It is not by these _naïve_ errors, nor by the meagre discourses found in the _Acts_, that we must form our opinion of the means of conversion employed by the founders of Christianity. The private conversations of these good and earnest men, the reflection of the words of Jesus in their discourses, and above all, their piety and gentleness, formed the real power of their preaching. Their communistic life also had its attractions. Their house was like a _hospice_, where all the poor and forsaken found a refuge and an asylum. Among the first who attached himself to the young society was a Cypriote called Joseph Hallevi, or the Levite, who, like many others, sold his land and laid the money at the feet of the disciples. He was an intelligent and devoted man, and a facile speaker. The apostles soon attached him to their band, and called him _Bar-naba_, which means the "son of prophecy," or "of preaching."[6.12] He was numbered among the prophets, that is to say, inspired preachers;[6.13] and later we shall see him playing an important part. After St. Paul, he was the most active missionary of the first century. A certain Mnason was converted about the same time.[6.14] Cyprus was marked by many Jewish characteristics.[6.15] Barnabas and Mnason were undoubtedly of the Jewish race;[6.16] and the intimate and prolonged relations of Barnabas with the Church of Jerusalem give us reason to believe that he was familiar with the Syro-Chaldaic tongue. A conversion almost equally as important as that of Barnabas, was that of a certain John, who bore the Roman surname of Marcus. He was cousin to Barnabas, and was a circumcised Jew.[6.17] His mother, Mary, a woman in easy circumstances, was also converted, and her residence was frequently visited by the apostles.[6.18] These two conversions appear to have been the work of Peter,[6.19] who was very intimate with both mother and son, and considered himself at home in their house.[6.20] Admitting the hypothesis that John-Mark was not identical with the true or supposed author of the second Gospel,[6.21] he yet played a prominent part, accompanying at a later period Paul and Barnabas, and probably Peter himself, on their apostolic journeys.