Then the Lord had warned Peter that Satan had desired to have him, and he--remembering that solemn fact in his own life--tried to put his readers on their guard against the great enemy, '_because your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour._' (1 Peter v. 8.) Most touching of all are the words he wrote: '_For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God ... because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example._' (1 Peter ii. 20, 21.) The man who had seen the Lord Jesus Christ suffer patiently could never forget. '_Feed the flock of God which is among you.... And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory._' (1 Peter v. 2, 4.) His Master's last command by the Lake of Galilee to feed His flock was so deeply impressed on Peter's mind that it coloured all his thoughts to the last day of his life. (John xxi.) This Epistle of St. Peter was written, we believe, to comfort God's people under the heavy trial of Paul's second imprisonment. Cruelty and persecution were doing their worst, but God was above all. '_Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you ... but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings._' (1 Peter iv. 12, 13.) Two short, but very beautiful, epistles are believed to have been written by two of the Lord's brethren, St. James and St. Jude. Eusebius, the first Christian historian--born 260 A.D., died 340--tells us that James was a Nazarite. This means that he had taken the old Jewish vow of special purity; he ate no meat, drank no wine, and wore nothing but white linen garments. This vow is often mentioned in the Old Testament. James had not believed that Jesus Christ was the Saviour of the world until after His Resurrection, when the Lord appeared to him. '_After that, He was seen of James._' (1 Corinthians xv. 7.) This set his doubts at rest for ever, and St. James too was called to write a part of God's Book. Of St. Jude, author of the Epistle of that name, scarcely anything is known, but from Matthew xiii. 55 and Mark vi. 3 we learn that he was one of the Lord's brethren, and, like his brother, James, did not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah until after the Resurrection. This Jude must not be confused with the Apostle Jude. These writers of the New Testament as they took their reed pens in their hands, and spread out their rolls of whitey-brown papyrus-paper, were not like Moses. True, they knew that the Holy Spirit was bidding them write, but that their written words should ever be used by God to form a part of the Bible would have seemed impossible to them all. [Illustration: PART OF AN ANCIENT COPTIC TOMBSTONE--IN BRITISH MUSEUM] The last and by far the latest writer of God's Book was St. John, the beloved disciple.