ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, one of the books of sacred Scripture, was written by the Evangelist Luke ; and seems to have been completed about the year 63. Luke is supposed to have been one of the seventy, whom our Lord sent out to preach the gospel ; and is acknowledged to have been the companion of the Apostle Paul in his travels. He was himself therefore an actor, and an eye witness, in most of the events which he records ; and was well qualified to detail and describe them. He ad dresses the book of Acts to the same person, to whom he had addressed his former treatise ; and he seems to say himself, that he intended it as a continuation of the his tory, which he had begun to give in his gospel. There can be no doubt, that many things were done by the apostles, which are not recorded in the book of Acts ; and that many of the events, which have been mention ed, are narrated very concisely. The writer evidently confines himself to a few of the principal transactions and miracles in the early progress of Christianity ; and particularly to the preaching of the apostles, Peter and Paul. He gives an account of the ascension of Jesus Christ ; the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apos tles ; and the first preaching of the gospel. He describes the rapid increase of the Christian church at Jerusalem ; the circumstances which attended the preaching of the Apostle Peter to the Gentiles ; and their admission to the privileges of the gospel. He particularly depicts, in a very interesting manner, the miraculous conversion of Paul ; and then restricts his narrative chiefly to the actions of that apostle. He relates his first preaching at Antioch, in Syria ; and details three extensive jour neys, which he made at different times, to the principal places in Greece and Asia. Having detailed, in the
course of his narrative, many miraculous testimonies to the truth of Christianity, and described many eminent examples of the Christian character, the writer con cludes with an account of Paul's voyage to Rome, in con sequence of his appeal to the emperor, and of his im prisonment there for two years. As a historical compo sition, this book of the Acts of the Apostles is allowed, by:..the best, critics, to possess very great met it ; and, as. a part of the sacred writings, it has been almost univer sally received in the Christian church, upon the most un questionable evidence.
Several other writings have been proposed to the Christian world, as containing farther accounts of the acts of the apostles. These arc Acts of the Apostles, professed to have been written by Abdias, a pretended bishop of Babylon ; Acts of St Peter, entitled also, The Recognitions of St Clement ; Acts of St Paul, containing the history of that apostle Iron his imprisonment at Rome to his death ; Acts of St John the Evangelist, Acts St Andrew, and Acts of St Thomas, used by the Ma 'lichees ; Acts Qf St Philip, acknowledged by the Gnos tics ; and Acts of St Matthias, which some Jews are sup posed to have framed. All these books are support ed by no respectable testimony, and are universally con sidered as spurious. They are so filled, indeed, with ridiculous visions and foolish fables, as to afford suf ficient internal evidence for rejecting them from the number of inspired writings. (v)