possessions, and lay down the
price of them at the feet of the
apostles. Among them was
Joses (or Joseph), a Levite of
Cyprus, who (either now or
some time before) was by the
apostles surnamed Barnabas,
son of consolation (perhaps
rather of exhortation, vids rapa-
κλήσεως), who having land in
Cyprus, sold it, and laid the
price at the apostles' feet; and
thereby, perhaps, became the
first instance of any one's selling
land out of Palestine, or very
far from it, towards raising a
fund for the poor.

But Ananias and Sapphira, Acts v. I
keeping back part of the price-10.
of their possession, and yet
delivering it as the whole, are
severely reprimanded by Peter:
Ananias first, who falls down
dead; and Sapphira afterwards,
on Peter's foretelling it. An
exemplary punishment on the
first lie made to tempt (or try)
the Holy Ghost in his economy
or dispensation, necessary to
vindicate the honour of that
dispensation, and of the apos-

tles, the chief ministers of it. Ver. 13,
After which, though the apostles 14, 15.
and believers were much mag-

nified by all, yet durst none
join themselves unto them, in
order to partake of the benefit
of the community of goods,
purely with that view; lest they
should share the fate of those
notorious dissemblers. Great
numbers are converted, and
strange cures wrought by
Peter's shadow.

The high priest, and they Ver. 18
that were with him (which was-20.
the sect of the Sadducees),
being filled with indignation at
these extraordinary cures, and
the growing number of converts,

proceed so far as to cast all the
apostles into the common prison.
They are delivered by an angel,
and, according to his direction,
go into the Temple, and speak
all the words of this life (or of
the doctrine of the resurrection,
which had so enraged the Sad-
ducees, as to occasion their
being imprisoned before, Acts
iv. 2, as well as now). They
speak again boldly to the coun-
cil, on being brought before
them, and reprimanded by

them; "and declare themselves Act iv. 29
witnesses of Christ's death, -32.
resurrection, and exaltation;
"and also the Holy Ghost,
given to all that obey him:'
but yet, on account of the
strange power and protection
of God, that visibly attended
them, and of their resolution
and success, they are released,
by the advice of Gamaliel : the Acts vi.
meaning of whose speech seems 1-6.
to be this: "That they should
not at this time go about to kill
the apostles and disciples of
Jesus; for that if the kingdom
they preached should at last
prove a temporal kingdom, it
would be the business of the
Romans to contend with them,
and not theirs; that if the
principles they went upon, and
their design, were only of men,
it would come to nought, as
Theudas' had done, a vain man
that rose up, boasting himself
to be somebody. But if it was
of God, as he seems to insinuate
Judas' was, ye cannot over-
throw it, by slaying these men,
no more than Judas' principles
were destroyed by his being
slain." (Judas' principle was,
that they should not submit to
mortal lords, after having God
for their king. Joseph. de Bell.

lib. ii. cap. 8. § 1.) "Lest,
haply, ye be found to fight
against God; who, though he
did not suffer Judas to prevail
in freeing us from mortal lords,
and making us to have none but
God for our king, yet may per-
haps restore the kingdom to
Israel by these men: since they
attest that Jesus, whom we
crucified, is risen, and exalted
to all power, by such wonderful
works as they do in his name."

The number of believers in-
creasing, and a complaint arising
of the Grecians, or Hellenists,
against the Hebrew Jews; from
an unequal distribution of the
community of goods to those
that lacked among the Helle-
nists (perhaps because all the
land that had been hitherto sold
for the fund of the poor was
land in Palestine, or very near
it, till Barnabas now sells his in
Cyprus); and the apostles not
being able to manage and duly
distribute this fund without
neglecting their more necessary
work; seven deacons, at the
recommendation of the twelve,
are chosen by the multitude,|

or

"brethren" (who are first called so here, verse 3), whom the apostles appoint, with prayer, and laying on their hands.

The apostles having by this Acts vi, 7. means more leisure to preach,|

the number of converts was still
increased; many of which were
priests.

Stephen, the first of the dea-Acts xvi.
cons, and full of zeal, having 9, 10.
confounded some of them who Chap. vii.
disputed with him, is accused
by them of having said, that
Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy
this place (Jerusalem), and
Ishall change the customs which

Their most remarkable
Transactions.

Moses had delivered. To the
first of which he seems to make
his defence (the second being
false, perhaps, as it was laid
against him), by shewing, in
many instances through their
history, that God's favour had
not been confined to any of the
things they most valued, as, the
land of Canaan, the Circumci-
sion, the Tabernacle, or the
Temple; for that Abraham had
been favoured with the appear-
ances of the glory of God, and
of divine revelations, whilst be
was in Mesopotamia and in
Charan, before he dwelt in
Canaan; that when he dwelt
there it was but as a stranger,
and not as a possessor; that
God did not promise to give it
to his seed till many ages after;
that he was accepted of God,
and dwelt in Canaan, before he
was circumcised; that Joseph,
who was in favour with God,
was sold out of that land into
Egypt; that Jacob and the
patriarchs were forced to follow
him thither; that Moses was
born there, and lived in Midian,
and in the wilderness, where
the Israelitish people were car-
ried, and not immediately to the
Holy Land; that it was there
the Tabernacle was first pitched,
and was afterwards carried into
Canaan, which itself then was
the possession of the Gentiles;
that Moses directed them to
Christ; that the Tabernacle
continued the place of God's
worship but till the erecting
the Temple; that the Temple
was so little necessary to the
worship of God, that God de-
ferred the building of it, only
because David bad been a man
of war; and that Solomon, at
the dedication of it, shewed,

Proofs of the

Transactions.

that the Most High God neither could confine his especial presence, nor would confine his blessings, on the worshippers of himself to any temple made with hands; and that the judgments of God, which had followed their forefathers for rejecting Moses and the prophets, whom they persecuted and slew, would come to the uttermost upon them, for betraying and murdering the Just One, of whose coming Moses and all the prophets had foretold since, though they had received the law by the disposition of angels, they had not kept it, nor answered any of the ends for which it was given. The conclusion, which they did not give him time to draw, or which he left to them to draw, was, that as the favour of God had not been formerly confined to Canaan, Circumcision, the Tabernacle, and Temple, they could no ways assure themselves of God's protection now, on the account of all or any of those things, under all their impieties. They, not being able to bear Acts vii. this bold defence, expressed the 59. most bitter rage against him; which he observing, looked up to heaven, from whence alone he expected relief; and, for his own encouragement and the encouragement of all succeeding martyrs, had the heavens opened to him, so that he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, ready to receive him: whereupon they furiously cast him out of the city, and stoned him: who, in imitation of him that gave his life a ransom for the world, in the midst of his lagonies got upon his knees,