The Acts of the Apostles

CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 15
As we now survey all these chronological state-
ments, grouped as we have placed them, they impress
us most favourably, and show that from the stand-
point of the chronologist this historical work can
scarcely be put on a level with the apocryphal Acts
and other such books of fables.^ Where St. Luke
was not himself present, and therefore could not give
dates in days, he contents himself with ascertaining and
recording the length of St. PaiWs stay in the centres of
his activity hy years and months, Othei'wise he refrains
almost entirelyfrom giving direct chronological informal
tion. The only exception is formed by the dates by
days in the description of the last stay in Jerusalem
it is possible that St. Luke
and in Caesarea ; but (1)
himself was here an eye-witness ; (2) these items of
information give no cause for objection. If St. Luke
himself was not present—which is to me probable ^
then for this period he must have had excellent
records at his disposal.^ As for the information con-
Pentecost {vide infra), so that an hiatus might have been avoided.
We may assume that underlying the tradition of the forty days
there is this amount of truth, namely, that within this period (or
just at its close) the return of the disciples from Galilee to Jerusalem
really took place. The visions at Jerusalem, which occurred
after this but before Pentecost, were transferred by later legend
into the Easter octave.
1 Therefore also the " we " of the Acts of the Apostles has nothing
whatever to do with the artificial stylistic ** we " in the later Acts
of Apostles and martyrs. In particular instances the former *' we"
may have served as a model for this class of novels with a religious
purpose.
2 Except that St. Luke came again to Cassarea during the time
of Festus.
^ This naturally does not cover the trustworthiness of the dis-
courses, which are especially numerous in this section of the work,
and of several other details.
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