were together, and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all, as every man had need."
This consecration of their property for the common benefit resulted from their desire to obey, to the letter, the counsel of the Saviour, to forsake all and follow him; from their unhesitating faith in his premonitions of the impending ruin of Jerusalem, as well as from that principle of unitive love with which the Divine Spirit imbues the hearts of true believers.
"And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily (τους σωζομενους) the saved." "And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; and a great company of the priests -were obedient to the faith; and the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul."[1]
This early time of Christianity was thus like the sunrise of a morning without clouds; and the minds of men, brought under a benign influence so new to our earth, partook at once of a serene cheerfulness, a God-like love, and a holy joy, which symbolized with the spirit of the first Paradise, and antedated the blessedness of that which is to come.
But oar life-time here, under any circumstances, is a probation. The faith of these first believers was speedily pat to the test; and the holy Stephen, in an agony of compassion for his murderers, and of triumphant joy in the Saviour he confessed and adored, led the van of the martyrs.
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