which he combated both the prejudice of the Jews and the sophistry of the Pagans.

3

He referred time and again, in explanation of the object and scope of Christianity and its relations to society, to the divine purpose wrapped in mystery from all eternity,' and which, the Prophets had foretold, Christ would accomplish in the fullness of time. He frequently returned to this subject, and clearly pointed out the relation of Christ to the world by calling Him the central point of all time and the beginning and the end (ré20) of the human race. He taught in direct opposition to Judaism that the Old Covenant had been superseded by the New Law; that sanctification did not depend on the works prescribed by the law of Moses, but on faith in Christ, as had been shown by the example of Abraham; that before God there was no distinction of persons, and that Judaism was not a condition of admission into the Church of Christ for either Jew or Gentile. Looking away into the future, and penetrating the mystery of man's destiny, he gave a clear and intelligible solution of the secret in these profound and energetic words: "For of Him and by Him and in Him are all things;" and going still deeper into the depths of time, and extending still wider the horizon of his mental vision, he declared that all progress would be at an end "when God should be all in all." And thus did the Apostle of the Gentiles enunciate the great principle that underlies all philosophy of history.

5

This, together with his apostolic zeal and the holiness of his life, abundantly shows that he had been born again in Christ Jesus.7

The Apostle, following a custom common among the Rabbies, and of which Peter had given an example, felt that

3

1 1 Ephes. i. 4-12, iii. 8-12; Rom. xvi. 25, 26.

2 Gal. iv. 4; Ephes. i. 10.

3 Ephes. i. 4; Tit. i. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 6; Rom. i. and vii; Gal. iii. 24; Acts xvii.

26-28.

4 Rom. xi.

5 Rom. xi. 36.

61 Cor. xv. 28,

72 Cor. v. 17. Conf. Simar, The Theology of St. Paul. Freiburg, 1864.

since his sympathies and opinions had undergone so great a change, it was quite proper that he should change his name also. The name Paul, which he took, was probably suggested by the conversion of the Proconsul, Sergius Paulus," and by this alone is he known in sacred history."

§ 46. The Gospel is Preached to the Gentiles.

Peter, when returning from Samaria, and while on his way to visit the maritime cities of Palestine, had a vision, in which it was made known to him that the time had come for the admission of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ. He accordingly baptized Cornelius the Centurion, who was probably a proselyte of the Gate, and had never become acquainted with all the doctrines and ceremonies of Judaism. The news of this event rapidly spread to Jerusalem, and excited much discontent among the Christian Jews. Peter, however, quieted their fears by assuring them that he had acted in obedience to a revelation from Heaven, and that in baptism the gifts of the Holy Ghost are conferred without distinction on both Jew and Gentile. Still the Jews contended that Gentiles who should hereafter be admitted to baptism, without circumcision, should in all other respects be classed with the proselytes of the Gate, and made subject to the law of Moses.

A great number of converts entered the Church at Antioch, the capital of Syria,5 upon this condition, and this number was greatly increased by the teachings of St. Paul, who assured them, in language the most positive, that man was not justified by the doing of works prescribed in the Old Law, but by faith in Christ and by the aid of His grace; and that the law of Moses was never intended to be permanent,

1 Acts xiii. 9.

2 Acts xiii. 7 seqq.

3 St. Jerome states this without reference or comment, catal., c. 5, and in the comment. in epist. ad. Philem. and August. confess. VIII. 3; among moderns, Bengel, Olshausen, and Meyer.

4 Acts x. and xi.

5 Acts xi. 20.

but rather to serve temporarily as a means to teach the Jews their religion and their duties.

Some Jewish priests and Pharisees who had but recently come into the Church, together with their followers, wished to exact of the Gentile converts the same conditions as those imposed upon Christians of Jewish origin. These were extremely severe, and the Gentiles on this account sent a deputation to Jerusalem, where, for the first time, the Apostles assembled in Council (A. D. 50-52). The Council decreed, in the name of the Holy Ghost, to lay no further burden on the Gentile converts than that they should abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.'

The community at Antioch, composed of Jewish and Pagan converts, became so numerous and flourishing that it was called the second mother Church, and here the faithful for the first time received the name of Christians," instead of Galileans or Nazarenes. A spirit of charity and self-sacrifice and a singleness of purpose united them by the strongest ties with the Church of Jerusalem, which Herod Agrippa I., in the hope of conciliating the good will of the Jewish people, was at this time oppressing with the most merciless persecution. He put James the Elder, the brother of St. John, to death (A. D. 44), and Peter escaped from his hands only by divine interposition. The latter returned to Jerusalem after the tragic end of Agrippa, when he was treated with greater lenity by the Romans. Peter, John, and James, the last of whom the Apostles had appointed bishop of Jerusalem, were called the pillars of the Church.5

4

§ 47. The Journeys of St. Paul-His Apostolic Labors and his Epistles.

1

St. Paul, after his miraculous conversion, retired into

1 Acts xv. 28, 29. Conf. Friedlieb, on the Decree of the Apostles. Austrian Quarterly for Cath. Theol., 1863, p. 135 sq.

2 Acts xi. 26.

3 Acts xii. 1-19.

4 Acts xii. 21-23.

5 Gal. ii. 9.

3

Arabia, where he found ample opportunity for the exercise of his zeal in converting to Christianity the numerous Jews who inhabited that country. He returned thence to Damascus, and three years after the date of his conversion went up to Jerusalem, for the purpose of conferring with Peter and receiving official recognition as an Apostle of the Gospel.1 Then, in company with Barnabas and the learned Levite, Joseph, a native of the isle of Cyprus, by whom he had been introduced to Peter and James, he went on a mission into Syria and Cilicia. While Paul was laboring with commendable zeal to establish the Church at Antioch, he did not forget, in his affectionate solicitude, the sufferings of the Church of Jerusalem during the persecution of Herod Agrippa. About this time, while on his way through Seleucia, he and Barnabas set out on their first great mission to Cyprus, Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, after which he again visited the Church at Antioch. He found the controversy concerning the duties of converted Pagans at its height, and, with the purpose of putting an end to it, set out with Barnabas to Jerusalem (5052), where the Apostles were assembled in Council. Accompanied by Silas, he soon after (52-53) went upon another mission through Syria, Cilicia, and Lycaonia. Barnabas quitted him to go on a journey to Cyprus with his relative, John Mark. Timothy joined Paul and Silas at Lystra, and traveled with them through Phrygia, Galatia, and Mysia. They fell in with a physician at Troas, who became, later on, the Evangelist, St. Luke. Thence they went into Macedonia, and founded successively the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Beroea. Here, St. Paul, taking leave of his companions, crossed over to Athens, and in this great center of Grecian idolatry preached the One unknown God to the astonished inhabitants. He proceeded thence to the wealthy but corrupt city of Corinth, where he was hospitably received by Aquila, a Jewish convert, and where also he wrote his first epistles—

5

1 Gal. i. 17-19; Acts ix. 19-27.

2 Acts xi. 22-30, xii. 25.

Acts xiii. and xiv.

4 Acts xv.

5 Acts xvii. 22 sq.

the two to the Thessalonians. He remained about eighteen months in this city, and succeeded in establishing in it one. of the most flourishing of the early Christian communities. Thence, passing through Ephesus, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, he again returned to Antioch.1

Inspired by the ardor of his zeal, he set out upon a third mission into Asia Minor (A. D. 54 or 55), and after having visited the churches of Phrygia and Galatia, went to Ephesus, where he remained two years engaged in incessant efforts to establish the Kingdom of God, and, with characteristic energy, carried his labors beyond the city and its immediate confines into far-distant parts. His epistles to the churches of Corinth and Galatia were written during his stay at this city.

The Ephesians, fearing that the worship of their favorite goddess Diana would be abolished, became alarmed, rose in sedition, and drove St. Paul from their gates. Departing from Ephesus, he went into Macedonia (A. D. 57),2 visited the various churches of that country, wrote his second epistle to the Corinthians, and shortly after returned to Corinth to adjust some difficulties that had arisen there.

Paul, burning with zeal, and true to his high calling of Apostle of Nations, wrote to the Romans (A. D. 58), and promised them that he would shortly visit them in person.3 Three months later, passing through Miletus, Ptolemais, and Caesarea, he returned to Jerusalem. His farewell to the bishops and priests who had assembled at Ephesus from the surrounding country is dignified and affecting. He had hardly arrived at Jerusalem, when he was recognized in the temple, and, upon the complaint of some Jews from Asia Minor, was arrested and accused of contemning the law. Claiming the privileges of a Roman citizen, he was released from the juris

1 Acts xv. 36, xviii. 22.

2 Acts xx. 1 sq.

3 Rom. i. 13–15.

4 Acts xviii. 23, xxi. 17.

5 Acts xx. 17-38.

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