resentment so far as to stir up such a persecution that the church,
which till now had been confined to Jerusalem, was dispersed, and all
the preachers except the apostles were driven thence, and went every
where preaching the word.

A young man whose name was _Saul_, was very active in this
persecution; he had been educated under Gamaliel, a member of the
Sanhedrim, was a person of promising genius, by profession a Pharisee,
and much attached to the jewish ceremonies. When Stephen was stoned he
appeared much pleased with it, and had the custody of the clothes of
his executioners; and from that time was fired with such a spirit of
persecution himself, that he went about dragging some to prison, and
compelling others to blaspheme the name of the Lord Jesus. Neither was
he contented with exercising his rage at Jerusalem, but went to the
chief priests and obtained testimonials of authority to carry on the
same work at Damascus. But on his way, as he was almost ready to enter
into the city, the Lord changed his heart in a very wonderful manner;
so that instead of entering the town to persecute, he began to preach
the gospel as soon as he was able. This presently brought upon him the
same persecution which he had designed to exercise upon others, and
even endangered his life, so that the brethren found it necessary to
let him down the city wall in a basket by night, and so he escaped the
hands of his enemies. From thence he went to Jerusalem where he
preached the word, but being persecuted there, he went to Cesarea, and
from thence to Tarsus.

In the time of this trouble in the church, Philip went and preached at
Samaria with great success, nay so great was the work that an
impostor, who had deceived the people with legerdemain tricks for a
long time was so amazed, and even convinced, as to profess himself a