who had from the first declared his own subordinate place in the dispensation which was then opening, took this occasion of pointing out to his two disciples Him in whom it centred. IIe said, "13chold the Lamb of God;" this is He of whom I spake, whom the Father has chosen and sent, the true sacrificiul Lamb, by whose stdlhrings the sins of the world will be expiated. On hearing this, the two disciples (Andrew, I say, being )ne of them) straightway left John and followed Christ. He turned roun, l and asked them, " What seek ye?" They expressed their desire to be allowed to wait upon His teaching; and lie suffered them to accompany tlim home, and to pass that day with Him. What He said to them is not., told us; but St. Andrew received such confirmation of the truth of the Baptist's words, that in const.quence lie went after his own brother to tell him what lie had found. " lie first fimleth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias.... and lie brought him to Jesus." St. John the Evangelist, who has been guided to preserve various notices concerning the separate Apostles which are not c()utaiued in the first three Gospels, speaks of Andrew in two other places; and introduces him under circumstances which show that, little as is known of this Apostle now, lie was, in fact, very high in the favour and confidence of his Lord. In his twelfth chapter he describes Andrew as bringing to Christ certain Greeks who came up to Jerusalem to worship and who were desirous of seeing Him. And, what is remarkable, these strangers had first applied to St. Philip, who, though an Apostle himseff, instead of
The lT"orld's lezcfac/ors. 3 taking upon him to introduce them, had recourse to his fellow-townsman, St. Andrew, as if, wheflmr from age or intimacy with Christ, a more suitable channel tbr furthering their petition. "Philip eonaeth, and telleth Andrew; and again, Andrew and Philip tell Jesus." These two Apostles are also mentioned together in the sixth chapter of the same Gospel. at the consultation which preceded the miracle of the loaves and fishes; and there again Andrew is engaged, as before, in the oiice of introducing strangers to Christ. " There is a lad here," he says to his Lord, a lad who, perhaps, had not courage to come forward of himself, " which ]mth five bailey loaves and two small fishes." The information afforded by these passages, of St. Andrew's especial acceptableness to Christ among the Apostles, is confirmed by the only place in the other Gospels, beside the catalogue, in which his name occurs. After our Lord had predicted the ruin of the Temple, "Peter, Jmnes, John, and Andrew asked Him privately, Tell us when shall these things be? '' and it was to these four that our Saviour revealed the signs of His coming, and of the end of the world. Here St. Andrew is represented as in the especial confidence of Christ; and associated too with those Apostles whom He is known to have selected from the Twelve, on various occasions, by tokens of His pectfliar favour. Little is known of St. Andrew in addition to these inspired notices of him. He is said to have preached the. Gospel iu Scythia; and he was at length martyred Mark xiii. 3. n2 in Achaia. His death was by crucifixion; that kind ot cross being used, according to the tradition, which still goes by his uame. Yet, little as Scripture tells us concerning him, it affords us enough for a lesson, and that an important one. These are the facts before us. St. Andrew was the first convert among the Apostles; he was especially in our Lord's confidence; thrice is he described as introducing others to Him; lastly, he is little known in history, while the place of dignity and the name of highest renown have been allotted to his brother Simon, whom he was the means of bringing to the knowledge of his Saviour. Our lessou, then, is this; that those men are not necessarily the most useful men in their generation, nor the most favoured by God, who make the most noise in the world, and who seem to be principals in the great changes and events recorded in history; on the contrary, that even when we are able to point to a certain numler of men as the real instruments of any great blessings vouchsafed to mankind, our relative estimate of them, one with another, is often very erroneous: so that, on the whole, if we would trace truly the hand of God in human affairs, and pursue His bounty as displayed in the world to its original sources, we must unlearn our admiration of the powerful and distinguished, our reliance on the opinion of society, our respect for the decisions of the learned or the multitude, and turn our eyes to private life, watching in all we read or witness for the true signs of God's presen.ee, the graces of personal holiness manifested in His elect;
character, but not embahning in their own immortality the names of their original authors. Such is the history of the social and political world; and the rule discernible in it is still more clearly established in the world of morals and religion. Who tmght the I)octors and Saints of the Church, who, in t]loir day, or in after times, have been the most illustrious expounders of the precepts of right and wrong', aud, by word and deed, are the guides of our conduct? Did Ahnighty Wisdom speak to them through the operation of their own minds, or rather, did it not subject them to instructors unknown to fame, wiser perhaps even than themselves? Andrew followed John the Baptist, while Simon remained at his nets. Andrew first recognised the Messiah among the inhabitants of despised Nazareth; a.nd he brought his brother to Him. Yet to Andrew Christ spake no word of commendation which has been allowed to continue on; " record 'hereas to _ tmon, even Oll his first coming, He gave the honourable name by which he is now designated, and afterwards put hin forward as the typical foundation of His Church. Nothing indeed can hence be infelTed, one way or the other, concerning the relative excellence of the two brothers; so far only appears, th,t,.in the providential course of events, the one was the secret beginner, and the other the public instrument, of a great divine work. St. Paul, again, was honoured with the distinction of a miraculous conversion, and was called to be the chief agent of the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen; yet to Ananias, an otherwise unknown saint, dwelling at Damascus, was committed the high office of conveying the gifts of pardon and the Holy Ghost to the Apostle of the Gentiles. Providence thus acts daily. The early life of all men is private; it is as children, generally, that their characters are formed to good or evil;,nd those who form them to good, their truest aud chief benefactors, are unknown to the world. It has been remarked, that some of the most eminent Christians have been blessed with religious mothers, and have in after life referred their own graces to the instrumentality of their teaching. Augustine has preserved to the Chm'ch the histo W oI his mother l[onica; but in the case of others, even the name is denied to us of our great benefactress, whosoever she was, and sometimes, doubtless, the circumstance of her service altogether. When we look at the history of inspiratiou, the same rule still holds. Consider the Old Testament, which "makes us wise unto salvatiou." How great a part oi it is written by authors unknown! The book of Judges, the second of Samuel,'the books of Kings, Chronicles, Esther, and Job, and great part of the book of Psahns. The last instance is the most remarkable,f these. " Profitable" beyond words as is the instruction conveyed to us in eve W word of Scripture, yet the Psalms have been the most directly and visibly useful part ot the whole volmne, having been the pra.yer-book of the Church ever since they were written; and have done more (as far as we dare judge) to prepare souls for heaven, than any of the inspired books, except the Gospels. Yet the authors of a large portion of them are altogether unknown. And so with the Liturgies which have been the possession of the Christian Church from the beginning; who were those matured and exalted, Saints who left them to us? Nay, in the whole system of our worship, who are the authors of each decorous provision and each edifying custom? Who found out the nmsical tunes, in which our praises are,,ft'ered up to God, and in which resides so wondrous a persuasion-" to worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker?" Who were those religious men, our spiritual fathers in the " Catholic tMth," who raised )f old time the excellent fitbrics all over the country, in which we worship, though with less of grateful reverence for their memory than we might piously express? Of these greatest men. in every age, there is "no memorial;" they "are perished as though they had never been, and become as though they had never been born.":Now i knmv that reflections of this kind are apt to sadden and vex us; and such of us particularly as are gifted with ardent and enthusiastic minds, with a generous love of what is great and good, and a noble hatred of injustice. These men find it difficult to reconcile themselves to the notion that the triumph of the Truth, in all its forms, is postponed to the next world. They would fain anticipate the coming of the righteous Judge: nay, perhaps they are. somewhat too tltvourably disposed towards the present world, to acquiesce without resistance in a doctrine which testifies to the corruption of its decisions, and the worthlessness of its honoua's. But that it is a truth, has already been showed ahnost as matter of fact, putting the evidence of Scripture out of consideration; and if it be such, it is our wisdom, as it will become our privilege, to accustom our minds to it, and to receive it, not in word merely, but in seriousness. Why indeed should we shrink from this gracious law of God's present providence in our own case, or in the case of those we love, when our subjection to it does but associate us with the best and noblest of our race, and with beings of nature and condition superior to our own? Andrew is scarcely known except by name; while Peter has ever held the place of honour all over the Church; yet Andrew brought Peter to Christ. And are not the blessed Angels unknown to the world? and is not God Himself, the Author of all good, hid from man -ldnd at large, partially manifested and poorly glorified, in a few scattered servants here and there? and His Spirit, do we know whence It eometh, and whither It goeth? and though He has taught men whatever there has been of wisdom among them from the beginning, yet when He came on earth in visible form, even then it was said of Him, "The world knew Him not." His marvellous providence works beneath a veil, which speaks but an untrue language; and to see Him who is the Truth and the Life, we must stoop underneath it, and so in our turn hide ourselves from the world. They who present themselves at kings' courts, pass on to the inner chambers, where the gaze of the rude multitude cannot pierce; and we, if we would see the King of kings in His glory, must be content to disappear from the things that are seen. Hid are the saints of God; if they are known to men, it is accidentally, in their temporal offices, as holding some high earthly station, or effecting some mere civil work, not as saints. St. Peter has a place in history, far more as a chief instrumerit of a strange revolntion in human affairs, than in his true character, as a self-denying follower of his Lord, to whom truths were revealed which flesh and blood could not discern. IIow poor spirited are we, and what dishonour we put upon the capabilities and the true excellence of our nature, when we subject it to the judgment and disposal of all its baser specimens, to the rude and ignorant praise, and poor recoml,ensing of carnal and transgressing man! How shall the flesh be at all a judge of the spirit? or the sinner of God's elect? Are we to look downwards, not upwards? Shall we basely acknowledge the right of the Many, who tread the broad way, to be the judges of holiness, which comes from God, and appeals to Him? And does not the eye of faifl discern witnesses of our conduct, ever present, and far worthier of our spect., than even a world of the ungodly? Is man the noblest being iu the creation? Surely ,e, as well as our Divine Lord, are "seen of Angels;" nay, and ministered unto by them, nmch as they excel us in strength! St. Paul plainly tells us, that it is God's purpose that "His manifold wisdoln should be known to the heavenly principalities.and powers, through the Church." When we are nmde Christians, we are baptized " into that within the veil," we are brought near to an innumerable company of Angels; and, resembling them in their hidden con- Eph. iii. 10. EX. LIBF I FIEV. C. W. St!'!IVAN dition, share theh" sympathy and their services. Therefore, the same Apostle exhorts Timothy to persevere in obedience, not only by tim thought of God, but by that of the Angels; and surely we ought to cultivate the habitual feeling, that they see us in our most private deeds, and most carefully guarded solitudes. It is more than enough for a sinful mortal to be made a fellow-worker and fellow-worshipper with the ]lessed Spirits, and the servant and the son of G)d Most High. Pather let us t W to realize our privilege, and withal humble ourselves at our want of faith. We are the elect of God, and have entrance "through the gates into the" heavenly " City," while we " do Itis commandments, ''1 following Christ as Andrew did, when pointed out to us by IIis preachers and ministers. To those who thus "follow on to know" I[im, It, manifests Himself, while He is hid from the world. They are near Him, as His confilential servants, and are the real agents in the various providences which occur in the history of nations, though overlooked by their annalists and sages. They bring before Him the temporal wants of men, witnessing His marvellous doings with the barley loaves and fishes; they, too, lead strangers before Hhn for His favourable notice, and for His teaching. And, when He brings trouble and distress upon a sinful people, they have truest knowledge of His will, and can best interpret His works; for they had lived in contemplation and prayer, and while others praise the goodly stones and buildings of the external Temple, have heard from Him in secret Rev. xxii. 14.
how the end shall be. Thus they live; and when they die, the world knows nothing of its loss, and soon lets slip what it might have retained of their history; but the Church of Christ does what she can, gathering together their relics, and honouring their name, even when their works cannot be found. But those works have followed them; and, at the appearing of their Lord in judgment, will be at length displayed before all the world, and for IIis merits eternally rewarded in Ills heavenly kingdon.
At the news of this great miracle, he expressed his determination not to believe unless he himself saw Christ, and was allowed to touch Him. And thus, by an apparently accidental circumstance, Thomas is singled out from his brethren, who at first disbelieved as well as he, as if he were an especial instance of unbelief. None of them believed till they saw Christ, except St. John, and he too hesitated at first. Thomas was convinced latest, because he saw Christ latest. On the other hand, it is certain that, though he disbelieved the good news of Christ's resurrection at first, he w no coldhem'ted follower of his Lord, as appears from his conduct on a previous occasion, when he expressed a desire to share danger, and to suffer with Him. When Christ was setting out for Jud0ea to raise Lazarus from the,lead, the disciples said, "Mter, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee, and goest Thou thither again? '' When He remained in His intention, Thomas said to the rest, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him." This journey ended, as His Apostles foreboded, in their Lord's death; they indeed escaped, but it was at the instance of Thomas that they hazarded their lives with Him. St. Thomas then loved his Master, as became an Apostle, and was devoted to His service; but when He saw IIim crucified, his faith fNled for a season with that of the rest. At the same time we need not deny that, his especial doubts of Christ's resurrection were not altogether owing to circumstances, but in a measure arose from some faulty state of mind. St. John's narrative itself, and our Saviour's speech to him, convey John xi. 8.
an impression that he was more to blame than the rest. His standing out alone, not against one witness only, but against his ten fellow disciples, besides Mary Magdalene and the other women, is evidence of this; and his very strong words, " Except I shall see in IIis hands the print of the nails, and put my finger int.o the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into llis side, I will nt believe. ''1 And it is obserwtble that, little as we know of St. Thomas, yet the one remaining recorded speech of his (before Christ's crucifixion), intimates something of the same dubting perplexed state of mind. When Christ said lie was gcing to lIis Father, and by a way which they all knev, Thomas interposed with an argulnent:"Lord, we know not whither Thou goest., and how can we know the way?" flint is, we do not see heaven, or the God of heaven, how can we know the way thither? lie seems to have required some sensible insight into the unseen state, some infallible sign from heaven, a ladder of Angels like Jacob's, wiich would remove anxiety by showing him the end of the j.urlmy at the time lie set out,. Some such secret craving after certainty beset him. And a like desire arose within him on the news of Christ's resurrection. Being weak in faith, he suspended his judgment, and seemed resolved not to believe anything, till lie was told everything. Accordingly, when our Saviour appeared to him, eight days after His appearance to the rest, while He allowed Thomas his wish, and satisfied his senses that He was really alive, He accompanied the permission with a John xx. 25. 2 John xiv. li.
rebuke, and intimated that by yielding to his weakness, He was withdrawing from him what was a real blessedhess. "Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto tIim, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen hie, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have lwlieved. '' llowever, after all, we are not so much concerned with considerations respecting the natural disposition and temper of the Blessed Apostle, whom we to-day commemorate, as with the particular circumstance in which his name occurs, and with our Saviom"s comment upon it. All His disciples minister to Him; and, as in other ways, so also in giving occasion for the words of grace which proceed from His mout.h. They minister to t[im eveu in their weaknesses, which are often brought to light in Scripture, not hidden as Christian fi'iends would hide in piety, that so He may convert them into instruction and comfort for His Church. Thus I:rtha's over-earnestness in household duties had drawn from Ilim a sanction for a life of contemplation and prayer; and so, in the history before us, the overcaution of St.. Thomas has gained for us His promise of especial blessing on those who believe without having seen. I proceed to make some remarks on the nature of this believing temper, and why it is blessed. It is scarcely necessary to observe, that what our Saviour says to Thomas so clearly and impressively, He John xx. 27—29.
has implied, iu one vay or other, all through His ministry; the blessedness of a mind that believes readily. His demand and trial of faith in the case of those who came for Iris miraculous aid, IIis praise of it where found, His sorrow where it was wanting, lIis warnings against hardness of heart; all are evidence of this. "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy fifith hath made thee whole." "Thy fitith hath saved thee; go in peace." "' _An evil aud adulterous generation seeketh after a sign." "0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." These will remind us of a multitude of similar passages in especial praise of faith. St. Paul pursues the line of doctrine thus beguu by his Lord. In three Epistles he sets before us the peculiar place fitit.h hohls among the evidences of a religious mind: and each time refers to a passage in the Prophets, in order to show that he was bringing in no new doctrine, but only teaching that which had been promulged from the beginning. In consequence, in our ordinary language we speak of religion being built upon faith, not upon reason; on the other hand, it is as common for those who scoff at religion to object this very doctrine against us; as if, in so saying, we had almost admitted that Christianity was not true. Let us then consider hov the case stands. Every religious nfind, under every dispensation of Providence, will be in the habit of looking out of and ][att. viii. 10; ix. o2. Luke vii. 0. Matt. xii. 39. Luke xxiv. 11] C will, which we possess; so they fancy where they cannot find, and, having consciences more acute than their reasomng powers, they pervert and misuse even those indications of God which are provided for them in nature. This is one cause of the false divinities of pagan worship, which are tokens of guilt in the worshipper, n,t (as we trust) when they could kuow no better, but when they have turned from the light, not liking "to retain God in their knowledge." And if this is the course of a religious mind, even when it is not blessed with the news of divine truth, much more will it welcome and gladly commit itself to the hand of God, when allowed to discern it in the Gospel. Such is faith as it. exists in the multitude of those who believe, arising from their sense of the presence of God, originally certified to them by the inward voice of conscience. On the other hand, such persons as prefer this world to the leadings of God's Spirit within them, soon lose their perception of the latter, and lean upon the world as a god. IIaving no presentiment of any Invisible Guide, who has a claim to be followed iu lnatters of conduct, they consider nothing to have a sul,stanee but what meets theh" senses, are contented with this, and draw their rules of life fi'm it. They truly are in no danger of being superstitious or credulous; for they feel no antecedent desire or persuasion that God may have made a revelation of Himself in the world; and when they hear of events supernatural, they come to the examination of them as calmly and dispassionately as if they were judges in a court of law, or inquiring into points of science. They ackv_owledge no especial interest in the question proposed to them; and they find it no effort to use their intellect upon it as rigidly as if it were some external instrument which could not be swayed. Here then we see two opposite characters of mind, the one credulous (as it would be commonly called), the latter candid, well-judging, aud sagacious; mid it is clear that the fnrmer of the two is the religious temper rather than tlm latter. In this way then, if in no otlwr, faith and reason are opposed; and to believe much is more blessed than to believe little. But this is not all. Everyone who tries to do God's will, is sure to find lie cannot do it perfectly. He will feel himself to be full of imperfection and sin; and the more he succeeds in regulating his heart, the more lie will discern its origiual bitterness and guilt. Here is an additional cause of a religious man's looking out of himself, lie knows the evil of his nature, and forebodes God's wrath as its consequence; and when he looks around him, he sees it reflected from within upon the face of the world, lie fears; and, in consequence, seeks about for some means of propitiating his Maker, for some token, if so be, of God's relenting. He cannot stay at home; he cannot rest in himself; lie wanders about fi'om very anxiety; lie needs some one to speak peace to his soul. Should a man come to hinl professing to be a messenger from heaven, he is at once arrested and listens; and, whether such profession be actually true or false, yet his first desire is that ir may be true. Those, on the contrary, who are without this sense of sin, can bear the first news of God's having spoken to man, without being startled. They can questions concerning the laws of nature, the constitution of the human mind, and the like, which must be solved before we can feel perfectly satisfied. And those whose hearts are not "tender," 1 as Scripture expresses it,—that is, who have not a vivid perception of the Divine Voice within them, and of the iiecessity of His existence from whom it issues,—do not feel Christianity as a practical matter, and let it pass accordingly. They are accustomed to say fhat death will soon come upon them, and solve the great secret for thenl without their trouble,that is, they wait for sight: not understanding, or being able to be made to comprehend, that their solving this great problem without sight is the very end and business of their mortal life: according to St. Paul's decision, that faith is " the substance," or the realizing, "of things hoped for," "the evidence," or the making trial of, the acting on, the belief of "things not seen. '' What the Apostle says of Abraham is a description of all true faith; it goes out not knowing u'hitlcr it goes. It does not crave or bargain to see the end of the journey; it does not argue with St. Thomas, in the days of his ignorance, "we know not whither, and how can we know the way?" it is persuaded that it has quite enough light to walk by, far more than sinful man has a right to expect, if it sees one step in advance; and it leaves all knowledge of the country over which it is ourneying, to IIim who calls it on. And this blessed temper of mind, which influences religious men in the geater matter of choosing or rejecting the Gospel, extends itself also into their reception of 2 Kiugs xxii. 19. 1 Heb. xi. 1.
it in all its parts. As faith is content wilh but a little light to begin its journey by, and makes it much by aetig upon it, so also it reads, as it were, ly twilight, the message of truth in its various details. It does not stipulate that the text of Scripture should admit of rigid and laboured proofs of its doctrines; it has the practical wisdom to consider that tim Word of God nmst have mainly one, and one only sense, and to try, as well as may be, to find out what that sense is, whether the evidence of it be great or little, and not to quarrel with it if it is not overpowering. It keeps steadily in view that Christ /oecrK's in Scripture, and receives His words as if i heard them, as if some superior and fi'iend spoke them, one whom it wished to please; not as if it were engaged upon the dead letter of a document, which admitted ,f rude handling, of criticism and exception. It looks off from self to Christ; and instead of seeking impatiently for some personal assurance, is set by obedience, saying, "Here am I; send me." _And in like manner towm'ds evm3 institution of Christ, His Church, His Sacraments, and Itis Ministers, it acts not as a disputer of this world, but as the disciple of IIim who appointed them. Lastly, it rests contented with the revelation made to it; it has "found the Nessias," and that is enough. The very wineiple of its former restlessness now keeps it from wandering. When "the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding to know the true God," wavering, fearfulness, superstitious trus in the creature, pursuit of novelties, are signs, not of faith, but of unbelief.