EARLY CHRISTIAN MISSIONS.
By J. O. Corliss
FOILED in his attempt to win popular applause at the cost of one of God’s tried instruments of propagating truth in the earth, Herod put to death all the guards of the prison whence Peter escaped. The king then, under a certain pretense, made a journey into Phoenicia, where, after a blasphemous oration, he suddenly died, and so the church at Jerusalem was relieved from further attempts to make political capital for himself at its expense. The church thus freed from its tormentor, had opportunity to propagate the Word of God unrestricted. Acts 12: 19-23. Paul and Barnabas, coming from Antioch to bring that church’s bounty of brotherly love to the poor brethren at Jerusalem, were probably in the latter city at the time of Peter’s miraculous deliverance from prison and the incidents which followed. Having fulfilled their ministry there, these heralds of the cross returned to Antioch, taking with them John Mark. Verse 25. Arriving at Antioch, they found that the faithful devotion of that church had developed several teachers with prophetic gifts, some of whom had held prominent places in the affairs of the world. Acts 13: 1. In connection with the protracted effort consequent upon the return of the two evangelists, these men held special communion with God by means of a season of fasting. While thus engaged, the Holy Spirit directed them to “separate,” or border off, for special service, Barnabas and Saul. Verse 2. It was plain that the Lord had other work for these men than that of ministering to the church at Antioch, since within its own fold that church had developed men capable of leading its members into the higher life. To rid Jerusalem of its superabundance of men capable of carrying the message to “regions beyond,” God had permitted a general persecution to scatter them. Acts 8:1. It was through this very happening that the church at Antioch had been established, and now the Lord indicated His purpose to have this church, in turn, contribute toward establishing churches where the people were sitting in moral darkness. So, in harmony with the direction of the Holy Spirit, the leading men of Antioch fasted in preparation, and then laid holy hands on Barnabas and Saul, setting them apart for their mission to the heathen. Verse 3. It seems to have been about this time that Saul, the “sought for,” assumed the name of Paul,3the “little.” Verse 9. No doubt he was small in his own sight, when brought to a realizing sense of the obligation laid on him by a special dispensation of heaven. Eph. 3:2; Col. 1:25; 1 Cor. 9:16, 17. Being thus sent forth by express direction of the Holy Ghost, these men knew that God had some particular field for them to reach, and a special work for them to do. Without being able to see the end from the beginning, they started westward to the seacoast. On arriving at Seleucia, they found a vessel upon which they embarked, and sailed to the island of Cyprus. Landing at Salamis, on the extreme eastern end of the island, they there preached the Gospel in the Jewish synagogue. Probably nothing of note was accomplished at that point. It may be that the evangelists only sought to have a single meeting while they halted for a night, or they may have found a lack of interest in the message they had to bear. At any rate, they soon found their way to Paphos, at the extreme western end of the island. Here they met a sorcerer named Bar-jesus. He was a knowing, self-assertive man, who, by means of his false predictions, had made for himself a place with the deputy-governor of the town. Hearing of the presence of the evangelists, Sergius Paulus, the deputy, sent for them, desiring to hear the word of the Lord. When they came before the deputy, this sorcerer opposed them, with the purpose of turning the mind of the deputy from the faith, probably scenting the fact that, with a knowledge of the Lord’s Word, the deputy would have no further use for his services. This act on the part of the sorcerer aroused Paul to such a degree of boldness that he administered the following stinging rebuke: “O full of all subtilty, and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.” Verses 7-11. During this flow of words, the eyes of the apostle were set on the sorcerer, as if they would pierce him through. The Jewish impostor quailed before his steady gaze; and as the sentence was finished, a misty darkness enshrouded him, causing him to cast about for some one to lead him by the hand. The deputy saw by the effect of the apostle’s words that God in heaven had sealed them on his former prophet, and was greatly astonished at the power accompanying the Lord’s doctrine as expounded by the messengers before him. He could do no less than believe, and so joined himself to those who chose the Lord Jesus for their portion. It would seem that the conversion of this one man was the sole object of the Spirit in leading these apostles across the island of Cyprus to Paphos; for soon after that they sailed from that place to Perga in Pamphylia, a seaport of Asia Minor. We shall hear more of this missionary tour in another study.