i'Shh 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



441^ 



J)lYgEl£F WH JAYji^m^Bdn^. 



All ye shall be offended because of me this night. 

 Matt. 36:31. 



fRIEND LIGIITY has given me a good 

 thought in tliat severe letter of his, 

 and I feel to thank liim for it. Per- 

 haps he did not intend it, and may be 

 he did not have it in mind at all ; but 

 I thank him for it, all the same. And this 

 is one of the grand good things about Chris- 

 tianity ; it helps a man to And good in every 

 thing, even in injustice and exaggeration. 

 Not that it is right or best for any one to be 

 abusive or to exaggerate, but that, when we 

 do meet such things in this world, the true 

 CMiristian can get good out of them ; that is, 

 he can so take all the events of life that 

 they shall do him good. " All things shall 

 work together for good to those who love 

 the Lord." More anon, but now for our text. 

 Jesus and his disciples had finished their 

 last supper, and they concluded it with a 

 hymn. Would you like to know just what 

 the hymn was which they sangV Geike 

 suggests, and with every degree of proba- 

 bility, that it was the "grand Ilallel," con- 

 sisting of the 113th to the 118th Psalm. I 

 suppose all the disciples joined in this 

 hymn. Even poor Judas was accustomed 

 to join in their hymns; but he, poor fellow, 

 was just now altsent on his errand for Sa- 

 tan. Peter helped sing, no doubt. Very 

 likely he was one of the leaders in the 

 liymns. And even Jesus himself sang too. 

 What a blessed privilege it would be to 

 hear that divine voice in melody! Well, 

 after this hymn was sung, Jesus sadly tells 

 his little flock the words of our text. The 

 couise he is now about to pursue is so dif- 

 ferent from what they expect, and probably 

 so little to their liking, that he gives them 

 these words of warning — "Ye shall all be 

 offended because of me this night." I pre- 

 sume there was not a thought in the heart 

 of any one of them at the time, disloyal or 

 untrue ; for we are told that they declared 

 tiiat nothing that coidd happen should de- 

 moralize them or drive them away. Poor 

 Peter was headstrong. First he said, 

 "■ Though all men shall be offended because 

 of thee, yet will I never be offended.-' 

 Then Jesus kindly but sadly told them what 

 should happen before the crowing of the 

 cock in the morning. But Peter was so ve- 

 hement that he now, as it were, Hatly con- 

 tradicted the Master ; in fact, what he says 

 is equivalent to " T tell you, it is no such 

 thing. Though I should die with thee, yet 

 will I not deny thee.'' I^eter had evidently 

 got it into his mind that there was some 

 fighting to be done. Jesus had spoken, a 

 short time before, about swords. He uses 

 the term figuratively. One of the disciples 

 replied that they had two swords in the 

 crowd, and asked if that would be enough. 

 I can imagine the Lord and Master smiling 

 sadly as he assured them that it would be a 

 plenty. • l^oor fellows ! with two poor im- 

 plements of warfare they were going to 

 fight against the whole world ; yes, and 

 against the powers of darkness too. It re- 

 minds one of a child who confidently propos- 



es to help his father build a great barn ; and 

 in his innocence and want of judgment or 

 sense he proposes to do it with some child- 

 ish toy. Peter refuses to be guided by the 

 Master. Perhaps he did not khow it, but he 

 was bent on having liis own way. The whole 

 band of followers were probably a great 

 deal of Peter's mind. Their thoughts kept 

 dwelling on the kingdom that was coming. 

 They had seen the wonderful miracles, and 

 their faith in their Master to perform mir- 

 acles was unbounded. No doubt some 

 great miracle was approaching — some mir- 

 acle that shoidd shake heaven and earth 

 — perhaps show his power by thuuderings 

 and lightnings which were coming. The 

 hated llomans were to be taught by some 

 terrible and awful lesson that the Uod of 

 the Jews was an ;dl-powerful God. One 

 who reads the narration carefully can not 

 help being struck by the number' of times 

 Jesus had in vain tiied to tell them that it 

 was suffering and death on the cross that 

 stood before him. But they did not heed it, 

 or did not believe it. They went to sleep 

 in the garden when he needed their sympa- 

 thy and encouragement. They had learned 

 the lesson well of his divinity. They knew 

 the winds and the waves obeyed him, but 

 they could not believe in his kunumity as 

 well. If he was Lord of all, what need of 

 suffering? 



Now, dear friends, is it not true that we 

 Christians act like Peter and his comi)an- 

 ions V We make up our minds in regard to 

 the course events ought to take and will 

 take ; and then when the straight and nar- 

 row path leads in a different way, we are 

 disappointed. Perhaps Jesus decided that 

 nothing could be done for Peter but to let 

 him learn by experience. Now. is it not 

 possible that God, in his infinite wisdom, 

 has often decided tluit nothing can teach us 

 but bitter experience ? He decides for the 

 time being to let us push ahead in our own 

 headstrong way. We have our ideas in re- 

 gard to the proper thing to do. and of the 

 way to right the wrongs we see about us. 

 God decides to let us go ahead and take the 

 consequences. When we become convinced 

 of our utter helplessness, and turn to him, 

 then, and not till then, can he help us. 

 Peter was in a huriy for the conflict. He 

 was so sure that the Master would follow 

 him up when he showed courage and zeal 

 and faith, that he did not wait for the word 

 of command. Hadn't the Master once be- 

 fore called him " rock " V May be Peter did 

 not understand it that way. It has seemed 

 to me, however, as though he did ; and 1 am 

 sure a great many since that day have 

 thought that Saimt Peter was the rock ou 

 which Christ Jesus' church was budded, 

 forgetting that it was more likely the grand 

 fact that Peter impulsively i)roclaimed to 

 the world when he said, " Thou art the 

 Christ, the Son of the living God." Any 

 way, Peter seemed to have got it into his 

 head that the Master was proud of him, and 

 that he was going to make him more proud 

 still by the exhibition of his coiu-age and 

 intrepidity against fearful odds. I don't 

 know whether his sword was poor and old 

 and rusty or not ; but I don't believe that 



