from the world. It is to the record of this body, and the movement of its activities while waiting for the completed literature of fact, that we now turn.

III. THE ACTS OF THE Apostles

As we see by comparing the preface to the Gospel of Luke with that to the Acts of the Apostles, the same person who wrote the gospel wrote also the other account, addressing both to a certain Theophilus (Luke i, 3; Acts i, 1), who was undoubtedly a Gentile Christian. In writing the Acts he had the advantage, for parts of it, of being an eyewitness, having been a companion of St. Paul on some of the latter's missionary journeys, a fact indicated by his use of the first person in narrating the incidents at which he was present. For the parts of the history not relating to St. Paul he had to depend, as in the compilation of his gospel, on the written and oral reports of other persons. The history is brought down to the time of St. Paul's first imprisonment at Rome, but whether written before or after the apostle's death is uncertain.

I

As Continuation of a Prior History. The Acts of the Apostles, written by Luke, is a history projected as a continuation of his gospel to give an account of Christ's work through authorized representatives, as these witnessed to him and proclaimed his truth from Jerusalem to Rome. The two books give, then, in one connected view an account of the Christian movement from the birth of Jesus to the introduction of his teachings in the capital of the world. From there the movement could be trusted to radiate and grow until the whole earth responded to its influence. Luke's warrant for presenting his history in this form and compass is intimated in Christ's charge to his apostles just before his ascension. "It is not for you," he said, "to

know times or seasons, which the Father hath set within his own authority. But ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts i, 7, 8). They had supposed that he would speedily set up his kingdom through the supernatural power which his resurrection had conferred (cf. Acts i, 6). Instead of encouraging that hope, however, he directed them to institute a movement of teaching and preaching similiar to what his had been, without reference to time and with no limitation of territory, leaving his return to take care of itself. Then in their sight he ascended, and angels, appearing, predicted his return (i, 9-11).

By the time Luke wrote his history of these apostles' acts the true state of the case was clear. They were the initiators of a movement, continuous with Jesus' work, which was destined to be world-wide and indefinitely enduring, a movement taking its place among the supremely great forces of history. Luke, from his historical instinct, saw this, and recounted its initial and determinative stages in the Acts of the Apostles.

II

As Related to the Planting of Christianity. The history comprised in the Acts of the Apostles falls into two wellmarked divisions or stages.

1. For twelve chapters the history is given as it relates to the initial steps in the work of disseminating the gospel. It tells of the Pentecostal revival in Jerusalem; of the organization of systematic ministry under Peter and John as leaders; of the appointment of deacons or helpers, among whom were Stephen the first martyr and Philip the first itinerant evangelist; of the rise of a persecution which scattered the first group of workers and enlarged the sphere of their ministry; of the conversion of Saul, the chief persecutor; of the beginning of work with Gentiles by the divinely directed agency

of Peter- until a vigorous center of work both with Jews and Gentiles was established at Antioch in northern Syria. All this time the new work was regarded, and regarded itself, as the culmination and fulfillment of Judaism. The faith was called "The Way" (Acts ix, 2; xix, 9, 23; xxii, 4; xxiv, 14, 22; cf. John xiv, 6), a name apparently originated by St. Paul and his circle. In Antioch, however, where the larger significance of the movement began to be perceived through the teaching of Barnabas, the disciples got the name of Christians (see Acts xi, 26), — a nickname at first, perhaps, but accepted, like the modern name "Methodists," and made forever honorable.

2. The second half of the book, chapters xiii to xxviii, is devoted mainly to the work of St. Paul, as he made several extended missionary journeys, working with extraordinary energy and encountering untold hardships (cf. 2 Cor. xi, 22-33) in his evangelizing zeal, which was as great for Christianity as his enthusiasm had formerly been for Pharisaic Judaism. In these journeys he visited the chief centers of influence and culture in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece, planting churches at such strategical points as Thessalonica, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, and witnessing not without result in the center of culture, Athens; until, after being arrested on a return to Jerusalem and appealing his case to Cæsar, he was brought as a state prisoner to Rome, the world's capital.

In chapter xvi, 10, without warning or explanation, the writer begins to speak in the first person ("we endeavored," etc.), and for much of the remaining history this manner of narration is kept up, showing that Luke became Paul's companion (probably at Troas) and was thus not only an eyewitness of many events in Paul's career but in a position to learn many earlier facts at first hand. That he was a faithful and congenial friend of Paul is indicated in Paul's epistles, where he is designated as "the beloved physician

(Col. iv, 14), and where he is mentioned as Paul's only companion in the latter's final imprisonment (2 Tim. iv, 11).

Thus in these two books, the Gospel of Luke and the Acts, we have the continuous story of Christian times, from the birth of Jesus until the closing years of the greatest apostle, as told by one man, a faithful and competent historian.

CHAPTER XI

THE LITERATURE OF VALUES

[Cir. A. D. 47 to cir. 100]

UR distinction in this chapter and the preceding be

is not meant as a hard and fast discrimination. It names rather the general design and trend of the Gospels and the Acts on the one hand, and of the remaining literature, mainly in epistolary form, on the other. The predominant object, in the one case, is to give information of things not before generally known, and, in the other case, to give the meanings of things already received and familiar.

But the two kinds of literary purpose continually meet and blend. The gospels, designed for all sorts and conditions of men, must not only narrate the facts of Jesus' life but must give them in such order, emphasis, and proportion as to reveal their values in the sum of life and truth. The epistles, designed for the communities of Christians who already know and accept the central Personality, not only give its values for Christian faith and doctrine but keep constantly in the foreground the basis of fact. This is well expressed by one of the apostolic writers in one of his letters. "We did not follow cunningly devised fables," he says, "when we made known to you the power and presence of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Pet. i, 16). Thus the Christian writers' sense of the values of which they were in charge was not that of something speculative, like a philosophy, or of something invented, like a work of fiction, but of the simple