Friday, January 17, 2003
Friday, January 17, 2003
Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation and sickness and
resentment.
During the celebrations on the Princeton, Stockton fired his gun repeatedly for a crowd made
up
of the President, his cabinet, influential senators, and other dignitaries. While festivities were
in
full swing below, Stockton was summoned to fire the gun one more time. Most of the cabinet
and the Senators did not come back up on deck this time. President Tyler started up and then
stayed to hear his son-in-law finish a song. When Stockton did fire the gun, it exploded--killing
2
members of the President's cabinet and a number of other influential men. Had the explosion
occurred at any point earlier, the gun probably would have removed the better part of the U.S.
Government. The gun that was to be an amazing terror to an enemy proved to be an explosive
terror to friends. In a similar way, resentment is an explosive terror to the one carrying it.
(Ecclesiastes 5.17
NRSV)
In 1844 Captain Robert Stockton brought his ship, the Princeton, to Washington to display her
before government officials and leading social figures. While the ship was a technological
marvel and her firepower was vast, Stockton was really proudest of one particular gun. That
gun, called the Peacemaker, was the biggest and heaviest naval cannon then in existence. It
weighed 13 « tons and fired cannon balls that were a foot in diameter and weighed 225
pounds.
The gun could shoot a cannon ball several miles with a normal 25-pound charge of
gunpowder,
and the gun had been tested with up to a 50-pound charge. What power!
Lord Jesus, may I never harbor resentment with your love filling every aspect of my life. Amen.
