cw^^ 1 s 1 ^ versitt; LIFE ^ ' OP JOHN THE BAPTIST. As John the Baptist presented himself to his countrymen as the herald and precursor of Jesus, and was acknowledged by Jesus to be so, and as his history is remarkably connected with the early part of the history of our Lord, the notices which are given of him in the Scriptures possess unusual interest. It is my purpose to examine these notices in their order, so as to present, as far as the materials will permit, a continuous view of his life. This life will naturally precede the lives of those who were afterwards sent by the Messiah to publish his laws and doctrines, as John was sent from above to be his harbinger. In the first chapter of Luke's Gospel, we have an account of the particulars attending the birth of the Baptist. His father was a priest by the name of Zacharias ; and his mother, whose name was Elizabeth, " was of the daughters of Aaron " ; so that he was by birth of the order of priesthood, and on the side of both father and mother, of l A 2 JOHN THE BAPTIST. sacerdotal descent. He was the child of their old age. His father Zacharias was, as is said by the Evangelist, " of the course of Abia." To understand this expression, we must recur to the fact, stated in the First Book of Chronicles, that David divided the descendants of Aaron into twenty-four orders, named after the chief men among them, who should attend to the service of the temple in rotation. The eighth of these orders, or courses, was that of Abijah, or Abia, and the one to which Zacharias belonged. What was more honorable to the parents of John than their official and hereditary sanctity, they were really holy and virtuous people. " They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." No parentage could be more fit for the forerunner of the holy Jesus. As Zacharias was officiating in the temple in his turn, or u in the order of his course," an angel appeared to him, predicted the birth of his son, and declared that his name should be John, which means, in the Hebrew language, the gift or grace of God. He added that his birth would be the cause of rejoicing to many ; that he would be '"' great in the sight of the Lord " ; that he would be singularly abstemious, and " filled with the Holy Spirit " ; and that he should go before the Lord " in the spirit and power of Elias." It JOHN THE BAPTIST. 3 was a general expectation among the Jews, that the prophet Elias, or Elijah, was to reappear on earth in person, to announce the arrival of the Messiah ; and this expectation was founded on one or two passages of the Book of Malachi, such as, " Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me"; and still more explicitly, " Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dread- ful day of the Lord." The words of the angel evidently refer to this prophecy, and at the same time imply that the messenger of the Lord, who was to precede and announce the Messiah, was not to be Elijah himself, according to common expectation, but one who should " go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah," — one who, like Elijah, should be endowed with a perception of God's purposes towards mankind, and with power to operate on their minds, to persuade them to repentance, and thus " to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." In due time John was born ; and his birth took place six months before that of Jesus, whose mother Mary was the cousin of his mother Eliz- .abeth. As the former event may be considered the dawn which betokened the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, we perceive the propriety of its being recorded by Luke in the beginning of his Gospel. The circumcision of John took place, 4 JOHN THE BAPTIST. as was customary among the Jews, on the eighth day after his birth; and on this day his father Zacharias recovered the use of his speech, of which he had been deprived, as a sign of the truth of what the angel had told him. " He spake, and praised God " ; and his joy burst forth in the words of that sublime and holy song, be- ginning, " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people." We are then told that " the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel." The meaning of this last clause is not that John, in his early childhood, lived alone in a wilderness, but that he passed his days, till he was called to the exer- cise of his mission, in the privacy of his parents' abode, which was in the deserts or hill-country of Judaea, as we are informed in the former part of the same chapter. As Hebron was the capital of this hill-country, and was, moreover, one of the cities appointed for the residence of the priests, it was probably the place where John passed his childhood with his parents, as Josus did with his. Its distance south of Jerusalem was between twenty and thirty, and in the same direction from Nazareth about seventy miles. Nothing more is related of John, till we hear of his call to commence his great work. The period of his entrance on his ministry is marked JOHN THE BAPTIST. 5 with great precision. " Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilato being governor of Judaea, and Herod being te- trarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and of the .region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high-priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repent- ance for the remission of sins." The call came to him in the wilderness, or thinly peopled hill- country, where his family resided ; and beginning there, he advanced towards Jerusalem, confining himself to the same retired portions of Judaea, and preaching to those who resorted to him in increasing numbers, till he reached Bethabara beyond Jordan, a few miles from the holy city, where he held his principal station. All this dis- trict of country bordered upon the sacred river Jordan, in which he baptized those who were affected by his preaching, and enlisted themselves among his disciples. Bethabara was probably near a fordable part of the river, as the meaning of the word is " the house of the passage." It was therefore a convenient place of resort for his hearers. The great doctrine which the Baptist preached, as preparatory to the Redeemer's kingdom, was 6 JOHN THE BAPTIST. repentance. " In those days," says the account of Matthew, " came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judasa, and saying, Repent ye ; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight." His custom, which was not a new one among the Jews, was to baptize those who believed his warnings, and joined themselves to him as converts or disciples, that he might sig- nify the cleansing and renewing of mind which was necessary for the reception of the new state of things which was approaching, as well as es- sential to the repentance which he himself so earnestly insisted on. And the same meaning of moral preparation is to be attributed to the pro- phetic metaphors of filling the valleys and bring- ing low the mountains and hills, making the crooked ways straight, and the rough smooth, which were duties belonging to the herald and forerunner of the anointed Prince of peace. The appearance and habits of living which were assumed and practised by John, while he was preaching and baptizing, and to which he had no doubt accustomed himself from tender age, were consistent with his character as the representative of Elijah. His clothing was coarse, and his food such as the deserts yielded. "And the same JOHN THE BAPTIST. 7 John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leath- ern girdle about his loins ; and his meat was lo- custs and wild honey." * Compare this account of Matthew with the description given in the Sec- ond Book of Kings of Elijah. " What manner of man," inquired Ahaziah of his messengers, " was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words ? And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite." f This was probably a usual kind of dress with the ancient prophets, especially in times of distress or great excitement. The insect called the locust was allowed as food by the Le- vitical law, £ and travellers assure us that it is eaten in Eastern countries at the present day, and that the bees of Palestine still deposit their stores in the holes of the rocks in such abundance that the honey is sometimes seen flowing down the surface. Living in this severe manner, and proclaiming on the wild banks of the Jordan the approach of the Messiah's reign and Israel's redemption, John drew universal regard, and the desert became populous around him. a Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins." § I have already * Matt. iii. 4. J Lev. xi. 22. t 2 Kings i. 8. § Matt. iii. 5. 8 JOHN THE BAPTIST. said that the ceremony of baptism, .or washing with water, was not new among the Jews, as sig- nificant of change and renewal, on the reception of converts or disciples to proposed forms of faith or discipline. It may be added, that it was a current opinion among the Jews, founded as usual on prophecy, that the forerunner of the Messiah, or Messiah himself, or both, would use the form of baptism, when the time of Israel's redemption should come. A passage in Zecha- riah which was thought to warrant this opinion is at least poetically descriptive of the office of John at his station of Bethabara beyond Jordan. " In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Je- rusalem, for sin and for uncleanness." * The character of John's preaching and instruc- tions is set forth with a great degree of particu- larity in the account which is given by Luke of his exhortations and advice to various classes of persons, from which it plainly appears that his doctrine was of a direct and practical kind, and that the preparation which he inculcated was of a moral nature entirely. He warned the people not to rely with their wonted pride on their being the children of Abraham, but to " bring forth fruits worthy of repentance." He was surprised to see the Pharisees and Sadducees resorting to * Zech. xiii. 1. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 9 him ; because they were so filled with this pride, and so confident, in the merit of their ceremonial righteousness. He was surprised that they should come to his baptism, which was one of real and practical, not formal or mystical repentance. " generation of vipers ! " he exclaimed, " children of deceit and hypocrisy ! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come ? " When " the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then ? " he indicated by his answer what was the nature of those fruits which were worthy of repentance, those deeds which proved a true change of heart and mind ; — he said unto them, " He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." The great duty of benevolence is here enforced, and illustrated by one of its sim- ple modes, and exalted in clear superiority above the works of the law. And when the publicans, or tax-gatherers, came to be baptized, " and said unto him, Master, what shall we do ? he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you." He knew their peculiar temptations, and their besetting sin, arising from the circumstances of their situation, and he therefore warned them against the spirit of extortion, and exhorted them to honesty, mod- eration, and mercy. " And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, 1* 10 JOHN THE BAPTIST. saying, And what shall we do ? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely ; and be content with your wages." This is all quite practical and plain, and shows that the eremitical Baptist, severe as he was in his manners, solitary in his haunts, and striking in his whole appearance and deportment, was yet simple and direct in his teaching, and did not affect to move in a cloud of mysticism. It de- notes also, that though he may have had, on some points, mistaken views of the Messiah's kingdom, and did not embrace the whole extent of its spir- ituality, yet he was well aware that it was to be a moral reformation, without which there could be no national deliverance, and that all who would be its subjects and partake of its blessings could secure their place only by repentance and right- eousness of life. This was one proof of the truth and divinity of his mission. Excited as the peo- ple were by the mere proclamation of the coming deliverer, he made no further use of the excite- ment than to direct it to .moral ends. He knew that this was the limit of his commission. He said and did nothing to rouse the minds of his hearers to any hostile manifestations ; but whether they were Pharisees, Sadducees, publicans, or sol- diers, he only exhorted them to true repentance and the performance of the charitable and peace- ful duties. Here also we may observe a remark- JOHN THE BAPTIST. 11 able, and I may say a miraculous, conformity between the spirit of the Baptist's preaching and the spirit of the Messiah's religion as it was after- wards developed. There is no appearance of any intimacy or collusion between them. They lived seventy miles apart from each other, — the one in Nazareth of Galilee, and the other in Hebron of Judasa, — and therefore, though related to each other, had probably met but seldom, up to the time of the public appearance of John as a preacher and prophet. There is evidently an un- prepared and undesigned agreement between the introduction and the perfection of the new dispen- sation ; a spiritual agreement which could not have existed between two uninspired Jews, nur- tured in the prejudices and traditions of their nation. The true light was preceded by the true witness. The dawning was a pure and correct, though faint, likeness of the day. Distinguished, however, as John the Baptist had become by his austere mode of life, by his prophetic dress and bearing, by his bold, ear- nest, and authoritative teaching, by the crowds who appeared as his baptized disciples, and by his annunciation of the ardently longed-for Mes- siah, the people began to suppose that he might be the Messiah himself. If John had been only playing a part, and been under the influence of a worldly ambition, he might easily have turned 12 JOHN THE BAPTIST. this idea to bis own advantage and personal exal- tation. But he maintained his own proper place and duty, humbly and strictly. " And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water ; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." * John allowed that he performed the office of baptism as a teacher and reformer, but declared that it was only introductory and emblematic, only a baptism with water ; while he who was soon to be mani- fested, the real Christ, to be whose servant he was himself unworthy, would baptize with a far more thorough, searching, and efficacious baptism, with a spiritual and purifying baptism, with the Holy Ghost and with fire. In using this latter expres- sion, he perhaps had in his mind the passage of Malachi, which says, " And he shall sit as a re- finer and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and sil- ver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." John, however, changes the metaphor, and represents the Messiah as a hus- bandman, with his winnowing fan in his hand, thoroughly separating the wheat on his floor from * Luke iii. 15. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 13 the chaff, gathering the former into his granary, and burning the latter with fire. And now the time arrives when he who was to come appears. "Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan, unto John, to be baptized of him." From the retirement of distant Galilee, where he had passed his youth in study and labor, and in docile subservience to his parents, Jesus, having entered upon his thirtieth year, which was the age of induction into the priestly office among the Jews,* travelled to Bethabara, and presented himself to his relative to be baptized. How eventful was this meeting between the son of Elizabeth and the son of Mary ! They whose births had been announced by the angel Gabriel, and who had since lived apart in holy seclusion and quiet duty for thirty years, were now brought together by the call of God in the presence of assembled multitudes, and this was the first pub- lic interview between the commissioned herald and the anointed prince, between the messenger and the Redeemer. When John heard the re- quest of Jesus to be baptized, he at first forbade, or refused him ; for though he was not yet cer- tified of his being the Christ, yet he was proba- bly acquainted with the wonders attending his birth, and with his life of entire purity and holi- ness. Therefore he meekly remonstrated, " I * Numbers iv. 14 JOHN THE BAPTIST. have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ? " But Jesus, who would commence his ministry with a public and solemn ordinance, and regardful, perhaps, of the usage by which the sons of Aaron were washed with water be- fore they commenced the functions of the priest- hood,* answered, " Suffer it to be so now ; for thus it become th us to fulfil all righteousness." Thus urged, or, it may be, commanded, John could no longer hesitate, and the two moved down through the silent crowd into the expectant stream, and its waters, more consecrated than consecrating, were poured on the Saviour's head. " Old Jordan smiled, receiving such high pay For those small pains obedient he had spent, Making his waters guard the dried way- Through wonders when to Canaan Israel went ; Nor does he envy now Pactolus' streams, Or Eastern floods, whose paths are paved with gems."t As Jesus came up from the river, the heavens were opened to declare his mission to the earth, the spirit of God descended with a dove-like motion upon him, and a voice was heard pro- nouncing, " This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." From this moment the min- istry of Jesus commenced, and, " being full of the Holy Ghost, he returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,"} where he fasted and was tempted. * Exodus xxix. 4. f Joseph Beaumont. J Luke iv. 1 . JOHN THE BAPTIST. 15 As we know that Jesus was thirty years of age when he began his ministry, and that this was the age prescribed by the Jewish law as the proper time for the commencement of sacred functions, it is probable that John began his ministry at the same age, and, being six months older than Jesus, we may draw the conclusion that he had been six months preaching and baptizing, when that manifestation of the Messiah took place which was the great end of his bap- tism. At the expiration of our Saviour's sojourn in the wilderness, he returned to Bethabara, and took up his abode in that neighborhood. About the same time, the great council of the Jews, moved by the celebrity of John, and the surmises of the people concerning him, and being yet ignorant of the appearance and claims of Jesus, sent a formal deputation to the Baptist, to ascer- tain what he was, or assumed to be. " And this," says the Evangelist John,* " is the record," or rather the testimony, or free profession, " of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? And he confessed, and denied not ; but confessed, I am not the Christ." With decided and earnest reiteration he refused the kingly title. "And they asked him, What then ? Art thou Elias ? * John i. 1 9. 16 JOHN THE BAPTIST. And he saith, I am not." Though he did come in the spirit and power of Elijah, yet as he was aware that they intended to inquire whether he was Elijah himself, according to their notions, restored to earth to precede the Messiah, he was too honest to reply except in the negative. They pursued their interrogatories. " Art thou that prophet?" They asked him, in the pertinacity of their opinion that some one or another of the ancient prophets was to reappear in person, whether he was such a prophet. And he still answered, " No." Then, having exhausted their suppositions, and unwilling to go back to Jerusa- lem without some satisfactory answer, they said unto him, " Who art thou ? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself ? " The look of the Baptist, the hum- ble and yet rapt and holy expression of his coun- tenance, may be imagined, but not described, with which he said, in the sublime words of Isaiah, and standing in that forest by the flowing waters of Jordan, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord." It was immaterial what he was in per- son, or in name ; he was only a voice, — a voice in the wilderness, — but yet a voice proclaiming to the world, and proclaiming truly and solemnly, " Make straight the way of the Lord." As John had denied being either of the per- JOHN THE BAPTIST. 17 sons suggested, the deputation asked, in surprise, and perhaps with anger, why then he undertook to perform the important office of baptism. In answer, John declared, as he had before, that his baptism was but outward and introductory, whereas his successor and superior would baptize with a holier and mightier baptism. He inti- mated, moreover, that this exalted personage, though they knew him not, was even then among them. And thus he publicly declared to this official deputation the actual arrival of the Mes- siah. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and made him known to the people who were then assembled, by that memorable excla- mation, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ! " * He then went on to say, that this was he who, coming after him, was yet before him ; that he did not at first know that he was the expected Redeemer, but that it was to make him manifest to Israel that he himself had come baptizing with water ; and that on the day when he baptized him, he saw and heard those heavenly signs which convinced him that he was the Christ, for they were signs which he had been taught to look for. " He that sent me to baptize with water," said he, " the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see * John i. 29. B 18 JOHN THE BAPTIST. the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." * He then adds, " And I saw, and bare record, that this is the Son of God." Again the next day after, as he was standing with two of his disciples, he looked on Jesus as he walked by, and said, " Behold the Lamb of God ! " One of these disciples was Andrew, and the other probably was John the Evangelist ; f and these two disciples of the forerunner of Christ were among the first disciples of Christ himself. As Jesus was now manifested to Israel, and had begun his work, the ministry of John may be said to have closed. Still, however, he co- operated as he was able with his Master, and continued to baptize. Jesus also, or rather his disciples, began to baptize in Judaea ; and this seems to have excited the jealousy of the dis- ciples of John, who came and reported it to him. J The Baptist at this time had moved higher up the river, and "was baptizing in Enon, near to Salim, because there was much water there." His reply to his disciples hushed their murmur- ings, and was another humble, affectionate, and * John i. 33. t When John speaks of a disciple, without mentioning his name, he is supposed to intend himself. X John iii. 22 ; iv. 2. JOHN THE BAPTIST. 19 manly testimony to the superior dignity of Jesus. He told them, that they themselves would bear him witness, that he said he was not the Christ, but was sent before him. He declared that as the friend of the bridegroom rejoiced to hear the bridegroom's voice, so his joy was fulfilled. He added those affecting and prophetic words, " He must increase, but I must decrease." He then spoke at large of the divine truth and glory of the mission of Christ, concluding, "He that be- lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." " He must increase, but I must decrease." Perhaps John did not himself know how soon and how fearfully those words were to be ful- filled. He could not have known it; because, though content to occupy an inferior station, he yet looked for some signal and outward display of the Messiah's kingdom, to be manifested, however, with accompanying holiness, in which he might participate, or at least rejoice. But this was not to be granted him. His work and his life were soon to be ended. The popularity of John had attracted the no- tice of Herod the tetrarch, surnamed Antipas, who was the son of that Herod who had thirty years ago commanded the slaughter of the in- fants of Bethlehem. He had sent for the Baptist, 20 JOHN THE BAPTIST. and conversed with him ; not that he was desirous of hearing truth, but he was anxious to see so celebrated a person ; and celebrity was, in his eyes, as it is in the eyes of many, the great thing, whether it appertain to a buffoon or a saint. But John reproved him for his marriage with Hero- dias, his brother Philip's wife, which so incensed that bad woman, that she caused her infatuated husband to throw him into prison ; which prison, according to the historian Josephus, was the for- tress of Machaerus, on the northern border of the Dead Sea. Here John was doomed to lie inac- tive, — another proof of the proverbial fickleness of the favor of great men and princes, — but still retaining the respect of Herod on account of his integrity and wisdom, and causing him to fear on account of his favor with the people. Herodias would have killed him at first ; " but she could not ; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him." But she was revengeful as she was licentious, and she did not forget the Baptist's offence, nor her own deadly purpose. While John was lying thus in prison, in the power of a weak prince, who was under the influ- ence of a wicked and dangerous woman, he heard of the works of Christ, but heard nothing which promised deliverance. Either suffering himself to become impatient, at which we need not won- JOHN THE BAPTIST. 21 der, or desiring to obtain the most definite infor- mation regarding the proceedings and designs of Jesus, he sent unto him two of his disciples, who adhered to him in all his troubles, to inquire of him, " Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another ? "' The answer which Jesus re- turned, while it reminded him of the continued testimonials of the Spirit to his mission by mira- cles, directed him to the spiritual nature of his kingdom, which was evinced by his preaching its glad tidings to the poor. And this answer proba- bly calmed the troubled though strong mind of John, and satisfied him that he must now look for deliverance to that kingdom alone, " where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at rest." As the messengers of John departed, Jesus be- gan to speak concerning him to the surrounding multitude, and rendered a testimony to his pro- phetic mission, which proves his own unshaken confidence in the Baptist's integrity. What, he asked them, did they go out into the deserts of Judaea to see ? Not surely the wind-shaken reeds on the banks of the Jordan ; not a man clothed in fine and costly raiment, for men thus clothed were to be found in palaces, not deserts ; but they went for the purpose of seeing a prophet. And he was indeed more than a common prophet. He had more than a common mission, and he had 22 JOHN THE BAPTIST. faithfully discharged it. He was sent to prepare the way of the Messiah, and he had prepared it. Of those who had hitherto been raised up for im- portant purposes by the Almighty, none had been greater than John the Baptist ; and yet even he entertained so inadequate notions of the entire spirituality of the Messiah's kingdom, that the least among those who should truly receive it, in its pure separateness from the world, would be greater than he. After bearing this open testimony to the truth of John's divine mission, and the reality of his prophetic character, — a truth and reality which were not impaired by the imperfection of his views, — Jesus closes the discourse by some re- marks on the effect of his ministry in connection with his own. He speaks of the small number of those who had been moved to repentance by John the Baptist or by himself, and rebukes the people of that age for their perversity in rejecting both, although they were so different from each other in character and habits. John, being of an austere and retired deportment, was charged with being melancholy or crazed ; — they said, " He hath a devil." He himself, mingling more freely with men of all ranks, and partaking of their en- tertainments, was rudely accused of being " a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." Such a stubborn and S \ ^ JOHN THE BAPTIST. 23 petulant generation might be fitly likened to chil- dren in the streets, who would refuse to join with their companions in any games, and would nei- ther dance to their festive piping, nor lament with them when they imitated the funeral wail. It was probably about three months after this occurrence that the revengeful Herodias found an opportunity of accomplishing the destruction of the Baptist. As Herod was keeping his birth- day, by a magnificent supper which he gave to his lords and captains, she sent her daughter by her former husband * into the hall, to dance be- fore him and his guests. The exhibition pleased the tetrarch to such a degree, that he promised with an oath to grant the daughter whatsoever she should ask, even to the half of his kingdom. The young dancer went out, and reported this to her mother, and consulted her with regard to the request which she should prefer. Herodias, with- out hesitation, and feeling that the dark game was now in her own cruel hands, told her daugh- ter to ask for the head of John the Baptist ; and, in order to make sure of her prey, and guard against any humane deception, she added the con- dition, that the head should be brought to her on a " charger," or large dish. For such a terrible request the sobered king was wholly unprepared, * She had a daughter, as Josephus tells us, by the name of Salome. 24 JOHN THE BAPTIST. and he was " exceeding sorry." Nevertheless, he conceived himself bound by his oath, — as if an oath could bind the soul to crime, — and sent an executioner to the prison to do the wicked deed. " It was the holy purpose of God," says Bishop Hall, " that he who had baptized with water should now be baptized with blood." The blame- less John, — the preacher of repentance and right- eousness, — the holy reprover of vice, whether a publican's or a king's, — was beheaded in the prison. " For one minute's pain, he is possessed of endless joy ; and as he came before his Saviour into the world, so is he gone before him into heaven." His faithful disciples forsook him not, though dead, but came, and " took up the body and buried it " ; and then went and informed Jesus of what had taken place. • The uneasy conscience of Herod Antipas would not suffer him to forget the image of his victim. When he afterwards heard of the fame of Jesus, he expressed his belief that it was John the Baptist, whom he had beheaded, risen from the dead. It is not told us in the Gospels where the Bap- tist was buried by his disciples. Less authentic accounts state, that " in the time of Julian the apostate, his tomb was shown at Samaria, where the inhabitants opened it, and burnt part of his bones ; while the rest were saved by some Chris- JOHN THE BAPTIST. 25 tians, who carried them to an abbot of Jerusalem, named Philip." * The Roman Church celebrates the martyrdom of John the Baptist on the 29th of August. But the day on which he is especially commemorated is the 24th of June, which is kept as the day of his nativity ; it being the only nativity, besides that of our Saviour, which that church observes. The Apostles and other saints bore witness to the truth more especially by their deaths, but John more especially by his birth, with its concomitants. A kind of perpetual commentary is thus afforded on the declaration of the angel, that " many shall rejoice in his birth." And as our Lord's nativity is observed on the 25th of December, and he was about six months younger than John, the 24th of June is properly selected as the birthday of the latter. Here again a comment of the same poet- ical character, on another text, has sometimes been noticed. The days, which begin to lengthen at the first of those dates, and to grow shorter at the last, point to that saying of the Baptist already quoted, " He must increase, but I must de- crease." But leaving these somewhat fanciful allusions, we cannot fail to observe that the. life of the Bap- tist, setting forth so clearly and prominently the gravity, disinterestedness, courage, and purity of * Calmet. 2 26 JOHN THE BAPTIST. his character, is a worthy introduction to the Lives of that " glorious company of the Apostles,'' who praised God as he did in life and death, who sur- round the Lamb in heaven as they did on earth, and whose example enforces that of the forerun- ner, which so earnestly exhorts us to " constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake." for more of that primitive faith and virtue ! for more witnesses, more disciples ! " Where is the lore the Baptist taught, The soul unswerving, and the fearless tongue ! The much-enduring wisdom, sought By lonely prayer the haunted rocks among 1 Who counts it gain His light should wane, So the whole world to Jesus throng ? " V OP THE X live4 UKI7BRSIT7 ! THE APOSTLES. THE TWELVE. Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Teacher sent from God, soon after he commenced his min- istry, selected twelve men to be his immediate followers and confidential disciples. " Now the names of the twelve Apostles are these : the first, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother ; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother ; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Al- pheus, and Lebbeus, whose surname was Thad- deus ; Simon the Oanaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him." This list of the Apostles is taken from the Gospel of Matthew, who was himself one of them. We are also presented with a similar catalogue in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and in the Book of Acts.* * Matthew's list is from chap, x, 2, 3, 4, For facility of refer- ence, the three remaining lists of the twelve are here subjoined. " And Simon he surnamed Peter : and James the son of Zebe« 28 THE TWELVE. Why the exact number of twelve was appoint- ed, it is more difficult than important to deter- mine. Perhaps it was done in compliance with the attachment of the Jews to that number. Per- haps it was with a more particular reference to the number of the sons of Jacob, and the tribes of which they were the progenitors and founders ; " Ye also," says Jesus, " shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Under the new dispensation, ye twelve, whom. I have chosen, shall exercise the same spiritual authority and rule as did the twelve patriarchs under the old dispensation. Ye shall be regarded with the same religious respect. Ye shall give laws and ordinances to my people. The motives which induced the Master to call to himself a select company of disciples seem to dee ; and John the brother of James ; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The Sons of Thunder; and Andrew; and Philip; and Bartholomew; and Matthew; and Thomas; and James the son of Alpheus ; and Thaddeus ; and Simon the Ca- naanite ; and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him." Mark iii. 16, 17, 18, 19. " Simon, whom he also named Peter; and Andrew his brother; James and John ; Philip and Bartholomew ; Matthew and Thom- as; James the son of Alpheus, and Simon called Zelotes; and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also was the traitor." Luke vi. 14, 15, 16. " Peter and James and John and Andrew, Philip and Thom- as, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James." Acts i. 13. THE TWELVE. 29 be more obvious. It was proper and even neces- sary that he should have some followers in whom he might particularly confide, and who should be always near him and about him. It was needful, in the first place, that he should be thus attended, in order that the wonders which he worked in confirmation of the divinity of his mission should be nearly inspected and credibly attested. I deem it one of the strongest evidences of the truth of our Saviour's miracles, that they were performed, not only in sight of the multitude, but of a select company, who were too familiar with him to be deceived themselves, and too honest to join with him in deceiving oth- ers. Being brought into the midst of his opera- tions, they were qualified to judge of their reality and integrity, and therefore qualified to report them to the world with all the warmth of convic- tion, and all the directness, particularity, and authority of constant experience and repeated vision. A changing crowd, never composed per- haps on any two occasions of the same materials, might have been mistaken ; but a band of twelve companions could not have been. They were fitted, as in no other way they could have been so well, for the purpose of declaring to men the power from above with which their Master was invested; and that they might be thus - prepared was one of his designs in choosing them. " Ye 30 THE TWELVE. are witnesses of these tilings," said he to the eleven, after his resurrection from the dead. He evinced a consciousness of innocence and sincer- ity by admitting so many partakers of his secret counsels and his daily deeds ; and he manifested his wisdom by securing such an irrefragable tes- timony to the reality of those signs from Heaven which pointed him out as truly the Son of God. The apostles were selected, in the second place, in order that, by reiterated instruction, they might become well acquainted with the religion which their Master was about to establish on the earth. " It is given unto you to know the mys- teries of the kingdom of heaven." Jesus ad- dressed himself to all who had ears to hear, but more particularly to those twelve who were to preach in his name when he should be lifted up ; because, through them, mankind were to receive the tidings of his salvation. He chose them, that he might teach them, so that they in turn might teach. His doctrine was so new, so different from what men had been used to dignify with the title of religion, that occasional lessons to the multi- tude, uttered in a confined sphere and by a single individual, would hardly have served the purpose of rendering it familiar and making it well un- derstood. On this account it was more minutely, clearly, and repeatedly explained to a select class of pupils, who were thus prepared to become in- THE TWELVE. 31 structors themselves, and, by penetrating into different and distant countries, to disseminate among the nations of the earth a religious system which was at first promulgated to the Jewish peo- ple, and limited to their small inheritance alone. They were called apostles, because they were sent out into the world.* Before they were sent, they were instructed in the purposes and powers of their mission. And how slow they were to com- prehend, after all the pains which had been be- stowed on them, the true nature of the Messiah's kingdom and laws, may be read in their own con- fessions of ignorance. It was late, and not till after supernatural illumination, that they were thoroughly initiated in the true meaning of the religion which they were commissioned to preach and to spread. This is a fact which forcibly at- tests, not the dulness of the disciples, for their natural perceptions were as quick as those of other men, but the need there was of their being well grounded in the doctrines of Christ, and the opposition which existed between the entire sim- plicity and spirituality of those doctrines and the grossness of their own expectations and of the common opinions of the world. It may be well to add to the above reasons for the separation of the twelve, that they were brought into a close personal intimacy with the Saviour, in * From the Greek a7rocrreXXco (apostello), " I send." 32 THE TWELVE. order that they might study his example, borrow his spirit, and so receive the image of his life that they might reflect it in their own. They were both the witnesses and the objects and recipients of that divine gentleness, compassion, and benevo- lence, which from that fountain flowed out all abroad on everything. They could not be so much in his society without being affected by the bland influences of his manners and character. It was very probably intended that they should be thus affected ; that they should behold the temper of Christianity in a living form ; its doctrines set forth in conduct ; its precepts illustrated by a perpetually corresponding practice ; and that, be- holding this, they should be touched by its beauty, and conformed in some measure to its likeness, and enabled to hold up, not only the description, but the copy of it, before the sight of men. It was almost an inevitable result of their situation, that they should imbibe a portion of the divine life of Christianity from their strict fellowship with its founder. Like those flowers which are known to drink in the light of the sun while he remains above the horizon, and then to give it out in mild flashes when the evening shades come on, so the disciples, while their Master sojourned with them, while the Sun of Righteousness shone upon them, absorbed the beaming excellence of his character, and then, when he left the earth, emitted it par- THE TWELVE. 33 tially again amidst the moral darkness which sur- rounded them. One other purpose, which the connection of the twelve disciples with our Saviour was fitted to an- swer, was, the qualification which it conferred on them for recording his deeds and words, and pre- serving to posterity the invaluable memorial. 1 know not how we, of this age, could have trusted implicitly to accounts of the origin and true prin- ciples of the Christian religion, which tradition alone might have brought down to us ; nor is it easily conceivable how any persons could have been better prepared to render an authentic, trust- worthy, and interesting history of our faith, than were those who accompanied Jesus through the several scenes of his ministry, and immediately succeeded him in publishing the Gospel. Accord- ingly, we find that two out of the four relations of our Saviour's life and death were written by two of the twelve disciples ; and that the greater part of the remaining books of the New Testament were likewise composed by the original apostles, and by that 'distinguished individual whose apos- tlcship was bestowed on him directly and miracu- lously from Heaven. It is true, that we are obliged to learn from tradition who the writers were of several of the sacred books ; but a few facts of this simple nature might securely be trusted to its keeping, though at the same time it would be an 2* 34 THE TWELVE. improper depository and an unsafe vehicle for the numerous occurrences, sentiments, and precepts which constitute the Christian system. It is a self-evident proposition, that the chosen compan- ions of Jesus, having witnessed his miracles, having been instructed in his religion, and made intimately acquainted with his character, were qualified in the best manner to convert their expe- rience into history, and to transmit to the latest ages an indubitable standard of Christian truth. Such appear to be our Saviour's motives, as far as we are authorized to judge of them, in nomi- nating his twelve disciples. It becomes a matter of no inconsiderable interest to us to know some- thing of the history, to ascertain something of the character, of those who were so peculiarly and so highly distinguished. Who were those, in the first place, whom the Saviour of men, the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, chose out of the whole world, to be his com- panions, his friends, his pupils, his witnesses, his historians, his apostles ? What were their quali- ties ? How were they recommended to the notice of Jesus ? What were their occupations, their condition, education, principles ? It was a re- markable station which they were called upon to hold, — so near the person, so high in the con- fidence, of the most exalted being who ever appeared on our earth. As disciples ourselves, THE TWELVE. 35 though it may be unworthy of the name, and as distant from them in merit as we are in time, yet as professed disciples of that heavenly Master, we are naturally curious to learn more than simply the names of our favored predecessors. We would make ourselves acquainted with those men who saw, and heard, and touched, and lived and con- versed with, that holy prophet of God, for whom we feel a reverence only inferior to that which we entertain toward Him who sent him. And who were those, we would ask, in the sec- ond place, who were appointed by Jesus Christ to publish his religion, and enabled by the assistance of the Holy Spirit of God to publish it successful- ly? Who were those, who, in obedience to their Master, went out into all nations, teaching, con- verting, and baptizing, and planting the parent churches of our faith in learned Greece, and lord- ly Rome, and benighted Africa, and among those rude people of the North from whom we ourselves are descended ? It was no mean work in which they were employed. No revolution of recorded time can equal it in glory ; for thrones were sub- jected to its power, and the poor and humble of the earth were raised by it to an elevation far higher than thrones. They, like their Lord, were invested with a control over the operations of na- ture ; and, more than that, they, like him, and by his authority, and with his instruction, founded 36 THE TWELVE. an empire, the most broad and lasting which has ever existed, over the human mind. Who were they ? As Christians, as subjects of that empire, as men amazed, at the same time that we are re- joiced, at what we have heard and what we be- hold, we are impelled to inquire who they were who established a dominion which has already covered the civilized world, and is apparently going on, with ever-encroaching steps, to spread itself over the whole earth. If the lives of any men are interesting, theirs must be peculiarly so. They are the great reformers, the great con- querors, whose empire has been continually in- creasing and strengthening, while the houses and dynasties of heroes and kings have risen, and flourished, and passed away into forgetfulness and ruin ; the only empire which has grown more vigorous and more hopeful with age, because the mind and the heart and the destiny of man, and the good providence of God, are joined to sup- port and perpetuate it. Who were these men ? No elaborate biography, no studied panegyric, has portrayed to us the lives and characters of the apostles of Christ. In their own condensed and simple writings, and in the quite as simple book of their Acts, composed by one of their associates, we must glean such sketches of them as are to be found in connection with the accounts of their Master and the history of their religion; for of THE TWELVE. 37 themselves, as individuals, they seldom think of speaking ; absorbed in their duty and devoted to their great work, the idea of self-importance or personal fame never seems to have entered their minds. We shall not, however, esteem them the less because they were faithful to their calling, and sought not the praise and honor of men, and postponed their own glory to the glory of God. And although our just curiosity may not be grat- ified by a full and detailed portraiture of these eminent men, who remembered their work, and forgot themselves, yet we shall meet with notices enough in the Scriptures of the New Testament to enable us to form for ourselves an outline at least of some of their lives and characters. Of some of them we shall find more abundant ac- counts than of others ; for among them, as well as among mankind in general, there was undoubt- edly a diversity of power, which caused some of them to stand out in the foreground of action, and others to remain comparatively in shade ; though all of them might have been zealous, use- ful, and efficient, and most probably were so. Though the sacred writings themselves are the only sources of knowledge on this subject to which we may give implicit credence, yet from other early documents we may obtain some nar- ratives of the latter days of the apostles which are worthy of a good degree of faith. Making 38 THE TWELVE. use, therefore, of such authorities as are within my reach, I shall proceed to give some account of the twelve disciples of our Lord ; pursuing the order in which they are arranged by Matthew, only because his catalogue is the first which oc- curs in the common collocation of the Gospel histories. SIMON PETER. Simon, who also received from our Lord the ap- pellation of Peter, is invariably the first named on all the four lists of the apostles, and was, on sev- eral accounts, the chief of their company. He was one of the first who was called to be a disci- ple ; though not the very first, for Andrew his brother appears to have been called before him, or at least at the same time with him. He was distinguished above the rest by the solemn predic- tions and trusts of his Master, by his uncommon zeal, and by his strong natural talents. He is altogether not only a conspicuous disciple, but a remarkable man. The sacred historians give us more copious accounts of him than of the other apostles, and a distinct conception of his character may be gained from what they re- late. He was, as is stated two or three times in the Gospels, the son of John or Jona, who was proba- bly, like his children, a fisherman. The family^ had lived in the town of Bethsaida, on the north- western side of the lake of Genesareth, otherwise 40 SIMON PETER. called the sea of Tiberias, or the sea of Galilee,* where Peter was born ; but they afterwards seem to have removed to the neighboring city of Caper- naum, and then consisted, as far as we can ascer- tain, of Simon himself, his brother, and his father, his wife, and her mother. When Galilee was the scene of our Saviour's ministry, Capernaum was the place of his most constant abode ; and it is probable that his resort to it was determined in some measure by its being the residence of Peter, in whose house he is thought to have lodged. As we learn from the Evangelist John, Simon was acquainted with Jesus, and had heard him attentively, before he became one of the selected disciples. His brother Andrew was already one of the disciples of John the Baptist, and was standing with a fellow-disciple in company with their master, at a time when Jesus was passing by. Looking upon him as he walked, John, by whom he had recently been baptized, exclaimed, " Behold the Lamb of God ! " Upon this, the two followed him, and, on the invitation of Jesus, went with him to his dwelling-place, and abode with him that day. Convinced -of the justice of his claims, Andrew sought for his brother Simon, and * This lake took its name of Galilee from the province in which it was situated, and Genesareth and Tiberias from towns on its coast. It was more anciently called the sea of Chinnereth. Numb, xxxiv. 11 ; Josh. xiii. 27. SIMON PETER. 41 saying to him, " We have found the Messias, or Christ," he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld them, he said, " Thou art Simon, the son of Jona ; thou shalt be called- Cephas,' ' which is by interpretation into the Greek, Petra, and into English, a Rock. By this manner of receiving Simon, Jesus manifested that he was acquainted with him, and had formed an estimate of his character ; that he had marked him as one who was fitted by his energy and activity to estab- lish his religion on durable foundations ; that even now he intended him for a great work. The brothers may at this early period be considered as disciples or pupils of Jesus, though not yet chos- en, according to the language of St. Mark, to " be with him always " ; for they still continued fish- ermen. It is pleasant to know that the two who were first called to be disciples were united together by the tie of natural brotherhood ; that the one brother led the other to the Saviour ; that they pursued their simple occupation together ; and that together they were called from that sim- ple occupation to become fishers of men. That event took place a short time after, in the following manner. As Jesus stood by the lake, surrounded by a crowd who were pressing upon him to hear the word of God, he saw Simon and Andrew, in the practice of their usual occupation, and washing their nets on the shore. He entered 42 SIMON PETEK. their vessel, and prayed them to thrust out a little from the land, that he might the more convenient- ly teach the people. Then, having finished his discourse, he bade them launch out into the deep, and let down their net for a draught of fishes. It is now that we begin to perceive the ardent, affec- tionate, and confiding character of Peter. Though he and his companions had been toiling through the night without the least success, yet he at once consented to make another effort, in obedience to the wishes of Jesus. " Nevertheless, at thy word," he says, " I will let down the net." This was no sooner done than such a multitude of fishes were enclosed, that the net began to break, and they were obliged to call their partners, who were in another ship, to assist them, and both ships were so filled with what they drew in as to be near sinking. On beholding this, Simon Peter, ever a man of impulses, " fell down at Jesus' knees, say- ing, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." In a transport of fearful humility he be- seeches Jesus to leave him, and not to stay with one so unworthy of his holy and wonderful pres- ence. But Jesus, instead of leaving him, now gives him the call to his apostleship, saying to him, " Fear not ; from henceforth thou shalt catch men " ; or, as the other evangelists write, applying the words to both the brethren, " I will make you fishers of men." Readily accepting the invitation SIMON PETER. 43 to become the constant companions of the Mes- siah, and perhaps secretly expecting worldly ad- vantage from their connection with so great a personage, they straightway left all, their proper- ty, their home, and their former friends, and fol- lowed him. Peter's character now rapidly unfolds itself; a character of strong and contrasted features ; bold, honest, and vehement, and yet wavering and in- constant ; now forward and daring before all his companions, and now more timid than any of them. Wherever we meet with him, it is the same Simon that we see ; distinguished alike for high and generous virtues, and for faults inconsistent with those virtues, and altogether unworthy of them. Strength and weakness, courage and ir- resolution, impetuosity and indecision, are mixed up in his temperament in a striking and yet per- fectly natural combination ; and at the bottom of the whole there is a purity of feeling, and an integrity of purpose, which endear him to his Master, and fit him at last for his important destination and office. One of the occasions which may be noticed as developing these characteristics is that of his at- tempt to walk on the sea to meet Jesus. We are informed that after the miracle of the loaves and fishes, which took place on one side of the lake, Jesus commanded his disciples to pass over to the 44 SIMON PETER. other in a vessel, while he remained to send the multitude away. A storm overtook the ship when she was in the midst of the sea, and, while she was tossing on the waves, Jesus came to them in the fourth watch of the night, or towards morn- ing, walking on the sea, as on dry land. At this extraordinary sight the disciples were troubled, saying, " It is a spirit " ; and to such a height was their terror excited, that they cried out for fear. But Jesus immediately spoke to them, and bade them not to be afraid, for it was himself. No sooner does Peter hear his voice, than he not only dismisses his fear, but gives loose to his en- thusiasm, and unwilling to wait till his Master reaches the vessel, and perhaps, too, tempted a lit- tle to display his faith, and do some great thing, he exclaims, before the others have recovered the use of their speech, " Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." And Jesus, know- ing him perfectly, and willing at once to gratify, to test, and to instruct him, said, " Come." Pe- ter descends from the ship, and walks towards his Master. But the storm was stronger than his trust ; and when he felt himself out, so strangely and awfully, amidst the dashing foam and the boisterous wind, he was afraid, and he forgot his confidence ; and his faith, which hitherto had borne him up, grew faint and unable to hold him, and, beginning to sink, he cried again, and with SIMON PETER. 45 the voice of despair, to Jesus, " Lord, save me ! " " And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ? " That was all the Saviour said ; that mild rebuke, so unlike the denunciations which his professed fol- lowers in other ages have launched at what they have been pleased to call, but could not with cer- tainty know to be, deficiencies of faith ; that mild rebuke from him who did know all things was the only punishment for the failing faith of the disciple, — u Wherefore didst thou doubt? " Wherefore, after seeing what thou hast seen, and hearing what thou hast heard, couldst thou doubt? And he raised the self-convicted man, and brought him into the ship, and " the wind ceased." Notwithstanding Simon's occasional misgivings and temporary weaknesses, his fidelity was in the main firm and certain, because it was founded on the real goodness and tenderness of his nature. There was a time, when, as related in the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, many of the fol- lowers of Jesus " went back, and walked no more with him," because he spoke to them obscurely and figuratively of his office and kingdom, and because, from what they did understand, they began to suspect that there was something much more spiritual and much less lucrative and splen- il 46 SIMON PETER. did in his proposed dominion than suited with their earthly conceptions. They went back, therefore, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, his chosen twelve, " Will ye also go away ? " To whose heart, of those twelve hearts, does the affecting appeal first find its way ? Who answers it first ? The same man who but just now was afraid of the wind. a Then Simon Peter answered him, 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." Generous, full-hearted, though too inconstant disciple ! Though others desert that good and gentle Mas- ter, thou wilt not leave him. In this time of trial thy heart has kept thee right. Thou art like some tall and comely tree, whose pliant trunk is swayed hither and thither by the passing storm, but whose tenacious root spreads wide abroad, and pierces deep beneath, and still reclaims the waving plant, and binds it firmly to the soil it loves. At yet another time also, Peter made the same open and bold confession. It was when Jesus, having asked his disciples whom men said that he was, and having received their answer, put the question to them, saying, " But whom say ye that I am? " Again it is the ardent Simon who ad^ vances before the rest, and answers unhesitatingly, SIMON PETER. 47 " T hou art the Chri s t, the Son of the living God." | / This renewed proof of his attachment and faith draws forth the marked approbation of his Master, who answered him and said, " Blessed art thou, Simon, son of Jon a ; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father who is in heaven. The Spirit of God, himself, hath en- lightened thee. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter. I have already called thee a rock, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of the place of death shall not pre- vail against it. Upon thy exertions shall the foundations of my church be laid, and laid so strongly that they shall never be overturned nor destroyed. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." That by these words of Jesus a certain degree of apostolic pre-eminence was conferred on Peter, I think is too plain to be disputed ; though some over-zealous Protestants have denied the fact. But why they should wish to deny it, I cannot see ; for I cannot see how the primacy which his Lord chose to confer on him should disturb them ; nor can I see, on the other hand, how that pri- macy, being fully admitted, can be an argument for the papal supremacy. If Peter was thought 48 % SIMON PETER. by his Master worthy of standing first among his disciples, who shall say. that he did not deserve the dignity ? But what was the nature of that dignity ? " On this rock will I build my church," said Jesus. The Christian Church was not built on Peter alone, nor by him alone ; for all the apostles contributed to the edifice ; but to Peter / was commissioned the duty of first declaring the Gospel to the Jews, and indeed, by a special vision, to the Gentiles also ; and the centurion and his family, converted and baptized by him, were the first fruits of Christianity out of the Jewish pale. He was, therefore, the foundation of the Church, — the rock on which its beginnings were laid. But there is nothing transferable in this part of his dignity, at least. The foundations of the Church are not to be laid twice and thrice, and over and over again, because a series of men calling them- selves popes claim to be his successors. Neither is there any promise of transmitting the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which signify only that authority which Peter, as an accredited apostle of Christ, was to have in his ministry. He was em- powered to act in general as an ambassador from Heaven ; to enact regulations, to establish and to break down, to do and to undo, with the concur- rence and power of the Head of the Church him self. And this authority, let it be remembered, was committed to all the rest of the apostles in SIMON PETER. 49 precisely the same words ; for they also were to preach their Master's doctrine to the world, and needed his delegated power in things pertaining to his kingdom. To them also did he say, there- fore, " Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The pre- eminence of Peter, then, appears to be simply a precedence among his brethren and equals, which was conceded to his abilities and energy ; and a preference which was bestowed on him as a teach- er of the religion of Christ. But there is no promise, no intimation, in the Scriptures, that even this pre-eminence was to descend on other men ; nor does the similarity between the popes of Rome and Simon Peter of Bethsaida — between the triple-crowned sovereigns of Christendom, who once set their feet on kings' necks, and the plain fisherman of the sea of Galilee — seem to be, in any point of view, very close or striking. Whatever elation of heart may have been pro- duced in Peter by the praise of a beloved Master, it was almost immediately doomed to be checked and mortified by the same impartial voice ; for in the very chapter which records this last occur- rence, we are told that the disciple drew upon him- self one of the severest rebukes which Jesus ever uttered. " From that time forth," says the Evan- gelist, " began Jesus to show unto his disciples, 3 D 50 SIMON PETER. how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day." Intimations of this kind were always peculiarly unwelcome and enigmatical to the dis- ciples ; and on this occasion Peter came forward as usual, and with even more than his usual warmth took up his Master, and began to rebuke him, saying, " Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall not be unto thee." Though he had so lately acknowledged Jesus to be the Messiah, and had adhered to him in his humble and unkingly con- dition, yet even he had not wholly disjoined the ideas of worldly power and dignity from the per- son and office of the expected Saviour ; and the thought of his violent and shameful death was altogether shocking to him. But Jesus was par- ticularly anxious to crush these misapprehensions, and to familiarize his followers to his real situa- tion and his approaching and inevitable fate. He therefore thought proper before them all to ex- press, in a manner which might make them feel, how earnest his disapprobation was of their tem- poral expectations and fancies. " He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan [tempter, adversary] ; thou art an offence unto me ; for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." The disciples had yet to learn, Simon Peter had yet to learn, SIMON PETER. 51 how pure, unearthly, and immortal that religion was which they were appointed one day to pro- mulgate ; how it associated itself more with human suffering than with human glory and pride ; more with the secret sympathies and internal affections, much more than with the outward adornments of our nature ; and the early death of their Mas- ter — an event which they could not bear to think, and could hardly conceive of, but which he, the Divine Master, saw with a clear and steady vision — was yet to teach them that the infant doctrine which was to go through the world, con- soling the sorrows of the mourner, and pouring balm into wounded bosoms, was itself first to be nurtured with tears and baptized in blood. There is no doubt that Peter received his Mas- ter's rebuke properly, for we find that he was still distinguished and confided in by him. He, to- 11 gether with James and John, was selected to wit- l\ ness the transfiguration on the mount ; and in tne same company he had also witnessed the / resurrection of the daughter of Jairus. It ap- pears, moreover, that about this time he and his Lord dwelt together at Capernaum, in the same house; for when the gatherers of the. annual tribute came to Peter, he went into the house, and was there told by Jesus how he was to obtain a piece of money which would pay for them both. It would appear, therefore, that they lived to- 52 SIMON PETER. gether, and, if so, that the disciple was high in the favor and confidence of his Master. He seems (also to have exercised a sort of conceded pre- eminence among the twelve, as we often find him speaking in their name and behalf, both in asking and in answering questions. His rank is now evidently fixed. He is honored by his Master, notwithstanding his imperfections, and he is the head of the apostles, both from appointment and character. [jO But his fault of impetuosity is not yet mended. \\j It is one of the last faults, perhaps, which ever •is mended, because it is constitutional. On that most solemn night of the last supper, Jesus, in order that he might at once testily his affection for his disciples, whom he loved unto the end, and show them also an example of practical humility, began to wash their feet, as if lie had been their servant. When he came to Peter, that disciple, hurt and grieved that his Master should undertake so menial an office, gives way to his feelings, again presumes to dictate to that very Master, and exclaims, " Lord, dost thou wash my feet ? " Jesus condescends to expostulate with him, and to assure him that he would soon explain to him the act which now appeared so strange. " What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter." But Peter will not yield, nor listen, but answers, "Thou shalt SIMON PETER. 53 never wash my feet." To which Jesus replies, f If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me." That is, " If you will not receive this symbolical lesson of humility ; if you cannot cease your dis- putes about who shall be greatest in my king- dom ; if you will not divest yourselves of your notions of place and dignity, and become lowly, meek, and mutually kind, as my disciples ought to be, and must be, if they desire my approba- tion, then I must discard you from my service, and deprive you of my friendship." Peter, sub- dued at the bare intimation of forfeiting his Mas- ter's esteem, and again driven beyond the just limits of duty by the sudden revulsion of his un- governed feelings, cries out, " Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. Wash me all over, if it be thy will, only take not from me thy love." How perfectly natural is the whole of this scene ; how consistent with the previous character of Peter ; how just to the character of his Lord ! And now the time draws near when the first of the apostles is to be tried more severely and to fall more sadly than ever. Soon after Jesus had washed his disciples' feet, he began to talk to them, in a most affecting strain, of his speedy death and his return to his Father. Peter's feel- ings are again alarmed, and he declares that, wherever his Master may go, he will follow him,