minor--_Museum
of the Evangelical School at Smyrna_--St. Paul and
Church Organisation 188-218

CHAPTER X.

THE FIRST CHRISTIAN COUNCIL.

ACTS xv. 1, 2, 6, 19.

History of the great General Councils--Originates at that
of Jerusalem--Date and Subject-matter--The Controversy
about Circumcision--Social Questions springing from it--
St. Paul's Position--His Apparent Inconsistencies--
Lessons of Apostolic Council--Early Church Scene of
Controversies--No Infallible Guide--Composition of
Council--Lay Element in Church Synods--Hooker and the
Church of England--Witness of Prayer Book--Experience
of Irish Church--Proceedings of the Council--Triumph
of Gentile Freedom 219-244

CHAPTER XI.

APOSTOLIC QUARRELS AND THE SECOND TOUR.

ACTS xv. 36, 39; xvi. 6, 8, 9.

Introduction of Christianity to Greece--St. Peter and his Asserted
Roman Episcopate of Twenty-five Years--Quarrel between
St. Paul and St. Barnabas--Between St. Paul and St. Peter--Patristic
Explanations--St. Augustine and St. Jerome--St.
Paul's Opposition to Nepotism--Barnabas and Mark--Blessings
of Sternness--The Wrath of Man praises God--Outline
of St. Paul's Second Tour--Ramsay's Historical Geography of
Asia Minor--Timothy's Ordination--The Gospel among the
Celts--Jeremy Taylor and the _Via Intelligentiæ_--The Vision
at Troas 245-270

CHAPTER XII.

ST. PAUL IN MACEDONIA.

ACTS xvi. 29, 31; xvii. 1, 2, 10.

Ancient Roads and Rome--The Gospel at Philippi--History
of that Town--Constitution of Roman Colonies--Lydia
and Jewish Oratory--Francis de Sales and Small
Congregations--Politics and Christianity--The Apostle
before the Duumviri--The Jailer and the Earthquake--
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Thou shalt be
Saved"--The Philippian Church and Persecution--St. Paul
at Thessalonica and Berœa--The Politarchs 271-300

CHAPTER XIII.

ST. PAUL IN GREECE.

ACTS xvii. 16-18; xviii. 1.

St. Paul and St. Athanasius, a Parallel--Escape to
Athens down the Thermaic Gulf--Visit of Pausanias to
that City--Ideal Character of Athenian Paganism--
Areopagus and St. Paul--The Unknown God--The Greek
Poets--Jesus and the Resurrection--The Primitive
Athenian Church and its Theology--Aristides and his
_Apology_--Dionysius the Areopagite and his reputed
Philosophy--Origin of Corinthian Church--The Saintly
Tentmakers--The Firstfruits of Achaia--Gallio and the
Jews--Philosophy and Christ 301-330

CHAPTER XIV.

THE EPHESIAN CHURCH AND ITS FOUNDATION.

ACTS xviii. 19-21, 24-26; xix. 1.

History of Ephesus--Cenchreæ and its Church--Aquila and
his Vow--Christianity and External Actions--Judaism
and Christianity confounded by Romans--St. Paul's
Journey to Ephesus and Jerusalem--Visit to Galatia--
Ephesus and John's Disciples--Slow Progress of Gospel
in Apostolic Age--Apollos and Meyer's Theory about
Baptism--The Baptismal Formula--The School of
Tyrannus--Ephesian Magic and its Professors--Story
of St. Chrysostom--The Sons of Sceva 331-356

CHAPTER XV.

THE EPHESIAN RIOT AND A PRUDENT TOWN CLERK.

ACTS xix. 23-28.

Duration of St. Paul's Ministry at Ephesus--Date of
1st Corinthians--Diana of Ephesus and her Persian
Worship--Weakness of Argument _e silentio_--Demetrius
and the Craftsmen--Artemisian Festivals and Christian
Sufferings--Testimony of Achilles Tatius--Martyrdom of
Polycarp--Celtic Conventions--Mr. Wood's Discoveries
at Ephesus--Gaius Vibius Salutarius--Extant Specimen
of Ephesian Silverwork--Speech of Demetrius--The
Asiarchs and the Recorder--Apostolic Controversy and
its Methods 357-384

CHAPTER XVI.

ST. PAUL AND THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

ACTS xx. 1, 7, 17-19, 28.

St. Paul's Position in A.D. 57--Personal Character of
St. Luke's Narrative--Defects of German Criticism--
Apostle's Second Visit to Macedonia--"Round about unto
Illyricum"--Visitation of Corinth--Passover at Philippi--
Holy Communion at Troas--The Lord's Day in the Primitive
Church--Argument from Silence, Dangers of--Justin Martyr
on Sunday--Eucharistic Amen--Evening Celebrations--The
Agape--Fasting Communion--St. Paul's Sermon and Eutychus--
Miletus and Charge to Ephesian Elders--Its Apologetic
Tone--St. Paul's view of Sermons--Decay of Modern
Preaching--Apostolic Power of Prevision--The Ministry
and Personal Religion--The Holy Ghost and Ordination--
Origin of Episcopacy--Dr. Hatch's Theories unhistorical--
Irenæus on Bishops--Derived from Apostles--Communicatio
Idiomatum--St. Paul's Farewell 385-421

CHAPTER XVII.

A PRISONER IN BONDS.

ACTS xxi. 2, 3, 17, 33, 39, 40; xxii. 22, 30; xxiv. 1; xxvi. 1.

St. Paul's Voyage from Miletus to Jerusalem--Christianity at
Tyre--"The Seed growing silently"--The Church at Cæsarea
and its Teachers--St. Paul's Interview with St. James--The
Nazarite Vow--St. Paul's Arrest and Appearance before the
Sanhedrin--His Defence before Felix--Felix and Drusilla--
Lessons of St. Paul's Vicissitudes--Agabus and Prophesying--
St. James and Compromise--St. Paul and the High Priest--His
Quickness and Tact--Tertullian on Flight in Persecution--
Quietism and Quakerism--St. Paul and the Herodian Family--
Argument of his Address before Agrippa and Bernice--His
Appeal to Cæsar 422-449

CHAPTER XVIII.

"IN PERILS ON THE SEA."

ACTS xxvii. 1-3; xxviii. 16.

St. Paul as a Traveller and a Prisoner--Length of his
Imprisonment--Blessed Results of his Captivity--"The
Prisoner of the Lord"--Teaching of the Seventeenth
Sunday after Trinity--His Captivity Benefited--(_a_)
His Personal Religion--(_b_) The Church at Cæsarea--(_c_)
The Church at Rome--(_d_) The Universal Church--
Composition of St. Luke's Gospel--Technical Use of word
Gospel--Testimony of Aristides and Irenæus--Epistles of
the Captivity--Story of the Voyage to Rome--Roman
Provincial Organisation--Writings of Mr. James Smith
of Jordanhills--Church at Sidon--The Storm--Malta
and Puteoli--Christianity at Pompeii--Christian
Inscription there Discovered--St. Paul's Approach to
Rome--Intense Humanity of the Apostle--Interview with
the local Jewish Sanhedrin--Christianity at Rome--
Investigations of Harnack and Schürer 450-471