That is to remember them, to study their
characters, and to thank God for them--both for the virtues which He
bestowed on them, and the example which He has given us in them.
For these old saints lived and died for our example. They are, next of
course to the Lord Himself, the ideals, the patterns, of Christian life--
the primeval heroes of our holy faith. They shew to us of what stuff the
early Christians were made; what sort of stone--to use St Paul's own
figure,--the Lord chose wherewith to build up His Church. They are our
spiritual ancestors, for they spread the Gospel into all lands; and they
spread it, remember always, not only by preaching what they knew, but by
being what they were. Their characters, their personal histories, are as
important to us as their writings; nay, in the case of St Peter, even
more important. For if these two epistles of his had been lost, and
never handed down to us, St Peter himself would have remained, as he is
drawn in the Gospels and the Acts, a grand and colossal human figure,
every line and feature of which is full of meaning and full of teaching
to us.
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