the Rev. W. Turner , Jun. , MA., Lives of the eminent Unitarians

[238] them much more than they ever meant to tell. On the contrary, we are aware that in this way much curious and valuable information has been often elicited, throwing a clearer light on many otherwise ill-understood passages both of sacred and profane history; but still a distinction must be drawn between what is learned from the direct testimony of competent witnesses, and the mere results of inference and conjecture.

In the introduction, the author has given an abstract of the scripture history of the apostles, arranged in chronological order; fixing the dates of the principal events recorded with great probability on the whole, though some points are, of necessity, in a great measure conjectural, and founded on imperfect evidence. Thus he assumes, that it was not till the trance which St. Paul speaks of as taking place when he was worshiping in the temple, (Acts XXII. 14,) and which he takes it for granted was the same with that which is referred to (2 Cor. XII. 2) where he speaks of having been caught up to the third heaven, that he was advanced to the character and entered on the functions of an apostle; being then, and not till then, appointed to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. Peter, under the direction of a special revelation, had indeed baptized Cornelius; but it does not appear that either he, or any of his brethren, addressed themselves to any but the devout Gentiles who had already acknowledged the divine origin of the Mosaic law, though they did not conform to its ritual.

Lord Barrington distributes the history of the apostles' preaching into a succession of periods, according to the steps by which it was gradually