The apostles, daily supported anew by fresh tokens of divine aid, went on in their labors among the people, encouraged by their increasing attention and favor. So deep was the impression of awe made by the late occurrence, that none of the rest of the church dared to mingle familiarly with the apostles, who now seemed to be indued with the power of calling down the vengeance of God at will, and appeared to be persons too high and awful for common men to be familiar with. Yet the number of the church members, both men and women, continued to enlarge, and the attendance of the people to increase, so that there was no place which would accommodate the vast crowd of hearers and beholders, except the great porch of Solomon, already described, where the apostles daily met the church and the people, to teach and strengthen them, and to work the cures which their Master had so often wrought. So high was the reputation of the apostles, and so numerous were those who came to solicit the favor of their healing power, for themselves or friends, that all could not get access to them even in the vast court of the temple which they occupied, insomuch that they brought the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, along the path which the apostles were expected to pass, that at least the shadow of Peter, passing by, might overshadow some of them. Nor was this wonderful fame and admiration confined to Jerusalem; for as the news was spread abroad by the pilgrims returning from the pentecost, there came also a multitude out of the cities round about Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and those who were affected by evil spirits, and they were healed, every one. _Mingle familiarly with them._――Commonly translated, “join himself to them,” which conveys a totally erroneous idea, since all their efforts were given to this end, of making as many as possible “join themselves to them.” The context (verse 14,) shows that their numbers were largely increased by such additions. “Yet no one of the common members (οἱ λοιποι) dared mingle familiarly (κολλασθαι) with them; but the people held them in great reverence.” Acts v. 13. _Met the church and people._――This distinction may not seem very obvious in a common reading of the Acts, but in v. 11, it is very clearly drawn. “Great fear was upon the whole church _and_ on all the hearers of these things.” And throughout the chapter, a nice discrimination is made between ὁ λαος, (_ho laos_,) “the people,” or “the congregation,” and ἡ εκκλησια, (_he ekklesia_,) “the church.” See Kuinoel in v. 13, 14.