witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus"," who had thus "shewed himself alive to them after his passion by many infallible proofs."

Upon the dispersion of the Apostles to preach the Gospel" to the uttermost parts of the earth," the lot of St. Thomas appears to have been cast in the eastern regions. The province assigned to him, as we are informed by Origen in the third century, was Parthia: after which we learn from the ecclesiastical historian Eusebius, and other ancient writers, that he published the doctrine of a crucified and risen Saviour to the Medes, the Persians, the Carmanians, the Hyrcanians, the Bactrians, and other neighbouring nations. In Persia he is said to have met with the Magi, who brought presents to the new-born Saviour; to have baptized them; and to have taken them with him as his companions and assistants in the propagation of the Gospel. Chrysostom in the fourth century intimates, that he preached with success in Ethiopia, namely, in the Asian Ethiopia, bordering on, if not the same as, Chaldea; and by Gregory Nazianzen an author of about the same period, by Jerome, and by others of the fathers, he is alleged to have spread his doctrine over the country of the Brahmins, along the coasts of

*Acts iv. 33.
D

the great Indian Peninsula, and in the islands of the Indian seas'.

The intercourse opened with India by the commercial enterprises of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century has been thought to corroborate the statements of these early Christian writers concerning the propagation of the Gospel in that country by St. Thomas, "partly from ancient monuments and writings, and partly from constant and uncontrolled traditions, which the Christians, whom they found in those parts, preserved amongst them"." A race of Christians has been ascertained to exist in India, not far from the coasts of Malabar, and amongst the hills at the bottom of the great mountains of Malayala", unquestionably of very high antiquity, and claiming their spiritual descent from our Apostle. Proofs of his having visited their country, and established in it the faith of the Gospel, are alleged under different forms. The name which they bear of the Christians of St. Thomas, is supposed to have been derived from the Apostle. At Cranganore tradition designates the spot, where

'For more particulars the reader is referred to Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas.

n

m

Dr. Cave.

Dr. Buchanan's Christian Researches in India.

he first landed on the Indian soil. At Paroor the church, which is said to be the most ancient in Malabar, is distinguished by his name. Inscriptions are related to have been found recording his mission by the Son of God into those countries, to instruct them in the knowledge of the true God. And memorials of him are preserved in their sacred rites, which they assert to have been derived from the very time of the Apostle; especially in their solemn celebration of the Sunday after Easter, as commemorative of the noble confession which St. Thomas then made of Christ". It must not however be concealed, that whatever support these circumstances may appear to lend to the previous narration of India having been one of the scenes of our Apostle's ministry, there have not been wanting those who have contended, that these circumstances are delusive; and particularly that the name which distinguishes these Indian Christians is derived from another holy man, a Syrian of the name of Thomas, to whom indeed they are indebted for their knowledge of Christianity, but at a time some centuries later than that of our Apostle'.

The uncertainty, which hangs over the travels

See for these particulars Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas, and Dr. Buchanan's Christian Researches.

Dean Stanhope on the Epistles and Gospels.

of St. Thomas, naturally extends itself to the place and particulars of his death. It has however been generally received, that he fell a victim to the malice of the Brahmins, who found their idolatry endangered by his preaching; and that he was thrust through with a lance by one of their followers at the instigation of the priests, near Malipur, a city of Coromandel, where he had lately caused a church to be erected for divine worship. His body was taken up by his disciples, and buried in the same church. And though the Greeks contend that it was carried to Edessa, a city in Mesopotamia, where great honour has been always paid to his memory, yet the Christians of the East constantly affirm it to have remained in the place of his martyrdom. If India was the scene of his ministry, it may reasonably be thought to have been also the scene of his death and burial : and many particulars, related upon those subjects, carry in themselves an appearance of probability, though they are mixed up with others of a superstitious nature, which exceed the bounds of rational belief.

No writings remain to us of the composition of this Apostle. A Gospel was attributed to him in the early ages of Christianity; but it is reprobated by Eusebius, together with some

They may be seen in Dr. Cave's Life of the Apostle.

other forgeries of hereticks attributed to other Apostles, with this judgment, that they are not so much as to be reckoned among the spurious, but are to be rejected as altogether absurd and impious'.

REFLEXIONS.

IN reflecting upon the life and character of St. Thomas, we may first admire his fortitude and fidelity, in encouraging his fellow-disciples to accompany Jesus to Judea, even though the journey should lead to their death in company with him; "Let us also go that we may die with him:" a proposal, which seems to have been made in the honesty and simplicity of his heart; and of which the most natural and obvious as well as the best interpretation appears to be, Though this purposed journey of our Lord may and probably will conduct him to his death, let us not forsake him, but attend him rather through all his difficulties and dangers even to the last fatal extremitys. And surely such a proposal reflects honour upon the affection, courage, and holy resolution of the Apostle at the same time it offers him as an example for our imitation, and admonishes us to resolve likewise to adhere stedfastly to our Saviour, and never to desert him however we may Dean Stanhope.

Dr. Lardner's Credibility.