THE SECOND PERSECUTION by J. O. Corliss

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 12, 1902

THE SECOND PERSECUTION.

By J. O. Corliss

The power of God always works outside of ordinary methods. The unaccountable way it has of doing marvelous things through human agencies, is that which stirs the ire of Satan in his efforts to stop the progress of the Gospel. He well knows the source of the power manifested, that it is above and beyond his direct control. So he attempts to break its force by obstructing the human channel through which God has chosen to make His power known. If through persecution Satan can but intimidate the agency of that power, and so prevent its reception, his design is nearly met. He would rather direct the administration of infinite power; but as that can not be done, his next best effort is in the direction of suppressing it.

This was the case in the days of the apostles. The death of Ananias and his wife through the direct intervention of the Spirit’s power, caused a mighty stir, not only in Jerusalem, but in all the region about. Some, through fear, dared not go near the apostles, but extolled them from a distance. A multitude of others believed, and were “added to the Lord.” In every street through which it was thought Peter might pass, the sick were placed in positions where the supposed healing shadow of that apostle might fall on them. The work being done in the metropolis was soon heralded afar, and from outside cities multitudes of sick and infirm were brought in, where all were healed. Acts 5:12–16.

This was more than the church fathers could calmly endure. It mattered not that the work done was a great benefit to so many people; it was irregular, and done without the consent of the priesthood, and so must not be tolerated. With the power of the civil law behind him, the high priest, and his followers arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But this could not stop the work of the holy power. In the night which soon followed, the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, and brought out the disciples. Upon releasing them He said, “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” Verse 20.

In the morning the high priest gathered about him the council of seventy elders, and the members of the civil senate, intending to put the apostles on trial for their temerity of the preceding day. The proper officers were sent to conduct the culprits into the presence of the august assembly convened in the council-chamber of the nation. But in due time the officers returned with the information that, while they found the doors securely locked, and the doorkeepers in place, the prisoners were gone. This report threw the council into consternation, and while they were questioning as to what the end of the matter would be, a messenger from the temple reported that the men wanted by the council were in the temple teaching the people.

The officers then betook themselves to the holy edifice; but knowing the tender regard of the people for their newly found teachers, these limbs of the law feared to use violence in re-arresting the apostles. So with great mildness they drew them away from the temple, and to the hall of council. Once in there the opportunity came for exercising authority with less tenderness. Looking upon them with a frown, the high priest, who acted as judge, said, “Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” Verse 28. These words failed, however, to have their designed effect upon the apostles. Under the impulse of the Spirit of God, they quickly replied that his command carried no weight with them when God required them to do otherwise. Then came the repetition of the story of the cross, and the power sent of God by which Israel was granted repentance and forgiveness of sins. The only word they had to say of themselves was: “We are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey Him.” Verse 32.

But this was quite enough to enrage the priests, and, notwithstanding their high pretensions to goodness, they began to counsel together about putting the apostles to death. Then a learned doctor of the law, named Gamaliel, one of the most influential men of the nation, stood forth, and after asking that the apostles be temporarily removed from the council, advised moderation in deciding their fate. Reviewing the history of religious movements, he cited the cases of two men, who, in different periods, under the proclamation of their own greatness, gathered about them large numbers of followers, all of whom were soon scattered. He decided that these calamities were evidence of the falsity of their missions, and that the results following them would surely attend every other work of like nature. Applying his logic, the speaker said: “Refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this counsel or if this work be of men, it will come to naught; but if it be of God, ye can not overthrow it, lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.” Verses 38, 39.

This argument was so conclusive, and so evidently correct in the minds of all, that the priests agreed to it; but they still desired to have some vindictive satisfaction, and so recalled the apostles, whom they beat with rods. They then gave them positive command not to preach more in the name of Jesus, and so let them go.

But neither the beating nor the threatening command had power to deter those brave witnesses for Christ. Leaving the council, they rejoiced that their testimony had mightily stirred the people, and that they were counted worthy to suffer the oppression of the authorities for the name of Jesus. Going directly to the temple, and from house to house in the city, they constantly taught the people in the ways of righteousness.

In the foregoing narrative is clearly illustrated the method by which Satan has ever sought to hinder the working of God’s power among men. Uniting with civil power, the established church has ever striven to restrain every movement advocating religious reform. There was no other way for them to maintain their own ascendency. To let the truth of God have free course was to let their own adherents come under the fascinating influence of the Spirit, which would mean the disintegration of their own source of authority. From the standpoint of goodness, they had no right forcibly to interfere with reformers, because they themselves were supposed to draw recruits from all ranks of society. But having become “established,” they thought the field exclusively their own; and so in order to keep out all forms of rivalry, they appealed to the civil power for laws by which certain prescribed differences would not be tolerated.

It was under this system of civil and ecclesiastical power that the persecution of the apostles, as narrated in this lesson, was possible. It will be noticed that the court, before whom the offenders were brought, was composed of the council and the senate of the Jews, which represented both the religious and the civil power. In the trial of the apostles, the high priest sat as judge, and dictated all the forms of procedure. With such an arrangement, the civil power is subject to the decrees of the church. It was thus under the administrations of the Dark Ages, and must be the same now whenever any civil power consents to an alliance with the church. Religion being a matter of personal preference, it has to do with individuals singly, each for himself. Laws of civil government are uniformly rigid, and bind all alike, regardless of individual conscience or preference. They are not, therefore, adapted to establish religion in men’s hearts, which must be left, with all its forms, to the power of the Holy Ghost. Bring the operation of this heavenly power into conflict with human laws, and persecution is the sure result; not to the civil, but to the religious side, because the civil, and not the religious element, carries in its hand the law of force. But when the religious unites with the civil in order to have the benefit of human force, it soon dominates the civil, to make its laws the servant of the church in its backslidden condition. Under these circumstances, bigotry is framed into law, and quickly ripens into persecution.

J. O. CORLISS.