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The acts of the apostles written by St. Luke, were no doubt penned at Rome, about the time of St. Paul's imprisonment there, with which he con cludes his history. It contains the actions, and sometimes the sufferings of the principal apostles, especially St. Paul, whose activity in the cause of CHRIST made him bear a greater part in the labours of his master and St. Luke being his constant attendant, and eye-witness of the whole carriage of bis life, and privy to his most intimate transactions was consequently capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account of them.Amongst other things, he enumerates the great miracles the apostles did in conformation of the doctrines they advanced.

His manner of writing, in both these treatises, is exact and accurate; his style noble and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous flowing with an easy and natural grace and sweetness, admirably adapted to an histoical design. In short, as an historian, he was faithful in his re lations, and elegant in his writings; as a minister careful and diligent for the good of souls; as a Christian, devout and pious; and to crown all the rest, laid down his life in testimony of that gospel be had both preached and published to the world, by the command of his Lord.

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The LIFE of St. JOHN,

The APOSTLE and EVANGELIST; commonly called the DIVINE,

THIS beloved disciple of our Lord was a native of Galilee, the son of Zebedee & Salome, one of those devout women that constantly attended on our Lord in his ministry, and brother of James the Great. Before his becoming a disciple of the blessed JESUS, he was, in all probability, a follower of John the Baptist; and is thought to be that other disciple, who, in the first chapter of his gospel, is said to have been present with Andrew when John declared JESUS, to be the Lamb of God," and thereupon to have followed him to the place of his residence.

Though St. John was by much the youngest of the apostles, he was nerertheless admitted into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any of them. He was one of those to whom he communicated the most private transactions of his life: one of those whom he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead; one of those to whom he exhibited a specimen of his divinity, in his transfiguration on the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and Elias, and heard that voice which declared him "the beloved son of God ;" and one of those who were companions in his solitude, most retired devotions, and bitter agonies in the garden. Thus of the three who were made the witnesses of their Master's actions which it was convenient to conceal, St. John constantly enjoyed the privilege of being one: nay, even of these three, he seems to have had, in some respects, the preference; witness his lying on his Master's bosom at the paschal supper: and even when Peter was desirous of knowing who was the person that should betray their Master, and durst not himself ask the question, he made use of St. John, to propose it to their Lord, as the person most likely to succeed in obtaining an answer.

Our apostle endeavoured, in some measure, to answer these instances of particular favour, by returns of particular kindness and constancy; for though he at first deserted his Master on his apprehension, yet he soon recovered himself, and came to seek his Saviour, confidently entered the

high-priest's hall, followed our Lord through the several particulars of his trial, and at last waited on him at his execution, owning him, as well as be ing owned by him, in the midst of armed soldiers, and in the thickest crowds of bis most inveterate enemies. Here it was that our great Redéemer committed to his care his sorrowful and disconsolate mother, with his dying breath. And certainly the holy JESUS could not have given a more honourable testimony of his particular respect and kindness to St. John, than by leaving his own mother to his trust and care, and substituting him to supply that duty he himself paid her, while he resided in this vale of sorrow amongst men.

St. John no sooner heard of our Lord's being risen from the chambers of the dust, than he, in company with Peter, hastened to the sepulchre.→→ There seems indeed to have been a peculiar intimacy between these two disciples; it was Peter that St. John introduced into the palace of the highpriest; it was Peter to whom he gave notice of CHRIST'S appearing wher he came to them at the sea of Tiberius, in the habit of a stranger; and it was for St. John that Peter was so solitiously inquisitive to know what was determined concerning him when our Saviour expressed himself somewhat ambiguously respecting that disciple.

After the ascension of the Saviour of the world, when the apostles made a division of the provinces amongst themselves, that of Asia fell to the share of St. John, though he did not immediately enter upon his charge, but continued at Jerusalem till the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension: being released from the trust committed to his care by his dying Master he retired into Asia, and industriously applied himself to the propagating Christianity, preaching where the gospel had not yet been known, and confirming it where it was already planted. Many churches of note and eminence were of his founding, particular those of Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodocia, and others; but his chief place of residence was at Ephesus, where St. Paul had many years before founded a church, and constituted Timothy bishop of it. Nor can we suppose that he confined his ministry entirely to Asia minor; it is highly probable to think that he preached in other parts of the East, probably to the Parthians, his first epistle being anciently directed to them; and the Jesuits assure us that the inhabitants of the kingdom of Bassorain India affirm, that, according to a tradition hand» ed down from their ancestors, St. John planted the Christian faith in their country, where the Christians are called by his name.

Having spent several years at Ephesus, he was accused to Domitian, who had begun a persecution against the Chrsitians, as an eminent asserter of Atheism and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire; so that by his command, the proconsul sent him bound to Rome, where he met with the treatment that might have been expected from so barbarous a prince, being thrown into a chaldron of boiling oil: but the Almighty who reserved him for further services in the vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat as he did in the fiery furnace of old, and delivered him from this seeming unavoidable destruction. And one would have thought that so miraculous a deliverance would have been sufficient to have persuaded any rational man that the religion he taught was from God, and that he was protected from danger by the hand of Omnipotence : but miracles themselves were not sufficient to convince this cruel emperor, or abate his fury; he ordered St. John to be transported to a disconsolate island in the Archipelago, called Patmos, where he continued several years instructing the poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Christian faith; and here, abort the end of Domitian's reign, he wrote his book of revelation, exhibiting by visions, and prophetical representations, the state and condition of Christianity in the future periods and ages of the church, till the final consu-, mation of all things.

After the death of Domitian, and on the succession of Netva, who'res pealed all the odious acts of his predecessor, and by public edicts recalled those whom the fury of Domitian had banished, St. John returned to Asia & fixed his seat again at Ephesus; and rather, because the people of that city had lately martyred Timothy their bishop. Here, with the assistance of seven other bishops, he took upon himself the government of the large diocese of Asia Minor, erected oratories, and disposed of the clergy in the best manner that the circumstances of those times would permit, spending his time in an indefatigable execution of his charge, travelling from East to West to instruct the world in the principles of the holy religion he was sent to propagate. In this manner St. John continued to labour in the vineyard of his great Master, till death put a period to all his toils and sofferings; which happened in the beginning of Trajan's reign, in the ninety eighth year of his age, and he was buried near Ephesus, according to Eusebius.

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This great evangelist and apostle seems always to have led a single life; though some of the ancients tell us he was a married man. With regard to his natural temper, he seems to have been of an eager and resos lute disposition, easily inflamed, but which age had reduced to a calmer temper. He was polished by no study or arts of learning; but what was wanting from human art, was abundantly supplied by the excellent con stitution of his mind, and that fulness of divine grace with which he was adorned his humility was admirable, studiously concealing his own hon. our; for in his epistles, he never styles himself either apostle or evangelist; the title of presbyter or elder, is all he assumes, and probably in regard to his age as much as his office, in his gospel, when he speaks of the dis ciple whom Jesus loved," he constantly conceals his own name, leaving the reader to discover whom he meant : love and charity he practised him self, and affectionately pressed them upon others; the great love of his Saviour towards him, seems to have inspired his soul with a larger and more generous charity than the rest. This is the great vein that rung through all his writings, especially his epistles, where he urges it as the great and peculiar law of Christianity, and without which all other preten ces to the religion of the holy Jesus are vain and frivolous, useless and insignificant; and this was his constant practice to the very hour of his dissolution; for when age and the decays of nature had rendered him so weak that he was unable to preach to the people any longer, he was con stantly led, at every public meeting, to the church at Ephesus, and always repeated to them the same precept," "Little children, love one another :" and when his hearers, wearied with the constant repetition of the same thing, asked him why he never varied his discourse, he answered, “Be cause to love one another was the command of our blessed Saviour, and if they did nothing more, this alone was sufficient to denote whose they were, and whom they served."

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The largest measures of his charity were, however, displayed in the re markable care he took to promote the salvation of the souls of men ; travelling from East to West, in propagating the principles of that religion he was sent to teach, patiently enduring every torment, surmounting every difficulty, and removing every obsticle, to save the souls of the human race, free their mind from error and idolatry, and turn them from the paths of vice and debauchery. Amongst many other instances of this kind, Eusebius relates the following.

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St. John, daring one of his visitations of the church at Ephesus, was greatly pleased with the appearance and behaviour of a young man, when he called to him, and, with a special charge, recommended to the bishop, who undertook the trust, and promised to discharge it with the greatest fidelity accordingly, the bishop took him home with him to his house, carefully instructed him in the principles of the Christian religion, and at

last baptised and confirmed him. After he had proceeded thus far, he thought he might a little relax the reins of discipline; but the youth made a bad use of his liberty, and being debauched by, evil company, bei came the captain of a gang of robbers, and committed the most horrid outrages in the adjacent countries. St. John, being informed of this at his return, sharply reproved the bishop, and determined to find the young man out, never considering the dangers that would inevitably attend him, by venturing himself amongst persons of desperate fortunes accordingly he repaired to the mountains where they usually, abode, and heing taken by one of the robbers placed as a watch, he desired to be carried to their captain, who, on seeing St. John coming towards him, immediately fled. The apostle forgetting his age, hastened after him; but being unable to overtake him, he passionately cried out, "Child, why dost thou run from thy father an old and defenceless man ? Spare me this pains of following thee, and let not terrors and despair seze upon thee. Thy salvation is not irrecoverable. Stay, and be convinced that CHRIST himself hath sent me." At these words, the, young man stopped, fixed his eyes upon the earth, trembled in every part, and burst into a flood of tears. And when the aged apostle approached, be embraced him, and implored forgiveness with such weeping and lamentations, that he seemed to be rebaptized, and to wash away his sins with his own tears. The apostle re ceived him with the greatest kindness, assured him that he had obtained pardon for his sins at the hands of his great Redeemer, and returned him a true penitent and convert to the church of which he was a member.

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Our apostle's care for the souls of men, is further evidenced by the writings he left to posterity. The first of which in time, though placed last in the sacred canon, is his Apocalypse, or book of Revelation, which he wrote during his banishment at Patmos. After the preface and admonition given to the bishops of the seven churches in Asia, it contains a prophetic view of the persecutions the faithful were to suffer from the Jews, heretics and tyrannical princes, together with the peaceable and flourishing state of the church, till disturbed by other enemies; and the happiness of the church triumphant in heaven. And hence St. John is, in the strictest sense, a prophet, and has thereby one material addition to his titles, being not only an apostle and evangelist, but also a prophet: an honour peculiar to himself. St. Peter was an apostle, but no evangelist: St. Mark and St. Luke were evangelists but no apostles: St. Matthew was an apostle and evangelist, but no prophet: but St. John was an apostle, an evangelist, and a prophet likewise.

His three epistles take place, in order of time, next to the Apocalypse the first of which is catholic, being calculated for all times and places, and containing the most excellent rules for the conduct of a Christian life, pressing to holiness and pureness of manners, and, not to be satisfied with a naked and empty profession of religion; not to be led away with the crafty insinuations of seducers; and cautioning men against the poisonous principles and practices of the Gnostics. The apostle here, according to his usual modesty conceals his name, it being of more consequence to a wise man what is said, than he who says it. It appears from St. Augustine, that this epistle was anciently inscribed to the Parthians, because, in all probability, St. John preached the gospel in Parthia, the other two epistles, are but short, and directed to particular persons; the one a lady of great quality, and the other to the charitable and hospitable Gaius, the kindest friend, and the most courteous entertainer of all indigent Christians, in those primitive times.

We are told by Eusebius and St. Jerom, that St. John, having perused the other three gospels, approved and confirmed them by his authority; but observing, at the same time, that these evangelists had omitted several of our blessed Saviour's transactions, particularly those which were per

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formed before the Baptist's imprisonment, he wrote his gospel to supply what was wanting in them; and because several heretics were at that time sprung up in the church, who denied the divinity of our blessed Save iour, he took care to guard against these heresies, by proving that our great Redeemer was God from everlasting. He largely records our Saviour's discourses but takes lite notice of his miracles, probably because the other evangelists had so fully and particularly written concerning him.

Previous to his undertaking the task of writing his gospel, he caused general fast to be kept by all the Asian churches to implore the blessing of heaven on so great and momentous an undertaking. When this was done, he set about the work, and completed it in so excellent and sublime a manner, that the ancients generally compared him to an eagle's soaring aloft amongst the clouds, whither the weak eye of man was not able to follow him." Among all the evangelical writers," says St. Basil," none are like St. John, the son of thunder, for the sublimity of his speech, and the height of his discourses, which are beyond any man's capacity fully to reach and comprehend." "St. John as a true son of thunder," says Epiphanius, by a loftiness of speech peculiar to himself, "acquaints us, as it were out of the clouds and dark recesses of wisdom, with the divine doctrine of the Son of God, the glorious Saviour of mankind."

Thus have we given the character of the writings of the great apostle and evangelist, who as we have hinted before, was honoured with the endearing title of being the beloved disciple of the Son of God and was a writer so sublime as to deserve, by way of eminence, the character of "St. John the Divine."

The LIFE of St. PAUL,

The APOSTLE to the GENTILES.

THIS eminent and laborious apostle was a native of Tarsus, and s descendant from the ancient stock of Abraham. He was born about two years before the blessed Jesus, and belonged to the tribe of Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob, who thus prophecied of him, "Benjamin shall raven as a wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil;" a prophetical character which Tartullian and others will have to be accomplished in this apostle: for, in his youth, or the morning of his days, he persecuted the churches, destroying the flock of the Almighty; he devoured the prey: in his declining age, or evening of his days, he became a physician of the nations, feeding and distributing with the greatest care and assiduity, the sheep of CHRIST, the great Shepherd of Israel.

The place of this apostle's nativity, was Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, situated about three hundred miles distant from Jerusalem; it was exceedingly rich and prosperous, and a Roman municipium, or free corporation, invested with the privileges of Rome by the two first emperors, as a reward for the citizen's firm adherence to the Cæsars in the rebellion of Crassus. St. Paul was therefore born a Roman citizen, and he often pleads this privilege on his trials.

The inhabitants of Tarsus usually sent their children for learning and improvement, especially to Jerusalem, so numerous, that they had a synagogue of their own,

into other cities where they were called the syna

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