Bible Commentaries

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

And Saul, … — It is all one to hold the sack and to fill it, to do evil or to consent to it.

And Saul was consenting to his death — Gr. αναιρεσει , "to his murder;" for it was no better,Acts 12:2; Acts 12:2 ; Acts 5:33 . Damnari, dissecari, suspendi, decollari, piis cum impiis sunt communia. Varia sunt hominum iudicia: ille faelix qui iudice Deo absolvitur, saith Erasmus concerning Berquin, the martyr, burnt in Germany. Dorotheus witnesseth, that when Stephen was stoned, there were 2000 other believers put to death the same day. Certain it is, that after Mr Rogers had broken the ice here under Queen Mary, there suffered in like sort, one archbishop, four bishops, 21 divines, eight gentlemen, 84 craftsmen, 100 farmers, servants, and labourers, 26 wives, 20 widows, nine virgins, two boys, and two infants; in all 277. Some say a great many more.

And they were all scattered — To the Church’s great advantage, which, like the sea, what ground it loseth in one place, it getteth in another. So at Melda in France (10 miles from Paris), Brissonet, the bishop thereof, desirous of a reformation, put away the monks and called in the help of various godly ministers. But being persecuted by the Sorbonists, he soon fell off from the profession of the truth; and those good ministers (Faber, Farelhs, Ruffus, and others) were driven into various other places of France, where they planted various churches; the destruction of one being the edification of many. Unius Ecclesiae destructio multarum fuit aedificatio. Scultet. Annal. Farellus, one of those afore mentioned ministers, was God’s instrument of gaining the inhabitants of Geneva, Lausanne, Novocoma, …

return to '

And devout men carried Stephen to his burial , and made great lamentation over him.

Carried Stephen — συνεκομισαν , On their shoulders, lamenting, with knocking their breasts, …, as the word κοπετον imports: no whit afraid of those mad murderers. So the primitive Christians would not be kept from visiting the confessors in prison, Tamet si multis terroribus minis, et periculis interdictum erat, as Chrysostom witnesseth in his oration of the two martyrs. So certain good people took up and buried the bodies of Ursula and Mary, two noble virgins, burnt at Delden in Lower Germany, which the executioner could in no wise consume with fire, but left them lying on the ground. And the like is reported touching the hearts of Zuinglius and Cranmer.

return to '

As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Made havoc of the church — Being (as some think) that ravening wolf of the tribe of Benjamin, prophesied of by Jacob, Genesis 49:27 .

return to '

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

See Trapp on " Acts 8:1 " Trucidabantur et multiplicabantur, saith Austin. They were never the fewer for being slain. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, saith Tertullian. Ecclesia totum mundum sanguine et oratione convertit, saith Luther; the Church converts the whole world by her sufferings and prayers.

return to '

Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

Then Philip — Not Philip the apostle (for they all abode at Jerusalem, Acts 8:1 ), but Philip the deacon. He that is faithful in a little shall be made master of more.

return to '

And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

And the people, … — A corrupt place, and bewitched by the sorceries of Simon Magus; yet even there God had a people. Justin Martyr was of this city.

return to '

For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them : and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

Crying with a loud voice — To show that they went out perforce, and with a very ill will.

return to '

And there was great joy in that city.

And there was great joy — So there was at Berne; for when the reformation was first received they pardoned (for joy) two condemned persons and called home all their banished. So there was at Geneva; the inhabitants whereof, upon the like occasion, stamped new money with this inscription, Post tenebras lux. After the night, daybreak. So also there was among the Helvetians, who caused the day and year when reformation began among them to be engraved in a pillar, in letters of gold, for a perpetual memory to all posterity, A. D. 1528.

return to '