2. Secular calling.— It is unnecessary to pass under review the occupations followed by our Lord in youth and by His Apostles. See artt. Trades, Carpenter, Flshing, etc.
3. Spiritual calling.— («) Our Lord Himself, who calls all others, was ' called of God ' (He 5^) to
(lie Mcssiah^liip. It is an irrelevant sentimentality that dwells too much on the ' carpenter of Naza- reth.' Jesus was full of the consciousness of His calling, its requirements, its limitations. Not to cite the Fourth Gospel — abundant signs of this, but in the usual golden haze blurring all sharp outlines— we have Mk p8(?) 2" 10«, Mt 5" 15^^ etc. etc. It is one of the services of RitsclU to recent theology— with anticipations in von Hof- mann— that he has made prominent the thought of Christ's vocation, displacing the less worthy and less ethical category of Christ's merit. In tlie Gospels this vocation is expressed by the word ' sent ' or I ' came ' (as above ; or'' hira that sent me,' Jn i^ etc.), not by 'call.' If there is any one point in our Lord's life where it may be held that the 'call' definitely reached Him, — where He became conscious of Messiahship, — we must seek it at His baptism (Mk P-" ; three parallels).
(b) In dealing with the call addressed by Christ to His disciples, we begin with the Apostles. Taking the ditt'erent Gospels together, we seem to recognize three stages. (1) According to St. Jolin, (Christ's first disciples were Galilteans who, like Himself, had visited the Jordan in order to be baptized by John : Andrew, John, Simon Peter, Philip, Nathanael (presumably = Bartholomew ; see art. Bartholomew, above), and presumably James the brother of John (Jn 1^-'^'). The only one mentioned as called with a 'follow me' is Philip (1^^) ; and it is possible that this is rather an invitation to follow on the journey to Galilee than through life (and deatli). For tlie rest, we have acquaintancesliips and attachments appa- rently forming themselves— elective affinities dis- played, rather than the Master's will exercised ad hoc ; but the result, according to St. John, is the formation of a small yet definite circle, who are disciples (2=- '=■ " etc. etc.) of Jesus now, as others are (and as they themselves previously were) of John the Baptist. (2) The Synoptists tell us of the call in Galilee ('Come ye after me,' Mk 1"1| Mt 4'" : ' He called them,' Mk l'-" |1 Mt 4=') of Peter, Andrew, James, John. The first two are called with a sort of pleasantry ; they are to be 'fishers of men,' in allusion to their former occupation. St. Luke has the same narrati\e (.">'"") in a more picturesque form ; the borrowing of Peter's boat, in order to teach from it as a pulpit ; payment after sermon in the form of a miraculous draught of fishes ; Peter's fear as a sinner at the near presence of the supernatural ; the same kindly hon mot; all four fishermen ['M'.'] on tlie spot; all four becoming disciples. Here the call (see art. Disciple below) involves leaving everything to follow Christ (Lk 5", Mk lO"-^ cf. l'^-^^, Mt 19-' cf. 42i'-22). Previous acquaintance with these men may have induced Jesus to begin His teaching by the Sea of Galilee [an 'undesigned coinci- dence ' ?]. Other members of the discijile circle in Galilee must, have been added one by one ; some by elective affinity ! Not all volunteers might be re- pelled like the scribe of Mt 8''-'|| Lk Q^". Matthew the publican, however (Mt 9", Lk 5^' Levi, Mk 2''' Levi the son of Alph;eus), is called straight from his place of toll to 'follow,' and instantly obeys ; a memorable incident. (3) Tlie final ' call ' in this series appears when Jesus "calls to him whom he himself will,' and 'appoints twelve, that they may be with hira, and that he may send them forth to preach and . . . cast out devils' (Mk 3'^ etc. ; so too, though less clearly, Lk 6" ; not in Mt. ; 10' 'his twelve disciplesj' v.° 'the twelve apostles'). (4) (.)r, if there is another stage still, it is iiKiikr.l « Wn they are ' sent out ' for the first time (Mt lii\ .Mk 6', Lk 9'), or when in conse- queiicf of (lii^ the name 'apostles' (see art. Apostle) is attached to them. Thus, in the case
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CALL, CALLING
CAMEL, CAMEL'S HAIR
of at least twelve men, the call has issued in a very definite calling ; permanent, and in a sense official.
((•) Another group possesses a varied interest. It includes volunteers ; it relates 'calls' to service addressed to those who were not destined to be Apostles ; it oft'ers examples of the call rejected. There are four cases ; the rich j'oung ruler (Mk 10" etc. and parallels), and a group of three found together (Lk 9"-62 . partial parallel Mt 8'^-==). The scribe (see Mt.) who volunteers means, or professes to mean, discipleship in the intenser sense. He will follow ' wherever the Master goes ' ; he will ' leave all,' like the Twelve ; the stumbling-block of pro- perty, which was too much for the young ruler, is no stumbling-block to him. This volunteer meets not with welcome but rebuff; and, so far as we know, there is an end of his gospel service. Again, the man whose father is just dead— that seems the ine.xorable sense of the words— is needed immediately as a herald of the 'kingdom of God' (so Luke). And the other volunteer, who, with less urgency (so far as we are told) is anxious ' first ' to bid farewell to his home circle, is ' look- ing back ' from the plough. St. Luke seems well justified in making these narratives introduce a wider mission (that of the 'Seventy'). And here we get important light on the demand tliat tlie rich young ruler should give away his property. This may have seemed to our Lord's discernment necessary for the man's own safety — does not tlie sequel point in that direction ? But, even inde- pendently of that, though a Christian might be a man of means (see below), a wandering preacher could Iiardly be. These were calls to service, which met, temporarily or finally, with tragic refusal. Whatever else the refusal may have implied is God's secret.