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THE CORONATION 311
dence at times gave the demons this permission, and at
others withdrew it, casting them into hell, as at the
conversion of saint Paul and at other occasions, it
naturally happened, that the primitive Church sometimes
enjoyed peace and tranquillity, at other times, when this
truce was again broken, it was molested and afflicted;
and this is the lot of the Church in all ages.
335. Peace was favorable to the conversion of the
faithful, and persecution increased their merit and prac
tice of virtues; and this kind of variation was ordained,
and will always be maintained, by the divine Providence.
Hence, after the conversion of saint Paul the Church en
joyed some months of peace, namely, from the time when
Lucifer and his companions were hurled vanquished into
hell until their return to the earth, of which I will speak
Of this time of tranquillity saint Luke speaks in
directly.
the ninth chapter where, after relating the conversion of
saint Paul, he says, that the Church had peace throughout
Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and that it increased and
walked the way of the Lord in consolation of the Spirit.
Although the Evangelist mentions this after speaking of
the coming of saint Paul to Jerusalem, yet it occurred long
before; for saint Paul s coming to Jerusalem happened
more than five years after his conversion and saint Luke,
in writing his history, mentions this coming of saint
Paul to Jerusalem before mentioning his conversion, as
is the case with many events in the Evangelists, who were
in the habit of anticipating historical facts in order to
finish and illustrate their present point for ; they did not
intend to write the history of all the events, although in
the main they did follow the course of events according
as they happened.
336. This being understood and following up what I
said in the fifteenth chapter concerning the hellish meet-
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