and the animosity of their country ed and confounded the Samaritan towards the people of other nations but their own, were for excluding the Gentiles from the benefits of a Saviour and therefore rebuked Peter for thus laying open the partition wall of separation between them. But he having related what had happened to him and Cornelius, and represented to them that God is no respector of persons; and that what he had done was in conformity to the divine will, they returned God thanks for their conviction. The controversy however which arose among the converts on this occasion was not easily or speedily determined. For the Jewish converts crowding far circumcision and the observance of the Mosaical law to be joined with the possession of the Christian faith, as equally necessary to salvation, the Gentiles on the other side maintained that the Judaic law was abolished, and that the faith and profession of the gospel was sufficient for salvation. These diferences occasioned a general council of the apostles to be afterwards called at Jerusalem. But before this expedient was thought of or proposed, Peter went to Antioch, to visit the churches in that city. And from hence it seems he at several times made the tour of Asiaminer, Bitbynia, Cappadoci,and Pontus as his epistles testify. And at last, it is affirmed, he travelled as far as Rome; not as the Papists pretend to take upon him the universal bishop. ric of the whole earth, and to usurp a primacy and supremacy among, and over the other apostles and apostolic churches; but to preach Christ and his gospel as others did in doing which it is related that he oppos magician, Simon: who being frustrated as I before observed of his expectations of buying the power of the Holy Ghost, had now given himself up to the devil, and was by his diabolical arts and devices among the citizens of Rome esteemed little less than a deity among them. Peter presently exposed the impostor, and diminished his reputation very much by laying open his prevaricating delusions, and by working real miracles; though he could not stay long enough entirely to defeat all the suc cess and effect of his former credit from his impostures, his presence being necessary at this time in his own province. Upon Peter's return to Antioch he was convened to Jerusalem, to consult with James, and the rest of the apostles, for the well ordering of the churches, which had been ev ery where established. This was during the passover, in the fortyfourth year of Christ. The progress of the gospel had now given such umbrage to the unbelievers, that Herod Antipas was prevailed upon to persecute all of that persuasion in his dominion. And having put to death James, the brother of John, who is the third mentioned in the list of the apostles: he afterwards seized on Peter, and des livered him to four quaternions of soldiers, to keep him in prison, during the eight days of the passover, intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people, and publickly put him to death; but he was miraculously delivered by an angel the night before he was to have been executed. Peter recovering from the astonishment of his deliverance went to the house of St. Mark's subsequent historians, to have ta mother where many of the faithful assembled and passed the night in prayer to God for him; and having enjoined them to give notice of his deliverance to the rest of the brethren, he retired to a place of safety from Jerusalem. We hear no more of Peter, till the year fifty-one, except we should give ear to the conjectures of those, that find him during this interval in Arabia; a second time at Rome; and some say, in the island of Bri. tain. However that be, we are sure that he was at the council of the apostles in the year fifty-one, where he appeared in behalf of the Christians at Antioch and assisted at the decree, that the Gentile converts should not be obliged to submit to the legal observances; but only abstain from fornication, from the use of blood, from things strangled, and from meats of fered to idols: which decree gave great content to the Gentiles, and put an end to the contentions these disputes had raised. After the breaking up of this council, Peter went to Antioch; where he fell into an error that seemed to contradict all he had done before, and was a fresh example of human inconstancy and weakness. For certain Jewish converts from Je rusalem, coming to Antioch, he separated himself from the Gentiles, during their stay: giving thereby great offence to the Gentiles, and a bad example to the converted Jews to make the like separation, and to the no less hindrance of the propagation of the gospel. But St. Paul reproved him openly for his weak carriage in this affair. The scripture being silent as to any future journies, which he is reported by ken, it seems best to suppose that he continued in his first appointment in this city; by which we keep clear of all those inconsistencies, which they, that labour for Peter's erecting a supreme episcopal see at Rome, necessarily fall into. Nothing can bə more false than the legend. ry account of those writers, that pretend to find Peter quitting the see of Antioch, at seven years end, and sitting twena ty five years afterwards at Rome. The story of his contest and victory over Simon Magus, and of that being the immediate cause of his being put to death, appears to be a mere fiction invented four hundred years after his death. For, had there been any truth in these assertions, St. Luke, the inspired writer of the acts of the apostles, who was Peter's companion and amanuensis, and who records many things of him in the first sixteen chapters of that book, could never have passed them over; especially, such a remarkable and interesting particular, as the foundation of the papal chair: when he relates Paul's arrival at Rome, he does not make the least mention of his meeting with Peter there. Again, it is very unlikely, if Peter had been bishop of Rome, that Paul would have forgot to salute or address him, when, writing to Rome, he salutes the Christians and his fellow-labourers by their names. Nor does the same apostle in his commendation of the faith of the Romans speak any thing of Peter, as the founder of their church. And when Paul writes from Rome, he never mentions Peter's residence there though he makes an honourable mention of Aristarchus, Marcus, Luke, and others. Besides, it is not credible, that a person of Peter's forward temper could enjoy such a prerogative, without mentioning it in any of his own writings to the dispersed Jews but the greatest title he assumes to himself, is that of an elder. and afterwards to have propagated Christianity in Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, Epirus, and Achia, io which last country at Patræa, he is said to have suffered martyrdom on a cross, by order of Ageas king of the Edesenes, for converting that brother Stratulus to christianity.--What reason the Scots have for claiming this apostle to be the first propagator of the Christian faith in their country, is unaccountable, and has never been discovered by the greatest researchers into antiquity. S. What account have you of James the brother of John ? S. What account do you give of king's consort Maximilla, and his Andrew ? T. Andrew was Peter's brother and the first named of those disciples of John the Baptist, that followed Jesus. He was commonly stiled the first called. He also was the first that brought his brother tidings of a Messiah come into the world; as just mentioned in the life of Peter. The remaining account given of this apostle in the gospel, is no more than this. It was Andrew that informed our Saviour of the five barley loaves, and two small fishes. He with Philip told Jesus, a little before his passion, that some Gentiles desired to see him. And he, with some others, asked Jesus, when the destruction of the temple should happen. If we search ancient authors, we shall find, that in the partition by lot of the world amongst the preachers of the gospel, historians of the great est note mention Andrew to have had the barbarous and cold region of Scythia and its bordering countries assigned him for his province: tho' Theodoret carries him no further than Greece; and others confine his travels within Epirus, Achaia, and Argos. I believe it would be nearest the truth to embrace the first opinion, and to bring him to Constantinople, after a successful ministry in the Scythian regions; and then allow him to have founded a church for divine worship at Byzantium; to have erdained Stachys, bishop of that sce; T. This apostle is commonly called James the great, either from his age, or some particular honours conferred on him by our Lord. He and John the Evangelist, were the sons of Zebedee and Salome; they were both born at Bethsaida, or as some say at Capernaum and brought up in the fishing trade, but of more than ordinary note, having several servants under them for that employment.Our Saviour passing along the shore seeing him and his brother busy in the ship about their nets, called to them to follow him, and that he would make them fishers of men.→ Jesus took them to see the raising of Jairus's daughter, and into the mount to be witnesses of his transfiguration, and were spectators of his bitter agonies in the garden; he gave them the name of Boanerges, or sons of thunder, to mark their zeal, which they shewed on se veral occasions, and particularly when they importuned him to call for fire from heaven, to consume the Sainairtans, who had refused to admit Jesus into their town, or al Juding perhaps to the power and vehemency they shewed in the delivery of their doctrine. The two brothers returned to their. fishing trade after the resurrection of our Saviour. But we find them present at his ascension. And as soon as they had received the Holy Ghost, James is said to have preached the gospel to the dispersed Jews; not to the twelve tribes of Israel, dis. persed through the world, but to the Jewish converts, which were scattered about Judea and Samaria, after the martyrdom of Stephen. This apostle has been claimed by the Spaniards as the first preacher of the gospel in their country; and some have transported him to Britain and Ireland. But it is scarce credible, that he could have taken such a tour, and settled such churches, and done such great things, as are commonly ascribed to him by monkish writers; when it is certain that he was beheaded with a sword at Jerusalem, in the forty-second year of Christ's nativity, by the command of Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great; who, soon after being eaten by worms, was cut off in the midst of a fit of arrogance and vain glory by the just judgment of God. 5. Who was the apostle John? T. I have in part told you. He was the brother of James just mentioned, and originally a disciple of John the Baptist. He was called to the apostleship at the same time with his bro. ther, though he was by far the young est of all the apostles. Some have thought, he was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana. However, this is certain, he was the beloved disciple of Jesus, who admitted him to be a witness of his transfiguration, perFf mitted him to lie in his bosom at his last supper,, and discovered to him, who it was that should betray him. John was one of the witnesses of Christ's bitter agony in the garden of. Gethsemane. He was the very last of all his disciples, that left him in the hands of the Jews; and recollected his courage so far, as to follow Jesus not only into the high-priest's house, but to the very foot of the cross. Here Jesus observing Mary his mother, said to her, Behold thy son! and to John, Behold thy mother! as a direction for this apostle to take care of Mary, as if she had been his own mother; which John punctually performed till her death, at Ephesus, which Eusebius saith, was in the year of our Lord forty-eight. At the first news of our Saviour's resurrection, he, with Peter, hasted to the sepulchre and he is found in every action of importance, joined with Peter, till the apostles were scparated to preach in their several provinces, as they had respectively fallen to them, in the division of the world, amongst them. According to this partition, John was allotted to preach the gospel in Asia, and he fixed his chief residence at Ephesus. After he had settled the affairs of the church in Asia Minor, he went into more distant regions eastward,such as Parthia,and some parts of India; and for that reason is called their apostle. After his return from the east, came on the persecution raised by Domitian against the Christians; and John by the command of the pro-consul of Asia was sent bound to Rome. Here the tyrant ordered him to be cast into a cauldron of boiling oil: but the Lord, that preserved the children in the fiery furnace, brought him out of it unhurt. Notwithstanding this miracle,he was banished to the isle of Patmos, in the Egean sea, where he wrote the book of Revelations, containing the heavenly visions, in which God conversed with him, when he was thus cut off from the ordinary conversation of men. He remained in this state of exile several years; during which time also, he instructed the inhabitants in the principles of the Christian faith; till by an edict of Nerva, Domitian's successor, he among many others was recalled from banishment, upon which he returned to his former charge at Ephesus, where he arrived about the year 97 of Jesus Christ, he himself being about ninety years old; yet even then so perfect in his faculties, that at the request of the Asiatic bishops and other Christians, he not only confirmed and bore witness to the other three gospels, but he undertook and finished his gospel, containing such particulars, as he had heard from Christ himself; some of which had been omitted by the other evangelists, and many which served to teach and assert the divinity of our Saviour, in opposition to certain heretics, Cerinthus and Ebion, and their followers, that denied it, and had sprung up amongst them, during the time of his banish He also wrote the three epistles that goes under his name; he lived to the third year of the emperor Trajan; when he died aged 99, or as Some say 120, and was buried near the city of Ephesus. cords, but it is generally supposed that he was a fisherman. Philip had several daughters, and was amongst the first disciples of Christ, and stayed altogether with him from the first time of his call. It was he that brought Nathaniel to Jesus, and to whom the Gentiles that desired to see Jesus,first addressed themselves. The gospel history relates nothing more of this apostle, except where our Saviour is mentioned as asking him, where bread might be bought sufficient to feed the five thousand hungry men, that had followed him into the desert; and where Philip desired our Saviour to shew the Father to him, and to the rest of his fellow disciples. What part of the world fell to his lot, in the division made by the apostles, we have no authentic account, but it is believed that upper Asia was his province; and that having preached for many years successfully the gospel in both the Phrygias, and confirmed his doctrine with many and great miracles, he gained many converts, settled many churches, and appointed guides and elders to oversee them. He ended his days in a good old age, at Hieropolis, a rich and populous city in Phrygia; where he was severely scourged, and then either crucified, or hanged by the neck against a pillar, for having opposed the idolatry of these people, who were besotted to the adoration of a great serpent, or dragon, and which he destroyed; and thereby persuading many to turn from their idols to the S. What do we learn concerning faith and worship of the true God. Philip? S. What account is there of Bartholomew ! ment. T. Philip was a native of Bethsaida also, and a married man. There is no account, who his parents were, or of his occupation in the sacred re T. The best critics on the sacred history are of opinion, that this apostle is the very Nathaniel, whom our |
