St. John was nearly 100 years old when he wrote his Gospel: he had spent a long life in preaching and exhorting, and we are told that, when his great age prevented his continuing his active labours, he used to be carried into the public assemblies of the Christians, in order to repeat his exhortation, "Little children, love one another": words constantly repeated in some shape or other, in the writings of this Apostle, who also dwells much upon the love of Christ for man, as a reason why men should love Him, and love each other for His sake. Let us try to obey the precept, "Love one another"; remembering that St. John also says, "Love not in word neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth"; that is, do not talk about your love, but show it by your actions. Love to Christ must show itself in obedience; love to man for His sake, by kindness to every fellow creature, and by doing all the good we can to them, whether they are kind to us or not.

St. John died quietly at Ephesus, about a.d. 100: his faith and love were great, therefore his death was peaceful and happy; for he felt that he was now going home to his beloved Master, Whom he had faithfully served for many years on earth.

A century, or space of 100 years, had now passed since the birth of Jesus Christ: at the time of that event, the inhabitants of the world, with the exception of the Jews, were Heathens or Pagans; who, in their total ignorance of an Almighty and Holy God, gave themselves up to follow their own sinful inclinations, and were guilty of every sort of wickedness and vice. The Jews, though still retaining a nominal observance of the Law of Moses and the worship of One True God, had strangely forgotten and forsaken the religion, so long the glory of their nation. Thinking more of temporal than of spiritual things, they wilfully misunderstood the writings of the prophets, and looked for a temporal king in the promised Messiah: those who dared to hold a different opinion, were treated with contempt.

The two sects of Sadducees and Pharisees, though in other matters opposed to each other, equally set at naught the holiness of heart and life commanded by the Law of Moses. The Sadducees, denying the possibility of a future life, laughed at the idea of denying one's self any gratification here, from the fear of punishment hereafter. The Pharisees, passing by the Moral Law, which it did not suit them to keep, taught, that a strict observance of the Ceremonial Law, and of the traditions handed down from father to son, would secure the favour of God.

Thus Sadducees and Pharisees both destroyed all true religion; that is, all devotion of the heart to God, producing holiness of life.

The consequence of this was, that the knowledge and love of God were daily growing less amongst the Jewish people, and rapidly ceasing to have any effect on their motives and actions. So that, both as regarded Jews and Gentiles, it might truly be said, "The whole world lieth in wickedness."

The doctrines and precepts of our blessed Lord, were meant to make man hate and renounce all sin and wickedness; to show him the necessity of self-denial, and of holiness in thought, word, and deed; and to set before him that love towards God, which was to be the motive and principle to govern all his actions.

Thus, wherever the Gospel was received, a great change at once took place; and the close of the first century, found the world in a very different condition from that, in which it had been at the beginning. Mankind must now be considered as divided into three classes: First, the Heathen, who, in addition to all former wickedness, now added a spirit of hatred and persecution towards those who rejected their false religion, for the Truth as is in Jesus. Second, the Jews, who, in spite of all the miseries they had gone through for their rejection of Jesus Christ, still clung to the Law of Moses; hating the Heathen, but above all, hating the followers of Jesus with an increasing hatred. The third class comprehended all, who, by the mercy of God, had been brought out of either of the other two classes, to be sincere and faithful followers of the precepts and examples of the Holy Jesus. This class, called Christians, already contained a very large number of persons of all ages and sexes; and their number was increasing daily, by fresh converts from amongst the Gentiles.

Thus, by the close of the first century, the Church of Christ was so firmly established upon earth, as to defy all the efforts made to overthrow it.

Even during the first century the Christians suffered persecution; and many of them were put to death, because they would not give up their belief in Jesus, and act contrary to His precepts. This cruel persecution of the Christians continued during the second and third centuries; sometimes with greater, sometimes with less severity. But it has been truly said, that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church"; for numbers, seeing their holy lives, and then witnessing the wonderful manner in which they were supported to bear the most exquisite tortures rather than give up their religion, felt that there must be some sure and strong foundation for such faith and steadfastness, and were thus led to become Christians themselves; and by their future conduct and martyrdom they again, in their turn, brought others to join the Church of Christ, which thus extended itself rapidly on all sides.

Before the close of the second century, Christianity had been established as the religion of the Britons; but how, or by whom, it was brought into our island, we do not know: it seems very probable that, during the long interval in which we know nothing of St. Peter's movements, he came to Britain, and established the Church which has ever since existed here.

In reading of the martyrs, we should remember that they, knowing that the favour of God was the only thing worth having, were willing to suffer and die in order to obtain it; trusting to the Lord to give them a happy issue out of all their sufferings. They did not trust in vain. We must also recollect, that the religion of the martyrs was no sham; no system of outward forms, but an entire devotion of the whole heart and life to God; and that the same devotion is required of Christians now. If we are not now called upon to suffer martyrdom, we are called upon to give our hearts to God; and show our Faith, by denying ourselves in everything contrary to His Will, whatever pain or difficulty we may have in doing so.

Do we do this?

The Jews, who outlived the destruction of their city and temple, sought refuge in different parts of the world. Many went into Egypt, where there was a Jewish colony, that had been established in the time of Alexander the Great. Others fled to Cyrene, another part of Africa. A large number removed to Babylon, and joined their brethren who had remained from father to son in that country, instead of returning to Jerusalem when the decree of Cyrus permitted them to do so. Some took refuge in Persia and other Eastern countries.

By degrees, these Jews formed a regular system of government for themselves.

They were divided into Eastern and Western Jews. The Eastern Jews were those who settled in Babylon, ChaldÆa, Assyria, Persia, and the adjacent countries. Those who remained in JudÆa, or took up their abode in Egypt, Italy, and other parts of the Roman dominions in Europe, were called Western Jews. In the course of time, these two parties each chose some distinguished person as their head, or chief. The chiefs of the Eastern Jews were called "Princes of the Captivity"; and those of the Western Jews, were simply styled "Patriarchs." Gradually these chiefs obtained more and more influence and authority amongst their fellow countrymen in all matters. Both parties of Jews also founded schools, that the children might be fully and carefully instructed in all the doctrines and practices of their religion. But these things were done gradually during a long course of years, one step leading to another; for naturally, on their first dispersion after the destruction of Jerusalem, their whole attention was turned to securing a safe asylum, where they might worship God after the manner of their fathers—as far, at least, as they could do so; but the destruction of the Temple had rendered it impossible to keep the feasts and offer the sacrifices, so strictly enjoined by the Law of Moses.

The impossibility of obeying the precepts of their religion, should have made the Jews more ready to listen to those, who declared that the promised Messiah had indeed come; and that therefore, the Old Dispensation contained in the Law of Moses was at an end.

As Scripture history closes before the destruction of Jerusalem, all that has been said regarding that and subsequent events, has been gathered from other histories; and all that has been related concerning the latter days of some of the Apostles, has been supplied in a similar way. It will be well now to give a short account of the labours and deaths of such of the Apostles as have not been already mentioned; only remembering, that whilst we have every reason to believe such accounts are true, we cannot feel certain, as we do in regard to all the facts related in the Holy Scriptures.

Taking, then, "the names of the twelve Apostles" as given by St. Matthew (x. 2, &c.), we have "first, Simon, who is called Peter." Of him we have heard much in the course of our Lord's life, and during the time of which the Book of Acts gives us the history: and we have also spoken of what he is believed to have done after that period, and of his martyrdom. Of "Andrew his brother," we only know that he was also a fisherman, and that he was a disciple of John the Baptist, with whom he was standing when the Baptist said of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God." Andrew, nothing doubting, at once sought an interview with Jesus, and then went to find, his own brother Simon, giving him the joyful news, "We have found the Messias." Andrew became afterwards one of the constant followers of our Lord, chosen to be Apostles; and his name is mentioned two or three times in sacred history.

From other sources we learn, that after the Ascension of our Lord, St. Andrew travelled to Byzantium, now called Constantinople, and there founded a Church; and that he also preached the Gospel in the Crimea. But he ended his life in Greece, under the following circumstances: St. Andrew was preaching at a place in Achaia with great success, when Ægeas, the pro-consul or Roman governor of the province, came there, and was greatly enraged to find that multitudes had already been converted from Heathenism to Christianity: he therefore told the Apostle, that he should be crucified unless he would himself offer a sacrifice to the heathen gods. This St. Andrew of course refused to do, and he was put into prison; but the people were so angry at this, that they would have rescued him by force, had he not begged them not to do so; telling them that he was quite ready to suffer martyrdom, if such was the will of God. It is said, that amongst other miracles performed in the name of Jesus by St. Andrew, he had healed the wife and the brother of Ægeas of diseases; and that both had, in consequence, become Christians. This made the pro-consul still more furious; and, in his rage, he ordered St. Andrew to be severely scourged by seven men, before he was put to death. He was tied to a cross of the shape of the letter X; and it is said that he hung upon it for two days, during which, in the midst of his agony, he continued to instruct and exhort the people. After his death, his body was embalmed and buried with all honour, at the expense of a noble lady, named Maximilla. We are told that, 300 years later, St. Andrew's body was taken to Constantinople by the Emperor Constantine, who had become a Christian, and buried in a church which the Emperor had built in honour of the Apostles.

In after times, St. Andrew came to be looked upon as the patron Saint of Scotland.

A cross, the shape of that upon which St. Andrew was crucified, is always called a St. Andrew's Cross.