_THE DEFEAT OF PRIDE._
"Now about that time Herod the king put forth his hands to
afflict certain of the Church. And he killed James the brother of
John with the sword. And when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he
proceeded to seize Peter also.... Immediately an angel of the
Lord smote Herod, because he gave not God the glory: and he was
eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the word of God grew
and multiplied."--ACTS xii. 1-3, 23-24.
The chapter at which we have now arrived is very important from a
chronological point of view, as it brings the sacred narrative into
contact with the affairs of the external world concerning which we
have independent knowledge. The history of the Christian Church and of
the outside world for the first time clearly intersect, and we thus
gain a fixed point of time to which we can refer. This chronological
character of the twelfth chapter of the Acts arises from its
introduction of Herod and the narrative of the second notable
persecution which the Church at Jerusalem had to endure. The
appearance of a Herod on the scene and the tragedy in which he was the
actor demand a certain amount of historical explanation, for, as we
have already noted in the case of St. Stephen five or six years
previously, Roman procurators and Jewish priests and the Sanhedrin
then possessed or at least used the power of the sword in Jerusalem,
while a word had not been heard of a Herod exercising capital
jurisdiction in Judæa for more than forty years. Who was this Herod?
Whence came he? How does he emerge so suddenly upon the stage? As
great confusion exists in the minds of many Bible students about the
ramifications of the Herodian family and the various offices and
governments they held, we must make a brief digression in order to
show who and whence this Herod was concerning whom we are told, "Now
about that time Herod the king put forth his hands to afflict certain
of the Church."
This Herod Agrippa was a grandson of Herod the Great, and displayed in
the solitary notice of him which Holy Scripture has handed down many
of the characteristics, cruel, bloodthirsty and yet magnificent, which
that celebrated sovereign manifested throughout his life.[93] The
story of Herod Agrippa his grandson was a real romance. He made trial
of every station in life. He had been at times a captive, at times a
conqueror. He had at various periods experience of a prison house and
of a throne. He had felt the depths of poverty, and had not known
where to borrow money sufficient to pay his way to Rome. He had
tasted of the sweetness of affluence, and had enjoyed the pleasures of
magnificent living. He had been a subject and a ruler, a dependant on
a tyrant, and the trusted friend and councillor of emperors. His story
is worth telling. He was born about ten years before the Christian
era, and was the son of Aristobulus, one of the sons of Herod the
Great. After the death of Herod, his grandfather, the Herodian family
was scattered all over the world. Some obtained official positions;
others were obliged to shift for themselves, depending on the
fragments of the fortune which the great king had left them. Agrippa
lived at Rome till about the year 30 A.D., associating with Drusus,
the son of the Emperor Tiberius, by whom he was led into the wildest
extravagance. He was banished from Rome about that year, and was
obliged to retire to Palestine, contenting himself with the small
official post of Ædile of Tiberias in Galilee, given him by his uncle
Herod Antipas, which he held about the time when our Lord was teaching
in that neighbourhood. During the next six years the fortunes of
Agrippa were of the most chequered kind. He soon quarrelled with
Antipas, and is next found a fugitive at the court of Antioch with the
Prefect of the East. He there borrowed from a money-lender the sum of
£800 at 12-1/2 per cent. interest, to enable him to go to Rome and
push his interests at the imperial court. He was arrested, however,
for a large debt due to the Treasury just when he was embarking, and
consigned to prison, whence the very next day he managed to escape,
and fled to Alexandria. There he again raised another timely loan, and
thus at last succeeded in getting to Rome. Agrippa attached himself to
Caligula, the heir of the empire, and after various chances was
appointed by him King of Trachonitis, a dominion which Caligula and
subsequently Claudius enlarged by degrees, till in the year 41 he was
invested with the kingdom of the whole of Palestine, including
Galilee, Samaria, and Judæa, of which Agrippa proceeded to take formal
possession about twelve months before the events recorded in the
twelfth chapter of Acts.[94]
[93] The Herodian family form a notable instance of the modern
doctrine of heredity, which yet is only the ancient principle of
Divine action announced long ago in the Second Commandment,
"Visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third
and fourth generation." The moral taints which we behold in Esau,
passion, self-indulgence quenching all forethought, ostentation
joined with magnificent generosity, displayed themselves in Herod
the Great. In him they were joined with absolute power, and they
produced their natural results. They made his heart, his life, his
home a howling wilderness, and handed down to his descendants a
legacy of wickedness which ceased not to bear fruit so long as his
name survived. Herod's family cruelties were so celebrated that we
are told by a pagan writer, named Macrobius, that when the Emperor
Augustus heard of the slaughter of the innocents of Bethlehem,
thinking they were Herod's children, he jokingly said, "It were
better to be Herod's pigs than Herod's children."
[94] See Lewin's _Fasti Sacri_, A.D. 41, p. 271, for the
authorities on the subject of Herod's career.
Herod's career had been marked by various changes, but in one respect
he had been consistent. He was ever a thorough Jew, and a vigorous and
useful friend to his fellow-countrymen. We have already noticed that
his influence had been used with Caligula to induce the Emperor to
forgo his mad project of erecting his statue in the Holy of Holies at
Jerusalem.[95] Herod had, however, one great drawback in the eyes of
the priestly faction at Jerusalem. All the descendants of Herod the
Great were tainted by their Edomite blood, which they inherited
through him. Their kind offices and support were accepted indeed, but
only grudgingly. Herod felt this, and it was quite natural therefore
for the newly appointed king to strive to gain all the popularity he
could with the dominant party at Jerusalem by persecuting the new sect
which was giving them so much trouble. No incident could possibly have
been more natural, more consistent with the facts of history, as well
as with the known dispositions and tendencies of human nature, than
that recorded in these words--"Now about that time Herod the king put
forth his hands to afflict certain of the Church. And he killed James
the brother of John with the sword." Herod's act was a very politic
one from a worldly point of view. It was a hard dose enough for the
Jewish people to swallow, to find a king imposed upon them by an
idolatrous Gentile power; but it was some alleviation of their lot
that the king was a Jew, and a Jew so devoted to the service of the
ruling hierarchy that he was willing to use his secular power to crush
the troublesome Nazarene sect whose doctrine threatened for ever to
destroy all hopes of a temporal restoration for Israel. Such being the
historical setting of the picture presented to us, let us apply
ourselves to the spiritual application and lessons of this incident in
apostolic history. We have here a martyrdom, a deliverance, and a
Divine judgment, which will all repay careful study.
[95] See p. 95 above.
I. A martyrdom is here brought under our notice, and that the first
martyrdom among the apostles. Stephen's was the first Christian
martyrdom, but that of James was the first apostolic martyrdom. When
Herod, following his grandfather's footsteps, would afflict the
Church, "he killed James the brother of John with the sword." We must
carefully distinguish between two martyrs of the same name who have
both found a place in the commemorations of Christian hope and love.
May-day is the feast devoted to the memory of St. Philip and St.
James, July 25th is the anniversary consecrated to the memorial of St.
James the Apostle, whose death is recorded in the passage now under
consideration. The latter was the brother of John and son of Zebedee;
the former was the brother or cousin according to the flesh of our
Lord. St. James the Apostle perished early in the Church's history.
St. James the Just flourished for more than thirty years after the
Resurrection. He lived indeed to a comparatively advanced period of
the Church's history, as is manifest from a study of the Epistle
which he wrote to the Jewish Christians of the Dispersion. He there
rebukes shortcomings and faults, respect for the rich and contempt of
the poor, oppression and outrage and irreverence, which could never
have found place in that first burst of love and devotion to God which
the age of our Herodian martyr witnessed, but must have been the
outcome of long years of worldly prosperity and ease. James the Just,
the stern censor of Christian morals and customs, whose language
indeed in its severity has at times caused one-sided and narrow
Christians much trouble, must often have looked back with regret and
longing to the purer days of charity and devotion when James the
brother of John perished by the sword of Herod.
Again, we notice about this martyred apostle that, though there is
very little told us concerning his life and actions, he must have been
a very remarkable man. He was clearly remarkable for his Christian
privileges. He was one of the apostles specially favoured by our Lord.
He was admitted by Him into the closest spiritual converse. Thus we
find that, with Peter and John, James the Apostle was one of the three
selected by our Lord to behold the first manifestation of His power
over the realms of the dead when He restored the daughter of Jairus to
life; with the same two, Peter and John, he was privileged to behold
our Saviour receive the first foretaste of His heavenly glory upon the
Mount of Transfiguration; and with them too he was permitted to behold
his great Master drink the first draught of the cup of agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane. James the Apostle had thus the first necessary
qualification for an eminent worker in the Lord's vineyard. He had
been admitted into Christ's most intimate friendship, he knew much of
his Lord's will and mind. And the privileges thus conferred upon St.
James had not been misused or neglected. He did not hide his talent in
the dust of idleness, nor wrap it round with the mantle of sloth. He
utilised his advantages. He became a foremost, if not indeed the
foremost worker for his loved Lord in the Church of Jerusalem, as is
intimated by the opening words of this passage, which tells us that
when Herod wished to harass and vex the Church he selected James the
brother of John as his victim; and we may be sure that with the keen
instinct of a persecutor Herod selected not the least prominent and
useful, but the most devoted and energetic champion of Christ to
satisfy his cruel purpose. And yet, though James was thus privileged
and thus faithful and thus honoured by God, his active career is
shrouded thick round with clouds and darkness. We know nothing of the
good works and brave deeds and powerful sermons he devoted to his
Master's cause. We are told simply of the death by which he glorified
God. All else is hidden with God till that day when the secret
thoughts and deeds of every man shall be revealed. This incident in
early Apostolic Church history is a very typical one, and teaches many
a lesson very necessary for these times and for all times. If an
apostle so privileged and so faithful was content to do his work, and
then to pass away without a single line of memorial, a single word to
keep his name or his labours fresh among men, how much more may we,
petty, faithless, trifling as we are, be contented to do our duty, and
to pass away without any public recognition! And yet how we all do
crave after such recognition! How intensely we long for human praise
and approval! How useless we esteem our labours unless they are
followed by it! How inclined we are to make the fallible judgment of
man the standard by which we measure our actions, instead of having
the mind's eye ever steadily fixed as James the brother of John had on
His approval alone who, now seeing our secret trials, struggles,
efforts, will one day reward His faithful followers openly! This is
one great lesson which this typical passage by its silence as well as
by its speech clearly teaches the Church of every age.[96]
[96] The tradition of the second century has only one story to
tell about this martyrdom. We find it in Eusebius, _H. E._, ii.,
9, where we read: "Concerning this James Clement hands down a
story worthy of remembrance in the seventh book of his Hypotyposes
(or Outlines) delivering it from the traditions of his
predecessors, that the messenger who led him to the judgment-seat,
beholding his witness, was moved to confess himself a Christian.
Both were therefore led away, says he, and on the road (to
execution) he asked forgiveness from James. And he, having
considered for a little, said, Peace be to thee, and he kissed him
tenderly. And thus both were beheaded together."
Again, this martyrdom of St. James proclaims yet another lesson. God
hereby warns the Church against the idolatry of human agents, against
vain trust in human support. Let us consider the circumstances of the
Church at that time. The Church had just passed through a season of
violent persecution, and had lost one of its bravest and foremost
soldiers in the person of Stephen, the martyred deacon. And now there
was impending over the Church what is often more trying far than a
time short and sharp of violence and blood,--a period of temporal
distress and suffering, trying the principles and testing the
endurance of the weaker brethren in a thousand petty trifles. It was a
time when the courage, the wisdom, the experience of the tried and
trusted leaders would be specially required to guide the Church amid
the many new problems which day by day were cropping up. And yet it
was just then, at such a crisis, that the Lord permits the bloody
sword of Herod to be stretched forth, and removes one of the very
chiefest champions of the Christian host just when his presence seemed
most necessary. It must have appeared a dark and trying dispensation
to the Church of that day; but though attended doubtless with some
present drawbacks and apparent disadvantages, it was well and wisely
done to warn the Church of every age against mere human dependence,
mere temporal refuges; teaching by a typical example that it is not by
human might or earthly wisdom, not by the eloquence of man or the
devices of earth that Christ's Church and people must be saved; that
it is by His own right hand, and by His own holy arm alone our God
will get Himself the victory.
Yet again we may learn from this incident another lesson rich laden
with comfort and instruction. This martyrdom of St. James throws us
back upon a circumstance which occurred during our Lord's last journey
to Jerusalem before His crucifixion, and interprets it for us. Let us
recall it. Our Lord was going up to Jerusalem, and His disciples were
following Him with wondering awe. The shadow of the Cross projecting
itself forward made itself unconsciously felt throughout the little
company, and men were astonished, though they knew not why. They
simply felt, as men do on a close sultry summer's day when a
thunderstorm is overhead, that something awful was impending. They
had, however, a vague feeling that the kingdom of God would shortly
appear, and so the mother of Zebedee's children, with all that
boldness which affection lends to feminine minds, drew near and strove
to secure a boon before all others for her own children. She prayed
that to her two sons might be granted the posts of honour in the
temporal kingdom she thought of as now drawing so very near. The Lord
replied to her request in very deep and far-reaching language, the
meaning of which she then understood not, but learned afterwards
through the discipline of pain and sorrow and death: "Ye know not what
ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" And
then, when James and John had professed their ability, he predicts
their future fate: "My cup indeed ye shall drink." The mother and the
sons alike spoke bold words, and offered a sincere but an ignorant
prayer. Little indeed did the mother dream as she presented her
petition--"Command that these my two sons may sit, one on Thy right
hand, and one on Thy left hand in Thy kingdom"--how that prayer would
be answered, and yet answered it was. To the one son, James, was
granted the one post of honour. He was made to sit on the Master's
right hand, for he was the first of the apostles called to enter into
Paradise through a baptism of blood. While to the other son, St. John,
was granted the other post of honour, for he was left the longest upon
earth to guide, direct, and sustain the Church by his inspired wisdom,
large experience, and apostolic authority.[97] The contrast between
the prayer offered up to Christ in ignorance and shortsightedness and
the manner in which the same prayer was answered in richest abundance
suggests to us the comforting reflection that no prayer offered up in
sincerity and truth is ever really left unanswered. We may indeed
never see how the prayer is answered. The mother of St. James may
little have dreamt as she beheld her son's lifeless body brought home
to her that this trying dispensation was a real answer to her
ambitious petition. But we can now see that it was so, and can thus
learn a lesson of genuine confidence, of holy boldness, of strong
faith in the power of sincere and loving communion with God. Let us
only take care to cultivate the same spirit of genuine humility and
profound submission which possessed the souls of those primitive
Christians enabling them to say, no matter how their petitions were
answered, whether in joy or sorrow, in smiles or tears, in riches or
poverty, "Not my will, but thine, O Lord, be done."
[97] Bishop Lightfoot, in his celebrated essay on the Christian
Ministry, _Philippians_, pp. 200-205, 2nd edition, regards
Episcopacy as the work of St. John. "By whom was the new
constitution organised? To this question only one answer can be
given. This great work must be ascribed to the surviving apostles.
St. John especially, who built up the speculative theology of the
Church, was mainly instrumental in completing its external
constitution also, for Asia Minor was the centre from which the
new movement spread." These words occur in his analysis of Rothe's
views, with which Dr. Lightfoot substantially agrees.
II. We have again in this twelfth chapter the record of a Divine
deliverance. Herod, seeing that the Jewish authorities were pleased
because they had now a sympathetic ruler who understood their
religious troubles and was resolved to help in quelling them,
determined to proceed farther in the work of repression. He arrested
another prominent leader, St. Peter, and cast him into prison. The
details are given to us of Herod's action and Peter's arrest. Peter
was now making his first acquaintance with Roman methods of
punishment. He had been indeed previously arrested and imprisoned, but
his arrest had been carried out by the Jewish authorities, and he had
been consigned to the care of the Temple police, and had occupied the
Temple prison. But Herod, though a strict Jew in religion, had been
thoroughly Romanised in matters of rule and government, and therefore
he treated St. Peter after the Roman fashion: "When he had taken him,
he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quarternions of
soldiers to guard him; intending after the Passover to bring him forth
to the people." He was delivered to sixteen men, who divided the night
into four watches, four men watching at a time, after the Roman method
of discipline.[98] And then, in contrast to all this preparation, we
are told how the Church betook herself to her sure refuge and strong
tower of defence: "Peter therefore was kept in prison; but prayer was
made earnestly of the Church unto God for him." These early Christians
had not had their faith limited or weakened by discussions whether
petition for temporal blessings were a proper subject of prayer, or
whether spiritual blessings did not alone supply true matter for
supplication before the Divine throne. They were in the first fervour
of Christian love, and they did not theorise, define, or debate about
prayer and its efficacy. They only knew that their Master had told
them to pray, and had promised to answer sincere prayer, as He alone
knew how; and so they gathered themselves in instant ceaseless prayer
at the foot of the throne of grace. I say "ceaseless" prayer because
it seems that the Jerusalem Church, feeling its danger, organised a
continuous service of prayer. "Prayer was made earnestly of the Church
unto God for him" is the statement of the fifth verse, and then when
St. Peter was released "he came to the house of Mary, where many were
gathered together and were praying," though the night must have been
far advanced. The crisis was a terrible one; the foremost champion,
St. James, had been taken, and now another great leader was
threatened, and therefore the Church flung herself at the feet of the
Master seeking deliverance, and was not disappointed, as the Church
has never since been disappointed when she has cast herself in
lowliness and profound submission before the same holy sanctuary.[99]
The narrative then proceeds to give us the particulars of St. Peter's
deliverance, as St. Peter himself seems to have told it to St. Luke,
for we have details given us which could only have come either
directly or indirectly from the person most immediately concerned. But
of these we shall treat in a little. The story now introduces the
supernatural, and for the believer this is quite in keeping with the
facts of the case. A great crisis in the history of the Jerusalem
Church has arrived. The mother Church of all Christendom, the fountain
and source of original Christianity, is threatened with extinction.
The life of the greatest existing leader of that Church is at stake,
and that before his work is done. The very existence of the Christian
revelation seems imperilled, and God sends forth an angel, a heavenly
messenger, to rescue His endangered servant, and to prove to
unbelieving Jew, to the haughty Herod, and to the frightened but
praying disciples alike the care which He ever exercises over His
Church and people. Here, however, a question may be raised. How was
it that an angel, a supernatural messenger, was despatched to the
special rescue of St. Peter? Why was not the same assistance
vouchsafed to St. James who had just been put to death? Why was not
the same assistance vouchsafed to St. Peter himself when he was
martyred at Rome, or to St. Paul when he lay in the dungeon in the
same city of Rome or at Cæsarea? Simply, we reply, because God's hour
was not yet come and the Apostle's work was not yet done. St. James's
work was done, and therefore the Lord did not immediately interfere,
or rather He summoned His servant to His assigned post of honour by
the ministry of Herod. The wrath of man became the instrument whereby
the praises of God were chanted and the soul of the righteous conveyed
to its appointed place. The Lord did not interfere when St. Paul was
cast into the prison house at Cæsarea, or St. Peter incarcerated in
the Roman dungeon, because they had then a great work to do in showing
how His servants can suffer as well as work. But now St. Peter had
many a long year of active labour before him and much work to do as
the Apostle of the Circumcision in preventing that schism with which
the diverse parties and opposing ideas of Jew and Gentile threatened
the infant Church, in smoothing over and reconciling the manifold
oppositions, jealousies, difficulties, misunderstandings, which ever
attend such a season of transition and transformation as now was fast
dawning upon the Divine society. The arrest of St. Peter and his
threatened death was a great crisis in the history of the primitive
Church. St. Peter's life was very precious to the existence of that
Church, it was very precious for the welfare of mankind at large, and
so it was a fitting time for God to raise up a banner against
triumphant pride and worldly force by the hand of a supernatural
messenger.
[98] These elaborate precautions were doubtless taken on account
of his escape on the previous occasion, when the Sanhedrin had
arrested him, as narrated in the nineteenth verse of the fifth
chapter.
[99] In the fifth century an order of monks was established at
Constantinople who practised this ceaseless worship. They were
called Acoimetæ, or the Watchers. They are described at length in
Bingham's _Antiquities_, Book VII., ch. ii., sect. 10, and in
Smith's _Dict. Christ. Antiqq._, vol. i., p. 13. A similar attempt
was made in the reigns of James I. and Charles I. by the
well-known Nicholas Ferrar in a monastic institution which he
planned in connection with the Church of England: see the article
in the _Dictionary of National Biography_ upon his name.
The steps by which St. Peter was delivered are all of them full of
edification and comfort. Let us mark them. "When Herod was about to
bring him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two
soldiers, bound with two chains: and guards before the door kept the
prison." It was on that fateful night the same as when the angels
descended on the Resurrection morning: the guards were in their
rightful place and discharging their accustomed duties, but when God
intervenes then human precautions are all useless. The words of the
narrative are striking in their quiet dignity. There is no working up
of details. There is no pandering to mere human curiosity. Everything
is in keeping with the sustained force, sublimity, elevation which we
ever behold in the Divine action. Peter was sleeping between two
soldiers; one chained to each arm, so that he could not move without
awaking them. He was sleeping profoundly and calmly, because he felt
himself in the hands of an Almighty Father who will order everything
for the best. The interior rest amid the greatest trials which an
assured confidence like that enjoyed by St. Peter can confer is
something marvellous, and has not been confined to apostolic times.
Our Lord's servants have in every age proved the same wondrous power.
I know of course that criminals are often said to enjoy a profound
sleep the night before their execution. But then habitual criminals
and hardened murderers have their spiritual natures so completely
overmastered and dominated by their lower material powers that they
realise nothing beyond the present. They are little better than the
beasts which perish, and think as little of the future as they do.
But persons with highly strung nervous powers, who realise the awful
change impending over them, cannot be as they, specially if they have
no such sure hope as that which sustained St. Peter. He slept calmly
here as Paul and Silas rejoiced in the Philippian prison house, as the
Master Himself slept calmly in the stern of the wave-rocked boat on
the Galilean lake, because he knew himself to be reposing in the arms
of Everlasting Love, and this knowledge bestowed upon him a sweet and
calm repose at the moment of supreme danger of which the fevered
children of time know nothing.
And now all the circumstances of the celestial visit are found to be
most suitable and becoming. The angel stood by Peter. A light shined
in the cell, because light is the very element in which these heavenly
beings spend their existence. The chains which bind St. Peter fell off
without any effort human or angelic, just as in a few moments the
great gate of the prison opened of its own accord, because all these
things, bonds and bolts and bars, derive all their coercive power from
the will of God, and when that will changes or is withdrawn they cease
to be operative, or become the instruments of the very opposite
purpose, assisting and not hindering His servants. Then the angel's
actions and directions are characteristic in their dignified vigour.
He told the awakened sleeper to act promptly: "He smote him on the
side, and awoke him, saying, Rise up quickly." But there is no undue
haste. As on the Resurrection morning the napkin that was upon
Christ's head was found not lying with the rest of the grave-cloths,
but rolled up in a place by itself, so too on this occasion the angel
shows minute care for Peter's personal appearance. There must be
nothing undignified, careless, untidy even, about the dress of the
rescued apostle: "Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals." St. Peter
had naturally laid aside his external garments, had unloosed his inner
robes, and taken off his sandals when preparing for sleep. Nothing,
however, escapes the heavenly messenger, and so he says, "Cast thy
garment about thee, and follow me," referring to the loose upper robe
or overcoat which the Jews wore over their underclothes; and then the
angel led him forth, teaching the Church the perpetual lesson that
external dignity of appearance is evermore becoming to God's people,
when not even an angel considered these things beneath his notice amid
all the excitement of a midnight rescue, nor did the inspired writer
omit to record such apparently petty details. Nothing about St. Peter
was too trivial for the angel's notice and direction, as again nothing
in life is too trivial for the sanctifying and elevating care of our
holy religion. Dress, food, education, marriage, amusements, all of
life's work and of life's interests, are the subject-matter whereon
the principles inculcated by Jesus Christ and taught by the ministry
of His Church are to find their due scope and exercise.[100]
[100] The early Church has left us a treatise showing how
thoroughly it recognised its duty in this respect. The "Pædagogue"
or the "Instructor" of Clement of Alexandria is a handbook of the
social life of the early Christians, teaching them what to do and
wear and say under every conceivable circumstance. Clement thinks
nothing too trivial for the rule of Christian principle,
prescribing the kind of clothes, shoes, and beds which should be
used. He may seem at times to border on the ludicrous in his
minuteness; but then we cannot realise how profoundly paganism had
corrupted human life and manners. Thus in Book III., ch. xi., he
treats of the management of the hair by men. Paganism had
introduced many sensual practices in this direction. Clement lays
down: "Let the head of men be shaven, unless it has curly hair.
But let the chin have the hair. But let not twisted locks hang far
down from the head gliding into womanish ringlets.... Since
cropping is to be adopted, not on account of elegance, but for the
necessity of the case; the hair of the head, that it may not grow
so long as to come down and interfere with the eyes, and that of
the moustache similarly which is dirtied in eating, is to be cut
round, not by a razor, for that were unbecoming, but by a pair of
cropping scissors. But the hair on the chin is not to be
disturbed, as it gives no trouble, and lends to the face dignity
and paternal terror." This treatise of a very early Christian
writer can be easily consulted in Clark's Ante-Nicene Library.
Peter's deliverance was now complete. The angel conducted him through
one street to assure him that he was really free and secure him from
bewilderment, and then departed. The Apostle thereupon sought out the
well-known centre of Christian worship, "the house of Mary the mother
of John, whose surname was Mark," where stood the upper chamber,
honoured as no other upper chamber had ever been. There he made known
his escape, and then retired to some secret place where Herod could
not find him, remaining there concealed till Herod was dead and direct
Roman law and authority were once more in operation at Jerusalem.[101]
There are two or three details in this narrative that are deserving of
special notice, as showing that St. Luke received the story most
probably from St. Peter himself. These touches are expressions of St.
Peter's inner thoughts, which could have been known only to St. Peter,
and must have been derived from him. Thus we are told about his state
of mind when the angel appeared: "He wist not that it was true which
was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision." Again, after his
deliverance, we are told of the thoughts which passed through his
mind, the words which rose to his lips when he found himself once
again a free man: "When Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know
of a truth that the Lord hath sent forth His angel, and delivered me
out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people
of the Jews." While, again, how true to life and to the female nature
is the incident of the damsel Rhoda! She came across the courtyard to
hearken and see who was knocking at the outer gate at that late hour:
"When she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for joy, but ran
in and told that Peter stood before the gate." We behold the
impulsiveness of the maid. She quite forgot the Apostle's knocking at
the gate in her eager desire to convey the news to his friends. And,
again, how true to nature their scepticism! They were gathered praying
for Peter's release, but so little did they expect an answer to their
prayers that, when the answer does come, and in the precise way that
they were asking for it and longing for it, they are astonished, and
tell the maid-servant who bore the tidings, "Thou art mad." We pray as
the primitive Church did, and that constantly; but is it not with us
as with them? We pray indeed, but we do not expect our prayers to be
answered, and therefore we do not profit by them as we might.
[101] There is an ancient tradition that our Lord bade the
apostles remain twelve years in Jerusalem before they dispersed to
preach the gospel all the world over (Eusebius, _H. E._, V.,
xviii.). Some think that the famine and persecution which now
happened may have been the occasion of their dispersion.
Such were the circumstances of St. Peter's deliverance, which was a
critical one for the Church. It struck a blow at Herod's new policy of
persecution unto death; it may have induced him to depart from
Jerusalem and descend to Cæsarea, where he met his end, leaving the
Church at Jerusalem in peace; and the deliverance must have thrown a
certain marvellous halo round St. Peter when he appeared again at
Jerusalem, enabling him to occupy a more prominent position without
any fear for his life.
III. We have also recorded in this chapter a notable defeat of pride,
ostentation, and earthly power. The circumstances are well known.
Herod, vexed perhaps by his disappointment in the matter of Peter,
went down to Cæsarea, which his grandfather had magnificently adorned.
But he had other reasons too. He had a quarrel with the men of Tyre
and Sidon, and he would take effective measures against them. Tyre and
Sidon were great seaports and commercial towns, but their country did
not produce food sufficient for the maintenance of its inhabitants,
just as England, the emporium of the world's commerce, is obliged to
depend for its food supplies upon other and distant lands.[102] The
men of Tyre and Sidon were not, however, unacquainted with the ways of
Eastern courts. They bribed the king's chamberlain, and Herod was
appeased. There was another motive which led Herod to Cæsarea. It was
connected with his Roman experience and with his courtier-life. The
Emperor Claudius Cæsar was his friend and patron. To him Herod owed
his restoration to the rich dominions of his grandfather. That emperor
had gone in the previous year, A.D. 43, to conquer Britain. He spent
six months in our northern regions in Gaul and Britain, and then, when
smitten by the cold blasts of midwinter, he fled to the south again,
as so many of our own people do now. He arrived in Rome in the
January of the year 44, and immediately ordered public games to be
celebrated in honour of his safe return, assuming as a special name
the title Britannicus. These public shows were imitated everywhere
throughout the empire as soon as the news of the Roman celebrations
arrived. The tidings would take two or three months to arrive at
Palestine, and the Passover may have passed before Herod heard of his
patron's doings. Jewish scruples would not allow him to celebrate
games after the Roman fashion at Jerusalem, and for this purpose
therefore he descended to the Romanised city of Cæsarea, where all the
appliances necessary for that purpose were kept in readiness. There is
thus a link which binds together the history of our own nation and
this interesting incident in early Christian history. The games were
duly celebrated, but they were destined to be Herod's last act. On an
appointed day he sat in the theatre of Cæsarea to receive the
ambassadors from Tyre and Sidon. He presented himself early in the
morning to the sight of the multitude clad in a robe of silver which
flashed in the light reflecting back the rays of the early sun and
dazzling the mixed multitude--supple, crafty Syrians, paganised
Samaritans, self-seeking and worldly-wise Phœnicians. He made a
speech in response to the address of the envoys, and then the
flattering shout arose, "The voice of a god, and not of a man."
Whereupon the messenger of God smote Herod with that terrible form of
disease which accompanies unbounded self-indulgence and luxury, and
the proud tyrant learned what a plaything of time, what a mere
creature of a day is a king as much as a beggar, as shown by the
narrative preserved by Josephus of this event. He tells us that, when
seized by the mortal disease, Herod looked upon his friends, and said,
"I, whom you call a god, am commanded presently to depart this life;
while Providence thus reproves the lying words you just now said to
me; and I, who was by you called immortal, am immediately to be
hurried away by death."[103] What a striking picture of life's
changes and chances, and of the poetic retributions we at times behold
in the course of God's Providence! One short chapter of the Acts shows
us Herod triumphant side by side with Herod laid low, Herod smiting
apostles with the sword side by side with Herod himself smitten to
death by the Divine sword. A month's time may have covered all the
incidents narrated in this chapter. But, short as the period was, it
must have been rich in support and consolation to the apostles Saul
and Barnabas, who were doubtless deeply interested spectators of the
rapidly shifting scene, telling them clearly of the heavenly watch
exercised over the Church. They had come up from Antioch, bringing
alms to render aid to their afflicted brethren in Christ. The famine,
as we have just now seen from the anxiety of the men of Tyre and Sidon
to be on friendly terms with Herod, was rapidly making itself felt
throughout Palestine and the adjacent lands, and so the deputies of
the Antiochene Church hurried up to Jerusalem with the much-needed
gifts.[104] It may indeed be said, how could St. Paul hope to escape
at such a time? Would it not have been madness for him to risk his
safety in a city where he had once been so well known? But, then, we
must remember that it was at the Passover season Saul and Barnabas
went from Antioch to Jerusalem. Vast crowds then entered the Holy
City, and a solitary Jew or two from Antioch might easily escape
notice among the myriads which then assembled from all quarters. St.
Paul enjoyed too a wondrous measure of the Spirit's guidance, and that
Spirit told him that he had yet much work to do for God. The Apostle
had wondrous prudence joined with wondrous courage, and we may be sure
that he took wisest precautions to escape the sword of Herod which
would have so eagerly drunk his blood. He remained in Jerusalem all
the time of the Passover. His clear vision of the spiritual world must
then have been most precious and most sustaining. All the apostles
were doubtless scattered; James was dead, and Peter doomed to death.
The temporal troubles, famine and poverty, which called Saul and
Barnabas to Jerusalem, brought with them corresponding spiritual
blessings, as we still so often find, and the brave words of the
chosen vessel, the Vas Electionis, aided by the sweet gifts of the Son
of Consolation, may have been very precious and very helpful to those
deepest souls in the Jerusalem Church who gathered themselves for
continuous prayer in the house of Mary the mother of John, teaching
them the true character, the profound views, the genuine religion of
one whose earlier life had been so very different and whose later
views may have been somewhat suspected. Saul and Barnabas arrived in
Jerusalem at a terrible crisis, they saw the crisis safely passed, and
then they returned to an atmosphere freer and broader than that of
Jerusalem, and there in the exercise of a devoted ministry awaited the
further manifestation of the Divine purposes.
[102] It is noteworthy, indeed, that it was with Tyre and Sidon in
the days of Herod as it was with them in the earlier days of King
Solomon and of the prophets. In 1 Kings v. 10, 11 we see that
Hiram, king of Tyre, depended on Solomon for food: "So Hiram gave
Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his
desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat
for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus
gave Solomon to Hiram year by year"; with which may be compared
Ezekiel xxvii. 17.
[103] The story of the death of Herod Agrippa as told by Josephus,
_Antiqq._, Book XIX., ch. viii., is in striking unison with that
given in the Acts. "Now when Agrippa had reigned three years over
all Judea, he came to the city Cæsarea, formerly called Strato's
Tower; and there he exhibited shows in honour of Cæsar, upon his
being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated on
account of his safety. At which festival a great multitude was
gotten together of the principal persons, and such as were of
dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows he
put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly
wonderful, and came into the theatre early in the morning; at
which time the silver of his garment, being illuminated by the
fresh reflexion of the sun's rays upon it, shone out after a
surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a terror
over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his
flatterers cried out, one from one place, and another from another
(though not for his good), that he was a god; and they added, 'Be
thou merciful to us; for though we have hitherto reverenced thee
only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to
mortal nature.' Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor
reject their impious flattery. But as he presently afterwards
looked up he saw an owl sitting on a certain rope over his head,
and immediately understood that this bird was the messenger of ill
tidings, as it had once been the messenger of good tidings to him,
and fell into the deepest sorrow. A severe pain also arose in his
stomach, and began in a most violent manner. He therefore looked
upon his friends, and said, 'I, whom you call a god, am commanded
presently to depart this life; while Providence thus reproves the
lying words you just now said to me; and I, who was by you called
immortal, am immediately to be hurried away by death. But I am
bound to accept of what Providence allots, as it pleases God; for
we have by no means lived ill, but in a splendid and happy
manner.' When he said this his pain became violent, and he was
carried into the palace." The reference to the owl relates to a
story about Agrippa's earlier life told by Josephus in his
_Antiqq._, Book XVIII., ch. vi. The Emperor Tiberius had bound
Agrippa, and placed him in his purple garments opposite his
palace, with a number of other prisoners, among whom was a German.
An owl perched on a tree near Agrippa, whereupon the German
predicted that he would be freed from his bonds, and be raised to
highest station; but that when he saw the owl again his death
would be only five days distant.
[104] The Jews themselves received at the same time the support of
their foreign proselytes. Helena, Queen of Adiabene, sent liberal
gifts to Jerusalem to support the famine-stricken multitudes of
that city, as Josephus tells in his _Antiquities_, XX., ii., 5.
Cf. Lewin's _Life of St. Paul_, vol. i., p. 108, where the reader
will find engravings of her mausoleum as it is still to be seen at
Jerusalem.