Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

"Blest among women" is thy lot: But higher meed we yield thee not, Nor more than woman name.

Nor solemn "Hail" to thee we pay,
Nor pray'r to thee for mercy pray,
Nor hymn of glory raise;

Nor thine we deem is God's high throne;
Nor thine the birth-right of thy Son,

The Mediator's praise.

Mother of JESUS, Parent dear!

If aught of earthly thou couldst hear,
If aught of human see;

What pangs thy humble heart must wring,

To know thy Saviour, Lord, and King,
Dishonour'd thus for thee!

ST. MARK.

John whose surname was Mark. AcTS xii. 12.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF ST. MARK.

THE Saint of this day is one of the two who are commemorated by the Church on the sole ground of their being Evangelists: a name, which was at first given to all those who preached the Gospel, though it was in process of time confined to those four, who wrote the history of the life and ministry of our Saviour, and whose four Gospels make part of the canon, or rule of faith, contained in holy Scripture. St. Luke is the other Evangelist, who stands on the same footing as St. Mark, the saint of this day. St. Matthew and St. John were Apostles, as well as Evangelists. The great benefit however derived by the Church from these labours of St. Mark and St. Luke, in leaving behind them authentick histories of our Lord, is a very sufficient reason for their being celebrated in the annual course

of the Church's holydays, and being made occasions of grateful commemoration to the honour of Almighty God.

In the Acts of the Apostles mention is several times made of "John whose surname was Mark." When Peter was delivered by the Angel out of the hand of Herod, by whom he had been imprisoned, the first place of refuge to which he resorted was "the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark".' When Paul and Barnabas had "fulfilled their ministry" of carrying relief from Antioch to the brethren of Judea, and returned from Jerusalem, they took with them John whose surname was Mark"." The same person is spoken of again in a subsequent passage under this double appellation. Sometimes also he is called by the name of John only and sometimes only by the name of Mark, or, which is the same thing, by that of Marcus', the difference being solely in our translation, which has thus rendered variously, and with some inconvenience, what in the original language is the same name. In one of the passages last alluded to, namely, in St. Paul's Epistle to the

a Acts xii. 12. d Acts xiii. 5, 13.

'Col. iv. 10. Philem. 24.

Acts xxi, 25.

C

Acts xv. 37.

e Acts xv. 39. 2 Tim. iv. 11.

Colossians, he is mentioned with an addition, as "Marcus, sister's son to Barnabas." There is little, if any, doubt that all these passages have reference to the same "John, whose surname was Mark."

In the close of St. Peter's first Epistle mention again is made of a person whose name was Mark: "The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you and so doth Marcus my son." It is generally, or even universally, allowed, that this Mark is the Evangelist: but it has been doubted by some writers, whether he be the same as John surnamed Mark, mentioned in the foregoing passages of the Acts and of St. Paul's Epistles. The grounds of this doubt are perhaps not very valid: so that we may reasonably and safely concur in Dr. Lightfoot's opinion, as cited with approbation by Dr. Lardner, when, making observations upon the first Epistle of St. Peter, Dr. Lightfoot remarks, "He sends this Epistle, says he, by Silvanus, Paul's old attendant, but now with Peter....His naming of Mark with him calls our thoughts back to what has been mentioned of Mark heretofore: his being with Paul at Rome, and his coming from him into the east. To suppose two Marks, one with Peter, and another with Paul, is to breed confusion where there needeth not....It is easily seen how

John Mark came into familiarity with Paul and Peter. And other Mark we can find none in the New Testament, unless of our own invention... He it was that wrote the Gospel." Indeed "it is plain," as Mr. Jones on the Canon of the New Testament observes, "that Mark, mentioned in the Acts and in St. Paul's Epistles, was an assistant to the Apostles; and the same is certain as to Mark the Evangelist, namely, that he was assistant, companion, or interpreter of Peter. Unless therefore we will suppose, that St. Paul's assistant and St. Peter's were both of the same name, we must conclude that the Mark, mentioned in the Acts and St. Paul's Epistles, was one and the same person, who at different times was with Paul and Peter engaged in the same work." We proceed then with our observations on the Evangelist, the Saint of this day: and shall make no scruple in adopting the decision of several learned writers, and understanding this same Mark to be intended, as often as we find his name in the Acts and the Epistles. It may be only requisite further to premise, that the authority of this Gospel is not affected by the question concerning the identity of Mark the Evangelist, and Mark, also called John, the nephew of Barnabas; since all agree that the writer of this Gospel was the familiar companion of St.

« ForrigeFortsæt »