earnestly exhorting her and calling her by her Name bad her to be mindful of our Lord. Such says he was the Wedlock of that blessed couple and the perfect disposition and agreement in those things that were dearest to them By her he is said to have had a Daughter called Petronilla Metaphrastes adds a Son how truly I know not This only is certain that Clemens of Alexandria reckons Peter for one of the Apostles that was Married and had Children And surely he who was so good a man and so good an Apostle was as good in the relation both of an Husband and a Father SECT XI An Enquiry into S. Peter's going to Rome Peter ' 's being at Rome granted in general The account of it given by Baronius and the Writers of that Church rejected and disproved No foundation for it in the History of the Apostolick Acts. No mention of it in S. Paul ' s Epistle to the Romans No news of his being there at S. Paul ' s coming to Rome nor intimation of any such thing in the several Epistles which S. Paul wrote from thence S. Peter ' s first being at Rome inconsistent with the time of the Apostolical Synod at Jerusalem And with an Ancient Tradition that the Apostles were commanded to stay Twelve years in Judaea after Christ ' s death A passage out of Clemens Alexandrinus noted and corrected to that purpose Difference among the Writers of the Romish Church in their Accounts Peter 's being XXV years Bishop of Rome no solid foundation for it in Antiquity The Planting and Governing that Church equally attributed to Peter and Paul S. Peter when probably came to Rome Different dates of his Martyrdom assigned by the Ancients A probable account given of it 1. THOUGH it be not my purpose to swim against the Stream and Current of Antiquity in denying S. Peter to have been at Rome an Assertion easilier perplexed and entangled than confuted and disproved yet may we grant the main without doing any great service to that Church there being evidence enough to every impartial and considering man to spoil that smooth and plausible Scheme of Times which Baronius and the Writers of that Church have drawn with so much care and diligence And in order to this we shall first enquire whether that Account which Bellarmine and Baronius give us of Peter's being at Rome be tolerably reconcileable with the History of the Apostles Acts recorded by S. Luke which will be best done by briefly presenting S. Peter's Acts in their just Series and order of Time and then seeing what countenance and foundation their Account can receive from hence 2. AFTER our Lord's Ascension we find Peter for the first year at least staying with the rest of the Apostles at Jerusalem In the next year he was sent together with S. John by the command of the Apostles to Samaria to preach the Gospel to that City and the parts about it About three years after S. Paul meets him at Jerusalem with whom he staid some time In the two following years he visited the late planted Churches preached at Lydda and Joppa where having tarried many days he thence removed to Caesarea where he preached to and baptized Cornelius and his Family Whence after some time he returned to Jerusalem where he probably staid till cast into prison by Herod and delivered by the Angel After which we hear no more of him till three or four years after we find him in the Council at Jerusalem After which he had the contest with S. Paul at Antioch And thence forward the Sacred Story is altogether silent in this matter So that in all this time we find not the least footstep of any intimation that he went to Rome This Baronius well foresaw and therefore once and again inserts this caution that S. Luke did not design to record all the Apostles Acts and that he has omitted many things which were done by Peter Which surely no man ever intended to deny But then that he should omit a matter of such vast moment and importance to the whole Christian World that not one syllable should be said of a Church planted by Peter at Rome a Church that was to be Paramount the seat of all Spiritual Power and Infallibility and to which all other Churches were to vail and do homage nay that he should not so much as mention that ever he was there and yet all this said to be done within the time he designed to write of is by no means reasonable to suppose Especially considering that S. Luke records many of his journeys and travels and his preaching at several places of far less consequence and concernment Nor let this be thought the worse of because a negative Argument since it carries so much rational evidence along with it that any man who is not plainly byassed by Interest will be satisfied with it 3. BUT let us proceed a little further to enquire whether we can meet any probable footsteps afterwards About the year Fifty three towards the end of Claudius his Reign S. Paul is thought to have writ his Epistle to the Church at Rome wherein he spends the greatest part of one Chapter in saluting particular persons that were there amongst whom it might reasonably have been expected that S. Peter should have had the first place And supposing with Baronius that Peter at this time might be absent from the City preaching the Gospel in some parts in the West yet we are not sure that S. Paul knew of this and if he did it is strange that in so large an Epistle wherein he had occasion enough there should be neither direct nor indirect mention of him or of any Church there founded by him Nay S. Paul himself intimates what an earnest desire he had to come thither that he might impart unto them some spiritual gifts to the end they might be established in the Faith for which there could have been no such apparent cause had Peter been there so lately and so long before him Well S. Paul himself not many years after is sent to Rome Ann. Chr. LVI or as Eusebius LVII though Baronius makes it two years after about the second year of Nero when he comes thither does he go to sojourn with Peter as 't is likely he would had he been there No but dwelt by himself in his own hired house No sooner was he come but he called the chief of the Jews together acquainted them with the cause and end of his coming explains the doctrine of Christianity which when they rejected he tells them That henceforth the Salvation of God was sent unto the Gentiles who would hear it to whom he would now address himself Which seems to intimate that however some few of the Gentiles might have been brought over yet that no such harvest had been made before his coming as might reasonably have been expected from S. Peter's having been so many years amongst them Within
Abylene the remaining portions of his Grandfathers dominions Claudius being settled in the Empire over comes Herod from Rome to take possession and to manage the affairs of his new acquired Kingdom A Prince noble and generous prudent and politick throughly versed in all the arts of Courtship able to oblige enemies and to mollifie or decline the displeasure of the Emperor witness his subtil and cunning insinuations to Caligula when he commanded the Jews to account him a God he was one that knew let the wind blow which way it would how to gain the point he aimed at of a courteous and affable demeanour but withall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a mighty zealot for the Jewish Religion and a most acurate observer of the Mosaick Law keeping himself free from all legal impurities and suffering no day to pass over his head in which he himself was not present at sacrifice Being desirous in the entrance upon his soveraignty to insinuate himself into the favour of the populacy and led no less by his own zealous inclination he saw no better way than to fall heavy upon the Christians a sort of men whom he knew the Jews infinitely hated as a novel and an upstart Sect whose Religion proclaimed open defiance to the Mosaick Institutions Hereupon he began to raise a persecution but alas the commonalty were too mean a sacrifice to fall as the only victim to his zeal and popular designs he must have a fatter and more honourable sacrifice It was not long before S. James his stirring and active temper his bold reproving of the Jews and vigorous contending for the truth and excellency of the Christian Religion rendred him a fit object for his turn Him he commands to be apprehended cast into prison and sentence of death to be passed upon him As he was led forth to the place of Martyrdom the Souldier or Officer that had guarded him to the Tribunal or rather his Accuser and so Suidas expresly tells us it was having been convinced by that mighty courage and constancy which S. James shewed at the time of his trial repented of what he had done came and fell down at the Apostle's feet and heartily begged pardon for what he said against him The holy man after a little surprise at the thing raised him up embraced and kissed him Peace said he my son peace be to thee and the pardon of thy faults Whereupon before them all he publickly professed himself to be a Christian and so both were beheaded at the same time Thus fell S. James the Apostolick Proto-Martyr the first of that number that gained the Crown chearfully taking that cup which he had long since told his Lord he was most ready to drink of 9. BUT the Divine vengeance that never sleeps suffered not the death of this innocent and righteous man to pass long unrevenged of which though S. Luke gives us but a short account yet Josephus who might himself remember it being a youth at that time of seven or eight years of age sets down the story with its particular circumstances agreeing almost exactly with the Sacred Historian Shortly after S. James his Martyrdom Herod removed to Caesarea being resolved to make war upon the neighbouring Tyrians and Sidonians While he was here he proclaimed solemn sights and Festival entertainments to be held in honour of Caesar to which there flocked a great confluence of all the Nobility thereabouts Early in the morning on the second day he came with great state into the Theatre to make an Oration to the people being clothed in a Robe all over curiously wrought with silver which encountring with the beams of the rising Sun reflected such a lustre upon the eyes of the people who make sensible appearances the only true measures of greatness as begot an equal wonder and veneration in them crying out prompted no doubt by flatterers who began the cry that it was some Deity which they beheld and that he who spake to them must be something above the ordinary standard of humanity This impious applause Herod received without any token of dislike or sense of that injury that was hereby done to the supreme Being of the World But a sudden accident changed the scene and turned the Comick part into a black fatal Tragedy Looking up he espied an Owle sitting upon a rope over his head as probably also he did an Angel for so S. Luke mentions it which he presently beheld as the fatal messenger of his death as heretofore it had been of his prosperity and success An incurable melancholy immediately seized upon his mind as exquisite torments did upon his bowels caused without question by those Worms S. Luke speaks of which immediately fed and preyed upon him Behold said he turning to those about him the Deity you admired and your selves evidently convinced of flattery and falshood see me here by the Laws of Fate condemned to die whom just now you stiled immortal Being removed into the Palace his pains still encreased upon him and though the people mourned and wept fasted and prayed for his life and health yet his acute torments got the upper hand and after five days put a period to his life But to return to S. James 10. BEING put to death his Body is said to have taken a second voyage into Spain where we are with confidence enough told it rests at this day Indeed I meet with a very formal account of its translation thither written says the Publisher above DC years since by a Monk of the Abby of La-Fleury in France The summ whereof is this The Apostles at Jerusalem designing Ctesiphon for Spain ordained him Bishop and others being joyned to his assistance they took the Body of S. James and went on board a Ship without Oars without a Pilot or any to steer and conduct their voyage trusting only to the merits of that Apostle whose remains they carried along with them In seven days they arrived at a Port in Spain where landing the Corps was suddenly taken from them and with great appearances of an extraordinary light from Heaven conveyed they knew not whither to the place of its interment The men you may imagine were exceedingly troubled that so great a treasure should be ravished from them but upon their prayers and tears they were conducted by an Angel to the place where the Apostle was buried twelve miles from the Sea Here they addressed themselves to a rich Noble Matron called Luparia who had a great Estate in those parts but a severe Idolatress begging of her that they might have leave to entomb the bones of the holy Apostle within her jurisdiction She entertained them with contempt and scorn with curses and execrations bidding them go and ask leave of the King of the Country They did so but were by him treated with all the instances of rage and fury and pursued by him till himself perished in the attempt They returned
here by Preaching and Miracles he mightily triumphed over error and Idolatry convinced and converted Multitudes ordained spiritual Guides and Pastors to confirm and build them up and bring over others to the Faith and then finished his own course As for what is related by Nicephorus of his going into the Country of the Cannibals constituting Plato one of his followers Bishop of Myrmena of Christ's appearing to him in the form of a beautiful Youth and giving him a Wand which he pitching into the ground immediately it grew up into a Tree of his strange converting the Prince of that Country of his numerous Miracles peaceable Death and sumptuous Funerals with abundance more of the same stamp and coin they are justly to be reckoned amongst those fabulous reports that have no Pillar nor ground either of truth or probability to support them Most probable it is what an Ancient Writer affirms that he suffered Martyrdom at Naddaber a City in Aethiopia but by what kind of Death is altogether uncertain Whether this Naddaber be the same with Beschberi where the Arabick Writer of his Life affirms him to have suffered Martyrdom let others enquire he also adds that he was buried Arthaganetu Caesarea but where that is is to me unknown Dorotheus makes him honourably buried at Hierapolis in Parthia one of the first places to which he Preached the Gospel 5. HE was a great instance of the power of Religion how much a Man may be brought off to a better temper If we reflect upon his circumstances while yet a stranger to Christ we shall find that the World had very great advantages upon him He was become a Master of a plentiful Estate engaged in a rich and a gainful Trade supported by the power and favour of the Romans prompted by covetous inclinations and these confirmed by long habits and customs And yet notwithstanding all this no sooner did Christ call but without the least scruple or dissatisfaction he flung up all at once and not only renounced as S. Basil observes his gainful incomes but ran an immediate hazard of the displeasure of his Masters that employed him for quitting their service and leaving his accounts entangled and confused behind him Had our Saviour been a mighty Prince it had been no wonder that he should run over to his service but when he appeared under all the circumstances of meanness and disgrace when he seemed to promise his followers nothing but misery and suffering in this life and to propound no other rewards but the invisible encouragements of another World his change in this case was the more strange and admirable Indeed so admirable that Porphyry and Julian two subtil and acute adversaries of the Christian Religion hence took occasion to charge him either with falshood or with folly either that he gave not a true account of the thing or that it was very weakly done of him so hastily to follow any one that call'd him But the Holy Jesus was no common Person in all his commands there was somewhat more than ordinary Indeed S. Hierom conceives that besides the Divinity that manifested it self in his Miracles there was a Divine brightness and a kind of Majesty in our Saviour's looks that at first sight was attractive enough to draw Persons after him However his miraculous powers that reflected a lustre from every quarter and the efficacy of his Doctrine accompanied with the grace of God made way for the summons that were sent our Apostle and enabled him to conquer all oppositions that stood in the way to hinder him 6. HIS contempt of the World further appeared in his exemplary temperance and abstemiousness from all the delights and pleasures yea the ordinary conveniences and accommodations of it so far from indulging his appetite with nice and delicate curiosities that he refused to gratifie it with lawful and ordinary provisions eating no flesh his usual Diet being nothing but Herbs Roots Seeds and Berries But what appeared most remarkable in him and which though the least vertue in it self is the greatest in a wise Man's esteem and value was his humility mean and modest in his own conceit in honour preferring others before himself Whereas the other Evangelists in describing the Apostles by pairs constantly place him before Thomas he modestly places him before himself The rest of the Evangelists openly mention the honour of his Apostleship but speak of his former sordid dishonest and disgraceful course of life only under the name of Levi while he himself sets it down with all its circumstances under his own proper and common name Which as at once it commends his own candor and ingenuity so it administers to us this not unuseful consideration That the greatest sinners are not excluded the lines of Divine grace nor can any if penitent have just reason to despair when Publicans and sinners are taken in And as S. Matthew himself does freely and impartially record his own vile and dishonourable course of life so the two other Evangelists though setting down the story take notice of him only under another name to teach us to treat a penitent Brother with all modesty and tenderness If a man repent say the Jews 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man say to him remember thy former works which they explain not only concerning Israelites but even strangers and Proselytes It being against the rules of civility as well as the Laws of Religion when a Man hath repented to upbraid and reproach him with the errors and follies of his past life 7. THE last thing that calls for any remarks in the life of this Apostle is his Gospel written at the intreaty of the Jewish Converts and as Epiphanius tells us at the command of the Apostles while he was yet in Palestine about Eight Years after the death of Christ though Nicephorus will have it to be written Fifteen Years after our Lord's Ascension and Irenaeus yet much wider who seems to imply that it was written while Peter and Paul Preached at Rome which was not till near Thirty Years after But most plain it is that it must be written before the dispersion of the Apostles seeing S. Bartholomew as we have noted in his Life took it along with him into India and left it there He wrote it in Hebrew as primarily designing it for the use of his Country-men and strange it is that any should question its being originally written in that Language when the thing is so universally and uncontroulably asserted by all Antiquity not one that I know of after the strictest enquiry I could make dissenting in this matter and who certainly had far greater opportunities of being satisfied in these things than we can have at so great a distance It was no doubt soon after translated into Greek though by whom S. Hierom professes he could not tell Theophylact says it was reported to have been done by S. John but
enriched the Church with Gifts and Ornaments which in every Age encreased in Splendor and Riches till it is become one of the wonders of the World at this day Of whose glories stateliness and beauty and those many venerable Monuments of antiquity that are in it they who desire to know more may be plentifully satisfied by Onuphrius Only one amongst the rest must not be forgotten there being kept that very wooden Chair wherein S. Peter sate when he was at Rome by the only touching whereof many Miracles are said to be performed But surely Baronius his wisdom and gravity were from home when speaking of this Chair and fearing that Hereticks would imagine that it might be rotten in so long a time he tells us that it 's no wonder that this Chair should be preserved so long when Eusebius affirms that the wooden Chair of S. James Bishop of Jerusalem was extant in the time of Constantine But the Cardinal it seems forgot to consider that there is some difference between three and sixteen hundred Years But of this enough S. Peter was crucified according to the common computation in the Year of Christ sixty nine and the thirteenth or as Eusebius the fourteenth of Nero how truly may be enquired afterwards SECT X. The Character of his Person and Temper and an Account of his Writings The description of S. Peter ' s person An account of his Temper A natural fervor and eagerness predominant in him Fierceness and animosity peculiarly remarkable in the Galileans The abatements of his zeal and courage His humility and lowliness of mind His great love to and Zeal for Christ. His constancy and resolution in confessing Christ. His faithfulness and diligence in his Office His Writings genuine and supposititious His first Epistle what the design of it What meant by Babylon whence it was dated His second Epistle a long time questioned and why Difference in the style no considerable objection Grotius his conceit of its being written by Symeon Bishop of Jerusalem exploded A concurrence of circumstances to entitle S. Peter to it Some things in it referred to which he had preached at Rome particularly the destruction of Jerusalem Written but a little before his death The spurious Writings attributed to him mentioned by the Ancients His Acts. Gospel Petri Praedicatio His Apocalypse Judicium Petri. Peter ' s married relation His Wife the companion of his Travels Her Martyrdom His Daughter Petronilla 1. HAVING run through the current History of S. Peter's Life it may not be amiss in the next place to survey a little his Person and Temper His Body if we may believe the description given of him by Nicephorus was somewhat slender of a middle size but rather inclining to tallness his complexion very pale and almost white The hair of his Head and Beard curl'd and thick but withall short though S. Hierom tells us out of Clemens his Periods that he was Bald which probably might be in his declining age his Eyes black but speckt with red which Baronius will have to proceed from his frequent weeping his Eye-brows thin or none at all his Nose long but rather broad and flat than sharp such was the Case and out-side Let us next look inwards and view the Jewel that was within Take him as a Man and there seems to have been a natural eagerness predominant in his Temper which as a Whetstone sharpned his Soul for all bold and generous undertakings It was this in a great measure that made him so forward to speak and to return answers sometimes before he had well considered them It was this made him expose his person to the most eminent dangers promise those great things in behalf of his Master and resolutely draw his Sword in his quarrel against a whole Band of Souldiers and wound the High-Priests Servant and possibly he had attempted greater matters had not our Lord restrained and taken him off by that seasonable check that he gave him 2. THIS Temper he owed in a great measure to the Genius and nature of his Country of which Josephus gives this true character That it naturally bred in men a certain fierceness and animosity whereby they were fearlesly carried out upon any action and in all things shew'd a great strength and courage both of mind and body The Galileans says he being fighters from their childhood the men being as seldom overtaken with cowardize as their Country with want of men And yet notwithstanding this his fervor and fierceness had its intervals there being some times when the Paroxysms of his heat and courage did intermit and the man was surprised and betrayed by his own fears Witness his passionate crying out when he was upon the Sea in danger of his life and his fearful deserting his Master in the Garden but especially his carriage in the High-Priests Hall when the confident charge of a sorry Maid made him sink so far beneath himself and notwithstanding his great and resolute promises so shamefully deny his Master and that with curses and imprecations But he was in danger and passion prevailed over his understanding and fear betrayed the succours which reason offered and being intent upon nothing but the present safety of his life he heeded not what he did when he disown'd his Master to save himself so dangerous is it to be left to our selves and to have our natural passions let ' loose upon us 3. CONSIDER him as a Disciple and a Christian and we shall find him exemplary in the great instances of Religion Singular his Humility and lowliness of mind With what a passionate earnestness upon the conviction of a Miracle did he beg of our Saviour to depart from him accounting himself not worthy that the Son of God should come near so vile a sinner When our Lord by that wonderful condescension stoopt to wash his Apostles feet he could by no means be perswaded to admit it not thinking it fit that so great a person should submit himself to so servile an office towards so mean a person as himself nor could he be induced to accept it till our Lord was in a manner forced to threaten him into obedience When Cornelius heightned in his apprehensions of him by an immediate command from God concerning him would have entertained him with expressions of more than ordinary honour and veneration so far was he from complying with it that he plainly told him he was no other than such a man as himself With how much candor and modesty does he treat the inferiour Rulers and Ministers of the Church He upon whom Antiquity heaps so many honourable titles stiling himself no other than their fellow-Presbyter Admirable his love to and zeal for his Master which he thought he could never express at too high a rate for his sake venturing on the greatest dangers and exposing himself to the most imminent hazards of life 'T was in his quarrel that he drew his Sword against a Band
the time of writing or the care that is used in doing it Who sees not the vast difference of Jeremie's writing in his Prophecy and in his Book of Lamentations between S. John's in his Gospel his Epistles and Apocalypse How oft does S. Paul alter his style in several of his Epistles in some more lofty and elegant in others more rough and harsh Besides hundreds of instances that might be given both in Ecclesiastical and Foreign Writers too obvious to need insisting on in this place The learned Grotius will have this Epistle to have been written by Symeon S. James his immediate Successor in the Bishoprick of Jerusalem and that the word Peter was inserted into the Title by another hand But as a Judicious person of our own observes these were but his Posthume Annotations published by others and no doubt never intended as the deliberate result of that great man's Judgment especially since he himself tacitly acknowledges that all Copies extant at this day read the Title and Inscription as it is in our Books And indeed there is a concurrence of circumstances to prove S. Peter to be the Author of it It bears his name in the Front and Title yea somewhat more expresly than the former which has only one this both his Names There 's a passage in it that cannot well relate to any but him When he tells us that he was present with Christ in the holy Mount When he received from God the Father honour and glory Where he heard the voice which came from Heaven from the excellent glory This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased This evidently refers to Christs Transfiguration where none were present but Peter and the two Sons of Zebedee neither of which were ever thought of to be the Author of this Epistle Besides that there is an admirable consent and agreement in many passages between these two Epistles as it were easie to show in particular instances Add to this that S. Jude speaking of the Scoffers who should come in the last time walking after their own ungodly lusts cites this as that which had been before spoken by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ wherein he plainly quotes the words of this Second Epistle of Peter affirming That there should come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts And that this does agree to Peter will further appear by this that he tells us of these Scoffers that should come in the last days that is before the destruction of Jerusalem as that phrase is often used in the New Testament that they should say Where is the promise of his coming Which clearly respects their making light of those threatnings of our Lord whereby he had foretold that he would shortly come in Judgment for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Nation This he now puts them in mind of as what probably he had before told them of Vivâ voce when he was amongst them For so we find he did elsewhere Lactantiusassuring us That amongst many strange and wonderful things which Peter and Paul preached at Rome and left upon Record this was one That within a short time God would send a Prince who should destroy the Jews and lay their Cities level with the ground straitly besiege them destroy them with Famine so that they should feed upon one another That their Wives and Daughters should be ravished and their Childrens brains dasht out before their faces that all things should be laid waste by Fire and Sword and themselves perpetually banished from their own Country and this for their insolent and merciless usage of the innocent and dear Son of God All which as he observes came to pass soon after their death when Vespasian came upon the Jews and extinguished both their Name and Nation And what Peter here foretold at Rome we need not question but he had done before to those Jews to whom he wrote this Epistle Wherein he especially antidotes them against those corrupt and poisonous principles wherewith many and especially the followers of Simon Magus began to infect the Church of Christ. And this but a little time before his death as appears from that passage in it where he tells them That he knew he must shortly put off his earthly Tabernacle 7. BESIDES these Divine Epistles there were other supposititious writings which in the first Ages were fathered upon S. Peter Such was the Book called his Acts mentioned by Origen Eusebius and others but rejected by them Such was his Gospel which probably at first was nothing else but the Gospel written by S. Mark dictated to him as is generally thought by S. Peter and therefore as S. Hierom tells us said to be his Though in the next Age there appeared a Book under that Title mentioned by Serapion Bishop of Antioch and by him at first suffered to be read in the Church but afterwards upon a more careful perusal of it he rejected it as Apocryphal as it was by others after him Another was the Book stiled His Preaching mentioned and quoted both by Clemens Alexandrinus and by Origen but not acknowledged by them to be Genuine Nay expresly said to have been forged by Hereticks by an ancient Author contemporary with S. Cyprian The next was his Apocalypse or Revelation rejected as Sozomen tells us by the Ancients as Spurious but yet read in some Churches in Palestine in his time The last was the Book called His Judgment which probably was the same with that called Hermes or Pastor a Book of good use and esteem in the first times of Christianity and which as Eusebius tells us was not only frequently cited by the Ancients but also publickly read in Churches 8. WE shall conclude this Section by considering Peter with respect to his several Relations That he was married is unquestionable the Sacred History mentioning his Wifes Mother his Wife might we believe Metaphrastes being the Daughter of Aristobulus Brother to Barnabas the Apostle And though S. Hierom would perswade us that he left her behind him together with his Nets when he forsook all to follow Christ yet we know that Father too well to be over-confident upon his word in a case of Marriage or Single life wherein he is not over-scrupulous sometimes to strain a point to make his opinion more fair and plausible The best is we have an infallible Authority which plainly intimates the contrary the testimony of S. Paul who tells us of Cephas that he led about a Wife a Sister along with him who for the most part mutually cohabited and lived together for ought that can be proved to the contrary Clemens Alexandrinus gives us this account though he tells us not the time or place That Peter seeing his Wife going towards Martyrdom exceedingly rejoyced that she was called to so great an honour and that she was now returning home encouraging and
had taken root amongst them 5. IT is not improbable but that about this or rather some considerable time before S. Paul wrote his second Epistle to Timothy I know Eusebius and the Ancients and most Moderns after them will have it written a little before his Martyrdom induced thereunto by that passage in it that he was then ready to be offered and that the time of his departure was at hand But surely it 's most reasonable to think that it was written at his first being at Rome and that at his first coming thither presently after his Trial before Nero. Accordingly the passage before mentioned may import no more than that he was in imminent danger of his life and had received the sentence of death in himself not hoping to escape out of the paws of Nero But that God had delivered him out of the mouth of the Lion i. e. the great danger he was in at his coming thither Which exactly agrees to his case at his first being at Rome but cannot be reconciled with his last coming thither together with many more circumstances in this Epistle which render it next door to certain In it he appoints Timothy shortly to come to him who accordingly came whose name is joyned together with his in the front of several Epistles to the Philippians Colossians and to Philemon The only thing that can be levelled against this is that in this Epistle to Timothy he tells him that he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus by whom 't is plain that the Epistles to the Ephesians and Philippians were dispatched and that therefore this to Timothy must be written after them But I see no inconvenience to affirm that Tychicus might come to Rome presently after Paul's arrival there be by him immediately sent back to Ephesus upon some emergent affair of that Church and after his return to Rome be sent with those two Epistles The design of the Epistle was to excite the holy man to a mighty zeal and diligence care and fidelity in his office and to antidote the People against those poisonous principles that in those parts especially began to debauch the minds of men 6. AS for the Epistle to the Hebrews 't is very uncertain when or whence and for some Ages doubted by whom 't was written Eusebius tells us 't was not received by many because rejected by the Church of Rome as none of Paul's genuine Epistles Origen affirms the style and phrase of it to be more fine and elegant and to contain in it a richer vein of purer Greek than is usually found in Paul's Epistles as every one that is able to judge of a style must needs confess That the sentences indeed are grave and weighty and such as breath the Spirit and Majesty of an Apostle That therefore 't was his judgment that the matter contained in it had been dictated by some Apostle but that it had been put into phrase form and order by some other person that did attend upon him That if any Church owned it for Paul's they were not to be condemned it not being without reason by the Ancients ascribed to him though God only knew who was the true Author of it He further tells us that report had handed it down to his time that it had been composed partly by Clemens of Rome partly by Luke the Evangelist Tertullian adds that it was writ by Barnabas What seems most likely in such variety of opinions is that S. Paul originally wrote it in Hebrew it being to be sent to the Jews his Country-men and by some other person probably S. Luke or Clemens Romanus translated into Greek Especially since both Eusebius and S. Hierom observed of old such a great affinity both in style and sence between this and Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians as thence positively to conclude him to be the Translator of it 'T was written as we may conjecture a little after he was restored to his liberty and probably while he was yet in some parts of Italy whence he dates his salutations The main design of it is to magnifie Christ and the Religion of the Gospel above Moses and the Jewish Oeconomy and Ministration that by this means he might the better establish and confirm the Convert Jews in the firm belief and profession of Christianity notwithstanding those sufferings and persecutions that came upon them endeavouring throughout to arm and fortifie them against Apostasie from that noble and excellent Religion wherein they had so happily engaged themselves And great need there was for the Apostle severely to urge them to it heavy persecutions both from Jews and Gentiles pressing in upon them on every side besides those trains of specious and plausible insinuations that were laid to reduce them to their Ancient Institutions Hence the Apostle calls Apostasie the sin which did so easily beset them to which there were such frequent temptations and into which they were so prone to be betrayed in those suffering times And the more to deter them from it he once and again sets before them the dreadful state and condition of Apostates those who having been once enlightned and baptized into the Christian Faith tasted the promises of the Gospel and been made partakers of the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost those powers which in the world to come or this new state of things were to be conferred upon the Church if after all this these men fall away and renounce Christianity it 's very hard and even impossible to renew them again unto repentance For by this means they trod under foot and crucified the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame prophaned the bloud of the Covenant and did despite to the Spirit of Grace So that to sin thus wilfully after they had received the knowledge of the truth there could remain for them no more sacrifice for sins nothing but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which should devour these adversaries And a fearful thing it was in such circumstances to fall into the hands of the living God who had particularly said of this sort of sinners that if any man drew back his soul should have no pleasure in him Hence it is that every where in this Epistle he mixes exhortations to this purpose that they would give earnest heed to the things which they had heard lest at any time they should let them slip that they would hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end and beware lest by an evil heart of unbelief they departed from the living God that they would labour to enter into his rest lest any man fall after the example of unbelief that leaving the first principles of the doctrine of Christ they would go on to perfection shewing diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end not being slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises that they would
back to their Gallaecian Matron whom by many miracles and especially the destroying a Dragon that miserably infested those parts they at last made Convert to the Faith who thereupon commanded her Images to be broken the Altars to be demolished and her own Idol-Temple being cleansed and purged to be dedicated to the honour of S. James by which means Christianity mightily prevailed and triumphed over Idolatry in all those Countries This is the summ of the Account call it Romance or History which I do not desire to impose any further upon the Readers faith than he shall find himself disposed to believe it I add no more than that his Body was afterwards translated from Iria Flavia the place of its first repose to Compostella Though a Learned person will have it to have been but one and the same place and that after the story of S. James had gotten some footing in the belief of men it began to be called ad Jacobum Apostolum thence in after-times Giacomo Postolo which was at last jumbled into Compostella where it were to tire both the Reader and my self to tell him with what solemn veneration and incredible miracles reported to be done here this Apostle's reliques are worshipped at this day Whence Baronius calls it the great store-house of Miracles lying open to the whole World and wisely confesses it one of the best arguments to prove that his Body was translated thither And I should not scruple to be of his mind could I be assured that such Miracles were truly done there The End of the Life of S. James the Great THE LIFE OF S. JOHN S. IOHN Evangelist Having lived to a great age he died at Ephesus 68 years after our Lords Passion and was Buried neere that City Baron St. John put into a Cauldron of boyling oyl Joh. 21.21 22. Peter saith Lord what shall this man do Jesus saith unto him if I will that he carry till I come what is that to thee 1 Pet. 4.12 Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some strange thing hapned to you His kindred and relations whether eminent for Nobility The peculiar favours conferred upon him by our Saviour His lying in our Lord's Bosom His attending at the crucifixion Our Lord 's committing the Blessed Virgin to his care The great intimacy between Him and Peter How long he resided at Jerusalem Asia theEast His being sent prisoner to Rome and being put into a Caldron of boiling Oil by the command of Domitian His banishment into Patmos Transportation what kind of punishment Capitis Diminutio what His writing the Apocalypse there The tradition of his hand wherewith he wrote it being still kept there His return to Ephesus and governing the affairs of that Province His great Age and Death The fancy of his being still alive whence derived by the Ancients The Tradition of his going alive into his Grave and sleeping there Several counterfeits pretending themselves to be S. John His Celibacy whether he was ever married His humility His admirable love and charity and hearty recommending it to the last His charity to mens Souls His endangering himself to reclaim a debauched young man His singular vigilancy against Hereticks and Seducers His publick disowning Cerinthus his company Cerinthus who and what his principles The Heresie of Ebion what Nicolaitans who whence their Original An account of Nicolas the Deacon's separating from his Wife The vile principles and practices of his pretended followers S. John 's writings His Revelation Dionysius Alexandrinus his judgment concerning it and its Author Asserted and proved to be S. John ' s. The ground of doubting what His Gospel when and where written The solemn preparation and causes moving him to undertake it The subject of it sublime and mysterious Admired and cited by Heathen Philosophers It s Translation into Hebrew His first Epistle and the design of it His two other Epistles to whom written and why not admitted of old His stile and way of writing considered The great Encomium given of his writings by the ancient Fathers 1. SAINT John was a Galilean the son of Zebedee and Salome younger Brother to S. James together with whom he was brought up in the Trade of Fishing S. Hierom makes him remarkable upon the account of his Nobility whereby he became acquainted with the High-Priest and resolutely ventured himself amongst the Jews at our Saviour's Trial prevailed to introduce Peter into the Hall was the only Apostle that attended our Lord at his Crucifixion and afterwards durst own his Mother and keep her at his own house But the nobility of his Family and especially that it should be such as to procure him so much respect from persons of the highest rank and quality seems not reconcileable with the meanness of his Father's Trade and the privacy of his fortunes And for his acquaintance with the High-Priest I should rather put it upon some other account especially if it be true what Nicephorus relates That he had lately sold his Estate left by his Father in Galilee to Annas the High-Priest and had therewith purchased a fair house at Jerusalem about Mount Sion whence he became acquainted with him Before his coming to Christ he seems for some time to have been Disciple to John the Baptist being probably that other disciple that was with Andrew when they left the Baptist to follow our Saviour so particularly does he relate all circumstances of that transaction though modestly as in other parts of his Gospel concealing his own name He was at the same time with his Brother called by our Lord both to the Discipleship and Apostolate by far the youngest of all the Apostles as the Ancients generally affirm and his great Age seems to evince living near LXX years after our Saviour's suffering 2. THERE is not much said concerning him in the Sacred story more than what is recorded of him in conjunction with his Brother James which we have already remarked in his life He was peculiarly dear to his Lord and Master being the Disciple whom Jesus loved that is treated with more freedom and familiarity than the rest And indeed he was not only one of the Three whom our Saviour made partakers of the private passages of his life but had some instances of a more particular kindness and favour conferred upon him Witness his lying in our Saviour's bosom at the Paschal Supper it being the custom of those times to lie along at meals upon Couches so that the second lay with his head in the bosom of him that was before him this honourable place was not given to any of the Aged but reserved for our Apostle Nay when Peter was desirous to know which of them our Saviour meant when he told them that one of them should betray him and durst not himself propound the question he made use of S. John whose familiarity with him might best warrant such an enquiry to ask our Lord who
curing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Souls of Men infected and over-run with difficult and disperate distempers created by pleasures and extravagant appetites and a long train of other lusts and passions Josephus reporting of them that they accurately study the Writings of the Ancients excerping thence whatever is conducive either to Soul or Body and that for the curing of Diseases they diligently enquired into the Vertues of Roots and Stones that were most proper to drive away Distempers An Account no ways agreeing with the Christians of those times who miraculously cured Diseases without the Arts of Physick or any other Preparations than calling the Name of Christ over the afflicted Person Doubtless that which led Eusebius into the mistake was the conformity that he observed between the Christian 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in and before his time who entred upon a more strict and severe course of life and these Therapeutae described by Philo an ordinary fancy being able to draw a fair parallel between them and so it was but removing them some Ages higher and imagining them to have been converted and founded by S. Mark and the work was done Indeed it is not to be doubted but that Persons educated under these excellent rules and methods of life were more than ordinarily prepared for the reception of Christianity between which and their Principles and Rules of Life there was so great an affinity and agreement which must needs render our Evangelists success great in those Parts and open the way for men to come flocking over to the Faith 4. S. MARK did not confine his Preaching to Alexandria and the Oriental Parts of Egypt but removed Westward to the parts of Libya going through the Countries of Marmarica Pentapolis and others thereabouts where though the People were both barbarous in their manners and idolatrous in their worship yet by his Preaching and Miracles he made way for the entertainment of the Gospel and left them not till he had not only gained them to but confirmed them in the profession of it Returning to Alexandria he preached freely and ordered and disposed the affairs of the Church and wisely provided for succession by constituting Governours and Pastors of it But the restless enemy of the Souls of Men would not long suffer him to be quiet It was the time of Easter at what time the great Solemnities of Serapis hapned to be celebrated when the minds of the People being excited to a passionate vindication of the honour of their Idol broke in upon S. Mark then engaged in the solemn celebration of Divine worship and binding his Feet with Cords dragged him through the streets and the most craggy places to the Bucelus a Precipice near the Sea and for that Night thrust him into Prison where his Soul was by a Divine Vision erected and encouraged under the ruines of his shattered Body Early the next Morning the Tragedy began again dragging him about in the same manner till his Flesh being raked off and his Bloud run out his spirits failed and he expired But their malice died not with him Metaphrastes adds that they burnt his Body whose Bones and Ashes the Christians there decently entombed near the place where he was wont to Preach His Body at least the remains of it were afterwards with great pomp removed from Alexandria to Venice where they are religiously honoured and he adopted as the Tutelar Saint and Patron of that State and one of the richest and stateliest Churches erected to his Memory that the World can boast of at this Day He suffered in the Month Pharmuthi on the XXV of April though the certain Year of his Martyrdom is not precisely determined by the Ancients Kirstenius out of the Arabick Memoires of his Life says it was in the Fourteenth of the last Year of Claudius S. Hierom places it in the Eighth of Nero. But extravagantly wide is Dorotheus his computation who makes him to suffer in the time of Trajan with as much truth as Nicephorus on the other hand affirms him to have come into Egyyt in the Reign of Tiberius If in so great variety of Opinions I may interpose my conjecture I should reckon him to have suffered about the end of Nero's Reign For supposing him to have come with S. Peter to Rome about the Fifth or Sixth Year of Nero he might thence be dispatched to Alexandria and spend the residue of his Life and of that Emperor's Reign in planting Christianity in those parts of the World Sure I am that Irenaeus reports S. Mark to have out-lived Peter and Paul and that after their decease he composed his Gospel out of those things which he had heard Peter preach But whatever becomes of that it is evident that Irenaeus supposed whose supposition certainly was not founded upon meer fancy and conjecture that S. Mark for some considerable time survived the Martyrdom of those two great Apostles A passage that so troubled Christophorson one of those who in these later Ages first translated Eusebius into Latin because crossing the accounts of their Writers in this matter that he chose rather to expunge the word decease and substitute another of a quite different sence expresly contrary to the faith of all ancient Copies and to the most ancient Version of Irenaeus it self But to return S. Mark as to his Person was of a middle size and stature his Nose long his Eye-brows turning back his Eyes graceful and amiable his Head bald his Beard prolix and gray his Gate quick the constitution of his Body strong and healthful 5. HIS Gospel the only Book he left behind him was as before we observed written at the intreaty of the Converts at Rome who not content to have heard Peter preach pressed S. Mark his Disciple that he would commit to Writing an Historical account of what he had delivered to them which he performed with no less faithfulness than brevity all which S. Peter perused ratified with his Authority and commanded to be publickly read in their Religious Assemblies And though as we noted but now Irenaeus seems to intimate that it was written after Peter's death yet all that can be inferred hence will be what in it self is a matter of no great moment and importance that the Ancients were not agreed in assigning the exact time when the several Gospels were published to the World It was frequently stiled S. Peter's Gospel not so much because dictated by him to S. Mark as because he principally composed it out of that account which S. Peter usually delivered in his Discourses to the People Which probably is the reason of what Chrysostom observes that in his stile and manner of expression he delights to imitate S. Peter representing much in a few words Though he commonly reduces the story of our Saviour's Acts into a narrower compass than S. Matthew yet want there not passages which he relates more largely than he The last