god The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD will have him to be the fon of St: Peter's finer: nay, I'epies, bifhop of Hierapolis, who lived near the apoflolic times, pofì- tively affirms, that he was neither a hearer nor follower of our Saviour. It is there- fore moil probable, that he was converted by fome of the apoftles, perhaps by St. Peter, whom he connantly attended in his travels, fupplying the place of an amanu- enfis and interpreter : for though the apofles were divinely infpired, and had, amongR other miraculous powers, the gift of tongues conferred upon them, yet the interpretation of tongues was a gift more peculiar to fome than to others ; and this probably was St. Mark's talent, in ex- pounding St. Peter's difcourfes, whether by word or writing, to thofe who were Rran- gers to the language in which they were delivered : but however this be, he accom- panied him in his apoffolical progrefs, preached the gofpel in Italy and at Rome, where, at the requef of the Chrinians of thole parts, he compofed and wrote the gofpel, which is called after his name. We are told by Eufebius, that St, Mark was fent into Egypt by St. Peter to preach the gofpel, and accordingly planted a church in Alexandria, the metropolis of it ; and 'his fuccefs was fo very remarkable, that he converted multitudes both of men and women, perfuading them not only to embrace the Chrinian religion, but an a life ofmore than ordinaryRrifinefs. That there was indeed a feE: in Egypt remarkably fíriE in their difcipline is evident from Philo, who gives the following account of them. " ° There is, gays he, a fort of perlons in many parts of the world, efpecially near the Marceotick lake in Egypt, who have formed themfelves into religious focieties, and lead a Rria philofophical and contem- plative courfe of life. When they Grf enter on this manner of living, they re- nounce all fecular interens and employ- ments, and leaving their eflates to their relations, retire into gardens, and places devoted to folitude and contemplation. 3 Their houfes, or colleges, are not conti- guous, that, being free from noife and tumult, they might the better attend to the defigns of a contemplative life ; nor yet removed at too great a diflance, that they may maintain mutual fociety, and be conveniently capable of helping and elfiR- ing one another. In each of thefe houles is an oratory, called Semnion and Monaf- terion, in which they difcharged the more fecret and folemn rites of their religion, divided in the middle by a partition-wall, three or four cubits high, one apartment being for the men, and the other for the women. Here they publicidy meet every feventh day, where, being feated accord- ing to their feniority, andhaving compofecl themfelves with great decency and reve- rence, the moil aged perfon amongRthem, and the ben fkilled in the dogmata and principles of their inflitution, comes forth into the midf, gravely and foberly dif- courfug on what may make the greaten impreflion in their minds ; the ren attending with the moil profound fslence, and only tel- tifying their aflent with the motionof their eyes or head. Their difcourfes are com- monly myflical and allegorical, fecking hidden fenfes under plain words ; and of fuch an allegorical philofophy the books of their religion, left them by their an- cenors, confin : the law they compare to an animal, the letters of it refembling the body, while the foul of it lies in there abnrufe and recondite notions, whirls the external veil and furface of the words conceal from common undernandings. " With regard to their method of living, they take very little care of their bodies, fpending their whole time in perfeéling their minds by precepts of wifdom and religion ; the day they wholly fpend in pious and divine meditations, in reading and expounding the law and the prophets, and the holy volumes of the ancient foun- ders of their fedl, and in Gaging pfalms to the honour of their Maker; abfolutely temperate and abnemious, neither eating nor drinking till night, the only time they think
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