to believe statements which, if unfounded, could have been
easily contradicted on the spot. The apostles must have been known to
many in Jerusalem as the companions of our Lord; for, during His public
ministry, they had often been seen with Him in the city and the temple;
and it was to be, therefore, expected, that peculiar importance would be
attached to their testimony respecting His doctrines and His miracles.
Their preaching in the head-quarters of Judaism was fitted to exert an
immense influence, as that metropolis itself contained a vast
population, and as it was, besides, the resort of strangers from all
parts of the world. And so long as the apostles ministered in Jerusalem
or in Palestine only to the house of Israel, it was expedient that their
number, which was an index of the Divine regard for the whole of the
twelve tribes, should be maintained in its integrity. But when, after
preaching twelve years among their countrymen at home, they found their
labours becoming comparatively barren; and when, driven by persecution
from Judea, they proceeded on distant missions, their position was quite
altered. Their number had now at least partially [67:1] lost its
original significance; and hence, when an apostle died, the survivors no
longer deemed it necessary to take steps for the appointment of a
successor. We find accordingly that when Herod "killed James, the
brother of John, with the sword," [68:1] no other individual was
selected to occupy the vacant apostleship.

It has been already stated that when Paul appeared in Jerusalem for the
first time after his conversion, he received, when praying in the
temple, a divine communication informing him of his mission to the
heathen. [68:2] It would seem that, during his present visit, as the
bearer of the contributions from Antioch, he was favoured with another
revelation. In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians he apparently
refers to this most comfortable, yet mysterious, manifestation. "I
know," [68:3] says he, "a man in Christ fourteen years ago [68:4]
(whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I
cannot tell; God knoweth) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And
I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot
tell; God knoweth) that he was caught up into paradise, and heard
unspeakable words which it is not lawful for man to utter." [68:5] The
present position of the apostle explains the design of this sublime and
de