The life and work of St. Paul

60 SHE LIFE AND WOBK OF ST. PAUL.
with which they witnessed to the resurrection oi their Lord 5 the beautiful
spectacle of their unanimity ;
the awful suddenness with which Ananias and
Sapphira had been stricken down ; the signs and wonders which were wrought
by the power of faith ; the zeal and devotion which marked their gatherings
in Solomon's porch, caused a rapid advance in the numbers and position of the
Christian brothers. As their influence increased, the hierarchic clique, which
at that time governed the body which still called itself the Sanhedrin, grew
more and more alanaed. In spite of the populace, whose sympathy made it
dangerous at that time to meddle with the followers of Jesus, they at last summoned
the two leading Apostles before a solemn conclave of the Sanhedrin
and senate. 1
Probably, as at the earlier session, the whole priestly party were
there
2 the crafty Annas, the worldly Caiaphas, the rich, unscrupulous, moneyloving
body of Kamhiths, and Phabis, and Kantheras, and Boethusim, 3 the
Pharisaic doctors of the law, with Gamaliel at their head ; John, perhaps the
celebrated Jphanan Ben Zakkai; 4 Alexander, perhaps the wealthy
brother of
the learned Philo; 6 the same body who had been present at those secret,
guilty, tumultuous, illegal meetings in which they handed over the Lord Jesus
to their Roman executioners were again assembled, but now with something
of misgiving and terror, to make one more supreme effort to stamp out the
Galilaean heresy.
The Apostles, when first brought before the Sanhedrin, had been arrested
in the evening by the Captain of the Temple, and had been released with
strong threats, partly because the Sadducees affected to despise ^ them, but still
more because they did not know how to gainsay the miracle of the healing of
the cripple. The Apostles had then openly declared that they should be
compelled by the law of a higher duty to disregard these threats, and they
had continued to teach to increasing thousands that doctrine of the resurrec-
tion which filled the Sadducees with the greatest jealousy.
It was impossible
to leave them unmolested in their career, and by the High Priest's order they
were thrust into prison. The Sanhedrin met at dawn to try them ; but when
they sent for them to the prison they found that the Apostles were not there,
but that, delivered by " an angel of the Lord," they were calmly teaching in
the Temple. In the deepest perplexity, the Sanhedrists once more despatched
superior to that of the am haarcts. The lied lot is one who, though not a frequenter of
the schools, still pays deference to the authority of the Rabbis ; the am-huarets is one who
hates and despises that authority. Hillel waa distinguished for his forbearing condescension
towards the ignorance of Hcdiots (Babha Meteia, f. 104, 1). Compare John vii. 15,
" How knoweth this man letters, having never learned f "
1 "Populus sanior quam qui praesunt " (Bengel). The use of the word yepovo-ta in
Acts v. 21 is somewhat perplexing, because we know nothing of any Jewish "senate"
apart from the Sanhedrin, and because if ycpov