the increasing numbers required that Deacons should be ordained to
assist the Apostles, we read that "the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the Priests,"
recognising, we may suppose, the fulfilment of the sacrificial types
in the person and work of the Lord Jesus, "became obedient to the
Faith" (Acts vi. 7). Then by the Providence of God this multitude of
the believers was scattered through the persecution which arose about
Stephen, and they "went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts viii. 4).
So that next "Samaria received the word of God" (Acts viii. 14). Then
the good news spread to Damascus, and to Antioch in Syria (Acts ix,
xi. 19).

Such was the growth of the Church in the first ten or twelve years.
Then Antioch became a fresh starting-point, and within the next twenty
years, under the efforts of S. Paul and S. Barnabas and others, the
glad tidings spread from Antioch to Cyprus, and from Cyprus to the
coasts of Asia Minor (Acts xiii, xiv). Then after extending through
many provinces of Asia, the Gospel tree spread forth its branches to
Macedonia (Acts xvi. 11); and from Macedonia to the ancient cities of
Greece (Acts xvii, xviii); and from Greece to Italy and Rome, the
capital of the world. With this Parable of "The Mustard Seed," we may
connect that of "The Seed growing secretly" (S. Mark iv. 26, 27), and
we may think how little the rulers of the old world imagined, that
there was a power at work amongst them, which would change the moral
character of the whole Empire. The Church of Christ was extending her
influence secretly and unnoticed, or noticed only to be despised by
the ruling classes. Yet within three hundred years the faith of Christ
became the professed religion of the Roman Empire.

But the spread of the Church of Christ was not merely an outward
extension in the number of professed members. The Parable of "The
Leaven" had set forth the power which "The Kingdom of Heaven" would
exercise over the hearts of men. And of this also we may find examples
in almost every chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles.
See the leaven working in the first members of the Church, who lived
together in such love and unity that "they had all things common, and
sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every
man had need" (Acts ii. 44, iv. 32). Think of the devoted lives led by
the Apostles, "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffe