394 The NEW and COMPLETE LIFE of our BLESSED LORD confufion amongf the ancient authors : nay, force have concluded, that they were one and the fame perfon ; though the one was called to the apofllefhip by our Lord himfelf, and the other only a deacon chofen by the apoflies at Jerufalem, a£ ter the defcent of the Holy Ghofi upon them. It does not appear that St. Philip left any writings behind him, being fully em- ployed in minifleries more immediately ufe- ful to the happinefs ofmankind as an apoftle, St. S I M O N, the APOSTLE, furnamed the ZEALOT. H I S apoftle was, as force think, one of the four brothers of our Saviour, fons of Jofeph by his former marriage ; though the only proof of it is, that one of thefe was called Simon, too weak an argument to found any on, except a bare conjeaure. In the catalogue of the apofiles, he is fiyled Simon the Canaanite, whence force conje&ure he was born in Cana of Galilee, and others will have him to have been the bridegroom mentioned by St. John, at whole marriage our bleffed Sa- viour turned the water into wine : but this word has no relation to his country, or the place of his nativity, being derived from the Hebrew word knah, which figni- fies zeal, and denotes a warm and fprightly temper. What fome of the evangelifs, therefore, call Canaanite, others rendering the Hebrew by the Greek word, fiyle Zealot : not from his great zeal, his ardent affe&ion to his Mailer, and a delire of advancing his religion in the world, but from his warm aaive temper, and zealous forwardnefs in force particular felt of reli- gion, before our Saviour called him to be a difciple. That we may underfiand this the better, it will be neceffary to obferve, that as there were feveral fe&s and parties amongfl the Jews, fo there was one, either a dif- tin& felt, or, at leaft, a branch of the Pha- rifees, called The Se& of the Zealots : they were remarkable aflertors of the honour of the law, and of the firi&nefs and purity of religion, affuming a liberty to themfelves of queflioning notorious offenders, with- out flaying for the ordinary formalities of law; nay, they did not fcruple, when they thought it neceffary, to inflilt capital pu- nifhments upon them : thus, when a blaf- phemer curled God by the name of an idol, the Zealot who firft met him had the liberty of killing him, without carrying him before the Sanhedrim. They con fidered themfelves as the fuccelfors of Phineas, who, in defence ofthe honour of God, inflilted death on Zimri andCozbi : an a&which was counted unto himforrigh- teaifiz f unto all generationsfor evermore; and God was fo well pleafed with it, that he made with him and his feed after fain the covenant of an everla/ling prihood, becaufe he was zealous fir his God, and wade an atonementfar Ifrael. Whatever St. Simon was before, we can have no reafon to fufpelt, but that after his converlion he was very zealous for the honour of his Mailer, and confidered all thofe who were enemies to CHRIST, as enemies to himfelf, how near foever they might be to him in any natural relation and as he was very exalt in all the pra&i- cal duties of the Chriftian religion, fo he [hewed a very ferious and pious indigna- tion towards thofe, who profeffed religion, and a faith in CuRrsr, with their mouths, but difhonoured their facred profeiiìon, bxr: their irregular and vicious lives, as many of the firft Chriftians really did, and be- came heretics and apoflates. We are told by Theodoret, that St. Si- mon the Zealot was of the tribe of Zebu- lun or Naphtali, and that by this particular he was diflinguifhed from St. Simon, a re- lation ofour bleaed Saviour, and, after St. James, bifhop of Jerufalem, who was of the tribe of Judah: but there are flronger reafons t
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