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Such would appear to have been the natural thoughts of the purely Hebrew disciples-the almost inevitable response they would give to the voices which were sounding in their ears-the voice of their Master and Lord bidding them go: the voice of persecution driving them before it; and, finally, the voice of all their scattered brethren and half-relations throughout the Phoenician colonies-in Cyprus, Crete and Sicily and Spain, calling -calling.

It is surely no accidental circumstance that the traditional Hebrew missions follow exactly the same course as that of Phoenician colonisation, and that the traditional sites of these missions are found accordingly, first, at the Syro-Phoenician towns along the coast border as far as Antioch, and, secondly, at all the main Phoenician or Phoenician and Hebrew settlements-in Cyprus, in Sicily, in Crete, at Cyrene, in Sardinia and Spain, and finally at the so-called "Cassiterides," or Cornwall.

Lucius of Cyrene, whom many have identified with

In Crete, one of the chief ports, Phoenix (or Phenice) was named after them, and this and other of the Cretan seaports were used for the refitting and repairing of their fleets. In Sicily they had established colonies at Motya, Eryx, Panormus (Palermo) and Soloeis. In Africa a very great part of the sea border and much of the inland country was all practically Phoenician or Phoenician and Hebrew. In Sardinia, "Caralis" (or Cagliari, the present capital) and all the more open and level region of the south and south-west were occupied by Phoenician settlers, while in Spain they had numerous colonies, and at Gades (the modern Cadiz) had established a great centre of maritime traffic which is said to have included not only the coasts of Britain, but those also of North Germany and the Baltic (see Professor Rawlinson's "History of Phoenicia," pp. 91-128).

The League formed by Judas Maccabeus (about 162 B.C.) between the Jews and Romans appears to have been prompted by the Jews residing in Spain and Gaul. Note that in the passages referring to this the Gauls are called "Galatians" (Apocrypha, 1 Macc. viii.).

St. Luke, was certainly one of those who preached the gospel at Antioch (Acts xiii. 1), and it is quite possible that Cleopas went with him, and that both may have been accompanied by the Blessed Virgin.

Associated with St. Luke was "Simon called Niger," who may well have been the same as Simon the Cyrenean, the father of Alexandra and Rufus, who bore the cross of Jesus. The latter came from Africa, and if of mixed Jewish and African descent would naturally be called Niger on account of his colour.

Beside these (whom we already know in the Gospels) we read of Manean, the foster-brother of Herod, who (in A.D. 39) was banished to Lyons, in Gaul; and in the old Aquitaine legends mention is made of St. Martial, "son of Marcellus and Elizabeth," and "cousin of St. Stephen," as preaching the gospel at Antioch under St. Peter, and gaining there the special affection of two converts, who followed him afterwards in his travels to Rome and Gaul. One of these, having the curious name of "Austroclinian," is evidently referred to in the Book of the "Acts of Barnabas," supposed to have been written before A.D. 478 :

"And on the following day we came to a certain village where Aristoclinian dwelt. He being a leper, had been cleansed in Antioch, whom also Paul and Barnabas sealed to be a bishop and sent to his village in Cyprus, because there were many Greeks there. And we were entertained by him in a cave in a mountain, and there we remained one day" (" Acts of Barnabas," Ante Nicene Library, vol. xvi).

St. Euodius, too, and St. Ignatius, each of whom afterwards became Bishop of Antioch-St. Euodius first and St. Ignatius afterwards-may have journeyed there at the time of this first persecution.

St. Lazarus is traditionally associated with the earliest

mission to Cyprus. He is honoured there as its first missionary priest, and the chief church at Larnaca is dedicated to his memory.

His supposed tomb is also shown there, but this is empty, and none of his relics have been found in the island, nor is there any local record of his death.

On the other hand, his successor, St. Barnabas, is stated to have suffered martyrdom at Salamis, on the east coast of the island; and during the reign of Justinian his grave is said to have been opened and his body found, with a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew lying on his breast.1

The name of Phenice is open to two interpretations, and its exact meaning in the passage I have quoted is by no means certain. It may either refer to the old Phonician district, "the coasts of Tyre and Sidon" (though this in another portion of the Acts is called Phoenicia), or to the main seaport on the western side of Crete.

It is not of great importance, perhaps, to settle this point, as we know that men from Cyrene were preaching at Antioch, and Cyrene was at this time united to Crete in order to form the Roman province of "the Cyrenacia."

In any case the scattering of these disciples would necessarily give them such an experience of distant travel as would almost inevitably prepare the way for further enterprise and more distant journeys in later years.

In Crete the name of the Church of St. Paul and the ruins of the cathedral of St. Titus traditionally connect the island with the Apostolic Age, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistle to Titus, but the names of the original missionaries or evangelists have been forgotten.

"Cyprus," F. V. Lower. In the "Acts of Barnabas" we read of the copy of St. Matthew's writings which Barnabas carried with

Both Crete and Cyrene had a large Jewish population, and Cyrene was famous for its medical school and learning.

The importance of Crete lay in the fact that its seaports formed at this time the great resting-places or ports of call between east and west, being about equally distant from Rome and Marseilles on the west as from Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch on the east, and the establishment of a Christian Mission on the island could not fail to spread the knowledge of Christianity to Rome, and even beyond it. The tide of commerce, the tide of culture and learning, the passing and repassing of military troops would all profoundly affect and be affected by the civilisation of the Cretan seaports, and if we desire to form in our minds a correct impression of early Christianity it is well to fully recognise the part played by this advanced outpost of Christian Missions in the very earliest times.

Not, perhaps, that the island itself or its more permanent inhabitants counted for much. Like all countries and districts used mainly as ports of call, and therefore possessing a shifting population, Crete had a bad reputation. Some years later, when St. Paul was writing to Titus, he felt constrained to use towards the Cretans some of the severest language to be found in any of his Epistles. Notwithstanding this, however, the ports of Phenice and the Fair Havens were of just as much value to Christianity as to commerce, being for both the chief half-way shelters across the great sea, from which one could as easily ship to Massilia (Marseilles) as to Cæsarea in Palestine.

The great merchants of Tyre and Sidon and of Jerusalem and Cæsarea would have their vessels continually calling at these ports; and if, as many have supposed, and as the old Cornish legend has it (see p. 180), St. Joseph of Arimathea was one of these merchant princes who

had interests in far countries, his own ships may have been trading to Crete, and even beyond it.

The endeavour to trace the beginning of the Christian Church at Rome forms an interesting study. We have evidence of Christian interest and Christian knowledge reaching back to the very earliest times, but it is hardly likely that the disciples and catechumens residing in the city were consolidated into a definite Church until some years later. Some Roman residents, as we are told in the Acts of the Apostles, had listened to St. Peter on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and had been witnesses of the extraordinary effects attending the preaching of the apostles (Acts ii. 10). These, on their return, could not fail to talk to others of all that they had heard and seen; many would wish for fuller knowledge and teaching, and it is not unlikely that some of the older disciples would be asked to take up their residence in Rome and to minister to those who were already turning away from heathendom or Judaism and fixing their hope on Christ as their Saviour and Messiah.

Whether it was at the time of St. Stephen's martyrdom or even before this (as we shall see) that the fuller news of the gospel was carried to Rome, it was evidently, I think, by the same band of workers, namely, Hebrews who were not of the number of the "Twelve," and yet Hebrews who had companied with the Lord Jesus during most of His ministry.1

In St. Paul's letter to the Romans, written before he

The growth of the Church in Rome, naturally unnoticed by the non-Christian writers, who regarded the sect as beneath contempt, and by the Christian historian as it was unconnected with the work of any of the apostles, was yet so rapid that the great persecution of A.D. 64 claimed very many victims in the city ("Life and Principate of Nero," Henderson, p. 344).

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