' (1 Peter v.
2, 4.) His Master's last command by the Lake of Galilee to feed His
flock was so deeply impressed on Peter's mind that it coloured all his
thoughts to the last day of his life. (John xxi.)

This Epistle of St. Peter was written, we believe, to comfort God's
people under the heavy trial of Paul's second imprisonment. Cruelty
and persecution were doing their worst, but God was above all.
'_Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to
try you ... but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's
sufferings._' (1 Peter iv. 12, 13.)

Two short, but very beautiful, epistles are believed to have been
written by two of the Lord's brethren, St. James and St. Jude.

Eusebius, the first Christian historian--born 260 A.D., died 340--tells
us that James was a Nazarite. This means that he had taken the old
Jewish vow of special purity; he ate no meat, drank no wine, and wore
nothing but white linen garments. This vow is often mentioned in the
Old Testament. James had not believed that Jesus Christ was the
Saviour of the world until after His Resurrection, when the Lord
appeared to him. '_After that, He was seen of James._' (1 Corinthians
xv. 7.)

This set his doubts at rest for ever, and St. James too was called to
write a part of God's Book.

Of St. Jude, author of the Epistle of that name, scarcely anything is
known, but from Matthew xiii. 55 and Mark vi. 3 we learn that he was
one of the Lord's brethren, and, like his brother, James, did not
believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah until after the Resurrection.
This Jude must not be confused with the Apostle Jude.

These writers of the New Testament as they took their reed pens in
their hands, and spread out their rolls of whitey-brown papyrus-paper,
were not like Moses. True, they knew that the Holy Spirit was bidding
them write, but that their written words should ever be used by God to
form a part of the Bible would have seemed impossible to them all.

[Illustration: PART OF AN ANCIENT COPTIC TOMBSTONE--IN BRITISH MUSEUM]

The last and by far the latest writer of God's Book was St. John, the
beloved disciple.

Long after most of the other Apostles were dead, he still lived on,
speaking and writing of his Master, and to the Apostle John the Lord
Jesus Christ entrusted the record of many of His most beautiful and
comforting words, and of the deepest and most spiritual teaching in the
whole Bible.

Three of the shortes