The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

THE CHRISTIAN HISTORY, THE Jewish and the Roman, Of the Year of CHRIST XLIII.

And of the Emperor CLAUDIUS II. Being the Year of the WORLD 3970. And of the City of ROME 795.

Consuls

• Claudius II.
• C. Largus.

ACTS. CHAP. IX. Vers. 28.

Great dearth throughout all the World; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

THAT this famine was in the second of Claudius, we have shewed before, not only out of Dion the Roman Historian, but even by necessary collection from other things. Now whether it proceeded from want of Rain, or from what other cause, it is not determinable: it appeareth by Suetonius that it came to this height through a continued sterility of the ground, which it seemeth had been some years together. This year was Helena the Queen of the Adiabeni, present at Jerusalem, and her presence there was a happiness to the City, for from Cyprus and Alex∣andria, she sent for Provisions, and distributed them among the people, when divers had perished of famine before.

Vers. 30. Sent it to the Elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

§. Pauls rapture into the third Heaven.

Although it be not mentioned in this Chapter that Paul went up to Jerusalem, but was sent only with provisions to the poor brethren in Judea: yet have we also pro∣ved before, that at this journey he had his trance in the Temple, Acts 22. 17. and in

that trance he was rapt up into the third Heaven. The story of which he himself rela∣teth, 2 Cor. 12. 2. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, whether in the body I can∣not tell, &c. And there he relateth also the story of the messenger of Satan, buffeting him, and himself praying, and God giving him a gracious answer: all which we shall ex∣plain, by Gods permission, in another place.

In this trance God bids him get out of Jerusalem, and gives him commission to go preach among the Gentiles, Acts 22. 18, 21. And so he returneth from Jerusalem to Antioch, where we shall have him the next year.

§. 2. Peter not this year at Rome.

This year the Romanists have brought Peter to Rome, and made this the first year or beginning of his Episcopacy there. For thus Baronius, That Peter came to Rome this se∣cond year of Claudius the Emperor, it is the common Opinion of all men. And to this purpose he alledgeth Eusebius his Chronicle, and Jerome de scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis, and conclu∣deth that others have written the same things concerning the time, that there can be no doubt left of it.

It may be tolerated to insist a little the more largely upon the examination of this opi∣nion, not for that it is of any such great import in its own nature, as for that it is made of so great by them for their own advantage. For were it granted that Peter was Bi∣shop of Rome, and that he went thither in this year, yet what great matter were there in this, in common sense and reason? But because unreasonable men have from hence, or upon this foundation built the supremacy of the Pope, the great delusion of the world, let the same common sense and reason equally and impartially judge of the pro∣bability or improbability of this thing, in these two parts into which this tenet doth fall of it self.

• 1. Whether it be probable that Peter was Bishop of Rome at all.
• 2. Whether it be possible that he could come thither this year according as they them∣selves have laid his progress, and that he should set up an Episcopacy there.

Weigh the first by these;

First, Peter was Minister of the Circumcision, why then should he go settle himself to live and die among the uncircumcised? He might indeed have preached to the uncircum∣cised as he travailed up and down, as Paul did to the circumcised, being the Minister of the uncircumcision, but to take up his abode and residence, and there to settle, to live and die among them; was a thing neither probable in the eyes of other men, nor justifi∣able in him himself.

Secondly, If Peter were at Rome in the sense and extent that the Romanists will have it, then hath the Scripture omitted one of the greatest points of salvation that belongeth to Christianity: For how many main points of Faith hath Popery drawn out of this one conclusion, that Peter was Bishop of Rome; as the Primacy of the Pope, the infallibility of his Chair, his absolute power of binding and loosing, no salvation out of the Church of Rome, and divers other things, which all hang upon the Pin forenamed: And it is utterly incredible; 1. That the Holy Ghost that wrote the Scriptures for mans salvati∣on, should not express or mention a thing that containeth so many points of salvation. 2. That Luke that undertook to write the Acts of the Apostles, should omit this one act of Peter, which is made of more consequence than all the actions of all the Apostles be∣side. It is above all belief, that he that would tell of Phillips being at Azotus, and go∣ing to Caesarea, Chap. 8. 40. Sauls going to Tarsus, Chap. 9. 30. And Barnabas his going thither to him, and divers other things of small import, in comparison, should omit the greatest and most material, and of the infinitest import that ever mortal mans journy was (for to that height is the journy of Peter to Rome now come) if there had ever been such a thing at all.

Thirdly, It is as incredible, that Paul sending salutations to so many in Rome, and again from so many there, should omit to have named Peter at one time or other if he had been there. What was become of Peter in these reciprocal kindnesses and salutations of the Saints one to another; was he a sleep, or was he sullen, or what shall we make of him, or was he not indeed at Rome at all?

But not to insist upon this question whether Peter were at Rome at all, which hath been proved negatively by many Authors, and by many undeniable Arguments; let us look a little upon this foundation of his being there, which hath been laid, namely, his coming thither this year, which is the second thing to be taken into consideration.

And about this point, there have been divers simple Ignoramus's in former time, who so they held this first Article of the Roman Creed, That Peter was Bishop of Rome five and twenty years, and died in the last year of Nero, and so believed as the Church believed, they never cared to bring the head and heels together, or to observe how the times agreed, but have easily swallowed this camel of sensless computation, that Peter went from the Councel of Jerusalem, Acts 15. to Rome, and there sate Bishop five and twenty years, which expired in the last of Nero; whereas, betwixt the Councel at Jerusalem, and the last of Nero there were but twenty years in all, if there were so many: But nimbler wits, that cannot be caught in so plain and apparent a trap as this, have found out a quainter and more curious date from which to begin the Chair of Peter at Rome than this, and that is from the Story in the twelfth of the Acts of the Apostles. Where Peter being apprehen∣ded by Herod after his murder of James the great, and being delivered by an Angel, and having acquainted the Disciples with his delivery, they being together in John Marks house, he is said, to depart to another place, which they say, (and you must believe it, or they will take it very ill) was to Rome, and this was (say they) the second year of Claudius. A long journey believe it, to run to Rome, to avoid danger at Jerusalem: and Rome but a mad place to set up an Episcopacy in at this time, as hath been plain in the preceding, and will be also in the subsequent story of it. But that we may see, if not the impossibility, yet the utter improbability of that his journy in this second of Claudius, if that were the journy in the twelfth of the Acts, it will not be impertinent to insert a story out of Josephus concerning Agrippa's return from Rome to Jerusalem, where he slew James, and imprisoned Peter.

PART II. The JEWISH Story.

§. Herod Agrippa his coming to Jerusalem.

CLAUDIUS the Emperor having attained the Empire as we have seen, the more easily and readily by the mediation and agitating of Agrippa, he would re∣quite him like an Emperor for that his service: and therefore he confirmed to him by Charter, that Kingdom in which he had been inthroned by Caius, adding also Judea and Samaria, which had belonged to his Grandfather Herod (from hence it may seem that he took that name) and Abilene, and the Region near it, and appertaining to it in Lebanon, which had belonged to Lysanias. He caused also the Articles of a League betwixt himself and the King, to be cut in brass, and to be set up in the midst of the Forum.

There was now some sedition and civil hostility in Alexandria; for the Jews having been supprest and opprest by the Greeks, all the time of Caius, began after his death to stand in their own defence, and to rise up against those that had opposed them. Claudius by Letter commands the Governor of Egypt to quel the tumult: and at the request of Agrippa, and of Herod King of Chalcis, he sendeth forth an Edict into Syria and Alexan∣dria in behalf and favour of the Jews. And another Decree he sent also through the rest of the Roman Empire, to the same tenor, and for the benefit of the same people, be∣ginning with these his Titles, Tiberius Claudius Caesar, Augustus, Germanicus, Pont. Maxi∣mus. Trib. Pleb. or Tribunitiae Potestatis Consul designatus II. or second time Consul, and so it goes on.

By these decrees (saith Josephus) being thus sent to Alexandria, and through the whole Empire, Claudius declared what opinion he had of the Jews: And presently he sent away Agrippa to manage his Kingdom, with inlarged Honors, and wrote to the Go∣vernors of the Provinces, and to the Magistrates to favour him. And he, as it befitted a man that had had happy success, returned with speed. And coming to Jerusalem, he performed or offered Thanks-Offerings, omitting nothing that was injoyned by the Law: Wherefore he caused many Nazarites to be shaven, and the golden Chain which was given him by Caius, weighing equally with the iron chain that had bound his Royal

hands, he hung up * 1.1 in the consecrate Court over the Treasury, for a memorial of his adversity, and for a witness of his better fortune. Thus Agrippa having performed right∣ly this his service to God, he removed Theophilus the son of Ananus from the High Priest∣hood, and conferred the honour upon Simon the son of Boethus, whose name was also Cantheras, thus Josephus Antiq. l. 19. c. 4.

§. Peter not imprisoned in the second year of Claudius.

To which let us joyn some of St. Lukes text in the twelfth of the Acts, and then let us make use of both together. Now about that time (saith he) Herod the King stretcked forth his hands to vex certain of the Church; and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter; then were the days of unleavened bread.

Now let the Reader observe in either story one special circumstance of time, as in Jo∣sephus, That Claudius was now second time Consul: and in St. Luke, that James was slain before Easter; and then let him cast whether it were possible, at the least probable, that so many things should be done and intercede between the beginning of January, when Claudius entred his Consulship, and Easter, as in these Stories must intercede, if Peter were imprisoned at the Easter of this year; yea though it fell the latest or furthest in the year that ever Easter yet fell. For, for Claudius to make his decree, and disperse it: for Agrippa to provide for his journy, and part from his friends in Rome: for him to travail from Rome to Jerusalem, to perform his Sacrifices and Ceremonies there, to seek to lay hold upon certain of the Church, to light upon James, and to kill him, and then to ap∣prehend and imprison Peter, and all this betwixt Claudius his entry of his Consulship in January, and Easter, is a thing so incredible (especially to him that considereth how slowly great bodies move, as Kings and Emperors in their actions) as that it seemeth next impossible. For it cannot be imagined that this decree for the Jews was the first thing that Claudius did after he was made Consul, or that he fell upon that work in the very beginning of January; for matters of the City and of Italy one would think should take up the first thoughts of the Consuls, when they entred into that Office, and not of Je∣rusalem and Alexandria so many hundred of miles distant: and matters of the Romans themselves, and not of the Jews a despised Nation: But grant that on the very first day he set pen to paper for that decree, on the second disperst it, and on the third dismissed Agrippa, yet must so great a Prince have some preparation for so great a journy, he must have some time to part with so great acquaintance; it was strange if he waited not some time for a convenient wind, and he must take up some reasonable time after he is shipped, before he land in Judea. After his landing some time was required for such a King in his own Kingdom to prepare for his journy by Land to Jerusalem, some for his setling there; some for his Sacrifices, and performances of the Rites of the Law mentioned; and all these before the apprehension of James, and that no man knows how long before Easter. Let indifferency judge, whether all these things were possible to be done in that space of time; and then let it censure of the matter in hand.

To the eviction of this opinion, that Peter went to Rome, and there began his Episco∣pacy the second year of Claudius, Romanists themselves may be produced that do gainsay it; as Salmeron on the twelfth of the Acts, who holds that he went thither in Claudius his fourth, and he produceth Comestor, Nauclerus, and Petrus de natalibus of the same opinion with him.

So likewise Simeon the Metaphrast, though he bring Peter from Jerusalem this year for fear of Herod, and lead him through many places, ordaining Churches and making Bishops, yet in conclusion he mentioneth not one word of Rome, but bringeth him to Jerusalem again at Passover next. Hereupon Surius, or at least his Marginist, and Baronius are ready to give him the lie; and though they both alledge him, and applaud him while he ser∣veth their own humor, yet here they fly in his face, and tell him he is beside the cushion, because he is beside their opinion, and saith not what they would have him say.

Upon consideration of what hath been said before, we have put over the death of James to the year next following, as not seeing it possible to have fallen out this year be∣fore Easter, all circumstances being well considered: and accordingly have we referred thither, as the order requireth, the imprisonment of Peter, and his fleeing for his life, or retiring for some other cause, which the Romanists will have to have been to Rome; and there will we take it into some examination again.

PART III. The ROMAN History.

THE Moors rebelling, are beaten by Suetonius Paulinus, and after him by Cn. Si∣dius Geta, who following them far into the Sands, fell into an extream want of water for his Army: But by the wicked advice and furtherance of a renegado Moor, he obtaineth an extraordinary great rain by Magick, to the sufficient refreshing of his Army, and to the terror and subduing of the enemy. And now did Claudius divide Mauritania into Tingitana and Caesariensis.

Claudius is exceedingly delighted with and given to the cruelty of the Sword-plays, in which he swept away a world of Servants and Freemen that had been accusers of their Masters in the time of Caius. And which was most ridiculous, he caused the statue of Augustus to be removed out of the place, because it should not behold such bloody work; being inhumanely himself delighted in that butchery, which he thought too barbarous for a brazen statue to look upon.

These bloody spectacles brought him to an habit of cruelty; which was augmented and hardened in him by the damnable counsels of his Empress Messalina, a woman wicked above parallel or expression, and by the spurrings on of other sycophants C. Appius Sila∣nus is put to death, because he refused to incestuate Messalina when she desired him, for he had married her mother; but because Claudius must not hear of this beastly cause of her displeasure, Narcissus a freeman of the Emperor accused him for this, that in a dream he had seen Appius slay the Emperor.

Upon his death the people began to expect no more goodness from Claudius at all, but gave him up for a Tyrant like the two that had gone before him: whereupon, Annius Vin∣cianus, and Futius Camillus Scribonianus and others conspired against him; but being de∣serted of their souldiers in the enterprize, they are glad to end their lives by their own hands, that they might escape the executioners.

Messalina and Narcissus and others of their faction using the stupid folly of the Empe∣ror to the compassing of their own wills, involve in false accusations and in miserable deaths, an infinite multitude of men and women, honorable and inferior, of all qualities and conditions, according as the spleen of any of them moved or was provoked. Among them that thus perished Arria the wife of Caecinna is upon record for her Roman valour: for when her husband trembled and was afraid to slay himself, she took the sword out of his hand, and fell upon it, and gave it him again, reeking with her blood, with these words, Behold boy how I feel no pain: And now, saith my Author, were matters come to such a pass, that nothing was reputed a greater vertue than to die valiantly and like a Roman. To such a cruelty had custom and evil counsel brought him, that of himself was of a reasonable gentle nature, but wanted constancy and discretion to manage it.

Notes

• * 1.1

  〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 within the inclosures.