ON THE CHANGE WHICH TOOK PLACE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE APOSTLES AFTER THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST [PART II]

Summary

And when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge, of them that they had been with Jesus.

Acts. iv. 13.

IN the preceding discourse we considered the very remarkable change in the views and character of the twelve original apostles in general, and especially of those whose epistles furnish the proper evidence of it, viz. those of Peter, James, John, and Jude. We have seen that from being men of worldly ambition, expecting honours and rewards under the Messiah in this world, they suddenly abandoned every prospect of the kind, looking to nothing but a reward in heaven; and that in the firm belief and expectation of this, they bore themselves, and exhorted others to bear, all the sufferings to which for the profession of christianity they could be exposed.

The clearness and energy with which they express themselves on this subject is most interesting and animating, and deserves as much attention in our days of peace as theirs of persecution. For if their situation required motives to patience and fortitude, ours requires constant admonition, lest the cares of this world should wholly exclude, as they naturally tend to do, all consideration of another. I shall, therefore, proceed to give as particular an account of the sentiments and exhortations of the apostle Paul on this subject as I did of those of the other apostles.