he continual offering-up of "the Lamb as It
had been slain," before the Throne of God in Heaven.

[1] St. Peter and St. John had been specially trained by their Divine
Master for their special work. They with St. James, the first
Apostolic martyr, had witnessed His Transfiguration, His Agony, His
raising of Jairus's daughter, and had been admitted into more intimate
communion with Him than the other Apostles.

[2] From passages in the works of St. Irenaeus and Eusebius. See "Some
Account of the Church in the Apostolic Age," by Professor Shirley, pp.
136-140.

[3] The Apostles appear to have believed at first that our Lord's
Ascension would be very speedily followed by His triumphal return to
Judgment, and the glorification of His faithful people.

[4] On this point we may remember that St. John, who saw deepest into
the Divine Life, did not write his Gospel till near the end of his
earthly labours, almost sixty years after the Day of Pentecost.

[5] Ephesus is known to this day by the name of Aya-soluk, from Agios
Theologos, or holy Divine, the title given to St. John.

[6] Or perhaps by Nero, as some ancient writers say. Nero's full name
was Nero Claudius Domitianus, which may have caused this confusion.

[7] 1 Tim. vi. 20.

[8] As St. Chrysostom says, "When thou beholdest the curtains drawn up,
then imagine that the heavens are let down from above, and that the
Angels are descending."

[9] Annotated Book of Common Prayer, Ritual Introduction, pp. xlix, 1.

[10] We are told that St. John adopted the vestments of the High Priest
of the old covenant, and especially "the plate of the holy crown," with
its inscription, "Holiness to the Lord," thus exhibiting very forcibly
the continuity of the two priesthoods.

{57}

CHAPTER V

The Primitive Church

A.D. 100-A.D. 312

[Sidenote: Persecution increases round the Church.]

We have already had occasion to notice the beginnings of the
persecution which the Church was to undergo for the sake of her Head
and Spouse, not only those of a local and unorganized character, which
are spoken of in the Book of Acts, but also some of a more cruel and
systematic nature under the Roman Emperors Nero and Domitian. From the
death of the last of the Apostles to the conversion of the Emperor
Constantine, A.D. 312, the Church passed through a succession of fierce
trials, in which her members were called to undergo similar sufferings
to those which had been born