Agbarus, Thaddeus, thou doest these things by the power of God, and we are filled with wonder. But, beside these things, I request thee, also, to inform me respecting the coming of Jesus, how he was born, and as to the power with which he performed these things which we have heard. And Thaddeus answered, Now, indeed, I will not tell thee, since I have been sent to proclaim the word abroad; but to-morrow assemble all thy citizens, and before them I will proclaim the word of God, and will sow among them the word of life, both respecting the coming of Jesus, as he was, and respecting his mission, and for what purpose he was sent by the Father; also, concerning the power of his works, and the mysteries which he declared in the world; by what power, also, he did these things, concerning his new mode of preaching, his lowly and abject condition, his humiliation in his external appearance, how he humbled himself, and died, and lowered his divinity; what things, also, he suffered from the Jews; how he was crucified, and descended into hell (hades), and burst the bars which had never yet been broken, and rose again, and also raised with himself the dead that had slept for ages. And how he descended alone, but ascended with a great multitude to his Father. And how he sitteth at the right hand of God and the Father, with glory, in the heavens; and how he is about to come again with glory and power, to judge the living and dead.- Agbarus, therefore, commanded his subjects to be called early in the morning, and to hear the annunciation of Thaddeus; and after this, he commanded gold and silver to be given him; but he would not receive it, saying, If we have left our own, how shall we take what belongs to others?

These things were done in the three hundred and fortieth year. Which also, we have literally translated from the Syriac language, opportunely as we hope, and not without profit.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND BOOK. WHATSOEVER particulars it was necessary for us to premise in this Ecclesiastical History, both respecting the divinity of the saving Word and the antiquity of the doctrines which we teach, as also of the antiquity of that evangelical life which Christians lead, these particulars we have already discussed, together with the leading circumstances of his late appearance among men, of his sufferings, of the election of his apostles, and have exhibited the proofs in the condensed subjects of the preceding book. Let us now, also, examine the circumstances that followed his ascension, presenting some from the divine Scriptures, and others from such other documents to which we shall have occasion to refer.

CHAPTER I.

THE COURSE PURSUED BY THE APOSTLES AFTER THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST.

FIRST, then, in the place of Judas the traitor, Matthias was chosen by lot, who, as was shown above, was also one of the disciples of the Lord. There were appointed also, with prayer and the imposition of hands, by the apostles, approved men, unto the office of deacons, for the public service; these were those seven of whom Stephen was one. He was the first, also, after our Lord, who at the time of ordination, as if ordained to this very purpose, was stoned to death by the murderers of the Lord. And thus he first received the crown, answering to his name, of the victorious martyrs of Christ. Then also James, called the brother of our Lord, because he is also called the son of Joseph. For Joseph was esteemed the father of Christ, because the Virgin being betrothed to him, "she was found with child by the Holy Ghost before they came together," as the narrative of the holy gospels shows. This James, therefore, whom the ancients, on account of the excellence of his virtue, surnamed the Just, was the first that received the episcopate of the church at Jerusalem. But Clement, in the sixth book of his Institutions, represents it thus: "Peter, and James, and John, after the ascension of our Saviour, though they had been preferred by our Lord, did

not contend for the honour, but chose James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem." And the same author, in the seventh book of the same work, writes also thus: "The Lord imparted the gift of knowledge to James the Just, to John and Peter after his resurrection, these delivered it to the rest of the apostles, and they to the seventy, of whom Barnabas was one." There were, however, two Jameses; one called the Just, who was thrown from a wing of the temple, and beaten to death with a fuller's club, and another, who was beheaded. Paul also makes mention of the Just in his epistles. "But other of the apostles," says he, "saw I none, save James the brother of our Lord." About this time also, the circumstances of our Saviour's promise, in reference to the king of the Osrhoenians, took place. For Thomas, under a divine impulse, sent Thaddeus as herald and evangelist, to proclaim the doctrine of Christ, as we have shown from the public documents found there.

When he came to these places, he both healed Agbarus by the word of Christ, and astonished all there with the extraordinary miracles he performed. After having sufficiently disposed them by his works, and led them to adore the power of Christ, he made them disciples of the Saviour's doctrine. And even to this day, the whole city of Edessa is devoted to the name of Christ; exhibiting no common evidence of the beneficence of our Saviour likewise to them. And let this suffice, as taken from the accounts given in ancient documents. Let us now pass again to the Holy Scriptures. As the first and greatest persecution arose among the Jews after the martyrdom of Stephen, against the church of Jerusalem, and all the disciples except the twelve were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria; some, as the Holy Scriptures say, coming as far as Phoenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, they were not yet in a situation to venture to impart the faith to the nations, and therefore only announced it to the Jews. During this time, Paul also was yet laying waste the church, entering the houses of the believers, dragging away men and women, and delivering them over to prison. Philip, also, one of those who had been ordained to the office of deacons, being among those scattered abroad, went down to Samaria.

Filled with divine power, he first proclaimed the divine word to the inhabitants of that place. But so greatly did the divine grace co-operate with him, that even Simon Magus, with a great number of other men, were attracted by his discourses. Simon had become so celebrated at that time, and had such influence with those that were deceived by his impostures, that they considered him the great power of God. This same Simon, also, astonished at the extraordinary miracles performed by Philip through the power of God, artfully assumed, and even pretended faith in Christ, so far as to be baptized; and what is surprising, the same thing is done even to this day, by those who adopt this most foul heresy. These, after the manner of their founder, insinuating themselves into the church, like a pestilential and leprous disease, infected those with the greatest corruption, into whom they were able to infuse their secret, irremediable, and destructive poison. Many of these, indeed, have already been expelled, when they were caught in their wickedness; as Simon himself, when detected by Peter, suffered his deserved punishment. For as the annunciation of the Saviour's gospel was daily advancing, by a certain divine providence, a prince of the queen of the Ethiopians, as it is a custom that still prevails there to be governed by a female, was brought thither, and was the first of the Gentiles that received of the mysteries of the divine word from Philip. The apostle, led by a vision, thus instructed him; and he becoming the first fruits of believers throughout the world, is said to have been the first, on returning to his country, that proclaimed the knowledge of God, and the salutary abode of our Saviour among men. So that, in fact, the prophecy obtained its fulfilment through him: "Ethiopia stretched forth her hands unto God." After this, Paul, that chosen vessel, not of men, nor through men, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ himself, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, is appointed an apostle, being honoured with the call by a vision and voice of revelation from heaven.

CHAPTER II.

HOW TIBERIUS WAS AFFECTED, WHEN INFORMED BY PILATE RESPECTING CHRIST.

THE fame of our Lord's remarkable resurrection and ascension being now spread abroad, according to an ancient custom prevalent among the rulers of the nations, to communicate novel occurrences to the emperor, that nothing might escape him, Pontius Pilate transmits to Tiberius an account of the circumstances concerning the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, the report of which had already been spread throughout all Palestine. In this account, he also intimated that he ascertained other miracles respecting him, and that having now risen from the dead, he was believed to be a God by the great mass of the people. Tiberius referred the matter to the senate, but it is said they rejected the proposition, apparently because they had not examined into this subject first, according to an ancient law among the Romans, that no one should be ranked among the gods unless by a vote and decree of the senate; in reality, however, because the salutary doctrine of the gospel needs no confirmation and co-operation of men.

The senate of the Romans, therefore, having thus rejected the doctrine of our Saviour as it was announced, and Tiberius still continuing to hold the opinion he had before cherished, formed no unreasonable projects against the doctrine of Christ. This is the testimony of Tertullian, a man who made himself accurately acquainted with the laws of the Romans, and, besides his eminence in other respects, was particularly distinguished among the eminent men of Rome, and in his apology for the Christians in the Roman tongue, which is also translated into the Greek, to give his own words, writes after the following manner. "In order to give also an account of these laws from their origin, it was an ancient decree, that no one should be consecrated a god by the emperor, before it had been approved by the senate. Marcus Aurelius has done this, in reference to a certain idol, Alburnus, so that this evidence has been given in favour of our doctrine, that divine dig.