River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-12-01

- the most helpful of Christ's
twelve Apostles, and the secret OF
his assistance lies in TIE Scriptural
revelation of his human nature, its
strength and weaknesses, He was
the first of the twelve Apostles to
acknowledge the Master as the Mes
siah, the Sent of God; he was the
first of the twelve to deny him. He
was the only one of the twelve who
drew his sword in the Masters de-
tense and the only one who, later,
swore that he never knew him. BY
Divine arrangement, TO him were
given the keys with which to open
the door to the High Calling-to
the Kingdom At Pentecost he
used one of the keys of power and
boldly proclaimed to the Jews the
opening of the way to glory, honor
and immortality.
A little while later at the appoint
| ed time, he opened the door to the
same High Calling for the Gentiles
when, by his preaching, Cornelius,
the first Gentle acceptable to God,
was received and begotten of the
Holy Spirit, this fact giving evil
dence that the middle wall of parti-
ton, previously separating Jew
and Gentle, had been broken down.
Yet, after all this knowledge and
special opportunity, this great man
subsequently dissembled to the ex-
tent of ignoring Coos grace to the
Gentiles as being sufficient, discrim-
mating between Jews and Gentiles
and their equality before the Lord.
| But in all these experiences St.
Peter displayed the fact that his
| heart, at it's core, was loyal to God,
to truth, to righteousness and that
the weaknesses, the faults, the
| blemishes of his character were of
| his flesh and not of his real heart
| intention. For his denial of the
Master he wept bitterly And for
his failure to recognize the Gentiles
he made full reparation most hum
bly,.
The same exhibition of human ma
ture which makes the Apostle Peter
attractive is that which made David,
the Prophet and king of Israel, at
tractive. He was not SO sanity that
he could not make mistake He
was not so far above the remainder
of humanity that they could not
| realize in him a fellow-creature.
Yet withal he was not so debased
as to make him abhorrent. His
weaknesses were fully offset by the
abundant evidence of his heart 10y
atty to God and to righteousness
His very experiences in stumbling
and recovery have so saturated his
Psalms that they touch respon-
sive chord in nearly every heart
which is loyal to God and which
has had any degree of experience
with sin and weakness-its own and
those of others.
HOW OTHERS SAW ST. PETER
Peter remains even to-day the
most fascinating of that band of
men who surrounded our Lord in
the days of his early pilgrimage.
G. c. Morgan said of Peter: Now
l am convinced that in Peter we
have the greatest human revealed
in the New Testament. | do not
say the greatest man in his achieve
ment or in one particular capacity
Of his being, but the most wonder
full revelation of human nature.
This man of intelligence was per
petually making plumbers. This
man of emotions was guilty of such
impulse that he worked harm in the
very cause he desired to help"
Of St. Peter Southouse says:
''Pet er was an average man, and
for this reason he comes nearer to
US than some his colleagues do
But average men have their splen-
did moments, such as when St. Peter
tried TO walk on the water, for in
this action he tried to do a thing
for which be seemed to have no
abilities. He set out to do some
thing of which he had no expert
ence."
DR.. Davis said about st. Peter:
'Peter was intellectual. He asked
Jesus more questions than any
other of the Apostles. The ca
pacity for asking questions is a rev.
citation of the intellectual. 1t may
also be a revelation for ignorance;
but the man who never asks a ques-
ton is certainly deficient in his
intellectually. Peter was
man of heart, sobbing and impet-
uous. His virtues and his faults
had their common root in his en-
thusiastic disposition. 1t is to his