Peter. May I beg now to hear something of St. James, whose name I have so often heard put next to his," Peter and James and John." Were not James

and John brothers?

M. There were two Apostles of this name; the one called "James the Great," or the elder, was the brother of John; they were the sons of Zebedee and Salome, and both, like their father, fishermen. Their mother was one of those women who used to be with our Lord occasionally in His journeys, and who once asked Him to grant that these her two sons might sit, the one on His right hand, the other on His left, in His kingdom. James was present on Mount Tabor at the transfiguration, and also at the sea of Tiberias after our Lord's resurrection. In St. James were accomplished more literally than in St. John those words which Jesus spake in answer to Salome's request: "They shall indeed drink of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with :" for he was put to death, as we heard a short time ago, by King Agrippa'. But there was another James, called "James the Less "" to distinguish him from the brother of John. This James is called in the Bible the Lord's brother: he was the son of Cleopas or Alphæus and Mary, sister of the Virgin Mary; and so was one of our Lord's near kinsmen or brethren, as the Jews were accustomed to apply the term.

E. Was this the James who wrote the Epistle bearing his name?

M. It was, and the James who was made Bishop of

1 Acts xii. 1, 2.

2 Mark xv. 40.

3 Matt. xiii. 55.

Jerusalem. He too was a martyr: for he was stoned to death by the Pharisees at a time of great tumult in the city, and in the absence of any Roman governor. I shall at this time, Edward, mention only one more of the Apostles; as I am anxious to return to the sacred narrative itself, and you have books on your shelves in which you may search for further particulars of them all for yourself.

E. I think it is of St. John you are going to speak; I see his Epistles come next to those of St. Peter.

M. Besides which he wrote the Gospel which bears his name, and the Book of Revelation. Of this Apostle we have had already many interesting particulars. He is known to us as "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and as one of the chosen three who was with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, and in the garden of Gethsemane. We have seen him too, where no others were, leaning on his Lord's breast at supper, and standing by His Cross when all the rest "forsook him and fled.”

E. And I think he was also with our Lord, after His resurrection, by the Lake of Gennesareth, and that it was respecting him that Peter asked the question: "Lord, and what shall this man do 1?"

1

" If

M. And you remember our Lord's answer? I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" This led to a general belief among the disciples, that John was not to die at all; but the real meaning of our Lord's words seems rather to have been, that St. John would survive the destruction of Jerusalem, which is often in Scripture called the coming of the

1 John xxi. 21, 22.

Lord. To behold this event St. John did really live; indeed, he is said to have survived it thirty years.

E. Then he must have been a very old man?

M. He lived to a great age, and died at Ephesus in the third year of the Emperor Trajan, and in the hundredth year of our Lord, being then nearly a hundred years old himself. It is said that at last he used to be carried by his disciples in a chair to the assembly of the Church, and that being unable to make long discourses, he latterly confined himself to one exhortation, which was: "Children, love one another." We can easily believe this; for the whole character of the beloved Apostle was "Love," and the great subject also of his Epistles is "Love;" even "the love of the Father" in "sending His Son to be the propitiation of our sins1;" the love of the Son "in laying down his life for us";" and that love with which we ought in consequence to "love one another," and by which he expressly tells us our love to God must be shown. May the God of love pour this blessed principle of love into our hearts, my child, for he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him ;"" and we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is "."

4

E. Did St. John suffer much for Christ?

M. There does not seem to be any good reason for supposing that he was actually a martyr for Christ's sake; but it is said, that in the persecution of the Church in the reign of Domitian he was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil, from which, like the

11 John iv. 10.

21 John iii. 16.

31 John iv. 11.

three children in the burning fiery furnace, he came out unhurt. It was about this time, apparently, that he was banished to the Island of Patmos in the Ægean Sea, where he wrote that sublime book of "The Revelation."

E. The time of his banishment could not have been very sad, Mamma, when God showed him such glorious things as I have read there.

M. Though the "companion" of the other Apostles "in tribulation and in the patience of Jesus Christ," in the sufferings which he bore "for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ'," his conIsolation was, indeed, wonderful. To be favoured in the revelations vouchsafed to him beyond any that had gone before him, not excepting even Isaiah, or Ezekiel, or Daniel, that "man greatly beloved;" to be permitted to see the "throne that was set in heaven "" and "the lightnings that proceeded from it;" to hear "the many thunderings "" and "the voices of those many angels whose number is ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands 4," 66 a multitude whom no man can number 5;' to see "the city, the new Jerusalem :" above all to contemplate Him that sat upon the throne, who to look upon was like jasper and a sardine stone, and who had a "rainbow round about Him like unto an emerald";" to behold in this glorious body Him, whom he had once gazed upon as He hung torn and mangled on the cross; this was a sight, as you say, Edward, to make the Apostle forget all things here on earth, or rather to make the spot of his

1 Rev. i. 9.

4 Rev. v. 11.

2 Rev. iv. 2, 5.
5 Rev. vii. 9.

3 Rev. xix. 6. 6 Rev. iv. 3.

banishment like "the house of God," like "the gate

of heaven."

Well might he long for the time when he should drink for ever of the " pure river of the water of life," which he beheld flowing on by the throne of God. Well might he thirst for those streams himself, and invite others so earnestly to partake of them! May God give us grace, my child, to accept the gracious invitation : "Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him come, and take the water of life freely 1!"

See Acts xv. 36-41.

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY EVENING.

ST. PAUL IN EUROPE.

M. I told you, Edward, that St. Paul left Antioch upon a second visit to all the Churches, which he had planted in Syria and Cilicia, and the other provinces of Asia Minor. Accordingly, at the beginning of the sixteenth chapter of the Acts, we find him in the cities of Derbe and Lystra, where he selected a young man of the name of Timothy to be, together with Silas, one of the companions of his labours, to minister to him and with him in the holy work of evangelizing the nations.

From his very childhood, it appears, Timothy had been familiar with the Scriptures of the Old Testament, his mother Eunice being a Jewess remarkable for her faith and piety, though his father was a Greek. Under

1 Rev. xxii. 17.