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discerned, as the Divine Love purposed it should be discerned, in the growing together of the living members of the Body." (Vol. ii. p. 276.)

If there be any truth in these remarks we need not wait for the end of the Dispensation; the signs of it are already before us; the sun has been darkened; the moon has not given her light; the stars have fallen from heaven; the evidences of the true Faith have wellnigh disappeared, and together with them the True Faith itself! Hence the necessity of a Catholic revival, an admission in which we cordially concur. M. A.

(To be continued.)

FISHERS OF MEN.

IN reading the accounts furnished in the Gospels of the early disciples of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the attentive student will be struck with the fact that here and there statements are to be found which are apparently involved in the greatest obscurity, and for which no satisfactory explanation appears at first sight to exist. If, however, he is at all impressed with the belief that the Gospels are Divine, the occurrence of these difficulties will by no means startle him, for he will readily admit that a Divine Book must, owing to the infinitude of wisdom which it contains, necessarily be adapted to different orders of intelligences; and hence that those passages which are at present apparently of no direct benefit to him, may to others, who are in a higher state of illumination, prove of the greatest assistance and value. Such an one will, however, always be ready to learn; and will, in fact, rejoice to have his difficulties removed, and the clear, bright light of day introduced where before there was nothing but dimness and obscurity.

Now it is our intention, in the present paper, to attempt to clear up a certain difficulty which may have occurred to the minds of some students of the Word in reference to the calling of the first four disciples by the Lord. The account of this call is contained in Matt. iv. 18-22, where we read: "Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him. And going on from thence, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him." In this passage, it is singular to notice that the Lord did not address James and John as he addressed the other two disciples, Peter and Andrew. And if we examine the parallel accounts given by St. Mark and St. Luke in their respective Gospels, we shall find that all three versions harmonize together in this respect. It

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was only Andrew and Simon Peter who were styled "fishers of men ;" the expression is never used when James and John are spoken of. It may be as well just to glance at the accounts given in the other Gospels, in order that this point may be verified. That furnished by St. Mark occurs in the first chapter of his Gospel (verses 16-20): "Now, as He walked by the sea of Galilee, He saw Simon, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him. And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway He called them." In the account given by St. Luke it is only Simon to whom the mise is made, "From henceforth thou shalt catch men (see Luke v. 1-11). Now the question which at once forces itself upon our minds is this, What is the cause of this distinction? Why did the Lord never apply the appellation "fishers of men" to James and John, but only to Andrew and Simon Peter? All four were summoned for the purpose of assisting the Lord in His great work of establishing His kingdom among men; all four, too, had pursued the same avocation, namely, that of fishing in the sea of Galilee. Why, then, should this difference have been made between them? There must be some reason, for we cannot believe that the Word of God contains any unnecessary omission. Being written under Divine inspiration, and thus in accordance with the laws of Infinite Wisdom, some special spiritual meaning must be contained in every expression, and consequently, when that expression is omitted, the meaning contained within it is not intended to be conveyed to the mind. Let us see if we can ascertain the reason of the omission in the present case.

A study of the distinctive characters of the four disciples may perhaps help us in our investigation. Suppose we first take the case of Peter. For what was Peter distinguished? In him faith was the characteristic feature; not, however, faith in its completeness-faith in the heart as well as in the mind; but just that faith which exists in the intellect, and which acknowledges the truth, but does not necessarily love it. Had Peter possessed that loving, trustful faith which has its seat both in the intellect and in the heart, his courage would never have failed him when walking upon the water to Jesus; neither would he have exhibited such cowardice in the palace of the high priest, denying three times that very Lord and Master to whom only a few hours before he had sworn such firm allegiance. Andrew it was whose faith was that of the heart. He was the brother of John, but of his history very few details are given in the New Testament. From the little we do know about him, however, but especially from the light which a study of the spiritual sense affords, we are led to infer that that which especially characterized Andrew was obedience to the truth; obedience not as the result of any deep interior motive, but springing from a sense of duty rather than from any other cause.

Faith in the understanding, then, and faith in the heart; truth apprehended by the intellect and truth carried out into act: these states of mind were well represented by Peter and Andrew his brother.

But now when we turn to consider the case of James and John, and inquire what spiritual principles they represent, the fact comes at once before our minds that the characters they sustain are of an entirely different nature to those sustained by the other two disciples. John is called "the disciple whom Jesus loved," and James, we read, was the brother of John. It was John who leaned on the bosom of Jesus at the last supper, and to him also the Lord intrusted His mother Mary at the time of His crucifixion. These circumstances would teach us that John was invested with a higher character than that possessed by the rest of the disciples, that his mind was adorned with graces of a more heavenly order. If such were not the case, why is he specially distinguished as "the disciple whom Jesus loved"? John comes before us as the type of charity or love existing as a fixed principle of life. This it is which leads to conjunction with the Lord, and this is why John is designated as the beloved disciple. Not that the Lord has any favourites; He in reality loved all His disciples, just as He loves all men, in an equal degree; but the expression is intended to teach us that when love descends into the life, and manifests its presence by useful and charitable deeds, then man comes into closer union with the Lord, and thus the Lord's presence can be most truly perceived by him. James the brother of John is the type of charity or love in intention, but not in act. He represents those who entertain well-disposed and kindly feelings, but who reason much concerning them before carrying them out into practice. Such persons are afraid of going beyond proper bounds; of allowing their charity to be too free; of doing harm rather than good by their kindness; hence they use their powers of reflection and judgment to a great extent before making up their minds how they shall act. The great difference between James and John appears to be this, that whilst the former represents that slow deliberative form of charity which, whilst seeking to be guided by the reasoning powers, aims notwithstanding at the performance of the very highest uses, the latter represents that higher type of character in which, owing to the clearness of the perceptive faculties, and the superior wisdom which is consequently imparted, every charitable or loving desire is at once ultimated in act as soon as ever it enters into the mind, and in which all the powers of body and soul are voluntarily brought into play, with the express purpose of making the performance of the desired end most effectual.

James and John hence bear a decided relation to Peter and Andrew. As the two latter represent respectively faith or truth in the understanding, and faith or truth in the will, and hence, as a consequence, in the life; so the two former typify charity or love in the understanding, and charity or love in the will, and thence, as a consequence, also in the life.

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Having advanced thus far in our inquiry, and ascertained what were the representative characters sustained by the four disciples, we shall now be prepared to understand better why the expression "fishers of was applied to the first two disciples only, and not to the other two. Men, let it be observed, signify rational truths. The men of the Bible are those in whose minds there is an ardent desire for clear and enlarged conceptions of truth; who long to understand the bright revelations of Divine things; who hail with joy that system of religious teaching which appeals most strongly to the reason and intellect. Hence, in a wider sense, they signify those very truths themselves which, owing to their clearness, are capable of being easily apprehended; which strike us as being reasonable, and, therefore, at least worthy of our consideration. It is by the adoption of these truths that our manhood is rendered perfect; that we are saved from the dangers of naturalism and elevated into the light of heaven. It is owing to their influence upon us that we become men in the proper sense of the term, and are led to imitate the Divine Man, from whom all that is truly human descends. Into what a deplorable state we come when we shut up our minds to these heaven-sent truths, may be inferred from what we read in the Book of Jeremiah (iv. 23-25, 27): "I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate."

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To have clear and well-defined ideas, however, upon Divine subjects; to adopt settled convictions as the result of knowing and understanding the truth; to feel that the system of doctrine in which we believe is a truly rational one, and that it can stand triumphantly every test that may be applied to it-what a satisfaction indeed is this, but yet how few there are who, in reality, experience it! Many there are, indeed, who are constantly expressing their desire for a rational belief; what, then, can be the reason that this desire is, in the great majority of cases, not gratified? It is, we feel assured, because Simon Peter and Andrew have been kept in the background; because the characters they sustain have been forgotten; because the principles which they represent have not been allowed to exert their proper influence upon the mind; because for the simple faith of Peter there have been substituted the ill-founded prejudices and the narrow conceptions of weak and erring men; and for the willing obedience of Andrew an obstinate determination to submit to nothing which is in any way opposed to present gratification or present interests. No wonder that the cause of the Church of Christianity at large-is so difficult to maintain when such a state of things as this predominates. Only, however, let Peter and Andrew perform their respective functions; only let the principles they represent be suffered to operate without molestation upon the mind, and this sad condition of things will pass away.

When the understanding is open to receive the clear light of

truth, and there is a willing inclination to obey that truth under all circumstances, and in spite of all opposition, then, and then only, will satisfactory views upon Divine subjects be obtained, and a rational and soul-satisfying system of Christianity be adopted. The truth apprehended at the first may be but little; the rays from the Great Sun of Righteousness which affect the spiritual sight may be now but few, and they only dimly perceived; the amount of obedience, too, which a determined surrender to the truth demands may be but small in comparison with that which will be required in time to come when the mind is able to receive a fuller and brighter revelation of Divine things but if there is a steady inclination bravely to persevere-no matter at what cost-in just those things which are known and felt to be right; if there is an earnest resolve to perform to the best of one's ability just those ordinary everyday duties which one has to discharge, then the great beginning of a truly religious life will have been effected; the first important step will have been taken; and upon the foundation which has thus been securely laid, a superstructure which shall endure for ever can be reared; a temple to the living God can be formed in the soul, a temple in which not only faith and obedience, but charity and love also, with all their attendant virtues, can take up their abode and exercise their gentle and benignant sway for evermore. It is then, but not before, that the presence of James and John will be recognized. Peter and Andrew begin the work (that was why the Lord addressed them the first), bringing the soul out of a state of darkness into the bright light of truth, removing from it every disinclination to the practice of obedience, and causing it to regard the earnest discharge of duty as of the very highest importance. James and John it is, however, who carry that work on afterwards. By their operation the soul is introduced into more exalted states; motives of a higher order form the mainsprings of conduct; instead of acting from a mere sense of duty, and learning truth by means of slow and tedious processes, love will be the great animating principle which governs us, and the higher faculties of the mind will in consequence be opened to the constant perception of heavenly light. The operation of all four disciples is thus necessary to the complete formation of Christian character-to the perfect building up of the Church of God in the human soul; but the starting of the work-the laying the foundation of a rational, and thus of a serviceable, faith-the implantation of clear and well-defined ideas upon those subjects which are of the most vital importance to mankind, this is accomplished by Peter and Andrew, and hence it is that to them the title "fishers of men" is pre-eminently applied. They are "fishers of men." Their special function it is to draw truths from the Word and endeavour to cultivate a desire to obey them. The principles they represent are the primary instruments by which we are first of all drawn out of the world into the Church and prepared for the subsequent operation of the higher graces of religion; and on this account it is that they are—either one or both of them-always depicted as taking the chief

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