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
sayes that God has established first the Apostles secondly the Prophets and in the third place the Doctors And truly before this time Saint Luke relates no other Function of his then those of a Doctor and Preacher But to this may be objected that S. Paul says cleerly he is no Apostle of men nor by men but Apostle of Jesus Christ by Jesus Christ How then can his Apostleship be immediatly from our Lord if the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch ordained him Apostle He is so far from having any advantage over the other Apostles by his Vocation that it is much inferiour to theirs they having been sent immediately by Jesus Christ and he having received his Mission 't is true of Jesus Christ but by way of Inspiration and by the Ministery of those who themselves were neither Bishops nor Apostles but simply Prophets and Doctors Certainly to me this objection seems unanswerable unless we allow that by Ordination to the Apostleship and imposition of hands Saint Chrysostom means that Saint Paul was elevated to the Apostleship of Jesus Christ from the very moment of his conversion but did not exercise the Functions of it towards the Gentiles for whom he had particularly received it until the Holy Ghost made it known unto him by the Prophets and Doctors of the Church of Antioch and that it was then time to begin the exercise of his Function so that the imposition of hands upon him was but a simple invocation of the Divine assistance for him accompanied with the divine sacrifice with prayer and with fasting to the end God would daign to bestow upon him all benedictions necessary for the imployment to which he was ordained Although we might draw from this passage a strong Argument for the Ordination of Bishops yet I chuse rather to pass it over then ground the proof of an undoubted verity upon a passage that admits dispute as if we had no other arms to defend our selves and sought more to heap together then select Arguments My designe is to write a History clear and plain and not a Treatise controversie Hence I offer mine and others opinions leaving afterwards unto Readers the liberty of making their own choice At this same time the Apostle was elevated unto the third Heaven where he learnt secrets which are neither possible nor fit to unfold to man in this life I know Interpreters agree not in this but since it is a difficulty onely in Chronology and not of much importance I embrace that opinion as most conformable to truth which corresponds with the date assigned by the Apostle himself in his second Epistle to the Corinthians where he sayes he knew a man that was rapt into the third Heaven fourteen years since Besides I have Authors very famous and very considerable for my opinion and certainly if in these questions of fact reason may be admitted this Revelation could not be given to him in a more necessary time then that which we designe For then he was to make war with all his force against Idolatry It was then that Jesus Christ imbarqued him upon that great Sea of Nations to blazon amongst them the sound of the Gospel and to work wonders by means of his singular Apostleship conferred upon him Now to announce those sublime verities it was necessary he should first taste them at the Spring-head and be himself replenished ere he communicated them to others But there is yet a notable dispute betwixt both modern and ancient Interpreters about this rapture and this vision Some will have it that he saw in this extasie the distinction of the Orders of Angels whereof he speaks in his Epistle nor finde we any other Canonical Writer to distinguish them as he has done Others say that he did there know particularly the profund Mystery of the Incarnation and the vocation of Gentils to faith for in his Epistle to the Ephesians he sayes That to him who is the least amongst the faithfull charge was given to make known to the Gentils the inestimable riches of Jesus Christ and to illuminate all men teaching them the dispensation of the Mistery hidden in God from all Ages to the end that the Principalities and coelestial powers should learn of the Church the different wisdome of God In effect the proper Ministery of Saint Paul was this vocation of the Gentils and their incorporation with Jesus Christ That was his charge in this he was distinguished from the rest of the Apostles all his Epistle amply treat of this vocation which surprised and offended the Jewes This makes Saint Chrysostom say That the Apostle illuminated the Arch-Angels the Principalities the Powers and the Angels But I cannot beleeve that this sole mystery was the bounds of the Revelation of Saint Paul unless it may be said it comprehends in it all the other mysteries of Christian Religion Some Doctors amongst whom St. Thomas have held that he saw the Divine Essence with a momentary glance and as it were in passing and doe they think to evade that maxime of scripture That no man shall see God and live however I cannot be of that opinion and it seems to me not to be maintained I will give place to none in my respect and affection towards him whose life I write but yet me thinks respect and affection to Saints ought to be squared by the verity which is manifested to us and not by the subtilty of our conceit or by certain congruities more ingenious then solid The Apostle would not unfold to us the manner of his Extasie whether it was a separation of the soul from the body or a suspension of the vital functions of the soul within the body during which he saw those divine verities whether this sight was imaginary or intellectual and how long it lasted It suffices him to tell us that he heard secret words which are not lawful for man to repeat that is to say he saw ineffable Mysteries which cannot be explicated by humane words nor were it to purpose to make them known since men are not capable of them besides it would not at all conduce to the salvation of those unto whom he was to preach This reservedness of St. Paul shewes his humility and that he spake not of his Extasies unless in a manner compelled which we shall explicate in another place of this History It may also repress the curiosity of Readers and of those who bear most honour and affection to him and hinder them from penetrating into that Abyss which his modesty would hide T is now time to return to the course of our Narration Paul and Barnabas departed from Antioch of Syria immediatly after they had received that imposition of hands which has occasioned this digression The first place they came unto was Seleucia which was not above fourteen miles distant From thence they went into the Isle of Cyprus famous amongst the Pagans for the birth of Venus who was the Goddess of pleasure and the
Disciple he saies that God will deliver him from the Jawes of the Lyon by which probably he meanes Nero to whom he was presented for the defence of his appeal This Prince began then the third year of his Empire and whether his wicked inclinations were yet asleep or whether the continual exhortations of Seneca his Tutor withheld him or that he dissembled till his authority was better setled he gave the people of Rome some hope that under his raigne they should see a resemblance of their ancient liberty Burrus Captain of his guard presenting a sentence of death to be figned by him he cryed out I wish it pleased the gods I could not write This speech begot a beliefe in men that he was merciful but it was not long ere he gave the lye to that opinion The Iews to embitter his spirit against Saint Paul and to make the worst impressions they could in order to his ruine under colour of Justice and Piety made use of one Alliturus of their Nation who had gained great credit with the Emperor by his Comoedian Art But the Divine Providence frustrated their wicked design and made the Apostle obtain there a glorious pardon where in humane probability he might have expected his condemnation to an opprobrious death The feare of this his danger was so great as most of those who before was his followers especially those of Asia abandoned him Amongst these cowardly and trayterous disciples he names particularly Phigellus and Hermogenes the last of these Tertullian reckons amongst the Iewish Hereticks who denyed the Resurrection But at the same time God sent him Onosiphorus an Ephesian who assisted him with so much charity as he left the memory of it to the whole Church in his fore-mentioned Epistle The Greek Menologue saies he was Bishop of Colophones and the Romans celebrates the memory of him on the sixth day of September Besides this faithful companion he had also Titus and Tichius But those he speedily dispatched to preach the Gospel in divers places so that his care as well as authority was extended to all the Provinces of the world he preferred the interest of souls before the comfort which he might receive by the company of his Disciples nor did Jesus Christ leave this uninteressed zeal without recompence For at that same time when every one had abandoned him he dained to appear unto him that he might fortifie his courage and resolution he acquired much of glory by his persecutions the fury of his enemies which appeared at all the Tribunals of Rome made way to the preaching of the Gospel in those places where perhaps no occasion of laying it open had ever been given Many even of Nero's houshold were converted and the Apostle salutes the Philippians from them Amongst whom the Martirologue mentions one Torpetes who died couragiously at Pisa in Tuscany in defence of that Faith Tacitus speakes of one Pomponia Graecina who was accused for having imbraced a forraine Superstition and being turned over to her Husband he taking cognizance of the crime according to ancient customes declared her innocent Now that which this Author calls forraine Superstition is very likely to be Christianity I finde also great probability that Seneca and the Apostle were acquainted although the letters which are set forth under their names be counterfeit and very unworthy of either of them This great Philosopher had too nere a relation to Nero to be ignorant of the Audience he had given to a criminal whose cause the Iewes by their extraordinary Solicitation had made famous And if he were present when he pleaded there is no doubt but the force of his discourse and his subline arguments might make him desirous of a particular acquaintance with one that preached so new a Doctrine Some Authors have said it was by his meanes that Nero condemned him not to death but that is not founded upon any solid proofe nor ought we to attribute this marvelous deliveance but to the secret power of God over the hearts of Princes to incline them as he please Whilest Saint Paul laboured to found the Church at Rome he understood that the Ephesian Church was pestered with many false Doctors who corrupted that pure Doctrine which he had there preached hence he wrote unto them an excellent Epistle in the which he principally instructs them in the profound mystery of predestination and vocation of men to faith and Union with Jesus Christ so to forme an admirable body of which he is the Head and then he treats of the duty of every faithful man according to his condition A little after some Authors say before or at the same time he was not satisfied with instructing the flock himselfe but would also give unto Tymothy their Pastor wholesome rules whereby to acquit himselfe worthily of his charge I know many would have this Epistle to be almost the last that was written but in my opinion their objections are not considerable that the date we assign is more certain This difficulty appertains not to the subject we have in hand besides we have already explicated it in the paraphrase wee made of it Towards the end he desires him to come unto him which he performs leaving Tichius in his place The Philppians hearing of the Apostles necessity deputed Epaphroditus with considerable alms for his assistance The change of air with the toiles of his journey made him fall sick at Rome But S. Paul by his prayers obteined his recovery sent him back to his Church with an Epistle full of wholesome instructions against the errors of Cerinthus Simon the Magician and of other Impostors whom he calls enemies of the Cross of Christ because they taught that our Lord was not really crucified but some fantome in his place S. Ignatius Martyr forty years after wrote unto them upon the same subject and so did likewise S. Polycarpus T is true there is doubt made whether the Epistle of the former be really his The Apostle had not preached in the city of Câ—lossus which is in the Province of Phrygia yet knowing the state of that Church assembled by Epaphras hee wrote unto them that they should beware of the Jewes of the Hereticks and of the Gentiles which sowed erroneous doctrine amongst them touching Legal Observations and the worship of Angels or Genienses Philemon after his conversion very much assisted the faithful making his house the place of their assemblies giving great alms to the poor One of his slaves called Onesimus ran away from his hous in quality of a thief this slave coming to Rome fell luckily into the hands of the Apostle who converted him which obliged him particularly to write in his behalf to his master for his pardon that he would receive him again not as a fugitive but as a deare childe which hee had begotten in his chains Theodoret saies that Philemon sent him back to serve and assist S. Paul and S. Hierome reports that he was first made