mightest be filled with the Holy Ghost'? A simple 'layman'! Who was
it that stood by, a passive and astonished spectator of the
communication of spiritual gifts to Gentile converts, and could only
say, 'Forasmuch, then, as God gave them the like gift, as He did unto
us, what was I that I could withstand God?' Peter, the leader of the
Twelve!

Their task was apparently a humbler, really a far more important one.
Their place was apparently a lowlier, really a loftier one. They had
to lay broad and deep the basis for all the growth and grace of the
Church, in the facts which they witnessed. Their work abides; and
when the Celestial City is revealed to our longing hearts, in its
foundations will be read 'the names of the twelve Apostles of the
Lamb.' Their office was testimony; and their testimony was to this
effect--'Hearken, we eleven men knew this Jesus. Some of us knew Him
when He was a boy, and lived beside that little village where He was
brought up. We were with Him for three whole years in close contact
day and night. We all of us, though we were cowards, stood afar off
with a handful of women when He was crucified. We saw Him dead. We
saw His grave. We saw Him living, and we touched Him, and handled
Him, and He ate and drank with us; and we, sinners that we are that
tell it you, we went out with Him to the top of Olivet, and we saw
Him go up into the skies. Do you believe us or do you not? We do not
come in the first place to preach doctrines. We are not thinkers or
moralists. We are plain men, telling a plain story, to the truth of
which we pledge our senses. We do not want compliments about our
spiritual elevation, or our pure morality. We do not want reverence
as possessors of mysterious and exclusive powers. We want you to
believe us as honest men, relating what we have seen. There are
eleven of us, and there are five hundred at our back, and we have all