but the compassionate Son of the Most High kindly removed his fears, telling him that this miracle was wrought to confirm his faith, and to 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 disciples of the great Messiah, living under the rules of his institutions and discipline.

Our blessed Saviour returned soon after to Caperna um with his disciples, where they found the mother-inlaw of Peter dangerously ill of a fever: but the compassionate JESUS, who never omitted an 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 and comfort the sons and daughters of affliction and sorrow.

The adorable Redeemer, having for some time entered on his public ministry, thought proper to elect some peculiar persons from amongst his followers, to be constant witnesses of his miracles and doctrines, and who after his departure, might be intrusted 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 beneficial to mankind.

The disciples came to him early the next morning, out of whom he made choice of twelve to be his apostles, and the constant 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 grea VOL. ii. I h

work which he himself had so happily begun among the people.

The evangelists in general, in their enumeration of the apostles, constantly place St. Peter first. Indeed, the age and gravity of his person, together with his being first called to be an apostle, particularly qualified him for being president of this sacred college: but we must not 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 chief of the apostles; for he was not less eminent for usefulness and success in his ministry.

This election had not long taken place, when 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 met them with the news that the damsel was dead, and therefore it was unnecessary for our Saviour to give himself any further trouble: but our Lord 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 hand, and with the power of his word recalled her fleeting spirit, which had quitted its earthly tabernacle, and restored her again to life and health, in the presence of

her astonished friends.

No further account of St. Peter, in particular, occurs till the night after our Saviour's miraculously feeding the multitude in the wilderness. JESUS had ordered his disciples to take ship, and pass over to the other side, while he sent the multitude away; but a violent storm arising, they were in great danger of their lives, when their great Master came to them, walking on the surface of the boisterous billows, with the same ease as if it had been dry ground. At his approach, the disciples were

greatly terrified, supposing they had seen a spirit; but their compassionate Master soon dispelled their fears, by telling them it was he himself, and therefore they had no reason to be terrified.

St. Peter, who was always remarkable for bold resolutions and precipitate zeal, desired his Master to give him leave to come to him on the water; and on obtaining permission, he left the ship, and walked on the sea to meet his Saviour; but when he heard the deep roar about him, and the waves increase, he began to be afraid; and as his faith declined, his body sunk into the water; so that, in the greatest agony, he called for assistance to him who was able to save: nor was his cry in vain; the compassionate Redeemer of mankind stretched out his hand, and again placed him on the surface of the water, with this gentle reproof, O thou of little faith wherefore didst thou doubt? And no sooner was the blessed JESUS and his disciple entered into the ship, than the winds ceased, the waves subsided, and the ship was at the land whither they were going. A miracle of this kind could not fail of astonishing the disciples, and convincing them of the divinity of his person; accordingly, they drew near, and worshipped him with this confession, of a truth thou art the Son of God.

Our blessed Saviour, the next day, entered the synagogue of Capernaum; and, from the miracle of the loaves, took occasion to discourse concerning himself, as the true manna, and the bread which came down from heaven: opening to them the more sublime and spiritual mysteries, and the necessary and important duties of the gospel. On which great part of the audience, who expected he was going to erect a temporal kingdom, and re-establish the throne of David in Jerusalem, offended at his representing his dominions as entirely spiritual, departed from him, and came no more to hear his discourses. JESUS, on beholding this de fection, turned himself towards his disciples, and asked

them whether they also would go away? To which Peter replied, Lord, whither shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life: thy doctrine alone can instruct us in the paths that lead to happiness; and thou art the true Messiah, the great prophet so fully foretold and so long expected by our nation.

Our great Redeemer being willing to hear what account his disciples would give him of the various opinions of the people, asked them what the world said concerning him? To which they replied, that some too him for John the Baptist risen from the dead; some thought him to be Elias, and others Jeremiah, or one of the old prophets. This account not satisfying our bles sed Saviour, he told them that it was no wonder that the people, who had seldom seen him, should form various conjectures concerning him and the doctrine he preached; but as they had been constantly with him, heard his sermons, and been spectators of his miracles, it was natural to think they might form a truer idea of him; and therefore, asked them what they themselves thought of him; To which Peter in the name of the rest, answered, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God, anointed and set apart by the Most High, to be the great King, Priest, and Prophet of Israel.

This full and comprehensive declaration of Peter, satisfied the enquiry of our blessed Saviour, who answered, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven: that is, this faith which thou hast now confessed, is not human, or built upon the testimony of man, but upon those evidences and principles

which I was sent from God to reveal unto the world, and those great and solemn attestations he hath given from heaven to the truth both of my person and doctrine: therefore, I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. As thy name signifies a rock, so shalt thou prove firm, solid, and im

movable, in building my church, which shall be so firmly established by thy care and diligence to that faith thou hast now professed, that all the assaults of men and devils shall not be able to destroy, by their utmost efforts.

. At this time the disciples had no idea that their Master was to suffer death for the sins of the world; on the contrary, they considered him as immortal, having imbibed the opinion of the Scribes and Pharisees, That Christ abideth forever: so that when the blessed JESUS told them of the sufferings he must undergo at Jerusalem, what affronts and indignities he must suffer, and be at last put to death with all the effects of torture and disgrace, by a sentence of the Jewish Sanhedrim, St. Peter, who could not endure the thought of his Master's suffering even the least punishment, much less those cruelties he had mentioned, and at last death itself, interrupted him very unseasonably, and, said, Be it far from thee, Lord; this shall not be done unto thee. He considered these sufferings as inconsistent with the character of the great Messiah, whom he expected would restore the splendour of the throne of David his father, and reduce all the kingdoms of the earth to his obedi

ence.

Our blessed Saviour, who came down from heaven to give his life a ransom for the sins of the world, and who valued the redemption of mankind infinitely more than his own ease and safety, highly resented this speech of St. Peter, and accordingly returned this sharp reproof, Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence to me; thou favourest not the things of God, but those that be of men.

. After these transactions, the great Redeemer of the sons of men, being about to receive a specimen of his future glorification, took with him three of the most in-. timate of his apostles, Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and went up into a very high mountain, and while