THOU ART PETER
of the Apostle was identical with that he had preached for two decades past in the cities of Central Asia. For the Kyrios Christos, Who had appeared to him on the way to Damascus so that Saul might be trans- formed into Paul, he pleaded with each breath and on every foot of earth which his restless feet traversed. For Him he had founded congregation after congregation, each one of which was to remain united by a firm, living bond to the mysterious centre, Christ the Master of souls, the Strength of hearts, the Judge of all things human, the Sacred Meaning and Moving Force of history. Paul, who spoke to Roman Jews, Christians and heathens, already drew from the treasury of a highly developed world of thought. This one may call the pattern for a Church filled with the spirit of Jesus, but also with the spirit of Paul, who in following His Master also cast his own tremendous shadow upon the earth.
Besides Paul another spoke to the early Christians of Rome. He had never been a Saul, was a man of totally different stuff. There was in his eye no dark glow of desire for conquest, but the light of that spirit which is of the Kingdom of Heaven because it resembles the heart of a child. To flesh and blood he permitted the first word, but to the higher power which supersedes these he gave trustingly and rev- erently the second and the final word. He is truly soil on which the eight beatitudes can thrive, though stones and weeds may hinder their growth. So at least he seems to us as we read the Gospel nar- ratives. And so, with convincing honesty, he doubtless also set forth the story of his past life for the benefit of the Roman congregations; for what his companion Mark, who had known him since ';arly youth, wrote there is Peter's own story. In Mark's Gospel as well as in the other Gospels Peter grows beyond his stature more than docs any other figure in history. Small natural endowment becomes the lever of a great destiny. Like Paul he too was seized upon by An- other, not by a sudden grasp from out the world of mystery, but through patient guidance amidst events which very gradually ht learned to understand.
His name was Simon, son of Jonas, Him, the fisherman of Ca- pharnum on the Sea of Gennesaret, Jesus enrolled among His very own. The Galilean race to which he belonged had characteristics quite its own it was simple and confiding, fond of liberty and
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