§ 18. LUKE, according to Eusebius, was a native of Antioch, by profession a physician, and for a considerable period a companion of the apostle Paul. From the casual notices of him in the Scriptures, and from the early Christian writers, it has been collected, that his parents were Gentiles, but that he in his youth embraced Judaism, from which he was converted to Christianity. The first mention of him is that he was with Paul at Troas;(26) whence he appears to have attended him to Jerusalem; continued with him in all his troubles in Judea; and sailed with him when he was sent a prisoner from Cæsarea to Rome, where he remained with him during his two years’ confinement. As none of the ancient fathers have mentioned his having suffered martyrdom, it is generally supposed that he died a natural death. § 19. That he wrote his Gospel for the benefit of Gentile converts is affirmed by the unanimous voice of Christian antiquity; and it may also be inferred from its dedication to a Gentile. He is particularly careful to specify various circumstances conducive to the information of strangers, but not so to the Jews; he gives the lineage of Jesus upwards, after the manner of the Gentiles, instead of downwards, as Matthew had done; tracing it up to Adam, and thus showing that Jesus was the promised seed of the woman; and he marks the eras of his birth, and of the ministry of John, by the reigns of the Roman emperors. He also has introduced several things, not mentioned by the other evangelists, but highly encouraging to the Gentiles to turn to God in the hope of pardon and acceptance; of which description are the parables of the publican and pharisee, in the temple; the lost piece of silver; and the prodigal son; and the fact of Christ’s visit to Zaccheus the publican, and the pardon of the penitent thief. § 20. That Luke was a physician, appears not only from the testimony of Paul,(27) but from the internal marks in his Gospel, showing that he was both an acute observer, and had given particular and even professional attention to all our Saviour’s miracles of healing. Thus, the man whom Matthew and Mark describe simply as a leper, Luke describes as _full_ of leprosy;(28) he, whom they mention as having a withered hand, Luke says had his _right_ hand withered;(29) and of the maid, of whom the others say that Jesus took her by the hand and she arose, he adds, that _her spirit came to her again_.(30) He alone, with professional accuracy of observation, says that _virtue went out_ of Jesus, and healed the sick;(31) he alone states the fact that the sleep of the disciples in Gethsemane was _induced by extreme sorrow_; and mentions the blood-like sweat of Jesus, as occasioned by the _intensity of his agony_; and he alone relates the miraculous healing of Malchus’s ear.(32) That he was also a man of a liberal education, the comparative elegance of his writings sufficiently show.(33)