The History of Christianity: Consisting of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth; the Adventures of Paul and the Apostles; and the Most Interesting Events in the Progress of Christianity, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
History
The History of Christianity: Consisting of the Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth; the Adventures of Paul and the Apostles; and the Most Interesting Events in the Progress of Christianity, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time.
Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Church history; Jesus Christ -- Biography; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Paul did not encounter any tumult or violence in Athens. How long he
remained there cannot now be known. As to the results of his labors,
we are informed that Dionysius, a member of the court of Areopagus, and
a woman by the name of Damaris, with some others, became converts to
Christianity.
From Athens Paul proceeded to Corinth, the commercial metropolis
of Greece, and a city renowned for its wealth, its luxury, and its
wickedness. Corinth was about sixty miles from Athens, in a direction
very nearly west. Two of the exiled Jews, Aquila and his wife Priscilla,
whom a decree of the Emperor Claudius had expelled from Rome, had taken
refuge in Corinth. They cordially received Paul, and he abode with
them. They were tent-makers by occupation; making tents, then in great
demand, of cloth woven from goat’s-hair. Paul, who was unwilling to be
burdensome to any one, met his expenses by his daily or rather nightly
toil at this trade, which he had learned in his early youth. After
preaching the gospel all day, we can see him in the evening diligently
aiding Aquila and Priscilla in their manual labor.
Soon Silas and Timothy, coming from Thessalonica, joined Paul in
Corinth. As he witnessed the great wickedness of the city, his spirit
was stirred within him to an unusual degree. Earnestly he testified to
the degenerate Jews that Jesus is the Christ. But the Jews would not
receive Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. They reviled the preacher
and his gospel. Luke writes,――
“And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment,
and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads: I am clean: from
henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.”
He thus abandoned the synagogue; and it seems that it was necessary
for him to leave the residence of his Jewish hosts, and to take up
his abode with a Gentile by the name of Justus. This man lived near
the synagogue, and, though a Greek, had renounced idolatry, and was
a worshipper of the true God. Paul’s labors among the Jews had not
been entirely in vain: for “Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue,
believed on the Lord, with all his house;” and Paul in person baptized
him.[142]
Among the Gentiles Paul’s success was very great, and converts were
rapidly multiplied. The rage of the Jews was such, that it was feared
that Paul would encounter personal violence; but the Lord appeared to
Paul in the night in a vision, and said to him,――
“Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; for I am with thee,
and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; for I have much people in
this city.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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