The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1876-12-20

Gods covenant with his people was not based
upon the Mosaic institutions; and hence
they may pass away and yet the covenant
remain; and since the history of Gods peo-
pie shows this, it is not blasphemy to assert
it. And, indeed, the prominent relation of
Moses himself to the covenant.people is not
in his giving them ritual, but in his deliV-
ering them from bondage, and promising
them a Spiritual Deliverer. AS for the tenn
pie, Its builder, even in the act of dedication,
had declared that tie Most High dwellesh
not in temples made with hands; and pro
phet had uttered the same lofty sentiment;
it could not therefore be blasphemy to assert
that the temple should give way to the more
spiritual worship it foreshadOwed. In closing
his address the prisoner, after the example
of Peter on former occasions, arraigned his
judges for their stubborn resistance of the
Spirit. His words exasperated them. They
rushed upon him in fury, thrust him out of
the city, and stoned him to death lie tri
umphed in death, and had the honor Of being
the frat Christian martyr.
Persecution now dispersed the disciples,
except the Apostles, from Jerusalem, and the
Church was thus greatly extended. In Sa,
maria Christianity triumphed over sorcery
under the preaching Of Philip. Peter and
John visited these Samaritane, and finding a
false professor brought into the Church, 81
mon the sorcerer, they exposed his desperate
condition as being Gin the gall of bitterness
and in the bond of iniquity." A heather
proselyte, the E hiopian is next taught the
truth, and brought into the Church. Being
diligent inquirer after salvation he was led
into the way of life. Saul'S miraculous ar
rest and conversion in the midst Of his bitter
prosecutions is the next event narrated, and
is one of the most important in the history
of the church. As soon as enlightened IL
duty he began life of activity, that knew
no respite, till he had finished his work.
Saul, however, who is to be the Apostle tc
the Geuties, does not yet take the most prom
inent place in the history. This is still helC
by Peter, who preached and performed mir
acles at LYDIA and Joppa. Being sent fol
by Cornelius, and having been instructed BY
vision, he, at C@,area, received the irst
Gentiles into the Christian Church. The
providence of God had led step by step tc
this act. First, only the Jews were received
then the Samaritaus, then Gentle prose
lyte, and now Gentiles without their coming
first into the Jewish church. In the CONVEX
sion of Cornelius and those with him, as in
the case of the Ethiopian, we have an exam
pie of men, with hearts already prepared fol
it, receiving the gospel
The gospel now spread more and more both
among Jews aud Gentiles. A church was
gathered at Antioch, and enjoyed the laborf
of Bsrnabus and Saul, who, after year Of
labor in that city, bore the charities of these
foreign Christians to the disciples in Judea
Under HerOd Agrippa, persecution broke
out afresh against the Church in jerusalem
when James was slain and Peter imprisoned
In answer to the prayers of the Church the
apostle was released. This closes the first
great division of this book, aud the history
of Peters ministry. W. A. Z.