"These are they which have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.-And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."-REV. vii. 14. 17.

ST. LUKE

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THE EVANGELIST.

ST. LUKE is mentioned in Holy Scripture as having been by profession a "Physician';" and as having been the chosen and constant companion and fellow-labourer of St. Paul during his travels; who alludes to St. Luke when he speaks of "the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout the churches"." Some commentators suppose Luke and Silas to have been the same person; the latter name bearing the same meaning as that of Luke; namely, a wood or grove; "Luke" being the abbreviation of Lucanus, and "Silas" of Silvanus, both of which names have the same signification; and they likewise suppose that St. Luke

1 1 Cor. iv. 4.

2 2 Tim. iv. 11. Philemon 24. 32 Cor. viii. 18.

always speaks of himself under the name of "Silas" in his "History of the Acts of the Apostles*." St. Paul would thus appear to allude to St. Luke under the name of "Silvanus," in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, and also in his Epistles to the Thessalonians'; and St. Peter, in his First Epistle, declares that he sends it "by Silvanus, a faithful brother"."

St. Luke is stated by the most ancient Church historians to have been one of the

seventy" disciples, whom our Lord

our chose to "send two and two before His face, into every city and place whither He Himself would come";" which event in the ministry of our Lord is related by St. Luke alone in his Gospel; and he also relates that the "seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us through Thy Name." And "Jesus said unto them, I beheld

4 Acts xv. 22. 27. 34. 40; xvi. 19. 25. 29; xvii. 4. 10. 15; xviii. 5.

5 2 Cor. i. 19. 1 Thess. i. 1. 61 Pet. v. 12.

2 Thess. i. 1.

7 Luke x. 1.

Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

St. Luke was the author of the Gospel which bears his name, and which is addressed to "Theophilus," that he may "know the certainty of those things in which he had been instructed," and of which things, St. Luke tells us, he had himself "a perfect understanding from the very first"."

The Gospel of St. Luke is believed, from the testimony of all Christian antiquity, to have been composed under the direction of St. Paul, for the use of the Gentile converts, about A.D. 61, during St. Paul's two years' sojourn at Rome; and of the four Gospels it was written the third in time, as it has been placed the third in order.

8 Luke x. 17-21.

9 Luke i. 3, 4.

This Gospel contains some particulars of the ministry of our Lord which were omitted by the Evangelists St. Matthew and St. Mark; for instance, the raising of the widow's son at Nain'; the visit to Martha and Mary'; the abiding of Christ with Zacchæus the Publican; and the cleansing of the Ten Lepers; with the several parables of the Good Samaritan", the Prodigal Son, Dives and Lazarus', and the Pharisee and the Publican; as also Christ's address to the women of Jerusalem', and His promise to the penitent Thief; besides some others.

St. Luke is likewise the only Evangelist who mentions the relationship of the blessed Virgin to Elisabeth, wife of Zacharias the Priest", with the particulars of the birth of St. John the Baptist', the prophecy of Zacharias con

1 Luke vii. 11-16. 3 Luke xix. 2-11.

5 Luke x. 30-38.

7 Luke xvi. 19 to end.

2 Luke x. 38 to end. 4 Luke xvii. 11-25. 6 Luke xv. 11 to end.

8 Luke xviii. 10-15.

10 Luke xxiii. 39-44. 12 Luke i. 3-26. 41-46.57-66.

9 Luke xxiii. 27-32. 11 Luke i. 36.