XIV

CHARACTER JUDGED BY ITS TREND

"And Simon Peter said unto Jesus, 'Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee.' Jesus said unto him, 'Feed My sheep.'"-St. John xxi. 17.

HEN St. Peter, wrought into a mixed agony

WHE

of love and penitence, made this daring appeal to the omniscience of the Lord, and obtained a decision, his case settled the basis of the Divine judgment upon character. It was one in which the average man with his rough and ready rules would have certainly blundered, and in which even persons of insight might have been perplexed. St. Peter was a friend of Jesus and had boasted loudly of loyalty; yet he had not only forsaken his Master with the rest, but had openly denied Him. He was a chosen apostle and set forth to be an example of holiness; yet he had confirmed his denial with swearing. Certainly he had received no money for his desertion; but otherwise, was there much difference between Iscariot and Simon?

men.

Both were false, and Peter had made the louder profession and had held the more prominent place. He might say that he was still a true man and a lover of Jesus, but he could not reasonably expect a favourable verdict from any jury of his fellow If denying your friend with an oath in the black straits of life be affection, let us rather have a man's hatred. Facts are facts, his human judges would conclude, for this man to meet his Master and speak of love is shameless effrontery. He had better hide himself and never again mention the name of Jesus.

St. Peter had himself realized the hopelessness of the situation, and until Jesus sought him out he had been ashamed to meet with his fellow apostles. They could only have one mind of him, that he was a traitor, and yet he knew that while he was everything else that was bad, a boaster, a coward, a swearer, he was not a traitor. But to prove this was impossible. Against his protestation could be set his action, and men would only laugh if he talked of his intention. No man can open his heart to his neighbour and show its secret bias, no man can search his own heart and understand its workings. This tortured man could hardly

expect his fellows to understand him, for as he keenly remembered he had not understood himself. He was an insoluble enigma, and he had hoped that his Master would have done him justice. When Jesus seemed to repudiate his profession of love, then Peter made one last appeal. It is from his fellow men and from himself; it is even the words of Jesus to Jesus' unerring knowledge. "Lord, Thou knowest everything, all I said and all I did and all I am, but this Thou also knowest, that beneath the foul spume of my outer life, the deepest thing in my heart is love to Thee. By that love which has borne no fruit, which has failed in the hour of need, which has been mastered by fear, but which is real and is my very self, by that let me be judged. And Jesus confirmed his appeal and sent him forth upon his apostolic mission, saying, "Feed My sheep."

With only a surface knowledge of life we come to quick and absolute judgments, and therefore one understands the prayer, "Lord, deliver me from a young judge." People are divided into two classes with a clear-cut frontier, and each class is locked into its own country. So many people

are good, we say, with various enthusiastic adjectives; so many are bad with every kind of condemnation. So many we like with much warmth; so many we dislike with equal warmth. With a larger experience and a riper mind the dividing line begins to waver, and we are not so confident in either our approval or our disapproval. There may be a few saints in whom no fault can be found, and who are worthy to have walked with Christ in Galilee-we have known one or two such people. the candidates for sainthood we are apt to be disillusionised, and to find that for the most part they are men of like passions with ourselves. man comes short of perfection by his temper, another by his meanness, a third by his self-righteouness, a fourth by his vanity. Do the Gospels suggest that the apostles were faultless? Had St. Francis no failings which were concealed by his disciples? Was not John Wesley proud and masterful? Toplady wrote "Rock of Ages," but no one wishes to read his controversial work. Samuel Rutherford was consumed with the passion of Christ, but one may not boast of his charity. There are flaws in the marble, some of

But on closer examination of

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them painfully conspicuous. Even the saints demand our charity.

On the other hand let us console ourselves that there are not many thoroughly wicked persons. Perhaps we have suffered at some one's hands and spoken strongly against him, but after our indignation has died down we would frankly acknowledge that there was much goodness in him. We may have censured some one for an evil deed, and next day have repented because of something kindly that he had done. If history affords few perfect saints it also does not contain many desperate sinners. Against St. John there is Alexander Borgia, against Elizabeth of Hungary there is Messalina; but those are rare extremes. Neither flawless goodness nor unredeemed wickedness is common; but it is more easy to find John than Judas.

As regards the mass of people they are neither angels nor devils. The representative man has his excellencies and his deficiencies side by side; his character alternates between light and shadow. He is capable of strong affection and vindictive hatred; he can rise to magnanimity, and he can condescend to pettiness. It depends how he is