Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-01
}Deter.
By Rev. DR.. Floyd W. Tomkins.

~ OMEHOw we love the Bible char
80 acters who were the most human,
% the most like ourselves, men sub
ject to like passions as we are That
is why Jacob and David and Peter have
always especially appealed to US. Their
faults were SO evident. and yet their
heart-loyalty was so absolute. I have
little sympathy with that modern dislike
for good" people. The saints Of the past
and the present are not to be despised or
stunned, but rather are they to be cult
waited and emulated. It Is splendid
thing to know and love a good man. The
good boy mot the "goody-goody' boy who
makes a show Of goodness, but lacks
forceful qualities) is a rare and q val
liable asset IN our schools and homes. I
wish there were more Of them. And yet,
without Inconsistency, one can honestly
say that the average lad. of q sterling
heart, but sometimes falling into mis-
chief, seems to get hold of the fellows
about him In peculiar fashion: his very
failures bring him into closer touch with
his companions. And so it is with men
One cannot altogether explain it. 1t Is a
Kind OF paradox. But Jacob Is admired
more than Joseph, and David more than
Daniel. and Peter more than John; or If
not admired they are more earnestly stud
led We feel that they come nearer to
US In our consciousness Of our faults.
The great virtue possessed by them
all was that they would not keep away
from God: In spite OF their faults they
were always coming back to Him with
confession and sorrow. Weak and fall
Ing. they get up and stagger back to
their Father. Cowardly and sometimes
even dastardly. they grow ashamed and
acknowledge their disgrace. They are
Ike ball held to a center by a strong
cha1n-hyfng out as II determined to
escape and cut a path for themselves.
and then coming in a hasty, irregular
kind of way to the very heart of their
life from which they would not really
escape If they could. So was 1t with
Peter. He cries out with superb dar-
ing and with inspired faith, Thou art
the Christ" and then he denies the same
Christ because he is afraid of the
high priests servant. He starts out to
walk on the water with absolute con-
fidence. and then, seeing the waves and
buffeted by the winds. he shouts, Lord
save me" DR. Matheson has a fine
chapter on Peter. in which he says:
His soul is battlefield between
bravery and cowardice and here con-
tend for the mastery of his heart the
two most opposite things in Ife-the
heroism Of the soldier and the abject-
ness of the poltroon." Yet In his letter
& Peter the predominant character
tstic Is courage He mounts on a STEP
ping stone of his dead self to higher
to the highest-things.
Peter was only a fisherman. and though
doubtless an intelligent man and pos
sessing some education he had to come
to Christ in order to obtain that power
which should make him q fisher Of men,
The dear God takes us as we are and
makes US what we can never make our
selves. He even turns our weaknesses
into means for education, and forces us
to ride on our very passions to fight His
battles. Did IL ever occur to you how
strange II was that Peter was chos en- to
rebuke and punish the lie Of Ananias and
Sapphire (Acts. %? He had told three