CLAUDIUS. the same as Peter's, namely, Lesser Asia, but he remained in Jerusalem till after the Virgin's death.* Philip had upper Asia, with parts of Scythia and Colchis. Arabia Felix was allotted to Bartholomew, into which parts he carried the Gospel of St. Matthew. Matthew himself preached in Asiatic Ethiopia, by Chaldæa, Persia, and Parthia: but Parthia was more particularly allotted to Thomas, who also preached to the Hyrcanians, Bactrians, and Indians. James the Less, being Bishop of Jerusalem, continued principally in that city. Simon had Egypt, Cyrene, Lybia, and Mauritania. Jude had Syria and Mesopotamia. Matthias had Cappadocia and Colchis. St. Paul's 1 51. Of the travels and actions of the Apostles named in the preceding paragraph we have but a very short and uncertain account. The narrative of St. Luke, leaving *The death of the Virgin is thought to have occurred at Jerusalem, about A.D. 48; but there is a great uncertainty about it. Some imagine that she died a natural death; others, that she suffered martyrdom. The Romanists affirm that the Apostles were miraculously transported from various parts of the world to be present at her death, which was altogether without pain, and that on the third day after her burial she rose again and ascended into Heaven; in memory of which they keep the 15th day of August, with great pomp and solemnity. † See Paley's Evidences, Part i. c. 4, for a fuller account of these journeys. A famous island in the Mediterranean. 51. Give a short account of St. Paul's Apostolic journeys. When did he where they converted Sergius Paulus, the Roman Governor, CLAUDIUS. and Saul adopted the name of Paul.* From A.D. 46. Cyprus, Paul proceeded to Perga in Pamphilia, and having suffered various persecutions at Antioch (in Pisidia,) Iconium, and Lystra, he returned to Antioch. After abiding here some time, the Council at A.D. 50. Jerusalem (see next par.) having been held meanwhile, Paul, accompanied by Luke, proceeded on a second journey+ through Assia Minor to Ephesus, and, crossing the Ægean sea, visited Philippi, where he was whipped and imprisoned; then Thessalonica, where the Jews raised such commotions as obliged him to escape to Athens; then Corinth, where he was brought before the Roman tribunal, but dismissed, from the contempt the magistrate entertained for the Jewish controversies, of to accommodate himself to men's The capital of Macedonia. § Here Paul converted Diony- From Corinth, Paul is supposed to have written his two Epistles to the Thessalonians. abandon the name of Saul? +[Note.] Was there any thing inconsistent in St. # CLAUDIUS. which he accounted Christianity to be one; then Ephesus, and so through Asia Minor to Jerusalem. After A. D. 54. this Paul again visited Antioch, and then Ephesus, passing through Asia Minor: at Ephesus, where he daily ministered for two years, he nearly lost his life, in a commotion raised by Demetrius, the silver-smith, in consequence of the decline of the trade in images: he was driven from Ephesus only to renew his labours in Greece, where, after proceeding as far as the borders of Illyricum, he re-visited Corinth†, and, in consequence of a conspiracy of the Jews, traced his steps back through Macedonia to Philippi; whence he took shipping to Jerusalem, reaching that city in time for the feast of Pentecost, after an absence of nearly five years. Judaizing 52. The principle that it was not necessary for a heathen to conform to the Mosaic law before his conversion to Christianity was established by Paul and Barnabas during their first journey. This was not the doctrine of a party in the Church at Jerusalem, whatever Council at Ephesus was one of the seven Churches of Asia, mentioned by St. John (Rev. ii., iii.), the others being Laodicea, Pergamos, Philadelphia, Sardis, Smyrna, and Thyatira. Probably Paul visited Crete about this time, where he planted Churches, over which he left Titus to preside. From Ephesus it is thought that Paul wrote the first Epistle to the Corinthians, the first Epistle to Timothy, and the Epistles to the Galatians and to Titus. Paul entrusted the care of the Church at Ephesus to Timothy, who has consequently been called the first Bishop of Ephesus. From Corinth Paul wrote his celebrated Epistle to the Romans, having before his arrival there written from Philippi his second Epistle to the Corinthians. the Christians to be banished from Rome by Claudius? [Note.] Name the seven Churches of Asia mentioned by St. John. 52. What disagreement arose in the Church at Antioch during St. Paul's was the practice of the Church at Antioch; for upon the CLAUDIUS. A.D. 46. *This was the first Council of the Christian Church. Apostolic synods had been held before, to elect a successor to Judas (Acts i. 26,) and to select the seven Dea cons (Acts vi. 5); but these could first Apostolic journey? Give an account of the Council held at Jerusalem, and of the decree which was there drawn up. Who were present at it? Give the purport of St. Peter's speech. Who presided, and what do you infer from thence? CLAUDIUS. that the Jewish rites ought not to be imposed upon the believing Gentiles; but, that the zealous Jews might have no offence, it was agreed that the Gentile converts should observe these four things:-(1) To abstain from meats offered to idols, because the contrary might seem a participation in the idolatry: (2) to abstain from fornication, which the Gentiles accounted little or no crime: (3) to abstain from things strangled, which were extremely odious to the Jews and (4) to abstain from blood, which was supposed to be forbidden to affright men from cruelty and bloodshed. This decree was delivered by James, in the name of the Council, and having been formally written out, was sent by Paul and Barnabas, together with Judas and Silvanus,* to Antioch and other parts. Cerinthus and the Cerinthians. 53. Epiphanius tells us that the noted heretic, Cerinthus, was the ringleader of the faction at Antioch, which disturbed the Church there, upon the question of the circumcision of Gentile converts; but others assign so late a date as the end of the century to his notoriety. He was by birth a Jew, but was initiated in letters and philosophy at Alexandria. His heresy was a species of Gnosticism, modified so as to seem not quite inconsistent with Jewish opinions. Thus, he allowed that the creator of the world was the law-giver of the Jews, and a being endowed at first *Contracted into Silas, under which name he is mentioned in Acts xvii. 4 and xviii. 5. In the Epistles he is called Silvanus. See 2 Cor. i. 19; 1 Thess. i. 1; 2 Thess. i. 1. Neander says, "Cerinthus is best entitled to be considered as the intermediate link between the Judaizing and the Gnostic sects." 53. Who is said by Epiphanius to have been the ringleader in the disturbance of the Church at Antioch? Explain the tenets of the Gnostics, and those of the Cerinthians particularly. With what noted individuals or parties was |