The life and work of St. Paul

48 THE LIFE AND WORK OF 8*. PAUL.
received Him out of their sight." But even in His last discourse He had
rendered clear to them their position and their duties. When, with lingeringg
of old Messianic fancies, they had asked Him whether He would at that
time re-constitute 1 the kingdom for Israel, He had quenched such material
longings by telling them that it was not for them to know " the times or the
seasons," 2 which the Father placed in His own authority.* But though these
secrets of God were not to be revealed to them or to any living man, there was
a power which they should receive when the Holy Ghost had fallen upon
them a power to be witnesses to Christ, His sufferings, and His Resurrection,
first in the narrow limits of the Holy Land, then to all the world.
From the mountain slopes of Olivet they returned that Sabbath-day's
journey 4 to Jerusalem, and at once assembled in
6 the upper chamber, which
was so suitable a place for thoir early gatherings. It was one of those large
rooms under the flat roof of Jewish houses, which, for its privacy, was set
apart for religious purposes ; and in the poverty of these Galilaean Apostles,
we can scarcely doubt that it was the same room of which they had already
availed themselves for the Last Supper, and for those gatherings on the " first
day of the week," 6 at two of which Jesus had appeared to them. Hallowed
by these divine associations, it seems to have been the ordinary place of
sojourn of the Apostles during the days of expectation. 7
Here, at stated
hours of earnest prayer, they were joined by the mother of Jesus 8 and the
other holy women who had attended His ministry as well as ;
by His brethren,
9
of whom one in particular plays henceforth an important part in the history
of the Church. Hitherto these " brethren of the Lord " had scarcely been
numbered among those who believed in Christ, 10 or, if they had believed
in Him, it had only been in a secondary and material sense, as a human
Messiah. But now, as we might naturally conjecture, even apart from
tradition, they had been convinced and converted by " the power of His
Resurrection." Even in these earliest meetings of the whole Church of
Christ at Jerusalem it is interesting to see that, though the Apostles were
still Jews in their religion, with no other change as yet beyond the belief in
1 Acts i. f
6, airoicaSurTaveit.
Acts i. 7, \p&vov* ij Kcupovt, "periods or crises."
* The E.Y. passes over the distinction between cov