repentant By his study and diligence he learnt the letter of the Law at the feet of Gamaliel by the light of Grace he knew the insufficiency of it to mans justification he concealed it not to the Jewes that hee might beat down their pride and teach them they were to have recourse to the Faith of Jesus Christ if they meant to be delivered from the yoke of sin and concupiscence These verities which they ought to have respected put them into a fury and publication of irreconciliable enmity against him In what place soever he went he found them prepared to cross his designes and raise persecutions against him they laid ambushes for him both by land and sea where horrid tempests seemed to him less terrible then their hatred To ruine him they made use of the authority of Goveruours and imployed their credit with Princes they abused the simplicity of pious women to chase him out of Cities where he preached with success In Lystris they made those throw stones at him who but two hours before would have adored him for a God Hee bare the marks of their cruelty upon his back in the many stripes hee received and had hee laid open to us all the other afflictions which he suffered by their persecution wee might behold the most admirable example of a perfect patience that ever has been and the most horrid fury whereof men are capable In these few things which he relates of himself we may behold his modesty and courage both tegether He was wearied with no pains and hee compared not himself with the other Ministers of the Gospel but in his great sufferings for the defence of it He was oftner imprisoned then any other and turned over to executioners who loaded him with stripes He often suffered shipwrack at sea and ran dangers in the calmest rivers In Cities the people defamed him with calumnies and treated him rudely in his person nor was hee secure in solitude His patience was tryed both in hunger and thirst and he was so far from yielding any pleasures to his senses that hee wanted necessaries for the sustaining of his life He felt the violence of cold in his voyages nor could the ice abate the heat of his zeal He had not wherewith to defend himself from the injury of the weather and the poorest persons would have been ashamed to wear his garments Hee was an invincible Champion that fought naked against his naked enemies the devils But whatsoever injuries he suffered by the Jews Gentiles those hee endured from false brothers were more dangerous and more insupportable The profession which they made of the Gospel in outward shew covered their hatred ambition and covetousness and being not the least suspected of any ill designe were by that the more able to doe him harm His great reputation made his greatest crimes they could not endure his sublime doctrine which had nothing of terrestrial in it nor the discretion of his zeal which was according to knowledge nor the constancy of his courage which would not bow in any thing that concerned the glory of God nor his disinteressed charity that sought no advantages to himself There were no calumnies so black which they cast not upon him or dispersed not cunningly amongst those who knew not the ground of their malice the motives of their hatred To hear them speak they seemed to be no waies interessed but in the defence of truth and regarded only the salvation of souls But they vented their passion and many times those were the instruments of their vengeance who ought to have been the Judges But their fury found it self deceived in all designes hurt none but those who had so unjustly entertained and so cruelly nourished it The Mystery of iniquity was discovered and every one saw that the false Apostles who persecuted him with so much obstinacy and fury were true Wolves in Sheep-skins and that they hated him as offenders hate their Judges All their injuries could not move him to any bitternesse he always rendering blessings for the maledictions they charged upon him He remembred that he was Apostle to him who bore the name of Impostor Seducer and Samaritan All things seemed sweet to him if tending to the progresse of the Gospel and all his care was that it might have no obstacle Although in his rapture he had seen the most profound mysteries of God yet he accommodated himself to the weakness of his disciples and stammered it out with them His Charity comprehended all the world and his care was extended unto Slaves as well as Princes His preaching was plain and he corrupted not the words of Jesus Christ by the ornaments of humane learning His reasons were so forcible that the most learned if not perswaded by them were at lest confounded His Epistles are Abysses of Divine knowledge one may see the light of his understanding there to sparkle and in every line the fire of his Charity The proud are there dazeled and the humble may finde wholsom instructions The Flower of human Eloquence are not seen there but all the beauties of Heavenly rhetorick shine in them This stile is not always elegant but the art in discussing matters and managing the Spirits of men is there admirable Prudence appears in all his precepts and all the profane Politiques come not near them Christian morality is found there in its purity and every one may there learn the duty of his condition without disguise without subtilty and without those pernicious imitations which have corrupted the good manners of these latter ages He neither sought his own reputation nor the applause of men and one of his chief maxims was that we could not please them and be servants of Jesus Christ He regarded not men but as they bore the image of his Master and all his cares were but to imprint that in their souls He having received the Evangelical verity as a sacred pledge he would never alter it out of any complacence He stooped to the capacity of his Disciples but he made not their capacity the rule of his Doctrine as if he were onely to tell them what they could comprehend In stead of satisfying humane reason which is very fecund and insolent in her doubts he placed it under the yoak of faith remitting it to the secrets of Gods Divine judgements The beloved Disciple reposed upon the bosome of Jesus Christ but we may say that Saint Paul entred into it and saw the operations of his Divine life and the influences diffused from thence upon his members Never any one better knew the Oeconomy of the mystical body and her correspondence with the head Never was the ardor of zeal so admirably mixt with prudence for the framing and sanctifying of this body proper interest was unknown to him He was so far from making any sordid commerce of the Gospel as he would not accept of necessaries for his life His charity towards the faithful governed his power and he had rather diminish his authority then give the least cause of murmur His poverty was the more Evangelical in that it was despised He was not ashamed to take pains for his living with the same hands that wrought miracles and write instructions to all the Church He complied with all men by an admirable condescension and never had Father more tenderness for his Children then he for his disciples The Pharisees the Scribes the Priests were not able to speak before him Athens was astonished to hear him the Are page admired him and there he made conquest of the most renouned of their Judges At Rome he set upon Idolatry in the Throne and of a Mistress of error he made her a Mistress of truth over all the earth He who first founded it soyled it presently with the blood of his brother and the Apostle consecrated it with his blood to establish there the Empire of Jesus Christ Her authority is more extended by a religion of humility which he taught then for many ages she could bring to pass by force of armes He advanced his conquests even to the Palace of Nero making the domesticks of a most cruel and infamous Tyrant to become the servants of Jesus Christ Once he escaped the Jawes of this Lyon because God had shut them up that he might make known his name to all the earth But when the time of his Coronation was come he loosened the reins to this monster who sacrificed him to his cruelty and what could be expected less from him who had not spared his own Mother The condemnation of the Judge was a proof of the Criminals vertue After his death the Church hears him as her Master and the Schools of Christians receive all his words as infallible Oracles He is one of the eyes of the body whereof Jesus Christ is the head He is the shrill Trumpet of the Gospel which is heard over all the earth He is the Apostle of the Son of God not mortal and passible but glorious and living the life of resurrection He is the illustrious triumph of his grace the subject of his mercies the vessel of a singular election the instrument of his greatest wonders the interpreter of his wil and the treasurer of all his secrets The Minister of his greatest favours the Embassadour of his most holy aliance the Oracle of his highest verities From this fountain the holy Fathers have drawn what they have most admirable T is from this Mine they have fetched all their riches T is from his spoyles they have taken all their noble ornaments They never went astray when they took him for their guide They have always triumphed when they used his armes It is his fire that warmed their zeal as his light enlightned them It is with his Thunder-bolts they have overthrown the insolency of Heresie and the rebellion of Schisme It is by his rules they have formed their morality It is by his counsels they have governed the Church It is by his maximes they have cleared the doubts of the faithful satisfied their scruples and discovered the snares which were set to entrap them We have endeavoured in this History to represent the marvelous actions of his life and though we are neither able nor willing to aspire to the glory of Eloquence yet we may promise this to our selves that all unpartial Readers will confess we have herein been very faithful and disinteressed FINIS
they understood the wonderfull things which God had wrought by them and the great Harvest they had made amongst the Gentiles to whom God had opened the gate of the Gospel for which they rendered thanks to Jesus Christ and every one took occasion thereby to be more inflamed with the love of him who rejects no person but desires that all should come to the knowledge of his name without distinction either of Sex Nation or Quality At this same time the Emperor by an Edict banished all the Jewes from Rome amongst whom the Christians found themselves comprised because there was noe distinction then made betwixt the one and the other The cause of this banishment it may be was that Saint Peter preaching the Gospel in the Synagogue many were obstinate in opposition to it and many also embraced it which gave occasion of so many disputes and troubles amongst them that Claudius to prevent the evill which might happen upon these differences and withall making little esteem of that Nation commanded them all out of the Town The words of Suetonius give me ground to attribute the banishment I spake of to this cause For he expresly saies that the Emperor drove them out of the City by reason of the continual tumults about Christ Now it is no wonder this Historian being not well versed in the affairs of Christian Religion if he explicate himself so imperfectly upon this occasion besides the Jewes were hated and contemned by the Romans Hence Saint Peter obeying the command of the Emperor left Italy and came to Hierusalem where he hapned to be by a particular conduct of the Divine Providence to assist and preside in the first Councell of the Church Certain persons coming from Judea to Antioch began both to publish that Circumcision was necessary to Salvation and that it ought to be received by those Gentiles who were converted to the faith of Jesus Christ Many of the Pharisean Sect who made profession of the Gospel maintained this Doctrine and Cerinthus afterwards a notorious Heresiarch was the chief of this faction that sprung up amongst the faithful which raised no small sedition against Paul and Barnabas To hinder what might happen upon so dangerous a division it was agreed upon by common consent that the two last and some other persons of the contrary opinion should go up to Hierusalem to consult with the Apostles and Priests of that Church about this question which had so much troubled the Church of Antioch In passing by Phenicia and the Region of Samaria Paul and Barnabas recounted to the faithful how great a number of Gentiles were converted which caused an extraordinary and very sensible joy in them Arriving at Hierusalem the Apostles Priests and the rest of the Brethren received them with testimonies of extraordinary love and respect and were much comforted to understand the great things which God had wrought by them for the establishment of the Gospel The Pharisees that were converted gave them little rest for presently upon the conversion of the Gentiles they made a great noise maintaining that they ought to be Circumcised and were obliged to the other Cerimonies of the Law of Moses This occasioned the journey of Paul and Barnabas as we have already said and thereupon the Apostles and Priests assembled themselves at Hierusalem to debate this difficulty which they did with great care Their opinions were different and every one upheld his own sense with strong reasons so that the question began to be more and more intricate the more they endeavored to cleere it Saint Peter seeing this made a signe that he would speak which he did in this manner Brethren you know long since God was pleased to make use of me to declare his Gospel to the Gentiles and conduct them to his faith I had difficulty in it at the beginning and he with drew me from that error as I have formerly told you by a vision which I had in Joppa a sheet filled with all sort of creatures by the Law uncleane A voice commanded me to kill and eat I answered that I never used to touch any meat uncleane as those were I then beheld and it was replied to me that nothing which God had purified was uncleane In the mean time I received a message from Cornelius the Centurion who by birth was a Gentile but conversing with the Jewes had learnt to live religiously and fear the true God Then suddainly I understood what was meant by the vision I came to Cesarea where I found him with a great number of his friends assembled to hear the word of life He told me that an Angell had appeared and assured him that his almes deeds and prayers were mounted up to Heaven before God and that by his command he had sent to seek me Vpon this relation I preached the Doctrine of Salvation to the company and I was happily interrupted by the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them by which they praised God in Languages unknown to them before So that I was no longer in doubt whether it was needfull to give them the Baptisme of Water having received that of the Holy Ghost which sanctified them At that time I was blamed for preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles but when I had reported to the same Church that which had happened in Cesarea every one was satisfied with my proceeding and all that heard me praised the goodness of God in that he had withdrawen the Gentiles from the darknesse of infidelity Now since he is pleased to shew them this mercy that he makes no difference between them and us and that he purifies the hearts of the one and the other by faith in his Son why then would you impose upon the faithful that which neither our Fathers nor we have been able to bear since we believe that they and we shall be saved alike by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ The Assembly were all attentive to this discourse which Paul and Barnabas observing took the opportunity of their silence and recounted the miracles which God had wrought by their hands for the conversion of the Gentiles and having ended this relation which gave much comfort to all there present Saint James who was Bishop of Hierusalem demanded Audience and sayed Brethren I desire you to hear me Simon has related unto you how that by his Ministry God has visited the Gentiles and how those whom we thought to be wholly abandoned are now made his faithfull people and obedient to his truth The testimonies of the Prophets do accord with this his Conduct Amos saies after this I will returne and I will rebuild the Tabernacle of David which is fallen and I will repaire its ruins and I will reedifie it to the end the rest of men may seek after the Lord and all Nations by whom his name is invocated saies the Lord that does these things The work of the Lord is known unto him before the beginning of all times Let us not then
which she shakes off the Old Man to cloath her selfe with the New that all those who received it were thereby interred with Christ and as they had part in his death they should also share in his Resurrection if as Christ being once dead dies no more they shall likewise being once delivered from the yoak of sin and there dead in baptisme commit sin no more This discourse prepared them with holy dispositions to enter into that celestial bath They received holy baptisme and the holy Ghost descended upon them rendered them Prophets and made them speak unknown tongues the Apostle desirous to gain all the other Inhabitants and principally the Jewes went to their Synagogues every Sabbath for the space of three moneths proving unto them by invinsible reasons and with an undanted courage the truth of the Doctrine he preached But though he convinced them all yet he gained few of them many remaining obdurate and perverse even to the blaspheming of Jesus Christ which obliged this faithful servant of his to separate himself from amongst them together with those Disciples who believed and were converted by his discourse He chose for the place of his preaching the School of a Sophister called Tyrannus either because he was converted to the faith or perhaps God had disposed him to afford this civility to his Apostle For the space of three years he omitted not a day to teach the Gospell in so much as all Asia received these delightfull tydings God confirming his words by divers miracles the very touch alone of his Handcharchieffs and Girdles healed the sick and drove the Divels out of bodies tormented by them A man named Sceva in the Acts he is called Prince of the Priests had seven Sons who made profession of being Exorcists and passed up and down for such perswading simple people to get money from them that they knew the secret of casting forth Divels When they beheld the command which Saint Paul exercised over Divels and that the Divels could not resist him whether out of Emulation or Covetousness they would needs exercise a possest person in the name of Jesus whom Paul preached The Divel who was a very cruel one answered them that he knew Jesus Christ and Paul but for them he scorned their Exorcismes and flew upon them with that violence as they were forced to save themselves by flight out of the house naked and much wounded This accident comming to the knowledge of the Iewes and Gentils that dwelt at Ephesus much astonished them and made them highly to honour the name of Jesus Christ Many amongst the faithfull were seized with a holy feare which made them confess publickly their misdeeds It is observed in Saint Matthew that those who went to present themselves to the Baptisme of Saint Iohn confessed their sinnes and in my opinion one passage explicates the other Saint Luke seemes also to distinguish the first from those others whereupon he sayes that they acknowledging the errour and abomination of Magick to the which they were much addicted burnt all their wicked Books and there were so many of them and those so rare as they were valued at a vast sum of money It is not to be wondred at for Ephesus at all times was much addicted to Magick Characters were there sold to obtaine victory in their publick games Suidas relates how an Ephesian at the Olympick Games overcame 30. Champions at wrestling that a Milesian trying with him and no odds being betwixt them the Judges doubted that he had characters about him as indeed they found and taking them away he was easily overcome Plutarch sayes that by the name Ephesian Devils were cast out of bodies which they possest Eustathius observes that there were writings about the feet middle and crown of the Statue of Diana Apollonius Thianeus accomplished the corruption of this great City for he taught Magick publiquely and was so honoured there that they erected him a Statue as unto a God The happy progress of the Gospel there was stopped by great persecutions raised by the rage of the Iewes against the Apostle Writing to the Corinthians he sayes The toyle he there underwent was such as life became wearysome to him and that he had fought against wilde beasts But I conceive this ought to be understood Allegorically and not literally wicked and cruel men being ordinarily in the Holy Scriptures termed wild and furious beasts Demetrius well deserves this name This man was a Goldsmith by profession and had great trading in workes of silver which the Gentiles offered to Diana Some say they were Images and others little Temples of the false Goddess in the form of the great one He seeing that by the preaching of St. Paul his gain with Idolatry dayly decayed assembles all the workmen that wrought under him who were many and told them They were now in danger to be reduced unto great misery for Paul declared in his Sermons that Idols made by the hands of men had no understanding much less any Divinity in them and this Doctrin once received they should not be able to get their living They must leave their trade and that Temple of Diana which Asia and other Provinces of the world adored ran a great hazard suddenly to be deprived of Reputation and Sacrifices These reasons in which they were concerned put them into fury They running about the streets like mad men cryed Great is Diana of Ephesus to see if they could excite the people to sedition and unluckily meeting with Gaius and Aristarchus both Macedonians and presently remembring them to be companions of Saint Paul whom they sought they dragged them to the Theatre to expose them to the fury of the people The Apostle hearing of the danger they were in would have gone unto them but his disciples and some others of quality of Asia that loved him hindered it and represented to him the danger he would run to be ill treated by such a multitude in commotion The Jewes were no lesse afraid then the Christians because in this occasion there was no difference made betwixt them they being no lesse enemies to Idolatry then the others So to prevent the danger which threatned them they sent to the Theatre one of theirs called Alexander to see if he could appease the people and stop the mischiefe which might arise from that sedition He a long time made signe with his hand that he had something to speak unto them But when the seditious called to minde he was a Jew they made a greater noise then before and for two hours space ceased not to cry out Great is Diana of the Ephesians At last a Magistrate being there behaved himselfe so well as he appeased the people and spake in this manner to them O Ephesians who is ignorant that knowes not how faithfully your City adores the great Diana daughter of Jupiter together with her Image sent downe from Heaven and in this worship we surpass all the people of the Earth nor is