Chief use of Ecclesiastical History. 33

ship from the Acts of the Apostles, and indeed LECT. II. from the shadow of Peter.

XV. Thus also the supreme authority of the Roman pontiff over the whole Catholic Church, which has always been so strenuously denied by the Greeks, is derived from the samè shadow of S. Peter; and from a fact respecting it that occurred some time before S. Peter was at Rome (of whose jurisdiction, while he was at Rome, no memorial is left); nay, before even the name of Christ had been heard at Rome. These then, and other errors of the same kind are easily detected throughout the Ecclesiastical Annals of Baronius, the frauds of those who vaunt in a pretended antiquity being exposed without trouble: and it is indeed a chief end of Ecclesiastical history to record the true origin of every opinion, and to trace the rise not only of heresies and schisms, but of doctrines also, and ceremonies in the Church itself.

For some years the Apostles themselves thought that the Jews alone ought to be received into the Church; the time is known when they first admitted the Gentiles: it was, at first, made a question whether the converted Gentiles ought to be circumcised; and we know at what time circumcision was rejected: at first, the whole body of Christians was governed by the Apostles alone; these afterwards set over every

D

LECT. II. Church superintendents such as were to conti nue to the end of time: at first, the believers were not distinguished from Jews; afterwards, at Antioch, they were first called Christians.

By what degrees therefore the Church of God grew and was brought to its proper condition; when sound language (on controverted points of doctrine) was first introduced; in what time and manner ecclesiastical discipline was established; what doctrines were at the first impressed on the faithful; how the Catholics met heresies as they were put forth; these things, I say, it is the duty of an Ecclesiastical Historian to exhibit without party-affection, and to draw out in order from the genuine memorials of the Church; and there can be nothing more effectual than this for allaying the heat of theological controversies.

Gamaliel's advice to the Sanhedrim. 35

LECTURE III.

ACTS V. 17 To VI. 6.

WHEN the fame of the many persons that LECT. III. had been cured by the Apostles at Jerusalem reached the neighbouring districts, there came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks and them that were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one. But the high priest, and the Sadducees with him, put the Apostles in the common prison; an angel by night freed them from confinement, at whose command they taught in the temple early in the morning. The Sanhedrim being assembled, they seek in vain for the Apostles in the prison, they apprehend them as they are teaching in the temple, and set them before the council; they rehearse the commands they had given; S. Peter and the Apostles choose rather to obey the command of God; at last Gamaliel proffers the wholesome advice that they should dismiss the Apostles, and wait for the event.

Here some of the ancients allege that Gamaliel was in mind a Christian, as was Nicodemus; and indeed the author of the 'Recognitions,'

I. 9.

Baronius.
Anno 34.

C. CCLXXV.

LECT. III. under the name of Clement of Rome, introduces Recog. Clem. Peter speaking thus, Which when Gamaliel saw, who was a person of influence among the people, but secretly our brother in the faith, and with our privity was among them;' as if the apostles were then so cunning that they kept a disciple in the Sanhedrim. And yet Baronius believes this to be quite certain, inasmuch as Gamaliel was buried by Christians with the martyr Stephen; his body See Lect. IV. after almost four centuries having been found with the body of Stephen. It seems to me that Gamaliel was a very obstinate Pharisee, and on that account gave advice that the Apostles should be dismissed, for the reason that the Sadducees accused them, and that they so stoutly maintained the resurrection.

Art. VIII.

5. 1.

II. In the speech of Gamaliel there occurs a very great subject of controversy as regards Acts v. 36, 37. history and chronology: Before these days, he says, rose up Theudas, and after him rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing: and Josephus Jos. Ant. xx. testifies indeed that one Theudas did rise up, but according to him it was when Fadus was procurator of Judæa, and twelve years after this speech of Gamaliel was delivered in the Sanhedrim. Learned men remark, that they would maintain the authority of S. Luke, that Josephus either deceives or was deceived, and that Theudas raised a sedition long before the time

of Fadus. But others think that there were two LECT. III. of the name Theudas; one, the person to whom Gamaliel alludes, and another, an individual of the same stamp, mentioned by Josephus. Lastly, some think that there was only one Theudas, and that he was the person who is described by Josephus, but that S. Luke here speaks by anticipation, introducing the story as it were of himself, inasmuch as it fitted so well his present argument: which indeed, if allowed, easily solves the difficulty; but in my opinion it ought not to be allowed without great reluctance.

III. This seems to have taken place in the latter part of the 33rd year of the common Christian era, and in the earlier part of the 20th year of Tiberius. In the succeeding 34th year, beginning at the calends of January, Paulus Fabius Tac. Ann. Persicus, or Priscus, and Lucius Vitellius Nepos, Dion. Cass. were made consuls.

VI. 28.

J.VIII. 24.

Tib. 20.

IV. To the beginning of this year it would AD. XXXIV. seem is to be referred that which is related, not in the Scriptures, but in early ecclesiastical writers, of Pontius Pilate; for, as the acts of the Senate, and the daily affairs of the Roman people were chronicled, so also in the Roman provinces a chronicle was kept by the presidents, and by the procurators of the Cæsars; and these officers very often wrote to the emperors on matters of importance, as may be frequently seen in Roman