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THE
COMPANIONS OF THE LORD
THE
COMPANIONS OF THE LORD:
CHAPTERS ON THE
LIVES OF THE APOSTLES.
BY
CHARLES E. B. REED, M.A.,
LATE SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.
LONDON:
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY,
56, Paternoster Row ; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard
AND 164, Piccadilly.
"Men of all temperaments and all characters were within that
first and nearest circle of disciples, that they might be the repre-
sentatives and helpers of all who hereafter, through one difficulty
and another, should attain at last to the full assurance of faith."
R4^
PREFACE.
It will be seen at once from the title-page that by
no means all the Companions of the Lord are dealt
with in the following pages. Under that name might
have been included the family at Bethany, the women
that ministered unto him, with many of the minor
characters in the gospels ; whereas it was from the
first intended to confine attention to the original
group of ordained apostles. A partial exception
has been made in favour of the Lord's brethren
whom, though the writer cannot think them to
have been of the number of the Twelve, it has yet
seemed well to treat in supplementary notes on the
same plan with the rest. This plan is to gather up
scattered threads of reference both from the New
Testament and other sources of information, and
weave them into a connected history of each dis-
ciple, in the hope of being able to illustrate some
vi Preface,
of the phases of the Christian life and of the ways
whereby men are led to the Redeemer and trained
for his service.
A certain amount of repetition is unavoidable
where the same scenes have to be revisited in order
to study the parts played in them by one actor and
another ; but the effort has been made to keep the
lines of biography distinct and to light up the path
with the more interesting results of modern travel
and research.
All direct aid has, it is believed, been acknow-
ledged in the text ; of indirect aid no man can give
adequate account.
Warminster,
September, 1873.
CONTENTS
PAGB
I. THE PROBABLE MOTIVES OF OUR LORD IN CHOOSING
APOSTLES I
IL THE MEN OF HIS CHOICE IJ
HI. GENERAL HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
TWELVE 31
NOTE ON THE DIVISION OF NARRATIVE BETWEEN
THE FOUR GOSPELS '45
IV. THE PETER OF THE GOSPELS 1 TO THE TRIUMPHAL »
ENTRY 47
NOTE ON THE PROMISE TO PETER ... 69
V. THE PETER OF THE GOSPELS : FROM THE ENTRY TO
THE ASCENSION 75
VI. THE PETER OF THE EARLY CHURCH .... 97
VIL ANDREW 117
VIII. JAMES THE SON OF ZEBEDEE . • • • . I33
viii Contents.
PAGE
IX. THE JOHN OF THE GOSPELS I47
X. THE JOHN OF THE EARLY CHURCH . . . . 163
XL PHILIP 183
NOTE ON THE BETHSAIDAS 1 98
XII. NATHANAEL OR BARTHOLOMEW I99
XIIL MATTHEW 215
XIV. THOMAS 22Q
XV. JAMES THE SON OF ALPHiEUS, JUDAS AND SIMON
THE ZEALOT 25I
NOTE (a) on the brethren OF THE LORD . 265
(b) ON THE EARLY LIFE OF THE BRETHREN 270
(C) ON JAMES THE JUST i . . . 279
(d) on jude 291
xvi. judas iscariot : to the compact with the priests 295
xvil judas iscariot : after the compact . . . 311
xvin. CONCLUSION 327
INDEX 339
i f robablf potiljts of om f orb in goosing
^postlts.
•Christ said not to his first conventicle,
*Go forth and preach impostures to the world/
But gave them Truth to build on; and the sound
Was mighty on their lips; nor needed they,
Beside the Gospel, other spear or shield
To aid them in their warfare for the faith."
Dante.
EVERY religious teacher, if in earnest, will be a
proselytizer. In proportion as he holds his
opinions with a conscientious and intelligent grasp,
must he desire to win men over to their acceptance;
nor can his zeal be blamed provided only the ruinous
spirit of strife and bigotry be avoided. And if he
be not merely convinced of the importance of his
message but wise in his method of spreading it, he
will never be satisfied with merely impressing it in
public upon the multitude around him, but will store
it privately in a few choicer minds, that they may
•carry the doctrine, like freighted vessels, to distant
shores. As there is no comparison for effectiveness
between the single machine which prints so many
sheets of paper or winds so many reels of silk in the
hour and the steam engine which sets and keeps in
motion a whole room full of such machines, so the
man who seeks to do the largest amount of good will
recognize that far higher results may be attained by
instructing a few persons of influence who " shall be
able to teach others also," than by working always
4 The Companions of the Lord.
upon an inert mass, destitute of life and reproductive
energy.
Hence we find that all the world's greatest teachers
have gathered around them disciples. Socrates fre-
quented the market-place and gymnasia of Athens at
their busiest hours, and was ready to talk with any-
body and everybody ; but there clustered about him
a group of pupils and companions, whom he took
pains to instruct in the esoteric parts of his system,
because to them he looked for its preservation and
propagation. Nor was his hope misplaced ; for the
thoughts of mankind were moulded and stamped in
succeeding ages by the rough old Greek who through
Plato and Aristotle his intellectual heirs exercised a
widening power through many generations. Peter
the Hermit inflaming Europe to the Crusades, Luther
waving on the world against priestly craft and
tyranny, Loyola the founder of the Society of Jesus,
Savonarola at Florence with his Penitents, and in
England the twin leaders of Methodism — these are
examples of religious teachers, not in every case
formally organizing disciples, but ever setting their
followers to work, and through their labours reaching
men of all lands and in days long after the watch-
fires of their own lives had died down.
This same principle was acknowledged by our
Saviour to a remarkable degree. He deliberately
chose out and summoned to his side as permanent
associates twelve men, who at his bidding forsook
their trade, left their homes and followed him through
the scenes of his ministry, occasionally leaving him
for a while to preach his word and prepare his way,
Why did the Lord choose Apostles ? 5
but anon returning to report their failures and suc-
cesses, receive a fresh commission and learn his will
more perfectly. Having taken upon him our nature,
it was no derogation from his glory, but rather in
complete agreement with his design, that he should
employ for the diffusion of his gospel not the legions
of trumpeting angels but the simple tongues of the
men he had persuaded and enlisted ; and, while
exception is taken by some to the actual objects of
his choice as men ill-suited to his purpose, a little
attention will, it is hoped, suffice to show that in this,
as in all other matters, his selection was guided by a
wisdom above that of the world, and justified by the
attainment of the ends in view.
But before going farther we are bound for a
moment to consider the opinion held by many ex-
cellent persons jealous for the divine honour, that
there is no need to defend our Lord's choice by such
reasons of prudence as mankind in general possess
for action, inasmuch as the divine resources are dis-
played to greatest advantage when associated with
human feebleness ; and that therefore he was likely
to select his apostles, not so much from a view to
their fitness for the work, as with a desire to magnify
in them his transforming and energizing grace. Thus
it has been maintained that " our Saviour made
choice of twelve simple and unlettered men that the
greater their lack of natural wusdom was, the more
admirable that might appear which God super-
naturally endowed them with from heaven." It is
no doubt true, as St. Paul says, that "God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
6 The Companions of the Lord.
and the weak to confound those which are mighty ; "
for weak are the best earthly instruments for doing
spiritual work, and only by inspiration from on high
can they prove mighty to the pulling down of
strongholds ; but the apostle appears to fall far
short of teaching that the foolish and weak are
selected specially because of their folly and im-
potence. Oftentimes it may seem as though God
chooses unfit instruments, when in the judgment of
a wisdom that discards our shifting social standards
they are the very fittest. If there be one lesson
which the Old Testament impresses upon the
mind of the reader more than another it is of the
care which the divine Ruler has ever taken in pre-
paring and polishing his tools, though often the event
alone proved the previous skill. To outward appear-
ance Gideon's host was weakened by its reduction,
whereas we can now see that the dismissal of the
timid and indolent really made it far more efficient
and manageable.
And there were two reasons why this principle of
careful adaptation of means to ends should not have
been neglected by our Lord. He bore our nature in
all but its sins, and therefore must have followed the
general lines of human foresight ; and as he lived for
our ensample it is incredible that he should have
shown a disregard of natural fitness in the means em-
ployed, which it is admitted no living man would be
profited or even justified in displaying. Bearing
then in mind that God chooses with care, but often
sees fit to choose those very instruments which men
would pronounce incompetent, we are willing to
Why did the Lord choose Apostles ? 7
believe that " it behoved Christ to select a number of
men in whom the riches of His life might be unfolded
in every direction. For this end He needed, above
all things, people in whom the glory of His spirit
and the peculiarity of His work might be distinctly
identified ; laymen who would not chain His work to
existing priestly habits ; unlearned men, who would
not mix up His wisdom with traditional schemes of
philosophy ; yes, even comparatively uneducated
men, at any rate homely men, in order that the
dulled taste of a diseased worldly civilization might
not disturb the culture which the Spirit of the image
of Christ operating from within was to impart to
them.'"
If now we examine our Lord's choice of apostles
from the human point of view — which in fact is the
only side by which we feel able at all to approach it —
we are disposed to reckon first amongst his motives
the desire for sympathy. His nature was genial, he
loved children, was easily affected by the sight of a
great multitude or a great city ; he had grown up
among a wide circle of relations and seemed never
happier than when enjoying the hospitalities of the
family at Bethany. And if„.notwithstanding his habit
of solitary prayer, he rejoiced to feel human hearts
beating true with his own, the character of the work
he had come to do was such as to stimulate this
yearning for sympathy. It was for him to tread the
winepress alone, to be despised and rejected of men,
» Lange, Life of Christ, voL iii. p. 4$.
S * The Covtpayiions of the Lord
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ; some
of his countrymen would spurn his offers of mercy
and plot against his life, while of those who listened
many would straightway forsake him or follow only
for a few faltering steps. How natural then for him
to call around his person a company of disciples upon
whose affection and sympathy he could firmly rely !
/ The question however will make itself heard, —
/ were the Twelve whom he actually selected qualified
to give him the required support ? When he chose
' them their faith was of the feeblest ; they appeared
, unable to enter into his plans or understand his lofty
I motives, and often when he came to them after the
\ fatigue and disappointments of public teaching they
/ would harass his spirit with some trifling contention.
\ What joy could he find in the society of minds so
■■ coarsely strung and so little in harmony with his
^ own pure and sensitive heart } At times, indeed, he
seems to have felt the jar unbearable, and gladly to
have escaped at evening from the jangling voices of
the house to find the solace of the Father's presence
amid the hush of the listening stars.
Yet, in spite of this incongruity of temper, he could
and did find true help in their attendance. He
ordained them that they should " be with him " ; he
called them not servants but friends ; his apprecia-
tion of their friendship discovered itself in the
pathetic appeal, "Will ye also go away.?" and at
the end he expressed even, gratitude for their sym-
pathy, saying, "Ye are they which have continued
with me in my temptations." Encouragement ought
to flow forth to us from this fact, that common
why did the Lord choose Apostles ? 9
people, poor artisans, rustics of unpolished manners,
were not too vulgar company for Him, and that their
stumbling faith, their brooding doubts and grievous
sins did not hinder him from taking them as his daily
associates.
But it would be wrong to regard this desire for
sympathy as our Saviour's principal reason in choos-
ing the Twelve. He never put into the foremost
place what contributed simply to his own comfort.
If he called these men in part to cheer him, we may
be assured it was chiefly that he might be made
the stronger for that unselfish work whereto he had
set his hand ; directly or indirectly they were sum-
moned for the work's sake. Hence, as a second
motive prompting his choice, may be named his
design that the apostles should bear public witness
of all they saw and heard whilst remaining with him.
It was manifestly of high importance that some
persons who had followed the whole course of the
Lord's ministry should be prepared to give evidence
of his teaching and of the wonderful and gracious
works, culminating in his resurrection, on which he
based his authority as a teacher sent from God. If,
after his death, a compact body of such eye-witnesses
should publish the same story, cling to it through
persecution, alter their lives in consequence of it and
upon its truth stake those lives, it would, as Christian
apologists have often remarked, need scepticism
raised to a very high power to withstand such
testimony ; while, on the other hand, without so rich
a legacy of evidence left to posterity, it is not easy
lo The Companions of the Lord.
to see how the reh'gion of Jesus Christ could make
its way in the worid.
But, granted the need for witnesses, were the men
upon whom the solemn choice fell competent for the
discharge of so grave a function ? We learn that the
Twelve were ** unlearned and ignorant men " — a
phrase not indeed conclusive of mental incapacity
or a lack of all education, yet certainly inappli-
cable to 'the cultivated classes of the Jewish people.
The apostles were provincials of the middle stratum
of society ; one was a subordinate collector of taxes,
several were fishermen in no large way of business ;
and all may be presumed to have been more or less
warped in mind by the prejudices of the day. Upon
some subjects it must be admitted they would have
made indifferent witnesses, as, for example, if testis
mony had been required of them on points falling
properly within the scope of lawyers and rabbis.
But the miracles of Jesus were of a kind which the
humblest observer could judge, and perhaps judge
even better than his superiors in rank. For shrewd-
ness is no monopoly of the educated ; what men lack
of artificial knowledge is often made up by a full
share of mother wit, so that in this view the obscure
origin of the apostles may be no drawback at all
from the value of their testimony. We have at least
yet to learn why a common-sense fisherman like Peter
cannot tell as credibly about a miraculous draught or
a coin found in the haddock's mouth as Gamaliel, or
why the same disciple should not be as sound a wit-
ness in the matter of his mother-in-law's recovery as
Caiaphas would have been or Pontius Pilate.
Why did the Lord choose Apostles ? 1 1
It becomes us moreover to remember that, even
if the Twelve were in any measure disqualified by
inferior station from bearing trustworthy evidence,
they were thereby just as much incapacitated for the
concoction of a clever forgery. The gospels are either
honest records of facts or they are masterpieces of
fraud ; and it would have demanded a higher cultiva-
tion to enable the apostles to manufacture falsehood
into the form of the evangelic memoirs, than to
narrate plain events actually witnessed by them. In
short, the simplicity, if one may so term it, of the
Twelve appears to be no ground at all for suppos-
ing them to have been deceived, while it is the
strongest possible ground for not accounting them
deceivers.
Another objection is sometimes levelled against the
credibility of the apostles. They were, it has been
said, too much of one class and neighbourhood.
With the possible, but not certain, exce ption of
Juda s Iscariot, all were Galileans. The band com-
prised two or three pairs of brothers, four partners,
five natives of the same country town, and in all pro-
bability two or more relations of the Lord. Why,
it is asked, was not care taken to draw them evenly
from every rank of life and district of the land, in
order that their testimony might be free from a sus-
picion of partiality .'' Now, the course which the
objection suggests as preferable is precisely that
which an impostor would have adopted, conscious of
deceit and studying by his selection of witnesses to
make a show of candour and disarm inquiry. Such
a man, if indeed he had dared to take any spec-
12 The Companions of the Lord,
tators of his inner as well as his outer life, would
have made them as varied and representative as
possible; whereas Jesus, who was willing that his
most private dealings should be scanned, seems to
have been above such precautions and to have
called men in any station who were available for
his purpose.
And his field of selection was narrower than
one at first might think. For while his miracles
were wrought without an attempt at concealment,
and the cures he effected were freely exposed to the
scrutiny of eyes awake to the slightest trace of im-
posture, there were few to whom he could appeal for
testimony. Pharisees and Scribes might be inwardly
convinced, but they would never consent to publish
abroad the fame of one whom they hated. On the
contrary, all their efforts were bent towards suppress-
ing the report, or explaining the deed as done by
the aid of Beelzebub. It was therefore the friends
of the Lord Jesus who must preserve and hand down
the record, if any did so, for they alone were in-
terested in it — and his friends were of the humbler
order ; so that, in point of fact, such men as he did
choose for his apostles were the only ones accessible
for the service. •
The day for " bearing a testimony" did not close
with the apostles. Nobler miracles are wrought now
than ever James or Philip saw. Sabbath by Sabbath
multitudes are fed through the increase of a human
supply poorer for its object than the lad's provision
of loaves and fishes. Daily the blind see, the deaf
hear the lepers are healed, the dead raised. Not
Why did the Lord choose Apostles f 13
one of us but has felt in himself, or witnessed in
others, the miraculous change which no power save
that of the Almighty could work — no love save that
of the All-merciful would deign to work.
Every other evidence of religion is weak compared
with that which is based on the lives of its present
professors. If Christ cannot be seen in the conduct
and every-day language of the modern Church, it
avails little to tell men that he lived on earth once as
Teacher and Redeemer, and that the history is
enshrined in an inspired volume of indisputable
authority. The account, they will reply, cannot now
be verified ; but if you can show us this Christ as still
alive — and your own book asserts that he promised
ever to be with his followers — then and then only
will we believe. We take up the challenge ; but alas !
where is our Lord to be found } Is it in the life 01
the self-seeking Christian whom " the world cannot
hate " (oh ! the condemning irony of those words)
because, despite his attention to the easy externals
of religion, he is worldly to the heart's very core }
Nay, these are the infidel-makers of society ten times
rather than our overbold speculative writers. A
supernatural faith, it is justly said, ought to produce
supernatural lives. The world will never be con-
vinced till it sees the Church living, not indeed in the
letter but in the spirit of her Lord's example ; and
when that day comes, the conversion of mankind will
be near, even at the doors.
The Master called his apostles, as we have now
seen, to sympathize with him and attest the things
14 The Companions of the Lord,
they saw and heard. He called them also to aid him
in his life-work and prosecute it for him after his
departure from the earth.
So brief was his public ministry that, but for their
cooperation, he could not have done all the acts of
mercy, nor said all the words of wisdom, which were
crowded into that eventful time. And if during his
sojourn here he needed their services in spreading his
doctrine and healing the sick, much more would
those services be required when his day of earthly
work was ended. For who would then take up the
work, organize the forces, and head the campaign t
Who but those few that were fired by personal attach-
ment, and had been previously penetrated by his
teaching and animated by his own spirit ?
Once more however we are compelled to ask how
far the men of his choice were fit for either stage, the
earlier or the later, of this responsible work ? During
his intercourse with them their conduct cannot be
described as invariably helpful to his designs. To
take a single instance out of many: — At nightfall
he arrives with them at the entrance of a Samaritan
village, whose inhabitants are hostile. " Here be
Jews," they say one to another, " with faces set to-
wards Jerusalem ; and this is the Teacher, who
preaches love to one's enemies. Let us take him at
his word, and win his benediction by refusing him
shelter." Meekly the Saviour is ready to journey
on to a more hospitable place ; but the effect of his
patient endurance is marred by the fiery impreca-
tions of two men living under his daily influence, and
naturally supposed to represent his sentiments. So
Why did the Lord choose Apostles f 1 5
it is at other times. When he sits willing to receive
all, these disciples repel the venturing mothers ; his
power to cast out devils they discredit by the failure
of their faith ; his teaching they deny by repeated
dissensions. Truly he was wounded in the house of
his friends.
Yet it is impossible to read the history of the
Tweb^e without perceiving that with all their faults,
which must in some measure have counteracted much
of our Lord's influence for good, they were a set of
men pt^ssessing right noble qualities of soul, who
did him good service and abundantly vindicated his
choice. Through his ministry they were not always
chiding and failing, but at his bidding went to preach
and heal, to carry the gospel of divine love to the
remote hamlets of Galilee, to arouse the curiosity of
the inhabitants, to direct them to Jesus or prepare
them for his coming. Still, their main work was yet
in store ; their duty, so far, was to strengthen them-
selves for the responsibility soon to be laid upon
their shoulders —
**Here work enough to watch
The Master work, and catch
Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play."
And when the emergency came, bravely was it met.
The second narrative of St Luke relates chiefly to
the labours of the later-born apostle of the Gentiles ;
but such notices as reach us in its pages of the doings
of the Twelve betoken a firmness and intelligence
which show how rapidly their characters had been
developed under Christ's teaching, and how accu-
1 6 The Companions of the Lord.
rately he had foreknown their capabilities for his
service.
The objects for which the apostles were called are
summed up by St. Mark, when he tells us that the
Lord Jesus " ordained twelve that they should be with
him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out
devils." In his choice of such men for sympathy,
witness and active work, we cannot fail to see that
he calls no man common or unclean, but that, as the
sun can turn a chip of glass into a flashing gem, or
transfigure the dullest bank of cloud into a Hima-
laya range, so the least promising materials can in
his hands be manipulated to grandest ends. And
while not even his presence and teaching will avail
immediately to expel deep-rooted evil from our
hearts, yet is his grace mighty for its removal. He
can qualify the humblest for a useful career, and so
purify the basest as to make them illustrations of his
goodness and instruments of his glory.
II.
t Stm of 1 b Ckta
"For this purpose it was especially requisite that they should all
perfectly complete one another ; — that therefore on the one hand they
should qualify, restrain and neutralize one another ; and on the other
hand should encourage, strengthen and perfect one another, in order to
exhibit the richest collective individuality as the organ of Christ's life. "
THE honour of the Lord's choice fell upon twelve
men, a number fondly dwelt on by the older
writers, who rejoiced in nothing more than the dis-
covery of small coincidences. Thus TertuUian asks
why Christ chose twelve apostles and not any other
number, and refers in answer to the twelve springs
at Elim, and the twelve jewels on Aaron's breast-
plate^ ; while Dr. John Lightfoot says, "The number
of the present ministers appointed, whom he calleth
* apostles,' was twelve, agreeable to the twelve tribes
of Israel ; that, as they were the beginning of the
church of the Jews, so are these of the Gentiles ; and
to both these numbers of twelve joined together, the
number of the * four and twenty Elders,' the repre-
sentative of the whole church, hath relation."^ Nor is
I Quoted in Cave's Lives of the Apostles, Introduction, p. 3. This
quaint but solid historian, whose work was published in 1677, observes
that "it were endless, and to very little purpose, to reckon up all the
conjectures " of the Fathers on this matter. The twelve stones chosen
by Joshua out of Jordan, and even the twelve spies sent to discover the
Land of Promise, are pressed by one and another into the service.
a Collected Works, vol. iii. p. 67.
»9
20 The Companions of the Lord.
it only among the older writers that the light of fancy-
plays. One of the ablest modern commentators in-
forms us that, as three is the number of the Spirit,
and four the number of the world, " twelve must
surely represent the world in her spiritual fulness, in
the spiritual unity of her various powers ; " and,
speaking of the division of the apostles into quater-
nions — a division presently to be noticed — he adds,
"Each group in its unity has the Spirit of Christ,
each stands forth a little world entire in its number
four."' The niind recoils from subtleties like these;
but, though we may decline to believe that our Lord
studied minute correspondences in so important a
choice, it may be allowed that he recognized an
agreement with the number of the tribes of Israel
when he spoke to his apostles of their sitting on
thrones, judging the twelve tribes.
Of the companions of the Lord there are given us
in the New Testament four lists, one by St. Matthew,
another by St. Mark, and two by St. Luke, which it
may be convenient to present side by side, previously
to a detailed examination of the names, and the
attempt to draw from them a resultant catalogue.
The first thing that strikes one upon a view of
these lists is that each arranges itself into three
groups of four names, and that the leading name
in each quaternion is the same in every list. Simon
Peter occupies always the foremost place ; Philip
the fifth ; James of Alphaeus the ninth. It has
been asserted by some also — though the inference
is rather bold — that Matthew and Luke in their
* Lange, Life of Christy vol. iii. p. 58.
The Men of his Choice,
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22 The Companions of the Lord,
gospels enumerate the apostles by pairs and in an
order which answers to the date of their calling,
whereas Mark ranges them according to their per-
sonal influence before the Saviour's death, and in the
Acts they are set in their order of importance after
the Ascension.
So much for the general arrangement. Let us now
look at the names separately :
1. Simon, as we have seen, heads all four lists.
The surname given him by Christ was Cephas, of
which the Greek equivalent was Peter. "" St. Paul
often calls him by his Aramaic surname, but neither
by him nor by others is he described as Simon
Cephas.'^ Simon Peter was the usual combination,
until che original name Simon gave way before the
growing prevalence of the appellation Peter.
2. Andrew, his brother, was made acquainted with
the Lord before him, but only by a few hours. In
point of eminence he should follow the sons of
Zebedee ; but it is better for convenience' sake to
link him with the more distinguished member of the
same family.
3. James of Zebedee. The ellipse may be sup-
plied by the word son or brother ; but while in some
cases there is considerable doubt as to the relation-
ship which is to be understood, there is no question
that the former applies here. Why James should take
precedence of John is not clear ; he may have been
the elder, though by some writers this is disputed.
1 Whether in the masculine or feminine form will be asked in the
note attached to chapter iv.
2 Save in the Syriac Version.
The Men of his Choice, 2j
4. John^ his brother, was in all probability one
of the first disciples of the Lord Jesus, though the
opinion is built not on any distinct statement, but on
a silence in the opening chapter of his gospel, which
has been interpreted as "the reserve of holy love."*
The two brothers were surnamed by Christ the sons
of Thunder, while John is usually distinguished in his
own narrative as " the disciple whom Jesus loved."
The four apostles now mentioned were partners in
a fishery on the Lake of Galilee, unless another view
be entitled to greater weight, which supposes them to
have been united only on special expeditions.
5. Philip was, in common with the sons of Jonas
and Zebedee, a native of the small but flourishing
town of Bethsaida, situated somewhere on the busy
north-western shore of the Sea of Tiberias, probably
not far from the point at which the Jordan enters it
on the north,^
6. Bartholomew is a patronymic like Barjonas, so
that the actual name of this apostle is missing, unless
he may be identified with a disciple mentioned by
St. John, named Nathanael. This conclusion is now
almost universally adopted, and in a later chapter the
reasons will be adduced upon which it rests.
7. Matthew in his own list follows Thomas, but his
fellow evangelists unite in giving him the precedence.
A comparison of Matthew ix. 9 with Luke v. 27
1 Were not this altogether agreeable to the evangelist's habit, one
might think the name suppressed in order to avoid the confusion between
two Johns in the same passage.
a Its exact site is uncertain. See cap. xi. for a notice of the various
theories about the two Bethsaidas.
24 The Companions of the Lord.
renders it highly probable that his original name was
Levi, though there appears no firm ground for the
idea that it was Jesus who gave him the name by
which he is commonly known. Levi was, according
to Mark, a relative "of Alphaeus," and if it can be
shown, first that he was son of Alphseus, and
second that this Alphaeus was the same person with
the Alphaeus mentioned in connexion with James
the Less, he will be brought into relationship with
that apostle, and probably also with Judas of James.
We believe however that, though no evidence may be
forthcoming in disproof of either of these positions,
there is just as little in their favour.
8. Thomas was also called Didymus. The various
explanations which have been offered of these names
will be noticed in due course.
9. James of Alphseus, who introduces the third
class, has almost always been taken as son of
Alphaeus. Difficult questions beset his name, such
as the identification of this family with that of
Clopas and Mary, and the claim of James to be con-
sidered a brother of the Lord ; but as they do not
affect the settling of the list, they may be deferred
for the present.^
10. Judas of James has been taken by the English
translators as brother of the foregoing, whereas others
follow Luther and the Syriac in supposing him his
son. James however is described by reference . to
his father Alphaeus — assuming that Alphaeus was his
father — in a way which implies that the latter was at
« See chapter xv., with its supplementary notes.
TJu Men of his Choue, 2^
the time alive and known ; and if so, it is highly
improbable that Alphaeus should have had a grand-
son old enough to be chosen as an apostle.
The identification of this Judas with Lebbaeus and
Thaddaeus is another point of difficulty. An attempt
to derive the two latter words from a pair of Hebrew
equivalents has been pronounced unsatisfactory by
the best authorities, and what with this failure and
the many conjectures' of ancient writers and modern
editors, the waters have been stirred till there is no
seeing through them. Usher used to compare the
change between Judas and Thaddaeus with that
which he held to exist between Judas in Josephus
and the Theudas of Gamaliel's speech ; while Mr.
Venables sums up his article in the Dictionary of
the Bible with the disheartened conclusion that
" the safest way out of these acknowledged difficul-
ties is to hold fast to the ordinarily received opinion
that Jude, Lebbaeus, and Thaddaeus, were three names
for the same apostle, who is therefore said by Jerome
to have been * trionimus ' (sic)^ rather than intro-
duce confusion into the Apostolic catalogues, and
render them erroneous either in excess or defect."^
II. Simon the Canaanite — or more properly the
Cananite — may, without any of this hesitation, be
identified with Simon the Zealot. The two surnames
1 One may be mentioned. ** He was called 'Lebbeus,* I suppose, from
the town * Lebba,' a sea-coast town of Galilee : of which Pliny speaks."
So thought Lightfoot (xi. 171), but Cave says the name was Jebba in
the copies of Pliny he had seen {Lives ^ p. 202).
2 Vol. i. p. 1 163 b. The dictionary referred to in these pages is that
edited by Dr. William Smith, which at present stands imrivalled.
26 The Companions of the Lord,
mean precisely the same thing, the former having as
little to do with Cana of Galilee as it has to do with
the land of Canaan, and being simply a Chaldee term
applied to the sect of the Zealots. Who Simon's
father may have been we are not told ; but, inas-
much as Luke inserts his name between the brothers
James and Jude, many have imagined him to be a
third brother of the same family. If this be allowed,
others are ready to maintain that the father of these
three apostles cannot have been a different person
from the Alphaeus who was father of Levi ; while the
school of critics which seeks to reduce all things to
the smallest possible number of elementary bodies
comes forward to point out that Thomas may, from
his name, have been twin-brother of Matthew, in
which case we should have no fewer than five sons of
the said Alphaeus in the apostolate — a fair example
of the unsubstantial erections which are rapidly built
by the licence of conjecture.
12. Judas y the man of Kerioth — if this be the true
interpretation of his surname, as it is the usual one —
not only closes each evangelic list, but has ever
appended to his name the stigma of his crime, his
contemporaries setting no example of leniency to-
wards the man for whom even Jesus could say it
had been well that he had never been born. Possibly
the words "who also betrayed him" are added in
the gospels to explain the subsequent introduction
of Matthias into the place from which Judas by
transgression fell.
We are now in a position to draw up a cata-
Tlie Men of his Choice. 27
logue which shall combine and arrange the examined
lists.
Cephas \ g
Simon, surnamed or f r
Peter \
Andrew ) J°^^ !^ P^'"^^
James 1 Surnamed Boanerges,
John ) sons of Zebedee and Salome
of Bethsaida.
Philip
Nathanael son of Tolmai (Bartholomew) of Cana
Matthew or Levi, son (?) of (one) Alphgeus
Thomas or Didymus
James (the little) son of Alphaeus
Judas or Lebbaeus or Thaddseus, brother of James
Simon the Zealot or Cananite
Judas of Kerioth.
" One is your master," said Christ to his apostles,
" and ye are brethren." It was so ; but the brethren
were not equal in prominence or force of character.
Besides Judas Iscariot, who stands out in a lurid
light whilst developing his covetous and traitorous
designs ; besides Matthew, who, as an evangelist,
claims a place of distinction ; besides Philip, Na-
thanael and Thomas, who now and again step to the
front with some searching question or noble confes-
sion, there were four apostles, " €K\€KT<av cKAeKrorepot,"
who in the gospel history rank above the rest. It
is the sons of Jonas and Zebedee who are earliest
introduced to the Saviour, and retain closest inter-
course with him. These pairs of brothers on one
occasion took him aside privately to ask concerning
the destiny of Jerusalem, and are at other times
28 The Companions of the Lord,
mentioned to the exclusion, or at least in the ab-
sence, of their comrades.
But in this quartet Andrew was not on a level with
the other three. Peter, James and John formed the
innermost circle around the person of our blessed
Lord, and were the selected trio whom he favoured
with the sight of his most striking works and rejoiced
to have at his side in seasons of deepest abasement
or loftiest triumph. It has been suggested by-
one that they were thus marked out because their
Master designed them alone out of the Twelve " for
martyrdom, and for the eminentest witnesses of him;"
and that he sought to train and fortify them by more
intimate converse and higher revelations than were
granted to the rest'
On certain occasions, however, two disciples only
were chosen, as in preparing for the Entry and the
Supper, and they the two who conferred chief lustre
on the apostolic band. The one was Peter, on whom
{or on whose confession), as on her human foundation,
the Church should be built ; the other John, blessed
with his Lord's peculiar love. In the one ruled the
spirit of restless power, the masculine element, as it
has been said, predominating in his character ; in
the other reposed queen-like the spirit of love, em-
bodiment of womanly tenderness. Jesus wedded the
power to the love, consecrated both to noblest ends,
and crowned the union with the controlling spirit of
a sound mind.^
1 Lightfoot, Works y vol. v. p. 170.
2 Dr. Van Oosterzee {On Luke, vol i. p. 372) compares them with
the sisters of Bethany : — "Martha is the Peter, Mary the John, among
The Men of his Choice, 29
If the process of discrimination may be carried
one step further, it is to Peter that preeminence over,
or rather among, his brethren must be assigned/
Not only was he repeatedly singled out by Christ
and addressed as their leader — not only were greater
pains, if one may so speak, bestowed upon him, and
higher commendations awarded him than any of the
others received — but we find him acting ever as the
representative and spokesman of the Twelve. In one
gospel we may read how " the disciples " did this
or said that ; but turn to the parallel passages, and
it is probable that Simon will be specified as the
suggesting and moving spirit.'^ He seems, in fact,
to have given tone to the apostles. It has been
well observed,^ that the character of a community
is determined more by the height to which its best
authors and statesmen rise than by the depth to
which its vilest criminals, or even the mass of its^
members, sink ; and thus the Twelve were moulded
more powerfully for good by the frank impetuousness
of Peter than by the dull apprehension of Philip or
the fickle avarice of Judas. To this it must be
the female disciples. . . In one character the productive, in the
other the receptive, is the chief element." The phrase "womanly
tenderness, " as applied to St. John, must be taken with the qualifications
stated at the beginning of chapter ix.
1 Bengel, on Matthew x. 2. "Primus inter apostolos, non supra
apostolos."
2 A good example may be seen in comparing Mark v. 31 with Luke
viii. 45. Peter is styled the apostles' mouth by him who was himself
the golden mouthpiece of the Chiirch.
3 Amongst the number, by Professor A. S. Wilkins : Phoenicia and
Israel, p. 201.
30 The Companions of the Lord,
added, that the strength of mind so remarkable in
Peter won for him a permanent ascendency over his
fellow disciples/ There is one short dialogue left on
record by St. John, which pithily expresses the nature
of this influence. " Simon Peter saith unto them, I
go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with
thee," where one seems to catch the very tones of the
speakers : — his voice, independent and accustomed to
lead ; theirs, glad of the suggestion of a more active
mind and ready, from very force of habit, to yield
approval and compliance.
It is to this Coryphaeus of the apostles, this " fore-
man of the band," that we turn first, in the hope that,
as we trace his history and character and thereafter
deal in like manner with his associates, we may learn
how men of most diverse temperament are introduced
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and how under his influ-
ence and teaching their prejudices are corrected, their
nascent virtues developed, and their energies multiplied
and directed in his holy and happy service. It may
be proper however to preface this course of inquiry
by a brief survey of the general history and charac-
teristics of the Twelve.
1 " He is the central figure round which they all move ; in his hopes
and aspirations, advancing, wavering, baffled, triumphant, we see the
hopes and aspirations of them all j in his impassioned acts and words
we catch the energetic expression of that which in them is silent or
motionless ; in that strong Jewish enthusiasm, which is the key to his
whole character, clinging to the forms of the ancient law, yet with his
heart open to the time of their fulfilment, we see the natural leader of
those whose especial office it was to be at once the last link in the line
of Jewish prophets, the first in the line of Christian apostles." — Stanley
on The Apostolical Age^ p. 82.
III.
'*The more the marble wastes,
The more the statue grows.
"Our highest Orpheus walked in Judsea eighteen hundred years
ago ; his sphere-melody, flowing in wild native tones, took captive the
ravished souls of men; and being in truth sphere-melody, still flows
and sounds, though now with thousandfold accompaniments and rich
symphonies through all our hearts; and modulates and divinely leads
them."
THE first meeting between Jesus and several of
the men subsequently enrolled as his apostles
is described in the beginning of the fourth gospel.
From it we gather that one afternoon, ^ shortly after
our Lord's fulfilment of all righteousness in Betha-
bara beyond Jordan, the Baptist saw him walking at
a distance and, recognizing him, turned to two of his
disciples who happened to be in his company, repeat-
ing to them the testimony he had previously borne —
" Behold the Lamb of God." Their curiosity was
aroused about One to whom language so strong and
distinctly sacrificial could be applied, and they fol-
lowed him at first unbidden, and then upon his invita-
tion. The day was already declining, and its close was
spent in converse A^ith the new Teacher. Returning
I Not one morning at ten o'clock, as Ebrard maintains in his Gospel
History, p. 210, though this would allow longer time for the interview.
St. John, he says, usually adopts the Roman mode of reckoning ; if so,
what are we to make of passages like iv. 6, "Jesus therefore . . .
sat thus on the well ; and it was about the sixth hour ; " or xi. 9, "Are
there not twelve hours in the day?"
D
34 The Companions of the Lord,
to their homes, they were naturally anxious to bring
their friends into his presence. If the disciple who is
not named were John himself, he would probably
impart the discovery to his brother James ; unless,
indeed, as first cousins of the Lord, they knew him
already and needed no further introduction. ^ Andrew,
the other member of the pair, hastened to his brother
Simon and confidently announced the Teacher as the
Messiah. Hearing this, Simon at once suffered him-
self to be brought to Jesus, who saluted him " coming
ere he came " with a surname that summed up as
accurately as it did briefly his character and destiny.
On the day following, Jesus met a man named Philip
of Bethsaida, who evidently did not take the " follow
me " as a command to be obeyed literally, for he went
straightway in search of one Nathanael of Cana, whose
prejudice he swept away with his glad summons,
prevailing on the guileless Israelite to "come and see"
for himself " him of whom Moses in the law, and the
prophets, did write."
Here then we have a call of five or six persons,
but only the call to discipleship. They were not as
yet required to quit their regular occupations and
follow in close and permanent attendance. "The
positive institution to the apostolic office did not take
place till long afterwards. Before making apostles,
Jesus wished to make disciples. The first impression
received by these young men was ineffaceable, but it
needed to be confirmed. They were already no doubt
sincerely attached to Jesus, and might call them-
I See chapter xv. , note A.
General History and Characteristics, 35
selves his disciples (John ii. 2), but they were not yet
ripe for the exceptional vocation to which they were
destined." * Yet how many are there who deem
themselves qualifiW for important posts in the Church
almost before they become Christians ! St. Paul, in
giving instructions about the appointment of elders,
expressly says " not a novice ; " nor can we forget
how he himself had to serve an apprenticeship of
solitary discipline in Arabia before being advanced
to the active duties of the apostolate. From the first,
that is to say from the first settlement of the soul's
faith and love on Christ, let a man be an avowed
disciple ; but faithfulness in that which is least must be
displayed before a greater responsibility is entrusted
to him. And as the Master hastens not to promote
the untried, so is he willing to allow time for the full
consideration of his claims. He comes not in tempest
nor in whirlwind, but in the still, appealing voice of
conscience ; never would he compel us to his service
by threatening, but by the loveliness of his character
and the reasonableness of his cause would persuade
us willingly to embrace it.
Thus it was that he suffered his new-made disciples
to return to their fishing and other trades while he
went his own separate way. During his sojourn In Gali-
lee they would no doubt have frequent opportunities
both of seeing and hearing him ; but a considerable
time was now spent by him in journeying to Jerusalem,
baptizing in Judaea, passing through Samaria and
working in other districts far removed from the shores
I Dr. E. de Pressense, Jesus Christy p. 326.
36 The Companions of the Lord,
of the Lake/ Yet the temporary absence was no
disadvantage; his teaching had struck root in their
hearts and might be left awhile to grow, watered and
sunned by prayer and exercise until the crop should
be ripe for his sickle. His mark was set upon their
foreheads ; on h!s coming again he would recognize it
and reclaim the lives already surrendered.
But the return was delayed. In all probability
twelve or eighteen months elapsed before that further
call to which we now turn attention.'^
There are three narratives given respectively by
Matthew, Mark and Luke, which bear many features
of resemblance. ^ In the two former all are agreed
that we have a couple of versions of one and the same
occurrence ; but whether Luke gives a third version
of it or refers to a distinct occasion is " a point of
great difficulty and hotly contested." Our own con-
viction is that a comparison of narratives will show
their identification to be unsatisfactory if not impos-
sible. Indeed almost the sole points of contact are
a correspondence of scene and actors, and the employ-
ment in both of the phrase " fishers of men," coinci-
dences which are of small value when we remember
how constantly our Lord was found on the shores of
1 For the sequence of events the reader is referred to a note at the
end of this chapter on the interlacing of the history in the four gospels.
2 A passover is mentioned by St. John (ii. 13) as occurring shortly
after the first call of disciples ; and another is alluded to by the same
evangelist in introducing his account of the feeding of the five thousand
(vi. 4). It is the opinion of the Archbishop of York and others that
these feasts were separated by not less than two years (^Dic. of Bible^
vol, i. p. 105 ifl.)
3 Matthew iv. 18-22; Mark i. 16-20 ; Luke v. I-II.
General History and Characteristics, 3 7
the Galilean lake, and that he was never troubled with
the fear, which appears to haunt some men of our day,
lest the reiteration of a felicitous image or expression
should impair their reputation for wealth and origin-
ality of mind. Still, while separating Luke's account
from that of his fellow-historians, we may agree to
place the two events near to one another, and regard
him as recording a later and special summons to. Simon
Peter, given in addition to the call which came to
him in common with Andrew and the sons of Zebedee.
There is nothing unreasonable in the supposition of
a supplementary call of this kind. An ardent nature
like that of Peter is impulsive towards the good but
facile also towards evil, forward to follow yet easily
turned 'back. For such a man repeated invitation
and command may have been needed, as in truth they
are with us, few of whom would be found following
Christ had he knocked at the door of our hearts
but one short evening, and with dawn's first streak
departed. It was because he stood patiently calling
again and again by each message of his word and
signal of his providence, by every gift of his bounty
as by every chastisement of his love, that at last we
were induced to receive his presence and obey.
Levi is the only other disciple of whose call we
possess any detailed account ; but interesting as that
account is, it would be premature to discuss it here.
We are rather concerned to remark that, when God
has a special work for men to do, as he had for the
apostles, they may look for a special call to it. No
sign may appear in the heavens, but indications of the
Divine will may be confidently expected, sufficiently
38 The Companions of the Lord,
clear to show the path of duty to a candid mind. If
we willingly surround us with the din and turmoil of
the world, we are not likely to hear his softer speech ;
but in prayerful attention the voice will assuredly be
heard saying, " This is the way, walk ye in it."
Let it too be here repeated that the special work
to which we are designated may demand the sacrifice
of all we hold dearest : boats and nets, purse and
friends, may have to be surrendered. To be a
modern Christian of the conventional type does not
imply much of self-denial ; but we have forgotten
that " he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself
also so to walk, even as he walked." His life on
earth is confessedly our model ; yet to how few can
we point as reproducing that life or*' realizing Christ"
in daily conduct ! The world has indeed overshot the
mark in demanding from the Church a literal imita-
tion of the details of her Lord's career and denounc-
ing her because she has not levelled class-distinctions
and established a Christian commune. Our Saviour
said no doubt to one " Sell all that thou hast, and
give to the poor," and to another, " Whensoever thou
makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends ; "
but are we compelled to take these bold, epigram-
matic sayings, spoken to individuals under special
circumstances, as a universal command to voluntary
poverty and a sharing of goods ? Equally far are we
from finding in the Epistles any such communism
existing in the early Church or enjoined upon it. It
enjoyed a brief trial in the infant community at
Jerusalem whence by common consent it was per-
mitted to pass away as not being of permanent
General History and Characteristics, 39
obligation or value. But while declining to be judged
by the letter of Christ's life or the peculiar institu-
tions of the apostolic Church, we are bound to receive
with humility and gratitude any reminder, even the
roughest, of the spirit of that divine life whereby we
profess to be guided. Whatever can be shewn to be
of the spirit of Christ is for ever obligatory upon his
followers, and it is for each solemnly to settle with
his own conscience how far he ought not to go in
self-denial, in ministering to his poorer brethren and
among them, in separating himself from the ways of
the world and testifying against it that the works
thereof are evil.
We come next to the formal ordination of the
Twelve to their sacred office. As was our Lord's
wont before the great crises of his life, he girded
himself for this all-important step by a night of
prayer. Whatever may have been the leading ele-
ment in his prayers, and however widely they may
have been parted from the poor petitions we coldly
and ignorantly offer, his example may well be taken
as our guide in preparing for decision and action.
Our nerve in the battle is likely to be steady, our
choice between branching paths to be wise, only in
proportion as we first repair to Him who can regu-
late our pulse, sift our motives, and clear our vision.
jlFortified by communion with his Father, Jesus de-
^scended from the mountain at break of day, and
called to him the whole band of his disciples, out of
whom he proceeded to select those twelve men we
have already enumerated. The sermon on the mount
was their inaugural address; and after a short mis
1
40 The Companions of the Lord,
sionary tour in Galilee, they were sent out by two and
two through the towns of Israel, those being coupled
together who might best encourage and balance one
another.
Although many of the deeds and utterances of the
apostles belong to individuals, and though often we
can trace Peter's master-mind prompting what by
the historian is ascribed indifferently to all, there are
many occasions where no distinction can be drawn,
but all seem to have acted in concert. From such
general indications there is no room to deny that
I tne Twelve had, as a body, grave faults. They
j were slow to understand their Lord's predictions,
I unable to grasp the spiritual nature of his kingdom,
J and compelled frequently to ask the meaning of
v^his simplest parables^- They were inflammable in
temper, ready to invoke vengeance or employ vio-
lence upon their foes,' prone to be arrogant towards
the multitude^^nd contentious among themselves.
They were alstwrimid, as is usually the case with the
overbearing ; for then, as now, bluster and cowardice
paced the world in company; and these disciples,
who with one voice protested they would never
leave their Master,4acked faith to imitate his works,
accept his word and cling to his person in the hour
of danger.
But it would be unfair to overlook their difficulties.
By early education they had been encased with Jewish
prejudices, and in particular with the prevailing belief
in a temporal Messiah, who should set up his throne
at Jerusalem, and lead forth the long down-trodden
people to the chief seats of the earth. What then
Gefieral History and Characteristics, 4 1
must they have tho ught of a Lord who refused
kingly honours pressed upon him by an enthusiastic
populace, and deliberately persevered in a life of
poverty and retirement when he might so easily
have set his sail to the breeze of public favour and
been borne by it far into the haven of earthly glory.
The faith of these his companions was put to a
severe and continued test. It is true they had the
miracles for its support ; but miracles in that day were,
as we are repeatedly told, by no means so strong a
buttress to confidence as they came afterwards to be
regarded. Were we at the present time to meet with
a well-attested deed of superhuman power resting
upon the basis of a noble purpose, we should pro-
bably be agreed to recognize in it the interposing
hand of our beneficent Creator ; but in the age of
our Saviour's ministry, no matter how clear the
supernatural element, or how gracious the design,
men were ready to ascribe such deeds to magical art
or the inspiration of the Evil One. Nor must we
imagine that miracles were of daily occurrence in the
experience of the Twelve ; scarcely ever does Jesus
appear to have wrought them for his own supply, but
in general only for the blessing or persuasion of those
dependent on him. And there may have been long
parentheses of seeming weakness, when the oracle was
silent and the power did not stir, during which the
strain put upon the faith of the men who had re-
linquished their all for him was such as to bar our
criticism.
Instead of judging the apostles, it were more
modest and fitting in us to acknowledge their excel-
42 The Companions of the Lord,
lence. When starting on their first mission, Jesus
likened them to sheep in the midst of wolves, and
warned them of persecution. Yet these men, whom we
are apt to charge with a craven spirit, did not flinch
from the prospect, but bravely undertook the perilous
task. At times, no doubt, the fire of their devotion
sank low and flickered in the socket ; but at other
moments it leapt high in a tiiumphant flame of
enthusiasm. And albeit, at the last, all forsook him
and fled, the desertion did not last long. A few hours
after his capture, one and another were creeping up
at the hazard of life to learn tidings of his fate ; and
afterwards, when the Crucified rose from the tomb,
his tender language towards his apostles made it
clear that he regarded them not as radically false,
but only as waveringly true.
The Saviour declared it well that he should leave
them, and his foresight was established by the stride
their characters made in faith and energy imme-
diately after the Ascension. In the withdrawal of
Christ they received his promised substitute, the
Divine Spirit, and being suddenly cast upon their
own resources they rose, as men in such circum-
stances usually do rise, upon the wave of the emer-
gency, and showed themselves fully equal to the
responsibilities of their new position. In the record
of their acts we have no instance of the old pusil-
lanimity. The church at Jerusalem was founded
and reared under their oversight ; towards the San-
hedrin they were firm in their bearing almost to the
point of defiance, and as the natural result of their
firmness they extorted respect from their most Intel-
General History and Characteristics, 43
ligent and powerful adversaries, supplying therein a
notable example to all who think to win the favour
of the world by a compromise of Christian principle.
A flame of persecution wrapt the vessel of the Church
after the martyrdom of Stephen ; yet in a day when
all others fled to safer scenes, they stood their ground
to a man, and would not shirk the fiery trial appointed
them.
The history of St. Luke has little more to tell us of
the collective movements of the Twelve. ' Peter was
commissioned to open the door of the kingdom to
/Cornelius and his Gentile dependents, as at Pentecost
he had been honoured to admit through it the believ-
ing Jews ; but anon the record leaves him to pursue
the more stirring fortunes of the new apostle of the
uncircumcision who, while professing himself "less
than the least of all saints," was constrained to admit
that he was "not a whit behind the very chiefest
apostles." The Twelve, some of whom were married,
continued to reside at Jerusalem, and are mentioned
in conjunction with James the Lord's brother and
other elders of the Church as present at the Council
held there about twenty years after the Ascension.
Not long subsequently they appear to have sepa-
rated, in obedience to the farewell bidding of their
Master, that after establishing his religion in Judaea
and Samaria they should go " into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature." One of the
X For to this number were they again made up by the appointment of
Matthias, of whom it does not enter into our purpose to speak, albeit
he was an apostle in the wider sense of the term, and an original witness
of our Lord's career.
44 The Companions of the Lord,
most affecting subjects of early art is the traditional
parting of the apostles. There is no evidence that
the Creed which bears their name was then drawn up,
nor is it likely, as the legend tells, that they drew
lots for their destinations, dividing the known world
into twelve spheres of labour. More probably they
arranged to go in twos or threes, retaining that prin-
ciple of association in Christian work which their
Master had at the first taught them to observe. Their
travels are spread in story over a wide area, reaching
from the Pillars of Hercules to the coast of Coroman-
del, and are embellished with many signal sufferings
and wonderful achievements. Of the many legends
of which they are the heroes, it may be said once for
all that, creations of fancy and " fond inventions "
though the most of them be, yet they are, ** so far as
character goes, in harmony with the Scriptural por-
traits, and fill up the outline given." ^
As to "the end of their conversation," widely di-
vergent accounts have obtained credence. We know
definitely of the martyrdom of only one of the whole
number, James the son of Zebedee. It seems how-
ever a fair inference, from words addressed by our
Lord to his brother John and to Simon Peter, to
suppose that He anticipated for them also a violent
death. But the early Christians could ill acquiesce in
the tame belief that a majority of the holy apostles
had fallen gently asleep in Jesus. It was thought
that lives of unexampled daring demanded a dramatic
close, while in the contemplation of such an ending
I Mrs. Jameson, Saxred and Legendary Art ^ p. 187.
General History and Characteristics, 45
consolation and courage were expected by a race of
converts to whom a cruel execution was the too
probable issue of life. There may also have been at
work a jealousy for the honour of the patron saints,
who might be thought to lose some part of their
future glory unless they entered heaven with the
crown and palm of martyrdom. In later days the
Church was to learn that it is not the manner of a
man's death, but the tenor of his life, that determines
the divine award hereafter, and that God may be as
truly glorified by the patient endurance of disease, or
the leaf-like dropping of old age, as by stoning or
crucifixion. ^
NOTE ON THE DIVISION OF NARRATIVE BETWEEN
THE FOUR GOSPELS.
It is of importance to observe that St. John, in his
Gospel, does not cover the same ground with that
traversed by the synoptic evangelists. They shared
with him the knowledge of our Lord's youth, bap-
tism and temptation ; but, having accompanied him so
far, their sources of information seem to have failed
them, and a long gap occurs in their narratives. This
gap is happily bridged for us by St. John's acquain-
tance with the first year of our Saviour's public
ministry. As soon as the others can take up the
thread John drops it, forbearing to tell over again
what they could relate with detail and accuracy ; but
when their materials once more grow scantier he
I The emblems attached in Christian art to the several apostles are
as a rule drawn from the legendary "Twelve Martyrdoms;" so that
while one figure may be known by the purse and a second by the keys,
most tell their tragic story by the accompanying lance or cross.
46
The Companions of the Lord,
joins them company, and through the remainder of
the story supplies those particulars which had been
stamped upon his heart, softened by affection, in lines
never to be effaced.
This division of labour between the evangelists is
traced elaborately by such writers as Ebrard (Gospel
History, pp. 1 19-134), but may be shown at a
glance. Thus we have —
I Matthew i. i-iv. II.
Mark i. 1-13.
Luke i. i-iv. 13.
Johni. 1-28.
§ 2. First Call of Disciples
Marriage at Cana
Passover and Journey to Jerusalem
Episodes of Nicodemus and the
Woman of Samaria
Return to Cana and second Journey
to Jerusalem
Ministry in Judaea
§ 3. Further Call of Apostles
Series of Miracles
Final Choice of the Twelve
Sermon on the Mount
Series of Parables
First Mission of the Apostles
Their Return
§ 4. The remainder of the Ministry in
GalUee and the succeeding Events
and Discourses are divided with
evenness between
John i. 29-v. 47,
Matthew iv. i2-xiv. 12.
Mark i. 14-vi. 29.
I^uke iv. 14-ix. 9.
Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John.
IV.
to t^e Criump^al ^nlrg*
"Thou who hast thyself
Endured this fleshhood, knowing how as a soaked
And sucking vesture it can drag us down
And choke us in the melancholy deep,
Sustain me that with Thee I walk these waves
Resisting."
"He was the Rock, not the builder, of the Christian society — the
Guardian of its gates, not the master of its innermost recesses — the
Founder . . not the propagator, nor the finisher — the Moses of
its Exodus, not the David of its triumph, nor the Daniel of its latter
days."
A LONGER consideration is due to St. Peter
than can be claimed for any of his companions.
We know almost as much about him as about the
rest taken together. He was, as we have seen, a
representative of the apostles, so that his history
may be regarded as no unfair transcript of theirs ;
while his character is a microcosm, a very epitome of
human nature, enabling us to see our weaknesses
reflected in his failings, and in his virtues the image
of attainments within our reach.
But the task of tracing his course is not an easy
one. Each of the Twelve is like a separate thread
in the skein of the Gospel narrative, and the difficulty
of disentanglement is in this case the greater because
Peter's thread is not of uniform colour but of many
shades, from the scarlet of fiery impulse and the gold
of sterling devotion, paling off to the sickly hue of
cowardice and falsehood.
He appears many times in the records of the evan-
gelists ; but there are a few scenes in which he makes
E
50 The Companions of the Lord.
the prominent figure, and from an examination ol
which his phases of character may be best understood,
Four such scenes fall within the period embraced by
the present chapter.
I. He is introduced abruptly — as abruptly as Elijah
the Tishbite. " One of the two which heard John
speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother." Some have argued from this that he must
already have been a man of distinction, needing no
note of explanation ; whereas it is much more pro-
bable that, as he is introduced by his later name, so
his subsequent renown was taken to render details
about him superfluous. Just as an old British sailor
might boast that he had served at sea with Admiral
Nelson, when in reality he had been on board the
frigate in which young Horatio was a plain midship-
man under his uncle's orders, so Andrew might, even
at the opening of the New Testament narrative,*be
called the brother of him whose fame as apostle to
Jew and Gentile made his name a household word
throughout the early Church.
Respecting his family we learn that his father was
one Jonas, and that he himself had married a woman
variously known to tradition as Perpetua or Con-
cordia, whose mother was still alive. Their home
was at Bethsaida, and the sons fished the waters
of the lake in company with partners. Simon,
or Symeon (the hearer), had received the average
education of a provincial, and at the time of his
first interview with the Lord was at least thirty years
of age.
The Peter of the Gospels, 5 1
We cannot but speculate on the emotions with
which he received his brother's message, " We have
found the Messias." To any Jew such news would
be startling, while it would possess absorbing interest
for one who, like Simon's venerable namesake,
" waited for the consolation of Israel." Whatever
his feelings, he must see the new teacher for himself
and at once, both for the satisfaction of his faith and
the increase of his joy.
It may be questioned how far we are at liberty to
regard our Saviour's salutation to him as bespeak-
ing supernatural knowledge. In saying, " Thou art
Simon, the son of Jona," it is conceivable that He
had learnt from Andrew the particulars of his
family on the previous day, and that now " the fixed
gaze," which many commentators refer to spiritual
and prophetic insight, was no more than the recog-
nition of Simon by his likeness to his brother, or by
his answering to the description already given. So
far then there is no need to suppose the miraculous ;
but the prediction, " Thou shalt be called Cephas," is
less capable of a natural explanation. Christ may
have heard something of Simon's character ; but that
information would not by itself give confidence to
use language so assured. It is the wonderful appro-
priateness of the name that compels the admission of
superhuman foresight in him who at the first meeting
imposed it. No name could so exactly sum up the
man's temperament as this of "the Rock." It is
certain that the new appellation did live on with his
original name of Simon, and in the end survive it ;
and it is equally clear that it accurately expressed
52 The Companions of the Lord,
the position he was destined to hold in the Christian
Church/
No reply of Simon to the Master's greeting is
recorded, as in the case of other disciples called at the
same time. He leaves the stage a mute actor, and
we are unable to tell with what feelings he listened
to the address. He returns to his business in the
waters of the lake, and for a year or more is in the
main separated from the Saviour ; but, as the stricken
bird may fly far and in the end yield herself to the
fowler, so the gaze and instructions of Jesus appear
to have subdued his heart ; and thus, when he re-
appears, we find him at once under the still potent
spell, malleable to the hand of Him who has now
only to reclaim one already enlisted in his service.
II. The next meeting of Peter with our Lord is
that recorded by the evangelists Matthew and Mark
in passages considered in the last chapter. "^ While
these accounts appear to refer to one and the same
event, it has been suggested that they do not describe
the final call of Peter, but that for him at any rate
the definite summons was that narrated by St. Luke
in the fifth chapter of his gospel ; for the occurrence,
1 The explanation of the name given by Canon Cook in the
Dictionary of the Bible (vol. ii. p. 799«.) appears somewhat far
fetched: "Jesus thus describes . . a man . . whose perma-
nence and stability would depend upon union with the living Rock ; "
and still more so the version offered by Lange in his Life of Christ
(vol. ii. p. 284) where, dwelling upon the meaning of the word Jonas,
he paraphrases : ** Thou art now the son of the shy dove of the rock ;
in future thou shalt be called the protecting rock of the dove."
2 Matt. iv. 18 ; Mark i. 16,
The Peter of the Gospels, 53
at the end of the scene of the miraculous draught, of
the terms " forsaking all " and becoming " henceforth "
fishers of men, seems to show that now, and not till
now, was the surrender of worldly pursuits completed.
Although the sons of Zebedee are present in a part
of the scene, it belongs properly to Peter, and may
form the second halting-place in our survey of his
life.
The western shore of the sea of Gennesaret — the
Windermere of Palestine in point of size, its lake of
Geneva in point of surroundings^ — was the seat of
numerous and flourishing towns, whose inhabitants
poured forth in crowds to hear Him who spake as
never man spake. On this occasion the throng pressed
him nearer and nearer to the lake, until he was
standing upon the white beach which can still be
"discerned running like a white line all round the
lake'"" and dividing the pale-blue of its placid
waters from the darker tints of the encompassing hills.
Sunk deep beneath the level of the Galilean table-
land, and nearly seven hundred feet below the Medi-
terranean, the place was " one of the hottest in the
world ;"^ and if our Lord was forced from under the
shade of the fig-trees and oleanders, he might naturally
seek refuge from the scorching sun and the importunate
1 " In some respects it recalled in miniature the first view of the
lake of Geneva . . Hermon taking the place of Mont Blanc j
the plain of Gennesaret recallmg the Pays de Vaud ; and the steep
banks opposite the bold coast of Savoy." — Tristram, The Land of
Israel^ p. 423.
2 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine^ p. 371.
3 Tristram, p. 438.
54 The Companions of the Lord
multitude by stepping into one of the fishing craft,
far more numerous then than they are now, and
sitting beneath the awning of its sail/ The boats,
not perhaps equal in size to our coasting luggers, but
certainly far larger than the precarious cockleshells
of Raphael's cartoons, happened at the time to be
empty. The fishermen were engaged in what was a
necessary part of their work, as indeed it is of all
work — the washing of the nets. " Simon, who was one
of them, appears to have observed Christ's movement ;
with one or two attendants he stept quickly on board
and pushed off far enough to be clear of the crowd,
and yet not so far off but that they could be easily
addressed from the boat.
The open-air sermon ended, Jesus bade Simon
launch out into deeper water and prepare his nets
for a cast. The reply was characteristic in its
mingling of outspoken objection with readiness to
obey : " We have toiled all the night, and have taken
nothing; nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down
the net." In the miracle that followed we are apt to
look for the wonder in the wrong place. The " great
multitude of fishes" enclosed in the net was in all
X " While at Tiberias, I purchased for 500 piastres a frame boat to
assist in conveying our things and save expense of transportation. With
a large and beautiful lake before them, filled with fish and abounding
with wild fowl, the misgoverned and listless inhabitants had but the
solitary boat I purchased, used to bring wood across from the opposite
side." — Lynch's Narrative of the United States^ Expedition, p. 263.
Matters have improved since this was written. Captain Wilson, of the
Palestine Exploration Fund, hired in 1866 "one of the three boats
which represent the modem fleet of Galilee." — Our Work in
Pakstine, p. 191.
The Peter of tlie Gospels. 5 5
likelihood nothing extraordinary ; for we are told that
the lake still swarms with fish to such an incredible
extent that travellers have observed in it " marvellous
shoals, black masses of many hundred yards long,
with the black fins projecting out of the water as
thickly as they could pack.'" But a lake may
abound with fish, and yet the fishers toil the livelong
night in vain. They may have tried at the wrong
time or place, or with ill-devised apparatus. Indeed,
in the case before us, the fact that they were washing
their nets upon the shore may perhaps be taken as an
acknowledgment that their lack of success was in a
measure due to the fouled condition of their gear. The
surprise now was, not that so ample a catch should
be made, but that it should be made precisely at the
moment and in the spot indicated by the Lord. He,
in his providence, may give us large opportunities ;
but unless we seek his directions, and cast our nets
when and whither he bids, we are like to see the
nets of others filled, and our own come up empty or
choked with useless weed.
Under the strain the net began to give way ; but
not being far from land, Peter was able to summon
his comrades. They came with the alacrity men
usually display in helping the successful and sharing
their gains ; and before the mischief to the tackle had
gone far, another boat had come alongside, and the
finny captives were hauled on board. In the process
however both boats heeled over on the inner side
until the water poured in over the gunwale and
« Tristram, p. 426,
56 The Co7npanions of the Lord.
threatened to swamp them. It would have been a
poor bargain if the crews had lost their lives in securing
the prize ; yet if they had done so, it would have
been no unfair image of what men are perpetually
sacrificing for the sake of earthly profit, losing their
souls to gain the world. The story of the Chinaman
offering to commit suicide for a round sum of money
paid down is scarcely an exaggeration of the folly
of those who, to make sure of opulence and fame,
surrender all that makes life worth the living.
How are we to account for Peter's conduct after
the miracle ? We read that, when he saw it, " he fell
down at Jesus' knees, saying. Depart from me ; for I
am a sinful man, O Lord." It is impossible to con-
ceive that he wished a withdrawal of his mercy ;
rather he could not bear the thought that One whom
he loved should be pained by scanning all the corrup-
tion of his heart ; or he may have deprecated that
searching gaze that could see and that mighty arm
that could punish his sins, thus echoing the prayer of
Job to his Judge, "Withdraw thine hand far from
me ; and let not thy dread make me afraid."
If this latter be the true explanation of his cry, it
was met by the first words of the Lord's answer,
" Fear not," he says ; " my power is not meant to
overawe, but to bless; and as now I have enabled
thee to catch the fish which had eluded thy skill, so
under my care shalt thou be trained for the harder
yet nobler task of fishing for men." Peter is not
taken from his chosen vocation, but commanded to
exercise it in a higher sphere. Have we any special
talent ? Our Master w^ould have us, wherein we are
The Peter of the Gospels. 57
called, therein abide with God ; our natural bent is to
be followed out, the gift that is in us not exchanged
for something else, but stirred up and consecrated.
From this time dates Peter's regular attendance
upon Jesus. Bringing the burdened boats to land, he
and his companions leave them and their valuable
freight in charge of the servants, and follow him
who now required their uninterrupted assistance in
his work.
III. The next scene is also laid in the neighbour-
hood of the lake ; but two minor incidents precede it.
From the shore Christ and his disciples appear to
have gone to Capernaum, where Peter invoked his
newly-revealed power on behalf of his mother-in-law,
lying sick at the time with that species of fever which
** is still very prevalent in the seething plain."' Jesus
healed her ; and with the true spirit of gratitude, she
devoted her recovered powers to his service. Shortly
after this came the final ordination of the Twelve
and their first mission to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel.
And now they have returned to their Master who,
ever solicitous for their welfare, proposes retirement
in some spot removed from the eager Galilean crowd.
By boat they cross to Bethsaida Julias, situated on
the fertile plain at the head of the lake, near where
the Jordan rushes in, "a turbid, ruddy torrent" The
people, not to be baffled, follow on foot, and are
received with an unwearied grace which provides
I Tristram, p. 444, note.
58 TJie Companions of the Lord,
teaching for the mind and food for the body. At
length, when they are dismissed, and the disciples
have been despatched on the return voyage, the
Saviour climbs one of the adjacent hills from which
he can at once enjoy undisturbed converse with his
Father and mark the course taken by the boat. His
pursuit of the latter at a more advanced hour across
the waters is told by three evangelists, but Matthew
alone gives that part of the scene in which Peter is
conspicuous.
The usual interpretation of the apostle's essay upon
the waves ascribes to him presumption in putting
himself forward, and expecting miraculous support in
a purposeless and unauthorized venture ; whereas the
narrative may suggest to our minds an entirely
different picture, with something like the following
for its outline. Weary with a night of rowing against
a head wind and a chopping sea, the disciple-crew
had lost courage; and when in the grey of early
morning their heavy eyes discerned a figure across
the water, they took it for the Spectre of the storm
chasing their helpless craft with intent to drag it
down into the black abyss. But reassured by the
familiar tones of the Master's voice, their hearts
rebounded to joyous confidence. Peter's elastic spirit
rose the highest ; he longed to be side by side with
Jesus, and if bidden would risk life itself to overstep
the billows that rolled between. It was not long
since authority had been given the apostles to tread
on serpents and scorpions ; why then might they not
expect power to pass unhurt over these crested waves }
Our Saviour, not as some would strangely have us
The Peter of the Gospels. 59
believe in irony or with cold permission, but in a
sincere rejoicing at his strong trust, bade him come ;
and he in fearless obedience stept forth to the ordeal,
and found that —
"His limbs were borne up bravely
By the brave heart within."
But as the waves swept between him and his Lord,
and caught the latter from his view, his faith began
to fail; and, as is usually the case, when the heart
sank the body sank too. Yet sinking he cried to
Christ for aid — aid immediately given, the excellence
of his faith being recognized, and its deficiency
gently rebuked as he was drawn out of the horrible
pit and set again upon the rock of a restored con-
fidence.
If this view of the incident be correct, its main
lesson is that we can never be too bold in the religious
life, nor ever wish to be too close to the Saviour's
side. " Spare not for Him to walk the midnight
wave;" come to him with the "power of mighty
Love"—
"Yearning ever to spring forth
And feel the cold waves for His sake,"
and be cheered at the tenderness with which he treats
the lack of trust : — " O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt?"
IV. Christ was still in Galilee when he delivered
his discourse about the bread of life. About this
time Peter rises to the surface of the record, breaking
6o The Companio7is of the Loj^d.
in upon one of the parables . and asking its meaning.
The desired explanation is given, but prefaced by the
rebuke, " Are yQ also yet without understanding ? "
Peter was never debarred from proposing questions
by fear of having his ignorance exposed. Too many
now remember the proverb which says that " even a
fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise," and
refrain from seeking information through reluctance
to own their need of it. Better is it honestly to con-
fess, " Thou knowest my foolishness," and pray,
" That which I see not teach thou me."
Our fourth scene is a triptych, whereof the two
wings represent Simon nobly confessing, and the
central compartment shows him sinning and reproved.
i. The Lord, it appears, was come into the neigh-
bourhood of Csesarea Philippi, a town charmingly
situated near the main source of the Jordan,^ and
forming the northernmost limit of his journeyings.
In its original name of Panium, as in its modern
equivalent Banias, has been preserved the memory
of the great god Pan who, with the nymphs, had
his shrine there, and whose empty, shell-bound niche
is still shown in the recess of the grotto. But now,
face to face with that embodiment of all heathen
religions, was brought the King of everlasting life ;
and as the mummy crumbles with its first exposure
to the air, so must all the discrowned deities of
Olympus go to dust before the incoming of the true
Messiah ; for
I Sinai and Palestine, p. 397.
The Peter of the Gospels, 6 1
' Earth outgrows the mythic fancies
Sung beside her in her youth,
And those debonair romances
Sound but dull beside the truth." i
Here then of all places it was fittest that Christ
should establish in the minds of his disciples the
supremacy of his own character and claims. " Who
do men say that I, the Son of man, am ?" he asked ;
and after hearing their reply, added, " But who say
ye that I am ? " Peter, ever foremost, answered,
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,"
words which, rising as they do above our Lord's
description of himself as Son of man, betoken a
developed faith. What follows is not told us by
Mark, and if we may heed the universal tradi-
tion that in writing his gospel he was the organ of
Peter, or at least informed and controlled by him,
the omission of a scene so honourable to the apostle
may be taken as a sign of commendable modesty on
the part of the latter.
The reply of the Lord opens with words that have
escaped the conflict which has eddied around the rest
of the speech. The first phrase under dispute is that
I The poem whence these lines are taken is founded on the legend
that " at the hour of the Saviour's agony, a cry of * Great Pan is dead !'
swept across the waters in the hearing of certain mariners, — and the
oracles ceased." Miss Martineau {Eastern Life, vol. iii. p. 263)
closes an interesting description of Banias by saying, "It rouses our
minds to read of Paul at Athens ; . . but what is that to this ?
Here came Jesus to the shrines of Pan and the Nymphs, and' had their
statues probably, and certainly their sculptured shells and glorifying
inscriptions, before his eyes."
62 The Compajiions of the Lord,
wherein the Lord, following his disciple's form of
address (" Thou art the Christ "), rejoins " Thou art
Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church."
It would be out of place here to enter further into
controversy than is necessary in order to give some
idea of our Lord's meaning, though in a supple-
mentary note we may feel bound to state reasons as
well as conclusions. At present let this suffice : it is
probable that an unbiassed reader of the original
would understand Peter to be " the rock," and that,
in adopting this view, he would be guarded from
error by perceiving that Peter could be referred to
only as representative of his fellow-apostles and
maintainer of the truth. At the same time it must
be granted that it is quite possible to refer our Lord's
words to Peter's doctrine or confession, that this view
derives support from New Testament usage and
embodies a most important lesson. But so vague is
the difference between these opinions that a boundary
line is scarce discernible. Showing how easily the
one melts into the other, a writer quoted by Stier
says, "The demonstrative {this rock) can just as little
have the force of isolating the faith and the confes-
sion of Peter from his person, as it would be justi-
fiable to refer the promise to the person of Peter
apart from his faith ; " ^ or, as another puts it more
succinctly, " The word of Peter is the heart of Peter ;
it is he himself." Whether then we regard Christ as
speaking of the truth as expressed by Peter or of
Peter as exoressing the truth, " on this rock," he
I Stier, ii. 340.
The Peter of the Gospels, 63
says, " will I build my Church ; and the powers of
death shall not prevail ac^ainst it."
The following verse consists of two distinct parts.
As to the former, it is no present concern of ours to
assert or deny that the promise of the keys was made
to Peter alone, and to the exclusion of the other
apostles ; all that our Lord here says is, " I will give
thee the keys." In a certain sense, no doubt, every
Christian teacher holds them in announcing Jesus as
the Way ; but preeminently was the promise fulfilled
to Peter, and to him before others, in that he acted
as porter to the Church, and was honoured to be
the first to throw open its door both to Jews and
Gentiles. The latter part of the verse, in which
Christ goes on to speak of binding and loosing, is
not, according to some, ** a transition to another
figure, but is just equivalent to shutting and opening,
for the locks of the ancients had bands which were
fastened or unfastened by the simple key-bar." ^ The
mind naturally associates the words with those spoken
later by our Saviour about the remission and reten-
tion of sins — a promise held to be fulfilled in the
spiritual insight whereby the apostles were able to
read men's hearts and pronounce upon such cases as
those of Simon Magus and Ananias. No fear of
sacerdotal misuse need prevent us from so taking
the words, which have thus been explained to convey
the principle of admission to and exclusion from the
Church. "To bind up sins as in a bundle," says
Lange, "implies coming judgment, while sins for-
« Stier, ii. 347.
64 The Companio7is of the Lord.
given are described as loosed," ' It is however main-
tained strongly by other critics that the sense of the
words is altogether different. Lightfoot has cited
a triple decade " out of thousands " of instances of
the Jewish use of this expression " binding and
loosing," To all manner of ceremonial regulations
about leaven, festivals, starting on a voyage or even
so small an act as looking into a mirror, the formula
is appended " the school of Shammai binds it, the
school of Hillel looses it," in the sense of prohibition
and permission ; so that he paraphrases our Lord's
words thus : " If thou askest by what rule that
Church is to be governed, when the Mosaic rule may
seem so improper for it, thou shalt be so guided by
the Holy Spirit, that whatsoever of the laws of Moses
thou shalt forbid them, shall be forbidden ; whatso-
ever thou grantest them shall be granted, and that
under a sanction made in heaven.'*
ii. The lofty position here assigned to Simon, and
the commendation bestowed, make stranger and more
sad the role in which he next appears. Encouraged
by the evidence of robust faith which his disciples had
displayed, the Lord spoke more clearly than here-
tofore about the decease which he was to accomplish
at Jerusalem. But Peter was elated by the con-
fidence so lately expressed in him, and presumed —
for we cannot here acquit him of presumption — to
remonstrate with Jesus. Taking him by the hand, or
drawing him aside, he said, *' May God be gracious
« On Matthew xvi. 19. ^ Works, vol. xi. pp. 226-230.
The Peter of the Gospels. 65
unto thee, Lord, and save thee from a violent death;
this shall not, must not be."' How must the apostle's
temerity have withered before the reply, "Get thee
behind me, Satan ; thou art (now) a rock of offence to
me; for thou sidest not with God but with man ! '"^
To the first clause various meanings have been ap-
plied. The word Satan may have been used in its
original signification of an adversary, or Christ may
have addressed the devil in Peter rather than Peter
himself; or, as seems more probable, he regarded
him as for the moment playing the tempter's part.
If, as the Bishop of Lincoln observes, the metaphor
of the rock be kept up, it is decisive for an address to
the apostle himself.
iii. It is pleasant that the scene does not end with
the apostle's disgrace, but that he quickly recovers
himself and reaches a loftier position of faith and
honour than that from which he fell. The best har-
monies of the gospels separate the short passage
at the end of St. John's sixth chapter from the pre-
ceding discourse about the bread of life, and make
it the sequel to the above narrative of Peter's confes-
sion and sin.^ After administering the rebuke, our
1 Perhaps the German "Gott bewahre!" comes nearest to the
original.
2 Mr. Aldis Wright, in the Bible Word Book, shows that the
"savourest" of our version is connected not with "savour," but the
French verb "savoir."
3 Thus Tischendorfs Synopsis Evangelica, p. 73, and Archbishop
Thompson's harmony given under the article "Gospels" in the
Dictionary of the Bible. It need scarcely be observed that, if John
vi. 66-71 be distinct from the rest of the chapter, the theory is at once
F
66 The Companions of the Lord.
Lord turned to speak of that duty to which, in the
servant as in the master, all else must bow. He
that would follow Him must take up his cross and
tread the path to Calvary, there to be crucified to the
world. No wonder such teaching produced dismay
in those timorous followers who had calculated only
on present gain and ease. From that time therefore
many of them went back and walked no more with
him. Then Jesus appealed afresh to the Twelve,
" Will ye also go away t " We may be permitted to
rejoice that Peter seized the opportunity of reassert-
ing his loyalty. The previous rebuff he had taken
meekly, and now was able to say with the grace of
humility and the pathos of devotion — " Lord, to whom
shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal life. And
we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the
Son of the living God."
There is no occasion between this and the Passion
on which the action of Peter is described in detail,
but the incidental notices may be gathered up in
closing the present chapter as contributing to our
estimate of his character.
In the Transfiguration he was found foremost of
the privileged Three, delivering his opinion somewhat
confidently upon the advantages of intercourse with
the celestial visitors, and making a proposal for *its
prolongation unselfish, indeed, but yet ill-judged,
upset that Christ's grief was occasioned by the inability of his disciples
to receive the strong sacramentarian teaching which many assert to
be conveyed in the discourse about eating the flesh and drinking the
blood of the Son of man.
The Peter of tJu Gospels, 6 7
We are not however entitled to criticize narrowly
the language of one who at the time was confessedly-
sore amazed, and who in his bewilderment scarce
knew what he said ; so far as we understand it, it
is quite of a piece with his generous but impetuous
nature/
Shortly afterwards he was applied to by the col-
lectors of the temple-tribute as the representative
of Christ and the apostolic band. On repairing to
Jesus with his difficulty, he was taught by the miracle
of the stater in the fish's mouth "^ to put no stumb-
ling-block in the way of his fellow-men, even as before
he had been taught to put none in his Lord's path.
In the conversation that ensued it was clear
that the Saviour's mind was still dwelling on the
subject of stumbling-blocks, for he cried, " Woe unto
the world because of offences ! for it must needs be
that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom
the offence cometh ! " Yet an offending brother was
not to be denounced off hand, but won back with
private and tender remonstrance. With this Peter's
inquiring mind was not satisfied : may be he had had
some difference with Andrew ; at any rate he wished
to know what limit was to be set to this duty of for-
giveness. Doubtless he deemed it a stretch of good-
1 On Raphael's version of this scene, Mr. Ruskin's opinion may be
consulted {Modern Painters^ vol. iii. p. 56, note) ; but more of the car-
toons in the next chapter.
2 In cap. i. we have called this fish the haddock. It is however
often understood to have been the dory (adore), which is ** called St.
Peter's fish in several countries of Europe" and "contends with the
haddock the honour of bearing the marks of the Apostle's fingers. " —
Moule, quoted by Archbishop Trench, Miracles^ p. 390.
6S The Companions of the Lord,
will to suggest seven times as the limit ; for Christ
had spoken of but three rebukes, of which if the third
were unheeded, even a brother was to be counted as
a heathen man and a publican ; whereas he was ex-
tending his conception to the perfect number seven.
His thought, however, is far outrun when He whose
life was the best example of unbounded forgive-
ness replies, " I say not unto thee, until seven
times, but until seventy times seven," and points
the reply by the parable of the forgiven but unfor-
giving debtor.
A considerable time now passes during which we
have no mention of Peter apart from his brethren
saving a brief dialogue preserved to us by Clement
of Rome,^ and the notice in the gospels of a perti-
nent question with which the apostle interrupted one
of Christ's discourses. To his ** Speakest thou this
parable unto us, or even to all } " the sole reply given
was by continuing the description of the watchful
servant, and showing that in its universal application
it lost none of its special fitness to individual cases.
The last journey to Jerusalem is now undertaken.
Upon the road Jesus speaks of the perils of riches
and the rewards of faith. Once more Simon bursts
in : " Lo, we have left all and followed thee ; what
shall we have } " The words sound like a boastful
and self-seeking claim ; but it is not for us,
knowing so little of sacrifice for Christ, to judge
men who were guilty of no exaggeration in saying
that for him they had left all. The remark may
I Second Epistle to the Corinthians, cap. v.
The Peter of the Gospels, 69
have been suggested by the promise of " treasure in
heaven " made a few moments earlier ; and certainly
the tone of our Lord's reply was such as to shew
that he did not disapprove the request. They who
had faithfully followed him on earth should, in the day
of creation's new birth and his own enthronement,
sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. Nor should the original apostles be sole heirs
of this glory ; but every one who for his name's sake
had spared "nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,"
should receive a hundredfold and inherit everlasting
life.
With this so blessed and comprehensive promise we
pause ; in the next chapter it will be our endeavour
to trace the conduct of St. Peter through the crisis
which was now at hand.
NOTE ON THE PROMISE TO PETER.
The promise is recorded, by Matthew alone (in his
sixteenth chapter), and from its omission by the other
evangelists Stier argues that " the Holy Spirit thus
teaches us plainly enough that no important and
effectively permanent attribute for the Church in all
future time has been ascribed to Peter personally. If
what we read in verses 18, 19 really had the meaning
which the Papists give to it, then surely this appoint-
ment of a chief of the apostles, with a continuing
caliphate of his successors, must properly be the
principal thing with every evangelist."
Over the words " Thou art Peter, and on this rock
will I build my church " a vast volume of critical and
uncritical industry has rolled, furrowing out three
main channels of interpretation.
70 The Companions of the Lord.
A. Some have taken the " rock " to refer to
Christ himself and, carrying the PauHne metaphor
into the gospels, have supposed our Lord here to
speak with inward pointing : " Thou art Peter (one
stone in the building) ; but it is on Me, the true
Rock, that the Church shall be built." Passing by
this view which, though espoused by able men like
Clarke and the present Bishop of Lincoln, has the
appearance of an ingenious suggestion made by an
over-sensitive Protestantism, and has been generally
felt too artificial to merit acceptance, we are con-
fronted by two rival views between which it is not so
easy to decide. These are
B. That by " this rock " is meant Peter's doctrine
or confession ; and
C. That the words refer to the apostle himself.
• It will probably at the outset be admitted that the
former of these possesses two advantages over the
latter, inasmuch as it conveys the broader and grander
truth and is not susceptible of Papal perversion ; but
one may hope that neither of these considerations
will be held to bar inquiry into the actual meaning
of our Saviour's words.
Let us look first at the language employed : " Thou
art Peter ; and on this rock " . . An objection is
raised by Dr. John Lightfoot which will occur to
many minds. " If,*' he says, Christ " had intimated
that the church should be built upon Peter, it had been
plainer and more agreeable to the vulgar idiom to
have said. Thou art PeteF, and upon thee will I build
my church." Very true ; but, on the other hand,
look at the sequence in these verses : " Thou art
Peter, and on this rock . . and I will give thee," where
would it not be strange for the middle clause to
have a different reference from the others.-* There is
variation, no doubt ; but may it not be accounted for
The Peter of the Gospels . 7 1
in this way — that our Lord, after addressing Simon,
turned for the moment to the bystanders, and
pointing to him, but speaking of 'him, said, " on this
rock will I build my Church," then turning back to
the apostle with the promise of the keys ?
The separation of Peter from the rock or his identi-
fication with it must depend a good deal on the sense
we attach to this his surname. If in giving it our Lord
simply meant, " Thou art a stone {iikrpoi) quarried
by God's own hand, and built on Me " (see Conder, On
Matthew^ p. 277), we can scarcely regard him as in
any manner the Church's foundation ; rather would
he be one of the living stones described by himself in
after life as built upon Christ. But if it was meant
to describe him as a rock massive and firm (TreVpa)
the identification is made easier. Of these interpre-
tations of the name it cannot be denied that the
preponderance of authority favours the latter. The
Syriac version, which is of special value as approach-
ing most closely to the dialect actually used by our
Lord, employs the very same word in both clauses,
"Thou art keepho ; and on this keephol' which De
Wette follows by-giving in both clauses the render-
ing '* Felsen." The words in the Greek are of
course not the same, but there seems good reason
to believe that Simon would have been called in
that tongue Petra had not the feminine termination
been unsuitable for a man's name. *' Elsewhere,"
says Bengel, " irerpos denotes a stone, but as applied
to Simon, a rock ; for it was incongruous that
such a man as he should be called Petra with a
woman's ending to his name." To enumerate the
modern writers to whom this view of the language
has appeared conclusive would be tedious. Lange,
for example, in his Life of Christ (ii. 232), says,
** There is certainly a difference between TreVpos and
72 The Companions of the Lord,
Tihpa, the stone or piece of rock, and the rock
itself. But the name Cephas, we must allow, com-
bines both significations." Ebrard again in his
Gospel History (p. 339), paraphrases **and now upon
him whose name was 'Rock' should the Christian
Church be founded ;" while Stier (ii. 339) affirms that
" in these words undoubtedly the personal reference
to Peter is continued."
So much for the actual language of the promise.
But New Testament usage must also be taken into
account in determining for us which of the views
B and C (neither being grammatically prohibited,
though the latter certainly seems the more straight-
forward) is in juster harmony with the general
tenor of inspired teaching. The late Dean of Canter-
bury has said that throughout the New Testament
" not doctrines nor confessions but men are uniformly
the pillars and stones of the spiritual building." So
they may be ; but the passages he cites appear to
speak of men only as materials, and not as founda-
tions, of the building. The two passages which are
more in point are Rev. xxi. 14, where the wall of the
city is said to have " twelve foundations, and in them
twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,"
and Eph. ii. 20, ** built upon the foundation of
the apostles." Of these the former passage does
not appear conclusive of the apostles being the
foundations ; and as to the latter there are three
distinct opinions about the genitive, and all supported
by eminent names. Thus Bishop EUicott understands
it to be the foundation laid by the apostles — " what
the apostles and prophets preached formed the
foundation;" Dean Alford takes it of the founda-
tion on which the apostles themselves are built in
common with other Christians ; while the present
writer has heard Canon Lightfoot strongly urge that
The Peter of the Gospels, 73
the genitive must be one of apposition, the express-
sion "Jesus Christ himself pointing to the foun
dation as consisting of the apostles, Christ being
spoken of as the key-stone that holds the building
together.
It thus appears that, as the language of the promise
to Peter cannot be pronounced unambiguous, so the
ablest scholars are divided as to Scriptural usage in
reference to the foundation of the Church. If our
mind be yet undecided between the views we have
called B and C, there are writers forthcoming who
suggest a compromise. Thus Lange (Life of Christy
vol. iii. p. 232) says, " undoubtedly we can, and
indeed must, separate the confession of Peter
from the sinful Simon, son' of Jonas ; but with the
proper regenerated Peter, with his eternal character
and his eternal significance for the Church, his con-
fession coincides and is identical." And to the same
effect Canon Cook (in the Dictionary of the Bible, vol.
ii. p. 800), who remarks that Peter's confession was
rewarded by his confirmation in his fecial position
in the Church and " his identification with the Rock
on which that Church is founded."
The difference indeed is not great. All admit
Christ to be the ultimate foundation ; and it does
not matter much whether we regard the apostles
actively as master-builders, rearing on him the
edifice, or passively as subordinate foundation-stones
supporting the fabric, but in turn resting upon him.
If we prefer the latter aspect, chief among them was
the apostle Peter, whom Alford calls "the first of
those foundation-stones on which the living temple of
God was built ; this building itself beginning on the
Day of Pentecost by the laying of three thousand
living stones on this very foundation."
It needs scarcely to be added that, whatever may
74 The Companions of the Lord,
have been the precise meaning of our Lord in the
passage under examination, neither Peter himself nor
Paul nor any of the New Testament writers recognized
a Petrine supremacy or monopoly ; while even if they
did, the bishops of Rome can claim no share therein,
seeing that Peter was certainly never bishop of that
city nor, so far as history goes to shew, ever present
there at all in any official capacity. But it is not
politic to make preparations against an enemy on a
scale that will give him credit for a strength he does
not really possess. It may be over-confident to
say that " a crusade against Catholic superstitions is
as unnecessary as a crusade against the mythology
of Greece and Rome" {Conte^nporary Review^ June,
^'^7'^ \ but in the matter of Papal pretensions, little
more is required than to ask anew the question " Quid
hcec ad Rornam V and wait for the answer which has
never yet been forthcoming.
V.
75
" Ask the very soul of Peter, and it shall undoubtedly make you
itself this answer : — My eager protestations, made in the glory of my
ghostly strength, I am ashamed of ; but those crystal tears, wherewith
my sin and weakness was bewailed, have procured my endless joy ; my
strength hath been my ruin, and my fall my stay."
As the former part of the Apostle's career divided
L itself into four principal scenes, so it happens
that the second period falls conveniently into other
four, laid respectively in the Upper Room, the
Garden, the Palace and at the Sea of Tiberias.
I. The cursing of the fig tree occurred on the day
succeeding the Entry. No change was observed to
pass upon the barren tree at the time ; but next morn-
ing, as they were again walking in from the suburb,
Peter detected it and eagerly called his Master's atten-
tion to the fulfilment of His words. It was worth the
sacrifice of a wilderness of such trees to obtain the
jewel-teaching about the power of faith which was
given the apostles in answer to the reminder.
That was the day of " captious questions." Two
days later Petei* and John were detached on an errand
similar to that entrusted to them a short time before.
As then they had fetched the ass, so now they were
sent forward to prepare a chamber for the farewell
feast. It is not probable that any previous arrange-
77
yS The Companions of the Lord,
ment had been made for engaging a room. The
houses in Jerusalem were thrown open at passover-
time to worshippers arriving from the country, so
that there would be no difficulty in finding accom-
modation for the Lord even with one who was not
a disciple ; any reluctance the owner of the house
might show could well be overborne by Him at
whose bidding devils and diseases fled. The two
disciples went forth, led by the same guidance which
before now had discovered the colt and the coin-
bearing fish, and before evening closed in all the
necessary preparations were made.'
At the appointed hour the thirteen sat down at
I It may possibly be of service to subjoin the events of Passion
week, giving to the days the names they bear in the Christian
calendar :
Palm Sunday. — The Entry. Christ looks round the Temple, and
returns to Bethany.
J^w^ajj/ before Easter. — In going to the city he curses the fig-tree.
The purging of the Temple, and return to Bethany.
Tuesday before Easter. — On the way to the city Peter remarks the
effect of the curse. Our Lord's discourses in the Temple and on
the Mount of Olives.
Wednesday before Easter, ** Two days before the Passover." — Agree-
ment between Judas and the enemies of Christ.
Maundy Thursday (so called from *' Mandatum," the first word of
the service chanted at the washing of the pilgrims' feet on that
day). "The first day of unleavened bread." — The Last Supper
prepared and celebrated. Descent towards midnight into Geth-
semane.
Good Friday. — The arrest. Trials in the early morning. The
Crucifixion at the third hour. Darkness from noon till the ninth
hour. Death and burial of Jesus.
Easter Eve. — In the tomb.
Easter Day. — The Resurrection and appearance of Christ to the
women, to Peter, to the disciples at Emmaus, to the apostles.
The Peter of the Gospels, 79
table/ It was an early inauguration of the Redeemer's
sorrow that his yearning desire to eat the passover
with his disciples ere he died should be met by an
unhappy struggle among them for superiority — per-
haps for paltry preeminence at the board. His
rebuke he pointed with action ; for when the meal
was served he rose from his seat and laying aside his
outer robe, girded himself with a towel and began to
wash their feet, "performing for them the meanest
offices of hospitality." The old pictures bring out
into strong relief "the humility of Him whom even
the angels serve " by representing Christ as kneeling
to his task while a heavenly minister stands beside
him holding a second towel.'' Whether, as is usually
seen in the pictures, he first washed the feet of Judas,
we cannot say ; but the narrative of St. John implies
that he did not begin with Peter.
The first protest " Lord, dost thou wash my feet } "
seems the natural expression of wonder at an act of
so great condescension ; but as the Baptist's similar
objection was hushed by the reply, " Suffer it to
be so now," so should Peter have been satisfied
with the quiet assurance " What I do thou knowest not
now, but thou shalt know hereafter." Instead how-
ever of thankfully acquiescing, a spirit of obstinacy
seems to be stirred in him ; and, as once he had said,
" That be far from thee, Lord," so in the same assum-
1 Whether this were the regular time for the passover or not is -well
known to be a point as earnestly debated as any in the gospels. Ebrard
devotes a special section {§ 92) to the question.
2 Mrs. Jameson's History of our Lord. Continuation by Lady
Eastlake, vol. ii. p. 14.
So The Companions of the Lord.
ing tone he cries, " Thou shalt never wash my feet ; "
and persists until recalled by the gentle suggestion of
that spiritual meaning which underlay his Lord's
symbolic act. Of course, as the case of Judas after-
wards proved, the outward washing was valueless
save as it typified an inward cleansing necessary to
all who would have any part with Christ ; but the
self-will which refused the literal washing would
equally hinder the acceptance of the spiritual
renewal/ So soon as this aspect of the matter
was caught by Peter, he gave up his protest and
rebounded to the opposite extreme. A moment
before Christ was doing too much ; now he cannot do
enough : " Not my feet alone, but also my hands and
my head." The check accordingly has to be applied
on this side. Granted he feels himself from sole of
foot to crown of head in need of purification, he
must be reminded that, in coming originally to the
Lord, he was plunged in the fountain of cleansing,
and that that process cannot require to be repeated ;
all now wanted is that the impurities contracted in
daily life should be removed : " He that has been
(completely) washed needeth not save to wash his
feet ; " for just as a traveller who towards the end of
his day's march has bathed in the stream will gather
a little fresh dust upon his sandalled feet in going to
his lodging, which dust has only to be washed off in
order to render him again " clean every whit," so when
we have once confessed our sins and been cleansed
from all unrighteousness we have to seek no repetition
I Thus Alford (on John xiii. 8), whose view of the incident is in the
main adopted.
The Peter of the Gospels. 8i
of that washing but only the purging away of those
stains of guilt which gather upon us in our exposure
to life's temptations. The teaching of our Lord's sym-
bolic act was twofold. Not only should his disciples
follow the example of his great humility, but con-
stantly should they be striving to promote the purity
of their brethren. We often desire to make those
around us more cheerful by our presence ; do we as
often seek that they may be the purer for our
conversation }
" Ye are clean," said the Master, " but not all ; "
and when on resuming his seat he began to hint
darkly of a traitor, it was natural that the little com-
pany should be thrown into consternation, each for-
ward in demanding, " Lord, is it I .-* " The guests lay
at table each upon his left side and overlapping one
another, so that John who was at Jesus' right reclined
with his head near his Master's bosom, while Peter in
all probability occupied the same position towards
John. This arrangement would make it easy for
Peter to whisper a question in the ear of his fellow-
disciple and for the latter to pass it on to Jesus.
There is no warrant at all for supposing that Simon
was afraid to put the question himself and so threw the
responsibility of it upon his neighbour. On the con-
trary the inquiry about the traitor was the allowable
outcome of affection, and could not have been other-
wise made without being overheard by all at table.
That it was not inquisitive is shown by the ready
compliance of Jesus, who without a word of disap-
probation whispered back the desired token and
proceeded to hand the cup to the unconscious Judas.
82 The Companions of the Lord,
When the betrayer, revealed to the two disciples
but still unsuspected by the rest, had quitted the
room, Christ instituted the perpetual feast com-
memorative of his death, observing sadly that his end
would not merely be accelerated by the treachery of
one but by the desertion of all. Again the spirit of
positive assertion obtains the mastery over Peter, not
yet taught the lesson of self-mistrust, and the words
spring to his lips, " Though all men should be
offended because of thee, yet will I never be
offended." According to the fourth gospel he asks
whither his Lord is going that he cannot follow, see-
ing he is willing to lay down even life for his sake.
It may be that in his excitement he scarcely heard
or heeded the warning of love : " Simon, Simon,
Satan hath desired to have you (all) that he may sift
you as wheat (and hath obtained his desire) ; but I
have prayed for thee that thy faith do not (utterly)
fail." At what point in the conversation the predic-
tion was made of the cock-crowing is not quite clear ;
but with the same unmoved confidence Peter is bold
again to say, " Lord, I am ready to go with thee
to prison, yea, to death." Then, pained at the cold
reception of his ardent offer, he appears to have
lapsed into silence, no more interrupting the series
of discourses on which Jesus now entered, though
doubtless resolving to falsify anticipations which he
could not combat in words by an unswerving devotion
in the hour of trial.
II. Deep in the ravine below the eastern wall of
the city flowed the insignificant and turbid brook of
The Peter of the Gospels, 83
the Kedron ; ' a little beyond it on the lower slopes
of Olivet stood the Garden. It may have belonged
to the family at Bethany ; at any rate it was a fre-
quent resort with the Lord and his disciples. Mid-
night had arrived ; and under the passover moon still
riding high the twelve wound down the narrow way,
crossed the stream and entered Gethsemane.* Eight
of the disciples were left near the entrance, Peter and
the sons of Zebedee being taken as closer witnesses of
an agony already begun which, though they could
not fathom or assuage, they might by the bare
assurance of watchful sympathy help their Lord to
endure. But his hope in them was disappointed ;
when he came to them for the first time he found them
sleeping, " for their eyes were heavy " — scarcely with
physical fatigue, except so far as mental anxiety tends
to exhaust the bodily strength. His apology for them
was gracious ; but no weariness could justify slumber
in such an hour. Had they duly felt the need of
guarding against surprise or of expressing fellowship
with him in his tears, they would not, could not, have
1 This running stream was used to carry off the refuse of the city ; so
that, as Dr. Bonar observes {Land of Promise^ p. 169), Montgomery
was doubly unhappy when he altered the old Gethsemane hymn from
" Kedron's waters foul" into * ' Kedron's water-pool." It has been
ascertained by the officers of the Palestine Exploration Fund that " the
enormous mass of rubbish now lying in the valley has displaced the
old bed of the stream, shifting it ninety feet to the east, and lifting it
forty feet higher than its former position." — Our Work in Palestine^
p. 148.
2 The Fathers consider it as "bearing a very fit proportion, that as
theyfrj/ Adam fell, and ruined mankind in a garden, so a garden should
be the place where the second Adam should begin his passion, in order
to the redemption of the world." — Cave's Lives ^ p. 22.
84 The Companions of the Lord,
slept. See what happened afterwards. When danger
was upon them and their own safety threatened, they
were fully awake ; but in the moment of their Mas-
ter's grief they could slumber undisturbed. The
remonstrance of Jesus was addressed to him whose
loud asseverations contrasted with his present torpor :
" Simon, sleepest thou } " At his second coming
the disciples just stirred in their renewed sleep and
with half-aroused shame had nought to answer him.
Once more he comes ; but already his eye has caught
the flash of torches approaching amid the dark tree-
trunks, and he knows the attack to be inevitable.
" Sleep on now," he says, with that intense calm that
is born of the soul's conflict, "your opportunity of
rendering help is past ; yet sleep not ever, but rise
like men to meet the future."
The Jews are now at hand. Simon, thoroughly
awakened and anxious to prove that his sleep was
no impeachment of his courage and fealty, perhaps
also recalling words in which Christ had bidden him
who had no sword sell his garment and buy one,
leapt forth and dealt a downward blow at a slave of
the high pfiest which narrowly missed cleaving his
skull. With what amazement must he have received
the stern command to re-sheathe his sword, without
one smile of approval upon his valiant deed ! In a
few authoritative words he was taught that violence
was apt to recoil upon the heads of those who
employed it, and was not the method whereby the
Master was to be saved or his religion spread. If
physical force were admissible, legions of strong-
winged angels awaited his bidding. But such aid He
The Peter of the Gospels, 85
repudiated ; the cup he held in his hand was given by
the Father and no sword-blow should dash it from his
willing lips. .
'■ The eight disciples had probably fled at the first
sign of peril ; now the chosen, trusted three follow,
leaving Jesus alone with his enemies — and with
his Father. The deserters might indeed seek to
justify their act by quoting Christ's expressed desire
for their escape and the necessities of the work he had
appointed them to carry on after his death ; but no
cold calculations of this kind can have entered their
minds at that critical moment ; fear defeated all
manly resolve and banished thoughts of policy as well
as the dictates of affection.
III. But though Peter fled with the rest, he and
John did not flee far. Recovering courage they
turned and tracked the lights as they remounted the
hill ; then passing through the city gate they dared to
follow the procession to the palace of Annas. From
some acquaintance which John possessed with the
high priest he obtained admission to the judgment
hall, while Peter was suffered to accompany him so
far as the servants' vestibule.
The accounts of the three denials offer instructive
points of difference. Considering that, humanly
speaking, they come to us through Peter's bewildered
remembrance of that night and possibly also from
information which John gathered in conversation with
the servants, there is as close a coherence as could be
expected ; had it been much closer, the independence
and veracity of the evangelists would certainly have
86 The Compactions of the Lord.
been called in question/ The motive for denial we
might be disposed to find in the simple dread of
bodily suffering, which the apostle's attack on
Malchus would not be likely to mitigate ; but it is far
more probable that he could not bear to be identified
with the losing cause and branded as the accomplice
of one whose schemes and promises appeared to be
falsified and exploded by his capture. The grada-
tions in the denial are noticeable. The first question
he parries with an evasive " I know not what thou
sayest ; " the second he meets more directly : " I
know not the man,"^ or as the words almost require
to be rendered " I know not the fellow of whom thou
speakest ; " while at the third challenge — and what
might not be expected of one who had so defamed
X The commentators devote long notes to the examination of the
discrepancies, but the principal ones admit of very brief statement.
As to the first denial, all the gospels say that the challenger was a
servant maid ; all ascribe to her in substance the same words, and to
Peter the same answer. As to the second, John does not specify the
speaker, but says generally, ** they said unto him " ; Luke ascribes the
question to " another " (man) ; Matthew to ** another woman " ; Mark
to the (same?) "maid." With regard to the third denial, John tells us
that Peter was charged by a kinsman of Malchus, Luke that " another
persisted, saying . . ," Matthew and Mark that he was accosted by
the bystanders. Archbishop Whately held it impossible to reduce the
denials to fewer than five, adding "there is no reason to suppose that
even all the evangelists together have recorded every denial that
occurred. It was essential to mention three, and superfluous to men-
tion more, since these amounted to a literal fulfilment of the prophecy ;
and a greater number could neither confirm nor falsify it." — Lectures on
the Apostles, pp. 57, 58.
2 The quibble of Ambrose is well-known : "Bene negavit hominem,
quem sciebat deum." ("He did well to deny him to be man, whom he
knew to be God.")
The Peter of the Gospels, 87
his Lord ? — oaths and curses are called in to brave
out and bolster up the tottering lie. His guilt was
the more flagrant because the ordeal was not com-
pressed into a short compass. The questions did not
roll in upon him so quickly as to leave no time for
reflexion and recovery : on the contrary they seem to
have been spread over a space of an hour at the
least ; and yet he deliberately forced his soul thrice to
the denial.
The crowing of the cock he disregarded, too much
excited, it may be, to remember it as the preconcerted
signal ; but by its repetition he was recalled to him-
self. Not however by this alone or chiefly." The
door between the outer and inner halls stood ajar,
and through it passed
" That gracious chiding look, Thy call
To win him to himself and Thee,
Sweetening the sorrow of his fall,
Which else were rued too bitterly."
Yet if the disciple was thus " touched by his
Saviour's eye," have we reflected that he must have
been first looking upon Jesus } And may it not be
that, even before that gaze was turned upon him,
the sight of the patient form crushed by sorrow
had begun the relenting in his heart } Be this as
X Though it is treated in early art as the main cause. Mrs. Jameson
remarks that of the beautiful subject of Christ's look, "worthy of
Raphael himself," she can remember no instance ; while the cock is
perpetually introduced on ancient sarcophagi and in the painted series
of the Passion as a general emblem of human weakness and repen-
tance. — Sacred and Legendary Art i p. 197.
SS The Companions of the Lord.
it may, when Christ did turn full upon the apostle,
the thaw of repentance was consummated.
" The Saviour looked on Peter. Ay, no word,
No gesture of reproach , . .
. . . the forsaken Lord
looked only, on the traitor. None record
What that look was, none guess."
Yet, though none may guess, so beautifully has the
same writer conjectured the meaning of the look that
it would be an injustice to our subject to omit her
lines :
" I think that look of Christ might seem to say^
* Thou Peter ! art thou then a common stone
Which I at last must break my heart upon,
For all God's charge to His high angels may
Guard my foot better? Did I yesterday
Wash thy feet, my beloved, that they should run
Quick to deny me 'neath the morning sun?
And do thy kisses, like the rest, betray?
The cock crows coldly. — Go, and manifest
A late contrition, but no bootless fear !
For when thy final need is dreariest,
Thou shalt not be denied, as I am here ;
My voice to God and angels shall attest,
Because I know this man, let him be clear. ^ "
Christ looked only ! when a word from him would
have convicted Peter in presence of all. Yet that
word he would not speak. The offender should be
spared further pain than that the rankling arrow of
conviction would work. And the arrow did work.
His arrogant assurance formed a background against
which the miserable failure stood out with unrelieved
blackness ; and as his mind swept over the years of
The Peter of the Gospels. 89
intercourse with his merciful Lord, bitter tears welled
up from the depth of his remorse.
IV. We lose sight of Peter during the remainder
of the trials, nor is he mentioned as present at the
crucifixion. It may be that he could not bring him-
self to look upon sufferings aggravated by his sin, or
that he could not as yet trust himself to stand firm.
From his fellow-disciples he does not seem to have
hidden himself, but rather to have joined them in
bewailing their hopes buried in the same grave with
their Lord, for neither did they nor the women
cherish any hope that the third day might emanci-
pate Him from death and them from sorrow.'
And now, early on the first day of the week, the
Marys have gone to the sepulchre to indulge their
yearning over the dead Christ by gazing oA the place
where he lay, loved for His dear sake who was con-
cealed in it. Of the two angels whom they saw when
the stone was rolled away, one bade them, in the
Saviour's well-remembered manner, not be afraid,
but, having satisfied their minds that he was risen,
- This utter incredulity appears, when we remember (i) that, the
women went before dawn on the third day bearing funeral spices,
Luke xxiv. I. Surely, if they expected Jesus to rise on that day, they
would have deferred the discharge of this sad duty. (2) They recalled
his words only after the address of the angels, v. 8. (3) To the eleven
the words of the women seemed as idle tales, v. \\. (4) Till they entered
the sepulchre Peter and John had not known "the scripture, that he
must rise again from the dead," John xx. 9. (5) Mary Magdalene
supposed that the body of the Lord had been simply removed, v. 2.
(6) The disciples refused to believe the report of her vision, Mark xvi.
II. (7) Nor would they accept the account brought by the two who
journeyed to Emmaus, v. 13.
90 The Companions of the Lord,
depart and charge his disciples not to fail of the
appointed meeting in Galilee. Mark adds with a
significant touch, " Go your way ; tell his disciples
and Peter" the latter specified surely not as chief
of the apostles but chief of penitents, the one
needing earliest and most emphatic assurance of his
Lord's unabated love.
By most of the disciples the tidings were received
with an incredulity worthy of Lot's sons-in-law.
Peter and John however, when they heard the news,
had enough faith to hasten to the tomb in order to
verify the report. It is scarcely safe to distil, as some
have endeavoured to do, spiritual teaching out of the
very simple fact that " John did outrun Peter ; " nor
does John's pause at the mouth of the sepulchre till
his companion came up warrant the inference that —
" Faith faster runs, but waits without
As fearing to presume ;
Till Reason enter in, and trace
Christ's relics round the holy place."
Other reasons besides reverence may have delayed
his entrance ; but when Peter had passed in he
followed. "Both wonder, one believes," adds the
poet ; and there are others who have thought that
by the expression "that other disciple . . saw and
believed " John wishes generously to veil the unbelief
of his friend ; whereas it seems more reasonable
to suppose that as soon as John had entered and
glanced round the chamber he adopted a conclusion
to which Peter had already arrived, that the body
The Peter of the Gospels, 9 1
had vanished and that the Scripture was fulfilled in
the Lord's rising.
On this occasion however neither saw Jesus him-
self. He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and then
to the two journeying to Emmaus ; but in the interval
a vision was granted to Peter, for when the two from
Emmaus rejoined the disciples, the latter capped
their intelligence by telling how the Lord had
appeared unto Simon. Thus not only was the
penitent favoured with the earliest message, but to
him first of the apostles did the Saviour make him-
self known.
With this preface the scene shifts once more to the
familiar shores of the sea of Tiberias. Seven of the
disciples, of whom five at least were of the number
of the Twelve, had reached the rendezvous and, while
waiting for their Master, naturally fell back upon
their old pursuit of fishing. At the suggestion of
" the pilot of the Galilean lake " they put to sea, and
caught nothing all night. But with early dawn an
unknown figure hailed them from the shore, and
learning their lack of success bade them cast again.
Though weary of trying, they found a command and
fascination in his tones which constrained obedience.
The net was flung, and " now they were not able to
draw it for the multitude of fishes." Then we are
told that John whispered to Peter, " It is the Lord."
The whole episode, inaugurating as it does the second
stage of the apostles* work, runs so parallel with that
told in St. Luke's fifth chapter which heralded their
original appoijitment to office that, so far from won-
dering at John's penetration, our surprise is more
92 The Companions of the Lord.
likely to be excited at the tardiness of the recog-
nition. But to men accustomed to spend many a
night in fruitless attempts and to be accosted by
landsmen anxious to buy, the occurrences would be
by no means startlingly similar. One might have
expected that memory's spring would be touched as
soon as the command was given " to cast on the right
side of the ship ; " but as a fact the discovery did
come only a few moments later.
John was the quicker in discernment, Peter the
prompter in action. Hastily girding him with a
fisher's cloth, for even so slight a covering was scarce
tolerable in the heat of the place, ^ the latter sprang
boldly overboard, not now praying to walk the waves,
but ready to strike out for the shore and swim the
hundred yards their boat was distant from it."" Once
more his desire was granted of being close to his
Master's side, the closer now for his recent alienation.
The others followed slowly, dragging the burdened
net, whose treasure was soon counted out and a part
laid upon a fire ready kindled on the shore.
When they had broken their fast, Jesus addressed
» *' I observed that all the men on this part of the coast were quite
naked, and wondered whether it were so of old ; and whether Peter
was found thus when he girt his fisher's coat about him."— Tristram,
p. 438.
2 Whately has a theory of his own {Lectures on the Apostles, p. 86),
that Peter walked upon the water to Christ, and supports it by remark-
ing that '* any one preparing to swim or wade, would, of course, have
cast ^the encumbrance of a long loose cloak, if he happened to have
it on, instead of purposely clothing himself with it." Perhaps so ; but
was his cloak "long and loose"? and are miracles to be multiplied
this arbitrary fashion ?
The Peter of the Gospels, 93
himself to the painful yet necessary duty of testing
the thoroughness of Peter's repentance. Let not the
penitent think to recover the forsaken path without
pain. Confidence once forfeited by unfaithfulness
cannot be immediately restored, nor indeed at all
without some evidence of a genuine change of mind.
The leading points of the ordeal to which the apostle
was put may be briefly noted. Addressing him by
his original name, Jesus says, " Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than I am loved by these ? "
Peter answers, "Yea, Lord," but there checks him-
self ; and instead of going on to claim a love stronger
than that of the rest, contents him with adding, —
" Thou knowest that I love thee." Here we have
already the traces of modesty and generous feeling,
the first-fruit of his victory over self. After a while,
not necessarily at once, the question is repeated
in a simpler form, there being no need of testing
further his attitude towards his brethren : " Lovest
thou me } " The reply in this instance, as in the
former, though it was not convenient to notice it
there, is more forcible than our version causes to
appear, the verb used by Christ being dropt for one
expressive of firm and intelligent love as opposed to
the instinct of natural affection : " Yea, Lord, thou
knowest that (with heart and soul) I love thee."
In putting the question for the third time, Jesus
adopts this word and asks, "Lovest thou me (thus
firmly as thou protestest) .? " Of old Peter would
have been offended, now he is only "grieved " at the
third asking and replies, not now " with oaths and
blasphemy " but with a noble rush of faith, " Lord,
94 ^'^^ Companions of the Lord.
thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I do thus
love thee."
It is worthy of remark how the inquiries revealed
Peter's softened spirit, tested his patience and deve-
loped his devotion ; the trial was not to be grudged
which served to establish love so firmly. To each
of his replies came the rejoinder, " Feed my sheep,
feed my lambs." This then was to be the apostolic
duty, not to lord it over God's heritage nor take the
oversight for filthy lucre, but to feed the flock of God,
tend it as the Redeemer's cherished possession,
purchased by His own blood, and in the tending
to be animated and directed by love borne to
him : "If thou lovest me, and as thou lovest me,
feed my lambs." ^
I We cannot part from this scene without referring to its treatment in
art. Mr. Ruskin says, " I suppose there is no event in the whole life
of Christ to which, in hours of doubt or fear, men turn with more
anxious thirst to know the close facts of it, or with more earnest and
passionate dwelling upon every syllable of its recorded narrative, than
Christ's showing Himself to His disciples at the lake of Galilee.'*
Then, after an eloquent description of the scene, he adds, "Try to
feel that a little, and think of it till it is true to you ; and then, take
up that infinite monstrosity and hypocrisy — Raphael's cartoon of the
Charge to Peter. Note, first, the bold fallacy— the putting all the
Apostles there, a mere lie to serve the Papal heresy of the Petric
supremacy. . Note the handsomely curled hair and neatly tied
sandals of the men who had been out all night in the sea-mists and
on the slimy decks. Note their convenient dresses for going a-fishing,
with trains that lie a yard on the ground. . Note how Peter especially
(whose chief glory was his wet coat girt about him and naked limbs)
is enveloped in folds and fringes, so as to kneel and hold his keys with
grace. . The simple truth is, that the moment we look at the picture
we feel our belief of the whole thing taken away. . It is all a mere
mythic absurdity." — Modern Painters^ vol. iii. p. 53.
The Peter of the Gospels, 95
From the enjoining of present duty Jesus passes to
foretell the sufferings which the discharge of that duty-
would in the case of Peter entail. That day he had
gone whither he listed, had girt himself and spread
out his hands to swim ; but a day was coming when
rope and nail would take the place of the cloth and
he be borne against his will — for the martyr is not
required to reverse the instincts of nature and court
death — to a Golgotha of his own. But it was added
that by this death he should glorify God, a sufficient
compensation for all the pain endured to one whose
professions of ardent and abiding love were genuine.
The test was ended ; would this last hard saying
about his destiny offend Peter } No ; the prospect
of even such an issue could no longer estrange him ;
and he accepted the " Follow me" without a murmur.
But seeing John at hand, he bethought him to inquire
of his fate also : " Lord, and what shall this man
do ? " If love to his Master brought the martyr's
crown, John the loving and beloved could scarcely
miss it. But, natural as the question was, it was
an eruption of the old inquisitive spirit. Formerly
indeed he could not be silenced at once, whereas now
he meekly owns his fault by making no rejoinder
to the Saviour's rebuke : " What is that to thee .' "
Ever wont to turn men's thoughts back from the
speculative to the practical, Christ answers Peter as
he had answered him who asked the number of the
saved : " Follow thou me."
It must be confessed that we would rather have
parted with the Peter of the Gospels in the strength
and joy of his recovery than in the moment when a
96 The Companions of the Lord.
former foible had risen to the surface ; but though it
take somewhat from the scenic effect, it cannot mar
our sense of the depth of his repentance. Indeed it
may be useful as reminding us that penitence must
not be expected to bring with it a sudden and com-
plete mastery over old faults. More truly is it the
opening of that battle which, by the daily aid of a
divine presence in the heart, ends in the defeat and
extirpation of evil ; for the character of the best men
is "even as lines that are drawn with a trembling
hand but yet to the point which they should," and
which, " though ragged and uneven," nevertheless are
"direct in comparison of them which run clean
another way."
VI.
f ^hr 0f i^t (Sarltt C^rr^,
H
" God did anoint thee with His odorous oil
To wrestle, not to reign . .
. . So others shall
Take patience, labour, to their heart and hand.
From thy hand and thy heart and thy brave cheer,
And God's grace fructify through thee to all."
Two periods are comprised in that part of the
Apostle's life which now opens before us, the
one reaching from the Ascension to his deliverance
out of the hands of Herod, the other from his escape
to his martyrdom. The former is the period of his
residence at Jerusalem and of the founding of the
Christian Church among Jews and Gentiles ; the
latter is that of his travels for the diffusion of the
gospel among " the circumcision," St. Paul having
inherited the charge of the uncircumcision. For the
one we possess in the narrative of St. Luke an em-
barrassing fulness of detail, while for our knowledge
of the other we are thrown upon fragmentary notices
in the New Testament and the doubtful, though
abundant, traditions of the Fathers. There is then a
double reason for brevity ; and rather than give every
legend at length or comment on the first twelve
chapters of the Acts with digressions upon the multi-
tude of questions which fringe the path, it will be
well to confine ourselves to such incidents as may
directly illustrate the advance of Peter's character
lOO The Companions of the Lord,
and the growth in his heart of seed already set by
the Master-sower's hand.
I. It does not seem at all probable that the whole
of St. Peter's address to the disciples after the
Ascension has been put on record. The terms in
which the apostle animadverts upon the traitor are
none too strong, but one cannot help feeling that it
would have been uncandid in the speaker to make
no reference to his own fall. Doubtless however he
had often, in common with the ten, bewailed his
own desertion and theirs ; while it is reasonable to
suppose that St. Luke was concerned to narrate that
part only of their deliberations upon which turned
the practical question of appointing a successor to the
vacant place. Although on this as on other occa-
sions Peter was the suggesting spirit of the society,
he behaved with a noteworthy absence of assumption,
defining the function of the apostolate to be not
ruling but bearing witness, addressing the assembly
as his brethren, and making no attempt to coerce or
bias their choice.
It was a favourite tradition with the Jews that the
Law was given from Sinai oh the fiftieth day after
the departure of their fathers from the land of Egypt ;
and the feast of Pentecost was kept up as a celebra-
tion of this epoch in their history, while it served at
the same time to commemorate the ingathering of
the spring harvest, It was now to obtain a third
association, ah(i under its later name of Whitsun-
tide to be remembered through all generations as
* the birthday of the Christian Church." In a capital
The Peter of the Early Church loi
thronged with representatives of the dispersed race
from all parts of the East as well as from the furthest
shores of the midland sea, the report of a Galilean
company baptized with fire and the spirit of many-
tongued prophecy swept through the multitude and
brought thousands to witness the alleged wonder.
Here was an opportunity for the making or marring
of the new sect, which, unless now it could establish
its defence, must be crushed like a moth. Peter was
not the man to lose the occasion. Standing high
where all could see and hear, he began by denying
indignantly the charge of intoxication, and declaring
that the phenomena they that day saw were but
a fulfilment of ancient prediction. In this, as in
all his speeches, he displayed a wide acquaintance
with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, so wide
in truth that it can scarcely be supposed the out-
growth of his three years' intercourse with Jesus,
but rather of a study begun, like that of Timothy,
from childhood. The maturity of his views con-
cerning the Messiah may be also explained on
this theory of an antecedent knowledge of Holy
Writ, upon which a flood of light had been shed
by his Lord's resurrection.^ Now he saw a new
application of Joel's words, even as before he
had detected an allusion in the Psalter to the
treachery of Judas. His Pentecost address to the
people was characteristic in the uncompromising
accusations levelled against the Jewish rulers, in the
I The Christology of St. Peter's missionary sermons is brought out
by Canon Liddon, in his sixth Bampton Lecture.
I02 The Companions of the Lord.
promptitude with which he urged inquirers to repent
and be baptized, and in the guarded hint of those
"afar off" as included in a promise meant primarily
for the chosen people.
The same lines may be traced in the speeches
which followed upon the cure of the lame man at the
Gate Beautiful. There is the humility which dis-
claims all credit for the healing : " Why look ye so
earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holi-
ness we had made this man to walk V There is the
same ample testimony borne to Jesus as the Holy One
and the Just, the Prince of life, the bourn of ancient
prophecy and the Saviour sent to bless men in turn-
ing away every one of them from his iniquities ;
there is the same fearless denunciation of those who
slew the Lord and preferred to him the murderer,
though with this denunciation we catch the echo of
that Lord's forgiving words as the Apostle adds,
" And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye
did it, as did also your rulers."
Arrested in the midst of their harangue, Peter
and John are hurried away to prison and next morn-
ing examined \w presence of the elders and scribes.
Again is the former the Mercurius of the accused
pair ; again does he disclaim personal merit but
claim unbounded power for the name of the
Nazarene. Boldness in the cause of right wins ten
victories to the one which may surprise the timorous.
The adversaries of the apostles are taken aback by
the vigour and address of men making no preten-
sions to social position or intellectual culture, and
are above all amazed to recognize in them the same
TJie Peter of the Early Chtirch, 103
who had accompanied the crucified Teacher and
played so feeble a part in his defence. An attempt
to threaten them into silence is foiled by their
downright refusal to hearken to man rather than
God, and by the declaration that they " cannot but
speak " the things which they have seen and heard.
They depart in triumph, with the applause of the
people and the steady throb of their own thankful
and satisfied hearts.
In the episode of Ananias and Sapphira which
follows we have only to notice that Peter and his
brethren were no exactors of ecclesiastical fees or
dues ; they did not ask of the unhappy pair any
sacrifice of property, but in the name of the God
of truth they did ask and demand that a part of
the price should not be presented as the whole.
It was out of his own experience that Peter said
to the husband, "Why hath Satan filled thine
heart } " and that he spoke to the wife of tempting
"the Spirit of the Lord."
This incident appears to have carried the tide of
Peter's popular influence to its spring-flood. The
people who had hitherto admired his fearless defiance
of the priestly party now looked up to him with
a respectful awe which prevented undue familiarity,
though all were eager to avail themselves of the
miraculous powers of a man whose very shadow
cooled the heat of fever and whose presence cowed
to submission the unclean spirits. But at a time
when
*' It was roses, roses, all the way,"
the temptation to the hero of the hour was
I04 The Companions of the Lord.
strong ; and Peter needed divine aid in order
that he might stand as a rock amid the blandish-
ments of friends and the menaces of foes. From
a people that could deify a Herod he might readily
have received his apotheosis ; but, as afterwards
he suffered not the centurion to worship him, so
now was he preserved in a humble demeanour.
Fresh opposition sprang out of the jealousy of the
^•ulers towards men who were supposed to turn the
city upside down, and once more the common gaol
was closed upon them. Other hands however than
those of the keepers could command those bolts ;
and when next day it was found that the prisoners
were not merely at large but had returned to their old
work of teaching within the Temple precincts, it is
not surprising that the more intelligent members of
the Sanhedrin like Gamaliel should have perceived
on how hopeless a task they were engaged in thus
" fighting with the immortals."
In the appointment of deacons for the infant
church St. Peter does not seem to have borne
active part ; nor does he reappear until Stephen has
shewn us in his death of what sterling metal those
deacons were made and how nobly they supported
the apostles' example of firmness.
Holding their ground in the storm that overtook
the Church after Stephen's death, the apostles were
not separated until Peter and John undertook to
inspect the progress of the Samaritan mission. This
visit was memorable, if not for the institution of a
new Christian rite, the laying on of hands, yet for
the encounter with Simon the magician and heresi-
The Peter of the Early Church. 105
arch. Into the legends which represent this man
as the persistent enemy of his apostolic namesake,
dogging his steps to Caesarea and thence to Rome,
we need not enter. They are a flimsy web of hypo-
thesis spun out of the " Semoni Sanco " inscription
found in the Isle of the Tiber/
We are told of St. Paul that, after his conversion
and the subsequent retirement into Arabia, he went
up to Jerusalem and assayed to join himself to the
disciples. Naturally they were at the first somewhat
shy of the ex-persecutor of their community; but
Peter, with bolder and more trustful spirit, seems
to have welcomed him to his house and entertained
him during the fortnight of his stay. Two or three
more conjunctions are mentioned of these apostles,
the noblest planets in the firmament of the Early
Church ; but no later interview can have been
more potent in its ultimate effects than the ex-
changes of fellowship made during those fifteen
days. The two separate ; and we find Peter, in the
course of a tour through Palestine, arrived at Lydda.
Here he cured the palsied ^neas without any
arrogation of power — "Jesus Christ maketh thee
whole," — but adding in the practical spirit of his
Master "arise and make thy bed." The people of
the town and of Sharon's green plain were turned
to the Lord ; and another application for help, as
is always the case, was immediately furnished from
the neighbouring town of Joppa, where one well
known for her natural grace and well loved for her
z See Eusebius, book ii. capp. 13, 14.
io6 The Companions of the Lord.
unostentatious benevolence was lying dead. Peter
restored her with the same formula he had heard
Jesus use over the daughter of Jairus ; and as the
influence acquired by the deed was too great to be
thrown away, he did not quit the town but lodged
with one Simon a tanner in a house whose site is
still pointed out upon the beach at Jaffa/
Now follows the important meeting between the
Apostle and Cornelius, for which both were privately
made ready by prayer and revelation :
" The saint beside the ocean pray'd,
The soldier in his chosen bower,
Where all his eye survey'd
Seem'd sacred in that hour.
To each unknown his brother's prayer,
Yet brethren true in dearest love
Were they."
The Apostle's preparation came in the form of a
vision during his noontide meditation on the house-
top. While gazing "far o'er the glowing western
main," he saw a sheet descend, with the rope-ends
visible at its four corners, and heard a voice bidding
him arise and eat of its miscellaneous contents. How
the former man starts out in the quick rejoinder,
" Not so. Lord ! " Thrice was the lesson impressed
on him that all outward distinctions between clean
and unclean belonged to a dispensation for ever
abrogated — a lesson he never forgot, and which on
one occasion only he faltered in obeying.
I Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, cap. vL Supplementary note A.
The Peter of the Early Church. 107
When brought to Cornelius he owned that no pre-
judice could stand against the things told him and
the effusion of the Holy Spirit which he witnessed ;
and upon his return to Jerusalem he warmly defended
his intercourse with the Gentile household, and to
such good purpose that his brother apostles were not
merely silenced but won over, for the time at least, to
approval. It deserves note in passing how deeply the
words of the Lord Jesus had sunk into Peter's
memory and though long dormant were now bear-
ing good fruit : " Then remembered I the word of
the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized
with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy
Ghost." Into a child's mind it is the duty of parent
and teacher to put not only such information as at the
time can be grasped, but many facts which may lie
for years inactive until some day the growing light
of intelligence will discover and use them. The
farmer sows his wheat in the autumn, months before
it can spring ; and so had the Saviour stored the
memory of his apostles with truths which they were
but now beginning to comprehend : " These things
understood not his disciples at the first; but when
Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these
things were written of him."
We approach the close of this period. The Church
is founded, her gates are thrown open to all nations ;
Peter's work might seem to be accomplished. For a
while it looked as though it was so, for when King
Herod had slain James and seized Peter as the next
victim, escape appeared impossible, and all the
widowed Church could do was to pray day and night
io8 The Companions of the Lord,
for the interposition of Heaven on his behalf. The
answer to that importunate prayer is too familiar to
need description. Suffice it to say that the angel's
work of deliverance was carried no further than was
absolutely necessary ; when the Apostle was brought
forth into the street, it needed his own exertion to
complete the escape :
** His dizzy, doubting footsteps wind
To freedom and cool moonlight air ; "
and gradually recovering himself from bewilder-
ment he hastens to carry the welcome tidings to
his friends and then evade the eager search which
he well knows the morrow's light will bring.
** Then all himself, all joy and calm,
Though for a while his hand forego,
Just as it touch'd, the martyr's palm,
He turns him to his task below."
n. It is from this point that we lose firm ground
and step out upon a spongy fen-land of conjecture
and tradition. St. Luke says that Peter, having
delivered his message to the women assembled for
prayer, " departed into another place ; " and straight-
way we are confronted by the advocates of his ponti-
ficate in the West who say that this " other place "
was Rome. We may be thankful to remain under
the guidance of the evangelist historian so far as he
is willing to accompany us. Though Peter appears
to have fled from Jerusalem, there is no adequate
reason for supposing him to have quitted Palestine.
In the fifteenth chapter of the Acts he is found in the
The Peter of the Early Church. 109
city as a prominent member of the apostolic coun-
cil over which presided James the Lord's brother.
Nothing could be stronger than the language he
there employed against the Judaizing believers ; he
stood forth as champion of the liberties of the Gentile
Christians, and denounced it as a provocation of the
Almighty to harness them with ceremonial obliga-
tions which had galled the necks of their fathers for
generations past.
At this council he again met St. Paul, who alludes
to the event in his letter to the Galatians. The next
meeting of the two apostles was like the collision of
two thunder-clouds, and served with a momentary
explosion to clear the atmosphere of the Church. It
would seem that shortly after the council Peter paid
a visit to Antioch. His conduct towards the believers
was at the outset boldness itself, for he ate and con-
versed as freely with Gentile as with J[ewish converts.
But on the arrival of a deputation from the mother
church at Jerusalem, he was led astray by a well-
meaning desire not to offend the scarce-allayed scru-
ples of the brethren from the south, and accordingly
began to hold aloof from the Gentile Christians.
This vacillation was not to the mind of the stead-
fast Paul, especially as he could see Barnabas and
others already affected by it ; and in the epistle
above referred to he tells us how he publicly rebuked
Peter and recalled him to an acknowledgment of the
complete independence of the Gentiles. This blunt
speech, which has been said to be an epitome of the
whole argument of the letters to the Roman and
Galatian churches, would in earlier years have been
no The Companions of the Lord.
ill-brooked by the son of Jonas ; as it was, he seems
to have received it in humility and not to have
allowed it to interrupt his cordial relations with his
monitor. From an expression in the second Epistle
of Peter we learn with pleasure that its author
retained to the close of life a feeling of warm ap-
preciation and esteem for his "beloved brother
Paul."
It had been arranged at the Jerusalem council that
St. Paul and his companions should undertake the
evangelization of the Gentile world, while the elder
apostles were in their travels to address themselves
mainly to the Jews of the dispersion. There are few
hints as to the direction taken by Peter ; but in three
distinct places we have testimony to his presence ;
and the remaining paragraphs of this chapter may
be fitly given to a brief discussion of his alleged
visits to Corinth, Babylon and Rome/
In St Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians the
writer makes frequent reference to Cephas, but there
is no passage which conclusively associates him with
the Achaean church. The nearest approach is in the
opening chapter where parties are described which
took up the cry " I of Paul" or " I of Cephas ; " but
this is not proof of anything more than the existence
of a certain faction in the Christian community which
depreciated the former in favour of the latter.
" These dwelt much upon Our Lord's special pro-
I The idle rumour of Metaphrastes that Peter came to Britain is
dismissed very promptly by the historian, who says "we had better
be without the honour of Saint Peter's company, than build the story
upon so sandy a foundation." — Cave, p. 45.
The Peter of the Early Church, 1 1 1
mises to Peter, and the necessary inferiority of St.
Paul to him who was divinely ordained to be the
rock whereon the Church should be built. They
insinuated that St. Paul felt doubts about his own
Apostolic authority, and did not dare to claim the
right of maintenance which Christ had especially
given to His true Apostles. They also depreciated
him as a maintainer of celibacy, and contrasted
him in this respect with the great Pillars of the
Church, * the brethren of the Lord and Cephas,' who
were married." ^ Still, though we may not be able
from the New Testament to prove Peter's visit to
Corinth, there is no disproof of it, and it will be
admitted that the allusions in St. Paul's letters
gain in force if we suppose the church there to
have had personal intercourse with him. Clement
of Rome, addressing the Corinthians in the apostolic
age, does not expressly assert that Peter had ever
visited them, but in calling to the mind of his
readers the recent examples of endurance shewn by
Peter and Paul he has been thought to imply their
joint presence and work amongst them.* Later on
this was affirmed by Dionysius of Corinth ; so that
upon the whole we are justified in regarding the visit
as probable.
The idea that Peter journeyed to Babylon is
1 Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. p. 476.
2 Clem. Rom. ad Cor. 1. 5. The word Peter does not occur in the
defective text of the letter, but it seems the necessary filling up of the
termination which has survived. On the visit to Corinth see Alford's
Greek Testament^ voL iv. prolegg. p. 1 19; and Dictionary of Bible^
vol. iL p. 804.
112 The Companions of the Lord,
founded upon the literal interpretation of an ob-
scure passage in his former epistle: "She that is
in Babylon elected together with you saluteth
you." It does not matter whether the reference be
to his wife who, as we know, accompanied St. Peter
in his travels and of whose influence upon his cha-
racter we would fain have been informed,^ or to a
sister church ; the verse, taken either way, reads like
an assertion of his presence in Babylon at the time
of writing the epistle, and that not any smaller or
mystical Babylon but the great city of the Eu-
phrates. Nor does there appear any improbability
in supposing him to have penetrated so far east.
" The Jewish families formed there a separate com-
munity . . their intercourse with Judaea was carried
on without intermission ; " and we learn from various
sources that "Christianity made considerable progress
at an early time in that and the adjoining districts."
Hence it has been suggested reasonably enough that
Mark, who about this date acted as St. Paul's com-
panion, had brought a message to Peter at Babylon,
and now returned charged with this first epistle
addressed to the churches of Asia Minor.
The allegorical interpretation of the word Babylon""
forms one link in the chain forged to connect St.
Peter with Rome. The story runs that after being
bishop of Antioch he went to Rome to confront
T- We know of her only the simple tradition of her death — that she
was led to execution, and encouraged on the way by her husband, who
said to her " Remember, my own one, fhe Lord."
2 Even Eusebius admits it to be "an unusual trope." — Book iu
cap. 15.
The Peter of the Early Church. 1 1 3
Simon Magus. But, as its author Jerome is demon-
strably in error on many details, the sole question
is whether at bottom there remain any sediment of
truth. This much seems clear — that Peter did not
found the church at Rome, that he did not visit it
before the writing of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans,
and that he was not there during St. Paul's imprison-
ment in the city. But that he may possibly have
visited the city " during the persecution under Nero,
and there suffered martyrdom with, or nearly at the
same time with, St. Paul, is a tradition which does
not interfere with any known facts of Scripture or
early history, and one which we have no means of
disproving, as we have no interest in disproving it."*
Without allowing, therefore, any historical value to
the traditions of the Apostle's residence at Rome,
we may notice some of the more sober or beautiful
among them.
The modern traveller in the Eternal City meets on
every hand with mementoes of his presence. Beside
the ForuttTand under the shadow of the Capitol is the
I Alford's Greek Test, vol. iv. prolegg. p. 121. Reference may be
made to the public discussion held at Rome in the month of February,
1872, between Roman Catholic priests and Evangelical ministers, on
the question whether St. Peter was ever at the city where, according to
popular tradition, he was pontiff for twenty-five years. Gavazzi and
Sciarelli were ranged against Fabiani and Guidi j but the latter waived
the "annos Petri," and declared it sufficient for their purpose could
they show the apostle to have been in Rome even for a single day.
That the Protestants had the better of the discussion may be gathered
not only from their jubilant reports and the general testimony of the
Roman press, but from the fact that his Holiness, a few weeks later,
ordered a " triduum " to SS. Peter and Paul for the affront done them
by the doubters at the conference. _.
I T 4 The Companions of the Lord.
gloomy Mamertine, where the subjects of Sallust's his-
tories and the objects of Cicero's zeal were starved and
strangled. Here in later years St. Peter was, accord-
ing to the story of the place, immured in the lower
of two black underground dungeons. Two miracles
are still adduced in attestation. Near the entrance
is a saucer-shaped indentation in the wall said to
have been made when the head of " the Rockman "
was cruelly struck against it by his jailors ; and in
the lower chamber there still bubbles up from the
damp floor a spring that leapt forth for their baptism
when by his preaching in the prison they were con-
verted.^ Or one may take one's stand beneath that
vast Vatican dome, which mariners thirty miles away
on the Mediterranean seem to see travelling slowly
along the coast-line, and whose majesty remains in
view across the Campagna long after the rest of
the city has sunk to the level of the plain. Here
under the scroll "Tu es Petrus," under the lofty
canopy and the high-altar is found the Apostle's
tomb, guarded by fourscore ever-burning lamps.
Or on the crest of Janiculum, all Rome laid be-
neath his eye, the stranger may rest him, weary
with the ascent, upon the very spot where the
saint is said to have suffered martyrdom. Or
lastly, going some three-quarters of a mile from
the Appian Gate along the road of the dead, he
« The legends which represent SS. Peter and Paul not only as
joint nilers at Antioch, Corinth and Rome, but as both confined in
the same Mamertine dungeon and both receiving the crown of martyr-
dom on the same day, deserve no more than foot-note mention. — See
Stanley's Apostolical Age, p. loi.
The Peter of the Early Chtirch, 1 1 5
reaches a small church associated with the exquisite
legend of the " Domine, quo vadis ?" Here it is told
how Peter, fleeing from the violent death' which
awaited him in the city, found himself on a sudden
face to face with the Saviour. The disciple, amazed
at the apparition, could only cry "Lord, whither
goest thou ? " And when the well-remembered voice
quietly replied " I come to Rome, there to be cruci-
fied afresh," Peter was overwhelmed with shame at
his weakness and, turning him about with a resolu-
tion which has left his footprint stamped upon the
marble pavement, hastened back to the city and
met his fate rejoicing.
Thus died — and if not on this spot or under these
circumstances yet we may well believe in this spirit
— the great apostle, "the Moses" of the Christian
Church. In the pictures he is represented as "a
robust old man, with a broad forehead and rather
coarse features, an open undaunted countenance,
short grey hair, and short thick beard, curled, and
of a silvery white,"* but the last authentic portrait of
him is that painted for us by his own hand in the
closing chapter of his first epistle. Already in that
letter which is one of the brightest gems in the
circlet of inspired writing,^ he has spoken out of a
I Ascribed in the Fathers to jealousy (8tA ^Xov) and the machina-
tions of the Judaizers ; by others to the Neronic persecution mentioned
in the well-known passage of Tacitus (Annals, xv. 44).
a Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, p. 187. The description
given by Nicephorus makes him to have been '* somewhat slender, of
a middle size, but rather inclining to tallness, his complexion very pale,
and almost white."
3 Liddon, Bampton Lectures^ loc. cit
1 16 The Companions of the Lord,
ripe experience of the trial of faith as more precious
than of gold that perisheth, has owned Christ as
the living Rock, has breathed the soft spirit of
the Redeemer's teaching about the forbearance of
injuries, has declared the happiness of those re-
proached for his dear name's sake, and exhorted
his readers to that vigilance and prayerfulness which
he himself had learnt, at the cost of bitter failure,
to exercise. And now the ** old man " whose day of
departure is at hand beseeches his brethren to carry
on the sacred work entrusted to them by the Holy
Ghost and to feed the flock of God with that unselfish
care which had distinguished his own ministry. Once
more there rises before him the memory of that
unforgotten scene in the upper chamber when Jesus
washed his disciples' feet, and in imagery drawn
from that gracious act he urges his readers old and
young to gird themselves with the same garb of
humility. Noble-hearted apostle ! one of those few
"Men, whom we build our love round like an arch
Of triumph, as they pass us on their way
To glory and to immortality, "
we wonder not that Rome should have coveted thee
as her patron. But to thee belong a broader pro-
vince and higher honour, as the human founder
not of any single branch of the Church but of the
Catholic Church herself By men of thy stamp is
the world best taught and trained ; thin^^nergies
shame us from our apathy, thy devotion from our
half-heartedness, in thy fall we see our warning and
in thy recovery our hope.
VII.
** St. Andrew was the first-bom of the Apostolick Quire, the main
and prime pillar of the Church, a rock before the rock, the foundation
of that foundation, the first-fruits of the beginning, a caller of others
before he was called himself ; he preached that Gospel that was not yet
bcbeved or entertained, revealed and made known that life to his
brother which he had not yet perfectly learned himself,"
" /^^NE of the two which heard John speak and
v_>/ followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's
brother." Thus is he introduced, in connexion with
and subordination to one greater than himself, and
thus has he continued to be known in the Church.
His position was like that of all who, as life goes on,
find themselves compelled to surrender early dreams
of ambition and be content to shine as satellites
ancillary to a planet rather than as principal orbs.
Examples have abounded in all ages of this yoking
together in the family of greater and less. Aaron
was a high priest, Miriam a prophetess, yet both are
remembered chiefly by association with their hero-
brother Moses. Eliab and Abinadab would have
been long ago forgotten but for the shepherd-boy
and his achievements ; and in the New Testament
no mysterious interest would have gathered around
certain persons of whom little definite is known but
that they are described as brethren of the Lord.
In like manner it was Andrew's lot to walk through
«9
I20 The Companions of the Lord.
life under the eclipsing shadow of the Rockman —
a lot full of temptation to mean jealousy, but full
also of opportunity for the triumph of humility
and generosity.
We hear of him first as a disciple of the Baptist.
In no grander, if in no rougher, school "could he have
been trained. It was the special mission of his
master to touch the nation's heart, and rekindle the
long-quenched fires of that prophecy whose value
had lain not so much in the forecasting of coming
events as in the interpretation of the Divine will and
the recalling of the popular conscience to the worth-
lessness, nay more, the very hatefulness of religious
observances when severed from a pure morality.^ A
parallel has been recently drawn between John the
Baptist and the Emperor Nerva, because in the
career of the former " it was given him to do two
things — to inaugurate a new regime and also to
nominate a successor who was far greater than
himself" Yet the difference was vast; for while
the Roman had the good sense in the feebleness of
age to appoint as his heir an Augustus of just and
determined character, John the Nazarite was ready in
the abounding vigour of youth and the height of his
renown to retire in favour of a younger man, one of
humble origin and as yet of small influence. Stern
preacher of the wilderness, prophet — we had almost
said, dervish — of ascetic garb and fare ! who would
have suspected that underneath that rough exterior
there beat so tender a heart ? History records no
» See Stanley's Jewish Churchy vol. i. lect. xx,, and a clear explana-
tion in Abbott's Bible Lessons ^ part i. p. 47.
Andrew, 121
nobler utterance of self-renunciation than is given in
his testimony to Jesus : " He must increase, but I
must decrease ; this my joy therefore is fulfilled,"
none of more generous yielding to a successor than is
conveyed in the calling on his disciples to "behold
the Lamb of God." It was no mean advantage to
Andrew that his character had been moulded by
such a teacher ; it may be that as we advance we
shall be able to trace the profit derived by him from
these early instructions.
The remark made by the Baptist, as he saw Jesus
pass by, produced upon his two disciples an effect
which he can scarcely have failed to anticipate.
Andrew and his companion at once left him in
order to follow the receding figure. That they were
not prompted at first by any deep religious motive
seems evident from the somewhat confused way in
which they met his inquiry, " Whom seek ye t "
Addressing him by a title of respect which had
lately been applied to doctors and teachers of the
law, they answered with a question of surprised
curiosity, " Rabbi, where dwellest thou ? " Like
many who hover about the skirts of the modern
Church, they had as yet no formed intention of
becoming disciples, but were following in order to
explore the ground. But the Lord in no case
approves of delay. Well knowing that they who
come not to him now may never come at all, he
said to the two friends, "Come and see." They
came, they saw ; but instead of conquering too,
Caesarwise, they were subdued by their new ac-
quaintance.
122 The Compactions of the Lord,
To what abode they were invited is not mentioned ;
some think it to have been Christ's settled home, and
draw us a picture of a chamber as simply fitted as
that which the Shunammite prepared for her prophet
guest. It is however more likely that our Lord
was at the time on a journey, and that he took
them to his temporary lodging. If so, it was the
more needful they should see it ere he departed.
There are opportunities in religion as elsewhere. We
may at any time knock at the vineyard gate and it
will be opened to us, but there are certain hours
when the lord comes out into the market-place to
hire labourers: the water of our Bethesda may
need no angel's touch but be ever potent to heal;
yet it is not always that a stranger is at hand who
can help the impotent sufferer into the pool. We are
assured that if men seek not the Saviour to-day
they will find a welcome from him to-morrow ; but
it should be remembered that to-morrow they may
not be equally well placed for coming to the Saviour.
He is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever, and
therein is our confidence ; but it is otherwise with us,
and here lies our warning.
It was the late afternoon when the disciples found
Jesus, and they abode with him the remainder of
that day. The intercourse he granted them may
justify the exclamation of one of the commentators,
"Right happy day!" Perhaps it resembled that
which Nicodemus soon afterwards enjoyed ; the Lord
may have unfolded the Scriptures and shewn how the
rays of ancient prophecy met in him as their focus ;
he may have amazed his hearers by telling them all
Andrew,
123
things that ever they did ; or he may have ex-
pounded his errand of mercy, bespeaking in it
their aid.
They went away late at night or early next morn-
ing, full of the new Teacher and burning to make
others sharers of their joy. The first persons they
sought, either at his suggestion or of their own
instinct, were their own brothers. The one, whom we
have seen to be, with scarcely a doubt, John the son
of Zebedee, hastened to call his brother James ; while
Andrew sped with a similar message to his brother
Simon. Yet it must have needed on Andrew's part
an unselfish temper to be so ready to introduce to
the Lord one whose more brilliant parts would, if
engaged in the service, be sure to outshine his
own. He might have sought to retain the first
place in the Master's favour and to monopolize the
advantages of His society ; he was on the contrary
far too anxious that his brother should be blessed
with a knowledge of Jesus to care what became of
his own prestige and precedence, far too anxious to
secure to his new teacher one who had in him the
making of a sterling disciple to be deterred by petty
jealousy ; so observing the Baptist's example of self-
sacrifice he hesitated not to communicate to his
brother the great discovery.
Andrew had the intention of bringing to Christ
others of his friends ; but the first he must seek
and bring was his own brother Simon, with whom
he appears to have lived.' His salutation has been
f The word "first," in John i. 41 belongs to the object of the yerb,
not to its subject.
1 24 The Co7npanzo7ls of the Lord,
called "the Eureka of Archimedes bursting from a
joyful heart."^ The words "we have found the
Messias " ' were at that day pregnant with a mean-
ing to the Jewish mind which is weakened to the
most of us, but may be compared with the effect
which would be produced upon those Christians
who live in daily expectation of the millennium
were it credibly announced that Jesus Christ had
a second time appeared upon the earth. For cen-
turies the daughter of his people had been strain-
ing forward ; every mother had coveted the honour
of being in the line of Messiah's ancestry ; and not
a prophet but had pointed onward to Him who
should redeem Israel out of all his troubles."" Pro-
bably there was no difficulty in persuading Simon
to see Jesus ; if he did not at once or fully accept his
brother's account, curiosity would still impel him,
as it impelled the Samaritans, to go and verify for
himself the good tidings.
While he is going we may be permitted to remark
that men are the harder in our day to be won to
religion because we cannot in the same way work
upon their curiosity ; familiar with its leading facts
and principles from childhood, it is difficult to
present these in a light which will excite attention
and interest. Yet how rarely do we set ourselves
« Pressense, Jesus Christ, p. 325.
2 *• The Jew was especially an ' homme de I'avenir,' a 'homo deside-
riorum'" says Tholuck, on which Stanley remarks, " The golden age
of Palestine was not in the past but in the future; the epic of their
history was in their prophecies ; the hero, if we may so speak, of their
national affections was no divine ancestor of remote antiquity, but the
Messiah who was *to come.' " — Apostolical Age, p. 83.
Andrew, 1 2 5
earnestly to the work of acting as missionaries to
those around us ! With all due allowance for the
hindrance of reserve, which grows more embar-
rassing in proportion with the nearness of the
person to be addressed, the duty of persuading our
neighbours is so imperative and the good results
so incalculable that no sense of shame or fear
should be allowed to set it aside. And it is our
brethren who have the first claim of all. To labour for
others is good, but *' this ought ye to have done and
not to leave the other undone." Patagonian missions
have a claim upon British Christians, but assuredly
not one prior to missions at home. The command was
given to go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature ; but it was not to be obeyed until
Jerusalem and Judaea had heard the teaching of
the Cross ; and to every forgiven and restored soul
the first duty is laid down in the Master's own
words to him that was possessed : " Go home to
thy friends, and tell them how great things the
Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion
on thee."
" First seek thy Saviour out, and dwell
Beneath the shadow of His roof,
Till thou have scanned His features well,*
And know Him for the Christ by proof . . .
Then, potent with the spell of Heaven,
Go, and thine erring brother gain,
Entice him home to be forgiven.
Till he, too, see his Saviour plain.''
"And he brought him to Jesus." It has been
often said that if this had been Andrew's sole
126 The Companions of the Lord,
achievement, he would have earned the everlasting
gratitude of the Church. Encouragement should
flow from this account to the feeble and obscure,
in whose power it is put to bring into the service
of their Redeemer an engine of incalculable power
and to lay in its place a foundation-stone of the
Christian temple. A Hebrew slave-girl may in-
fluence the fortune and religion of the whole Syrian
kingdom, Cornelia through her tribune sons may
shake the power of the senate, and an Andrew
by the grace of God may give to the Church her
most illustrious apostle.
Some months after his first introduction to the Lord
the two sons of Jonas were called to a nobler fishing
than any the sea of Tiberias afforded ; but in the
narrative of that call no separation is made between
the brothers. Andrew is not mentioned as present at
the subsequent miraculous draught of fishes or the
final summons of Peter and the sons of Zebedee ;
but he is not likely to have been far removed from
his partners with whom he was joined a little while
afterwards as a witness to the healing of his brother's
mother-in-law.
Upon the appointment of the Twelve, Jesus sent
them forth two and two on a first missionary tour.
With whom was Andrew paired } He may have
gone with Philip, who was a fellow-townsman and
linked with him on other occasions. This is possible ;
at any rate, as it seems to us, it is more probable than
that he went with Peter. As a rule men work best with
fresh companions, who do not know all their weak
Andrew. 127
points nor the limits of their resources. Not the least
keen of our observers has expressed this feeling by
making one of her characters say of a new comer
into the town, " He liked him the better for being a
stranger. . One can begin so many things with
a new person ! even begin to be a better man."
As soon as the apostles had reassembled from
their expedition, they were tenderly withdrawn for a
while ^ by the Master to the untenanted district on
the north-eastern shore of the lake. But the eager-
ness of the people, multitudes of whom were in
readiness to start for Jerusalem, there to keep the
approaching Passover, thwarted this desire for repose
and moved the compassion of Jesus, so that he
devoted himself to teach their minds and refresh
their jaded frames. " Whence shall we buy bread .^ "
he asks of Philip ; and when, as in a subsequent
chapter we shall observe, the perplexed disciple can
see no way out of the difficulty, Andrew steps in with
a suggestion : " There is here one little lad which
hath five barley loaves and two small fishes; but
what are they among so many?" Do not let us
suppose him to speak in jest or in a faithless spirit.
He was already acquainted with that power which
had filled the empty nets to bursting and changed
water into the best of wine, and may rather be taken
as saying in effect, " Here, Lord, is a small begin-
ning towards the feast ; but what are these unless thou
increase and multiply them like the widow's barrel
of meal and cruse of oil ? " Can we not picture to our
I "When Christ permits or commands rest he yet significantly adds
* a little.* "—Stier, Words of the Lord Jesus, vol. ii. p. 271.
1 28 TJie Companions of the Lord.
minds the "little lad," who had overheard Philip's
desponding remark, making up towards ^e apostle
whose face looked the kindest, timidly plucking him
by the robe, telling him how he had a wallet full of
food, and with wistful gaze asking whether he thought
it would be any good offering so small a contribution
to the great Teacher ? Then we may imagine the dis-
ciple stooping to the lad and gently assuring him that
even so little a gift would not be despised and that
there was no saying how far those brown loaves and
salted fish might not be made to go in the Master's
hands. The child hangs shyly back ; but Andrew,
with a spirit very different from that of the apostles
when they repelled the approaching mothers, per-
suades him to take courage and bring his humble
provision to Jesus. How the young face would
brighten at the Lord's smile of welcome, and how
his dark eyes would open wide as the wonder-
worker kept handing the loaves and fish out of the
bag for an hour or more to the disciples, who carried
them in turn to the orderly groups that had been
formed on the plain then carpeted with spring grass,
until all had been satisfied.
And now occurs a broad gap in the life of Andrew.
We see no more of him until the day which we call
the Tuesday before Easter, when two glimpses are
allowed us. The Saviour was taking final leave of
the Temple and about to return to the hospitable
house of his friends at Bethany when he was arrested
by two of his disciples, requesting an interview for
a party of Gentile proselytes, who had made pil-
Andrew, 129
grimage from afar to Jerusalem, and were anxious
not to leave the city without an introduction to One
who exercised so powerful a fascination over the
people and was accounted worthy of such determined
opposition on the part of the ruling classes. Their
application was made in the first instance to Philip,
and by him communicated to Andrew. Why the
latter should have been taken into confidence we can
only surmise. It is possible that a special intimacy
existed between the two, of which we have already
had hints ; or may it not rather be that Andrew was
known among the Twelve as possessing a happy
faculty of introducing people to the Master, and that
Philip wished to secure his good offices on behalf of
the strangers } Be this as it may, Andrew hearkened
kindly to the request and joined in presenting the
suit of these men, who were come from the west to
the cross of the King even as magi from the east
had once come to his cradle/
On the same afternoon, as the apostles were fol-
lowing Jesus down the hill from the city gate to
the valley of Jehoshaphat, they called his attention
to the magnificence of the Temple structure. "It
seems," says one,"" " as if the disciples, deeply struck
by the Lord's farewell to the temple, now sought to
become intercessors for the condemned sanctuary.
They pointed to the buildings which, but just com-
pleted, seemed to promise a longer continuance to
the sanctuary ; the stones which might still defy
centuries ; the gifts with which piety and ostentation
1 Stier, quoted by Alford, on John xii. 23.
a Oosterzee, On Luke^ vol. ii. p. 250.
130 The Companions of the Lord,
had adorned the Lord's house." This is a far more
probable supposition than that of another writer who
suggests that Christ had always been so occupied with
the abuses prevalent within the temple that he had
never surveyed its exterior, " for He was not curious."
His reply to the Twelve was an emphatic repetition
of the prophecy of ruin which he had spoken over
the city with tears on the previous Sunday. While
crossing the ravine, the disciples pondered his
words ; and when they had reached the crest of
Olivet and were pausing to take breath before pursu-
ing the road to Bethany, Andrew came forward with
his brother and the sons of Zebedee to beg a further
explanation of the time and signs of a calamity
vhich must be world-wide in its effects.
The bare mention of his name in St. Luke's
second catalogue of the apostles is all that Scripture
tells us of Andrew in addition to the foregoing
notices. Nor does tradition add many rays of light.
He is said to have travelled northwards through the
greater part of Asia Minor, and to have carried the
gospel into the steppes of Scythia. Extraordinary
success, it is scarcely necessary to say, attended his
labours, the scene of which was afterwards removed
to Greece. The legends of his death convey him to
Patras, a town situated outside the western neck of
the Corinthian Gulf, and a favourite landing-place for
persons arriving from Italy. Here he made many
distinguished converts, and "among others Maxi-»
milla, the wife of the proconsul Aegeus, whom he
persuaded to make a public profession of Christi-
Andrew, 131
anity. The proconsul, enraged, commanded him to
be seized, scourged and then crucified." * The scenes
of his martyrdom have been preserved for us upon
the canvas of the masters of the Italian and Spanish
schools. On his way to execution he is said to have
fallen upon his knees before the cross, crying vi^ith
clasped hands and entranced devotion, "Welcome,
thou precious cross, that hast been consecrated
for me by the body of my God ! " But the finest
representation of him is when suspended upon a lofty
cross made of the trunks of two trees lashed together
in what was called the decussate form from its
resemblance to the Roman figure ten. In this posture
of agony he has been painted, "his silver hair and
beard loosely streaming in the air, his aged counte-
nance illumined by a heavenly transport, as he looks
up to the opening skies, whence two angels of celestial
beauty descend with the crown and palm."
The little we know of St. Andrew does not give
opportunity for selecting any prominent character-
istic ; but the main idea of his life seems to be
brought out in the evangelist's words, "he brought
him to Jesus." On almost every occasion where he
appears at all, it is in the capacity of a missionary,
leading those around him to the Lord. First it is
his own brother whom he brings ; then, as the nar-
I Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art, pp. 226-230. All the
legendary details about his preaching on the cross for two days, his
being interred by Maximilla, and a fragrant oil flowing from his tomb
on the anniversary of his martyrdom are duly narrated by Cave, pp.
135, 136.
132 The Companions of the Lord.
rative of St. John implies, he brings others ; he
overcomes the shyness of the child ; he is chosen
to introduce a company of proselytes to the Master ;
while the legend of his violent death is so far con-
sistent with the gospels that it connects it with his
winning a matron of high degree to the service
of the same Saviour. We are far from implying
that his fellow-disciples did not display a laudable
zeal of the same kind ; but it does seem remarkable
that Andrew should uniformly appear in the office
of a mediator. It was a branch of Christian work
wherein we shall do well to be engaged after his
example. Tact is needed doubtless and much cou-
rage ; but the recompence is rich. Though feeble
and nervous we may lead to the Redeemer some
who shall stand as pillars of strength and grace in
his Church ; in so doing we shall bring upon those
translated from darkness into his marvellous light a
wealth of untold and unending joy, while to ourselves
will be secured the starry reward promised to such
as turn many to righteousness and are wise to win
souls.
VIII.
tenths i^t ^on of Meh^.
Its
** Soldier, go—but not to claim
Mouldering spoils of earth-born treasure,
Not to build a vaunting name.
Not to dwell in tents of pleasure;
Dream not that the way is smooth,
Hope not that the thorns are roses ;
Turn no wistful eye of youth
Where the sunny beam reposes :
Thou hast sterner work to do,
Hosts to cut thy passage through ;
Close behind thee gulfs are burning :
Forward !— there is no returning,"
FROM the sons of Jonas we pass to a second pair of
brothers, of whom it will be convenient to begin
with the less distinguished member. As there can be
no question that the Church has always given prece-
dence to St. John, so is there as Httle that he deserves
the place assigned him. The priority which St. James
holds in the apostolic lists is probably a courteous
acknowledgment due to a senior and no evidence of
superior force of character. Even though at the out-
set his were the more conspicuous figure, it ceased to
be so after a while ; and St. Luke, who in his earlier
pages describes John as the brother of James, inverts
the order later on, and speaks of " James, the brother
of John." Still, while ranking below the beloved
disciple and evangelist, James is not to be set among
the minor apostles. His close connexion with the
Lord, his admission into the triumvirate of disciples,
and his selection by Herod as foremost victim of per-
secution, all point him out to us as a man of mark.
In him was revived a name which, so far as the
sacred record goes, had lain in abeyance since the
135
136 The Companions of the Lord.
days of the patriarch Jacob ; it is but natural therefore
that points of resemblance should have been sought
out and imagined between the two. The wife of
Zebedee was Salome, and if we may consider her a
sister of the virgin Mary, James and his brother will
be brought into the position of cousins to the Lord/
Early Christian art indicates a belief in some near
relationship, for James is usually portrayed with a
family resemblance to Christ, both having the thin
beard, and the hair parted and flowing down on either
side. Zebedee's household appears to have lived in
circumstances of comfort, but we know concerning it
only two facts of any interest. One of these is that
the sons worked with their father at the fishing busi^
ness on the lake ; the other, that they were warmly
attached to their mother. Their alliance with her
was not always well directed ; but it contrasts favour-
ably with the unfilial and foolish independence of a
mother's counsel which many young men deem it
manly to assert. It may be added that the two
brothers, thus united with their parents, were closely
joined with one another. In almost every event of
the Gospel record in which either appears both are
found together, albeit in the time and manner of
their deaths no two men could have been more
widely divided.
It has been suggested in a previous chapter that
these two cousins of the Lord may have had earlier
intercourse with him than the rest of the apostles.
They were not sharers in the unbelief of his brethren,
I See the table of the Holy Family and its branches, cap. xv,
note A.
JcDnes the Son of Zebedee, 137
though it is possible no deep conviction was wrought
upon their minds until Jesus entered on his ministry
and made his first disciples in Andrew and John.
Enlisted in Christ's service, they remain unnoticed
in the sacred narrative until the second call was
given on the shores of the lake. Then, included in
the definite summons addressed to Simon, they
shewed an unhesitating obedience not inferior to his.
It has been remarked that their prompt surrender of
all in order to follow Christ " would be inexplicable
even by the miracle (of the draught of fish) unless
there had been a previous acquaintance on their part
with the Lord ;" but such acquaintance there certainly
had been ; for, apart from the fact that Jesus must
have been well-known in those parts, a full year had
elapsed since they had been won to his service ; this
was but the end of their furlough. Not otherwise is
it when the Gospel speaks in our hearing : to say —
** Behold ! a stranger at the door,"
does not adequately explain the attitude towards us of
him who knocks. Conscience knows him, even as the
spirits did of old, and testifies that he is no stranger but
the Master, who since our childhood has stooped to act
as suppliant, beseeching where he might command.
Well is it when we render an obedience as exemplary
as that of Zebedee's sons. They had the boats to
leave, servants to give up, a rich haul of fish to
abandon, an honoured father'' and beloved mother,
X " Nor can we doubt but that Zebedee himself would have gone
along with them, had not his age given him a supersedeas from such an
active and ambulatory course of life." — Cave, p. 141.
138 The Companions of the Lord,
to whom no farewell kiss might be given ; but for
the Master's sake all are relinquished. There were
times — and this was one of them — when his demands
must have seemed strangely inconsistent with his
humility. "I am meek and lowly in spirit" was
balanced by the absolute claim — " If any man love
father or mother more than me, he is not worthy of
me,"
We read that, at the formal institution of the
apostles, James and his brother received from the
Lord the surname Boanerges, unless, as in the case of
Simon, this appellation had been given on a former
occasion and were now but registered by the evange-
list. About the name there is some obscurity ; it is
mentioned in only one passage, and seems never
to have prevailed like the surname Peter. Light-
foot asks,^ " What, if allusion be here made to the
two registers, or scribes of the Sanhedrin ? whereof
one sat on the right hand, and the other on the left ;
one wrote the votes of those that acquitted, — the
other, the votes of those that condemned. Or to the
president himself, and the vice-president ? whose
definitive sentence, summing up the votes of the
whole Sanhedrin, was like thunder and lightning to
the condemned persons, — and seemed to all, like the
oracles given from Sinai out of lightning and thunder."
This opinion however is not supported by evidence,
and looks rather as though suggested by the later
request of Salome. There are those who suppose
the name to be a title of honour given to the
X WorkSf vol. xi. p. 387.
yames the Son of Zebedee. 139
brothers on account of their power in preaching,
while to others it has appeared descriptive of a
fiery, unbridled temper. It is extremely unlikely
that they had yet won a reputation for preaching, and
as to the latter theory Dr. Lange well remarks that
" a name which expresses a fault cannot be radically
a real name ; for this cause alone Christ could not
have laid such names upon His disciples." ' It may
therefore be best to follow those who have sought to
combine these views, holding that " it was, like the
name given to Simon, at once descriptive and pro-
phetic. The *Rockman' had a natural strength,
which was described by his title, and he was to have
a divine strength, predicted by the same title. In the
same way the * Sons of Thunder ' had a burning and
impetuous spirit, which twice exhibits itself in its
unchastened form, and which, when moulded by the
Spirit of God, taking different shapes, led St. James to
be the first apostolic martyr, and St. John to become
in an especial manner the Apostle of Love."^
There is no scene in which James figures until we
come to the Saviour's last journey to Jerusalem.
Taunted by his brethren, Jesus followed them to the
feast, sending before him two or more disciples to
prepare his way. The pioneers turned southward
along the route still pursued by caravans, and one
evening entered a village of the Samaritans, endea-
vouring to secure accommodation for the night ; but
in vain. The character of the people of the district
X Life of Christy vol. iii. p. 49.
a Mr. Meyrick, in The Dictionary of the BibU^ voL i. p. 919 a.
140 The Companions of the Lord,
is described at this day as " rude, insolent and even
dangerous." ^ In this instance natural insolence was
exacerbated by religious prejudice ; the villagers
refused to receive the travellers because their faces
were set towards Jerusalem. It was generous in the
Lord only a short time after this rejection to make a
Samaritan the hero of his parable and a model of
hospitality ; but we must not be misled by that repre-
sentation into supposing the conduct of the Good
Samaritan typical of the usual behaviour of his
countrymen ; rather do they stand out as types of
the hasty bigots of later ages.
Whether James and John were the disciples sent
forward on this occasion is not specified ; if they were,
one can scarcely wonder at the reception with which
they met ; for, judging by their subsequent language
they were by no means likely to adopt a conciliatory
address. We can picture them, as Jesus comes up,
indignantly appealing to him against the people of
the place, who in spite of provocation received were
unquestionably guilty of a gross breach of the rules of
Eastern hospitality. " Wilt thou that we command fire
to come down from heaven, and destroy them ?" they
passionately ask, while yet an admission seems to lurk
in the form of asking that this was an act of vengeance
which Christ might sanction but could not be expected
himself to initiate. Quick to cite precedent, they
refer to the example of that grand prophet of older
days, whom they had recently beheld on the Mount
of Transfiguration, when from his lonely rock on
X Thomson, The Land and the Book^ p. 469.
yames the Son of Zebedee, 141
Carmel he imprecated fire upon the captains of
Ahaziah and their fifties. The Master turned at
their appeal and rebuked them with the reply, " Ye
know not what manner of spirit ye are of" — words
which he had again occasion to address to the sons
of Thunder, and which served now to place **the
whole career of Elijah in its fitting place, as some-
thing in its own nature transitory, precursive, prepa-
ratory." ' The reply reminds one of that twice given
by David to the turbulent zeal of Abishai : " What
have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye
should this day be adversaries unto me ? " and was
followed by immediate withdrawal from the village,
to seek shelter for the night elsewhere. The whole
scene is the Lord's own comment on the non-
resistance doctrine of his sermon on the mount ; it
offers " a striking image of the reception which
awaits the Christian in an unbelieving world, as
soon as it is suspected or perceived that his face
is turned towards the heavenly Jerusalem ; " ^ and it
may be taken as giving solemn warning that, when
men like the Samaritans and Gadarenes urge the
Saviour to depart from them, they may be taken at
their word and through his removal suffer irreparable
loss. As for James and his brother, they shewed ** a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge," and
may well have stood abashed under the stern rebuke
I Stanley, Jewish Churchy vol. ii. p. 28 1. See also p. 258, where the
writer says that "the Spanish Inquisitors in the sixteenth century
quoted the act of Elijah and the appeal of the sons of Zebedee as a
justification of their own cruelties."
a Van Oosterzee, On Luke^ vol. i. p. 342.
142 The Companions of the Lord,
of the Master taken in conjunction with his meek
endurance of the insult done him by the inhabitants
of the place.
The next incident that brings James before us
preceded by a short time the solemn entry int9
Jerusalem. In St. Mark's account the sons of
Zebedee are represented as approaching Jesus with
the design of binding him to a promise before they
made Jcnown the nature of their request. St. Mat-
thew, writing upon more precise information, ascribes
the initiative to their mother Salome, who is depicted
with that spirit of hasty zeal which her sons had
inherited. As they are the Jacob of the narrative,
seeking to supplant their brother-apostles, so is she
the Rebekah, loving them well but not wisely.
Taking no account of any supremacy promised to
Peter, but presuming upon near relationship to Christ,
she asks for her sons the two posts of honour in the
kingdom. Like a true mother, her ambition was not
for herself but for her children ; yet it was a petition
in which the latter were selfish to join. The rebuke
came to all three, as sharing the responsibility of the
request : *' Ye know not what ye ask," and then the
Lord went on to call their thoughts away from specu-
lations of future reward to practical considerations
of duty. A cup, a baptism, must precede the seat in
the kingdom ; could they drink that bitter draught
and stagger through the swelling flood 1 They
declare their resolution to know the fellowship of
their Master's sufferings ; and, blindly though they
spoke, he ratified their engagement. They should
have opportunity for fulfilling the conditions of ser-
James the Son of Zebedee, 143
vice ; as for the recompence they might leave that to
the Father in whose hands the award rested and who
would make it to all who by present fidelity pre-
pared themselves for it. Then
"Take up the lesson, O my heart;
Thou Lord of meekness, write it there,
Thine own meek self to me impart,
Thy lofty hope, Thy lowly prayer:
If ever on the mount with Thee
I seem to soar in vision bright,
With thoughts of coming agony.
Stay Thou the too presumptuous flight:
Gently along the vale of tears
Lead me from Tabor's sunbright steep,
Let me not grudge a few short years
With Thee tow'rd Heaven to walk and weep."
In the garden James was of the selected three,
privileged to a nearer view of the Redeemer's grief;
and after the Resurrection he was among the seven
who saw him at the sea of Tiberias.
In the Early Church he seems, so far as one can
judge in the absence of specific notice, to have
occupied a prominent place. His zeal still burnt
with a hot unhidden flame, which attracted to itself
the earliest storm of hostile attack. That the attack
was made in "the days of unleavened bread" may
suggest to us that possibly it was provoked by some
outspoken utterances of the apostles on the anni-
versary of the Crucifixion. We are reminded that
" during the middle ages, it was a common thing for
the populace to be roused to excesses against the
Jews by inflammatory orations preached on the
144 1^^^ Companions of the Lord.
Passion of Christ at Easter time ; " ' and it is by-
no means improbable that Herod, in his desire to
please the people, retaliated on their behalf some ag-
gressions of the upstart sect. He singled out the
Thunderer and the Rockman as first victims, imagin-
ing doubtless that, if these two central pillars of the
Church were pulled down, the whole edifice would
fall ; whereas he had yet to learn that the temple he
was assailing rested on more than human support,
and that he who works ruin on his foes may himself
be involved in the catastrophe. He succeeded in
capturing James, and forthwith inflicted upon him
the punishment of beheading — a punishment which
was accounted amongst the Jews as extremely dis-
graceful, and was awarded especially to men who
had drawn away the people to the worship of other
gods."
Thus was our apostle's zeal requited, and thus his
Lord's prediction fulfilled. The cup was drunk ; the
baptism of blood received ; and by an early death
he was made first of the Twelve to follow his Saviour
from earth, reaching the reward he had coveted,
though by a path of which he little dreamt.
**Thus, when by earth's cross lights perplexed
We crave the thing that should not be,
God, reading right our erring text.
Gives what we would ask, could we see."
1 Paul of Tarsus. By a Graduate, p. 201.
2 Lightfoot, Works, viii. p. 453. At p. 28 1 the same learned writer
suggests that Herod may have been prompted to this action by " his
ceremoniousness and strict observance of Mosaic rites," which the new
Caith appeared to the outside world to discard.
yames the Son of Zebedee, 145
One might have supposed that tradition would find
small scope in the case of a man whose whole life is
comprehended in the Scriptures. It is however far
otherwise. The legend of his death is perhaps the
least unlikely of all the stories associated with his
name. According to it he was condemned at the
instance of a private accuser ; but the latter " seeing
him bear his testimony to the faith, and moved by
the fact, confessed himself a Christian. Both there-
fore were led away to die. On their way, he entreated
James to forgive him, and James, considering a little,
replied ' Peace be to thee ' and kissed him ; and then
both were beheaded at the same time." ^
The other traditions, which are manifestly apocry-
phal, may be briefly dismissed ; though Gibbon'
respects them sufficiently to observe that "of the
holy romances that of the apostle James can alone,
by its single extravagance, deserve to be men-
tioned." Spain having in later days adopted San-
tiago as her patron saint must needs invest him with
honours which might be reflected on herself; so first
she transformed him from a peaceful fisherman into
an illustrious baron of Galilee, whom it pleased while
on earth to follow the humble example of his divine
Lord. In contradiction of the inspired writings which
imply that the apostles remained at Jerusalem or at
least within the limits of Palestine for many year*
after the Resurrection, it was said that James jour-
neyed to Spain and there, amid many prodigies,
X Eusebius (bk. ii. cap. 9) citing Clement.
« History y chapter xv.
146 The Companions of the Lord,
founded the national Church; that having returned
to his native land he was put to death and his body-
placed on board a ship at Jaffa, whence it was
miraculously brought to the Spanish shore. For
seven centuries and a half the precious remains of
the saint were lost, until their place of sepulture was
revealed to a holy friar and they were reverently
removed to Compostella/ The marvellous deeds
ascribed to Santiago have been celebrated on canvas
and in verse — how he interposed on behalf of the op-
pressed and how he charged at the head of Spanish
chivalry in the battles with the Moors.
That such " gilded legends and fond inventions "
should excite the contempt of a man like Gibbon
is not surpriaing; but how alien are they from the
simplicity of the New Testament ! A candid mind
would have remarked the wide separation, and might
have been expected to yield admiration to records
free from all trace of exaggeration, even where the
temptation of the writers was strongest, and unadorned
almost to the point of severity.
I Cave cites "a learned Person" who maintained that the place
*' began to be called ad Jacobum Aposiolum, thence in after times
Giacomo Postoloy which was at last jumbled into Compostella^^ (p. 145).
IX.
« |o^n of t^t
U7
' Ye know what things I saw ; then came a test,
My first, befitting me who so had seen :
* Forsake the Christ thou sawest transfigured, Him
*Who trod the sea and brought the dead to life?
* What should wring this from thee ! ' — ye laugh and ask.
What wrung it? Even a torchlight and a noise,
The sudden Roman faces, violent hands.
And fear of what the Jews might do ! Just that.
And it is written, *I forsook and fled*:
There was my trial, and it ended thus.
Ay, but my soul had gained its truth, could grow :
Another year or two, — what little child.
What tender woman that had seen no least
Of all my sights, but barely heard them told.
Who did not clasp the cross with a light laugh,
Or wrap the burning robe round, thanking God?"
WE are come now to the Apostle who for saint-
liness of character has justly won the warmest
affection of the Christian Church. There is however
reason to believe that in one respect at least full
justice has not been done him. A tendency prevails
among us to exaggerate and sharpen contrasts ;
the mind fastens upon some prominent feature in a
man's character and remembers him by it to the
ignoring of other features which, if taken into account,
might considerably modify the general view. Thus,
when it was desired to frame a conception of St.
John, the world sought to distinguish him from the
fiery James on the one hand and the impetuous
Peter on the other; and, perceiving that there was
in his temperament an ingredient of gentleness not
found in either of these, came to dwell upon this
gentleness and magnify it into his leading charac-
teristic. In Western art he is always represented
as "young, or in the prime of life; with little or
no beard; flowing or curling hair, generally of a
pale brown or golden hue, to express the delicacy
149
150 The Companions of the Lord,
of his nature."' Just as in later ages the virgin-
mother was exalted as queen of heaven by a spirit
which failed to understand that in Christ Jesus was
neither male nor female but the blended grace of
both sexes ; so were men led to insist on the womanly
element in John's character as a counterpoise to the
masculine strength resident in Peter.
But we may do well to pause before accepting this
current opinion. Albeit the gospel regenerates the
man who is in Christ, we never find it change the
fundamental cast of his mind. In this respect the
transformation of the lion into the lamb is an inac-
curate image of the effect of religious principle
established in the heart. Fairer examples of its
working are given in the lives of such men as Peter
and Paul, whose idiosyncrasies remained after conver-
sion as before, the proportion of the elements and
their sphere of action alone being changed. The
apostle John was called by our Lord a son of
Thunder as well as his brother James, nor have we
any ground for supposing the name less applicable
to the one than the other ; indeed the history records
several occasions on which both were united in true
Boanerges acts. This being so, it does not seem at
all likely that John's youthful energy would ever be
so crushed out as to make him in maturer years
tame-spirited or effeminate. All we are warranted
in expecting is that under his Saviour's influence the
flame of his zeal would be purified from inconstancy,
passion and selfishness.
« Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art^ p. 159.
The John of tlie Gospels. 151
Moreover, while we may be tempted to draw out
contrasts between John and his fellows, it behoves us
to bear in mind the assimilating effect of his associa-
tion with them : if their corners were rounded off by
his hand, his own countenance would in turn be
sharpened by these his friends. And while from
comrades like Simon his soul would gain robustness,
it is yet more certain that he would be continually
drawing resolution from Him who set his face as a
flint against the vice and hypocrisy of the day. Chris-
tian art is indeed inconsistent in her treatment of the
Apostle ; for although, as has been said, he is por-
trayed by her as a frail youth, she has yet given him
for a symbol the eagle, which kingly bird
' Sailing with supreme dominion
Through the azure deeps of i
air"
may be a fit emblem of his wide range amid the
mysteries of divine truth, but with its strong sweep of
wing, its distant ken and sharp talon must be taken
as an image also of his penetration of intellect and
lofty spirit.
The close intimacy in which John lived with his
brother James and both the sons of Jonas has made
unavoidable the anticipation of many points in his
history. We are already acquainted with his family
in its Galilean home, with his early knowledge of the
household at Nazareth — a village but five leagues
distant from that home — and with his discipleship
under the Baptist ; we have observed him in his first
interview with the revealed Messiah, have seen him
return to his fishing, and months later obey the sum-
152 The Companions of the Lord.
mons of his new Master ; we have witnessed his ordi-
nation with the eleven, and in tracing the career of
his companions have watched him too come and go on
missionary journeys ; while we have found him joined
with his brother to justify by an uncurbed zeal and
ungenerous ambition the surname erst given them by
Jesus. Thus far his characteristic has been a vehe-
mence of disposition, leading him to quit the Nazarite
and espouse the cause of the Nazarene, to throw up
secular employment for the Hfe of an apostle and
bring into this new work an affectionate ardour which
needed still to be directed and chastened.
Almost the sole incident in this early stage of the
history peculiar to him is one related by the evan-
gelists Mark and Luke, by either in the ninth chapter
of his gospel. Following hard upon a dispute in
which the disciples had been embroiled until Christ
hushed them by the presence and quoted example of
a little child, we are told that " John answered him,
saying. Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy
name, and he followeth not us ; and we forbad him,
because he followeth not us." This speech does not
seem an attempt at self-vindication so much as the
confession of an act felt to be out of harmony with
the Lord's previous teaching, yet joined with a desire
for some further explanation of the nature of the fault.
His conscience must indeed have been quickened to
lead him thus to admit himself in the wrong where
before the lesson of the child he might have seen no
wrong at all. Jealous for the Master's honour and
nettled perhaps by their failure to heal the lunatic
boy, the disciples had deemed it a piracy for any out
The John of t lie Gospels, 153
sider to cast out devils in Christ's name ; let this
exorcist, if really indebted to the Lord for the power
he assumed, meekly follow in his train and yield him
all the praise. This not unnatural feeling of the
Apostle has been reproduced age after age in those
Christians who have sought to suppress what they
considered irregular ministrations and unauthorized
zeal, prohibiting lay agency or the industry of other
denominations as an invasion of their prerogatives
or an offence against the good order of the Church.
John however is now taught — and through him let
the lesson be received by his " successors " — that " if
Christ and faith in Him is in little children, it may
also have existed in him whom they had forbidden."
Hence the mingled confession and inquiry, to which
a reply is made which would of itself suffice to prove
Jesus centuries in advance of his countrymen in
emancipation from the shackles of religious preju-
dice : " Forbid him not ; for he that is not against
us is for us." His kingdom was to boast no privi-
leged caste, his grace to flow exclusively through no
specially-consecrated channels. Men without the
pale of the Church he would empower to serve him
as notably as very apostles ; and while she might
invite them to join her ranks, they were neither to
be denounced nor discouraged.
From this episode, which gives so favourable an
impression of John's docility, we pass to the next
occasion on which he stands in the foreground. With
Peter he has been sent to prepare the parting meal in
the upper room. The evening has come, and he is
154 The Companions of the Lord,
discovered reclining at Jesus' right hand, in the very
position of honour he had hastily coveted in the king-
dom. We have already noticed him among the
favoured three, and from his early discipleship might
be disposed to infer a peculiarly close attachment
between him and his Master ; but it is at this board
first that the strength of the bond is revealed. The
phrase in which John himself expresses it has at first
sound a slight ring of selfishness ; yet the Saviour's
preference justified it, while it may readily be inter-
preted as the modest reservation of his own name
without implying any claim to superiority over his
brethren.
Nevertheless the difficulty may occur to some
minds that, if Christ loved John with special warmth,
he must have loved the other disciples in a less
degree ; and that, once granting this, room is opened
for the dark fear lest, finding in our characters so
little that is amiable, he should love us too faintly to
save us. The fear is unnecessary, and springs only
from the common confusion between love and ap-
proval. The worst among us Christ loves with a
love so deep that he has died for them and by his
Spirit striven for years to win them back to repen-
tance and life ; but, as a man improves in holiness, it
cannot be but that the Saviour should rejoice to wit-
ness the amendment and love the growing purity and
affectionateness of his disciple's heart. When the
youth of great possessions stood before Jesus, the
latter "loved him" — not that He was readier to receive
him than the woman who was a sinner, but that in
his character there was some unusual promise which
Tlie JoJui of the Gospels, 155
enlisted kindly notice. So in the case of John, there
was apparently a union of strength and tenderness,
of zeal and docility, which endeared him above the
rest of the Twelve to the human heart of Jesus.
*' We know not all thy gifts,
But this Christ bids us see,
That He who so loved all
Found more to love in thee."
His position at table, pillowed on his Master*s
breast, was not according to Eastern views in itself
a proof of intimacy ; but the inquiry put by him
about the traitor and the whispered answer bespoke
it and seem to warrant the prevailing conception of
the Last Supper.
However much of the discourses delivered on that
occasion we may owe to the remembrancer Spirit,
calling to the mind of the evangelist the things which
Christ had said, we probably owe not a little to the
wrapt attention with which St. John drank in the
words and treasured them in a heart dilated by
affection.
The sadder is it that not even this beloved disciple
could watch with his Master in the Garden nor stand
firm amid the general desertion. Yet deep as was
his sin — deep in proportion to the close tie which
bound him to Christ — its guilt was not of the dye of
Peter's ; there is a vast difference between the simple
fleeing and the deliberate denial with falsehood and
perjury. His recovery too was far easier; among
the first to repent, he does not appear to have shed
his comrade's bitter tears. When then we see how
156 The Companions of the Lord,
different was the process of repentance in these two
cases, we may surely be admonished that there is no
set form of grief to which our penitence must be
fashioned, but that God leads his children in varying
ways to change of mind and the production of those
fruits of better living which are meet accompaniment
and evidence of repentance.
An acquaintance seems to have existed between the
family of Zebedee and the kindred of Caiaphas, estab-
lished no doubt before the sons of the former house
had avowed themselves disciples of the Nazarene,^ but
still kept up sufficiently to secure admission for John,
not only into the servants' hall, where he was con-
strained to leave Peter, but into the inner hall of
judgment, whither the captive Jesus had already
been led. From this time Master and disciple re-
mained together, except perhaps during the exami-
nations before Herod and Pilate, the fascination which
had drawn the latter to the place of trial attracting
him in all probability to follow the drama of death
through every scene to its tragic close. We may
remark on this part of the narrative how excellent is
our authority in the gospel of John, the record coming
from an eye-witness of the most private and critical
J A suggestion made in The Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i. p. 1104 a.
Setting aside the strange conjecture that it was Judas and not John who
possessed the entrie to the palace of the high priest (see below, cap.
xvii.), the question arises, how came these two families to be acquainted?
Between the answers proposed there is little to choose, so vague are
they and unsatisfactory. The account of Nicephorus is that John had
recently sold the estates of Zebedee to Annas, and therewith purchased
a fair house at Jerusalem, near Mount Sion (Cave's Lives, p. 150) ;
while Ewald supposes him to have belonged to the tribe of Levi.
The Jolm of the Gospels. 157
proceedings ; as it would be hard to suggest a wit-
ness of purer character, so we cannot readily imagine
one in a more favourable position for ascertaining
the actual sequence of events. Nor should it escape
us how deep an impression must have been made
on the Apostle's mind by all he then and there
beheld. A single glance through an open door
was enough to thaw the frost of Peter's denial ; what
then must the effect have been of the many glances
John had opportunity for exchanging with the
captive, and of the insults he saw heaped upon him ?
Can we wonder that this spectacle of suffering and
triumphant love, which he alone of the Twelve was
permitted to witness, should have branded upon
his soul in indelible characters the word LOVE,
henceforth to be the key-word of his life ? The rest-
less mind may perchance insist on asking whether
he interposed on his Lord's behalf, using his influence
with Caiaphas to restrain the violence of the by-
standers, or whether the case was so hopelessly pre-
judged that intervention was vain, and silent sympathy
the course likeliest to serve the interests of the pri-
soner. This is a question which it is easy to propose,
but to which the inquirer must be left to frame his own
answer.
If for a short time after the condemnation the
beloved disciple were parted from his Lord, it was
only that he might join that Lord's relations and sus-
tain their stunned and yet reeling hearts. In all the
pictures he is seen attending the daughters of Jerusa-
lem who met the mournful procession on its way to
Calvary. They follow the cavalcade and endure the
158 The Companions of the Lord,
heart-rending sight of the Crucifixion, when those
gracious hands and blessed feet
** were nail'd
For our advantage on the bitter cross."
There — as the sorrowing mother stands watching
the patient agony of her Son, upheld by John and
surrounded by the little group of brave women
amongst whom John's own mother Salome was pro-
bably numbered — the Sufferer's placid voice is
heard from above. The eyes, those " silent homes of
prayer" to the Father then felt so far and yet so
near, open full upon the mourners ; and when Jesus
" saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom
he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold
thy son ! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy
mother ! " His thoughts on the cross were for the
world he was dying to save, for his murderers, his
fellow-sufferers, his mother — for all but himself.
During his ministry he had been obliged to leave
Mary often and for long ; but still his heart was to
her as when a child at the Jerusalem feast. Once he
had repelled her misguided effort to withdraw him
from labour she deemed excessive ; but in his last
hour he was considerate of her future comfort.
Why however commend her to her nephew's care ?
It would seem that Joseph had been some years dead,
and that his sons by a former marriage were dis-
qualified by lack of sympathy or some unknown
reason from undertaking the precious trust, whereas
Jesus knew that in John she would find a spirit
whose ardent love to Himself gave best pledge that
The John of the Gospels. 159
he would religiously care for the widow mother.
" From that hour " we read " that disciple took her
unto his own home." Whether these words are to be
taken of an immediate departure of the two from the
mount of the Crucifixion, we can scarcely determine.
At the time when our Lord gave up the ghost " there
were certain women beholding afar off" ; but neither
is the Virgin mentioned as among them, nor John
as attending them ; so that it is possible he had
led her away before the horror of the expiring cry.
She is not mentioned as taking part in the deposi-
tion or entombment, though tradition cannot spare
her from either, deeming it apparently a failure
of maternal fidelity that she should not remain
in person throughout every scene.
But to return for a moment to the words wherein
our Saviour commended to one another mother and
disciple ; they summed up the twofold aspect of his
mission on earth as Reconciler. Just as he drew these
twain together, so would he unite mankind, linking
young and old, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile in
mutual affection. So too should be fulfilled his
grander design of bringing all men near to God.
With parting breath he seemed to say not merely
" Woman, behold thy son," but " Holy Father, behold
thy children " ; not merely " Behold thy mother,"
but "Children — mine own brethren — behold your
Father." This was his position as Mediator, to be
our representative with God and in turn to reveal
the divine mind towards us. He suffered once for
sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us
to God.
i6o The Companions of the Lord,
On the morning of the Resurrection John obeyed
with Peter the first summons of the women and
hurried to the sepulchre. They entered the tomb,
marked the scrupulous care that ruled so slight a
matter as the arrangement of the cerements, and
hastened back to their brother-apostles with a dawn-
ing faith which now broke in upon their night of
doubt and, beginning with a bare conviction that
the body had been removed, rapidly spread and
brightened into an apprehension of the Lord's pre-
diction as now blessedly fulfilled.
One scene more, and the John of the gospels passes
from view. He was of the party of disciples who
after the Resurrection kept tryst for their Master at
the sea of Tiberias. Partly to support themselves
whilst waiting, partly from old tastes, partly to beguile
the hours of suspense, they went upon the lake for a
night's fishing. When in the morning a voice struck
upon their ears from the shore, " they had no guess
who it was. It asked them simply if they had caught
anything. They said no. And it tells them to cast yet
again. And John shades his eyes from the morning
sun with his hand, to look who it is ; and though the
glinting of the sea, too, dazzles him, he makes out
who it is, at last."
In the conversation which followed the landing
and the breaking of their long fast, Peter occupies
the leading place ; but at the end John is incident-
ally drawn to the front, and when the curtain falls
it is on his figure that the eye of the spectator last
rests. " Follow me," said Jesus to Simon ; but John,
rightly judging that such a command was addressed
TJie John of the Gospels, 1 6 1
to all, took the word as applicable to himself also,
and moved in the direction in which Jesus was re-
tiring. Peter, hearing a step behind him, turned
and beheld his friend. The oracle just delivered
about himself stirred his curiosity to ask, " Lord,
and what shall this man do ? " In the reply, " If
I will that he tarry till I come," some have seen no
more than the foretelling of a natural death : " He
shall remain till / come to call him away, and
not be girded by others and led whither he would
not, as it shall be with thee, Simon.'" Otherwise
it seems to imply a second coming of the speaker
within the limits of one human life ; for, had the
Lord meant, " If I will that he tarry unto a millen-
nium indefinitely remote," it would have been felt
to be a mere parrying of the question, and no one
would have thought of building upon such an answer
the report which obtained credence in the Early
Church. But the discourse on Olivet had spoken of
a nearer advent, to be accomplished ere the genera-
tion then living had passed away ; and the hearers
might not unnaturally suppose Christ to mean that
John would possibly survive that great revolution of
Jewish society. So in point of fact he did, and that
by many years ; but the error of the report lay in
assuming that one who outlived that event would
not die at all. This misconception was shared by all
who confounded the end of the world with the end of
the Judaic aeon and imagined that Christians alive
at the crisis would not die but be caught up into the
clouds. The Apostle who heard his Saviour speak
X This sense is given by Ebrard, Gospel Hictory^ p. 461.
M
1 6 2 The Companions of the L ord,
these words of him and lived to understand the sense
in which they were true, contradicts in the act of re-
cording the rumour that was spread abroad, closing
his narrative with a solemn assertion of his authority,
.as eye-witness of the scenes in which he had borne so
prominent a part.
While it may be going too far to regard Peter's
question as intrusive, we are at least taught by the
answer made to it that even the most affectionate
interest in the future lot of our friends is of secondary
importance to our own duty. At that moment Christ
would not tolerate any withdrawal of Peter's mind
from the solemn resolutions to which he had just
been giving expression; while with regard to the
destiny of his companion, if it was not for the Son in
the voluntary lowliness of his earthly course to know
the times and seasons which the Father had put in
his own power, how much less did it concern the
servant to draw back the veil that Heaven had hung
over the future.
"* Lord, and what shall this man do?'
Ask'st thou, Christian, for thy friend?
* « « «
Sick or healthful, slave or free.
Wealthy, or despis'd and poor —
What is that to him and thee.
So his love to Christ endure?
When the shore is won at last.
Who will count the billows past?"
^t ^o^n of i^^ (garig C^urt^,
* Grow old along with me I
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made :
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ' A whole I planned,
• Youth shows but half; trust God : see all, nor be afraid ! '
* # * *
Youth ended, I shall try
My gain or loss thereby ;
Leave the fire ashes, what survives is gold:
And I shall weigh the same.
Give life its praise or blame :
Young, all lay in dispute ; I shall know, being old."
** O want thy Heaven till we have learnt the way,
Refiise to leave thy destin'd charge too soon ;
And for the Church's good defer thine own.
O live; and let thy works urge our belief;
Live to explain thy doctrines by thy Ufe,
Till Christians yet imbom be taught to die."
THE old connexion between James and John
has yielded by degrees to the growing strength
of Peter's alliance with the latter. Peter and John
are the two apostles prominently before us at the
Supper and the Trials ; it is they who are in com-
pany, displaying friendly concern one in the other's
lot, when the gospel histor>' closes ; and still linked
together they reappear in the earlier chapters of the
Acts. Here, as is often the case, family attachment
gave way before affinity of soul — the affinity, be it
observed, not of resemblance but of contrast, the fit-
ness to serve as complement, either to his neighbour.
Peter and John were the Consuls of the infant
community, joint leaders of its gathering energies.
The two are seen first in the healing of the lame man
at the gate Beautiful, and thereafter are cast into the
same prison by the incensed rulers. To what they
owed their release is untold; perhaps Caiaphas
moderated the counsels of the tribunal before which
on the following day they were arraigned, or the
presence of the healed man may have defeated the
165
1 66 The Compamons of the Lord.
desire to explain away the cure ; or again, hostility
may have been checked by the unabashed boldness
of the prisoners, and even more by the force with
which the tide of popular feeling had begun to set in
their favour. Whatever the cause, the prosecution
ended in words of menace, and the accused were
allowed to return unharmed to the rejoicing company
of the Church.
After the death of Stephen the two were once more
united in a visit to Samaria. When last there, John
had invoked fire from heaven upon the inhabitants,
to consume them ; now he calls down fire, but it
is the flame of Pentecostal blessing ; and he, who
before had devoted a whole hamlet to destruction,
now preaches the gospel in many of their villages.
But a heavy blow was impending over the sensitive
apostle. We cannot doubt that he would feel keenly
the sudden and cruel death of his brother, whom he
was destined to outlive by many a long year. " There
is something touching," it has been said, "in the
contrast between the two brothers, James and John.
One died before the middle of the first Christian
century ; the other lived on to its close. One was
removed just when his Master's kingdom, concerning
which he had so eagerly enquired, was beginning to
show its real character ; he probably never heard the
word ' Christian ' pronounced. Zebedee's other son
remained till the antichristian enemies of the faith
were * already come,' and was labouring against them
when his brother had been fifty years at rest in the
Lord.'"
* Conybeare and Howson, vol. i. p. 138.
The John of the Early Church. 167
There is every reason to believe that St. John
remained in Jerusalem not merely to the Virgin's
death but till after the Apostolic Council ; for St.
Paul states that, when present on the latter occasion
with Barnabas, he was greeted cordially by the
apostles ; and that, when James and Cephas and
John, who were accounted chief pillars of the Church,
perceived the grace given him, they extended both to
him and his companion the right hand of fellowship.
As this is the first recorded meeting of the illustrious
three, Peter, Paul and John, so is it the last. Peter's
day of work was almost spent ; the foundation of the
Church which he had it in charge to lay was almost
complete. Paul, who was legitimate successor to the
James of Herod's persecution, was but beginning his
work, for to him belonged the building up of the
main part of the structure. John's work was yet in
the future ; he was to take it up at the point where
Paul left it and put on roof and cornice.^ " It was
his vocation," says M. de Pressens6, " to preserve
the most precious jewels in the treasury of Christ's
revelations, and to bring to light the most sacred and
sublime mysteries of the. Gospel. In order to fulfil
this mission, he must needs wait until the Church
was ready for such exalted teaching."^ We have then
in John the spectacle of a man long held in leash,
I " Each of the Three has his distinct place in the first formation of
the early Church. Peter is the Founder, Paul the Propagator, John the
Finisher — Peter the Apostle of the rising dawn, Paul of the noon in its
heat and in its clearness, John of the sunset." — Stanley, Sermons and
Essays on the Apostolual Age, p. 4.
• Early Years of Christianity , p. 374.
1 68 The Companions of the Lord,
remaining under protracted training, and whose main
work in life was not to be done till old age had sil-
vered his hair and bowed his frame. Let no one,
marking in himself the infirmities that rise when youth
lies far in the background, say that his day of work is
past. The experience of age may well compensate
the world for any abatement of youthful impulse.
This Jerusalem life of the Apostle, which lasted so
far as we know for twenty years or more after the
Ascension — of what sort was it, and how did it prepare
him for his later work } His mind appears gradually
to have assumed a more contemplative cast, which is
no wonderful change when we consider the deep im-
pression made on it by the affecting scenes he had
witnessed of his Lord's passion. Nor would the
society of the mother of Jesus fail to exert a chasten-
ing influence upon his character. As once she
pondered the events attending the birth of her Son,
so with feelings more absorbed, though more divi-
ded, must she have dwelt on the circumstances of
his death. No saintlier presence than hers could
have moved in the household, none have acted as
nobler teacher to the Apostle — a holier than Monica
to a greater than Augustine. These two influences
may indeed have cooperated. " His fulfilment of
the solemn charge entrusted to him may have led
him to a life of loving and reverent thought rather
than to one of conspicuous activity. We may, at
all events, feel sure that it was a time in which the
natural elements of his character, with all their fiery
energy, were being purified and mellowed, rising step
by step to that high serenity which we find perfected
The John of the Early Church. 169
in the closing portion of his life.'" The Scriptures
give no account of the Virgin's death, as in truth
they have given but the scantiest notices of her
life; she is allowed to pass from the narrative as
unremarked as Salome or any of the other women,
St. Luke at least being accessible to no charge of
Mariolatry. But whenever her real assumption, the
assumption of her spirit, came, and her own Son
received her to himself, then was freedom given to
her adopted son to follow his brother-apostles and
go abroad in the interests of Christianity.
The date of St. John's departure from Jerusalem
cannot be fixed with precision. It has been con-
jectured that, as no mention is made of him on the
occasion of Paul's last visit to that city in the year
A.D. 58, he must have left it some time previously.
But the argument from silence is notoriously unsafe ;
and it seems to be specially so here, as we recall how
brief and tumultuous was Paul's visit, and reflect that
John, if then absent, may have been away only on
some passing errand. Unless we suppose him to
have remained in or near Jerusalem for another ten
years, there is no spot to which we can transfer him
with a shadow of confidence. The unwavering voice
of tradition carries him after a while to Ephesus ; but
there are sound reasons to prevent our admitting his
presence there till this decade has elapsed. One of
these is that St. Paul, when writing to the churches
in the neighbourhood of Ephesus during these years,
> Professor Plumptre, in The Bible Dictionary^ vol. i. p. i io6 a.
^ 170 The Companions of the Lord.
as well as when writing from its neighbourhood,
makes no allusion to him ; and another is drawn
from Paul's well-known reluctance to trespass upon
the province of a fellow-labourer. Now the execu-
tion of this apostle took place at Rome in the year
A.D. 6% ; and there are various indications that St.
John's missionary work in Asia Minor, if it could not
'begin earlier, did commence from about that time.
'For then the churches of the district, bereft by the
removal of their founder, would be demanding a sus-
taining and reorganizing hand. The grievous wolves
had, as Paul forewarned the elders, entered in, not
sparing the flock, and of their own body had men
arisen speaking perverse things in the hope of draw-
ing away disciples ; for Peter, writing to Christians
of the same region and time, refers to men among
them who stumbled at the word and used their liberty
as a cloak of maliciousness. But wholly apart from
the growth of heresy in the Ephesian church, its cen-
tral position made it of the highest importance that
a wise teacher should step into the vacated chair.
Ephesus stood at the conflux of Eastern and Western
commerce, at the meeting point between the reli-
gious thought of the two worlds, where the shock of
conflict was in some respects greater than at Rome
or Athens, so that " no city could have been better
chosen as a centre from which to watch over the
churches and follow closely the progress of heresy." ^
At the same time, while the position of Ephesus and
I Pressense, Early Years of Christianity^ p. 382. An interesting
sketch of the resources of Ephesus is given by Conybeare and Howson,
and by Tristram in his Seven Golden Candlesticks.
The John of the Early Church, 171
the needs of its Christian inhabitants conspired to
attract the apostle John, troubles were beginning in
Judaea, which soon culminated in the fall of Jerusa-
lem and could not fail to warn away one who had
listened to the Saviour's last discourse on Olivet.
We shall not then be far wrong if we assign his
arrival in Ephesus to the year A.D. 6Z or 69. But
what may have employed him on reaching his new
sphere of labour is matter of conjecture. None of
his writings belongs to so early a date by ten years,
unless we suppose the Apocalypse to have been re-
ceived and recorded while the world yet smoked with
the fires of the Neronic persecution. As however
thie evidence leans to a later origin for the exile to
Patmos, we are left to fill up the vacant space from
the passing hints of Scripture and the ampler sup-
plies of tradition. We gather from the former source
no more than that a strong connexion was formed
between the Apostle and the churches of the coast.
This intimacy would naturally be of gradual growth ;
and we may fairly assume that he spent much of
his time in visiting and establishing the congregations
formed in the neighbouring towns. At Ephesus
itself abundance of work would be found in resisting
the progress of evil, forasmuch as even within the
church "bitter dissensions had arisen, obliterating
that love which is the greatest of Christian graces.
The new philosophy had been employed as the
vehicle of grossly erroneous views concerning the
person and nature of the Son of God."' It was
t Alford, How to Sttidy the New Testament^ vol. i. p. 115.
172 The Companions of the Lord,
to the repression of these opinions that the fourth
gospel was, in part, afterwards directed. The interval
may be filled by noticing a few legends which har-
monize well with what we know of the Apostle from
Holy Writ, and may possess a foundation of truth.
The first of these is that told by Clement of
Alexandria about a certain youth in whose welfare
St. John had taken the deepest interest.^ The latter,
having cause at one time to leave Ephesus, com-
mended him to the care of a presbyter of the church,
said by some to have been Polycarp. On his return
his first inquiry was for his convert. "I demand,"
he cried, " the young man and the soul of a brother."
Whereto the old man, groaning heavily, replied, " He
is dead." "How, and by what death?" " He is dead
to God ; he has turned out wicked and abandoned,
and at last a robber." The other on hearing this
tore his garment and beating his head said with
great lamentation, " A fine keeper truly did I leave
of a brother's soul ! " Immediately the aged apostle
rode to the forest where the bandits were said to
be quartered, whose chieftain his former pupil had
become. Suffering himself to be made prisoner,
he was led into the presence of the captain ; who, so
soon as he beheld him, burst into tears of penitence,
imploring forgiveness ; and " while he spoke he hid
beneath his robe his right hand, which had been
sullied with so many crimes ; but St. John, falling
on his knees before him, seized that blood-polluted
I Preserved to us by Eusebius, bk. iii. cap. 23. The version given
by Mrs. Jameson is in part followed.
The JoJm of the Early Church, 1 73
hand, and kissed it, and bathed it with his tears ; and
he remained with his reconverted brother till he had,
by prayer and encouraging words and affectionate
exhortations, reconciled him with Heaven and with
himself."
That too is a characteristic story which is told of
the Apostle by Irenaeus — that, being one day in
the public baths and hearing that Cerinthus the
heretic was there also, he fled straightway from the
place, crying " Let us flee home lest the bath fall
in while Cerinthus is within." The incident, though
at first sight it seem to bespeak a foolish and illi-
beral mind, may serve more aptly to illustrate that
horror of sin which a pure heart cherishes, and where-
of a yet better illustration will be afforded when we
come to remark the invincible antipathy manifested
by St. John towards the traitor.
There is a link between the legend last quoted
and the fourth gospel : for it was a tradition of the
Early Church that the latter was composed to meet
the heretical doctrines of the Ebionites. Jerome says
the work was undertaken in compliance with the
request of the bishops of the Asian churches that he
would write more profoundly concerning the divinit>^
of Christ. ' There may be a polemical element in it ;
but we cannot take it as simply anti-gnostic or anti-
docetic ; its aim is not the destruction of error but the
I " • Theologos,' or *Divme,'as applied to St. John, is not used in its
ordinary modem sense, but, as is well known, in the pecvdiar sense
which it bore in the fourth century, *one who spoke of the Divinity of
our Lord.'" — %\ss^f^y Apostolical Age^ p. 271.
1 74 The Companions of the Lord,
construction of truth, not the demolition of Dagon
but the quiet introduction of the ark of the Lord,
before which the Philistine fish-god will of its own
accord fall prostrate. Nor can it be regarded as alto-
gether supplementary" to the synoptic gospels. The
late Dean of Canterbury '^ expressed himself "wholly
unable to receive the supposition that any of them, in
their present fornty had ever been seen " by St. John,
although allowing that he might have designed to
supplement the oral traditions then in vogue.
While it is not incumbent on us to enter into
detail, it may be permitted to point out three par-
ticulars in which special value belongs to the fourth
gospel: first in the full report given of the Lord's
early ministry in the South ; secondly in the vivid
narrative of his last discourses, his death and rising ;
and thirdly in the emphatic testimony borne through-
out to his divinity. While "keeping his stand on
the immovable historical ground of 'Jesus Christ
come in the flesh,' as the one central truth of all . .
he passes over everything merely outward or local;
institutions, miracles, actions, are only mentioned
in the higher truths they represent, or else only
introduced for the sake of those truths ; the earthly
things of the previous gospels are, as has been well
said, transfigured in the fourth; they, as the early
Christian writers expressed it, are of the body, his,
is of the Spirit.'"' That the gospel was composed
1 Greek Testament^ vol. i. prolegg. p. 56.
2 Stanley, Apostolical Age, p. 254. In one of the most recent works
upon the Gospel of John, Mr. Sanday points out how the individu-
ality of the writer may be traced in each page of the narrative.
The John of the Early Church. 1 75
before the Epistles and Revelation has been inferred
from allusions to it thought to occur in these writings
and from the more concise form in which the same
truths are presented in them. There are one or two
phrases in the gospel which have been held by some
to imply the continuance of Jerusalem at the time
of writing ; but these are crossed by other expressions
which may be taken as clearly to imply its previous
destruction. If then the period between the years
A.D. 70 and 85 be left open, we may safely follow
Ewald in assigning to the work the date A.D. 80.
The next production of the Apostle's pen appears
to have been his First Epistle. To some critics the
resemblance between this and the gospel has ap-
peared so close that they have suspected in the
former the hand of an imitator; its genuineness
however rests upon a basis of evidence too broad
to be shaken by such considerations. Assuming
for it a date five or six years later than that just
given to the history, it is yet very uncertain for
whose eye it was in the first instance intended. An
early tradition afftrms that it was addressed to the
Parthians ; but as no whisper has reached us of
intercourse existing between St. John arid that
remote people, many curious conjectures have been
hazarded with the view of solving the difficulty. To
the Spartans, to the dispersion, to the people of
Patmos, to the Parthens or virgins — these are speci-
mens of proposed readings, dictated by similarity
of sound rather than by any substantial reason.
All that can be advanced with confidence is that
the letter was addressed to a cycle of churches
I ']^ The Companions of the Lord,
under the superintendence of the writer, perhaps
to the same seven which received the later admo-
nitions of the Apocalypse. His object in writing
was to perfect the joy of the converts and to enjoin
love and obedience on all ages, from the fathers
to the young men, whom he could alike regard
as his little children in Christ Jesus. A warning
note is raised against the many antichrists and
false prophets who had gone out into the world ;
yet not so loud is this note as to drown the call to
a purer service of Christian love — love which would
be in them as a light for the discerning of error, as
a fire burning up the remains of sin. The epistle
is not only representative of John's teaching of
heavenly love, "a love working in stillness, a love
ever unwearied, never exhausted ; " but it is a fair
specimen of his style. It has been remarked that
** while St. Paul wields the weapons of warfare in
his irresistible and impassioned dialectics, St. John
is satisfied with expounding doctrine. He does not
dispute, he affirms. It is clear that he has been led
into the possession of the truth by a path widely
divergent from that of St. Paul — by the path of
direct intuition, of direct vision. His language has
the calmness of contemplation. He speaks in short
sentences, strikingly simple in form ; but that sim-
plicity, like a quiet lake, holds in its depths the
reflection of the highest heaven."'
But the time was now come for the violent inter-
I Pressense, Early Years, p. 375.
The John of the Early Chu7'ch, 1 77
ruption of his work at Ephesus. If there be any
truth in a statement made by TertuUian, he was
taken to Rome in the persecution under Domitian
and plunged into a caldron of boiling oil, from
which ordeal he came forth scathless as the three
who were cast into the burning fiery furnace !
Hesitate as we may to accept this story, there is
little ground for doubting that the Apostle was sent
either by way of Rome or direct from Ephesus to
labour in the mines of Patmos. This captivity may
be placed in the year A.D. 95, at the close of
Domitian's reign, and is said to have been termi-
nated on the accession of Nerva in the following
year. The rocky islets of the iEgean were much
used by the Romans as places of imprisonment.
Patmos was one of the smaller of them, and so
barren is it now that its appellation in the Middle
Ages of Palmosa might seem the ironical change of
a letter were we not assured that the palms at
present found only in one spot formerly grew in
abundance over the whole island.' Lying not more
than sixty miles south-west of Ephesus, it still pre-
serves the memory of St. John's visit in the cave
within whose shade the holy seer is said to have
received his vision. Certainly it is far more conso-
nant with the style and imagery of the Revelation
to suppose it written amid the naked grandeur of
those storm-swept shores than among the luxurious
scenes of the Asian capital.
I Stanley, Sermons Preached in the East^ p. 226, where Patmos is
said to be "very like Ithaca."
N
17S The Companions of the Lord,
The earlier date which some have assigned to the
book rests upon supposed reference to events con-
temporary with the fall of Jerusalem. But though
allusions may be recognized to the Temple liturgy,
this is no proof of the continuance of Temple services
up to the time of writing, while in the state of affairs
described as prevailing in the Asian churches we
seem to find surer hints of a much later origin.
The development of heresy is one of these ; another
equally strong is found in the implied recovery of
Laodicea from an earthquake which laid her waste
as late as the year A.D. 60. A certain roughness
of style is generally admitted ; but to say that
this was the Apostle's early manner, afterwards
polished by friction with Western refinement, appears
a lamer explanation than that which is suggested
by the exceptional circumstances of its composition.
At a time when he was in spiritual trance, his
communication of the marvels unfolded before his
eye would be " of necessity rhapsodical and hurried." ^
Yet not so rhapsodical or so hurried as to conceal the
familiar features of the writer ; for " who can fail to
recognize . . the crystal tones of the voice of that
disciple who reflects with such diamond brilliancy
the discourses of Jesus which he had treasured up in
the depths of his soul — of that disciple whose highest
delight it was in holy contemplation to sink down
into the light-sea of the divine glory t " ^ The identity
1 Alford, H(rw to Study the New Testament, vol. iii. pp. 286, 283 ;
Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 1037 a.
2 Ebrard, Gospel History, p. 577.
The John of the Early Church, 1 79
of style has been, according to one of our poets,
affirmed for us by the Apostle himself:
" Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach,
I went, for many years, about the world.
Saying * It was so ; so I heard and saw,*
Speaking as the case asked : and men believed.
Afterward came the message to myself
In Patmos isle ; I was not bidden teach.
But simply listen, take a book and write.
Nor set down other than the given word,
With nothing left to my arbitrament
To choose or change j I wrote, and men believed. '*
Addressed primarily to the seven churches of Asia,
and of these first to his own people at Ephesus, its
application is not limited to the Christians of that
age. As the number seven is used of completeness,
and the Divine Spirit of God is described in the book
as the seven spirits of God, so may we take the
message to the seven churches as intended for the
universal Church in all times. The prophetical parts
of the work have drawn the largest amount of atten-
tion, partly for the stimulus they have given to specu-
lation and research, partly from the idea, taken from
the opening verses, that peculiar blessings would re-
ward their study. It may be questioned whether the
bliss is not promised to those who keep the things
that are written therein rather than to those who hear
the words of its prophecy ; but certain it is that
more labour has been devoted by the learned to this
than to any other division of the canon. Some
indeed have broadly denied that any prediction was
intended by the writer ; but while critics have ranged
themselves in three camps, one regarding every pro-
i8o The Companions of the Lord,
phecy as already fulfilled, a second maintaining that
none has yet been accomplished, and a third that
all are in course of fulfilment. Dr. Arnold's view
will commend itself to many minds as simpler than
any of these and more discreet. " Predictions," he
says, " have a lower historical sense, as well as a
higher spiritual sense ; (so) that there may be one
or more than one typical, imperfect, historical fulfil-
ment of a prophecy, in each of which the higher
spiritual fulfilment is shadowed forth more or less
distinctly." ^
The two short " sister Epistles " belong apparently
to the last days of St. John's life, after his return
to Ephesus from exile. The writer describes him-
self, as Peter had done at the close of his career,
as an old man, and seems to be proposing some
new journey now that he is free to move whither
he lists. Of the two letters the former is addressed
to " the elect lady " or the elect Kyria, and the
latter to a certain Gains whom we have no reason
for identifying with any person of the same name
mentioned in the writings of St. Paul. The aspect
of the Church appears to have changed but little
from that which it bore in the first Epistle. Refer-
ence is again made to antichrist and many deceivers ;
while in both a flash may be seen of the Boanerges
zeal darting against men like Diotrephes, as before
it had been launched at Cerinthus.
The end of a long life was now at hand : the
« Cited in The Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iii. p. 1039 b.
The John of the Early Church, 1 8 1
Apostle probably did not survive his return to
Ephesus by any length of time. Surrounded by his
pupils, Polycarp, Ignatius, Papias and many others,
he had yet outlived all the comrades of his youth.
Heresies which he regarded as the depths of Satan
were rife, saddening his loving spirit. The latest legend
of his life is to the effect that, while lingering to the
verge of old age and with difficulty led down to the
church by the hands of the disciples, nor any longer
able to frame continuous sentences, he was wont to
reiterate just these words, " Little children, love one
another." At last the brethren who were present, being
weary of hearing the same words so often, said " Mas-
ter, why for ever this } " Whereto he replied in senti-
ment worthy of himself, "Because it is the Lord's
command ; and if it alone be obeyed, all is done."
The voice had said to him " Surely I come quickly ; "
well might he cry "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
In proportion to the clearness of the heavenly
vision he had enjoyed must have been his longing
to be gathered to the society of the redeemed and
admitted within the jewel-gates of the celestial city.
But dearest desire of all would be that of reunion
with the Master he loved. True, the descriptions
of Christ in the Apocalypse are awe-inspiring, but
only to foes ; perfect love casteth out fear ; and to
the beloved disciple He would appear not as wielder
of stars and sword but as the Saviour beside whom
he reclined at the Supper and from whose dying lips
he took his sacred charge. Now he would sit down
with Him at another board, and by going complete
the roll of glorified apostles.
1 82 The Companions of the Lord,
Travellers tell us that at Ephesus " there is nothing
to recall St. John except the rock-hewn tomb called
by his name, near the summit of a deserted hill . .
overgrown with brushwood and only marked by
the broken offerings of a few Greek peasants."
Yet around that spot the tradition of his immor-
tality long lingered ; and near three centuries later
Augustine was told that the dust about his grave
had been seen to rise and fall in gentle heavings
as of the slumbering sea, — fit image of the vitality
of his spirit which yet stirs beneath the greed and
anger of the world, and will one day stand forth
erect to proclaim the dynasty of Love.
XI.
x^
" It was not by intellectual power, like the phaosophers of Greece,
nor by arms and statesmanship, like the conquerors of Rome, nor by
the influence of a sacredotal order, like the priestly castes of India or
of Egypt, nor even by the patriotic zeal and unshaken endurance of
their own Jewish ancestors, that the supremacy of the apostles was
established. It was by the transforming energy of simple goodness,
devoted with a child-like faith, through a whole life, to the service of
God and man^*
OF the three groups into which, as we have
seen, the Twelve are divided, the second is
headed by the name of Philip. There may be
other reasons for the position thus assigned him ;
but as a fellow-townsman with the sons of Jonas
and Zebedee it was manifestly convenient that he
should be placed at their side. All five belonged to
Bethsaida of Galilee, possibly a suburb of Bethsaida
Julias at the northern extremity of the lake of Gen-
nesaret, but more generally believed to have been a
distinct township situated lower down on its popu-
lous western shore.' To the honours of Bethlehem
or Nazareth it could not indeed lay claim ; yet was
it no mean boast that from it came nearly a half of
the apostolic band, and that the half which included
its foremost members. But this place, oft visited by
the Lord and made by him the scene of mightier
works than ever Tyre and Sidon saw, knew not the
day of its visitation and drew upon itself the woe
» See the note appended to the present chapter.
J85
1 86 The Companions of the Lord,
pronounced against the other cities of the Galilean
plain. In the absence of all information about
Philip's family and early occupation, we can only
suppose that he may have been on intimate terms
with Andrew, John and their brothers, and that in
a town whose very name betokened the staple in-
dustry of its inhabitants he earned his livelihood in
common with them by the boat and the net.
Two days after Andrew's introduction to Jesus,
the latter quitted his lodging for the night and bent
his steps towards the heart of Galilee. On the way
we are briefly told that he met Philip and said unto
him, *• Follow me." His manner contrasted in two
respects with what it had been on the previous days.
Then he had been the sought rather than the
seeker ; nor had he displayed any haste in enrol-
ling as disciples those who found him. John and
Andrew almost pressed themselves on his notice ;
while upon Simon, who was afterwards brought
before him, he imposed a surname but no imme-
diate command. Now however he takes the initia-
tive ; he becomes the Shepherd seeking his own,
he appears as the Master claiming service due.
Whether Andrew had mentioned Philip as an ac-
quaintance and begged that he might be called, is
not clear ; but the expression " he findeth Philip "
implies that Jesus had gone out with the intention of
seeking him. And when the object of his search
was found, he put, before any word of greeting, the
plain, abrupt command, "Follow me." This is the
attitude in which the Saviour shews himself to us.
He has sought us ah ! how long and patiently v.^e
Philip. 187
best know as we recall our persistent efforts at escape.
And when any have suffered him to find them out,
"follow me" has been his first salutation. While
his ultimate aim is that they obtain rest and joy,
he knows full well there is no solid peace, nor any
salvation worth the having, save that which comes
through following him and obeying his will. There-
fore it was that he said to the labouring and heavy
laden, paradoxically yet most trulv, " Take my yoke
upon you ; " for, as he explained his meaning, his
yoke emancipates from other bondage, his burden
relieves from the galling load of sin; and he that
would be delivered from the tyranny of error must
first become vassal of the truth.
But did Philip, made thus " masterfast," at once
obey the command.? Instead of following Jesus, we
find him going away in search of Nathanael. Clearly
he did not take the injunction literally ; his idea of
following was finding. Well for us if we adopt the
same view. Would we learn how best to follow
our Lord } It is not in the enjoyment of ease in
Zion, not in the play of religious emotion, not even
in the cultivation of a contemplative piety that we
shall keep close to his blessed footsteps so much as
by unselfish effort to spread the knowledge of his
grace and lead others to trust in him. In the de-
finition of pure and undefiled religion given by
St. James there is assigned to works of Christian
charity the precedence over a regard for personal
holiness ; and the order observed is just, for a
Christian may be unworldly and yet unserviceable,
but induce him to be devoutly active and he will
1 88 The Companions of the Lord,
keep himself pure, like the mill-race where no weed
can grow. The old maxim that charity begins at
home needs to be accepted with caution ; for we see
repeatedly that in cases where charity does begin at
home she is apt to find herself so comfortable there
as to be extremely loth to go abroad. Our higher
rule is that of him who came not to be ministered
unto but to minister.
The testimony which Philip bore to Christ when
he met Nathanael was explicit : " We have found
him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets,
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Of
the objection raised, on hearing these words, by the
guileless yet prejudiced Israelite, we have not at pre-
sent to speak ; but a passing glance may be allowed
at Philip's compact and practical rejoinder. " Can
there any good thing come out of Nazareth t "
Nathanael had asked. "Come and see " is the reply,
a model for general imitation. For if, instead of
losing time and temper in endless disputations about
the evidences and dogmas of religion, we were in this
way to go at once to the heart of the matter and
propose a fair trial of it, the gain would be as great
to the Christian advocate as to those whom he tries
to convince.
A.11 the particulars which have reached us of Philip's
life are communicated by the evangelist John. It has
been assumed indeed that he is the disciple men-
tioned by Matthew who craved leave to go and
bury his father ; but the assumption rests on little
more than the occurrence in that passage of the
command to follow Christ which had been formerly
Philip, 189
addressed to Philip. It is in the fourth gospel that
he is introduced by name and, in the three pass-
ages which claim our notice, the references though
brief may help us to construct the framework of
his character as a companion of the Lord.
He appears for the first time after his call in
a scene to which allusion has already been made.
The disciples, fatigued and dispirited by their mis-
sion tour in Galilee, have been withdrawn by their
compassionate Master to the neighbourhood of the
eastern Bethsaida, wlither the people, allowing them
no rest, flock on foot by thousands. Fording the
Jordan at the point where it debouches into the
lake, they spread themselves over the grassy plain
that occupies the angle, " When Jesus then lifted
up his eyes, and saw a great company come
unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we
buy bread, that these may eat .? " It is a sugges-
tion of one writer that the question may have
been addressed to Philip as the disciple whose
office it was to provide supplies of food for his
brethren.^ But, if we have not evidence that the
commissariat was entrusted to Judas as keeper
of the common purse,^ we have none whatever that
this duty was placed in the hands of any one else.
The speculation is the less necessary inasmuch as
the evangelist himself goes on to state why he was
singled out : " This he said to prove him, for he
himself knew what he would do." Anxious to use
each trivial event for the instruction of the men he
« Bengal, on John vi. 5. « John xiii. 29.
190 The Companions of the Lord,
was engaged in training, our Lord seized this oppor-
tunity of testing their faith and preparing them for
the miracle which he designed already to perform.
His question may have been directed to that one
of the disciples who stood most in need of the
lesson that was to follow. " It should now be
seen whether Philip, calling to mind the great
things which Moses had done, who gave the people
bread from heaven in the wilderness, and the
notable miracle which Elisha, though on a smaller
scale than that which now was needed, had per-
formed (2 Kin. iv. 43, 44), could so lift up his
thoughts as to believe that He whom he had
recognized as the Christ, greater therefore than
Moses or the prophets, would be equal to the
present need."^
To the question proposed by the Lord we possess
two recorded answers. On that made by Andrew
we have touched in a previous chapter; it contrasts
favourably in its adventure of trust with the unre-
lieved gloom of Philip's reply. In the former there
is hesitation blended with faith as he leads forward
the child ; whereas the latter rises to no essay
of hope from his abandonment of the proposi-
tion as impracticable : " Two hundred pennyworth
of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one
of them may take a little." He had not the faith
to escape from the low view which was suggested by
way of trial in the form of the question. Christ had
there hinted at no solution of the difficulty save by
X Trencli, On the MiracleSy p. 268.
Philip. 191
purchase of bread for the hungering multitude ; and
Philip seems not to have dreamt of any other mode
of provision/ It is indeed just possible that under-
neath his spoken reply there lurked the unuttered
feeling : " No buying will suffice for so great a com-
pany ; but in some way of his own choosing the Lord
can provide ; " but it seems much more agreeable to
the context to suppose his reply dictated by " tardi-
ness of spiritual apprehension." Yet Philip was not
the first among the chosen people to betray forget-
fulness of the divine resources. When Jehovah
offered to feed Israel in the wilderness, Moses asked
in the same incredulous strain, nay almost in the
same words, " Shall the flocks and the herds be
slain for them, to suffice them ? or shall all the fish
of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice
them } " Both prophet and apostle doubted against
a previous experience of supernatural interposition
and supply, shewing how rarely even in the most
favoured men is the eye of faith cleared from all
film. And as Philip was not the first to ignore the
oft-proved wealth of Heaven's power and willing-
ness, so neither has he been the last. We the pro-
fessed followers of the same Master, who behold with
dismay at times sinking into hopeless indifference the
soul-hunger of multitudes of our fellowmen, are apt
to rely on the human energies of the Church and to
despair when we see their insufficiency. Instead of
complaining that our two hundred pence are inade-
X Stier calls the two hundred pence " a certain round sum proverbial
among the Jews ; there can hardly have been so much in the Saviour's
store" — vol. ii. p. 272.
192 The Companions of the Lord,
quale and ending with the complaint, let us look
to the Source of all riches for the multiplication
of our bag's poor contents ; in place of deploring
the paucity of Christian workers let us pray the
Lord of the harvest to send forth more labourers
into his harvest, and beseech the direct operation
of that Divine Spirit whose single voice penetrates
deeper and reaches wider than the whole chorus
of human preachers supported by the sounding
orchestra of religious societies.
Again Philip is found in company with Andrew ;
the conjecture may not perhaps be unfounded that
the latter was concerned in his first introduction to
Jesus, and that hence the two remained on con-
fidential terms. When the Gentile proselytes came
up to Jerusalem to worship at the feast, they repaired
to Philip. Possibly in passing southward through
Galilee they had heard of him as connected by family
ties with the Hellenists, and now felt that he would
be better able than the others to understand their
position and further their wishes. Their desire was
no more than this — " Sir, we would see Jesus ; " and
it was one with which Philip could not fail to sym-
pathize ; for had he not himself invited Nathanael
and many another to " come and see " the Lord }
Jesus too could scarcely refuse their request ; for
in the same words he had formerly bidden Andrew
and his companion welcome to the place where he
dwelt.
No doubt Philip made answer to the applicants that
it was certain if they came to the Master in spirit
they would not be cast out, though whether at that
Philip, 193
moment a personal interview were obtainable might
be questioned. In his wish to serve the strangers
and yet avoid intruding upon Christ, he called
Andrew to council, and together they resolved to
present the request of the Gentiles. If, as many
think, their suit was not granted, we may be
satisfied that it was because he who read men's
motives saw idle curiosity underlying it, or because
in the final instructions he was then giving in the
Temple he could not suffer interruption for the pur-
pose of imparting to the visitors such matters as his
apostles could sufficiently communicate. Whether
they saw him or not, he appears to have turned aside
the direct inquiry of the two disciples and made
in place of answer a solemn allusion to the near
approach of the hour of death — that hour which to
the world might seem the midnight of defeat but
which he foreknew to be harbinger of glory ; for
when lifted up from the earth he would draw all men
in adoration to the foot of the cross, and yet more by
the power of his sacrifice draw them on to the same
cross, there to be crucified with him unto the world.
The mention of the Father as honouring those that
serve the Son, and the cry of the soul's anguish
"Father, save me from this hour," serve to connect
this scene with that which follows, wherein Philip's
perplexity is stirred by references to the mysterious
relation subsisting between God and Christ. The
conversation at the supper table has fallen into the
same strain pursued by the Lord after hearing the
petition of the proselytes. He speaks of the Father's
many-mansioned house above and of his own intended
O
194 1^^^ Companions of the Lord,
departure thither to prepare a place for his disciples.
The active minds of Thomas and Philip work rest-
lessly over these sayings; and after the one has
spoken out his difficulty, the latter delivers himself
of a doubt which still darkened his thoughts : " Lord,
shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us." A recent
writer takes a more severe view of this address than
the answer of Jesus or the character of the Apostle
seems to bear out. ^ " It may have been," he thinks,
" Philip's restlessness of mind, taking pleasure, as men
will, in the mere starting a religious difficulty for its
own sake ; it may have been an instinctive wish to
find some excuse for escaping from those sterner obli-
gations which, on the eve of the Passion, discipleship
would threaten presently to impose. However this
was, Philip preferred to our Lord the peremptory
request . ." Peremptory or not, it was a request
which gave utterance to one of the deepest longings
that thoughtful men have ever felt. Amid the ache
and turmoil of the world, amid the loss of friends,
the malice of foes and the inconstancy of our own
hearts, we are tempted to regard the Ruler of
mankind as a despot of inflexible rigour, forgetful
of our weal. The heavens above us are as brass,
the earth beneath our feet rings hard as iron. But
if any can persuade us that despite all adverse ap-
pearances he is our true and loving Father, the
crowd of haunting fears will be chased away and
vanish. "Shew us the Father" working among all
the changes and chances of this mortal life, and
X Canon Liddon in his fourth Bampton Lecture, p. 177
Philip. 195
not a blind Destiny or estranged Monarch, "and it
sufficeth us," for in his fatherhood we his children
yet may trust.
Philip's prayer however, good as it was in principle,
was warped by serious mistake. He erred for ex-
ample in supposing that the Father whom no eye
hath seen or can see could be shown in vision to
human sight ; while, if what he sought could have
been granted, it would not have afforded him the
satisfaction he anticipated. A miraculous apocalypse
may gratify the generation that seeketh after a sign ;
but it is only as the heart apprehends God that the
rest for which we yearn can visit us. There was too
this third fault in the Apostle's prayer ; not only did
he ask a vision which could not be given and which
if given would have failed of its object, but he omit-
ted to perceive that in Jesus, his Lord, he possessed
already an adequate revelation of the Father. " Jesus
saith unto him. Have I been so long time with you,
and yet hast thou not known me, Philip } " — ^words
which seem to rebuke Philip for an absence of faith
with which his brethren were not to the same de-
gree chargeable. "He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us
the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the
Father, and the Father in me .'' " Our Lord's language
had often sounded ambiguous ; at times he had
spoken of himself as separate from and subordinate
to the Father, at times had claimed equal honours
and oneness of nature with him ; but the answer
is now forthcoming ; he leaves it to be understood
that it is only in his self-imposed humiliation as
196 , The Companions of the Lord,
man's Redeemer that inferiority can be ascribed to
him, and uses words which assert his inherent unity
with the Father almost as clearly as when he said
" I and my Father are one." Let it not be said that
by this faith we dishonour the one and only true God
by raising a distinct and therefore inferior being to
his throne ; for Christ is that one Eternal in his man-
ward aspect, he is the mighty God and everlasting
Father as alone that God and that Father can be
revealed to our understandings ; in seeing and re-
ceiving Jesus we believe, according to his own assur-
ance to Philip, that we are beholding and receiving
our very God.
But there remains to be noticed the pathos of that
gentle remonstrance, " Have I been so long time
with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip V
The Apostle might have replied that it was but three
years, and that he could not be expected in so brief
a space to fathom all the depths of Christ's teaching ;
but we read of no attempted vindication on his part.
It seems clear that the Saviour does not regard any
length of time as necessary in order to our learning
the central truths of his religion, and that he is
grieved at the slowness of our spiritual apprehension.
How long has he been with us and we professedly
his daily pupils ! Yet though the time may be
nearer thirteen or thirty years than three, how im-
perfectly have we recognized his claims and under-
stood his character! Let our ear be opened to his
tender rebuke, which should tell more powerfully
than wrathful threatening upon the backward dis-
ciple and the unsurrendered heart.
Philip. 197
Here we part company with Phinp. He may
have been present at the appearance made by the
risen Jesus to his disciples gathered beside the sea
of Tiberias ; he was certainly numbered among the
apostles assembled in prayer in the interval between
the ascension of the Lord and the promised descent
of the Comforter, his substitute. Tradition points
out Hierapolis in Phrygia as the scene of his mission-
ary labours and of his martyrdom, which latter is
said to have taken the form of crucifixion added to
stoning. There is however no legend that deserves
to be lifted from its apocryphal obscurity or brought
in to mar the simple picture painted for us in a few
bold strokes by the evangelist. A man of slower
intuition than some of his companions, he yet
showed a frankness in questioning and a prompt
zeal in leading friends and strangers to Christ which
may warrant us in believing him to have been
a valuable disciple. For a tardy understanding,
serious drawback though it be, is best remedied
by an outspoken admission of ignorance and
prayer for enlightenment ; while its removal will be
soonest effected by a ready compliance in those
matters already seen to form a part of duty, accord-
ing to the promise which declares obedience to be
" the organ of spiritual knowledge."
198 The Companions of the Lord,
NOTE ON THE BETHSAIDAS.
Although the Palestine Exploration Fund has
brought out a map of this district which claims to
be "the only accurate map of the lake ever published"
{pur Work, p. 183) it must not be supposed that the
long-debated sites of Bethsaida and Capernaum have
been definitely ascertained. Captain Wilson agrees
with Dr. Thomson (Land and Book, pp. 360, 373)
in placing the Galilean Bethsaida at Abu Zany close
to the entrance of the Jordan (so that the two Beth-
saidas would be divided only by the river), Capernaum
at Tell Hum a place with considerable ruins two
miles to the south-west, and Chorazin at Kerazeh,
two and a half miles inland. Reference to a map
will shew that according to this view none of the
three is assigned to the Plain of Gennesareth. At
the northern extremity of this plain is Khan Minyeh,
the traditional site of Capernaum, and accepted by
Robinson. Dr. Tristram however {Land of Israel,
pp. 439^444) follows De Saulcy in identifying Caper-
naum with Ain Mudawarah, in the centre of the
plain, setting Chorazin at Tell Hum and Bethsaida
between the two at Ain Tabiga. Mr. Grove reviews
the evidence in T^ie Dictionary of the Bible (vol. i.pe.
273 b) and is persuaded that the difficulty is insoluble.
XII.
"Thou must be true thyself,
If thou the truth would'st teach;
Thy soul must overflow, if thou
Another's soul would'st reach.
It needs the overflow of soul
To give the lips full speech."
*' DUABUS ALIS HOMO SUBLEVATUR A TERRENIS, SCILICET SIMPLI-
CITATE ET PURITATE. SIMPLICITAS DEBET ESSE IN INTENTIONE,
PURITAS IN AFFECTIONE. SIMPLICITAS INTENDIT DEUM, PURITAS
APPREHENDIT ET GUSTAT."
A FEW words will suffice to explain why these
two names are generally taken to belong
to one and the same person. The evangelist John
says nothing of Bartholomew, but he mentions
Nathanael in terms which imply that he was of the
number of the Twelve ; the other gospels are silent
about Nathanael, but speak of Bartholomew in the
same connexion in which John introduces Nathanael.
The probability that the guileless Israelite was an
original apostle is raised almost to certainty by the
omission of his name from the list of candidates for
the place vacated by Judas. If he were already an
apostle, he could not of course be nominated and the
absence of his name is intelligible ; but had he not
been enrolled in the original band, it is beyond belief
that one of the earliest disciples, called, commended
and associated with the apostles, and still alive at
the time of this election, should not have been pro-
posed as a witness of the Lord's career. To this
may be added the fact that Bartholomew is not so
much a man's proper name as a description of him
202 The Companions of the Lord,
by reference to his father, and hence does not inter-
fere with the name Nathanael any more than Simon
with the patronymic Barjonas. The two names are
complementary ; and as we read in the New Testa-
ment of a Bartimaeus, a Barabbas, a Barjesus, so it
would seem we have here a man strictly called
Nathanael but who, as son of one Tolmai, was known
also by the name Bartholomew. ^
In tracing the history of the apostle Philip the
pages of the fourth gospel were found to be our sole
source of information ; it is so in the present case
too. Nothing is told by the synoptists respecting
Bartholomew save his name and apparent con-
nexion with Philip; but though St. John mentions
him on only two occasions, one at the opening of
Christ's ministry and one after its close, enough
is recorded to give us an unusually clear view of his
early character.
This " gift of God," for such is the purport of the
name, as of our Theodore and Dorothea, was made
to the little town of Cana in Galilee.'' The humble
village, in which "there is not now a habitable house,"
lay a few miles to the north of Nazareth and not far
from Capernaum, though on somewhat higher ground.
» This view seems altogether preferable to one mentioned, though
not advocated, by Cave {Lives, p. 170) that Bartholomew means son or
scholar of the Tholmaeans, a Jewish sect said to be denominated from
one "Thalmai, scholar to Heber the ancient master of the Hebrews."
2 "Cana or the Reedy. The epithet * of Galilee ' was added to dis-
tinguish it from another Cana, one of the streams that flow into the
Mediterranean, and so called doubtless for a similar reason, in the tribe
of Ephraim."— Stanley, Sermons in the East, p. 189.
Nathanael or Bartholomew, 203
The notion that Nathanael was a brother of Philip
appears to have arisen from the fact that the apostles
so far have run in pairs of brothers, and also that
Philip's errand to Nathanael was like that on which
Andrew went in search of his brother Simon. That
the two were on terms of friendship is probable
enough ; and Philip may have mentioned Nathanael
to Jesus and obtained leave to summon him to their
company. Or may it not be that Jesus himself
suggested the call ? His language at the interview
implies previous observation of Nathanael, and the
later mission of Ananias to Saul of Tarsus praying
in Damascus would be an exact parallel to the send-
ing of Philip to such and such a house in Cana with
a message to the secret disciple. Whether at the
Saviour's instance or of his own generous motion,
he brought the glad Eureka to Nathanael — "We
have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and
the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son
of Joseph." They were words which hinted at once
the higher and humbler origin of the Christ who,
while in one view the centre of ancient prophecy, the
foretold and expected Redeemer, was in another the
son of a carpenter living in the obscure hamlet of
Nazareth.
Nathanael's mind laid hold of the latter part of
the description, and upon it raised the objection
•* Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth t "
This objection, which be it observed is couched in
the form of a question rather than of an assertion,
is not so strong as may at first sight appear. A
Galilean himself, Nathanael could scarcely speak of
204 The Companions of the Lord,
the Nazarenes with the same contempt which the
inhabitants of Judaea indulged towards them. And
such contempt as may be detected in his words was
not entirely undeserved. Nazareth was a place of no
history, unmentioned in the whole of the Old Testa-
ment Scriptures. Nor was obscurity its sole reproach.
"Its wild character high up in the Galilean hills
may account both for the roughness of its popula-
tion, unable to appreciate their own Prophet, and
for the evil reputation which it had acquired even
in the neighbouring villages."^ Still, natural as
this prejudice was to the man of Cana, and perhaps
his own purity would make him more sensitive to the
bad character of Nazareth, it was a prejudice, and
one like that which led the chief priests and Pharisees
to say afterwards to Nicodemus, " Art thou also of
Galilee } Search, and look : for out of Galilee ariseth
no prophet." True, Nazareth had produced nothing
in the past that was distinguished for aught save
evil ; and the probability was that the produce of
the future would be of the same kind. But the
Israelite should have known that this was not the
case of a tree always yielding the same sort of fruit.
The worst homes may shelter children of exceptional
promise, even as we see sweetest flowers often grow-
ing on noxious heaps or from the crevices of stone
walls. Sodom had been able to boast its Lot, the
murmuring camp its Moses, the effete monarchy of
Judah its Jehoiada ; so might Nazareth its Jesus ;
while it was to be remembered that, if in that place
X Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 366.
Nathaftael or Bartholomew, 205
of ill repute the powers of evil were active, God's
purifying Spirit was at work there also. The injus-
tice which is done by judging of antecedents as
though they were always causes is one we ought
carefully to shun. Many a man has been crushed
in his early struggles to rise because society would
not give him a fair trial, but branded across his brow
in a bar of red the scornful word — Nazarene.
Yet the prejudice of Nathanael was not deep-laid ;
for, as soon as Phihp sensibly urged him to "come
and see," he shewed himself willing to go. An
obstinate prejudice, which is the result of a fear of
conviction or of culpable apathy — we say culpable,
for be Christianity true or false, it certainly is im-
portant enough to demand examination — would have
refused to take advice, denying that any evidence
could persuade it of good issuing from Nazareth.
A man of obstinate prejudice moreover, though re-
ceived by the Lord, would not have been greeted in
the tones with which the approach of Nathanael was
hailed ; for we read that " Jesus saw Nathanael
coming unto him and saith of him. Behold an' Israel-
ite indeed, in whom is no guile ! " The remark was
probably overheard by Nathanael, but it was addressed
not directly to him so much as to others concerning
him — the more prudent way of expressing commen-
dation. Yet the Master's testimony, though it had
been direct, was not of the kind to spoil. To expa-
tiate in praise of wit or beauty is dangerous to the
subject of the eulogy; but to utter honest admira-
tion of kindness and straightforwardness is not
likely to injure. Such praise feeds no low ambition
2o6 The Companions of the Lord,
of the soul ; if deserved, it is humbly accepted ; if
felt to be unmerited, it is dismissed with the resolve
so to act as presently to deserve it. It was not the
wisdom of Nathanael that Christ remarked nor his
sinlessness ; for we can take His words only as declar-
ing him " guileless " in comparison with his neigh-
bours. But the Master's approval was won by the
frankness of the Israelite's nature, innocent of dis-
guise and retaining in manhood a childlike simplicity
of thought. The Jew was declared to be not he who
was one outwardly, the true Israel to be the heir of
Abraham's faith, the Christian to be not the pos-
sessor of- pious surroundings and church privileges,
but the man with heart under the rule of Him who
was harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners/
Such was the Saviour's greeting of Nathanael, and
it was a noble example of the return which He
preached of good for evil. Nathanael had expressed
prejudice ; Jesus in turn does not denounce him as
stiff-necked or grudge commendation, but dwells by
choice upon the brightest aspect of his character.
That this brighter view was justified appears
from the simple-hearted rejoinder of the disciple.
" Whence knowest thou me t " is all he has to say.
Another mind would have lingered over the praise
just received, perhaps disclaiming it with a subtle
wish to hear it repeated ; but his guileless spirit, like
that of the Virgin perplexed not elated by the
I " Israelite was the title which on many accounts the Jew was best
pleased to hear. There were others who were Abraham's seed as well
as he ; the Ishmaelite and the Edomite ; but ' Israelite' was a title ex-
clusively his own."— Trench, Studies in the Gospels^ P- ?!•
Nathanael or Bartliolomew, 207
angel's benediction, seems to have no thought of
self but simply to be occupied with wonder at a
salutation which implied previous knowledge of
him. There is no ground for supposing that he
suspected as yet any supernatural insight on the
part of Jesus. Probably he would have been far
from inferring it from the declaration of his guile-
lessness ; for the purer the soul, the more keenly alive
is it to its sins, just as the brighter the mirror the
more conspicuous on it is the cloud of breath or speck
of dust. But while he would not allow that the
description of his character was accurate, he might
well wonder how One whom he had never before
seen should display the confidence which as a rule
springs only out of prior acquaintance.
This feeling of simple wonder was developed by
the Lord's reply. "Jesus answered and said unto him.
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under
the fig tree, I saw thee." The words indicate that
Nathanael had been overseen as he was going under-
neath the fig tree for some set purpose ; and it has
been commonly supposed that this purpose was
prayer — the same purpose which led Peter on to the
housetop at Joppa, and Daniel into the chamber
whose windows looked towards Jerusalem, and our
Saviour so often to the Mount of Olives. Had
Nathanael's proseiichh been in a public highway,
along which fig trees were often planted,^ it would
have been nothing surprising that a passer-by should
have witnessed his devotions. But in that case we
I Lange, Life of Christ, vol. ii. p. 285.
2o8 The Companions of the Lord.
should be at a loss to understand the profound
conviction that took immediate possession of his
mind. It seems abundantly clear that he regarded
Jesus as privy to what he had before deemed an
absolute secret.
The Jewish house had its inner court open to the
sky and set with vines and fig trees growing around
the central well or fountain. This arrangement is
alluded to by the Psalmist — " Thy wife shall be as
a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house " — and is
described as an emblem of domestic peace, as when
we read that in the days of Solomon, from Dan unto
Beersheba, "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every
man under his vine and under his fig tree." Now for
Jesus to have seen Nathanael retiring to pray beneath
the shadow of his garden-tree, and from his observa-
tion to have inferred the character of the worshipper,
might naturally excite more than ordinary surprise.
We may indeed even yet attempt to evade the super-
natural element by supposing that Christ witnessed
the spectacle through some half-open door ; but from
what follows it is manifest that Nathanael did not
believe in such an explanation any more than the
poet who wrote —
** So did Nathanael, guileless man,
At once, not shame-fac'd or afraid,
Owning Him God, who so could scan
His musings in the lonely shade ;
In his own pleasant fig-tree's shade,
Which by his household fountain grew,
Where at noontide his prayer he made
To know God better than he knew."
Nathaitael or Bartholomew. 209
When we come to extend our Lord's words beyond
the limits of their first application, they remind us of
great and consoling truths. "Before that Philip
called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I
saw thee." The earliest yearnings of the heart
heavenwards, its whispered devotions and hours of
silent thought when no eye is known to overlook,
are observed by him who watching over Israel
slumbers not nor sleeps. To Ananias it was said
of Saul, " Behold, he prayeth ; " to Cornelius the
devout man who prayed to God alway, " Thy
prayers . . are come up for a memorial before
God." Let us be cheered in the belief that, when
under the fig tree of worship or spiritual conflict,
the Saviour sees us and approves ; for he has said,
** Before they call, I will answer ; and while they
are yet speaking, I will hear." And this heavenly
observation precedes the human call. No Philip
may have sought us out, declaring the gospel and
beckoning us to a nearer view of Christ ; men may
have left us untaught and uninvited ; but the Master's
eye has been upon us, and his heart desiring and
devising our welfare. A lesson too concerning the
way in which disciples are chosen. Just as the
Pharisee of Tarsus, blind after his Damascus vision
and crushed, was declared to be a chosen vessel
to bear the name of the Lord before the Gentiles
and kings, so this secret servant of Cana was
marked out by the all-searching Eye as a future
apostle. Sterling qualities such as he had been
observed to possess could not be spared by the
Founder of the new faith; who now, having sum-
P
2IO The Companions of the Lord,
moned him through Philip, greeted him with words
of recognition.
Impressed with added wonder at what he took to
be evidence of prseternatural knowledge, Nathanael
cried, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God ; thou art
the King of Israel." It is not likely that this con-
fession followed upon the mere hearing of Christ's
acquaintance with his private life ; for even his
unsuspicious nature might hesitate to draw at once
so large a conclusion from such a premise. But the
Teacher's words were accompanied and endorsed
by a twofold commentary. Philip had already
announced the finding of the Messiah, and so had
given him the clue and supplied confirmation to
the theory suggested by these words of the Master.
Nor can we doubt that his own purity of character
had something to do with the recognition ; where
others trace but human agency, " the pure in heart
shall see God." When men encompass themselves
with the brazen din of the world, it cannot be
expected that they should catch the tones of the
still, small voice ; but while
"Cleon hears no anthems ringing
In the sea or sky ;
Nature sings to me for ever,
Earnest listener I. "
And in like manner the simplicity and unworldliness
of Nathanael would prepare him to detect in Christ's
deportment and speech proofs of the divine which
would have escaped the notice of coarser minds.
Whatever may have led to the acknowledgment, it
Nathanael or Bartholomew, 211
was unreserved and complete. Forgetting the slur
that lay on the birthplace of the Nazarene, he
reverently says to him, "Thou art the Son of
God ; thou art the King of Israel." Do we re-
cognize the Lord Jesus in this twofold attitude,
as God's representative, speaking to us with the
authority and love of the Father, and at the same
time as our sovereign, claiming and receiving the
homage of our lives }
Then follows the answer of the Lord to Nathanael's
testimony. Not staying to repudiate it, any more
than afterwards he disclaimed the honours paid him
by Thomas and Peter, but accepting divine titles
as due to him amid his lowly walk on earth, he has
somewhat to say to his new disciple : " Because I
said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest
thou } " (or it may be " thou believest "). He recog-
nizes Nathanael's faith as based chiefly on that prior
observation which the latter had deemed proof of
omniscience; nor does he hint that the basis was
insecure; rather his words imply that there was no
illusion but that the man's conclusion was justified.
At the same time he gives him to understand that
faith has surer foundations whereon to rest : *' Thou
shalt see greater things than these." The Saviour
would not be judged simply by his miraculous
knowledge, but preferred to be tested by his cha-
racter, as that character would be seen developed
in a life of holiness and love.
For the promise that follows is not of any mar-
vellous vision to be granted his apostles : " Here-
after ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of
212 The Companions of the Loi^d,
God ascending and descending upon the Son of
man." The language truly refers to Bethel ; but
"the vision of the way reaching from heaven to
earth received its highest application in a Divine
manifestation, yet more universal and unexpected.
Not in the Temple or on the High Priest, but
on the despised Nazarene, the Son of man, was
Nathanael to see the fulfilment of Jacob's vision,
'the angels of God ascending' into the open heaven,
and 'descending' on the common earth." ^ And
this is explained by Luther,'* who says that "when
Christ became man and had entered on His minis-
terial office and begun to preach, then was heaven
opened, and remains open." Through succeeding
years the disciples were to see not merely a Trans-
figuration, and to hear not merely a voice from
heaven, but to receive constant proof of his own
assertion that he was the Way, save by whom no
man could come to the Father, the Ladder set
between heaven and earth whereby men and angels
could hold intercourse and pass from the one to
the other. Let there but be
"The child-like faith, that asks not sight,
Waits not for wonder or for sign . . .
Heaven to that gaze shall open wide,
And brightest angels to and fro
On messages of love shall glide
'Twixt God above and Christ below."
« Stanley, Jewish Church, part i. p. 5 1.
a As cited by Alford, Greek Testament, vol. i. p. 698.
Nathanael or Bartholomew. 2 1 3
Immediately after the close of this interesting
scene, the Evangelist proceeds to describe the
marriage in Cana of Galilee. Knowing as we do
from a later notice that Cana was Nathanael's
home, one cannot help wondering whether it were a
ceremony in which he had personal concern. The
old fable that he was the bridegroom has no shadow
of support ; but it is quite credible that he was
acquainted with the contracting parties and that
Jesus, who may have been staying under his roof,
was persuaded by him to grace the feast and
honour the company with his genial presence.
We know nothing further of Nathanael which
needs to detain attention. It was alleged that
he was one of the two journeying to Emmaus to
whom the Lord first joined and then revealed
himself ; but besides the improbability that these
two were of the number of the eleven we may
doubt whether his purer vision would not have
earlier detected the Risen One, and the fire of re-
cognition in his heart burned through into speedier
utterance. He is mentioned as present at the
miraculous draught of fishes that preceded the
Ascension, and is dismissed from the pages of
Holy Writ with a mere memorandum of his other
name by St. Luke. It is by this other name that
he is known to tradition, which reports him to
have travelled into India or Arabia, and in the
end suffered that horrible death of flaying to which
Apollo is said to have subjected his rival in song.
The Saviour's beatitude on the pure in heart is
214 ^^^ Companions of the Lord.
perhaps the best comment we can offer upon the
life of this apostle." Pure in heart he saw not at
the first, as he thought, but prayed in secret and
in secret mourned ; yet even then he was uncon-
sciously beholding God in spirit, and was himself
being lovingly watched by One whose nearness he
suspected not Pure in heart he was invited to
see Jesus ; laying aside uprising prejudice he came
and saw ; pure in heart he recognized upon com-
paratively slight evidence the divine character of the
Lord ; and pure in heart he received the promise of
continued vision clearer and yet more clear, beholding
**the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth."
I It will be remembered that the character of Mr. Honest in the
second part of the PUgrim's Progress is modelled on Nathanael.
**\Vhen Christiana saw that her time was come . . she called for old
Mr. Honest, and said of him, * Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
guile ! ' " And shortly afterwards, when his own time came to be gone,
"he addressed himself to go over the river. Now the river at that time
overflowed the banks in some places ; but Mr. Honest in his lifetime
had spoken to one Good Conscience to meet him there, the which he
also did, and lent him his hand, and so helped him over."
XIII.
" There is small chance of truth at the goal where there is not a
childlike humility at the starting post."
" At once he rose, and left his gold ;
His treasure and his heart
Transferr'd, where he shall safe behold
Earth and her idols part ;
While he beside his endless store
Shall sit, and floods unceasing pour
Of Christ's true riches o'er all time and space,
First angel of His Church, first steward of His Grace."
THERE have now passed in order before us six
of the apostles, a half of the entire number.
All the foregoing were called as disciples in the
earliest days of the Lord's ministry, and several
were subsequently re-called by him from the trades
they had hitherto followed. He to whom we now
come may be more fairly classed with them than
with the later names on the list, partly because we
possess a distinct account of his summons to the
apostolate and in part because that account seems
to imply a previous course of discipleship.
By Mark and Luke he is called Levi ; by himself
Matthew, which latter name is adopted by all three
evangelists in giving the catalogue of the apostles.
It means the same as John and Jonathan, nearly the
same with the name of the apostle last under consider-
ation, the Jewish parent being guided in the choice of
names for his children not so much by a desire for
euphony or the goodwill of moneyed relations as
by the wish to acknowledge His goodness who had
in each case given the perfect gift. Though Matthew
ax7
2 1 8 The Companions of the Lord,
is described as the son of Alph^us, we are not
entitled to identify this Alphaeus with the father of
certain others of the apostles ; while still less weight
attaches to the idea that Matthew was a brother
of Thomas. We know about him nothing save his
profession. He was a publican ; possibly a money-
lender in business on his own account, but more
probably engaged in some capacity as collector of
the tribute exacted by the Romans from the Jews.
The publicans properly so called were men of rank,
who rented the privilege of gathering the taxes and
employed subordinates in the actual work of the
collection. Such a subordinate Matthew appears to
have been. His class was hated as representing the
foreign oppressor and extorting payment from its
fellow-countrymen of dues which they repudiated
as unjust. And from all accounts the publicans
seem to have deserved much of the odium which
they certainly incurred. The confession of Zacchseus
and the stern rebuke addressed by the Baptist to the
publicans who came to hear him concur with profane
testimony to shew that they were guilty of the
practices which led to their being called the wolves
and bears of human society. The very contempt
in which they were held would tend still further to
debase them ; for when a man encounters on this
side and on that dark glances of suspicion or the
scowl of hatred, he is in great danger of losing his
self-respect and growing vindictive. Yet in the
gospels this class of men is shewn in a hopeful light.
They were free from the varnished pretences of the
Pharisees; they knew themselves to be under the
Matthew, 219
social ban, and hence were the readier to hearken to
him who came as the Friend of sinners and would
undertake their cause against the tyrant rulers. Cer-
tainly with none did our Lord deal more tenderly
in word and deed than with the pubhcans ; of his
tenderness we shall have a conspicuous example
as we proceed.
With regard to Matthew, we have no right to
conclude as some have done that, because a pub-
lican, therefore he was an immoral man. Character
cannot always be safely inferred from trade, and
no proof can here be adduced to shew that he was
partaker in the sins of many of his companions. Nor
must we join with those who think of him as exceed-
ing rich, for all we know of his property is that he
had a house of his own and that after relinquishing
his stock-in-trade at Jesus' call he could yet furnish
forth a large entertainment. It is the wish to
heighten the grace which transformed him that has
encouraged the one idea, and the wish to heighten
his sacrifice in leaving all for Christ that has led
to the other.
He is introduced to us shortly after Peter and his
partners have been summoned to become fishers of
men. Jesus has healed the paralytic, silenced the
cavils of the Pharisees, and by a miracle which could
be tested has established his authority to forgive
sins. He descends to the shore of the Lake, followed
by the eager throng, and passes along the beach until
he comes to the busy quay, whither boats put in with
passengers and cargo, and where, as in all southern
220 The Companions of the Lord,
ports, every kind of occupation is carried on out
of doors. There in the open air under shelter of
his booth sits Matthew the publican, assessing the
dues payable on merchandise, giving receipts for tolls
and taxes paid, and handing tickets to those wishing
to embark ; no gracious task, considering the reluct-
ance of the Jew to pay and the grudge nursed
against the exactor.
The narrative could not be briefer. "As Jesus
passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named
Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom : and he
saith unto him, Follow me." It may be that this
was their first meeting, and that a magnetic attraction
was exerted upon the publican by that countenance
which owed its majesty not to external comeliness so
much as to the dignity and goodness of soul reflected
in its features. It is however much more likely
that Jesus had become previously acquainted with
Matthew in Capernaum, had secured his affection
and permitted him to return for a while to his tax
collecting, as the sons of Jonas to their fishing, so
that now there needed but the recognition and
repeated claim. '
1 Ebrard {Gospel History, p. 265) says of Strauss, that he is obliged
to "admit that Jesus and Levi, who both lived in Capernaum, could
not have been unknown to one another;" and 'Lz.ngQ {Life of Christy
vol. iii. p. 24) " there can hardly be a doubt that Matthew had already
previously stood in a nearer relation to Jesus." The latter connects the
calling of this apostle with the opposition our Lord had encountered
just before. " It was as if the pharisaical spirit, by its positive enmity
to His mercy in the healing of the paralytic, had led Him now in this
formal manner to call the publican to be amongst the number of His
apostles; just as afterwards in like manner the apostle Paul was
Matthew, 221
That claim was peremptory. Perchance the Lord
saw that his trade, though not necessarily vicious,
was demoralizing in its effects, leading those who
pursued it into evil society, searing the heart and
fostering mercenary or resentful feelings. For many
are the occupations, innocent enough in themselves,
which are yet so closely connected with evil that it
is almost impossible for a man to pursue them with-
out soiling his hands and doing injury to his fellow-
men. The struggle between Paul and the shrine-
makers of Ephesus is perpetually renewed, present
interest remonstrating — "by this craft we have our
wealth," conscience calling to the sacrifice of dubious
gains — "what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul .? " Or it may
have been that Jesus did not cherish this special fear
for Matthew, but simply wanted his services for
higher work. His calling might be blameless, its
associations good ; yet he must not ignore the possi-
bility of his being intended by Providence to ex-
change it for other and more useful labour.
But if the claim made upon Matthew was per-
emptory, not less prompt was the obedience rendered.
" He left all, rose up, and followed him." It was a
good indication of energy that he rose up. The man
who rouses himself to receive a message, who starts
to his feet and reflects in the attitude of activity and
readiness, like the children of Israel in their early
observance of the passover, is more likely to obey
induced, in consequence of the unbelief of the Jews, to turn himself all
the more decidedly to the Gentiles."
22 2 The Companions of the Lord,
his conscientious conviction than he who remains
seated and will scarcely shake off habitual lethargy
sufficiently to give fair attention. He " left all." It
was a noble thoroughness of surrender ; and yet to
leave all is often easier than to leave half, to evacuate
an untenable position at once than to retreat by a
few yards at a time and be beaten back blow by
blow. Hesitation petrifies resolution now as it did
in Lot's wife. Thus he " followed," esteeming the re-
proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt. He was to find the preciousness of a clear
conscience and of investments made not in material
securities but in the gratitude and happiness of men
whose welfare he advanced ; he was to learn the
value of his Lord's teaching, to enjoy the golden
smile of his friendship and the heavenly rewards of
his service.
The scene now shifts. Hitherto Christ has been
the inviter, Matthew the invited ; the order is inverted
and the Master becomes his disciple's guest. Levi
made him a great feast, expressive of gratitude ;
for he could look even upon commands as mercies
and on self-denying service as a privilege. In Christ's
honour he would give his best, sparing no expense
but acting in that ungrudging spirit which a year
or two later prompted Mary's offering of the costly
ointment. Jesus came to the feast thus prepared for
him ; and so it ever is. He calls us to himself and
then accepts our invitation, not disdaining to enter
the poor chamber of our heart ; for, unlike the petty
lords of earth who stand on ceremony as a stool to
Matthew, 223
give them height, his native glory fears no eclipse but
freely condescends to men of low estate.
It is interesting to remark the character of Levi's
feast. " There was a great company of publicans and
of others that sat down with them." One can see
that Matthew had already studied to good purpose
his Lord's character. First of all he perceived that
he could best serve Him, not by eating and drinking
alone in His presence, but by inviting the outcasts of
society and befriending them for the sake of Him
who made their cause his own. Next, he invited to
the feast his old associates. Many men would have
forsworn the class from which they had been called
and sought some new field of benevolence ; whereas
he does not disown his publican comrades but selects
them as earliest recipients of his bounty. He recog-
nized further that the best thing he could do for them
was to bring them into contact with Jesus. Instead
of going among them and talking about his new
Master, he wisely brought them face to face with Him
whose teaching he could not match either for breadth
or power. And once more this intercourse between
Christ and the publicans Matthew contrived to bring
about by means of an entertainment. Some might
have objected that, if the real end in view were to
secure the religious instruction of these men, another
kind of meeting would have been more straight-
forward ; he however knew well that most of them
would never come to hear a formal discourse from
the Lord, but that meat and drink would open their
hearts to receive the scattered seeds of his teaching.
Upon the same principle may be defended many acts
224 ^^ Companions of the Lord,
of the modern Church to which exception is often
taken. The fact that many men will not come to
hear the word of God in a cheerless building with a
dreary form of worship warrants the effort to offer
such attractions of edifice and ritual as may not
quench the spirit of true worship/ while social
festivals which may be criticized as expensive and
circuitous methods of doing good are justified if they
serve to bring under salutary influence persons who
would not otherwise be reached.
Let us picture the feast. At the head of the table
sits the harborous publican, as Tyndale would have
called him, anxiously consulting the comfort of his
numerous guests and happy as he hears the holy
counsels given them ; for at his right hand reclines
his chief guest, sustaining the conversation with
genial smile and loving appeals ; and stretching down
the spacious chamber are the publicans and sinners,
drinking in his words that contrasted so gratefully
with the scorn they were perpetually compelled to
bear, and in many cases softened to unaccustomed
I No two Christian communities are likely to draw the line through
precisely the same point ; to some minds the absence of ritual may be a
hindrance to spiritual worship as real as its development may be to
others. The reader is referred to Mr. Ruskin's Slade Lecture on The
Connexion of Art with Religion^ and to the third volume of Modern
Painters, where the author speaking of the religious world says : "It
is not necessary that they should admit either music or painting into
religious service ; but, if they admit either the one or the other, let it
not be bad music nor bad painting : it is certainly in nowise more for
Christ's honour that His praise should be sung discordantly, or His
miracles painted discreditably, than that His word should be preached
angrammatically" (p. 60).
Matthew, 225
tears by his allusion to the instincts of their better
nature or the purer memories of childhood. A dif-
ferent scene indeed from the marriage in Cana or
the Last Supper, yet scarcely inferior in interest to
either !
The picture however is not complete. About the
door gathers a knot of the ever dissatisfied Pharisees,
asking of the disciples — who perhaps were serving
the other guests or modestly sitting at the lower
end of the table, — "Why eateth your Master with
publicans and sinners ? " The Lord overheard or
knew without hearing what they said and, with that
severity of manner he always assumed in addressing
arrogant hypocrites, replied, " I came not to call the
righteous," adding, as one of the evangelists ob-
serves, " Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will
have mercy, and not sacrifice." Moral obedience,
not ceremonial punctilio, availed in his eyes. His
words were an echo of Hosea's ancient cry ; and
in pointing to the publicans around him he explained
what he had meant by speaking of mercy — " I came
to call sinners." Perhaps he used the expression in
the technical sense attached to it by the Pharisees,
as though he had said, " I came to call such sinners
as these whom ye account to be reprobates." He
added however that he came to call sinners "to
repentance," as though to remind that a change of
heart was the necessary antecedent to the lasting
peace and everlasting life which it was his ultimate
aim to bestow. '
Shortly after this feast came the solemn institution
of the Twelve. Though the bare lists are • recorded,
Q
226 The Compa7iions of the Lord,
yet in that given by St. Matthew himself there are
two touches which illustrate an interesting side of his
character. "Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and
Thomas," say the other writers ; "Thomas and Mat-
thew the publican " is his version. As it has been
observed' "he doth not call Peter, Andrew and the
rest fishers, yet himself he nameth the publican."
David was not ashamed of his humble origin ; and
the remembrance of the rock whence we are hewn
must tend to keep alive a humble sense of depend-
ence and gratitude towards the divine Hand that
sought us out and gave deliverance.
To what the Scriptures thus tell of the Apostle,
tradition has singularly little to add. It affirms ^Trtr-
his gospel was composed first of the four and pub-
lished in Palestine not later than the year of our
tord 50. Its author is said to have travelled into
Egypt and Ethiopia and in the latter country to
have lodged with the eunuch whom Philip baptized.
The Western Church ascribes his end to martyrdom,
the Eastern wisely contenting herself, in the absence
)f any evidence, with awarding him a natural death.
Nothing more is to be learnt of him save so
much as may be gleaned from a study of his gospel.
Writing always reveals character, and though Matthew
could not well have said less about himself than he
has said, it may be expected that the man should
appear more or less clearly portrayed by his own pen.
That his mind was not as method!5cal as some may
I By Bengel, on Matthew x. 3,
Mati/iew. 227
be inferred from a glance at any harmony of the
gospels ; for whereas the incidents in the other
evangelists are related in due sequence, his narrative
has to be taken to pieces and in large measure re-
constructed, in order to suit it to the chronological
order. Yet his memory has faithfully preserved
many of our Lord's longer discourses, such as the
Sermon on the Mount and the conversations of
Passion week ; and his acquaintance with the
Hebrew Scriptures has enabled him to give a large
number of citations which for the most part are
verbally accurate. Traces of modesty have already
been noticed ; but one feature remains which may
be dimly discerned. Whether the gospel were
written originally in Aramaic or in Greek — a point
which no one has yet been able to determine' — it
appears to have been composed for the use of the
Jews in Palestine, it being the evangelist's aim to
convince his own countrymen out of their recognized
Scriptures that the Messiah they were expecting hadi
really arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, i
Thus the home-feeling, if we may so call it, which
led Matthew to seek first the introduction of his
old associates to Jesus, prompted him later in life
I And which we may stand excused for declining here to discuss. It
is enough to say that the supporters of a Greek original rely in the
main on internal evidence, while the opinion of a Hebrew derivation
rests chiefly on early testimony. As to the latter, ** strange it is " said'
Cave two hundred years ago "that any should question its being'
originally written in that Language, when the thing is so universally,
and uncontroulably asserted by all Antiquity." The Archbishop of
York in his article published in Tkt Dictionary of the Bible leaves
the "great question imsettled still."
228 The Companions of the Lord.
to write not for a distant people but for his own
fellow-citizens.
In pursuance of this design he opens his gospel
with the human generation of our Lord ; and hence
his symbol has been the man, in contradistinction to
the ox of St. Luke and the lion of St. Mark. Though
it may seem a slight link of connexion, the emblem
is appropriate in another sense also. Matthew was
preeminently " the man " of the apostolic group. He
had lived neither the secluded life of a Nathanael
nor the nautical life of a Peter, but was town-bred,
versed in the business and intrigues of the market-
place and exchange. We are sometimes apt to
fancy religion adapted only to the tranquillity of a
leisurely or ascetic life ; here is an example of one
thoroughly in the world, yet touched by Christ's con-
straining hand and arrested by his abrupt summons.
Let us list to that divine voice .speaking to us in
the thronged mart of Capernaum or the buzzing
streets of Jerusalem as through the solemn silence
of Olivet or the Galilean hills, and render it as
quick and glad an obedience as was rendered by
the publican apostle and evangelist; for
" — be ye sure that Love can bless,
E'en in this crowded loneliness,
Where ever-moving myriads seem to say,
Go — thou art nought to us, nor we to thee— away !"
XIV.
" W^ere there is a great deal of smoke and no clear flame, it argues
much moistxxre in the matter, yet it witnesseth certainly that there is fire
there ; and, therefore, dubious questioning is a much better evidence
than that senseless deadness which most take for believing , . . Never
be afraid to doubt, if only you have the disposition to believe; and
doubt in order that you may end in believing Uie truth."
" Rather I prize the doubt
Low kinds exist without.
Finished and finite clods, untroubled by a spark."
IN several of the apostles, whose lives we have
surveyed, examples have been presented to us
of material difficulties overcome ; the boats have
been abandoned, the purse given up, kindred at
Christ's command forsaken. But such surrender is
not the sole kind of sacrifice, nor perhaps the highest ;
and in the history of him who now stands before us
we are invited to witness the struggles of the intel-
lectual man. It may be that, in a day when the
hand of persecution is stayed but the mind is vexed
with recurring doubts, we shall feel a closer sympathy
with St. Thomas than with others of his companions,
and derive more timely help from the story of his
conflict and victory.
His name, both in its Hebrew form of Thomas and
its Greek equivalent Didymus, means "twin." It is a
name which provokes inquiry, but of which no satis-
factory explanation is forthcoming. We have no evi-
dence to shew that he had a sister of his own age, still
less that he was twin brother to Matthew ; while of the
ingenious interpretation proposed by the Archbishop
232 The Companions of the Lord,
}>{ Dublin it must, we fear, be said that it is more
attractive than probable. " Did St. John," he asks,"
*' intend us to see any significance in this name, any
coming out in the man of the qualities which it ex-
pressed .!* . . It is very possible that Thomas may
have received this as a new name from the Lord . .
It was a name which told him all he had to fear, and
all he had to hope. In him the twins, unbelief and
faith, were contending with one another for the
mastery, as Esau and Jacob, the old man and the new,
wrestled." ^ Dr. Lange remarks with greater modera-
tion, " This word. Twin or the Double, might perhaps
remind us of his doubting : but he certainly could
have had no name given him from that."""
Of his introduction to Jesus we possess no ac-
count. It would have been interesting to know by
what process he was won to the service, whether by
lengthened argument or some convincing display of
power or by the charge of love storming the citadel
of his faith and affection. We may take for granted
that the conversion was not so easy for a man of his
temperament as for the impetuous Peter or the loving
John ; and, if his hesitation was but slowly laid
aside, we know that it often returned to cloud his
vision and hamper his action. It should indeed
be an encouragement to many a young Christian,
who is disposed to question the reality of his piety
because mists of doubt overhang his mind, to re-
flect that a chosen apostle of unquestioned loyalty
was long ere all misgivings were dispelled — mis-
« Trench, Miracles^ p. 406. « Life of Christy vol. iii. p. 51.
Thomas, 233
givings which are as natural at the opening of the
religious life as fogs in England on a November
morning.
The evangelist John, ever more careful to tell us
of his colleagues than to obtrude himself, is here
again, as we found him in the cases of Philip and
Nathanael, our sole informant. In three scenes is
Thomas brought forward — at the death of Lazarus,
at the last Supper, and on the days following the
Resurrection — and with this advantage, that the
portraiture corresponds so closely in all three that
we are enabled to gain a well-defined impression of
his features. It has not been always so ; the apostle
John for example, calling down fire upon an in-
liospitable village, we could scarcely recognize as the
John afterwards found reclining on Jesus' breast ; but
Thomas presents on each occasion the same blending
of true attachment with a difficulty of behef and
leaning towards despondency, so that from the triple
view we may hope to carry away a clear remembrance.
I. Save that he is mentioned in the list of ordained
apostles, Thomas does not appear until late in the
gospel narrative. He is then with the Lord in
the district east of the Jordan. Threatened by the
Jews, the latter had escaped from the barren lime-
stone hills of Judaea to the fertile slopes beyond the
river, and from hearts as hard as those limestone hills
to the congenial society of his disciples and the many
who resorted to him and believed in his name. There,
in the region where John was at the first baptizing,
whether its name were Bethany or Bethabara, its
234 ^'^^ Companions of the Lord.
position opposite Jericho or higher up the stream
near Succoth, the painful news reached him of the
sickness of Lazarus/ The manner in which he re-
ceived it was strange. To us, standing far enough
off to embrace the whole scene in one view, it may
seem easy to trace his prescience of the event, and
his plan of action so laid as to heighten the moral
effect of his intended interposition and by trial
develope the faith of his followers ; but to those
followers themselves, seeing but one stage at a time,
his ambiguous words and Fabian policy must have
been in a high degree perplexing. They could not
understand why he should expose him afresh to
danger ; for, if the sickness were, as he said, " not
unto death" and Lazarus now enjoyed that tranquil
sleep which is precursor of recovery, it could not be
necessary that he should go ; while afterwards, when
he told them plainly " Lazarus is dead," was it not
too late, and had he not allowed the opportunity
to slip by unused ? No doubt Thomas headed the
affectionate remonstrance, ** Master, the Jews of late
sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither again ?"
for when somewhat later Jesus announced his inten-
tion of going, it was Thomas who exclaimed, with a
burst of Peter's bold and affectionate spirit,'' "Let
us also go, that we may die with him."
There was undeniable fault in these words. For
even supposing it almost certain the expedition would
1 The reading in John i. 28 is matter of dispute.
2 " Had the name not been given, we should have said it must have
been Peter who spoke these words." — Hanna, The Forty Days after
our Lord^s Resurrection^ p. 94.
Thomas, 235
have a fatal issue, it was the height of unwisdom to
dwell upon that prospect. When the French troops
in the recent war were being transported by railway-
to the South, it was told of them that, as they passed
through the stations on the route and bade farewell
to their friends, they sang a chorus with the despairing
refrain —
"Nous aliens i la boucherie,"
a sure augury of their fate. For whatever be the
supremacy of weapons over courage in modern war-
fare, it still is true that in our spiritual conflicts
resolution wins the day against arms and numbers ;
he is in greatest danger of losing life who first loses
heart ; the man of despondent soul steps to battle to
a funeral march and essays to fight in graveclothes.
But was the end likely to be what Thomas fore-
boded ? True, the Lord Jesus was wont to reserve
his miraculous power for occasions when not his own
interests but those of others were to be secured ;
yet he had interposed before now on his own be-
half, eluding the Jews when ready to stone him, or
passing through the crowd at Nazareth when eager
to hurl him down the precipice ; and might he not
tread unscathed through new perils? Moreover,
granted this return to Judaea was destined to prove
his death, why assume that the disciples would perish
with him ? They had been chosen to survive their
Master and carry on his work after he had departed ;
it betokened a lack of faith and spirit that Thomas
should give up expectation of this later labour, as
though after Christ's death there were no joy nor
236 The Companio7is of the Lord.
use for them in life. Many of us in hours of down-
heartedness may be inclined to utter the Apostle's
cry, " Let us also go, that we may die with him." In
one sense it is our duty to die with the Saviour by
the mortification of sinful desires and our crucifixion
to the world.; but in another sense it is impossible to
die with him and foolish to cherish the anticipation
of failure. Christ being raised from the dead dieth
no more ; he must reign, till he hath put all enemies
under his feet.
But it would be wrong to overlook the noble spirit
that breathes through these words of the Apostle.
Many a man in such a crisis would have made a
pretext for withdrawing from so perilous a journey ;
but Thomas, come what may, will cling to his loved
Master; and though afterwards under an increased
strain even his devotion gave way, it is not for us to
take up the stone of censure. For where is there
found amongst us a courage equal to that which he
displayed } We are ready enough to triumph with
Christ, and eager to sit with him in heavenly places ;
but to fight with him, suffer and die for him, who of
us is forward } The appeal which Thomas made to his
fellow-disciples was successful ; timorous we are apt
to think them, yet they were brave enough to recross
the river with their Lord and follow him into the very
lair of the enemy. An easier lot is appointed to the
modern Christian, not to hazard life but to spend it
for Christ in happy toil ; shall he then cry off from
the service and meanly desert his Lord }
We do not know whether Jesus immediately re-
assured his disciples as to the issue of their enter-
Thomas. 237
prise ; probably he left the event to bring its own
sunshine. His treatment of them had already elicited
a grateful expression of their fidelity; let them
accompany him to Bethany in the simple trust that,
if they believed, they should see the glory of God.
Trust first, sight afterwards — this was the lesson
Thomas had to learn, though it would need to be
impressed again and yet again on his mind ere he
mastered it —
"Lead kindly light — I do not ask to see
The distant scene— one step's enough for me. "
II. The Supper table is again before us ; the traitor
has left the chamber, and our Lord is speaking in
tones of confidence and good cheer to the men he
can trust. In one of the few passages in the gospels
in which undoubted allusion is made to a future state,
he speaks of his Father's house above whither he goes
to prepare a place for his disciples, adding by way
of repetition, " Whither I go ye know and the way
ye know." But Thomas is unsatisfied : " Lord, we
know not whither thou goest, and how can we know
the way } " Philip's inquiry, which follows close upon
this, is not hard to be understood ; but how are we
to take these words of Thomas, when we remember
that, the very moment before, Jesus had spoken of
his Father's house as the place whither he was going ?
Is it possible that, in an hour mournful for all the
disciples, Thomas proposed his objection in a half-
querulous tone of disappointment : " Master, thou
seemest to be going the way of death ; and we can
238 The Companions of the Lord,
see nought beyond that sad ending"? Or was it
thus he spoke : '' True, Lord, thou speakest of the
Father's home ; but where, are its mansions and
what are they ? We know not ; and how then can
we know the way ? "
Now but shortly before Peter had asked, "Lord,
whither goest thou?" and had received for answer
" Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now ; but
thou shalt follow me afterwards." This reply Thomas
had overheard ; should it not have quieted his rest-
less spirit ? We might have expected him to reason
with himself that, as once before he had thought his
Master on the road to death and instead had found
him the Resurrection and the Life, so now, when the
future was dark and the grave closed the vista, he
might trust to the same all-quickening power, and
believe that, in its triumph over human enmity, the
trust would be vindicated which He had taught his
disciples to repose on him. There is indeed a sense
in which we may rightly adopt the Apostle's words.
The course of divine dealing with us is wrapt in
mystery, and it is not in man that walketh to direct
his steps; we know not whither Christ leads us,
nor the way ; but with the confession of our igno-
rance let no mistrust be associated :
"It is enough that Christ knows all.
And I shall be with Him."
Thomas had asked of the destination and the way;
to both parts of his inquiry Jesus makes answer in
the words, "I am the way . . no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me." Yet while declaring his
Thomas. 239
Father to be the true end, he uses language which
implies that practically he was to be regarded
himself also as the end. " I am . . the truth and
the life . . if ye had known me, ye should have
known my Father also; and from henceforth ye
know him, and have seen him." Way and End
in one — such is the substance of his reply :•
"Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life,
Such a Way as gives us breath,
Such a Truth as ends all strife,
Such a Life as killeth death."
Go we to the Father ? He is our Way, by whose
sacrifice and intercession alone we can approach the
most Holy, by whose life and teaching we can alone
know the character and will of God, by whose sole
aid we can be made partakers of the divine nature.
But he is also our End ; in him we are complete ; to
him we may yield ourselves with an unquestioning
trust, looking to be found in him hereafter without
spot unto salvation. Then
" Breathe me upward, thou in me
Aspiring, who art the Way, the Truth, the Life,
That no truth henceforth seem indifferent to me,
No way to truth laborious, and no life,
Not even the life I now lead, intolerable."
III. " I am the Life " I how strangely must the
words have echoed through the heart of Thomas as
next day he watched the procession winding its
way to Calvary and him who had spoken them
lifted upon the cross ; with how sad an irony must
240 The Co7np anions of the Lord,
they have haunted him as from afar he overheard
the rending cry and saw the spear indriven ! Con-
vinced beyond possibility of doubt of his Lord's
death, he seems to have mourned apart, scarce daring
to look for his reappearing. How far was he to blame
in this ? The sun sinks below the empurpled hills,
the light fades out of the sky ; it is only by long
experience that we have learnt not to bewail his
setting as an irreparable loss but turn hopefully east-
ward for his rising. But a rising from the dead !
what precedent had Thomas that could give him the
same confidence with respect to his buried Lord t
He had seen Lazarus raised, it is true ; yet often
the physician who can heal others fails to preserve
his own life ; and the taunt of the Jews in this case
seemed just : " He saved others, himself he cannot
save ; " else why had he not come down from the
cross .'' May another thought have also stolen across
his mind — that, as Jesus had suffered Lazarus to
die in order that His interposition might be the
more conspicuous, so he had suffered death him-
self that by rising the most unbelieving might be
convinced 1
Whatever the thoughts that rose and fell within
him like waves upon the beach, he seems to have
spent the days succeeding the Crucifixion apart from
his fellow-disciples. Hence when the latter were
assembled on the third day he was not with them.
Not only did he hereby lose the appearance of his
Lord but the special proof which was given to those
present. For we must not suppose that all the unbe-
lief was on his side ; far from it. We read on the
Thomas, 241
contrary that the disciples were terrified at the vision
and that the Risen One offered them tangible proof
to allay their doubts : " Behold my hands and my
feet, that it is I myself : handle me, and see ; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." '
Naturally their first concern on meeting Thomas
was to tell him of the vision ; but he hesitated to
accept it and expressed his hesitation in an emphatic
manner : " Except I shall see in his hands the print
of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the
nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not
believe." Was he justified in his incredulity .-* Here
were ten men, honest and unanimous ; they could
not be deceivers. No ; but might they not them-
selves be deceived } They said that he had shewn
them his wounds ; but had they satisfied them by
the touch that there was no illusion } Let them recall
how the Lord himself had cautioned them against too
easy an acceptance of such reports, when he said
" If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ,
or there ; believe it not." To admit some accounts
was not difficult ; but surely for a resurrection he was
justified in asking indubitable evidence. If such were
the course of self- vindication he pursued, it should
in fairness to him be remembered that he sought
no more than the very same proof which the Lord
unasked had offered to his brethren. Had he been
I Whately cites several passages, such as "it is a spirit," "it is his
angel," to show the prevalent belief at the time of our Lord in ghosts.
This belief he considers to have been at the bottom of the apostles'
shrinking, and to have prompted the words of assurance spoken by the
risen ^2^rio\a.— Lectures on the Apostles^ p. 129.
R
242 The Companions of the Lord,
with them on that occasion, we see no ground for
doubting that he too would have been satisfied;
having been absent, he now desires only to be
certified by the same evidence. But till then, with
every wish to credit their story and be happy in
the knowledge that his Master lived, he concludes :
" I will not, I cannot, believe."' '
The disciples were doubtless grieved at his in-
credulity, — if that be not too hard a word for express-
ing his painful feeling of inability to believe ; yet
their own slowness of faith must have silenced the
rising rebuke, and they have felt that their recent
lapse had impaired their credit. So the days passed
by ; and, no fresh vision being granted, the doubts of
Thomas may have been strengthened, the confidence
of his companions in the same degree shaken. Let
us not blame his eight-day unbelief ; one has beauti-
fully said to his reader, " Consider how many weeks,
not to say how many weeks of years, thou hast
cherished unbelief!"
But now the first day of the week has returned,
and with the assembled apostles Thomas is found,
sure indication of his desire to see the Master and of
his readiness to consider the evidence of His rising.
The half-expected vision is given under circumstances
that must prepossess the doubting one towards belief.
Passing through the closed doors or maybe softly
opening them, the familiar form enters the room ;
the well-known voice pronounces the salutation of
peace ; and the penetrating eye rests upon Thomas
y
I So the double negative of the original has been well rendered.
TJtomas. 243
at once as on him who demands first address. But
note in what key that address is set. Jesus does not
say, " Couldest thou not accept the testimony of thy
brethren } " but proffers immediately the very satis-
faction the others had received and Thomas craved.
*< Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands ; and
reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side ; and
be not faithless, but believing." Had the Apostle
been of a prejudiced mind, we may be certain no
sign would have been granted, for evidence is wasted
upon a sceptic who has made up his mind to reject
it ; but to the sincere seeker after truth who is willing
to receive and obey the guidance of facts, assistance
will be given. We do not suggest that no rebuke at
all was conveyed by our Saviour's words ; one can
fancy a cadence of sadness in them caused by the
necessity for offering such proof, and without question
his later words declare a higher and more happily
trustful frame of mind ; but the rebuke was of the
tenderest, as was always the case when, he saw the
heart to be right : " O thou of little faith, wherefore
didst thou doubt ? "
Whether Thomas accepted the challenge and car-
ried the proof to the touch we know not. Pictures of
the more materialistic period represent him probing
the bloodless wounds of the Redeemer's resurrection
body;' those of a better age of art — and that is the
same with saying of a purer age of feeling — de-
pict him falling straightway at Jesus' feet humbled
1 Mrs. Jameson's History of our Lord: continuation by Lady
Eastlake, vol. ii. p. 298.
244 ^^^ Compayiions of the Lord,
and convinced, devoutly crying, " My Lord and my
God." Many attempts have been mdustriously made
to explain away these words ; and no marvel ; for
until they have been deprived of their obvious appli-
cation they must continue to stand as an emphatic
testimony to the divinity of our blessed Lord. ^ And
the worth of this testimony is enhanced by the quarter
whence it comes. Peter was a man of impulse ; his
confession, noble as it is, does not possess the same
value that attaches to the admission wrung by clear
evidence from a mind habitually cautious and sus-
picious. It has been remarked that there is a " class
of men whose reflective powers are stronger than
their susceptive : they think out truth — they do not
feel it out. Often highly gifted and powerful minds,
they cannot rest till they have made all their ground
certain ; they do not feel safe as long as there is one
possibility of delusion left: they prove all things. . .
When such men do believe, it is belief with all the
heart and soul for life. When a subject has been
once thoroughly and suspiciously investigated, and
settled once for all, the adherence of the whole
reasoning man, if given in at all, is given frankly
and heartily as Thomas gave it : ' My Lord, and My
God.* " Yet, as the same eloquent tongue has re-
minded us,* it is no mere expression of creed that
X Probably no ampler discussion of the Unitarian and other interpre-
tations of this passage is to be found than in Dr. Pye Smith's Scriptun
Testimony to the Messiah^ book iii. cap. iii. capitule 7. Whately
closes some severe comments by saying **the passage, therefore, will
absolutely bear one interpretation, viz., as signifying, " Thou art my
Lord and my God." — Lectures^ p. 134.
2 F. W. Robertson, Sermons^ vol. ii.
Thomas, 245
here breaks from the Apostle's h'ps, but of trust in
a living person appropriated by an affectionate heart.
At last the darkness was rolled away from his
"rationalist" mind, and he saw the God shining
through the human Jesus, recognized Him as his
Way and End, and held Him though risen and
glorified for his never-forsaking Saviour. Blessed
calm that follows such a storm ! blessed peace that
succeeds such conflict ! Does any say he ought to
have believed from the first and so have avoided strife
and storm } We are willing to grant that he might
have had a loftier attitude of mind that would have
set him in the haven of tranquil confidence ; but
we gravely doubt whether, considering the critical
temperament which actually belonged to him, he
could conscientiously have rested satisfied with the
unsupported testimony of his fellow-disciples.
Nor does this view seem at variance with the terms
of our Lord's rejoinder : " Thomas, because thou hast
seen me, thou hast believed ; blessed are they that
have not seen, and yet have believed." Here is no
indication of displeasure, no repudiation of his intel-
lectual faith, but only the declaration of a different
and higher order of faith which renders its possessor
the happier man. Minds of an exacting turn are,
as we have seen in the case of this apostle, apt
to be shaded with pensiveness or even melancholy.
Opposed to them is a class of mind which has
no lofty intellectual standard but rejoices in an
unsophisticated confidence. Of manuscripts and
external evidences it knows nothing; it could not
reconcile discrepancies nor give a logical account
2 46 The Companions of the Lord,
of its belief; but to its childlike faith it holds with
a surprising and glad tenacity ; it is buoyed up by
it when fortune breaks and death is in the house,
and though it sees not is blessed in believing. And
there is yet a third class, to which our Lord's
beatitude belongs of even better right, though its
distinguishing features are hard to describe. If we
wished to test the truth of tales circulated by a re-
turned traveller, we should submit them not to one
who had never crossed the Channel but to one who
had journeyed in the countries to which such tales
referred. Even so the Apostle tells us that the things
of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. As
we grow like him in character shall we understand his
rules of action ; sympathy will gender belief. Sup-
pose for example that Thomas had lived a life of high
spiritual communion with Christ, can we not perceive
that he would have accepted the allegation of His
rising with comparative ease and have readily dis-
pensed with material proofs } For through that
communion of soul he would have entered into his
Lord's connected plan ; he would have seen that the
Crucifixion and Resurrection were two needful steps
in a long series of acts which became him as a
merciful Redeemer; he would have looked forward
with such confidence to his Master's victory over
death as to need little evidence ; nay, feeling Christ
abiding within his heart, he would no more have been
able to doubt that He who was crucified still lived
than he could doubt his own existence.
As regards ourselves, if we be of the same exacting
turn of mind, there is not one word in this whole
Tho7)ias. 247
narrative to discourage us, in the depreciation of
external evidence ; it is good in any way to arrive
at faith ; we are bound by all means at disposal to
allay our doubts. But at the same time we may
fitly pray for that spiritual insight into divine
things which will supersede the necessity for what
is after all the lower kind of proof.
Thus closes the memorable interview between
Thomas and the risen Lord, and herewith — with
this emphatic attestation of that Lord's divinity,
which it was a main object of the evangelist to
vindicate — may have originally closed the gospel
as delivered by St. John. Their next meeting, as
related in the supplementary chapter/ occurred on
the shores of the lake of Galilee, when the disciple
is ranked next to Peter, either because lately pro-
minent in the narrative or promoted on account
of his noble confession. In St. Luke's later list
of the apostles he is linked with Philip.
Many are the legends that have clustered around
his name. One or two deserve a passing notice, if it
be only to serve as a foil to the Scripture records.
An example of the feeble imitations of these records
and the wild deviations from them which abound in
early Church history is afforded by the tale of the
Virgin's assumption. That "glorious event" St. Thomas
is said to have doubted and for proof to have required
her tomb to be opened ; " which was done and lo ! it
I This view may be seen in Stanley's Apostolical Age^ p. 133. Lange,
On John^ calls chapter ad. the epilogue which corresponds to the pro-
logue, cap. i. I-18.
248 The Companions of the Lord,
. was found empty. Then the Virgin, taking pity on
his weakness and want of faith, threw down to him
her girdle, that this tangible proof remaining in his
hands might remove all doubts for ever from his
mind." ^ Another extravagant yet suggestive legend
is one which tells how the Christ appeared to him
on a day at Caesarea and bade him go build a palace
for Gondoforus king of the Indies. He went, and
received from the king a vast sum of money to be
spent in the work. But no sooner had he received
this money than he proceeded to distribute it
amongst the poor and sick folk, for which misuse
he was imprisoned by the wrathful monarch and
threatened with death. But meantime a prince of
the seed royal died and, appearing in vision to his
brother the king, said that the prisoner was a holy
apostle of the most high God ; and that the angels
had just shewn him in heaven a wondrous palace
built of gems and jewels which, said they, Thomas
the architect had by his good works been building
for Gondoforus. Whereupon the king ran in haste
to the prison-house and did unto him even as Darius
did of old to Daniel in the like case.
The connexion with India here ascribed to St.
Thomas receives countenance from the discovery in
comparatively modern times of a remarkable com-
munity of Christians living on the coast of Malabar
and recognizing our Apostle as their founder. But
it has recently been conjectured that the real founder
of this sect, whose "separation from the Western
I Mrs. Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art^ p. 249.
Thomas. 249
world had left them in ignorance of the improve-
ments, or corruptions, of a thousand years,"' was
not St. Thomas but "a later missionary from the
Nestorians." If the claim preferred by India be
slight, that of Abram's birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees,
afterwards known as Edessa and now as Orfa, is
somewhat stronger. * That Thomas went thither
carrying a token from our Lord to its ruler is not
easy of belief; but his tomb was long shewn in the
sacred city and it is quite possible that he laboured
and died there. The same daring devotion which
had prompted him to accompany his Master into
Judaea led him, with the better spiritual presence
of that Master, to distant fields of labour, and was
not weakened by that critical habit of measuring
evidence which has given him as his emblem the
builders' rule.
It is this critical habit, as we have above hinted,
that lends a special value to the testimony borne by
St. Thomas, not merely to the resurrection of our
Lord or his divinity, but to the whole system of the
Christian religion. As Augustine or some other of
the Fathers hath it, " Thomas doubted that we might
believe ; " the claims he so scrupulously weighed may
X Gibbon, cap. xlvii.
a Stanley's Eastern Churchy pp. 6, 44, and the article "Thomas," by
the same writer in The Dictionary of the Bible. An old account given
by Cave (p. 186) tells that the Apostle " travelled a great vv^ay into those
Eastern nations . . . preaching everywhere, with all the arts of gentle-
ness and mild persuasives, not flying out into tart invectives and
furious heats against their idolatrous practices, but calmly instructing
them in the principles of Christianity."
250 The Companions of the Lord,
be allowed by us to pass with the less hesitation ;
and whatever pain the examination cost him, we are
the gainers in the greater ease of accepting a record
bearing his endorsement. The survey of his life may
suggest that, while it is most blessed to cultivate the
heavenly temper which can believe without seeing
and stand unpropped by outward evidence, Christ
honours the man who fairly seeks the truth and feels
the search so momentous that in it no questionable
testimony or doubtful clue can be followed:
"For all thy rankling doubts so sore,
Love thou thy Saviour still,
Him for thy Lord and God adore,
And ever do His will.
Though vexing thoughts may seem to last,
Let not thy soul be quite o'ercast; —
Soon will He shew thee all His wounds, and say,
*Long have I known thy name— know thou My
face alway.'"
XV.
fam^s % ^an of ^Ip^ajus,
anb
Simon i^t Utdot.
asx
" It (criticism) breaketh the window that it may let in the light j it
breaketh the shell that we may eat the kernel ; it putteth aside the
curtain that we may enter into the most holy place ; it removeth the
cover of the well, that we may come by the water."
WE come now to the third class of the apostles,
to the quaternion which presents the greatest
difficulty. The difficulty however is not throughout
of the same kind. In the case of the traitor it is the
complexity of motive that arrests the student and
not any lack of well-ascertained acts ; whereas about
the three whose names head the present chapter our
information is so slender that it is hard to say with
confidence who they were and impossible to connect
With each so much as a single incident and a solitary
speech.
This difficulty would indeed be removed, could we
identify them with persons in the New Testament
bearing the same names ; for such there are, occu-
pying conspicuous positions and respecting whom
interesting details are preserved. If the names borne
in common by such persons and our apostles were
of rare occurrence, the presumption would be strong
in favour of supposing the two sets to be iden-
tical ; while, if the names were in frequent use,
«S3
254 The Companions of the Lord,
no inference of the sort would be allowable. Now
James and Simon and Judas were among the Jews
almost as common as Edward or William among
ourselves; so that the identification of people pos-
sessing these names must depend on altogether
distinct evidence.
We meet in the Acts with one James, president of
the church at Jerusalem ; we have also among our
sacred books an epistle written by James, and
another by Jude the brother of James ; were these
men the same with the James and Judas of our
present inquiry ? Again : in various parts of the
New Testament we meet with notices of certain
men bearing the honourable title of the Lord's
Brethren, and there is a correspondence between
their names and those of the sons of Alphaeus ;
may we take them to be the same t These
questions resolve themselves into one ; for it may
readily be shewn that James the Lord's brother
was president of the church and also author of
the epistle, and likewise that Judas the brother
of the Lord was author of the other epistle; sc
that all we have to determine is whether the three
apostles now under notice, or any of them, have
a right to be called brethren of the Lord.
Anxious as we may be not to sacrifice the practical
lessons which spring out of the lives of the Twelve
to the pursuit of unprofitable phantoms, this is an
inquiry that ought not to be shirked ; for, until it
has been made, we are in no position to proceed.
The account shortly to be given of James and his
companions must depend on our ascertaining first
James, Jtidas and Simon. 255
whether our narrative may be enriched from the
lives of some of the chief characters in the records
of the Early Church. Otherwise we are like the
traveller on a snow-covered road, who dares not ad-
vance till he has probed on all sides with his staff
and distinguished the firm path from treacherous
hollows loosely filled or insecurely bridged. The
question too is one of unusual interest. The mere
claim of any of the apostles to be considered so
intimately related to Christ provokes the desire to
test it ; and it can be no matter of surprise that this
point should have formed a very pivot round which
conjecture and controversy have swung.
A few words will suffice for setting forth the matter
under dispute. St. Matthew in the thirteenth chapter
of his gospel describes the Galileans in eager debate
over the teaching of Jesus : " Is not this the car-
penter's son.? is not his mother called Mary.? and
his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and
Judas } and his sisters, are they not all with us ? "
Now, as it was thought likely that our Lord's
brethren would be found among his earliest fol-
lowers, and as the list of his apostles actually did
include a James a Simon and a Judas, it was a
natural idea that these three apostles were mem-
bers of his family.
But obstacles rise upon the very threshold of this
opinion. Certain passages have been commonly ad-
duced to establish the apostleship of the brethren, to
which a twofold objection attaches — first, that they
do not clearly shew them to have been apostles
256 The Companions of the Lord,
at all, and secondly that, if they did, this would
be no proof of their belonging to the original
Twelve. Consult for instance the following pas-
sages. Jude the Lord's brother says in his short
letter, " Remember ye the words which were spoken
before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
how that they told you . . ," phraseology which we
admit not to be decisive for the writer's exclu-
sion from the apostles but which certainly leans
that way rather than in favour of his inclusion.
Similarly James the brother of Jesus is twice
referred to by St. Paul in terms which, we again
admit, may be taken to include him among the
apostles, but are as good, if not better, evidence
for excluding him. The one reference is in speak-
ing of the risen Saviour : " After that, he v/as seen
of James ; then of all the apostles " ; the other
occurs in describing to the Galatians the writer's
first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion: "I
went up . . to see Peter, and abode with him
fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I
none, save James the Lord's brother . . " which
last expression is rendered by many of the ablest
authorities, " other of the apostles saw I none ;
howbeit I did see James," who from his official
station was of equal distinction with the rest.'
Allowing however that not only did none of
these passages separate James and Jude from the
apostles, but that they satisfactorily proved them
I Thus Winer, in his Grammar of the New Testament Diction^
p. 655, who compares the similar use of k\^v and h u-fj in Acts
xxviL 22 and Rev. xxi. 27.
yameSy Judas and Simon. 257
to have been apostles ; what is gained ? They are
merely brought on to a level with men like Bar-
nabas to whom the term was applied ; we are not
a step nearer identifying them with the Twelve.'
Nay, the very passages which might thus be taken
to prove them apostles distinctly establish that
they were not of the number of the Twelve. For
example, let us recur to Paul's enumeration of the
appearances of Christ : "He rose again the third
day according to the scriptures . . he was seen
of Cephas, then of the twelve ; after that, he was
seen of above five hundred brethren at once . .
after that, he was seen of James ; then of all the
apostles." If this be not deemed sufficient to shew
that the brethren were not numbered with the
Twelve, perhaps weight will be allowed to St.
John's emphatic statement that the former did
not believe in Jesus ; while, clearest evidence of all,
is the verse in the opening chapter of the Acts,
where St. Luke, after naming the eleven, adds,
" These all continued with one accord in prayer
and supplication, with the women, and Mary the
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."
There is a distinct line of argument which
seeks to connect Alphaeus with Clopas, Clopas
with Mary, and Mary with the mother of our
Lord, making out the sons of Alphaeus to be his
cousins; but, while it may be right to pursue this
I See Acts xiv. 14, and Alford's note. He compares for the wider
use of the word "Romans xvi. 7; 2 Cor. viii. 23; i Thess. ii. 6,
in which latter place Silvanus and Timetheus seem to be included
in it"
S
258 The Companions of the Lord.
subject in a supplementary note/ it will be enough
here to express the conviction that the chain of
evidence in question is faulty, and that the sons of
Alphaeus cannot be shewn to have been brethren
or cousins of the Lord, or in any other degree
related to him. But the identity of two of the
brethren with the writers of the epistles of James
and Jude has been already maintained, and of one
with the president of the metropolitan church ; so
that we are shut up to the conclusion that James
and Judas the sons of Alphseus have no con-
nexion with any other James or Jude mentioned
in the New Testament.^
Reluctantly though we arrive at this conclusion,
because it impoverishes our knowledge of these
apostles, yet the very scantiness of material left us
is suggestive. Here are three pillars of the Church,
three out of her twelve human foundation-stones ;
yet how little does she know of them ! Not one
act has been recorded of the trio, and but one
saying of a dozen words. As UNKNOWN AND YET
WELL-KNOWN might be written for their epitaph ;
unknown to fame, yet known and honoured by
Him who is not unrighteous to forget the work
and labour of love. Most writers would have ob-
truded upon the world the speeches and achieve-
ments of themselves and their friends ; the evan-
gelists on the contrary have modestly retired, and
1 See note A, appended to this chapter.
2 It has, for various reasons, seemed desirable to treat the brethren
of the Lord on the same plan with his other companions. A sketch of
their lives will be found in the additional notes B, C and D.
yameSy Judas and Simon, 259
hidden themselves behind that Cross to which it
was their life's aim to direct the eyes of mankind.
Having thus cleared the ground and narrowed the
field, we may note down the stray facts or conjectures
which have gathered round each of the names now
before us. As the old historian of the apostles pre-
monished his readers, " He that would build a work
of this nature, must look upon himself as condemn'd
to a kind of Egyptian Task, to make Brick without
Straw, at least to pick it up where he can find it,
though after all it amounts to a very slender parcel."
JAMES THE SON OF ALPH^EUS
always heads, as has been observed in an earlier
chapter, the third group of apostles. The line may
have been drawn between him and his seniors on
the list from some difference in the time of call
or place of residence ; or he may have been
associated in work with his brother rather than
with Thomas or Matthew. Of the two sons of
Alphaeus he stands the former, perhaps by right
of age, perhaps by superior force of character. Yet
this superiority was balanced by a surname of in-
feriority, given it may be because of an insignificant
stature or to distinguish him from the greater son
of Zebedee. His father has been erroneously identi-
fied with the Cleophas of Luke's closing chapter,
whence arose the tale that he and his father were
the two met by Jesus on the way to Emmaus.
With less risk of error he may be identified with
26o The Companions of the Lord,
Clopas ; in which case we reach the single fact
of any interest that can be mentioned in con-
nexion with him.
The wife of Clopas was Mary, the Mary two of
whose children are elsewhere named as James the
Less and Joses, She was one of the brave women
who lingered about the cross when all the disciples
save the most loving one of them had fled ; she sat
with the Magdalen at the entrance to the tomb,
repaired thither early on Easter morning with spices
and was rewarded by the vision of angels announcing
the Lord's rising. Thus from her personal reminis-
cence of that critical time she would be able to
fill up the broken memories of her less constant son.
While, apart from the influence she must have then
exerted on him, it is pleasant to think of a mother in
such entire accord with the religious work of her
children, not merely approving their ministry and
acquiescing in the severance of home ties it involved,
but herself ministering to Jesus of her substance and
viore substantial love.
JUDAS THE BROTHER OF JAMES
and not his son, as some have supposed, comes tenth
in the catalogue of the apostles. We have already
alluded to the uncertainty that attends his identifi-
cation with Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus. He is saved
from oblivion as a mere name by a glimpse, clear
though momentary, which John gives of him in his
narrative.
yames, Judas and Simon. 261
Some little time passed at the Supper after
Thomas and Philip had put their perplexities be-
fore the Master, and now the discourse was turned
on the topic of obedience as the test of affection : *' If
ye love me, keep my commandments." Obedience,
added Christ, would be rewarded by the Father's
peculiar love and his own open manifestation. Here-
upon Judas interrupted the speaker. In introducing
him, the evangelist denotes him as " Judas not
Iscariot " — a phrase which has been understood in
two different ways. Some suppose that the traitor,
having finished his negotiations with the priests,
had dared to return to the supper-chamber, and
that therefore the son of Alphaeus needed to be
distinguished from him. Others, as it seems with
greater likelihood, think that the title was given in
the Early Church after the man of Kerioth had dis-
graced the name he bore, and in order to shield his
namesake from the danger of confusion. Be this as it
may, the question proposed by Jude was pertinent to
the Lord's previous line of address : " How is it (what
has happened) that thou wilt manifest thyself unto
us and not unto the world ? " One would be glad
to take these words as a modest disclaimer of merit
like those of the righteous in the parable, as though
Judas had meant *' How comes it. Lord, that thou
wilt shew thyself to us alone, who are in faith and
holiness so little raised above the world and merit no
especial favour ? " But the more general view of the
question is that it expresses the Jewish idea of a
temporal Messiah, and as such made manifest to the
world.
262 The Companions of the Lord,
The reply of Christ simply repeats the previous
statements about the obedience and rewards of his
servants. The world had not kept his command-
ments, had therein proved the absence of love to
him and disqualified itself from receiving any reve-
lation. Above the manifestation of God in creation,
providence and conscience, the heart often craves
a clearer vision. Here is given us the key to its
attainment. Love is the great revealer; for love
breeds obedience and to the docile soul, not indeed
intellectual but spiritual, truth is ever unfolded.
Tradition tells that Jude laboured at Edessa, the
alleged scene of the mission and martyrdom of
Thomas, that he travelled into Assyria and on his
return to the West was put to death in Phoenicia.
SIMON THE ZEALOT
or Cananite, the two words having the same meaning,
has been coupled in the legends with the foregoing.
The value of their testimony may be gathered from
the fact that, in one account, Judas and he are num-
bered with the shepherds of Bethlehem who heard
the Saviour's nativity-hymn sung by angels and went
to pay their simple adoration to the infant of the
manger ! Tradition unites them in Christian work,
and upon the fancied union are based the lines :
" So evermore He deems His Name
Best honour'd and His way prepar'd,
When watching by His ahar-flame
He sees His servants duly pair'd."
y antes y Judas and Shno7u 26
o
Others on the contrary link Simon with Judas
Iscariot. •* It is probable " says Van Oosterzee " that
our Lord associated this courageous, energetic man
with Judas Iscariot, for the sake of the moral ascend-
aney which such a one might exercise upon his
character, or because Judas could more easily unite
with a companion who had formerly striven for
political and externally theocratic ends."^
This idea of his courage and energy is derived not
from any recorded deed of valour, for no deed of any
kind is attached to his name in the gospels, but from his
connexion with the Zealots, that sect which was noted
for its fierce advocacy of the Jewish ritual, its equally
fierce repudiation of Roman sway and its recognition
of Jehovah as sole king of the chosen people. In the
later days of Jerusalem they followed the fiery
example of Phinehas, taking justice into their hands
and punishing offenders by a rough and ready law of
their own invention. Allied with the faction of the
Assassins, they are credited with having precipitated
the catastrophe which befell the Holy City. When
we read that the founder of this sect was regarded
by its members as the Messiah, the thought rises in
the mind, how different the two Messiahs whom Simon
served — first the lord of bloodshed and misrule, of
national and religious bigotry, afterwards the Prince
of peace, author of all true faith and liberty !
In some of the questions that came before our Lord
the interest of Simon must have been peculiarly keen.
The claim of Caesar to tribute was one on which
« On Luke^ vol. L p. 192.
264 The Companions of the Lord,
hinged the whole Zealot system ; and well can we
picture him pondering the depths of that answer
which escaped the snare so craftily laid : " Render
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto
God the things that are God's."
Let it only be added that the more of a purified
zeal there can be imported into our characters the
better for ourselves and others. The apostle Paul
told his Galatian converts that it was well to be
zealots in a good cause, as shortly afterwards he
bade the Christians at Rome be not slothful in their
zeal but fervent in spirit. In our day half-heartedness
has come to be regarded as praiseworthy moderation,
while any approach to enthusiasm in religion — not in
business but in religion — is condemned as fanaticism.
Still there lives the Festus to cry "Thou art beside
thyself"; still from the window Michal looks down
upon the religious zeal of David, despises him in her
heart and is cursed of Heaven for her scorn. Let a
cause be well chosen, and consecration to it cannot be
too complete. Better the conscientious bigot than he
whose liberality is superficial and in whose tube the
mercury never rises above temperate.
The Brethren of the L ord, 265
NOTE (a) on the brethren OF THE LORD.
It is clear that the sons of Alphaeus could not be
strictly our Lord's brothers unless Alphaeus were
another name borne by Joseph the husband of
Mary. As this supposition has scarcely ever been
broached — and a supposition must indeed be impro-
bable not to find many advocates in the theological
world — it remains to be asked whether in any less
direct sense they could be called his brethren.
Numerous writers have attempted to shew that they
were his cousins, relying upon the following chain of
proof: —
1. A certain Clopas is mentioned by St. John
(xix. 25), the A. V. rendering the word in error Cleo-
phas ; and he has been assumed to be Alphaeus, " the
two Greek names being but different ways of express-
ing one Hebrew word."
2. This Clopas had a wife called Mary,
3. Who appears to have had two sons named James
the Little and Joses ;
4. She is represented also by most versions of the
above-cited passage in John to have been own sister
to the mother of Jesus.
Now, if every link in this chain be sound, we may
hang upon it the desired conclusion. The coinci-
dences are striking, and scriptural precedent is forth-
266 The Companions of the Lord,
coming to allow the relationship of cousin to be
broadly expressed by the term brother. The theory
has the further advantage — if advantage it be — of
respecting the tradition of the perpetual virginity of
the Saviour's mother. Otherwise it is left unsup-
ported by antiquity. No one propounded it before it
was started by Jerome in the fourth century of our
era, and even he did not hold to it firmly. This late
origin is one argument against the theory ; but more
direct objections are not lacking to hinder its general
acceptance. These will be more readily understood
from the subjoined table, exhibiting the view under
examination, which from the name of its promulgator
is known as the Hieronymian :
Joseph and Mary Mary m. Clopas
or Alphaeus.
Jesus.
Ill II
St. James Joses. St. Judas St. Simon Several
the little. or Thaddaeus. the Zealot, daughters
Hereupon we have to remark :
1. That it would be very unusual to find two sisters
bearing the same name.
2. That it is by no means clear that the two women
in question were sisters. Instead of reading in John
xix. 25 " There stood by the cross of Jesus (i) his
mother, and (2) his mother's sister, Mary the wife of
Clopas," it is quite competent for us to follow the
Syriac and read, " (i) his mother and (2) his mother's
sister and (3) Mary the wife of Clopas."
3. Even though this separation were not lawful,
no definite proof is offered that this Clopas was
m
The Brethren of the Lord, 267
identical with the Alphaeus who had sons among the
Twelve.
4. Granting, again, that cousins were sometimes
called brothers ; how does this liberty help us in
interpreting such a phrase as " his mother and breth-
ren and sisters " ? If here one or more of the terms
must be taken literally, is it not arbitrary to assign to
the middle one an extended and derived sense ?
5. Once more, the brethren of the Lord are usually
mentioned in connexion with the virgin Mary ;
whereas, if they were only his cousins, one might
expect rather to find them associated with their own
mother. Mr. Meyrick (in The Die. of Bible, vol. ii.
p. 255 b) supposes that a "union of the two house-
holds took place after the death of Joseph and of
Clopas," and accounts for the difficulty by saying
that " the fact of her name " {i.e. Mary of Clopas)
" being omitted on all occasions on which her children
and her sister are mentioned, save only on the days
of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, would indi-
cate a retiring disposition, or perhaps an advanced
age." We fear the indication will not be so clear to
most minds as to that of Mr. Meyrick.
6. To the above may be added a remark of Pro-
fessor Jowett (on Galatians i. 19) that the term
" brother of the Lord " was used with emphasis in
the Primitive Church as a title of high distinction ;
whereas " to be the cousin of Christ, even if it were a
natural explanation of the word, could hardly have
been a claim to extraordinary respect."
Hence, although Jerome's view simplifies matters
by fusing two families into one. and gains colour
from its explanation of a coincidence, there appears
to be no mean array of evidence against its adop-
tion.
At this point our inquiry might fairly end ; for it
268 The Companions of the Lord,
is only upon Jerome's theory that any of the Twelve
can be identified with the brethren of the Lord. Still
having come thus far, it may be well to go on till
some spot be reached where the mind can rest
in a tolerable degree of quiet.
The discussion is now narrowed. Understanding
' brethren to mean brethren, there are but two rival
views between which to choose, known respectively
as the Helvidian and Epiphanian.
The former regards the brethren as younger children
of Joseph and Mary. But against this opinion, which
on its face is the most natural, may be urged :
1. That the scattered hints in the gospels support
the belief that the brethren were older than our Lord.
They assumed towards him on more occasions than
one a tone of dictation which could scarcely have
been adopted by his juniors.
2. Even allowing that our Lord's " brethren did not
believe on him," yet if they had been his younger
brothers it is improbable that he should have com-
mitted his mother to the care of St. John with a total
ignoring of her own children, especially as he must
have foreseen their speedy conversion.
3. This view violates the constant belief of the
Church with regard to our Lord's mother. To those
who denounce this belief as "superstitious" one can
only suggest that it is not a particularly repulsive
superstition and that the question is not whether it
be superstitious but whether it be true. It is not
contradicted in the New Testament, for though we
are told of Joseph that "he knew her not /^'//she had
brought forth her firstborn son," from neither of the
\vords written in italics can it be proved that Jesus was
not her first and only son.
The view we are thrown upon by the rejection of
the Helvidian is that the brethren were sons of Joseph
The Brethren of the Lord. 269
by a former marriage ; according to which the Holy
Family would stand related thus :
Joseph
by former
wife.
and Mary
Jesus.
Salome m.
Zebedee.x
1
1
St James
1
St. John.
Jame
sthe
5t,
Joses.
Jude,
of the
author
Epistle.
Simon.
Several
daughters.
author of the
Epistle.
Alford admits this view to be " by no means impos-
sible and in some respects agreeing with the apparent
position of these brothers and sisters as older (accord-
ing to the flesh) than our Lord." It is not open to
the objection arising out of the commendation of the
mother of Jesus to John ; it harmonizes with the
tradition of Joseph's age and Mary's virginity ; while
the preponderance of testimony is on its side. Canon
Lightfoot, in summing up an able dissertation on the
subject, says, " The balance of the argument is against
the Helvidian and in favour of the Epiphanian " ; and
again, " The Epiphanian account has the highest
claims to the sanction of tradition, whether the value
of this sanction be great or small " ; and " this solu-
tions seems especially to represent the Palestinian
view." — TJie Galatians, pp. 265, 278.
1 This part of the table is supported by a comparison of Matt xxvii.
56 with Mark xv. 40, and by the Syriac of John xix. 25.
270 The Companions of the Lord,
NOTE (b) on the early LIFE OF THE BRETHREN.
Albeit the preceding inquiry has led us to shut
out the Brethren from the circle of the Twelve, the
question cannot be considered so completely settled
as to justify us in passing them by without further
notice. So closely are they associated in the popular
mind with the original apostles, and so closely
associated were they in history with our Lord, that
it may not be inconsistent with the scope of these
pages to admit them in the character of his Com-
panions. We propose therefore in this note briefly
to set out the information given in the gospels about
the brethren collectively, and in the two notes that
follow to pursue the later career of James and Jude,
the only members of the family to whom by name
any details are allotted.
Of the youth of the Brethren nothing is known ;
Jesus has begun his public ministry and they are in
midstream of life before we are introduced to them.
Then they are discovered at Cana immediately after
the marriage at which his manifested glory engaged
the faith of his disciples. Even in this first mention
of his kindred we seem to catch a whisper of their un-
Early Life of the Brethren, 271
belief. Thoughtful readers of the fourth gospel know
how much its author can convey by silence ; and when
on this occasion he pointedly says that the Lord's
disciples believed on him and in the next verse notes
merely the presence of the brethren, a contrast be-
tween the two classes is suggested to the mind, and
the omission of the latter from the list of them that
believed may without fancifulness be taken to im-
ply their exclusion from the faith of discipleship.
Attended by friends and followers, Jesus went
down from Cana to Capernaum. A few days later
the party divided, he going to Jerusalem, Mary and
the brethren probably returning to Nazareth. In
that peaceful basin, about which the rounded hills
gather like the edge of a shell or the encircling leaves
of a rose,' the househoW of Joseph had long lived.
From the absence of all reference to the father after
the opening of our Lord's ministry, it is conjectured
that he had died in one of the previous years between
that date and the memorable search for his son in
the streets of the Holy City. In the district however
he was still remembered as the village carpenter,
though not credited with any extraordinary skill in
his trade; for the legends dwell carefully on his
egregious blunders in order to bring out the mira-
culous ease with which they were rectified by the
■youthful Jesus. Joseph, as may readily be understood,
formed a strong link between the two families residing
under his roof ; his removal could not but widen the
interval of feeling already existing between them,
t Sinai and Palestine^ p. 36$.
272 The Companions of the Lord.
Shortly after the final choice of the Twelve, we
find the Lord undertaking a tour of Galilee, accom-
panied by a group of devoted women. Having on a
certain day cured a blind and dumb demoniac in the
open air, he entered into a house which the importu-
nate multitude forthwith besieged. The Pharisees had
been aroused to rancorous hatred of Jesus by the
miracle ; while the populace on the other hand was
beside itself with an enthusiasm which would scarce
permit its hero time for needful repose. Apparently
his home was not far off ; for his relations, hearing of
the violent division of feeling over him, hurried to the
spot in the hope of withdrawing him by persuasion
or, if need were, by force.
Their conduct has been variously explained, in
accordance with the estimate formed by this critic
and that of their general character. Thus Lange
connects their interference with the offence Jesus had
just given to the hierarchical party, and with the
desire of his family to draw him away from a despe-
rate conflict in which no sane man would engage.
Others who also look favourably upon the brethren
imagine them to have been moved by a generous
wish to check him amid an excess of work which
seemed likely to defeat his end by wearing out his
strength prematurely. Against these lenient views
must be set the language attributed to them by
the evangelist : " They said. He is beside himself."
As Stier says, "Let us interpret this as gently as
we may, it remains a strong word," and all the
stronger when we observe that the expression is
identical with that previously used to describe the
Early Life of the Brethren, 273
wild excitement of the mob/ It amounted indeed
to this : " Let us remove him from harm's way ; he
is as mad as the people around him." A touch there
may have been in their hearts of kindly feeling
towards the person of Jesus, but no sympathy with
him in his work. More than once that same cry
was caught up against the apostle Paul, as to-day
it is the favourite implement with those who seek to
dry up the verdure of the fruitful lives of others in
order that their own arid patch may thereby be
made the less conspicuous.
Whatever may have been the motives of the
brethren, they were compelled to retire, defeated
of their aim. Narrating their ill-success, as it would
appear, to the mother of Jesus, they induced her to
join them in a second attempt and use her authority
where theirs had failed. Her mind must have mis-
given her if she recalled two former occasions at
least on which she had been rebuked for intruding
upon her mysterious Son in his self-appointed work.
But people are easily persuaded that there is some-
thing so exceptional in present circumstances as to
make the lessons of the past inapplicable ; and Mary
allowed herself to side with the unbelievers. A
personal interview however with Jesus was not to be
obtained ; the crowd blocked the entrance to the
house and stretched some distance down the street ;
all therefore that could be done was to send in a
message. The form in which the message was
couched is noticeable : " Behold, thy mother and thy
* ^{iVtokto Matthew xii. 23 ; i^ivni Mark iii. 21.
T
2 74 The Companions of the Lord,
brethren stand without, desiring to speak with
thee," where not a little adroitness seems to be
shewn in the putting of the mother's name in the
forefront, in referring to the Lord's relations as
excluded by the crowd and kept in discomfort, and
in veiling the real object of the errand.
Before any answer could be returned, an incident
occurred which, though mentioned by St. Luke in
another connexion, fits in here so neatly that one is
disposed to join those who allow it a place in this
scene. Hearing the mother of Jesus named by the
messengers, a certain woman in the assembly cried
aloud " Blessed is the womb that bare thee ! "
"Her word," it has been remarked, "was a beau-
tiful homage, glorifying the Lord Himself at a
moment when the hierarchs of the land were con-
demning Him as a heretic who, as they said, was
in league with the devil . . only it behoved her to
know that Mary had only attained to her peculiar
experience of the visitation of God through her
peculiar hearing and keeping of the word of God." ^
Our Saviour in his reply not only turned off the
sentimental ejaculation of the matron to a useful
purpose but gave a hint of the answer he was
about to make to the request of his family. The
lesson conveyed by both sayings is that natural
kinship is but " a thread of tow" compared with the
bond of spiritual affinity. No external relationship
to him, no coming of a pious stock, no fertility in
religious emotions, no punctual observance of rites
I Lange, Life of Christy vol. iii. p. 185.
Early Life of the Brethren, 275
and ordinances, will avail in his sight so much as
the grasp of a living faith and the daily fulfilment of
his Father's will.
The reply was passed from mouth to mouth, till
it reached the little company standing without.
Receiving it, mother and brethren departed home-
wards with an inward conflict in which we may trust
conscience soon gained the day over indignation.
Belike at eventide, when the multitude was dis-
persed, Jesus followed to the family abode and
there by the tenderness of private expostulation
softened the necessary rigour of his public rebuke.
In the autumn our Lord was again in Galilee,
whither he had retired from threatened persecution
in Jewry. The feast of Tabernacles was at hand,
but he made no preparation for attending it. This
inaction gave surprise to his brethren, who with
the same assumption of authority which we have al-
ready noticed urged him to take the journey to
Jerusalem and present himself at the festival. Here
again their motives have received divers interpre-
tations. According to some they acknowledged the
miracles of Christ and favoured the main objects of
his ministry, but were now disposed to question the
policy he was adopting ; in his own interests they
would have him repair to the capital and lift up
his voice, confident of success. The opposite view,
and that which seems to be supported by the
evangelist, represents the words as spoken in "a
harsh and scoffing spirit." In their address to
Jesus a peremptory tone is heard, and a disparag-
276 The Companions of the Lord,
ing reference made to his disciples as men with
whom the speakers had little, and cared to have
little, in common. His present retirement puzzled
them, for in their experience all who sought to do
a public work were accustomed to put themselves for-
ward ; let him do so too, if indeed he dared to run
the risk. As if to clinch this construction of their
words, St. John inserts an admonitory note of the
kind we shall presently find him directing against
the traitor: "For not even did his brethren believe
on him." Had it not been for the preconceived idea
that some of the brethren were apostles and there-
fore must have been believers, who would have
dreamt of reducing a general and emphatic state-
ment like this to an assertion of the unbelief of
but one or two out of the four, and of their dissent
merely from the special plan he was pursuing in
furtherance of his work }
The plainest indication of their real mind is given
by the terms of the Lord's reply. He would never
have said " the world cannot hate you " to men who
were in heart at one with him, but rather as on
another occasion to his disciples "because ye are
not of the world . . therefore the world hateth you."
With the former words of calm but keen rebuke, he
turned back upon his brethren their own request
and bade them go to the approaching feast ; they
had nothing to fear from the world, but could
always count on its favour; with him it was other-
wise, and the time was not yet arrived for meeting
it in the death-grapple ; when that hour did come
he would not be found backward to endure the con-
Early Life of the Brethren, 277
tradiction of sinners. They yielded to his bidding,
and after reaching Jerusalem had the opportunity
of learning how unjust was their suggestion of
cowardice. For probably they were present with the
multitude in the Temple on the last, that great day
of the feast, when at sundown the gorgeous candle-
sticks were lighted and their brother's voice was
heard to cry " I am the light of the world " ; and
when, amid the waving of boughs, the blast of
trumpets, the rapid chanting in wild chromatic of
the appointed Hallel and the outpouring of the
sacred water from Siloam, that well-known figure
stood forth above the throng and cried, " If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink."
Their hearts remained unchanged up to the time
of the Crucifixion. Happily at Bethany the Saviour
met with a sympathy which Nazareth denied him.
Lazarus was to him a Jonathan with whom his soul
was knit and over whose grave he could shed the
tears of genuine friendship ; Martha and Mary were
to him in place of those sisters of whom so tanta-
lizingly little is told, leaving us to fear that they
shared the unbelief of their brethren. These last, it
may be, came up to the Passover and were wit-
nesses of the final scene on Golgotha ; yet we read
of no aid rendered, no loving concern displayed,
towards him whose career they had traced from
childhood.
But the change was at hand. The rending of
the Temple veil in the hour of Christ's death was a
fit emblem not only of the deliverance of his spirit
278 The Companions of the Lord.
from the prison house of the flesh and the opening
of the kingdom of heaven to all believers, but of the
revelation now made to the brethren and many an
other of his true character. A few days before
Jesus had said "I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me ; " it is pleasant to
believe that his own kindred were among the first
to own the attraction of his Cross. Their conver-
sion took place at any rate before the Ascension ;
for immediately after that event we read of the
eleven continuing in prayer "with the women, and
Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren."
Won at last ! Let the burden be lifted from the
souls of Christian parents, brothers, sisters, grieving
over the estrangement of their dearest from the
Saviour. Here were men, who to middle life had
dwelt among the holiest influences and resisted
them, won at last. Bring we the objects of our
care near to the Cross and, slow though the melting
be, the old pilgrim's words shall come true, that
" was a man in a mountain of ice, yet if the Sun
of righteousness will arise upon him, his frozen
heart shall feel a thaw."
James tJie JusL 279
NOTE (C) ON JAMES THE JUST.
As during the gospel period we possess no specific
notice of any one of the four brethren of our Lord,
so do the four taken together drop from view in
the history of the Early Church — if we may except
a single allusion to them as married — and James
reenters, sole representative of the family. The
first reference to him apart from his brothers is
in the resurrection chapter, at the opening of which
St. Paul enumerates the appearances granted by
the risen Christ to his followers, whence it might
seem that he was not among the first to receive a
vision. If it be so, we must lay aside a graceful
story which tells how James had sworn that he would
not eat bread until he should see Jesus rising from
the dead ; wherefore the Saviour appeared unto him,
bade him bring bread, blessed it and said, "My
brother, eat thy bread, because the Son of man is
risen from the dead."
We owe more to tradition for credible details about
St. James than is the case with any others of the
Lord's companions, Peter perhaps excepted. The
picture drawn by Hegesippus, though familiar, is
indispensable to any sketch of his life. According
to this authority " he was holy from his mother's
28o The Companions of the Lord.
womb; he drank not wine or strong drink, nor did
he eat animal food ; a razor came not upon his
head ; he did not anoint himself with oil nor use
the bath. He alone might go into the holy place ;
for he wore no woollen clothes but only linen ; and
alone he used to go into the Temple, where he was
commonly found upon his knees praying forgive-
ness for the people, so that his knees grew dry and
thin like a camel's, from his constantly bending
them in prayer, entreating forgiveness for the people."
If this description may be trusted even in outline,
we perceive in James two characteristics often found
in persons converted late in life — an earnest solicitude
to bring former associates into the newly-won light,
and with this a difficulty in appropriating the full
measure of religious confidence and liberty. With
all his devoutness of spirit, the old Nazarite training
might powerfully impede the emancipation of James
from the thrall of Judaism. We shall indeed see
that he was far removed from the party of bigots in
the Palestinian Church ; but he cannot be said to
have stood on that elevated platform whence St. Paul
commanded so wide and distant a view. He was
" called to fulfil the mission . . rather of a Christian
Baptist than of a Christian apostle or evangelist, to
make men believe in Moses before he could make
them believe in Christ;" by holiness "he prepared
the way for progress, freeing the law of the spirit
from the law of the letter, as the ripened grain
shakes off the enveloping husk."'
I Stanley, Apostolical Age, p. 304. Pressense, Early Years, p. 67.
James the Just, 28 1
It was the natural result of the high esteem in
which St. James was held, of his near relationship
to the Lord and the peculiar value of the testimony-
he could bear, that he should soon be called to hold
office in the Church. Nor was his voice powerless
when he went beyond the circle of believers. Such
influence did he exert over the common people
that they would vie one with another to touch the
hem of his garment ; such was his reputation for
prayer that in time of drought he was besought
like Elijah — in many respects his type — to call
down rain from heaven, such his public spirit
that it won him the title of Oblias or bulwark
of the people, such his integrity that, like his
father Joseph the " upright man," he was named
James the Just.
The Ascension took place about the year A.D. 30
and the conversion of Saul of Tarsus some six years
afterwards. When, after his sojourn in Arabia and
preaching at Damascus, the latter went up to Jeru-
salem and spent a fortnight with 'Peter, he was intro-
duced to the Lord's brother. These two apostles,
with St. Matthew, formed the leaders of the inter-
mediate party in the Church, set between the ex-
treme Judaizers and the Gentile innovators. Thus
endangered on either hand, it was well for them
to come into contact with the free yet reverent
spirit of St. Paul, who on several recorded occasions
took the opportunity of combating their scruples
and vindicating the independence of his foreign
converts.
An intimacy between James and Cephas has been
282 The Companions of the Lord.
inferred from the message sent by the latter upon his
deliverance from prison : " Go shew these things
unto James, and to the brethren." But this is not
the sole inference that may be built upon the ex-
pression, nor the surest. That James was at this
time well known is made clear by the introduction of
his name without note or comment immediately after
the death of the greater James, the son of Zebedee ;
while if we suppose the Lord's brother to have been
already elected president of the metropolitan church,
it would be an act of but common courtesy to send
earliest intelligence to him as representative of the
whole community.
The rescue of St. Peter is assigned to the forty-
fourth year of our era, and James is not mentioned
again before the Council that met at Jerusalem
A.D. 5 1 . This gap of seven years must remain void
unless we place in it the writing and publication
of the general Epistle which bears his name. By
*'the first Synod at which the books of the Bible
were made the subject of a special ordinance " an
earlier origin was allowed to it than to any of the
other apostolic letters.^ But the evidence which
satisfied the Fathers assembled at Laodicea does
not appear to have been so strong that we can
afford to ignore the chronological data supplied by
a perusal of the epistle itself. From his central
post of observation the writer had remarked with
pain the hollow pretences of many among the
X Westcott, Canon of the New Testament^ pp. 399, 401.
James the Just. 283
Jewish Christians ; accordingly his aim in address-
ing them was to urge these professors of religion
to obey the word of God as well as hear it, to
abandon that respect of persons which led them to
despise one man for his poverty and fawn upon
another for his wealth, and ever to guard against a
barren faith.
It was here that Luther, trained to adopt the
standards of St. Paul, detected as he thought a
fatal deficiency ; to his judgment it was " a right
strawy epistle," lacking the stout heart of timber
which he had rejoiced to acknowledge in the letter
to the Galatians. The discrepancy he exaggerated
is reducible to just this, that Paul speaks of reli-
gion as the root of morality, whereas James, be-
ginning from the other end, describes morality as
the fruit of religion. The faith of which James
complained was dead and useless for the conflict
with sin, even as a field cannon, spiked and un-
limbered ; that to which Paul alludes was quick
and potent, like the same gun loaded, truly aimed
and smartly served. The one says that a sterile
faith will not save, the other declares precisely
the same thing when arguing that a fertile faith
will save. There are seasons when we need to
look on the obverse of the medal, there are others
when it is well to have the reverse presented to
our view ; and this perchance is a time when the
Church, rocked in the arms of the world, requires
no lesson so imperatively as that reiterated by
St. James that, "as the body without the spirit is
dead so faith without works is dead also."
284 TJie Companions of the Lord.
The tone of the epistle bears upon the question of
the date thus far, that it would in all probability have
been modified had the doctrinal developments of
St. Paul been previously made known. Indeed the
general simplicity of the teaching, echoing as it does
the Sermon on the Mount, marks an early stage
in the history of primitive Christianity ; while the
absence of allusion to Jews and Gentiles as form-
ing distinct and recognized parties in the Church
affords independent proof of its seniority as compared
with other productions of the same age. To borrow
the language of another, " whether it be or be not
the earliest in time, which however there is much
reason to believe, it is certainly the earliest in spirit.
Its voice indeed is the voice of the new dispensation,
but its outward form and figure belongs almost
entirely to the older."
The relation of the Gentile Christians to Mosaic
ordinances formed the subject of discussion at the
Council of Jerusalem, held twelve or fourteen years
after Paul's first visit as an apostle to the Holy City.
He now came up with Barnabas, partly to report the
remarkable success of their mission in the West, but
chiefly to defend the newly planted churches from
the demand of the faction which sought to make
Christianity the duteous handmaid of the elder faith.
Addressing themselves first in private to the apos-
tles of the circumcision, they learnt the height to
which party feeling ran and the inability of the more
moderate leaders to stem the impetuous zeal of those
who " would not lay aside the garb of Judaism at the
ya77ies the Just. 285
bidding of James or Peter."* No graver crisis had
arisen or could arise to the Church than now, when
those who insisted on conformity with the Hebrew
ritual had gathered their strength for the fight and
were bent on making " the Jerusalem which is above
and which is the mother of all Christian men, a mere
cramped and narrow faubourg in the metropolis of
Judaism."
It was well that the apostles had agreed upon a
plan of action overnight ; for at the public conference
the legalists mustered in force and were for passing
the whole company of Gentile converts, like prisoners
of war, under the yoke. When the storm had spent
its fury, Peter arose and claimed the parole, to which
he was amply entitled by his previous ingathering of
the first-fruits of the uncircumcision. His short and
vigorous speech was followed up by the report of the
missionaries, who wisely abstained from argument
and gave a simple recital of facts that had passed
under their own observation. The assembly was
evidently moved ; and, no one offering to reply,
James rose from the president's chair and put the
finishing stroke to the victory gained by the
champions of reason and liberty. His authority
was full of weight, for none could suspect him of
slighting the Mosaic law ; and when, with a citation
of ancient prophecy, he gave it as his deliberate
I Jowett, On the Epistles of St. Paul, vol. i. p. 336. "Nothing,"
he says, "can be more striking than the contrast between the vehe-
mence with which St. Paul treats his Judaizing antagonists, and the gen-
tleness or silence-which he never fails to preserve towards the Apostles
at Jerusalem." — p. 335.
286 The Companions of the Lord.
opinion that the Gentile converts should be left
unmolested, provided only they avoided giving un-
necessary offence to their Jewish neighbours, they of
the contrary part were finally silenced. Then *'the
pillar-apostles," James and Peter and John, gave
their right hands to Barnabas and Paul as a pledge
of good fellowship, and formally designated them
to the ministry of the uncircumcision. The decree
which was sent with them to Antioch animadverted in
strong terms upon the demands of the Judaizers and
warmly commended the labours of the two delegates.
Even if no traces had been found in this decree of
resemblance to the epistle of James,^ we could
scarcely doubt that it was drawn up under the eye,
if not by the pen, of the president of the Council.
But were the liberal sentiments expressed in this
decree sincere or permanent } The question is raised
by the fact that shortly afterwards there came down
to Antioch a deputation from James with the object,
as it appeared, of revoking "in detail all that had
been previously allowed." It has been observed in
an earlier chapter how these emissaries destroyed
for the moment Peter's balance of constancy ; but
there is no evidence that James was deserving of
blame. Either they came in the spirit of the decree
and the Apostle's fears were needlessly aroused ;
or they exceeded their instructions and resembled
those of whom the document itself had made
mention : " Certain which went out from us . .
I The use of x«^'f «*" has been pomted out as an example. Cf. Acts
XV. 23, and James K. i.
Javus t/ie Just. 287
subverting your souls . . to whom we gave no
such commandment."
As seven years intervened between the last two
notices of James, so other seven pass before he again
appears to view. In the interval St. Paul has made
his second and third missionary journeys, and now
after a long stay at Ephesus and a shorter sojourn
at Corinth has taken ship to Tyre and thence
travelled overland to Jerusalem. On the day suc-
ceeding his arrival he presented himself before a
meeting of the church attended by James and all
the elders. The generous contribution of the Greek
Christians to the poor saints of Judaea was first
handed in as a soothing introduction to the business,
and the kiss of peace affectionately given. But this
halcyon quiet was not to continue long. The words
of greeting and acknowledgment had scarce died
away when the old stormy demand buist forth anew
for universal allegiance to the externals of the Mosaic
law. The Judaizers rhetorically magnified the strength
of their party ; they urged that Paul had been taken
for an enemy of the ancient religion, and that he
should seize an opportunity which now offered of
publicly correcting this misapprehension — if misap-
prehension it were. The course they suggested was
fraught with extreme peril, but it was bravely ac-
cepted by Paul for peace' sake, and in accepting it
he no doubt followed the advice of James and others
of the leading apostles. That act of worship in the
Temple cost him, as we know, his liberty, and gave
him an unexpected fulfilment of his desire to see
Rome and preach the gospel there also.
288 The Compactions of the Lord,
This is the latest reference to James in the pages
of St. Luke ; nor do the epistles allude to him unless
he be included among the leaders of the Church
whom the Hebrews are bidden remember, following
their faith and considering the heroic end of their
conversation.
For such, according to more accounts than one,
was the end of the Lord's brother. The narrative
in Josephus is very simple: the version given by
Hegesippus is on the contrary at once picturesque
and minute.^ It runs thus — that the influence of
James grew day by day, until the Pharisees and rulers
were driven to a desperate scheme for the purpose
of counteracting it. Forgetful of the discomfiture
of Balak when he sought to employ a prophet of God
against the chosen nation, they repaired to James and
besought him to persuade the people not to go astray
after Jesus ; for, added they, to thee all of us give
heed. Believing that he would comply, they set him
at Passovertide upon a battlement of the Temple and
cried out to him in the hearing of the worshippers
who thronged the forecourt, " O just one, unto whom
all ought to give heed, seeing that the people are
going astray after Jesus who was crucified, tell us,
what is the door of Jesus .^'"^ But he made answer
with a loud voice, " Why ask ye me concerning Jesus
the Son of man ? Lo he is seated on high at the
1 Antiquities, bk. xx. cap. 9 § i ; Eusebiiis, bk. ii. cap. 23.
2 Probably meaning, What is the gate of salvation ? So Stanley ;
Westcott takes it of the door of access to God ; Pressense of the doc-
trine of Jesus; while a writer quoted by Alford says the expression
means no more than faith in God.
yames the JusL 289
right hand of the great power, and shall come in the
clouds of heaven." Whereat the Christians who were
in the crowd raised a long Hosanna, and many others
believed ; but the rest, moved with rage, cried " See,
see ! even the Just One is gone astray." They went
up therefore and threw him down ; and when he
struggled to his knees and began to pray for his
enemies, they said, " Let us stone James the Just."
But while they were stoning him, one came and beat
in his brains with a club from a fuller's shop hard by ;
and they cast his body out of the holy place among
the rocks of the gorge below, where the memorial of
his death was for many years to be seen."'
This martyrdom has been assigned to one or other
of the years A.D. 63-69, according as critics have under-
stood the closing words of Hegesippus, that imme-
diately after these things Vespasian invaded and took
Judaea. In early art the Apostle, always identified
by the painters with the son of Alphaeus, is depicted
as closely resembling our Lord in outward feature.
His position in the Church seems to have been mis
conceived by those who have classed him with the
Judaizing party. Thus one writer says, " Had not
a Peter, and above all a Paul arisen as supplemen-
' Dr. Bonar says "the place where the martyr was cast down must
have been the Eastern wall, and as this is very near the fullers'
fountain, it accounts for the presence of a fuller with his club at the
moment." — Land of Promise^ p. 495. The Palestine explorers connect
with this narrative a recent discovery made on the top of the Ophel
Hill of a cavern hewn out of the rock, and consisting of two chambers,
round one of which are cut vats, mangers or troughs, supposed by
Captain Warren to have belonged to a fuller's shop. — Our IVork,
p. 147.
U
290 The Companions of the Lord,
tary to James, Christianity would perhaps have never
become entirely emancipated from the veil of Judaism
and asserted its own independence."' It seems
juster to regard him with others as " divinely
ordained to be the Apostle of this transition-Church.
Had its councils been less wisely guided, had the
Gospel of St. Paul been really repudiated by the
Church of Jerusalem, it is difficult to estimate the
evil which might have resulted."* Acting as mode-
rator to the early kirk, he served to unite those who
but for his influence might have fallen asunder into
two irreconcilable sections, but whom happily he
was able to retain until concessions had been made
on the one side, demands abated on the other, and
a middle ground discovered on which both could
stand together and work with blended force.
I Schaff, in Alford, vol. iv. prolegg. p. 98.
a Conybeare and Howson, vol. ii. p. 247.
Jude, 291
NOTE (D) on JUDE THE LORD'S BROTHER.
A few sentences, and but a few, must be added
respecting the only other son of Joseph of whom we
possess any information. This information consists
of some uncertain conclusions based upon the short
letter to which his name is prefixed, and of a single
legend about his grandsons.
Unlike the writings of Peter, the epistle of Jude
is anything but autobiographical. Two or three
phrases however occur in it which shed a glimmer
of light upon the character and surroundings of its
author. Thus, when he says " remember ye the
words which were spoken before of the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you . , "
the impression is conveyed to the mind of a reader
innocent of controversy that the writer was not
himself an apostle.' We have however conceded
the possibility of taking the words so as to include
him among the apostles, though by no means admit-
ting him within the circle of the original Twelve.
I Especially would this be the case if, with one manuscript, we were
to read t\\uv — ** how that they told us."
292 The Companions of the Lord,
This latter view may seem preferable, as agreeing
with his modest introduction of himself in the super-
scription of the epistle, where, instead of announc-
ing his kinship with the Lord and independence of
James, he accepts in both particulars the lowlier
place, coming before the reader as ''Jude, the ser-
vant of Jesus Christ and brother of James."
The date of the letter cannot be determined with
any degree of accuracy from the vague hints of time
which it contains. It has been generally agreed that
an origin should be assigned to it anterior to the fall
of Jerusalem, while a comparison between it and the
second epistle of Peter leads to the belief that here
we have the free, primal outflow of ideas which have
been condensed in the other and adapted to a some-
what different purpose.
If the date be obscure, it cannot be said that the
persons for whom the letter was composed are indi-
cated with much greater definiteness. That they were
Jews may be gathered from allusions to the canonical
and apocryphal scriptures of that nation ; that they
were familiar with James the Just is also probable ; but
little more can be hazarded about them than that they
lived amid a wicked populace, by whose communica-
tions their good morals were in danger of being cor^-
rupted. Already the mischief had begun to spread ;
the community addressed was like a ship that had
sprung a leak, and between whose timbers the de-
structive waters were forcing a way ; this epistle is
a vehement appeal to the crew to man the pumps,
conquer the peril and make the vessel secure.
Nothing can exceed the trenchant denunciations
Jtide, 293
with which St Jude chastizes the invaders of the
Church. They were men who had crept in subtilely
hke the serpent into Paradise, men who abused reli-
gious privilege, denying in life if not in word our
only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ, sunken rocks at
the love-feasts, upon which all charity was like to be
wrecked, dissatisfied grumblers and scoffing schis-
matics. The annals of the past are swept for paral-
lels to their crime and types of their impending doom ;
in the attack upon them the vocabulary of invective
seems to be exhausted ; the epistle is the hundred
and ninth psalm of the New Testament.
The writer shews himself meantime aware that
the rhetoric of accusation is a blade easily snapped
or blunted, sharp though its first strokes may be.
Accordingly he exhorts his readers to contend
earnestly for the faith which had been once for all
delivered to the saints, to recall the instructions they
had received touching the common salvation, and
jealously to keep their hearts in the love of God
while working for the well-being of their neighbours.
With such gentler admonitions as these, he com-
mends them to Him who was able to keep them
from falling, even to the only God our Saviour
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The legend of Jude's grandsons^ relates that the
two young men were brought before the Emperor
Domitian in answer to an inquiry he had been making
about the posterity of David. When asked to give
I Given by Hegesippus, in Eusebius, bk. iii. cap. 20.
294 The Companions of the Lord,
an account of the manner of their life and of the
nature of Christ's kingdom, they; showed him their
hands, all furrowed and horny with labour, as proof
that they lived by honest toil, telling him at the same
time that the kingdom they looked for was not
temporal but of a heavenly origin. Satisfied by this
answer that no revolutionary design was to be appre-
hended from them, the suspicious tyrant dismissed
them with contempt. They then being released
presided over the churches in the double character
of relations of the Lord and confessors of the faith.
XVI.
®0 il^z Compart toitj^ t^t "^xmk.
895
So spake the false dissembler unperceivd ;
For neither Man nor Angel can discern
Hjrpocrisie, the only evil that walks
Invisible, except to God alone,
By his permissive will, through Heav'n and Earth
And oft though wisdom wake, suspicion sleeps
At wisdoms Gate, and to simplicitie
Resigns her charge, while goodness thinks no ill
Where no iU seems,"
296
OUT of many explanations that have been given
of the name Iscariot, Lightfoot has suggested
two, both of which deserve mention. Assuming it
first to have belonged to the Apostle in his lifetime,
he would connect it with a word Iskortja which was
used for the "leathern apron, that tanners put on
over their clothes," and hence asks " what if he used
the art of a tanner, before he was chose into
discipleship ? Certainly we read of one Simon a
tanner. Acts ix. 43 ; and that this Judas was the son
of Simon, John xii. 4." It need scarcely be said
of this singular conjecture that we have no better
reason for supposing the traitor to have been re-
lated to Peter's host at Joppa than for accepting
the opinion of others that he was a son of Simon
the Zealot ; as readily might one associate him
with Simon Peter, Simon Magus or any other
bearer of that name in the New Testament. But
putting aside this speculation about his father, the
derivation is not untenable ; and it has to its bow
this second string that in the leathern aprons purses
997
298 The Companions of the Lord,
were often sewn; "hence it may be, Judas had the
title of * the purse-bearer/ as he was called ' Judas
with the apron.' " But it is possible that the surname
was posthumous ; in which case, says the learned
divine, " if he were not branded with this title till
after his death, I should suppose it derived from
Iscara," a term descriptive of suffocation either by
violence or by quinsy, so that when he " perished by
a most miserable strangling, being strangled by the
devil . no wonder if this infamous death be branded
upon his name, to be commonly styled * Judas Iscariot*
or *that Judas, that perished by strangling.' "^
It seems safer however to adhere to the old inter-
pretation of the name which makes it mean "the
man of Kerioth," of that Kerioth-.Hezron mentioned
in one of the catalogues in the book of Joshua. The
objection to this etymology is that it removes the
home of Judas far from the district whence the rest
of the apostles were drawn. Kerioth was one of " the
uttermost cities of the tribe of the children of Judah
toward the coast of Edom southward," while the cry
raised at Pentecost was " Behold, are not all these
which speak Galilaeans .?" It would be strange if the
traitor were sole representative of Judaea in the sacred
college ; but this strangeness does not destroy the
claim of what otherwise is the simplest and best
supported explanation of his name.
For his early days our sole authorities are the
apocryphal gospels and the imagination of poets.
X Lightfoot, Works^ voL xi. pp. 172, 173.
Judas Iscariot. 299
The stories of the former are as incredible as they
are repulsive, while the latter has framed no more
vivid picture of his infancy than this :
"Nor may we doubt, his Mother mild
Upon that bosom pitying thought,
Where Judas lay, a harmless Child
By gold as yet unbought."
In the Scriptures he rises to view at the ordination
of the Twelve, placed at the foot of each list of the
apostles and as we have seen bearing from the first
the stigma of shame. This may be a fitting place for
noticing the opinion of Judas entertained by his
contemporaries. The verdict of his fellow-disciples
is terribly unsparing ; Matthew refers to him fre-
quently but without a word of palliation, while
John exhibits an unconquerable aversion from the
man, which calls forcibly to mind the legend of his
flight from Cerinthus. This " peculiar antipathy," as
it has been termed, displays itself in the fourth
gospel in various forms. Now an unworthy remark
which the other evangelists assign to the apostles
as a body is brought home by its author to Judas ;
now he will explain an allusion made by the Lord
to refer directly to the traitor ; he is at pains to
deprive him of all claim to the heroic in his sin,
to strip off every shred of disguise and expose the
utter baseness of his motives. Not less severe is
Peter in his speech after the Ascension, commenting
on the fall of Iscariot by transgression, dwelling with
ghastly minuteness upon the manner of his death
and not questioning that he was gone to his own
300 The Companions of the Lord.
place. But more impressive than any utterances of
the fellow-servants are the terrible words applied to
him by the Master, hesitating not to call him the
traitor, a very devil among his disciples and the
son of perdition. On this consensus of opinion
may be based two remarks, the one that it were the
height of presumption in us to suppose ourselves
in a better position for judging of the character of
Judas than those who were with him for years and
could watch him day by day, the other that as the
truthfulness of these witnesses is unimpeachable, so
were they of all men the most disposed towards a
generous construction of his conduct. It must be
a misplaced charity to extenuate acts they shrank
not from condemning ; and we must be prepared
to find in his life that which will justify the rigour
of their judgment, and to reject any interpretation
of his motives inconsistent with that judgment.
Thus much premised, let us take up the narrative
in its broken course. The sermon about the bread
of life, which formed so beautiful a sequel to the feed-
ing of the multitude with natural bread, proved a
stumbling-block to certain of the disciples. " There
are some of you that believe not," said the Saviour,
in recording whose words St. John adds as a note of
his own that "Jesus knew from the beginning who
they were that believed not, and who he was that
should betray him." The unbelief was shared in
greater or less degree by all, causing them to miss
the spiritual application of his teaching; but one
there was already detected as of sordid and disloyal
heart by His eye who needed not that any should
Judas Iscariot, 301
testify of man. Nor was this belief of the evangelist
in Christ's foreknowledge unsupported ; for at the
close of the scene in which Peter's confession is com-
mended we find the Lord, while rejoicing in his
devotion, yet sadly reflecting that the like spirit did
not reside in every member of the apostolic band :
" Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a
devil ?" Here again John is careful to fasten the
charge upon him for whom it was meant, adding " He
spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon : for he it
was that should betray him, being one of the twelve."
The full significance of the Saviour's words can be
but imperfectly known to us. Peter had a short time
before been called Satan, but only because at the
moment he was assuming the part of adversary and
tempter ; whereas in calling Judas a devil our Lord
seems to have implied a permanent surrender of his
heart to the powers of evil or a deliberate following
of that malevolent spirit whose work ever is to sow
sin and discord.
There is no evidence that Judas had thus early
conceived the plan of betraying his Master, or that
as yet he was conscious of guilty isolation from the
rest of the apostles. Many have supposed that he
knew himself to be the devil referred to by Christ ;
" he must," says one, " have suspected whom that
meant, but there seems to have been no moral
anguish, no eager and earnest cry for help to become
better." May it not on the contrary be a truer
view of the development of evil in the soul to believe
that he had no conception of being himself aimed at
by those dark words of omen, and that he would have
302 The Companions of the Lord,
repudiated with indignation the charge of intended
treachery. Later on in his career it was otherwise :
when he joined in the exclamation, "Lord, is it I?"
'twas because
"False face must hide what the false heart doth know;"
but at present we have to regard him as a man who
had begun well but, unmoored by stalwart principle,
was drifting whither the tide of lust might bear him,
with no dream of treason in his heart nor any antici-
pation of the chasm of sin into which afterwards he
would be plunged.
If thus he heard not the distant boom of the
cataract he was nearing, equally unconscious were his
fellow-disciples of the scope of the fatal words ; for
up to the very eve of the Redeemer's death not one
of them knew who should deliver him into the hands
of his foes ; nothing had up to that hour occurred
openly to separate them from Judas, or attach to him
suspicion.
But while neither Judas nor his colleagues surmised
all the evil that was latent in him, we cannot evade
the plain assertion of the evangelist that Jesus clearly
foresaw the end. The question then must be opened —
for to do more than open it is beyond our power —
how the Lord, possessed of this knowledge from the
beginning, prefacing his choice of apostles by prayer
and receiving them as a gift from his Father, could
nominate such a man as Iscariot. With an admirable
discrimination it has been said that " we must, on the
one hand, avoid the view of the Docetae, that, from the
Judas Iscariot. 303
very first interview, Christ thoroughly saw through the
future traitor, and specially chose him ad hoc; and on
the other, that of the Ebionites, that He was mistaken,
as an ordinary man might be, and found a devil where
He expected an angel . . The only just aspect in which
the choice of Judas can be regarded is, as a very high
venture of love, discerning in him the germ of many
excellencies, doing the utmost to win him, but soon
discovering that the evil is far stronger in him than
the good ; then emphatically warning him, repeatedly
leaving him at liberty to depart, bearing patiently
with him, and at length dismissing him with dignity,
and calmly looking back upon the son of perdition, as
feeling not the slightest reason for self-reproach on
his account." The difficulty is not escaped by
saying that Judas changed for the worse after his
election, and that his call must be viewed in the light
of what he was when he received it ; nor can we
reconcile with the emphatic words of the evangelist
the opinion of a limited knowledge in our Lord which
caused that "when He made Judas an apostle, He
did not foresee what he would become." Rather
may we believe that " in the peculiar character of His
consciousness of things. He might with divine pene-
tration have looked into the dangerously impure
bottom of Judas' soul, and yet with human hope He
might have been bent upon winning him and pre-
serving him." The problem does not differ materially
from that constantly presented to the observant mind
in the shipwreck made by many of their faith, where
it is equally impossible to limit the vision of the
Creator, and to regard the chosen instrument as
304 The Companions of the Lord.
predetermined to failure. As we are wont to ap-
point to stations of honour those candidates, and
only those, who satisfy the requirements previously
announced, so is it God's eternal plan to elect or
reject those who fulfil or fail of certain specified
conditions of prayer, repentance, trust, obedience;
and from the outset he foresees what will be the
result in each case of the unfettered will of man
being confronted with his rule. Human freedom
and divine prescience are the two distinct views
which at present we lack the stereoscope of an
ampler knowledge to blend into one picture, giving
the impression of solid unity. If it be a solemn
thought that men are now living amongst us whose
perdition God foreknows, that thought is balanced
by the consideration that he foreknows only the
issue of a career they are left free to shape for
themselves.
The first scene in which Judas bears part is the
anointing at Bethany. When the Twelve saw the
frail alabaster vase crushed over their Master's head,
they "had indignation within themselves, and said.
Why was this waste of the ointment made ? For it
might have been sold for more than three hundred
pence, and have been given to the poor." This may
have been the genuine feeling of the majority, and is
an excellent instance of that utilitarianism which
objects to a cathedral because with the same money
fifty mission churches might have been built, which
grudges the hour of devotion because it detains from
works of charity, and will allow no costly token of
yiidas Iscariot. 305
gratitude because there are hungry multitudes to be
fed. But the proposal did not originate with the dis-
ciples as a body ; for with the same bitter precision we
have before remarked, the evangelist John fathers the
complaint upon Iscariot, and is at pains to acquaint
the reader with his real motive: "This he said, not
that he cared for the poor ; but because he was a
thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put
therein." Were it not for the middle clause, we might
have conceived of Judas as simply loath to see un-
profitably expended a sum which would have sup-
plied the Lord's necessities for many a day and
formed a welcome replenishment of their slender
purse. It was not however with any disinterested
solicitude for others that he put forward the plea of
charity, but because he was a thief, and had been
wont to rob his comrades as well as the poor of
contributions designed for their support.
In how coarse and mean an aspect does his cha-
racter now appear ! Men have talked eloquently
about his " theocratic dreams," his " speculating upon
the reasons of Christ for delaying the inauguration
of His kingdom " and the like ; but with what
views soever he may have entered the service of
the Lord, it is plain to see to what vulgar and
pitiful degradation a covetous spirit had already
reduced him. Self-elected, it may be, to the charge
of the common purse — no onerous charge in so
poor a society — he seems to have systematically
appropriated the funds intended for his breth-
ren and for the destitute folk whom out of their
deep poverty they yet delighted to relieve. It
X
3o6 The Companions of the Lord.
is no doubt legitimate to argue from this part of
the history that Christian churches should conduct
their temporal affairs with due caution and retain a
supervision of all monies subscribed for religious
purposes; but we are disinclined to wander from
the direct path of warning opened by this spec-
tacle of a man, placed among true-hearted friends
and under the genial sunlight of the Saviour's
presence, "who yet could suffer his soul to be shri-
velled up until he had become a contemptible thief,
veiling his sin beneath the fair-seeming robe of
charity. '
The same rapacious spirit was manifested with
increased clearness in the interview with the priests
which the synoptic evangelists connect closely with
this scene of the anointing. The sacred writers have
not sketched for us the march of evil at this critical
time in the heart of Judas; but the upgrowth of
deadly intention has been suggested with some
degree of probability by a commentary, not the
least intelligent and impressive, think as we may
I We have ventured to call Judas self-elected to the care of the
purse : other views however are admissible, as that the office was
entrusted to him (i) in token of confidence by his companions; or (2)
because of a peculiar capacity for business and shrewdness of character ;
or (3) as a test applied by the Master. This last view is strikingly put
by Trench in a small volume of Cambridge Sermons : "Who is there
that in thoughtful moments has not stood almost in a shuddering awe
at the fact that the bag should have been committed to Judas, as it
were to evoke and provoke his sin, that sin to which he was tempted
the most, and to give him an easy opportunity of indulging it ? " —
Shipwrecks of Faith, p. 70,
yudas IscarioL 307
of its reverence/ Accepting the links of connexion
therein given, we are to suppose that as Christ goes
into Jerusalem on the day succeeding the regal
entry, Judas lingers behind the little company and
at last detaches himself from it in gloomy soliloquy.
It is an opportune moment for the tempter who
then and there appears in the guise of a Temple
merchant specially deputed by the chief priests to
treat with him for the betrayal of his Master. The
stranger introduces himself and professes a desire
to become a disciple of Jesus ; for must it not be
a profitable service to wait upon the favourite of
the people and one with nature's resources at
command ? Judas has been contending with him-
self irresolute ; decide he must ; shall it be for God
or mammon ? Now, interrupted, he turns fiercely
upon his interrogator, holds before his eyes the
I The Bavarian Passionsspiel, to which reference is here made, has
been judged with too little regard for the surroundings of the people for
whom and amongst whom it is enacted. As every traveller knows.
Southern Germany and the Tyrol literally reek with the great Sacrifice,
of which the coarsest and most shocking representations are continu-
ally before the eyes of the peasantry on every high hill and in every
way-side chapel. Let a single instance suffice : at one town between
the Innthal and the Western Dolomites the water drawn by the women
for domestic use issues from the hole in the Saviour's riven side. For a
race thus saturated with debasing views of his sufferings, the effect may
be not only harmless but even salutary of seeing at rare intervals a
chaste and dignified enactment of the Passion ; although in a Protestant
land, amid wholly different associations, and with none of those peculiar
conditions which have hitherto acted at Ober-Ammergau as a safe-guard,
the exhibition would be simply blasphemous, and would inevitably be
put down by the common sense of the community, like the mysteries and
miracle-plays of earlier English days.
3o8 The Companions of the Lord.
empty bag and asks bitterly whether that looks
like a profitable service. The scene closes while
he is engaged in telling the story of the wasted
ointment, but every observer can see that the
meshes of fatal temptation are being netted fast
around his unhappy soul.
Without any introduction such as this, the evan-
gelists tell us that Judas " being one of the twelve "
—a point noticed by each as though to mark the
enormity of the deed— went to the high priests with
intent to betray Jesus into their hands. In seeking
the cause of this resolve, we need perhaps look no
further back than to the events of the preceding
days. At Bethany the purse-bearer had been
thwarted in his selfish scheme and openly rebuked ;
and on the day following, the hopes which his cupidity
suspended upon the temporal sovereignty of the
Messiah were raised by the Hosannas of the mul-
titude only to be dashed to the ground in the dis-
covery that the tide of popular favour was after all
to be suffered to flow by unused. He had looked to
make gain by his Master's honour ; that path
closed, he must profit by his fall :
"Mine own Apostle, who the bag did beare,
Though he had all I had, did not forbeare
To sell me also, and to put me there."
It will hence be seen that we reject the plausible
view of the traitor's conduct which has found favour
with many besides De Quincy. To suppose that he
was at heart loyal to his Lord, impatient of His delay,
Jtidas IscarioL 309
anxious to force on a crisis and compel him to put
forth his long reserved power and establish his empire
on the earth, may be a lofty view, but by very reason
of its loftiness refuses to consort with the ascertained
character of the man. He was a pilferer and hypo-
crite — there is no getting rid of this fact ; and we
must find some motive in keeping with the baseness
of his previous behaviour. Nor does the narrative
leave us to speculate about the consideration that
ruled his counsels. A political intriguer would not
have cared, a man simply inflamed by hatred would
have despised, to strike a bargain over the betrayal ;
but to Judas those thirty pieces of silver, paltry bribe
as they may seem to us, were matter of eager stipu-
lation. " What will ye give me, and I will deliver
him unto you } " was his question, the question of a
man disappointed of his cherished ambition, but in
whom the passion for revenge was subordinate to
the lust of gain. The same transaction is described
from a different point of view by St. Luke who says
that now Satan entered into Judas ; and truly a
treachery so unparalleled combined with such petty
avarice might well be termed a possession of the
Evil One, not in the sense of overriding the man's
freedom but of an infernal influence to which he
deliberately opened his heart.
From this moment his purpose is fixed ; the
earnest of the price is paid and he departs bound by
fear as well as covetousness to fulfil his part of the
contract. One point in his instructions was that the
betrayal should be effected without tumult, for the
experience of the Entry had shewn that any popular
3IO The Companions of the Lord,
commotion would in all probability turn in favout
of Jesus and bring a storm of vengeance upon
his foes.
Think now of the traitor returning to his Master
to spy His movements and watch the opportunity.
While waiting, the vindictive feeling would gain
strength ; for when a man has made a breach between
his neighbour and himself and is too proud to stoop
and repair it, he is commonly found striving to widen
it ; acting on the principle odisse quern Iceseris, he
will nourish the belief that he is the aggrieved party
and seek in this way to justify to his mind his present
attitude of estrangement. Thus Judas, having medir
tated so vile an act of treason, must either relent or
grow colder and yet more hard. He did not relent,
as we know, but indulged black thoughts of enmity,
persuading himself that he had been misled into a
service whence neither fame nor profit could accrue,
and that he was about to wreak a terrible vengeance
upon the author of his illusion.
XVII.
v^
*' Horror and doubt distract
His troubl'd thoughts, and 'from the bottom stirr
The Hell within him, for within him Hell
He brings, and round about him, nor from Hell
One step no more than from himself can fly
By change of place : Now conscience wakes despai4
That slumberd, wakes the bitter memorie
Of what he was, what is, and what must be
Worse . .
* • • •
Ah, wherefore I he deservd no such return
From me, whom he created what I was
In that bright eminence, and with his good
Upbraided none; nor was his service hard.
What could be less than to afford him praise,
The easiest recompence, and pay him thanks.
How due ! yet all his good prov'd ill in me.
And wrought but malice "
312
IN the light shed by foregoing scenes upon the
character of the traitor, we may now look at
the part he bore in the train of events leading up to
the Crucifixion. The upper room has been visited
that we might trace the restful love of a John, the
self-confidence of a Peter, the eager questionings of
a Philip and a Thomas ; once more we seek it to
witness the obduracy and abandonment of him to
whom his Lord's grace proved but a savour of death
unto death.
That Jesus did not even yet regard the resolution
to betray him as irrevocable may be inferred from
his conduct towards Iscariot at the beginning of the
feast ; no public denunciation is uttered, no precau-
tion adopted ; the disciple is treated as still accessible
to appeal by Him who follows to the verge of the
precipice ere he will give him up to destruction. He
stoops to wash his feet, and kneeling surely whispers
some word of private entreaty or lifts to him a gaze
of unutterable sorrow that must have melted any but
a fossil heart. Picture the traitor seated before his
3x3
3 r4 The Companions of the Lord,
Lord, accepting those lowly offices with marble cold-
ness or feigned affection ! Yet wherein does his
attitude differ from ours, whom God is daily stoop-
ing to cleanse and to refresh, yet with a return of
apathy that justifies the confession —
"I could not use a friend as I use thee"?
Warning however might prevail where tenderness
had been repulsed. Therefore the washing was
accompanied by the dark hint " Ye are clean, but
not all," words which St. John is again careful to
apply to Judas. When the towel had been laid
aside, the robe resumed and the empty seat re-
occupied, this brief intimation was expanded : ** I
speak not of you all : I know whom I have cho-
sen : but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He
that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel
against me." And ever, as the feast went sadly
on, the coronach rose in awful intensity, until
with a troubled spirit which John was quick to
observe, the pent-up secret was set free: ** Verily,
verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray
me.
The best proof that no separation existed as
yet between Judas and his fellow-apostles is found
in their reception of this fatal announcement. Sus-
picion does not strike him with her fang ; but being
exceedingly grieved they look one on another and,
starting with common impulse from their seats, cry
in conscious innocence " Lord, is it I } " Not to
be singled from the rest, the traitor defies the risk
yudas IscarioU 315
of exposure and dares to ask in the like form,
"Rabbi, is it I ?" To whom, as the others sink back
unanswered and distressed, the Saviour darts privately
the lightning reply, "Thou hast said."
Those words of arch-hypocrisy were the climax
of guilt, and the effort to win him back now ceased.
The man who could meet such appeal of love and
warning with a brazen dissimulation was past feeling
and must be finally left— left with this verdict : " The
Son of man goeth as it is written of him : but woe
unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed !
it had been good for that man if he had not been
born."* The hope died out of any possible amend-
ment in Judas. Yet the woe which the Lord " pro-
nounces upon him is a woe from the depths of His
soul, — He mourns over the man from his very birth.
He is so absorbed in the woe of this man, for time
and for eternity, that He can, in contemplating it,
forget His own, which the object of His concern
is preparing for Him."
The utterance of this sentence must have deepened
the grief and confusion of the apostles, and promp-
ted Peter and John to elicit a sign whereby they
twain at least might be relieved from the distracting
I Yet this Ls the man of whom Dr. Hanna writes : "Let us not
think that we have in him a monstrous specimen of abnost superhuman
wickedness. We should be nearer the truth, I suspect, if we took him
as an average specimen of what the passion of avarice, or any like
passion, when it once has got the mastery, may lead a man to be
and do." — Last Day of our Lord^s Passion^ p. 13. The laudable desire
to render this story " more available as a beacon of warning to us all "
seems to have led many writers to an inadequate reading of the evan-
gelic narrative.
3 1 6 The Companions of the Lord,
uncertainty. Before Jesus stood a vessel of the sour
passover sauce in which vinegar, dates and spices were
" beaten up to the consistence of mortar or clay in
order to commemorate the toils of the Israelites in
Egypt in laying bricks." Into this dish he dipped
a piece of the unleavened bread and handed it to
Judas who, all unconscious that it was a condemning
token, accepted the sop. Once more we are told that
"Satan entered into him," the diabolic suggestion
now rising in his mind that the hour was come for
executing his scheme. He had learnt whither the
company intended to go on leaving the house of
entertainment, and armed with this information and
with an unwavering purpose he felt ready for the
issue. But ere he rose, Jesus turned to him and said
in tones audible to all " That thou doest, do quickly" ;
seeing that the deed was absolutely determined on
and no pathos of appeal nor terror of admonition
could hinder the doing, " 'twere well it were done
quickly." Peter and John alone understood the
words ; the others were still so uninformed, and so
well had appearances been sustained, that they
supposed the Lord simply to be giving direction
to Judas in his twofold capacity of purveyor and
almoner. With that bidding, which told how vain
had been disguises with One who knew all, Isca-
riot " went out ; and," adds the evangelist with a
brevity that compels a double interpretation, "it
was night."
During the remainder of the evening but one
reference was made to the apostate. In his sacer-
dotal prayer Jesus testified " Holy Father . . those
yudas Iscariot. 317
that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them
is lost, but the son of perdition." Judas then,
how bright soever the opening of his career, had
become a castaway — an angel that kept not his first
estate but was by degrees transformed into the like-
ness of a devil. The composure with which our
Lord surveys the ruin of the man is very terrible ;
are we to learn from it that those whom his Spirit
inhabits will in like manner be led to acquiesce in
the divine judgment upon the impenitent, though
these be of their own acquaintance and kindred }
No love we can bear our dearest may compare with
that lavished by the Redeemer upon even the twelfth
of his apostles ; and if He at the end could aban-
don the object of his solicitude rather than relax
his grasp of the rock of duty, we too may find it
demanded of us to sever oldest and closest ties
rather than cut ourselves adrift from the allegiance
we owe to Heaven.
From the supper-table the traitor appears to have
gone straightway to the rulers, whom he apprised
of the movements of his Master. Ample preparation
was made in accordance with the information brought.
The force placed at his disposal included a detach-
ment of the Roman cohort kept in readiness during
the Passover to suppress tumults, together with a
number of temple-servants and other underlings
armed with swords and staves. The ostensible object
of the midnight march was perchance the quelling of
some riot of which intelligence might be supposed
to have been received ; had its organizers been
3 1 8 The Companions of the Lord,
challenged, this is probably the pretext behind which
they would have taken shelter. The position of
Judas was, on the most superficial view, critical in
the extreme ; he could no longer withdraw in safety,
while if he failed to lead the party aright, vengeance
would fall upon him and his life be made forfeit for
the failure. There was however small danger of
miscarriage ; for well did he know the spot whither
they were bound. In that orchard, which lay a
little off the road to Bethany at the point where
the ascent of Olivet begins from the level of the
Kedron, he had often passed the hours with Jesus,
learning the features of the ground and the readiest
path of approach.
When all was prepared, the troop started. The
passover moon must have been high in the heavens,
but torches were carried for guidance through the
dark recesses of the valley and among the trees of
the Garden. Skilfully as the surprise had been timed
and arranged, nothing could be more out of place
than that array of force, which was as inadequate
if Christ contemplated resistance as it would prove
superfluous should he intend passively to yield.
This the sequel showed. At the entrance of Geth-
semane he met his foes, the traces still upon
his brow, in beads of bloody sweat, of the spiri-
tual agony whence he had just emerged. At his
first answer to their demand they fell helpless to
the earth, smitten like Saul and his companions
outside the gate of Damascus. Against such
power what could mere physical arms avail?
He proved to them the possession of the power,
Judas Iscariot, 319
^nd yet, in suffering them to rise, shewed that
it was not his purpose to employ it for his
deliverance/
And now he who was guide to them that took Jesus
stepped forward to give the preconcerted sign. We
might deem it superfluous for him to mark out One
who had been a public character in Jerusalem and
must have been distinguished by a different bearing
from any of his companions ; yet to suppose the sign
given simply by way of wanton insult seems to make
the giver almost too inhuman. Not that the element
of insult was wanting ; " it was not unusual for a
master to kiss his disciple ; but for a disciple to kiss
his master was more rare. Whether, therefore, Judas
did this, under pretence of respect, or out of open
contempt- and derision, let it be inquired." '^ Like
Joab, when he took Amasa by the beard ; like Jacob
when, according to the legend preserved by the points
in the Hebrew text, he maliciously embraced his
brother Esau, so Judas now came forward and with a
mocking " Hail Rabbi " imprinted the kiss, his heart,
as one has said, remaining icy-cold as his kiss. The
Redeemer's reply of matchless calm — " Friend, where-
fore art thou come.!* betrayest thou the Son of man
X The strange view of the history entertained by Whately may be
gathered from the following: "It is, I believe, taken for granted by
many that they were miraculously awe-struck. We cannot prove that
it was not so ; but . . it seems, at least, as likely, that they prostrated
themselves to do Him homage as king ; conceiving Him ready to claim
the kingdom, and that it was only on his refraining from making any
such claim, or accepting any such office, that they carried Him off as
a prisoner." — Lectures on the Apostles^ p. 107.
2 Lightfoot, vol. xi. p. 340.
320 The Companions of the Lord,
with a kiss?" — was a crushing question to which
the self-ruined disciple could make answer no more
than the man at the wedding feast when similarly
addressed. Reverently and with tenderness has
George Herbert conceived the spirit of that last
pleading of love :
With clubs and staves they seek me as a thief
Who am the way of truth, the true relief,
Most true to those who are my greatest grief.
Was ever grief like mine?
Judas ! dost thou betray me with a kiss ?
Canst thou find hell about my lips, and miss
Of life, just at the gates of Ufe and bliss ?
Was ever grief like mine?"
The Garden is again deserted ; the disciples have
fled, the armed men are leading away the unresisting
captive. Does Judas linger beneath the shadow of the
olives with their gnarled trunks and scant foliage,
remorseful ? Probably not ; reaction has not yet set
in ; the stipulated price is not received in full, time
has not been given for due reflexion. Divided between
thoughts of the scene just ended, of his satisfied
hatred and the approaching issue of the deed, he
follows the receding lights, enters the city after them
and, having claimed his reward, mingles with the
crowd to watch the course of the trials.^
It was not till Christ was condemned by the Jews
I The late Archbishop of Dublin argued strongly that ** the other
disciple" who went in with Jesus to the palace of the high priest was
not St. John, as is generally supposed, but Judas, who had become
acquainted with Caiaphas in the recent negotiations. — Lectures on the
Apostles^ p. 42.
Jtidas Iscariot, 321
and sent to Pilate for ratification of the sentence that
the demon of despair rose upon the unhappy man
with overmastering power. A theory has been revived
in modern days' which attributes this despair to an
unexpected severity in the judgment. According to
it we are invited to believe that, in the betrayal, he
had no idea of the peril to which he was exposing his
Master, but imagined either that no extreme of violence
was contemplated by the rulers or that, if it were, He
would deliver himself from their hands ; and that now
he was stricken with horror at perceiving the fatal
consequences of his act But is it conceivable that he
should so poorly have forecast the future as to credit
the priestly party with lenient purpose or empty
menace ? He must have known, when he made
compact with them and received an armed escort, that
they would be satisfied with nothing short of the
death of Jesus. Nor can we allow that he wished or
expected the latter to escape. His words in the
Garden — " lay a firm hold on him and lead him away
safely" — indicate no anticipation of supernatural
rescue nor any desire for escape in the ordinary
way. To suppose that he looked for his Lord to
save himself and pardon him in acknowledgment of
the good end subserved by these treacherous means is
inconsistent alike with his language to the priests, his
behaviour in Gethsemane and with the unbelief of
the apostles as a body. They expected no miracu-
lous interposition ; else why use the sword or why flee >.
I Disentombed from certain of the Fathers by Whitby, and thence
adopted by several writers, including Whately.— i>r/«r^, pp. 29,
loi, 104.
Y
322 The Companions of the Lord,
And are we to award to Judas a deeper faith in Christ
than Peter or John could show ?
Discarding then the notion that Iscariot was appal-
led by the condemnation of One whose victory he had
hoped to promote and share, and holding that from
the time of the compact he foresaw death as the result
of delivering Jesus to his foes, we must look in another
direction for the cause of his bitter remorse. May it
not be found in the spectacle of the Saviour's majestic
patience ? Is it not possible that, as the wind of early
spring breathes health to the child of a sound con-
stitution but strikes a deadly chill to the heart of the
aged, so the sight which revived Peter to a godly
repentance withered the soul of Judas to a godless
despair ? This may appear more clearly as we trace
the behaviour of the latter in his final interview with
the priests.
Seeing that Jesus was condemned, he "repented
himself and brought again the thirty pieces of silver
to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned
in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." At
that early hour of the morning they were assembled
in the Temple with unwearied malice, rejoicing over
the capture of the Nazarene and devising how they
might induce the haughty governor to endorse the
sentence they had with bitter haste pronounced.
Amid their deliberations the traitor appears. Defy-
ing the sanctity of the place, as well he may seeing
it is filled by men
" Whose life laughs through and spits at their creed,"
he bursts into their presence, or perhaps pausing at
Judas Iscariot 323
the threshold hurls in his cry of remorse. That cry
was not of simple rage or chagrin, but a plain con-
fession of sin ; indeed, says one old writer, it could
be wished that the friends of Christ would confess the
truth as plainly as the desperate sometimes do. In
his act of restoring the money was there no faint
gleam visible of hope that the deed might yet be
undone } Most writers have seen none. Hooker for
instance asks " What was the penitency of Saul and
Judas but plain attrition ; horror of sin through fear
of punishment without any loving sense or taste of
God's mercy.?" To us on the contrary it does seem
as though at first there were a desperate clutching at
the bare possibility that the bribe might be taken
back and his Lord released. Yet if so that con-
vulsive grasp was torn off at once and for ever by
the pitiless answer of the priests : *' What is that to
us? see thou to that." Thus is it the world
requites her obedient vassals ; let a man sacrifice
at her shrine honour, strength, self-respect, she will
make him her tool for a while and then cast him away
when her purpose is attained without so much as the
guerdon of regret.
That answer paralysed the heart of Judas ; if they
rejected him, his solitary hope of saving the Lord he
had sold was gone ; his crime must be wrought out
to its tremendous end. With no thought of mercy,
his despair was complete ; hell yawned for him on
earth ; the hounds of conscience were already fleshing
their teeth in his soul and gnawing out his life with
deadly pains. The pieces of silver he had so recently
coveted he now flings to the ground as filthy lucre
324 The Companions of the Lord,
and loathed blood-money, and for the second time
he bursts out into the night. Forth his
"soul flared into the dark,
God help all poor souls lost in the dark ! "
There is a single wind-driven tree that crowns the
Hill of Evil Counsel at the southern end of the long
ridge of Olivet ; its name is the Tree of Judas, and
from its branches the traitor is said to have hanged
himself.^ The manner of his death is not clearly
stated. The more precise account is that furnished
some weeks after the event by St. Peter, and recorded
by the physician Luke. It may be that while in the
act of committing suicide he fell headlong down the
ravine, or that the rope — probably his own girdle —
gave way under the shock of his falling weight.
Either view appears more sober than that of Light-
foot, who suggests that "after Judas had thrown
down the money . . and was now returning again to
his mates, — the devil, who dwelt in him, caught him
up on high, strangled him, and threw him down head-
long ; so that, dashing upon the ground, he burst in
the midst . . and the devil went out in so horrid an
exit"* Moreover whether the tragedy occurred in the
place called the Potter's Field cannot with certainty
1 Sinai and Palestine^ p. 186. Although the Hill of Evil Counsel
may be called a part of the ridge, it is separated from the main portion
by the Kedron valley.
2 Worksy vol. xi. p. 344. Whately mentions with approval the
remark of a friend that the account in the Acts refers "not to the
mode of his death but to the indignities to which his corpse was
exposed after death, according to the Jewish custom in relation to
suicides." — Lectures ^ p. 124.
Jtidas Iscariot. 325
be known. Two Aceldamas have been pointed out,
and the probability seems to be that Judas had ar-
ranged to purchase a plot of ground, that the priests
bought the scene of the suicide with the returned
money and that both plots were held accursed. If
we suppose that he did not buy a field himself, or
that he did and perished in it, the two Aceldamas
will be merged into one. In after ages the chalky
soil of the place where he died was thought to possess
sarcophagous properties, and large quantities were
carried to the cemeteries of Rome and the Campo
Santo at Pisa.'
It is not surprising that various theories should have
been propounded by a misdirected charity or a desire
for originality in order to extenuate the master-
crime of the traitor. Not the least noted of the
Fathers maintained that Judas,, " despairing of pardon
in this life, would rush on into the world of the dead
and there with naked soul meet his Lord, confess his
guilt and ask his pardon." Men have also been
found so utterly perverse as to venerate the name of
Iscariot, in common with Cain and Corah, as the
laudable instrument of that death to which is due the
world's redemption. Leaning to the other extreme
we find the Italian seer picturing the betrayer as
champed in the devouring mouth of Hell's misshapen
I So Mr. Grove, in The Dictionary of the Bible, vol. i; p. i6a. Were
the statement made by a less careful authority, we might think the soil
of Aceldama the last in which any Christian would wish to be laid.
Local hand-books say that the earth for the Pisan burying ground was
brought from Mount Calvary.— Cf> Baedeker, North Italy, p. 318.
326 The Companions of the Lord.
ruler, doomed to direst punishment of all ruined
spirits ; while on him, as the Ahithophel of the New
Covenant, have been rained the fiercest imprecations
of the Psalter. Truly, if ever the language of fierce
reprobation be permitted us, it is when aimed against
him whose
** wicked deedes surmount
All precedent of crime."
But safer is it even here to accept the calm judgment
pronounced by the King of Love himself over the
man for whom it had been good if he had not been
born. It remains for us, with a trembling sense of the
dread capacity of evil latent within us, yet to rise
and repudiate by life as well as lip all kinship with
the traitor : " So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord :
but let them that love him be as the sun when he
goeth forth in his might."
XVIII.
€ontlnnxon.
'Our Friend, our Brother, and our Lord,
What may Thy service be?
Nor name, nor form, nor ritual-word,
But simply following Thee.
We bring no ghastly holocaust
We pile no graven stone;
He serves Thee best who loveth most
His brothers and Thine own."
338
ALBEIT, the noble outburst of Deborah's chorus
with which our last chapter closed may have
given a major ending to a prolonged minor strain, we
cannot part from our subject, now strictly completed,
with sounds of woe wailing in the ear and deeds of
infamy and ruin haunting the mind. Last impressions
are strong, stronger often than first impressions ; and
to finish with the contemplation of him who
"sold for money his deare Lord"
were as unprofitable to the reader as it would be
unfair to the rest of the apostles of whom he was
in no just sense a representative.
We have not indeed, in the foregoing pages, shrunk
from touching upon the revealed failings of the
Twelve, whether of haste or sloth, presumption or
doubt, anger or ambition; for their value to us
depends not on their exaltation to a pinnacle of
unapproachable goodness but on their exhibition as
men of like passions with ourselves. It has at the
3»9
330 The Companions of the Lord,
same time been our desire to shew that, after making
liberal abatement on this score, there remains a large
balance of honour due to the champions of the Church
on account of their eminent virtues, in one of boldness
as in another of modesty, here of candid inquiry, there
of transparent innocence, there again of ardent love
— virtues well symbolized by the rock, the eagle, the
thunderpeal, and inwrought by the might of a divine
grace accessible to the feeblest among ourselves.
How little did the world reck of the moral power
wielded by that band of obscure, unlettered Gali-
leans ! Or, if at times the power were recognized by
an observer of intelligence above the average, how
completely was its direction misconceived! The
character given them by the ruling classes, who had
the best of reasons for hating them, was of needy and
noisy agitators, bent for their own selfish ends on
turning the world upside down, and profiting Cleon-
like by the confusion. In answer to this charge they
declared themselves "poor yet making many rich,"
and vindicated the defence by lives of sacrifice and
philanthropy. Paradoxical their claim might appear;
yet even in so common a sphere as that of family life
is supplied the solution of the paradox and proof
given that the magic wand is held by other hands
than those of wealth and learning. What image has
earth to show of more absolute dependence than the
infant resting on his mother's lap ? Yet look again !
Yonder is no spectacle of mere poverty. The child
is a king, holding court at a Bethlehem of its own,
receiving gifts but making royal return to the donors,
shedding sunlight over every pensive face, kindling
Co7iclusion, 331
with a forgotten sympathy each gazing eye and
graving on the hearts of all lessons of its own
unflecked purity. Write in golden letters over its
cradle or its grave the motto of apostles ; breathe
with the morning and the evening kiss these words
of blessing— As POOR YET MAKING MANY RICH.
Who again was poorer according to social standards
than the sightless unbefriended poet, earning by the
masterpiece of his genius barely so much as a com-
mercial nonentity of our day will gain and lose in an
idle morning ? Yet who, after the sacred writers, has
added more to the regalia of our literature out of the
treasury of a stored and stately mind } So in higher
measure was it with the Companions of the Lord.
Poor in their peasant origin, poor in attendance on a
homeless Teacher, with neither silver nor gold at
command, accounted the ofifscouring of all things and
led out into the world's amphitheatre with the death-
-chant on their lips; yet what men have unlocked
such realms of happiness to mankind, or followed so
closely the track of him who " though he was rich yet
for our sakes became poor, that we through his
poverty might be rich"? May it be hoped that,
even by the hasty survey made in these fugitive
chapters, they have enriched our minds with some
new impressions and resolves \
But while it is fitter to end in admiring the virtues
of the majority of the disciples than mourning over
the great apostate, it behoves us especially to consider
them in the relation they bore to that divine Source
whence their fertilizing streams were derived. " Be
332 Tlie Companions of the Lord,
ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ," said
the latest, but not the least, of their order, in ** words
which should ever rise to our mind when the life of an
apostle is brought before us. So said not the older
prophets : they were signs, oracles, preachers, but not
of necessity examples. It was the characteristic privi-
lege of the apostles that their lives, like that of their
Divine Master, though in lower degree, cannot be
known and felt without being imitated. Prophets,
psalmists, evangelists, miracles, preachers, rulers, all
these may pass from the Christian Church, but apostles
never." Their permanence as examples is measured
by the closeness with which they followed their Lord.
It may be worth while therefore to note the position
they occupied towards him. This position was not
fixed. There are two brief sayings of Jesus on
record — the one spoken on the eve of his passion,
the other on the morning of his rising, wherein a
triple relation is assigned to his followers — of ser-
vants, friends and brethren.
When it was said to the eleven, at the farewell
supper, ** Henceforth I call you not servants, but
friends," the Lord implied that up to that hour they
had been regarded by him mainly as servants. This
was undoubtedly the original purpose of their voca-
tion, as it remained their acknowledged function
throughout ; and though now a closer tie was recog-
nized, the earlier was not for that reason broken.
At that very board they were reminded : " Ye call me
Master and Lord : and ye say well ; for so I am ;" and
to the end of life they proudly wore the title of ser-
vants, setting it in the forefront of their epistles, and
Conclusion, 333
delighting to receive the stigmata of Christ, to place
his foot upon their prostrate necks and bind them-
selves with cords to the horns of his altar. Amid
privilege they never lost sight of obligation ; foi
them no jot or tittle of the moral law was thought
to be repealed, but a rigorous chastity of life and
motive demanded, under sanctions so strong that
pride became impossible.
** Boast not thy service rendered to the King,
*Tis grace enough he lets thee service bring."
In the earlier period of their intercourse with him,
the Saviour could treat his apostles scarce otherwise
than as servants ; so slowly moved their minds and
so clogged were the wheels of intellect by prejudice
that it would have been premature to submit to them
all his plans. But ere he left the world their training
was sufficiently advanced for him to tell them what-
soever he had received of the Father. Entrusting to
them these disclosures, he advanced them to the
dignity of his friends ; for then, and only then, does
acquaintance ripen into friendship when confidences
begin to be exchanged and hearts to be fused in
glowing sympathy. We might indeed understand
a very different sense in which Jesus could call his
disciples "not servants," for so unsteady had been
their obedience that rebuke seemed due rather than
acknowledgment ; but that he should call them his
friends is a marvel of condescension. And yet not
of condescension alone : loftiest wisdom found ex-
pression in that epithet of trust. To emancipate the
body is to make vassal of the affections ; to set
334 ^^ Companions of the Lord.
a servant free, to put him on his honour and treat
him as a friend is the surest way of binding him
to one's side by gratitude and personal interest ;
for " a bond is none the weaker for being loose ; the
rope that is drawn tight is strained and apt to break."
The freedman too, besides acknowledging this moral
■obligation, will bring to his task self-respect and un-
manacled powers whereby incomparably better work
will be done than by the listless drudge. How
amply the apostles vindicated the Lord's venture
of confidence their later history has shewn ; would
that every Christian heart claimed the same per-
mitted intimacy and walked as a friend with God.
Irreverence and laxity may be the more patent sins
of our age ; yet it is sad to remark the many who
toil on in irons within the cave of servile fear instead
of working gladly in the sunny vineyard of liberty
and love, who approach their Maker with the cring-
ing obeisance of an Oriental court rather than enter
boldly into the holiest by the new and living way.
One step higher. Christ is not ashamed to call us
brethren and own us as of one parentage with him-
self When words of bitter remonstrance might have
been expected by the unfaithful apostles, a message
was sent from the sepulchre which exalted them
to a higher position than any they had before en-
joyed : " Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I
ascend unto my Father, and your Father." If aught
were wanted to win their hearts to new hope and
loyalty, what so effectual as that assurance of their
Lord's remembrance, forgiveness and continued sym-
pathy ? It is easier to command obedience than to
Conclusion, 335
engage the soul's fealty ; for where the limbs may be
coerced the love is found coy and hard to make
captive ; but one power can charm it forth, and that
the spell of love. Even the publicans love those
that love them, unable to resist the power of human
love; much more then are we conquered by the
divine love, whenever it is duly presented and appre-
hended, and constrained to love God because he first
loved us.
" O heart I made, a heart beats here !
Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself,
Thou hast no power nor ma/st conceive of mine,
But love I gave thee, with myself to love,
And thou must love me who have died for thee!"
A hungry creed is that which would resolve our
heavenly Father into " an enduring Power, not our-
selves, that makes for righteousness," and bid us feed
our love on the husks of an abstraction ; we want a
living person to love, even as the hop a strong sup-
port about which to clasp and twine. Be the doc-
trine of " a great Personal First Cause " an " extra-
belief" or not, of this we are sure, that One who was
infinitely wiser than our modern apostles of culture
and sweet reasonableness both held it himself and
taught it to men. The Lord Jesus spoke not of a
Principle but a Father ; he came amongst us as the
revelation of that Father, presenting in himself the
divine purity incarnate and in a lovable shape. And
it is when we are linked with him in brotherly union
that sin comes to be loathed as alien from our true
nature, that in the pursuit of virtue the pulse of joy
336 The Companions of the Lord,
begins to beat firm and regular, and that the divine
handwriting starts forth anew upon the palimpsest
of our heart.
But it must not be overlooked that, of these three
relations in which the Christian stands towards his
Master, the two higher rise immediately out of the
lowest. He has told us himself " Ye are my friends
if ye do whatsoever I command you ;" and, as friend-
ship is here connected with service, so is, kinship ;
for the same lips declared " Whosoever shall do the
will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is
my brother." With the apostles service came first ;
they were warned that the cup and baptism must
precede the throne; they had to learn that by
severe discipline must they be fitted for guiding
and governing the Church. The same foundation
is necessary in our case; it is impossible to be the
brethren or friends of Christ unless we are his active
servants ; nor can we expect to attain any post of
honour among his followers without a long and it
may be painful preparation. A true lesson is that
conveyed by the diamond, when made to say
"I only polished am in mine own dust,
Nought else against my hardness will prevail;
And thou, O man, in thine own sufferings must
Be polished; every meaner art will fail."
The demand for this Christian service was great
in the days of the apostles, but not more urgent
than it is now ; for, do what it will, the world has
failed to disguise its need of a gospel from heaven,
and has been unable to silence the testimony raised
Conclusion, 337
by the Nazarene and his Companions. A master-
hand has painted for us the woman of strong ambi-
tion inciting her timorous lord to the murder of a
royal guest, braving out the deed against his palsied
fears, thinking with water to wash away the filthy
witness of the crime and, still haunted by an evil
memory, walking in her sleep and convulsively
rubbing that hand which would rather
"The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the gieen one red."
Thus has the world received a Visitor from heaven
and murdered him ; and ever since that day she has
been vainly striving to rid her of self-accusation for
the foulest of all deeds, to laugh down the rising
spectre and defy the consequences. It was the part
of the apostles to declare the indelibility of that
blood shed on Calvary. But another spot there is,
the accursed spot of sin ; and it was given them also
to declare that the blood of Jesus, though never
itself to be washed away, would avail to remove
every stain of human iniquity. To the same blessed
mission every believer is appointed now, of preaching
peace and pardon through his sacrifice; and in the
discharge of this duty no nobler examples are before
us than may be found in the lives of
The Companions of the Lord.
INDEX,
Aceldama, 325.
^geus, 13a
/Eneas, 105.
Alphaeus=Clopas, 24, 257, 265.
Alphaeus, father of Matthew, 318.
Andrew, family, 50,
position with regard to Peter, 119.
disciple of the Baptist, 120.
disciple of Jesus, 121.
brings his brother to Jesus, 34, 51, 123.
made an apostle, 37, 126.
position among the Twelve, 22, 28.
connexion with Philip, 126, 129, 186,
192.
at feeding of the multitude. 127, 190.
introduces proselytes, 129, 192.
asks of fate of Jerusalem, 130.
legends of his travels, 130.
death, 130.
Antioch, the collision at, 109, 286.
Peter at, 112.
Apostles, enrolled by all teachers, 3,
chosen by Christ, 4.
wide term in the N.T., 257.
men of our Lord's choice ; see Twelvo.
Apostles' Creed, 44.
Apostolic Council, 109, 167, 284.
Asian chvu-ches, 171, 179.
Babylon, Peter at, iii.
Barnabas, 109, 167, 257, 284.
Bartholomew=Nathanae' q.v.
Bethabara, 234.
I Bethany, family at, 7, 128, 277
anointing in, 304.
Bethsaida of Galilee, site, 33, 198.
birthplace of apostles, 27, 185.
Bethsaida Julias, 57, J98.
Boanerges, 138, 150.
Brethren of the Lord, 254.
Theory of Jerome, 265.
of Helvidius, 268.
of Epiphanius, 268.
not sons of Alphaeus, 258.
nor among the Twelve, 257.
though Companions of the Lord, 270.
at Cana, 270.
seek to withdraw Jesus, 272.
urge him to go to the feast, 275.
their unbelief, 137, 158, 276.
conversion, 277.
with apostles after Ascension, 278.
married, 279.
later history ; see James the Just and
Jude.
Caesarea Philippi, 60.
Caiaphas, 156, 165.
Calvary, crucifixion on, 158, 239, 277.
earth of, 325.
Cana of Galilee, residence of Nathanael
302, 213.
marriage at, 213, 27a
Cananite=Zealot, q.v.
Capernaum, site of, 198, 303.
miracle at, 57.
i40
Index.
Capernaum, Matthew called at, 219.
Cephas=Peter, q.v.
Cerinthus, 173, 299.
Ihorazin, 198.
Clcpas=Alphaeus, q.v.
Compostella, 146.
Concordia, 50, 112.
Cornelius, 43, io6.
Didymus=Thomas, q.v.
Domitian, 177.
Dorcas, 106.
Draught of Fishes, earlier, 36, 54, 137.
later, 91, 160, 213.
Edessa, 249, 263.
Emmaus, 213.
Ephesus, central position of, 170.
church at, 170,
Sl John at, 171.
his tomb, 182.
Evil Counsel, Hill of, 324.
Feeding of the multitude, 57, 127, 189,
Fig tree, in Jewish houses, 208.
Nathanael under, 207.
ctirsed, 77.
Galilee, sea of=sea of Tiberias, q.v.
Galilee, apostles drawn from, 11, 298.-
our Lord's ministry in, 46, 59, 272.
Gennesaret, plain of, 57, 198.
Gethsemane, 83, 155, 318.
Gibbon, 146.
Gondoforus, 248.
Gospel according to Matthew, 226.
John, 156, 173, 247.
Gospels, interlacings of the four, 45,
Herod executes James, 143.
seizes Peter, 107.
Holy Family, members of, 136, 255, 277.
Hieronymian view of, 265.
Helvidian, 268.
Epiphanian, 268.
Life at Nazareth, 27X.
Ignatius, z8z.
Iscariot= Judas, q.v.
Israelite, 206.
James, son of Zebedee.
family, 136.
personal appearance, 136.
disciple of Jesus, 34.
an apostle, 137.
position among the Twelve, 28.
relation to John, 22, 135, 149, 166.
named Boanerges, 138.
invokes fire on the Samaritans, 140.
ambitious request, 142.
at Gethsemane, 143.
at sea of Tiberias, 143.
position in Early Church, 143.
slain by Herod, 143.
legend of martyrdom 145.
Spanish legends, 145.
James, son of Alphasus.
family, 24, 259.
not brother of the Lord, 254.
position among the Twelve, 20, 24.
his mother, 260.
James the Just.
early life ; see Brethren of the Lord.
vision of risen Saviour, 279.
appearance and habits, 279.
president of church at Jerusalem, 281.
popularity, 281.
leader of middle party in Church, 280^
290.
meets Paul, 281.
message from Peter, 281.
epistle, 282.
at Apostolic Council, 109, 167, 284.
emissaries at Antioch, 286.
on occasion of Paul's arrest, 287.
legends of martyrdom, 288.
Jerusalem, prophecy concerning, 171.
church at, 42, 281.
residence of apostles, 43.
council of, 43, 109, 167, 284.
Jesus Christ ; see Holy Family
and Brethren of the Lord.
early life, 271.
first call of disciples, 33, 186.
at Cana, 213, 270.
Index,
341
Jesus Christ, ministry in Judaea, 35, 46.
calls apostles, 36.
ordains the Twelve, 39, 225.
motives, 7, 9, 14, 16.
reply to mother and brethren, 274.
sends the Twelve on first mission,
40, 126.
feeds the multitude, 57, 127, 189.
walks on the water, 58.
discourse about bread of life, 59, 65.
at Cxsarca Philippi, 60.
transfigured, 66, 140.
pays tribute, 10, 67.
defends the exorcist, 152,
rejected by Samaritans, 14, 139.
at Feast of Tabernacles, 377.
beyond the Jordan, 233.
raises Lazarus, 234.
rebukes ambition of Salome, 142.
anointed in Bethany, 304.
entry into Jerusalem, 77.
curses fig tree, 77.
last discourses in Temple, 77.
sought by proselytes, 128, 193.
prophecy on Olivet, 130, 161.
at Last Supper, 78, 153, 193, 237, 313.
in the Garden, 83, 143, 155, 318.
betrayed, 84, 318.
the trials, 85, 156, 320.
at Calvary, 158, 239, 277.
resurrection, 89, 160, 240.
appearances, 90, 240, 243,
at sea of Tiberias, 91, 143, 160, 213,247.
John the Baptist, earlier teacher of apos-
tles, 33, 120, 151.
character, 120.
John, son of Zebedee.
disciple of Baptist, 123, 151.
of Jesus, 23, 121, 151.
an apostle, 137, 15a.
named Boanerges, 150.
position among the Twelve, 28.
antipathy to Judas, 399, 305, 314.
compared with Peter, 149.
with his brother James, 14, 150, 166.
with Paul, 167.
forbids an exorcist, 152.
calls down fire on Samaritans, 14a
John, ambitioixs request, 14a.
at the supper, 81, 154.
in the garden, 155.
acquainted with Caiaphas, 156.
spectator of the trials, 156.
receives charge of the Virgin, 158.
at the sepulchre, 90, i6a
at the sea of Tiberias, 91, 95, x6o.
leader with Peter of Early Church, loa,
165.
visit to Samaria, 104, 166.
life at Jerusalem, 168.
at Apostolic Council, 167.
departure from Jerusalem, 169.
arrival at Ephesus, 171.
legends of life there, 172.
the fourth gospel, 173, 247.
his first epistle, 175.
legend of sufferings at Rome, 177.
at Patmos, 177.
the apocalypse, 177.
the sister epistles, 180.
last days at Ephesus, 180.
Joppa, los, 146, 297.
Joseph, life at Nazareth, 371.
death, 158, 271.
Judas, son of Alphaeus, 260.
position among the Twelve, 24.
question at the Supper, 261.
alleged visit to Edessa, 262.
Judas Iscariot.
explanations of the name, 297.
native place, 11, 26, 298.
at foot of apostolic lists, 26, 299.
opinion of him held by comrades, 299.
repugnance of John, 299, 305, 314.
problem of his choice as an apostle, 302.
bearer of the bag, 305.
at the anointing in Bethany, 304.
compact with priests, 306.
motives in betraying Christ, 308.
at the Supper, 313.
the betrayal, 319,
watches the trials, 156, 320.
his despair, 321.
last interview with the priests, 322.
suicide, 324.
theories respectmg, 305, 315, \2i, 325.
342
Index,
Jude, the Lord's brother.
early history, see Brethren of the Lord.
epistle, 291.
its relation to 2 Peter, 292.
legend of grandsons, 293.
Kedron, 83, 318.
Kenoth, 26, 298.
Laodicea, overthrown, 178.
synod of, 282,
Lazarus, 234, 277.
Lebb8Bus=Judas of Alph»us, q.v.
Levi= Matthew, q.v.
Luke, his list of apostles, 21.
narrative of call of Peter, 36.
the Acts, 99, 108, 169.
Luther, 283.
Lydda, 105.
Mark, his list of apostles, 21.
narrative of call of apostles, 36.
connexion with Peter, 61, 112.
Martha, 28, 277.
Mary, sister of Martha, 28, 277.
Mary, mother of our Lord ; see Holy
Family.
joins brethren in dissuading Jesus, 273.
at Calvary, 158.
later Ufe with John, 168.
legend of Assumption, 169, 247.
tradition of virginity, 266, 268.
Mary Magdalene, 89, 91.
Mary, wife of Clopas, 257, 260, 265.
Matthew, family, 218, 231.
a publican, 218.
called by Jesus, 219,
feast given by, 222.
position among the Twelve, 23, 226,
281.
traditions of travels, 226.
his gospel, 226.
list of apostles, 21.
narrative of call of apostles, 36.
Maximilla, 130.
Nathanael, of Cana, 202, 213.
called to discipleship, 34; 187, 203.
Nathanael, connexion with Philip, 203,
position among the Twelve, 23.
with Jesus at Cana, 213.
at sea of Tiberias, 213.
travels and death, 213.
Nazareth, 151, 204, 271.
Nerva, 120, 177.
Olivet, 130, 161, 171.
Papias, 181.
Passion, events preceding, 78.
Passionsspiel, 307.
Passover, scene in Jerusalem at, 78, 288
317-
referred to in gospels, 36, 127.
Patmos, 177
Patras, 130.
Paul, took place of James, son of Zebedee,
I 167.
at Jerusalem, 105, 167, 284, 287.
Antioch, 109.
Corinth, no.
Ephesus, 169.
Rome, 113.
compared with Peter, in, 167.
with John, 167, 176.
James the Just, 283.
Pentecost, 100.
Perpetua, 50, 112.
Peter, family, 22, 50, 112.
brought to Jesus, 51, 123.
the surname Peter, 22, 51, 71.
called as apostle, 36, 52.
additional call, 37, 54.
leader of the Twelve, 20, 29, 40.
walks on the water, 58, 92.
asks meaning of a parable, 60, 68.
confesses Christ, 61.
promise made to him, 62, 69.
tempts Christ, 64.
further confession, 65.
at the Transfiguration, 66.
pays tribute money, 10, 67,
observes fig tree, 77.
washing of his feet, 79.
inquires concerning the traitor, 81.
protest of fidelity, 82
Index.
343
Peter in the Garden, 83.
in the palace of the high priest, 85, X56.
the denials, 86.
his repentance, 87.
at the sepulchre, 89.
receives message and vision, 90.
at sea of Tiberias, 91, 16a
charge given him, 93.
speech after Ascension, 100.
speech at Pentecost, loi.
leader with John of Early Church, 165.
rebukes Ananias, 103.
popularity, 103.
visits Samaria, T04.
meets Paul, 105, 109, 286.
at Lydda and Joppa, 105.
with Cornelius, 43, 106.
imprisonment and escape, 107, 282.
at Apostolic Council, 109, 285.
at Corinth, no.
Babylon, in.
Rome, 108, 112.
Roman legends respecting, 113.
death, 115.
epistles, 115, 170, 292.
personal appearance, 115.
connected with Mark, 61, zza.
compared with John, 149.
with Paul, III, 167.
»>harisees, 12, 272, 288.
Philip, of Bethsaida, 23, 185.
found by Jesus, 34, 186.
finds Nathanael, 34, 187, 203.
position among the Twelve, 20, 185.
connexion with Andrew, 126, 129, 192,
at feeding of multitude, 127, 189.
sought out by proselytes, 129, 192.
question at the Supper, 194, 237.
travels and death, 197.
Polycarp, 172, 181,
Proselytes, 128, 192.
Publicans, 218.
Raphael's cartoons, 54, 67, 94.
•Revelation, 171, 177.
'^.ome, church at, 113.
visited by Peter, zo8, Z12.
Rome visited by Paul, 113.
John, 177.
Simon Magus, 105.
St. Thomas, Christians of, 248.
Salome, family, 136, 269.
request for her sons, 142.
at the cross, 158.
Samaritans, character of, 14a
rejection of Christ, 14, 139.
treatment by him, 141.
visited by John and Peter, 43, 104, 166
Sanhedrin, officers of, 138.
defied by apostles, 42, 104.
Santiago, 145.
Simon=Peter, q.v.
Simon the Zealot.
family, 25.
training as Zealot, 263.
position among the Twelve, 25, 262.
Simon Magus, 105, 112.
Stephen, 104.
Supper, the Last, 78, 153. 193, 237, 261, 313.
Tabernacles, feast of, 275, 277,
Temple, 129, 178, 277, 322.
Thaddaeus=Judas of Alphseus, q.v.
Thomas.
position among the Twelve, 24, 247.
with Jesus beyond the Jordan, 233.
question at the Supper, 237.
his doubt, 24a
removed, 242.
legends of his later life, 247.
tomb at Edessa, 249.
Tiberias, sea of, described, 53, 57.
scene at, after Resurrection, 91, 160.
Transfiguration, 66, 140.
Twelve, the.
speculations as to the number, 10.
social position, 10.
Galileans, zi, 298.
evangelic lists of, 20.
final catalogue of, 27.
first called as disciples, 33.
afterwards as apostles, 36.
ordained, 39.
344
Index,
Twelve, the, their faults, 8, 14, 40, 329.
difficulties, 40.
virtues, 8, 15, 41, 236, 330.
relation towards Christ, 332.
desert him in the Garden, 85.
expect no rising, 8q.
development of character after Ascen-
sion, 42.
residence at Jerusalem, 43.
their parting, 44.
Twelve, the, travels and death, 44.
emblems, 45, 330.
Virgin ; see Mary.
Zealots, 263.
Zebedee, family, 136, 269.
age, 137.
See also Holy Family
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