of Mark, on this occasion, also. He even separated himself from St. Paul, leaving him to travel alone, rather than be a participator in that uncompromising severity which could reject the services of a repenting brother. 'The contention,' (we read,) was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other : and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed to Cyprus;' (to Cyprus, observe, a second time ;) and Paul chose Silas.' 6 That Mark deserved the kindness and confidence of Barnabas, we cannot doubt. A passage in one of St. Paul's Epistles (the second to Timothy) proves it. We learn therefrom that the great Apostle was reconciled at last to the youthful disciple; in whom he found a faithful and active adherent. Mark, (he says,) 'is profitable to me for the ministry.' Elsewhere, he calls him his fellow-worker unto the Kingdom of GOD;' and declares that he had been 'a comfort unto him.' This shews that Barnabas, who had adopted the gentler course towards Mark, had adopted the wiser course also. He formed the kinder, and (as it proved) the truer, opinion concerning his sister's son. What might possibly have resulted from his severity, added to f 2 Tim. iv. 11. g Col. iv. 11. that of St. Paul, can only be conjectured. This at least is certain,-that the son of consolation, when he chose to take Mark with him, was leaning to the side of Love, and found no cause, in the end, to repent of his choice. He bore with human Infirmity, and he found therein his reward. A present reward,—for his tenderness was immediately a consolation to one afflicted, penitent heart; (and shall we doubt to himself also?) a future reward,—for he lived to see the great Apostle of the Gentiles reconciled to his nephew; who was in turn a help and a consolation to him. And surely, the lesson we gather from all this, wants neither point nor clearness. Consideration and forbearance, a longing desire to minister peace and joy wherever he went,-these seem to have been the qualities which shone out most brightly in St. Barnabas. We shall remember to stir up these gifts in ourselves, if we possess them in any degree already; to labour for their attainment, if we are as yet strangers to them; would we be followers of that Apostle whom the Spirit has designated as 'a good man;' that Apostle who by the special direction of the same Spirit was selected to attend St. Paul on his first Ministerial Journey; the son of consolation.' : : But chiefly it may be suggested, (in order to narrow the ground somewhat, and to give greater definiteness to the teaching of this bright example,) that the bearing with human Infirmity is a grace particularly becoming in beings like ourselves. It does but little suit our own imbecility of purpose, our irregular strivings after goodness, our inconstancy, our long fits of coldness, our occasional falls,-to judge harshly of others to visit the full measure of retribution upon them to anticipate the sentence of a higher tribunal. Of course, we do not advocate that lax morality, so popular in the present day, which refuses to recognise the immutable barriers of right and wrong; which seeks to merge all differences; and would persuade itself, and others, that the great questions which are now convulsing the very framework of society, are, after all, mere questions about words. No. They are questions about things; things worth dying for. It is a very shallow, very paltry philosophy, a very spurious, very worthless form of Charity, which would persuade men that we all 'mean the same thing;' that we disagree only in terms: when, in truth, we mean things wholly different, and are at variance about the fundamental verities of the Faith. But quite a distinct matter is now before us. Allusion is made to human failings; to acts encountered in our private experience; to individual misconduct; to signs of personal infirmity. . . . A man has been guilty of what we regard as an act of moral cowardice or he has been betrayed into warm, or even injurious, expressions: or we have detected him in some flagrant inconsistency: or, (what is more probable,) his conduct seems to admit only of an unfavourable construction. In all these cases, and in the like of these, the teaching of this day's Festival may well reprove, check, warn, guide us. To lean to the side of Mercy to be always hopeful, always trustful, always indulgent, is the plain duty of weak, inconstant, inconsistent, erring men. It is the duty of such as we are, evermore to bear with infirmity yea, to believe all things, hope all things, endure all things, until the cause of Truth itself is endangered; until Faith and Hope can discharge their Divine office no longer; until Patience would be worse than weakness, and Indulgence almost a crime. Saint John Baptist's Day. THE TRAINING OF SAINTS. ST. LUKE i. 80. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. WHEN We look closely into the history of the Saints of either Testament, and examine with critical attention the short records of their lives, many circumstances flowing certainly out of the sacred narrative, though not recorded there; or, if recorded, occupying a very subordinate place in the story; strike us with great astonishment. Few things perhaps surprise us more than the discovery that a considerable history was all transacted in a short space of time; and that a far larger period is passed over without a single word of comment. Thus, how little are we told of the long space of one hundred and twenty years during which Noah, 'a preacher of righteousness," was engaged in the construction of the Ark: while not a syllable is recorded of his five-hundred years of life which went before! Jacob's H. D. 113 |