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ST. LUKE.

Two of the writers of the history of our Lord, were not among the number of his immediate disciples, and yet from their connection with the members of the apostolical college, they had the best means of acquiring the fullest information, concerning his miracles and discourses, and thereby of completing the evangelical narrative. One of these was Mark, the intimate friend of St. Peter; and Luke was the assiduous attendant of St. Paul, whom he accompanied to Jerusalem, and afterwards in his perilous voyage to Rome. This evangelist was a native of Antioch, where he seems to have embraced the truth about the time that the disciples of Jesus first obtained the name of Christians, by the determination of a synod or council held in that city, by Paul and Barnabas. From the distinction made in the Epistle to the Colossians between the brethren of the circumcision, and the Gentile converts who were with St. Paul, it appears that Luke was of the latter description; and that by profession he was a Physician. The liberality of his education, indeed, is evident from his style, which is remarkably pure and copious. In his choice of expressions, he is particularly happy, and the use which

he makes of technical phrases, especially as connected with medical science in his accounts of diseases, and in navigation when he relates the voyage and shipwreck of St. Paul, sufficiently proves that his literary acquirements were various and extensive.

From his close attachment to St. Paul, whose history he wrote to the period of that Apostle's deliverance, at Rome, it is probable that Luke did not leave him till his martyrdom. After that event St. Luke went into the East, and extended his apostolical labours as far as Egypt and Libya. Some writers assert that he founded a church at Thebais; and Nicephorus says that he was hung by the Pagans upon an olive tree, in the eightieth year of his age.

There are two books in the sacred canon written by this Evangelist, and both are inscribed to Theophilus, concerning whom there have been different opinions. Some think that the word Theophilus, meaning "a lover of God," was only a general term applicable to all sincere believers; while others maintain that the encomium of "most excellent," which accompanied it, clearly denotes a particular person of distinguished eminence among the early converts to Christianity. There are different opinions also as to the time and place of the writing of St. Luke's gospel. All that can be determined with certainty, is, that it was composed before the

Acts of the Apostles, and most probably after the gospel of St. Matthew, perhaps about the year 63, if not indeed during the first imprisonment of St. Paul at Rome, which ended in that year.

ST. JOHN.

FEW particulars are recorded in the sacred history concerning this eminent Apostle and Evangelist; but those few present him to us in the most amiable and instructive point of view.

He was a native of Galilee, and the names of his parents were Zebedee and Salome. John and his elder brother James exercised their father's calling as fishermen at Bethsaida, a town situated on the banks of the lake of Gennesareth, and at the influx of the river Jordan. Peter, Andrew, and Philip were also inhabitants of the same place, and it is probable that all of them were disciples of the Baptist. It is indeed a reasonable conjecture that John was that "other disciple" who was with Andrew when he left the Baptist to follow our Saviour, it being customary with this Evangelist, when relating any thing which concerned himself, to conceal his name.

In the catalogue of the Apostles given by St. Mark, James and John are said to have received from our Lord the appellation of Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder, which title is to be understood of the energy and success of their labours, in the propagation of the gospel.

It has been supposed that the extraordinary request made by Salome to our Lord, for her two sons, that the one should sit on his right hand and the other on his left in his kingdom, proceeded from the claim of relationship. This, however, is by no means clear, and on one occasion the two brothers incurred a severe censure, when they desired permission to call down fire from heaven upon a Samaritan village, the inhabitants of which had refused to receive our Saviour in his journey to Jerusalem. Jesus quickly turned to James and John and rebuked them saying "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of; for the son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

Though John was the youngest of all the apostles, he was admitted to the closest intimacy with our Lord, and enjoyed more of his confidence than any other of his brethren. He is called "that disciple whom Jesus loved," and there is one incident recorded in the evangelical history, which marks very strongly the particular favour with which he was distinguished by his master.

When, at the last supper, Jesus declared that one of the twelve would betray him, Peter, though he was anxious to know who the traitor was, did not presume to put the question himself to Jesus, but beckoned to John, that he should make the inquiry in a private manner. This the beloved disciple

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