§ 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 2, 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 of 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 § 7. Jesus himself gave instruction to none but Jews; nor did he allow his disciples to travel among other nations, as teachers, while he continued on earth. 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, however, the prevailing opinion, that not only the letters of Christ and Abgarus, but likewise the whole story, are fabrications. I would by no means venture to support the credit of Matt. xix. 28; Luke xxii. 30. * [There are two factitious 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. J. A. Fabricius, Lux Evang. &c. p. 115-118, and annexed to the books de Vita et Morte Mosis, ed. Fabricius; and in T. Ittig, Hist. Eccles. imi sæcul. p. 472. That no sort of credit is due to them, is shown by Ittig, ubi supra; by D. 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 made up by collecting together, without the least judgment, nearly all the names of Christians mentioned in the N. Testament, and parti cularly in the salutations of Paul. Tr.] 4 Matt. x. 5, 6; xv. 24. 5 Eusebius. Hist. Eccles. 1. i. c. 18. [Here is the earliest notice of these Letters. For the earliest history of the picture, see Evagrius, Hist. Eccles. 1. iv. c. 27. See the Letters themselves, with notes in] J. A. Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus N. T. tom. i. p. 317. See Ja. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, tom. i. c. 18, p. 500. Theoph. Sigf. Bayer, Historia Edessena et Osroëna, 1. iii. p. 104. J. S. Asseman, Biblioth. orient. Clem. Vat. tom. i. p. 554. [“As to the picture, which is still preserved, and shown at Rome, Is. Beausobre has fully exposed the fable, in his Dis. des Images de main divine; in the Biblioth. Germanique, tom. xviii. p. 10, &c."] Mosheim de Rebus Chr. &c. p. 73. the letters; but I see no very weighty reason why the thing itself may not be considered as true upon the whole. § 8. There was, indeed, no small number of the Jews, who, moved by so many signs of divine authority in Christ, looked up to him as the Son of God: but the leading men, especially the Pharisees and chief priests, whose crimes and vices he freely reproved, plotted against his life; being fearful of losing their honours and privileges, if Christ should continue publicly to teach. Long were the machinations of this wicked crew vain and fruitless. But Judas, an ungrateful disciple, disclosing the place of his master's nocturnal retirement, he was seized by soldiers, at the command of the Sanhedrim, and orders were given for trying him capitally. § 9. He was first arraigned before the Jewish high priest and senate, upon a charge of doing violence to the majesty and law of God. Dragged thence to the tribunal of Pilate the Roman procurator, he was there accused of sedition, and of treason against Cæsar. Neither of these accusations could have satisfied fair and upright judges. But the people's clamour, which an impious priesthood stirred up, compelled Pilate, against his own conviction, to pass a capital sentence upon our Saviour. Having come into our world to make expiation for the sins of men, and knowing that all the objects of his abode among them were accomplished, he voluntarily submitted to be nailed to a cross, on which was yielded up his spotless soul to God. § 10. On the third day after his burial, he re-assumed the life, which he had voluntarily laid down; and coming forth in human shape, he made it plain that God's justice could no longer claim a debt from men. He now continued forty days with his disciples, employing the time very much in giving them instruction. To his enemies he would not visibly appear; as well for other reasons, as because he knew, that men, so unprincipled as to accuse him long ago of sorcery, would resolutely say, that some spectre had arisen, which bore his form, and came from an evil spirit's power. At length, while the disciples watched his movements, he went from their presence up into heaven, having first entrusted them with an embassy to the human race. 7 ["And rising from the dead, declared to the universe, by that triumphant act, that the divine justice was satisfied." Maclaine. Ed.] CHAPTER IV. THE PROSPEROUS EVENTS OF THE CHURCH. § 1. Effusion of the H. Spirit on the apostles.-§ 2. They preach to Jews and Samaritans. § 3. Election of a new apostle. § 4. Paul's conversion. — § 5. Attention to the poor, and a community of goods, in the church. — § 6. Many churches planted by the apostles. § 7. Respect for Christ among the pagans. § 8. Causes of the rapid progress of Christianity. - § 9. Extraordinary gifts of the early Christians. § 10. Fictitious causes assigned for the progress of Chris tianity. 2 § 1. WHEN Jesus was seated at the right hand of the eternal Father, he gave the first proof of his majesty and power on the fiftieth day after his death, by the effusion of the Holy Spirit, upon his disciples and friends on earth. On receiving this celestial gift and teacher, they were freed from all their former ignorance and blindness of mind, and endued with astonishing alacrity and power to fulfil the duties of their office. With these mental 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 on the promise of Christ, that God would aid them as often as should be necessary, by miracles.3 § 2. Relying on these heavenly aids, they first, as our Saviour had enjoined, sought converts among the Jews. Nor was this labour without effect, for many thousands of them soon became Christians. Next going to the Samaritans, which also their commission required, they gathered among them too a Christian church. Lastly, after spending many years at Jerusalem, and settling and confirming the churches of Christ in Palestine and the neighbouring regions, they went away to various nations of the globe, their labours meeting every where with very great success. § 3. The first care of the apostles after our Saviour's ascension, was to make up their number to twelve, according to Christ's own precedent, by electing a holier person to the place of Judas, who had laid violent hands on himself. Therefore, the little company of Christ's servants at Jerusalem being assembled, two men highly conspicuous for piety and faith in Christ, Barnabas and Matthias, were proposed, as the most worthy of that office. One of these, Matthias, either by lot, which is the general opinion, or by a majority of the suffrages of the persons present, was constituted the twelfth apostle." § 4. As all these twelve ambassadors of Christ were plain, unlettered men, while the Christian community, though still in its infancy, needed an individual who could attack and overcome both Jewish doctors and Gentile philosophers with weapons of their own; Jesus Christ himself soon after the appointment of Matthias, by a voice from heaven, created a thirteenth apostle. This was Saul, who subsequently chose the name of Paul, and who had been a most virulent enemy of the Christians, but in whom a first-rate skill in Jewish learning was combined with a knowledge of the Grecian. To this truly admirable man, whether we consider his courage, his force of mind, or his patience and fortitude under difficulties, how much the Christian world is indebted, every body knows from the Acts of the Apostles, and his own Epistles. § 5. The first of all the Christian churches founded by the apostles, was that of Jerusalem: after the form and model of which, all the others of that age were constituted. That church, [It appears from the book of Acts, that the apostles, or at least most of them, remained in and near Jerusalem, for several years after the ascension; but how long they continued together is uncertain. There was anciently a tradition, which Eusebius states, (Hist. Eccles. v. 18,) on the authority of Apollonius, a writer of the second century, as does Clemens Alex. (Strom. vi. c. 5.) from a spurious work, Prædicatio Petri, - that the Saviour enjoined upon his apostles not to leave Jerusalem, till twelve years after his ascension. About however, was governed immediately by the apostles; to whom were subject both the presbyters, and those who took care of the poor, or deacons. Though the people had not withdrawn themselves from the Jewish worship, yet they held their own separate meetings; in which they received instruction from the apostles and presbyters; poured fourth united prayers; kept up, in the sacred supper, a remembrance of Jesus Christ, of his death, and of the salvation gotten by him; lastly, manifested their mutual love, partly by liberality to the poor, partly by those temperate repasts, which from their design were called love-feasts. Among the virtues, by which this first family of our Saviour's was distinguished, that which soonest struck attention was care for the needy and distressed. For the richer members liberally supplied what the necessities of their brethren required, and moreover with such a ready mind, that Luke writes of the goods of all as common to all. These words, though commonly understood as implying community of possessions, have been so taken without sufficient inquiry, as is manifest both from St. Peter's words', and other things. mean only community of use." 2 They § 6. The ambassadors of Christ, leaving Jerusalem, travelled over a great part of the world; and in a short time collected numerous religious societies in various countries. Of churches founded by them, not a small number is mentioned in the sacred books, especially in the Acts of the Apostles. Besides these, 2 Acts ii. 42. [Dr. Mosheim understood this text as descriptive of the several parts of the ordinary public worship of these primitive Christians, rather than of their Christian character and conduct in general. See his Comment. de Rebus Christianorum ante C. Mag. p. 113 --116. If Mosheim's interpretation of that text is erroneous, as most interpreters think it is, this account of the mode of worship in the apostolic church, rests on a slender basis. Tr.-Mosheim's notion of primitive worship, founded upon this text, is, that it consisted of preaching, a collection for the poor, analogous to the offertory collections of later times, the administration of the eucharist, and prayer. The principal difficulty in fixing this construction upon the words of St. Luke here, lies upon the second member in the series. The original word is Kowwvía, which our translators have rendered fellowship, and which Grotius takes to mean religious 4 Acts v. 4. 5 ["It is an ancient opinion, though not older than the fourth century, that in the church of Jerusalem there was such a community of goods, as existed among the ancient Essenes, and now among monks. But this opinion is destitute of any solid foundation; resting solely on the declaration of Luke, that they had all things common. See my Diss. de vera natura communionis bonorum in ecclesia Hierosolym. which is the first in the second volume of my Dissert. ad historiam eccl. pertinentes." Mosheim, de Rebb. Christ. &c. p. 118.] 6 The names of these churches are |