tion made to some of the Prophets there present, com manded that Barnabas and Saul should be set apart to that peculiar ministry, to which God had designed them. Accordingly, having fasted and prayed, hands were solemnly laid upon them, to denote their particular designation to that service.

7. Barnabas and Paul having thus received a divine commission for the Apostleship of the Gentiles, and taking Mark along with them as their minister and attendant, immediately entered upon the province. And first they betook themselves to Seleucia, a neighbouring city seated upon the influx of the river Orontes into the Mediterranean sea: hence they set sail for Cyprus, Barnabas' native country, and arrived at Salamis, a city heretofore of great account, the ruins whereof are two miles distant from the present Famagusta, where they undauntedly preached in the Jewish Synagogues. From Salamis they travelled up the Island to Paphos, a city remarkable of old for the worship of Venus, Diva potens Cypri, the tutelar goddess of the Island, who was here worshipped with the most wanton and immodest rites.

8. Leaving Cyprus, they sailed over to Perga in Pamphilia, famous for a Temple of Diana; here Mark, weary it seems of this itinerant course of life, and the unavoidable dangers that attended it, took his leave and returned to Jerusalem, which laid the foundation of an unhappy difference, that broke out between these two Apostles afterwards. The next place they came to was Antioch in Pisidia, where in the Jewish Synagogue St. Paul by an elegant oration converted great numbers both of Jews and Proselytes, but a persecution being raised by others, they were forced to desert the place. Thence they passed to Iconium, a noted city of Lycaonia, where in the Synagogues they preached a long time with good success, till a conspiracy being made against them, they withdrew to Lystra, the inhabitants whereof upon a mirac

in Act. App.

p. 361.

ulous cure done by St. Paul, treated them as gods come down from Heaven in human shape, St. Paul as being principal speaker, they termed Mercury, the interpreter of the gods; Barnabas they looked upon as Jupiter, their Homil. xxx. Sovereign deity, either because of his age, (as b Chrysostom thinks) or because of the gravity and comeliness of his person, being (as antiquity represents him) a very goodly man, and of a venerable aspect, wherein he had infinitely the advantage of St. Paul, who was of a very mean and contemptible presence. But the malice of the Jews pursued him hither, and prevailed with the people to stone St. Paul, who presently recovering, he and Barnabas went to Derbe, where when they had converted many to the Faith, they returned back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, and so through Pisidia to Pamphylia, thence from Perga to Attalia, confirming as they came back, the Churches which they had planted at their first going out. At Attalia they took ship, and sailed to Antioch in Syria, the place whence they had first set out, where they gave the Church an account of the whole success of their travels, and what way was made for the propagation of Christianity in the Gentile world.

9. The restless enemy of all goodness was vexed to see so fair and smooth a progress of the Gospel, and therefore resolved to attempt it by the old subtle arts of intestine divisions and animosities: what the envious man could not stifle by open violence, he sought to choke by sowing tares. Some zealous Converts coming down from Jerusalem to Antioch, started this notion, which they asserted with all possible zeal and stiffness, that unless together with the Christian Religion they joined the observance of the Mosaic Rites, there could be no hopes of salvation for them. Paul and Barnabas opposed themselves against this heterodox opinion with all vigour and smartness, but not able to beat it down, were dispatched by the Church to advise with the Apostles and

brethren at Jerusalem about this matter.

Whither they

Monach. ub

were no sooner come, but they were kindly and courteously entertained, and the right hand of fellowship given them by the three great Apostles, Peter, James, and John, and an agreement made between them, that wherever they came, they should betake themselves to the Jews, while Paul and Barnabas applied themselves to the Gentiles. And here probably it was that Mark reconciled himself to his uncle Barnabas, which cone Alexand. tells us, he did with tears and great importunity, earnest-supr. n. xv. ly begging him to forgive his weakness and cowardice, and promising for the future a firmer constancy and more undaunted resolution. But they were especially careful to mind the great affair they were sent about, and accordingly opened the case in a public council convened for that purpose. And Peter having first given his sentence, that the Gentile Converts were under no such obligation, Paul and Barnabas acquainted the Synod what great things God by their ministry had wrought for the conversion of the Gentiles, a plain evidence that they were accepted by God without the Mosaic Rites and Ceremonies. The matter being decided by the Council, the determination was drawn up into the form of a Synodical Epistle, which was delivered to Barnabas and Paul, to whom the Council gave this eulogium and character, that they were men that had hazarded their lives for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, with whom they joined two of their own, that they might carry it to the Churches. Being come to Antioch they delivered the Decrees of the Council, wherewith the Church was abundantly satisfied, and the controversy for the present laid asleep.

10. It was not long after this that St. Peter came down to Anticch, who, loth to exasperate the zealous Jews, withdrew all converse with the Gentile Converts, contrary to his former practice, and his late vote and suffrage in the Synod at Jerusalem. The minds of the Gen

tiles were greatly disturbed at this, and the Convert Jews tempted by his example, abstained from all communion with the Gentiles; nay, so strong was the temptation that St. Barnabas himself was carried down the stream, and began now to scruple, whether it was lawful to hold communion with the Gentiles, with whom before he had so familiarly conversed, and been so eminently instrumental in their conversion to Christianity. So prevalent an influence has the example of a great or a good man to determine others to what is good or bad. How careful should we be what course we take, lest we seduce and compel others to walk in our crooked paths, and load ourselves with the guilt of those that follow after us? St. Paul shortly after propounded to Barnabas that they might again visit the Churches wherein they had lately planted the Christian Faith: he liked the motion, but desired his cousin Mark might again go along with them, which St. Paul would by no means consent to, having found by his cowardly deserting them at Pamphylia, how unfit he was for such a troublesome and dangerous service. This began a sharp contest, and ripened into almost an irreconcilable difference between these two holy men. Which as at once it shews that the best are men of like passions and infirmities with others, subject to be transported with partiality, and carried off with the heats of an irregular passion, so it lets us see how great a matter a little fire kindles, and how inconsiderable an occasion may minister to strife and division, and hazard the breach of the firmest charity and friendship. The issue was that this sacred pair, that had hitherto equally and unanimously drawn the yoke of the Gospel, now drew several ways, and in some discontent parted from each other; St. Paul taking Silas went to the Churches of Syria and Cilicia, while Barnabas accompanied with his cousin Mark set sail for Cyprus his own country.

11. Thus far the sacred Historian has for the main

d

nops. Bibl.

e

p. 148. col. 2.

gone before us, who here breaks off his account concerning him. What became of him afterwards we are left under great uncertainty. Dorotheus and the author & Doroth. Byof the Recognitions, and some other writings attributed PP. Tom. 3. to St. Clemens, makes him to have been at Rome, and Recogn.lib. 1. c. 7 p.400. one of the first that preached the Christian Faith in edit. Paris. that city; for which Baronius falls foul upon them, entin. Homnot being willing that any should be thought to have 549. ib. Epit. been there before St. Peter, though after him (and it but good manners to let him go first) he is not unwilling to grant his being there.

is

1672. Clem

de Gest. B.

Petr. c. 7. ib.
Baron. ad

p. 752.

Ann. 51. n. 59. 54. not. ad Martyr.

Rom. p. 359.

Clem. &

Epit. ibid.

Monach. loc.

▲ Baron. ad

Sanct. de

Tr. 3 c. 1. n.

i Synops. in

12. Departing from Rome, he is by different writers made to steer different courses. The Greeks tell us he went to Alexandria, and thence to Judea: The hwri- Alexand. ters of the Roman Church (with whom agrees i Dorothe- cit. n. 13, 14. us in this matter) that he preached the Gospel in Liguria, An. 51. n.54. and founded a Church at Milain, whereof he became the præd. S. Jac. first Bishop, propagating Christianity in all those parts. 9. But however that was, probable it is that in the last peri- Bibl. PP. p. od of his life he returned unto Cyprus, where our jauthor tells us, he converted many, till some Jews from ib. n. xvili. Syria coming to Salamis, where he then was, enraged with fury set upon him as he was disputing in the Synagogue, in a corner whereof they shut him up till night, when they brought him forth, and after infinite tortures, stoned him to death.

148. T. 3.

j Alexand. & seb.