The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-01-18


the worst of ourselves He IA busy making
the hest Of us. When we think. such I.
our sense of unworthness. that lie ann
we must part company, then lie "a most
resolved never to leave nor to forsake us.
Fear not" rings out His word ct cheer;
''This is the beginning Of richer life and
wider service. Henceforth thou shalt catch
men" For the knowledge of self and the
distrust OF self IL arouses, and the knowl'
edge OF Christ. with the confidence. in
Christ it awakens these are the first
shoots OF spiritual growth and the hrst
ciple's usefulness. Spiritual sensitiveness
Il the condition OF ministerial effective.
ness. II is the man who knows he is not
6t TO minister whom Christ can make So.
Therefore. when the boats with their
marvellous freight Of fish, had been brought
to land. did Jesus ask OF Peter and his
partner that surrender of themselves to
service, which involved the separating OF
Themselves from every other interest and
occupatjon to exclusive and continuous
companionship with Christ. and TO con.
slant work for others. under His direc.
ton. Then and there, as one of four. did
Simon Peter make that supreme renuacia.
ton, which. because it was made at his
own command. and was the manifestation
OF faith. and the proof OF love, the Lord
accepted, and forever after blessed: "They
forsook all and followed Him" It was
sacrifice OF conservation which only those
who have done the like are it or compe.
tent to judge. II we are ready to put. our
selves in Peters place. to face the indeter-
inmate future as he faced it. that day: to
think of the kind of interest in his husi.
ness man OF such energy must have had,
and the enthusiasm for his occupation as
fisherman which evidently, to the last. he
felt: il we are observed to note the latent
evidences in the gospel story that the busi-
hoI anJ
pered, so that Peter and his associates
dwelt in comfort, bordering on the edge,
at least of competence, estimated by the
standards of that land and age-then we
shall know what venture of faith and ex.
preston OF confidence in his Lord Peter
made when he left all for Christ, giving up
the chance of future gains and binding
himself to the sacrifcial use of present
possessions for the common good. 1t is
frequently said. disparagingly, Of Peters
remuneration of the world and its good,
at was a little all that he left" and
Peter has been criticised, for himself. re-
ferring, at a later day., to the sacrifice he,
nets. dirty and old, an occupation espe.
ciallv laborious and in some features OF i
repellant to men of ordinary refinement"
was what he left, we are told. Well per.
haps it was so; more likely it was other
wise. But whether the "all" were little or
much, Peter left it; left it instantly. utter;
" and without regret. He transferred
himself in profoundest faith and liveliest
gratitude to Jesus Christ and His service
exclusively, forever For Christ's sake,
the works sake, the worlds sake. he re-
nounced his former life and ambitions. to
give himself and all he had unreservedly
to Jesus Christ. And Christ welcomed.
a,pplauded and has abundantly rewarded
the sacrifice. 1t is surrender not asked
of every disciple, but in proportion as any
disciple approximates its spirit of faith
and conservation, in that measure will he
realize his completest spiritual life. 1t is a
sacrifice completer even than is asked of
every disciple called to an exclusive min
istry; but only to the degree that the min
lister Of Christ can detach himself from the
world, and its spirit of gain getting, will
his largest spiritual power and widest in.
fiuence be realized. Here stands Peters
noble example of renunciation for Christs
sake, upon the pages of scripture, summon
ing us all. from our vain seeking for ma
terial good as the all of life; and from our
disposition to keep what we have gotten
as exclusively as our own. Christ's disci-
ples belong to Christ and all they have is
His: whether they are called to use it all
in His more immediate service or not
Let every servant of Jesus beware of los
ing his life in the effort to save and cher
ish it. ''For what is a man profted If he
shall gain the whole world and lost his
soul?"
Surely the incentive to such sacrifices is
not wanting in the light of Peters subse-
quent career. On that later day, when the
rich young ruler had gone away sorrowing
because he had great possessions, and was
therefore unwilling to make the renuncia-
ton, which, in his case, Jesus had asked
to save him from the cancer of avarice,
which was eating out his life, Simon Peter,
after the Lord had discoursed little on
the deceitfuness and hindrance of riches
undul7 loved. said, ''Lo, we have left our
own and followed Thee" Whereupon
Jesus replied, Verify l say unto you,
there is no man that hath left house. or
wife. or brethren, or parents. or children,
for the kingdom Of Gods sake, who shall
not receive manifold more in this time,
a7d in the world to come eternal life"
And has not that promise been abundant
y fulfilled in Peters case? One thinks
not so much of the eternal distinction that
has come to him in the veneration OF null
tndes who think of him as the foremost
apostle of the church: nor OF a memorial
to his name so magnificent as that which
rears its lofty graceful dome to the Ro.
man sky, but OF the unfolded fulness of his
spiritual life as registered in his epistles;
Of the influence he has exerted upon men
from the Pentecost onward: of that pecu-
liar etiauence of help and cheer which he
ever has, exhaled through his individual
need for painful discipline and his equally
triumphant realization of purified and
ennoblel character, grown strong and lux
uriant out OF the very soil of its many in
frmities Surely the remuneration OF ST.
mon Peter was not in vain, either for him
self or for the world. What that little
life of his might have remained to be, or
deterorated to become, in its narrow Sy.
rian round, ii he had refused the call OF
Christ, who can adequately say? But the
then have been and what he now is suf.
fees to move us to the swift acceptance
of every proposal Christ makes to us, and
the speedy answer to every call of His for
ourselves and our service, at whatever
present cost that answer must be given.
Seeing Christ.
When Simeon went into the Temple and