Section 3. The First Beginnings of Persecution.
A.D. 33. Growth of the Church.
The Church now steadily grew in influence and numbers; "The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be" [or "were being">[ "saved[21];" and on the occasion of a second sermon, preached by St. Peter after the healing of the lame man "at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple," "about five thousand" were converted[22]. Beginnings of persecution. The opposition of the Jewish rulers was powerless to check the ever-advancing tide; and this first beginning of persecution, by calling forth from the whole Church an earnest act of worship and supplication, was the occasion of "great power" and "great grace" being given to enable her to do and bear all for the sake of her Lord[23].
Conversion of St. Barnabas.
Immediately afterwards we read of the conversion of St. Barnabas, the first convert mentioned by name, a Levite, and apparently a man of wealth and position[24]; and then we are told of the awe and reverence produced in the minds of the people of Jerusalem, and the neighbouring country, by the abundant exercise of the Apostolic power of working miracles[25]. The gift of working miracles. This great working gift of the Holy Ghost, bestowed, like the Gift of Tongues, on the Day of Pentecost, had similar results. Fear was followed by faith, and "multitudes both of men and women" were added to the Church.
Persecution once more followed, this time with greater severity; the Apostles were imprisoned through the influence of the sect of the Sadducees, and, being set free by a miracle, were called before the Sanhedrim and scourged, only escaping death by the wise and merciful interposition of the Pharisee Gamaliel.
Section 6. Worship and Discipline of the Infant Church.
A.D. 33.
Before going farther into the History of the Church, we may pause to consider the account given us in Holy Scripture of Christian Worship and Discipline in the time immediately following the Day of Pentecost. The same chapter which contains the narrative of the Descent of the Holy Ghost, has also a short epitome of the daily life of the Apostles and their converts, during that brief interval of undisturbed peace which preceded the beginning of the bitter conflict between the Church and the world.
Holy Baptism. Apostolic Doctrine.