as in prison for the first
time in Rome; and in the letters to Colossae he is mentioned as being a
comfort to the Apostle then. He sends salutations to the Colossians, and
is named also in the nearly contemporaneous letter to Philemon.
According to the reference in Colossians, he was contemplating a journey
amongst the Asiatic churches, for that in Colossae is bidden to welcome
him. Then comes this mention of him in the text. The fact that Mark was
beside Peter when he wrote seems to confirm the view that Babylon here
is a mystical name for Rome; and that this letter falls somewhere about
the same date as the letters to Colossae and Philemon. Here again he is
sending salutations to Asiatic churches. We know nothing more about him,
except that some considerable time after, in Paul's last letter, he asks
Timothy, who was then at Ephesus, the headquarters of the Asiatic
churches, to 'take Mark,' who, therefore, was apparently also in Asia,
'and bring him' with him to Rome; 'for,' says the Apostle, beautifully
referring to the man's former failure, 'he is profitable to me for'--the
very office that he had formerly flung up--'the ministry.'

So, possibly, he was with Paul in his last days. And then, after that,
tradition tells us that he attached himself more closely to the Apostle
Peter; and, finally, at his direction and dictation, became the
evangelist who wrote the 'Gospel according to Mark.'

Now that is his story; and from the figure of this 'Marcus, my son,' and
from his appearance here in this letter, I wish to gather two or three
very plain and familiar lessons.

I. The first of them is the working of Christian sympathy.

Mark was a full-blooded Jew when he began his career. 'John, whose
surname was Mark,' like a great many other Jews at that time, bore a
double name--one Jewish, 'John,' and one Gentile, 'Marcus.' But as time
goes on we do not hear anything more about 'John,' nor even about 'John
Mark,' which are the two forms of his name when he is first introduced
to us in the Acts of the Apostles, but he finally appears to have cast
aside his Hebrew and to have been only known by his Roman name. And that
change of appellation coincides with the fact that so many of the
allusions which we have to him represent him as sending messages of
Christian greeting across the sea to his Gentile brethren. And it
further coincides with the fact that his gospel is obviously intended
for the use of Gentile Christians, and, a