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unhappiness whenever he transgresses thy holy laws, and by all prudent means represent to him his faults, with their several aggravations, that I may carefully set his miscarriages before his face, and in such a true light that by a seasonable warning of his danger, he may be preserved from that ruin his sins deserve, and thy justice hath threatened. Let no man's greatness in this world ever prevail upon me to approve his vices, or influence me to any the least sinful compliance: and in order to make the duty of reproof effectual to the salvation of my neighbour, preserve me from any irregular passion in the manner of administering it, and from any by-end in the prospect of performing it; that so by thy blessing, upon a seasonable and prudent admonition, he may be recovered to a true sense of his duty, obtain thy gracious pardon in this world, and in the next, life everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

CHAP. XXVII.

ST. PETER. JUNE 29.

Q. What Festival does the church this day celebrate? A. The martyrdom of St. Peter, the first of the Apostles.

Q. What account have we of St. Peter's origin?

A. That he was born at Bethsaida, a town situated on the banks of the sea of Galilee; that when he was circumcised, according to the rights of the Mosaic law, he was called Simon or Symeon; that our Saviour added to that the name of Cephas, which in Syriac, the vulgar language of the Jews at that time, signifies a stone or rock, from whence it was derived into the Greek IIéтpos, and so termed by us Peter."

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Q. What does our Lord seem to denote by this name? A. The firmness and constancy of St. Peter's faith, and his vigorous activity in building up the church. Q. What was his profession before he was called to be an Apostle?

A. He was a fisherman, a trade toilsome and laborious in itself, and bringing but small advantage to those that were employed in it."

Q. How came the first of the Apostles to be chosen from so mean a profession?

A. To manifest the great power of God, in establishing Christianity, when such mean illiterate persons were able to subdue the world to the obedience of the gospel. Besides, by the hardships of such an education, he was prepared to support those difficulties which a persecuted state of life might expose him to.

Q. Was St. Peter a disciple of St. John Baptist?

A. It is thought probable, because his brother St. Andrew certainly was; and upon the first news of Christ's appearing, St. Peter was very forward to converse with him, as if he had been awakened to expect the Messias.

Q. Who brought him first to our Saviour?

A. His brother St. Andrew; who upon the testimony received from St. John the Baptist, and his pointing to our Lord, then passing by, after his baptism, followed our Saviour, and brought the joyful news to St. Peter. Q. What was the occasion of his becoming our Saviour's disciple?

A. The miracle of the great draught of fishes, upon which he acknowledged his own vileness, and was, by our Saviour made a fisher of men, and commanded to follow

Mat. xvi. 18.

Mat. iv. 18.

* John i. 40.

him; which he immediately complied with, and from that time became one of our Saviour's constant and inseparable disciples.

f

Q. What preparation did our Saviour make in the election of his Apostles?

A. He withdrew into a solitary place to address himself to heaven for success in that affair of great consequence. Q. What may we learn from hence?

A. That all Christians should implore God Almighty's guidance in matters of great importance; and that the governors of the church, so much inferior to our Saviour, should fast and pray earnestly for God's direction, when they send forth labourers into the vineyard.

Q. Who were the most immediate companions of our Saviour?

A. St. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, St. James and St. John," who were admitted more familiarly than the rest of the Apostles unto all the most secret passages of his life, as is plain in the cure of Jairus's daughter, and at the transfiguration.'

Q. How did St. Peter behave himself, when several of the disciples forsook our Saviour, upon a more perfect discovery of his doctrine?

A. He, with the rest of the twelve, adhered to him with great constancy and resolution, professing they had no where else to go, because he had the words of eternal life; and upon this account he is by the ancients styled the mouth of the Apostles, because so forward upon all occasions to profess his belief in our Saviour, and for which reason he is, by our Saviour himself, pronounced blessed.'

Q. Does it appear that our Saviour gave any per

Luke vi. 12.

↑ Luke v. 9-11.

John vi. 68.

Mat. xvii. 1, 2.

h Mark v. 37. 1 Mat. xvi. 17.

sonal prerogative to St. Peter, as universal pastor and head of the church?

m

A. Though he is placed first among the Apostles, because, as most think, he was first called; and that his age and gravity qualified him for the primacy of order, without which no society can be managed or maintained; yet it does not appear that he enjoyed any other particular privilege; because, in confessing Christ, he spoke not only his own, but the sense of his fellow Apostles, and which Nathaniel professed as well as he; if he is styled the rock, all the Apostles are equally styled foundations, upon which the wall of the new Jerusalem is erected; and the power of the keys is promised to the rest of the Apostles as well as to St. Peter."

Q. Why did St. Peter decline the great honour of having his feet washed by our Saviour?

A. Out of great modesty and a sense of his unworthiness; till understanding the mystery of the action, and the advantage of it, he desired to be washed all over, rather than lose the benefit of it.

Q. What may we learn from this action of our Saviour?

A. Humility and condescension; not to hesitate at the meanest offices of kindness and charity, when God incarnate vouchsafed so much to abase himself.

Q. How did St. Peter behave himself upon the approach of our Saviour's sufferings?

A. He was unwilling to think, that one he loved so dearly should be so cruelly used; and betrayed too much presumption and self-confidence, not without some reflection upon the weakness of his brethren; though all should forsake him, yet he professed he would not deny

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him. Add to this, his unjustifiable zeal in using the sword without his master's order; for which he stands rebuked by our Saviour: and thus trusting too much to his own strength, he became a great example of human frailty in denying his master.

Q. How was St. Peter recovered from his fall?

A. By our Saviour's gracious look, whereby he called to mind what our Saviour had foretold: and by passionately bewailing his folly, and the aggravations of it; endeavouring by his penitential tears to wash away his guilt; and in this he is a pattern for the direction, as well as the comfort, of all those that sincerely turn from the evil of their ways.

Q. Why did our Saviour so early appear to him after his resurrection?

A. To comfort him under his great sorrow for his late fall; and to encourage him with fresh assurances of his favour; withal confirming him in the great article of his resurrection, requiring of him, as a further proof of his love, to feed his sheep,' faithfully to instruct and teach them, carefully to rule and guide them.

Q. Why did our Saviour make three several enquiries concerning St. Peter's love to him?

A. That St. Peter, who had been so defective in his former professions, might be put in mind of his thrice denying our Saviour, and, from the sense of his weakness, be engaged to a better discharge of his duty, and give more than ordinary assurance of his sincere affection to his master. Besides, this question, Lovest thou me? thus often repeated, fairly intimates, that as nothing but a mighty love to our Saviour will support a man under all the difficulties and dangers of the pastoral function;

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