See Vitringa, De Synagoga Vetere, lib. iii. cap. v. and lib. i. cap. v.-vii. Prideaux, Connection, &c.jects. Afterwards, till he was thirty years

some vain and deceitful persons, who ventured to fill up this obscure part of our Saviour's life with extravagant and ridiculous fables.'

3. In the thirtieth year of his age, he entered on the offices for which he came into the world. To render his ministry more useful to the Jews, John, the son of a Jewish priest, a man grave and venerable in his whole manner of life, was commissioned of God to proclaim the advent of the Messiah promised to the fathers. He called himself the precursor of the Messiah, and, being full of holy zeal, exhorted the Jews to amend their lives and purify their hearts, and so prepare for the coming, or rather for the actual presence, of the Son of God; and those who professed repentance and reformation he initiated into the approaching kingdom of the Saviour, by immersion in the Jordan. Matt. iii. 2, &c.; John i. 22, &c. Jesus himself, before commencing his public ministry, chose to receive a solemn lustration in the waters of Jordan at the hands of John, that he might not appear to neglect any part of the Jewish law and religion."

4. It is not necessary to enter here into a particular detail of the life and actions of Jesus Christ. All Christians know, that, for more than three years, amidst great trials and afflictions, and surrounded by snares and perils, he instructed the Jewish people in the counsels and purposes of the Most High; that he omitted nothing which could allure either the ignorant multitude or the well-informed; that he led a life so spotless and holy that no suspicion whatever could attach to him; and finally, that, by stupendous miracles, of a salutary and beneficial character, and such as accorded with the nature of his mission, he placed the truth of the religion he taught beyond all controversy.

whom he distinguished from the rest by the title of Apostles. They were plebeians, poor, and illiterate; for he would not employ the rich, the eloquent, and the learned, lest the success of their mission should be ascribed to natural causes and to human means. 1 Cor. i. 21. These he once sent forth among the Jews, during his lifetime Matt. x. 7; but afterwards he retained them constantly near him, that they might witness all that he said or did. But, that the people might not lack religious instruction, he commissioned seventy other disciples to travel at large through Judea. Luke x. i.

6. The learned have inquired why the Saviour appointed just twelve, neither more nor less, to be apostles, and seventy to be his disciples; and various conjectures are offered on the subject. But as it is manifest from the words of Christ himself (Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30), that the number of the apostles had reference to the number of the tribes of Israel, there can scarcely be a doubt that he wished to indicate to the Jews that he was the supreme Lord and Pontiff over the whole Hebrew race, which was divided into twelve tribes. The seventy disciples were just equal in number to the senators composing the Sanhedrim or grand council of the nation; and this justifies the conjecture that Christ intended, by the choice of the seventy, to admonish the Jews that the authority of their Sanhedrim was now at an end, and that all power in relation to religious matters was vested in him alone."

3 Mosheim has a long note in the parallel passage of his Com. de Rebus Chr. p. 49, the substance of which is this: The title Apostles was given to those principal men whom the high priests retained as their private counsellors, and whom they occasionally sent as their legates to the foreign Jews, either to collect the yearly tax for the temple or to execute other commissions. We have not, indeed, a direct testimony at hand,

proving that the title of Apostles was given to such le there is intimation of this in Gal. I. 1.; and Jerome so

gates of the high priests in the days of Christ Yet

See his Comment. &c. Opp. tom. ix. p. 124. And that after the destruction of

5. As this religion was to be propagated throughout the world, it was necessary for him to select some persons to be his con-understood the passage. stant and confidential companions, who should be able to state and testify to posterity and to the remotest nations, with the greatest confidence and authority, the events of his life, his miracles, and his whole system of doctrine. Therefore, from the Jews about him he chose twelve messengers,

1 See a collection of these fables by Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus N. Test. tom. i.

2 See, concerning John the Baptist, Cellarius, two Diss. de vita, carcere et supplicio Jo. Bapt. in his Diss. Acad par. i. p. 169, and par. ii. p. 373. Ittig, Historia eccles, primi sæculi selecta capita, cap. viii. sec. 4; Witsius, Miscell. Sacra. tom. ii. p. 464, &c. Schl. [and Winer, Biblisches Realwörterbuch, article Johannes.-Mur.

Jerusalem, the legates of the Jewish Patriarchs (who stood in the place of high priests) were called apostles, is fully proved. See Jerome, ubi supra, and Eusebius on Isa. cap. xviii. 2. See also Gothofredus, on Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p. 251, ed. Ritter; Petavius, on Epiphan. ad Hares. xxx.; Wesseling, De Archontibus Jud. p. 91; Walch (of Gotting.) Hist. Patriarch. Jud., and Suicer, Thesaur. Eccles. tom. i. p. 477.--Mur.

4 There are two fictitious lists of the seventy disciples now extant, which are falsely ascribed to Hippolytus and to Dositheus. They may be seen in various works; e. g. Fabricius, Luz Evangelii, &c. pag. 115-118; and annexed to the books De Vita et Morte Mosis, ed. Fabricius; and in Ittig, Hist. Eccles. primi sæcul. p. 472. That no sort of credit is due to them, is shown by Ittig, ubi supra; by Blondell, De Episcopis et Presbyt. p. 93, and by others. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. i. 12, expressly declares that no catalogue of the seventy disciples was to be found anywhere in his day. The two lists nearly agree, and are evidently

7. Jesus himself gave instruction to none but Jews; nor did he allow his disciples to travel among other nations, as teachers, while be continued on earth. Matt. x. 5, 6; xv. 24. Yet the extraordinary deeds performed by him leave no room to doubt that his fame very early extended to other nations. There are respectable writers who state, that Abgarus, King of Edessa, being dangerously sick, sent a letter to Christ, imploring his assistance; and that he not only wrote an answer to the king, but also sent him his picture. It is the prevailing opinion, that not only the letters of Christ and Abgarus, but likewise the whole story were fabricated. I would by no means venture to defend the credit of the letters; but I see no very weighty reasons for rejecting altogether the whole story.

knew that all the objects of his abode among them were accomplished, voluntarily submitted to be nailed to a cross, on which he yielded up his spotless soul to God.

CHAPTER IV.

10. On the third day after his burial, he re-assumed the life which he had voluntarily laid down; and showing himself alive, he made it manifest that men no longer owed anything to divine justice. He now continued forty days with his disciples, employing the time very much in giving them instruction. To his enemies he would not appear visibly: among other reasons, one was, that he knew those unprincipled men who had before accused him of sorcery, would impudently affirm that it was merely a spectre, bearing his likeness and produced by the power of the devil, which had appeared. At length, in the presence of his 8. No small part of the Jewish people disciples, he ascended up to heaven, after were excited by the demonstrations of commissioning them to preach the Gospel divine authority in Christ, to revere him to all nations. as the Son of God; but the leading men, especially the Pharisees and the chief priests, whose vices and crimes he freely reproved, The prosperous EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. plotted against his life, being fearful of 1. WHEN Jesus was seated at the right losing their honours and privileges if Christ hand of the eternal Father, the first proof should continue publicly to preach. For a he gave of his majesty and power was by long time the machinations of these ungodly the effusion of the Holy Spirit upon his men were ineffectual. But at last, his un-disciples and friends on earth, on the fiftieth grateful disciple, Judas, disclosing the place day after his death. Acts ii. 1, &c. of his master's nocturnal retirement, he receiving this celestial gift and teacher, they was seized by soldiers at the command of were freed from all their former ignorance the Sanhedrim, and ordered to be tried for and blindness of mind, and endued with his life. astonishing alacrity and power to fulfil the 9. He was first charged before the Jew-duties of their office. With these mental ish high priest and senate, with having violated the law, and blasphemed the majesty of God. Thence he was dragged to the tribunal of Pilate, the Roman procurator, and there accused of sedition and of. treason against Cæsar. Neither of these accusations could have satisfied fair and upright judges. But the clamours of the people, which were instigated by the ir. religious priests, compelled Pilate, though reluctantly, to pass sentence of death upond. Pflanzung, u. Leitung, &c. i. 10, translated in him. Ie, as he had come into our world to make expiation for the sins of men, and made up by collecting together, without the least judgment, nearly all the names of Christians mentioned in the New Testament, and particularly in the salutations of Paul. Mar.

1 Eusebius, Hist. Eccler. lib. i. cap. xviii. [Here is the carliest notice of these Letters. For the earliest history of the picture, see Evagrius, list. Eccles. lib. iv. cap. xxvii. See the Letters themselves, with notes n] Fabricius, Codez Apocryphus, tom. i. p. 317.

See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, tom. i. chap. xvii. p. 500; Bayer, Historia Edessena et Osroëng, lib. iii. p. 104; Asseman, Biblioth. Orient. Clem. lat. tom i. Þ 554 [As to the picture, which is still preserved, and shown at Rome, Beausobre has fully exposed the fable in his Diss. des Images de mine divine, in the Biblioth Germanique, tom. xviii. p. 10,&c. Mosheim, De Rebus Christ. &c. p. 73.-Mur.

On

endowments, was joined the knowledge of various foreign languages, which was indispensable to them in giving instruction to different nations, and also a firm reliance

3

A

3 The nature of this "gift of tongues" has been very variously interpreted by divines and historians. summary of these views may be seen in Townsend's New Test. chronologically arranged, in loc, taken chiefly from Kuinoel, Comment. in lib. N. Test. iv. 43, &c; but a fuller list is given in Harles's edition of Fabricius, Biblio. Graca, iv. 760, &c. See also Neander, Gesch.

reader may also consult Middleton's Essay on the Gift Clarke's Biblical Cabinet, Nos. 45 and 46. The English of Tongues, Misc. Works, 4to, vol. ii. p. 81, but especially Milman's Bampton Lectures. Oxford, 1827-lecture V. which presents an excellent survey of this subject. On the collateral topic of the prevalence of the Greek language in Palestine and the East, see Milman, ubi supra; Gresswell's Dissertations on a Harmony of the Gospels, i 109-114, and the Supplementary rol. pages 1-13; also, the celebrated work of Diodati, entitled De Christo grace loquente exercitatio. Nap 1767; a translation of which is given in the American Biblical Repository for 1844-45. In opposition to the extreme views of Diodati, see Hug, Einleitung in die Schriften des N. T. vol. ii. sec. 10, translated by Wait, but more correctly in the Amer. Bib. Rep. for 1831, p. 350, &c.; and Pfannkuche's Essay on the Prevalence of the Aramean Language in Palestine, &c. also translated from the German, in the same excellent periodical for 1831, p. 317, &c. and republished by Clark in his Philologica. Tracts, vol. i. Edin. 1833.-R.

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on the promise of Christ, that God would pagan philosophers, with their own weapons, aid them, as often as should be necessary, Jesus Christ himself, a little after the ap by miracles.' pointment of Matthias, by a voice from heaven, created a thirteenth apostle, namely, Saul, who afterwards assumed the name of Paul; a man who had been a most virulent enemy of the Christians, but who was well skilled in the Jewish learning and not ignorant of the Grecian. Acts ix. 1, &c. To this truly admirable man, whether we consider his courage, his force of mind, or his fortitude and patient perseverance in labours, how much the Christian world is indebted, is manifest from the Acts of the Apostles and his own Epistles.

6. The ambassadors of Christ, leaving these fabulous stories sprang up after the Jerusalem, travelled over a great part of days of Charlemagne, when most Christhe world, and in a short time collected tian churches contended as vehemently numerous religious societies in various about the antiquity of their origin as ever countries. Of churches founded by them, did the Arcadians, Egyptians, Greeks, and not a small number is mentioned in the other people. sacred books, especially in the Acts of the Apostles. Besides these, there can be no doubt they collected many others, both by their own efforts and by the efforts of their followers. But how far they travelled, what nations they visited, or when and where they died, is exceedingly dubious and uncertain." The stories often told respecting their travels among the Gauls, the Britons, the Spaniards, the Germans, the Americans, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Russians, are too recent and fantastic to be received by an inquisitive lover of the truth. A great part of

1 The names of these churches are collected by Hartmann, De Rebus gestis Christianer. sub Apostolis, cap. vii p. 107; and by Fabricius, Lux Evangelii, cap. v. p 83, &c.

7. Many who were unwilling to adopt entirely the religion of Christ, were induced, nevertheless, by the fame of his deeds and the sublime purity of his doctrines, to rank him among men of the highest excellence, and even among the gods, as numerous documents evince. With great veneration, many preserved pictures of Christ and of his apostles in their houses. It is said that a Roman emperor, Tiberius, proposed to have Christ enrolled among the gods of the empire, but that the senate rejected the proposal. Though many at

the transactions of the apostles, their travels, miracles, and deaths, if we except what was gathered from the New Test. and a few other ancient monuments, a large part is dubious and uncertain. Some things, however, have more credibility and verisimilitude than others. Í It is a very ancient and current report, confirmed would not reject all that is clearly attested by Origen, Euby many witnesses, that all the apostles suffered public sebius, Gregory Nazianzen, Paulinus, Jerome, Socrates, martyrdom with the exception of John, who died a and some more ancient writers quoted by Eusebius; but natural death at Ephesus. That Peter, Paul, and what is attested only by authors subsequent to these, or James died violent deaths, I believe on the testimony of unknown, I would not readily believe, unless facts offer the numerous ancient authors; but that the other apos- themselves to corroborate the testimony." Following tles did so, I cannot feel so certain. As my first ground these judicious rules of Mosheim, we may believe that of doubt, a very ancient writer of the second century, Peter, after preaching long in Judea, and other parts Heracleon, a Valentinian indeed, but no contemptible of Syria, probably visited Babylon, Asia Minor, and man, cited by Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. iv. cap. ix. denies finally Rome, where he was crucified.-Paul's history that Matthew, Philip, Thomas, Levi, and others, con-is given in the Acts to about A.D. 64. He was probafessed Christ before magistrates, and were put to death bly released from captivity, visited Judea, Asia Minor, for so doing. He is urging that the public confession and Greece, and returning to Rome, was there beheaded of himself required by the Saviour, Matt. x. 32, may be about A. D. 67 or 68. John remained many years in made by a holy and Christian life, as well as by a public Judea, and afterwards removed to Ephesus, where he acowal before a persecuting magistrate; and he states lived to a very advanced age, dying about A.D. 100 as proof, Ov yap návres di σwsouevo wodóynoar Thy He was banished to Patmos about A D. 95, and was δια τῆς φωνῆς ὡμολογίαν, καὶ ἐξῆλθον. Ἐξ ὧν Ματθαῖος, greatly revered. James the elder (brother of John) PATOS, Quas, Aevis, kai ätλoi moλλoi, for not all that was put to death by Herod Agrippa, about A D. 44. were saved made that confession in words (before ma- Acts xii. 1. James the younger, the son of Alphæus, gistrates), and so died. Of this number were Matthew, spent his life in Judea, long presided over the church Philip, Thomas, Levi, and many others Clement, of Jerusalem, and there suffered martyrdom, a little bethough he disapproves several things in the passage he fore the destruction of Jerusalem. Andrew probably quotes, leaves this statement to stand as it is; which is laboured on the shores of the Black Sea, near the proof that he had nothing to allege against it Philip modern Constantinople, and perhaps in Greece. Philip, is expressly declared not to have suffered martyrdom, either the apostle or the evangelist, is reported to have but to have died and been buried at Hierapolis, so says ended his days at Hierapolis, in Phrygia. Thomas Polycrates, in his Epistle to Victor, in Eusebius, Hist. seems to have travelled eastward, to Parthia, Media, Eccl. v. 24. Baronius, indeed (Annales, A D. 35, sec. Persia, and India. Bartholomew took, perhaps, a more 141), and after him many others maintain, that this southern course, and preached in Arabia. Matthew is was not Philip the apostle, but Philip, one of the seven also reported to have travelled east, in the modern Perdeacons of Jerusalem. But Polycrates says expressly, sia. Of Simon the Canaanite nothing to be relied on that he was one of the twelve apostles. A still stronger can be said. Thaddeus, Lebbeus, or Jude the brother argument is, that all the writers of the first three cen- of James, the author of an epistle, is reported to have turies, and among them such as contended for the preached at Edessa, in the north of Syria. Of the comhigh dignity of the martyrs, in opposition to the Valen- panions of the apostles, Timothy, after accompanying tinians, viz. Tertullian, Clemens Alex. and Origen, Paul many years, is said to have been stationed at never mention but three of the apostles as being mar- Ephesus, where he suffered martyrdom under Domityrs; namely, Peter, Paul, and James the elder See tian or Nerva. Titus, another companion of Paul, is Tertullian, Scorpiace, cap xv. I am therefore led to reported to have been stationed in Crete, where he died. believe that the common reports respecting the suffer- Mark, or John surnamed Mark, attended Paul and ings of Christ's ambassadors were fabricated, after the afterwards Peter, and probably preached the gospel in days of Constantine. And two causes might lead to Egypt. Of Luke little can be said, except that he such reports (1) The extravagant estimation in which accompanied Paul, and wrote his history, viz. the book martyrdom was held, made it seem necessary to rank of Acts and a Gospel. Of Barnabas nothing can be the apostles among the martyrs (2) The ambiguity of said worth relating, except what is learned from the the word paprop martyr, which properly signifies a New Testament See Fabricius, Luz Evangelii, &c. witness, in which sense Christ himself called his apostles &c. cap. v. pag. 95–115. From this account, impermiprepes (Acts i 8; see also Acts ii. 32), might lead fect as it is, we may conclude that the apostles and the more ignorant to believe, and to amplify these their companions scarcely extended their labours befables Mosheim, De Reb. Christ. ante C. M. pag. 81-yond the boundaries of the present Turkish empire.— 64, abridged considerably.-Mur. Mur.

3 Mosheim, in his Comment. de Reb. Christ. 4 Eusebius, Historia Eccles. lib. vil. cap. xxviii. pag. 80, 81, says: "As to what we are told respecting næus, Hæres. lib. i. cap. xxv, p. 250, ed. Massuet.

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