7. Review with each lesson the leading points in all the previous lessons, until the whole series is thoroughly understood and remembered.
EARLY APOSTOLIC HISTORY.
DAMASCUS.
During the seven years following the ascension of the Saviour, the Christian church was entirely Jewish in its membership, and, so far as we can learn, limited to the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. There was at that time no thought of the gospel for the Gentiles, and the conception of the apostles was that the only door into the church lay through the profession of Judaism and the rite of circumcision. Probably the first to attain to wider views of the gospel was Stephen, and the persecution in which he became the first martyr arose from the tendency of his teachings toward extending among the Gentiles the privileges of the new kingdom. This state of affairs was suddenly ended by the death of Stephen, and the scattering of the church at Jerusalem. The more liberally inclined of its members, when driven abroad, were led to preach the gospel, first to Samaritans; then to believers in the Jewish faith who had not yet submitted to circumcision, and hence were called "Proselytes of the Gate"; and at last to the general Gentile world. The period from the death of Stephen, A.D. 37, to the first missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, A.D. 45, may, therefore, be regarded as an age of transition from Jewish to Gentile Christianity.
This period requires us to notice two provinces, Palestine and Syria. Palestine appears at this time under several forms of government in frequent succession. During the public life of Christ, Judæa and Samaria were under the direct rule of Rome, governed by a procurator, while Galilee and Peræa belonged to Herod Antipas, and the region north and east of the Sea of Galilee, anciently called Bashan, was held by Herod Philip, both of these having the title of tetrarch, "ruler of a fourth part." In A.D. 37 Herod Agrippa received Philip's tetrarchy, and in 41 he was made king of all Palestine. ("Herod the king," Acts 12.) In A.D. 44 he died, and his dominions were divided. Judæa, Samaria, Galilee and Peræa again became a procuratorship, under a succession of Roman rulers, until the final destruction of the Jewish state, A.D. 70. The principality of Bashan was given to Herod Agrippa II. in A.D. 53, and held by him until A.D. 70. Syria, the great region north of Palestine, extending from Damascus to Antioch, was, during this time, a province of the Roman empire, governed by a prefect.
The events of this period gather around seven cities. 1. Jerusalem. This place has been already described. (See [page 73].) 2. Samaria (Acts 8:5-25), the field of Philip's early ministry, was the ancient capital of the Ten Tribes (see [page 87]), located 30 miles north of Jerusalem, and 6 miles northwest of Shechem. It had been rebuilt by Herod the Great, and named Sebaste, in honor of Augustus. It is now a village called Sebastiyeh. 3. Cæsarea (Acts 10:1), the place where the Gentile Cornelius became a disciple, was the Roman capital of Palestine, and the residence of the procurators. It was called Cæsarea Stratonis, to distinguish it from Cæsarea Philippi, under Mount Hermon; and was located on the sea-coast, 47 miles northwest of Jerusalem; and is now a desolate, uninhabited ruin, called Kaisarieyeh. 4. Joppa, where Dorcas was raised to life, and Peter received a vision (Acts 9:36-43; 10:11), is one of the most ancient towns in the world, in all ages the principal seaport of Palestine. It lies 30 miles south of Cæsarea, and 35 miles northwest of Jerusalem; and is now a flourishing city called Yafa, or Jaffa. 5. Damascus, the place where Saul was converted (Acts 9:1-25), is an ancient and famous city of Syria, 133 miles northeast of Jerusalem, beautifully situated in a plain at the foot of the Anti-Lebanon mountains. Recently it had a population of 150,000, but is rapidly decaying from the diversion of the Eastern trade through the Suez Canal. Its modern name is el Shams. 6. Antioch, seat of the first missionary church (Acts 11:19-30), was the metropolis of northern Syria, situated on the river Orontes, 16½ miles from the Mediterranean, and 300 miles north of Jerusalem, in a deep pass between the Taurus and Lebanon ranges of mountains. It is now a mean village of 6,000 people, called Antakia. 7. Tarsus, the home of the apostle Paul, was the capital of Cilicia, in Asia Minor, and one of the leading cities of the Roman world. It was 12 miles from the Mediterranean, the same distance from Mount Taurus, and about 80 miles northwest of Antioch, across an arm of the sea. It is now a place of 30,000 inhabitants, called Tersous.