The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1860-09-12

own conscieuces and hearts. Ii 10 not so
much she amount We do for the poor and
1 distressed and forsaken, as what they do for
| us, and how they affect our own moral ma
/ ture, which make these old questions OF hu-
mainly the most sacred Of all questions. Id
was not surely great work to take up this
| poor wounded brother by the waysde and
| bear him to the inn and two pence was no
great bill to pay for charity. But only think
/ what harvest IL brought the heart OF the
| good Samaritan. How he thought ii over on
| his journey, and the old Samaritan preiu-
dice melted away before the suffering and
| gratitude Of his new neighbor, the reecu ed
| Jew. How the face OF this wounded broth
err came to bless bis dreams, and the God of
Jew and Samaritan looked down and smiled
And how was it with the other two, as they
went on their way ?-the one saying, ssLet
him die as 1t seems so ordered,0 and the
other, 81 don't care whether he dies or not,
gets up or down."
Da you say this 10 all quite unnatural and
improbable. OF course it is, If we suppose
this fallen man friend and equal. But we
have only to suppose him of some low
er caste, some dispised class or sect, some
poor serf or slave, to bring the case quite
within the line of probability and fact. In
deed when we carry out this law OF love to our
neighbor as Christ expounds il to the"least of
His Brethren" to the most neglected and des-
pissed class or race, as between the Jew and
Samaritan, it is to be feared that the Priest
and Levite have many more followers than
the good Samaritan.
My friends, as We are getting older, and
come to see more and more of human ma
ture IN its low estate, of human suffering
amp sorrow, OF men cast down by poverty,
Ignorance, weakness, prejudice, oppression.
| ask not now what we are doing to lift them
up and help them, but how our hearts are
affected by the prospect ? Are they growing
softer or harder? Are our consciences boz
coming more true and tender, or more hard
and scared? Is our confidence in humanity
| increasing aud our love and hope for the
human brotherhood growing brighter and
stronger? Or are we loosing confidence and
hope for the poor and fallen and wronged
and needy, and, like this hardened Priest
and Levite, more and more inclined to pass
| by on the other side? Do we still toll and
pray that the Kingdom of God may come,
that the Fathers will may be done on the
earth rs it is in Heaven, that wrongs NAV be
righted, expressions, wars, vice and Grim e
oease, and this law OF right and love reign
in their stead? Or have our hearts rather
hardened into the cold, selfish purpose of
taking the world as we find it, and
making the most OF it?--of either using
the weakness and misfortunes of oar
fellow men for our own advantage, or
else passing by them on the other side
Ii may be that our circumstances are
such that we cannot do much for them !;
but wo be TO Us, when we have no conscience
left to be wounded by their wrongs, no heart
TO feel for those in bonds as bound with
them. Perhaps we have little influence or
strength or opportunity to remove the heavy
burdens, which, from Chrst's day to this,
have pressed down the weak, and poor, and
neglected, and oppressed classes. But wo
be to our cwa souls when we do not care for
them and would not touch them with our
four fingers. Aud yet, we cannot live in
world OF wrong aud oppression and suffering
and escape these influences upon our moral
nature without sharing more and.more the
spirit Of the good Samaritan, the hard nhu-
mainly of this Jewish Priest, or the cold in.
diff renee Of tbs Levite.
Ii may never be our fortune to meet iust
such ~ case as our Lord has chosen to make
up this beautiful and touching parable. And
of this law of love, | see not how any case Of
human suffering and wrong can be an excep-
ton which comes within the reach of our
! help or the sympathy of our hearts. Not,
perhaps, so often now as then are men rob
bed on the highway; for this is more an age
of civilization, of law and order. But as
"iniquity may be framed by law,' so men
are robbed by law, and through the Law, and
/ in spite of the law. Add If under no pres
sure Of temptation would we do this thing
ourselves, are we always ready to act the
! part OF the good Samaritan toward our
Deighbor thus cast down, or, like this Priest.
/ do we pass him by on the other side, or the
| Levite, only look upon him with indi ference?
Wbv, il almost seems we have taken these
ha men out of this parable as our Christian
model, instead OF the good Samaritan, so
/ little heart have we TO bear one another's
burdens and 80 fulfill the law OF Christ; so
much easier II is to shirk them and pass by
on the other side No doubt these IN en- said
within themselves "liere is a poor creature
down and sadly needing help but then there
arc plenty IN distress in and all about Jeru
salem, and charity begins at home; but If
one is to care for every such case, and help
/ all the poor trash that need help, be might
kee, his feelings stirred up and bis hands
| employed oil the time. Let Us hasten on. -
And SO we do hurry on, aud pass by thous-
/ and lille that might be relieved; a thousand
/ burdens that might be hghtened; thous-
and hearts that might be comforted; thous-
and wounds that might be bound up; a
thousand neighbors who might be helped or
cbeorei by some kind word or deed, little
dreaming that We are following in the steps
OF this Priest and Leavite, and robbing our
own souls Of the milk of human kindness
and the reward of this good Samaritan. Yet
just so IL Is with every sight and sound Of
human wrong and distress that comes within
our reach; they either scar our consciences
and chill our hearts with the cold Of this
hard inhamanity or else expand them to the