For the doing God's Will on greater Advantage. Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and with all the Company of Heaven, I laud and magnify thy glorious Name, evermore praifing thee, and faying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hofts, Heaven and Earth are full of thy Glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord most High. Amen. IV. LESSED God, whofe Throne is incircled with Miriads of glorious Spirits, who veil their Faces as not being able to behold the Brightis done in nefs of thy Majefty, and who delight in their AtHeaven. tendance upon thofe Miniftries whereunto thou hast Earth as it For the Govern ment of the Tongue. appointed them; I thy unworthy Creature proftrate myfelf in all Humility at thy Footftool, befeeching thee to give me Grace to do thy Will on Earth with the fame Diligence and Industry, with the fame Zeal and Chearfulness, as thy bleffed Angels do it in Heaven; that imitating their exemplary Obedience, conftant Devotion, profound Humility, unfpotted Purity, and extenfive Charity, I may engage their Protection in all my Neceffities; and may particularly enjoy the Advantage of their Affiftance in my last Hour, in that difmal Conflict with Death and the Powers of Darknefs; and being by them conducted to the Manfions of Glory, may be advanced to a more intimate and happy Society with them in the Life to come, through Jefus Christ our Lord. Amen. V. SET a Guard, O Lord, upon my Lips, that I offend not with my Tongue. Let Prudence and Circumfpection always attend to fhut out fuch Difcourfes as border the leaft upon Evil-fpeaking. That I may be tender of the Reputation of my Neighbour, and never diminish his good Name by fpreading any evil Reports concerning him: That the the Deformity of his Body, and the Weakness of his Mind, may never be the Subject of my light Mirth. That I may never encourage Backbiters, by liftening to their Suggeftions, and by giving Credit to their Slanders. Thou haft given me a Tongue that I might praife thee, and that I might influence others to blefs thy holy Name. O let this be the main Employment of that noble Gift, that my Words may chiefly aim at promoting thy Glory; either to foften the Pains of the Afflicted; to vindicate the Reputation of my Neighbour, whenever I hear it injured; to unite the Minds of those that are at Variance, or to instruct those that know thee not enough; and to entertain all the World, O God, with thy Greatnefs, and thy Goodness; to enflame all Hearts with thy Love, to provoke them to praise thee, to bless thee, to glorify thee; that I may one Day mingle my Praises with thofe of thy Elect in Glory, through Jefus Chrift. Amen. CHAP. XXIX. Saint Luke the Evangelift, October 18. Q: WH HAT Feflival does the Church celebrate this A. That of St. Luke the Evangelift. · A. The Name was at firft given to those that preached the Gofpel; but afterwards it was confined to those four, that writ the Hiftory of the Life and Preaching of our Saviour Jefus Chrift; whose four Gofpels make Part of the facred Canon of Scripture. Q. Where was the Place of St. Luke's Nativity? A. Antioch Fufeb. lib. 3. c. 4. A&ts xi. 26. Grot. Se eun. Luc. A. Antioch, the Metropolis of Syria, pleafant for its Situation, fertile for its Soil, rich by its Traffic, famous for Learning and Civility; and above all, renowned for this one peculiar Honour, that here it was that the Difciples of Jefus were firft called Chriftians. Q. What was his particular Profeffion? A. That of Phyfic; an Art in thofe Days generally managed by Perfons of no better Rank than Servants; which made Grotius conceive that St. Luke, though a Syrian by Birth, was a Servant at Rome, where he fometimes practifed Physic, and when made free, returned into his own Country. Q. What other Skill was he famous for befides Phyfic? A. Painting; and there are fome Pieces ftill in being, pretended to have been drawn by his own Hand; but I believe it will be fomewhat difficult to prove them true Originals of our Evangelift. Q. Was St. Luke one of the Seventy Difciples? A. Some of the Ancients thought he was, and that he deferted our Saviour upon the unwelcome John vi. Difcourfe he made to his Difciples; but was afterwards recalled by St. Paul. And upon no better Ground it is faid, he was one of the two Difciples going to Emmaus; for, befides the Silence of Scripture, St. Luke feems to contradict it himself, by confeffing he was not from the Beginning an Luke i. 2. Eye-witnefs and Minifter of the Word. Moft probable it is, he was converted by St. Paul during his Abode at Antioch. Q. How did he beftow his Labours after his Converfion? A. He became an infeparable Companion and Fellow-labourer of St. Paul in the Miniftry of the Asxvi. Gofpel; efpecially after St. Paul's going into Macedonia; from which Time in recording St. Paul's Travels, St. Luke always speaks of himself in his own Person. 10. Q. How Q. How did he endear himself to St. Paul? A. By attending him in all his Dangers; by being prefent with him in his feveral Arraignments at Jerufalem; by accompanying him in his hazardous Voyage to Rome; where he ferved his Neceffities, and fupplied thofe minifterial Offices, which the Apostle's Confinement would not fuffer him to discharge, especially in carrying Meffages to thofe Churches, where he had planted Chrifti- 2 Tim. iv, anity; and in fticking to him when others for- 11. fook him. Q. Where did St. Luke preach the Gospel? A. Some fay he left St. Paul at Rome, and returned back into the Eaft, and travelled into Egypt, and the Parts of Lybia, where he converted many to Christianity, and took upon himfelf the Epifcopal Charge of the City of Thebais; though it is most probable he did not wholly leave St. Paul, till he finifhed his Course with Martyrdom. Q. What Account do others give of his Labours? A. That he first preached in Dalmatia and Galatia, then in Italy and Macedonia; where he fpared no Pains, declined no Dangers in the faithful Difcharge of the Truft committed to him. Q. About what Time, and in what Manner did be die? A. The Ancients are not very well agreed about either: Some affirming him to die in Egypt, others in Greece; fome in Bythania, others at Ephesus; fome make him die a natural, others a violent, Death. Q. What Account is given of his Martyrdom? A. That he fuccefsfully preached the Gospel in Greece; till a Party of Infidels making Head against him, drew him to Execution; and for Want of a Crofs whereon to dispatch him, presently hanged him upon an Olive-tree, in the Eightieth Year Year of his Age, though St. Jerome makes it the Q. Where is his Body interred? A. At Conftantinople, whither it was removed by the Command of Conftantine, or his Son Confiantius, and buried in the great Church built in the Memory of the Apoftles. Q. What Writings did he leave behind him? A. His Gofpel, and his Hiftory of the Acts of the Apfiles, both dedicated to Theophilus. Q. Who was this Theophilus? A. Many of the Ancients fuppofed it to be a feigned Name, denoting no more than a Lover of God, a Title common to every Chriftian; though. others, with better Reason, conclude it the proper Name of a particular Perfon; efpecially fince the Title of Moft excellent is attributed to him, the ufual Form of Addrefs in thofe Times to great Men. We may probably fuppofe him to have been fome Magifirate, whom St. Luke had converted; to whom he dedicates thefe Books, not only as a Teftimony of Refpect, but as a Means of giving Luke i. 4. him farther Affurance of thofe Things wherein be had been inftructed. A&ts xxiv. 3. Κράτισε. Aas xxvi. Q. What may we learn from the Manner of thefe Dedications? A. That in Addreffes of this Nature, though Authors fhould not neglect the giving those Titles that are due to Men's different Qualities (as Moft excellent feems to be given by St. Luke upon that Account, it being the fame Word in the Original, which St. Paul applies to the Roman Governors Felix and Fetus), yet they fhould be very sparing in perfonal Commendations, for fear of contracting the Guilt of Flattery, fo pernicious to themselves, as well as their Patrons. Q. When was St. Luke's Gospel supposed to be wkit? 4. During |