that his very bones might be told and lots should be cast for his garment Is not this Jesus whose doctrine I preach unto you This is the Master whom David invites us to hear speaking in the person of God To day if you hear his voice harden not your hearts as your Fore-fathers have done in the desart where I was made angry against those who durst distrust my power and censure all my workes for the space of forty yeares Their infidelity shall not go unpunished I will make them know that I can revenge my self in my wrath I sweare they shall not enter into the place of rest which I had prepared for them Behold dreadfull words and you will doe well to be warned by their loss lest you be excluded also from that place of repose which is offered to you As it availed them little to give ear to the relation of those who returned from the land of Promise and informed them of the true state of it because they would not believe what was said so it is not enough to heare the Gospel preached it must be received humbly to the end you may obtaine by faith the fruition of that repose which is spoken of in the passage I alledged It cannot be that repose which God assumed after he had made the world that being no other thing then a cessation from work nor is it likewise the repose of the Sabbath whose institution was before the birth of David In summe it is not that repose which our Fathers tasted in the Land whereinto they were led by Ioshua for that long since is past therefore it must needs be that the Psalmist speaks of another repose more holy a Sabbath more excellent which appertains to the people of God and in which the Just do eternally repose from all their labours as formerly our Lord did repose the seventh day from all his works Moyses could not bring us into that place where this divine Sabbath is celebrated Jesus Christ entred there the first to open it to those who should receive his doctrine This is the Priest deserving adoration who to purifie heaven and earth and to reconcile man to God has not not made use of the bloud of goats and bulls but of his owne which he has shed to the last drop upon the Altar of the Cross The high Priest of the Law was obliged to offer Sacrifices for his own sins as well as those of the People Jesus Christ is the Sovereign high Priest pure holy unpolluted uncapable of any spot consequently needs not offer any victime for himself he hath not received his Priest-hood by way of a carnall birth and succession as the Priests according to Aaron did but hee has been established eternal Priest according to the order of Melchisedec as we learn by those words of the Psalmist which you confess are to be understood of the Messias Our Lord hath sworne thou art an eternal Priest according to the order of Melchisedec If the Levitical Priest-hood which the people received together with the Law guided to perfection that is to say gave true Justice what need was there that another Priest should come according to the order of Melchisedec and if the Priest-hood be transferred it then follows that the Law is also changed because these two things are inseparably linked together Now that there has been a translation of the Priest-hood 't is not to be doubted since he of whom that passage I alledged speaks was of the Tribe of Iuda and not of Levi out of which Moyses ordained that the Priests should be chosen Observe also that the Leviticall Priest-hood was not established by oath as is that which I treat and this circumstance shewes the sanctity and immutability of that thing unto which God has pleased to unite it There were to be many Priests according to the order of Aaron because they were mortal But the Priest-hood of Jesus Christ is eternall as well as himself he has alwaies power to guide those to eternall salvation who believe in him He is alwaies in the functions of his Priesthood that is to say in continual oblation of himself to God and in prayer without intermission for hee that sayes Eternal Priest sayes also Eternal Oblation The Levitical Priests stood during the exercise of their Functions Jesus Christ having once offered the Hoast of his body is seated at the right hand of God according to the words of the Psalmist The Lord said to my Lord Take thy place till I have put thy enemies under my feet Be not you of that number my deare Brethren you that are descended from Abraham the Father of the Faithfull you whose Ancestours have been so holy you to whom those promises were made and for whom Jesus Christ principally came doe not permit strangers to carry away the benediction due to lawful children and having hitherto born the heavy yoke of Moyses doe not fear now to submit your selvs to that of Jesus Christ which is so light and pleasing And in this you will even obey Moyses by whom as you know God promised That after many ages hee would raise a Prophet of your Nation to whom hee would have you attend as to himself The Apostle spake much after this manner his discourse raised great Disputes amongst his Auditours some blaming what others approved some believing others continuing obstinate S. Paul finding hee could gaine little upon them hee told them freely I know well that ye will fulfill the prophesie of Esay to whom God spake in these tearms Goe to the Children of Israel and tell them You shall hear with your ears but shall not understand with your mindes you shall see with the eyes of the body but not with those of the soule for the heart of this people is suffocated with fat they have heard with their ears against their wills being incensed have shut their eyes for feare they should see by their eyes take in by their eares consent by their hearts and wills and so work their conversion and their cure The incredulous Jewes were extreamly offended at these words and more which he added viz. That the news of salvation should be carried to the Gentiles who would imbrace it This discourse gave occasion of much dispute to the Audience who not being able to come to an agreement every one returned home possessed with different thoughts and opinions Hitherto we have proceeded securely following the steps of Saint Luke who ends here his story and leaves the Apostle in the Confusion of Rome where he saies he remained two years and during that time preached the Doctrine of Jesus Christ without any let Receiving with freedome all those who came to see him Hence what concerns the rest of his life we know little yet I will endeavour to ground what I shall adde more of this Subject either upon certaine traditions or from his owne Epistles In the second Epistle which he writes to Tymothy his dear
himself with their Wool But all that was permitted seemed not to him expedient to do he would take away from the enemies of the Gospell all manner of pretexts that they should not accuse him of seeking his own interest or making a Commerce of his preaching He would preserve this glory to have announced the Gospell gratis to them by that means might speak with more liberty Many spiritual directours ought to consider this great example of disingagement if they imitate it with prudence and courage their conduct would be more honourable to them more profitable to those whom they govern and more advantagious to the honour of the Church The Apostle esteemed not this corporal exercise to be any reproach to his condition since it did not any way hinder him from his times of prayer or from the Function of his Ministry Every Sabboth day he preached in the Synagogue of the Jewes and made it appear to them as well as to the Greekes that Jesus Christ was the true Messias and true God Silas and Timothy being come from Thesalonica he found himself more then usually moved by the Spirit of God to speak his zeal was enkindled a new and he preached with more efficacy to those of his Nation the Divinity of his Master But when he perceived that instead of profiting by his words they remained more obstinate and uttered more horrible blasphemies against Jesus Christ he shaked his garments and told them Your blood be upon your own heads I have my hands clean and I will goe from this Country and carry to the Gentiles this light which you refuse This familiar fashion of speech to the Hebrewes was as much as to say that he had done all that lay in him to bring them to the knowledge of the truth and they would not believe him therefore he should not be responsable for their perdition which was infallible At the same instant he changed his lodging and retired himself to lodge with an honest man called Titus Justus one who feared God whose house was neer to the place where the Jewes used to assemble Crispus who was Prince of the Synagogue imbraced the Gospell and all his family and many more of the City were also baptized This good success gave incouragement to the Apostle and to augment it our Saviour appeared to him in a vision saying Fear nothing speak boldly take heed you hold not your peace for I am with you and none shall be able to hurt you I have many people in this Town The event made him know the truth of this revelation He remained eighteen moneths in Corinth and in that time the Church was exceedingly increased by the conversion of divers persons of all sorts He preached continually and in the first Epistle which he wrote afterwards to them he shews that in declaring the Gospel to them He made no use of the flowers of humane eloquence nor arguments of Philosophy for fear they might extinguish the vertue of the Cross which wants not the art of words to perswade the belief of it He puts them in minde that he exercised his Ministry amongst them with fear and with humility and that he pretended to know no other thing but Jesus Christ crucified that he did not feed them with solid meat but with milke because they were not capable of other nourishment We know not the particular things which he did at Corinth nor what he endured there for the name of Jesus Christ He onely sayes that the marks of his Apostleship amongst the Corinthians were many paines which he suffered with a long patience and that many miracles were wrought in confirmation of his Doctrine The Jews who were never weary of persecuting him found notinâ— Gallion the Proconsul of Achaya and Brother of Seneca the Philosopher a Spirit that would easily imbrace the injustice of their passions to him they presented the Apostle and accused him of teaching a religious worship contrary to their Law But no sooner the accused offered to open his mouth in his own defence when Gallion told them that if they would complain of any evil action he had committed he would hear and do them justice but if it onely concerned some controversies of their Religion he would not meddle in it but leave the Judgement of it to themselves With this answer he dismissed them And they in a fury fell upon Sosthenes Prince of the Synagogue who was a Christian nor did the Consul hinder them from the prosecution of that insolent cruelty Saint Paul makes mention of this Sosihenes in the salutation of his first Epistle to the Corinthians and speaks of him as of his Companion which shewes he was considerable both to the Apostle and to that Church which he had care to instruct it may be also from him that Saint Paul understood of their disorders which obliged him to write unto them Some Authors make him Bishop of Colophone The Apostle applied not himself so much to the salvation of the Inhabitants of Corinth that he forgat the other Churches and when he understood the necessities of the Church of Thessalonica he wrote two Epistles to them in a short time one after another His designe in the first Epistle was to confirm the faithful in the profession of the Gospel and to instruct them in the mystery of the Resurrection to the end they might take courage in their present and future persecutions He commended them for having made so great a progress in faith the report whereof was spread every where and that they served for an example to other Churches Afterwards he puts them in minde of his manner of preaching how free it was from any self-interest never consenting to be any burthen to them He expresses to them a great desire to see them again and assures them that he continually remembers them in his Prayers He exhorts them not to be sad for the death of their Parents or Friends as the Gentiles are who doe not believe the happiness of a future life nor have any hope to be rejoyned unto them again That the death of Christians is but as it were a sleep that Jesus Christ who is their head being risen again they who are his members shall also rise at the last day at the voice of the Arch-Angel and at the-sound of a Trumpet they shall be lifted up in the Aire and goe before our Lord who shall come in his glory to pronounce the last sentence of eternall happiness or eternall misery to men that his Elect shall follow him into Heaven where they shall live eternally with him in an unspeakable felicity Many not comprehending well that which he sayed of this last Judgement conceived strange fears which were increased by the imprudence or malice of some false Doctors who preached that this last day was neer at hand This caused him to write unto them a second Epistle to dissipate those fears which troubled them to fortifie them against those persecutions which they
The necessity of providing for the salvation of the Gentils who were endangered by that action of Saint Peter to be aversed from the Gospel and the troubles again to be revived which the Councel had happily quieted obliged him who was their Apostle to tax in publique a publique conduct which he judged not to be conformable to to the verity of the Gospel But we must also admire the generous and profound humility of him upon whom our Lord had founded the building of his Church that he endured so mildely and with such patience a publique correction without either alledging his Rank or his good intentions in defence of what he had done Certainly he who was reprehended in this manner appears more admirable then he who reprehended him and much harder to imitate for it is more facile to see in another that which is ill and correct it then to see what is fit to be corrected in ones selfe and quietly to endure reproach for it in the face of al the faithful who by that action might have a less good opinion of him then they had before This Dispute which made no diminution of charity amongst those who propose nothing for the end of all their actions but the glory of God was presently followed with another Dispute which also dis-united not their hearts though it did their persons St. Paul judging it fit to visit the Churches where he and Barnabas had preached acquainted him with his designe he presently approved of it knowing well that those new Plants stood in need of being cultivated by the same hands which had planted and watred them with so much labour But he was of opinion it was fit to take to their companion John sirnamed Mark. The Apostle held this choice neither reasonable nor profitable because he had left them in Pamphilia and came not with them to those Townes which they were to visit and so consequently being a stranger to all things there and unknown he could not labour there with profit Barnaby wanted not reasons for his opinion so that not agreeing they chose rather to sever themselves and divide betwixt them the imployment of their Ministery and this no doubt by the conduct of the Holy Ghost which brought great advantages to the places where they preached by their separation The Apostle by this rigour towards St. Mark intended to make him know the fault he had committed in leaving them whether it was for the apprehension of discommodities he was to suffer or for some other reason which Saint Luke sets not down or perhaps foreseeing he was to run more dangers and greater discommodities then before and fearing he might not have sufficient courage to resist so that abandoning them the second time it would encrease the shame of what he had formerly done Barnaby on the other side who loved him as his Kinsman thought this weakness of his was to be forgotten and that he ought to be received againe into their company to give him meanes thereby to repair his errour Thus each of them had most pure intentions and far from any particular or self-interests But in the event Mark profited by Saint Pauls severity and in his Epistle to the Colossians he speaks of him as one of his deare disciples The Apostles thus separated Barnaby and Mark took the way of Cyprus Tradition sayes he came into Italy and there founded the Church of Milan Ancient Ecclesiastical Authors cite an Epistle under his name which contains most holy instructions Some have attributed to him that Epistle which is directed to the Hebrews and received by the Church into the number of Apostolical and Canonical Letters But we will speak of this difficulty in another place The Apostle having chosen Silas for his companion took leave of the faithfull of Antioch who could not part with him without much sorrow being very sensible of his charitable obligations towards them He passed through Syria and Cilicia and in all places where he came confirmed and exhorted all the Christians to continue firme in their faith and in the observation of the Apostolical Decrees newly published In Listris a Disciple of our Lord named Timothy the son of Eunice a Iew by Nation and of a Father that was a Centile lived in so great fame and sanctity that the Inhabitants and those of Iconium had him in great esteem This man he took along with him and lest the Iewes who accompanied him might murmur and also to open him a way the better to announce the Gospel unto others he circumcised him In all places where he passed the efficacy of his speech not onely confirmed the faithfull but converted unbeleevers and produced dayly to the Church a notable increase The Holy Ghost was their guide and it was by his command that passing by Phrygia and Galatia they preached not there If one should ask the reason of it humane wisdome would be at a stand but true piety will acknowledge that she knowes no other then the will of God who owing to none the light of the Gospel injures not any from whom by a hidden judgement this heavenly ray is with-held or to whom it is not discovered before the time he has ordained Being in Mysia they meant to goe to Bithinia but the Spirit of Jesus would not suffer them Having therefore traverst Mysia they descended into the Town of Troad where in the night the Apostle had this Vision A man attired after the Macedonian manner appeared and spake to him in an humble and ardent way Come into Macedonia and assist us This was an evident proofe to him that it was the will of God he should preach the Gospel in that Country He would not therefore defer it but the next morning embarked himself with his company to whom Luke the Evangelist who penned the Acts of the Apostles was joyned From Troad they cam directly to the Isle of Samothrace from thence to Neapolis and afterwards to Phillipis a famous City of Macedonia and then a Colony of the Romans It was there he began to preach the Gospel carrying himselfe with great prudence because the Inhabitants were almost all Gentiles living under the Roman Lawes and under an Emperour enemy to the Jewes who were there but in a small number so that a little Oratory without the Towne was sufficient for their Assembly Upon a Sabbath-day the Apostle went thither and speaking to some women whom he there met there was one of them called Lidia whose Trade was to dye purple the heart of this woman God opened to receive the Doctrine which Saint Paul announced He baptized her and all her Family She willing in some manner to acknowledge the great grace which she had received by his Ministery said unto him If you beleeve that I am truly faithfull to our Lord grace me so much as to retire into my house The Apostle granted her that consolation and came to lodge in her house Not long after as he went with Silas to the place of
publique prayer a young Maid in whom the Devil spake and foretold hidden things followed them and cryed out aloud severall times These men are the servants of Almighty God and they announce unto you the way of Salvation Saint Paul was angry to have this testimony from the Father of lyes wherefore turning himselfe towards this young Maid he said to the Devil I command thee in the name of Iesus Christ to goe out of this body and at the very instant he departed from her The Masters of this Divining Maid seeing themselves deprived of the great gaine which they made by her means laid hands on S. Paul and Silas and carried them before the Magistrates accusing them to be Iewes and that they sought to raise sedition in the City and to teach a Doctrine which was not lawfull for the Romans to embrace The people without any other information fall upon them and the Magistrates seconding their fury caused them to be cruelly whipt and after that punishment sent them to prison with express order there to be strictly guarded which the Goaler being rigorous enough of himselfe did easily obey He put them into a deep dungeon and tyed their feet in such sort that they could not stir But their minds were free though their bodies were not And thinking not of what they had suffered nor of what they might feare when every one slept they sung hymnes to God who presently manifested how pleasing they were unto him for the prison was shaken with a great Earthquake the gates opened of themselves and the chains of all the prisoners fell off The Goaler waking at this fearful noise and seeing all the doors open thought those he had in custody were all fled which so much troubled him knowing his life must pay for their escape that drawing out his sword he would have killed himself but Saint Paul cryed out with a loud voice Hurt not yonr selfe we are all here and not one of us thinks of escaping Those words brought the Goaler to himselfe and made him change the desperate desigâ—e he had taken And at the same time the grace of God assured him that the Earthquake which then happeâ—ed and the flying open of the prison-dores proceeded not from any natural cause and that those who from the dungeon could know what he was about to doe must needs be extraordinary men He lighted a candle and going into the dungeon where the Apostle was cast himselfe at his feet then led him and Silas into another room where being pressed by the secret impulse of his conscience he demanded of them what he was to doe that he might be saved They answered Beleeve in Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved After that they explicated to him and to all his Family in what this faith consisted The Goaler embracing it was baptised with his whole Family he wash'd their wounds as they had done those of his soule He presently caused the Table to be covered and gave his instructers to eat who had need of it and devoutly rejoyced with them for the great mercy which God had pleased to shew unto him by their means At break of day certain Officers came from the Magistrates into the prison and commanded the Goaler to free the prisoners they had sent thither the day before What sayes the Apostle after you have whipped innocent Citizens of Rome and without any forme of justice and after you have put them in prison doe you think to make them goe thus privately away without reparation as if they were culpable of some crime for which they had deserved to be so shamefully treated No we cannot doe so great an injury to our innocence Therefore let those who sent us hither come themselves if they will have us out The Judges informed of this discourse perceived the error they had committed the danger to which they were exposed in treating thus persons whom the priviledge of a Citizen exempted from the punishment of whipping For by Saint Pauls discourse they beleeved Silas had also the same priviledge although it was onely the Apostle that could claime it but they would not make this distinction to terrifie the more those who had so unjustly treated both of them for one same cause This answer caused them to come and entreat the prisoners with fair words to goe out of prison and out of the Town and to impute that which had happened to the sedition of the people for which they were very sorry The Apostles went away and returned to the house of Lidia where after they had stayed some time and recounted to the faithfull what had passed and by their discourse fortified their courage they left this ungrateful City and taking circuit through Amphipolis and Apollonia from thence went to Thessalonica St. Paul went into the Synagogue of the Jewes three Sabbath dayes successively according to the custome which he observed first of all to speak to those of his Nation He shewed them by the authority of Holy Scriptures and by a cleare Explication of the Prophets that Christ who was promised them had already suffered and was risen againe from the dead He announced unto them this Jesus Christ and that he was the true Messias whereupon some who were by Nation Jewes received the faith He converted a far greater number of Gentiles by birth who made profession of Iudaisme or who without observing the Law beleeved in one sole God and feared him for the Greek Text of the Acts may be explicated in this double sense and amongst them were divers women of condition who also embraced the Gospel The Iewes that remained obstinate unable to endure the success of the Apostles preaching gained some wicked men of the people by whose meanes they raised a sedition in the Town They came in great numbers to the house of Iason where Paul and Silas lodged and not finding them there discharged their rage upon their Host and dragged him out of doores together with some other faithfull before the Magistrates The pretence was that they had harboured seditious men who troubled the publique quiet and offended the Imperial Majesty of Caesar giving out that a certaine Jesus Christ was King The principal Citizens of Thessalonica and such of the people as understood this discourse were presently moved with choler but Iason so well satisfied them whether by assuring that those who were accused and brought before them had no more designe then himselfe to trouble the publique peace or whether it was by giving caution for their innocency and undertaking for their appearance the Text of the Acts not mentioning what satisfaction he gave that they dismissed him with the rest of his company Saint Paul makes mention of this Iason in his Epistle to the Romans and some Authors will have that he was afterwards Bishop of Tharsius When night was come the faithfull whom this danger had alarm'd conveyed Paul and Silas out of Thessalonica Those who performed this Office in perswading them to