evident from the Epistle itself. The dates of the journey and of the Epistle will of course influence each other. If St. Paul was sent prisoner to Rome A. D. 56, the Epistle could not have been written in the year 57, or any later year. And if the Epistle was written A. D. 57, St. Paul could not have been sent prisoner to Rome in 56. But the choice of a date for the Epistle must be governed by the time of the journey, and not the time of the journey by the dates assigned to the Epistle. To the latter, various dates are assigned, I have exhibited this variety of dates, that the reader may not at once conclude, that St. Paul's first journey to Rome was not A. D. 56, because he finds the date of 57, or 58, or 60, assigned to the Epistle by different writers. These several dates appear to arise from the omission of St. Paul's journey to the West in arranging the chronology of the Apostle's ministry. If St. Paul preached the Gospel in Britain after his release from his first imprisonment at Rome, and if that imprisonment commenced in the 2d or 3d of Nero, * Rom, i. 10, 1. as I hope, in both cases, to prove in the following pages, the Epistle must be dated A. D. 53 or 54, -circiter ultimum Claudii,-as in the Historia Ecclesiastica Magdeburgica, Capellus's Hist. Apost. p.76, and Dodwell's Diss. de Rom. Pontif. Success. p. 114, or A. D. 55, as in Simson's Chronicon. It may be interesting and useful, in the consideration of St. Paul's relation to the Church of Rome, to keep in view the state of that Church before the Apostle's first journey, as far as can be collected from the Epistle to the Romans. The Epistle is addressed to "all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be Saints." Names of Christian concerts at Rome, to whom St. Paul sends his salutations. Romans, Ch. XVI. Ver. 1. Phebe, our Sister. 3. Priscilla Aquila my helpers in Christ. 5. The Church that is in their house. 6. Mary, who bestowed much labour on us. Junia my kinsmen. 8. Amplias, my beloved. 9. Urbane, our helper. Stachys, my beloved. 10. Apelles, approved in Christ. Aristobulus's household. 11. Herodion, my kinsman. 12. Tryphena who labour in the Lord. Persis, the beloved. 13. Rufus, chosen in the Lord. Rufus's mother. 34. Asyncritus. Phlegon. Patrobas. Hermes, and the brethren, which are with 15. Philologus. Julia. Nereus. Nereus's Sister. Olympas. All the Saints, that are with them. Testimonia de prima Ecclesiæ Romanæ fundatione. [them. 1. Constabit inde manifesto non magno ante obitum Apos tolorum intervallo et fundatam ab Apostolis Ecclesiam Romanam, et præfectum àdeo ab eisdem fuisse Linum. DODWELL de Pontificum Romanorum Successione. C. viii. §. 5. 2. Nos contra probavimus eodem anno quo decesserunt Apostoli, et formatam esse Ecclesiam Romanam, et præfectum adeo illi primum Episcopum fuisse Linum. IDEM ibidem. 3. Cum Petrus et Paulus fundarent Ecclesiam, hoc est, Apostolis illis adhuc superstitibus, Linus Romæ Episcopus constitutus est, ut docet Irenæus. PEARSON. De annis priorum Roma Episcoporum, p. 168. TABLE OF CONTENTS. L. THE Roman Catholick claims, so far as they are con- nected with the Pope's supremacy, rest on imaginary pre- tensions, p. 10. The Church of Christ not founded on St. Peter, but on his confession, p. 11-14. The Church of Rome founded by St. Paul, p. 17—20. II. 1. St. Paul's preaching of the Gospel in Britain, founded on historical evidence, p. 21. 2. The testimony of Gildas respecting the time, when Christianity was first introduced into Britain, compared with Eusebius's date of St. Paul's first journey to Rome, p. 23- 3. The time of Felix's recal from the government of Judea 4. Conclusions from the preceding premises, p. 40, 5. Objections to St. Paul's journey to the West examined, 6. Evidence of St. Paul's journey to the West, and to III. The Church of Britain, in a spiritual sense, fully established before the Church of Rome, p. 56. The Pope's supremacy not countenanced by Scripture, or the primitive. history of the Church, p. 56. The Popish claims not con- sistent with the rights of Protestant subjects, nor warranted by expediency, or the example of other nations, p. 57-62. POSTSCRIPT. 1. Of the original materials of Church History, p. 66. 2. On the testimony of Gildas, p. 70. 3. On the British converts, Claudia Rufina, and Pamponia Græcina, p. 73. 4. Protest of the ancient British Church, According to the best accounts we have, there was a Christian Church in Britain even before there was one at Rome. And this is acknowledged by some of the most learned and eminent of their own communion; Baronius and Suarez. See Bishop Bull's Corruptions of the Church of Rome, published by Dr. Hickes, p. 283. TRAPP'S Popery truly stated and briefly confuted, p. 51. By this it appeareth [from Baronius] that the Church of Rome is not our mother Church, but a sister onely, and that a younger too; howsoever her flatterers would make her mother of all Churches. PAGITT's Christianography, Part II. p. 3. 3d Ed. 1640. |
