encourage Backbiters, by liftening to their Suggeftions, and by giving Credit to their Slanders. Thou haft given me a Tongue that I might praife thee, and that I might influence others to blefs thy holy Name: O! let this be the main Employment of that noble Gift, that my Words may chiefly aim at promoting thy Glory; either to foften the Pains of the Afflicted, to vindicate the Reputation of my Neighbour, whenever I hear it injured; to unite the Minds of those that are at Variance, or to inftruct those that know thee not enough; and to entertain all the World, O God, with thy Greatness, and thy Goodness; to inflame all Hearts with thy Love, to provoke them to praise thee, to blefs thee, to glorify thee; that I may one Day mingle my Praises with thofe of thy Elect in Glory, through Jefus Chrift. Amen. CHA P. XXXII. St. Luke the Evangelift, O&. 18. HAT Feftival doth the Church celebrate this Day? A. That of St. Luke the Evangelift. Q. What mean you by an Evangelift? A. The Name was at first given to those that preached the Gofpel; but afterwards it was confined to those four, that wrote the History of the Life and Preaching of our Saviour Jefus Chrift; whofe four Gofpels make part of the facred Canon of Scripture, Q. Where Q. Where was the Place of St. Luke's Nativity? A. Antioch, the Metropolis of Syria, pleafant Eufeb. for its Situation, fertile for its Soil, rich by its lib.3. c.4. Traffick, famous for Learning and Civility; and above all, renowned for this one peculiar Honour, that here it was that the Difciples of Jefus Acts 11. were firft called Chriftians. Q. What was his particular Profeffion? A. That of Phyfick; an Art in those Days generally managed by Perfons of no better Rank 26. than Servants; which made Grotius conceive, Grot. Sethat St. Luke, though a Syrian by Birth, was a cun. Luc. Servant at Rome, where he. fometimes practifed Phyfick, and when made free, returned into his own Country. Q. What other Skill was be famous for befides Phyfick? A. Painting; and there are fome Pieces ftill in being, pretended to have been drawn by his own Hand; but I believe it will be fomewhat difficult to prove them true Originals of our Evangelift. Q. Was St. Luke one of the feventy Difciples? A. Some of the Ancients thought he was, and that he deferted our Saviour upon the unwelcome John 6. Discouse he made to his Difciples; but was afterwards recalled by St. Paul. And upon no better Ground it is faid, he was one of the two Difciples going to Emmaus; for, befides the Silence of Scripture, St. Luke feems to contradict it himself, by confeffing he was not from the Beginning an Eye-witness and Minifter of the Word. Most probable it is, he was converted by St. Paul Luke 1.2 during his Abode at Antioch. Q. How Q. How did he bestow his Labours after his Converfion? A. He became an infeparable Companion and Fellow-Labourer with St. Paul in the Ministry Acts 16. of the Gofpel; efpecially after St. Paul's going into Macedonia; from which Time, in recording St. Paul's Travels, St. Luke always fpeaks of himself in his own Perfon. 10. Q. How did he endear himself to St. Paul? A. By attending him in all his Dangers; by being prefent with him in his feveral Arraignments at Jerufalem; by accompanying him in his hazardous Voyage to Rome, where he ferved his Neceffities, and fupplied those ministerial Offices, which the Apostle's Confinement would not fuffer him to difcharge, especially in carrying Meffages to thofe Churches, where he had 2 Tim. 4. planted Chriftianity; and in sticking to him when others forfook him. 11. Q. Where did St. Luke preach the Gofpel? A. Some fay he left St. Paul at Rome, and returned back into the Eaft, and travelled into Egypt, and the Parts of Libya, where he converted many to Christianity, and took upon himfelf the Epifcopal Charge of the City of Thebais; though it is most probable he did not wholly leave St. Paul, till he finished his Course with Martyrdom. Q. What Account do others give of his Labours? A. That he first preached in Dalmatia and Galatia, then in Italy and Macedonia; where he fpared no Pains, declined no Dangers in the faithful Discharge of the Trust committed to him. Q. About what Time, and in what Manner did he die? A. The A. The Ancients are not very well agreed about either: Some affirming him to die in Egypt, others in Greece; fome in Bithynia, others at Ephefus; fome make him die a natural, others a violent Death. Q. What Account is given of his Martyrdom ? A. That he fuccefsfully preached the Gospel in Greece; 'till a Party of Infidels making Head against him, drew him to Execution; and for want of a Cross whereon to dispatch him, prefently hanged him upon an Olive-tree, in the Eightieth Year of his Age, though St. Jerome makes it the Eighty-fourth. Q. Where is his Body interred? A. At Conftantinople, whither it was removed by the Command of Conftantine, or his Son Conftantius, and buried in the great Church built in Memory of the Apostles. Q. What Writings did he leave behind him? 1. His Gospel, and his History of the Acts of the Apoftles, both dedicated to Theophilus. Q. Who was this Theophilus ? A. Many of the Ancients fuppofed it to be a feigned Name, denoting no more than a Lover of God, a Title common to every Christian; tho' others, with better Reafon, conclude it the proper Name of a particular Perfon: efpecially fince the Title of Moft excellent is attributed to him, the ufual Form of Addrefs in thofe Times to great Men. We may probably fuppofe him to have been fome Magiftrate, whom St. Luke had converted; to whom he dedicates thefe Books, not only as a Testimony of Respect, but as a Means of giving him farther Affurance of thofe Things wherein he had been intrufted. Laket. 4. 1 Q. What may we learn from the Manner of thefe Dedications? A. That in Addreffes of this Nature, though Authors fhould not neglect the giving those Titles that are due to Mens different Qualities, (as Moft excellent feems to be given by St. Luke upon that Account, it being the fame Word in the Acts 24,3. Original, which St. Paul applies to the Roman Governors Felix and Feftus,) yet they fhould be very sparing in perfonal Commendations, for fear of contracting the Guilt of Flattery, fo pernicious to themselves, as well as to their Patrons ? Κράτις. 25. 16, Q. When was St. Luke's Gospel fuppofed to be writ? A. During his Travels with St. Paul in Achia, whofe Help he is generally faid to have made use of in the compofing of it. And that this the Rom. z. Apostle primarily intends, when he so often fpeaks of his Gofpel. Befides this Advantage, we are affured by the Evangelift himself, that he derived his Intelligence from thofe who from the BeLuke 1. ginning had been Eye-witnefes and Ministers of the Word? 2 Tim, 2. 8. 2. Q. Upon what Occafion did he write his Gofpel? A. Partly to prevent thofe falfe and fabulous Relations, which even then began to be obtruded upon the World; and partly to fupply what feemed wanting in thofe two Evangelifts that wrote before him, in relation to fome Particulars concerning our Saviour's Birth, Preaching, and Miracles. He mainly infifted upon what belongs to Chrift's Priefly Office; upon which Ezek. 1. Account the Ancients, in accommodating the four fymbolical Reprefentments in the Prophet's Vi 10. fion to the four Evangelifts, affigned the Ox or Calf to St. Luke. Q. When |