Pictures of the Apostle he is constantly represented with a Sword in his right hand Tradition reports which many of the Fathers do justifie that when he was Beheaded a Liquor more like Milk than Blood flowed from his Veins and spurted upon the Cloaths of his Executioner which St. Chrisostome saith became the mean of his Conversion with many others to the Faith The same Father adds that the Apostle suffered Bartyrdom about the Sixty eighth year of his Age. But some question there is whether he suffered at the same time with Peter Many of the Antients positively affirm that both suffered upon the same day and year but others though allowing the same day tells â—us that St. Paul suffered not till the year after nay some also go the length to interpose the distance of several years amongst whom is a manuscript of the lives and travels of Peter and Paul brought amongst many other venerable Pieces of Antiquity out of Greece will have Paul to have suffered five years after Peter which he justifies by no less than the Authority of Justine Martyr and Ireneus but what credit is to be given to this nameless Author we see not and therefore can lay no weight upon it nor think it fit to be put into the Ballance with the testimonies of undoubted Antiquity certainly if he suffered not at the very same time with St. Peter it could not be long after not above a year at most the best of it is which of them soever started first they both came at last to the same end of the race to those Palms and Crowns which are reserved for all good men in Heaven but most eminently for Martyrs of the Christian Faith He was buried in a certain place called Via Ostiensis about the space of two miles from Rome over whose Grave about the year three hundred and eighteen Constantine the Great at the instance of Pope Sylvester built a most fair and stately Church with in a Farm which one Lucina a noble and famous Christian Matron of Rome had long before Settled upon that Church he adorned iâ— with an hundred of the best Marble Columns and also Beautifyed it with most exquisite workmanship The many precious Gifts of all sorts which this Great and Worthy Prince bestowed upon it are very particularly set down in the life of Sylvester This being thought too narrow and little for the honour of so great an Apostle the Emperor Valentinian by a rescript directed to Salustius Prefect of the City caused it to be taken down and began to build a more stately and spacious Church in the place of it but Valentinian not living to see it finished Theodosius his Successor did perfect it in great splendor which as Historians tell us was further Beautified as appears by an antient Inscription by Placida the Emperess at the perswasion of Leo Bishop of Rome what other additions of Wealth Honour and Stateliness it hath since received both by Popes Emperors and other Benefactors were too tedious here to relate neither is it my province to enquire into it As for St. Paul's Person we find him thus described He was of a little Stature and somwhat Stooping his Complection fair his Countenance grave his Head small his Eyes carrying a kind of sweetness beauty in them his Eye-brows a little hanging over his Nose long but Gracefully bending his Beard thick and like the Hair on his Head mixt with Gray Hairs But how mean soever the Cabinet was there was an unvaluable Treasure within for as to his Natural indowments he seems to have had a clear and solid Iudgment quick Invention a prompt and ready Memory all which were abundantly improved by Art and the advantages of a more liberal Education which raised him to a mighty reputation both for Parts and Learning Yet all these were but a shadow to that Divine Temper of Mind that was in him which discovered it self through the whole course of his Life he was humble to the Lowest step of condescention Great was his Temperance and Sobriety so far from going beyond the bounds of regularity that he abridged himself of the conveniencies of a lawful and necessary accommodation His Kindness and Charity was truly admirable having a compassionate tenderness for the Poor and a quick sense of the wants of others both in their Souls and Bodies His Zeal most ardent and hot Warning Reproving Intreating Perswading by Night and by Day by Sea and by Land Preaching in Season and out of season The Sum is He was a Man in whom the Divine Life did eminently manifest and display it self being alwayes careful to keep a Conscience void of offence both towards God and Man The Life of St. ANDREW S. ANDREW THe Sacred Story which has hitherto been very larg and copious in describing the Acts of the two first Apostles is henceforwards very sparing in its accounts giveing us only now and then a few accidental remarks concerning the rest and some of them no further mentioned than the meer recording of their names Amongst the Apostles that succeed we first take notice of St. Andrew he was born at Bethsaida a City of Galilee Son to John or Jonas a Fisherman of that Town and Brother to Simon Peter he was brought up to his Fathers Trade whereat he wrought till our Lord called him to another kind of Fishing John the Baptist having lately risen up in the Iewish Church great Multitudes flocked to him to hear his discourses besides he had also a number of select Disciples who waited more particularly upon him In the number of which was our Apostle who was with him about Jordan when our Lord came that way upon his approach the Baptist told them that this was the Messiah whereupon Andrew and another Disciple follow our Saviour to the place of his abode After some discourse with him Andrew goes and acquaints his brother Simon and both together came to Christ yet stayed they not long with him but returned home and exercised their Calling for more then a year till our Lord passing through Galilee fully satisfied them of his Divinity and commanded them to follow him which they did immediatly shortly after St. Andrew together with the rest was chosen to be one of those that were to be Christ's immediate Vicegerents for planting and promoting the Christian Faith little else is particularly recorded of him in the Sacred Story being comprehended in the general account of the rest of the Apostles Our Lord being Ascended and the Apostles gone out to their work all the World over St. Andrew went to Scythia where some of the Antients say he continued a considerable time going from Plate to Place Preaching the Gospel and Settling Churches meeting with a great deal of opposition in many places Hence in process of time he came to Byzantium since called Constantinople where he instructed them in the knowledg of the Christian Religion and founded a Church After this he Travelled over Thrace Macedonia and Achaia
Reign of Constantine who out of the mighty reverence he had for the Christian Religion caused many Churches to be built at Rome but especially rebuilt and enlarged the Vatican to the honour of St. Peter in the doing whereof himself is said to have been the first that began to dig the foundation and to have carryed thence twelve Baskets of rubbish with his own hands in honour as it should seem of the twelve Apostles It is said that amongst other Reliques here is kept that very wooden Chair wherein St. Peter sat when he was at Rome by the only touching whereof many Miracles are said to be performed Having ran through the various passages of St. Peters life from his Birth till his Martyrdome it may not be amiss in the next place to survey a little his Person and Temper His Body is said to have been somwhat Slender of a middle size but rather inclining to Tallness his Complexion very pail and almost white the Hair of his Head and Beard Curled and Thick but withal Short his Eyes black but speckt with red which one will have to have proceeded from his frequent Weeping his Eye-Brows thin or none at all Let us next look inward and view the Iewel 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 sharpened his Soul for all bold and generous undertakings it was this that 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-Priest's 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 This temper he owed in a great manner to the Genius and temper of his Country of which Josephus gives us this true character that it naturally bred in men a certain fierceness and animosity whereby they were fearlesly carryed out upon any Action and in all things shewed a mighty strength and courage both of minde and body the Galileans being fighters from their Childhood the men being as seldom taken with cowardize as their Country with want of men and yet notwithstanding all this his fervor had its Intervalls witness his passionate crying out when he was upon the Sea in danger of his Life and his fearful deserting of his Master in the Garden But he was in danger and passion prevailing over his understanding made him intent upon nothing but the present safety of his life so dangerous it is to be left to our selves and to have our natural passions let loose upon us Yet consider him as a Disciple and a Christian and we shall find him eminently examplary in the great instances of Religion His humility and lowliness of minde was singular with what a passionate earnestness upon the conviction of a miracle did he begg of our Saviour to depart from him when our Lord by that wonderful condecension stoopt to wash his Apostles feet he could by no means be perswaded to admit it untill our Lord was in a manner forced to threaten him into obedience with how much candour and humility does he treat the inferior 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 upon the great estdangers exposing himself to the most eminent hazards of Life telling the Iews with great plainness at every turn to their Faces that they were the Murtherers and Crucifiers of the Lord of Glory Nay with what an Vndaunted Courage and Heroick Greatness of Mind did he tell the very Sanhedrim that had Sentenced and Condemned him that they were guilty of his murther and that they could never be saved any other way than by this very Iesus whom they had Crucified and put to death Consider him also as an Apostle and Guid of Souls and you will find him faithful and diligent in his Office with an infinite zeal indeavouring to instruct the Ignorant reduce the Erroneous to strengthen the Weak and confirm the Strong we find him taking all opportunities of Preaching to people Converting many thousands at once How many Voyages and Travels did he undergo with what unconquerable patience did he indure all Conflicts and Tryals and surmount all difficulties and oppositions that he might plant and propagate the Christian Faith not thinking much to lay down his own Life to promote and further it nor did he only do his duty himself but as one that was sencible of the value and worth of Souls he was careful to put others in mind of theirs earnesty pressing and perswading the Governours and Rulers of the Church to feed the Flock of God to take upon them the Ruling and Inspection of it freely and willingly not out of a sinister end meerly of gaining advantage to themselves but out of a sincere design of doing good to Souls that they would treat them mildly and gently be themselves examples of Piety and Religion to them as the best way to make their Ministery succesful and effectual But to conclude what we are to Remark in this great Apostles Life we are in the last place to consider him in his several relations that he was married is without all controversy the sacred story making mention of his Wives Mother His Wife as some alledg was the daughter of Aristobolus Brother to Barnabas the Apostle whom St. Jerom saith he left behind him together with his Nets when he forsook all to follow Christ but Clemens Alexandrinus saith that Peter seeing his wife going towards Martyrdome exceedingly rejoyced that she was called to so great an honour and that she was now returning home encouraging and earnestly exhorting her and calling her by her name bid her be mindful of the Lord. By her some say he had a daughter called Petronella The Life of St. PAUL S PAUL ST Paul was born at Tarsus the Metropolis of Cilicia a City infinitely Rich and Populous and what was more to the fame and honour of it an Academy furnished with Schools of learning where the Schollars so closely plyed their Studies that as Strabo tells us they excelled in all the Arts of polite Learning and Phylosophy those of other places yea even of Alexandria and Athens it self and that even Rome was beholden to it for many of its best Professors It was a Roman Municipium or free Corporation invested with many priviledges by Julius Caesar and Augustus who granted to the Inhabitants of it the honours and immunities of Cityzens of Rome In which respect St. Paul owned and asserted it as the Priviledg of his Birthright that he was a Roman and thereby free from being bound or beaten His Parents were Jews and that of
of Cephas which in the Syriack which was the Vulgar Language of the Jews at that time did signifie a Stone or Rock was thence derived unto the Greek Word Petros rendred in the English Language Peter His Father was Jonah probably a Fisherman of Bethsaida the Sacred Story taking no further notice of him then by the bare mention of his Name Brother he was to St. Andrew the Apostle and there is some question among the Ancients which of the two was the Elder Brother Epiphanius clearly adjudges it to St. Andrew St. Chrysostom upon the other hand saith expresly That though Andrew came later into Life then Peter yet he brought him first to the knowledge of the Gospel But however it was it sounds not a little to the honour of their Father as of Zebedee also in the like case that of but twelve Apostles two of his Sons were taken into the number In his Youth he was brought up to Fishing which we may guess to have been the Staple Trade of Bethsaida which hence probably borrowed its Name signifying an House or Habitation of Fishing much advantaged herein by the Neighbourhood of the Lake of Genesareth on whose Banks it stood called also the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberius according to the Mode of the Hebrew Language wherein all confluences of Waters are called Seas It was an hundred Furlongs in length and forty in breadth the Waters of it most clear sweet and most fit to drink stored with several sorts of Fish and those different both in kind and taste from those in any other place Here it was that St. Peter closly followed the exercise of his Calling from whence it seems he afterward removed to Capernaum probably upon his Marriage at least frequently resided there for there we meet with his House and there we find him paying Tribute An House over which it is said that Heben the Mother of Constantine built a Temple in Honour of St. Peter This place was advantageous for the managing of his Trade standing on the entrance of Jordan into the Sea of Galilee and where he might as well reap the Fruits of an honest and industrious Diligence It 's true it was a mean and servile course of life for besides the great pains and labour it required he was by it exposed to the injuries of Wind and Weather to the Storms of the Sea the darkness and Tempestuousness of the Night and all to make a mean and very small return but meanness is no Bar in Gods way Nay our Lord seems to cast a peculiar Honour upon that Profession When afterwards calling him and some others of the same Trade from catching of Fish to be Fishers of Men. And now to reflect a little upon the Wise and Admirable Methods of Divine Providence it is Wonderful to behold it in its Methods in Propagating the Christian Faith in the World that such low and mean Men should be armed with such Divine Power to the running down the Kingdom of Satan The vile Apostate Julian thought this a reasonable Exception against the Prophets of the Old Testament that they were a Company of Rude and Illiterate Men but here lay the Wonder of it that the first Preachers of the Gospel should be such rude unlearned Men and yet so suddenly so powerfully prevail Over the Learned World We find not whether Peter before his coming to Christ was Ingraffed in any of the Sects at that time in the Jewish Church yet is it greatly probable that he was One of the Disciples of John the Baptist for it is certain that his Brother Andrew was so and we can hardly think these Two Brothers should draw two contrary ways or that he who was so ready to bring his Brother the early Tydings of the Messiah should not be as solicitous to bring him under the Discipline and Influence of John the Baptist the Day-Star that went before him As also Peter's forwardness and curiosity at the first news of Christ's appearing to come to him and Converse with him shew that his Expectations had been awakened and some light in this matter conveyed to him by the Preaching and Ministry of John St. Peter was introduced into Christ's Acquaintance by means of his Brother Andrew at which time our Lord gave him the Title of Cephas What passed further between them and whether these two Brothers henceforward Personally attended our Saviours Motions in the number of his Disciples we cannot certainly determine it seems probable that they stayed with him for some time till they were Instructed in the first Rudiments of his Doctrine and by his leave departed home for we may reasonably suppose that our Lord being unwilling at this time especially to Awaken the Iealousie of the State by a Numerous Retinue might dismiss his Disciples for some time and Peter and Andrew amongst the rest who hereupon returned home to the Exercise of their Calling where they continued somewhat more than a Year at which time our Lord came along one Morning where they had been all Night at their Work but taught nothing but at his desire the Net being let down there was a miraculous draught of Fish caught whereupon Peter presently leaving all followed him the first Way he went was to Capernaum where Christ healed Peter's Wifes Mother Our Lord being to Elect some Peculiar Persons as his Immediate Vicegerents upon Earth withdrew himself over-Night to a solitary Mountain early the next Morning his Disciples came to him out of whom he made Choice of Twelve to be his Apostles in the ennumeration of which the Evangelists place Simon Peter in the Front And St. Matthew expresly tells us that he was The First that is he was the first that was called to be an Apostle his Age also and the Gravity of his Person more particularly qualifying him for a Primate of Order among the rest of the Apostles as that without which no Secresie of Men can be managed or maintained It may be here enquired When and by whom the Apostles were Baptized That they were is unquestionable being themselves appointed to Conferr it upon others Nicephorus tells us That of all the Apostles Christ Baptized none but Peter with his own Hands alledging Evodius Peter's immediate Successor in the See of Antioch for his Author and that Peter Baptized Andrew and the Two Sons of Zebedee and the rest of the Apostles But Baronius confesses that this Epistle of Evodius is altogether unknown to the Antients Amongst these Twelve our Lord Chose a Triumvirate to be his more intimate Companions whom he admitted more familiarly than the rest unto all the more secret passages and transactions of his Life the Three were Simon Peter and the Two Sons of Zebedee these were with him at the Raising of Jairus his Daughter as also at his Transfiguration upon the Mount where Peter desired our Lord that he might let them Build Three Tabernacles in memory of these great Transactions One tells us That in pursuance of this
where for many years he Preached and Propagated Christianity at last he came to Patrae a City of Achaia where he gave his last and great Testimony to it by laying down his Life for it the manner of his Martytâ—â—m one describeth thus Aaegaas Proconsus of Achaia coming to Patrae and observing many of the people imbrace Christianity he endeavoured by all means to reclaim them whereupon the Apostle went to him and expostulated with him about the matter but the Proconsul derided him as the Propagator of that Religion whose Author the Iews had infamously put to death upon the Cross The Apostle from this took occasion to discourse more fully of Christ but the other told him plainly that he might perswade them so that would believe him for his part if he would not do Sacrifice to the Gods he would make him suffer upon the same Cross which He so much extolled Afterwards he was committed to Prison again The next day he was again brought before the Proconsul where they began to intreat one another The Proconsul the Apostle that he might not foolishly forgo the pleasures of this Life The Apostle the Proconsul that he might not wickedly throw away his Soul This so inraged the Proconsul that he told the Apostle he must either forsake that new Religion or resolve to be tortured severely He replyed that he feared not his torture he might do his worst and that if he had one torture greater than another he might heap that upon him The Proconsul first commanded him to be Scourged by seven Liâ—ors successively whipping his naked Body But seeing his great patience commanded him to be Crucified but not to be fastened to the Cross with Nails but Cords that so his death might be more lingering and tedious Being come within sight of the Cross he heartily saluted it saying That he long desired and expected that happy hour wherein he might shew an honourable Testimony to his Glorious and Renowned Master After having prayed and exhorted the people to constancy in that Faith which he delivered to them he was fastned to the Cross whereon he hung two days Teaching and Instructing the people all the time and Exhorting them to suffer chearfully for Christ and his Truth when-ever they should be called to it And when great importunities in the mean time were used by some to the Proconsul in his behalf he earnestly begged of our Lord at this time he might Seal the Truth with his Blood God heard his fervent prayer and he immediatly expired on the last of November though in what year no certain account can be recovered The Life of St. JAMES the Great S JACOB MAIOR JAmes surnamed the Great either because of his Age or for some peculiar honours which our Lord conferred upon him was a Galilean born the Son of Zebede a Fisherman his Mothers name was Mary surnamed Salome his Education was in the Trade of Fishing which Trade his Father also followed in the exercise of which our Saviour found him when he passed by the Sea of Galilee where he called them to be his Disciples which Call they readily obeyed leaving their aged Father with the Servants to manage the Trade It was not long after his first calling till he was called from the station of an ordinary Disciple to the Apostolical Office and not only so but honoured with some peculiar Acts of Favour beyond most of the Apostles being one of the three whom our Lord usually made choice of to admit to the more intimate Transactions of his Life Thus with Peter and his brother John he was taken to the Miraculous raising of Jairus his daughter admitted to Christs glorious Transfiguration upon the Mount taken along with him into the Garden to be a spectator of his bitter and terrible Agonies Nor was it the least instance of that particular honour which our Lord conferred upon these Apostles that at his calling of them he gave them a new Name and Title The Lord setting forward in His Iourney to Jerusalem in order to his Crucifixion and the better to prepare the minds of his Apostles for his departure from them he told them he was to suffer and yet after all he should rise again but they whose minds were big yet with the expectation of a Temporal Power and Monarchy understood not well the meaning of his discourse However James and his Brother supposing the Resurrection which he spoke of would be the time when his Power and Greatness would commence Prompted their Mother to put up a Petition for them she after leave modestly asked for her Address beg'd of him That when he took possession of his Kingdom her two Sons might have the Principal places of Honour and Dignity next his own Person Our Lord directing his discourse to the two Apostles told them they quite mistook the nature of his Kingdom which did not consist in External Grandeur but in Inward Life and Power that they would do well to consider whether they were able to undergo what he was to undergo They probably not understanding the force of his reasoning answered They were able to do all this but He not taking advantage of their rash and inconsiderable Reply told them That as for suffering they would indeed undergo it as well as he but for any peculiaâ—â—onour or dignity he would not by any absolute and peremptory favour of his own dispose of it any otherwise then according to those Rules and Instructions which he received from his Father The rest of the Apostles were offended with this Ambitious request but our Lord to Calm their passion discoursed to them at large of the nature of the Evangelick State and its difference from the Kingdoms of the World with which discourse the storm blew over and their exorbitant passions began on all hands to be allayed and pacified What became of St. James after our Saviours Ascension we have no certain account either from the Sacred or Ecclesiastick Stories some affirm that after the Martyrdome of Stephen when the Christians were dispersed he came to the Western parts of the world even to Britain and Ireland and having planted Christianity amongst them went back again to Jerusalem but this seems improbable upon several accounts and therefore its safest to confine his Ministry to Judea and the parts there abouts and to seek for him at Jerusalem where we are sure to find him Herod-Agrippa Son of Aristobolus being great in favour where the Emperour Claudius was setled and confirmed by him in all that his Grand-Father Herod the great enjoyed and seeing that this most probable way to gain the affection of the Iews was to fall heavy upon the Christians he resolves accordingly to do it Finding St. James Vigorous in contending for the Truth Him he commands to be apprehended and cast in prison and sentence of death to be passed upon him as he was Led forth to the place of Martyrdome The Soldier that had guarded him to the Tribunal having been convinced by
his want of it was made up abundantly in his Excellent Temper of mind and the furniture of divine graces which he was adorned withall His Humility was admirable studiously concealing his own Worth and Honour He shewed a mighty care to the souls of men unwearied by spending himself in the service of the Gospel Travelling from East to West to leaven the world with the principles of that Holy Religion which he was sent to propagate He was infinitely Vigilant against Hereticks Countermining there Artifices Antidoting against the poyson of their errors and shuning all communion and conversation with their persons The Life of St. PHILIP S. PHILIP OF all parts of Palestine Galilee seems to to have passed under the greatest character of Ignominy Reproach therefore called Galilee of the Gentiles both Jew and Gentile conspiring in this that they thought they could not fix a greater title of reproach upon our Saviour and His followers than that of Galilean But to confute this our Lord chose hence those excellent Persons whom he made the great instruments to Convert the World some of which we have already given account of and more are yet behind Of this number was Philip born at Bethsaida a Town near the Sea of Tiberias Of his Parents and way of Life the History of the Gospel takes no notice though probably he was a Fisherman the common Trade of that place He had the honour to be the first called to be Christs Disciple which came thus to pass Our Lord after His return from the Wilderness having met with Andrew and his brother Peter after some short discourse parted from them and the next day passing through Galilee he found Philip whom he commanded presently to follow him which he accordingly did No sooner had Religion taken possession of his mind then away he goes and Finds Nathaniel acquaints him with the tydings of the new-found Messiah and conducts him to Him After his call to the Apostleship there is not much recorded of him in the Holy Story It was to him that the Lord propounded the question what they should get in the Wilderness as would feed so vast a multitude To which he answered That so much was not easily to be had It was to him that the Gentile Prosylites that came up to the Passover addressed themselves when they desired to see our Saviour It was with him that our Lord discoursed concerning himself a little before the last paschal Supper The Lord Iesus had been fortifying their minds with fit considerations against his departure from them He told them That no man could come to the Father but by Him Philip not duely understanding the force of our Saviours reasonings begged of him that he would shew them the Father Our Lord gently reproved his ignorance that after so long attendance upon his instructions he should not know that he was the Image of his Father the express character of his infinite Wisdom Power and Goodness appearing in him that he said and did nothing but by his Fathers appointment which if they did not believe his Miracles were a sufficient evidence that therefore such demands were unnecessary and impertinent and that it argued great weakness after more than three years education under his discipline and instruction to be so unskilful in those matters In the distribution of the several Regions of the World made by the Apostles some think that the upper Asia was the Province which was assigned to Philip where he applyed himself with an indefatigable diligence and industry to recover men out of the snare of the Devil to the imbraceing and acknowledgment of the Truth by constancy of his Preaching and Efficacy of his Miracles he gained numerous Converts whom he Baptized to the Christian Faith at once Curing both Souls and Bodies their Souls of Error and Idolatry their Bodies of Infirmities and Distempers healing Diseases dispossessing Daemons settling Churches and appointing them Pastors and Teachers Having for many years succesfully managed his Apostolical Office in those parts he came towards the latter part of his life to Hierapolis in Phrygia a Rich and Populous but most Idolatrous Place Amongst the many Vain and Trifleing Deities to whom they payed Religious Worship was a Serpent or Dragon which they Worshipped with great and solemn Veneration the Apostle was grieved to see them so grosely inslaved to Error and therefore continually solicited Heaven till by Prayer he had protured the death at least vanishing of this Famed Creature Which done he told them how unbecoming it was to give Divine honours to such odious creatures and thence took occasion to discourse at large of Christianity The success was That the People were ashamed of their gross Idolatry and many broke loose from their Chains of Idolatry and ran over to Christianity whereupon the great enemy of Mankind betook himself to his old Methods Cruelty and Persecution the Magistrates of the City seized the Apostle and having put him into Prison caused him to be severely Scourged This preparatory Cruelty passed he was led to Execution and being bound was hanged up by the Neck against a Pillar though others tell us that he was Crucified the Apostle being dead his body was taken down by St. Bartholomew his fellow Sufferer and his own Sister who is said to have been the constant companion of his travels and decently buried after which having Confirmed the people in the Faith of Christ they departed from thence It is generally affirmed that St. Philip was Married and that he had Daughters whom he disposed in Marriage but though this be granted as it is not improbable yet the not carefully distinguishing between Philip the Deacon Philip the Apostle has bred some confusion among the Antients in this matter insomuch that some have concluded them to be one and the same person but with how little reason will appear to any that shall consider that Philip who was chosen to be one of the Seaven Deacons could not be one of the Apostolical Colledg the Apostles declaring upon that occasion that they had affairs of a higher nature to attend upon So then upon the Persecution that arose upon St. Stephens death the Church was dispersed they were all scattered abroad throughout the Regions of Judea and Samaria and Philip the Deacon among the rest who went down to the City of Samaria except the Apostles who tarried behind at Jerusalem when Philip had Converted and Baptised a considerable number in that place he was forced to send for two of the Apostles from Jerusalem that so by their hands they might receive the Holy Ghost which had been wholly needless had he himself been of the twelve Apostles St. Philip was one of the Apostles who left no sacred writings behind him the greater part of the Apostles having little leasure to write Books being imployed in the Ministry more immediately useful and subservient to the happiness of Mankind The Life of St. BARTHOLOMEW S BARTHOLOME IT is not questioned at
his choice nor apprehended himself a looser by this bargain he entertained our Lord and his Disciples at a great dinner in his house whether he invited his friends especially those of his own profession After his Election to the Apostolate he continued with the rest tell our Lord's Ascension and then for the first eight years at least preached up and down Judea After which being to betake himself to the Conversion of the Gentile World he was intreated by the Convert Iews to commit to Writing the History of our Lords Life and Actions and to leave it among them as a standing Record of that he had Preached to them which he did accordingly and so composed his Gospel little certainty can be had what Travels he underwent for the advancement of the Christian Faith Some tell us that he went into Parthea having successfully planted Christianity in those Parts thence travelled into Aethiopia where by Preaching and Miracles he mightily Triumphed over Error and Idolatry As to the manner of his death it is related by some that he went into the Country of the Canibals where Christ appeared to him in the form of a beautiful Youth and gave him a Wand which he pitching in the ground immediately it grew up into a Tree that he also miraculously Converted the Prince of the Country and after all dyed in peace and was most sumptuously buryed But others of the Antients with as much probility affirm that he suffered Martyrdom at a City in Aethiopia but that kind of death is altogether uncertain He was a great instance of the power of Religion how much a man may be bâ—oâ—ght off to a better temper if we reflect upon his circumstances while yet a stranger to Christ we shall find the world had very great advantages upon him and yet notwithstanding no sooner did Christ call but without the least scruple or dissatisfaction not only renounced his gainful incomes but ran an immediate hazard of the displeasure of his Masters the Romans that had imployed him for quitting their service and leaving his accounss intangled and confured behind him The last thing remarkable in the Life of this Apostle is his Gospel Written at the intreaty of the Jewish converts and as some say at the command of the Apostles while he was yet in Palestine eight years after the death of Christ which St. Bartholomew took along with him into India and left there He wrot it in Hebrew as primarily designed it for the use of his Country-men it was without doubt soon after translated into Greek as some think by St. John others attribute the translation of it to St. James the less After the Greek translation was entertained the Hebrew Copy was chiefly owned and used by the Nazarens a middle Sect of men between Iewes and Christians what the Christians they believed in Christ and imbraced his Religion what the Iews they adhered to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaick Law and hence this Gospel came to be styled the Gospel of the Hebrews and the Gospel of the Nazarenes by them it was by degrees interpolated several passages of the Evangelical History which they heard from the Apostles or those who had familiarly conversed with them being inserted which the Antients Fathers frequently refer to in their writings This Hebrew Copy was found in the Treasury of the Jewes at Tiberias by Joseph a Iew and after his Conversion a man of great Honour Esteem in the days of Constantine one of the Antients assures us that there was another kept in the Library of Caesarea in his time and another by the Nazarenes at Berea from whom he had the liberty to Transcribe it and which he afterward Translated both into Greek and Latine A Copy also of this Gospel was dug up and found in the Grave of Barnabas in Cyprus Transcribed with his own hand but these Copies are long since perished The Life of St. THOMAS S THOMAS THe Jews used commonly when Travelling into forreign Countries or familiarly conversing with the Greeks and Romans to assume to themselves a Greek or a Latine name of affinity and sometimes of the very same signification with that of their own Country Thus our St. Thomas according to the Syriacks importance of his name was called Didimus which is the same with his other name expressed in different Languages The History of the Gospel takes no particular notice either of his Country or Kindred that he was a Iew is certain and in all probability a Galileean he was born as some saith of very mean Parents brought up to the Trade of Fishing He was afterwards together with the rest called to the Apostleship where not long after he gave an eminent instance of his hearty willingness to undergo the saddest Fate that might attend them for when the rest of the Apostles disswaded our Saviour from going to Judea lest the Iewes should stone Him as but a little before they had attempted it St. Thomas desires them not to hinder Christs Iourney thither though it might cost them their Lives probably concluding that instead of raising Lazarus from the dead they themselves should be sent with him to their own Graves so that he made up in pious aâ—fections what he seemed to want in the quickness of his understanding not readily apprchending some of our Lords discourses nor overforward to believe more than himself had seen when Christ a little before his fatal sufferings told his Disciples that he was going to prepare for them that they might follow and that they knew the place whether he was a going and the way thither Our Apostle Roundly replyed that they knew it not To which our Lord gives this satisfactory answer That he was the true Living Way Our Lord being dead the Apostles were exceedingly distracted between hope and dispair concerning his resurrection which engaged him the sooner to hasten his appearance wherefore the very day in which he arose he came into the house in which they were while for fear of the Jews the Dores were fast shut about them At this Meeting St. Thomas was absent having probably never recovered their company since their last dispersion in the Garden where every owns Fears prompted him to Consult his own safety At his return they told him That the Lord had appeared to them but he obstinately refused to believe that it was he except he might see the very prints of the Nails and feel the Wounds in his Hands and Sides But his compassionate master would not take advantage of the man's refractory unbelief but upon that Day seven night came to them as they were solemnly met at their Devotions and calling Thomas hade him look upon his Hands put his Fingers into the prints of the Nails and thrust his Hand into the hole of his Side and thereby satisfy his Faith The Man was quickly convinced of his Error confessing That he now acknowledged him to be his very Lord and Master Our Lord being Ascended and having
their Nation This name he seems afterwards to have changed for Thaddeus a word of the very same import and signification as some think from a particular dislike of the Name of Judal among the Apostles the bloody and Treasonable practices of Judas Iscariot having rendred that name very odious and detestable to them wherefore to put a difference he often styles himself Judas the Brother of James for his name Lebbeus it seems to have been derived from an Hebrew word signifying a Lyon and therein to have respect to old Jacobs Prophesie That he should be as a Lyon which probably might have a main stroke to fasten this name upon St. Jude From this Patriarchal Prophesie we are told that one of the Schooles of Learned men among the Jews took occasion to denominate themselves Labij as accounting themselves the Schollars and Descendants of this Lyon like Son of Jacob and that St. Jude was of this Society and because of his Eminency among them retained the Title of Labius or as it was corruptly pronounced Lebbeus For his descent and Parentage he was of our Lords Kindred the Son of Joseph and the Brother of James the Less We find not when he was called to the Discipleship not meeting with him till we find him enumerated among the Catalogue of the Apostles nor is any thing particularly recorded of him afterward more than one question that he propounded to our Saviour Who having told them what great things he and his Father would do and what particular manifestations after his Resurrection he would make of himself to his Disciples and followers St. Jude whose thoughts as well as the rest were taken up with the expectation of a Temporal Kingdom of the Messiah not knowing how that could consist with the Publick Solemnity of that Glorious State they looked for asked them what was the reason that he would manifest himself to them and not to the World Our Lord replied That the World were not capable of those Divine Manifestations as being a Stranger and an Enemy to what should fit them for Heaven that they were only good Men Persons of a Divine temper of Mind and Religious Observers of his Lawes and will whom God would honour with these familiar Converses Eusebius faith expresly That soon after our Lords Ascension St. Thomas dispatched Thaddeus the Apostle to Abgarius Governour of Idessa where he healed diseases wrought Miracles expounded the Doctrine of Christianity and Converted Abgarus and his People to the Faith for all which pains when he offered him vast gifts and presents he refused them with a noble scorn telling him They had little reason to receive from others what they had relinquished themselves Here he is said to have died peaceably and to have been most Honourably Buried But by the general consent of the Latin Church He is said to have Travelled to Persia where after great success in his Apostolical Ministry for many years he was at last for his free and open reproving the superstitious rites and usages of the Magi cruelly put to death That he was one of the Marryed Apostles appears sufficiently from his Grand-Sons mentioned by Fusebius of whom one gives this account Domitian the Emperour whose heinous Wickedness had awakened in him the quickest Iealousies and made him suspect every one that looked like a corrival in the Empire had heard that there were some of the Line of David and Christs Kindred that did yet remain Two Grand-Children of St. Jude the Brother of Our Lord were brought before him having confessed that they were of the Family and race of David he asked them what Possessions and Estates they had They told him that they had but a very few Acres of Land out of the Improvement thereof they both payed him Tribute and maintained themselves with their own hard Labour as by the hardness and brawniness of their hands which then they shewed him did appear He then enquired of them concerning Christ and concerning the State of his Kingdom what kind of Empire it was and when and where it would commence To which they reply'd That his Kingdom was not of this World nor of the Seiginories and Dominions of it but Heavenly and Angelical and would finally take place at the end of the World when coming with great Glory he would Judg the quick and the dead and reward every one according to their deeds At length looking upon the meanness and simplicity of the men as below his Iealousies and Fears He dismissed them without using any severities against them who being now looked on not only as Kinsmen but as Martyrs of Our Lord were honoured by all and preferred to great places of Authority amongst the Christians and lived till the time of Trajan St. Jude left only one Epistle of Catholick and Vniversal Concernment inscribed at large to all Christians It was some time before it met with a general reception in the Church or was taken notice of The Author indeed stiles not himself an Apostle no more doth St. James St. John nor sometimes St. Paul himself and why should he fair the worse for calling himself The Servant of Jesus Christ when he might have added not only an Apostle but Brother of our Lord Being satisfied in the Canonicalness of this Epistle none but St. Jude could be the Author of it for who but he could be the Brother of St. James a Character by which he is described in the Evangelical story more than once A Modern Writer indeed will needs have it Written by a yunger Jude the Fifteenth Bishop of Jerusalem in the reign of Adrian And finding that that passage the Brother of James stood full in his way He concludes but without any reason that it was added by some Transcriber But this is too bold dealing with sacred things no wise to be allowed The design of the Epistle is to preserve the Christians from being infected by the Doctrine of the Gnosticks the Loose and Debauched Principles vented by Simon Magus and his followers whose wretched Doctrines and Practices he briefly and elegantly represents perswading Christians heartily to avoid these pernicious Seducers as pests and Firebeands not to communicate with them in their sins lest they perished with them in that terrible vengeance that was ready to overtake them The Life of St. Matthias S MATHIAS PArticular Remarks concerning St. Matthias are not to be expected from the History of the Gospel he not being an Apostle of the first election He was one of our Lords Disciples and probably one of the Seventy that had attended upon him the whole time of his Publick Ministry and after his Death was Elected unto the Apostleship upon this occasion Judas Iscariot who had been one of the Twelve immediately called by Christ to be one of his intimate Disciples equally impowered and commissioned with the rest to Preach and Work Miracles and yet all this while was a Man of Vile and Corrupt designes branded with no meaner Character than Thief and
Murtherer prostituting Religion and the Honour of his place to Covetousness and evil Acts This Covetous temper betrayed him as in the Issue to the most fatal end so to the most prodigious impiety that ever the Sun shone on The betraying his innocent Lord into the Hands of his cruel Enemies but afterward awakned with the horrour of the Fact his Conscience began to rouse and follow so close that he was not able to bear up under the furious revenges of his own mind never rested till he had dispatched himself by a violent death A vacancy being thus made in the Colledge of Aposties the first thing they did after their return from Mount Olivet where our Lord took his leave of them to go to St. Johns House in Mount Zion was to fill up the number with a fit proper Person two were propounded in order to the choice Joseph called Barsabas and Matthias the way of Election was by Lots a way frequently used amongst Jewes and Gentiles in doubtful and difficult cases The Lots being put in the now Matthias his Name was drawn out and thereby installed in the Apostolick Office and Dignity Not long after the promised powers of the Holy Ghost were conferred upon the Apostles to fit them for that great and difficult Imployment upon which they were sent and among the rest St. Matthias betook â—imself to his Charge and Province The first Fruits of his Ministery he spent in Judea where having reaped a considerable harvest he betook himself to other Provinces One tells us that he Preached the Gospel in Macedonia where the Gentiles to make an experiment of his Faith and Integrity gave him a poysonous and intoxicating Potion which he chearfully drank off in the Name of Christ without the least prejudice to himself and that then the same Potion had deprived an hundred and fifty of these sight he laying his hands upon them restored them to their sight again The Greeks with more probability report him to have travelled Eastward He came saies one to the first saies another to the second Ethiopia The place whether he came was very Wild and Barbatous and his usage was accordingly For here meeting with a People of a fierce and untractible temper he was treated by them with great rudeness and inhumanity from whom after all his Labours and Sufferings and a numerous Conversion of Men to Christianity he obtained at last the Crown of Martyrdom in the sixty first year of our Lord or as others the sixty fourth Little certainty can be retrieved concerning the manner of his death 〈◊〉 Writer of great note tells us That he died at a place call'd Sebastople and that he was buried near the Temple of the Sun Another reports him to have been seized by the Jewes and as a Blasphemer to have been first stoned and then beheaded But the Greeks seconded herein by many antiquaries tells us That he was Crucified and that as Judas was hanged upon a Tree so Matthias suffered upon a Cross his body is said to have been kept a long time at Jerusalem thence thought by Helene the Mother of the great Constantine to have been Translated to Rome where some parts of it are shewed with great Veneration this day though others with as great eagerness contend that his Relicks were brought to and are still preserved at Triers in Germany His memory is celebrated in the Greek Churches August the Ninth which appears not only from their Calendars but from a Novel Constitution of Comnenus appointing what holy dayes should be kept in the Church But the Western Churches kept the twenty-fourth of February sacred to his memory among many other Apocriphal Writings attributed to the Apostles where was a Gospel Published under St. Matthias his Name mentioned by Eusebius and condemned with the rest by Golasius Bishop of Rome as it had been rejected by others before him under his name also there were extant traditions cited by Clemens of Alexandria from whence no question it was that the Nicolaitans borrowed that saying of his which they abused to so vile and beastly purposes as under the pretended Patronage of his Name and Doctrine the Marcionites and Valentinians defended some of their most absurd and impious Opinions The Life of St MARK the Evangelist S MARKE THough this great Evangelist carries something of Roman in his Name without all question born of Jewish Parents Originally descended of the Tribe of Levi and the Priestly Line and if some of the Antients mistake not Sisters Son to Peter though others without any shadow of reason have confounded him with John Sirnamed Mark the Son of Mary and Mark 's Sisters Son to Barnabas The particular reason of his changing his Name from Jewish to Roman is not clear from History yet it is most probable that he assumed the Roman Name Mark upon some great change or accident of his Life or which was not unusual among the Jewes then going to the European Provinces of the Roman Empire taken up at his going for Italy and Rome By the Antients he is generally thought to have been one of the Seventy Disciples and some of them positively affirm that he was one of them who taking exceptions at our Saviours discourse of Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood went back and walked no more with him but was seasonably reduced and reclaimed by Peter but others as confidently and with as great Reason affirm That he was no Hearer nor Follower of Christ and therefore could be none of them who upon that occasion forsook him He was Converted by some of the Apostles and probably by St. Peter who calls him his Son from which some conclude That Peter was his undertaker at his Baptism He was indeed his constant Attendant and Follower all along in his Travels supplying the place of an Amanuensis and Interpreter For though the Apostles were divinely Inspired and among other miraculous Powers had the gift of Languages conferred upon them yet were the Interpretation of Tongues a Gift more peculiar to some than others this might probably be St. Mark 's Talent in expounding St. Peter's Discourses in word or writing to those who understood not the Language wherein they were delivered He accompanied him in his Apostolical progress Preached the Gospel in Italy and at Rome where at the request of the Christians in those parts he Composed his Gospel By St. Peter he was sent to Aegypt to plant Christianity in that Country He fixed his main Residence at Alexandria and the places thereabouts for a considerable time where so great as one of the Ancients writes was the Success of his Ministry that he Converted vast Multitudes both of Men and Women of all ranks and degrees not only to the imbracing the Christian Faith but to a more than ordinary strict Profession of it Insomuch that Philo the Jew wrote a Book which treats only of their particular Rites and way of Life for which reasons one of the Fathers reckons him among the Writers of
upon which account a learned man conceives that St. Luke though a Syrian by birth to have been a servant at Rome where he somtimes practised Physick and being sent from thence returned to his own Country there probably he continued his Profession all the dayes of his life it being fairly consistent with and in many cases subservient to the work of the Ministery and the care of souls Besides his knowledge in Physick he is said to have been expert in the art of Painting and there are no less than three or four pieces of Painting still in being said to have been of his drawing There is also an antient Inscription to be seen in the Via Lactea at Rome in an old Vault near the Church of St. Mary supposed to have been the place where St. Paul dwelt wherein mention is made of the Picture of the Blessed Virgin Being one of the Seven Painted by St. Luke He was a Iewish Proselite Antioch abounding with Men of that Nation who had their Synagogues and Schooles of Education so that we need not as some do send him to Jerusalem to be instructed in the Law As for the Opinon of some great Men That he was one of them who had shamefully forsaken his Lord Master for the unwelcome discourse he made to the People and was reclaimed again by St. Paul being also by them supposed to have been one of the seventy Disciples it seems to be no other than a meer fiction upon no better ground is it said That he was one of the Two Disciples who were going to Emaus to whom the Lord appeared in their way For besides other Arguments which might be brought to evince the contrary to both he himself confesseth plainly That he was not from the Begining an eye Witness and Minister of the Word It is therefore most probable that he was converted by St. Paul during his abode at Antioch when as the Apostles were of Catchers of Fish become Fishers of Men so he of a Physitian for the Body became a Physitian for the Soul Some of the Antients will have this to have been done at Thebes the Chief City of Baeotia about fourty Miles distance from Athens but this seems to have a bad Foundation for it doth not appear from any credible Author of that time that ever St. Paul was at Thebes He became ever after his inseparable Companion and Fellow-Labourer in the Work of the Ministry especially after his going into Macedonia from which time in Recording the History of St. Pauls Travels he alwayes as occasion serves speaketh of himself in his own Person He atteneded St. Paul in all his dangers was with him at his several Arraignments at Jerusalem accompanied him in his most dangerous and desperate Voyage to Rome where he most constantly attended upon him to serve his necessaries and supply those Ministerial Offices which the Apostles confinement would not suffer him to undergo especially in carrying messages to those Churches wherein he had planted Christianity This infinitely indeared him to St. Paul who owned him for his Fellow-Labourer called him the Beloved Phisitian and the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches which the Antients especially St. Ignatius apply to our Evangelist It is more than probable that he did not leave St. Paul untill that he had finished his Course and Crowned all his sufferings with Martyrdom though some aver that he left St. Paul at Rome and returned back into the East and Travelled into Aegypt the parts of Lybia where he according to his Custom Preached the Gospel wrought Miracles Converted Multitudes Constituted Ministers and Pastors in the Church yea that he himself took upon him the Episcopal charge of the City of Thebais Epiphanius gives us this account That he Preached the Gospel first in Dalmatia and Galatia by which Latter he means Gaul or France where in the Iudgment of others he is very far mistaken then in Italy and Macedonia where he spared no pains declined not the greatest and most threatning dangers that he might faithfully and with sincerity of heart discharge that great and important trust which was committed to him The Antients are not very well agreed either about the time or manner of his Death and Martyrdom some of them assuring him to have died in Aegypt others say with as great confidence that he dyed in Greece The Roman Martyrologie makes Bythinia the place of his Martyrdom Dorotheus is at a great deal of pains to prove That all the former are in a mistake and that St. Luke dyed at neither of the forenamed places but that he suffered and payed his vowes at Ephesus They also disagree as much as to the manner of his death as they do as to the place Some make him die a natural others a violent death Indeed neither Eusebius nor St. Jerom takes any notice of it whether because they wanted a certain or true account of it or for some other reason best known to themselves let the Reader determine Yet Nazianzen Paulinus Bishop of Nola with several others expresly assert That he was Honoured with a Crown of Martyrdom of which Nicephorus gives this particular Account That coming to Greece he Successfully Preached and Baptized many Converts into the Christian Faith that the number of Believers did daily increase and every thing wherein his Ministry was concerned did Successfully prosper until at length the Lord thinking it time to call home his Servant with his Commission having no more Work for him among the Infidels A party of Villains made Head against him and layed hold on him where after they had Glutted their greedy and hellish Appetites with his Torture they dragged him to Execution but when they came to the place where they intended to Perpetrate the rest of their Villany they could not find a Cross to fix him upon whereupon being resolved by any means to dispatch him they carried him a little further where they lighted upon an Olive Tree which they thought meet for their purpose upon which they Hanged him the Eightyeth say some but others the Eighty Fourth Year of his Age. Kirstenius from an Antient Arabick Writer labours to prove that he suffered Martyrdom at Rome which he thinks might probably be after St. Paul's first Imprisonment there when St. Luke being left behind as his Deputy to supply his place in the Work of the Ministry was shortly after put to Death which he thinks might be the reason why he did not further Prosecute the History of the Acts of the Apostles which he would undoubtedly have done had he Lived any considerable time after St. Paul's departure His Body afterward by the special command of Constantine or as others say of his Son Constantius was with great Solemnity removed from Rome to Constantinople and was Buried in that great and famous Church built and dedicated to the Memory of the Apostles He Wrote two Books for the use and benefit of the Church his Gospel
all but that S. Bartholomew was an Apostle but the Holy Story taking no further notice of him then the bare mention of his name gave occasion to many both Antient and Modern not without occasion to Suppose that he lies concealed under some other name and that this can be no other than Nathaniel one of the first Disciples that came to Christ accordingly we may observe that as some of the Evangelists never mention Bartholomew in the number of the Apostles so others take no notice of Nathaniel propably But that which renders the thing most specious and probable is that we find Nathaniel particularly reckoned up with the other Apostles to whom our Lord appeared at the Sea of Tiberias This difficulty being cleared we proceed to a more particular account of him By some he is thought to have been a Syrian of a Noble Extract and to have derived his extract from the Ptolemes of Aegypt But it is plain that he as the rest of the Apostles was a Galilean and of Nathaniel we know it is particularly said that he was of Cana in Galilee the Scripture takes no notice of his Trade or way of life though some Circumstances might seem to intimate that he was a fusherman At his first coming to Christ he was conducted by Philip who told him that they had found the long-looked-for Messiah and when he observed that the Messiah could not be born at Nazareth Philip bids him come and satisfie himself at his first appearance the Lord entertains him with the Character of a man of true simplicity and Integrity Surprized he was at our Lords Salutation wondring how he could know him so well at first sight whose face he had never seen before But he was answered that he had seen him while he was under the Fig Tree before Philip called him Convinced with this instance of our Lords Divinity he presently made his confessions that now he was sure that Jesus was the promised Messiah the Son of God whom he had appointed to be the King and Governour of his Church Our Saviour told him that if upon these inducements he could believe him to be the Messiah he should have far greater arguments to confirm his faith yea that err long he should behold the Heavens opened to receive him thither and the Angels Visibly appearing to wait and attend upon him Concerning our Apostles Travels up and down the world to propagate the Christian Faith we shall present the reader with a brief account of them from Antiquity that he went as far as India is owned by all which must be meant only of that part of India lying next to Asia yet others say it was the India bordering upon Aethiopia and also tell us that here he left St. Mathews Gospel The particular relation of which a famous Author giveth thus that when Pantenus a man famous for his skill in Philosophy and especially in the institutions of the stoicks but much more for his hearty affection to Christianity in a devout and Zealous imitation of the Apostles was inflamed with a desire to propagate the Christian Religion unto the Eastern Countrys He came as far as India it self here among some that yet retained the knowledge of Christ he found St. Mathews Gospel written in Heâ—reâ— left here as the Tradition was by St. Bartholomew one of the Twelve Apostles when he Preached the Gospel to these Nations After his Labours in these parts of the world he returned to the more Western and Northern parts of Asia At Herapolis in Phrygia we find him in company with Philip instructing that place in the principles of Christianity and convinceing them of the folly of their blind Idolators Here by the inraged he was at the same time with Philip designed for Martyrdom in order thereunto he was fastned upon the Cross with intent to dispatch him but upon a sudden Conviction that the Divine Iustice would Revenge their death he was taken down and dismissed Hence it is probable that he went to Lyconia His last remove was to Albanople in Armenia the great a place miserably over-grown with Idolatry from which while he sought to reclaim the people he was by the Governour of the place commanded to be Crucified which he Chearfully under-went comforting and confirming the convert-Gentiles to the last minute of his life some add that he was Crucified with his head downward others that he was flead and his skin first taken off which might consist well enough with his Crucifixion Exeoriation being a punishment in use not only in Egypt but among the Persians and from whom they might have borrowed this piece of Barbarous Cruelty The Life of St. Mathew St. Matthew St. Mathew called also Levi was though a Roman officer an Hebrew of the Hebrews and probably a Galican he was the Son of Alpheus and Mary Sister or Kinswoman to the blessed Virgin His way of life was that of a publican or toll gatherer to the Romans an office of bad report among the Jews indeed among the Romans it was a place of power and credit and Honourable â—â—â—â—tation not ordinarily conferred upon any bâ—â— Roman Knights The Jews thought this Office odious upon these two accounts first that the persons that managed it were usually covetous and great exacters which doubtless Zacheus was sensible of whâ—n after his conversion he offered fourfold Restitutions to any man from whom he had taken any thing by fraud and evil arts and upon this account they became unfamous even among the Gentiles themselves The other thing that made the Jewes detest them was that this Tribute was not only a grievance to their purses but an affront to the liberty and freedom of their nations for they looked upon themselves as a free-born people invested in this priviledge immediately by God himself and therefore looked upon this as a daily and standing instance of their slavery Hereby Publicans became Vniversally to be abhorred by the Jewish Nation that it was accounted unlawful for them to shew such men any Courtesie or Common kindness Of this Trade and Office was our St. Mathew and it seems more particularly to have consisted in gathering the Customs of Commodities that came by the Sea of Galilee and the Tribute the Passengers were to pay that went by water a thing frequently mentioned in the Jewish writings For this purpose they kept their Office or Custome-house by the Sea side that they might always be near at hand and here it was that St. Mathew had his Tol-booth where he sate at the receipt of Custom Christ having lately cured a famous Paralitick retired out of Capernaum to walk by the Sea-side where he taught the people that flocked after him Here he espyed Mathew sitting in his Custome-Office whom he called to come and follow him the man was rich had a wealthy and gainful Trade but he overlooked all these considerations left all his interests and Relations to become our Lords Disciple and to shew that he was not discontented with