370 The NEW and COMPLETE LITE of our BLESSED LORD but though you have put him to death, yet we are witneffes that he hath raifed him àgain from the dead, and that he is afcended into heaven, where he will remain till the great and tremendous day of general relui= tution." While Peter was fpeaking to the people in one part of the temple, John was, in all probability, doing the fame in the other : and the fuccefs plainly indicated how powerful the preaching of the apolules was; five thoufand perfons embracing the doc- trines of the gofpel, and acknowledged the crucified JESUS for their Lord and Re- deemer. The attention and envy of the rulers of Ifrael could not fail of being excited at fuch amazing fuccefs from the preaching of the apolules : accordingly, the pricks and Sadducees repaired to the Roman ma- giftrate, and intimated to him that, in all probability, this concourfe ofpeople would prove the caufe of a tumult and infurrec- tion. Upon this information, the captain of the temple feized on the apofiles, and call them into prifon. The next day they were carried before the Jewifh Sanhedrin, and being aced by what power and autho- rity they had done this, Peter boldly an- fwered, " Be it known unto you, and to all the defcendants of Jacob, that this mi- racle was wrought wholly in the name of JESUS of Nazareth, whom ye yourfelves have crucified and Hain, and whom the Al- mighty bath raifed again from the dead. This is the 'one which you builders re- fufed, and which is become the head of the corner : nor is there any other way by which you, or any of the fons of men can be Paved, but by this crucified Saviour, the Lord JESUS CHRIST" After beholding the apofiles with a kind of aflonifhment, the court remembered that they had feen them with JESUS of Nazareth, and therefore ordered them to withdraw, while they debated among' themfelves what was proper to be done : it was impoffible to deny the miracle, for it was performed before all the people, and the perfon on whom it was wrought, no 'ranger in Jerufalem. They therefore re- folved to charge them firiElly not to preach any more in the name of Jesus: accord- ingly, they were again called in, and ac- quainted with this refolution ofthe council : to which the apofiles anfwered, `° That as they had received a commiffion from heaven, to declare to all nations what they had feen and heard, it was certainly their duty to obey God rather than man." Although this was a fair appeal to the confciences of their very judges ; yet there rulers of Ifrael, infiead of being fatisfied with it, would in all probability have pro- ceeded to a greater violence, had not the people's veneration for the apofiles checked their malice; fo that all they dared to do, was, to enforce their menaces, and fuffer them to depart. This intrepidity of the apofiles had the defired effeel, the church increafed exceed- ingly ; and that fo great a company, efpe- cially the poor and needy, might be main- tained, the profeffors of the religion of the holy Jesus fold their eflates, and brought the money to the apolules, that they might depofit it in one common treafury; and from thence fupply-the feveral exigencies of their poor brethren. We find, however, that hypocrify was not 'unknown among' the profeffors of re- ligion, even in thefe primitive times. Ana- nias and his wife Sapphira, having em- braced the doElrines of the gofpel, pre- tended to follow the free and generous fpirit of thefe times, by confecrating and devoting their e'ate to the honour of God, and the neceffities of the church. Accordingly, they fold their poffeffions, and brought part of the money and laid itat the apofile's feet ; hoping to deceive them, though guided by the fpirit of Om- nipotence : but Peter, at his fir' coming in afked Ananias how he could. fuffer Satan to fill his heart with fuels enormous wickednefs, as to think to deceive the Holy Ghoft ? That before it was fold, it waswholly inhis own power; andafterwards the
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