The LIFE of St. MARK,

The EVANGELIST and APOSTLE.

THOUGH the name of St. Mark seems to be of Roman original, he Was nevertheless descended from Jewish parents, and of the tribe of Levi: nor was it uncommon amongst the Jews to change their names on some remarkable revolution or incident of life, or when they intended to travel into any of the Roman provinces in Europe.

St. Mark was generally considered by the ancients, as one of the seventy disciples; and Epiphanius expressly tells us, that "he was one of those who, taking exception at our Lord's discourse of eating his flesh and drink. ing his blood, went back and walked no more with him." But there appears no manner of foundation for these opinions, nor for that of Nicephorus, who will have him to be the son of St. Peter's sister; nay, Pepias, bishop of Hierapolis, who lived near the apostolic times, positively affirms, that he was neither a hearer nor follower of our Saviour. It is therefore most probable, that he was converted by some of the apostles, perhaps by St. Peter, whom he constantly attended in his travels, supplying the place of an amanuensis and interpreter; for though the apostles were divinely inspired, and had, amongst other miraculous powers, the gift of tongues conferred upon them, yet the interpretation of tongues was a gift more peculiar to some than to others; and this probably was St. Mark's talent, in expounding St. Peter's discourses whether by word or writing, to those who were strangers to the language in which they were delivered; but however this be, he accompanied him in his apostolical progress, preached the gospel in Italy and at Rome, where, at the request of the Christians of those parts, he composed and wrote the gospel, which is called after his

name.

1

We are told by Eusebius, that St. Mark was sent into Egypt by St. Pe ter to preach the gospel, and accordingly planted a church in Alexandria, the metropolis of it; and his success was so very remarkable, that he converted multitudes both of men and women, persuading them not only to embrace the Christian religion, but also a life of more than ordinary strictness. That there was indeed a sect in Egypt remarkably strict in their discipline is evident from Philo, who gives the following account of them.

There is, says he, a sort of persons in many parts of the world, especially near the Marœotick lake in Egypt, who have formed themselves into religious societies and lead a strict philosophical and contemplative course of life. When they first enter on this manner of living, they renounce all secular interests and employments, and leaving their estates to their relations, retire into gardens, and places devoted to solitude and contemplation. Their houses, or colleges, are not contiguous, that, being free from noise or tumult, they might the better attend to the designs of a contemplative life; nor yet removed at too great distance, that they may maintain mutual society, and be conveniently capable of helping and assisting one another. In each of these houses is an oratory, called Semnion and Monasterion, in which they discharged the more secret and solemn rites of their religion, divided in the middle by a partition-wall three or four cubits high, one apartment being for the men, and the other for the women, Here they publicly meet every seventh day, where, being seated according to their seniority, and having composed themselves with great decency and reverence, the most aged person amongst them and the best skilled in the dogmata and principles of their institution, comes forth into the midst, gravely and soberly discoursing on what may make the greatest impression in their minds; the rest attending with the most profound silence & only testifying their assent with the motion of their eyes or head. Their Na

discourses are commonly mystical and allegorical, seeking hidden senses under plain words; and of such an allegorical philosophy the books of their religion, left them by their ancestors, consist: the law they compare to an animal, the letters of it resembling the body, while the soul of it lies in these abstruse and recondite notions, which the external evil and surface of the words conceal from common understandings.

"With regard to their method of living, they take very little care of their bodies, spending their whole time in perfecting their minds by precepts of wisdom and religion; the day they wholly spend in pious and di vine meditations, in reading and expounding the law and the prophets and the holy volumes of the ancient founders of their sect, and in singing Psalms to the honour of their Maker; absolutely temperate and abstemiou's, neither eating nor drinking till night, the only time they think proper to refresh and regard the body and some of them out of an insatiable desire of growing in knowledge and virtue, fast many days together. Their diet is plain and simple, sufficient only to satisfy the calls of nature, a little bread, salt, and water, being their constant bill of fare. Their clothes are as mean as their food, designed only as present security against cold and nakedness. Nor is this the case only of the men, but also of the pious and devout women that live amongst them; who religiously observe every seventh day, and especially the preparatory week to the great solemnity, which they keep with all expressions of sincere devotion, and also with severe abstinence."

Eusebius affirms, that these excellent persons were Christians, converted and brought under such admirable rules and institutions by St. Mark at his coming hither, accommodating all passages to the manner and discipline of the Christians: and is followed by Epiphanius, Jerom, and others. But whoever seriously and impartially considers Philo's account, will plainly find, that he intends it of the Jews, and professors of the Mosaie religion, though what particular sect they were, I shall not pretend to determine; perhaps they were Essenes: but however that be, it is plain they were not Christians; for Philo speaks of them as an institution of some standing; whereas, the Christians had but very lately appeared in the world especially in Egypt: besides, many parts of Philo's account does not in several parts agree with the state and manners of the Christians at that time; as that they withdrew themselves from public conversation, and all the affairs of civil life, which the Christians never did, but when forced to it by violent persecutions; for at other times as Justin Martyr and Tertullian tell us, they mixed themselves promiscuously with the inhabitants of the country, dwelt in towns and cities, plowed their lands, and followed their respective trades and callings like other men. Nor can the books which Philo tells us they had, besides those of Moses and the prophets, be understood of those of the Christians; for the writings of the evangelists had been very lately published, and consequently could not come under the character of ancient authors. Not to mention that some of their ceremonies were such as the Christians of those days were absofute strangers to, not being introduced into the church till several years, and some of them not till some ages after Philo wrote his account: nay, some of them were never used by the primitive Christians especially their religious dances, which Philo particularly describes, as used by them at their festival solemnities, especially that remarkable one which they observed at the end of every seven weeks: when their entertainment being ended they all rose up, the men in one company, and the women in another, dancing with various measures and motions, each company singing divine hymns and songs, and having a precentor going before each division, singing alternately; till in the conclusion, they joined in one common chorus, in imitation of the triumphant song sung by Moses and the Israelites, after their great deliverance at the Red Sea, from the hostile attempts Pharaoh and his army.

From these, and several other particulars that might be mentioned, it will appear, that these could not be Christians; it is not indeed to be doubted, but that persons educated under such excellent rules and methods of life, were more than ordinarliy prepared for the reception of Christianity, and could not fail of rendering St. Mark's success surprising in those parts, and open a path for men to come in multitudes to embrace the doctrines of the gospel of JESUS CHRIST.

This apostle did not confine himself to Alexandria, and the oriental parts of Egypt but removed westwards to Lybia, passed through the countries of Marmarcia, Pentapolis, and others adjacent, where, though the people were both barbarous in their manners and idolatrous in their worship, yet by his preaching and miracles he prevailed on them to embrace the tenets of the gospel; nor did he leave them till he had confirmed them in the faith of his divine Master.

He returned after his long tour, to Alexandria, where he preached with the greatest freedom, ordered and disposed of the affairs of the church, and wisely provided for a succession, by constituting governors and pastors of it. But the restless enemy of the souls of men would not suffer our apostle to continue in peace and quietness: for while he was assiduously labouring in the vineyard of his Master, the idolatrous inhabitants about the time of Easter, when they were celebrating the solemnities of Serapis, tumultuously entered the church, forced St. Mark, then performing divine service, from thence, and binding his feet with cords, dragged him through the streets, and over the most craggy places to the Bucelus, a precipice near the sea, leaving him there in a lonesome prison for that night; but his great and beloved Master appeared to him in a vision, comforting and encouraging his soul, under the ruins of his shattered body. The next morning early the tragedy began a fresh, dragging him about in the same cruel and barbarous manner, till he expired: but their malice did not end with his death, they burnt his mangled body, after they had so inhumanly deprived it of life; but the Christians, after the hellish tragedy was over, gathered up his bones and ashes, and decently interred them near the place where he used to preach. His remains were afterwards, with great pomp, removed from Alexandria to Venice, where they are religiously honoured, and he adopted as the titular saint and patron of that state and people. He suffered martyrdom on the 25th of April, but the year is not absolutely known; the most probable opinion however is, that it happened about the end of Nero's reign.

As to his person, St. Mark was of a middle size and statue, his nose long, his eye brows turned back, his eyes graceful and amiable, his head bald, his beard thick and gray, his gait quick, and the constitution of his body strong and healthful.

The only writing he left behind him, was his gospel, written, as we have before observed at the entreaty and earnest desire of the converts at Rome, who not content to have heard St. Peter preach, pressed St. Mark his disciple to commit to writing an historical account of what he had delivered to them, which he performed with equal faithfulness, and brevity, and being perused and approved by St. Peter, and commanded to be publicly read in their assemblies. It was frequently styled St. Peter's gospel not because he dictated it to St. Mark, but because the latter composed it from the accounts St. Peter usually delivered in his discourses to the people: and this is probably the reason of what St. Chrysostom observes, that in his style and manner of expression, he delights to imitate St. Peter, representing a great deal in a few words. The remarkable impartiality he observed in all his relations, is plain from hence, that he is so far from concealing the shameful lapse and denial of St. Peter, his dear tutor and master that ⚫he describes it with more aggravating circumstances than any of the other evangelists. The Venetians pretended to have the original Greek copy

:

1

The acts of the apostles written by St. Luke, were no doubt penned at Rome, about the time of St. Paul's imprisonment there, with which he concludes his history. It contains the actions, and sometimes the sufferings of the principal apostles, especially St. Paul, whose activity in the cause of CHRIST made him bear a greater part in the labours of his master: and St. Luke being his constant attendant, and eye-witness of the whole carriage of his life, and privy to his most intimate transactions was consequently capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account of them.Amongst other things, he enumerates the great miracles the apostles did in conformation of the doctrines they advanced.

His manner of writing, in both these treatises, is exact and accurate; his style noble and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous, flowing with an easy and natural grace and sweetnes and sweetness, admirably adapted to an histoical design. In short, as an historian, he was faithful in his re lations, and elegant in his writings; as a minister careful and diligent for the good of souls; as a Christian, devout and pious; and to crown all the rest, laid down his life in testimony of that gospel he had both preached and published to the world, by the command of his Lord.

The LIFE of St. JOHN,

4

The APOSTLE and EVANGELIST; commonly called the DIVINE.

THIS beloved disciple of our Lord was a native of Galilee, the son of Zebedee & Salome, one of those devout women that constantly attended on our Lord in his ministry, and brother of James the Great. Before his becoming a disciple of the blessed Jesus, he was, in all probability, a follower of John the Baptist; and is thought to be that other disciple, who, in the first chapter of his gospel, is said to have been present with Andrew when John declared JESUS, to be "the Lamb of God," and thereupon to have followed him to the place of his residence.

Though St. John was by much the youngest of the apostles, he was nevertheless admitted into as great a share of his Master's confidence as any of them. He was one of those to whom he communicated the most private transactions of his life: one of those whom he took with him when he raised the daughter of Jarius from the dead; one of those to whom he exhibited a specimen of his divinity, in his transfiguration on the mount; one of those who were present at his conference with Moses and Elias, and heard that voice which declared him " the beloved son of God;" and one of those who were companions in his solitude, most retired devotions, and bitter agonies in the garden. Thus of the three who were made the witnesses of their Master's actions which it was convenient to conceal, St. John constantly enjoyed the privilege of being one: nay, even of these three, he seems to have had, in some respects, the preference; witness his lying on his Master's bosom at the paschal supper: and even when Peter was desirous of knowing who was the person that should betray their Master, and durst not himself ask the question, he made use of St. John, to propose it to their Lord, as the person most likely to succeed in obtaining an answer.

Our apostle endeavoured, in some measure, to answer these instances of particular favour, by returns of particular kindness and constancy; for though he at first deserted his Master on his apprehension, yet he soon recovered himself, and came to seek his Saviour, confidently entered the

high-priest's hall, followed our Lord through the several particulars of his trial, and at last waited on him at his execution, owning him, as well as be ing owned by him, in the midst of armed soldiers, and in the thickest crowds of his most inveterate enemies. Here it was that our great Redeemer committed to his care his sorrowful and disconsolate mother, with his dying breath. And certainly the holy Jesus could not have given a more honourable testimony of his particular respect and kindness John, than by leaving his own mother to his trust and care, and substituting him to supply that duty he himself paid her, while he resided in this vale of sorrow amongst men.

to

St.

St. John no sooner heard of our Lord's being risen from the chambers of the dust, than he, in company with Peter, hastened to the sepulchre.There seems indeed to have been a peculiar intimacy between these two disciples; it was Peter that St. John introduced into the palace of the highpriest; it was Peter to whom he gave notice of CHRIST'S appearing when he came to them at the sea of Tiberius, in the habit of a stranger; and it was for St. John that Peter was so solitiously inquisitive to know what was determined concerning him when our Saviour expressed himself somewhat ambiguously respecting that disciple,

After the ascension of the Saviour of the world, when the apostles made a division of the provinces amongst themselves, that of Asia fell to the share of St. John, though he did not immediately enter upon his charge, but continued at Jerusalem till the death of the blessed Virgin, which happened about fifteen years after our Lord's ascension: being released from the trust committed to his care by his dying Master he retired into Asia, and industriously applied himself to the propagating Christianity, preaching where the gospel had not yet been known, and confirming it where already planted. Many churches of note and eminence were of his founding, particular those of Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodocia, and others; but his chief place of residence was at Ephesus, where St. Paul had many years before founded a church, and constituted Timothy bishop of it. Nor can we suppose that he confined his ministry entirely to Asia minor; it is highly probable to think that he preached in other parts of the East, probably to the Parthians, his first epistle being anciently directed to them; and the Jesuits assure us that the inhabitants of the kingdom of Bassorain India affirm, that, according to a tradition hand ed down from their ancestors, St. John planted the Christian faith in their country, where the Christians are called by his name..

Having spent several years at Ephesus, he was accused to Domitian, who had begun a persecution against the Chrsitians, as an eminent asserter of Atheism and impiety, and a public subverter of the religion of the empire, so that by his command, the proconsul sent him bound to Rome, where he met with the treatment that might have been expected from so barbarous a prince, being thrown into a chaldron of boiling oil: but the Almighty who reserved him for further services in the vineyard of his Son, restrained the heat as he did in the fiery furnace of old, and delivered him from this seeming unavoidable destruction. And one would have thought that so miraculous a deliverance would have been sufficient to have persuaded any rational man that the religion he taught was from God, and that he was protected from danger by the hand of Omnipotence: but miracles themselves were not sufficient to convince this cruel emperor, or abate his fury; he ordered St. John to be transported to a disconsolate island in the Archipelago, called Patmos, where he continued several years instructing the poor inhabitants in the knowledge of the Christian faith; and here, abort the end of Domitian's reign, he wrote his book of revelation, exhibiting by visions, and prophetical representations, the state and condition of Christianity in the future periods and ages of the church, till the final consu-, mation of all things.