Peter's Vacation and What Came of It.
By E. S. Todd
"THERE is no new thing under the sun" wrote the wise man. Human nature remaining ever the same and the conditions of life being in all ages essentially alike, the statement must ever be true. Perhaps for this reason it came about that Peter like many of his modern followers had a vacation. Whether Joppa was a fashionable watering place or not it was a most ancient city and sea-port. Thither Peter went at first to be instrumental in a notable miracle, and afterward to tarry many days with Simon a tanner whose house was "by the sea." It was a delightful place both for rest and instruction. The modern Jaffa is described as built on a promontory jutting out into the sea, rising to the height of one hundred and fifty feet, crowned with a fortress and offering on all sides picturesque and varied prospects. To the traveler approaching from the sea the town looks like a heap of buildings crowded so closely as to be in danger of pushing one another off the precipice, and from the steepness of the site they appear in some places to stand one on another. The whole place is crowded with historic associations, reaching back to the occupancy of that territory by the tribe of Dan. Here the materials for building both the first and second temples sent from Lebanon and Tyre were landed. Here Jonah embarked in the foolish attempt to run away from the Lord. The shoal and unprotected harbor was a vast cemetery of the Tyrian, Roman and Alexandrian galleys, concerning many of which there was still extant a story. We can imagine the interest which one who came of a race which gloried in its past history would take in all this. The Orientals at that time were ignorant of the modern style of building, so as to shut out all the outside world for the better effect of the artificial adornments within, but regarded the best room as the house-top, which they thought no furniture could improve. Here they spent their evenings, and here often brought their couches and slept. Simon's house-top was Peter's place for rest, meditation and prayer. The scene spread out before him must have been inspiring, whether he looked westward beyond the ships of the harbor to the open sea, southward over the plains of Philistia, northward toward Carmel Sharon, eastward to the hills of Ephraim and Judah, or as he lifted his eyes aloft to the same heavens which had so touched the heart and harp of David. Here during the "many days" of his stay with Simon he gained that strength and inspiration which were expended in heroic conflict all along the skirmish line of the rising Church. The law of rest is a universal one. Inorganic matter may be exempt, but every organization requires periodic rest. Plants have their time for rest when growth ceases, the leaves drop and the vital forces retire into the root or seed. Animals whose every motion is at the expense of vital energy, are led by unerring nature to seek rest and recuperation. Man though he aspires to rule nature is not above her laws. "He goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until evening." But this is not enough. From the beginning the extraordinary rest of the Sabbath day was thought necessary and enjoined. If they needed it who lived in Oriental lands where life crawls its slow length along, how much more do we in this lightening age? Our modern life is unquestionably too intense. Its results are seen in scores of men prematurely broken down or gone hence before their time, and in asylums full of men whose mental machinery has given away under the strain of excitement. The physicians finds the most powerful inducement to the consumption of ardent spirits is the need of rest, which men seek in toxication to supply; and the moralist finds in the over tension of business an explanation of the excuse of the ungodly, "no time for religion." Who will start a movement in favor of a Sabbatic year? He shall have our voice and vote. "Over the study of the minister as over the fall of a sparrow or the conflagration of a world there bends the arch of natural law." So in due time and through due process of law there is sickness and a location all of which is piously ascribed to providence. There are other results not so tragic but equally disastrous. The minister becomes dull, lifeless, and pointless. Sometimes it is suspected that he is backsliding. The truth is he has sinned against nature, himself, and his congregation, in not seeking the rest he needed. While it is bad for a minister to be absent, especially on the Sabbath, (the congregation may not think so) it is better than for him to be present with a demeanor as worn and weary as his sermon is stale and threadbare. But as to Peter's vacation, it was the most eventful period of his life. Up to this time his preaching and thought had run in a Jewish mould. He had only preached to Jews. The gentiles must first become Jews if they would be saved. Had there been no break in his labors he might have continued to preach his partial gospel. It has always been God's way when He would instruct men in the deep things of the spirit, to take them "apart into a desert place to rest awhile" where they might better hear the still small voice. Thus Moses gained his "meekness," and David his "songs," Elijah his unction, and the disciples their sweetest lessons. So God chose this resting time of Peter as an occasion to instruct him in larger things. The house-top vision, of the sheet let down from heaven, wherein "unclean beasts" that were to be "eaten," was the symbol of gentile dogs, that were to share the fatness of the gospel, made a revolution in Peter's theology and practice. He had new truth now to break forth unto the people, which like fire shut up in his bones. His old sermons if he had any were now out of date. Immediately he retraced his steps to Jerusalem to declare to the brethren what the Lord had shown unto him. E. S. Todd, in Cal. Chris. Advo.