The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1851-02-19
xife 81 WE Apoate Peter.

This Apostle was born at Bcthsai.
da,a city Of Galilee, situated on the
banks ofthe Lake Gennesareth, Gull.
cd also the sea Of Galilee, and some.
times the Lake of Tiberias. The par
ticular time Of this great Apostles
birth cannot be known, the Evange.
lists and other writer's among the
primitive christians, having been ST.
lent on the subject. It is pretty Ger.
tain however, that he was at least
ten years older than his Divine Mas.
ter the circumstances Of his being
married and in @ settled course Of
life,Mhen he first became a follower
ofthe Messiah, and that authority
and respect which the gravity of his
a person procured him among the rest
ofthe Apostles, sufficiently declare
,. this conjecture to be just.
lilo was called by his parent Simon
or Simeon, o name common at that
time among the Jews. But after he
becamca disciple of the blessed Je-
/. sus, the additional title of Cephus
was conferred upon him by his mast.
er, to denote the frmness Of his faith.
The word Cephus in the Syriac, (thc
common language of the jews at that
timc,) signiied a stone or rock, and
thence in Greek he is called Pettos,
and by US Peter, which implies the
same thing.
With regard to the parents of St.
Peter, the Evangclists have also been
silent, except in telling US that his
fathers name was Jonah, and was
highly honored by our Saviour, who
chose two of his sons, Andrew and
Petcr, to be his apostles. St. Peter,
in his youth, was brought up to the
trade of fishing on the Loke of Beth.
saida, famous for different kinds of
fish, which excclled all others in the
fneness of their taste.
We have scriptural accounts of
several miracles performed by this
Apostle, the most remarkable of
which was his instrumcntality in res.
toring Tabitha, (whose Greek ZANE
was Dorcas,) to life after she was
laid out and dressed in her burial
,tclethcs. The scriptural narrative of
his life ends with his settlement at
Rome, where he is supposed to have
continued several years, when he
was banished, with other christians,
by q decree ofthe Emperor Claudius.
He returned to Jerusalem, and Fuse
bus tells us that he visited several
western parts 0 the world, spreading
the glad tidings Of salvation.
Towards The end Of Nero's reign,
Peter having returned to Rome, or
I ders were given by the Emperor for
experimenting him, together with his
companion, Paul. They were both
cast into tho Marnestime prison, and
confined there for six or eight months.
During this time, it is said, St. Peter
wrote his second epistle. The two
apostles were codemned 20 death bv
tho ityrant. st. Peter was tihe first
to suffer; on his coming to the place
fA'<ofieXecution on the Vatican mount.
he requested to be crucihed with his
head downward, affirming that he
was unworthy to suffer in the slime
posture that his Lord had sfered be.
fore him. When his body was taken
down from the cross, it was bnried
near the Appian way, two miles from
Rome.
Wanderinss of a Deafand Dumb Man
s. A Nantes journal relates the fol.
lowing almost incredible story of the
peregrinaticns Of deaf and dumb
man at lie Mans. lie was in the
employ of an ~inkeeper Of that place.
and on tho 14th February, 1913,
obtained permission from his master
to SO and attend the funeral Of an
acquaintance at about a league dis
lance from his home. On his return,
he vas set down at a very short dis.
lance from his house, but missed the
road, and went OF walking until he
? found himself in q country where he
was unknown. As he could neither
give nor receive any precise indica-
tons, he travelled through France
$ in the midst Of all the disorders of
the Revolution, arrived as far rs the
frontier of Switzerland, thence went
to Toulon, and along the coast Of the
Mediterranean as far as the Pyre-
necs, entered Spain, returned again
into France, was put into prison at
Bordeaux for vagabondage, was after.
wards set at liberty, and again ar
rested in the neighborhood of Nan.
tes, where he at length found means
! to put an end to his wanderings.
4 He was taken to the Deaf and Dumb
Asylum Of St. jacques, where he
succeeded in pointing out such par.
ticulars as to design lie Mans as his
place of residence. He also made
the teachers Of the establishment un.