Note 187 — The Twelve Apostles.

Some Protestant writers have set aside St. Peter’s ministry at Rome, as altogether apocryphal; but Gieseler, an author by no means credulous, considers that the historical evidence is in favour of the tradition (v. Text-book of Eccles. Hist. p. 53). This is the more satisfactory because, even to Protestants, it is not agreeable to be at Rome and to be obliged to reject certain associations which add to the poetical, as well as to the religious, interest of the place.