story of the first collision is, in essentials, the story of all.



WITH AND LIKE CHRIST

'Now 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.

Two young Galilean fishermen, before the same formidable tribunal
which a few weeks before had condemned their Master, might well have
quailed. And evidently 'Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and
John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high
priest,' were very much astonished that their united wisdom and
dignity did not produce a greater impression on these two
contumacious prisoners. They were 'unlearned,' knowing nothing about
Rabbinical wisdom; they were 'ignorant,' or, as the word ought rather
to be rendered, 'persons in a private station,' without any kind of
official dignity. And yet there they stood, perfectly unembarrassed
and at their ease, and said what they wanted to say, all of it, right
out. So, as great astonishment crept over the dignified ecclesiastics
who were sitting in judgment upon them, their astonishment led them
to remember what, of course, they knew before, only that it had not
struck them so forcibly, as explaining the Apostles' demeanour--
viz.,'that they had been with Jesus.' So they said to themselves:
'Ah, that explains it all! There is the root of it. The company that
they have kept accounts for their unembarrassed boldness.'