and addresses itself to every age. It reminds us, first, that every part of our earthly career is preparatory to something higher and better; it reminds us also that on no great work may we presume to enter without a season of lengthened and laborious training. The analogies which meet us on every side, in illustration of this, would be deemed striking, were they less familiar. How prolonged, for instance, is the period of preparation for the active business of life! how much of drudgery must be gone through before men are fit to enter on any lofty calling! And is not a hint here given us that there must be something loftier yet, for which all the complicated machinery of this life is intended; and to which its adaptations are doubtless exquisite? Who sees not that besides the training of thirty long years which fitted the Baptist to prepare MESSIAH'S way, the two years in the prison of Macharus were required in addition, to fit and prepare him yet further for the destiny which awaited him in Heaven?... Then let us believe that so it ever is, in the case of those whom GOD calls to be Saints. It will furnish the only clue to many a perplexing problem, that we keep this truth constantly before our hearts. What else, indeed, is taught us by the example of CHRIST Himself;

who, though He were a Son, yet learned obedience by the things which He suffered ?'‹ For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto Glory, to make the Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings.'

St. Peter's Day.

THE EARNEST TEMPER.

ST. MATTHEW xvi. 15, 16.

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the CHRIST, the SON of the living GOD.

In various degrees of detail do we find the Apostles of the LAMB pourtrayed to us in the Gospel. Of some, (as St. Simon and St. Jude,) we read almost nothing; so that, when their Festivals come round, we scarcely know what to say about them. Of others, (as St. Peter and St. John,) we read much; so much, that the difficulty lies altogether in the selection of materials. The recorded incidents in which Simon Peter was concerned, are surprisingly numerous. Let us, in the briefest manner, pass them in review, before we proceed to offer any remarks upon the character of the great Apostle himself.

Simon, the son of Jonas and brother of Andrew, was of Bethsaida in Galilee. Fishermen by calling, his brother and he had associated

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themselves in partnership, (mysterious to relate,) with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. All four had left their nets at the preaching of John the Baptist, and become his disciples: a marvellous proof of their earnestness in the matter of religion, truly! To this circumstance they owed their early knowledge of the REDEEMER'S person, and their call to the discipleship of CHRIST.

He

Though not the first called, a certain precedence in rank in the Apostolic body Simon seems to have enjoyed from the very beginning: a precedence, however, which involved no kind of authority over the rest, as the whole course of the sacred narrative abundantly proves. was singled out on more than one occasion for special honour: twice receiving from the lips of his Divine Master the name of 'Rock".' With St. John, St. James, and St. Andrew, he sat on the Mount of Olives and heard our SAVIOUR predict the fall of Jerusalem, and the signs of His final Coming". With St. John and St. James, he was the chosen witness of the raising of Jaïrus' daughter, of the Transfiguration,and of our LORD'S Agony in the Garden. With St. John,

a St. John i. 42. St. Matth. xvi. 18. b St. Mark xiii. 3. e St. Mark v. 37. d St. Matth. xvii. 1.

e St. Matth. xxiv. 37 and 40.

:

he prepared the Paschal Supper'; and ran to the Sepulchre after the Resurrection of CHRISTS. On him, our SAVIOUR promised to build His Church with him, was content to pay tribute: to him, vouchsafed an appearance on the first Easter-day*. He was] permitted to walk on the water to come to CHRIST'; he seems to have furnished His Divine Master with a homeTM; at the first miraculous draught of fishes, he was called to Apostleship"; at the second, he drew the net himself to land. Him it was whom CHRIST Commanded earnestly to feed His flock; and to whom He predicted the manner of Death which awaited him, and whereby he should glorify GOD".

Then, besides all these glorious incidents, we cannot forget the many occasions on which Simon Peter comes prominently forward. He is indeed ever the most conspicuous, ever the most ready one. When hearts are failing, he is foremost with protestations of fidelity and love in the near prospect of danger, he

:

f St. Luke xxii. 8. iSt. Matth. xvii. 24 to 26. 1 St. Matth. xiv. 28 to 31.

St. John xx. 2. h St. Matth. xvi. 18. St. Luke xxiv. 34. 1 Cor. xv. 5. m St. Mark i. 29. St. Luke iv. 38.

n St. Luke v. 10. • St. John xxi. 11. P St. John xxi. 15 to 19.

a St. John vi. 66 to 68.