there in the world any thing comparable to the glory of her Temple All Nations acknowledge this and these things being without dispute you need not fear any can attempt against the honour of that Divinity which you serve therefore take heed you undertake nothing rashly It is certaine these men whom you have brought hither to destroy are not guilty of any blasphemy against your Goddess Wherefore if Demetrius and those of his trade which follow him have any dispute with them why should you for their particular interest make this a generall cause Are there not persons ordained to decide causes and Magistrates who have power and ought to determine such differences But if there be question of any other thing you must remit the clearing of it to a lawfull Assemby and not treat of it in this which seemes to be altogether seditious Consider therefore well that we are responsable for the evill which may happen upon this and we run the hazard to be accused of sedition since we can give no good account of this dayes tumult This discourse appeased the people and happily saved the disciples of the Apostle who took resolution to leave this City that he might execute his former design of visiting the Churches of Achaia Macedonia and goe to Hierusalem from whence he proposed to himselfe to goe to Rome but without doubt in another manner then we shall see him conducted thither He left his dearly beloved Timothy to governe the Church of Ephesus whom Eusebius will have to be the first Bishop of that place He remained with them near three years and during that time Apollo of whom we have spoken came to Corinth to preach the Gospel the which he performed with so much eloquence as many taken therewith and judging of things only by apparance beâ—an to despise the Apostle who had taught them the same verities but in a more plain way accommâ—dated to their weakness Those who loved the memory of their first Master and remembred his holy waâ—… of struction defended him with a little too much heat insomuch as their Church began to be in some danger of Schisme the sequel whereof might have proved very dangerous Besides this disorder there was a man amongst them who had abused the wife of his Father They differed also much in opinions about the use of meates offered to Idols and there was some abuse in the banquets which they call Agapes that is to say Charitable where they took irreverently the Holy Eucharist There was moreover a great division amongst them by reason of Sutes of Law pleaded before Judges that were Gentiles these brought a scandal upon the Doctrine of the Gospel which recommends to the Professors nothing more then charity and the contempt of worldly goods These disorders obliged Saint Paul to write his first Epistle to the Corinthians There he fulminates excommunication against incestuous persons even to the terrour of the most confident and to let them know what they were to expect for it was neither out of the heat of zeale nor interest or compliance but to vindicate the honour of the Church and to save him whom for a time it was necessary to put into the hands of the Devil to the end he might not for ever remain so He rebukes the Corinthians who by their bitterness in Law-Sutes dishonoured the name of Jesus Christ And told them It was very ill done to plead one against another but much worse and more considerrable to doe it before Judges who were Idolaters That they ought rather to choose the meanest persons of the Church to accord their differences who would be capable enough to judge of such temporall things the Faithfull being onely to judge the World and the Devils He put them in minde that before Baptisme they were soyled with abominable ordures but by their spiritual regeneration they were become the Temples of God and the members of Jesus Christ therefore this glorious quality obliged them to be pure and that their bodies were not given to serve fornication it being not their part to dispose of them but our Lord and that God would raise them again He instructs married people also to use marriage as a holy thing and permits them to separate themselves that they may be vacant in prayer which he means should be done but for a term of time and then to return to their conjugall society as an innocent remedy against incontinence Notwithstanding he protests that he permits it them by indulgence because the severity of Christian Lawes in marriage allow the use of it onely for the generation of children but mans infirmity requires it that he might resist temptations so that as Saint Augustine hath since said the sanctity of Nuptials render pardonable that which properly appertains not to marriages From this Subject he passes to treat of Virginity which he councels by his example and by reason in that it does perfectly withdraw one from the tye of creatures and cares of the World Those who are of opinion that S. Paul was married should doe well to blot out the words he sets down in this Epistle if they will defend so new and ill grounded an opinion Notwithstanding he leaves this Angelical rather then humane forme of life under the bare terms of Counsel and protests there is no precept of our Lord for it that he onely counsels it as believing it better and of more advantage to the Corinthians He exhorts Widows to continue in their widowhood and if they cannot keep the purity of that state to espouse themselves to our Lord that is to say with a Christian intention and with such as believe in Jesus Christ and not for sensuality Concerning meats offered to Idols he teaches them that the use is indifferent in it self but yet they ought to abstain from them lest the simple people who conceive them forbidden should be scandalized to see them eaten and they themselves may thereby take occasion to eat them after a superstitious manner To confirme this Document he represents unto them That in delivering them the Gespel he would not suffer them to furnish him with necessaries for his subsistence although he had right to receive nay indeed to require it That he seemed to be a Jew amongst the Jewes and not to observe the Law amongst those that knew not the Law In fine that he made himselfe all things to all to gaine all men to God But there is nothing he reproves with so much fervour as the irreverence which they committed before their approach to the Holy Table He shewes the institution of the Eucharist and sayes That as often as we eat it we announce the death of our Lord untill his comming again that is to say this Sacrament is the lively commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ and so a participation of his body and blood offered upon the Cross He concludes That he who drinks and eats this unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of our Lord
Angel descended from Heaven into the prison where he was and found him betwixt two Souldiers of his guard oppressed with sleep The Dungeon was instantly filled with a great light and awaking him by a touch on the side at his command to follow him the chains fell from his hands He obeyed and passing the first and second watch came to the iron gate that led to the street which of it self also opened After he had gone some few steps this Messenger of Heaven vanished and the prisoner who till then thought he was in a dream found indeed that he was delivered out of the hands of Herod and from the fury of the Jewes He came and knockt at the door of Mary the Mother of John sirnamed Mark where many faithfull were gathered together praying for his delivery A young Maid named Rhodes knew him by his voice and presently went up to tell the Assembly some told her she was mad but she affirming that it was certainly he they replyed t is his Angel meaning him whom we call our Angel Guardian and who is given to every one of us When the door was opened and that they saw him they could yet scarce beleive their own eyes He recounted to them what had happened in the prison And giving order to make known this good newes to James the Brother of our Lord who was Bishop of Hierusalem and to the rest of the Faithfull he departed towards the Coast of Palestine there to preach the Gospel From thence he went to Rome where he began to make war against Idolatry and to establish the Seat of his Successors which might be through all Ages of the Church the Center of Ecclesiastical Unity Herod advertised of his delivery grew inraged astainst the Souldiers to whose custody he was committed He caused diligent search to be made after him but in vain and the Divine Vengeance not long after failed not to punish Herod himself For he being at Cesarea the Inhabitants of Tyre and Sydon with whom he was angry the cause is not mentioned in the History of the Acts sent Deputies to him to make their peace He gave them publick audience and to render this action more solemn would appear adorn'd in all the Royal ornaments of Majesty At his Entry the flattering people clapt their hands and when he spake they cryed T is a God that speakes and not a man This unfortunate Prince took pleasure in this Sacrilegious Adulation and with joy received the honour which is onely due to the King of Kings But at the same time the Angel of our Lord strook him with a horrible disease that from his Throne he was carried to his Bed where the worms eating his flesh made it appear that it was the flesh of a mortall man and that God is more elevated above Sovereigns then Sovereigns are above their subjects that by the least of creatures he knowes how to abate the pride of the most formidable Tyrants and that piety and justice are the most solid Bases of an Empire The persecution of this wicked man gave occasion to the Apostles to leave Judaea and divide themselves into all parts of the world for till then they had resided in Jerusalem Before they separated themselves they composed a Summary of Christian Doctrine which is called the Apostles Creed whether it were that every one made an Article or because it was the mark or as it were the watch-word whereby Christians might know one another as being souldiers of one Band. Saint Matthew wrote also before this separation the Gospel which bears his name and of which St. Hierome sayes he saw the Original in Hebrew in the Library of Pamphilius the Martyr Saint Bartholomew going into the Indies transcribed it with his own hand and it was found in the time of Zeno the Emperor with the body of Saint Barnaby In the mean time the Apostle returned to Antioch with Barnaby and another companion called John sirnamed Mark. Their return caused great joy to that Church but she enjoyed not long their presence for the Prophets and Doctors of which that Church was composed amongst whom was Simon sirnamed the Black Lucius the Cyrenian and Manahem Foster-Brother to Herod the Greek word signifies brought up with him Whilest they fasted and were busied in the Ministery of our Lord they received command from the Holy Ghost to separate from amongst all the rest Saul and Barnabas Saint Luke places them in the rank of Doctors for the work unto which he had designed them They presently obeying imposed hands upon them after fasting and prayer There is a great diversity of opinions amongst Interpreters in Explicating what the Imposition of hands signifies in this passage of the Acts and what was the Ministery in which those here named were imployed The word of the Liturgy according to some signifies the celebrating of the Sacrifice of the Mass Saint Chrysostom Explicates it of Preaching Others of any kinde of Ecclesiastical Function By imposition of hands divers modern Interpreters understand Ordination to Episcopacy Their ground is upon this circumstance of the Liturgy because the Church of Antioch did always accompany this action with fasting and prayer But although the Church doe at this day celebrate Ordinations with these Ceremonies it is not therefore to be said they were practised from the beginning nor that every time they were practised it was for Ordination They add also that there is no other passage in the New Testament which shewes St. Paul and St. Barnabas to be consecrated either Priests or Bishops One might answer that the Apostleship containes these two Orders by that power which is called per Excellentiam for the Apostles were to found particular Churches which composed the Universal Now those could not be founded without Bishops the Church being defined to be a people joyned to their Bishop They ought therefore to have that Character which is necessary for the Ordination of Bishops Certainly it connot be shewed in the Gospel that the other Apostles sent by Jesus Christ were first made Bishops and afterwards Apostles nor is there any likelyhood that the Apostleship of Saint Paul who as St. Ambrose and St. Austin say was not called by Jesus Christ mortal but by Jesus Christ totally God that is to say living by a divine life after his Resurrection did not comprise the excellency which the others had and was less extraordinary Saint Chrysostom whose authority is of great weight in what concernes the Doctor of Nations sayes that he was ordained Apostle in the time we speak of This opinion may be grounded upon this that Saint Luke in this passage ranks him amongst the other Doctors of the Church of Antioch Whence 't is probable if he had been considered as an Apostle and an Apostle of the Gentiles by eminency or if he had exercised that Function he would not have given him a Title much inferiour to the Apostleship For Saint Paul speaking of the Orders of Ministers of the Church
himself with their Wool But all that was permitted seemed not to him expedient to do he would take away from the enemies of the Gospell all manner of pretexts that they should not accuse him of seeking his own interest or making a Commerce of his preaching He would preserve this glory to have announced the Gospell gratis to them by that means might speak with more liberty Many spiritual directours ought to consider this great example of disingagement if they imitate it with prudence and courage their conduct would be more honourable to them more profitable to those whom they govern and more advantagious to the honour of the Church The Apostle esteemed not this corporal exercise to be any reproach to his condition since it did not any way hinder him from his times of prayer or from the Function of his Ministry Every Sabboth day he preached in the Synagogue of the Jewes and made it appear to them as well as to the Greekes that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and true God Silas and Timothy being come from Thesalonica he found himself more then usually moved by the Spirit of God to speak his zeal was enkindled a new and he preached with more efficacy to those of his Nation the Divinity of his Master But when he perceived that instead of profiting by his words they remained more obstinate and uttered more horrible blasphemies against Jesus Christ he shaked his garments and told them Your blood be upon your own heads I have my hands clean and I will goe from this Country and carry to the Gentiles this light which you refuse This familiar fashion of speech to the Hebrewes was as much as to say that he had done all that lay in him to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and they would not believe him therefore he should not be responsable for their perdition which was infallible At the same instant he changed his lodging and retired himself to lodge with an honest man called Titus Justus one who feared God whose house was neer to the place where the Jewes used to assemble Crispus who was Prince of the Synagogue imbraced the Gospell and all his family and many more of the City were also baptized This good success gave incouragement to the Apostle and to augment it our Saviour appeared to him in a vision saying Fear nothing speak boldly take heed you hold not your peace for I am with you and none shall be able to hurt you I have many people in this Town The event made him know the truth of this revelation He remained eighteen moneths in Corinth and in that time the Church was exceedingly increased by the conversion of divers persons of all sorts He preached continually and in the first Epistle which he wrote afterwards to them he shews that in declaring the Gospel to them He made no use of the flowers of humane eloquence nor arguments of Philosophy for fear they might extinguish the vertue of the Cross which wants not the art of words to perswade the belief of it He puts them in minde that he exercised his Ministry amongst them with fear and with humility and that he pretended to know no other thing but Jesus Christ crucified that he did not feed them with solid meat but with milke because they were not capable of other nourishment We know not the particular things which he did at Corinth nor what he endured there for the name of Jesus Christ He onely sayes that the marks of his Apostleship amongst the Corinthians were many paines which he suffered with a long patience and that many miracles were wrought in confirmation of his Doctrine The Jews who were never weary of persecuting him found notinâ— Gallion the Proconsul of Achaya and Brother of Seneca the Philosopher a Spirit that would easily imbrace the injustice of their passions to him they presented the Apostle and accused him of teaching a religious worship contrary to their Law But no sooner the accused offered to open his mouth in his own defence when Gallion told them that if they would complain of any evil action he had committed he would hear and do them justice but if it onely concerned some controversies of their Religion he would not meddle in it but leave the Judgement of it to themselves With this answer he dismissed them And they in a fury fell upon Sosthenes Prince of the Synagogue who was a Christian nor did the Consul hinder them from the prosecution of that insolent cruelty Saint Paul makes mention of this Sosihenes in the salutation of his first Epistle to the Corinthians and speaks of him as of his Companion which shewes he was considerable both to the Apostle and to that Church which he had care to instruct it may be also from him that Saint Paul understood of their disorders which obliged him to write unto them Some Authors make him Bishop of Colophone The Apostle applied not himself so much to the salvation of the Inhabitants of Corinth that he forgat the other Churches and when he understood the necessities of the Church of Thessalonica he wrote two Epistles to them in a short time one after another His designe in the first Epistle was to confirm the faithful in the profession of the Gospel and to instruct them in the mystery of the Resurrection to the end they might take courage in their present and future persecutions He commended them for having made so great a progress in faith the report whereof was spread every where and that they served for an example to other Churches Afterwards he puts them in minde of his manner of preaching how free it was from any self-interest never consenting to be any burthen to them He expresses to them a great desire to see them again and assures them that he continually remembers them in his Prayers He exhorts them not to be sad for the death of their Parents or Friends as the Gentiles are who doe not believe the happiness of a future life nor have any hope to be rejoyned unto them again That the death of Christians is but as it were a sleep that Jesus Christ who is their head being risen again they who are his members shall also rise at the last day at the voice of the Arch-Angel and at the-sound of a Trumpet they shall be lifted up in the Aire and goe before our Lord who shall come in his glory to pronounce the last sentence of eternall happiness or eternall misery to men that his Elect shall follow him into Heaven where they shall live eternally with him in an unspeakable felicity Many not comprehending well that which he sayed of this last Judgement conceived strange fears which were increased by the imprudence or malice of some false Doctors who preached that this last day was neer at hand This caused him to write unto them a second Epistle to dissipate those fears which troubled them to fortifie them against those persecutions which they
during the space of three years I leave you to the protection of God who by his goodness having promised a heavenly kingdom to his servants is both faithfull and powerfull to fulfill his word For my own part I do not think any one can reproach me I have not taken gold nor silver of any one I have furnished my self and those that were with me with things necessary for our subsistance by the labour of my hands I have lived after this manner to give you example how Charity ought to be dis-interessed with the which you are to provide for the necessities of the poor and also to put you in remembrance of that excellent Maxim of our Lord Jesus Christ It is a more noble thing to give then to receive The Apostle ended this his discourse and kneeling down prayed with those who were present That expression of his when he said It was the last time they should see him caused a great resentment in them they all imbraced him with signes of great love and with teares in their eies bid him farewell They stayed all upon the shore untill they lost sight of the vessell which took its course straight to the Isle of Coo famous by the birth of Hippocrates the Prince of Physitians as also of Apelles so highly celebrated amongst Painters The next day they rode before the Isle of Rhodes renowned for her Colossus of an hundred and five foot high with an hundred of a lesser sort about it From thence they came to Patara the Metropolis of Lycia where finding a vessel bound for Phoenicia they put themselves into it He passed in sight of the Isle of Cyprus which he left on the right hand and landed at Tyre where he stayed seven dayes The faithfull there received him with extraordinary respect with expressions of much tender affection The holy Ghost had revealed to them that he was to suffer much persecution at Hierusalem and therefore they used their utmost endeavours to hinder him from going thither But the same reason invited him to make that voyage He parted thence against their wills and was brought to the shore by men women and children After they had prayed on their knees together he imbarked in another vessel and advancing with full sails landed in the Port of Ptolemais where he stayed but one day The next day he came near to Cesâ—rea the new called the Tower of Straton where the old Herod had made sumptuous works to gain the favour of Augustus Caesar from whom hee gave it the name Philip one of the first seven Deacons lodged him and his stay there was a very great consolation to the faithfull of that Church His host had four daughters who being endued with the gift of Prophesie declared unto him the evils which were prepared for him But Agabus of whom we have already spoken following the custome of antient Prophets joyned the sign to his words For taking the girdle of the Apostle and tying his own feet and hands with it sayed to those that were present Hear the Oracle of the holy Ghost The man to whom this girdle belongs shall be tyed as I am by the Jews who shall deliver him up to the Gentiles This discourse much afflicted all those who heard it and caused every one with teares in their eies to conjure S. Paul not to go to Hierusalem But his great courage could not be mollified neither by the certainty of the danger nor by their intreaties nor the tears of his Disciples He sayed to them Why will you by afflicting your selves give me affliction hinder me from giving testimony to my Master how much I love him I am not onely ready to be bound and imprisoned at Hierusalem but if I be to loose my life I shall esteem my self happy to sacrifice it for the truth of the Gospell This answer stopt the mouthes of the faithful who replied no other thing then Gods will bâ— done Some daies after he departed thence with many Christians amongst whom there was a Cyprian named Mnason with whom he was to lodg at Hierusalem THE LIFE of the Apostle S. PAUL The second Book THe Apostle S. Paul arriving at Hierusalem made it his first care to visit James called the Brother of our Lord who was Bishop thereof and in his house hee found all the Priests of the Church assembled there to receive him After he had saluted them he made an exact relation of the things which God had wrought by him amongst the Gentiles for the glory of the Gospel every one giving thanks for it to our Lord who would so deliver the world by little and little from the dark clouds of Infidelity But as the salvation of the Iews also was very considerable very important for the glory of God the progress of the Gospel to unite by little and little these two people and to make them one S. James and the Priests told him You see dear Brother the great number of Jewes who make profession of believing in Christ but notwithstanding their faith they are very zealous observers of their antient Law for the honor of which they continue a most ardent zeal Now some have made them believe that you are a declared enemy of it and teach That those Jews who are spread amongst the Gentiles ought not to circumcise their children nor practise any legal observance In fine they are perswaded you endeavour to make them revolt openly against their Law This report has scandalized and animated them against you so as we fear some troublesom tumult when they shall understand you are here and shall see you in the Assembly which cannot be hindred from being summoned upon your arrival But if you will follow our advice you may appease these spirits and purge your self of the calumny cast upon you We have here amongst us four men who are to perform a vow they have made to offer their haire to God in the Temple according to the Ceremony ordained to Nazaraeans Do you joyn your self with them in this action contribute also to the charge of the necessary Sacrifices and ohserve all that is practised in this occasion that it may be known those reports which go of you are false and that you observe the Law Nor can this give to the Gentiles any subject of murmuration or fear that the same yoke shall be imposed on them for we have determined long since as you know that it suffices for them to abstain from meats offered to Idols from bloud from strangled flesh and from fornication The Apostle was too charitable not to condescend to the infirmity of his Brethren and would not refuse to be a Jew with Jewes he that made himself all things to all men that he might gaine all to Jesus Christ The next day therefore he began the Ceremony of Purification as had been counselled him the which lasted seven dayes as we have before observed But as he was in the Temple offering the Sacrifice ordained
this unknown voyage he spent eight yeares during which time the Church lost many of her Masters and Children or rather sent them to heaven by a glorious martyrdom The death of S. James who was called the brother of our Lord according to the testimony of Jesephus himselfe drew upon the city of Hierusalem the horrid calamities of that famous siege which ruined it intirely Hee had governed that Church twenty nine yeares with so great a reputation of sanctity that the people when hee walked in the streets thought themselves very happy if they could but touch the hemm of his garment Eusebius and before him Hegesippus sayes that he was sanctified in his mothers womb that he ever abstained from all sort of liquours which might cause drunkenness and from flesh that a rasor never toucht his head that hee was never in the bathes and that by his long continuance in prayer there was a scale like to the skin of a Camel grown over his knees The Scribes Pharisees alwaies the same could not support the credit reputation of this man who converted sinners by his example as well as words Wherefore in a great assembly of the people they endeavoured to perswade him publickly to profess Judaism which hee refusing was forthwith precipitated from the top of the Temple where at the foot a dyer with a Lever killed him out-right We have a Canonical Epistle of his in which hee labours principally to prove the necessity of good works to refute the error of Simon the Magician who said faith alone was sufficient to salvation After him Simon the son of Cleophas also called the brother of Jesus Christ because he was his cozen was chosen Bishop of Hierusalem S. Barnaby the faithfull companion of the Apostle in his peregrinations at the same time time received also the crown of martyrdom in the Isle of Cyprus On the other side Mark the disciple of S. Peter and one of the Evangelists after he had governed the Church of Alexandria with great sanctity was taken on a Sunday by the Gentiles who put a rope about his neck and so dragged him for two dayes together about the streets and in rough and uneven places where in the end he finished his life The Christians that were under his conduct led a marvelous holy life Philo the Jew composed a book expresly in their praise called The Contemplative Life wherein hee gives them the name of Essens taking them for Jewes because in that time they retained many legal Ceremonies I know there are great disputes among learned men upon this passage but since I write not for them it were to little purpose to go about to cleare tha difficulty more curious then profitable wee shall doe better to return to Rome where the Church was agitated with a horrible persecution Nero in the tenth of his Empire increasing in wickedness as he grew up in years gave fire himself to the Citie of Rome The streets were too narrow for him and he had a mind to rebuild it that it might bear his name The fire began in that part of the Cirque which joyned to the Mounts Palatine and Caelius and from thence meeting with Magazines filled with combustible matter and being carried with the winde which began to rise it spread it selfe with such violence that remedies were too late to resist its fury The air ecchoed with the lamentable cryes of Women and children who in that apprehension of fear knew not whither to go for safety and hindered those that would have helpt them for whilest some either expected or would secure others they so troubled one another that they found themselves encompassed with flames In the narrow streets where there were many turnings the throng was so great there was no passing When men were gotten so far as they thought the fire could not reach them then they were suddenly surprised by it as it seemed rather to flie then to creep along Many to save their wives perisht themselves and others would not out-live them although they might easily have been saved Fathers lost their lives staying by their children in fine never was seen so horrible a spectacle such as would have brought water or pulled down houses before the fire were hindered with Officers who at the corners of streets throwing about fiery balls cryed out that what they did was by order meaning by the command of the Emperour who as is commonly reported during this sad calamity was singing on the stage the Burning of Troy Notwithstanding he sought to suppress this opinion causing many hutts to be built in his gardens for those who had lost their houses by the fire Of fourteen quarters which composed the city there were but four left intire The houses of three of them were intirely levelled with the ground and in the other seven there remained onely the tops of buildings half burnt and ruined Thus all the riches heaped together since the foundation of the Common-wealth of so many Statues so many Pictures and other other rarities transported from all the Nations of the world of so many Temples built with such magnificence and by the Superstition of the people rendered so famous and renowned there remained onely a little heap of Ashes a sad example of the vanity of all humane things But to see that great City all in flames was not so dreadfull as afterwards to behold a great number of Christians tormented by Nero as authors of the fire without distinction either of age or quality and adding derision to his cruelty hee commanded some to be covered with the skins of wilde beasts to the end they might be worried to death by fierce dogs Others he nailed upon Crosses and caused their bodies to be rubbed over with pitch and other things apt to take fire that in the night time they served for torches to light those who passed by whilest they consumed like living holocausts for the defence of the name of J. Christ His gardens were the theatre of this abominable execution Although the Christians were odious to the Romanes who distinguished them not from the Jewes Hereticks of that time whose abominations indeed by right deserved their publick hatred yet they had compassion of these for every one saw they perished not for their own crimes but to satisfie the unsatiable cruelty of the Emperor who would justifie himself at their costs This was the first persecution in which God would try his Church amongst the Gentiles It was a while interrupted by a conspiracy discovered against this Tyrant in which Seneca being accused to have a hand was forced to make satisfaction with his life let out by his veins a greater resolution could not be desired then what he shewed in his death but me thinks 't is yet to be deplored since this constancy was only Philosophical not Christian Plautus Lateranus whose Palace was afterwards changed into a Church which yet bears the name of Lateran many other persons of quality perished for
THE LIFE Of the Apostle S T PAUL Written In French by the famous Bishop of Grasse and now Englished by a Person of Honour LONDON Printed by James Young for Henry Twyford and are to be sold at his shop in Vine Court Middle Temple 1653. To the Right Honorable EDWARD Lord VAVX Baron of Harroden c. My Lord HAving obteined by meanes of Your most noble Lady a view of this choise piece which through Your hands presents in our idiome Saint Pauls Life in whom wee Gentiles are so highly concerned My Reverence to the blessed Apostle and my Duty to my Countrey emboldened me to publish this elaborate transposition of Your Lordships out of French into English to a common perusal of all our Countrey-men who with S. Chrysostom ought to delight more in him and in his simple yet grave stile then all the swelling Criticismes or vaine Philosophy of posteriour Writers That I acquainted not Your Lordship with the publishing I finde examples of great Saints to have paralleld my adventure as of Saint Amand to S. Paulin who having published his Epistles sent him a fardle of them which he would have forgotten to have been his own if the veracity and authority of the Publisher had not forced his acknowledgment That Your Illustrious Consort gave me your Book to read and if upon dicussion I should esteem it able to bear the rubbs of rigid Censurers to print it was her commendable tenderness in order to Your Lordship and Christian providence in order to the Publique warranted by Great Saint Augustine in his 7th Epistle to Marcelline who desires severe Judges as Over-visours of his learned Workes and S. Ambrose to S. Sabinus Epist 63. gives the reason Because a mans own writings deceive him errours easily escape him as Children though deformed delight their Parents so ill digested conceits flatter the Contriver This Work for the subject commandeth Devotion and Reverence in the Reader for the accurate delineation of his Life and learned intermixtion of other contemporary Occurrences deserve so ingenuous and pious a Translator as Your Lordship In lieu of Translator I might beg leave to say Interpreter for You have not onely given us in English the things signified in the French which is the duty of a Translator but you have rendered the very mentall Conception of the Author which in Aristotles stile is the office of an Interpreter and in this much obliged all especially him who had the priviledge to suck the first morning sap which by all duteous expressions I must confess who am Your Honours Most obliged and faithfull Servant F. D. THE LIFE of the Apostle S. PAUL I Undertake to write the life of Saint Paul which containes the History of the Church in her Infancy Affection I confesse interesses me in this Subject yet I fear not to be suspected of any because I dive only into pure Sources and scarce say any thing that is not warranted by the authority of the Holy Ghost In this work you may behold both the power and wisdom of God in the Establishment of the Evangelical Doctrine and all those vertues which belong to a perfect Minister of the Gospel I need not go about to colour or disguise any matter herein or seek excuses For discretion marches here with zeal simplicity with prudence meekness with power and command The Synagogue is here demolished Idolatry overturned Philosophy confounded and the Cross triumphant Nor is this done without great opposition of the Infernal Spirits for they arm against one poor man the covetousness of the Priests of the Law the pride of the Pharises the envy of their Doctors the superstition of the people the authority of Magistrates the Insolency of Princes and the malice of false Brothers In the end they seem as it were victorious having brought Saint Paul to dye in the Capital City of the world But they are deceived in their malice The blood which the Apostle shed is the seed of Christians and by his death the Church takes possession of Rome The Ancient Philosophers were careful to write the lives of some particular persons illustrious either for their vertues or remarkable for some accidents of their lives to serve for a model or patterne of imitation by which they might arrive to the same glory much more ought Christians to endeavor to make known those Heroes of the Church whose whole actions have been examples of sanctity and in whom God would shew the power of his grace and the great wonders of his mercy For my part I have resolved hence-forward to labour in such glorious subjects I confess I ought not to begin my Apprentiship with the life of Saint Paul Yet the particular devotion I have for that great Apostle has prevailed over the knowledge of my weakness and makes me hope those Readers who are reasonable will excuse the zeal of a Disciple for his Master The Holy Ghost according to the promise of our Saviour was descended upon the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues and had fitted them with so Divine a light and Heavenly vigour that Saint Peter who trembled at the voice of a Woman in the house of the High-Priest did not then fear the fury of the Princes Doctors Pharises nor of the people but in the middest of Jerusalem he preached there aloud that Jesus Christ whom they had crucified was the Son of God and the Messias promised to their fore-fathers At his first Sermon there were three thousand persons converted and at his second which he made after that famous miracle of the lame man at the Gate of the Temple where he went up to prayer with Saint John he gained five thousand souls Every day the number of the faithful increased And the Sanctity of their lives served not a little to confirm the Doctrine which they professed The faith of Jesus Christ united them in so strict a bond that laying aside all difference in respect of body minde and fortune they had but one heart and one soul They heard the instructions of the Apostles with great respect and they practised them with so much fidelity that no earthly consideration could change them they imployed almost the whole day in prayer in the Temple where they met together and where they praysed God with one mouth and with one heart They assembled together sometimes in one house sometimes in another where they received the holy Eucharist and their repast was ever seasoned with an Evangelical frugality Their simplicity was without art their meekness without affectation and all their actions so full of great examples of vertue that the people of Jerusalem loved them and bare them great respect Wealth the origin and cause of quarrels and divisions amongst men was the Chain which united that new association for Charity made all things common amongst them The rich were ashamed to be so because they believed in him that was born and died as the poorest of men They sold their Inheritances and thought
sayes that God has established first the Apostles secondly the Prophets and in the third place the Doctors And truly before this time Saint Luke relates no other Function of his then those of a Doctor and Preacher But to this may be objected that S. Paul says cleerly he is no Apostle of men nor by men but Apostle of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ How then can his Apostleship be immediatly from our Lord if the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch ordained him Apostle He is so far from having any advantage over the other Apostles by his Vocation that it is much inferiour to theirs they having been sent immediately by Jesus Christ and he having received his Mission 't is true of Jesus Christ but by way of Inspiration and by the Ministery of those who themselves were neither Bishops nor Apostles but simply Prophets and Doctors Certainly to me this objection seems unanswerable unless we allow that by Ordination to the Apostleship and imposition of hands Saint Chrysostom means that Saint Paul was elevated to the Apostleship of Jesus Christ from the very moment of his conversion but did not exercise the Functions of it towards the Gentiles for whom he had particularly received it until the Holy Ghost made it known unto him by the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch and that it was then time to begin the exercise of his Function so that the imposition of hands upon him was but a simple invocation of the Divine assistance for him accompanied with the divine sacrifice with prayer and with fasting to the end God would daign to bestow upon him all benedictions necessary for the imployment to which he was ordained Although we might draw from this passage a strong Argument for the Ordination of Bishops yet I chuse rather to pass it over then ground the proof of an undoubted verity upon a passage that admits dispute as if we had no other arms to defend our selves and sought more to heap together then select Arguments My designe is to write a History clear and plain and not a Treatise controversie Hence I offer mine and others opinions leaving afterwards unto Readers the liberty of making their own choice At this same time the Apostle was elevated unto the third Heaven where he learnt secrets which are neither possible nor fit to unfold to man in this life I know Interpreters agree not in this but since it is a difficulty onely in Chronology and not of much importance I embrace that opinion as most conformable to truth which corresponds with the date assigned by the Apostle himself in his second Epistle to the Corinthians where he sayes he knew a man that was rapt into the third Heaven fourteen years since Besides I have Authors very famous and very considerable for my opinion and certainly if in these questions of fact reason may be admitted this Revelation could not be given to him in a more necessary time then that which we designe For then he was to make war with all his force against Idolatry It was then that Jesus Christ imbarqued him upon that great Sea of Nations to blazon amongst them the sound of the Gospel and to work wonders by means of his singular Apostleship conferred upon him Now to announce those sublime verities it was necessary he should first taste them at the Spring-head and be himself replenished ere he communicated them to others But there is yet a notable dispute betwixt both modern and ancient Interpreters about this rapture and this vision Some will have it that he saw in this extasie the distinction of the Orders of Angels whereof he speaks in his Epistle nor finde we any other Canonical Writer to distinguish them as he has done Others say that he did there know particularly the profund Mystery of the Incarnation and the vocation of Gentils to faith for in his Epistle to the Ephesians he sayes That to him who is the least amongst the faithfull charge was given to make known to the Gentils the inestimable riches of Jesus Christ and to illuminate all men teaching them the dispensation of the Mistery hidden in God from all Ages to the end that the Principalities and coelestial powers should learn of the Church the different wisdome of God In effect the proper Ministery of Saint Paul was this vocation of the Gentils and their incorporation with Jesus Christ That was his charge in this he was distinguished from the rest of the Apostles all his Epistle amply treat of this vocation which surprised and offended the Jewes This makes Saint Chrysostom say That the Apostle illuminated the Arch-Angels the Principalities the Powers and the Angels But I cannot beleeve that this sole mystery was the bounds of the Revelation of Saint Paul unless it may be said it comprehends in it all the other mysteries of Christian Religion Some Doctors amongst whom St. Thomas have held that he saw the Divine Essence with a momentary glance and as it were in passing and doe they think to evade that maxime of scripture That no man shall see God and live however I cannot be of that opinion and it seems to me not to be maintained I will give place to none in my respect and affection towards him whose life I write but yet me thinks respect and affection to Saints ought to be squared by the verity which is manifested to us and not by the subtilty of our conceit or by certain congruities more ingenious then solid The Apostle would not unfold to us the manner of his Extasie whether it was a separation of the soul from the body or a suspension of the vital functions of the soul within the body during which he saw those divine verities whether this sight was imaginary or intellectual and how long it lasted It suffices him to tell us that he heard secret words which are not lawful for man to repeat that is to say he saw ineffable Mysteries which cannot be explicated by humane words nor were it to purpose to make them known since men are not capable of them besides it would not at all conduce to the salvation of those unto whom he was to preach This reservedness of St. Paul shewes his humility and that he spake not of his Extasies unless in a manner compelled which we shall explicate in another place of this History It may also repress the curiosity of Readers and of those who bear most honour and affection to him and hinder them from penetrating into that Abyss which his modesty would hide T is now time to return to the course of our Narration Paul and Barnabas departed from Antioch of Syria immediatly after they had received that imposition of hands which has occasioned this digression The first place they came unto was Seleucia which was not above fourteen miles distant From thence they went into the Isle of Cyprus famous amongst the Pagans for the birth of Venus who was the Goddess of pleasure and the
they understood the wonderfull things which God had wrought by them and the great Harvest they had made amongst the Gentiles to whom God had opened the gate of the Gospel for which they rendered thanks to Jesus Christ and every one took occasion thereby to be more inflamed with the love of him who rejects no person but desires that all should come to the knowledge of his name without distinction either of Sex Nation or Quality At this same time the Emperor by an Edict banished all the Jewes from Rome amongst whom the Christians found themselves comprised because there was noe distinction then made betwixt the one and the other The cause of this banishment it may be was that Saint Peter preaching the Gospel in the Synagogue many were obstinate in opposition to it and many also embraced it which gave occasion of so many disputes and troubles amongst them that Claudius to prevent the evill which might happen upon these differences and withall making little esteem of that Nation commanded them all out of the Town The words of Suetonius give me ground to attribute the banishment I spake of to this cause For he expresly saies that the Emperor drove them out of the City by reason of the continual tumults about Christ Now it is no wonder this Historian being not well versed in the affairs of Christian Religion if he explicate himself so imperfectly upon this occasion besides the Jewes were hated and contemned by the Romans Hence Saint Peter obeying the command of the Emperor left Italy and came to Hierusalem where he hapned to be by a particular conduct of the Divine Providence to assist and preside in the first Councell of the Church Certain persons coming from Judea to Antioch began both to publish that Circumcision was necessary to Salvation and that it ought to be received by those Gentiles who were converted to the faith of Jesus Christ Many of the Pharisean Sect who made profession of the Gospel maintained this Doctrine and Cerinthus afterwards a notorious Heresiarch was the chief of this faction that sprung up amongst the faithful which raised no small sedition against Paul and Barnabas To hinder what might happen upon so dangerous a division it was agreed upon by common consent that the two last and some other persons of the contrary opinion should go up to Hierusalem to consult with the Apostles and Priests of that Church about this question which had so much troubled the Church of Antioch In passing by Phenicia and the Region of Samaria Paul and Barnabas recounted to the faithful how great a number of Gentiles were converted which caused an extraordinary and very sensible joy in them Arriving at Hierusalem the Apostles Priests and the rest of the Brethren received them with testimonies of extraordinary love and respect and were much comforted to understand the great things which God had wrought by them for the establishment of the Gospel The Pharisees that were converted gave them little rest for presently upon the conversion of the Gentiles they made a great noise maintaining that they ought to be Circumcised and were obliged to the other Cerimonies of the Law of Moses This occasioned the journey of Paul and Barnabas as we have already said and thereupon the Apostles and Priests assembled themselves at Hierusalem to debate this difficulty which they did with great care Their opinions were different and every one upheld his own sense with strong reasons so that the question began to be more and more intricate the more they endeavored to cleere it Saint Peter seeing this made a signe that he would speak which he did in this manner Brethren you know long since God was pleased to make use of me to declare his Gospel to the Gentiles and conduct them to his faith I had difficulty in it at the beginning and he with drew me from that error as I have formerly told you by a vision which I had in Joppa a sheet filled with all sort of creatures by the Law uncleane A voice commanded me to kill and eat I answered that I never used to touch any meat uncleane as those were I then beheld and it was replied to me that nothing which God had purified was uncleane In the mean time I received a message from Cornelius the Centurion who by birth was a Gentile but conversing with the Jewes had learnt to live religiously and fear the true God Then suddainly I understood what was meant by the vision I came to Cesarea where I found him with a great number of his friends assembled to hear the word of life He told me that an Angell had appeared and assured him that his almes deeds and prayers were mounted up to Heaven before God and that by his command he had sent to seek me Vpon this relation I preached the Doctrine of Salvation to the company and I was happily interrupted by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them by which they praised God in Languages unknown to them before So that I was no longer in doubt whether it was needfull to give them the Baptisme of Water having received that of the Holy Ghost which sanctified them At that time I was blamed for preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles but when I had reported to the same Church that which had happened in Cesarea every one was satisfied with my proceeding and all that heard me praised the goodness of God in that he had withdrawen the Gentiles from the darknesse of infidelity Now since he is pleased to shew them this mercy that he makes no difference between them and us and that he purifies the hearts of the one and the other by faith in his Son why then would you impose upon the faithful that which neither our Fathers nor we have been able to bear since we believe that they and we shall be saved alike by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ The Assembly were all attentive to this discourse which Paul and Barnabas observing took the opportunity of their silence and recounted the miracles which God had wrought by their hands for the conversion of the Gentiles and having ended this relation which gave much comfort to all there present Saint James who was Bishop of Hierusalem demanded Audience and sayed Brethren I desire you to hear me Simon has related unto you how that by his Ministry God has visited the Gentiles and how those whom we thought to be wholly abandoned are now made his faithfull people and obedient to his truth The testimonies of the Prophets do accord with this his Conduct Amos saies after this I will returne and I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David which is fallen and I will repaire its ruins and I will reedifie it to the end the rest of men may seek after the Lord and all Nations by whom his name is invocated saies the Lord that does these things The work of the Lord is known unto him before the beginning of all times Let us not then
be surprised to see that happen which has been foretold so long since But rather let us bless God in that his goodness has accomplished his promises in favour of the Gentils and not through an indiscreet rigour contrary to the liberty of the Gospel distaste them in the Faith which they have embraced In this occasion to observe some moderation and neither offend the Jewes in abrogating all the Legal Ceremonies nor yet discourage the Gentils with obliging them unto observances too rigorous my advice is it will suffice to write unto them that they abstain from meats offered to Idols from strangled meats from the bloud of beasts and fornication For the Jewes who are converted they are sufficiently instructed in abstaining from those things by the Law of Moses whose Books are read every Sabbath in our Assemblies as well as in the Synagogue By this we take away all occasion of complaint that we despise his Ordinances This opinion being universally received it was thought good by the Apostles by the Priests and by the rest of the Faithful to send to Antioch Paul and Barnaby together with Judas sirnamed Barsabas and Silas men most esteemed amongst them for their piety who should carry the resolution of the Councel which they committed to writing as it is in this following Epistle The Apostles Bishops and Priests assembled at Jerusalem doe wish to the faithful of Antioch Syria and Cilicia who amongst the Gentiles have received the Faith health having understood that certain persons comming from this City have troubled you with discourses which we never gave them in charge to make unto you we thought good to assemble our selves as well to examine those difficulties controverted as to apply a remedy to the evill already spread too far And at last we have resolved to send you two Deputies our dear Brothers Paul and Barnaby together with Barsabas and Silas men who have a thousand times exposed their lives in defence of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ They are witnesses of what has passed here and we desire you will give credit to them It has seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us not to impose upon you any other yoak then that of abstaining from meats offered to Idols from strangled meats from bloud and fornication which things you shall doe well to observe So fare ye well In these decrees we may behold the Evangelical prudence of those that made them for all those things which they forbad except Fornication were indifferent in their own nature and the liberty of the Gospel permitted the use of them to the Faithful freeing them in that point from the yoak of Moses Law which forbad them to the Jewes But the Church being composed of Jewes and Gentiles newly converted it was necessary to finde some way to unite two sorts of people that were so different in their humours customes and inclinations The Jewes were bent even upon a scrupulous observation of all their Ceremonies and could not endure that any should violate them so that it was absolutely necessary to accommodate things to their weakness and on the other side they were to find out such an accommodation that might not disgust the Gentiles whose number was much more considerable and who principally were to form the Church Behold wherefore the Apostles in the Councel made choice of two or three Legal observations unto which they oblige all Christians without distinction forbidding the use of meats strangled offered to Idols and bloud For as in the ancient Law those who participated of the flesh of Sacrifices which were offered by that action entred in some sort into a society with God to whom that Sacrifice was presened and made a publique profession of the Religion where that worship was practised So the Iewes were of opinion that those who did eat of the meats offered to Idols although they were Christians did acknowledge their Divinity and did enter into a certain communion with those false Gods of which they had a strange horrour it appearing unto them an impiety altogether insupportable We see in the first Epistle to the Corinthians which was writ a long time after this Councel that the Apostle treating of this Subject gives it for a rule to the faithful in no sort to use those meats lest their Brethren should be scandalized in that every one was to follow the judgement of his own conscience it being a sin to act contrary to our own secret perswasion and belief In the Apocalips the Angel reprehended the Bishop of Thyatira that he would endure a false Prophettess to corrupt his servants by teaching them to eat of meats offered to Idols which in a word derived from the Greek are called Idolothites The Apostles therefore to hinder this division forbad the use of these meats which continued a long time in the Church as well as that prohibition of the bloud of beasts in the time of Noah a little after the deluge Some Ecclesiastical Authors and the most ancient were of opinion that by the word bloud the Apostles meant to forbid homicide but nature and civil Laws rigorously forbid that both to Iewes and Gentiles Therefore this prohibition we now mention is to be understood of the bloud of beasts and we see it renewed in the Councels of Gangren Orleans and Wormes The Pagans reproached the Christians that in their Night-Assemblies they used to kill an Infant and eat the flesh of it all bloudy But Tertullian answers them excellently That the Christians are so far from doing such an execrable homicide that t is not permitted to them to eat the bloud of beasts and therefore Executioners were wont to present it to them so to try their fidelity in the observation of the precepts of their Religion The Emperour Leo renewed this Decree with penalties against those who should violate it But a little after when the Church feared no more division and scandal being almost wholly composed of Pagans converted this Apostolical Decree against suffocated flesh was no longer observed and there are certain Fathers who alledging this passage of the Acts make no mention at all of it Nevertheless t is certain the Apostles expressed it to content the Iewes who were not permitted to eat of any suffocated creature nor of any other before they had drawn out the bloud Concerning Fornication which is the last thing contained in the Decree of the Councel the Apostles made no new precept as if till then it were not forbidden and had been an indifferent action For there is no doubt but that it is against the law of nature which in the conjunction of man and woman tends to generation of children and their education and civil societies Now Fornication is contrary to this end for those who defile themselves in that manner think of nothing but voluptuousness and those women ordinarily render themselves uncapable of conceiving by their intemperance and if they doe conceive having no certain Father their education is neglected and
ordinarily they are prejudicial and burthensome to Common-wealths The Iewes doubted not but Fornication was unlawful for they well understood that precept of the Decalogue Thou shalt not commit adultery which contained in it this kinde of impurity The women of their Nation were forbidden publique prostitution and Pâ—inees merited the Priesthood for having killed an Israelite that fornicated with a Moabitish woman But it was not so with the Gentiles who had made many strict and rigorous Lawes against adultery and none against fornication nor keeping of Concubines beleeving that neither nature nor the Republick was interessed or endamaged by this action which a general corruption had made common and upon which the Civil Government had made no reflexion The purity of the body no less then that of the minde is an Evangelical vertue and onely Jesus Christ was able to teach a forme of life to men that having bodies they should live as if they had none This digression I thought necessary for those who are not so well instructed with the motives which occasioned the Apostles in this first Councel to make these Decrees Those who were appointed to carry the Letter arrived happily at Antioch where having assembled the Church it was read to the wonderful joy of all the Christians Iudas and Silas who were great Preachers did much comfort the faithful by the admirable discourses which upon divers occasions they made After some few dayes Iudas returned to Hierusalem leaving Silas with Paul and Barnaby who continued in preaching the Gospel with wonderfull fruit not disdaining to have other companions in this Ministery wherein they sought nothing but the glory of Jesus Christ and the salvation of souls It was at that time the famous difference happened betwixt Saint Peter and our Apostle The first having lived indifferently amongst the Gentiles of Antioch without making any other distinction of meats then what the Councel had ordained upon a sudden changed the whole manner of his life and retired himself from them because he would not scandalize certain Iewes who were newly come from Hierusalem This good intention of his produced an ill effect for the authority of his example drew the greatest part of the faithful to follow him and Barnaby also began in his imitation to Judaise Saint Paul seeing the dangerous consequence of this proceeding which might renew the disputes that were happily appeased and trouble the consciences of the converted Gentiles moved with an ardent and dis-interessed zeale for the salvation of the Gentiles opposed him whom otherwise he extreamly honoured in the face of the whole Church but in this occasion he judged him blameable not carrying himselfe according to the truth of the Gospel Saint Peter upon this reprehension did acquiesce and in his owne defence alledged not at all the priviledge of his Primacy There is no doubt but he had his reasons for what he did and t is not to be beleeved that an Apostle so zealous for the glory of the Gospel could propose to himself any other end in this occasion then the salvation of the Iewes who made profession of Christianity and therefore he feared they might be scandalized to see him eat in their presence meats which they held polluted There is no doubt but the observation of the Legal Ceremonies was left to the discretion of the Apostles in what concerned themselves And it appears in effect for after S. Paul thus had blamed Saint Peter in that he seemed to Judaise by his manner of living he himself circumcised Timothy because he would not offend the Iewes and when he came to Hierusalem he practised the Purifications ordained by the Law to the Nazarites as we shall see in the course of this History But as that which is permitted is not alwayes fit and the same action which is done for fear of scandalizing some many times does scandalize others who have different thoughts upon it we must not wonder at the carriage of Saint Peter which was good in respect of the Iewes that came from Hierusalem yet wrought an ill effect in the Gentiles of Antioch so that the fault of Saint Peter was in the success and at the most we can but accuse him not to have well considered what evil the change in his manner of life might occasion Although we owe a great respect to the Head of the Church yet we must not violate the Holy Text to excuse him from any the least failing and accuse his Fellow-brother that he blamed him unseasonably and with too much vanity as the enemies of Christian Religion and Heretikes doe Some of the ancient Fathers beleeved that this Cephas of whom it is spoken was not the Apostle Saint Peter but one of the Disciples of our Lord. This opinion is overthrown by the ensuing Text of Saint Paul who sets down the Relation of this dispute Many Authors of great note amongst whom Saint Chrysostome have maintained that this difference of the two Apostles was a thing agreed on betwixt them for the salvation of the Iewes for seeing the Iewes say they notwithstanding the Decree of the Councel of Hierusalem were alwayes offended at the Gentiles eating of meats forbidden by the Law they agreed that Saint Peter should take occasion upon the arrival of those who came from Hierusalem to retire from the conversation and table of the converted Gentiles and thereupon Saint Paul should reprehend him for this action in the open Assembly of the faithful to the which he replying nothing but contrarywise by his silence acknowledging himself to have failed the Iewes doubtless convinced by the example of their Master would leave their superstition and use the holy liberty which the Councel allowed them or at least would not take it ill that the Geniiles should use it They ground the dissimulation upon this that there is no likelyhood in their judgements Saint Paul could reprehend in Saint Peter a Judaical practise when as he soon after was to circumcise his disciple Timothy and much less blame him in publique which had been a scandal to the faithful Saint Hierome followes this opinion but Saint Augustine holds it to be of dangerous consequence for the truth of the holy Scriptures and for the honour and sincerity of those two Apostles believing that to dissemble in a subject of so great consequence made a notable alteration He honoured Saint Peter yet would not excuse him from having failed so as to accuse Saint Paul of an untruth It seemed also to him as strange as if to purge him from the reproach of having denyed Jesus Christ one should say the Gospel lyed because it reports this weakness of him The difference of their opinions produced betwixt them a contest by Letters which lessened not their charity but was cause that the Church received excellent instructions both from the one and the other and was no less edified in her Infancy by the generous liberty of St. Pauls correction then by the humility of Saint Peter who received it
The necessity of providing for the salvation of the Gentils who were endangered by that action of Saint Peter to be aversed from the Gospel and the troubles again to be revived which the Councel had happily quieted obliged him who was their Apostle to tax in publique a publique conduct which he judged not to be conformable to to the verity of the Gospel But we must also admire the generous and profound humility of him upon whom our Lord had founded the building of his Church that he endured so mildely and with such patience a publique correction without either alledging his Rank or his good intentions in defence of what he had done Certainly he who was reprehended in this manner appears more admirable then he who reprehended him and much harder to imitate for it is more facile to see in another that which is ill and correct it then to see what is fit to be corrected in ones selfe and quietly to endure reproach for it in the face of al the faithful who by that action might have a less good opinion of him then they had before This Dispute which made no diminution of charity amongst those who propose nothing for the end of all their actions but the glory of God was presently followed with another Dispute which also dis-united not their hearts though it did their persons St. Paul judging it fit to visit the Churches where he and Barnabas had preached acquainted him with his designe he presently approved of it knowing well that those new Plants stood in need of being cultivated by the same hands which had planted and watred them with so much labour But he was of opinion it was fit to take to their companion John sirnamed Mark. The Apostle held this choice neither reasonable nor profitable because he had left them in Pamphilia and came not with them to those Townes which they were to visit and so consequently being a stranger to all things there and unknown he could not labour there with profit Barnaby wanted not reasons for his opinion so that not agreeing they chose rather to sever themselves and divide betwixt them the imployment of their Ministery and this no doubt by the conduct of the Holy Ghost which brought great advantages to the places where they preached by their separation The Apostle by this rigour towards St. Mark intended to make him know the fault he had committed in leaving them whether it was for the apprehension of discommodities he was to suffer or for some other reason which Saint Luke sets not down or perhaps foreseeing he was to run more dangers and greater discommodities then before and fearing he might not have sufficient courage to resist so that abandoning them the second time it would encrease the shame of what he had formerly done Barnaby on the other side who loved him as his Kinsman thought this weakness of his was to be forgotten and that he ought to be received againe into their company to give him meanes thereby to repair his errour Thus each of them had most pure intentions and far from any particular or self-interests But in the event Mark profited by Saint Pauls severity and in his Epistle to the Colossians he speaks of him as one of his deare disciples The Apostles thus separated Barnaby and Mark took the way of Cyprus Tradition sayes he came into Italy and there founded the Church of Milan Ancient Ecclesiastical Authors cite an Epistle under his name which contains most holy instructions Some have attributed to him that Epistle which is directed to the Hebrews and received by the Church into the number of Apostolical and Canonical Letters But we will speak of this difficulty in another place The Apostle having chosen Silas for his companion took leave of the faithfull of Antioch who could not part with him without much sorrow being very sensible of his charitable obligations towards them He passed through Syria and Cilicia and in all places where he came confirmed and exhorted all the Christians to continue firme in their faith and in the observation of the Apostolical Decrees newly published In Listris a Disciple of our Lord named Timothy the son of Eunice a Iew by Nation and of a Father that was a Centile lived in so great fame and sanctity that the Inhabitants and those of Iconium had him in great esteem This man he took along with him and lest the Iewes who accompanied him might murmur and also to open him a way the better to announce the Gospel unto others he circumcised him In all places where he passed the efficacy of his speech not onely confirmed the faithfull but converted unbeleevers and produced dayly to the Church a notable increase The Holy Ghost was their guide and it was by his command that passing by Phrygia and Galatia they preached not there If one should ask the reason of it humane wisdome would be at a stand but true piety will acknowledge that she knowes no other then the will of God who owing to none the light of the Gospel injures not any from whom by a hidden judgement this heavenly ray is with-held or to whom it is not discovered before the time he has ordained Being in Mysia they meant to goe to Bithinia but the Spirit of Jesus would not suffer them Having therefore traverst Mysia they descended into the Town of Troad where in the night the Apostle had this Vision A man attired after the Macedonian manner appeared and spake to him in an humble and ardent way Come into Macedonia and assist us This was an evident proofe to him that it was the will of God he should preach the Gospel in that Country He would not therefore defer it but the next morning embarked himself with his company to whom Luke the Evangelist who penned the Acts of the Apostles was joyned From Troad they cam directly to the Isle of Samothrace from thence to Neapolis and afterwards to Phillipis a famous City of Macedonia and then a Colony of the Romans It was there he began to preach the Gospel carrying himselfe with great prudence because the Inhabitants were almost all Gentiles living under the Roman Lawes and under an Emperour enemy to the Jewes who were there but in a small number so that a little Oratory without the Towne was sufficient for their Assembly Upon a Sabbath-day the Apostle went thither and speaking to some women whom he there met there was one of them called Lidia whose Trade was to dye purple the heart of this woman God opened to receive the Doctrine which Saint Paul announced He baptized her and all her Family She willing in some manner to acknowledge the great grace which she had received by his Ministery said unto him If you beleeve that I am truly faithfull to our Lord grace me so much as to retire into my house The Apostle granted her that consolation and came to lodge in her house Not long after as he went with Silas to the place of
felicity and an entire plenitude of all things It is he who has formed the body of the first man and by the breath of his mouth infused into him a soule not drawne from his substance or from an universal soule but created of nothing by his omnipotent power to make the most noble composition that was in the world He has ingraved in him his own image making it intelligent as he is intelligent spiritual and immortall as he is a Spirit immortall All men are descended from this one man and God has given them the whole Earth for their habitation dividing it amongst them according to the designes of his providence They cannot excuse themselves who know him not for on which side soever they cast their eyes they behold in every creature the greatness of him that made them It is to that end he has made them for he being a pure spirit corporeal men could not know him but by corporeal things He would if it be lawful to say so that they should touch him as it were with their finger and as blinde men know and discerne those objects by their touch which they see not So likewise by sensible and visible things we arrive to the knowledge of a being invisible and immortal And truly herein we need no forreign Master to instruct us nor any other looking-glass then our selves For if we will attentively consider what we are and what happens in us the wonderful aeconomy of our soul and body the variety of their faculties and operations we shall be inforced to acknowledge that God is not far distant from every one of us What do I say He is in the very Centre of our being which he fills which he conserves which he makes to act so that it is by him we live by him we move and by him we are Your Poets were not ignorant of this verity for one of them has said we are the posterity and race of God If we have so great an honour if we bear the resemblance of our Creatour and Father how is it possible that being more noble not onely in respect of our soule but of our body also then either Gold or Silver we can think that a statue made of those Mettles is a God who is so much elevated above all men How can those of the weakest judgements believe that the most Supream being resembles those extravagant figures which depend upon the invention and conceipts of Gravers How can they admit for a Religious worship that worship which is ridiculous How can they think that Idols which have no eares can heare them The true God has taken pitty of that unhappy ignorance in which all the Nations of the world were involved and in which by his just Judgement he left them untill he thought it fit to discover the truth unto them to the end they might doe pennance and avoid his wrath in that dreadful day where Jesus Christ whom by his order I announce unto you shall judge the living and the dead with as much rigour as justice The Jewes instead of hearing him called him a seducer and in acknowledgement of the miracles he wrought amongst them by curing their sick raising their dead fastned him to the Cross But God his Father raised him again the third day and made him Judge of all men to pronounce that Sovereigne decree of a life eternally happy or of miseries which shall never end In the mean time he will for a while suffer the Devels to triumph and exercise their rage against him They shall oppose his Doctrine by Kings by the People and by the wise of the World by Threats by Promises and by such cruel torments as the Executioners themselves shall have a horror of them But in the end his day shall come and he at once shall reveng e himselfe of all his enemies At the dreadfull sound of a Trumpet all the dead who sleep in their graves shall come forth and appear before the Tribunal of th is terrible Judge and render an accompt of all their actions The Audience taking these last words of the Apostle to be very extravagant interrupted him with great laughter but some amongst them were modest and more discreet told him they would hear him another time speak of this subject so he went out of the Areopage notwithstanding his preaching was not without fruit for one of the most considerable Magistrates called Denis imbraced the Gospel Saint Luke also adds that a Woman called Damaris was also converted and some Fathers say that she was the Wife of this Denis but others hold the contrary The Greekes in their Menology make mention of one Hierotheus whom the Apostle also converted and who was one of the Nine Senators of the Areopage but besides that the number of them is not determined it is not likely also Saint Luke would forget to note the Conversion of so considerable a man whom Saint Denis calls his Master France glories to have Denis for her Apostle and Paris for her first Bishop This tradition is not so constantly received of all the world but that many objections which seem very strong are brought against it the writings which are attributed to him give also great occasion of controversie both in respect of their matter and form for in the stile in the judgements of many learned men corresponds not with the simplicity and plainness of the Ecclesiastical writers of those primitive times And for the matter which concernes the Ceremonies in administration of the Sacraments some are of opinion they are more Modern But I leave this nice dispute and content my self to note the diversity of opinions which are upon this subject as an Historian without interposing my judgement to decide them either in favour or against an ancient tradition which to many seems so venerable The Apostle leaving the Church of Athens under the government of this Denis newly converted went to Corinth There he met with Aquila and Priscilla his Wife whom the Edict of Claudius had driven from Rome They were not onely of the faithful and of the same Nation with him but also of the same trade in making of Tents and Pavilions which he had learnt according to the custome of the Pharisees whose Sect obliged the followers to know and practise some Mechanique Art This was the occasion which drew him to lodge with them nor disdained he to labour with his hands and get his bread by the sweat of his browe to fulfill the first precept which he gave to others That he who would not labour should not eat He might by the right of a spiritual Minister demand of those he instructed things necessary for the entertainment of his life For who is that Souldier as he himself saies that fights at his own cost and does not receive pay of him for whom he exposes his life What Sheepheard lookes to a flock and watches for their preservation that has not right to feed on their Milke and to cloath
then suffered and against such as might still befall them He told them of signes which should preceed the day of Judgement as first a general Apostacy that is the abandoning of the true worship of God Secondly the appearance of Antichrist whom he calls the man of sinne because he shall be the greatest of all sinners and shall draw almost all men to sin and to the greatest sin which can be committed If Heretick who say that the Pope is Antichrist would seriously consider the portrature of him as the Apostle sets him forth in this Epistle they would finde it very little Cohaerent with him and would be ashamed to believe so ridiculous a dream which the wisest and most learned amongst them with reason doe make but a jest Thus did Saint Paul labour for the glory of Jesus Christ both with his tongue and pen at the same time and did not let slip one minute of time whilest he was at Corinth which he imployed not in the Functions of his Ministry He departed thence having staied there eighteen moneths with Aquila and Priscilla his hosts but before he left Corinth he shaved his head for some reason which Saint Luke does not mention no more then he does the vow which he made to let his hair grow For the better understanding this place in the Acts of the Apostles I will tell you as it were in passing by that in the ancient Law there were two sorts of Nazareans that is to say men separated and consecrated to God The one of them were perpetual and the other but for a certain time according as their devotion invited them to make this vow both the one and the other were obliged to abstain from Wine and from any other Liquour that might cause drunkenness and to let their hair grow The time allotted for the vow of these latter being expired they were to present themselves at the door of the Tabernacle where they offered the sacrifice which was ordained for it They were shaved and their hair was burnt in the fire of the Sacrifice of Pacifical Oblations with many ceremonies which are set down in the Book of Numbers Now in the time of their Consecration if they happened to contract any pollution contrary to the law either by the touch of some dead body or that by change any died suddainly in their presence they were bound at the same instant to begin to shave their hair to finish it the seventh day and on the eighth day to offer the sacrifice ordained for their purification I therefore easily believe that Saint Paul having made this vow of the Nazareans to comply in some occasions with the weakness of the Jewes as he had circumcised Timothy to the end he might not scandalize them or for some other reason which St. Luke does not mention might by chance have met some dead Corps or touched some dead body and this having happened in the company of some Jews who were converted and observed the Ceremonies of the Law he shaved his hair at that instant remitting his offering sacrifice till he came to Hierusalem as in effect he did by the Counsel of Saint James and the Priests of that Church which we shall see in the Sequel of this History It is true some Authors say that Aquila made this vow and not the Apostle But Saint Hierome and Saint Augustine Bede and almost all Interpreters maintain that it ought to be understood of Saint Paul and I have in this followed the common opinion The Sea favouring Saint Paul he arrived safe at Ephesus and immediately went into the Synagogue of the Jews to declare the Gospell unto them They earnestly desired him to stay some time with them but he told them he could not desiring to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost at Hierusalem but if it pleased God he would return to see them He went a Ship-board and the weather being favourable landed at Cesarea in Palestine from whence according as some interpret the Book of the Acts he went up to Hierusalem He onely saluted the Church of this City and so went to Antioch of Syria There he made his aboad some time and having there given order in that which he thought necessary he went to visit the Churches of Galatia and Phrygia where he confirmed the faithful in their faith by admirable discourses and by new miracles At the end of this Voyage which lasted at the least a yeare he came back to Ephesus This City was very famous by reason of Diana's Temple which was accounted in the number of the seven Wonders of the World Asia built it in two Ages by a general contribution and it was a place cautionary for the Kings Princes and people of the East but Nero who seemed to be borne for the ruine of all noble things plundered all the riches of it and under the Empire of Galienus the Goths entirely ruined it The Idol of Diana was made of the wood of Vines and the Priests making use of the peoples simplicity brought them easily to beleeve that it was descended from Heaven The like thing was beleeved at Rome of a Buckler which for that cause was kept with great care The Apostle found at Ephesus twelve Disciples who were onely baptised with the Baptisme of John and had never heard the Holy Ghost once spoken of Some Authors beleeve that they had been instructed by this Apollo who came a little before to Ephesus and of whom Saint Luke speaking sayes He was an eloquent man and very well versed in the holy Scriptures that he knew the Doctrine of our Saviour and preached Jesus Christ with great fervour of spirit but that he knew no other Baptisme then that of John which is to say in my opinion that as yet he had onely received that Baptism Aquila and Priscilla finding him so well disposed taught him more particularly the verities of the Gospel which he presently declared to those of Corinth where he confounded the Jewes by the force of his discourse and by the authority of holy Scriptures which he officaciously alledged to shew them that Jesus Christ was the Messias For my part I believe that he and the others also of whom we speak received their baptisme at the hands of Saint John himselfe in Judea For it is certain that onely the Precursor did baptise and after him this baptisme was not practised as a thing necessary for those who believed in Jesus Christ However it was Saint Paul teaches his Disciples that he found in Ephesus John to have baptised the people with a baptisme of pennance ordeining them to believe in him who was to come after him and to whose faith he prepared them by this exterior Ceremony intended to mind them of their uncleanness and what necessity there was of an interiour parification which could not be done but by that Lamb which takes away the sinnes of the World in fine he tells them that the baptisme of Jesus Christ is a renovation of the soul by
by the Law for Nazarites who had made their vow but for a time or whose vow was intermitted by some legal pollution he by chance was known by some Jewes of Asia who began to cry out that this was the mortal enemy of the law of Moyses and not content to spread his doctrine in remote Provinces was so impudent and wicked as to introduce Gentiles into that holy place They meant Trophimus for having seen him in his company in the city they believed or would have others to believe that he had brought him into the Temple with him At the name of Paul all the town was in commotion the people got together from all parts dragged him out of the Temple and he had certainly been killed if Lysias who commanded a band of Souldiers appointed for the guard of the Temple on festival daies to prevent seditions had not been informed of the Tumult that was beginning and come in haste with his Captaines and Souldiers to appease them The sight of him stopped a little the fury of the people who then ceased to strike and abuse the Apostle Lysias made him presently be bound with two chaines and asked him what he had done and what he was But the noise and cries of the multitude were so great as neither the question nor the answer could be understood Wherefore Lysias was constrained to conduct him to Antoninus Tower that hee might secure him which hee had no small trouble to do for the people who followed would have faln upon him crying out upon every one to kill him Not long before there was an Egyptian in Hierusalem who counterfeited himself to be a Prophet and that by a word onely he could make the walls of the City to fall down this man had got a great multitude of followers amongst them divers murderers The Governour Felix having notice of it sent presently a party of Souldiers who falling upon these poore abused people killed or took the greatest part of them The Egyptian saved himselfe but some of those murthering villaines continued to stirre up the people and to burn the villages where they found any resistance Lysias asked S. Paul if he was not the Commander of those rebels He answered him that hee was a Jew and native of Tharsus in Cilicia a Municipal town well known After the Apostle had made him this answer he desired leave that he might speak to the people which being granted he began his discourse relating how hee had persecuted the Church his miraculous conversion of which wee spake in the first book of this History he added moreover that when hee came to Hierusalem which I believe was the first voyage he made thither Jesus Christ appeared to him as he was praying in the Temple and said to him Depart quickly out of Hierusalem for they will not receive the testimony which thou givest of me and he answering that they ought not to suspect his testimony having shewed himself so zealous in defence of the Law and was not only present at the death of Stephen but consenting to it kept the garments of those that stoned him Our Lord replied again Go do that which I command for I will send thee unto Nations At this word of Nations the Jews lost all patience breaking silence which they had willingly kept hearing him to speak in their tongue they cryed out in a fearfull tone He is a wicked man and ought not to live longer upon the face of the earth let him be put to death they added to those clamours actions which sufficiently manifested their fury for they shook their garments and gathering up dust threw it into the aire to make it known they detested him that had spoken to them This great commotion made Lysias command that he should be led into the Tower of Antoninus for S. Paul had spoken to the people from the top of the staires which lead up to it Lysias his designe was to extort by stripes from him the reason of this great uprore The Apostle would willingly have suffered this great ignominy for the love of his Master but a secret inspiration of the holy Ghost moved him to tell a Captain who was at hand and had charge to see the orders of Lysias put in execution That they should take heed what they did for besides his innocency which ought to exempt him from being whipped he was a Citizen of Rome This was presently told to Lysias who would be assured of it from his owne mouth saying That the Priviledge of a Citizen which he boasts of had cost him a great summe of money The Apostle answered it had cost him nothing for my birth saies he obtained me this honour Indeed amongst many other Priviledges which Julius Caesar Augustus had bestowed on Tharsis in recompence of the services done by the Inhabitants of that place in the warres of Pompey and Brutus one was to be Citizens of Rome Now by a Law of Valerius Publicola confirmed after by a Law of Sempronius and by the Law Porcien Magistrates were forbidden to whip a Citizen of Rome Whereupon Lysias caused the chaines to be taken off the Apostle and that he might sound the depth of this business commanded the Priests of the Jewes to assemble themselves the next day in some place near the fortress which accordingly they did Thither they led this Criminal which made a great uprore and when silence was made he began his discourse with a Protestation that he had lived untill till that time without any reproach both before God and man But he was presently interrupted by the Prince of the Priests there assembled who was called Ananias This man very unworthy of the rank he held being transported with fury against the cause as well as against the advocate or it may be offended in that the Apostle had not given him those titles of honour which he expected saluting them all by the name of Brothers commanded those who were next the Apostle to buffet him S. Paul having as yet advanced no proposition of the Gospel in revenge of which to have received this injury would have been delightfull and judging that in this occasion he ought to defend the honor of his Masters ministery told Ananias in a prophetick spirit and in the tone of a Master God will strike thee whited wall Thou sittest here to judge me according to the Law and contrary to the Law thou makest me to be abused before I have said any thing to deserve this usage Whereupon one of the assistants sayed What doest thou mean to threaten and injure the high Priest of God in this manner The Apostle whom passion had not transported and who perhaps had heard the voice of Annanias and not observed his person in regard of the disorder in the Assembly whence perhaps he sat not in the accustomed place which was used in meetings or for some other reason which imports not much to know replied quietly Brethren if I had
envy jealousie and quarrels Children have been disobedient to their parents Fathers have lost the love which they owe to their children 〈◊〉 in summe the earth has beheld nothing but iniquity malice covetousness deceit slanders false accusations strifes warres murders Parricides Robberies and sacriledges During this profound darkness the Jewes have been a little enlightned Moyses by the appointment of God instructed them what they owe to him as their Sovereign and to men as their Brethren He has given them a holy law to draw them to good by reward and to divert them from evil by the threats of punishment But many are content to heare this law yet care not to observe it others that have kept it are become proud and have attributed to themselves the glory of their good works instead of referring it to God Thus all men were found to be slaves to sin and worthy of death which is the price of sin Concupiscence raigned absolutely over them and at every moment soyled them after some new manner In this unhappy condition God had pity on humane nature seeing that Philosophy could not cure the Gentiles nor the Law those who made profession of it All being intangled in infidelity as in nets he sent down his only son to the end that by his bloud he shouldleffect that which was impossible for the law to do that be himself should be given up for the redemption of all as a holy and acceptable victime to God This he has wrought by dying upon the Cross whereunto he was fastned by the envy of the Priests suborning the people so that by how much it has been heretofore infamous by so much the more is it now glorious and adorable This is the Tree on which we must necessarily be ingraffed if we will have true life Jesus Christ is dead to the end we should die with him and if this death be real and compleat we are assured to live eternally in his society for he now is living at the right hand of his Father who raised him the third day There are many now alive witnesses of this and their deposition cannot well be suspected for they are not weak persons easily to be deceived not interessed in it to deceive others These who publish this verity can hope for nothing at present but chaines persecutions prisons and all sorts of infamy It distastes all that hear it and passes for a kinde of madness Those then certainly who defend it with so much constancy and who are otherwise irreprovable in their manner of life ought to be believed as faithfull Ministers of God and not reputed as absurd impostors For my selfe I speak as an eye witness Jesus of Nazareth hath vouchsafed to appear unto me although I be but as an abortive and not worthy the name of an Apostle having so much persecuted his Church I am so much the more to be credited because I was farre from believing in him and my former actions clearly shewed the zeal I had for the Law of my Fore-fathers Open your eyes O Felix and you Drusilla who is letter insâ—ructed then he in that which I am about to say acknowledge the divine Redcemer figured in Abel killed by his brother in Isaac under the knife of Abraham in the Serpent lifted up in the desart against the biting of Serpents in Josuah when he brought the people into the land of Promise and in so many other things of our Law as were too tedious to relate He excludes no person from salvation nor chooses out one Nation more then another but by faith he will justifie all sorts of persons great little Kings Subjects rich poore so that all may come to eternall life I do require of you a thing that is not very hard believe and you shall receive innocency Believe and you shall live for faith is the life of the just mans soul Hee that lives this lise is not troubled to submit to what the Law prescribes for he knowes that he is a member consecrated to God and so not to be soyled in Formcation much less in Adultery Other sinnes which we commit are without us but when wee are given to impurity we sinne against our selves against our owne bodies ' which we dishonour and which is not made for that use but to be a Temple of the holy Ghost From the beginning of the world God instituted marriage for the propagation of mankinde hee blest man and woman and said They were two in one flesh but they must be carefull to possess their bodies in sanctity and not suffer them to follow the disorders of Concupiscence and those Brutalities which are common amongst Gentiles Their bed is holy and their conjunction not onely lawfull but honorable Death onely can dissolve them for that which God hath united who can or dare separate From thence therefore judge what a horrible crime Adultery is which makes this disunion and at the same time offends both God and the Husband Man sometimes is constrained by force to endure so great an injury and God bears a long time with those who commit it But when the measure of their iniquity is filled when they have without reflection provoked his utmost anger at last by the greatness of the punishment he satiâ—fies for his long forbearance He shewes a sinner that be was neither asleep nor blinde but expected onely his repentance He revenges himself at one blâ—w for his insolency in despising the riches of his goodness and his long patience by an adominable obstinacy O it is a dreadfull thing Felix to fall into the hands of the living God He is a Judge not to be deceived for hee reads in the depth of hearts and makes the conscience of a sinner serve against himself he has power to revenge and will do it eternally by the fire of hell which is never extinguished and by inward remorses which exceed in heat eveâ— this fire Felâ—x being touched with these last words interrupted the Apostle whom otherwise the heat of zeal would have transported to a higher pitch He had after this frequent conferences with him but they produced neither the reformation of the one nor liberty of the other Felix would have had money and the prisoner had not wherewith to content his avarice In the mean time Pallas who was his brother lost the favour of Nero the successour of Claudius and upon that Felix was recalled and Portius Festus appointed by the Emperor to succeed him No sooner came this new Governor to Hierusalem but the Princes of the Priests and the chiefest amongst the Jewes whose malice time could not sweeten addrest themselves unto him and prest him extreamly to send for the Apostle whom Felix to content them had left prisoner at Cesarea their designe was to murther him in the way which Feseus perhaps understanding told them He meant to stay onely a few daies at Hierusalem that therefore they should meet him at Cesarea where he would hear their accusations and
Gods permission who would have him thereby known a viper issuing forth fastned upon his hand there hung the Islanders according to their feeble understanding judged him to be some wicked man whom the divine Justice had saved from the fury of the sea to punish more exemplarly rigorously at land But when they beheld him to shake the viper into the fire and that he had no harm by the biting of it As the mindes of the Vulgar in the same moment are capable of different impressions they presently took him for a God hidden under a humane form The marvelous cure of Publius his Father Prince of that Island oppressed by a strong Fever and Disentery increased their respect and esteem of his sanctity and caused them to bring to him from all parts diseased persons whom he restored to health by invocating the name of Jesus Christ He converted there many to the faith and at this day it is the Bulwark against the fury of the Turks who finde it a stubborn rock to resist their power by the visible protection of God He stayed there three moneths and at the end departed thence in a vessel of Alexandria which had wintred there The winde was favourable to them till they came to Syracusa where they tarried three dayes from thence coasting along the land they got to Regium and the next day arrived at Putzeoli They found Christians there who conjured him to stay seven dayes with them to which he easily condescended in acknowledgment of their charity and of the honour which they had done him The report of his arrival being spread through Rome most of the faithfull that dwelt there came to meet him some as farre as the market place of Appius and others to a structure called the Three Taverns the sight of them afforded him great consolation He with them entered into this great City which one may call the seat of Idolatry as well as of the Empire in whose conversion that of the whole world was included So great a worke required a zeale no less ardent and a minde no less cleare then that of the Apostle whom God had ordained together with S. Peter by their preaching to found the principal Church upon earth to cultivate it by their cares and as we shall see a little after to consecrate it with their bloud The Captain who conducted him remitted him with the rest of his prisoners into the hands of the Prefect of the Pretorium who was named Burrus this man was content to allow the Apostle a souldier for his guard so that though he was not intirely free yet he might go whither he pleased with his guard who was fastned to him with the same chain as the custom was but so as it hindered him not from walking he by that meanes with facility declared the Gospel to the Jewes Gentiles that lived in Rome He began first with the Jewes and the third day after his arrival assembled the principal of them together and told them That he was made Prisoner at Hierusalem and put into the hands of the Romanes by those of his own nation although he was not guilty of any crime either in word or deed against any particular person or against the Law That the hatred and fury of his accusers constrained him to appeale to Caesar that he came thither to present himself not to accuse his Country-men but onely to defend his owne innocency That he found his chain very pleasing since he bore it for declaring the coming of him who was the hope of Israel and that he might give them an account of all things hee defired them they would come unto him They answered him they had received no letters from Judea nor seen any body that had made the least complaint against him and for the rest they desired him hee would freely tell them what this new Sect was which he preached and which they understood was generally opposed with great contradiction The Apostle unable then to satisfie their desires appointed them another day when he should have more time to explicate so highly important verities They failed not to come to this conference and when every one had taken his place S. Paul spake much after this manner Brethren in the subject you desire to be instructed it is a great advantage to me and likewise a great consolation that I am not obliged to prove the principles to you from which I am to draw my Consequences You receive Moses for the Law giver and with reason esteem his words as Oracles Certainly it is most reasonable we should hearken to him whom God treated with so much familiarity upon the Mountain and by whom he hath wrought so many wonders in favour of our fore-fathers We must onely be careful that we go not contrary to the intentions of this great man He hath been faithful in the house of God but it has been in quality of a Servant He hath declared to the people the will of the eternal Father but as Interpreter He has established Purifications and sacrifices but it was onely for that time according as providence had ordained which was to preceed the birth of the new Law giver whom I preach and who is no other then Jesus Christ It is he Brethren by whom God hath vouchsafed to speake to us in these last ages having spoken in the former by the Prophets after divers manners This is the Son to the Father of that Family whereof Moses is a member This is the truth of all our figures the end of the whole body of the Law the object of all the Prophesies His death was figured in that of Abell whose innocent blood Cain spilt througy a raging jealousie Moses in delivering our Ancestors from the bondage of Egypt represents the exemption from the tyranny of sin and death wrought by him whom I preach unto you The brazen Serpent erected in the Desart which was a Cure for the biting of real Serpents teacheth us that the Son of man was to be lifted up from the Earth and placed upon the Cross and that he should prove a saving Physitian to the Mortal desease of humane nature The immolation of the Paschal Lamb the sacrifice of the Goat emissary on whom were charged all the sins of the people were the images of his bloody oblation which hath opened us the way to eternal life and which has expiated all the sins of the world The Prophet Esay seems to have beheld it with his eyes and unless you will blind your selves you must acknowledge that which he spake of a Virgin that should conceive and bring forth a Son who should be the light the hope the leader the Master and King of Nations in whom the Spirit of Wisedome Counsel and Force should reside whose feet and hands should be pierced who should be made a man of dolours a man chastised by God for the sins of his people and in whom neither beauty nor comlinesse should appear insomuch
Disciple he saies that God will deliver him from the Jawes of the Lyon by which probably he meanes Nero to whom he was presented for the defence of his appeal This Prince began then the third year of his Empire and whether his wicked inclinations were yet asleep or whether the continual exhortations of Seneca his Tutor withheld him or that he dissembled till his authority was better setled he gave the people of Rome some hope that under his raigne they should see a resemblance of their ancient liberty Burrus Captain of his guard presenting a sentence of death to be figned by him he cryed out I wish it pleased the gods I could not write This speech begot a beliefe in men that he was merciful but it was not long ere he gave the lye to that opinion The Iews to embitter his spirit against Saint Paul and to make the worst impressions they could in order to his ruine under colour of Justice and Piety made use of one Alliturus of their Nation who had gained great credit with the Emperor by his Comoedian Art But the Divine Providence frustrated their wicked design and made the Apostle obtain there a glorious pardon where in humane probability he might have expected his condemnation to an opprobrious death The feare of this his danger was so great as most of those who before was his followers especially those of Asia abandoned him Amongst these cowardly and trayterous disciples he names particularly Phigellus and Hermogenes the last of these Tertullian reckons amongst the Iewish Hereticks who denyed the Resurrection But at the same time God sent him Onosiphorus an Ephesian who assisted him with so much charity as he left the memory of it to the whole Church in his fore-mentioned Epistle The Greek Menologue saies he was Bishop of Colophones and the Romans celebrates the memory of him on the sixth day of September Besides this faithful companion he had also Titus and Tichius But those he speedily dispatched to preach the Gospel in divers places so that his care as well as authority was extended to all the Provinces of the world he preferred the interest of souls before the comfort which he might receive by the company of his Disciples nor did Jesus Christ leave this uninteressed zeal without recompence For at that same time when every one had abandoned him he dained to appear unto him that he might fortifie his courage and resolution he acquired much of glory by his persecutions the fury of his enemies which appeared at all the Tribunals of Rome made way to the preaching of the Gospel in those places where perhaps no occasion of laying it open had ever been given Many even of Nero's houshold were converted and the Apostle salutes the Philippians from them Amongst whom the Martirologue mentions one Torpetes who died couragiously at Pisa in Tuscany in defence of that Faith Tacitus speakes of one Pomponia Graecina who was accused for having imbraced a forraine Superstition and being turned over to her Husband he taking cognizance of the crime according to ancient customes declared her innocent Now that which this Author calls forraine Superstition is very likely to be Christianity I finde also great probability that Seneca and the Apostle were acquainted although the letters which are set forth under their names be counterfeit and very unworthy of either of them This great Philosopher had too nere a relation to Nero to be ignorant of the Audience he had given to a criminal whose cause the Iewes by their extraordinary Solicitation had made famous And if he were present when he pleaded there is no doubt but the force of his discourse and his subline arguments might make him desirous of a particular acquaintance with one that preached so new a Doctrine Some Authors have said it was by his meanes that Nero condemned him not to death but that is not founded upon any solid proofe nor ought we to attribute this marvelous deliveance but to the secret power of God over the hearts of Princes to incline them as he please Whilest Saint Paul laboured to found the Church at Rome he understood that the Ephesian Church was pestered with many false Doctors who corrupted that pure Doctrine which he had there preached hence he wrote unto them an excellent Epistle in the which he principally instructs them in the profound mystery of predestination and vocation of men to faith and Union with Jesus Christ so to forme an admirable body of which he is the Head and then he treats of the duty of every faithful man according to his condition A little after some Authors say before or at the same time he was not satisfied with instructing the flock himselfe but would also give unto Tymothy their Pastor wholesome rules whereby to acquit himselfe worthily of his charge I know many would have this Epistle to be almost the last that was written but in my opinion their objections are not considerable that the date we assign is more certain This difficulty appertains not to the subject we have in hand besides we have already explicated it in the paraphrase wee made of it Towards the end he desires him to come unto him which he performs leaving Tichius in his place The Philppians hearing of the Apostles necessity deputed Epaphroditus with considerable alms for his assistance The change of air with the toiles of his journey made him fall sick at Rome But S. Paul by his prayers obteined his recovery sent him back to his Church with an Epistle full of wholesome instructions against the errors of Cerinthus Simon the Magician and of other Impostors whom he calls enemies of the Cross of Christ because they taught that our Lord was not really crucified but some fantome in his place S. Ignatius Martyr forty years after wrote unto them upon the same subject and so did likewise S. Polycarpus T is true there is doubt made whether the Epistle of the former be really his The Apostle had not preached in the city of Câ—lossus which is in the Province of Phrygia yet knowing the state of that Church assembled by Epaphras hee wrote unto them that they should beware of the Jewes of the Hereticks and of the Gentiles which sowed erroneous doctrine amongst them touching Legal Observations and the worship of Angels or Genienses Philemon after his conversion very much assisted the faithful making his house the place of their assemblies giving great alms to the poor One of his slaves called Onesimus ran away from his hous in quality of a thief this slave coming to Rome fell luckily into the hands of the Apostle who converted him which obliged him particularly to write in his behalf to his master for his pardon that he would receive him again not as a fugitive but as a deare childe which hee had begotten in his chains Theodoret saies that Philemon sent him back to serve and assist S. Paul and S. Hierome reports that he was first made
the same cause Poppea followed not long after for Nero loving her like a Tyrant slew her in a fury with a spurn of his foot To these Massacres he added afterwards the unjust deaths of many Senators Thrasius Paetus and Bareâ—s Soranus But that of S. Paul was the completion of his sacrileges and it is now time after eight years absence that we return again with him to Rome He was imprisoned not long after his arrival If we will believe S. Chrysostom the conversion of the Emperours Mistress was the cause It is likely also the death of Simon the Magician contributed towards it This impostor had promised Nero to fly in his sight up to heaven and on the day appointed for this famous enterprise he was elevated in the aire by the devils all the people beholding him But at the prayers of S. Peter and S. Paul for S. Cyril of Hierusalem joynes them both in this action hee was precipitated in an instant to the earth where hee long survived not this shamefull fall Hereupon the Emperour who loved him would revenge his death upon those whom he believed to be the authors S. Peter after he had lain nine moneths in prison was condemned to be crucified and S. Paul to have his head struck off as being a Citizen of Rome Before the execution they were both whipped with rods for the crime of impiety whereof they were accused which supposed crime rendred S. Paul uncapable of the priviledge of a free Denison In the Church of S. Mary beyond the bridge over Tyber are yet to be seen the Pillars whereunto 't is said they were fastned The Prince of the Apostles would dye with his head downwards to make in that shamefull death a distinction betwixt the Master and the Servant S. Paul on the way to his execution converted three Souldiers who conducted him During his imprisonment he and his noble Companion converted forty seven of their guard besides Processas and Martinian their Goalers for whose baptisme God miraculously made a fountain to issue forth in the prison The Apostle prayed for his Executioner offered his head with more joy then if had been to receive a Diademe three times the head gave a leap and at every bound produced a fountain A Tradition approved by many antient Fathers of the Church adds that milk instead of blood ranne out of his wound which caused no less astonishment to the Gentiles then consolation to the Faithfull I know it is very hard to marke out the precise time of Martyrdom both of the one and other but it is certain they suffered with a courage sutable to the transcendency of their Apostleship and it is the opinion of the Church that having been so strictly linked together in their lives God would have them likewise so in their deaths by suffering for one and the same cause on the same day and in the Capitall City of the world where they had assaulted Idolatry even in the throne preaching the Gospel laid the foundation of an Empire against which hell it selfe shall never be able to prevail Thus S. Paul ended his life in the sixty eighth year of his age and the thirty fifth of his Conversion Nature had not bestowed upon him a presence to his advantage as hee himselfe confesses but shee recompenced it in a vast wit and a courage which even dangers fortified To the science of humane Learning acquired at Tharsus he added a perfect knowledge of the Law of Moyses which he learnt at the feet of Gamaliel a most eminent Doctor both for his doctrine and piety His zeal for this Law transported him into those extremities of fury which became the subject of repentance in the whole sequel of his life Hee thought to be a faithfull disciple to Moyses He must needs be an irreconciliable enemy to Jesus Christ and unto all those who believed in him The name alone of being his disciple seemed to him a just ground for his hatred hee thought he could not better testifie a zeal for his religion then by forgetting all obligatiâ—ns of friendship and stifling in his heart all sense feeling of nature though S. Stephen was his near kinsman yet nevertheless he was an assistant and complice in his death His rage was was not content with this spectacle esteeming it an honour to be employed as executioner in the cruel commands of the Priests and gloried much when either by force or cunning he had drawn any one to deny the Faith of Jesus Christ The fury of his blinde and impoisoned zeal could not be kept within the limits of Hierusalem He would also make it remarkable in the City of Damasco to this end hee obtained express orders that he might seize on all the faithfull and bring them prisoners to the Capital City of Judea to make their deaths more ignominious by making it more publick But in his most violent excess of hatred against the Saviour of the world he found the effects of his extraordinary goodness For a light more radiant then the Sun although it was at mid day dazled his eies and a divine illustration cleared his understanding J. Christ reproved him for his persecution and the persecuter presently acknowledged him for his Master The grace of J. C. manifested in this change it s most miraculous effects shews men who flatter themselves with an opinion of their own merits that it is not conferred upon them because they are Saints but rather to make them Saints It appears there needs not time to soften the most rebellious hearts and that the most obstinate must yeeld to the amorous violence of its impulses by a happy liberty which places them in the holy and pleasant servitude of Justice Pelagius a long time after lest hee should make a slave of mans will made it a divinity but his error was sufficiently condemned by this Conversion Sinners may here learn to hope for the effect of some mercy which purifies when it pleases the greatest stains mollifies the most obdurate hearts Never any one has better known both the old new man in which consists all Christian religion then S. Paul He has taught the world what miseries the first hath brought upon it the unhappy effects of his poison on those who descended from him Hee hath shewed the proud man who flatters himself in his own excellency that he was the son of an offender the slave of sin the heir of death He has represented to him all his deformities discovered all his ulcers convinced him in this that he is frail and miserable He has made the wisest amongst the Gentiles to observe that their wisedom was indeed true folly that they were lost in their imaginations and that their vertues had but a false appearance of goodness Hee so drew to the life the corruption of manners which attends Idolatry as a just punishment of its blindness that those who were not wholly stupified and obdurate became at lest ashamed if not