This vast addition to the assembly of the disciples at Jerusalem, made
it necessary for the apostles to complete some farther arrangements, to
suit their enlarged circumstances; and at this period the first church
of Christ in the world seems to have so far perfected its organization
as to answer very nearly to the modern idea of a permanent religious
community. The church of Jerusalem was an individual worshiping
assembly, that at this time met daily for prayer and exhortation,
with twelve ministers who officiated as occasion needed, without
any order of service, as far as we know, except such as depended
on their individual weight of character, their natural abilities or
their knowledge of the doctrines of their Lord. Among these, the three
most favored by Christ’s private instructions would have a natural
pre-eminence, and above all, he who had been especially named as the
rock on which the church should be built, and as the keeper of the keys
of the kingdom, and had been solemnly and repeatedly commissioned as
the pastor and leader of the flock, would now maintain an undisputed
pre-eminence, unless he should by some actual misconduct prove himself
unworthy of the rank. Such a pre-eminence it is unquestionable that
Peter always did maintain among the apostles; and so decidedly too,
that on every occasion when any thing was to be said or done by
them as a body, Peter invariably stands out alone, as the undisputed
representative and head of the whole community. Indeed the whole
history of the apostles, after the ascension, gives but a single
instance in which the words of any one of the twelve besides Peter
are recorded, or where any one of them, except in that single case, is
named as having said any thing whatever. On every occasion of this sort,
the matters referred to were no more the concern of Peter than of any
other of the twelve, yet they all seem to have been perfectly satisfied
with quietly giving up the expression of their views to him. One
instance, indeed, occurs, in which some persons attempted to blame his
conduct when on a private mission, but even then his explanation of
his behavior hushed all complaint. Often, when he was publicly engaged
in the company of John, the most beloved of Jesus, and his faithful
witness, it would seem that if there was any assumption by Peter of
more than due importance, this distinguished son of Zebedee or his
equally honored brother would have taken such a share in speaking and
doing, as would have secured them an equal prominence. But no such low
jealousies ever appear to have arisen among the apostles; not one seems
to have had a thought about making himself an object of public notice,
but their common and unanimous care was to advance their great Master’s
cause, without reference to individual distinctions. Peter’s natural
force of character and high place in his Master’s confidence, justified
the ascendency which he on all public occasions claimed as his
indisputable right, in which the rest acquiesced without a murmur.