Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1871-09-28
THE SIN OF SINS.
BY THEODORE TILroN.
'.shall they fan and not ariser''

0Alelb aAC Coi1C0 AallCAl hOLuCus
How virtuously we keep them down.
How impossible we make it for them
to rise again! How inexorably we
sentence them to dungeon of shad-
ows, and shut against them every gold
en- gate to future career!
This morning, in idl1ng along a lit
tie brook overhuug with elders and
fringed with ferns, came npon an un-
expected pool which Nature had pour
ed into a crevice between some red
sandstone rocks, and sitting down be-
side it, I thought of him who, in his
wayside wanderings, stopped at the
well of Sychar, and talked with the
Woman Of Samaria.
Let me turn to the narrative.
Jesus saith unto' her, Go call thy
husband and come hither.''' -
''The women answered and said, 4
have no husband"
''Jesus said unto her, Thou hast
well said, have no husband; forsthou
hast had five husbands, and he whom
thou now hast is not thy husband; in
that said st thou truly
Here was woman whom the church,
had she belonged to it, would have ex-
communicated. Here was a woman
who would have been ostracized by
the world. How was she judged by
him ''of whom the world was not
worthy
In the long dialogue which he held
with her, he uttered no syllable in re-
buke of her past life; he put no insult
on her frailty; he cast no reproach on
her wayward love.
"Come, '.quoth she to her neighbors,
''COme see man who told me all the
things that I ever did"
And yet, in telling them all, he gave
her ne wounding rebulze--no stinging
condemnation-no recorded word of
criticism-nothing but the same sweet
eloquent persuasion to a higher life,
which he uttered equally to sinner and
saint.
Glow is it that thou,' she said, } be
ing jew, askest drink of me, who am
a woman of Samaria? for the Jews
have no dealings with the Samari
tans.''
cannot read such a question, by
such questioner, without wishing that
those otEer women of Samaria-who
walk their fearful pilgrimages up and
down Broadway at midnight; and for
whom there are only bitter W ellis, and
who drink only of poisoned waters 5
l say, I would to God that these wo-
men also could put the same wonder
ing and delightful question to some
Christ of to-day, saying:
GLOW is it that thou, being pure
wilt come and hold spiritual fellowship
with US, being foul ?''
do not SO much puzzle myself about
the origin 1 dn-ahont- the quality
of evil. What is sin, and what purity
WHAT is virtue, and what vice? Wha
is right, and what wrong? A mar
who has never afflicted himself will
these queries-who has never held thu
, scourge of inquest over his own minC
who has never used the shifting roc
of this judgment upon his own hear
knows too little of human nature tC
be either a counselor of others, or
monitor to himself Nor am I ever abl
to survey the conduct even of the weak
= est, the faultiest, the guiltiest of mel
: or women, without being suddenl,
estopped by that penetrating maxim
''Judge not that ye be not judged, 70
with what judgment ye judge, ye shal
be Judged And so I can only pity
and dare not condemn, even the loves
l., of the fallen, and the worst of the bad
On the contrary, appeal to men
two religions-the natural andsreveal
ed. Did not the very brook that but
,. bled past my feet this morning seer
ot intent to wash the world clean ? ]
there not likewise promise that th
human heart, though its sins be a
scarlet, can become white as snow
Then if Nature and God thus conioi
n to purify us, is it not despicable in I
to call i'll names for the defling of on
another's fame?
I thought, too, of that other falle
: women-that unwarton wanton wh
burst in upon him while he was sittin
at banquet-that aspiring, transit!
ured, and immortal harlot who "brou!
an alabaster-box of ointment and stoo
at his feet behind him weeping, ar
- began to wash his feet with tears, ar
did wipe them with the hairs of h
head, and kissed his feet and annoin
ed them with the ointment.
Where is there a more exquisite ia
in literature, or where more sbeaut
n3 full lesson in charity ?
on Nov when the Pharisee who hi
ire hidden him saw it, he spake with
himself saying, This man, if he we
81 prophet, would have known who al
F what manner of woman this is tn
= toucheth him, for she is sinner
A sinner? Yes; and therefore
exile from society. A sinner? Ye
and therefore disentitled to sit at got
mems feasts. A sinner? Yes; al
q therefore condemned to outer dar
ness, where there is weeping and gnas
ing teeth.
"Simon, (said the God-like guest
the man-ike host, seest thou this W
man 2''
No; Simon had never seen her. tt
is, he saw not the woman, but only t
drab-not her womanhood, but or
her shame. He was blind The M
Z ter then pricked open his eyes, a
4. sent through them a sudden sunbe;
that carried a new light into his &C
webbed soul.
''Simon, (said he,) 1 entered il
thine house, thou gavest me no XII
but this woman, since the time ca
in, hath not ceased to kissed my ft
My head with oil thou didst not
noint; but this woman hath annoin
my feet with ointment"