The apostles propose, that some be chose for this service.

575

SECT.

xii.

Acts

daily ministration of the charities that were
distributed to the poor members of the church.
And as the apostles were concerned, though
not alone,in that distribution, the money raised VI. 1.
as above by the sale of estates having been
brought to them.) they were solicitous to ob-
viate all those reflections which might fall upon
them on this occasion, as they might otherwise
in some measure have affected their usefulness.
And the twelve apostles having called the multi-2
tude of the disciples together, communicated the
matter to them, and said, It is by no means pro-
per or agreeable, that we, who have an office to
discharge of so much greater weight and con-
sequence, should leave the important care of dis.
pensing the word of God, to attend the tables of
the poor, and see who are served there; and
yet this we must do, in order to prevent these
complaints, unless some further measures be
taken by common consent. Therefore, bre-3
thren, as you easily see how inconvenient it
would be to suffer this care to lie upon us, and
how inevitably it would render us incapable of
attending to the proper duties of our office, it
is our united request to you, that you look out
from among yourselves seven men of an attest-
ed character full of the Holy Spirit, and of ap-
proved wisdom, whom we may by common
consent and approbation set over this affair,
and who may make it their particular business

their pretensions, these strangers would (cæteris paribus) be least capable of giving satisaction.

Having called the multitude of the disciples together.] Dr. Whitby has solidly proved on this head, that by these we are to understand, not (as Dr. Lightfoot imagined,) the rest of the hundred and twenty, but the whole body of Christian converts, they being the persons to whom satisfaction was then due.

d Seven men.] Mr. Mede thinks this an allusion to the seven archangels, whom he supposes the great courtiers of heaven; and many other texts, produced in support of that rabbinical opinion, scem almost as little to the purpose as this.

d

to

work, to meddle as little as possible with
controversies about church order and govern-
ment, or any other circumstantial points that
have unhappily divided the Protestant
world. Yet I hope I shall give no offence
by observing, that no just argument can
be drawn froin the actions of the apostles,
with their extraordinary powers and cre-
dentials to the rights of succeeding rainisters
destitute of such powers and credentials.
It would however have been happy for the
church in every age, had its ordinary minis-
ters taken the same care to act in concert
with the people committed to their charge,
and to pay all due deference to their na-
tural rights, which the apostles themselves,
extraordinary as their con mission and of-
fice was, did on this and other occasions.
The theree grand canons, that all things
should be done decently, in charity, and to
edification, duly attended to, would super-
sede the necessity of ten thousand which
have been made since, and perhaps, if
rightly weighed, would be found absolute.
ly to vacate a great part of them.

Stephen,

566

xii.

Seven deacons are chose and ordained.

SECT. to attend to the management of it. And we, 4 But we will give in the mean time, being freed from this great to prayer, and to the ourselves continually incumbrance, will constantly attend to prayer, ministry of the word. VI. 4. and to the ministry of the word, which is our

Acts

5

grand business, and which we could be glad to
prosecute without interruption.

5 And the saving pleased the whole mul

Prochorus, and Nica

t.och.

And the speech the apostles made was pleasing to all the multitude, who were called together titude: and they chose upon this occasion; and having deliberated a Stephen, a man full little upon the choice that was to be made, they of faith and of the Holy elected seven, to be set apart to the office of Ghost, and Philip, and deacons, whose names were as follows, There nor, and Timon, and was Stephen a man full of faith and of the Holy Parmenas, and Nicolas Spirit, of whose heroic character and glori- a proselyte of Anous end we shall presently have occasion to speak; and Philip, who long continued an ornament and blessing to the church, being at length raised to a vet higher character: and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas, who was not a Jew born, but a proselyte of Antioch, whom they were the more willing to fix in this office, as his peculiar relation to the Grecians would make him especially careful to remedy any neglect of them, which might insensibly have prevailed. 6 These were the persons in whom they chose to repose this confidence; and accordingly they before the apostles; presented them before the apostles: And they, hav- prayed, they laid their ing prayed that a divine blessing might attend hands on them. all their ministrations and care, laid [their] hands upon them, that so they might not only express their solemn designation to the office, but might confer upon them such extraordinary gifts as would qualify them yet more abun. dantly for the full discharge of it.

7

And the consequence was, that the matter of complaint being thus removed, and the apostles

Mr.

f Stephen, a man full of faith, &c.} Fleming (in his Christology, Vol. II. p. 166.) endeavours to prove, that Stephen was one of the seventy, but it seems quite a precarious conjecture. The termination of most of these names makes it probable they were Hellenists; a supposition which also agrees very well with the occasion of their election.

Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.] Some ancient writers tell us, that he fell into error in the decline of life, and became the founder of the sect of the Nicolaitans, mentioned Rev. ii. 6, 15. (See Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. i. cap. 29. and Iren. lib. i. cap. 26.) But it seems much more probable,

more

6 Whom they set

and when they had

7 And the word of God increased; and the number

that the founder of this sect, considering
how common the name was, might be
some other person so called, or else (as Mr.
L'Enfant conjectures, that some of his
words or actions being misinterpreted might
be the occasion of seduction, under the au-
thority of so venerable a name as his.-
We may observe by the way, that it is
evident the word proselyte here signifies,
one who by circumcision had entered him-
self into the body of the Jewish people;
for none imagine Nicolas, to have been
what is commonly called a proselyte of the
gate, no uncircumcised person being yet ad-
nutted into the Christian church.

rusalem greatly; and a

to the faith.

567

xii.

Acts

Stephen works miracles, and the Jews dispute with him. number of the disci- more entirely at leisure to attend to the great SECT. ples multiplied in Je- and peculiar duties of their office, the word of great company of the God grew, and the number of disciples in and priests were obedient about Jerusalem was greatly multiplied; and in vi. 7. particular, what might seem very surprising, a great multitude of priests became obedient to the faith notwithstanding all those prejudices, which they had imbibed against this new doctrine, from the scorn with which the great and the noble generally treated it, and the loss of those temporal advantages which they might be called to resign out of regard to it.

And Stephen, having for some time discharged the office of a deacon with great honour and fidelity, was raised by divine Providence and Grace to the superior honours of an evangelist and a martyr, and was enabled, in a very extraordinary manner, to confirm the doctrine he taught; for, being full of grace and of power. and eminently qualified for the performance of wonderful things, he wrought many extraordinarv miracles and great signs among the people.

But, notwithstanding all the miracles that 9 were done by him, there arose some of the synagogue which is called [that] of the Libertines, as having been the children of freed men, that is,

of

numerous body, as if it intimated, that,
after mutual conferences with each other,
they agreed to come over in a body; which
might be the case: but, as the original
does not determine that positively, I have
kept to what seemed a more literal version:
For which reason also I cannot, with
Heinsius, render oxirgin, many priests
of the lower rank.

ħ A great multitude of priests, &c.] We most convincing proofs of which they learn from Ezra, chap. iii. 36-39, that saw before their eyes in their own temple. four thousand two hundred and eighty--Some would render ohus oxa, a nine priests returned from the captivity; the number of which was now probably much increased. I see no foundation in the authority of any ancient copies, for reading with Casaubon, xal TWY LEGEWY, and explaining it as if it were a vis TWY LEPEWY, and some of the priests. It is indeed wonderful, that a great multitude of them should embrace the gospel, considering what peculiar resentments they must expect from their unbelieving brethren, and the great losses to which they must be exposed in consequence of being cast out of their office; (as it is not to be imagined, that, when Christians were cast out of the synagogues, they would be retained as temple-ministers :) But the grace of God was able to animate and support them against all. And it is very probable the miracle of rending the veil of the temple, and the testimony of the guards to the truth of the resurrection, (which some of the chief of that order heard, and might perhaps be whispered to some others,) might contribute considerably toward their conversion, in concurrence with the miraculous gifts and powers of the apostles, the

i The superior honours of an evangelist, &c.] It plainly appears from the foregoing history of the institution of the office that it was not as a deacon that he preached; but the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit he received, eminently qualified him for that work: And no doubt, many Christians, not statedly devoted to the ministry, and whose furniture was far inferior to his, would be capable of declaring Christ and his gospel to strangers in an edifying and useful manner, and would not fail accordingly to do it, as Providence gave them a call and opportunity,

Full of grace and of power.] So many valuable copies read xa, instead of ws, that I thought myself obliged to follow them. See Dr. Mill in loc.

A Libertines,

568

He is apprehended and brought before the Sanhedrim.

Cilicia, and of Asia,

SECT. of emancipated captives or slaves', and [some] nians, and Alexan of the Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them draus, and of them of who were natives of Cilicia and Asia, who en- disputing with Stephen. IV. 9. deavoured to prevent the success of his preach

Acts

ing, by disputing with Stephen", and arguing 10 with him concerning his doctrine. And though they had an high opinion of their own sufficiency to manage the dispute, yet such was the force of his reasoning, that they were not able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit with which he spake, the divine Spirit itself guiding his thoughts and animating his expressions, which raised him far above the strength of his natural genius, and made him indeed a wonder to all that heard him. (Compare Mat. x. 20. and Luke xxi. 15.)

11

10 And they were

not able to resist the

wisdom and the Spirit

by which he spake.

11 Then they suborned men which said, we have heard him

Then, as they found they were incapable of
defending themselves by fair argument, they had
recourse to a most mean and dishonest fraud; for speak blasphemous
they suborned men to depose and say, We heard words against Moses,
him, even this very Stephen, speak blasphemous and against God.
words against Moses, and [against] God himself",

the great author of that religion which Moses
taught us by command from him.

elders, and the scribes,

12 And as the law required that a blasphemer 12 And they stirred should be stoned, (Lev. xxiv. 16.) they stirred up the people, and the up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him especially those who were in stations of autho- and caught him, and rity, against him; and setting upon [him,] they brought him to council. violently seized and dragged him away with them, and brought [him] to the Sanhedrim

1 Libertines, as having been the children
of freed-men, &c.] Grotius, Salmatius,
Basnage, Vitringa, and many other illus
trious writers generally agree in the in-
terpretation given in the paraphrase; for
the illustration of which most of them
remind us, that great numbers of Jews,
taken captive by Pompey, and carried
into Italy, were (as Philo tells us, Oper.
p. 1014) set at liberty, and obtained their
freedom from their masters. Their children
therefore would be libertini in the proper
sense of that word: agreeably to this, the
Jews banished from Rome by Tiberius,
(who are mentioned both by Josephus,
Antiq. lib. xviii. cap. 3. [al. 5.] § 5; and
Suetonius, Tiber. cap. 36.) are spoken of
by Tacitus, Annal. lib. ii. cap. 85, as of
the libertine race, who might easily consti-
tute one of the 480 synagogues said to have
been at Jerusalem. (See Mr. Lardner's
Credibility, Part I. Book i. chap. 3. §4)
-When so natural a solution offers, it is
hardly worth while to inquire after Allin-

which

the

gius's Nethinim, or Codeman's pays,
i. e. persons speaking Hebrew, or the
libertines, whom Maius (agreeably indeed
to the Syriac,) supposes to have built this
synagogue. But the curious reader may,
if he pleases, see a farther account of their
opinions, and that of some others, in Wol-
fius' notes on this verse.-Dr. Hammond
and Mr. Biscoe (chap. iv. § 4, p. 103.)
take them to have been such Jews as were
free citizens of Rome: but I do not re
member to have seen the word libertini
used in that sense.

considerable synagogues in Jerusalem had
m Disputing with Stephen.] As the most
each a kind of academy or college of young
students belonging to it, instructed under
some celebrated rabbi, it is no wonder such
nurseries should afford disputants, like these
spoken of here.

against God.] See note a on chap. vi. in n Blasphemous words against Moses, and the beginning of the next section.

Reflections on the choice of deacons, and the duty of ministers. 569

which was then sitting; and there, in presence SECT. of their highest court of judicature, they prosecuted the affair to an issue, which will be described in the following sections.

Acts

VI. 12.

IMPROVEMENT.

WE see how difficult it is, even for the wisest and best of men, Ver. to manage a great multitude of affairs, without inconvenience and 1, 4 without reflection: It will therefore be our prudence not to ingross too much business into our own hands, but to be willing to divide it with our brethren, with our inferiors, allotting to each their proper province, that the whole may proceed with harmony and order.

Let us be solicitous that nothing may be done through partiality; 1 especially let those avoid it who are intrusted with the distribution of charities; It is a solemn trust, for which their characters at least are to answer to the world now, and they themselves must ere long account for it to God. Let them therefore be willing to be informed of the truth of particular cases, willing to compare a variety of them, and then select such as in their consciences they are persuaded it is the will of God they should in present circumstances regard, and in such or such a proportion prefer to the rest.

In religious societies it may be highly proper, that after the ex- 3 ample here given in the apostolic age, deacons, or persons to perform this office, should be elected by the society, in concurrence with their ministers. It is their business to serve tables. Happy those societies who make choice of men of an attested character, and of those who appear by the virtues and graces of the Christian temper to be in that sense full of the Holy Spirit!

While these good men are dealing forth their liberal contribu-4 tions, (by which, while Christ has any poor members remaining we are still to testify our love to him,) let ministers devote themselves with all attention to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. Let those, who would administer the word with comfort and success, remember of how great importance it is, that it be watered with prayer, falling upon it as the former and as the latter rain; and especially see to it, that, by the constant exercise of lively devotion in secret, in their families, and on other proper social occasions, they keep their graces vigorous and active; that, living continually in such a state of nearness to God, they may be qualified to speak in his name with that dignity, tenderness, and authority, which nothing but true and elevated devotion can naturally express, or can long retain.

Let