of the tribe of Levi, to whom the Mosaic law allowed no particular possessions; yet we may reasonably suppose this estate was his patrimonial inheritance at Cyprus, where the Jewish constitutions did not take place.

Q. What assistance did St. Barnabas give St. Paul after his conversion?

A. When the Christians at Jerusalem were not thoroughly satisfied with St. Paul's change, apprehending it might be only a subtle art to ensnare them, St. Barnabas introduced him to the Apostles, and declared to them the manner of his conversion, and what evidence he had given of it at Damascus in his bold disputations with the Jews.

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Q. What was his first employment in the service of the church?

4. News from Antioch being brought to the church at Jerusalem, that many in that city had embraced Christianity, St. Barnabas was sent to settle this new plantation. Upon his arrival he rejoiced extremely to see what progress the gospel had made among them, and not only exhorted them with purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord, but by his labours added many to the church; and the work growing too great for a single hand, he went to Tarsus, and engaged St. Paul to return with him to Antioch, where they both laboured together a whole year in the establishment of that church.".

Q. When were the followers of Jesus called Chris

tians?

A. About this time at Antioch. They who first embraced the faith were styled disciples or believers, the brethren, or men of the church, or callers upon the

⚫ Acts ix. 27. f Acts xi. 22.

ver. 23

1 ver. 25, 26.

name of Christ, or men of that way, or by their enemies Nazarenes and Galileans.i But Christians was the name they afterwards gloried in so much, that before the face of their enemies they would acknowledge no other title, though hated, reviled, tormented, and martyred for it.

Q. What obligation does that holy name lay upon us? A. To believe and practise what Christ taught, to imitate his example, who was made perfect through sufferings, to cleave with purpose of heart to the Lord, and to avoid all manner of evil, which we solemnly renounced when we took upon us that name.

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Q. What was the next piece of service St. Barnabas did the church?

A. He, with St. Paul, carried a charitable supply from the Christians at Antioch, to relieve the brethren in Judæa, who were reduced to great necessities by a severe famine that afflicted the provinces of the Roman empire, and particularly Judæa.'

Q. How was St. Barnabas called to the conversion of the Gentile world?

A. By the particular designation of the Holy Ghost, who, by revelation made to the prophets and teachers of the church of Antioch, when they were engaged in fasting and prayer, and other public exercises of religion, commanded that he should be set apart with St. Paul to that purpose."

Q. In what manner was this designation to the service of the church performed?

A. Fasting and prayer preceded, and then imposition of hands an ancient ceremony, transferred from

the Jews into the Christian church, in ordaining guides, and ministers of religion, and which hath been so used through all ages to this day.

Q. Where did St. Barnabas, being joined with St. Paul, preach the gospel?

A. At Cyprus, his native country, where at Paphos, a remarkable city of that island for the worship of Venus, the governor Sergius Paulus was converted.TM They sailed from thence to Perga in Pamphylia, where Mark, his kinsman, and their companion, left them, discouraged by the dangers they met with. After three years travel through the Lesser Asia, with various success, preaching the gospel to several cities, they returned again to Antioch in Syria.

Q. Why is it supposed that the men of Lystra compared St. Barnabas to Jupiter their sovereign deity ?"

A. Either because of his age, or for the gravity and comeliness of his person, being, as antiquity represents him, of a very venerable aspect.

Q. How did St. Barnabas carry himself in the controversy between the Jewish and Gentile converts?

A. He at first opposed the Judaizers with great vigour, and went with St. Paul to consult the church at Jerusalem, where that matter was determined by a synodical decree of the Apostles and elders; but afterwards being drawn aside by the conduct of St. Peter, he dissembled his Christian liberty, to please the Jewish converts, which his companion St. Paul reproved him in." Q. What was the occasion of the contest between St. Paul and St. Barnabas?

A. These two holy men having agreed to visit the churches they had planted in Asia, St. Barnabas pro

posed the taking his kinsman Mark along with them;" St. Paul refused to consent to it, because in their former travels, Mark had consulted too much his own ease and safety, and had left them at Pamphylia.

Q. What was the issue of this dispute?

A. That after a joint labour in their ministry, for several years, the contention was so sharp between them, that they parted.' St. Paul, with Silas, went to the churches of Syria and Cilicia, and St. Barnabas, with Mark, to his own country, Cyprus.

Q. How did the providence of God make the sepa ration of these Apostles turn to the benefit of the church?

A. By making Christianity thereby become more diffusive than if they had still continued together; and that Mark, by St. Paul's severity, was brought to a sense of his former indifference in the work of the gospel, and became so useful a minister of Christ, that he deserved not only to be a companion of St. Paul, but received from him a high testimony of his zeal, that he was profitable to him for the ministry.

Q. What became of St. Barnabas after this?

A. The Scriptures are silent concerning it. Some writers say he went into Italy, and preached the gospel at Rome, and founded a church at Milan; though it is most probable he spent the remainder of his life at Cyprus, in converting his own countrymen the Jews; as may be guessed from the epistle he wrote, which seems manifestly designed for their benefit.

Q. Where did he suffer martyrdom?

A. It is thought at Salamis, a city in the island of Cyprus; whither some Jews, being come from Syria, set upon him as he was disputing in the synagogue; in

a corner whereof they shut him up till night, whence they brought him forth, and after exquisite tortures, stoned him to death; he was buried by his kinsman Mark in a cave not far distant from the city. The remains of his body are said to be discovered in the reign of Zeno the emperor, A. C. 485; and St. Matthew's gospel, written in Hebrew by St. Barnabas' own hand, lying upon his breast.

Q. What writings did St. Barnabas leave behind him?

A. Only one epistle, which all the ancients attributed to him as the author. And though St. Jerome calls it apocryphal, yet by that is to be understood only that it was not admitted into the canon of the church. The main design of it is to shew, that the Christian religion had superseded the rights and usages of the Mosaic law. The latter part of it contains an useful and excellent exhortation, managed under the notion of two ways, the one of light, the other of darkness; the one under the conduct of the angels of God, the other under the guidance of the angels of Satan. The way of light is a summary of what a Christian is to do, that he may attain eternal happiness; and the way of darkness represents those particular sins and vices which exclude men from the kingdom of God; he closes the whole with pressing Christians to live so, that they may be blessed to all eternity.

Q. What may we learn from the observation of this Festival?

A. To despise ease, and even life itself, when we have any happy opportunity of propagating Christian knowledge, and to rejoice in any success of that nature. To compassionate the infirmities of our brethren, whose zeal moves in a low sphere. To be ready to contribute