Gospel there which hee also penned and first founded the Churches of Alexandria where so great a multitude of beleeving men and women grew up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a most Philosophicall and strict course that Philo himselfe vouchsafed to write of their converse meetings feastings and all their demeanor And for this his writing of them Hee is reckoned by us saith Ierome amongst the Ecclesiasticall writers because writing concerning the first Church of Marke the Evangelist hee breaketh out into the praises of our men relating that they are not onely there but also in many other provinces and calling their dwellings Monasteries Of the same mind with these fathers are Cedrenus Nicephorus Sixtus Senensis Bellarmine Possevine and others which last cited Jesuite is not contented to bee satisfied with this opinion himselfe but hee revileth the Magdeburgenses and all others with them that are not of the same opinion with him For the examining of which before wee doe beleeve it wee may part their position into these two quaeres First whether Marke the Evangelist had founded the Church at Alexandria before Philo wrote that book And secondly whether those men about Alexandria reported of by Philo were Christians at all yea or no. First then looke upon Philo and upon his age and you shall finde that the last yeer when hee was in Ambassy at Rome hee was ancient and older then any of the other Commissioners that were joyned with him for so hee saith of himself Caesar speaking affably to them when they first came before him the standers by thought their matter would goe well with them But I saith he that seemed to outstrip the others in yeers and judgement c. and then from him looke at the time when Marke is brought by the Ecclesiasticall Historians first into Egypt and Alexandria Eusebius for wee will content our selves with him onely hath placed this at the third of Claudius in these words Marcus Evangelista interpres Petri Aegypto Alexandriae Christum annunciat And then is Philo foure yeers older then before To both which adde what time would bee taken up after Markes preaching before his converts could bee disposed into so setled a forme of buildings constitutions and exercises and then let indifferency censure whether Philo that was so old so long before should write his two books of the Esseni and the Therapeutae after all this But because wee will not build upon this alone let us for the resolution of our second Quaere character out these men that are so highly esteemed for the patternes of all Monasticks and that in Philoes owne words and description Part III. The Jewish History Sect. I. The Therapeutae THey are called Therapeutae and Therapeutrides saith Philo either because they professe a Physick better then that professed in Cities for that healeth bodies onely but this diseased soules Or because they have learned from nature and the holy Laws to serve him that is Those that betake themselves to this course do it not out of fashion or upon any ones exhortation but ravished with a heavenly love even as the Bacâ—bantes and Corybantes have their raptures untill they behold what they desire Then through the desire of an immortall and blessed life reputing themselves to die to this mortall life they leave their estates to sonnes or daughters or to other kindred voluntarily making them their heires and to their friends and familiars if they have no kindred When they are thus parted from their goods being taken now by no baite they flie irrevocably leaving breathren children wives parents numerous kindreds societies and countries where they were borne and bred they flit not into other Cities but they make their abode without the walls in gardens or solitary Villages affecting the wildernesse not for any hatred of men but because of being mixed with men of different conditions which thing they know is unprofitable and hurtfull This kind of people are in many parts of the world but it abounds in Egypt through every one of those places that are called Nomi especially about Alexandria Now out of all places the chiefe or best of the Therapeutae are sent into a Colony as it were into their Countrey into a most convenient region besides the lake Maria upon a low gentle rising banke very fit both for safetie and the wholesome aire The houses of the company are very meane affording shelter in two most necessary respects against the heate of the Sunne and the coldnesse of the aire Nor are they neere together like houses in a Citie for such vicinity is trouble and displeasing to such as love and affect solitude Nor yet farre asunder because of that communion which they imbrace and that they may helpe one another if there bee any incursion of theeves Every one of them hath a holy house which is called a Chappell and Monastery in which they being solitary doe performe the mysteries of a religious life bringing in thither neither drinke nor meate nor any other necessaries for the use of the body but the Law and the Oracles given by the Prophets and hymnes and other things whereby knowledge and religion are increased and perfected Therefore thy have God perpetually in their mind insomuch that in their dreames they see nothing but the beauty of the Divine powers and there are some of them who by dreaming do vent excellent matters of Philosophy They use to pray twice every day morning and evening at Sunne rising and Sunne setting and all the time betweene they meditate and study the Scripture allegorizing them because they beleeve that mystical things are hid under the plain letter they have also many commentaries of their predecessors of this sect to this purpose They also made Psalmes and Hymnes to the praise of God Thus spend they the six dayes of the weeke every one in his Cell not so much aâ— looking out of it But on the seventh day they meet together and sit downe according to their age demurely with their hands within their coats the right hand betwixt their breast and their skin and the left on their side Then steps forth one of the gravest and skilfullest in their profession and preacheth to them and the rest hearken with all silence onely nodding their heads or moving their eyes their place of worship is parted into two roomes one for the men and the other for the women All the weeke long they never taste meate nor drink any day before Sunne setting because they think the â—â—udy of wisedome to bee fit for the light and the taking ease of their bodies for the darke some hardly eate above once in 3. dayes some in 6. on the 7th day after they have taken care of the soule they refresh the body Their diet is onely bread and salt and some adde a little hyssop Their drink spring-water Their cloths meane and onely fit to keepe out heat and cold At the end of every seven
A COMMENTARY UPON THE Acts of the Apostles Chronicall and Criticall The Difficulties of the Text explained And the times of the Story cast into ANNALS The First Part. From the beginning of the Booke to the end of the Twelfth CHAPTER With a briefe Survey of the Contemporary Story of the JEVVES and ROMANS By JOHN LIGHTFOOTE Staffordiens a Member of the Assembly of Divines London Printed by R. C. for Andrew Crooke and are to bee sold at the Signe of the Green Dragon in Pauls Church-yard 1645. TO The Right Honourable the Truly Noble and Renowned ROBERT EARLE OF ESSEX c. Illustrious Sir THE inducements that have swayed mee to the Compiling of this Tripartite History have been partly for mine owne satisfaction in the survey and prospect of the times and occurrences of the world coincident and contemporary with those of the Church partly for the satisfaction of the Reader in the same contemplation and for the mixture of some delight with that satisfaction in such a mixture of variety But chiefly for both our observation of the hand of God good and gracious in the preservation and propagation of his Church and just and avengefull in his indignation and judgements upon those two Nations that persecuted the Church if they could have done it to the death and that executed to the death the Lord of the Church the Lord of Life For as there were two Theeves that were crucified with our Saviour the one on the right hand and the other on the left so were there two worse by far that crucified him the Iew and the Roman The former of ignorance and so shall once obtaine mercy the latter even against the confession of his innocency and so shall perish for ever Both persecutors of the Church as well as crucifiers of the Lord of it the Iewes while they continued to bee a Nation the Romans while the Church shall bee a Church The consideration of this very thing doth not onely warrant but even challenge a mixture of study of the Story of these three together that the footsteps of providence might bee traced the more clearly in those two impressions of Mercy and Judgement dispensed in the world in their contrariety the former to the Church and the latter to these two Nations the enemies and persecutors of her and of her Lord. I have therefore taken them up in one discourse from that very time that thâ—se two people did undoe themselves by doing violence to the Lord of Glory and for how long a processe of time the discourse doth carry them on this volumne will speak for the present mine intentions aime at a longer extent if the Lord permit The Story of the Church I have traced in the Acts of the Apostles and there have rather set my selfe to explaine and cleare what difficulties are in the Text then to write out the full History and Occurrences that are there related for since the Euangelist hath done it with a divine Pen it was utterly needlesse that I may say no more to redoe it with mine The times of the Stories there I have been the more curious to search after and to settle as neare as I can and to bring into Annals not onely for the profit that ariseth to the Reader from the knowledge of them which is not little but also for the bringing and reducing of the Story of the other Nation into a parallel and collaterall current and coincidency with them What difficulty I have met withall in this particular any one will readily judge that doth but observe how sparing the holy Ghost hath been through all that Booke to expresse the circumstance of the time with the relation of the things And what I have done towards the fixing of the times in this difficulty I have tendered under the notion of conjecture for I could goe no further yet have I grounded those conjectures upon such reasons as are much to mâ—ne owne satisfaction in that matter and so it may bee they will bee something to others I have led on the Story in this present piece but to the end of the Twelfth Chapter for thitherto hath the Evangelist that wrote the Booke more especially discoursed the planting of the Church and the propagation of the Gospel among the Iews And as for the rest of the Booke from thence to the end that bringeth the Church and Gospel among the Gentiles I have reserved it for another part if the Lord vouchsaâ—e life leisure and assistance The customes and carriage of those Apostolicke times in Worship and Discipline I have been sparing in discussing for the Text for as far as this present discourse goeth is sparing in offering occasion to fall upon such a thing in that part that is behind where the Epistles of Paul are to be taken into hand as they fall in in time such considerations will bee usefull and they will bee inevitable The Story of the Iewes out of their owne Josephus and Philo Egesippus and others the Reader will generally finde to be but a Commentary upon their owne words His blood bee upon us and upon our children written even in Letters of their own blood from time to time For when that perverse and ungodly generation had so farre refused the Gospel and their owne good that it had crucified the Lord that tendered it to them ex illo fluere from that time forward their ruine and decaying is written in all their stories in such Capitall Letters that hee that runs may read it and he that reads them reads them not if hee doe not observe it This short tract of time that this Volume containeth will tell you of three or four or more such Anatomy Lectures in lesse then twelve yeares space of many and many thousands of that Nation that perished and were miserably destroyed in Judea Alexandria and Babylonia and this but as a Preface and beginning of sorrowes and miseries that were to follow in the destruction of the whole Nation for despising and destroying of him that held out life unto them but they chose his and their owne death Some of the same Authors that have given us these prologues of their miseries will continue the scene with further Tragedies till their utter extirpation and we shall borrow an abridgement thereof from them in the parts succeeding if the Lord carry us on and prosper us in that worke And how gratefull and excellent a worke and paines might it bee if where Josephus and Egesippus end their Story and where Jerusalem ended her dayes thence some learned and industrious pen would out of the Iewes own Talmud and Rabbins and other writers continue the story of this dispersed and condemned nation till these later times for the Illustration of the truth of those predictions of Scripture that foretell their doome and for the evidencing of that justice that hath ever since haunted them for the murder of the righteous one whom they crucified These are the two maine things that I
here related as appeares by Pauls owne relation of it Act. 26.16 17 18. but the holy Ghost frequently useth to speake out stories to the full some parts in one place some in another challenging the readers paines and study to pick them up 2. That whereas in Chap. 9.7 it is said that those that travailed with Paul heard the voyce but in Chap. 22 9. that thâ—y heard not the voyce it is to bee understood that they heard the voyce of Paul speaking to Christ but not Christs voyce to him or if they heard the voyce from heaven yet they understood not what it said 3. Whereas in Chap. 9.7 it is said these men stood speechlesse but in Chap. 26.14 that they fell all to the ground the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Chap. 9.7 standeth in opposition to their going forward and not to their falling to the earth and meaneth that their amazednesse fixed them that they could not flee nor stirre Sect. II. The yeare of his conversion Some have conceived that hee was rapt into the third heaven and learned the Gospel by revelation as 2 Cor. 12. in those three dayes that hee was blind after the sight of this glorious light and whilst hee fasted and prayed Act. 9.9 And from this conceit hath another growne as a supporter of that that bred it namely that hee was not converted till seven yeers after our Saviours Ascension This latter opinion was first invented that his writing of the second Epistle to the Corinthians might bee brought within the compasse of about foureteene yeeres after his conversion for so long a time and no more hee setteth betwixt his rapture and that Epistle 2 Cor. 12.2 and it was also originally grounded upon this supposition that his rapture was in the time of that his blindnesse Two surmises probable and plausible enough to behold at distance but approaching nearer to them they will lose of their beautie and upon serious weighing they will prove but a shadow The question how hee came to the knowledge of the Gospel so soone in so much that hee so soone preached it very likely gave the first occasion of the first opinion namely of his rapture in his three dayes blindnesse A question to which an answer may bee easily given and yet no such consequence concluded upon it 1. It is true indeed that hee received not the knowledge of the Gospel of man nor was hee taught it but by the revelation of Iesus Christ as himselfe saith Gal. 1.12 yet might he have such a revelation without any such rapture For there were three other speciall wayes whereby God used to reveale himselfe and his will to his Prophets and servants and those were by dreames by visions and by a suddaine and immediate suggestion or revelation which is called telling in the eare as 1 Sam. 9.15.17 2 King 20.4 And as for raptures they were the most extraordinary and the least familiar of all other And how easily might Paul bee taught the mystery of the Gospel by some of the other meanes especially since the Text hath expressely told that he had his visions Act. 9.12 2 Paul himself telleth of an ecstasie or rapture that hee was in as hee was praying in the Temple at Ierusalem Act. 22.17 Now that that was in the second yeare of Claudius as shall bee shewed by and by when hee went to carry the almes of the Disciples to Ierusalem Act. 11.30 it may bee confidently concluded upon because that God in that his rapture telleth him that hee must thence forward goe farre away to preach unto the Gentiles Act. 22.21 and when he returneth from Ierusalem to Antioch he is sent by the Church upon that imployment by a speciall charge of the holy Ghost Act. 13.2 And that from that time to the time of his writing the second Epistle to the Corinthians were about foureteene yeares as himselfe summeth it wee shall evidence by some particulars before wee part from this subject Thus then in the first place wee see that neither his rapture was at the time of his conversion nor that his conversion is to bee cast six or seven yeares forward that it may bee within foureteene of that Epistle in regard of his rapture But not to intricate our selves any more in the varietie of opinions that have fixed some one time some another to the conversion of this Apostle the next readiest and surest way that I have found to resolve upon this doubtfull question and to determine this scruple is to goe by these collections and degrees I. That the famine prophecied of by Agabus and which is said to have fallen out in the time of Claudius the Emperour Act. 11.28 fell out and came to passe in his second yeare And for this wee have the testimony of a Roman Historian even Dion Cassius who under the Consulship of Claudius II. and Cajus Largus which was in the second yeare of Claudius his reigne speaketh of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which his translater hath rendred fames ingeâ—s Dion lib. 60. Now although it might seeme that that famine only referred to the Citie of Rome and was caused there through the unnavigablenesse of the River Tiber which should have brought in Provisions because he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— that Claudius provided not onely for the present famine but also for future times by mending the Haven and clearing the River yet Suetonius writing the very same story ascribeth the cause of the famine not to the fault of the River or Haven but to a constant sterilitie or barrennesse and so inlargeth the extent of it further then Rome Arctiore autem annona ob assiduas sterilitates c. In Claud cap. 18. Iosephus Antiq. lib. 20. cap. 2. speaketh of this great famine in Iudea and relateth how Helena the Queene dowager of the Adiabeni and Izates her sonne then reigning shee being at Ierusalem in her owne person and hee in his owne kingdome did bring in provisions in an exceeding plenty to the Jewes at Ierusalem for their sustenance in the famine for they were both converted to the Jewes religion and Izates circumcised Eusebius hereupon hath set this famine in Claudius his fourth yeare and after the death of Herod Agrippa because that he found that Iosephus had placed it after Agrippaes death which was in Claudius his third But wee find not in Iosephus any thing that may fix it to that yeare more then the subsâ—quence of one story to another which is an argument of no validitie onely this hee relateth as concerning the time of Izates that when hee first came to the Crowne and found his elder brethren imprisoned that he might come to the Throne the more quietly hee was griâ—ved at the matter and on the one hand accounting it impietie to kill them or to keepe them prisoners and on the other hand knowing it unsafe to keepe them with him and not imprisoned hee chose a meane betweene both and sent them for hostages to Rome to
follow it whither the nature and inclination of it doth incline Hence his allegorizing of whatsoever commeth to his hand and his peremptory confidence in whatsoever hee doth allegorize insomuch that sometimes hee perswadeth himselfe that hee speaketh mysteries as pag. 89. and sometimes hee checketh the Scripture if it speake not as hee would have it as page 100. How too many of the Fathers in the primitive Church followed him in this his veine it is too well knowne to the losse of too much time both in their writing and in our reading Whether it were because hee was the first that wrote upon the Bible or rather because hee was the first that wrote in this straine whose writings came unto their hands that brought him into credit with Christian Writers he was so farre followed by too many that while they would explaine Scripture they did but intricate it and hazarded to lose the truth of the story under the cloud of the Allegory The Jewes have a straine of writing upon the Scripture that flyeth in a higher region then the writings of Christians as is apparent to him that shall read their Authors Now Philo being a Jew and naturally affecting like them to soare in a high place and being by his education in the Grecian wisdome more Philosophical then the Iews usually were and by inclination much affected with that learning hee soareth the Jewish pitch with his Grecian wings and attaineth to a place in which none had flowne in before unlesse the Therapeutae of whom hereafter writing in a straine that none had used before and which too many or at least many too much used after of his many strange and mysterious matters that hee findeth out in his veine of allegorizing let the Reader taste but some As see what hee saith of the invisible Word of God pag. 5. pag. 24. 169. 152. How hee is a Pythagorean for numbers pag. 8. pag. 15 16 31. where hee is even bewitched with the number Seven and pag. 32 33. as the Therapeutae were 695. from whom hee seemeth to have sucked in his Divinity Pag. 9. Hee accounteth the Starres to presage future things whom in pag. 12. hee almost calleth intelligible Creatures pag. 168. and immortall Spirits pag. 222. Pag. 12. Hee seemeth to thinke that God had some Coadjutors in mans Creation Pag. 15. God honoured the seventh day and called it holy for it is festivall not to one people or region onely but to all which is worthy to bee called the festivity of the people and the nativity of the world Pag. 43. Hee distinguisheth betwixt Adam formed and made earthly and heavenly Pag. 57. He teacheth strange Doctrine which followeth more copiously pag. 61. about two natures created in man good and bad Pag. 68. Observe his temperance when his list Pag. 86. Hee beleeveth that his soul had sometime her raptures and taught him strange profound and unknowne speculations as there she doth concerning the Trinity and in pag. 89. He thinketh he talketh mysteries Pag. 94. Faith the most acceptable Sacrifice an unexpected confession from a Jew Pag. 100. He checketh Ioseph the Patriarch for impropriety of speech and hee will teach him how to speak Pag. 102. Speaking of the death of Moses hee saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Hee is not gathered or added fainting or failing as men had done before for hee admitted not either of addition or defection but hee is translated or passeth away by the Authoritie of that efficient word by which the universe was made Pag. 122. Hee is againe very unmannerly and uncivill with Joseph and so is hee againe in pag. 152. hee had rather lose his friend then his jest and censure so great a Patriarch then misse his Allegory That Aaron used imposition of hands upon Moses pag. 126. Pag. 127. That Abel slaine yet liveth as Heb. 11. Pag. 152. God like a Shepherd and King governeth all things in the world by right and equity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Setting over them his upright word which is his first begotten Son who taketh the care of this sacred heard like the Deputy of some great King Pag. 161. He sheweth his learning is the great Encyclica Pag. 168. Hee calleth Angels Genii and Heroes according to the Greekes and holdeth that they were created in the aire but in the superiour part of it neer the Skie and fly up and downe there pag. 221 222. Pag. 170. His Allegories make him impious and hee counteth the story of Paradise to bee but foolery if it bee taken literall Pag. 180. Hee talketh a Rabinall tale about the invention of musicke Hee constantly followeth the Lxx as appeareth pag. 160 179 218 245 255. Pag. 190. He maketh God and his wisdome as it were father and mother of whom the world was generate but not humano more Ibid. He readeth that place Prov. 8.22 The Lord created me the first of his workes For saith hee it was necessary that all things that came to generation should be younger then the mother and nurse of all things Pag. 191. He is very uncivill with Iethro Pag. 205. He holdeth Lots wife to have been turned into a stone Pag. 206. He was in the Theater at a play Pag. 213. Hee holdeth Isaac weaned at seven yeares old And mentioneth certaine Dialogues made by himselfe personating Isaac and Ismael He calleth cap. 32. of Deuteronomie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Canticum majus according to the Rabbins phrase so likewise pag. 179. Pag. 214. Iacob praying for Ioseph saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is very questionable where this speech is to bee found Pag. 223. The spirit of God is an immortall knowledge Pag. 232. He treateth de Primogenito secundogenito Dei that is of his Word and the World Pag. 234. Hee holdeth freewill but it is in comparison of the actions of men with the effects of Plants and Brutes Pag. 241. He is fallen out with Ioseph againe Pag. 251. Hee telleth a fable how all Birds and Beasts spake the same language and understood one another but that their tongue was confounded because they petitioned that they might never grow old but renew their youth as the Serpent doth who is the basest of them But this is more then enough for a taste wee shall conclude his Character with that Apophthegme that came from him when Caius was in a rage against him and his fellow-Commissioners How ought wee to cheare up saith he though Caius bee angry at us in words seeing in his deeds hee even opposeth God Iosephus relateth it Antiq. lib. 18. cap. 10. Part III. The Roman Story Sect. I. Caius still foolish and cruell THis yeare did Caius make an expedition to the Ocean as if hee would have passed over into Britaine but the greatest exploit that hee did was that first hee went a little upon the Sea and then returning hee gave a signall to his Souldiers that they should fall to battaile which was nothing else but that they should gather
certaine old customes began either by Prelates or by people which by little and little by the tacit consent of the people obtained the power of a Law Under these heads especially under the two first hath he placed these particulars The perpetuall Virginity of Mary the number of the Canonicall bookes Baptizing of Infants blessing the water before bidding them renounce Satan and his workes signing them with the signe of the crosse anointing them with oyle not re-baptizing after Heretiques Lent Ember weeke inferiour Orders in the Church worshipping of Images c. To which others adde The oblation of the Sacrament of the Altar Invocation of Saints Prayer for the dead the Primacy Confirmation Orders Matrimony Penance extreme Vnction Merits necessity of satisfaction auricular confession c. Into which controversie not to enter concerning the thing it selfe which so many grave and learned pens have handled sufficiently reckoned by Bellarmine though with small good will in his entry upon this question let but reason and indifferency censure concerning that which is more proper to this discourse namely the time of delivering these Traditions whether this or any other And here in the first place let the Reader but consider that at this time there was no more of the New Testament written then the Gospels of Matthew and Marke if so bee that those also were written at this time And then let him judge how senselesse a thing it is to speake of delivering unwritten Traditions to the Church when almost all the New Testament was yet to bee written Or take it at the Councell at Ierusalem which was divers yeares hence when all the Apostles were all together and giving rules to the Church or take it at Pauls apprehension at Ierusalem when imagine all the Apostles to bee together againe and even even at either of those times will the same absurdity follow still for no more of the New Testament was written or very little more then now And then how ridiculous doth it appeare That the Apostles should offer to give rules to the Church by unwritten tradition when they had all their Epistles for rules of the Church yet to write If they would leave the Church to bee regulated by unwritten traditions why should they write after And if they would have her regulated by their writings why should they give her unwritten traditions before A quick wit will nimbly answer that they left her such traditions as were not to bee expressed in their writings but let an honest conscience and an unprejudicate judgement censure whether this will abide the test yea or no. For is it within any compasse of likelihood that these Apostles did know what things Paul would not write of in his Epistles that they should deliver such things before-hand for tradition when as yet they hardly knew whether hee was to be an Apostle of the Gentiles or no when they did not know whether he would write any Epistles or no much lesse did they know what Epistles he would write Appello conscientiam and so much for traditions Vers. 3. Hee proceeded to take Peter also c. Sect. Peters imprisonment and delivery Iames his death was seconded by Peters imprisonment but his time for martyrdome was not yet come as was the others Agrippa having laid hold upon him deferred his execution till after the Passeover either because hee would not defile that holy feast with effusion of humane blood or because hee would afflict Peter the more and give the Jewes the greater content by his long restraint and strait imprisonment or rather because hee feared a tumult if hee should have slaine him in that concourse of people as was there at Passeover time Thus lay hee guarded with foure quaternions or as the Syriack hath it with sixteene Souldiers which as it seemeth watched him by course for the foure watches of the night two close by him and two at the gate Besides these two and two successive jaylors hee was bound with two chaines and if some say true his two keepers were tied for the more surenesse in the same chaines with him Happy men were they sure that had so great interest in these happy chaines which if you dare beleeve Surius had the virtue to work miracles to diffuse grace to procure holinesse to heale diseases to affright the Devill and to defend Christians They were preserved saith hee by some of Herods servants that beleeved and in processe of time laid up for a sacred relique at Constantinople and there either hee or they lie That very night that preceded Peters intended execution hee being fast asleepe between his keepers is waked loosed and delivered by an Angel Baronius maketh a great matter of it that the whole Church prayed for Peter whilest hee was in prison and since the like is not related to have been done by them for any other hee will needs from hence inferre his primacy the whole flock praying for her universall Pastor whereas the reasons of this expression are apparent to bee onely these two First to shew that the Church was praying for him whilst hee was sleeping for alter hee had taken a part of his first sleepe this night hee commeth to the house of Iohn Marke and they are there still out of their beds and at prayer Secondly because the fruit of their prayers were shewed in his delivery There is no doubt but constant prayers were made for Iames by the whole Church whilst hee was in prison as well as for Peter but so much is not expressed because the story could not answer that relation with relation of his delivery And Atheisme and profanenesse would have been ready to have scoffed that the whole Church should have prayed in vaine The Angell and Peter thus loosed passe two watches and then come to the iron gate there are some that hold these watches to bee two prisons and the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee taken as it were passively for places where men are kept and that Peter was in a Gâ—ole within these two as in the worst basest and surest place and that all were closed with a gate of Iron But others hold these watches to bee guards of men and that the prison was without the Citie between or within the two outmost walls but in these things it is not materiall to insist for determination The latter is farre the more probable both in regard of the signification of the Greek word and that Iosephus mentioneth three walls about Ierusalem and divers towers in every wall as also in regard of the greater hightning of the miracle in that Peter escapeth not onely his owne sixteen mens watch at the prison doore but also two watches more at the two walls gates and the second which was the Iron gate gave them free passage of its owne râ—cord Peter being cleared of the danger and left of the Angel betaketh himselfe to the house of Mary the mother of Iohn Marke where when