at Eliberis in Spain in the time of Constantine Decreed that the Usurer should be excommunicated that Tapers i. e. Candles should not burn in the day time in Church yards That Images should be banished the Church that nothing should be painted upon the wall to be worshiped c. But are not Usurers now admitted without any scruple to be members both of the Papist and also of the Protestants Churches and are not Images errected in their Masshouses which they call Churches and many painted upon their walls and in their glasswindows The vanity and evil of which this aforesaid Counsel saw and therefore were they prohibited then though they are practised and upheld now by the Apostatized Christians Anno 340. The Counsel of Gragra condemned the heretical opinions of Tustathius and allowed the marriage of the priests A Counsel held at Carthage Decreed that there should be no rebaptizing and that Clergimen should not meddle with Temporal affaires A Counsel of Arrian Bishops met at Antioch where they endeavoured to abrogate i. e. to take away abolish or disannul the Nicene Creed Thus like the builders of Babel were they devided for that which one Synod Decreed and set up that did another Synod abolish and throw down Anno 350. A General Counsel was summoned at Sardis for the hearing of them whom the Arrians had exiled i. e. banished the Counsel restored them and deposed i. e. put down their accusers and condemn the Arrians and confirmed the Nicene Creed Anno 355. A Counsel of Arians held at Sermium scourged among them Osius and made him subscribe unto Atheism i. e. the damnable opinion of the Atheist But the like was never done by the Apostles for they never sought to bring any from Atiheism or to Atiheism by Scourging but â—…ather suffered themselves to be Scourged by Iews and Atheists A General Counsel was summoned to meet at Millian where the East and west Chruches brawled about Athanasius and dissolved the Counsel agreeing upon nothing The Meletians assembled at Antioch where they laid down the Macedonians opinion of the Son of God jump between the Arians and the true Christians where they proved themselves Neuters i. e. an indiferent party not on the one side nor the other Anno 368. A Counsel at Laodicea decreed that the laity or common people should not chuse the Priest that Lissons should be read in the Church between certain Psalmes and Service should be morning and evening That the Gospel should be read with other Scripture on the Sunday that Lent should be observed righteously without solemnizing the Feasts of the Martyrs and that Christians should not dance at Bride Houses c. A Counsel was called at Illytini where the truth in the Blessed Trinity i. e. three joyned in one was confessed A Counsel held at Valentia in France decreed Priests should not marry The first Counsel held at Toledo in Spaine decreed that Priests should marry Therefore one of those Counsels have erred though the Papists say they could not erre There was a Councel held at Chalcedon where Chrysotom was condemned of spite and for no other crime A Counsel was called at Cyprus where through the spite of Theophilus Bishop of Origen were condemned The third Counsel held at Carthage decreed that the Cletgy in their yeirs of discretion should either marry or vow chastity and that the chief Bishop should not be called Prince of the priests or highest prlesâ—… but only the Bishop of the chief See i. e. Seat If the Counsel erred not in decreeing this decree the Popes have erred since who have been called the Prince of all the world and hath been said to have the place of the everlasting King upon earth unto whom all power in Heaven and earth was given and whom all nations should serve c. Therefore may the Pope through arrogancy err so well as Counsels which have erred so that we may conclude that both Popes and Counsels which are erred from the spirit are fallible and have erred as doth and may more fully appear Anno 417. A Counsel held at Hippo decreed that Bishops and priests should look well to their Children that the Head Bishop of the Head See should not be called the chief priest and that no Scripture should be read in the Church but Canonical i. e. approved by exact Rule The Counsel held at Taurinum was held for the reformation of the Clergy which then was corrupted but since much more The Counsel of Matta condemned the Pelagians and Donatists and concluded that Infants were to be baptized The Counsel of Agatha decreed that none should be made priest before he was 30 years old And that the Clergy should wear such attire as became their profession with many other Constitutions The first and second Counsel held at Vasio decreed that in such Churches where Preachers were not Deacons should read Homelies i. e. Sermons or Speeches A Counsel held at Carpentoracte decreed that the Bishops should not poul the Parishes that iâ—… not to rob pillage or take mony from them by extortion or deceit It would be good that every Bishop now in being observed well this decree and kept clear of pouling their parishioners by extortion and deceit which many of their forefathers have been guilty of and it is expected now by many that they who have of late been installed will in this particular follow their example rather then the Apostles who covered no man's Bishoprick nor Benefice no man's Tithe nor Augmentations no man's Gold Silver nor Apparel c. A Counsel held at Venice decreed that no Clergy man should be at wedding dinners Dancings and hearing of wanton sonnets or vain songs c. All the Bishops of Affrick came together by the commandment of Honoricus the Arrian where his heresie was confirmed and 444 Bishops exiled or banished Anno 492. A Synod of 70 Bishops were called together at Rome where the Canonical Scripture i. e. such as were approved by exact rule were severed from such as were Apocrypha i. e. doubtful or not well known A Synod met at Epaunis and decreed that no Clergy man should either hunt or hauk That throughout the Province such Divine service as the Metropolitan i. e. Chief City or Arch-Bishop liked of should be retained It is to be noted that though this uniformity was thus decreed by the Synod in the Apostacy that through the Province such Divine service as the Chief City or Arch-Bishop liked of should be retained yet the Apostles decreed no such thing that the Scripture makes mention of A Counsel held at Aurelia decreed that Lent should be solemnly kept before Easter the Rogation or Gang week with the Emberdays about the Assention A Counsel held a Gerundia in Spain decreed that every Province should observe one order of Divine service that Baptism should be ministred only at Easter and Whitsontide and at other times if necessity so required and that the Lord's Prayer should be said at Evening and Morning
of boyling Oyl in which he had no harm Banished by Trajan the Emperor into the Isle of Patmos and there he wrote his Gospel being Releast in the Reign of Vertinax and in the 100 year of Christ as written by some return'd to Asia chiefly Residing at Ephesus his constant practise to his dying day being led to the Metting saying no more than Little Children Love one another he lived as some write to the Age of 120 years PHILIP Born at Bethsaida near the Sea of Tiberias Brought up in learning t is said he Preach'd Christ in Phrygia and the City Hierapolis many having reciev'd the Faith he was seized and carried to Prison was cruely Scourged and hanged by the Neck against a Pillar at which time as some write was a Terrible Earth-quake he was Buried at Hierapolis and his Daughters some say was Crucified at Paimimes BARTHOLOMEW Who some think to be Nathaniel of Cana in Galile Preach'd Christ unto the Indians Buried in Albania a City of Armenia the Great where he was Crucified with his head downward and slain alive and some wright that he was beheaded at the Commandment of Polemis King of India MATTHEW Otherwisé Levi Born at Nazareth a City of Zebulon the Son of Alpheus a Tax gartherer Preach'd Christ to the Ethiopians which is called Presbiter Iohn's Kingdom by Hurtychus's Command thrust through with a Sword he dyed at Hieropolis in Porthia and was Buried suppos'd to be 70 years of Age. THOMAS a Iew and Fisher-man as some write Preach'd Christ unto the Parthimans Medes and Persians and to the Caramans Hixcans Bartrians and Magicians he rested at Calamica a City in Iudea where the Heathen Priests as he was Praying a lone in a solitary place they coming upon him with a Dart called a Spear or Javelin Run him thorow SIMON ZELOTES Born at Cana in Galile Preach'd Christ throughout Mauritania and Africk the Less and Persia Egypt and Bretania where he was as some write Crucified and Buried JUDE And sometime called Thaddaus and Sebbaeus as some writ Brother of Iames Preach'd Christ in Iudaea Samarie throughout all Mesapotamia he was slain in the Time of Agbarus King of Edesse and buried MATTHIAS One of the 70 Disciples and Numbred among the 11 Apostles in Room of Iudas he Preach'd in Macedonia in Ethiopia about the Haven Hyssus and the River Phasis a Barbarous Nation and Ravonous of flesh he dyed at Sebastobilus nigh the Temple Stoned by the Iews at last beheaded with an Ax Anno 59 some say 64. MARK Of Iews Parents of the Tribe of Levi Preach'd Christ at Alexandria and all the Bordering Regions from Egypt unto Pentapolis in the Time of Tarmin he had a Cable Rope tyed about his Neck some write his Feet at Alexandria by which drawn from a place called Bucolus to the place called Angeles where he was Burned to ashes by the furious Idolaters in the month Pharmuthi with us call'd April on the 25th day LUKE The Evangelist Born at Antioch the chief City of Syria brought up in Learning Toyled with the Apostles Epiphanias writes that he Preach'd in Dalanatia Galatia and France and Italy and Macedonia Authours do not agree where he suffered Martyrdom but it is suppos'd at Ephesus he died and was Buried TIMOTHY Preach'd at Ephesus and Illyricum and throughout Hellas in Achaia where he died and was Buried Thus did these faithful Wittnesses finish their testimony and through their constancy and fidelity obtained not only a good Report but also a Crown immortal through faith in Christ Iesus to whom be glory and dominion for ever SOME PASSAGES OUT OF A LETTER WRIT TO A PERSON OF Quality Giving a True Relation in General Concerning the Heavenly Lives of the Primitive Christians SUCH was the Beginning and first Institution of the Christian Church that in it we find Men who voluntarily became little Children Children who in Wisdom exceeded Patriarchs Virgins who had the Prudence and Gravity of Matrons and Matrons endowed with Virgininal Modesty and Chastity Men of gray Hairs and old in Years but Children in Malice Pride and Ambition and it was hard to say which were the Old and which the Young Disciples for the younger sort strove to qual if not exceed the elder in Devotion Holiness was their Ornament and Men were counted Great as they arriv'd to high Degrees of Piety and the more Religious any Man was the greater Majesty and Respect he was thought worthy of The Light they came attended withall fill'd the World as the Sun doth the Universe which comes forth from its Eastern Conclave and presently diffuses and spreads its Light over all the surface of our Hemisphere So soon did the World feel the influence and operations of these new Stars and were focred to acknowledge their Divine Power and Virtue for they pressed through the Câ—…aos Mankind lay in as souls do pierce through Bodies and the Life Sense and Understanding they taught them was wholly new so different from what was in the World before that Men gaz'd at the Spectacle and lost themselves in Admiration What advantages the Soul can be supposed to give the Body the same did the first Christians afford to the benighted World and whatever inconveniences the Body puts the Soul to the same did the besotted World bring upon the first Christians for as the Soul tenders the Bodies welfare so did they the Worlds as the Soul directs the body to do things rational so did they the World as the Soul restrains the Body from doing mischief to it self so did they the World and as the Soul makes the Members of the Body Instruments of Righteousness so did they attempt to reform the deluded World into Holiness On the other side as the Body afflicteth the Soul so did the World persecute those first Christians as the Body makes the Soul live uneasie so did they incommode these excellent Men as the Body puts ill Constructions on the actions and admonitions of the Soul so the World did put the same on theirs and as the Body seems to long for nothing so much as the ruine of the Soul so the destruction of those Saints was the great thing the World then did aim at They were a Commonwealth made up of Great and Low of Rulers and Underlings of Governours and Subjects and yet nothing was more hard than to distinguish one from the other for what-ever the difference might be they esteemed one another epual and by their carriage one would have concluded that they had been all of the same degree and condition Their Pâ—…stors and chief Men were more known by their Munificence and Good Deeds than by their Coats of Arms or Splendour of their Offices They seemed to be all of the same Kindred for the Aged they honoured as Fathers and the Youths they tendred as their Children Those of the same Age call'd one another Brethren and these were the names they gave one another and in these Titles they gloried more than men
and whilst they aggravated i. e. made things worse and worse by Words these thing viz. Contention Threatnings mutual i. e. that which passeth one from another Hatred and Enmity and every one proceeded in Ambition i. e. Pride or immoderate Desire of Soveraignty much like Tyranny it self then I say the Lord according to the saying of Ieremiah made the Daughter of Sion obscure and overthrew from above the Glory of Israel and remembred not his Foot-stool in the day of his Wrath. Of Dioclesians Proclamations against the Christians In the nineteenth Year of Dioclesian's Reign was there Proclamations published in which it was commanded That the Churches should be made even with the ground the holy Scriptures by burning them should be abolished i. e. disannulled or destroyed such as were in Honour and Estimation should be contemned and such as were of Families if they retained or held the Christian Faith should be deprived of their Freedom And such were the Contents of the first Edict But in the Proclamations which immediately followed after it was added That the Pastors i. e. Shepherds throughout all Parishes first should be imprisoned next with all means possible constrained to Sacrifice Afterwards some endured bitter Torments others fainted for Fear and at the first onset or first violent assault were quite discouraged Some were tortured and launched with more intolerable pain some failed of the purposed End some were found constant and perfect Yet the Enemies of Truth triumphed and laboured to bring their purpose to effect Concerning the Persecution The Persecution against the Christians grew so exceeding great that some after many Torments endured were broiled to death some were hanged and some were beheaded And about that time some of the Emperour's Palace hapned to be on fire and when the Christians were taken in suspicion to be the Authors thereof by the Emperors commandment the whole Troop generally of all the godly there at that time was executed whereof some with the Sword were beheaded others burned with fire others carried in a Boat and thrown into the deep Sea And such were the practices in the beginning of the Persecution at Nicomedia Afterwards the Emperor commanded all the Pastors throughout every Church to be imprisoned and kept in hold multitudes were inclosed or shut up and the Prisons of old appointed and ordained for Murderers diggers of Sepulchres and riflers of Graves were then replenished with Bishops Ministers Deacons c. so that there was no room in Prison for such as were condemned for hainous Offences Again when the former Edicts had taken place there followed others by virtue of which such as sacrificed were set at liberty and such as resisted were commanded to be tormented with a thousand kind of Torments Concerning the Roman Empire Before the Roman Empire waged Battel against us saith Eusebius in the space the Emperors favoured us and maintained Peace it may not sufficiently be declared how prosperously the Commonwealth flourished and abounded with Goodness c. And whenas the Empire after this sort increased without offence and daily was enlarged they had no sooner removed Peace from among us but they stirred up Battels as could not be reconciled Not fully two years after this Hurlyburly i. e. tumult or stir there was such a change happened unto the whole Empire which turned all upside down For no small Disease overtook the Chief Emperour and bereaved i. e. deprived him of his Wits Afterwards the Empire was divided into two parts the which was never remembred to have come to pass before that time Not long after Constantius the Emperor passing all others throughout his Life-time in Clemency and Goodness towards his Subjects when he died his Son Constantine supplied his room In his Life he was most benign among all the Emperors who alone of all the Emperors in our time governed most gloriously and honourably during the whole term of his Reign shewing humanity and bountifulness unto all Men c. The Dissimulation of Maxentius Maxentius who exercised Tyranny at Rome in the beginning of his Reign dissembled our Faith egregiously i. e. some time basely creeping into Credit by flattering the People of Rome and therefore he commanded his Commonalty or vulgar People to cease from persecuting of the Christians whereby he might pretend a show of Piety i. e. Godliness and seem tractable and more benign i. e. favourable than his Ancestors that went before him But in process of time he was not indeed found the same which Men took him for and hoped he would be for he fell into all kind of Enormities i. e. he went out of rule or measure omitting no heinous Offence how detestable and lascivious soever it was unessayed i. e. untried wherefore all both high Primates i. e. Archbishops and inferiour People trembling for fear of him were oppressed with his intolerable Tyranny yet neither by silence neither by suffering this grievous servitude i. e. bondage or base estate could they be free from the bloody slaughter and imbrued murther of this Tyrant Concerning Maximinus and his Proclamation in the behalf of the Christians It seems his Behaviour towards the Christians was very cruel and the Persecution long and tedious in his day which continued for 12 years He exceeded many in Hypocrisie Superstition Idolatry Oppression Prodigality in Drunkenness Lechery c. wherefore a plague lighted on him which took root in his Flesh and afterwards proceeded even unto his Soul At length being thus tormented and lying in this miserable condition he began to ponder with himself the rash Enterprises he had practised against the holy Worshippers of God Wherefore returning unto himself first he confessed his Sins unto God next calling unto him such as then were about him he gave commandment that with all speed they should cease from persecuting the Christians and that by the Commandment and Decree of the Emperor they should build again their Churches c. And his Proclamations were published throughout the Cities containing a Reâ—…antation of these things formerly prejudicial unto the Christians In the third Year of our Persecution under the Reign of Maximinus the second Hurly-burly was raised against us and the Tyrants Letters were then first of all brought to Urbanus charging all the People of what Degree or calling soever that they should Sacrifice unto their Gods the Magistrates also throughout every City busily applying themselves to the same and that the Beadles throughout all the City of Câ—…sarea should by virtue of the Presidents Edict summon the Fathers the Mothers and their Children to appear at the Idols Temple and that the Tribunes should likewise out of a Scroll i. e. a piece of Paper or Parchment which might be called a Bill call every one by his Name by reason whereof there was no where but heaviness sobbing and sighing And Apphianus went cheerfully unto the President as he was sacrificing and boldly took hold on his right hand and stayed
such I call so as are found professing Christianity in words but deny it in works as some that professed in Words they knew God but in Works they denyed him so they that profess to be Christians and live in all manner of Unchastity they by their Works deny that which they profess in words and so are not worthy to be called Christians while they are found in that which is against or contrary to Christianity in which thousands of persecuting false Christians are found and therefore do I call such Antichristians How the Ancient Christians suffered by the Heathen and how true Christians now suffer by the same Spirit of Enmity and Persecution which is entered into the false Christians alias Antichristians The First Persecution WHen that the Jews were bereaved of their Power by the Heathen and that the time was expired wherein they had so cruelly used the People of God nevertheless the Christians were not therefore freed from suffering for they were therein exercised under the Heathens Power and Nero was said to be the first Tyrannical Emperour that persecuted the Christians it was called the first Persecution because it was under the Emperors Power and it began in the year 66 after the Birth of Christ and at that time was chiefly within the City of Rome About that time did People begin to accuse the Christians with all manner of Wickedness and to esteem them as Reprobates because they did not honour the Gods Note Have not the true Christians suffered in England under the sundry Powers that have been of late even as the Antient Christians suffered under the Iewes And it appears that when the Iewes were deprived of their Power then did the Heathens Persecute the Christians And did not both Protectors and Parliaments persecute the Innocent when they were in Authority but since they have been deprived of the power and turned out as the Iewes were when the Gentiles came to have the preheminence hath not the King himself become Guilty of their Sin in persecuting or suffering the Innocent to be persecuted within his Dominions And hath not all manner of Evil been spoken of them and they been accounted unfit to live in either Kingdom or Commonwealth and that chiefly because they could no more honour that Proud and Ambitious Spirit which is gotten up in the hearts of Men then the Antient Christians heretofore could honour the Gods of the Heathen The Second Persecution IN the Year of our Lord 93. did the second Persecution begin under the Emperour Domitianus under whom several were put to Death and about the same time was the Apostle Iohn Banished unto the Island Pathmos where he Wrote his Revelation In those days the Christians were so little esteemed that the People called them Cobler Weavers Combers of Wool Illiterate and exceeding Rustick or Clownish yea such as knew no good fashions Note Have not some of the true Christians been put to death of late in New England and have not many of them suffered the spoiling of their Goods and their Bodies to be cast into Prison to be Whipt and shamefully intreated by the Anti-Christians and that about their Religion And have not many of the true Christians been in derision called Coblers Taylers Weavers Plowmen c. So little esteem have the true Christians now among the Children of this World as the Antient Christians heretofore have had among the Children of Men. The Third Persecution IN the Year 102. did the third Persecution begin under the Emperour Trajanus who tho' he was called a good Emperour did nevertheless Persecute the Christians out of Humility to the Gods in which Persecution several Bishops were put to Death as the Bishop of Rome the Bishop of Ierusalem c. And at that time the Bishop of Antioch testified That Sufferings made us like unto Christ who had suffered for us himself preparing a way through suffering unto Eternal Life About the same time did a Governour Write unto the Emperour in the Christians behalf whereupon the Emperour wrot That they should seek no more of them but those they had in Prison should they put to Death Note Without Controversie the Bishop or Pope of Rome must needs be much degenerated from that State in which those Bishops then were forasmuch as he now by that Power through which they were put to death doth put others to Death about their Religion for which they then suffered Martyrdom From hence it may be observed that the Bishops now which persecute tender Consciences about Religion are found rather in the Footsteps of the Heathen then in the condition of those Bishops that suffered Martyrdom Moreover in these latter days the Lord hath stirred up some at times to speak a Word or to Write a few Lines in the behalf of the true Christians unto them in Authority whereby their hearts have been so far moved and reached that they have done something in order to the mitigating of the Sufferings of the Innocent who at this day share with their Brethren in the Fellowship of the Suffering of the Gospel The Fourth Persecution IN the year 164. was the fourth Persecution of the Christians which arose under the Emperour Marcus Aurelius and Lucias Verus in which Polycarpus Bishop of Smyrna was put to Death who had been a Disciple of John and had been many years in the service of the Lord as he himself acknowledged About the same time was Iulianus put to death at Rome in whose time the Christians were accused for having a Fleshly conversion one with another which he marked to be Lyes by their willingness to Die and thereby he coming to be Converted became an Eminent Teacher of the Christians At Lyons in France did there go forth a Proclamation That the Christians might not dwell in their Houses nor that they must not converse upon the Streets nor shew their Faces which being Impossible for them to perform their sufferings became exceeding great and in the mean time some of the Slaves gave out that the Christians lived in filthy Lasciviousness among themselves In this Persecution there was one Lucius put to Death for reproving the Judge for puting the Christians to crueller Deaths then any other Transgressors Note Though the true Christians now are Vilified and Falsly accused by Anti-Christians as the ancient Christians were in former Ages yet wise men can see their Innocency and therefore do they love them in their Hearts and some time some have been Convinced by beholding the Patience Long-suffering and Innecency of the Innocent in these latter days who now some time do suffer the loss of their Liberty and the spoyling of their Gods if not Banishment either by vertue of Proclamations or of Decrees or of corrupt Laws which true Christians now can no more observe and obey then the antient Christians observed the aforesaid Preclamation of the King and this hath been evident that sundry of the true Christiant in these later days
indicting himself for this Fact and pleading Guilty when the blood of thy Martyr Stephen was shed I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the Raiment of them that Slew him Acts 22. 20. God chiefly inspects the Heart and if the Vote be passed there writes the man Guilty though he stur no farther in all moral Actions God values the will for the deed the storm thus increased apace and a violent persecution began to arise in which our Apostle was a prime Agent and Minister Raging about in all Parts with a mad and ungoverned Zeal searching for the Saints beating some imprisoning others and procuring them to be put to death indeed he was a kind of Inquisitor imployed to hunt and find out these upstart Hereticks accordingly took a Warrant and Commission to go down to Damascus in fury and a misguided Zeal whether many of those persecuted Christians had fled for shelter but God who had designed him for a work of another nature and separated him from his Mother's womb to the Preaching of the Gospel stopt him in his journey as Acts 22. 9. and he fell unto the ground and heard a voice saying Saul Saul why Persecutest thou me and he went to Damascus another man from a Persecutor he became one of the Persecuted from hence he Traveled to Arabia and spent three years in the Ministery there and then retunned to Damascus a great and populus City from hence he went to Ierusalem and converst with Peter and Iames it was at Antioch about the beginning of Claudious's Reign ten years after Christ's Ascension where the Desiples was first called Christians being usually stiled before Nazarens from Jerusalem he set Sail to Cyprus and planted Christianity there and now the Old Spirit of the Iews did begin to hunt and persue them who coming from Antioch and Iconium exasperated and stired up the multitude and they who just before accounted them as Gods used them not only worse then men but slaves for in a mighty Rage they fell upon Paul stoned him and as they thought Dead and then drag'd him out of the City where the Christians of that place coming probable to Inter him he suddenly Revived and Rose up among them and the next day went hence to Debe and so Traveled to several places to Confirm the new planted Church he was Imprisoned and Ill-used at Phylippi His Parents were Tent Makers by Trade Preaching Christ at Jerusalem Italy Spain Labouring much among the Gentiles suffered at Rome under Nero as he was leading to Execution it is said Three of the Soulders that Guarded him seeing his Courage become Christians and suffered Death he kneeled down and his head strucken off with a Sword as some write in the 68 year of his Age and was buried with Peter The description of his Person He was a Man said to be of Low and tittle Stature and somewhat stooping his Complection fair his Countenance grave his head small his Eyes carried a kind of beauty and sweetness in them that he was Low himself plainly intimates when he tells us they were wont to say of him that his bodily person was weak and his speech contemptable in which respect he is stiled by Chrysostom a Man Three Cubits or a little more than four Foot high and yet tall enough to reach Heaven The Life of Andrew HIstory which hath hitherto been very Large and Copius in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is hence forward very sparing in its accounts giving us only now and then a few oblique and accidental Remarks concerning the Rest and some of them no farther mentioned than the meer recording of their Names for what Reason it pleased the divine Wisdom and Providence that no more of their Acts should be consigned to writing by the Pen Men of Old is to us unknown Andrew was Born at Bethsaida a City of Galile standing upon the bank of the Lake of Genesareth Son to John or Jonas a Fisher-man of that Town Brother he was to Simon Peter he had Scythia and the Neighbouring Country primary alloted him for his Provinces first then he Traveled through Cappadocia Galatia and Bithynia and Instructed them in the Faith of Christ. Passing all along the Euxine Seas formerly called Axenus from the Barbarous and Inhospitable temper of the People who were wont to sacrificed strangers and of their Skulls make Cups to drink in at their Feasts and Banquets he was brought before the Proconsul who perswaded him that he would not foolishly destroy himself but live and injoy with him the pleasures of this Life the Apostle after many more words replyed that now he saw it was in vain any longer to deal with him a person incapable of sober Counsel and hardened in his on blindness and folly he might now do his worst and if he had one Torment greater than another he might heap that upon him the greater constancy he shewed in his suffering for Christ the more acceptable he should be to his Lord and Master the Procounsul first Commanded him to be scourged seven lashes successively whipping his naked body and seeing his invincable patience and constancy Commanded him to be Crucified but not to be fastned to the Cross with Nails but Cords that so his death might be the more lingering and tedious as he was led to Execution to which he went with a chearful and composed mind the People Cried out that he was an innocent and good Man being come within sight of the Cross he saluted it with this kind adress that he had long desired and expected that happy hour thus having prayed and exhorted the People to constancy and perceverance in that Relgion he was fastned to the Cross whereon he hung two days teaching and instructing the People all the time and when great importunities in the mean while was used to the Proconsul to spare his Life he earnestly begs of the Lord that he might at this time depart and seal the Truth of his Religion with his blood God heard his prayers and he immediately expired in the 9th month though in what year no certain account can be Recorded his Body being taken down and Embalmed was decently and honourably Interred by Maximilla a Woman of great Quality and Estate JAMES The Son of Zebede a Fisher-man by Birth a Galilean suppos'd to be one of the Brethren that their Mother asked that one might sit at the right hand and the other at the left hand of Jesus in his Kingdom he Preach't Christ unto the 12 Tribes some write that he came to Spain and other Western parts and also Britain Ireland he was slain with a Sword by Herod the Tetrach of the Jews in Judaea where he was buried JOHN The Brother of James by Birth a Galilean Preach't Christ in Asia coming near Rome was accused to the Emperor as an Assertor of Athesim and Subvertor of the Religion of the Empire whereupon he was sent bound to Rome and put into a Coldron