2

1

presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for the Name" of their Saviour. In no respect depressed by this insulting treatment, "they ceased not, daily in the temple and in every house, to teach and preach Jesus Christ 3."

If these displays of steady courage be not sufficient indications of Divine support, if it be not clear, from the passages of St. Peter's history already adduced, that he must have been furnished with preternatural assistance thus determinately to maintain a cause, which he had once so meanly abandoned, behold him in prison at Jerusalem in the hands of Herod Agrippa. When the Angel of the Lord entered this place of the Apostle's confinement to set him free, the night before his intended execution, he was "sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains." No hope of escape presented itself. He was aware that Stephen had suffered martyrdom. He knew that it had pleased God to permit James to be cut off by this very tyrant Herod. It appeared certain that he was to

1 Etiam damnati gratias agunt.-Tertull. Apol. St. Peter's behaviour corresponded with his doctrine: "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye." 1 Pet. iv. 14. άτiμaσ¤ñvai, to receive contumelious usage, such as scourg

2

ing.

3 Acts v. 41, 42.

4 Acts xii.

be the next victim.

Yet was he able to "
Yet was he able to "lay him.

down in peace'," though chained to two of the military guard, who in a few hours, as it seemed, were to lead him forth, that he might be sentenced by the people to his last suffering.

So quiet and perfect was his rest, that he was not immediately awakened by the brightness of the angelic presence. "A light shined in the prison, and the Angel smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly." Would he have needed to be awakened in this apparent extremity of danger, if he had not possessed a conscience void of offence? And how is his composure of mind at this season to be reconciled with his former disposition, and regard to his own personal security? In no other way than by believing that he was sustained and comforted by the Almighty,-by Him, who giveth to His beloved the blessing of peaceful repose 2. Peter scrupled not, at one time, to renounce his Lord in order to save himself. Now, he is "ready, not to be bound only, but also to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus 3;" now, though called to shed his blood for Him, yet will he not deny Him. Contrast his present magnanimity with his former selfishness, his religious heroism with his former fears and misgivings, his placid Christian

1 Psalm iv. 8.

2 Psalm cxxvii. 2.
C

3 Acts xxi. 13.

resignation with the impetuosity which marked his natural temper, his present indifference to this world with the anxiety to prosper in it, which before had place in his heart. Is this the follower, of whom it might once have been said, "Lo, he took not God for his strength 1?" Is this the disciple, now so confirmed in faith, ardent in zeal, fixed in resolution, stedfast in devotion, now prizing, and praying for, and hoping to prevail in, the strength of God alone??

ness.

1

The life of Peter was preserved for further usefulDelivered from the hand of Herod, he persisted in devoting himself to the extension of that faith, which will be "found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing" of the Son of God in judgment. He, who had said, "I know not the

1 Psalm lii. 7.

2 If it be thought that Peter might have expected deliverance from Herod, remembering his Saviour's prophecy, that he should die in old age, at which he had not yet arrived, it must be admitted, on this supposition, that he confided in the word of Christ; and if his calmness under persecution arose from this trust, we have a decisive argument for his integrity as a preacher of the Gospel. Or, if he was sustained by a hope that the intercession of the Church in his behalf would be accepted, in this view of the case, the hope which cheered him showed the uprightness of his mind, for the pious and virtuous man alone can have consolation in thinking that "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears open unto their prayers.” 1 Pet. iii. 12. Psalm xxxiv. 15.

3 1 Pet. i. 7.

man," was employed with unceasing solicitude in causing others to "know assuredly that God had made that same Jesus both Lord and Christ 1."

Of Peter's exertions out of the city of Jerusalem, the account in the Acts is brief. He and John, we find, were sent by their brethren to Samaria, after the fall of Stephen, that they might confer the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost upon believers, whom Philip had converted and baptized. They returned to Jerusalem, having declared the word of the Lord in many villages of the Samaritans. During the short season of repose which the churches in Judæa, Galilee, and Samaria enjoyed, after the conversion of Saul, we read of Peter at Lydda, Joppa, and Cæsarea2. He went back to Jerusalem, and was imprisoned in that city (A.D. cir. 44.) by Herod Agrippa. About the year 49 he was present at the convention of the Apostles and Elders on the question relating to the imposition of the Mosaic ceremonial upon Gentile converts. After this, there is no mention of Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. Whether his visit to Antioch, of which St. Paul speaks 1, was a short time before, or after, the council of Jerusalem, is a point of some uncertainty. Lardner places Peter's journey to Antioch soon after that meeting, and says: “To me it appears not unlikely that he returned in 2 Acts ix. x.

1 Acts ii. 36.

3 Acts xv.

a short time to Judæa from Antioch, (after the occurrence mentioned by St. Paul,) and that he stayed in Judæa a good while before he went thence any more. And it seems to me that, when he left Judæa, he went again to Antioch, the chief city of Syria. Thence he might go into other parts of the continent, particularly Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, which are expressly mentioned in the beginning of his first Epistle. In these countries he might stay a good while. It is very likely that he did so, and that he was well acquainted with the Christians there, to whom he afterwards wrote two Epistles. When he left those parts, I think that he went to Rome, but not till St. Paul had been in that city, and was gone from it; not before the year 63, or perhaps 64 1," a year or two before he was called to his crown of martyrdom 2.

1 History of the Apostles and Evangelists.

2 It has been inferred from 1 Cor. i. 12: Every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ," that St. Peter had been at Corinth before the date of St. Paul's first Epistle to the church of that place. That St. Peter visited Corinth is credibly related (Euseb. H. E. xi. 25.); but when he went there is fixed with no certainty by this passage of Scripture. The believer, who said, "I am of Cephas," might have been one, who had been converted by Peter in Judæa, as the believer, who said, "I am of Christ," was perhaps a Jewish proselyte, who had been a hearer of our Saviour. In the third chapter of the same Epistle St. Paul writes: "I have planted, Apollos watered," making no allusion to St. Peter's instructions to the Corinthians.