Newspaper Page Text
14 THE ]
Contributed
"AND IT WAS NIGHT."
Edwin A. Wilson.
The conspiracy conceived in sin, and
brought forth in iniquity, takes on its
culminating proportions at the Passover
when Judas, a devil, received the sop
and went immediately out ("and it was
night") to set on foot the last act of the
final tragedy in the betrayal of Jesus.
Jesus, the faultless friend of whom Judas
Iscariot himself, the betrayer, later said:
"I have sinned in that I have betrayed
the innocent blood." Pilate the Roman
Governor, and Herod, the King, both declared
that they could find no fault in
Him. Pilate also said: VI am innocent
of the blood of this just person." The
wife of Pilate said: "Havp thou nothing
to do with that Just man." The Roman
Centurion watching Jesus, when he saw
the earth quaked, said: "Truly this
was the Son of God." But Judas' confession,
and the testimony of the others,
could not arrest the working out of the
plot, which was to issue in the death of
the Son of God. Like many another,
Judas could not stay the course of disaster
devised by Satan through him. Men,
essentially weak in themselves, become
a resistless torrent for evil when led captive
by the devil at his will. Even men,
professedly the children of God, subject
to the weakness of the flesh, when tested,
often stumble and utterly fall.
This was remarkably illustrated in
those chosen to be with and near their
Lord. For it is written, "then all the
disciples forsook Him and fled," yet the
Holy Scriptures prove them no weaker
than others, for it says, "there is no difference."
But the Son of Man, the perfection of
sinless manhood, must suffer alone. Now
consider how great this man was, "for He
took not on Him the nature of angels,"
else millions for defense had compassed
Him about, but He took on Him the seed
of Abraham, and they, His brethren according
to the flesh, conspired to kill
Him.
When, however, the testing time comes
to the lowly Nazarene in the wilderness,
vrtmsemaiie or uoigotna it tinas in Him
no weakness at all; but when man is
tried, his boastful strength often gives
way to feebleness. The broken, though
hidden strand in the cable is manifested
when the pressure is greatest, and the
need sorest; the defective flue meets every
apparent demand until the unexpected
occurs, and the awful catastrophe ensues.
Adam, clothed in innocency with exhaustless
resources in his Creator God,
Involves himself and all the race in ruin,
though placed under the most favorahl?
auspices. The faith of the father of the
faithful was deficient in the country of
Abimilech. The meekness of Moses succumbed
at the pressure of Meribah. The
sweet singer of Israel, the man after
God's own heart, King David, fell an easy
prey to lust. The patience of even a Job
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOUT
deserted him in his trying ordeal. The
giant of Carmel weakened through his
fears at Jezreel. "Then all his disciples
forsook him and fled." Judas betrayed
Him, Peter denied Him, "they all forsook
Him."
Peter may have criticized Judas. John
perhaps condemned Peter; "they all for
sook him." There was no room for
boasting, for when weighed in the balances,
they were all found wanting. They
all failed; and does not the Spirit admonish
us when he says, "Let him that
thinketh he standeth, take heed, lest he
fall." When sitting in judgment on others,
is it not profitable to scan our own
past, and learn a lesson in charity, as we
behold ourselves closely allied to others
whom we so quickly condemn.
Ix>ng years ago, a magnificent woman
as the world goes, conspicuous in the
f>Vin rrh onH ono !nl /?l ?n1nr. ? ? a
~~.u. uuu ouviui U11.ICO, w canuj, UUU
in a measure benevolent, refused to aid
a laudable effort in behalf of the fallen,
while her own fifteen year old boy was
hatefully involved with one of this hated
class hut a few blocks away from her
own lovely home. In condemning them,
by her indifference, she unconsciously
included her boy; she had a deep interest
in them, but knew it not; she sat in judgment
upon the erring ones; she refused
to become interested in those whom her
charity was not broad enough to cover;
popular, handsome, the idol of a select
circle, a church member, but the mantle
of her charity was moth eaten.
Satan came that dark and dreadful
night to sift Peter as wheat, whom th?
all knowing One bad faithfully warned,
but whose kindly admonitions were unappreciated,
hence unheeded.
Peter, "every whit clean," on the word
of his Lord, goes down ingloriously, contracting
defilement in his walk, as he followed
afar off. He could not watch one
hour in the close inner circle in the garden;
he now appears to neither watch
nor pray as he had been admonished to
do. "And it was night," when Peter took
his wayward steps walking "in the counsel
of the ungodly," as he stood "in the
way of sinners," as he sat "in the seat of
the scornful."
Peter was here to see the end, where
the Lamb thus led to the slaughter, op
yiesseu ana annciea, opened not bis
mouth; for he was to pass through God's
school, learning obedience for Peter and
for us by what he suffered.
"And it w'as night" in the heart of the
sorely alarmed, but now fully estranged
Peter. Intoxicated through his fears, he
hoped to lose himself in the crowd of
servants and officers who had made a fire
of coals, for it was cold, and (as) they
warmed themselves, Peter stood with
them, and warmed himself." Lying fol
lows in me waKe or declension, as darkness
comes with the night. How could
Peter admit himself the disciple of a
malefactor without partaking of bis
shame?
Peter was in a position to verify the
words of Isaiah fifty-three, when the
crowd of which he was an insignificant
part, struck his Lord, but in his silence
he consents to the deed, for had
H. December 15, 1909.
Peter the heart to offer a protest, his
speech had betrayed him. Think of Peter
with muzzled mouth, the mute witness
of indignities he was powerless to
resist. In Satan's sieve, but on Jesus'
heart, the objest of Jesus' love, the subject
of Jesus' prayer.
The crowd in which Peter sought to
lose his identity gave inspiration to his
disaffection; the heat of the enemy's
coals quickly warmed into life the latent
viper. His denials like the pent mountain
torrent, gathered force by what opposed
it, for when another said, "this
fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth," he
denied with an oath, saying, "I do not
know the man," and again he began to
curse and swear, saying, "I know not the
man."
O the sweet provision of restoring
grace; how more than awful to have sin's
dark pall envelope you, and no sympathizing
Lord to recognize you in the hateful
crowd that rejoiced in your sin and
witnessed your fall and failure; how awful
to have no tears of contrition to respond
to his look of compassionate concern
when we have erred; to sin like
many, and in blindness deny it. If Peter
needed the tender searching look of
his Lord to convince him that he had
sinned, so all need the Holy Spirit to enlighten
them through God's most Holy
Word, when they are led through the
evil one to claim to have passed the sinning
point. Had the masters In Israel
been as well taught in the old Scriptures
as in the traditions of their fathers, they
would have recognized the "man of sor
rows, 01 wnom isaiah had plainly written,
"And when smiting him with the
palms of their hands," they must have apprehended
through Micah's words of wisdom,
"The Judge of Israel,"
Peter was in the crowd, but not of it;
he had lost his Joy, but not his salvation;
and while the crowd appeared a unit
against Jesus, the Lord knew that Peter
who had contracted defilement in the
way, needed not save to wash his feet,
but was clean every whit Thanks be
unto God for the look of a Lord that
starts the tears in Peter's eyes. The
tears which lead to confession have a joyous
issue in restoration. "He restoreth
my soul"; how sweet to know that the re
storer of my soul is touched with a feeling
of my infirmities.
O to be conscious that the eyes of the
Lord are following us in our uneven
course, detecting the deflections from and
the deflections in the circumspect walk
that is urged upon the children of God
by the Holy Ghost. But the eyes are not
those of a detective in espionage, to ferret
out our shortcomings and expose
them, but rather tenderly to remind us
of his helpful presence with us?"Lo 1
am with you alway."
How sweet to think of his knowledge of
Ifa hlo /?QI?A ?? 4 1 ? A ? ? ?
m?, xoic iui ub, iiib ju/ iirreai.onng u?.
O man, consider this undeserved care,
this unrequited affection, this superabounding
love as it floats out forever
from the fountain of grace in God's
anointed, to those who are his.
Springfield, 111.