Gratitude to Our First Helpers

“Andrew first findeth his own brother Simon.’ — Joun i. 41.

ANY one who first saw these two brothers would have predicted the foremost place

for Andrew. It was he that brought out the genius of Peter. Without him Peter would have been nowhere — never heard of in the Church or the world. It was Andrew who caught the original flame of Christ; Peter only lighted a match at his brother’s fire. One would have said, “This will always be the leading man, the dominant man; the other must be content to be a satellite.” And yet the judgment would have been wrong; Peter was the planet and Andrew the satellite. Andrew taught Peter to run; but Peter outstripped him. Andrew lighted Peter’s lamp; but Peter outshone him. Andrew planted Peter’s soul; but Peter outgrew him, Was Andrew, then, a failure; did he belie the

magnificent promise of his morning? No; he fulfilled that promise. He had a particular mission in the world — to find out the genius of others and then to disappear. There are men whom God raises up for the sake of those who are to follow them. You will meet them amongst the teachers of our Sunday schools and day schools. The relation of the teacher to the pupil is the relation of Andrew to Peter. He is at present above his boys; but in the natural course of things his boys will be above him. Just because they belong to a younger generation, they are likely in the future to see a greater light. The teacher’s province is to find the place for each lamp and to set it aglow. Its glow will probably far surpass his own; that is what he should wish, that is what he should strive for. When that happens it will not prove him a failure, but a success. His province is not to plant seeds which will reach the height of present trees, but to plant seeds which will surpass in growth all the trees of to-day. If he is a good teacher he lives for his own dwarfing. He is to find those who will be fit for a coming age, a larger age, an age that will require higher capacities to guide it. Of every boy in his school he would like to say, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He is a lighter of lamps for the future — of lamps worthy to gladden more developed eyes than ours.

My soul, do not forget those who have found thee! Remember, somebody has found thee. Be thou ever so much a Peter, thou hadst once need of an Andrew. Somebody started thee — somebody that is now inferior to thee. Thou hast outstripped him, but he gave thee wings. Do not forget Andrew because thou hast outstripped him — because he is now obscure and unknown. He has fulfilled his mission — and his mission was to find thee. Give back the debt that thou owest! Far as thou hast passed him by, thou art his debtor. It was his flash that set thee aflame. It was perhaps a word spoken by the wayside, perhaps a cloud dispelled in the class-room, perhaps a mercy extended to misdeeds. Whatever it was, it remains thine undischarged debt to him. He found thee in thy rising; go back to find him in his setting! He may be dwelling in a garret. He may be living in a den of poverty. He may be struggling with the wolf at the door. He may have been left high and dry on the beach by the very tide that was moving to thee, Yet that beach on which he lies should be sacred to thee. Look back on it betimes from the sea on which thy bark is gliding! Thine eye is habitually on the west — on thy sun’s completed glory. Shall it not rest sometimes on the east — on the days of thy dawn! Thou hast years of hope; give an hour to memory! Thou hast a lifetime of aspiration; give a moment to retrospect! Thou art flying toward the noonday; give a glance backward to the morning! Thou art going forward to meet the seraphim; retrace thy steps one mile to greet Andrew! Thou art eager for thy morrow; have a remembrance of thy yesterday! Thou art pressing toward the ring and the robe, the music and the dancing; but oh, forget not the humble hand that raised thee from the swine!