There is a dim relic of a story, of quite ancient date, that after
the dispersion of the apostles, he went to Arabia, and preached there
till his death. This is highly probable, because it is well known that
many of the Jews, more particularly after the destruction of Jerusalem,
settled along the eastern coasts of the Red sea, where they were
continued for centuries. Nothing can be more reasonable then, than
to suppose that after the wasting fury of invasion had desolated the
city and the land of their fathers, many of the Christian Jews too,
went forth to seek a new home in the peaceful regions of Arabia Felix;
and that with them also went forth this true Israelite without guile,
to devote the rest of his life to apostolic labors, in that distant
country, where those of his wandering brethren, who had believed
in Christ, would so much need the support and counsel of one of the
divinely commissioned ministers of the gospel. Those Israelites too,
who still continued unbelievers, would present objects of importance,
in the view of the apostle. All the visible glories of the ancient
covenant had departed; and in that distant land, with so little of
the chilling influence of the dogmatical teachers of the law around
them, they would be the more readily led to the just appreciation of
a spiritual faith, and a simple creed.
All the testimony which antiquity affords on this point, is
simply this:――Eusebius (Church History, V. 10,) says, in giving
the life of Pantaenus of Alexandria, (who lived about A. D. 180,)
that this enterprising Christian philosopher penetrated, in his
researches and travels, as far as to the inhabitants of India.
It has been shown by Tillemont, Asseman and Michaelis, that this
term, in this connection, means Arabia Felix, one part of whose
inhabitants were called _Indians_, by the Hebrews, the Syrians
and the early ecclesiastical historians. Eusebius relates that
Pantaenus there found the gospel of Matthew, in Hebrew, and that
the tradition among these people was, that _Bartholomew_, one
of the twelve apostles, had formerly preached there, and left
this gospel among them. This tradition being only a hundred
years old when Pantaenus heard it, ranks among those of _rather_
respectable character.
The tradition certainly appears authentic, and is a very interesting
and valuable fragment of early Christian history, giving a trace of
the progress of the gospel, which otherwise would never have been
recognized,――besides the satisfaction of such a reasonable story about
an apostle of whom the inspired narrative records so little, although
he is represented in such an interesting light, by the account of
his introduction to Jesus. Here he learned the meaning of the solemn
prophecy with which Jesus crowned that noble profession of faith. Here
he saw, no doubt, yet greater tokens of the power of Christ, than in
the deep knowledge of hidden things then displayed. And here, resting
at last from his labors, he departed to the full view of the glories
there foretold,――to “see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man.”