FIRST MISSIONS.--PHILIP THE DEACON.
The persecution of the year 37 had for its result, as always happens,
the expansion of the doctrine it was wished to arrest. Until then
the Christian preaching had scarcely extended beyond Jerusalem; no
mission had been undertaken; inclosed within its lofty but narrow
communion, the mother Church had not radiated around itself nor formed
any branches. The dispersion of the little supper-table scattered the
good seed to the four winds. The members of the Church of Jerusalem,
violently driven from their quarters, spread themselves throughout
Judea and Samaria,[9.1] and preached everywhere the kingdom of God. The
deacons in particular, disengaged from their administrative functions
by the ruin of the Community, became excellent evangelists. They were
the active young element of the sect, in opposition to the somewhat
heavy element constituted by the apostles and the "Hebrews." One single
circumstance, that of language, would have sufficed to create in these
latter an inferiority in respect to preaching. They spoke, at least
as their habitual tongue, a dialect which the Jews themselves did not
use at a few leagues distance from Jerusalem. It was to the Hellenists
that fell all the honor of the grand conquest, the recital of which is
henceforth to be our principal object.
The theatre of the first of these missions, which was destined soon to
embrace all the basin of the Mediterranean, was the region round about
Jerusalem, within a circle of two or three days' journey. Philip the
Deacon[9.2] was the hero of this first holy expedition. He evangelized
Samaria with great success. The Samaritans were schismatics; but the
young sect, after the example of their Master, was less susceptible
than the rigorous Jews upon questions of orthodoxy. Jesus, it was said,
had shown Himself on different occasions not altogether unfavorable to
the Samaritans.[9.3]
Philip appears to have been one of the apostolical men most preöccupied
with theurgy.[9.4] The accounts which relate to him carry us into a
strange and fantastic world. It is by prodigies that are explained
the conversions which he made among the Samaritans, and in particular
at Sebaste, their capital. This country was itself filled with
superstitious ideas about magic. In the year 36, that is to say two
or three years before the arrival of the Christian preachers, a
fanatic had excited quite a serious emotion among the Samaritans by
preaching the necessity of returning to primitive Mosaism, of which
he pretended to have found the sacred utensils.[9.5] A certain Simon,
of the village of Gitta, or Gitton,[9.6] who afterwards rose to a
great reputation, began about that time to make himself known by his
wonderful operations.[9.7] It is painful to see the Gospel finding a
preparation and a support in such chimeras. Quite a large multitude
were baptized in the name of Jesus. Philip had the power of baptizing,
but not that of conferring the Holy Ghost. This privilege was reserved
to the apostles. When the tidings came to Jerusalem of the formation
of a group of believers at Sebaste, it was resolved to send Peter and
John to complete their initiation. The two apostles came, laid their
hands upon the new converts, prayed over their heads; the latter were
immediately endowed with marvellous powers attached to the conferring
of the Holy Ghost. Miracles, prophecy, all the phenomena of illuminism,
were produced, and the Church of Sebaste had nothing on this score to
envy that of Jerusalem.[9.8]
If we are to believe tradition about it, Simon of Gitton was
thenceforth in relations with the Christians. Converted according to
their reports by the preaching and the miracles of Philip, he was
baptized and attached himself to this evangelist. Then, when the
apostles Peter and John had come, and he saw the supernatural powers
procured by the laying on of hands, he came, it is said, to offer them
money in order that they should give him also the faculty of conferring
the Holy Ghost. Peter then made him this admirable reply: "Thy money
perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be
bought! Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is
not right in the sight of God."[9.9]
Whether these words were pronounced or not, they seem to trace exactly
the situation of Simon in regard to the nascent sect. We shall see,
in fact, that according to all appearances, Simon of Gitton was the
chief of a religious movement parallel to that of Christianity, one
which may be regarded as a sort of Samaritan counterfeit of the work of
Jesus. Had Simon already begun to dogmatize and to work wonders when
Philip arrived at Sebaste? Did he thenceforward enter into relations
with the Christian Church? Is there any reality in the anecdote which
makes of him the father of all "simony?" Must we admit that the world
one day saw face to face two thaumaturgists, one a charlatan and the
other the "corner-stone," which became the foundation of the faith
of humanity? Was a conjuror able to balance himself against the
destinies of Christianity? We know not, for want of documents; for the
account of the _Acts_ is here of feeble authority; and from the first
century Simon became for the Christian Church a subject of legends. In
history the general idea alone is pure. It would be unjust to dwell on
anything we may see to be shocked at in this sad page of the origin
of Christianity. For vulgar hearers the miracle proves the doctrine;
for us the doctrine causes the miracle to be forgotten. When a belief
has consoled and ameliorated humanity, it is excusable for having
employed proofs proportioned to the weakness of the public whom it
addressed. But when one has proved error by error, what excuse is there
to allege? This is not a condemnation we here pronounce against Simon
of Gitton. We shall have to explain further on this doctrine, and the
part he had to play, which only made itself clear under the reign of
Claudius.[9.10] It is necessary only to remark here, that an important
principle seems to have been introduced through him into the Christian
theurgy. Obliged to admit that impostors also worked miracles, orthodox
theology attributed these miracles to the devil. In order to retain
some demonstrative value in prodigies, rules had to be imagined for
distinguishing true from false miracles. Orthodoxy descended for this
purpose to an order of ideas exceedingly puerile.{9.11}
Peter and John, after having confirmed the Church of Sebaste, set out
again for Jerusalem, on their return evangelizing the villages of
the country of the Samaritans.[9.12] Philip the Deacon continued his
evangelizing travels, bending his steps towards the south, towards
the ancient country of the Philistines.[9.13] This country, since the
advent of the Maccabees, had received a strong infusion of the Jewish
element;[9.14] although Judaism was still by no means dominant there.
During this journey Philip accomplished a conversion which made some
noise, and which was much talked about on account of a particular
circumstance. One day as he was going along the road from Jerusalem to
Gaza, quite a deserted road,[9.15] he met a rich traveller, evidently
a foreigner, for he was riding in a chariot, a mode of locomotion
which was at all times almost unknown to the inhabitants of Syria
and Palestine. He was returning from Jerusalem, and gravely seated,
he was reading the Bible aloud, according to a custom then quite
common.[9.16] Philip, who thought that in everything his actions were
guided by an inspiration from on high, felt himself drawn towards his
chariot. He placed himself alongside of it, and quietly entered into
conversation with the opulent personage, offering to explain to him the
passages which he did not understand. This was a fine occasion for the
evangelist to develop the Christian thesis upon the figures of the Old
Testament. He proved that in the prophetic books everything related to
Jesus; that Jesus was the solution of the great enigma; that it was of
Him in particular that the All-Seeing had spoken in this fine passage:
"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; as a lamb that is dumb before
its shearers, he opened not his mouth."[9.17] The traveller believed
him, and at the first water that they met, "Behold, here is water,"
said he, "why could I not be baptized?" The chariot was stopped; Philip
and the traveller descended into the water, and the latter was baptized.
Now the traveller was a powerful personage. He was a eunuch of the
Candace of Ethiopia, her Minister of Finance, and guardian of her
treasures, who had come to worship at Jerusalem, and was now returning
to Napata[9.18] by way of Egypt. _Candace_, or _Candaoce_, was the
title of feminine royalty in Ethiopia towards the period in which we
now are.[9.19] Judaism had consequently penetrated into Nubia and
Abyssinia.[9.20] Many natives were converted, or at least counted among
those proselytes who, without being circumcised, adored the one only
God.[9.21] The eunuch was perhaps of this latter class, a simple, pious
pagan, like the centurion Cornelius, who will shortly figure in this
history. It is impossible in any case to suppose that he was completely
initiated into Judaism.[9.22] After this we hear nothing more said
about the eunuch. But Philip related the incident, and further on much
importance was attached to it. When the question of the admission of
pagans into the Christian Church became the leading business, there
was found here a precedent of great weight. Philip was deemed to have
acted in all this affair by Divine inspiration.[9.23] This baptism,
given by order of the Holy Ghost, to a man scarcely a Jew, notoriously
uncircumcised, who had believed in Christianity only for a few hours,
had an eminent dogmatic value. It was an argument for those who thought
that the doors of the new Church ought to be open to all.[9.24]
Philip after this adventure, made his appearance at Ashdod, or Azote.
Such was the state of artless enthusiasm in which these missionaries
lived, that at each step they believed they heard voices from Heaven
and received directions from the Spirit.[9.25] Each of their steps
seemed to them regulated by a superior force; and when they went from
one city to another, they thought they were obeying a supernatural
inspiration. Sometimes they imagined they made aërial voyages. Philip
was in this respect one of the most exalted. It was on the indication
of an angel, as he believed, that he came from Samaria to the place
where he met the eunuch; after the baptism of the latter, he was
persuaded that the Spirit lifted him up and carried him direct to
Azote.[9.26]
Azote and the Gaza road were the limit of the first Gospel preaching
towards the south. Beyond were the desert and the nomadic life upon
which Christianity has ever taken but very slight hold. From Azote,
Philip the Deacon hurried towards the north, and evangelized all the
coast as far as Cesarea. Perhaps the Churches of Joppa and of Lydda,
which we shall soon find flourishing,[9.27] were founded by him. At
Cesarea he settled and founded an important church.[9.28] We shall
meet him there again twenty years later.[9.29] Cesarea was a new
city, and the most considerable in Judea.[9.30] It had been built
on the site of a Sidonian fortress called "Abdastarte's or Strato's
Tower," by Herod the Great, who gave to it, in honor of Augustus, the
name which its ruins bear even to this day. Cesarea was by much the
best port in all Palestine, and tended from day to day to become its
capital. Tired of living at Jerusalem, the Procurators of Judea were
soon going to make it their habitual residence.[9.31] It was peopled
chiefly by pagans;[9.32] the Jews, however, were quite numerous there,
and severe disputes often took place between the two classes of the
population.[9.33] The Greek language was alone spoken there, and the
Jews themselves had come to recite certain parts of their liturgy
in Greek.[9.34] The austere Rabbis of Jerusalem looked upon Cesarea
as a profane and dangerous abode, in which one became very nearly a
pagan.[9.35] From all the reasons which have just been cited, this
city will be of much importance in the sequel of our history. It was
in a manner the port of Christianity, the point by which the Church of
Jerusalem communicated with all the Mediterranean.
Many other missions, the history of which is unknown to us, were
conducted side by side with that of Philip.[9.36] The very rapidity
with which this first preaching was accomplished was the cause of its
success. In the year 38, five years after the death of Jesus, and one
perhaps after the death of Stephen, all Palestine on the higher side
of Jordan had heard the glad tidings from the mouth of missionaries
sent out from Jerusalem. Galilee, on its side, kept the holy seed and
probably spread it around, although we know nothing of any missions
issuing from this country. Perhaps the city of Damascus, which, from
the epoch at which we have arrived, also had its Christians,[9.37]
received the faith from Galilean preachers.