The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-20

gion-to return. telling them that Jesus
Christ keeps per doors for such" HI
sees the deafness, the formality, the
worldliness, the ~wickedness, in the
that they "sorely need a -econversfon.'
This Is plain. The Saviou said to Peter,
who was SO confident of himself. that
he would hold put and never betray his
Lord and Master-"Peter, when tbou
art converted. strengthen thy breth-
rem" Peter fell, and it was a great
fall-he fell far and heavy" He de-
MED and he cursed. He denied thrice,
and three times did the Saviour ask
him-"Peter, lowest thou Me?" Three
times had Peter to make his confession.
Dr.. Cuyler. with true insight and ex-
cellent responsiveness, says: MY
friend, IL o have grown cold in heart,
n indolent in duty, II prayer has be-
come a penance and the world has
eaten out your love OF the Master. don't
go hunting amid the rubbish Of memory
for a lost religion. Give up the old
hope and seek after a better" There
are tens of thousands IN the churches
who need to do their works over and
to seek in deep penitence IAN injured
Fathers face" If they were ever with
in the ark, they nave tumbled out
somehow. If they ever found Christ"
they have so strayed away as to have
lost sight of Him. They are again in
the wilderness of sin. Come back, come
back, is the invitation of Heaven. The
wise Presbyterian quoted from, under
stands Peters case and applies it. He
says with true insight:
IF Peter inned grievously, he re-
pented deeply, and worked grandly, and
fought g~lOriously until his heroic mar
tyrdom brought to him his respondent
crown. Dig down deep, my friend, and
lay the foundations Of a new and
stronger life on Jesus Christ. If Christ
once kindly said land Peter you can
write your name in the same roll Of
penitents, and say, Peter and me-"
In material greatness our own coun-
try has been a pronounced success. In
an hundred years it accomplished Won
ders, and has excited the envy and ad-
miration Of other peoples and nations.
If vast material expansion were all,
her these United States might we'll
move the nations to emulation and RI
valry, and they might we'll be the
theme to inspire the highest eulogium
of the orator and to provoke the lofti-
est inspiration Of poetic genius. But
money getting is not the highest mani
festation Of the age nor the greatest ex-
preston of manhood. There is some
nObler achievement than worldly gain.
Money is not the one thing needful to
gain the prize Of Heaven. The Saviour
told the sorGid young man who said
he kept all the commandments to go
and sell what he had. God demanded
the highest sacrifice his covetous ma
ture could make-to surrender what he
had and to give all to the poor. A re-
cent American scholar and author, Pro-
fessor Peck, in his striking poem in
The Bookman, on Money" says of it:
'tCal1 it by numerous names, tranSmute
it or mint it or melt it,
Still supreme will it sway the world
and it's wallowing millions,
Still will it master the minds of men
while he who beholds it
Sees in it's depths whatever responds
to the cry Of his yearnings."
The poet sees the power of money so
great as to silence wen the ebuke of
the pulpit when the holder Of it is as
"a merciless %tyrant," who
''Coins from the blood of the poor the
price Of their bitter undoing."
He says "the smoothed faced"
preacher or priest, as che stand in the
perch of his pulpit" beholding the rich
is silent. He beholds the man "of
invincible millions and sees him in his
wrong doing and expressions and he is |
dumb, for
Him beholding, the priest perceives
the auriferous a il
Round the ophidian head and his voice
momentarily falters.
Then his message Of wrath he diverts |
to the sinners Of judah.
But OF the sins Of the reptile before
him c%omplacently basking
Never a word does he say; and his
voice with it's unctuous accents
Oozes with oil as he ends in a bland,
benedictory
the lightnings Of God in a |
platitudinous puddle"
Yes, there is something greater, |
nobler than mere money get
ting. There are higher prizes to be won
to be called a Croesus or a Roths-
child or an Astor. Wonderful is the age
in men of vast wealth, but the great
are not many. The Bedford Jail
was a higher throne than that of any |
or ancient monarch. The men
Of the crown die and go to their places. |
But the inspired tinker is read around
the world today and his wondrous
work of creative genius is the delight of
hundreds of thousands Of the children
of God, and his fame is with the ages, |