(Acts vi. 12.) And these insinuations were dispersed with so much
success as to induce the people to join with their superiors in the
stoning of a very active member of the new community.
The death of this man was the signal of a general persecution, the
activity of which may be judged of from one anecdote of the time:--"As
for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and
taking men and women committed them to prison." (Acts viii. 3.) This
persecution raged at Jerusalem with so much fury as to drive most of the
new converts out of the place,* except the twelve apostles. The converts
thus "scattered abroad," preached the religion wherever they came; and
their preaching was, in effect, the preaching of the twelve; for it was
so far carried on in concert and correspondence with them, that when
they heard of the success of their emissaries in a particular country,
they sent two of their number to the place, to complete and confirm the
mission.
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*Acts viii. I. "And they were all scattered abroad;" but the term "all"
is not, I think, to be taken strictly as denoting more than the
generality; in like manner as in Acts ix.
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