Excerpt from A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Vol. 2 The church is here seen in a new and important aspect as a missionary church. Hitherto Christianity had been pro pagated in a measure by informal efforts and casual occur rences; the persecution at Jerusalem having given rise to the dispersion of the Christians, and the diflusion of their opinions. But now the church at Antioch plans measures and makes regular efforts to extend the gospel among the heathen. Paul and Barnabas are sent forth as the first Christian missionaries - the forerunners of that noble band of Christian heroes who sacrifice everything in order to difiuse the unsearchable riches of Christ among the Gentiles. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.