written no doubt at Rome at the end of Paul's two Years imprisonment there with which he concludes his story it contains the Actions and sometimes the sufferings of some principal Apostles especially S. Paul for besides that his activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a greater part both in doing and suffering S. Luke was his constant attendant an eye-witness of the whole carriage of his life and privy to his most intimate transactions and therefore capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account and relation of them seeing no evidence or testimony in matters of fact can be more rational and convictive than his who reports nothing but what he has heard and seen Among other things he gives us a particular account of those great miracles which the Apostles did for the confirmation of their doctrine And this as Chrysostom informs us was the reason why in the Primitive times the Book of the Acts though containing those Actions of the Apostles that were done after Pentecost were yet usually read in the Church before it in the space between that and Easter when as at all other times those parts of the Gospel were read which were proper to the season it was says he because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christ's Resurrection and those Miracles recorded in that Book it was therefore thought most proper to be read next to the feast of the Resurrection In both these Books his way and manner of writing is exact and accurate his stile polite and elegant sublime and lofty and yet clear and perspicuous flowing with an easie and natural grace and sweetness admirably accommodate to an historical design all along expressing himself in a vein of purer Greek than is to be found in the other Writers of the Holy Story Indeed being born and bred at Antioch than which no place more famous for Oratory and Eloquence he could not but carry away a great share of the native genius of that place though his stile is sometimes allayed with a tang of the Syriack and Hebrew dialect It was observed of old as S. Hierom tells us that his skill was greater in Greek than Hebrew that therefore he always makes use of the Septuagint Translation and refuses sometimes to render words when the propriety of the Greek Tongue will not bear it In short as an Historian he was faithful in his relations elegant in his Writings as a Minister careful and diligent for the good of Souls as a Christian devout and pious and who crowned all the rest with the laying down his life for the testimony of that Gospel which he had both Preached and Published to the World The End of S. Luke ' s Life DYPTYCHA APOSTOLICA OR A Brief Enumeration and Account of the APOSTLES and their SUCCESSORS FOR THE First Three Hundred Years in the Five Great Churches said to have been Founded by them thence called by the Ancients APOSTOLICAL CHURCHES VIZ. Antioch Rome Jerusalem Byzantium or Constantinople and Alexandria ANTIOCH THIS I place first partly because 't is generally acknowledged even by the Romish Writers that a Church was founded here by S. Peter some considerable time before that at Rome partly because here it was that the Venerable name of Christians did first commence In which respect the Fathers in the Council at Constantinople under Nectarius in their Synodicon to them at Rome stile the Church of Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The most Ancient and truly Apostolical and S. Chrysostom The head of the whole World The Succession of its Bishops till the time of Constantine which shall be the Boundary of this Catalogue was as followeth I. S. Peter the Apostle who governed this Church at least 7. Years Nicephorus of Constantinople says Eleven II. Euodius who sat 23. Years In his time the Disciples were first called Christians at Antioch III. Ignatius After near 40. Years Presidency over this Church he was carried out of Syria to Rome and there thrown to wild Beasts in the Theatre Ann. Chr. 110. Trajan 11. IV. Heron he was Bishop 20. Years To him succeeded V. Corneliu◠who kept the place 13. Years dying Ann. Chr. 142. VI. Eros 26 or as Eusebius 24. years VII Theophilus 13. a man of great Parts and Learning many of his Works were extant in Eusebius his time and some of them we still have at this day VIII Maximinus 13. he dying the next that was chosen was IX Serapio 25. many of his Works are mentioned by Eusebius and S. Hierom. To him succeeded X. Asclepiades a man of great worth and eminency and invincible constancy in the time of persecution he continued in this See 9. years XI Philetus 8. XII Zebinus or Zebennus he sat 6. years XIII Babylas 13. after many conflicts and sufferings for the Faith he received the crown of Martyrdom under Decius and commanded his Chains to be buried with him XIV Fabius or as the Patriarch Nicephorus calls him Flavius possessed the Chair 9. years He was a little inclining towards Novatianism XV. Demetrianus he sat Bishop says Nicephorus 4 says Eusebius 8. years XVI Paulus Samosatenus sat in the chair 8. years when for his Unepiscopal manners and practices his unfound Dogmata and principles and especially his mean and unworthy opinions concerning our Saviour he was condemned and deposed by a Synod at Antioch whose Synodical determination is at large extant in Eusebius XVII Domnus succeeded in the place of the deposed He was son to Demetrian Paulus his predecessor in that See constituted and ordained to the place by the Fathers of that Synod who farther give him this honourable character that he was a man indued with all Episcopal vertues and ornaments Eusebius makes him to have sitten 6 Nicephorus but 2. years XVIII Timaeus he sat in the Chair 10. years XIX Cyrillus who presided over that Church in the account of Nicephorus 15 of Eusebius 24. years XX. Tyrannus he sat 13. years in his time began the tenth Persecution under Dioclesian which rag'd with great severity XXI Vitalis 6. XXII Philogonius 5 succeeded by XXIII Paulinus or as Nicephorus calls him Paulus who after five years was deposed and driven out by the prevalency of the Arrian faction XXIV Eustathius formerly Bishop of Beroea a learned man and of great note and eminency in the Council of Nice the first general Council summoned by the Great Constantine after he had restored peace and prosperity to the Church ROME THE foundation of this Church is with just probabilities of reason by many of the Fathers equally attributed to Peter and Paul the one as Apostle of the Circumcision preaching to the Jews while the other probably as the Apostle of the Uncircumcision preached to the Gentiles Its Bishops succeeded in this order I. S. Peter and S. Paul who both suffered Martyrdom under Nero. II. Linus the son of Herculaneus a Tuscan he is mentioned by S. Paul he sat between 11. and 12. years
Patron and Benefactor and was therefore obliged to pay to him some Eucharistical Sacrifices as a testimony of his grateful acknowledgment that he had both his being and preservation from him But when sin had changed the scene and Mankind was sunk under a state of guilt he was then to seek for a way how to pacifie God's anger and this was done by bloudy and expiatory sacrifices which God accepted in the sinners stead And as to these it seems reasonable to suppose that they should be founded upon a positive Institution because pardon of sin being a matter of pure grace and favour whatever was a means to signifie and convey that must be appointed by God himself first revealed to Adam and by him communicated to his Children The Deity propitiated by these atonements was wont to testifie his acceptance of them by some external and visible sign Thus Cain sensibly perceived that God had respect to Abel's sacrifice and not to his though what this sign was it is not easie to determine Most probably it was fire from Heaven coming down upon the Oblation and consuming it For so it frequently was in the Sacrifices of the Mosaick dispensation and so we find it was in that famous Sacrifice of Abraham a Lamp of Fire passed between the parts of the Sacrifice Thus when 't is said God had respect to Abel and to his offering Theodotion renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he burnt it and to this custom the Psalmist alludes in that Petition Remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt Sacrifice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let thy burnt-offering be reduced into ashes 8. WHERE it was that this Publick Worship was performed is next to be enquired into That they had fixed and determinate Places for the discharge of their religious Duties those especially that were done in common is greatly probable Nature and the reason of things would put them upon it And this most think is intended in that phrase where it is said of Cain and Abel that they brought their oblations that is as Aben-Ezra and others expound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the place set apart for divine worship And this probably was the reason why Cain though vexed to the heart to see his Brother preferred before him did not presently set upon him the solemnity and religion of the Place and the sensible appearances of the Divine Majesty having struck an awe into him but deferred his murderous intentions till they came into the Field and there fell upon him For their Sacrifices they had Altars whereon they offered them contemporary no doubt with Sacrifices themselves though we read not of them till after the Floud when Noah built an Altar unto the Lord and offered burnt-offerings upon it So Abraham immediately after his being called to the worship of the true God in Sichem built an Altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him and removing thence to a Mountain Eastward he built another Altar and called on the Name of the Lord as indeed he did almost in every place where he came Thus also when he dwelt at Beersheba in the Plains of Mamre he planted a Grove there and called on the Name of the Lord the everlasting God This no doubt was the common Chappel or Oratory whither Abraham and his numerous Family and probably those whom he gained to be Proselytes to his Religion were wont to retire for their publick adorations as a Place infinitely advantageous for such Religious purposes And indeed the Ancient devotion of the World much delighted in Groves in Woods and Mountains partly for the conveniency of such Places as better composing the thoughts for divine contemplations and resounding their joynt-praises of God to the best advantage partly because the silence and retiredness of the Place was apt to beget a kind of sacred dread and horror in the mind of the Worshipper Hence we find in Ophrah where Gideon's Father dwelt an Altar to Baal and a Grove that was by it and how common the superstitions and idolatries of the Heathen-world were in Groves and High-places no Man can be ignorant that is never so little conversant either in prophane or sacred stories For this reason that they were so much abused to idolatry God commanded the Israelites to destroy their Altars break down their Images and cut down their Groves and that they should not plant a Grove of any Trees near unto the Altar of the Lord lest he should seem to countenance what was so universally prostituted to false worship and idolatry But to return to Abraham He planted a Grove 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Tree which the Ancients generally make to have been a large spreading Oak and some foundation there is for it in the sacred Text for the place where Abraham planted it is called the Plain of Mamre or as in the Hebrew he dwelt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 among the Oaks of Mamre and so the Syriack renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The House of the Oak The name whereof Josephus tells us was Ogyges and it is not a conjecture to be despised that Noah might probably inhabit in this place and either give the name to it or at least derive his from it Ogyges being the Name by which he is usually described in foreign Writers This very Oak S. Hierom assures us and Eusebius intimates as much was yet standing till the time of Constantine and worshipped with great superstition And Sozomen tells us more particularly that there was a famous Mart held there every Summer and a Feast celebrated by a general confluence of the neighbouring Countries and persons of all Religions both Christians Jews and Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every one doing honour to this Place according to the different Principles of their Religion but that Constantine being offended that the Place should be prophan'd with the superstitions of the Jews and the idolatry of the Gentiles wrote with some severity to Macarius the Bishop of Jerusalem and the Bishops of Palestine that they should destroy the Altars and Images and deface all Monuments of Idolatry and restore the Place to its ancient Sanctity Which was accordingly done and a Church erected in the Place where God was purely and sincerely worshipped From this Oak the ordinary place of Abraham's worship and devotion the Religion of the Gentiles doubtless derived its Oaks and Groves and particularly the Druids the great and almost only Masters and Directors of all Learning and Religion among the Ancient Britains hence borrowed their Original who are so notoriously known to have lived wholly under Oaks and in Groves and there to have delivered their Doctrines and Precepts and to have exercised their Religious and mysterious Rites that hence they fetched their denomination either from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Ancients generally thought or more probably from the old Cetlic word Deru both signifying an Oak and which
IV. Of S. Peter from the time of his Confession till our Lord's last Passeover 14. SECT V. Of S. Peter from the last Passeover till the Death of Christ. 20. SECT VI. Of S. Peter from Christ's Resurrection till his Ascension 25. SECT VII S. Peter's Acts from our Lord's Ascension till the dispersion of the Church 29. SECT VIII Of S. Peter's Acts from the dispersion of the Church at Jerusalem till his contest with S. Paul at Antioch 37. SECT IX Of S. Peter's Acts from the End of the Sacred story till his Martyrdom 43. SECT X. The Character of his Person and Temper and an account of his Writings 49. SECT XI An Enquiry into S. Peter's going to Rome 54. The Life of S. Paul SECT I. Of S. Paul from his Birth till his Conversion Page 61. SECT II. Of S. Paul from his Conversion till the Council at Jerusalem 67. SECT III. Of S. Paul from the time of the Synod at Jerusalem till his departure from Athens 73. SECT IV. Of S. Paul's Acts at Corinth and Ephesus 82. SECT V. S. Paul's Acts from his departure from Ephesus till his Arraignment before Felix 88. SECT VI. Of S. Paul from his first Trial before Felix till his coming to Rome 95. SECT VII S. Paul's Acts from his coming to Rome till his Martyrdom 101. SECT VIII The description of his Person and Temper together with an account of his Writings 108. SECT IX The principal Controversies that exercised the Church in his time 116. The Life of S. Andrew Page 131. The Life of S. James the Great 139. The Life of S. John 149. The Life of S. Philip. 163. The Life of S. Bartholomew 169. The Life of S. Matthew Page 175. The Life of S. Thomas Page 183. The Life of S. James the Less 189. The Life of S. Simon the Zealot 197. The Life of S. Jude 201. The Life of S. Matthias 207. The Life of S. Mark the Evangelist 213. The Life of S. Luke the Evangelist 221. Diptycha Apostolica Or an Enumeration of the Apostles and their Successors for the first three hundred years in the five great Churches said to have been founded by them pag. 227. The goodly CEDAR of Apostolick Catholick EPISCOPACY compared with the moderne Shoots Slips of divided NOVELTIES in the Church before the Introduction of the Apostles Lives Place 〈◊〉 Figure at Page ◠THE INTRODUCTION Christs faithfulness in appointing Officers in his Church The dignity of the Apostles above the rest The importance of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The nature of the Apostolick Office considered Respect had in founding it to the custom among the Jews Their Apostoli who The number of the Apostles limited Why twelve the several conjectures of the Ancients Their immediate election Their work wherein it consisted The Universality of their Commission Apostolical Churches what How soon the Apostles propagated Christianity through the World An argument for the Divinity of the Christian Religion inferr'd thence The power conveyed to the Apostles equally given to all Peter 's superiority over the rest disprov'd both from Scripture and Antiquity The Apostles how qualified for their Mission Immediately taught the Doctrine they delivered Infallibly secur'd from Error in delivering it Their constant and familiar converse with their Master Furnished with a power of working Miracles The great evidence of it to prove a Divine Doctrine Miraculous powers conferr'd upon the Apostles particularly considered Prophecy what and when it ceas'd The gift of discerning Spirits The gift of Tongues The gift of Interpretation The unreasonable practice of the Church of Rome in keeping the Scripture and Divine Worship in an Unknown Tongue The gift of Healing Greatly advantageous to Christianity How long it lasted Power of Immediately inflicting corporal punishments and the great benefit of it in those times The Apostles enabled to confer miraculous powers upon others The Duration of the Apostolical Office What in it extraordinary what ordinary Bishops in what sence styled Apostles 1. JESUS CHRIST the great Apostle and High-Priest of our Profession being appointed by God to be the Supreme Ruler and Governor of his Church was like Moses faithful in all his house but with this honourable advantage that Moses was faithful as a servant Christ as a Son over his own house which he erected established and governed with all possible care and diligence Nor could he give a greater instance either of his fidelity towards God or his love and kindness to the Souls of men than that after he had purchas'd a Family to himself and could now no longer upon earth manage its interests in his own person he would not return back to Heaven till he had constituted several Orders of Officers in his Church who might superintend and conduct its affairs and according to the various circumstances of its state administer to the needs and exigencies of his Family Accordingly therefore he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The first and prime Class of Officers is that of Apostles God hath set some in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets c. First Apostles as far in office as honour before the rest their election more immediate their commission more large and comprehensive the powers and priviledges wherewith they were furnished greater and more honourable Prophecy the gift of Miracles and expelling Daemons the order of Pastors and Teachers were all spiritual powers and ensigns of great authority 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says Chrysostom but the Apostolick eminency is far greater than all these which therefore he calls a spiritual Consulship an Apostle having as great preheminence above all other officers in the Church as the Consul had above all other Magistrates in Rome These Apostles were a few select persons whom our Lord chose out of the rest to devolve part of the Government upon their shoulders and to depute for the first planting and setling Christianity in the World He chose twelve whom he named Apostles of whose Lives and Acts being to give an Historical account in the following work it may not possibly be unuseful to premise some general remarks concerning them not respecting this or that particular person but of a general relation to the whole wherein we shall especially take notice of the importance of the word the nature of the imployment the fitness and qualification of the persons and the duration and continuance of the Office II. The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or sent is among ancient Writers applied either to things actions or persons To things thus those Dimissory letters that were granted to such who appeal'd from an Inferiour to a Superiour
being more usual in those times than for persons excommunicate and cut off from the body of the Church to be presently arrested by Satan as the common Serjeant and Executioner and by him either actually possessed or tormented in their bodies by some diseases which he brought upon them And indeed this severe discipline was no more than necessary in those times when Christianity was wholly destitute of any civil or coercive power to beget and keep up a due reverence and regard to the sentence and determinations of the Church and to secure the Laws of Religion and the holy censures from being sleighted by every bold and contumacious offender And this effect we find it had after the dreadful instance of Ananias and Saphira Great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things To what has been said concerning these Apostolical gifts let me further observe That they had not only these gifts residing in themselves but a power to bestow them upon others so that by imposition of hands or upon hearing and embracing the Apostle's doctrine and being baptized into the Christian Faith they could confer these miraculous powers upon persons thus qualified to receive them whereby they were in a moment enabled to speak divers Languages to Prophesie to Interpret and do other miracles to the admiration and astonishment of all that heard and saw them A priviledge peculiar to the Apostles for we do not find that any inferiour Order of gifted persons were intrusted with it And therefore as Chrysostom well observes though Philip the Deacon wrought great miracles at Samaria to the conversion of many yea to the conviction of Simon Magus himself yet the Holy Ghost fell upon none of them only they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus till Peter and John came down to them who having prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost they laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost Which when the Magician beheld he offered the Apostles money to enable him that on whom soever he laid his hands he might derive these miraculous powers upon them XIV Having seen how fitly furnished the Apostles were for the execution of their Office let us in the last place enquire into its duration and continuance And here it must be considered that in the Apostolical Office there was something extraordinary and something ordinary What was extraordinary was their immediate Commission derived from the mouth of Christ himself their unlimited charge to preach the Gospel up and down the World without being tied to any particular places the supernatural and miraculous powers conferr'd upon them as Apostles their infallible guidance in delivering the doctrines of the Gospel and these all expired and determined with their persons The standing and perpetual part of it was to teach and instruct the People in the duties and principles of Religion to administer the Sacraments to constitute Guides and Officers and to exercise the discipline and government of the Church and in these they are succeeded by the ordinary Rulers and Ecclesiastick Guides who were to superintend and discharge the affairs and offices of the Church to the end of the World Whence it is that Bishops and Governours came to be styled Apostles as being their successors in ordinary for so they frequently are in the writings of the Church Thus Timothy who was Bishop of Ephesus is called an Apostle Clemens of Rome Clemens the Apostle S. Mark Bishop of Alexandria by Eusebius styled both an Apostle and Evangelist Ignatius a Bishop and Apostle A title that continued in after Ages especially given to those that were the first planters or restorers of Christianity in any Country In the Coptick Kalendar published by Mr. Selden the VIIth day of the month Baschnes answering to our Second of May is dedicated to the memory of S. Athanasius the Apostle Acacius and Paulus in their Letter to Epiphanius style him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a new Apostle and Preacher and Sidonius Apollinaris writing to Lupus Bishop of Troyes in France speaks of the honour due to his eminent Apostleship An observation which it were easie enough to confirm by abundant instances were it either doubtful in it self or necessary to my purpose but being neither I forbear Joan. Euchait Metropolitae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 70. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE LIFE OF S. PETER St. PETER He was crucified at Rome with his head down-wards and Buried in the Vatican there S. Hierom. after he had planted a Christian Church first at Antioch and afterwards at Rome S. Peter 's Martyrdom Ioh. 21.18.19 Verily verily I say unto thee when thou most young thou girdedst thy self walkedst whither thou wouldst but when thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands another shall gird thee carry thee whither thou wouldst not This spake he signifying by what death he should glorify God SECT I. Of S. Peter from his Birth till his First coming to Christ. Bethsaida S. Peter 's Birth-place Its dignity of old and fate at this day The time of his Birth enquired into Some Errors noted concerning it His names Cephas the imposing of it notes on Superiority over the rest of the Apostles The custom of Popes assuming a new Name at their Election to the Papacy whence His kindred and relations whether He or Andrew the elder Brother His Trade and way of life what before his coming to Christ. The Sea of Galilee and the conveniency of it The meanness and obscurity of his Trade The remarkable appearances of the Divine Providence in propagating Christianity in the World by mean and unlikely Instruments THE Land of Palestine was at and before the coming of our Blessed Saviour distinguished into three several Provinces Judaea Samaria and Galilee This last was divided into the Upper and the Lower In the Upper called also Galilee of the Gentiles within the division anciently belonging to the Tribe of Nephthali stood Bethsaida formerly an obscure and inconsiderable Village till lately reedified and enlarged by Philip the Tetrarch by him advanced to the place and title of a City replenished with inhabitants and fortified with power and strength and in honour of Julia the daughter of Augustus Caesar by him stiled Julias Situate it was upon the banks of the Sea of Galilee and had a Wilderness on the other side thence called the Desart of Bethsaida whither our Saviour used often to retire the privacies and solitudes of the place advantageously ministring to Divine contemplations But Bethsaida was not so remarkable for this adjoyning Wilderness as it self was memorable for a worse sort of
offending and displeasing them he withdrew his converse with the Gentiles as if it had been unlawful for him to hold Communion with uncircumcised persons when yet he knew and was fully satisfied that our Lord had wholly removed all difference and broken down the Wall of separation between Jew and Gentile In which affair as he himself acted against the light of his own mind and judgment condemning what he had approved and destroying what he had before built up so hereby he confirmed the Jewish zealots in their inveterate error cast infinite scruples into the minds of the Gentiles filling their Consciences with fears and dissatisfactions reviving the old feuds and prejudices between Jew and Gentile by which means many others were ensnared yea the whole number of Jewish Converts followed his example separating themselves from the company of the Gentile Christians Yea so far did it spread that Barnabas himself was carried away with the stream and torrent of this unwarrantable practice S. Paul who was at this time come to Antioch unto whom Peter gave the right hand of fellowship acknowledging his Apostleship of the Circumcision observing these evil and unevangelical actings resolutely withstood Peter to the face and publickly reproved him as a person worthy to be blamed for his gross prevarication in this matter severely expostulating and reasoning with him that he who was himself a Jew and thereby under a more immediate obligation to the Mosaick Law should cast off that Yoke himself and yet endeavour to impose it upon the Gentiles who were not in the least under any obligation to it A smart but an impartial charge and indeed so remarkable was this carriage of S. Paul towards our Apostle that though it set things right for the present yet it made some noise abroad in the World Yea Porphyry himself that acute and subtil enemy of Christianity makes use of it as an argument against them both charging the one with error and falshood and the other with rudeness and incivility and that the whole was but a compact of forgery and deceit while the Princes of the Church did thus fall out among themselves And so sensible were some of this in the first Ages of Christianity that rather than such a dishonour and disgrace as they accounted it should be reflected upon Peter they tell us of two several Cephas's one the Apostle the other one of the seventy Disciples and that it was the last of these that was guilty of this prevarication and whom S. Paul so vigorously resisted and reproved at Antioch But for this plausible and well-meant Evasion the Champions of the Romish Church conn them no great thanks at this day Nay S. Hierom long since fully confuted it in his Notes upon this place SECT IX Of S. Peter's Acts from the End of the Sacred Story till his Martyrdom Peter's story prosecuted out of Ecclesiastical Writers His planting of a Church and an Episcopal See at Antioch when said to be His first Journey to Rome and the happiness it brought to the Roman Empire His preaching in other places and return to Rome His encounter with Simon Magus The impostures of the Magician His familiarity with the Emperours and the great honours said to be done to him His Statue and Inscription at Peter's victory over him by raising one from the Dead Simon attempting to fly is by Peter's Prayers hindred falls down and dies Nero's displeasure against Peter whence His being cast into Prison His flight thence and being brought back by Christ appearing to him Crucified with his head downwards and why The place of his Martyrdom and Burial The original and greatness of S. Peter's Church in Rome His Episcopal Chair pretended to be still kept there HITHERTO in drawing up the Life of this great Apostle we have had an infallible Guide to conduct and lead us But the sacred Story breaking off here forces us to look abroad and to pick up what Memoires the Ancients have left us in this matter which we shall for the main digest according to the order wherein Baronius and other Ecclesiastick Writers have disposed the series of S. Peter's Life Reserving what is justly questionable to a more particular examination afterward And that we may present the account more entire and perfect we must step back a little in point of time that so we may go forward with greater advantage We are to know therefore that during the time of peace and calmness which the Church enjoyed after Saul's Persecution when S. Peter went down to visit the Churches he is said to have gone to Antioch where great Numbers of Jews inhabited and there to have planted the Christian Faith That he founded a Church here Eusebius expresly tells us and by others it is said that he himself was the first Bishop of this See Sure I am that S. Chrysostom reckons it one of the greatest honours of that City that S. Peter staid so long there and that the Bishops of it succeeded him in that See The care and precedency of this Church he had between Six and Seven Years Not that he staid there all that time but that having ordered and disposed things to the best advantage he returned to other affairs and exigencies of the Church confirming the new Plantations bringing in Cornelius and his Family and in him the first fruits of the Gentiles conversion to the faith of Christ. After which he returned unto Jerusalem where he was imprisoned by Herod and miraculously delivered by an Angel sent from Heaven 2. WHAT became of Peter after his deliverance out of Prison is not certainly known probably he might preach in some parts a little further distant from Judaea as we are told he did at Byzantium and in the Countries thereabouts though I confess the evidence to me is not convincing After this he resolved upon a Journey to Rome where most agree he arrived about the Second Year of the Emperor Claudius Orosius tells us that coming to Rome he brought prosperity along with him to that City For besides several other extraordinary advantages which at that time hapned to it this was not the least observable that Camillus Scribonianus Governor of Dalmatia soliciting the Army to rebell against the Emperor the Eagles their Military Standard remained so fast in the Ground that no power nor strength was able to pluck them up With which unusual accident the minds of the Souldiers were surprized and startled and turning their Swords against the Author of the sedition continued firm and loyal in their obedience Whereby a dangerous Rebellion was prevented likely enough otherwise to have broken out This he ascribes to Saint Peter's coming to Rome and the first Plantation of the Christian Faith in that City Heaven beginning more particularly to smile upon that place at his first coming thither 'T is not to be doubted but that at his first arrival he disposed himself amongst the Jews his Country-men who ever since the
the time of writing or the care that is used in doing it Who sees not the vast difference of Jeremie's writing in his Prophecy and in his Book of Lamentations between S. John's in his Gospel his Epistles and Apocalypse How oft does S. Paul alter his style in several of his Epistles in some more lofty and elegant in others more rough and harsh Besides hundreds of instances that might be given both in Ecclesiastical and Foreign Writers too obvious to need insisting on in this place The learned Grotius will have this Epistle to have been written by Symeon S. James his immediate Successor in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem and that the word Peter was inserted into the Title by another hand But as a Judicious person of our own observes these were but his Posthume Annotations published by others and no doubt never intended as the deliberate result of that great man's Judgment especially since he himself tacitly acknowledges that all Copies extant at this day read the Title and Inscription as it is in our Books And indeed there is a concurrence of circumstances to prove S. Peter to be the Author of it It bears his name in the Front and Title yea somewhat more expresly than the former which has only one this both his Names There 's a passage in it that cannot well relate to any but him When he tells us that he was present with Christ in the holy Mount When he received from God the Father honour and glory Where he heard the voice which came from Heaven from the excellent glory This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased This evidently refers to Christs Transfiguration where none were present but Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee neither of which were ever thought of to be the Author of this Epistle Besides that there is an admirable consent and agreement in many passages between these two Epistles as it were easie to show in particular instances Add to this that S. Jude speaking of the Scoffers who should come in the last time walking after their own ungodly lusts cites this as that which had been before spoken by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein he plainly quotes the words of this Second Epistle of Peter affirming That there should come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts And that this does agree to Peter will further appear by this that he tells us of these Scoffers that should come in the last days that is before the destruction of Jerusalem as that phrase is often used in the New Testament that they should say Where is the promise of his coming Which clearly respects their making light of those threatnings of our Lord whereby he had foretold that he would shortly come in Judgment for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation This he now puts them in mind of as what probably he had before told them of Vivâ voce when he was amongst them For so we find he did elsewhere Lactantiusassuring us That amongst many strange and wonderful things which Peter and Paul preached at Rome and left upon Record this was one That within a short time God would send a Prince who should destroy the Jews and lay their Cities level with the ground straitly besiege them destroy them with Famine so that they should feed upon one another That their Wives and Daughters should be ravished and their Childrens brains dasht out before their faces that all things should be laid waste by Fire and Sword and themselves perpetually banished from their own Country and this for their insolent and merciless usage of the innocent and dear Son of God All which as he observes came to pass soon after their death when Vespasian came upon the Jews and extinguished both their Name and Nation And what Peter here foretold at Rome we need not question but he had done before to those Jews to whom he wrote this Epistle Wherein he especially antidotes them against those corrupt and poisonous principles wherewith many and especially the followers of Simon Magus began to infect the Church of Christ. And this but a little time before his death as appears from that passage in it where he tells them That he knew he must shortly put off his earthly Tabernacle 7. BESIDES these Divine Epistles there were other supposititious writings which in the first Ages were fathered upon S. Peter Such was the Book called his Acts mentioned by Origen Eusebius and others but rejected by them Such was his Gospel which probably at first was nothing else but the Gospel written by S. Mark dictated to him as is generally thought by S. Peter and therefore as S. Hierom tells us said to be his Though in the next Age there appeared a Book under that Title mentioned by Serapion Bishop of Antioch and by him at first suffered to be read in the Church but afterwards upon a more careful perusal of it he rejected it as Apocryphal as it was by others after him Another was the Book stiled His Preaching mentioned and quoted both by Clemens Alexandrinus and by Origen but not acknowledged by them to be Genuine Nay expresly said to have been forged by Hereticks by an ancient Author contemporary with S. Cyprian The next was his Apocalypse or Revelation rejected as Sozomen tells us by the Ancients as Spurious but yet read in some Churches in Palestine in his time The last was the Book called His Judgment which probably was the same with that called Hermes or Pastor a Book of good use and esteem in the first times of Christianity and which as Eusebius tells us was not only frequently cited by the Ancients but also publickly read in Churches 8. WE shall conclude this Section by considering Peter with respect to his several Relations That he was married is unquestionable the Sacred History mentioning his Wifes Mother his Wife might we believe Metaphrastes being the Daughter of Aristobulus Brother to Barnabas the Apostle And though S. Hierom would perswade us that he left her behind him together with his Nets when he forsook all to follow Christ yet we know that Father too well to be over-confident upon his word in a case of Marriage or Single life wherein he is not over-scrupulous sometimes to strain a point to make his opinion more fair and plausible The best is we have an infallible Authority which plainly intimates the contrary the testimony of S. Paul who tells us of Cephas that he led about a Wife a Sister along with him who for the most part mutually cohabited and lived together for ought that can be proved to the contrary Clemens Alexandrinus gives us this account though he tells us not the time or place That Peter seeing his Wife going towards Martyrdom exceedingly rejoyced that she was called to so great an honour and that she was now returning home encouraging and
earnestly exhorting her and calling her by her Name bad her to be mindful of our Lord. Such says he was the Wedlock of that blessed couple and the perfect disposition and agreement in those things that were dearest to them By her he is said to have had a Daughter called Petronilla Metaphrastes adds a Son how truly I know not This only is certain that Clemens of Alexandria reckons Peter for one of the Apostles that was Married and had Children And surely he who was so good a man and so good an Apostle was as good in the relation both of an Husband and a Father SECT XI An Enquiry into S. Peter's going to Rome Peter ' 's being at Rome granted in general The account of it given by Baronius and the Writers of that Church rejected and disproved No foundation for it in the History of the Apostolick Acts. No mention of it in S. Paul ' s Epistle to the Romans No news of his being there at S. Paul ' s coming to Rome nor intimation of any such thing in the several Epistles which S. Paul wrote from thence S. Peter ' s first being at Rome inconsistent with the time of the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem And with an Ancient Tradition that the Apostles were commanded to stay Twelve years in Judaea after Christ ' s death A passage out of Clemens Alexandrinus noted and corrected to that purpose Difference among the Writers of the Romish Church in their Accounts Peter 's being XXV years Bishop of Rome no solid foundation for it in Antiquity The Planting and Governing that Church equally attributed to Peter and Paul S. Peter when probably came to Rome Different dates of his Martyrdom assigned by the Ancients A probable account given of it 1. THOUGH it be not my purpose to swim against the Stream and Current of Antiquity in denying S. Peter to have been at Rome an Assertion easilier perplexed and entangled than confuted and disproved yet may we grant the main without doing any great service to that Church there being evidence enough to every impartial and considering man to spoil that smooth and plausible Scheme of Times which Baronius and the Writers of that Church have drawn with so much care and diligence And in order to this we shall first enquire whether that Account which Bellarmine and Baronius give us of Peter's being at Rome be tolerably reconcileable with the History of the Apostles Acts recorded by S. Luke which will be best done by briefly presenting S. Peter's Acts in their just Series and order of Time and then seeing what countenance and foundation their Account can receive from hence 2. AFTER our Lord's Ascension we find Peter for the first year at least staying with the rest of the Apostles at Jerusalem In the next year he was sent together with S. John by the command of the Apostles to Samaria to preach the Gospel to that City and the parts about it About three years after S. Paul meets him at Jerusalem with whom he staid some time In the two following years he visited the late planted Churches preached at Lydda and Joppa where having tarried many days he thence removed to Caesarea where he preached to and baptized Cornelius and his Family Whence after some time he returned to Jerusalem where he probably staid till cast into prison by Herod and delivered by the Angel After which we hear no more of him till three or four years after we find him in the Council at Jerusalem After which he had the contest with S. Paul at Antioch And thence forward the Sacred Story is altogether silent in this matter So that in all this time we find not the least footstep of any intimation that he went to Rome This Baronius well foresaw and therefore once and again inserts this caution that S. Luke did not design to record all the Apostles Acts and that he has omitted many things which were done by Peter Which surely no man ever intended to deny But then that he should omit a matter of such vast moment and importance to the whole Christian World that not one syllable should be said of a Church planted by Peter at Rome a Church that was to be Paramount the seat of all Spiritual Power and Infallibility and to which all other Churches were to vail and do homage nay that he should not so much as mention that ever he was there and yet all this said to be done within the time he designed to write of is by no means reasonable to suppose Especially considering that S. Luke records many of his journeys and travels and his preaching at several places of far less consequence and concernment Nor let this be thought the worse of because a negative Argument since it carries so much rational evidence along with it that any man who is not plainly byassed by Interest will be satisfied with it 3. BUT let us proceed a little further to enquire whether we can meet any probable footsteps afterwards About the year Fifty three towards the end of Claudius his Reign S. Paul is thought to have writ his Epistle to the Church at Rome wherein he spends the greatest part of one Chapter in saluting particular persons that were there amongst whom it might reasonably have been expected that S. Peter should have had the first place And supposing with Baronius that Peter at this time might be absent from the City preaching the Gospel in some parts in the West yet we are not sure that S. Paul knew of this and if he did it is strange that in so large an Epistle wherein he had occasion enough there should be neither direct nor indirect mention of him or of any Church there founded by him Nay S. Paul himself intimates what an earnest desire he had to come thither that he might impart unto them some spiritual gifts to the end they might be established in the Faith for which there could have been no such apparent cause had Peter been there so lately and so long before him Well S. Paul himself not many years after is sent to Rome Ann. Chr. LVI or as Eusebius LVII though Baronius makes it two years after about the second year of Nero when he comes thither does he go to sojourn with Peter as 't is likely he would had he been there No but dwelt by himself in his own hired house No sooner was he come but he called the chief of the Jews together acquainted them with the cause and end of his coming explains the doctrine of Christianity which when they rejected he tells them That henceforth the Salvation of God was sent unto the Gentiles who would hear it to whom he would now address himself Which seems to intimate that however some few of the Gentiles might have been brought over yet that no such harvest had been made before his coming as might reasonably have been expected from S. Peter's having been so many years amongst them Within
themselves to the Provinces of the Gentile-World to make known to them the glad tidings of Salvation exactly answerable to the Tradition mentioned by Apollonius Besides the Chronicon Alexandrinum tells us that Peter came not to Rome till the Seventh Year of Claudius Ann. Christi XLIX So little certainty can there be of any matter wherein there is no truth Nay the same excellent Man before mentioned does not stick elsewhere to profess he wonders at Baronius that he should make Peter come from Rome banished thence by Claudius his Edict to the Synod at Jerusalem the same Year viz. Ann. Claudii IX a thing absolutely inconsistent with that story of the Apostles Acts recorded by S. Luke wherein there is the space of no less than Three Years from the time of that Synod to the Decree of Claudius It being evident what he observes that after the celebration of that Council S. Paul went back to Antioch afterwards into Syria and Cilicia to Preach the Gospel thence into Phrygia Galatia and Mysia from whence he went into Macedonia and first Preached at Philippi then at Thessalonica and Beroea afterwards stay'd some considerable time at Athens and last of all went to Corinth where he met with Aquila and Priscilla lately come from Italy banished Rome with the rest of the Jews by the Decree of Claudius all which by an easie and reasonable computation can take up no less than Three Years at least 6. THAT which caused Baronius to split upon so many Rocks was not so much want of seeing them which a Man of his parts and industry could not but in a great measure see as the unhappy necessity of defending those unsound principles which he had undertaken to maintain For being to make good Peter's five and twenty years presidency over the Church of Rome he was forced to confound times and dislocate stories that he might bring all his ends together What foundation this story of Peter's being five and twenty years Bishop of Rome has in antiquity I find not unless it sprang from hence that Eusebius places Peter's coming to Rome in the Second Year of Claudius and his Martyrdom in the Fourteenth of Nero between which there is the just space of five and twenty years Whence those that came after concluded that he sate Bishop there all that time It cannot be denied but that in S. Hierom's Translation it is expresly said that he continued five and twenty years Bishop of that City But then it is as evident that this was his own addition who probably set things down as the report went in his time no such thing being to be found in the Greek Copy of Eusebius Nor indeed does he ever there or elsewhere positively affirm S. Peter to have been Bishop of Rome but only that he preached the Gospel there And expresly affirms that he and S. Paul being dead Linus was the first Bishop of Rome To which I may add that when the Ancients speak of the Bishops of Rome and the first Originals of that Church they equally attribute the founding and the Episcopacy and Government of it to Peter and Paul making the one as much concerned in it as the other Thus Epiphanius reckoning up the Bishops of that See places Peter and Paul in the front as the first Bishops of Rome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peter and Paul Apostles became the first Bishops of Rome then Linus c. And again a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the succession of the Bishops of Rome was in this manner Peter and Paul Linus Cletus c. And Egesippus speaking of their coming to Rome equally says of them that they were Doctores Christianorum sublimes operibus clari magisterio the Instructors of the Christians admirable for miracles and renowned for their authority However granting not only that he was there but that he was Bishop and that for five and twenty years together yet what would this make for the unlimited Soveraignty and Universality of that Church unless a better evidence than Feed my sheep could be produced for its uncontroulable Supremacy and Dominion over the whole Christian World 7. THE summ is this granting what none that has any reverence for Antiquity will deny that S. Peter was at Rome he probably came thither some few Years before his death joyned with and assisted S. Paul in Preaching of the Gospel and then both sealed the Testimony of it with their Bloud The date of his Death is differently assigned by the Ancients Eusebius places it Ann. LXIX in the Fourteenth of Nero Epiphanius in the Twelfth That which seems to me most probable is that it was in the Tenth or the Year LXV which I thus compute Nero's burning of Rome is placed by Tacitus under the Consulship of C. Lecanius and M. Licinius about the Month of July that is Ann. Chr. LXIV This act procured him the infinite hatred and clamours of the People which having in vain endeavoured several ways to remove and pacifie he at last resolved upon this project to derive the Odium upon the Christians whom therefore both to appease the Gods and please the People he condemned as guilty of the fact and caused to be executed with all manner of acute and exquisite Tortures This Persecution we may suppose began about the end of that or the beginning of the following Year And under this Persecution I doubt not it was that S. Peter suffered and changed Earth for Heaven The End of S. Peter ' s Life THE LIFE OF S. PAUL S. PAUL He was beheaded by the command of Nero the Roman Emperour Place this to the Epistle for the Conversion of S. Paul St Paul's Conversion Act. 9.3.4 And as he journied he came near to Damascus suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven he fell to the earth heard a voice saying unto him Saul Saul c. Ver. 7 And the men which journied with him stood speechless hearing a voice but seeing no man SECT I. Of S. PAVL from his Birth till his Conversion S. Paul why placed next Peter Tarsus the place of his Birth an University and a Roman Corporation His Parents of the old stock of Israel descended of the Tribe of Benjamin Jacob ' s Prophecy applied to him by the Ancients His Names Saul whence Paul when assumed and why His Education in the Schools of Tarsus and in the Trade of Tent-making The Custom of the Jews in bringing up their Youth to Manual Trades His study of the Law under the Tutorage of Gamaliel This Gamaliel who Why said to have been a Christian. Sitting at the feet of their Masters the posture of learners His joyning himself to the Sect of the Pharisees An Enquiry into the Temper and Manners of that Sect. The fiery Zeal and Activity of his Temper His being engaged in Stephen ' s Martyrdom His violent persecution of the Church His journey to Damascus His Conversion by the way and the
long 220 broad supported by 127 Pillars 60 Foot high for its antiquity it was in some degree before the times of Bacchus equal to the Reign of the Amazons by whom it is generally said to have been first built as the Ephesian Ambassadors told Tiberius till by degrees it grew up into that greatness and splendor that it was generally reckoned one of the seven wonders of the World But that which gave the greatest fame and reputation to it was an Image of Diana kept there made of no very costly materials but which the crafty Priests perswaded the People was beyond all humane artifice or contrivement and that it was immediately formed by Jupiter and dropt down from Heaven having first killed or banished the Artists that made it as Suidas informs us that the cheat might not be discovered by which means they drew not Ephesus only but the whole World into a mighty veneration of it Besides there were within this Temple multitudes of Silver Cabinets or Chappelets little Shrines made in fashion of the Temple wherein was placed the Image of Diana For the making of these holy shrines great numbers of Silver-smiths were employed and maintained among whom one Demetrius was a Leading-man who foreseeing that if the Christian Religion still got ground their gainful Trade would soon come to nothing presently called together the Men of his Profession especially those whom he himself set on work told them that now their welfare and livelihood were concerned and that the fortunes of their Wives and Children lay at stake that it was plain that this Paul had perverted City and Country and perswaded the People that the Images which they made and worshipped were no real Gods by which means their Trade was not only like to fall to the ground but also the honour and magnificence of the great Goddess Diana whom not Asia only but the whole World did worship and adore Enraged with this discourse they cried out with one voice that Great was Diana of the Ephesians The whole City was presently in an uproar and seizing upon two of S. Paul's Companions hurried them into the Theatre probably with a design to have cast them to the wild Beasts S. Paul hearing of their danger would have ventured himself among them had not the Christians nay some even of the Gentile Priests Governours of the popular Games and Sports earnestly disswaded him from it well knowing that the People were resolved if they could meet with him to throw him to the wild Beasts that were kept there for the disport and pleasure of the People And this doubtless he means when elsewhere he tells us that he fought with Beasts at Ephesus probably intending what the People designed though he did not actually suffer though the brutish rage the savage and inhumane manners of this People did sufficiently deserve that the censure and character should be fixed upon themselves 8. GREAT was the confusion of the Multitude the major-part not knowing the reason of the Concourse In which distraction Alexander a Jewish Convert being thrust forward by the Jews to be questioned and examined about this matter he would accordingly have made his Apologie to the People intending no doubt to clear himself by casting the whole blame upon S. Paul This being very probably that Alexander the Copper-smith of whom our Apostle elsewhere complains That he did him much evil and greatly withstood his words and whom he delivered over unto Satan for his Apostasie for blaspheming Christ and reproaching Christianity But the Multitude perceiving him to be a Jew and thereby suspecting him to be one of S. Paul's Associates began to raise an out-cry for near two Hours together wherein nothing could be heard but Great is Diana of the Ephesians The noise being a little over the Recorder a discreet and prudent Man came out and calmly told them That it was sufficiently known to all the World what a mighty honour and veneration the City of Ephesus had for the great Goddess Diana and the famous Image which fell from Heaven that therefore there needed not this stir to vindicate and assert it That they had seized Persons who were not guilty either of Sacriledge or Blasphemy towards their Goddess that if Demetrius and his Company had any just charge against them the Courts were sitting and they might prefer their Indictment or if the Controversie were about any other matter it might be referred to such a proper Judicature as the Law appoints for the determination of such cases That therefore they should do well to be quiet having done more already than they could answer if called in question as 't is like they would there being no cause sufficient to justifie that days riotous Assembly With which prudent discourse he appeased and dismissed the Multitude 9. IT was about this time that S. Paul heard of some disturbance in the Church at Corinth hatched and fomented by a pack of false heretical Teachers crept in among them who endeavoured to draw them into Parties and Factions by perswading one Party to be for Peter another for Paul a third for Apollos as if the main of Religion consisted in being of this or that Denomination or in a warm active zeal to decry and oppose whoever is not of our narrow Sect. 'T is a very weak and slender claim when a Man holds his Religion by no better a title than that he has joyned himself to this Man's Church or that Man's Congregation and is zealously earnest to maintain and promote it to be childishly and passionately clamorous for one Man's mode and way of administration or for some particular humour or opinion as if Religion lay in nice and curious disputes or in separating from our Brethren and not rather in righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost By this means Schisms and Factions broke into the Corinthian Church whereby many wild and extravagant Opinions and some of them such as undermined the fundamental Articles of Christianity were planted and had taken root there As the envious Man never fishes more successfully than in troubled Waters To cure these Distempers S. Paul who had received an Account of all this by Letters which Apollos and some others had brought to him from the Church of Corinth writes his first Epistle to them Wherein he smartly reproves them for their Schisms and Parties conjures them to peace and unity corrects those gross corruptions that were introduced among them and particularly resolves those many cases and controversies wherein they had requested his advice and counsel Shortly after Apollos designing to go for Crete by him and Zenas S. Paul sends his Epistle to Titus whom he had made Bishop of that Island and had left there for the propagating of the Gospel Herein he fully instructs him in the execution of his Office how to carry himself and what directions he should give to others to all particular ranks and relations of men especially those who were to be advanced
to places of Office and Authority in the Church 10. A LITTLE before S. Paul's departure from Ephesus we may not improbably suppose that Apollonius Tyancus the famous Philosopher and Magician of the Heathen World a Man remarkable for the strictness of his manners and his sober and regular course of life but especially for the great Miracles said to have been done by him whom therefore the Heathens generally set up as the great Corrival of our Saviour though some of his own pary and particularly Euphratus the Philosopher who lived with him at the same time at Rome accused him for doing his strange feats by Magick came to Ephesus The enemy of Mankind probably designing to obstruct the propagation of Christianity by setting up one who by the Arts of Magick might at least in the Vogue and estimation of the People equal or eclipse the Miracles of S. Paul Certain it is if we compare times and actions set down by the Writer of his Life we shall find that he came hither about the beginning of Nero's Reign and he particularly sets down the strange things that were done by him especially his clearing the City of a grievous Plague for which the People of Ephesus had him in such veneration that they erected a Statue to him as to a particular Deity and did divine honour to it But whether this was before S. Paul's going thence I will not take upon me to determine it seems most probable to have been done afterwards SECT V. S. Paul's Acts from his departure from Ephesus till his Arraignment before Felix S. Paul 's journey into Macedonia His preaching as far as Illyricum and return into Greece His second Epistle to the Corinthians and what the design of it His first Epistle to Timothy His Epistle to the Romans whence written and with what design S. Paul ' s preaching at Troas and raising Eutychus His summoning the Asian Bishops to Myletus and pathetical discourse to them His stay at Caesarea with Philip the Deacon The Churches passionate disswading him from going to Jerusalem His coming to Jerusalem and compliance with the indifferent Rites of the Mosaick Law and why The tumults raised against him by the Jews and his rescue by the Roman Captain His asserting his Roman freedom His carriage before the Sanhedrim The difference between the Pharisees and Sadducees about him The Jews conspiracy against his life discovered His being sent unto Caesarea 1. IT was not long after the tumult at Ephesus when S. Paul having called the Church together and constituted Timothy Bishop of that place took his leave and departed by Troas for Macedonia And at this time it was that as he himself tells us he preached the Gospel round about unto Illyricum since called Sclavonia some parts of Macedonia bordering on that Province From Macedonia he returned back unto Greece where he abode three months and met with Titus lately come with great contributions from the Church at Corinth By whose example he stirr'd up the liberality of the Macedonians who very freely and somewhat beyond their ability contributed to the poor Christians at Jerusalem From Titus he had an account of the present state of the Church at Corinth and by him at his return together with S. Luke he sent his second Epistle to them Wherein he endeavours to set right what his former Epistle had not yet effected to vindicate his Apostleship from that contempt and scorn and himself from those slanders and aspersions which the seducers who had found themselves lasht by his first Epistle had cast upon him together with some other particular cases relating to them Much about the same time he writ his first Epistle to Timothy whom he had left at Ephesus wherein at large he counsels him how to carry himself in the discharge of that great place and authority in the Church which he had committed to him instructs him in the particular qualifications of those whom he should make choice of to be Bishops and Ministers in the Church How to order the Deaconesses and to instruct Servants warning him withall of that pestilent generation of hereticks and seducers that would arise in the Church During his three months stay in Greece he went to Corinth whence he wrote his famous Epistle to the Romans which he sent by Phoebe a Deaconess of the Church of Cenchrea nigh Corinth wherein his main design is fully to state and determine the great controversie between the Jews and Gentiles about the obligation of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Jewish Law and those main and material Doctrines of Christianity which did depend upon it such as of Christian liberty the use of indifferent things c. And which is the main end of all Religion instructs them in and presses them to the duties of an holy and good life such as the Christian Doctrine does naturally tend to oblige men to 2. S. PAUL being now resolved for Syria to convey the contributions to the Brethren at Jerusalem was a while diverted from that resolution by a design he was told of which the Jews had to kill and rob him by the way Whereupon he went back into Macedonia and so came to Philippi and thence went to Troas where having staid a week on the Lords-day the Church met together to receive the holy Sacrament Here S. Paul preached to them and continued his discourse till mid-night the longer probably being the next day to depart from them The length of his discourse and the time of the night had caused some of his Auditors to be overtaken with sleep and drowziness among whom a young man called Eutychus being fast asleep fell down from the third story and was taken up dead but whom S. Paul presently restored to life and health How indefatigable was the industry of our Apostle how close did he tread in his Masters steps who went about doing good He compassed Sea and Land preached and wrought miracles where-ever he came In every place like a wise Master-builder he either laid a foundation or raised the superstructure He was instant in season and out of season and spared not his pains either night or day that he might do good to the Souls of men The night being thus spent in holy exercises S. Paul in the morning took his leave and went on foot to Assos a Sea-port Town whither he had sent his company by Sea Thence they set sail to Mytilene from thence to Samos and having staid some little time at Trogyllium the next day came to Myletus not so much as putting in at Ephesus because the Apostle was resolved if possible to be at Jerusalem at the Feast of Pentecost 3. AT Myletus he sent to Ephesus to summon the Bishops and Governours of the Church who being come he put them in mind with what uprightness and integrity with what affection and humility with how great trouble and danger with how much faithfulness to their Souls he had been conversant among them
and had preached the Gospol to them ever since his first coming into those parts That he had not failed to acquaint them both publickly and privately with whatever might be useful and profitable to them urging both upon Jews and Gentiles repentance and reformation of life and an hearty entertainment of the Faith of Christ That now he was resolved to go to Jerusalem where he did not know what particular sufferings would befall him more than this That it had been foretold him in every place by those who were endued with the Prophetical gifts of the Holy Ghost that afflictions and imprisonment would attend him there But that he was not troubled at this no nor unwilling to lay down his life so he might but successfully preach the Gospel and faithfully serve his Lord in that place and station wherein he had set him That he knew that henceforth they should see his face no more but that this was his encouragement and satisfaction that they themselves could bear him witness that he had not by concealing from them any parts of the Christian Doctrine betray'd their Souls That as for themselves whom God had made Bishops and Pastors of his Church they should be careful to feed guide and direct those Christians under their inspection and be infinitely tender of the good of Souls for whose redemption Christ laid down his own life That all the care they could use was no more than necessary it being certain that after his departure Heretical Teachers would break in among them and endanger the ruine of mens Souls nay that even among themselves there would some arise who by subtil and crafty methods by corrupt and pernicious Doctrines would gain Proselytes to their party and thereby make Rents and Schisms in the Church That therefore they should watch remembring with what tears and sorrow he had for three years together warned them of these things That now he recommended them to the Divine care and goodness and to the rules and instructions of the Gospel which if adhered to would certainly dispose and perfect them for that state of happiness which God had prepared for good men in Heaven In short that he had all a-long dealt faithfully and uprightly with them they might know from hence that in all his preaching he had no crafty or covetous designs upon any man's Estate or Riches having as themselves could witness industriously laboured with his own hands and by his own work maintained both himself and his company Herein leaving them an example what pains they ought to take to support the weak and relieve the poor rather than to be themselves chargeable unto others according to that incomparable saying of our Saviour which surely S. Paul had received from some of those that had conversed with him in the days of his flesh It is more blessed to give than to receive This Concio ad Clerum or Visitation-Sermon being ended the Apostle kneeled down and concluded all with Prayer Which done they all melted into tears and with the greatest expressions of sorrow attended him to the Ship though that which made the deepest impression upon their minds was that he had told them That they should see his face no more 4. DEPARTING from Myletus they arrived at Coos thence came to Rhodes thence to Patara thence to Tyre where meeting with some Christians he was advised by those among them who had the gift of Prophecy that he should not go up to Jerusalem with them he staid a week and then going all together to the shore he kneeled down and prayed with them and having mutually embraced one another he went on board and came to Ptolemais where only saluting the Brethren they came next day unto Caesarea Here they lodged in the house of Philip the Evangelist one of the seven Deacons that were at first set apart by the Apostles who had four Virgin-daughters all endued with the gift of prophecy During their stay in this place Agabus a Christian Prophet came down hither from Judaea who taking Paul's girdle bound with it his own hands and feet telling them that by this external Symbol the Holy Ghost did signifie and declare that S. Paul should be thus serv'd by the Jews at Jerusalem and be by them delivered over into the hands of the Gentiles Whereupon they all passionately besought him that he would divert his course to some other place The Apostle ask'd them what they meant by these compassionate disswasives to add more affliction to his sorrow that he was willing and resolved not only to be imprisoned but if need were to die at Jerusalem for the sake of Christ and his Religion Finding his resolution fixed and immoveable they importuned him no further but left the event to the Divine will and pleasure All things being in readiness they set forwards on their journey and being come to Jerusalem were kindly and joyfully entertained by the Christians there 5. THE next day after their arrival S. Paul and his company went to the house of S. James the Apostle where the rest of the Bishops and Governours of the Church were met together after mutual salutations he gave them a particular account with what success God had blessed him in propagating Christianity among the Gentiles for which they all heartily blessed God but withall told him that he was now come to a place where there were many thousands of Jewish converts who all retained a mighty zeal and veneration for the Law of Moses and who had been informed of him that he taught the Jews whom he had converted in every place to renounce Circumcision and the Ceremonies of the Law That as soon as the multitude heard of his arrival they would come together to see how he behaved himself in this matter and therefore to prevent so much disturbance it was advisable that there being four men there at that time who were to accomplish a Vow probably not the Nazarite-vow but some other which they had made for deliverance from sickness or some other eminent danger and distress for so Josephus tells us they were wont to do in such cases and before they came to offer the accustomed Sacrifices to abstain for some time from Wine and to shave their heads he would joyn himself to them perform the usual Rites and Ceremonies with them and provide such Sacrifices for them as the Law required in that case and that in discharge of their Vow they might shave their heads Whereby it would appear that the reports which were spread concerning him were false and groundless and that he himself did still observe the Rites and Orders of the Mosaical Institution That as for the Gentile converts they required no such observances at their hands nor expected any thing more from them in these indifferent matters than what had been before determined by the Apostolical Synod in that place S. Paul who in such things was willing to become all things to all men that he might gain the
so for though he was the first of the Disciples that came to Christ yet was he not called till afterwards After some converse with him Andrew goes to acquaint his Brother Simon and both together came to Christ. Long they stayed not with him but returned to their own home and to the exercise of their calling wherein they were employed when somewhat more than a Year after our Lord passing through Galilee found them fishing upon the Sea of Tiberias where he fully satisfied them of the Greatness and Divinity of his Person by the convictive evidence of that miraculous draught of Fishes which they took at his command And now he told them he had other work for them to do that they should no longer deal in Fish but with Men whom they should catch with the efficacy and influence of that Doctrine that he was come to deliver to the World commanding them to follow him as his immediate Disciples and Attendants who accordingly left all and followed him Shortly after S. Andrew together with the rest was called to the Office and Honour of the Apostolate made choice of to be one of those that were to be Christ's immediate Vicegerents for planting and propagating the Christian Church Little else is particularly recorded of him in the Sacred story being comprehended in the general account of the rest of the Apostles 3. AFTER our Lord's Ascension into Heaven and that the Holy Ghost had in its miraculous powers been plentifully shed upon the Apostles to fit them for the great errand they were to go upon to root out prophaneness and idolatry and to subdue the World to the Doctrine of the Gospel it is generally affirmed by the Ancients that the Apostles agreed among themselves by lot say some probably not without the special guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost what parts of the World they should severally take In this division S. Andrew had Scythia and the Neighbouring Conntries primarily allotted him for his Province First then he travelled through Cappadocia Galatia and Bithynia and instructed them in the Faith of Christ passing all along the Euxine Sea formerly called Axenus from the barbarous and inhospitable temper of the People thereabouts who were wont to sacrifice strangers and of their skulls to make Cups to drink in at their Feasts and Banquets and so into the solitudes of Scythia An ancient Author though whence deriving his intelligence I know not gives us a more particular account of his travels and transactions in these parts He tells us that he first came to Amynsus where being entertained by a Jew he went into the Synagogue discoursed to them concerning Christ and from the prophecies of the Old Testament proved him to be the Messiah and the Saviour of the World Having here converted and baptized many ordered their publick Meeting and ordained them Priests he went next to Trapezus a maritime City upon the Euxine Sea whence after many other places he came to Nice where he staid two Years Preaching and working Miracles with great success thence to Nicomedia and so to Chalcedon whence sailing through the Propontis he came by the Euxine Sea to Heraclea and from thence to Amastris in all which places he met with great difficulties and discouragements but overcame all with an invincible patience and resolution He next came to Sinope a City situate upon the same Sea a place famous both for the birth and burial of the great King Mithridates here as my Author reports from the Ancients 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he met with his Brother Peter with whom he staid a considerable time at this place as a Monument whereof he tells us that the Chairs made of white stone wherein they were wont to sit while they taught the People were still extant and commonly the wed in his time The Inhabitants of this City were most Jews who partly through zeal for their Religion partly through the barbarousness of their manners were quickly exasperated against the Apostle and contriving together attempted to burn the House wherein he sojourned however they treated him with all the instances of savage cruelty throwing him to the ground stamping upon him with their Feet pulling and dragging him from place to place some beating him with Clubs others pelting him with stones and some the better to satisfie their revenge biting off his Flesh with their Teeth till apprehending they had fully dispatched him they cast him out of the City But he miraculously recovered and publickly returned into the City whereby and by some other Miracles which he wrought amongst them he reduced many to a better mind converting them to the Faith Departing hence he went again to Amynsus and then to Trapezus thence to Neocaesarea and to Samosata the birth-place of the witty but impious Lucian where having baffled the acute and wise Philosophers he purposed to return to Jerusalem Whence after some time he betook himself to his former Provinces travelling to the Country of the Abasgi where at Sebastople situate upon the Eastern shore of the Euxine Sea between the influx of the Rivers Phasis and Apsarus he successfully Preached the Gospel to the Inhabitants of that City Hence he removed into the Country of the Zecchi and the Bosphorani part of the Asiatick Scythia or Sarmatia but finding the Inhabitants very barbarous and intractable he staid not long among them only at Cherson or Chersonesus a great and populous City within the Bosphorus he continued some time instructing and confirming them in the Faith Hence taking Ship he sailed cross the Sea to Sinope to encourage and confirm the Churches which he had lately planted in those parts and here he ordained Philologus formerly one of S. Paul's Disciples Bishop of that City 4. HENCE he came to Byzantium since called Constantinople where he instructed them in the knowledge of the Christian Religion founded a Church for Divine worship and ordained Stachys whom S. Paul calls his beloved Stachys first Bishop of that place Baronius indeed is unwilling to believe this desirous to engross the honour of it to S. Peter whom he will have to have been the first Planter of Christianity in these parts But besides that Baronius his authority is very slight and insignificant in this case as we have before noted in S. Peter's Life this matter is expresly asserted not only by Nicephorus Callistus but by another Nicephorus Patriarch of Constantinople and who therefore may be presumed knowing in his Predecessors in that See Banished out of the City by him who at that time usurped the Government he fled to Argyropolis a place near at hand where he preached the Gospel for two Years together with good success converting great Numbers to the Faith After this he travelled over Thrace Macedonia Thessaly Achaia Nazianzen adds Epyrus in all which places for many Years he preached and propagated Christianity and confirmed the Doctrine that he taught with great signs and miracles at last he came to
It succeeded in the room of that ancient punishment Aqua igni inter dicere to interdict a Person the use of Fire and Water the two great and necessary conveniences of Man's life whereby was tacitly implied that he must for his own defence betake himself into banishment it being unlawful for any to accommodate him with Lodging or Diet or any thing necessary to the support of life This banishing into Islands was properly called Deportatio and was the worst and severest kind of exile whereby the criminal forfeited his Estate and being bound and put on Ship-board was by publick Officers transported into some certain Island which none but the Emperor himself might assign there to be confined to perpetual banishment The place of our S. John's banishment was not Ephesus as Chrysostome by a great mistake makes it but Patmos a disconsolate Island in the Archipelago where he remained several Years instructing the Inhabitants in the Faith of Christ. Here it was about the latter end of Domitian's Reign as Irenaeus tells us that he wrote his Apocalypse or Book of Revelations wherein by frequent Visions and Prophetical representments he had a clear Scheme and Prospect of the state and condition of Christianity in the future Periods and Ages of the Church Which certainly was not the least instance of that kindness and favour which our Lord particularly shew'd to this Apostle and it seemed very suitable at this time that the goodness of God should over-power the malice of Men and that he should be entertained with the more immediate converses of Heaven who was now cut off from all ordinary conversation and society with Men. In a Monastery of Caloires or Greek Monks in this Island they shew a dead Man's hand at this day the Nails of whose Fingers grow again as oft as they are paired which the Turks will have to be the hand of one of their Prophets while the Greeks constantly affirm it to have been the hand of S. John wherewith he wrote the Revelations and probably both true alike 6. DOMITIAN whose prodigious wickednesses had rendred him infamous and burdensome to the World being taken out of the way Cocceius Nerva succeeded in the Empire a prudent Man and of a milder and more sober temper He rescinded the odious Acts of his Predecessor and by publick Edict recalled those from banishment whom the fury of Domitian had sent thither S. John taking the advantage of this general Indulgence left Patmos and returned into Asia his ancient charge but chiefly fixed his Seat at Ephesus the care and presidency whereof Timothy their Bishop having been lately martyr'd by the People for perswading them against their Heathen-Feasts and Sports especially one called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein was a mixture of debauchery and idolatry he took upon him and by the assistance of seven Bishops governed that large spacious Diocese Nicephorus adds that he not only managed the affairs of the Church ordered and disposed the Clergy but erected Churches which surely must be meant of Oratories and little places for their solemn conventions building Churches in the modern notion not being consistent with the poverty and persecution of Christians in those early times Here at the request of the Bishops of Asia he wrote his Gospel they are Authors of no credit and value that make it written during his confinement in the Isle of Patmos with very solemn preparation whereof more when we come to consider the Writings which he left behind him 7. HE lived till the time of Trajan about the beginning of whose Reign he departed this Life very Aged about the Ninety-eighth or Ninety-ninth Year of his Life as is generally thought Chrysostome is very positive that he was an Hundred years old when he wrote his Gospel and that he liv'd full Twenty years after The same is affirmed by Dorotheus that he lived CXX Years which to me seems altogether improbable seeing by this account he must be Fifty Years of Age when called to be an Apostle a thing directly contrary to the whole consent and testimony of Antiquity which makes him very young at the time of his calling to the Apostolick Office He died says the Arabian in the expectation of his blessedness by which he means his quiet and peaceable departure in opposition to a violent and bloody death Indeed Theophylact and others before him conceive him to have died a Martyr upon no other ground than what our Saviour told him and his Brother that they should drink of the Cup and be baptized with the Baptism wherewith he was baptized which Chrysostom strictly understands of Martyrdom and a bloudy death It was indeed literally verified of his Brother James and for him though as S. Hierom observes he was not put to death yet may he be truly stiled a Martyr his being put into a Vessel of boiling Oil his many Years banishment and other sufferings in the cause of Christ justly challenging that honourable title though he did not actually lay down his life for the testimony of the Gospel it being not want of good will either in him or his enemies but the Divine Providence immediately over-ruling the powers of Nature that kept the malice of his enemies from its full execution 8. OTHERS on the contrary are so far from admitting him to die a Martyr that they question nay peremptorily deny that he ever died at all The first Assertor and that but obliquely that I find of this opinion was Hippolytus Bishop of Porto and Scholar to Clemens of Alexandria who ranks him in the same capacity with Enoch and Elias for speaking of the twofold coming of Christ he tells us that his first coming in the flesh had John the Baptist for its forerunner and his second to Judgment shall have Enoch Elias and S. John Ephrem Patriarch of Antioch is more express he tells us there are three Persons answerable to the three dispensations of the word yet in the body Enoch Elias and S. John Enoch before the Law Elias under the Law and S. John under the Gospel concerning which last that he never died he confirms both from Scripture and Tradition and quotes S. Cyrill I suppose he means him of Alexandria as of the same opinion The whole foundation upon which this Error is built was that discourse that passed between our Lord and Peter concerning this Apostle For Christ having told Peter what was to be his own fate Peter enquires what should become of S. John knowing him to be the Disciple whom Jesus loved Our Lord rebukes his curiosity by asking him what that concerned him If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee This the Apostles misunderstood and a report presently went out amongst them That that Disciple should not die Though S. John who himself records the passage inserts a caution That Jesus did not say he should not die but only what if I will
Patmos It was of old not only rejected by Hereticks but controverted by many of the Fathers themselves Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria has a very large discourse concerning it he tells us that many plainly disowned this Book not only for the matter but the Author of it as being neither Apostle no nor any Holy or Ecclesiastical Person that Cerinthus prefixed John's name to it to give the more plausible title to his Dream of Christ's Reign upon Earth and that sensual and carnal state that should attend it that for his part he durst not reject it looking upon it as containing wise and admirable mysteries though he could not fathom and comprehend them that he did not measure them by his own line nor condemn but rather admire what he could not understand that he owned the Author to have been an holy and divinely-inspired Person but could not believe it to be S. John the Apostle and Evangelist neither stile matter nor method agreeing with his other Writings that in this he frequently names himself which he never does in any other that there were several Johns at that time and two buried at Ephesus the Apostle and another one of the Disciples that dwelt in Asia but which the Author of this Book he leaves uncertain But though doubted of by some it was entertained by the far greater part of the Ancients as the genuine work of our S. John Nor could the setting down his Name be any reasonable exception for whatever he might do in his other Writings especially his Gospel where it was less necessary Historical matters depending not so much upon his authority yet it was otherwise in Prophetick Revelations where the Person of the Revealer adds great weight and moment the reason why some of the Prophets under the Old Testament did so frequently set down their own Names The diversity of the stile is of no considerable value in this case it being no wonder if in arguments so vastly different the same Person did not always observe the same tenor and way of writing whereof there want not instances in some others of the Apostolick Order The truth is all circumstances concur to intitle our Apostle to be the Author of it his name frequently expressed its being written in the Island of Patmos a circumstance not competible to any but S. John his stiling himself their Brother and Companion in Tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ his writing particular Epistles to the seven Churches of Asia all planted or at least cultivated by him the doctrine in it suitable to the Apostolick spirit and temper evidently bearing witness in this case That which seems to have given ground to doubt concerning both its Author and authority was its being long before it was usually joyned with the other Books of the holy Canon for containing in it some passages directly levell'd at Rome the Seat of the Roman Empire others which might be thought to symbolize with some Jewish dreams and figments it might possibly seem fit to the prudence of those Times for a while to suppress it Nor is the conjecture of a learned Man to be despised who thinks that it might be entrusted in the keeping of John the Presbyter Scholar to our Apostle whence probably the report might arise that he who was only the Keeper was the Author of it 15. HIS Gospel succeeds written say some in Patmos and published at Ephesus but as Irenaeus and others more truly written by him after his return to Ephesus composed at the earnest intreaty and solicitation of the Asian Bishops and Ambassadors from several Churches in order whereunto he first caused them to proclaim a general Fast to seek the blessing of Heaven on so great and solemn an undertaking which being done he set about it And if we may believe the report of Gregory Bishop of Tours he tells us that upon a Hill near Ephesus there was a Proseucha or uncovered Oratory whither our Apostle used often to retire for Prayer and Contemplation and where he obtained of God that it might not Rain in that Place till he had finished his Gospel Nay he adds that even in his time no shower or storm ever came upon it Two causes especially contributed to the writing of it the one that he might obviate the early heresies of those times especially of Ebion Cerinthus and the rest of that crew who began openly to deny Christ's Divinity and that he had any existence before his Incarnation the reason why our Evangelist is so express and copious in that subject The other was that he might supply those passages of the Evangelical History which the rest of the Sacred Writers had omitted Collecting therefore the other three Evangelists he first set to his Seal ratifying the truth of them with his approbation and consent and then added his own Gospel to the rest principally insisting upon the Acts of Christ from the first commencing of his Ministery to the Death of John the Baptist wherein the others are most defective giving scarce any account of the first Year of our Saviour's Ministry which therefore he made up in very large and particular Narrations He largely records as Nazianzen observes our Saviour's discourses but takes little notice of his Miracles probably because so fully and particularly related by the rest The subject of his writing is very sublime and mysterious mainly designing to prove Christ's Divinity eternal pre-existence creating of the World c. Upon which account Theodoret stiles his Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Theology which humane understandings can never fully penetrate and find out Thence generally by the Ancients he is resembled to an Eagle soaring aloft within the Clouds whither the weak eye of Man was unable to follow him hence peculiarly honoured with the Title of The Divine as if due to none but him at least to him in a more eminent and extraordinary manner Nay the very Gentile-Philosophers themselves could not but admire his Writings Witness Amelius the famous Platonist and Regent of Porphyries School at Alexandria who quoting a passage out of the beginning of John's Gospel sware by Jupiter that this Barbarian so the proud Greeks counted and called all that differed from them had hit upon the right notion when he affirmed that the Word that made all things was in the beginning and in place of prime dignity and authority with God and was that God that created all things in whom every thing that was made had according to its nature its life and being that he was incarnate and clothed with a body wherein he manifested the glory and magnificence of his nature that after his death he returned to the repossession of Divinity and became the same God which he was before his assuming a body and taking the humane nature and flesh upon him I have no more to observe but that his Gospel was afterwards translated into Hebrew and kept by
the Great He sat 23 Nicephorus says 28. years JERUSALEM THE Church of Jerusalem may in some sence be said to have been founded by our Lord himself as it was for some time cultivated and improved by the Ministery of the whole Colledge of Apostles The Bishops of it were as followeth I. S. James the Less the Brother of our Lord by him say some immediately constituted Bishop but as others more probably by the Apostles He was thrown off the Temple and knock'd on the head with a Fullers Club. II. Symeon the son of Cleopas brother to Joseph our Lord 's reputed Father He sat in this Chair 23. years and suffered martyrdom in the reign of Trajan in the one hundred and twentieth year of his Age. III. Justus succeeded in his room and sat 6. years IV. Zachaeus or as Nicephorus the Patriarch calls him Zacharias 4. V. Tobias to him after 4. years succeeded VI. Benjamin who sat 2. years VII John who continued the same space VIII Matthias or Matthaeus 2. years IX Philippus one Year next came X. Seneca who sat 4. years XI Justus 4. XII Levi or Lebes 2. XIII Ephrem or Ephres or as Epiphanius stiles him Vaphres 2. XIV Joseph 2. XV. Judas 2. Most of these Bishops we may observe to have sat but a short time following one another with a very quick succession Which doubtless was in a great measure owing to the turbulent unquiet humour of the Jewish Nation frequently rebelling against the Roman powers whereby they provoked them to fall heavy upon them and cut off all that came in their way making no distinction between Jews and Christians as indeed they were all Jews though differing in the Rites of their Religion For hitherto the Bishops of Jerusalem had successively been of the Circumcision the Church there having been intirely made up of Jewish converts But Jerusalem being now utterly laid waste and the Jews dispersed into all other Countries the Gentiles were admitted not onely into the body of that Church but even into the Episcopal chair The first whereof was XVI Marcus who sat 8. years XVII Cassianus 8. XVIII Publius 5. XIX Maximus 4. XX. Julianus 2. XXI Caianus 3. XXII Symmachus 2. XXIII Caius 3. XXIV Julianus 4. XXV Elias 2. I find not this Bishop mentioned by Eusebius but he is recorded by Nicephorus of Constantinople XXVI Capito 4. XXVII Maximus 4. XXVIII Antoninus 5. XXIX Valens 3. XXX Dulichianus 2. XXXI Narcissus 4. He was a man of eminent piety famous for the great miracles which he wrought but not being able to bear the aspersions which some unjustly cast upon him though God signally and miraculously vindicated his innocency he left his Church and retired into desarts and solitudes In his absence was chosen XXXII Dius who sat 8. years After him XXXIII Germanio 4. XXXIV Gordius 5. In his time Narcissus as one from the dead returned from his solitudes and was importuned by the People again to take the government of the Church upon him being highly reverenced by them both for his strict and Philosophical course of life and the signal vengeance which God took of his accusers And in this second administration he continued 10. years suffering martyrdom when he was near 120. years old To relieve the infirmities of his great Age they took in to be his Colleague XXXV Alexander formerly Bishop in Cappadocia who at that time had out of devotion taken a pilgrimage to Jerusalem the choice being extraordinarily designed by a particular revelation from Heaven He was an eminent Confessor and after having sat 15. Years died in Prison under the Decian Persecution By him Origen was ordained Presbyter He was a great Patron of Learning as well as Religion a studious preserver of the Records of the Church He erected a Library at Jerusalem which he especially furnished with the Writings and Epistles of Ecclesiastical Persons And out of this treasury it was that Eusebius borrowed a great part of his materials for the composing of his History XXXVI Mazabanes 9. years XXXVII Hymenaeus 23. XXXVIII Zabdas 10. XXXIX Hermon 9. He was as Eusebius tells us the last Bishop of this See before that fatal Persecution that rag'd even in his time XL. Macarius ordain'd Ann. Christ. CCCXV. He was present in the great Nicene Council He sat says Nicephorus of Constantinople 20. years but S. Hierom allows him a much longer time BYZANTIUM afterwards called CONSTANTINOPLE THAT this Church was first founded by S. Andrew we have shewed in his Life The succession of its Bishops was as followeth I. S. Andrew the Apostle He was crucified at Patrae in Achaia II. Stachys whom S. Paul calls his beloved Stachys ordained Bishop by S. Andrew he sat 16. years III. Onesimus 14. IV. Polycarpus 17. V. Plutarchus 16. VI. Sedecio 9. VII Diogenes 15. Of the last three no mention is made in Nicephorus of Constantinople but they are delivered by Nicephorus Callistus lib. 8. c. 6. p. 540. VIII Eleutherius 7. IX Felix 5. X. Polycarpus 17. XI Athenodorus 4. He erected a Church called Elea afterwards much beautified and enlarged by Constantine the Great XII Euzoius 16. Though Nicephorus Callistus allow but 6. XIII Laurentius 11. Years and 6. months XIV Alypius 13. XV. Pertinax a man of Consular dignity he built another Church near the Sea-side which he called Peace He sat 19. years which Nicephorus Callistus reduces to 9. XVI Olympianus 11. XVII Marcus 13. XVIII Cyriacus or Cyrillianus 16. XIX Constantinus 7. In the first year of his Bishoprick he built a Church in the North part of the City which he dedicated to the honour of Euphemia the Martyr who had suffered in that Place In this Oratory he spent the remainder of his life quitting his Episcopal Chair to XX. Titus who sat 35. years and 6. months though Nicephorus Callistus makes it 37. years After him came XXI Dometius Brother as they tell us to the Emperor Probus he was Bishop 21. years 6. months XXII Probus succeeded his Father Dometius and sat 12. Years As after him XXIII Metrophanes his brother who governed that Church 10. Years And in his time it was that Constantine translated the Imperial Court hither enlarged and adorned it called it after his own name and made it the seat of the Empire XXIV Alexander succeeded a man of great piety and integrity zealous and constant in maintaining the truth against the blasphemies of Arius He sat 23. years ALEXANDRIA THE foundations of this Church were laid and a great part of its superstructure rais'd by S. Mark who though not strictly and properly an Apostle yet being an Apostle at large and immediately commissionated by S. Peter it justly obtained the honour of an Apostolical Church Its Bishops and Governours are thus recorded I. S. Mark the Evangelist of whose Travels and Martyrdom we have spoken in his Life Nicephorus of Constantinople makes him to sit two years II. Anianus charactered by Eusebius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man beloved of God and