The necessity of providing for the salvation of the Gentils who were endangered by that action of Saint Peter to be aversed from the Gospel and the troubles again to be revived which the Councel had happily quieted obliged him who was their Apostle to tax in publique a publique conduct which he judged not to be conformable to to the verity of the Gospel But we must also admire the generous and profound humility of him upon whom our Lord had founded the building of his Church that he endured so mildely and with such patience a publique correction without either alledging his Rank or his good intentions in defence of what he had done Certainly he who was reprehended in this manner appears more admirable then he who reprehended him and much harder to imitate for it is more facile to see in another that which is ill and correct it then to see what is fit to be corrected in ones selfe and quietly to endure reproach for it in the face of al the faithful who by that action might have a less good opinion of him then they had before This Dispute which made no diminution of charity amongst those who propose nothing for the end of all their actions but the glory of God was presently followed with another Dispute which also dis-united not their hearts though it did their persons St. Paul judging it fit to visit the Churches where he and Barnabas had preached acquainted him with his designe he presently approved of it knowing well that those new Plants stood in need of being cultivated by the same hands which had planted and watred them with so much labour But he was of opinion it was fit to take to their companion John sirnamed Mark. The Apostle held this choice neither reasonable nor profitable because he had left them in Pamphilia and came not with them to those Townes which they were to visit and so consequently being a stranger to all things there and unknown he could not labour there with profit Barnaby wanted not reasons for his opinion so that not agreeing they chose rather to sever themselves and divide betwixt them the imployment of their Ministery and this no doubt by the conduct of the Holy Ghost which brought great advantages to the places where they preached by their separation The Apostle by this rigour towards St. Mark intended to make him know the fault he had committed in leaving them whether it was for the apprehension of discommodities he was to suffer or for some other reason which Saint Luke sets not down or perhaps foreseeing he was to run more dangers and greater discommodities then before and fearing he might not have sufficient courage to resist so that abandoning them the second time it would encrease the shame of what he had formerly done Barnaby on the other side who loved him as his Kinsman thought this weakness of his was to be forgotten and that he ought to be received againe into their company to give him meanes thereby to repair his errour Thus each of them had most pure intentions and far from any particular or self-interests But in the event Mark profited by Saint Pauls severity and in his Epistle to the Colossians he speaks of him as one of his deare disciples The Apostles thus separated Barnaby and Mark took the way of Cyprus Tradition sayes he came into Italy and there founded the Church of Milan Ancient Ecclesiastical Authors cite an Epistle under his name which contains most holy instructions Some have attributed to him that Epistle which is directed to the Hebrews and received by the Church into the number of Apostolical and Canonical Letters But we will speak of this difficulty in another place The Apostle having chosen Silas for his companion took leave of the faithfull of Antioch who could not part with him without much sorrow being very sensible of his charitable obligations towards them He passed through Syria and Cilicia and in all places where he came confirmed and exhorted all the Christians to continue firme in their faith and in the observation of the Apostolical Decrees newly published In Listris a Disciple of our Lord named Timothy the son of Eunice a Iew by Nation and of a Father that was a Centile lived in so great fame and sanctity that the Inhabitants and those of Iconium had him in great esteem This man he took along with him and lest the Iewes who accompanied him might murmur and also to open him a way the better to announce the Gospel unto others he circumcised him In all places where he passed the efficacy of his speech not onely confirmed the faithfull but converted unbeleevers and produced dayly to the Church a notable increase The Holy Ghost was their guide and it was by his command that passing by Phrygia and Galatia they preached not there If one should ask the reason of it humane wisdome would be at a stand but true piety will acknowledge that she knowes no other then the will of God who owing to none the light of the Gospel injures not any from whom by a hidden judgement this heavenly ray is with-held or to whom it is not discovered before the time he has ordained Being in Mysia they meant to goe to Bithinia but the Spirit of Jesus would not suffer them Having therefore traverst Mysia they descended into the Town of Troad where in the night the Apostle had this Vision A man attired after the Macedonian manner appeared and spake to him in an humble and ardent way Come into Macedonia and assist us This was an evident proofe to him that it was the will of God he should preach the Gospel in that Country He would not therefore defer it but the next morning embarked himself with his company to whom Luke the Evangelist who penned the Acts of the Apostles was joyned From Troad they cam directly to the Isle of Samothrace from thence to Neapolis and afterwards to Phillipis a famous City of Macedonia and then a Colony of the Romans It was there he began to preach the Gospel carrying himselfe with great prudence because the Inhabitants were almost all Gentiles living under the Roman Lawes and under an Emperour enemy to the Jewes who were there but in a small number so that a little Oratory without the Towne was sufficient for their Assembly Upon a Sabbath-day the Apostle went thither and speaking to some women whom he there met there was one of them called Lidia whose Trade was to dye purple the heart of this woman God opened to receive the Doctrine which Saint Paul announced He baptized her and all her Family She willing in some manner to acknowledge the great grace which she had received by his Ministery said unto him If you beleeve that I am truly faithfull to our Lord grace me so much as to retire into my house The Apostle granted her that consolation and came to lodge in her house Not long after as he went with Silas to the place of
himself with their Wool But all that was permitted seemed not to him expedient to do he would take away from the enemies of the Gospell all manner of pretexts that they should not accuse him of seeking his own interest or making a Commerce of his preaching He would preserve this glory to have announced the Gospell gratis to them by that means might speak with more liberty Many spiritual directours ought to consider this great example of disingagement if they imitate it with prudence and courage their conduct would be more honourable to them more profitable to those whom they govern and more advantagious to the honour of the Church The Apostle esteemed not this corporal exercise to be any reproach to his condition since it did not any way hinder him from his times of prayer or from the Function of his Ministry Every Sabboth day he preached in the Synagogue of the Jewes and made it appear to them as well as to the Greekes that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and true God Silas and Timothy being come from Thesalonica he found himself more then usually moved by the Spirit of God to speak his zeal was enkindled a new and he preached with more efficacy to those of his Nation the Divinity of his Master But when he perceived that instead of profiting by his words they remained more obstinate and uttered more horrible blasphemies against Jesus Christ he shaked his garments and told them Your blood be upon your own heads I have my hands clean and I will goe from this Country and carry to the Gentiles this light which you refuse This familiar fashion of speech to the Hebrewes was as much as to say that he had done all that lay in him to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and they would not believe him therefore he should not be responsable for their perdition which was infallible At the same instant he changed his lodging and retired himself to lodge with an honest man called Titus Justus one who feared God whose house was neer to the place where the Jewes used to assemble Crispus who was Prince of the Synagogue imbraced the Gospell and all his family and many more of the City were also baptized This good success gave incouragement to the Apostle and to augment it our Saviour appeared to him in a vision saying Fear nothing speak boldly take heed you hold not your peace for I am with you and none shall be able to hurt you I have many people in this Town The event made him know the truth of this revelation He remained eighteen moneths in Corinth and in that time the Church was exceedingly increased by the conversion of divers persons of all sorts He preached continually and in the first Epistle which he wrote afterwards to them he shews that in declaring the Gospel to them He made no use of the flowers of humane eloquence nor arguments of Philosophy for fear they might extinguish the vertue of the Cross which wants not the art of words to perswade the belief of it He puts them in minde that he exercised his Ministry amongst them with fear and with humility and that he pretended to know no other thing but Jesus Christ crucified that he did not feed them with solid meat but with milke because they were not capable of other nourishment We know not the particular things which he did at Corinth nor what he endured there for the name of Jesus Christ He onely sayes that the marks of his Apostleship amongst the Corinthians were many paines which he suffered with a long patience and that many miracles were wrought in confirmation of his Doctrine The Jews who were never weary of persecuting him found notinâ— Gallion the Proconsul of Achaya and Brother of Seneca the Philosopher a Spirit that would easily imbrace the injustice of their passions to him they presented the Apostle and accused him of teaching a religious worship contrary to their Law But no sooner the accused offered to open his mouth in his own defence when Gallion told them that if they would complain of any evil action he had committed he would hear and do them justice but if it onely concerned some controversies of their Religion he would not meddle in it but leave the Judgement of it to themselves With this answer he dismissed them And they in a fury fell upon Sosthenes Prince of the Synagogue who was a Christian nor did the Consul hinder them from the prosecution of that insolent cruelty Saint Paul makes mention of this Sosihenes in the salutation of his first Epistle to the Corinthians and speaks of him as of his Companion which shewes he was considerable both to the Apostle and to that Church which he had care to instruct it may be also from him that Saint Paul understood of their disorders which obliged him to write unto them Some Authors make him Bishop of Colophone The Apostle applied not himself so much to the salvation of the Inhabitants of Corinth that he forgat the other Churches and when he understood the necessities of the Church of Thessalonica he wrote two Epistles to them in a short time one after another His designe in the first Epistle was to confirm the faithful in the profession of the Gospel and to instruct them in the mystery of the Resurrection to the end they might take courage in their present and future persecutions He commended them for having made so great a progress in faith the report whereof was spread every where and that they served for an example to other Churches Afterwards he puts them in minde of his manner of preaching how free it was from any self-interest never consenting to be any burthen to them He expresses to them a great desire to see them again and assures them that he continually remembers them in his Prayers He exhorts them not to be sad for the death of their Parents or Friends as the Gentiles are who doe not believe the happiness of a future life nor have any hope to be rejoyned unto them again That the death of Christians is but as it were a sleep that Jesus Christ who is their head being risen again they who are his members shall also rise at the last day at the voice of the Arch-Angel and at the-sound of a Trumpet they shall be lifted up in the Aire and goe before our Lord who shall come in his glory to pronounce the last sentence of eternall happiness or eternall misery to men that his Elect shall follow him into Heaven where they shall live eternally with him in an unspeakable felicity Many not comprehending well that which he sayed of this last Judgement conceived strange fears which were increased by the imprudence or malice of some false Doctors who preached that this last day was neer at hand This caused him to write unto them a second Epistle to dissipate those fears which troubled them to fortifie them against those persecutions which they
there in the world any thing comparable to the glory of her Temple All Nations acknowledge this and these things being without dispute you need not fear any can attempt against the honour of that Divinity which you serve therefore take heed you undertake nothing rashly It is certaine these men whom you have brought hither to destroy are not guilty of any blasphemy against your Goddess Wherefore if Demetrius and those of his trade which follow him have any dispute with them why should you for their particular interest make this a generall cause Are there not persons ordained to decide causes and Magistrates who have power and ought to determine such differences But if there be question of any other thing you must remit the clearing of it to a lawfull Assemby and not treat of it in this which seemes to be altogether seditious Consider therefore well that we are responsable for the evill which may happen upon this and we run the hazard to be accused of sedition since we can give no good account of this dayes tumult This discourse appeased the people and happily saved the disciples of the Apostle who took resolution to leave this City that he might execute his former design of visiting the Churches of Achaia Macedonia and goe to Hierusalem from whence he proposed to himselfe to goe to Rome but without doubt in another manner then we shall see him conducted thither He left his dearly beloved Timothy to governe the Church of Ephesus whom Eusebius will have to be the first Bishop of that place He remained with them near three years and during that time Apollo of whom we have spoken came to Corinth to preach the Gospel the which he performed with so much eloquence as many taken therewith and judging of things only by apparance beâ—an to despise the Apostle who had taught them the same verities but in a more plain way accommâ—dated to their weakness Those who loved the memory of their first Master and remembred his holy waâ—… of struction defended him with a little too much heat insomuch as their Church began to be in some danger of Schisme the sequel whereof might have proved very dangerous Besides this disorder there was a man amongst them who had abused the wife of his Father They differed also much in opinions about the use of meates offered to Idols and there was some abuse in the banquets which they call Agapes that is to say Charitable where they took irreverently the Holy Eucharist There was moreover a great division amongst them by reason of Sutes of Law pleaded before Judges that were Gentiles these brought a scandal upon the Doctrine of the Gospel which recommends to the Professors nothing more then charity and the contempt of worldly goods These disorders obliged Saint Paul to write his first Epistle to the Corinthians There he fulminates excommunication against incestuous persons even to the terrour of the most confident and to let them know what they were to expect for it was neither out of the heat of zeale nor interest or compliance but to vindicate the honour of the Church and to save him whom for a time it was necessary to put into the hands of the Devil to the end he might not for ever remain so He rebukes the Corinthians who by their bitterness in Law-Sutes dishonoured the name of Jesus Christ And told them It was very ill done to plead one against another but much worse and more considerrable to doe it before Judges who were Idolaters That they ought rather to choose the meanest persons of the Church to accord their differences who would be capable enough to judge of such temporall things the Faithfull being onely to judge the World and the Devils He put them in minde that before Baptisme they were soyled with abominable ordures but by their spiritual regeneration they were become the Temples of God and the members of Jesus Christ therefore this glorious quality obliged them to be pure and that their bodies were not given to serve fornication it being not their part to dispose of them but our Lord and that God would raise them again He instructs married people also to use marriage as a holy thing and permits them to separate themselves that they may be vacant in prayer which he means should be done but for a term of time and then to return to their conjugall society as an innocent remedy against incontinence Notwithstanding he protests that he permits it them by indulgence because the severity of Christian Lawes in marriage allow the use of it onely for the generation of children but mans infirmity requires it that he might resist temptations so that as Saint Augustine hath since said the sanctity of Nuptials render pardonable that which properly appertains not to marriages From this Subject he passes to treat of Virginity which he councels by his example and by reason in that it does perfectly withdraw one from the tye of creatures and cares of the World Those who are of opinion that S. Paul was married should doe well to blot out the words he sets down in this Epistle if they will defend so new and ill grounded an opinion Notwithstanding he leaves this Angelical rather then humane forme of life under the bare terms of Counsel and protests there is no precept of our Lord for it that he onely counsels it as believing it better and of more advantage to the Corinthians He exhorts Widows to continue in their widowhood and if they cannot keep the purity of that state to espouse themselves to our Lord that is to say with a Christian intention and with such as believe in Jesus Christ and not for sensuality Concerning meats offered to Idols he teaches them that the use is indifferent in it self but yet they ought to abstain from them lest the simple people who conceive them forbidden should be scandalized to see them eaten and they themselves may thereby take occasion to eat them after a superstitious manner To confirme this Document he represents unto them That in delivering them the Gespel he would not suffer them to furnish him with necessaries for his subsistence although he had right to receive nay indeed to require it That he seemed to be a Jew amongst the Jewes and not to observe the Law amongst those that knew not the Law In fine that he made himselfe all things to all to gaine all men to God But there is nothing he reproves with so much fervour as the irreverence which they committed before their approach to the Holy Table He shewes the institution of the Eucharist and sayes That as often as we eat it we announce the death of our Lord untill his comming again that is to say this Sacrament is the lively commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ and so a participation of his body and blood offered upon the Cross He concludes That he who drinks and eats this unworthily is guilty of the body and bloud of our Lord
which is to say he defiles the most holy thing under Heaven and upon Earth He participates in the offence of those Executioners that fastened him to the Cross He crucifies him after a more outragious manner prophaning a Mystery wherein he is to be adored and placing him in a heart corrupted with sin as if he were at the mercy of his enemies and still carried about him the likeness of sin he who lives by the life of God and resides in the bosome of his Father Hence he commands them diligently to examine themselves before they eat of this heavenly bread and drink of this holy cup lest being not well prepared they drink and eat their judgement that is to say receive Jesus Christ as a Judge whom they intend to receive as a Physitian and make it the food of death which ought to be a nourishment of life Certainly if those who goe so slightly to the holy Communion and who seem to fear a too exact discussion would attentively consider the words and threats which the Apopostle fulminates in this behalfe they would be more wary They would be seized with a beneficial apprehension and easily confess that our dispositions to a worthy receiving cannot be too pure and consequently those who communicate cannot be too exact that severity in this affair is less dangerous then any compliance or remisness It were to be wished that Christians would communicate every day as they did in the Infancy of the Church but then their lives should be also answerable to those Faithful of the Primitive times It is very good often to participate thereof but then we must make our profit by that participation for the Table of our Lord cannot be joyned with that of Devils that is to say the use of the body of the Son of God cannot consist with the love of vanity greatness and pleasures of the world which are enemies to the Sonne of God These irreverences of the Corinthians which Saint Paul mentions were but slight it was onely some excess of drinking and eating in the Assemblies where they communicated What wonld he have said if he had found them full of impurity envy vanity and ambition In his Epistle after he had regulated those things of most importance he sets down also how they should employ their free-graces as the gift of speaking al sorts of tongues of interpreting holy Scriptures of foretelling things to come and such like That he would have the rule of their actions to be the the glory of God and the good of their Neighbour and to the end they might love that Charity which he teaches them he makes an admirable discription of it whence it appears his heart did perfectly possesse that which he set forth with so much grace and efficacy Towards the end of the Epistle he treats of the great mystery of the Resurrection of the condition of a new life after the end of the world of the new raign of God over Jesus Christ and over the Elect of his ineffable residing in them by the which he shall be all things to them He explicates to the ignorant the Resurrection by comparison of a grain of Corne which rests in the earth where it is sowed and afterwards springs up and produces many ears of Corne nay ears of another kinde then the grain from whence they come the Corne being sowed without those coverings of straw and the ears comming together with the straw the which he applies to the difference of the state of a body before and after Resurrection He explicates this mystery which so much care that he might correct the errors of Cerinthus and Basilides the one of them teaching that Jesus Christ was not seen againe and the other that men should not rise again after death This explication of the Doctrin of the first Epistle to the Corinthians in my opinion will not be unprofitable to the Reader But now let us return to the course of our narration and follow Saint Paul into Macedonia which he traversed all over and carefully left not any Church unvisited to confirme there the faithful in the Evangelical Doctrine After that he took the way to Greece by Sea and in the course of his Voyage established Titus his beloved Disciple Bishop of the Isle of Creet now called Candia The customes there observed were so infamous luxury and other vices abounded there with so much impudency as a Doctor no lesse vigilant and couragious then he was necessary to abolish them and establish their contrary vertues The Apostle before his departure gave him profitable Documents and soon after wrote unto him excellent instructions how to discharge well the duties of his Episcopacy From Nicopolis where he passed the winter he sent a second Epistle to the Corinthians in which he takes off the Excommunication he had thundered out in his first against incestuous persons who had so much scandalized the Church He treats principally of the dignity of the Ministers of the New Testament and of the patience which they ought to have in their tribulations Hee seems to praise himselfe much in the eleventh Chapter where he speaks of himself of his pains and of his patience in termes contrary to the humility of an Apostle It is true according to the ordinary rules of humane wisdom t is odious to praise ones selfe and they are accused commonly of impudence that do it not blushing to speak those things of themselves which they would blush to heare another speak It is a kinde of usurpation by which we take away from those who are witnesses of our actions the liberty of judgeing of them and giving testimony of the esteem which they deserve For this reason the wise man in the Proverbs advertiseth the Prince whom he formes and all other men not to fall into this error Let a stranger saith he praise thee and not thine own Mouth Notwithstanding it is certain there are occasions when according to the rules of Divine and Humane wisdom it is not onely permitted but necessary for one to praise himself without offending modesty or giving any cause of reprehension more then in telling other truths To praise ones selfe to be praised is a shameful ambition To praise ones selfe to rob others of praise is an envy full of baseness But if one praise himself either in a just defence of his carriage against calumny or for the good of such as we are obliged to answer for before God or to discredit those who make ill use of their reputation or for the glory of the Ministery which is imposed upon us In such occasions I say when one praises himself he sinnes neither against wisedome nor modesty but does that which is just The great men of former Ages have used it in this manner and to alledge no examples but sacred Doc we not see that Job in his Book makes as well a Panegyrick of his patience as a Story of his miseries David in many of the Psalmes does he
publique prayer a young Maid in whom the Devil spake and foretold hidden things followed them and cryed out aloud severall times These men are the servants of Almighty God and they announce unto you the way of Salvation Saint Paul was angry to have this testimony from the Father of lyes wherefore turning himselfe towards this young Maid he said to the Devil I command thee in the name of Iesus Christ to goe out of this body and at the very instant he departed from her The Masters of this Divining Maid seeing themselves deprived of the great gaine which they made by her means laid hands on S. Paul and Silas and carried them before the Magistrates accusing them to be Iewes and that they sought to raise sedition in the City and to teach a Doctrine which was not lawfull for the Romans to embrace The people without any other information fall upon them and the Magistrates seconding their fury caused them to be cruelly whipt and after that punishment sent them to prison with express order there to be strictly guarded which the Goaler being rigorous enough of himselfe did easily obey He put them into a deep dungeon and tyed their feet in such sort that they could not stir But their minds were free though their bodies were not And thinking not of what they had suffered nor of what they might feare when every one slept they sung hymnes to God who presently manifested how pleasing they were unto him for the prison was shaken with a great Earthquake the gates opened of themselves and the chains of all the prisoners fell off The Goaler waking at this fearful noise and seeing all the doors open thought those he had in custody were all fled which so much troubled him knowing his life must pay for their escape that drawing out his sword he would have killed himself but Saint Paul cryed out with a loud voice Hurt not yonr selfe we are all here and not one of us thinks of escaping Those words brought the Goaler to himselfe and made him change the desperate desigâ—e he had taken And at the same time the grace of God assured him that the Earthquake which then happeâ—ed and the flying open of the prison-dores proceeded not from any natural cause and that those who from the dungeon could know what he was about to doe must needs be extraordinary men He lighted a candle and going into the dungeon where the Apostle was cast himselfe at his feet then led him and Silas into another room where being pressed by the secret impulse of his conscience he demanded of them what he was to doe that he might be saved They answered Beleeve in Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved After that they explicated to him and to all his Family in what this faith consisted The Goaler embracing it was baptised with his whole Family he wash'd their wounds as they had done those of his soule He presently caused the Table to be covered and gave his instructers to eat who had need of it and devoutly rejoyced with them for the great mercy which God had pleased to shew unto him by their means At break of day certain Officers came from the Magistrates into the prison and commanded the Goaler to free the prisoners they had sent thither the day before What sayes the Apostle after you have whipped innocent Citizens of Rome and without any forme of justice and after you have put them in prison doe you think to make them goe thus privately away without reparation as if they were culpable of some crime for which they had deserved to be so shamefully treated No we cannot doe so great an injury to our innocence Therefore let those who sent us hither come themselves if they will have us out The Judges informed of this discourse perceived the error they had committed the danger to which they were exposed in treating thus persons whom the priviledge of a Citizen exempted from the punishment of whipping For by Saint Pauls discourse they beleeved Silas had also the same priviledge although it was onely the Apostle that could claime it but they would not make this distinction to terrifie the more those who had so unjustly treated both of them for one same cause This answer caused them to come and entreat the prisoners with fair words to goe out of prison and out of the Town and to impute that which had happened to the sedition of the people for which they were very sorry The Apostles went away and returned to the house of Lidia where after they had stayed some time and recounted to the faithfull what had passed and by their discourse fortified their courage they left this ungrateful City and taking circuit through Amphipolis and Apollonia from thence went to Thessalonica St. Paul went into the Synagogue of the Jewes three Sabbath dayes successively according to the custome which he observed first of all to speak to those of his Nation He shewed them by the authority of Holy Scriptures and by a cleare Explication of the Prophets that Christ who was promised them had already suffered and was risen againe from the dead He announced unto them this Jesus Christ and that he was the true Messias whereupon some who were by Nation Jewes received the faith He converted a far greater number of Gentiles by birth who made profession of Iudaisme or who without observing the Law beleeved in one sole God and feared him for the Greek Text of the Acts may be explicated in this double sense and amongst them were divers women of condition who also embraced the Gospel The Iewes that remained obstinate unable to endure the success of the Apostles preaching gained some wicked men of the people by whose meanes they raised a sedition in the Town They came in great numbers to the house of Iason where Paul and Silas lodged and not finding them there discharged their rage upon their Host and dragged him out of doores together with some other faithfull before the Magistrates The pretence was that they had harboured seditious men who troubled the publique quiet and offended the Imperial Majesty of Caesar giving out that a certaine Jesus Christ was King The principal Citizens of Thessalonica and such of the people as understood this discourse were presently moved with choler but Iason so well satisfied them whether by assuring that those who were accused and brought before them had no more designe then himselfe to trouble the publique peace or whether it was by giving caution for their innocency and undertaking for their appearance the Text of the Acts not mentioning what satisfaction he gave that they dismissed him with the rest of his company Saint Paul makes mention of this Iason in his Epistle to the Romans and some Authors will have that he was afterwards Bishop of Tharsius When night was come the faithfull whom this danger had alarm'd conveyed Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica Those who performed this Office in perswading them to
retire so to preserve their lives very necessary for the good of the Church were of the most considerable persons in the City They had received the Doctrine of the Apostle with great fervour and would so firmly imprint it in their minde that every day they turned over the Books of the Holy Scripture which St. Paul had alledged not that they doubted of his sincerity but to confirm themselves by their owne knowledge in the beliefe of those verities which he had declared unto them The Apostles following the shoar of the Aegean Sea turning towards the South and leaving Pella a famous City in giving birth to Alexander they came to Beroe a City of Macedonia The newes flew as far as Thessalonica from whence the enemies of Saint Paul ran in great diligence and being arrived prefently stirred up the ignorant people against him who announced truth unto them This caused the faithful to conduct him to the Sea-shore some of them accompanied him as far as Athens where he was met by Silas and Timothy This City once famous for the Empire of Greece and Sciences after divers revolutions was fallen under the power of the Romans And although it was extreamly declined from its first splendor and particularly from that of Philosophy and other Disciplines for which Saint Greogory of Nazianzen calls it the seat and abode of Philosophy yet there was still conserved in it enough to make the Apostle judge that it was very important for the glory of God there to make known the verities of the Gospel Besides Learning which there flourished the Councel of the Areopagits Sovereign Judges of Important Affaires rendered it very famous but Idolatry dishonoured it For it seemed to glory in gathering together all the Idols of the World as if it feared onely not to be superstitious enough After they had erected Altars to the known Gods adored by other Nations they raised others to the unknown Gods of Europe Asia and Africa as some Authors write and according to others to the unknown God as it is set down in the Acts of the Apostles to the end they might forget no Divinity believing that a great plague had happened to them for their neglect to some unknown God Saint Paul beholding this City so miserably plunged in the impiety of false Gods found his heart warmed with a new zeale and touched with a most sensible griefe for the loss of so many soules He disputed in the Synagogues with the Iewes and the Proselytes and in publique places to those he met he spake of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ The Epicurean Philosophers and the Stoicks disputed often with him Saint Luke makes no mention of Professors of other Sects These cared not to embrace a Religion that spake of nothing but how to mortifie their senses and renounce the voluptuous pleasures of body and minde to follow Jesus crucified for they place their sovereign good in pleasure denying Divine Providence and the immortality of the soule which is the Basis of Religion They also were more alienated by the vanity of their Opinions for they acknowledging no corruption in humane nature by original sin in which they agreed with the other Philosophers went yet further making a God of their Wise man or rather a Devil of Pride He onely according to their imagination was knowing happy powerful exempt from errour unsensible of irregular passions King of all things and of himselfe and without need of any thing but from himself These principles were very contrary to the Doctrine preached by the Apostles which hath for foundation mans ignorance in his understanding and infirmity in his will whence it comes that of himselfe sin having put him into this condition he knowes not what is fit for him to doe and Iess able to performe when he comes to know it This double wound presupposed and experience having taught the Iewes that their Law could not cure them and likewise the Gentiles that neither the light of nature nor that of Sciences had the power to give them a real remedy it was not hard to dispose men to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ which brought with it perfect health for every one desires to be freed from errour and weakness when he comes to know that he is plunged into it And on the other side we slight Physitians when we think we have no need of them Even so did these two Sects of Philosophers of whom we speak who finding as they thought great absurdities in the Doctrine of the Apostle some of them called him a Talker that proposed things which he could not prove others said that he discoursed of new Spirits not being able to comprehend that which he preached of the resurrection of our Lord and of his Divinity This Contestation which dayly grew into more heat in the publique place of meeting was cause that they conducted Saint Paul before the Areopagites to the end he might more clearly explicate the doctrin which he taught the novelty whereof had stirred up the curiosity of the Athenians who had no other employment all the day then either to learn or debate newes The Apostle appeared in this place where all others used to tremble with a bold modesty There they asked him if they might hear this new Doctrine which he taught and when silence was made he spake in this manner Athenians I observe that in your religious worship you forget nothing nay therein you are exact even to excess For you are not content to adore those Gods you know and to whom all the Earth does render homage but passing by the publique place of meetings I saw an Altar with this Inscription To the unknown God You have not raised this Altar but with designe to honour this unknown God and this day my designe is to make him known unto you Wherefore since I am to speak to you of a thing so important and since I desire to instruct you in that which you so solemnly desire to know I cannot but in reason promise to my self a favourable aud quiet Audience And this gives me also great confidence that I speak not to ignorant vulgar people prepossessed with common errours so as to be incapable of understanding any truth contrary to what they fancy Those who hear me are equally honorable by their Learning and by their Administration of justice the one of these cannot have a more noble Object then Divinity nor the other a more considerable employment then the setling of a true worship due to that Divinity God who has not onely created the matter of the world but all things in the world and has placed them in that order which we cannot behold without admiration dwells not in Temples made by the hands of men He cannot be inclosed because there is no other place that containes him but the incomprehensible immensity of his being He has no need of Victimes nor of Sacrifices nor of the homage of men finding in himselfe his glory his
Disciple he saies that God will deliver him from the Jawes of the Lyon by which probably he meanes Nero to whom he was presented for the defence of his appeal This Prince began then the third year of his Empire and whether his wicked inclinations were yet asleep or whether the continual exhortations of Seneca his Tutor withheld him or that he dissembled till his authority was better setled he gave the people of Rome some hope that under his raigne they should see a resemblance of their ancient liberty Burrus Captain of his guard presenting a sentence of death to be figned by him he cryed out I wish it pleased the gods I could not write This speech begot a beliefe in men that he was merciful but it was not long ere he gave the lye to that opinion The Iews to embitter his spirit against Saint Paul and to make the worst impressions they could in order to his ruine under colour of Justice and Piety made use of one Alliturus of their Nation who had gained great credit with the Emperor by his Comoedian Art But the Divine Providence frustrated their wicked design and made the Apostle obtain there a glorious pardon where in humane probability he might have expected his condemnation to an opprobrious death The feare of this his danger was so great as most of those who before was his followers especially those of Asia abandoned him Amongst these cowardly and trayterous disciples he names particularly Phigellus and Hermogenes the last of these Tertullian reckons amongst the Iewish Hereticks who denyed the Resurrection But at the same time God sent him Onosiphorus an Ephesian who assisted him with so much charity as he left the memory of it to the whole Church in his fore-mentioned Epistle The Greek Menologue saies he was Bishop of Colophones and the Romans celebrates the memory of him on the sixth day of September Besides this faithful companion he had also Titus and Tichius But those he speedily dispatched to preach the Gospel in divers places so that his care as well as authority was extended to all the Provinces of the world he preferred the interest of souls before the comfort which he might receive by the company of his Disciples nor did Jesus Christ leave this uninteressed zeal without recompence For at that same time when every one had abandoned him he dained to appear unto him that he might fortifie his courage and resolution he acquired much of glory by his persecutions the fury of his enemies which appeared at all the Tribunals of Rome made way to the preaching of the Gospel in those places where perhaps no occasion of laying it open had ever been given Many even of Nero's houshold were converted and the Apostle salutes the Philippians from them Amongst whom the Martirologue mentions one Torpetes who died couragiously at Pisa in Tuscany in defence of that Faith Tacitus speakes of one Pomponia Graecina who was accused for having imbraced a forraine Superstition and being turned over to her Husband he taking cognizance of the crime according to ancient customes declared her innocent Now that which this Author calls forraine Superstition is very likely to be Christianity I finde also great probability that Seneca and the Apostle were acquainted although the letters which are set forth under their names be counterfeit and very unworthy of either of them This great Philosopher had too nere a relation to Nero to be ignorant of the Audience he had given to a criminal whose cause the Iewes by their extraordinary Solicitation had made famous And if he were present when he pleaded there is no doubt but the force of his discourse and his subline arguments might make him desirous of a particular acquaintance with one that preached so new a Doctrine Some Authors have said it was by his meanes that Nero condemned him not to death but that is not founded upon any solid proofe nor ought we to attribute this marvelous deliveance but to the secret power of God over the hearts of Princes to incline them as he please Whilest Saint Paul laboured to found the Church at Rome he understood that the Ephesian Church was pestered with many false Doctors who corrupted that pure Doctrine which he had there preached hence he wrote unto them an excellent Epistle in the which he principally instructs them in the profound mystery of predestination and vocation of men to faith and Union with Jesus Christ so to forme an admirable body of which he is the Head and then he treats of the duty of every faithful man according to his condition A little after some Authors say before or at the same time he was not satisfied with instructing the flock himselfe but would also give unto Tymothy their Pastor wholesome rules whereby to acquit himselfe worthily of his charge I know many would have this Epistle to be almost the last that was written but in my opinion their objections are not considerable that the date we assign is more certain This difficulty appertains not to the subject we have in hand besides we have already explicated it in the paraphrase wee made of it Towards the end he desires him to come unto him which he performs leaving Tichius in his place The Philppians hearing of the Apostles necessity deputed Epaphroditus with considerable alms for his assistance The change of air with the toiles of his journey made him fall sick at Rome But S. Paul by his prayers obteined his recovery sent him back to his Church with an Epistle full of wholesome instructions against the errors of Cerinthus Simon the Magician and of other Impostors whom he calls enemies of the Cross of Christ because they taught that our Lord was not really crucified but some fantome in his place S. Ignatius Martyr forty years after wrote unto them upon the same subject and so did likewise S. Polycarpus T is true there is doubt made whether the Epistle of the former be really his The Apostle had not preached in the city of Câ—lossus which is in the Province of Phrygia yet knowing the state of that Church assembled by Epaphras hee wrote unto them that they should beware of the Jewes of the Hereticks and of the Gentiles which sowed erroneous doctrine amongst them touching Legal Observations and the worship of Angels or Genienses Philemon after his conversion very much assisted the faithful making his house the place of their assemblies giving great alms to the poor One of his slaves called Onesimus ran away from his hous in quality of a thief this slave coming to Rome fell luckily into the hands of the Apostle who converted him which obliged him particularly to write in his behalf to his master for his pardon that he would receive him again not as a fugitive but as a deare childe which hee had begotten in his chains Theodoret saies that Philemon sent him back to serve and assist S. Paul and S. Hierome reports that he was first made