THE BEGINNING OF THE APOSTLES' SUFFERINGS.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

Acts, iv. 13.

WHEN Our Lord Jesus Christ told His apostles that He had chosen them to preach salvation and forgiveness of sins after He should have left the earth, He did not hide from them that they would have to suffer many things for His sake. He had told them plainly, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but," He added, "be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Accordingly the apostles, and those who believed with them, expected that they should suffer persecution; and the persecution very quickly came upon them.

The rulers of the Jews, and the Pharisees and Sadducees, who had been most bitter and malignant in their hatred and enmity against the Lord Jesus, were not likely to look with favour upon men who openly and boldly preached the truth concerning Jesus, namely,

that He was the Son of God; that through Him only could pardon for sin be obtained; and that those who had crucified Him had been guilty of a great and dreadful sin. Therefore these rulers and Sadducees sought to injure the apostles, as they had sought to injure the Lord Jesus; and the greater the number of men became who followed the apostles, and believed their preachings, the greater became the hatred and malice of these wicked men. When, therefore, the apostles began to work miracles-when the lame man was healed, and went into the temple rejoicing and praising God-they were more than ever angry. Therefore they sent for the apostles, and threatened them, commanding them to preach and speak no more in the name of Jesus. But the apostles were not the men to let any earthly command weigh with them against the command which the Lord Jesus Himself had given them; and Peter and John boldly said to those who were forbidding them to preach the name of the Lord Jesus, "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." So for the time their captors were obliged to let them go.

As the believers increased, numbering, we are told, multitudes both of men and women, the great works and miracles performed by the apostles increased also in

number, so that multitudes came from the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing their sick, who were healed every one. At last the anger and hatred of the chief priest and of the Sadducees against these apostles became so violent, that they laid hands upon them, and shut them up in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord came by night and opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, saying to them, "Go, stand in the temple, and speak to the people the words of life." When they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and began to teach the people. The high priest and his companions in the meanwhile thought the apostles were still in the prison where they had been shut up; and when the council was assembled, the chief priest accordingly sent to have them brought before him. Greatly surprised were the messengers whom he sent when they found the prison doors safely shut and the keepers watching without, but the prisoners gone from within the prison. While the council yet marvelled concerning the meaning of this strange news, a man came from the temple with the intelligence that the apostles were even then in the sacred building teaching the people.

Then the chief priest and the council sent for them quietly, for they feared to use any violence, because

the people believed that the apostles spoke the truth. When the high priest asked them why they persisted in teaching in the name of Jesus, after he had strictly forbidden them to do so, Peter replied that they ought to obey God rather than man. He maintained that Jesus was the Messiah, and that the Jews had acted very wickedly in crucifying Him; and declared, moreover, that he himself and the other apostles were witnesses of the divinity of Christ.

When the high priest and the council heard this, they were very angry, and took counsel to slay them. But a man of wisdom and worth, named Gamaliel, stood up and warned them to beware what they did. He said, "If what these men preach is false, it will come to nothing of itself. If it is true, you cannot overthrow it, and you may, perhaps, be found to fight against God." They agreed that Gamaliel spoke wisely; and they refrained, therefore, from slaying the apostles. But they called them, and caused them to be beaten; and after again commanding them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, let them go.

But though the high priest and his wicked followers dared not put the apostles to death for fear of the people, they soon exercised their cruelty upon some

of the lesser disciples. There was a man named Stephen, a good and just person, who had been chosen, with six others, by the apostles, to manage the distribution of alms, and to help those among the brethren who were in poverty and distress. This Stephen was so full of faith, that the power of working miracles was given to him. Then in the synagogue certain men disputed with Stephen; but their arguments were powerless against him, and they were quite unable to resist the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke. Then they wickedly determined to destroy him. They hired men to bear false witness against Stephen, and to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God."

Then we are told that all in the council looked steadfastly on him, and saw his face appearing like the face of an angel. And being called upon for his answer to the accusation, Stephen showed how every one of the prophecies pointed to the Lord Jesus, and the more clearly he showed this, the more angry did his hearers become. At length-when he reproached them boldly with the hardheartedness and cruelty they had shown in slaying the Lord Jesus-they became like wild beasts, and gnashed on him with their teeth. "But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up