1. Shortly after Peter's first sermon to the Jews, and the miraculous conversion of the three thousand, Peter and John went up to the Temple to pray. A man who had been lame from his birth was every day carried by his friends and laid at one of the gates of the Temple, that he might beg alms from those who entered.
2. When this man saw Peter and John entering, he begged an alms from them. Peter said to him: "Gold or silver I have none to give, but what I have I will give: in the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk."
On the spot the man rose, and, leaping for joy, entered the Temple, praising God.
3. When the multitude saw this, they stood confounded and amazed. Peter, seeing their astonishment, said: "Why do you wonder at this? or why do you look at us as if by our power we had made this man to walk? Know it is in the name and by the power of Jesus of Nazareth that this man walks."
This discourse, and the sight of the miracle that had been wrought, produced so great an impression on the multitude that five thousand people were converted and baptized.
Questions to Consider : 99. Who cured the lame man? What did Peter say? What was the result of Peter's words?
1. Whilst Peter and John were yet speaking to the people, the priests and the officers commanding in the Temple came to them. Enraged to find the apostles openly teaching, they laid hands on them and cast them into prison.
2. On the following day the chief priests assembled in the council hall. Peter and John, being brought in, were asked by what power they had cured the lame man. Peter said "the lame man had been cured in the name and by the power of Jesus Christ, whom they had crucified, and who was now risen from the dead."
3. When the priests heard this, they put the apostles out of the council hall. Consulting with themselves, they asked what should be done. "It was clear," said they, "a miracle had been wrought, and they could not deny it."
4. Having agreed among themselves, they recalled the apostles, and forbade them either to speak or to teach any more in the name of Jesus. But Peter asked: "Is it just we should obey you rather than God? We must speak what we have seen and heard."
The judges contented themselves with merely threatening the two apostles, and then dismissed them.
Questions to Consider : 100. What happened to Peter and John? What answer did they give the council?
1. Nothing could exceed the holiness of the lives of the first Christians. All had but one heart, and all were animated with the same spirit. The apostles were unwearied in their labors, and the faithful were constant in the breaking of bread and in the labor of prayer.
2. All their goods were in common. Those who had fields or houses sold them and placed the price in the hands of the apostles, who distributed to each according as he needed. Soon their unbounded charity to the poor and their brotherly love for each other began to produce their effects. Both Jew and Gentile was forced to respect them. Their numbers increased daily.
Questions to Consider : 101.—What is said of the early Christians? How were their goods held? What effects did their lives produce?
1. At this time there lived a man named Ananias and his wife Saphira. They sold a field, but secretly kept back a part of the price. The balance Ananias gave to the apostles, pretending it was all he had received.
2. Peter said to him: "Ananias, why have you suffered Satan to tempt you to lie to the Holy Ghost? and why have you kept back a part of the price of the field? You have not lied to men, but to God."
On the spot Ananias fell down dead at the feet of the apostle.
3. Three hours after, Saphira came and, not knowing what had happened to her husband, repeated the same lie. She also fell dead. When these things were heard, fear and terror came upon all the faithful.
Questions to Consider : 102.—Tell the history of Ananias and Saphira.
1. The apostles continued to work miracles. From the villages round about, the sick and those possessed by unclean spirits were brought to Jerusalem, and the apostles cured them. Peter, above all the rest, was held in the highest esteem. So unlimited became his power, that his very shadow cured the sick as he passed through the streets.
2. By the authority of the Jewish priests, Peter and John were again seized and cast into prison; but during the night an angel opened the prison doors and bade them go forth to the Temple and teach the people.
3. In the morning, when the officers went to bring the apostles before the council, they found the doors of the prison indeed closed, and the guards at their post, but no prisoners. The council was confounded.
4. Shortly after a man came, who told them Peter and John were in the Temple teaching the people. An officer hastened and, with great violence, brought them before the council. The high priest rose and reproached them for continuing to preach, notwithstanding the former prohibitions of the council. The apostles said, "God must be obeyed." At the same time Peter declared that Jesus, whom they had crucified, was the Christ, and that He was risen from the dead.
5. When the priests heard this they gnashed their teeth, and in their rage began to consider how they might put them to death.
At this part of the proceedings, Gamaliel, a member of the great council, and also a doctor of the Law, rose and commanded the apostles to be put out.
6. "Men of Israel," said lie, "consider well what you are about to do. If this be the work of men, it will soon fall to nothing; but if it be the work of God, you cannot destroy it." They despised this advice.
7. The apostles were recalled, and, having been scourged, were forbidden again to speak in the name of Jesus. But they went forth from the council rejoicing that they were found worthy to suffer for their divine Master. Neither did they cease, either in the Temple or in the houses, to preach Jesus Christ.
Questions to Consider : 103.—What did the apostles continue to do? What is said of Peter's shadow? What was done to Peter and John? How were they set at liberty? What did the council do? What did Peter answer? What did Gamaliel say? What was done to the apostles? How did they act after?
1. When the persecution had somewhat ceased, Peter visited the several churches in Judea, preaching to the people, and confirming them in their faith.
At Lydda Peter cured a man named Aeneas, who for eight years had been confined to his bed by the palsy. At Joppa he raised to life the charitable Tabitha. By the fame of these miracles many were converted and the influence of Christianity extended.
2. While Peter was still at Joppa there lived at Caesarea a man named Cornelius. One day, whilst Cornelius was at prayer, an angel appeared to him, and bade him send to Joppa for a man named Peter, who would tell him what to do. Cornelius sent at once.
3. About the time the messengers drew near to Joppa, Peter was praying; he also had a vision. The heavens appeared to him to open, and as it were a great sheet was let down, in which were all manner of four-footed beasts, and creeping things and birds; a voice said to him: "Arise, kill, and eat."
4. Now it was not allowed the Jews to eat all manner of beasts; so Peter answered he could not, as he had never eaten anything unclean. But the voice said to him, "Call not that common that God has purified." This was done three times, when the vision disappeared.
5. While Peter was reflecting on the meaning of the vision, the Spirit of God said to him, "Three men seek you; rise and go with them."
On the next day Peter went with the messengers. When Cornelius related the vision he had had, Peter understood his own. By it Peter understood that hereafter there was to be no distinction between Jew and Gentile in the Christian Church, and that Christ had died for all mankind.
6. Then Peter began to speak of Jesus: how He had been crucified, and how He had risen again from the dead, and that through Him was man to be saved. While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Ghost came upon the Gentiles who were present, and to the astonishment of the apostle they began to speak in divers tongues. When Peter saw this, he commanded them to be baptized. These were the first Gentiles received into the Church.
7. From this time the apostles turned their attention to the Gentile as well as the Jew. Paul became especially the apostle of the Gentile. At Antioch the converts were first called Christians—that is, followers of Christ.
8. Jesus died for all; and as Joseph during the seven years' famine fed not only the Egyptian, but also the Israelite and the stranger, so must the Jew and the Gentile share in the merits of Jesus Christ. The Jews formed but a small part of mankind, and at best never were very docile; hence the Christian Church from the beginning was formed principally from the Gentiles.
Questions to Consider : 107.—Where did Peter go? What did he do at Lydda and Joppa? Tell how Cornelius was received into the Church. Who were the first Gentiles received into the Church? Who became especially the apostle of the Gentiles? Where were the Christians first known by that name?
1. After the conversion of Cornelius, Peter returned to Jerusalem. About the year 44, Herod Agrippa, the king, again raised a persecution against the Christians. He beheaded James, the brother of John, and cast Peter into prison. But the Church prayed for her venerated head.
2. The night before he was to have been led forth to punishment, Peter lay, bound with chains, between two soldiers, while guards walked before the door.
On a sudden an angel stood before him, and a heavenly light filled the prison. The angel touched Peter and bade him rise and put on his sandals and follow him. Peter obeyed, not knowing whether or not it was a vision he saw. They passed the first and second guard, and came to an iron gate that of itself opened to them. Having passed out into the city the angel disappeared.
3. Peter coming to himself, saw that God had sent an angel to deliver him from the power of Herod. Then he went to the house of Mark, where many of the faithful were assembled in prayer. Rapping, a young woman named Rode, or Rose, came to open the door.
4. When she recognized Peter's voice, filled with joy, she ran back to tell those who were within that Peter was at the door. They would not believe her; but as Peter continued to rap, they at length opened the door, and to their amazement Peter walked in. When he told them how he had been delivered out of prison, they all began to praise God.
5. In the morning there was great consternation among the soldiers. No one could tell how Peter had escaped or where he had gone. Herod questioned the soldiers, and then punished them severely.
6. Shortly after this, Herod was receiving ambassadors from Caesarea. The people began to applaud him, and flattering him cried out, "You speak as a god, not as a man."
Herod took the glory to himself. On the spot an angel struck him with a loathsome disease, and in a few days he died amid the most horrid torments—a fit example of the power of God and the pride of man.
Questions to Consider : 108.—What did Herod raise? Who was beheaded? Who was cast into prison? How was Peter liberated? What happened at the house of Mark? What was done to the soldiers? How did Herod die?
1. During the apostolic time several subjects of dispute arose. Amongst these was, at Antioch, the subject of circumcision—some of the Jewish converts insisting on it, while Paul and Barnabas resisted it. To avoid all possibility of error, it was agreed to refer the whole matter to the apostles at Jerusalem. For this purpose Paul and Barnabas were sent thither.
2. When they arrived the apostles and the ancients assembled, under the presidency of Peter, to deliberate on the subject. After the matter had been well discussed, Peter rose and said: "As God had made no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, giving the Holy Ghost to the one as well to the other, there should be no difference within the Church; nor should the law of circumcision be imposed on any one."
3. Under this teaching it was decided that the ancient ceremonial laws of Moses had lost their effect, and for the future should not be imposed upon the Christians.
The council wrote to the faithful at Antioch, saying: "It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, not to lay this burden upon you."
4. When the bishops of the Catholic Church, who are the legitimate successors of the apostles, assemble under the presidency of the pope, who is the true successor of Peter, we have a general council similar to that held at Jerusalem under the apostles. Its decisions are infallible, for they are the decisions of God's Church, which according to the teachings of Jesus Christ, is in an invisible manner guided and preserved from error by and through the Holy Ghost.
Questions to Consider : 110. On what was their dispute? What was done on the matter? What did Peter say? What conclusion did the council come to? What is said of the Catholic Church?