(_b_) Now, let a few words spoken by the same S. Peter on a memorable occasion be considered:—“Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the LORD JESUS went in and out among us, _beginning from the Baptism of John_, unto that same day that _He was taken up_ (ἀνελήφθη) from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of His Resurrection.”(311) Does not S. Peter thereby define the precise limits of our SAVIOUR’S Ministry,—shewing it to have “begun” (ἀρξάμενος) “from the Baptism of John,”—and closed with the Day of our LORD’S Ascension? And what else are those but the exact bounds of S. Mark’s Gospel,—of which the ἀρχή (ch. i. 1) is signally declared to have been _the Baptism of John_,—and the utmost limit, the day when (as S. Mark says) “_He was taken up_ (ἀνελήφθη) into Heaven,”—(ch. xvi. 19)? (_c_) I will only further remind the reader, in connexion with the phrase, πᾶσῃ τῇ κτίσει, in ver. 15,—(concerning which, the reader is referred back to page 162-3,)—that both S. Peter and S. Mark (but no other of the sacred writers) conspire to use the expression ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως.(312) S. Mark has besides κτίσεως ἧς ἔκτισε ὁ Θεός (ch. xiii. 19); while S. Peter alone styles the ALMIGHTY, from His work of Creation, ὁ κτίστης (1 S. Pet. iv. 19). VI. But besides, and over and above such considerations as those which precede,—(some of which, I am aware, might be considerably evacuated of their cogency; while others, I am just as firmly convinced, will remain forcible witnesses of GOD’S Truth to the end of Time,)—I hesitate not to avow my personal conviction that abundant and striking evidence is garnered up within the brief compass of these Twelve Verses that they are identical in respect of fabric with the rest of the Gospel; were clearly manufactured out of the same Divine materials,—wrought in the same heavenly loom.