The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-10-27

WHO need their help. The gospel habits
 We learn In youth we rarely forget"
 Peter as a Boy.
 Thus we find the old habits of Peter
 asserting themselves. Peter was born
 near the sea of Galllee. As q boy he
 used to play upon It's pebbled beach. As
 youth he used to swim and fish In its waters As young man he used to earn his livelihood by catching and selling
 the fish. AS a strong fisherman he had battled with many storms while setting his nets after his boat had been nearly
 submerged by the heaving pillows. Now. when the horrors of the crucifxlon were still surging through his mind and heart,
 the old habits of youth were again as-
 serting themselves. Back to the fisher
 mans tasks" was the call of his heart
 So may we train our children for Christ in the nursery that when the storm of
 persecution and the tornadoes of trouble
 batter against them and threaten to sub
 merge them they may find divine solaoe | and gospel comfort in the lessons We have
 taught them in the quietude of the nur-
 sery and in the inspired truths they
 have learned at the family altar.
 But there Is another weighty lesson to
 be learned from the scene of my text.
 The easiest way to overcome the tidal
 waves of trouble Is by hernessing our selves up to work. Inactivity and inertia
 are only too willing to sit by the bedside
 of heartrending grief and weep with us ! when we weep and talk over with us the sickening tragedies of the past But their chief mission Is not to heal the
 wounds of life or to stop the hemor-
 images of bleeding hearts. They only take the bandages off the pain racking wounds and start the bleeding afresh.
 The best way to fight grief is to go forth In a manly Christian way and lift our
 cross and silently carry our burden along and not stop to make complete h. ventory of our misfortunes. Peter knew this truth, as every brave man ought to know 1t.
 Back to Daily Duties.
 Cannot you near him say to the other disciples: Men, what is the use of our sitting here and nursing our grief? By dwelling on the scenes of the past can we lessen one iota any of our sorrows? Would Jesus want us to sit around idle like this? We cannot bring him back to us. Like David with his dead boy, we can go to him, but he cannot come to us. Have We not daily duties to perform?
 Have we no hungry mouths to fill? Are
 not our wives and children dependent upon us for food? If Jesus does not want me to follow him and preach at least he wants me to be an honest man and pro- vide a home for my family. I used to
 earn their living by a fishermans net. l
 can earn them bread by selling fish again. I go a-fshing.a Then the othec disciples said '"We also go with thee" Yes, the sad fact is that many people do
 not fight the sorrows of life by the &C., tivities of life. Like Job of old, they
 nurse their grief by tearing theiy gar ments and by weeping and complaining in sackcloth and ashes.
 Here, for instance, is a wife and mother who has been blessed with as noble family as God ever gave to a home. From th morning when the sweet throated songstress called love sang amid the
 bowers of the orange blossoms the sum-
 shine of joy has always been flooding her life. Her life, like humming bird, has winged it's way from flower to flower.
 The stinging nettles and the hard, stony pathways were for others. Only the rest full tender symphonies of a happy life sounded their music in her heart But
 one day the shadow of the broad winged
 messenger of death passed over her head 1 Now, as before there are seven places
 at her family table, but one of the baby
 chairs is vacant. Does that mother al-
 ways arise In the morning with sweet smile upon her lips and take up her duties of life cheerfully? Does she help her hus-
 band bear his grief? With a noble Chris tan resignation, does she thank God that
 she has still four babies left? Does she live to make them happy? Or does she
 sit down and nurse her grief Are her cheeks being continually splashed by the fountains of her tears? Does she put away all her bright clothes and advertise her
 sorrow by repulsive crape? Does she go
 forth with brave heart to bind up the bleeding wounds of her neighbors? Does she continually expect her neighbors to
 come and talk to her upon only one sub
 ject, the loss of her baby girl? My friend, God sent you sorrow to prepare you for helping others bear their trials. The easiest way to overcome grief is by brave ly lifting up your cross and going forth
 to comfort others. Peter fishing for food for his children on the sea of Gailee Is 8
 far more commendable sight than Peter with tear-staned cheeks. nursing his grief
 upon the pebbled beach of the sea of Tiberias.
 Troubles Never Come sinely. But there is another fact which inn
 presses me about Peters fishing expedi- ton, and that is that troubles do not live a hermit's life They do not perch as a
 baldheaded eagle upon the crags and the cliffs in solitary glory. They love com
 panionship. Like some fish, they travel
 in schools Like the cattle. they pasture together in herds. Peters troubles were cumulative. They came in companies.
 Like the snowflakes, they persisted in pill ing themselves up into a great, impossible drift. Like the mighty onrushing rivers. they gathered upon the waters of many
 brooks and creeks and fountains. In the first place, Peter had an awful remorse gnawing at his heart for his denial of
 Jesus Christ Do you not suppose he
 thought of that apostasy day in and day out? After your father died, did there not for weeks and months and years lin-