448 



GLEAI^iKGS m BEE CULTUEE. 



Ju? 



NE 



Peter had a very stylish-looking weapon in 

 those clays. Such as it was, he decided to 

 use it to commence the light. So, notwith- 

 standing the fearful odds against him. he 

 rushes into the contlict and strikes a blow 

 at the foremost one of the crowd. Peter 

 may have had military training, but I doubt 

 it. It would seem as if one even without 

 military training might strike a man between 

 the eyes, if he had already decided to kill 

 him and as many more as fast as he could. 

 Whether it was a want of skill, or excite- 

 ment, we do not know ; but we do know 

 that all I'eter's tirst blow accomplished was 

 to take off the man's ear. What a predica- 

 ment he had rushed into ! There were only 

 two swords in the little company of disciples, 

 and perhaps not another man ieady or will- 

 ing to use the remaining one ; and yet Peter 

 was resisting the officers of the law; at 

 least, the priests who were in the crowd 

 would so decide it ; and in those days they 

 made short work of trying a man and put- 

 ting him to death, especially with the help 

 of the priests. Well, Peter, if I understand 

 him correctly, would have it that Jesus was 

 going to follow up this opening of the at- 

 tack by some wonderful miracles. Now, in 

 one respect Peter was right. 13ut only one 

 miracle followed, and that miracle was to 

 put the ear back on its place, and make the 

 man well. Before doing so, however, the 

 Master told Peter to put up his sword in its 

 place. He also added, " Thinkest thou that 

 1 can not now pray to my Father, and he 

 shall presently give me twelve legions of 

 angels ? '' 



Peter now understands, if he did not be- 

 fore, that the battles that Jesus is to tight 

 are not to be fought with warlike imple- 

 ments ; neither are they to be fought with 

 legions of angels. The swords are not want- 

 ed, nor weapons of any kind ; neither are 

 legions of soldiers, nor angels either. Je- 

 sus is to tight the battle single-handed and 

 alone. The sympathy and the pra.\ers of 

 his followers are all' he asks for, or all he 

 wants. And just here I begin wondering 

 how much Peter was in the habit of pray- 

 ing. They saw the Master praying often. 

 Yes, at one time they asked him to tell them 

 how to pray. He then gave them a copy. 

 We don't know how much they used the 

 copy, however, nor how much they prayed. 

 I fearjthey fell into the error of thinking 

 that, so long as he was with them to pray, 

 tliey did not need to do much praying them- 

 selves. It seems very certain, at any rate, 

 that Peter did not pray before lushing into 

 the battle that night. Suppose he, too, had 

 been praying instead of sleeping, how differ- 

 ent might have been the result ! After the 

 oaths and curses which he used in declaring 

 he was not a follower of Christ Jesus, and did 

 not know him, he raised his eyes and caught 

 a glimpse of the sorrowful face of his Mas- 

 ter. Well, those pitying eyes as he looked 

 on Peter wiiile he was learning that terrible 

 lesson, caused him to remember his boast- 

 ing ; then he went out and wept bitterly. 

 Perhaps that was all poor Peter could do 

 under the circumstances ; biit 1 should have 

 rejoiced to see him, with his old impulsis'e 

 nature, and with some of the courage he 



had shown when he drew his sword, get up 

 before that motley crowd and declare, 

 "Friends,! take it all back. I have told 

 you a falsehood. I am one of the followers 

 of Christ Jesus. It was I who smote the 

 man and cut off his ear. I tried to kill him. 

 1 was bent on killing you all if you under- 

 took to harm a hair of the Master's head. I 

 am now ready to die with him ; if, by my 

 death, I can partly atone for the falsehood 

 and cowardice and folly of the last hour, I 

 am willing to die. Crucify me first if you 

 choose, but let me be by his side."' That is 

 what I should have had Peter say and do. 

 But, dear friends, it is quite likely that I 

 should be making a similar blunder to that 

 of poor Peter. Jesus knows best. 



Now for some practical applications. Rob- 

 ert Ingersoll, and perhaps others, may call 

 us hypocrites. They may say that it is the 

 followers of Christ Jesus who fill our jails 

 and penitentiaries. Shall we, like Peter, 

 draw the sword and commence a prolonged 

 fight and pitched battle ? I do not believe 

 it is the best way, friends ; that is, I do not 

 believe it is best to take very much time to 

 reply. There are battles to fight and work 

 to be done ; but I don't believe that our 

 Lord and Master wants us to fight in that 

 way. If Peter had been down on his knees, 

 praying for grace and a better spirit to see 

 faults in his own heart, may be he would 

 have had all the fighting he wanted. Jesus 

 ])raiyed in agony of sjnrit in the garden, be- 

 fore the conflict. Peter skipped the praying, 

 and grasped the sword. Now, my friends, 

 let us hold on to God's weapon— the weapon 

 of prayer. Befoie we answer back, let us 

 ask the Savior how he wants us to fight. 

 That is what I have been doing. And, dear 

 friends, the answer that comes to me ever 

 since that letter came from friend Lighty, is. 

 to set to work at home. I have determined 

 to so live that there shall not be even a 

 grain of truth in charges that are made 

 against us as Christians. 



Within a few days our branch road here 

 at Medina has commenced running a Sun- 

 day train. They run from Cleveland to a 

 beautiful little lake five miles below our 

 town. Christian people feel bad about it. 

 Some of them talk fight pretty strongly. 

 Now, I feel pained every time the train 

 swings up to the depot. I hope and pray 

 that none of our Medina people may be 

 guilty of patronizing this Sunday train. 

 What shall I do to bring this about? Why, 

 fight them the way the Master directed 

 Peter to fight— observe the Sabbath day to 

 keep it holy better than I have been doing. 

 If we all do that, the trains will not run 

 long on Sunday, 1 assure you, dear friends. 

 Yes, even if professors of religion would obey 

 the command, I think the train would stop 

 for want of patronage. 



A week ago yesterday I picked up a book 

 written by E. P. Roe ; and as E. P. Eoe 

 used to write excellent books, with good 

 Christian morals, I thouglit the book might 

 be fit for Sunday reading. I read it perhaps 

 two hours, to find that it was nothing but a 

 simple love-story. The moral, as nearly as 

 1 could get at it. was something like this : 



If you fall in love with somebody, and the 



