carp. ad

non longe ad

init.

of it, as in which nothing of the true temper and spirit of Ignatius does appear, while others of great note not improbably contend for it as genuine and sincere. From Troas they sailed to Neapolis, a maritime town of Macedonia, thence to Philippi, a Roman colony (the very same journey which St. Paul had gone before him,) Epist. Poly- Where (as P St. Polycarp intimates in his Epistle to that Philip. p. 13. Church) they were entertained with all imaginable kindness and courtesy, and conducted forward in their journey. Hence they passed on foot through Macedonia and Epirus, until they came to Epidamnum a city of Dalmatia, where again taking ship they sailed through the Adriatic, and arrived at Rhegium a port town in Italy, whence they directed their course through the Tyrrhenian Sea to Puteoli, Ignatius desiring (if it might have been granted) thence to have gone by land, that he might have traced the same way, by which St. Paul went to Rome. After a day and a night's stay at Puteoli, a prosperous wind quickly carried them to the Roman port, the great harbour and station for their navy, built near Ostia at the mouth of Tyber, about sixteen miles from Rome, whither the holy Martyr longed to come, as much desirous to be at the end of his race, as his keepers, weary of their voyage, were to be at the end of their journey.

8. The Christians at Rome daily expecting his arrival, were come out to meet and entertain him, and accordingly received him with an equal resentment of joy and sorrow. Glad they were of the presence and company of so great and good a man, but quickly found their joy allayed with the remembrance, how soon, and by how severe a death he was to be taken from them : and when some of them did but intimate, that possibly the people might be taken off from desiring his death, he expressed a pious indignation, intreating them to cast no rubs in his way, nor do any thing that might hinder him, now he was hastening to his crown. Be

ing conducted to Rome, he was presented to the Præfect
of the city, and it is probable, the Emperor's letters con-
cerning him were delivered. In the mean time while
things were preparing for his Martyrdom, he and the
brethren that resorted to him improved their time to pious.
purposes; he prayed with them, and for them, heartily
recommended the state of the Churches to the care and
protection of our blessed Saviour, and earnestly solicited
Heaven, that it would stop the Persecution that was be-
gun, and bless Christians with a true love and charity
towards one another. That his punishment might be
the more pompous and public, one of their solemn fes-
tivals, the time of their Saturnalia, and that part of it
when they celebrated their Sigillaria, was pitched on for
his execution at which time they were wont to enter-
tain the people with the bloody conflicts of gladiators,
and the hunting of and fighting with beasts. According-
ly, on the 13th of the Calends of January, that is Decem-
ber 20, he was brought out into the Ampitheatre, and
according to his own fervent desire, that he might have
no other grave but the bellies of wild beasts, the lions
were let loose upon him, whose roaring aların he enter-
tained with no other concernment, than that now as
God's own corn he should be ground between the teeth
of these wild beasts, and become white bread for his
heavenly Master.

C.

Euseb. 1. 3.

J. Malel.

ap. Usser.

9. About this time, or a little before, while Trajan was yet at Antioch, he stopped, or at least mitigated the persecution against Christians: for having had an ac- 7 Ep. 97. 1. 16 count from Pliny the Proconsul of Bithynia (whom c. 34. p. 105. he had employed for that purpose) concerning the inno- Chron. 1. 11. cency and simplicity of the Christians, that they were a not. in Ignat. harmless and inoffensive generation; and lately received Extat ap. a letter from Tyberianus Governor of Palestina Pri- cit. ap. Us ma, wherein he told him that he was wearied out in exe- Ignat. p. 9. vid. Except. cuting the laws against the Galilæans, who crowded ex Jo. Andthemselves in such multitudes to execution, that he could edit p. 818.

T

Epist. p. 43.

jo. Mal. loc.

ser. Appen.

och a. Val

neither by persuasion nor threatenings keep them from owning themselves to be Christians, further praying his Majesty's advice in that affair: hereupon he gave command, that no inquisition should be made after the Christians, though if any of them offered themselves, execution should be done upon them. So that the fire which had hitherto flamed and burnt out, began now to be extinguished, and only crept up and down in private corners. There are that tell us that Trajan having heard a full account of Ignatius and his sufferings, and how undauntedly he had undergone that bitter death, repented of what he had done, and was particularly moved to mitigate and relax the persecution: whereby, as Metaphrastes observes) not only Ignatius' life, but his very death became the procurer of great peace and prosperity, and the glory and establishment of the Christian Faith.

THE LIFE

OF

ST. BARNABAS,

THE APOSTLE.

THE proper, and (if I may so term it) original name of this Apostle (for with that title St. Luke, and after him the Ancients constantly honoured him) was Joses, by a softer termination familiar with the Greeks for Jo seph, and so the King's and several other manuscript copies read it. It was the name given him at his cicumcision, in honour no doubt of Joseph, one of the great patriarchs of their nation, to which after his embracing Christianity, the Apostles added that of Barnabas; Joses, who by the Apostles was surnamed Barnabas, either implying him a son of Prophecy, eminent for his prophetic gifts and endowments, or denoting him (what was a peculiar part of the Prophet's office) a son of Consolation, for his admirable dexterity in erecting troubled minds, and leading them on by the most mild and gentle methods of persuasion: though I rather conceive him so styled for his generous charity in refreshing the bowels of the Saints; especially since the name seems to have been imposed upon him upon that occasion. He was born in Cyprus, a noted Island in the Mediterranean Sea, lying between Cilicia, Syria and Egypt.

2. He was a descendant of the Tribe of Levi, and the line of the Priesthood, which rendered his conversion to

Monach. En

nab. inter

taph. extat.

Jun. xi. p.

n. 4, 5, 6.

Christianity the more remarkable, all interests concurring to leaven him with mighty prejudices against the Christian Faith. But the grace of God delights many times to exert itself against the strongest opposition, and loves to conquer, where there is least probability to overcome. His parents were rich and pious, and finding Mexand. him a beautiful and hopeful youth (says my author, com. S. Bar- deriving his intelligence concerning him, as he tells us, vitas S. Me- from Clemens of Alexandria, and other ancient writers) ap. sur. ad they sent, or brought him to Jerusalem, to be trained up 170. vid. ib. in the knowledge of the Law, and to that end committed him to the tutorage of Gamaliel, the great Doctor of the Law, and most famous master at that time in Israel, at whose foot he was brought up together with St. Paul; which if so, might lay an early foundation of that intimate familiarity that was afterwards between them. Here he improved in learning and piety, frequenting the Temple, and devoutly exercising himself in fasting and prayer. We are further told, that being a frequent spectator of our Saviour's miracles, and among the rest, of his curing the paralitic at the pool of Bethesda, he was soon convinced of his Divinity, and persuaded to deliver up himself to his discipline and institutions and as the nature of true goodness is ever communicative, he presently went and acquainted his sister Mary with the notice of the Messiah, who hastened to come to him, and importuned him to come home to her house, where our Lord afterwards (as the Church continued to do after his decease) was wont to assemble with his Disciples, and that her son Mark was that young man, who bore the pitcher of water, whom our Lord commanded the two Disciples to follow home, and there prepare for the celebration of the Passover.

3. The Church being dispersed up and down after St. Stephen's Martyrdom, we have no certain account what became of him, in all probability he staid with the Apostles at Jerusalem, where we find him not long after St.