The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-02-19
L-4T SERMON.
BY KIRwAN.

~ PaitiSdiisnlrs, ana have been waCed
with a fanaticism as cruel as death and
as remorseless as the grave.
Indeed, TIE hereditary feud between
Saxon and Celt was neither SO bitter nor
so imPlacable as the ancient rivalry be-
tween Jew and Samaritan. Gerizim was
set against Zion, and the temple of Ma
h'isseh against the temple of Solomon.
10 nate the Samaritan worship and to
denounce the Samaritan himself as a
Cuthite was part of the Jews religion
and' as might be supposed, this scorn
and execration was repaid with compsund
interest. To such an extreme did this
mutual hatred grow that St. John tells
us IN the fourth gospel, they had no
dealings with each other. Any inter-
change, even of the common courtesies of
life, was strictly forbidden.
In nothing was the superioritv Of
Christ as religious teacher more mani.
lest than In his rising above these mar
row preJudices of caste and creed
Although according to the flesh he was
OF the seed of Israel and in hearty sym-
pathy with Judaism, yet he not only
preached to the Samaritans, but on one
occasion sharply rebuked John and
James, the "sons of thunder who
wished to call down fire from heaven tn
consume certain villages of the Samari-
tans.
ana so, when certain lawyer sought
TO perplex him with the question, Who
Is my neighbor he astoun,ied the multi
tude about by uttering the beautiful
parable of the Good Samaritan.
He describes Jewish traveller going
down the rocky gorge which leads from
usaiem to Jericho. 1t was, saws
mar, ian ill-omened way, and was
n as now, grievously infested by
rauding banditti. In the course of
journey he was assaulted, stripped of
ralment, shamefully beaten and left
ngled and half dead. In a little
lie, continues the parable, a priest.
had probable been to Jerusalem tn
MISTER in his course, came that wav
q seeing the wounded maa,.w1f6out
sl,ng an encouraging word or helping
' I''ssea y the other side. AL
,. the same hour Levite, who
Is fresh from the services of the temple,
me and looked ON him, and having sat
ned purient curiosity, he also passed
y, leaving the poor sufferer to his fate.
chance, or what is better rendering.
coincidence, a Samaritan on his jour
ey saw him and had compassion on him,
curing oil and wine into his gaping
ounds TO soothe and heal them, and
nen, dIsmounting, placed hin, upon his
east and carried him 10 a neighborinc
an, where he spent the night in nursing
him. On the morrow, he gave the host
two pence, with instructions to provide
for him still further, and then resumed |
his journey. Now" inquired our Sa-
vior, (which of the three was neirbbor |
to him that fell amongst the thievessn
The lawyer was constrained to reply.
+" He that showed him Kindness" Then
added the great teacher, "Go thou and
do likewise"
Some of the fathers, and not a few of
the modern expositors, regard the par
able as furnishing an outline of the his
tory of redemption. They spiritualize
every feature of it, making the inn to
represent the church, and the two pence
the sacraments, or, as some interpret, the
two covenants. While the parable adj
mits of general application to the work
of visitation through Christ, vet much
that has been written in this direction is
but solemn trifiing. Such an exepesis
rs that of Trench and Others places in the
background, if it does not leave entirely
cut of view, the main purpose of our
Savior, which WAS to inculcate a milan
thropy as broad as the brotherhood Of
mar, unrestricted by cline or condition
Every fellow-man who is in distress is
ny ncighbor so far az to. entitle him tn
NY helpful sympathy. Philanthropy is
nt regulated by degrees of latitude or
longitude, nor is it circumscribed by the
PARTITION walls of partyism, political or
ecclesiastical. There is, however. n marked
difference between mere sentiment and
genuine sensibility. The former is an
enervescence of emotion; the latter il .
deeP-fowing current of feeling that re-
suits in something practical.
Sterne could morallze most beauti-
fuiiy over Gagged starting, or the carcass
oi dead ass, and yet was heartIess do
nestle tyrant. Even in the days of the
empire, when noble captives were butch
cred to make holiday, Roman audi
ence would rise and applaud rapturousIy
and roundly that immortal line of Ter.
ence: Homo sum ct humani a me nil oL
leunuD, puto.'
At the present time, also, we find scores
vino weep at the mock distresses of Des-
demona or the simulated sorrows of Lear
who never once performed disipter-
eslcd action Some of these are not I'M
like the priest of the parable. They
avoid close contact with poverty, dis
ease and misery. If by accident brought
into unpleasant proximity to some
wounded wayfarer, they leave him vel
teriDg in his blood, and pass on to the
house of mirth or the hall of feastinc.
There Is another class of these sickly
who, like the Levite, 90
to the house of mourning, and when
there, are by no means sparing of kindly
words, but who never touch, even with
niger, the burden which is pressing the
Tery life out of the sufferer.
I" Be ye warmed and filed" is the ex-
ent Of their brotherly kindness
But there is also class of whom the ;
food : aritan is a just type. Men
md woT u "who feel another's woe"
lot in ming, but in reality-whose I