hair of her head, on the occasion of his eating with one Simon, a Pharisee, as related in Luke 7: 36-50. Without entering into the details of the controversy which has prevailed on this subject, I would merely say that it seems more reasonable that the incidents are not identical, and that this sinful woman was not Mary of Bethany.

212

VII. WOMEN OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE

1. MARY.

Comparatively few women of this important period are mentioned in the Bible, and of these the accounts are brief. The reason for this is the fact that the Apostolic Age was essentially a missionary epoch. and the record is largely taken up with the travels and labors of the Apostles and others in and out of Palestine. The women they met and converted, or benefited in other ways in these missionary journeys, did not enter very largely into the active labor of these traveling ministers, and therefore are not prominently mentioned in the history. Some women are named, however, and a few details of their lives are given. This meager information concerning them has been added to in some cases by later tradition; and thus the little we know of them becomes important and interesting.

One of the most prominent of the women of this period, was Mary, sister of Barnabas, and These two men were mother of John Mark.

among the most zealous workers in spreading the Gospel among the various nations, and Mary seems to have fully shared their zeal. Tradition states that the "upper room" in which the Sacrament of the Lord's supper was instituted, was in her house in Jerusalem; that here the disciples assembled in prayer after the ascension of Christ; that here also the important labor of appointing Matthias an Apostle to succeed Judas, was performed, and that here the Holy Ghost was given on the Day of Pentecost. Whether all these

events occurred here or not, we are safe in supposing that Mary's house was a favorite gatheringplace for the early Christians, and, on account of the wealth of its owner, a place of great hospitality to the struggling community. Peter seems particularly to have enjoyed this hospitality; and he was apparently on terms of close intimacy with the family. It appears from the allusions occurring in the Acts and the Epistles, that he converted Mark, and trained him for his later missionary labor; and if this "John whose surname was Mark" was identical with the Mark who wrote the second Gospel, Peter's training of and influence over him must have been thorough and lasting. For it is well known that Mark is called the "interpreter" of Peter, and that the gospel of Mark is written very largely from the standpoint. of that apostle. This idea is still further sustained by the fact that Peter speaks of the young man as "Marcus, my son."

Of one important event which took place at the house of Mary, we are not left in doubt. Herod had put to death the Apostle James, Peter's close associate, and finding that persecuting the Christians pleased the Jews, he had Peter put in prison, fully intending to have him condemned and doubtless executed after Easter. But in response. to the prayers offered by the Saints who were assembled at the house of Mary, an angel came to the prison, where Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, loosed him from his chains, and conducted him past the guards and through the outer gate. Taking his way to the house of Mary, Peter knocked at the door, and was answered by a girl who, recognizing his voice, was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran and told Strange to say, they the others who it was. doubted her word, although this was the very thing they had been praying for. All doubts were soon dispelled, however, and Peter was admitted amid great rejoicing to partake again of the loving hospitality of Mary.

For

Though she is not mentioned after this incident, we have no doubt that Mary impressed her sublime faith and courage upon her son. although John Mark manifested what some have construed into fear and vacillation on the occasion of his first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas, yet he showed a sublime courage at a later time, in sharing Paul's imprisonment, and then, after Paul's martyrdom, returning to Phoenicia,

and devoting the remainder of his life to the care It is believed that he suf

of the churches there.

fered a martyr's death.

But Mary is not dependent for our veneration and esteem upon the labors and greatness of brother or son. Her own hospitality and kindness, together with her zeal in the work, form our warrant for esteeming her as one of the most active instruments in the founding and nurture of the Apostolic Church.

2. DORCAS.

The house of Tabitha, "gazelle," or, in the Greek, Dorcas, was at Joppa, now Jaffa, an important seaport on the Mediterranean. This city enjoyed a very extensive commerce at that time, in spite of the attempt made to divert the trade to the Roman city Caesarea, not far to the northward. In Joppa, in the midst of the wealth and luxury produced by this commerce, there was great poverty and want. As this is usually associated with disease, especially in the crowded, unsanitary cities of the east, there is no doubt that among these poverty-stricken ones there were many cases of leprosy, paralysis, and other loathsome ailments of that country.

Dorcas was, we presume, a woman of considerable wealth, and she used her means and her time most generously for the benefit of her stricken