Num.

xxv. 8.

Q. What was the Sect of the Zealots?

A. It began in Mattaibias, the Root ofthe Maccabean Family, and was continued among the Jews till our Saviour's Time. They looked upon Phineas as their Patron, who, in a mighty Zeal for the Honour of God, did immediate Execution upon Zimri and Cofbi. They took upon them a Power of executing the Law upon Offenders, without any formal Trial and Accufation; and that not only by Connivance, but with the Leave both of the Rulers and the People. Under this Pretence, their Zeal afterwards degenerated into Licentiousness and Extravagance, and they became the Occafion Jud. lib. of great Miferies to their own Nation; as is largely related by fofephus.

De Bel.

4.

Q. What Account is there of St. Simon after our Lord's Paffion?

A. He continued with the other Apostles and Difciples of Christ at Ferufalem, joining in Worship and Communion with them; and did not leave that City till after the Feast of Pentecoft, when they were all furnished with the necessary Gifts of the Haly Ghost, in order to the Exercise of their Miniftry in all Parts of the World.

Q. Where is it thought St. Simon planted Chriftianity, and fuffered Martyrdom?

A. Some fay he went into Egypt, Cyrene, and Africa, and there preached the Gofpel; and after fome Time from thence into Libya and Mauritania for the fame Purpose. He is faid alfo to have paffed into Britain, where, after having converted many to the Faith, and suffered many Perfecutions, he was crucified by the Infidels, and there buried. Others, in their Martyrologies affirm, that the idolatrous Priests put him to Death at Suanir, a City of Perfia; though where this City ftood in Perfia, our Hiftories mention not.

Q. What Account have we of St. Jude?

A. That

A. That as to his Defcent and Parentage, he was of our Lord's Kindred, being Brother to James the Lefs and ftyled himself Brother of Jefus Chrift. Mat. xiii. it is not certain when he was called to be an 55Apoft le, nothing appearing of him till we find him in that Catalogue. But from that Time he became a conftant Attendant upon Chrift's Perfon and Miniftry, which was a probable Evidence, that he was eminent for his Zeal in the Chriftian Faith.

Q. In what Senfe was be Brother of our Lord? A. Some of the Ancients would have it underftood to be a Coufin-German, though the greatest Part of them make him, and them that were ftyled Brethren of our Lord, Children of Joseph by a former Wife.

Q. By what Name is St. Jude defcribed?

A. By two befides Jude, Thaddeus and Lebbæus : It being ufual for the fame Perfon in holy Writ to have more proper Names than one. Thefe Names were given him partly to diftinguish him from Judas the Traitor, and partly as a Commendation of his Wifdom and Zeal. Lebbæus, according to St. Jerome, denoting Prudence and Understanding: and Thaddeus fignifying a Perfon zealous in praifing God.

Q. What is particularly recorded of St. Jude at our Lord's last Supper?

A. That upon our Saviour's having told his Dif ciples what particular Manifeftations he would make of himself after his Refurrection to his fincere Followers, St. Jude afked him, what was the Reafon he would manifeft himself to them, and not John xiv. to the World? Which feems to hint at fome Ex- 23. pectation of our Saviour's temporal Grandeur.

Q. How doth our Saviour anfwer St. Jude's Inquiry?

A. That because the World had no Respect for him and his Doctrine, therefore they should not Ver. 23. enjoy

A a 3

enjoy the Happiness of his Prefence; but fince they, who had been his conftant Difciples, had fhewed their Love to him, by obeying his Laws and attending upon his Perfon, he would make them the comfortable Returns of his Love, by revealing himself to them.

Q. What may we learn from this?

A. That after the Refurrection of our Saviour, his Appearances were neceffary to be made to the Apoftles, because they were to be the Witnesses of his Refurrection to the World: but not to his Enemies, who had rejected him and his Doctrine. That good Men, Perfons of God-like Tempers and Difpofitions, religious Obfervers of God's Laws, are qualified to be admitted to particular Acts of God's Grace and Favour.

Q. What Province was allotted to St. Jude for the Exercife of his Ministry?

A. It is moft probable that he preached in Judea, Galilee, and from thence went through Samaria into Idumæa; and to the Cities of Arabia, and neighbouring Countries, yea to Syria and Mefopotamia.

Q. Where did be fuffer Martyrdom?

A. By the general Confent of the Writters of the Latin Church, he is faid to have travelled into Perfia, where, after great Succefs in the Labours of his Ministry, he was, for his free and open reproving the fuperftitious Rites of the Magi, cruelly put to Death.

Q. What Account have we of his Family?

A. That he was a married Man, and that his two Grandchildren bore Evidence to the Truth of Christianity before Domitian the Emperor; who being jealous of any Co-rival in the Empire, fummoned them before him, as fome of the Remains of the Pofterity of David, and of thofe that were related to Chrift.

Q. How

Q. How did they efcape when they appeared before the Emperor?

A. They were difmiffed without any fevere Ulage; for, answering with great Sincerity, and owning themselves of the Race of David, but that they were very poor, and lived by Hufbandry, as was manifeft by the Hardness of their Hands; and that as to the Meffiah, though he was a King, yet it was in Heaven, not on Earth, where his Kingdom fhould not appear till the End of the World, when he should come in Glory to judge both the Quick and Dead: Domitian defpifed their Poverty and Meannefs, as below his Jealoufy and Fears.

Q. What Writings did this Apoftle leave behind bim?

A. He left but one Epifile, infcribed at large to all Chriftians; but it is thought to have been chiefly intended for the converted Jews in their feveral Difperfions. He exhorts them to ftand manfully upon the Defence of the Faith once deli- Jude vered to the Saints, and to oppose the falfe Teachers, the Nicolaitans, and the Gnoflicks, who laboured fo much to corrupt it. But because true Christian Charity, thought zealous, is with Bitterness and Hatred, he exhorts all Chriftians by all gentle Means to fave them, and to pull them out of the Fire into which their own Folly had caft them.

Q. What may we learn from the Obfervation of this Festival?

A. To be content that our beft Actions fhould be known to God only, fince there remains so little Remembrance of many eminent Apoftles. That our Labours in doing Good fhould rather appear by the happy Effects of them, than by any Publication from ourselves or others. That to court the Applaufe of men is Vanity; and is Vanity; and nothing is worth our Care more than to approve ourselves A a 4

ta

3.

2.

Tit. ii. 14.

2 Cor. xii

to that Almighty Being who cannot be impofed upon. That in all our Undertakings we ought to be diligent and faithful in the Discharge of our own Duty, and leave the Succefs quietly to the All-wife Difpofer of all Things. That Men of great Piety and Virtue are chiefly prepared to receive particular Acts of God's Grace and Favour. That Zeal ought to be applied, in the firft Place, to the moft folid and fubflantial Parts of Religion; but that upon all Occafions it ought to be governed by Chriftian Meafures in the Manner of its acting. Q. Wherein confifts the Nature of Zeal?

A. It is an earnest Concernment for or against fomething, and a violent Purfuit and Profecution of it; and is in its own Nature indifferent, like the rest of the Paffions, but good and bad, according to the Object and Degree of it. And after this Manner it is ufed in the holy Scriptures: In a good Senfe, when applied to thofe Things wherein the Honour of God and the Salvation of Men's Souls are concerned; as when St. Paul tells the Co2 Cor. ix. rinthians, that their Zeal had provoked very many; and that Chrift gave himself for us, to purify to himself a peculiar People zealous of good Works; and that be was zealous of the Corinthans with a godly Zeal. But in a bad Sense, when applied to a furious Spirit of Perfecution, and to fuch Contentions and Divifions as produce Wrath and ungovernable Paflions. Thus it is faid the Jews were filled with Envy (in the OriA&ts xiii. ginal, Zeal) and fpake against thofe Things that were Aas xvii. Ipoken by St. Paul, contracting and blafpheming: And that the Jews that believed, moved with Envy, (in the Original, Zeal) fet all the City in an Uproar. The Works of the Flesh are manifeft, Hatred, Variance, Zeal, &c. a Zeal for God, but not according to Knowledge.

2.

Gal.

Gal. v. 19, &c.

Rom. x.

Q. What is necessary to qualify our Zeal, that it may become a Chriftian Virtue ?

A. That