The Penn's Grove record., 1908-10-02

send peace on the earth; I came not
to send peace, but a sword?"
How are we to explain the paradox
of these two contradictory texts?
Shall we avail ourselves of the liberty
OF criticism and say that one appears
in the Synoptic Gospels and is his
torical, while the other appears in the
Fourth Gospel and is unhistorical?
Shall we decided that one of them
is an Interpolation? This is alto
gether too easy and ready a method.
Let US wait and see if we may not
bring them into harmony.
First of all let us look at the Sec
ond text and see how true it is. He
sent those disciples forth into the
world. Did not they find the sword ?
Their story is a continuous one of
persecution, imprisonment, death. If
there vas the n thing they did not
I'M it was peace. Peter and John
began at jerusalem. They were told
that they must not speak or teach in
the name of Jesus. They went out,
prayed for courage and went to
preaching again. For it they were
beaten with stripes. They received
their hundredfold reward with per-
secutions."
What mockery are Jesus words to
Him. peace I leave with you"
How fortunate if the Fourth Gospel
were written very late and is unrella-
BILE Does it not make our Lord
guilty of false prophecy?
The story goes on through succeed
ing ages. The successors of these
disciples live and die in Roman cata-
combs and caves. They are hunted,
%hungered. despised, prosecuted, suf-
fering unto death. How it must have
Knocked them: peace 1 leave with
you" Jesus bequest was broken, or
at least this codicil revoked.
But even all this is less p%erplexing
than the utterance coming from the
lips of the man who spoke it. Wa
1t a mistaken prophecy of Jesus? Be-
cause His W life was so calm and
peaceful did He suppose that His
disciples would be also? Look for
a moment at the life of the man from
whose lips these words come. Fol
low Him in His WEAKNESS, in His re-
lection, in His disputes with carping
critics, with His misunderstanding
and quarreling disciples. Not a place
to lay His head. Go with Him on the
m~ountainside at night. Witness Him
in the Garden, where He sweat, as il
were, great drops of blood. Behold
Him On Calvary between thieves
Watch Him crowned with thorns
buffeted, spat upon, Knocked in dis,
dain. What a contrast and contra,
diction are His words: Peace
leave with you; My peace 1 give unto
YOU" Evidently we must accept thu
prophecy of our second text and den,
the truth Of the first.
Before doing so let us go back ant
look at those disciples again and be
hold another aspect of their life
Peter is there, it is true, in prison
But we read about the presence O
an angel of the Lord and of a light il
the midst of the darkness. Think O
some of those little gatherings in tn
upper rooms with the breaking O
bread and prayers. Look at Pau
with his visions all full of beauty
Read his ep~istles, vibrant with jo,
and hope and faith. On the sinkin
ship he is the n buoyant spirit O
them all. He goes into the midnigh
prison again where he sits thrust int
the inner ward with his feet fast i
the stocks, and you hear him, WI
Silas, singing hymns.
Go back again and look at Rae 81
of Jesus. Look beyond the cutwar
vicissitudes. Seek to pene rate rs VI
inner consciousness of Che sdfsertn
man. There is no : caeht % be.
simism in His Gospei lie is eve
lighted up by fa' ana ho1s ana 10
Behold Him bcfGre Fiiatei Ills coul
tenance is ~rntroubIsd plate is ii
disturbed .ItG restless cRa the fro1
blesome dreams we're Those IS I'll
chamber OF his household
Our paradox 9ar.ly solved. BOT