having washed his hands, he declared him-
self innocent of the blood of Christ, whom
he justly termed a just person. The Jews,
however said, "Let his blood be upon us
and our children;" which wish has mani-said,
festly taken place, as they have never since
been a collected people.

priests and scribes also reviled him, and said, "He saved others, but can not save himself." Indeed, one of the malefactors. who was crucified with him, cried out and "If you are the Messiah, save yourself and us;" but the other malefactor, having the greatest reliance upon Jesus, exclaimed, "Lord, remember me when. thou comest into thy kingdom." To which Christ replied, "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise."

While Christ was upon the cross, the

In leading Christ to the place of crucifixion, they obliged him to bear the cross, which he being unable to sustain, they compelled one Simon, a native of Cyrenia, to carry the cross the rest of the way. Mount Calvary was the place of execution, { earth was covered with darkness, and the where being arrived, the soldiers offered stars appeared at noonday, which struck him a mixture of gall and vinegar to drink, even the Jews with terror. In the midst which he refused. Having stripped him, of his tortures, Christ cried out, "My God, they nailed him to the cross, and crucified my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" and him between two malefactors. After being then expressed a desire to drink, when one fastened to the cross, he uttered this benev- of the soldiers gave him, upon the point olent prayer for his enemies, "Father, for- of a reed, a sponge dipped in vinegar, give them, for they know not what they which, however, Jesus refused. About do." The soldiers who crucified him three o'clock in the afternoon he gave up being four in number, now cut his mantle { the ghost, and at the same time a violent to pieces, and divided it between them; but his coat being without seam, they cast lots for it. While Christ remained in the agonies of death, the Jews mocked him and said, "If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross." The chief the Redeemer of mankind.

earthquake happened, when the rocks were rent, the mountains trembled, and the graves gave up their dead. These were the signal prodigies that attended the death of Christ, and such was the mortal end of

OF THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS, AND MARTYRDOM OF THE APOSTLES, ETC.

AINT STEPHEN, the pro- blaspheming God and Moses. Being carto or first martyr, was elect- ried before the council, he made a noble ed, with six others, as a dea- defence, but that so much exasperated his con, out of the Lord's sev- judges, that they resolved to condemn him. enty disciples. Stephen At this instant Stephen saw a vision from was an able and successful heaven, of Jesus, in his glorified state, sitpreacher. The principal persons belong-ting at the right hand of God. This vision ing to five Jewish synagogues entered into so greatly rejoiced him, that he exclaimed many altercations with him; but he, by the soundness of his doctrine, and the strength of his arguments, overcame them all, which so much irritated them, that they suborned false witnesses to accuse him of

in raptures, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." They then condemned him, and having dragged him out of the city, stoned him to death. On the

spot where he was martyred, Eudocia, the empress of the emperor Theodosius, erected a superb church.

The death of Stephen was succeeded by a severe persecution in Jerusalem, in which 2,000 Christians, with Nicar the deacon, were martyred; and many others obliged to leave the place.

ST. PHILIP. This apostle and martyr was born at Bethsaida, in Galilee, and was the first called by the name of disciple. He was honored with several important commissions by Christ, and being deputed. to preach in Upper Asia, labored very diligently in his apostleship. He then travelled into Phrygia, and arriving at HeliST. JAMES THE GREAT, a Gali-opolis, was greatly grieved to find the inlean, was the son of Zebedee, a fisherman, habitants so sunk in idolatry as to worship the elder brother of St. John, and a rela- a large serpent. St. Philip, however, contion to Christ himself; for his mother Sa-verted many of them to Christianity, and lome was cousin-german to the Virgin even procured the death of the serpent. Mary. Being one day with his father, This so enraged the magistrates, that they fishing in the sea of Galilee, he, and his committed him to prison, had him severely brother John were called by our Savior to scourged, and afterward crucified. His become his disciples. They cheerfully friend, St. Bartholemew, found an opporobeyed the mandate, and leaving their fa- tunity of taking down the body and buryther, followed Jesus. It is to be observed, ing it; for which, however, he was very that Christ placed a greater confidence in near suffering the same fate. His martyrthem than in any other of the apostles, dom happened eight years after that of St. Peter excepted. James the Great, A. D. 52; and his name, together with that of St. James the Less, is commemorated on the 1st of May.

Christ called these brothers Boanerges, or the sons of thunder, on account of their fiery spirits and impetuous tempers.

ST. MATTHEW. This evangelist, apostle, and martyr, was born at Nazareth

naum, on account of his business, which was that of a toll-gatherer, to collect tribute of such as had occasion to pass the

ciple, he immediately complied, and left everything to follow Christ. After the ascension of his master, he continued preach

Herod Agrippa, being made governor of Judea by the emperor Caligula, raised ain Galilee, but resided chiefly at Caperpersecution against the Christians, and particularly singled out James as an object of revenge. James, being condemned to death, show-sea of Galilee. On being called as a dised such an intrepidity of spirit, and constancy of mind, that his very accuser was struck with admiration, and became a convert to Christianity. This transition soing the gospel in Judea about nine years. enraged the people in power, that they likewise condemned him to death; when James the apostle, and his penitent accuser, were both beheaded on the same day, and with the same sword. These events took place in the year of Christ 44; and the 25th of July was fixed by the church for the commemoration of this saint's martyr-He then proceeded to Parthia, where he dom. had the same success; but returning to

Designing to leave Judea, in order to go and preach among the Gentiles, he wrote his gospel in Hebrew, for the use of the Jewish converts, but it was afterward translated into Greek by St. James the Less. Going to Ethiopia, he ordained preachers, settled churches, and made many converts.

Much about the same period, Timon { Ethiopia, he was slain by a halberd in the and Parmenas, two of the seven deacons, city of Nadabar, about the year of Chris suffered martyrdom; the former at Cor-60; and his festival is kept by the church inth, and the latter at Philippi, in Mace- on the 21st day of September. He was donia. remarkably inoffensive in his conduct, and

temperate in his mode of living. Hence bruised, and stoned him, and then dashed we may say,

out his brains with a club, such as was used by fullers in dressing cloths. His festival, together with that of St. Philip, is kept on the first of May.

ST. MATTHIAS. This apostle and martyr was called to the apostleship after the death of Christ, to supply the vacant place of Judas, who had betrayed his mas

disciples. He was martyred at Jerusalem, being first stoned, and then beheaded; and the 24th of February is observed for the celebration of his festival.

Well might this great apostle mend the age, Whose life was but a comment on his page. ST. MARK. This evangelist and martyr was born of Jewish parents, of the tribe of Levi. It is imagined that he was converted to Christianity by St. Peter, whom he served as an amanuensis, and whom he attended in all his travels. Be-ter, and was likewise one of the seventy ing entreated by the converts at Rome to commit to writing the admirable discourses they had heard from St. Peter and himself, this request he complied with, and composed his gospel accordingly, in the Greek language. He then went to Egypt, and constituted a bishopric at Alexandria; afterward he proceeded to Lybia, where he made many converts. Returning to Alexandria, some of the Egyptians, exasperated at his success, determined on his death. To accomplish this they tied his feet, dragged him through the streets, left him to remain, bruised as he was, in a dungeon all night, and the next day burnt his body. This happened on the 25th of April, on which day the church commemorates his martyrdom. His bones were carefully gathered up by the Christians, decently interred, and afterward removed to Venice, where he is considered as the titular saint, and patron of the state.

ST. ANDREW. This apostle and martyr was the brother of St. Peter, and preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations. Arriving at Edessa, the governor of the country, named Egeas, threatened him very hard for preaching against the idols there worshipped. St. Andrew persisting in the propagation of his doctrines, he was ordered to be crucified on a cross, two ends of which were transversely fixed in the ground. He boldly told his accusers, that he would not have preached the glory of the cross, had he feared to die on it. And again, when they came to crucify him, he said that he coveted the cross, and longed to embrace it. He was fastened to the cross, not with nails but cords, that his death might be more lingering. In this situation he continued two days, preaching the greatest part of the time to the people, and expired on the 30th of November, which is commemorated as his festival.

ST. PETER. This great apostle and martyr was born at Bethsaida in Galilee, being the son of Jonah, a fisherman, which

ST. JAMES THE LESS. This apostle and martyr was called so to distinguish him from St. James the Great. He was the son, by a first wife, of Joseph, the reputed father of Christ. He was, after the Lord's ascension, elected bishop of Jerusalem. He wrote his general epistle to all Christians, and converts whatever, to sup-employment St. Peter himself followed. press a dangerous error then propagating, He was persuaded by his brother to turn viz. that "a faith in Christ was alone Christian, when Christ gave him the name sufficient for salvation, without good of Cephas, implying, in the Syriac lanworks." The Jews being, at this time, guage, a rock. He was called, at the greatly enraged that St. Paul had escaped same time as his brother, to be an apostle; their fury, by appealing to Rome, deter-gave uncommon proofs of his zeal for the mined to wreak their vengeance on James, service of Christ, and always appeared as who was now ninety-four years of age. the principal speaker among the apostles. They accordingly threw him down, beat, He had, however, the weakness to deny

his master, after his apprehension, though {tine the Great erected one of the most he defended him at the time; but the sin-stately churches in the universe over the cerity of his repentance made an atone-place. Before we quit this article, it is ment for the atrociousness of his crime.

The Jews, after the death of Christ, still continued to persecute the Christians, and even went so far as to order several of the apostles, among whom was Peter, to be scourged. This punishment they bore with the greatest fortitude, and rejoiced that they were thought worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ.

requisite to observe, that previous to the death of St. Peter, his wife suffered martyrdom for the faith of Christ, and was exhorted, when going to be put to death, to remember the Lord Jesus.

ST. PAUL, the apostle and martyr, was a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia. He was at first a great enemy to, and persecutor of the Herod Agrippa having caused St. James Christians; but after his miraculous conthe Great to be put to death, and finding version, he became a strenuous preacher that it pleased the Jews, resolved, in order of Christ's gospel. At Iconium, St. Paul to ingratiate himself farther with the peo- and St. Barnabas were near being stoned to ple, that Peter should fall the next sacri- death by the enraged Jews, wherefore they fice to his malice. He was accordingly fled to Lyconia. At Lystra, St. Paul was apprehended, and thrown into prison; but stoned, dragged out of the city, and left for an angel of the Lord released him, which dead. He, however, happily revived, and so enraged Herod, that he ordered the sen- escaped to Derbe. At Philippi, Paul and tinels who guarded the dungeon in which he Silas were imprisoned and whipped; and had been confined, to be put to death. St. both were again persecuted at ThessalonPeter, after various other miracles, retired ica. Being afterward taken at Jerusalem, to Rome, where he defeated all the arti- he was sent to Cesarea, but appealed to fices, and confounded the magic of Simon, Cæsar at Rome. Here he continued pristhe magician, a great favorite of the empe-oner at large for two years. Being reror Nero. He likewise converted to Chris-leased, he visited the churches of Greece tianity one of the concubines of that monarch, which so exasperated the tyrant, that he ordered both St. Peter and St. Paul to be apprehended. During the time of their confinement, they converted two of the captains of the guard, and forty-seven other persons, to Christianity. Having been nine months in prison, Peter was brought out thence for execution, when, after being severely scourged, he was crucified with his head downward; which position, however, was at his own request. His festival is observed on June 29, on which day he, as well as St. Paul, suffered. His body being taken down, embalmed, and buried in the vatican, a church was afterward erected on the spot; but this being de-church, dedicated to his memory. stroyed by the emperor Heliogabalus, the ST. BARTHOLOMEW preached in body was removed, till the twentieth bishop of Rome, called Cornelius, conveyed it again to the vatican; afterward Constan

and Rome, and preached in France and Spain. Returning to Rome, he was again apprehended, and, by the order of Nero, martyred, by being beheaded. Two days are dedicated to the commemoration of this apostle; the one for his conversion, the other for his martyrdom; the first being on the 25th of January, and the latter on the 29th of June.

ST. JUDE, the apostle and martyr, the brother of James, was commonly called Thaddæus. Being sent to Edessa, he wrought many miracles, and made many converts, which stirring up the resentment of people in power, he was crucified, A. D. 72; and the 28th of October is, by the

several countries, performed many miracles, and healed various diseases. He translated St. Matthew's gospel into the

Indian language, and propagated it in that { was previously a disciple of John the Bapcountry; but at length, the idolaters grow-tist, and afterward not only one of the ing impatient with his doctrines, severely beat, crucified, and flayed him, and then cut off his head. The anniversary of his martyrdom is on the 24th of August.

ST. THOMAS, as he was called in Syriac, but Didymus in Greek, was an apostle and martyr. He preached in Parthia and India, where, displeasing the pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear. His death is commemorated on the 21st of December.

twelve apostles, but one of the three to whom Christ communicated the most secret passages of his life. The churches in Asia founded by St. John were, Smyrna, Pergamus, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and Thyatyra, to whom he directs his book of Revelations. Being at Ephesus, he was ordered by the emperor Domitian to be sent bound to Rome, where he was condemned to be cast into a caldron of boiling oil. But here a miracle appeared in his ST. LUKE, the evangelist and martyr, favor; the oil did him no injury, and was the author of a most excellent gospel. Domitian therefore not being able to put He travelled with St. Paul to Rome, and him to death, banished him to Patmos to preached to divers barbarous nations, till { work at the mines. He was, however, rethe priests in Greece hanged him on an { called by Nerva, who succeeded Domitian olive-tree. The anniversary of his mar-after his decease, but was deemed a martyr tyrdom is on the 18th of October.

ST. SIMON, the apostle and martyr, was distinguished by the name of Zelotes, from his zeal. He preached with great success in Mauritania, and other parts of Africa, and even in Britain, where, though he made many converts, he was crucified by the then barbarous inhabitants of that island, A. D. 74; and the church, joining him with St. Jude, commemorates his festival on the 28th day of October.

on account of having undergone the mode of an execution, though it did not take ef fect. He wrote his epistles, gospel, and revelations, all in a different style, but they are all equally admired. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death; lived the longest of any of them, being near 100 years of age at the time of his death; and the church commemorates the 27th day of December to his memory.

ST. BARNABAS was a native of Cyprus, but of Jewish parents: the time of his death is uncertain, but supposed to be about the year of Christ 73; and his festi

ST. JOHN. This saint was, at once, a prophet, apostle, divine, evangelist, and martyr. He is called the beloved disciple, and was brother to James the Great. Heval is kept on the 11th of June.

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THE FIRST PRIMITIVE PERSECUTIONS UNDER NERO.

HE first persecution, in space of five years, with tolerable credit to the primitive ages of himself, but then gave way to the greatest the church, was begun extravagance of temper, and to the most by that cruel tyrant Nero atrocious barbarities. Among other diaDomitius, the sixth em- {bolical outrages, he ordered that the city peror of Rome, and A. of Rome should be set on fire, which was

D. 67. This monarch reigned, for the

done by his officers, guards, and servants.