promulgating the universalism which Paul preached, it robs him of his originality, dwarfs his influence upon the development of Christianity, and is, on the other hand, too defective to represent Church history, whether from a Paulinian or any other standpoint. The favourite theory: that the writer designed to relate the story of the spread of Christianity from Jerusalem to Rome, can scarcely be maintained, although it certainly has the advantage of a vagueness of proportions equally suitable to the largest and most limited treatment of history. But, in such a case, we have a drama with the main incident omitted; for the introduction of the Gospel into Rome is not described at all, and whilst the author could not consider the personal arrival at Rome of the Apostle Paul the climax of his history, he at once closes his account where the final episode ought to have commenced.
From all points of view, and upon any hypothesis, the Acts of the Apostles is so obviously incomplete as a history, so fragmentary and defective as biography, that critics have to the present day failed in framing any theory which could satisfactorily account for its anomalies, and have almost been forced to explain them by supposing a partial, apologetic or conciliatory, design, which removes the work from the region of veritable history. The whole interest of the narrative, of course, centres in the two representative Apostles, Peter and Paul, who alternately fill the scene. It is difficult to say, however, whether the account of the Apostle of the Circumcision or of Paul is the more capriciously partial and incomplete. After his miraculous liberation from the prison into which he had been cast by Herod, the doings of Peter are left unchronicled, and although he is reintroduced for a moment to plead the cause of the
Gentiles at the Council in Jerusalem, he then finally retires from the scene, to give place to Paul. The omissions from the history of Paul are very remarkable, and all the more so from the extreme and unnecessary detail of the itinerary of some of his journeys, and neither the blanks, on the one hand, nor the excessive minuteness, on the other, are to be explained by any theory connected with personal knowledge on the part of Theophilus. Of the general history of the primitive Church and the life and labours of the Twelve, we are told little or nothing. According to the Author the propagation of the Gospel was carried on more by angelic agency than apostolic enthusiasm. There is a liberal infusion of miraculous episodes in the history, but a surprising scarcity of facts. Even where the Author is best informed, as in the second part of the Acts, the narrative of Paul's labours and missionary journeys, while presenting striking omissions, is really minute and detailed only in regard to points of no practical interest, leaving both the distinctive teaching of the Apostle, and the internal economy of the Church almost entirely unrepresented. Does this defective narrative of the Acts of the Apostles proceed from poverty of information, or from the arbitrary selection of materials for a special purpose? As we proceed, it will become increasingly evident that, limited although the writer's materials are, the form into which they have been moulded has undoubtedly been determined either by a dominant theory, or a deliberate design, neither of which is consistent with the composition of sober history.
This is particularly apparent in the representation which is given of the two principal personages of the narrative. Critics have long clearly recognised that the
Author of the Acts has carefully arranged his materials so as to present as close a parallelism as possible between the Apostles Peter and Paul.(1) We shall presently see how closely he assimilates their teaching, ascribing the views of Paul to Peter, and putting Petrine sentiments in the mouth of Paul, but here we shall merely refer to points of general history. If Peter has a certain pre-eminence as a distinguished member of the original Apostolic body, the equal claim of Paul to the honours of the Apostolate, whilst never directly advanced, is prominently suggested by the narration, no less than three times, of the circumstances of his conversion and direct call to the office by the glorified Jesus. The first miracle ascribed to Peter is the healing of "a certain man lame from his mother's womb" [———] at the beautiful gate of the Temple,(2) and the first wonder performed by Paul is also the healing of "a certain man lame from his mother's womb" [———] at Lystra;(3)
Ananias and Sapphira are punished through the instrumentality of Peter,(4) and Elymas is smitten with blindness at the word of Paul;(5) the sick are laid in the streets that the shadow of Peter may fall upon them, and they are healed, as are also those
vexed with unclean spirits;(l) handkerchiefs or aprons are taken to the sick from the body of Paul, and they are healed, and the evil spirits go out of them;(2) Peter withstands Simon the sorcerer,(3) as Paul does the sorcerer Elymas and the exorcists at Ephesus;(4) if Peter heals the paralytic Æneas at Lydda,(5) Paul restores to health the fever-stricken father of Publius at Melita;(6) Peter raises from the dead Tabitha, a disciple at Joppa,(7) and Paul restores to life the disciple Eutychus at Troas;(8) Cornelius falls at the feet of Peter, and worships him, Peter preventing him, and saying: "Rise up! I myself also am a man,"(9) and in like manner the people of Lystra would have done sacrifice to Paul, and he prevents them, crying out: "We also are men of like passions with you;"(10) Peter lays his hands on the people of Samaria, and they receive, the Holy Ghost and the gift of tongues,(11) and Paul does the same for believers at Ephesus;(12) Peter is brought before the council,(13) and so is Paul;(14) the one is imprisoned and twice released by an angel,(15) and the other is delivered from his bonds by a great earthquake;(16) if Peter be scourged by order of the council,(17) Paul is beaten with many stripes at the command of the magistrates of Philippi.(18) It is maintained that the desire to equalise the sufferings of the two Apostles in the cause of the Gospel, as he has equalised their miraculous displays, probably led the Author to omit all mention of those