Chapter 23.—Of the Mission of the Holy Ghost Fifty Days After Christ’s Resurrection.

41. “Thereafter, having confirmed the disciples, and having sojourned with them forty days, He ascended up into heaven, as these same persons were beholding Him. And on the completion of fifty days from His resurrection He sent to them the Holy Spirit (for so He had promised), by whose agency they were to have love shed abroad in their hearts,143    Cf. Rom. v. 5 to the end that they might be able to fulfill the law, not only without the sense of its being burdensome, but even with a joyful mind. This law was given to the Jews in the ten commandments, which they call the Decalogue. And these commandments, again, are reduced to two, namely that we should love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind; and that we should love our neighbor as ourselves.144    Matt. xxii. 37–40 For that on these two precepts hang all the law and the prophets, the Lord Himself has at once declared in the Gospel and shown in His own example. For thus it was likewise in the instance of the people of Israel, that from the day on which they first celebrated the passover in a form,145    In imagine. slaying and eating the sheep, with whose blood their door-posts were marked for the securing of their safety,146    Ex. xii—from this day, I repeat, the fiftieth day in succession was completed, and then they received the law written by the finger of God,147    Ex. xxxiv. 28 under which phrase we have already stated that the Holy Spirit is signified.148    Luke xi. 20 And in the same manner, after the passion and resurrection of the Lord, who is the true passover, the Holy Ghost was sent personally to the disciples on the fiftieth day: not now, however, by tables of stone significant of the hardness of their hearts; but, when they were gathered together in one place at Jerusalem itself, suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as if a violent blast were being borne onwards, and there appeared to them tongues cloven like fire, and they began to speak with tongues, in such a manner that all those who had come to them recognized each his own language149    Acts ii (for in that city the Jews were in the habit of assembling from every country wheresoever they had been scattered abroad, and had learned the diverse tongues of diverse nations); and thereafter, preaching Christ with all boldness, they wrought many signs in His name,—so much so, that as Peter was passing by, his shadow touched a certain dead person, and the man rose in life again.150    The reference evidently is to Acts v. 15, where, however, it is only the people’s intention that is noticed, and that only in the instance of the sick, and not of any individual actually dead.

42. “But when the Jews perceived so great signs to be wrought in the name of Him, whom, partly through ill-will and partly in ignorance, they crucified, some of them were provoked to persecute the apostles, who were His preachers; while others, on the contrary, marvelling the more at this very circumstance, that so great miracles were being performed in the name of Him whom they had derided as one overborne and conquered by themselves, repented, and were converted, so that thousands of Jews believed on Him. For these parties were not bent now on craving at the hand of God temporal benefits and an earthly kingdom, neither did they look any more for Christ, the promised king, in a carnal spirit; but they continued in immortal fashion to apprehend and love Him, who in mortal fashion endured on their behalf at their own hands sufferings so heavy, and imparted to them the gift of forgiveness for all their sins, even down to the iniquity of His own blood, and by the example of His own resurrection unfolded immortality as the object which they should hope for and long for at His hands. Accordingly, now mortifying the earthly cravings of the old man, and inflamed with the new experience of the spiritual life, as the Lord had enjoined in the Gospel, they sold all that they had, and laid the price of their possessions at the feet of the apostles, in order that these might distribute to every man according as each had need; and living in Christian love harmoniously with each other, they did not affirm anything to be their own, but they had all things in common, and were one in soul and heart toward God.151    Acts ii. 44, iv. 34 Afterwards these same persons also themselves suffered persecution in their flesh at the hands of the Jews, their carnal fellow-countrymen, and were dispersed abroad, to the end that, in consequence of their dispersion, Christ should be preached more extensively, and that they themselves at the same time should be followers of the patience of their Lord. For He who in meekness had endured them,152    Adopting the Benedictine version, qui eos mansuetus passus fuerat, and taking it as a parallel to Acts xiii. 18, Heb. xii. 3. There is, however, great variety of reading here. Thus we find qui ante eos, etc. = who had suffered in meekness before them: qui pro eis, etc. = who had suffered in their stead: qui propter eos, etc. = who had suffered on their account: and qui per eos, etc. = who had suffered through them, etc. But the reading in the text appears best authenticated. enjoined them in meekness to endure for His sake.

43. “Among those same persecutors of the saints the Apostle Paul had once also ranked; and he raged with eminent violence against the Christians. But, subsequently, he became a believer and an apostle, and was sent to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, suffering (in that ministry) things more grievous on behalf of the name of Christ than were those which he had done against the name of Christ. Moreover, in establishing churches throughout all the nations where he was sowing the seed of the gospel, he was wont to give earnest injunction that, as these converts (coming as they did from the worship of idols and without experience in the worship of the one God) could not readily serve God in the way of selling and distributing their possessions, they should make offerings for the poor brethren among the saints who were in the churches of Judea which had believed in Christ. In this manner the doctrine of the apostle constituted some to be, as it were, soldiers, and others to be, as it were, provincial tributaries, while it set Christ in the centre of them like the corner-stone (in accordance with what had been announced beforetime by the prophet),153    Ps. cxviii. 22; Isa. xxviii. 16 in whom both parties, like walls advancing from different sides, that is to say, from Jews and from Gentiles, might be joined together in the affection of kinship. But at a later period heavier and more frequent persecutions arose from the unbelieving Gentiles against the Church of Christ, and day by day was fulfilled that prophetic word which the Lord spake when He said, ‘Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.’154    Matt. x. 16

CAPUT XXIII.

41. Spiritus sanctus die quinquagesima post resurrectionem Christi missus. Judaei praedicatione Apostolorum conversi, vitae evangelicae studio flagrantes. Ecclesiae apud Gentes per Paulum constitutae. Inde confirmatis discipulis, conversatus cum eis quadraginta diebus, eisdem spectantibus ascendit in coelum; et completis a resurrectione quinquaginta diebus misit eis Spiritum sanctum (promiserat enim), 0340 per quem diffusa charitate in cordibus eorum, non solum sine onere, sed etiam cum jucunditate legem possent implere. Quae data est Judaeis in decem praeceptis, quod appellant decalogum. Quae rursus ad duo rediguntur, ut diligamus Deum ex toto corde, ex tota anima, ex tota mente; et diligamus proximum sicut nos ipsos. Nam in his duobus praeceptis totam Legem Prophetasque pendere, ipse Dominus et dixit in Evangelio (Matth. XXII, 37-40), et suo manifestavit exemplo. Nam et populus Israel ex die quo primum pascha in imagine celebrarunt, ovem occidentes et manducantes, cujus sanguine postes eorum ad salutis tutelam signati sunt (Exod. XII); ex ipso ergo die quinquagesimus dies impletus est, et legem acceperunt scriptam digito Dei (Id. XIX, XX), quo nomine jam diximus significari Spiritum sanctum (Supra, cap. XX, n. 35): sicut post Domini passionem et resurrectionem, quod est verum pascha, quinquagesimo die ipse Spiritus sanctus discipulis missus est: non jam lapideis tabulis corda dura significans; sed cum essent unum in locum congregati in ipsa Jerusalem, factus est subito de coelo sonus, quasi ferretur flatus vehemens, et visae sunt illis linguae divisae quasi ignis, et coeperunt linguis loqui, ita ut omnes qui ad illos venerant, suam linguam quisque cognosceret (ad illam enim civitatem ex omni terra conveniebant Judaei, quacumque dispersi erant, et diversas linguas gentium diversarum didicerant [Act. II, 1-11]): deinde cum tota fiducia Christum praedicantes, in ejus nomine multa signa faciebant, ita ut quemdam mortuum transeunte Petro umbra ejus tetigerit, et resurrexerit (Id. V, 15).

42. Sed cum viderent Judaei tanta signa fieri in ejus nomine, quem partim per invidiam, partim per errorem crucifixerunt, alii irritati sunt ad persequendos praedicatores ejus Apostolos, alii vero idipsum amplius admirantes, quod in ejus nomine, quem veluti a se oppressum et victum riserant, tanta miracula fierent, poenitendo conversi crediderunt in eum millia Judaeorum. Non erant jam illi temporalia beneficia terrenumque regnum desiderantes a Deo, nec promissum regem Christum carnaliter exspectantes: sed immortaliter intelligentes et diligentes eum qui pro ipsis ab ipsis tanta mortaliter pertulit, et eis usque ad sui sanguinis peccata donavit, et immortalitatem a se sperandam et desiderandam exemplo suae resurrectionis ostendit. Itaque jam veteris hominis terrena desideria mortificantes, et spiritualis vitae novitate flagrantes, sicut praeceperat in Evangelio Dominus, vendebant omnia quae habebant, et pretia rerum suarum ante pedes Apostolorum ponebant, ut ipsi distribuerent unicuique, sicut cuique opus erat (Id. II, 44, et IV, 34): viventesque in christiana dilectione concorditer, non dicebant aliquid suum, sed erant illis omnia communia, et anima et cor unum in Deum (Id. IV, 32-35). Deinde etiam ipsi a Judaeis carnalibus 0341 civibus carnis suae persecutionem passi atque dispersi sunt, ut latius Christus eorum dispersione praedicaretur, et imitarentur etiam ipsi patientiam Domini sui: quia qui eos mansuetus passus fuerat, mansuefactos pro se pati jubebat.

43. Ex ipsis sanctorum persecutoribus fuerat etiam apostolus Paulus, et in Christianos maxime saeviebat: sed postea credens et apostolus factus, missus est ut Gentibus Evangelium praedicaret, graviora perpessus pro nomine Christi, quam fecerat contra nomen Christi. Ecclesias autem constituens per omnes gentes qua Evangelium seminabat, impense praecipiebat, ut quoniam ipsi ex idolorum cultu venientes, et ad unum Deum colendum rudes, non facile poterant rebus suis venditis et distributis servire Deo, oblationes facerent in pauperes sanctorum qui erant in Ecclesiis Judaeae, quae Christo crediderant: ita illos tanquam milites, illos autem tanquam stipendiarios provinciales apostolica doctrina constituit; inserens eis Christum velut lapidem angularem, sicut per prophetam praenuntiatus erat, in quo ambo quasi parietes de diverso venientes, de Judaeis videlicet atque Gentibus, germana charitate copularentur (Psal. CXVII, 22, et Isai. XXVIII, 16). Sed postea graviores et crebriores persecutiones ex incredulis gentibus adversus Christi Ecclesiam surrexerunt, et implebatur in dies singulos verbum Domini praedicentis, Ecce ego mitto vos velut oves in medio luporum (Matth. X, 16).