Acts 12:24

Acts 12:24. But the word of God grew and multiplied. In strong contrast to the mournful end of the powerful enemy of the Christians, the Church of Christ kept on increasing in numbers and in power. These few rejoicing words sound like the Christians' victory hymn: the powerful king who hated the Christians and their God is eaten of worms, while the Church of Christ holds on unchecked its quiet but triumphal way. Again the sufferings of the faithful had done their work, and fresh believers were added in numbers to a Church which could teach men and women to suffer and to rejoice; and Chrysostom loves to tell us how the blood of James, the friend of Christ and the martyr of Christ, had watered the garden of the Church and made it fruitful.