Antiquitates apoitolicæ, or, The history of the lives, acts and martyrdoms of the holy apostles of our Saviour and the two evangelists SS. Mark and Lvke to which is added an introductory discourse concerning the three great dispensations of the church, patriarchal, Mosiacal and evangelical : being a continuation of Antiquitates christianæ or the life and death of the holy Jesus / by William Cave ...

THE LIFE OF S. LUKE the Evangelist.

[illustration]

S. LUKE.

2. COR. 8.8.19.

The Brother, whose praise is in y^e Gospel through out all y^e Churches: And not that onely, but who was also chosen of y^e Churches to travell with us.

[illustration]

S^t. Luke his Martyrdom.

Col. 4.14.

Luke the beloved Physician. The brother whose Praise is in the Gospel.

2 Cor. 4.11.

We are delivered unto death for Jesus sake. Bearing in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

Antioch S. Luke's birth-place. The fame and dignity of it. His learned and liberal education. His study of Physick. His skill in Painting. S. Luke none of the Seventy. Converted, where, and by whom. His constant atten∣dance upon S. Paul. In what parts he principally exercised his Ministry. The place, and manner of his Death. The translation of his Body to Constanti∣nople. His Writings. Theophilus, who. His Gospel, where written, and upon what occasion. How fitted for it. The Acts of the Apostles written at Rome, and when. Why principally containing the Acts of S. Paul. This Book why publickly read just after Easter in the Primitive Church. S. Luke's polite and exact stile and way of writing above the rest.

1. SAINT Luke was born at Antioch, the Metropolis of Syria, a City celebrated for its extraordinary blessings and eminences, the plea∣santness of its situation, the fertility of its soil, the riches of its Traffick, the wisdom of its Senate, the learning of its Professors, the civi∣lity and politeness of its Inhabitants, by the Pens of some of the greatest * 1.1 Orators of their times: And yet above all these renowned for this one pecu∣liar honour, that here it was that the Disciples were first called Christians. It was an University, reple∣nished with Schools of learning, wherein were Professors of all Arts and Sciences. So that being born in the very lap of the Muses, he could not well miss of an ingenuous and liberal education, his natural parts meeting with the advantages of great improvements. Nay, we are * 1.2 told, that he studi∣ed not only at Antioch, but in all the Schools both of Greece and Egypt, whereby he became accomplished in all parts of Learning and humane Scien∣ces. Being thus furnished out with skill in all the preparatory Institutions of Philosophy, he more particularly applied himself to the study of Physick, for which the Grecian Academies were most famous; though they that hence infer the quality of his Birth and Fortunes, forget to consider, that this noble Art was in those times generally managed by persons of no better rank than servants: Upon which account a Learned ‖ 1.3 man conceives S. Luke, though a Syrian by birth, to have been a servant at Rome, where he sometimes pra∣ctised Physick, and whence being manumitted, he returned into his own Country, and probably continued his profession all his life, it being so fair∣ly consistent with, and in many cases so subservient to the Ministry of the Go∣spel, and the care of Souls. Besides his abilities in Physick, he is said to have been very skilful in * 1.4 Painting, and there are no less than three or four several pieces still in being, pretended to have been drawn with his own hand; a tradition which ‖ 1.5 Gretser the Jesuit sets himself with a great deal of pains, and to very little purpose to defend, though his Authors, either in re∣spect of credit or antiquity, deserve very little esteem and value.* 1.6 Of more authority with me would be an ancient Inscription found in a Vault near the Church of S. Mary in via lata at Rome, supposed to have been the place where S. Paul dwelt, wherein mention is made of a Picture of the B. Virgin, UNA EX VII. AB. LUCA DEPICTIS, being one of the seven painted by S. Luke.

2. HE was a Jewish Proselyte, Antioch abounding with men of that Na∣tion, who had here their Synagogues and Schools of Education, so that we need not with * 1.7 Theophylact send him to Jerusalem to be instructed in the stu∣dy of the Law. As for that opinion of ‖ 1.8 Epiphanius and others, that he was one of the Seventy Disciples, one of those that deserted our Lord for the un∣welcome discourse he made to them, but recalled afterwards by S. Paul, I behold it as a story of the same coin and stamp with that of S. Mark's lea∣ving Christ upon the same occasion, and being reduced by Peter, and that the one was made to answer the other; as upon no better ground it is * 1.9 said that he was one of those two Disciples that were going to Emmaus. For be∣sides the silence of Scripture in the case, he himself plainly confesses, that he was not from the beginning an Eye-witness and minister of the Word. Most pro∣bable it is, that he was coverted by S. Paul during his abode at Antioch, when as the Apostles of catchers of Fish were become fishers of men, so he of a Physician

of the Body became a Physician of the Soul. This,* 1.10 Nicephorus will have to have been done at Thebes, the chief City of Boeotia, about forty miles from Athens, though it appears not to me by any credible Author that ever S. Paul was there. He became ever after his inseparable companion and fellow-labourer in the Ministry of the Gospel, especially after his going into Mace∣donia, from which time in recording the History of S. Paul's travels,* 1.11 he al∣ways speaks of himself in his own Person. He followed him in all his dan∣gers, was with him at his several arraignments at Jerusalem, accompanied him in his desperate Voyage to Rome, where he still attended on him to serve his necessities, and supply those ministerial Offices, which the Apostle's con∣finement would not suffer him to undergo, and especially in carrying messa∣ges to those Churches where he had planted Christianity. This infinitely endeared him to S. Paul, who own'd him for his fellow-labourer, called him the beloved Physician, and the Brother whose praise is in the Gospel, throughout all the Churches, which the Ancients, and especially * 1.12 Ignatius, apply to our E∣vangelist.

3. PROBABLE it is that he did not wholly leave S. Paul till he had finished his course, and crowned all with Martyrdom, though there are that tell ‖ 1.13 us, that he left S. Paul at Rome, and returned back into the East, tra∣velled into Egypt and the parts of Libya, Preached the Gospel, wrought Mi∣racles, converted Multitudes, constituted Guides and Ministers of Religion, yea, that he himself took upon him the Episcopal charge of the City of The∣bais. Epiphanius gives us this account, that he first Preached in Dalmatia, * 1.14 and Galatia (he reads it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in Gaul, or France, and peremptorily affirms, that they are all mistaken that say that it was Galatia where Crescens Preached, though some think that himself in the mean while is under the most confident mistake) then in Italy and Macedonia, where he spared no pains, declined no dangers that he might faithfully discharge the trust com∣mitted to him. The Ancients are not very well agreed, either about the time or manner of his death, some affirming him to die in Egypt, others in Greece, the * 1.15 Roman Martyrologie in Bithynia, ‖ 1.16 Dorotheus at Ephesus; some make him die a natural, others a violent death. Indeed neither Eusebius nor S. Hierom take any notice of it: But * 1.17 Nazianzen, ‖ 1.18 Paulinus Bishop of Nola, and several other expresly assert his Martyrdom, whereof * 1.19 Nicephorus gives this particular account, that coming into Greece he suc∣cessfully Preached, and baptized many Converts into the Christian Faith, till a Party of Infidels making head against him, drew him to execution, and in want of a Cross whereon to dispatch him presently, hanged him upon an Olive-Tree, in the eightieth (the eighty-fourth says ‖ 1.20 S. Hierom) year of his Age. * 1.21 Kirstenius from an Ancient Arabick Writer, makes him to have suffered Martyrdom at Rome, which he thinks might probably be af∣ter S. Paul's first imprisonment there, and departure thence, when S. Luke being left behind as his Deputy to supply his place, was shortly after put to death, the reason (says he) why he no longer continued his History of the Apostles Acts, which surely he would have done, had he lived any consider∣able time after S. Paul's departure. His Body afterwards, by the com∣mand of Constantine, or his Son Constantius, was solemnly removed to Constantinople, and buried in the great Church built to the memory of the Apostles.

4. TWO Books he wrote for the use of the Church, his Gospel, and the History of the Apostles Acts, both dedicated to Theophilus, which many of the * 1.22 Ancients suppose to be but a feigned name, denoting no more than a lover of God, a title common to every Christian. While others with

better reason conclude it the proper name of a particular person, especially since the stile of most excellent is attributed to him, the usual title and form of address in those times to Princes and great men. ‖ 1.23 Theophylact stiles him 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a man of Consular dignity, and probably a Prince; the * 1.24 Author of the Recognitions makes him a Nobleman of Antioch, converted by Peter, and who upon his conversion gave his House to the Church for the place of their publick and solemn Meetings. We may pro∣bably suppose him to have been some Magistrate, whom S. Luke had con∣verted and baptized, to whom he now dedicated these Books, not only as a testimony of honourable respect, but as a means of giving him further cer∣tainty and assurance of those things, wherein he had been instructed by him. For his Gospel, ‖ 1.25 S. Hierom supposes it to have been written in Achaia during his travels with S. Paul in those parts, whose help he is generally said to have made use of in the composing of it, and that this the Apostle primarily intends when he so often speaks of his Gospel. But whatever assistance S. Paul might contribute towards it, we are sure the Evangelist himself tells us, that he derived his intelligence in these matters from those, who from the beginning had been eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word. Nor does it in the least de∣tract from the authority of his relations, that he himself was not present at the doing of them; for if we consider who they were from whom he deri∣ved his accounts of things, Habuit utique authenticam paraturam, as * 1.26 Tertul∣lian speaks, he had a stock both of credit and intelligence sufficiently authen∣tick to proceed upon, delivering nothing in his whole History but what he had immediately received from persons present at, and concerned in the things which he has left upon record. The occasion of his writing it, is thought to have been partly to prevent those false and fabulous relations which even then began to be obtruded upon the World, partly, to supply what seemed wanting in those two Evangelists that wrote before him; and the additions or larger explications of things are particularly enumerated by ‖ 1.27 Irenaeus. He mainly insists upon what relates to Christ's Priestly Office, and though recor∣ding other parts of the Evangelical story, yet it ever is with a peculiar respect to his Priesthood. Upon which account the Ancients in accommodating the four Symbolical representments in the Prophets Vision to the four Evange∣lists, assigned the Oxe or Calf to S. Luke.

5. HIS History of the Apostolick Acts was written no doubt at Rome, at the end of S. Paul's two Years imprisonment there, with which he concludes his story; it contains the Actions, and sometimes the sufferings of some prin∣cipal Apostles, especially S. Paul; for, besides that his activity in the cause of Christ made him bear a greater part both in doing and suffering, S. Luke was his constant attendant, an eye-witness of the whole carriage of his life, and privy to his most intimate transactions, and therefore capable of giving a more full and satisfactory account and relation of them; seeing no evi∣dence or testimony in matters of fact can be more rational and convictive, than his who reports nothing but what he has heard and seen. Among other things he gives us a particular account of those great miracles which the Apostles did for the confirmation of their doctrine. And this (as * 1.28 Chry∣sostom informs us) was the reason why in the Primitive times the Book of the Acts, though containing those Actions of the Apostles that were done after Pentecost were yet usually read in the Church before it, in the space between that and Easter, when as at all other times those parts of the Go∣spel were read which were proper to the season, it was (says he) because the Apostles miracles being the grand confirmation of the truth of Christ's Re∣surrection, and those Miracles recorded in that Book, it was therefore

thought most proper to be read next to the feast of the Resurrection. In both these Books his way and manner of writing is exact and accurate, his stile polite and elegant, sublime and lofty, and yet clear and perspicuous, flow∣ing with an easie and natural grace and sweetness, admirably accommodate to an historical design, all along expressing himself in a vein of purer Greek, than is to be found in the other Writers of the Holy Story. Indeed being born and bred at Antioch (than which no place more famous for Oratory and Eloquence) he could not but carry away a great share of the native genius of that place, though his stile is sometimes allayed with a tang of the Syriack and Hebrew dialect. It was observed of old (as * 1.29 S. Hierom tells us) that his skill was greater in Greek than Hebrew, that therefore he always makes use of the Septuagint Translation, and refuses sometimes to render words, when the propriety of the Greek Tongue will not bear it. In short, as an Historian, he was faithful in his relations, elegant in his Writings; as a Minister, careful and diligent for the good of Souls; as a Christian, devout and pious: and who crowned all the rest with the laying down his life for the testimony of that Gospel, which he had both Preached and Published to the World.

The End of S. Luke's Life.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Dion. Chrys. Orat. 47. de Patria. Liban. Orat. 11. cui Tit. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Tom. 2. Chrysost. Encom. Antioch. Ti 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Chrysost. Hom. 17. ad Pop Antioch. p. 198. Tom. 1.
• * 1.2

  S. Metaphr. apud Sur. ad diem 18. Octob. p. 289.
• ‖ 1.3

  Grot. Annot. in Lue. 1.
• * 1.4

  Metaphr. ib. Niceph. l. 2. c. 43.
• ‖ 1.5

  De imag. non manuf. & à S. Luca pict. c. 18. & 19. p. 354.
• * 1.6

  Rom. Subter∣ran. Part. 2. c. 46. n. 10. p. 188.
• * 1.7

  Theophyl. Ar∣gum. in Luc. p. 293.
• ‖ 1.8

  Haeres. 51. p. 188.
• * 1.9

  Theoph. ut prius. Arabs vit. Script ap. Kirsten. de Quat. Evang. p. 39. Luke 1.2.
• * 1.10

  Loc. supra lau∣dat.
• * 1.11

  Acts 16.10.
• * 1.12

  Epist. ad Ephes. p. 44.
• ‖ 1.13

  Metaphr. ubi supr. n. 11.
• * 1.14

  Vbi supra.
• * 1.15

  Ad diem xviii. Octob. p. 645.
• ‖ 1.16

  De vit. & mort. App. in Bibl. Pp. Tom. 3. p. 148.
• * 1.17

  Orat. 1. in Julian. p. 76.
• ‖ 1.18

  Epist. 12. ad Sever. de Basil. p. 138.
• * 1.19

  Lib. 2. c. 43. p. 210.
• ‖ 1.20

  De Script. Eccl. in Luca.
• * 1.21

  Vit. Quat. Evangel. p. 45.
• * 1.22

  Orig. Homil. 1. in Luc. fol. 94. Ambros. in Luc. 1. p. 9. T. 5. vid. Epiph. Haeres. 51. p. 186.
• ‖ 1.23

  Argum. in Luc. p. 293.
• * 1.24

  Lib. 10. pro∣pe fin. fol. 120.
• ‖ 1.25

  Prooem. in Matth. Tom. 9.
• * 1.26

  Adv. Marc. lib. 4. c. 2. p. 414
• ‖ 1.27

  Adv. Haeres. lib. 3. c. 14. p. 272.
• * 1.28

  Serm. 73. Cur. Act. App. legantur in Pentec. Tom. 5.
• * 1.29

  Comm. in c. 6. Esai. p. 30. T. 5. ibid. in c. 28. p. 118. Epist. ad Da∣mas. p. 124. T. 3.