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Lactantius. a. D. 30G. 535
Lord's raising' Lazarus in John xi. wlion lie says, that" Christ
raised some iVoni death, calling- them by name. See ver. 4o.
3. 1 apprehend, there is good reason to think, that Lactan-
tius received and made use of the book of the Acts. But since
he has not expressly quoted it, I am obliged to transcribe
several passages, that my readers may judge for themselves.
(L) He says, ' that' after his resurrection, Christ havinggiven
commandment to his disciples, concerning preaching'
the gospel, on a sudden a cloud surrounded him, and carried
him up to heaven on the fortieth day of his passion.' See
Acts i. 3—9.
(2.) The like to which comes over again in the abridgment
of the Institutions, and is there expressed in this maimer:
' Going'" therefore into Galilee, after his resurrection, he
again gathered together his disciples, whom fear had separated,
and having given conunandment concerning the things
to be observed by them, and appointed, that the gospel should
be preached all over the world, he breathed into them the
Holy Ghost, [see John xx. 22.] and gave them power to
work miracles, that they might promote the salvation of
men by their Morks, as well as by their words. And at
length on the fiftieth day he returned to the Father, beingtaken
uj) in a cloud.'
Here Lactantius says the fiftieth day. Dr. Davies in his
notes upon the place says, it should be the fortieth day, and
that the number fifty is owing to the fault of the transcriber.
There is the more reason, he says, to think so, because in the
parallel |)lace in the Institutions, before cited, is forty days,
agreeably to Acts i. 3.
(3.) In Acts ii. 27, St. Peter, speaking of our Lord's
resurrection, quotes words out of the 16th Psalm, which he
applies to that event, as does Lactantius likewise in his*
Institutions, and J Epitome.
(4.) St. Paul says, Acts xiii. 27, " For they that dwell
" Jacentia mortuonim corpora erexit, eosque nominibus siiis inclamatos a
morte revocavit. 1. iv. c, 26. p. 434. ' Ordinato vero discipulis
suis evangelic, ac nominis sui prEedicatione, circiimfiidit se repente nubes, eurnque
in ccElura sustulit, quadragesimo post passLonem die. 1. iv. c. 21. in.
" Profectus igitur in Galilaeam post resurrectionem, discipulos suos rursos,
quos metus in fugam verterat, congregavit, datisque mandatis, quae observari
vellet, et ordinata evangelii praedicatione per totum orbem, inspiravit in eos
spiritum sanctum, ac dedit eis potestatem miracula faciendi, ut in salutem
hominura tarn factis, quam verbis operarent. Ac turn demum quinquagesimo
die remeavit ad Patrem, sublatus in nubem. Epit. c. 47.
" Ilium autem apud inferos non remansurnm, sed die tertio resurrecturum,
prophetae cecinerant. David in Psalmo xvi. Non dcrelinques animani meam
apud inferos, nee dabis sanctum tuum videre interitum. 1. iv, c. 19. p. 418.
y Ipsum vero resurrecturum die tertio jam dim prophetae fuerant prolocuti.