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THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES, &c.

BOSTON :

MUNROE AND FRANCIS, 128 WASHINGTON-STREET,

CORNER OF WATER-STREET.

CHARLES S. FRANCIS, 252 BROADWAY,

OPPOSITE THE PARK, NEW-YORK.

1828.

INTRODUCTION.

THE book of Scripture on which we are about to enter, is called 'The Acts of the Apostles;' a title, however, which was not, probably, given to it by the author; for it does not exactly correspond with the design of the work, which appears to have been, not to write a history of the transactions of every one of the apostles, but to give a general account of the first planting of the Christian religion in the world, and to enter no further into the miracles, discourses, and travels of any of the apostles than was necessary for this purpose. They are the transactions of Peter and Paul, principally, which he has selected with this design. Very little is said about any of the other apostles, although, no doubt, they were all alike active in this great work.

This book is professedly written as a continuation of the gospel of Luke, as is manifest from the introduction, and, there is every reason to suppose, by the same author; being composed in the Greek language, in the same elegant style as that gospel, and having been universally attributed to that evangelist. Luke, it is generally allowed, was a physician, and may therefore be supposed to have had the benefit of some education. In this respect he had an advantage over the other evangelists, who were men of ordinary occupations, and wrote in language which corresponded with their situation in life. It has the same internal marks of being an authentic history which are to be found in the gospels. We observe in it the same simple and artless relation of facts, without any comments from the author to recommend them; the same minute detail of particulars in regard to time and place; the same unreserved disclosure of errors and failings in Christians and Christian teachers. Events of a public nature, recorded or referred to in this work, are found to correspond with the accounts left us of those times by Jewish and heathen historians: a circumstance that must give them credibility in the estimation of those who

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