New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-04-15
TUR LESSON or TO-DAY.


thrown the reserve of sanctity over the events
whose anniversary is celebrated this week
that their mean ng in certain sense Is
blunted; we find it hard to realize them as
actual facts Tor to judge of them as we would
any other historical incident. There, for In
stance, is the poor sinner who came searching
for her Lord on the first day of the week
eighteen centuries ago. When we read that
story, it is of the ideal Magdalene we are apt
to think, with her hair disheveled and
elbow on a skull, looking penitent per
haps, but not reformed, whom painters have
reproduced in every phase of beauty thou
sand times. We have no authority for think
ing that she was fair, or one whit different In
her fall from any abandoned woman In the
foulest purlieus of New-YOrk. She. may have
been old and ugly; she certainly was one OF
the worst of her class-a woman OF whom the
old wIse king declared that her feet take
"hold on death, her ways go down to hell"
The chroniccr had no way to express her vice
but by declaring that she was possessed by
seven devils. We take the fancy picture OF
her into our galleries and drawing-rOoms; she
and her sins and her repentance are one OF
the most beautiful and sublime chapters of
the wonderful Christian story, as they
ought to be. But what of the poor
wretch in miserable rags or more miser-
able finery who will pass us in the gas-lighted
street tonight Is she q subject for the com
passion or even notice of our wives and
daughtersf What has our aesthetic sense to
do with herr where is the pathos, the
sublmity in that unclean, vulgar creature
How is Christianity to be brought into relation
with her7 Yet here is the real Magdalene-
not that kneeling, inspired woman of RaphaeFs
or Correggio's making. Mary crept, like this
woman in New-York, through the suburbs of
the old Jewish town of Main; Main or New
York-what mattcrssiti Mans nature and
woman's nature are the same in both. Like
this poor creature, she skulked out OF the sight
of decent men, while decent women looked be-
yond her, as if the space she filed was empty
air; she was fit only to be cast out and trod-
den under foot and she knew it. Yet when
the great Master came she entered the ban
quetins-room wheras He sat, strong in her
misery and weight of sin, and washed His
feet with her tears and wiped them with the
hair of her head.
Do we know that these women, whom it is
n shame to even mention, have no weight OF
misery and sin to bearf The very emotional
temperament which has made them liable to
fall quickens their power of suffering. Any one
who has attempted their rescue will testify
that their remOrse is sometimes extreme. Mr..
Moodys meetings in Philadelphia CHANGED to
be held near street where numbers of them
lived, and they went constantly to hear him !;
sat with the tears rolling down their cheeks
and sang with eager devotion, seldom using
tho book, as they knew all the more emotional
HYMNS by heart. OF course wo shall be told
that the spasms of remorse do not last, that
the hymn is forgotten when sung, and that the
tears are soon dried.
What, then, is to be done The Magdalene
is as absolute n fact in NewYork as in Main.
Society has no way of dealing with her but
the prison; it is left for the Christian to dis
pose of her--mOst terrible of all problems.
How did the Master deal with her He por-
toned her no austere punishment, laid down
no hard lines of duty; the woman capable of
logic or of tough adherence to duty for duty's
sake is not tho one who errs in that way. He
did not ccnsure her excess of abasement, check
the wiping of His feet, or hint that the tears
would soon be dried. He met her with infinite
compassion. In all His life He spoke no words
moro tender than then when her little world
shrank back from this poor worm. in dis
gust. " Her sins, which are many, are for
given for she loves much" We are con-
stantly told that reformatOries for these women
fail because they will not submit to
prison discipline, strict rules, and orderly
routine. The Master used none of these cura-
tive measures lie trusted to the "much love"
of the woman, and showed that He trusted !;
she was allowed at once to work for His cause
with the other disciples. That very emotional
nature which had been her temptation was the
lever by which she was moved to the best
ends. 1t kept her faithful. She had probably
no high conception of His mission she did
not even look for Him to rise again from the
was kept yesterday, she. clinging to the cross,
saw Him die, and late in the evening followed
With His mother as Joseph carried Him to
the sepulcher wherein never before man
was laid. Early IN the morning she came,
not to find risen Savior but with spices to
recognized her humanity and treated her as q
friend. 1t is a significant fact that as His birth
into the world was first announced to the
poorest of the poor, His resurrection which
made Life sure to all men who have ever lived,
was first made known to this most vile Of sin
ners, who had no claim but her great love.
Coming in the early dawn. she looked in the
sepulcher. He was not there. "Sir," she said.
thinking He was the gardener, "they have