Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-26
EXAMPLE OF PETER
Is Rather to Be Followed Than That
Of Judas, the Traitor.
THEIR SINS WERE ALMOST EQUAL,
But There Was Much Difference in Their
Subsequent Conducts.
REV, MIR. HODGES ANSWERS A LETTER
WRITTEN FOR THE D1sPArCH.l

| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.l
These two sentences are set down close to.
gether in St. Matthew's record of the first
| Good Friday: "Peter went out and wept
bitterly" "Judas went and hanged him
self"
Each Of these men had a chapter in his
| life which contained the story of black
sin. Between the man who betrays his
Master and the man who denies Him there
| is a difference, but not very great differ
ence. One is about as bad as the other. In
deed, there has been more said in defense OF
Judas than of Peter. Judas, some people
think, made mistake in Judgment He
was in a hurry; couldn't wait; whatever
was going to happen, wanted it to happen
now. The Kingdom of Heaven was coming,
| Christ said, coming in its own good time.
But in the opinion of Judas it was not COM
| ing fast enough. Sometimes it seemed as if
/ it were not coming at all. Day by day the
cause of the Prophet of Nazareth seemed to
be losing ground.
The Apology for Judas.
Judas saw that plainly. It was as inccm-
prehensible to Judas as it was to Christ s
unbelieving brethren that anybody who de-
| sired, as he did, to win the world should
not show himself openly to the world. Judas
wanted great, spectacular, faith-compell-
| ing miracle; and he conceived the idea that
| if the Master were once set in such posi-
tion that choice was necessary between
death and a public declaration Of His King
shin, there would be enacted such q sign
and wonder in the eyes of Jerusalem that
all opr osition would be silenced and
Christ would be set upon the throne of the
| nation.
So he consented to play traitor. So he
gave up his Master into the hands OF His
enemies. And the faith-compelling miracle
did not happen, and the decisive word was
not spoken, and Judas found that, instead
of that, was shame and insult, and splitting
and the scourge of the cross. And he flung
down his infamous wages upon the temple
pavement and went and hanged himself.
Less to Be Said for Peter.
1t is not by any means certain that the
apostles defended Judas after this fashion.
He betrayed his Master, and he went ''to
his own place''-wherever that was-and
beyond that the apostles tell us very little
We can only hope, in charity, that this ex-
PLANTATION OF that black sin may have some
light of truth in it. Anyhow, it is the best
that can be said for Judas And it is more
than can be said for Peter.
Peter was afraid The soldiers got about
him in the guardroom with loud threaten
ing voices, and the man was scared for his
life And he declared with the emphasis
of an appeal to God, taking his oath upon
it, that he was no disciple of Jesus of
Nazareth, had no connection with Him nor
much as looked into His face
before that night And Jesus
came out from the presence of
His enemies, and heard that speech, heard
His own friend, one of the three whom He
had taken closest to His heart, cast Him out,
reject Him and deny Him. Pontius Plate
was better man that day than Peter.
Even Judas did not betray his Master to
save his own life; had no use for his life
further when he learned what his betrayal
really meant
Peter Didn't Hang Himself
Judas went and hanged himself That
was more than Peter did. Peter went out
and wept bitterly, felt very bad about it.
But there is a good deal of difference be-
tween putting handkerchief to ones eyes
and putting rope about ones neck. Ought
not Peter to have initiated Judas?
The question is, what shall a man do who
has committed great sin? Shall he go out
and weep bitterly, and then try to make up
for his otfense and be a decent man again?
or shall he go and hang himself? A man
can hang himself without a rope. He can
initiate Judas without getting buried in the
potter's field. He can go hanged through the
rest of long life. That is, he can make him
self absolutely miserable, torture his soul,
put his conscience in the rack every night and
break his heart on the wheel He can COM
NIT moral suicide. Now, which is the best
IL al +1o L Al. II
or the apostle with the broken neck? The
alternative is between hope and despair.
The Story of a Letter.
That such question is not a needless one,
nor far removed from the common life of
came to me the other day; a letter unsigned
and undated, the writer of it wholly un-
known to me. The letter asks this ques-
ton:
Can one sir" my correspondent wants
to know, zone sin, the result of fevered
and diseased mind, committed by a person,
whose entire life up to the time of its COM
mitment had been one of earnest labor and
care for others, and whose life since has
been one long severe struggle
to root out the memory and
live an earnest life-can this sin be forgiven
so that even in this life some gladness may
allowed mentioned circumstances be called a
sin? If not, why is there no way in this
world of proving it so that the life may not
be a perfect wreck to the one who has SO
sinned?"
'Can some light and comfort be given on
this subject in the columns of The Dis
PATCH? l find nothing in my Bible that
exactly touches this case; or, if 1 do, 1 can
not comprehend it. My heart is slowly dry
ing up and my mind becoming paralyzed
as L grope in the dark. l shall look, oh so
anxiously, until find in the sermon some
thing to comfort me, or teach me what to
do"
Answers of Peter and Judas.
1t seems to me that this is exactly the
same question which was in the mind OF
Peter and of Judas when they came to
realize the fearful meaning of betrayal and
denial. They had each of them committed
a sin no doubt thousand times greater
than that which is referred to in this letter.
And they said, each of them in the depth
of his heart: And now, what shall l do?
Is there any pardon for my sin?
And one answered yes, and the other
answered no. Everybody must see which
answer was the right one. Peter found out
presently that Christ was most infinitely
forgiving; and Peter was good man, and a
helpful man, and happy man all the rest
of his life. Judas did not wait to find out,
gave up at once in absolute despair, and
went out and hanged himself. The question
of forgiveness is a question between the
soul and God. Whether God will forgive
one sin, or hundred sins that a man has
done, depends partly upon the man and
partly upon God
How Hosea Learned of God.
r.