115 ST. PHILIP. Of all parts of Palestine, Galilee seems to have passed under the greatest character of ignominy and reproach. The country itself, because bordering upon the idolatrous uncircumcised nations, called Galilee of the Gentiles, the people generally beheld as more rude and boisterous, more unpolished and barbarous than the rest, not remarkable either for civility or religion. The Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast, for they also went up unto the feast;' as if it had been a wonder and a matter of very strange remark, to see so much devotion in them, as to attend the solemnity of the passover. Indeed both Jew and Gentile conspired in this, that they thought they could not fix a greater title of reproach upon our Saviour and his followers, than that of Galilean. 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' a city in this province, said Nathanael, concerning Christ. Search and look, (say the Pharisees,) for out of Galilee 1 1 John, iv. 45. 2 John, i. 46. ariseth no prophet;'' as if nothing but briars and thorns could grow in that soil. But there needs no more to confute this ill-natured opinion, than that our Lord not only made choice of it as the seat of his ordinary residence and retreat, but that hence he chose those excellent persons, whom he made his apostles, the great instruments to convert the world. Some of these we have already given an account of, and more are yet behind. 2. Of this number was St. Philip, born at Bethsaida, a town near the sea of Tiberias, the city of Andrew and Peter. Of his parents and way of life the history of the gospel takes no notice; though probably he was a fisherman, the trade generally of that place. He had the rà πρwτɛĩa, the honour of being first called to the discipleship, which thus came to pass. Our Lord, soon after his return from the wilderness, having met with Andrew and his brother Peter, after some short discourse parted from them: and the very next day, as he was passing through Galilee, he found Philip, whom he presently commanded to follow him; the constant form which he used in making choice of his disciples, and those that did inseparably attend upon him. So that the рwrоkλnσía, or prerogative of being first called, evidently belongs to Philip, he being the first-fruits of our Lord's disciples. For though Andrew and Peter were the first that came to, and conversed with Christ, yet did they immediately return to their trade again, and were not called to the discipleship till above a whole year after, when John was cast into prison. Clemens Alexandrinus tells us, that it was Philip, to whom our Lord said, (when he would have excused himself at present, that he must go bury his father,) 'Let the dead bury their dead, but follow thou me.' But besides that he gives no account whence he derived this intelligence, it is plainly inconsistent with the time of our apostle's call, who was called to be a disciple a long time before that speech and passage of our Saviour. It may seem justly strange that Philip should at first sight so readily comply with our Lord's command, and turn himself over into his service, having not yet seen any miracle that might evince his Messiahship, and divine commission, nor probably so much as heard any tidings of his appearance; and especially being a Galilean, and so of a more rustic and unyielding temper. But it cannot be doubted but that he was admirably versed in the writings of Moses and the prophets. Metaphrastes assures us (though how he came to know it otherwise than by conjecture I cannot imagine) that from his childhood he had excellent education, that he frequently read over Moses's books, and considered the prophecies that related to our Saviour; and was, no question, awakened with the general expectations that were then on foot among the Jews, (the date of the prophetic Scriptures concerning the time of Christ's coming being now run out,) that the Messiah would immediately appear.2 Add to this, that the divine grace did more immediately accompany the command of Christ, to incline and dispose him to believe that this person was that very Messiah that was to come. 1 Stromat. lib. iii. p. 436. 3. No sooner had religion taken possession of his mind, but like an active principle it began to ferment and diffuse itself. Away he goes, and finds Nathanael, a person of note and eminency, acquaints him with the tidings of the new-found Messiah, and conducts him to him. So forward is a good man to draw and direct others in the same way to happiness with himself. After his call to the apostleship much is not recorded of him in the holy story. It was to him that our Saviour propounded the question, what they should do for so much bread in the wilderness as would feed so vast a multitude;' to which he answered, that so much was not easily to be had; not considering, that to feed two or twenty thousand are equally easy to Almighty power, when pleased to exert itself. It was to him that the Gentile proselytes that came up to the passover addressed themselves, when desirous to see our Saviour, a person of whom they had heard so loud a fame. It was with him that our Lord had that discourse concerning himself a little before the last paschal supper. The holy and compassionate Jesus had been fortifying their minds with fit considerations against his departure from them; had told them, that he was going to prepare room for them in the mansion of the blessed; that he himself was 'the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man could come to the Father but by him,'3 and that knowing him, 'they both knew and had seen the Father.' Philip, not duly understanding the force of our Saviour's reasonings, begged of him that he would show them 1 John, vi. 5. 3 John, xiv. 8. 2 2 John, xii. 22. the Father,' and then this would abundantly convince and satisfy them. We can hardly suppose he should have such gross conceptions of the Deity, as to imagine the Father vested with a corporeal and visible nature; but Christ having told them that they had seen him, and he knowing that God of old was wont frequently to appear in a visible shape, he only desired that he would manifest himself to them by some such appearance. Our Lord gently reproved his ignorance, that after so long attendance upon his instructions, he should not know that he was the image of his Father, the express characters of his infinite wisdom, power, and goodness appearing in him; that he said and did nothing but by his Father's appointment, which if they did not believe, his miracles were a sufficient evidence: that therefore such demands were unnecessary and impertinent; and that it argued great weakness, after more than three years' education under his discipline and institution, to be so unskilful in those matters. God expects improvement according to men's opportunities; to be old and ignorant in the school of Christ, deserves both reproach and punishment; it is the character of very bad persons, that they are ever learning, but never come to the knowledge of the truth.'1 4. In the distribution of the several regions of the world made by the apostles, though no mention be made by Origen or Eusebius what part fell to our apostle, yet we are told by others, that the Upper Asia was his province, (the reason doubtless why he is said, by many, to have preached and 1 2 Tim. iii. 7. 2 S. Metaphr. Comm. de S. Philip. apud. Sur. ad 1 Maii, Niceph. H. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 39, p. 200. |