In the accounts of the disciples, contained in the New
Testament, there is no attempt to glorify them, or to
conceal any weakness. From the first to the last, they
think and act precisely as men would think and act in their
circumstances; -they are affected just as others of like
culture would be affected by such events as those set forth
in the record. And the genuineness of their conduct argues
the genuineness of the incidents which excited it. The
divine, wonderworking, risen Jesus, is the necessary
counterpart of the amazed, believing, erring hoping,
desponding, rejoicing fishermen and publicans. This stamp
of reality is very evident in the instance before us. The
conduct and the feelings of the disciples are those of men
who have been involved in a succession of strange
experiences. For a little while they have been in communion
with One who has spoken as never man spoke, and who has
touched the deepest springs of their being. He has lifted
them out of the narrow limits of their previous lives. From
the Receipt of Customs, and the Galilean lake, he has
summoned them to the interests and awards, the thought and
the work, of a spiritual and divine kingdom. At first
following him, perhaps they hardly knew why,. conscious only
that he had the Words of Eternal Life, the terms of this
discipleship have grown into bonds of the dearest intimacy.
Their Master has become their Companion and their Friend,
and their faith has deepened into tender and confiding love.
But still, theirs has been the belief of the trusting soul,
rather than the enlightened intellect. From the fitness of
the teaching, and the wonder of the miracle, they have felt
that he was the very Christ; and yet, from this conviction