صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

of Zebedee, St. James, and St. John, it has been thought that Nathaniel also may have been an apostle; and for this reason, further, that (whereas St. John says, "This is now the third time that Jesus shewed Himself to His disciples, after that He was risen from the dead") the persons to whom our Lord shewed Himself on each of the two former occasions mentioned by St. John, were, without question, His apostles and none other.

As regards the life and ministry of St. Bartholomew after our Lord's ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, this is what we gather from the writers of early Church history:-That St. Bartholomew preached the gospel through the barbarous nations of the East, and carried the knowledge of Christ even into furthest India, insomuch that a Christian missionary, nearly two hundred years after, found in those parts persons who retained the Christian faith, and who had among them a portion of the holy Scriptures of the New Testament, the Gospel of St. Matthew, which, together with the Christian faith, they said that their fathers had received from St. Bartholomew. From India he returned to the north-west parts of Asia, where he is said to have again met his

ancient fellow-apostle, St. Philip, at Hierapolis. From this he passed into Lycaonia, (the scene also of the labours of St. Paul,) where he made converts to Christ; in what other countries he preached the gospel we know not; this only we hear, that he bore his last witness for Christ, and suffered martyrdom, in Armenia, being, as some say, crucified; or, as others, flayed alive; or, as is not improbable, being first flayed, and then nailed to the cross. However that may be, he sealed with his blood the witness to Christ which he had borne in his life; he shrunk not from his Master's Cross, but was content to bear it after Him, patiently and cheerfully; and, as we are told, continued to comfort his Christian converts during his last moments.

Blessed and holy is the memory of God's saints, of all who have departed this life in His true faith and fear: and thrice blessed the memory of His apostles and martyrs! "Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world!" They have sown with their blood the seed of the Church,-their souls are in the hand of God,-they are now resting from their labours, and in the judgment-day, "They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

May we be careful to learn the lessons which such holy days should teach us: to bless God for the many and singular graces which have shone forth in the lives of His saints: to bless Him also for the mercies which we have received by the preaching of His apostles; and to set ourselves in earnest to imitate their holy lives and labours of love; to be followers of them, even as they were followers of Jesus Christ. Also, to continue stedfast in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread and in prayers; i. e. "to contend earnestly for the faith once (for all) delivered to the saints," the blessed gospel of the grace of God, which the apostles preached; and to remain humble and teachable members in the communion of the Church, which was builded upon their foundation; not taking up with new and strange doctrines, not. following new and strange teachers; but by a sound faith, by sacraments duly ministered, by common prayers in the house of God, holding communion with all the saints of God, the living and the dead in Christ. Thus will these holy days, as they come round each year, set us forward in our Christian course, teach us some lesson of holiness which we are to follow, or call to mind some blessing which we have received from God. Thus shall we grow up humble and thankful;

humble under a sense of our own unworthiness; thankful for the undeserved mercies which we have received from Almighty God; taking the saints of God for our example, and seeking to be conformed to them, even as they sought to be conformed unto the one all-perfect pattern, Jesus Christ.

And may not the words of the text, and the example of St. Bartholomew, speak to us of our duty to set forward, so far as we can, by our prayers and by our alms, the missions of the apostolic Church,-that so the gospel, which the apostles preached, may be preached unto the heathen, that so "their line may [indeed] go out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." Surely no words can fully set forth the greatness of the work. For what is the work which the missions of the Church now, as of old, have in view? It is this. To set up on earth the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To obey, so far as in us lies, His last command to His apostles, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." To bring to pass, so far as we may, that for which we pray daily in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come." To call men from darkness to light, from sin and Satan unto holiness and God. This is the work which the mis

sions of the Church have had in view in all ages, and which, with God's help, they have already in some measure accomplished. Already, blessed be His holy Name, there are many bright and happy spots amidst the darkness of heathenism; spots where Christ's Church hath been builded up; where His holy word is preached and His Sacraments ministered; where His holy day is a day of rest and worship; and where His holy Name is duly praised and magnified by thousands of devout and faithful men, whose fathers were heathens and worshipped idols. Such fruits the apostolic Church of Jesus Christ is bearing unto her divine Lord and Head, even amidst the dark parts of the earth; in some places more, in others less, yet some fruits, we trust, in all. And no one can say how good and blessed are such fruits, how acceptable unto God, how dear and precious before Him and His holy angels. Perhaps one could hardly form an idea of the greatness of the change from heathenism unto our holy faith, unless one had lived among the heathens, and had witnessed their daily lives, and the nature of their worship. Then one would have seen all the worst passions of our fallen nature suffered to have their own way,anger, malice, uncleanness,-suffered to run their course, unrebuked and unrestrained, or (worse

« السابقةمتابعة »