Orange County observer., 1902-09-25
A SEkMUN FUK SUNDAY
AN INSTRUCTIVE AND ELOQUENT Dis.
COURSE ENTITLED "NOW PETER"

AN INSTRUCTIVE AND ElOtaUENi Us
COURSE ENTITLED "NoW PETER"
The Rev. DR.. ). wilbur Chapman's An
alysis of Child Hearted. Waywaro'
Generous, Biblical Character =. Ihe
Three Denials.
New YORK CIrY-The following reada-
BILE and helpful sermon is by the Kew. LIE.
j. Wilbur Chapman, the best known evan.
gelist in the country >and one OF the most
popular antsa Rgapt Sfas0rs Peter S1 ne" and was
preached from the text: 'Now Peter sat
without in the palace" Matt XVI: SO.
: This is the master stroke OF the great
artist in painting the picture OF this child
hearted, wayward, generous, loving man
whom we know as Peter. 1t is one OF the
shadows in the picture, but the shadows
help us to appreciate the more the hght.
It is single sentence, and yet in it we
find the secret of a souls downfall, the
cause Of the heartache of the Son OF God,
and note of warning for Gods people
everywhere.
Peter was in dangerous position. First
of all. because he sat in the presence OF
the enemy. In the first Psalm the warning
is give. that we should not walk in the
counsel Of the ungodly, mol, stand in the
scornful," and this last is the most hurtful
position of all. Poor Peter was sitting
down. He also is to be pitied because he
sat without" There is a circle within
which every child of God must keep if he
would have both peace and power. Ii IN
Imagination we take compass in our
hand and set one point at the place where
we would have the centre and with the
other point describe the circle, we have the
picture of the Christian life. The centre of
the circle is Christ, and the circle itself is
described by prayer and Bible study and
fellowship with the saints. T0 keep within
this circle is to keep in touch with Christ
To sit without is to be in danger, and poor
Peter had stepped outside.
The sermon which has been greatly blessed
to the people throughout the country is the
one which bears the title, "And Peter"
This one is sent forth that it may be a
companion Of it, and carry the name Of
"Now Peter"
The first service that I can find that
Peter ever rendered unto Christ is record
verse: "And He entered into one of the
ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him
that he would thrust out little from the
land. And He sat down and taught the
| people out of the ship" like him for his
service. I have an idea that just the way
he pushed the boat out as the Master was
standing in it made Jesus understand that
go far toward moving the world. Is it not
true that much of the great work that we
find about us to-day begins in just SO hum.
BILE fashion as did the work of Peter?
/ like to study him in his writings. Some
parts of the Bible ought always to be read
| in the sunlight. The beautiful story OF
Ruth, and the letter to the Philippians are
examples of this. Others are for the dark.
ness. Peters epistles would thps head the
at night that we see the phosphorescence
of the waves. It is when we stand in the
darkness and read Peters precious words
| that we catch the best vision of the light
which comes down from heaven and rests
upon men.
like to study him in his preaching, fo1
it is just the kind that everybody ought to
be able to do. You may say that it was
| simply. string of texts, that mighty ser
mon of mis- at Pentecost, but if you should
| say this was all that he said we could re.
| ply, as we have said in another place, it i.
all that Peter said that the Holy Spirit
thought worth recording.
1 like him for his sincerity. You can
read him at glance. He could not be q
would believe him; he generally thought
| aloud. While men sometimes admired
him, frequently. laughed at him, generally
censured him, they always loved him
| i like him for his promptness. He was
the first to enter the tomb that he might
see where the Lord lay.
| [ liked him for his courage. He was moi
afraid to stand in the very midst of the
enemies of Christ.
I like him for his intensity. It is true
he made mistakes, but the pendulum swunf
as far toward uprightness as it did toware
failure.
My text is to be read in connection will
his denial, and thus we begin the more tt
appreciate the story. Christ had givel
him warning when He said, Simon, Sata1
hath desired thee that he may sift thee a
wheat" and again when He said, 1"Thi
night you shsll be ashamed of Me-" ant
| before the cock crow thou shalt deny M
thrice" He warns Us, too.
The oak that goes down in the midst o
the storm does SO because through tn
long Years it's heart has been eaten ava,
by the worm. The soul of the child of Go,
is never overthrown suddenly, and if
goes down it is because it has steadily los
ground in meters that were too trifin
to cause alarm. II you should fail to-mo1
row you will doubtless find the cause
YOU look back on the history of to-day
The neglected Bible Of to-day, the neglect
ed prayer of to-day, the neglected fellow
ship Of to-day, means the denial of to-mo1
row.
It is not to &c forgotten that there wer
three denials. Whec Jesus was take
into the presence Of these who were to col
denim Him Peter followed and wanted t
go in, too. It is said in Johns Gospel ths
another disciple, who was known unto tn
high priest, had gone in with Jesus, an
this, of course. must have been John; the
doubtless knew him at the door and l
passed through without question. Whe
he saw that Peter was rot in he went
the door and secured his admission.
can just imagine bow Peter must ha,
walked up and down the courts now sittin
now standing, now trembling for his saf
ty, for in those days ss to-day, "conscien
makes towards of us all"
The frsc denial was at the wicket gat
To the little girl that admitted him to tt
court he said:
II know Him not"
He might have taken warning and gol
back if he had but remembered the wor
of Christ, for he was just at the edge
the circle; one side meant peace and t
other side despair
doubt not that so.ne one who rea
.. these words has just passed through t
wicket gate, turning away from a life