MARK THE EVANGELIST (ante), called "John whose surname was Mark," and simply "John " in the earlier parts of the Acts, but in a subsequent passage and in the epistles " Mark " only; was, perhaps, a native of Jerusalem, as his mother lived there in the firet days of the church; probably became a disciple under Peter's ministry, as Peter calls him his " son;" was a companion of Paul and Barnabas as far as Perga in Pam phylia, where he left them and returned to Jerusalem. When they were about to start the second dine Barnabas was resolute in his purpose to take Mark with them, but Paul thought that it was not proper to have with them one who had once before left them in the midst of the work. This difference of opinion on a-matter so vital produced a sharpi contention between the zealous co-laborers and friends which resulted in a division of their work, Barnabas taking Mark with him to Cyprus, and Paul, with Silas as his com panion, going by land, through Syria and Cilicia and thence to the west. Nearly all the information concerning Mark which the Scriptures after this supply is found in Paul's epistles in which the apostle's references to the evangelist are highly honorable to both. Paul may have thought, on subsequent reflection, that he had been hasty in his judgment, or, as is more probable, Mark's steadfastness of character may have been increased by experience and especially by the remarkable dispute and separation to which his earlier conduct had given rise. One thing is certain, that Paul's notices of him are all nobly'
commendatory. To Philemon he ranks him with Luke among his fellow-laborers, words which from Paul mean much; to the Colossians he sends the salutation of Marcus's sis ter's son to Barnabas, adding the significant parenthesis--" touching whom ye received commandments, if he come unto you, receive him ;" and to Timothy among the last recorded words before his martyrdom, after telling him to use diligence in coining quickly unto him, Ile says, " Take Mark and bring him with yourself, for he is very profitable to me in the ministry." While the New Testament thus describes Mark as; during different portions of his life, a companion of Paul, Peter speaks of him as, proba bly at an intermediate time, present with him when he wrote his first epistle. By the earliest Christian writers after the apostolic age he is described as the companion of Peter rattier than of Paul.