a nature, that they must have been, if they ever happened at all, matters of public notoriety. The conversion of Saul, and of the chamberlain of Candace; the supernatural release of Peter from prison, in consequence of which Herod commanded the keepers to be put to death; the infliction of blindness upon the sorcerer Elymas, in the presence of Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of Cyprus; the divine honours offered to Paul and Barnabas at Lystra; the pleading of Paul before Festus and Agrippa; all these were incidents, which must have been the topics of common conversation in the parts where they occurred; and if they had never occurred at all, it would have been madness in the historian, to furnish his readers with such abundant and ready means of detecting his imposture. He would in that case have dealt more in generals. For instance, in relating the miracle at Cyprus,* he would have said, that it happened in the presence of a certain great man of the province; but when he mentioned, not only that it was the Roman deputy, but his very name, Sergius Paulus, he furnished an easy test of his own veracity; because it could very readily be ascertained, whether there had been any such deputy as Sergius Paulus; and

* Acts xiii. 6.

it is probable that either he, or some of his family, was living, when St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles. So when he relates that Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, believed on the Lord with his whole house,* he gave the Jews a ready means of detecting the incorrectness of his narrative, if it were untrue. And all these particulars are introduced into the history in so natural and unstudied a manner, as to convey an impression to the reader's mind, that the author set down nothing but what he himself believed to be true. It may be added, that he wrote for the more immediate information of a man of rank, who was less likely to be imposed upon by forged accounts, and would have readier means of inquiry, than were possessed by humble and illiterate persons.

Another mark of veracity in the sacred historian is this, that he does not deliver an elaborate and minute account of all the transactions of the Apostles for the first eleven years of their ministry; but confines himself to a few of the most remarkable facts, which he had learned from those who were eye witnesses; giving a slight and summary sketch, rather than an exact and complete history of the Church, down to the

* Acts xviii. 8.

time when he himself was engaged in the work of spreading the Gospel, by being chosen as a companion to St. Paul. But from the moment, when he thus became himself a witness of the facts which he records, his narrative becomes very circumstantial and detailed.

His great object appears to have been, to give his noble convert Theophilus a full account of St. Paul; of his mission to the Gentiles (of whom Theophilus was probably one), and of the success which attended his ministry. Accordingly, the incidents, which he selects for his narrative from the earlier proceedings of the Apostles, are principally those, which have some reference to the admission of the heathens into the Church of Christ. The gift of tongues, the preaching of the Gospel to the Samaritans, the conversion of the Ethiopian, of Cornelius, and of the Grecians at Antioch, are all of this description: and these, together with the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen, which are perhaps introduced on account of the share which St. Paul had in his death, are the chief particulars contained in the first twelve chapters of the Acts.

St. Paul himself was the most remarkable of the Apostles, both as to the circumstances and end of his call to the ministry; and was

probably an object of greater curiosity than any of his brethren, both to the Jewish and the Gentile converts, but certainly to the latter. His appeal to Cæsar, his residence and preaching at Rome for the space of more than two years together, and the conversion of some of the imperial household,* had no doubt excited a lively interest concerning him in the Church at large: and to those who had been admitted into the Gospel covenant by his ministry, or under his authority, without that obedience to the law of Moses, which many even of the Christian teachers held to be indispensable, it was of great importance, that the vocation and commission of St. Paul should be established by satisfactory evidence. These considerations will account for the manner, in which the narrative of St. Luke glides off from the general history of the Apostles into the personal transactions of St. Paul: and this also is an additional symptom of veracity in the sacred historian.

In the eleventh chapter it is related, that they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And

*Phil. i. 13. iv. 22.

some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them; and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.

In some of the most popular commentaries on the Bible, the Grecians are said to mean Jews, who spoke the Greek language. But it is almost certain, from the context, that we are to understand Gentiles: and this is the first instance in which the Gospel was publicly spoken of, though not preached by an Apostle, to the heathen. Let us here remark, how the providence of God can turn the afflictions of his Church to its advancement. The very persecution, which was designed to check the progress of the Gospel, and to crush it in its infancy, was the means of its earlier propagation to distant parts. If the Christians had not been vexed and evil intreated at Jerusalem, the heathens at Antioch had not so soon heard of the Lord Jesus. Many other instances might be adduced from the history of the Church, to illustrate the continued fulfilment of that prophecy, which described the impotency of human malice and cunning, when opposed to the eternal purposes of God in the plan of man's redemption; Why do