should rise tumultuously in their defence. As soon as they made their appearance, the highpriest demanded how they dared to break the order which had been so recently given, that they should teach no longer in the name of Jesus. To whom Peter replied, in the name of them all, "We ought to obey God rather than men." He then repeated their testimony to the resurrection and divine commission of Christ, and their resolution firmly to adhere to it. Enraged at their courageous behaviour and declaration, some of the council consulted how they might put them all to death, upon a charge either of blasphemy or of sedition. But from this design they were dissuaded by Gamaliel, a learned Pharisee, of high reputation for wisdom and piety, who, after commanding that the Apostles should be taken out for a little while, argued powerfully against adopting any intemperate resolutions respecting them, concluding in these memorable words: "Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel, or this work, be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." To his advice the assembly yielded, and, after ordering the Apostles to be scourged, dismissed them, with threatenings of severe punishment if they should persist in propagating their notions concerning Jesus.

Upon the death of the proto-martyr Stephen, the church at Jerusalem was cruelly harassed by persecution, which caused the believers, in general, excepting the Apostles, to be dispersed throughout the countries of Judea and Samaria. Among those who came to the last-mentioned place, was Philip the deacon, who preached Christ to the inhabitants of that city, and gained many converts to his religion. No sooner were the Apostles informed of this state of things, than they deputed Peter and John to go to Samaria, that they might confirm the new believers in their profession, by communicating to them the extraordinary gifts of the spirit. While they were thus engaged, Peter severely reproved and exposed the insincere profession of one Simon, commonly called the Magician, who had formerly gained a high reputation by practising the pretended arts of magic. Afterwards, having executed their commission, the two Apostles returned to Jerusalem, preaching the Gospel by the way in many villages of the Samaritans. In the year of Christ 40, owing to some circumstances in the civil state of the Jews; the church began to enjoy a respite from persecution, which pro

bably continued twelve months or more. This peaceful interval, as it may be supposed, was zealously improved by all the Apostles in spreading the knowledge of the gospel, Of Peter, in particular, it is said, that he passed through all parts of the country, and visited the Christian converts at Lydda, a considerable town not far from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Here, in the name of Jesus, he performed a wonderful miraculous cure on a person called Æneas, who had been confined to his bed by the palsy for eight years. By this miracle great numbers of the inhabitants of the place and the adjoining districts, who personally knew the subject of it, or had the opportunity of gaining unquestionable information concerning the particulars of his case, were convinced that he in whose name the cure was performed must be the promised Messiah, and immediately embraced his Gospel. A vast increase in the number of believers in these parts was speedily produced by another and more astonishing event which took place about the same time. At Joppa, a sea-port within a few miles from Lydda, resided a female disciple called Tabitha, who was a woman of an excellent character, and distinguished for her deeds of beneficence and charity to the poor. While Peter was at Lydda, this worthy person fell sick, and died; upon which event the Christians in that town sent to Peter, requesting that he would come to them without delay, and impart to them consolation and advice in their great distress for the loss of such a kind and useful friend. With this request Peter complied; and when he arrived at Tabitha's house, he was introduced into the apartment where she was laid out, in which were many widows lamenting the death of their benefactress, who shewed him the coats and garments which she had made to distribute among the necessitous. But Peter, sending them all out of the room, and finding himself moved by a supernatural impulse, kneeled down and prayed; and then turning towards the body, said, "Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up." He then took her by the hand, and presented her alive to her assembled friends. A knowledge of this wonderful fact soon spread through Joppa, and caused so many to believe in Christ upon the credit of such a signal miracle, that Peter spent many days in that city, confirming them in the faith which they had received.

While Peter continued at Joppa, Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian cohort, stationed at Cæsarea, a worshipper of the true God, and

a man of distinguished piety, though a Gentile, being directed in a vision to send for the Apostle, in order to receive from him important instruction in matters of religion, dispatched two of his servants and a pious soldier, to request that Peter would accompany them to the place of his residence. A little before their arrival at Joppa, the Apostle went to the top of the house to pray, about the time of noon, when he felt the cravings of hunger, and his dinner was preparing. While he was engaged in his devotions, he fell into a trance, or extasy, in which an instructive vision presented itself to him. He seemed to see the Heavens open, and something resembling in form a great sheet suspended at the four corners descend to the earth, in which were various wild and tame four-footed beasts, reptiles, and fowls. While these things were before him, he heard a voice calling upon him to kill such of them as he chose, and satisfy his hunger. As, however, he saw none among them but such as were forbidden by the ceremonial law, he said, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." To make the stronger impression upon him, the vision was represented three times successively. While Peter was pondering concerning what it might be intended to point out to him, he was informed, by divine suggestion, that the messengers from Cæsarea where enquiring for him, and directed to go with them to that city, as Cornelius's message was sent in obedience to a divine command. On the following morning, therefore, he set out with them, accompanied by certain believers from Joppa; and when he came to the house of Cornelius, he found that the centurion had convened several of his relations and intimate friends, to be present at their interview. After premising, that it had been generally considered unlawful by the Jews to hold intimate intercourse and conversation with Gentiles, but that God had lately shewn him that he was not to make such distinction, or to call "any man common or unclean," Peter desired to be informed of the reason why Cornelius had sent for him. Upon this the centurion mentioned the circumstances of his vision, and declared that he and his friends were assembled with a serious disposition to listen to those important truths which the Apostle was commissioned to unfold. When Cornelius had given this answer, Peter began his address to the persons present with a frank

VOL. VIII.

and liberal declaration, which was expressive of no little triumph over his prejudices as a Jew. "Of a truth I perceive," said he, "that God is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him." He then expatiated on the divine mission of Jesus Christ, the evidence which supported its truth, and the inestimable offer of remission of sins which was made in his name. While he was yet speaking, similar extraordinary circumstances with those which attended the communication of preternatural powers to the Apostles and Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost, at Jerusalem, shewed that Cornelius and his company were invested with the same distinguished privileges, and, to the astonishment of the disciples who came from Joppa, convinced them that the uncircumcised Gentiles were to be partakers in the blessings of the Gospel. Immediately after this, Cornelius and his friends were baptized, and Peter, at their entreaty, remained several days with them, for the purpose of instructing them farther in the faith of which they had made profession. This memorable event, of opening the kingdom of Heaven to the Gentiles, or of receiving them into the Christian church, the honour of which was conferred upon Peter, took place most probably in the year 41.

Upon Peter's return to Jerusalem, whither general intelligence of the transactions at Cæsarea had preceded him, some of the brethren warmly expostulated with him, for having been a guest, and freely joined in their meals, with men who were uncircumcised; but after he had given them an account of the visions which were seen by himself and Cornelius, and of the extraordinary occurrences which took place while he was preaching, they were satisfied with what they heard, and glorified God for extending the boundaries of his kingdom, and granting " also to the Gentiles repentance unto life." From this time, Peter appears to have continued his apostolic labours in Judea with great success, till the persecution of the church arose towards the end of the reign of Herod Agrippa. By that Prince, James the brother of John, who with him and Peter had been honoured by Jesus with his peculiar intimacy, was ordered to be apprehended, and afterwards to be beheaded; and as Herod saw that by causing that Apostle to be put to death, he had gratified the Jews, whom he was particularly desirous of obliging, he proceeded to seize Peter also, during the feast of the Passover, in the year 44. Having been taken into custody, the Apostle was committed to prison, where

L

sixteen soldiers were appointed to be centinels over him, four of whom were by turns to watch him constantly by day and night, till the festiwat was ended, when the King intended that he should be publicly executed, as his Master had been before him, on the first day of unleavened bread. In the mean time, the church at Jerusalem engaged in earnest and continual prayer to God, that he would spare for a longer period such a valuable life; and the event soon shewed that their supplication was not in vain. For during the night preceding the day fixed for his execution, while Peter was calmly sleeping between two soldiers, to each of whom he was fastened by a chain, an angel of God entered the prison, which was filled with a glorious light, and having awakened the Apostle, his chains immediately fell off from his hands, while the soldiers were miraculously kept in profound sleep. The angel then directed Peter to make ready and follow him, and having conducted the Apostle undiscovered through the guards, and gates, and a street of the city, he suddenly departed from him. As soon as Peter had satisfied himself that what had past was a real and not visionary scene, he repaired to the house of Mary, the mother of Mark the Evangelist, where many Christians were assembled, spending the night in prayer for his deliverance; and after informing them of the wonderful interposition by which he had obtained his liberty, withdrew to some place of greater secrecy, where it is probable that he lived in retirement till the death of Herod, which happened before the end of the year. Some learned men are of opinion, that he now went to Antioch, or Rome; but if that had been the case, St. Luke would probably have made some mention of it.

In the year 49, or 50, when the council assembled at Jerusalem, for the purpose of determining on the question, whether it was necessary that the Christian converts from among the Gentiles should be circumcised, and commanded to observe the law of Moses? Peter was present, and declared on the side of liberty, giving it as his opinion, that the yoke of the law should not be laid upon the neck of Gentile believers; and to add weight to what he advanced on the subject, he reminded the assembly that he had been divinely appointed to preach the Gospel to Gentiles at Cæsarea, and that God, to whom all hearts are known, had declared his acceptance of them, by communicating to them supernatural gifts, though they were uncircumcised. Whence he drew the conclusion, that God had made it clearly manifest

that they might be saved by faith in Jesus Christ, without submitting to the rituals of the law. In this conclusion, which was ably supported by James the son of Alpheus, the council acquiesced, only enjoining some easy restrictions, to avoid giving unnecessary offence to their circumcised brethren. While Paul was on this occasion at Jerusalem, James, Peter, and John, "gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship," that they might proceed in preaching to the Gentiles; while they, and the other Apostles continued in Judea, to preach to those of the circumcision. Soon after the meeting of this council, and most probably in the year 50, Peter paid a short visit to Antioch, being desirous of witnessing the success of the Gospel, by means of the apostolical labours of Paul and Barnabas in that city. This appears to have been his first excursion out of Judea into Gentile countries. Upon his first coming. to Antioch, Peter had eaten and conversed freely with the Gentile converts who had not submitted to circumcision; but on the arrival there from Judea of some Jewish believers, who were zealous for the observance of the Mosaic law, he withdrew from that freedom of converse, fearing lest his perseverance in it should give displeasure to the latter. In this unworthy and pusillanimous proceeding, he acted contrary to his own judgment, and declared opinion. Paul, therefore, with a noble indignation, and becoming zeal for Christian liberty, "withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed ;" and so powerfully represented his conduct to be chargeable with dissimulation, as well as productive of the most injurious consequences, that Peter acquiesced in the justice of his reproof; nor is there any reason to think, that he ever afterwards betrayed any want of steadiness and consistency in his Christian profession.

After this journey to Antioch, we are nowhere furnished with any very distinct account of St. Peter's travels. Eusebius informs us, that Origen, in the third tome of his Exposition onGenesis, wrote to this purpose: "Peter is supposed to have preached to the Jews of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia, and Asia; who at length coming to Rome, was crucified with his head downwards, himself having desired it might be in that manner.". Some learned men think, that in the latter part of his life he went into Chaldea, and there wrote his first Epistle, because the salutation of the church at Babylon is sent in it; and their opinion, though not supported by the testimony of ancient writers, is not devoid of

probability. The books of the New Testament, indeed, afford no light for determining where he was for several years after receiving the reproof of St. Paul already mentioned. The learned, therefore, have been obliged to content themselves with conjectures on this subject. Among the irvarious hypotheses, not one appears to us to be upon the whole more reason able, or less open to objections, than that of the able and dispassionate Lardner. "It appears to me not unlikely," says he, "that Peter returned in a short time to Judea from Antioch; and that he staid in Judea a good while before he went thence any more. And it seems to me that when he left Judea, he went again to Antioch the chief city in Syria. Thence he might go into other parts of the continent, particularly Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, which are expressly mentioned in the beginning of his first Epistle. In those countries he might stay a good while. It is very likely that he did so; and that he was well acquainted with the Christians there, to whom he afterwards wrote two Epistles. When he left those parts, I think he went to Rome: but not till after Paul had been in that city, and was gone from it. Several of St. Paul's Epistles furnish out a cogent argument of Peter's absence from Rome for a considerable space of time. St. Paul, in the last chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, written, as we suppose, in the beginning of the year 58, salutes many by name without mentioning Peter. And the whole tenor of the Epistle makes it reasonable to think, that the Christians there had not yet had the benefit of that that Apostle's presence and instructions. During his two year's confinement at Rome, which ended, as we suppose, in the spring of the year 63, St. Paul wrote four or five Epistles, those to the Ephesians, the second Epistle to Timothy, to the Philippians, the Colossians, and Philemon: in none of which is any mention of Peter. Nor is any thing said or hinted whence it can be concluded that he had ever been there. I think, therefore, that Peter did not come to Rome before the year 63, or, perhaps, 64; and, as I suppose, he obtained the crown of martyrdom in the year 64 or 65. Consequently St. Peter could not reside very long at Rome before his death."

Jerome, in his book "De Vir. Illust." cap. 1., says, that Peter was bishop of Rome during five-and-twenty years; but such a statement is totally irreconcileable with the history in the Acts of the Apostles. On the other hand, several learned men, particularly

Scaliger, Salmasius, Frederick Spanheim, and others, have denied that Peter ever was at Rome. But their opinion is satisfactorily opposed by posed by a great majority of critics, Protestants as well as Catholics. In Lardner, as referred to below, the reader may meet with a concentrated view of the evidence from antiquity, on which Peter's having been at Rome rests, which is thus concluded by that writer: "It is easy to observe, that it is the general, uncontradicted, disinterested testimony of ancient writers, in the several parts of the world, Greeks, Latins, Syrians. As our Lord's prediction concerning the death of Peter is recorded in one of the four Gospels, it is very likely that Christians would observe the accomplishment of it, which must have been in some place. And about this place there is no difference among Christian writers of ancient times. Never any other place was named beside Rome. Nor did any other city ever glory in the martyrdom of Peter. There were, in the second and third centuries, disputes between the Bishop of Rome and other bishops and churches, about the time of keeping Easter, and about the baptism of heretics? yet none denied the Bishop of Rome to have what they called the chair of Peter. It is not for our honour, nor our interest, either as Christians or Protestants, to deny the truth of events, ascertained by early and well-attested tradition. If any make an ill use of such facts, we are not accountable for it. We are not, from a dread of such abuses, to overthrow the credit of all history; the consequence of which would be fatal. Fables and fictions have been mixed with the accounts of Peter's being at Rome; but they are not in the most early writers: they have been added since. And it is well known that fictions have been joined with histories of the most certain and important facts." In our Life of St. Paul we have already shewn it to be most probable, that he and St. Peter were both put to death at Rome, in the year 64 or 65. With respect to what is said in the passage cited from Eusebius, concerning Peter's desire that he might be crucified with his head downwards, as the circumstance is not noticed by some ancient writers who speak of his martyrdom, its accuracy has been questioned. There is no doubt but that, among the Romans, some were so crucified, to add to their pain and ignominy; and Lardner admits that Peter might be crucified in that manner, and that it might be owing to the spite and malice of those who put him to death. He adds, however, "the