and encourage the one, and will raise, animate and enliven the other, till by these gentle and conciliating means he shall have triumphed over the wickedness and malevolence of his enemies, and shall completely establish his empire throughout the world. Then, in his name shall

the nations trust.

Thus did he, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, reply to the persecutions of the Pharisees and Herodians. But a pressure from without compels the church to unity within, till like the holy city, which is its type, it is as a city which is compact together. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named Apostles, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach; and to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils :-Simon, whom he surnamed Peter, and Andrew his brother, the sons of Jonah; James and John, whom he surnamed Boanerges, which signifies the sons of thunder; Philip, and Bartholomew, who is called by John the Evangelist, Nathanael; the sons of Alpheus, James and Lebbeus, otherwise called Thaddeus and Judas; Simon Zelotes, the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the traitor.

And Jesus came down from the mountain, where he had ordained the twelve, and stood upon the plain. Now had they a nearer life to Christ: for they were engrafted

Little in that hour could they a devil; that the Father, the

branches of the True Vine. think that one of them was Husbandman, would cut him off; that by transgression he would fall, that he might go to his own place. Little could they see of the trials which awaited them: in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by their own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

These all, save the traitor, died in faith, and nearly all were the victims of the wrath of men, dying like their Master, by violence. The sword, the cross, the passions of a turbulent people, or the anger of rulers, rebuked for their wickedness, caused them to be enrolled in the noble army of martyrs, who died witnessing, like the Saviour, Over the lives of Over the lives of many, subsequent

66 a good confession"

to the New Testament

history, rests the cloud of tradition and of historic doubt: but the works they did, left their witness that they almost literally travelled into all the world, fulfilling the command of Christ in their own generation. For, as he withdrew from his persecutors, he said unto his disciples, "When they persecute you in their city, flee into another." The swart Asiatic, the dark children of Ham, the fair haired Gaul, and the descendants of the ancient Cambrian, with many more yet to be revealed, have an older testimony of the coming of Christ than that which modern missionaries bear to

them. The death of his saints, precious in the sight of the Lord, has borne testimony to the truth of the Gospel; and the answer in meekness to persecution has been such a resistance to cruelty as was not overcome of evil, but overcame evil with good.