common rights and interests, convened to consult, and act for the common good. Doubtless Peter and many of the Jews were familiar with this meaning of the word, and would understand Christ to say, “I am to have my ‘called’ and ‘chosen’ ones separate from the unbelieving world in which they live,—a company of friends,—immovable in their devotion to me—like a building on an impregnable rock which no hostile power can overthrow.” But it is the opinion of scholars that Christ ordinarily spoke Aramaic,