The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-04-21
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He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose
house is by the seaside. "-Acts K: g.
And L will give unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be
loosed in heaven. Matt xvi 10.
These words were spoken of and to the
! same person Simon Peter
Now if this man were alive now, and
should happen to be sojourning here in
Richmond, down at Rockets, in the house
of a tanner, would Richmond society call
on him? would they fete him? Would
they take him to the club?
We can imagine the disgust poor, blunt
Peter, with his bony hands, would create
in our more recherche religious circles.
He was staying cat the house of one
Simon tanner" None of your four
story, sixty feet front, stock brick, >
family residences, with liveried foot
man at the front-door, and a pair of paw
ing bays against the curb-stone: but a
low little wooden shanty, perhaps, sur
rounded by tan-vats, and enveloped in a
powerful smell of tan-bark, with the
added unsavory odors of old bones and
hides; this was the sort Of place Corne-
Illus was directed to to find Peter. Peter 8
clothes were not made by Shafer; he had
on no kid gloves; he did not sit in box
at the theatre. This man belonged to
the humber ranks of life; he was rough
and comparatively unlettered; he put on
no airs about family; he pretended to no
sort of elegance; he probably ate with his
knife or performed the equivalent mo-
ton of that day. And yet this rude,
laboring man was the friend of Christ
one of the pillars" in the kingdom of
God; one of the select circle to whom
were addressed those tremendous words:
"And whatsoever we shall bind on earth,
shall be bound in heaven" He it was
who opened with the keys the door of
the Church, and it was his high privilege
to constitute the rock" on which our
Lord was pleased to rear that Church
for Peter, who was the first to preach the
resurrection to the Jews was the first
also to open the door to the Gentiles
This last he did without conference with
flesh and blood 1t was to him that our
Lord addressed the memorable words
Feed my lambs" This is the man that
was stopping in Joppa Eat the house of
one Simon tanner, to whom the Roman
officer repaired for spiritual advice.
We do not fancy Peter in faultless
black, with coat cut straight down in
front, and a gold cross floating sweetly
on his bosom; he was not one of those
charming young ecc1esiastics that young
ladies admire, who go into the conserva-
tory to say their prayers. His raiment,
at least in his earlier life, consisted of his
fishers coat, and when at Joppa he
communed with the King of kings he
was surrounded, as we have minated
by the tainted atmosphere of his friends
lanyard.
We mean to point out by this the diff
ference between the standards Of heaven
and the standard weights of earth, the
different criteria by which God measures
men as compared with the standards in
our fashionable Christian society. Peter
would not have been invited to com
merce" party in the city of Richmond.
In the first place, he would have given
a serious turn to the affair which would
not have been agreeable; in the second
place, he would have been considered
vulgar
The Prince Of Life and the Lord Of
Glory made a companion of him.
We are not arguing against social dis
tinctions; that is not the idea.
What we have in mind is this that in
the eye Of God these social distinctions
are no more than the varying shades in
the brightness Of so many coins, which
shall be estimated rather according to the