The history of Jesus Christ has been written by four different individuals, w hose accounts are received by tho Christian world, and some of the arguments for the credibility of their testimony are founded upon the merle in which they accomplished their task.
Matthew, who had been a collector of customs, wrote his Gospel In Hebrew for the use of the Jews soon after Christ's death ; Merit is believed to have written under the direction of Peter, for the use of the Christiaus at Borne; Luke, whose Gospel was written for the Heathen converts, was a physician, a companion iu the labours of St. Paul, and is supposed to have written hla account of Christ while travelling with the apostle; John's Gospel was written after all the preceding, and notices circumstances which the other evangelists had petered over. That part of the New Testament which follows the four Gospels was also written by St. Luke, and gives the Acta of the Apostle; and the history of Christianity, for about thirty years after Christ's death.
The primitive assemblies of the converts to Christianity were called Churches (Eeesicrscu). The converts at Jerusalem formed the earliest Christian society. The church of Antioch, which was founded by Paul and &melba; was the second; and its members first received the name of Christians, having previously been called Nazarenes, by way of derision. The first churches or Christina communities were those of Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, Smyrna, Athens, Corinth, Home, and Alexandria. The churches founded by the apostles were regarded with peculiar veneration in after times. Their authority was appealed to on points of discipline and doctrine, as it was con ceived that the letter and spirit of the apostolical regulations had been more rigidly adhered to by them. The church of Jerusalem may be regarded as the mother of all other churches ; hut the church at Rome, then tho capital of the world, subsequently became, with the churches of Antioch and Alexandria, which were respectively capitals of Roman provinces, by far the most important of all the churches. The four churches Of Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria were formed in the order in which they are mentioned, though some doubt exists as to the title of tho church of Rome to priority over that of Alexandria. The church of Rome became the metropolitan of the
west, while that of Antioch was regarded as the chief of the eastern churches. As the apostles extended their travels, churches were planted in various parts of Asia. Paul and Barnabas visited tho islands of Cyprus and Crete, and various parts of Greece, where they made converts to Christianity. In a second visit to the churches which were formed by Paul, he regulated some of the practices iuto which the converts had fallen. At Corinth be remained eighteen months, during which period he exerted himself to establish firmly the faith of the Christian believer; which in that church was exposed to peculiar dangers. When unable to visit distant churches, he addressed them in Epistles. Paul next directed Iris attention to the west of Europe, to nations " that were yet rude and barbarous." There is no certain record of this portion of his travels. The writings and laboura of St. Paul, who is emphatically called the apostle of the Gentiles form the most important part of the history of the second period of Christianity. In leas than forty years after the death of Christ the Gospel had been preached in every country of the then civilised world, and in some countries which were in a state of barbarism. Iu the year 63, that is thirty-seven years after Christ's death, Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom at Rome.
The records as to the other apostles do not afford an adequate idea of the extent of their labours. John was banished to the island of Patmos by Domitian, and there wrote the Revelations. He was subsequently permitted to return to Ephesus, where he wrote his gospel and epistles. He was the last survivor of the apostles, and died a natural death at the close of tho first century, about the year 93. The seven churches mentioned by John in the Revelations are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, l'hiladelphia, and Laodicea.