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THE

Lives of the Apostles.

CHAP. I.

St. Peter.

Account of the Life of St. Peter, prior to his Call to the Apostleship of the blessed

Jesus.

ST.

T. Peter was born at Bethsaida, a city of Galilee, situate on the banks of the lake of Genesareth, called also the sea of Galileo, from its being situated in that country, and the lake of Tiberius, from that city being built on its banks. The particular time of this great apostle's birth cannot be known: The evangelists, and other writers among the primitive christians, having been silent with regard to this particular. It is however, pretty certain, that he was at least ten years older than his master; the circumstances of his being married, and in a settled course of life, when he first became a follower of the great Messiah, and that authority and respect the gravity of his person procured him among the rest of the apostles, sufficiently declare this conjecture to be just.

As he was a descendant of Abraham, he was circumcised according to the rites of the Mosaic law, and called by his parents Simon or Simeon, a name common at that time among the Jews. But after his becoming a disciple of the blessed Jesus, the

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church over the ruins of St. Peter's house, in honour of that apostle.

Capernaum was as well situated as Bethsaida, for carrying no his trade, standing at the influx of the Jordan into the sea of Galilee, and where he might with equal advantage reap the fruits of an honest and industrious diligence. The business of Peter was both mean and toilsome; it exposed him to all the injuries of the weather, the tempestuousness of the sea, and the darkness and horror of the night, and all to acquire a mean livelihood for himself and family. But meanness of worldly degree is no obstacles to the favour of God; nay, if we review the state of christianity, from its rise to the present period, we shall find that its friends and votaries consist rather of persons of humble and lowly stations of life, than of the great, the dignified, and the opulent.

And herein are manifested the wise and admirable method used by Divine Providence, in making choice of such mean and unlikely instruments, in planting and propagating the christian religion in the world. Men who were destitute of the advantages: of education, and brought up to the meanest employments, were chosen to confound. the wise, and overturn the learning of the great. Such were the persons whom the Almighty sent to propagate the religion of his Son; to silence the wise, the scribe, and the disputer of this world, and to make foolish the wisdom of the earth. For though the Jews required a sign, and the Greeks sought after wisdom; though the preaching of a crucified Saviour made no impression on the former, and wisdom became of little avail to the to the latter; yet by this preaching God was pleased to save them that believed, and in the event made it appear, that the wisdom of God passeth all understanding. That so the honour of all may redound to himself, "that no flesh should glory in his presence, but that he that glorieth should glory in the

Lord."

CHAP. II.

The Manner by which Peter arrived to the Knowledge of the blessed Jesus; and of his Call to the Discipleship.

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ACRED history hath not ascertained of what sect the apostle was. We know, indeed, that his brother Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist, that preacher of repentance; and it is very unlikely that he, who was ready to carry his brother the early tidings of the Messiah, that the Sun of Righ teousness was already risen in those parts, should not be equally solicitous to bring him under the discipline and influence of John the Baptist, the day-star which appeared to usher in the appearance of the Son of God. Besides, Peter's great readiness and curiosity at the first news of Christ's appearing, to come to him and converse with him, shews, that his expectation had been awakened, and some glimmering rays of hope conveyed to him by the preaching and ministry of John, who was "the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

He became acquainted with the immaculate Lamb of God, in the following manner: The blessed Jesus having spent thirty years in the solitude of a private life, had lately been baptized by John in Jordan, and there owned by the solemn attestation of heaven to be the Son of God; whereupon he was immediately hurried into the wilderness, and there for forty days maintained a personal contest with the devil. But having conquered this great enemy of mankind, he returned to the place beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing his proselytes, and endeavouring to answer the Jews, who had sent a deputation to him to enquire concerning this new Messiah that appeared among them. To satisfy these curious enquirers of Israel, John faithfully related every thing he knew concerning him, gave him the greatest character, and soon after pointed him out to his disciples: upon which two

of them presently followed the great Redeemer of mankind, one of which was Andrew, Simon's brother.

Nor did he conceal the joyful discovery he had made; for early in the morning he hastened to acquaint his brother Simon that he had found the Messiah. It is not enough to be happy alone: grace is a communicative principle, that, like the circles in the water, delights to multiply itself, and to diffuse its influences all around, especially on those whom nature has placed nearest to us. I have, said he, with rapture to his brother, found that eminent person so long and signally foretold by the prophets, and whom all the devout and pious among the sons of Jacob so earnestly expected.

Simon, who was one of those who waited for the redemption of Israel, ravished with the joyful news, and impatient of delay, presently followed his brother to the place; and, on his arrival, our blessed Saviour immediately gave him a proof of his divinity; saluting him at first sight by his name, and telling him both who he was, his name, and kindred, and what title should soon be conferred upon him.

But whether these two sons of Jonah constantly attended in person from that time on the great Redeemer of mankind, and became his disciples, the sacred history is silent. It is, however, probable, that they were instructed in the first rudiments of his doctrines; and then, by the leave of their great and benevolent Master, returned to their families, and to their callings; for it is reasonable to suppose, that the blessed Jesus was not at this time willing to awaken the jealousy of the rulers of Israel, and the suspicion of the Romans, by a numerous retinue, and therefore dismissed his disciples, and among the rest Andrew and Peter, who returned to their trade of fishing on the lake, and where our blessed Redeemer afterwards found them.

The holy Jesus had now more than a year entered on his public ministry, going

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into every part of the country, to seek opportunities of doing good to the children of men; so that by the constancy of preaching, and the reputation of his miracles, his fame was spread throughout all Judea; and multitudes of people flocked to him from all parts, to hear his doctrines, and be spectators of his mighty works.

But to avoid this prodigious throng of people, our great Redeemer often retired to some solitary place, to indulge the privacies of contemplation. In one of these retreats, on the banks of the sea of Galilee, the multitude found him out, and ran to him from the city. Our Saviour, therefore, to a void the crowd, stepped into a fishing boat which lay near the shore, and belonged to Simon Peter, who, together with his companions, were on shore drying their nets after an unsuccessful night spent in toil and labour. The blessed Jesus, who might have commanded, was pleased to entreat Peter, who now returned to his boat, to thrust off a little from the land, that he might instruct the people, who were gathering in prodigious crowds on the border of the lake.

Peter gladly complied with the request of his Master, who delivered his heavenly doctrine to the people on the shore. As soon as he had ended his discourse, he resolved to seal by a miracle, that the people might be persuaded he was a teacher come from God. Accordingly he ordered Simon to row farther from the shore, and to cast his net into the sea. To which Simon answered, that they had laboured the preceding night and had taken nothing; and, if they could not then succeed, there were little hopes of it now, as the day was far less proper for fishing than the night. But as his Master was pleased to command, he would obey; and accordingly he let down his net, when, to the astonishment both of him and his companions, so great a multitude of fishes were enclosed, that they were obliged to call their partners to their assist

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ance.-Amazed at this miraculous draught of fishes, Simon Peter, in an extacy of admiration, blended with awe and humility, fell prostrate at his Master's feet, acknowledging himself a vile and sinful person, and thinking himself unworthy of being admitted into the presence of a person so immediately sent from God. But the compassionate Son of the most High, kindly removed his fears; telling him, that this miracle was wrought to confirm his faith, and indicate to him that the Almighty had appointed a more noble employment for him, that of saving the souls of the children of men.

From this time Peter and his companions became the inseparable and constant disciciples of the great Messiah, living under the rules of his discipline and institutions.

Soon after our blessed Saviour returned to Capernaum with his disciples, where they found the mother-in-law of Peter dangerously ill of a fever. But the compassionate Jesus, who never omitted any opportunity of doing good to the human race, rebuked the disease, and taking her by the hand, restored her in a moment to her former health; demonstrating at once his power and willingness to relieve the sons and daughters of affliction.

CHAP. III.

Peculiar Transactions of this Apostle, from the Time of his being chosen, to his blessed Master's entering the City of Jerusalem.

THE blessed Jesus having entered upon

his important mission, thought proper to select some peculiar persons from among his followers, to be constant witnesses of his miracles and doctrine, and who, after his departure, might be entrusted with the care of building his church, and planting that

religion in the world for which he himself left the mansions of heaven, and put on the veil of mortality. In order to this, he withdrew privately, in the evening, to a solitary mountain, where he spent the night in solemn addresses to his Almighty Father, for rendering the great work he was going to undertake, prosperous and successful.

Early the next morning the disciples came to him, out of whom he made choice of twelve to be his apostles, and the attendants on his person.

These he afterwards invested with the power of working miracles, and sent them into different parts of Judea, in order to carry on with more rapidity the great work which he himself had so happily begun.

All the Evangelists in their enumeration of these apostles constantly place St. Peter first. But we must not, on that account, suppose that St. Peter was invested with any personal prerogative above his brethren; none of them ever intimated any such thing, and St Paul says expressly, that he himself was not inferior to the very chiefest apostle.

Soon after this election, the blessed Jesus attended by Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, followed Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, to his house, in order to restore his daughter, an only child, who lay at the point of death; but before their arrival, a messenger arrived with the news that the damsel was dead, and therefore unnecessary for our Saviour to give himself any farther trouble. But our blessed Saivour bid the ruler not despair; for if he believed, his daughter should yet be restored to her former health. And accordingly, on his arrival, he took the maid by the band, and, with the power of a word, recalled her fleeting spirit, which had quitted its earthly tabernacle, and restored her again to life and health.

We have no farther account of St. Peter in

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