Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/432

 HIS DEATH.

The epistle was probably the last great act of his life. No record, indeed, of any of his labors, except this living instance, exists of his later years; but there is certain ground for supposing that his residence in Jerusalem was characterized by a steady course of apostolic labors, in the original sphere of action, to which the twelve had first confined themselves for many years. When, by the special calls of God, in providences and in revelations, one and another of the apostles had been summoned to new and distant fields, east, west, north and south, "preaching repentance and remission of sins, in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," and bearing witness of his works, thence, through Judea, and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth," there was still needed one, who, highly "indued with power from on high," might remain in that city to which all the sons of Israel, throughout the world, looked as the fountain of religious light. There too was the scene of the first great triumphs of the Christian faith, as well as of the chief toils, the trials, and the death of the great founder himself. All these circumstances rendered Jerusalem still an important post to the apostles; and they therefore left on that station the apostle, whose steady courage in the cause of Christ, and blameless yet jealous conformity to the law of Moses, fitted him at once for the bold maintenance of his Master's commission, and for the successful advancement of the gospel among the faithful believers of the ancient covenant. Thus James continued at Jerusalem throughout his life, being kept at this important station, perhaps on account of his age, as well as for his fitness in other respects; as there is some reason to think that he was older than those more active apostles who assumed the foreign departments of the work. His great weight of character, as evinced in the council of the apostles, and by the fear which Peter showed of offending him, very naturally gives the idea of a greater age than that of the other apostles; and this notion is furthermore confirmed by the circumstance that the brethren of Jesus, among whom this apostle was certainly included, are mentioned as assuming an authority over their divine relation, and claiming a right to control and direct his motions, which could never have been assumed, according to the established order of Jewish families, unless they had been older than he. It is therefore a rational supposition, that James was one of the oldest, perhaps the oldest, of the apostles; and at any rate he appears to have