88 
P H I 
cion more ftron.gly on the wonderful miracle which he 
performed. (John vi. 5.) It was this fame apodle to 
whom fome Greek profelytes to Judaifm, who came to 
celebrate the paffover at Jerufalem, made application for 
an introduction to Chrid ; whole wide to fee and hear 
him, our Lord feems to have regarded as an earned of the 
flowing in of all the Gentiles into his fpiritual kingdom, 
(John xii. 20.) During the difcourfes which Jefus held 
with his difciples, when in the near profpeff of his'Jad 
fufferings, having intimated to them that the time was 
approaching when he diould be taken away from them 
and go to the Father, but that he would certainly return 
and receive them to the honours which (hould recom- 
pence their fidelity to his caufe ; Philip exclaimed with 
ardour, J.orcl,Jkow vs the Father , and it Jufficetli us. As 
by this language he aflced for furtherfatisfacViori refpeCI- 
ing the truth of our Lord’s difcoveries and promifes than 
lead already been afforded, he drew on himfelf the gentle 
rebuke of his mader; who obferved to him, that thofe 
who had heard his words, and feen his works, had in eft'eCt 
heard and feen the Father, dnee the doflrines which he 
delivered and the works which he performed were in 
reality not his, but the Father’s. (John xiv. 8.) 
We have no other particulars concerning this apodle in 
the New Tedament. From otherauthorities, however, we 
are furnilhed with information concerning him which is 
entitled to fome credit. Eufebius tells 11s, upon the tef- 
timony of Polycrates bidiop of Ephefus, that he refided 
for fome time, and died, at Hierapolis in Phrygia, as well 
as two of his daughters, who lived virgins to a very ad¬ 
vanced age; and that another of his daughters, who had 
been married, died at Ephefus. This tedimony is alfo 
preferved by St. Jerome. It is therefore probable, that 
for fome time his zealous labours were confecrated to the 
propagation of the Gofpei in that part of Afia, and that 
lie wrought miracles in confirmation of its truth, as may 
be concluded from what Papins has related. The time 
of his death cannot be afeertained. In the martyrologies 
of the Greek and Roman churches, the reader may meet 
w ith accounts of fccurgings and imprifonments which he 
is laid to have fufFered at Hierapolis, and of his being put 
to death either by hanging or crucifixion ; but thefe ac¬ 
counts are not accompanied with any proofs,and are inter¬ 
mixed with fuchabfurd legends, that they have no claim 
oft our belief. His anniverfary is noted in our church 
(together with that of St. James the Lefs) on the id of 
May. The emblem by which St. Philip is didingudhed 
in piClural reprefentations, is a long dad', the upper end 
of which is formed into a crofs, fuch as was ufually borne 
by pilgrims; perhaps to denote the extent of countries 
which he traverfed, though by many it is fuppofed to 
have been expredive of the manner of his death, which is 
laid to have been by crucifixion, or being fulpended by 
the neck to a pillar. 
PHIL'IP (St.), one of fird deacons of the Chridian 
church, and afterwards an evangelid, according to very 
early and not improbable tradition was a native ot Casfarea 
in Paledine. Having become a convert to the religion 
of Chrid, he joined the believers at Jerufalem, where he 
acquired great edeem and refpedl by the excellence of his 
chara&er, and was a partaker of the miraculous powers 
communicated to the fird difciples. -When the apodles, 
in order that they might devote themfeives entirely to the 
work of their minidry, propofed to the church at Jeru¬ 
falem that they diould choofe feven men of good under- 
ftanding and diferetion, and alfo poffeding the extraordi¬ 
nary gifts of the fpirit, who diould be let apart for the 
management of the fecular affairs of the church, Philip 
was one of the perfons whom they feleffed. (ACts vi. 5.) 
Thefe perfons, from the refemblance of their office in 
fome refpefls to that of fuch deacons as were afterwards 
appointed in the Chridian church, are fometimes diftin- 
guiffied by that name, though not in the facred Scriptures. 
They alfo became affidants to the apodles as preachers of 
3 
L I P. 
the Gofpei, whence they are fometimes called Evan- 
gelids. 
Upon the difperfion of the believers by the perfecution 
which arofe after the murder of the proto-martyr, Stephen, 
Piiilip went to Samaria, where he freely preached Chrid, 
and proclaimed him to be the promifed Meffiah. (Acts 
viii. 5,) In this city, notwithdanding the prejudices of 
the people againd the Jews, men’s minds were in fome 
meafure prepared for the reception of Philip’s doctrine, 
as they were word-tippers of the true God, and acknow¬ 
ledged the authority of the Pentateuch ; and, as they had 
the liberality to give him an undidurbed attention, he 
fucceeded in making numerous converts to the caufe of 
Chrid, by his rational convincing difcourfes, and more 
particularly by the miracles which he wrought in the 
cure of infane perfons, tile paralytic, the lame, and others 
labouring under the mod obllinate diforders. Some time 
before Philip’s arrival, a perfon named Simon had ac¬ 
quired a high reputation at Samaria, by pra&ifing pre¬ 
tended magical arts; and had fo cunningly impofed upon 
the credulity of the ignorant and vulgar, that he was re¬ 
garded as a man who podeffed fupernatural powers. But 
the real miracles of Philip foon funk his juggling tricks 
into merited contempt; and the difabufed multitude, 
receiving with joy the doftrines confirmed by the extra¬ 
ordinary works which he performed in the name of Jefus 
Chrid, hadened to embrace the Gofpei, and were baptized, 
both men and women. Even Simon himfelf, confounded 
by the adonidiing feats to which he was a witnefs, made 
profeffion of the Chridian faith, anti fubmitted to the rite 
of baptifm. He now attached himfelf to Philip, mod 
probably with the hope, by obferving him more narrowly, 
of learning the fecret by which he had wrought his ex¬ 
traordinary deeds. In our life of St. Peter (vol. xix. p. 
776.) we have feen, that when the apodles and believers 
at Jerufalem were informed of the progrefs of the Gofpei 
at Samaria, they fent that apodle thither, accompanied by 
St.John, to edablifh the converts in their new profeffion, 
and to impart to them the gift of the Holy Spirit, which 
was a privilege peculiar to the apodles. When Simon 
favv that, by the impofition of the apodles’ hands, the be¬ 
lievers at Samaria were inveded with fupernatural endow¬ 
ments, he offered money to Peter and John, requeding 
that they would confer upon him the power of communi¬ 
cating fuch extraordinary gifts. By thus betraying the 
infincerity of his profeffion, he expofed himfelf to the 
fevere reproof of Peter, who pronounced him to be in the 
gall of hitternefs, and in the bond of iniquity; and exhorted 
him to repent of his wickednels, that he might efcape 
the dreadful pimifhment which his infamous propofa! 
merited. Alarmed atthe awful admonition, he requeded 
the prayers of the apodles, that the judgments to which 
they had alluded might not fall upon him. (Ads viii. 9, 
& feq.) Whether he truly repented, or what afterwards 
became of him, does not appear from the facred writings. 
Whether Philip returned with the apodles to Jerufalem, 
or remained after their departure at Samaria, we are not 
informed ; but no long time intervened before he was 
divinely employed on another miffion. Directed by an 
angel, he went to the defert through which the road 
paffed which led from Judea to Gaza, at the time when 
an eunuch, who was high in office under the queen of 
the Ethiopians, and a profelyte to the Jewifli religion, 
was returning towards his own country from Jerufalem, 
where he had probably been to worfhip at one of thegreat 
feads. He was fitting in his chariot, and reading the 
paflage of Scripture in Ifaiah liii. 7, 8. which all the more 
ancient Jewidi commentators confidered to be prophetical 
of the Meffiah, and of the difficulties and fufferings which 
he was to encounter before his kingdom diould be firmly 
edablidied. At this moment Philip, in obedience to a 
fupernatural fuggedion, approached the chariot, and alked 
the eunuch whether he clearly underdood the meaning 
of the prophet’s language in that lublime paflage. Upon 
