The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-01-24

God understandeth the end of man
from the beginning, and He makes
no mistakes or blunders. The finite
mind of man cannot compass the doc
trine of election. or how II can be
reconciled with the doctrine of free
grace, but, as IL has been beautiful
ly expressed, they are like the two
sloping sides of roof, we know they
meet, though the point of union 10
hidden from our view In the mystic
rious glories of eternity. From
Gods point of view the election pre-
cedes the call; from mans side of
the case, the call Is heard and obeyed
before the fact of the election is real
lied. As Henry Ward Beecher once
said: "The elect are the whatsoever
will and the non-elect are the whose
ever won't" Only God knows into
which division man is going to cast
himself by the exercise of the power
of choice. which God has given to
him. And as we have already said.
| our text considers the matter from
mans standpoint, and Peter may
| well admonish us: Wherefore the
rather, brethren, give diligence TO
make your calling and election sure"
A Good Start.--It is comparatively
easy to make u good start, but the
| start is not the finish. Between the
two, there may be many failure
and many fall. 1t is long, weary
| journey, sometimes, from the point
where the call is first heard to the
time when the call Is realized to be
the supreme purpose and privilege OF
life. But good start Is important,
and the failure and fall, the wander
ing and backsliding which may come
in its purpose towards God must not
and need not become an insurmount-
able barrier cutting the soul of from
a realization of it's earlier hopes and
aspirations. Peter made a good
start. He heard the call of the Mas
ter as he fished by the lake of Cali
lee, and leaving all he followed the
Christ through the three brief years
of His ministry. He drank in the
spiritual truths as they dropped from
the Masters lips, and he beheld the
mighty miracles which testified that
Jesus was the Son of God, and the
One sent to be the Saviour of the
world. When the controversy grew
sharp among the multitudes as to
who Jesus was and the disciples were
asked: But Whom say We that l
ann" Peter quickly and boldly de-
clares: "Thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God" When Jesus
warned Peter that he was to deny
Him before the morning light gilded
the dome of the temple with its
glory, he was vehement in his pro-
testations of loyalty, declaring that
he was willing to die with Him. But
when the awful fury of the betrayal
and trial of Jesus burst upon them,
overconfident Peter fell before the
prying question of maiden and
thrice over denied that he knew the
Christ, and the vile oath stained his
| lips in his effort to convince his
| questioners. 1t was terrible fall
before terrible temptation. His
first call to service by the Master
and his three years of tutelage
seemed us naught to him now as he
went out into the blackness of the
night and wept tears of bitter re-
pentance. The possibility of further
service for the Master, of even the
slightest association and fellowship
with Him, seemed closed forever.
Peter stood where every backsliding,
turn-coat Christian is standing or
has stood. The good start made
when the call of Jesus came to the
soul, and it surrendered to Him and
obedicntly turned and followed Him,
has been succeeded by the period of
failure and disloyalty, which began
at the point where self-interest was
allowed to dominate in the life and
which had it's full fruitage in the
final denial. And when the soul
awakened to realization of its fail
ure bitter anguish crushed with its
load and all was felt to be lost. The
period between the death and resur-
rection of Jesus must have been full
of awful dread and suspense to poor
| Peter, and not until his Lord APP
! peared unto him was new hope re-
vived in his heart. 1t is at this point
that the calling and election of God
are made sure. When the heart Is
humbled and broken as conse
quence of repentance after the fail
ure and the fall Jesus always comes
and reveals Himself anew to that
soul. 1t is the first step to reinstate-
ment. In the verse preceding the
ones of our text Peter speaks of
class of so-called Christians, who
have failed to seek with diligence to
make their calling and election sure
and have as consequence become
blind and unable to see afar off and
have even forgotten that Jesus had
purged them from their sins. 1t Is
not to these that Jesus appears and
revives the hope of new and sure
call, for they are blind and would be
unable to see Him; they are unre-
pentant, and not in a position to re-
ceive His full and free forgiveness.
But he who walks with Peter over
the hard stones of repentance and
waits patiently through the dark
days which follow failure and dis
loyalty will be rewarded by a new
vision of his Lord and q new call to