50 EQUALITY OF THEAPOSTLES. xxii. 25, 26, "exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority over them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greater (d ít,& v) among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is leader (ó il7oúpr.svoç) as he that doth minister:' That is, " Whatever privilege any of you obtains, let it not be em- ployed in way of command, but rather of compliance and subservi- ency, as occasion shall require ; let him not pretend to be a superior, but rather behave himself as an inferior." Thus our Lord smothered the debate, by removing from among them whatever greatness any of them affected or pretended to, forbidding that anyofthem should xvp:súsir, or ouo cí srv,exercise any dominion or authority over the rest, as worldly princes did over their subjects. Again, upon another occasion (as the circumstances of the place imply, Mark x. 37; Matt. xx. 21), when two of the apostles, of special worth and consideration with our Lord, St James and St John, the sons of Zebedee, affected a pm-eminence over the rest, requesting of our Lord, " Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory" (or " in thykingdom," as St Matthew has it, that is, in that new state which they con- ceived our Lord was ready to introduce), which request does not seem to import any great matter of authority, nor probably did they desire so much as our adversariesgive to St Peter; yet our Lord not only rejects their suit, but generally declares that none of themwere capable of such a preferment in his kingdom, which therein differed from worldly dominion, because in it there was no room for such an ambition, especially in that state of things wherein the apostles were to be placed, which was a state of undergoing persecutions, not of enjoying dignity or exercising command, all the preferment which they reasonably could aspire to being to be dispensed in the future state (whereof theywere not aware), according to God's preparation, in correspondence to the patience and industry any of them should exert in God's service; upon which account St Chrysostom says, " It was a clear case that St Paul should obtain the preference."' It was indeed, as our Lord intimates, incongruous for those who had forsaken all things for Christ, who had embraced a condition of disgrace, who were designed, by self - denial, humility, neglect of tem- poral grandeur, wealth, and honour, by undergoingpersecution, and undertaking conformity to our Lord (" being baptized with the baptism with which he was baptized"), to propagate the faith of a crucified Master, to seek or take on them authoritative dignity; for among them there could not well be any need of commanding or being commanded : it was more fit that all of them should conspire to help and serve one another, in promoting the common design and I EúónXov öar añ¢ ávmaáaw do.oxaúvcaar ayuñs xai srposVas.Chry8., tom. v. Or. 33.
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