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August 21, 1912 ] THE
doiu, and old and young delight annually to
walk the Judean hills and valleys, singing the
song of the heralding angels over the Bethlehem
shepherds!
A traveler seeing a sheep fold noticed that it
had hut one opening for the entrance and exit
of the sheep, and that there were no bars, gate
or door to close this one entrance. He asked,
' Where is the door?" The shepherd answered,
"1 am the door." What a flood this answer
threw .up the same words once uttered by
]n> Onnd Khonhorrl Tt uroo *1.^. ?l. ? u..?ii- 1 - 1
?r..v.u i 1 v nao i m- Diicpncru s I1UUit
to spread a sheep skin or a rug across the
opening, on which he and his dog slept every
night.
MAKING PEACE.
BY DR. J. H. JOWETT.
One of the beatitudes of our Lord crowns
the makers of peace. * It is sometimes an excellent
thing to regard our life as a season for
the making and tinishing of things. And it is
a searching test when we confront ourselves
with the question as to what is the supreme
thing we are seeking to make. The answers
would portray very different types of business.
There are some who spend their days in making
trouble, making mischief, doing it by
speech or by silence, stirring up strife by
shrug, insinuation, or direct suggestion. It is
a most unholy business and issues in the most
tragic results. Others are engaged in making
money. Every faculty in their being is tensely
occupied in the business, every perception
sharpened to the last refinement. Others,
again, are employed in "making a name."
They may be courting rank, and office, and
power. They are watching the tides and currents
of human whim and caprice. They are
attacking here and there, and comprising yonder,
and all for the making of a name. And
others again are busily engaged making castles
in the air. They spend their life in shaping
plans which are never carried out. They
are always producing designs, but never
building houses. Life is full of dreams that never
become enshrined in noble tasks. At the end
of the day there is nothing accomplished, nothing
done. And lastly, there are people whose
product I find it difficult to define. They spend
their days and nights in the giddy whirl of
pleasure. What are they making? At the end
of the day what can they show? Busy they
certainly are, and thry are often weary in the
business, but what is the product? Perhaps
these are included in the unfortunates described
by the prophet when he says, "Their
webs shall not become garments."
\T .1 T - -
nuw xne Liora Jesus was engaged in sacred
business. He called it his Father's business.
And perhaps it would he true to describe the
primary aspect of that business as "making
peace." That is what he came to make, that
is what he made. I want to look at the holy
business, for his followers are privileged to
share in it
^Vhat is peace? First of all it is well to remember
that it is not the opposite of tumult.
We have somehow got it into bur minds that
peace is described by such words as serenity
and quietness. It is regarded as the absence of
noise. I remember passing over one of the
great American prairies by night. The noise
of the engine, the shrieking of the whistle, the
ringing of the bell, the general rumble of the
'rain kept me awake far into the depths of
fhe night. Early in the morning we came to
a stand, out on the wild, spreading plains.
And the quietness was almost startling. But
,f was not peace; peace is not the quietness of
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE S<
stagnancy. Serenity is a symptom of peace,
it is not the peace itself. When we make peace
we do something that may produce quietness.
J>ut the quietness is not the peace. What then
is peace? Peace is the opposite of dislocation.
A tiny wheel in my watch may get out of its
socket. There is quietness, but that is not
peace. When the wheel is adjusted, and the
dislocation is ended, the quiet rhythmic movement
marks the recovery of peace. Peace is
the opposite of disorder. It marks the ending
of perverse relations. Peace is harmony with
the divine order of things.
Now let us see what this implies. First of
all peace is blissful harmony with the Father's
will. That truth is gloriously obtrusive in the
life of Christ. Again and again the Master refers
to his own perfect harmonv with the F?th.
er's will. "1 came not to do mine own will,
but the will of him that sent me." "My meat
is to do the will of him that sent me." "I and
my Father are One." There was no dislocation
between the two wills. There was perfect adjustment
and perfect harmony.
And, secondly, peace is healthy communion
with the Father's children. Sin alienates us
from the Father, and it also alienates us from
our fellowmen. Dislocation in the one relation
inevitably produces dislocation in the other.
We are selfish and angular. We do not "fit
in" to one another. We are isolated items,
not the confluent parts of a family. When the
Fatherhood is despised, brotherhood is ignored.
And, thirdly, peace is delightful relation with
ine ramer's world. I am convinced that no
one who is dislocated from God can enter into
the secret delights of the things which he has
made If we are out ot' harmony with the Maker
we shall be out of touch with his creation
The Bible abounds in suggestion that a restored
humanity implies a wonderful unfold
ing of the glory of the natural world. "All
the trees of the fields shall clap their hands."
"The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the
rose." "I will make a covenant between thee
and the stones of the field." "All things are
become new." And so peace is harmony with
the Divine order of things. It is open communion
with God, with God's children and
with God's beautiful world.
Now Christ came on the holy business of
making this peace. He came to end the dislocation
by making us right with God. And he
dealt at once with the cause of the di?lne?tir?M
He was more than reformer; he was Redeemer.
He probed beneath social wrong to personal
sin. He grappled with the only cause of alienation
and dealt with the guilt and power of
sin. He "made peace with the blood of the
cross." He smote the deadly thing by the vital
energies of sacrifice. "We are made nigh
by the blood of Christ." He is the great peacemaker
and blessed be his name!
And we, too, are to he peacemakers if we
would share the blessedness of our Lord. And
what it to be our part in the sacred business?
What instruments can we use in bringing dislocated
souls into harmony with the Divine?
We have a gospel of peace. We have a spirit
of peace. And we have our own blood, which
we can consecrate in making known the redeeming
sacrifice of Christ. We can surrender
our own blood in proclaiming the power of his
redemption. We can "fill up that which was
lacking in the sufferings of Christ." With
these mighty ministries we can he makers of
peace.
And what is to he the blessedness? "They
shall be called sons of God." Let me put that
side by side with another word: "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
The peace makers, who have heen "partakers
) U T H (963 ) 5
iu the sufferings," are to be "partakers in the
glory." They are to bear the honorable name
of fcon because they are blood-relations of the
Father. They are akin to him and carry his
likeness. The blessedness of the Father's approval
rests upon them as they go along their
way, and the blessedness of the Father's welcome
awaits them when they, reach their home
at last.?The Congregationalist.
A SERMON BY A HORSE.
A young minister walked along a busy street
one raw November day. lie was discouraged
and embittered, because he thought he was being
overworked, and was not receiving the
recognition ne aeserved. His mood was bitter
and rebellious, a mood that is found among
ministers perhaps as often as among other people.
Out of the din of traffic there came to his
ears the rumble of a heavily loaded dray and
the sound of iron-shod hoofs striking the pavement.
A dray, loaded with huge rolls of paper
and drawn by a pair of magnificent horses, war
coining briskly up a slight rise in the street.
The driver, a little wrinkled Irishman, crouched
lazily on his seat, with the reins hanging
loose from his fingers. The two splendid
oeasts, without a word or a touch from him,
were doing their work with perfect intelligence
and willingness. The minister paused upon the
curb to watch them.
Suddenly the horse nearest to him trod upon
a slippery manhole cover, lost his footing
and went down on his side a resounding crash
A quick little gasp of pity came from th*>
watchers on the sidewalk. But it was wasted
pity. For before the dray had lost its headway,
before the little old driver had gathered
up his reins, the great horse, with a violent
scramble, got his feet again, and threw himself
into his collar with an energy that threatened
to tear the heavy harness off his back.
As the dray topped the rise and rumlrled
round the corner, the minister turned slowly
away, llis eyes were moist and his heart hum
bled. His impulse was to follow that horse all
day, and learn his spirit of generous co-operation.
And that night, as he knelt at his bedride,
he prayed a strange prayer:
'' O God, make me like that horse. Teach me
what You want me to do, and help me to want
to do it without being driven. When I stumble,
may I rise at once and pull all the harder
to make up for lost time. Bless my life with a
feeling of harmony and co-operation with thyself.
Amen."
Next Sunday morning he preached a ser- j
mon from the text, "Henceforth T call you not
servants; for the servant knoweth not what his
Lord doeth; but I have called you friends." It
was a good sermon; the people spoke to him
very warmly about it after church. But the
minister knew in his heart that the sermon
really came from a tfroat flumU 1
0 -uiuu utuio uim I1HU
never been to church in his life.?Youth's Companion.
"OUR HIGH CALLING."
Paul was both a tentmaker and an apostle.
The former was, in a sense, his calling; the latter
was his "hieh calling " Tt u'?? ? rmnA a:?
? ...... .. gmill UI11JK W
be a first-class tentmaker, but suppose he had
gone into eternity with no other record than
that? Suppose that the best that could have
been said of him had been that he made more
money at his trade than any other man ever
made; how unprofitable had his life been in tbat
case, in comparison with what he was! Are
we giving more attention to our trade, or to our
"high calling?"?Ex.