The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-01-18
"PETER'S RENUNCIATIONS'
4 Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
Dr.. John lpstone.
Draws Lesson From Chapter ia the Life
si Simon Peter.

stone, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church,
preached Sunday morning a sermon on
The Life and Character Of Simon Peter"
the special subject being Peters Renun-
Citations" The text was from Luke v:S,
10, ii: When Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus knees, saying, Depart from
me-. for | am Ninful man. o Lord.
And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not;
from henceforth thon shalt catch men,
And when they had brought their ships to
land. they forsook all and followed Him."
DIR. Humpstone said:
1t was the second decisive day in the
life OF Simon Peter--a day Of destiny.
Months ago in Judea he had followed his
brother into the presence Of Jesus for the
first time he then saw and heard the Mes
siah With Peter, to see and hear was in
stantly to decide He became disciple,
forthwith. In the interval, Peter has been
some of the time in company with his Mas.
ter; but much of 1t at his business, toiling
and traffckiug: meditation his constant
avocation TO testify of the Christ to 9TH.
ers, as he met them in the contacts Of the
strand or the market his habit and. his
pleasure, No laggard, half-hearted disci,,
pie would Peter be, we are sure. His zeal
and enthusiasm would leao aim rather to
overwork the role of advocate; to urge
men with heat and energy to accept the
Messiahship of Jesus. even before they
were ready. There is an unwritten chapter
OF refers lie as only uiscip,e, Wuicn
would be well worth the reading IT we had
it. After its perusal we should he less
disposed than now we are to think that
usefulness in Christ's service is necessarily
connected with ordination thereto as an
exclusive calling. There could hardly be a
more effective showing of what a mere
disciple can do for his Master and his fell
low men than this lost leaf of Peters bio
graphy would furnish. If this were not
the case yop may be SIRE Jesus never
wSaid nave called Peter this day to the
continuous opportunities of the ministry;
nor, later, to the weightier responsibilities
of the apostolate.
For an incipient crisis had been precipi-
tated in the career of Jesus as Messiah. His
rejection at Nazareth was the cloud. no
bigger than a mans hand. that. ne~erthe-
less, portended the final distant storm
burst of hate unto death. from which
there would be no escape for Him. Re-
time He was gathering "His own" after
the spirit and repairing them to be His
perpetrators an interpreters. So He left
Nazareth to Ia up His residence at Ca
pernaum, that e might be near the most
prominent and promising of the group Of
His early disc les. What though these
were only a quartet Of fishermen! The
Lord saw not as men saw, but with the in.
sight of one who knew what was in man.
and needed not that any should testify OF
man." He knew the time had now come
to separate unto Himself and the service of
His kingdom the founders of His church.
His eye saw every precious possibility in
their nature. He Disseminated them one
from another, appreciating the individual
ity Of each, and yet discerning their COM
plimental temperaments and qualifications
With Him to feel was to act when His
"hour" had come He never deferred.
In the early morning. therefore. He be-
took Himself to the lakes shore: There
He found the multitudes already astir
The people were abroad, as the manner is
in the East, with the break of day; taking
the air, hasting on their errands, following
each his beat. But soon Jesus became the
centre of their interest and attention. The
fame OF Him was already everywhere. To
see Him was to wish to hear Him, with an
eagerness that would not he refused. Ac-
companied by continually enlarging
crowd He reached the place where the men
He sought were washing and mending
their nets after night of unrewarded toll
ON the lake. The boats were drawn up on
the beach, in the midst. Entering the one
him to thrust out little from the land"
that He might use the boat for a pulpit
from which to address the crowd. It was
to Peter He turned His first thought when
He set about the business of selecting His
future ministers. Whatever pre-eminence
sfterward belonged to Peter was deter
mined by the Lord Himself from the be-
ginning. He knew the qualifications for
leadership that were in him. He knew
also every abatement Of his fitness to be
first. But the elements that indicated his
gift OF precedence outnumbered the weak
nesses which continually threatened his
primacy. So it was Peters boat He elected
to enter. 1t was around Peters personal
ity. chiefly. that He chose to nucleate the
incidents of His calling of the four whom
He would now detach from their business
that they might henceforth give all their
time and thought to Him and to His mis-
sion.
Two distinct preparations He arranged
for the issuance and acceptance of the call
itself. The first was sermon from the
boat to the multitude. Alas! that the dis
course is unrecorded. What a lesson it
would be as to what preaching is at its
best Sitting in the shadow Of his Master
that day, watching now the Speaker, now
the audience, Peter go, lis first intro1uc-
tion to the science and the art of public
discourse for religious ends. When, by
and by, he became himself a preacher, we
may be sure that his discourses reflect the
Lords manner and copy His method
The sermon finished. followed miracle;
itself a symbol of the aim and end OF
preaching. Launch out into the deep and
let down the nets for a draught," was the
peremptory word of Jesus to Peter. when
His discourse was done. Then followed
Simon's characteristic exclamation peter
esque to the uttermost): "Overseer, we
have toiled all night and have taken moth.
ing; nevertheless at Thy word l will let
dow the net" As il he should have said:
"Thol Lord, art the one to command, l
to obey / have not seen too much of Thy
power and presence to refuse But have
my own idea of the rselessness of such a
proceeding under the conditions. Expe-
rience is worth something, especially in
fishing" Over went the NET. at last. and
in came the fish as it was hauled. So
many were the captives that both Peters
boat and Johns, suddenly sur,moned 10
help, were filed almost to the sinking
point
The effect upon Simon Peter was instan.
taneous and overpowering As In a fash
of thought he saw, as he never had seen.
felt, rs he never had known. the differ.
ence between his Lord and himself Over
against the Masters divine power his own
helplessness and ignorance stood forth as
black blot on a white surface. He who
had but Just now assumed that air and
professional superiority, slight though II
was; who had hesitated to trust implicitly
and to follow without question or protest
the wisdom and the precept of his Master
how was he fit for discipleship! In the
mementary anguish of his spirit, awed by
the vision first of his Lord, then of him
self, he proposed to renounce his peculiar
and personal relation to Jesus Christ. "I
am net worthy that Thou shouldst stay In
my boat or in Thy fellowship" exclaims
Peter even as he clasps his Lords knees:
aon forth from mo n Vo,J e.. -, =