of the gift of Christ :-for the perfecting of the saints, and for the edifying of the body of Christ." Also, that the spontaneous character of true worship precludes the introduction of external appliances or prearranged services either of prayer, preaching, or reading.

Lastly, that as common worship is not set forth as the paramount duty, so neither is it the sole occupation, of Christians in associated bodies. The reading of God's dealings with His people under the old economy and under the new, the exercise of the diversities of gifts bestowed, whether for drawing in sinners from the highways and the hedges; their instruction in righteousness; the imparting of the word of wisdom, of knowledge, of entreaty, or of warning; the gift of teaching; all these require public as well as private opportunities for their exercise; and it is, we believe, the duty of every church desiring to advance the kingdom of their Lord, to provide opportunities for these differences of administrations, and for the spreading broadcast the knowledge of the Truth as it is in Jesus. Accepting His blessed teachings as revealed to us outwardly in the Scriptures of Truth, and inwardly by His holy Spirit, we are called upon to develop them in harmonious action, and thus humbly to strive to forward the coming of that glorious day, when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

EDITOR.

SIMON PETER: THE "STONE."

ONE of the two disciples who, standing with their master, heard his testimony to the divine character of the Lord Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. They accompanied the new teacher to His house, on His own gracious invitation, "and abode with Him that day," the result being that, won to the love and service of the Redeemer, Andrew first found his own brother Simon, saying, "We have found the Messias." And he brought him to Jesus. When Jesus saw him, He said, "Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas" (a stone.)

The scene of this event may, with probability, be laid at or near the place where John first baptized with the baptism of repentance, so making ready "a people prepared for the Lord;" for we read that on the following day Jesus called Philip and Nathanael, and, attended by his converts, set out for Galilee, where we next find Him and His disciples invited guests at the marriage feast of Cana. Some little time must have elapsed before Jesus fixed his abode at Capernaum, and, walking by the lake, sees Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea, and said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men," a promise subsequently renewed to Simon.

It is not our purpose in this paper to collect or comment upon all the recorded events in the life of the apostle. It may suffice to add, that Peter almost immediately became a prominent-perhaps the prominent disciple of the Lord-that with James and John he was most frequently found at the Master's

side, imbibing His spirit, trained by His teaching and example, and a powerful witness of His miracles. We note that he was a married man, probably older than most of his fellow-apostles, impulsive, ardent, "swift to hear," it may be, but not so "slow to speak" as some. At times over-confident and rash, at times weak in faith, and hence grievously erring, yet truly and deeply sorry for his sin; rude of speech, and unpolished in gesture, yet the man of his Master's right hand. Such, as a man, in the mere human side of it, was Simon, the son of Jonas.

Why this ardent, impulsive, erring nature was chosen to occupy so important a place in the foundation of Christ's Church, may well excite our close examination. And as we ponder this rough outline of the apostle, may we not discern some features, at least, of the most attractive, of Old Testament characters? May he not be regarded as, in some sense, the representative man-the David of the New Testament biography?

The names of the most eminent Scripture worthies often possess the deepest significance. It was the Divine pleasure, by means of successive and progressive names, to develop His will, and unveil His perfect image to man. As we call to mind Israel, who prevails with God, and Samuel, the asked of God, and David, the well-beloved, "the man after God's own heart," and Isaiah, God's salvation, and Jehosua, or Jesus, the Saviour, with what new force of meaning comes the word of the Lord to the Galilean fisherman,Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas! Thou shalt be called Cephas (i.e., Peter, a stone.)

The sacred story is silent as to the immediate effect of this announcement on the soul of Simon; but we cannot doubt that he who was to be so conspicuous a stone in the great building of God, was from that moment made sensible of the new birth, of which, in

after time, he could rejoicingly speak to his fellowbelievers, describing himself and them as being "born again by the Word of God, who liveth and abideth for ever," and which is described in another Scripture as the word, "the entrance of which giveth life, and understanding to the simple."

The figure of a stone or rock, so largely used in the Old Testament to typify the immutable nature and eternal duration of the Godhead, appears to have been a favourite figure with our Lord Himself. In the sermon on the mount He is the Rock on which the wise man builds. To the blind and unbelieving Jews, He is "the stone which the builders rejected, but which becomes in due time "the head-stone of the corner." But while one recognizes the aptness of the image, as applied to the Lord Jesus, with what fitness is a like epithet applied to the frail, inconstant Simon? A striking Gospel story may elucidate this.

The multitude who had followed Jesus into the desert, charmed with the announcement of the long expected Kingdom of Heaven as "at hand," and fed, as of old, by bread from heaven, saw in Him the fulfilment of their expectation. Truly they were of the poor of this world: but, in common with the chiefs of their nation, they endured with ill-concealed disgust the hateful yoke of the Cæsar. There were pious Israelites, like Simeon, and Anna, and Joseph of Arimathea, "who looked for redemption." The whole national mind was expecting the promised Messiah. Probably few, if any, of the thousands whom our Lord fed in the wilderness had any but a vague idea of these things. But they had seen the miracles, "they had eaten of the loaves and were filled." What more natural than that this rude, unknowing multitude should conceive the idea of taking Him by force to make Him a king? Or that,

on the other hand, instead of courting popular favour, He should rebuke their carnal apprehensions, and thus so disappoint their hopes, that many who had begun to follow Him "went back, and walked no more with Him," while some even of the apostles themselves begin to waver in their faith, and to doubt whether after all He can be the Christ-the Desire of all nations? Jesus, therefore, leaving the leaven of His doctrine to work among the people at large, withdraws with the twelve towards the snowy solitudes of Lebanon. He had instructed them already. They had acknowledged Him as their Master. It was now His purpose to educate them, to test their faith, and to elicit from themselves the as yet unuttered conviction which had been sown and germinated in their inmost souls. "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am ?" There was no delay and no difficulty in answering, "Some say that thou art John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others that thou art Jeremiah, or that one of the old prophets is risen again." But when this ready chorus of replies has ceased, comes the home thrust, "But whom say ye that I am?" The Master had but claimed for Himself the epithet the Son of Man. Men, as such, can only recognize the man,divinely endowed, it may be-but the man only, and to such truly the Son of Man. But what say you? Can we not sympathize in the silence that ensues? Andrew and Philip had exclaimed, in the first glow of enthusiastic love and conviction, "We have found the Messiah!" Nathaniel recognized in Him who could reveal his most secret thoughts under the fig tree, "the Son of God and the King of Israel.' Others of the twelve had confessed already that He was the Christ. James and John, with too earthly a hope, had sought to secure for themselves the honours of His Kingdom. Can it be that these are