Phoenicia, in pursuit of wealth; for, with the treasures of those corrupt and superstitious nations, they brought home also their pernicious errors, and their idle fictions, which were imperceptibly blended with their religious system. Nor ought we to omit, in this enumeration, the pestilential influence of the wicked reigns of Herod and his sons, and the enormous instances of idolatry, error, and licentiousness, which this unhappy people had constantly before their eyes in the religion and manners of the Roman governors and soldiers, which, no doubt, contributed much to the progress of their national superstition and corruption of manners. We might add here many other facts and circumstances, to illustrate more fully the matter under consideration; but these will be readily suggested to such as have the least acquaintance with the Jewish history from the time of the Maccabees. whole, it is certain that the Samaritans mixed the profane errors of the Gentiles with the sacred doctrines of the Jews, and were excessively corrupted by the idolatrous customs of the pagan nations.* XVIII. The Jews multiplied so prodigiously, that the narrow bounds of Palestine were no longer sufficient to contain them. They poured, therefore, their increasing numbers into the neighbouring countries with such rapidity, that, at the time of Christ's birth, there was scarcely a province in the empire, where they were not found carrying on commerce and exercising other lucrative arts. They were maintained, in foreign countries, against injurious treatment and violence, by the special edicts and protection of the magistrates; and this, indeed, was absolutely necessary, since, in most places, the remarkable difference in their religion and manners, from those of the other nations, exposed them to the hatred and indignation of the ignorant and bigoted multitude. All this appears to have been most singularly and wisely directed by the adorable hand of an interposing Providence, to the end that this people, which was the sole depository of the true religion, and of the knowledge of one Supreme God, being spread abroad through the whole earth, might be every where, by the force of example, a reproach to superstition, might contribute in some measure to check it, and thus prepare the way for that yet fuller discovery of divine truth, which was to shine upon the world from the ministry and Gospel of the Son of God. XVI. It is indeed worthy of observation, that, corrupted as the Jews were with the errors and superstitions of the neighbouring nations, they still preserved a zealous attachment to the law of Moses, and were exceedingly | careful that it should not suffer any diminution of its credit, or lose the least degree of the veneration due to its divine authority. Hence synagogues were erected throughout the province of Judea, in which the people assembled for the purposes of divine worship, and to hear their doctors interpret and explain the holy scriptures. There were besides, in the more populous towns, public schools, in which learned men were appointed to instruct the youth in the knowledge of divine things, and also in other branches of science.* And it is beyond all doubt, that these institutions contributed to Concerning the Life and Actions of JESUS maintain the law in its primitive authority, and to stem the torrent of abounding iniquity. XVII. The Samaritans, who celebrated divine worship in the temple that was built on mount Gerizim, lay under the burthen of the same evils that oppressed the Jews, with whom || they lived in the bitterest enmity, and were also, like them, highly instrumental in increasing their own calamities. We learn from the most authentic histories of those times, that the Samaritans suffered as much as the Jews, from troubles and divisions fomented by the intrigues of factious spirits, though their religious sects were yet less numerous than those of the latter. Their religion, also, was much more corrupted than that of the Jews, as Christ himself declares in his conversation with the woman of Samaria, though it appears, at the same time, that their notions concerning the offices and ministry of the Messiah, were much more just and conformable to truth, than those which were entertained at Jerusalem. Upon the * See Camp. Vitringa. de Synagoga vetere, lib. iii. cap. V. and lib. i. cap. v. vii. CHAPTER III.' CHRIST. I. THE errors and disorders that we have now been considering, required something far above human wisdom and power to dispel and remove them, and to deliver mankind from the miserable state to which they were reduced by them. Therefore, towards the conclusion of the reign of Herod the Great, the Son of God descended upon earth, and, assuming the human nature, appeared to men under the sublime characters of an infallible teacher, an all-sufficient mediator, and a spiritual and immortal king. The place of his birth was Bethlehem, in Palestine. The year in which it happened, has not hitherto been ascertained, notwithstanding the deep and laborious researches of the learned. There is nothing surprising in this, when we consider that the first Christians laboured under the same difficulties, and were divided in their opinions concerning the time confession of one person who may possibly have had some singular and extraordinary advantages, is not a proof that the nation in general entertained the same sentiments, especially since we know that the Samaritans had corrupted the service of God by a profane mixture of the grossest idolatries. Those who desire an exact account of the principal authors who have written concerning the Samaritans, will find it in the learned work of Jo. Gottlob Carpzovius, en. titled, Critica S. Vet. Testam. part ii. cap. iv. +Christ insinuates, on the contrary, in the strongest manner, the superiority of the Jewish worship to that of the Samaritans, John iv. 22. See also, on this head, 2 Kings xvii. 29. The passage to which Dr. Mosheim refers, as a proof that the Samaritans had juster notions of the Messiah than the Jews, is the 25th verse of the chapter of St. John already cited, where the woman of Samaria says to Jesus, "I know that Messiah cometh, which See the account published at Leyden, in 1712, by is called Christ; when he is come, he will tell us all James Gronovius, of the Roman and Asiatic edicts in fathings." But this passage seems much too vague to jus-vour of the Jews, allowing them the free and secure extify the conclusion of our learned historian. Besides the ercise of their religion in all the cities of Asia Minor of Christ's birth.* That which appears most probable, is, that it happened about a year and six months before the death of Herod, in the year of Rome 748 or 749. The uncertainty, however, of this point, is of no great consequence. We know that the Sun of Righteousness has shined upon the world; and though we cannot fix the precise period in which he arose, this will not preclude us from enjoying the direction and influence of his vital and salutary beams: any point, neglect to answer the demands of the Jewish law. IV. It is not necessary to enter here into a detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. All Christians must be perfectly acquainted with them. They must know, that, during the space of three years, and amidst the deepest trials of affliction and distress, he instructed the Jewish nation in the will and counsels of the Most High, and omitted nothing in the course of his ministry, that could contribute either to gain the multitude or to charm the wise. Every one knows, that his life was a continued scene of perfect sanctity, of the purest and most active virtue; not only without spot, but also beyond the reach of suspicion; and it is also well known, that by miracles of the most stupendous kind, and not more stupendous than salutary and beneficent, he displayed to the universe the truth of that religion which he brought with him from above, and demonstrated in the most illustrious manner the reality of his divine commission. II. Four inspired writers, who have transmitted to us an account of the life and actions of Jesus Christ, mention particularly his birth, lineage, family, and parents; but they say very little respecting his infancy and his early youth. Not long after his birth, he was conducted by his parents into Egypt, that he might be out of the reach of Herod's cruelty. At the age of twelve years, he disputed in the temple, with the most learned of the Jewish doctors, concerning the sublime truths of religion; and the rest of his life, until the thirtieth year of his age, was spent in the obscurity of a private V. As this system of religion was to be procondition, and consecrated to the duties of filial pagated to the extremities of the earth, it was obedience.§ This is all that the wisdom of God necessary that Christ should choose a certain hath permitted us to know, with certainty, of number of persons to accompany him constant Christ, before he entered upon his public minis-ly through the whole course of his ministry; try; nor is the story of his having followed the trade of his adoptive father Joseph built upon any sure foundation. There have been, indeed, several writers, who, either through the levity|tions; and also transmit to the latest posterity of a wanton imagination, or with a view of exciting the admiration of the multitude, have invented a series of the most extravagant and ridiculous fables, in order to give an account of this obscure part of the Saviour's life.|| that thus they might be faithful and respecta ble witnesses of the sanctity of his life, and the grandeur of his miracles, to the remotest na a genuine account of his sublime doctrines, and of the nature and end of the Gospel dispensation. Therefore Jesus chose, out of the multitude that attended his discourses, twelve persons whom he separated from the rest by III. Jesus began his public ministry in the || the name of Apostles. These men were illitethirtieth year of his age; and, to render it more rate, poor, and of mearr extraction; and such solemn and affecting to the Jews, a man, whose alone were truly proper to answer his views. name was John, the son of a Jewish priest, a He avoided making use of the ministry of perperson of great gravity also, and much respect sons endowed with the advantages of fortune ed on account of the austere dignity of his life and birth, or enriched with the treasures of eloand manners, was commanded by God to pro quence and learning, lest the fruits of this emclaim to the people the coming of the long pro-bassy, and the progress of the Gospel, should mised Messiah, of whom this extraordinary man called himself the forerunner. Filled with a holy zeal and a divine fervour, he cried aloud to the Jews, exhorting them to depart from their transgressions, and to purify their hearts, that they might thus partake of the blessings which the Son of God was now come to offer to the world. The exhortations of this respectable messenger were not without effect; and those who, moved by his solemn admonitions, had formed the resolution of correcting their evil dispositions, and amending their lives, VI. The researches of the learned have been were initiated into the kingdom of the Re- employed to find out the reason of Christ's fixdeemer by the ceremony of immersion, or bap-ing the number of the apostles to twelve, and tism.¶ Christ himself, before he began his ministry, desired to be solemnly baptized by John in the waters of Jordan, that he might not, in be attributed to human and natural causes.* These apostles were sent but once to preach to the Jews during the life of Christ. He chose to keep them about his own person, that they might be thoroughly instructed in the affairs of his kingdom. That the multitude, however, might not be destitute of teachers to enlighten them with the knowledge of the truth, Christ appointed seventy disciples to preach the glad tidings of eternal life throughout the whole province of Judea. that of the disciples to seventy; and various conjectures have been applied to the solution of this question. But since it is manifest from his own words,§ that he intended the number of the twelve apostles as an allusion to that of the tribes of Israel, it can scarcely be doubted, that he was willing to insinuate by this appointment that he was the supreme lord and high-priest of the twelve tribes into which the Jewish nation was divided; and, as the num-hypocrisy he censured with a noble and geneber of disciples answers evidently to that of the senators, of whom the council of the people (or the sanhedrim) was composed, there is a high degree of probability in the conjecture of those, who think that Christ, by the choice of the seventy, designed to admonish the Jews that the authority of their sanhedrim was now at an end, and that all power, with respect to religious matters, was vested in him alone. rous freedom, laboured with success, by the help of their passions, to extinguish in their breasts the conviction of his celestial mission, or at least, to suppress the effects it was adapted to produce upon their conduct. Fearing also that his ministry might tend to diminish their credit, and to deprive them of the advantages they derived from the impious abuse of their authority in religious matters, they laid snares for his life, which, for a considerable time, were without effect. They succeeded, at length, by the infernal treason of an apostate disciple, by the treachery of Judas, who discovering the retreat which his divine master had chosen for the purposes of meditation and repose, delivered him into the merciless hands of a brutal soldiery. IX. In consequence of this, Jesus was pro VII. The ministry of Jesus was confined to the Jews; nor, while he remained upon earth did he permit his apostles or disciples to extend their labours beyond this distinguished nation.* At the same time, if we consider the illustrious acts of mercy and omnipotence that were performed by Christ, it will be natural to conclude that his fame must have been very soon spread abroad in other countries. We learn from writers of no small note, that Ab-duced as a criminal before the Jewish highgarus, king of Edessa, being seized with a severe and dangerous illness, wrote to our blessed Lord to implore his assistance; and that Jesus not only sent him a gracious answer, but also accompanied it with his picture, as a mark of his esteem for that pious prince.† These letters, it is said, are still extant. But they are justly looked upon as fictitious by most writers, who also go yet farther, and treat the whole story of Abgarus as entirely fabulous, and unworthy of credit. I will not pretend to assert the genuineness of these letters; but I see no reason of sufficient weight to destroy the credibility of that story which is supposed to have given occasion to them.§ VIII. A great number of the Jews, influenced by those illustrious marks of a divine authority and power, which shone forth in the ministry and actions of Christ, regarded him as the Son of God, the true Messiah. The rulers of the people, and more especially the chief priests and Pharisees, whose licentiousness and * Matt. x. 5, 6; xv. 24. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. lib. i. xiii.-Jo. Albert Fabric. Co dex Apocryphus N. T. tom. i. 317. P. See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, vol. i. cap. xviii.— also Theoph. Sigef. Bayerus, Historia Edessena et Osroena, lib. iii.-Jos. Simon Assemanus, Biblioth. Oriental. Clement. Vatican. tom. i. priest and sanhedrim, being accused of having violated the law, and blasphemed the majesty of God. Dragged thence to the tribunal of Pilate the Roman prætor, he was charged with seditious enterprises, and with treason against Cæsar. Both these accusations were so evidently false, and destitute even of every appearance of truth, that they must have been rejected by any judge, who acted upon the principles of common equity. But the clamours of an enraged populace, inflamed by the impious instigations of their priests and rulers, intimidated Pilate, and engaged him, though with the utmost reluctance, and in opposition to the dictates of his conscience, to pronounce a capital sentence against Christ. The Redeemer of mankind behaved with inexpressible dignity under this heavy trial. As the end of his mission was to make expiation for the sins of men, so when all things were ready, and when he had finished the work of his glorious ministry, he placidly submitted to the death of the cross, and, with a serene and voluntary resignation, committed his spirit into the hands of the Father. X. After Jesus had remained three days in the sepulchre, he resumed that life which he had voluntarily laid down; and, rising from the § There is no author who has discussed this question dead, declared to the universe, by that trium(concerning the authenticity of the letters of Christ and phant act, that the divine justice was satisfied, Abgarus, and the truth of the whole story) with such and the paths of salvation and immortality learning and judgment, as the late Mr. Jones, in the second volume of his excellent work, entitled, A New and were rendered accessible to the human race. Full Method of settling the Canonical Authority of the He conversed with his disciples during forty New Testament. Notwithstanding the opinions of such days after his resurrection, and employed that celebrated names, as Parker, Cave, and Grabe, in favour time in instructing them more fully with regard of these letters, and the history to which they relate, Mr. Jones has offered reasons to prove the whole ficti- to the nature of his kingdom. Many wise and tious, which seem unanswerable, independent of the important reasons prevented his showing himauthorities of Rivet, Chemnitius, Walther, Simon, Du- self publicly at Jerusalem, to confound the maPin, Wake, Spanheim, Fabricius, and Le Clerc, which he opposes to the three above mentioned. It is remarka- lignity and unbelief of his enemies. He conble that the story is not mentioned by any writer before tented himself with manifesting the certainty Eusebius; that it is little noticed by succeeding authors; of his glorious resurrection to a sufficient numthat the whole affair was unknown to Christ's apostles, ber of faithful and credible witnesses, being and to the Christians, their contemporaries, as is manifest from the early disputes about the method of receiving aware that, if he should appear in public, those Gentile converts into the church, which this story, had malicious unbelievers, who had formerly attri it been true, must have entirely decided. As to the let-buted his miracles to the power of magic, would ters, no doubt can be made of their spuriousness, since, if Christ had written a letter to Abgarus, it would have been a part of sacred Seripture, and would have been placed at the head of all the books of the New Testament. See Lardner's Collection of Ancient Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. i. p. 297, &c. It must be observed in behalf of Eusebius, that he relates this story as drawn from the archives of Edessa. represent his resurrection as a phantom, or vision, produced by the influence of infernal powers. After having remained upon earth during the space of time above mentioned, and given to his disciples a divine commission to preach the glad tidings of salvation and im mortality to the human race, he ascended into heaven, in their presence, and resumed the enjoyment of that glory which he had possessed before the worlds were created. CHAPTER IV. Concerning the prosperous Events that happened to the Church during this Century. I. JESUS, having ascended into heaven, soon showed the afflicted disciples, that, though invisible to mortal eyes, he was still their omnipotent protector, and their benevolent guide. About fifty days after his departure from them he gave them the first proof of that majesty and power to which he was exalted, by the effusion of the Holy Ghost upon them according to his promise.* The consequences of this grand event were surprising and glorious, infinitely honourable to the Christian religion, and the divine mission of its triumphant author. For no sooner had the apostles received this precious gift, this celestial guide, than their ignorance was turned into light, their doubts into certainty, their fears into a firm and invincible fortitude, and their former backwardness into an ardent and inextinguishable || zeal, which led them to undertake their sacred office with the utmost intrepidity and alacrity of mind. This marvellous event was attended with a variety of gifts; particularly the gift of tongues, so indispensably necessary to qualify the apostles to preach the Gospel to the different nations. These holy apostles were also filled with a perfect persuasion, founded on Christ's express promise, that the Divine presence would perpetually accompany them, and show itself by miraculous interpositions, as often as the state of their ministry should render this necessary. rately perished by his own hands, a man endowed with such degrees of sanctity and wisdom, as were necessary in a station of such high importance. When therefore they had assembled the Christians who were then at Jerusalem, two men remarkable for their piety and faith, were proposed as the most worthy to stand candidates for this sacred office. These men were Matthias and Barnabas, the former of whom was, either by lot, (which is the most general opinion,) or by a plurality of voices of the assembly there present, chosen to the dignity of an apostle.* IV. All these apostles were men without education, and absolutely ignorant of letters and philosophy; and yet in the infancy of the Christian church, it was necessary that there should be at least, some one defender of the Gospel, who, versed in the learned arts, might be able to combat the Jewish doctors and the pagan philosophers with their own arms. For this purpose, Jesus himself, by an extraordinary voice from heaven, called to his service a thirteenth apostle, whose name was Saul (afterwards Paul,) and whose acquaintance both with Jewish and Grecian learning was very considerable.† This extraordinary man, who had been one of the most virulent enemies of the Christians, became their most glorious and triumphant defender. Independently of the miraculous gifts with which he was enriched, he possessed an invincible courage, an amazing force of genius, and a spirit of patience, which no fatigue could overcome, and which no sufferings or trials could exhaust. To these the cause of the Gospel, under the divine appointment, owed a considerable part of its rapid progress and surprising success, as the acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles of St. Paul, abundantly testify. II. Relying upon these celestial succours, the V. The first Christian church, founded by apostles began their glorious ministry, by the apostles, was that of Jerusalem, the model preaching the Gospel, according to Christ's of all those which were afterwards erected positive command, first to the Jews, and by during the first century. This church was, endeavouring to bring that deluded people to indeed, governed by the apostles themselves, the knowledge of the truth. Nor were their to whom both the elders, and those who were labours unsuccessful, since, in a very short time, entrusted with the care of the poor, even the many thousands were converted, by the influ- deacons, were subject. The people, though ence of their ministry, to the Christian faith. they had not abandoned the Jewish worship, From the Jews, they passed to the Samaritans, held, however, separate assemblies, in which to whom they preached with such efficacy, that they were instructed by the apostles and elders, great numbers of that nation acknowledged prayed together, celebrated the holy Supper in the Messiah.§ And, when they had exercised remembrance of Christ, of his death and suftheir ministry, during several years, at Jerusa-ferings, and the salvation offered to mankind lem, and brought to a sufficient degree of con- through him; and at the conclusion of these sistence and maturity the Christian churches meetings, they testified their mutual love, which were founded in Palestine and the adja-partly by their liberality to the poor, and partly cent countries, they extended their views, car- by sober and friendly repasts, which thence ried the divine lamp of the Gospel to all the were called feasts of charity. Among the nations of the world, and saw their labours virtues which distinguished the rising church crowned almost every where, with the most in this its infancy, that of charity to the poor abundant fruits. and needy shone in the first rank, and with the brightest lustre. The rich supplied the wants of their indigent brethren with such liberality and readiness, that, as St. Luke tells us, among the primitive disciples of Christ, all things were in common.§ This expression has, however, been greatly abused, and has been III. No sooner was Christ exalted in the heavens, than the apostles determined to render their number complete, as it had been fixed by their divine Master, and accordingly to choose in the place of Judas, who had despe *Acts ii. 1, &c. * Acts i. 26. † Acts ix. 1. his apostles, that the emperor Tiberius is said to have proposed his being enrolled among the gods of Rome, which the opposition of the made to signify a community of rights, goods, or possessions, than which interpretation nothing is more groundless or more false; for, from a multitude of reasons, as well as from the ex-senate prevented from taking effect. Many press words of St. Peter, it is abundantly manifest that the community, which is implied in mutual use and mutual liberality, is the only thing intended in this passage.f * have doubted of the truth of this story: there are, however, several authors of the first note who have declared, that the reasons alleged for its truth are such as have removed their doubts, and appeared to them satisfactory and conclusive.* VI. The apostles, having finished their work at Jerusalem, went to diffuse their labours among other nations, visited with that intent a VIII. When we consider the rapid progress great part of the known world, and in å short of Christianity among the Gentile nations, time planted a vast number of churches among and the poor and feeble instruments by which the Gentiles. Several of these are mentioned this great and amazing event was immediately in the sacred writings, particularly in the Acts || effected, we must naturally have recourse to of the Apostles; though these are, undoubtedly, an omnipotent and invisible hand, as its true only a small part of the churches which were and proper cause. For, unless we suppose founded, either by the apostles themselves, or here a divine interposition, how was it possible by their disciples under their immediate direc- that men, destitute of all human aid, without tion. The distance of time, and the want of credit or riches, learning or eloquence, could, records, leave us at a loss with respect to many in so short a time, persuade a considerable part interesting circumstances of the peregrinations of mankind to abandon the religion of their of the apostles; nor have we any certain or ancestors? How was it possible, that a handprecise accounts of the limits of their voyages, ful of apostles, who, as fishermen and publiof the particular countries where they so- cans, must have been contemned by their own journed, or of the times and places in which nation, and as Jews, must have been odious to they finished their glorious course. The stories all others, could engage the learned and the that are told concerning their arrival and ex- mighty, as well as the simple and those of ploits among the Gauls, Britons, Spaniards, low degree, to forsake their favourite prejuGermans, Americans, Chinese, Indians, and dices, and to embrace a new religion which Russians, are too romantic in their nature, and was an enemy to their corrupt passions? And, of too recent a date, to be received by an im- indeed, there were undoubted marks of a cepartial inquirer after truth. The greatest lestial power perpetually attending their mipart of these fables were forged after the time nistry. Their very language possessed an inof Charlemagne, when most of the Christian credible energy, an amazing power of sending churches contended about the antiquity of their light into the understanding and conviction origin with as much vehemence as the Arcadi-into the heart. To this were added, the comans, Egyptians, Greeks, and other nations, dis-manding influence of stupenduous miracles, puted formerly about their seniority and pre- the foretelling of future events, the power of cedence. discerning the secret thoughts and intentions of the heart, a magnanimity superior to all difficulties, a contempt of riches and honours, a serene tranquillity in the face of death, and an invincible patience under torments still more dreadful than death itself; and all this accompanied with lives free from stain, and adorned with the constant practice of sublime VII. At the same time, the beauty and excellence of the Christian religion excited the admiration of the reflecting part of mankind, wherever the apostles directed their course. Many, who were not willing to adopt the whole of its doctrines, were, nevertheless, as appears from undoubted records, so struck with the account of Christ's life and actions, and so charmed with the sublime purity of his pre- tum referre voluit in numerum Deorum; as also a very * See Theod. Hasaus, de decreto Tiberii, quo Chriscepts, that they ranked him in the number of learned letter, written in defence of the truth of this the greatest heroes, or even among the gods fact, by the celebrated Christopher Ielius, and published themselves. Great numbers kept with the ut- in the Bibliotheque Germanique, tom. xxxii. We may most care, in their houses, pictures or images professor Altmann published at Bern, in 1755, an ingeniadd to this note of Dr. Mosheim, that the late learned of the divine Redeemer and his apostles, ous pamphlet on this subject, entitled, Disquisito Historiwhich they treated with the highest marks of co-critica de Epistola Pontii Pilati ad Tiberium, qua veneration and respect.§ And so illustrious Christi Miracula, Mors, et Resurrectio, recensebantur. was the fame of his power after his resurrec-which some have attributed to Pilate, and which is extant This author makes it appear, that though the letter, tion, and of the miraculous gifts shed upon in several authors, be manifestly spurious, yet it is no less certain, that Pilate sent to Tiberius an account of the death and resurrection of Christ. See the Biblioth. des Sciences et des beaux Arts, published at the Hague, tome vi. This matter has been examined with his usual diligence and accuracy by the learned Dr. Lardner, in the third volume of his Collection of Jewish and Heathen Testimonies to the truth of the Christian Religion. He thinks that the testimonies of Justin Martyr and Tertullian, who, in apologies for Christianity, presented or at least addressed to the emperor and senate of Rome, or to magistrates of high authority in the empire, affirm, that Pilate sent to Tiberius an account of the death and resurrection of Christ, deserve some regard; though some writers, and particularly Orosius, have made such alterations and additions in the original narration of Tertullian, as tend to diminish the credibility of the whole. *Acts y, 4. This is proved with the strongest evidence by Dr. Mosheim, in a dissertation concerning the true nature of that community of goods, which is said to have taken place in the church of Jerusalem. This learned discourse is to be found in the second volume of our author's incomparable work, entitled, Dissertationes ad Historiam Ecclesiasticam pertinentes. The names of the churches planted by the apostles in different countries, are specified in a work of Phil. James Hartman, de rebus gestis Christianorum sub Apostolis, cap. vii. and also in that of F. Albert Fabricius, entitled, Lux Evangelii toti orbi exoriens, cap. v. This is particularly mentioned by Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. lib. vii. cap. xviii. and by Irenæus lib i. c. xxv. |