Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-08-18
One Sinner.

There are Christians who imagine that il
they cannot address crowds, il they cannot
engage in some work which excites public
nothing remains for them to do.
Ii may serve to correct this serious mistake,
If we remember that much of our Lords
ministry was occupied in dealing with indi-
vidual souls, and that many of his marvel
Gus discourses we owe to his interviews
with various persons, one by one, whom he
met on his pathway to the cross. Indeed,
the order Of advancing his cause, and has.
tening his kingdom, is finely intimated and
illustrated in the first chapter of Johns
Gospel. Andrew heard the testimony of
the Baptist concerning him, and " first find
eth his own brother Simon" "The day
following, Jesus would go forth into Cali
lee, and fndeth Philip" and Philip fndeth
Nathaniel" So it should be still; Jesus
finds one sinner; and that saved sinner
ought to go out Immediately, and find an
other sinner. In the third chapter of John
we have our Lord teaching the great doc
trine of regeneration "by night" to one
man and this is followed by the wondrous
unfolding of the love of God for lost
world, and salvation through faith in the
uplifted Christ. If he had been unwilling
to labor for the conversion of one sinner, If
he had pleaded the necessity for rest at the
time when men Sleep there is no telling
what he would have lost in the omission Of
these precious verses, that have brought life
and gladness to countless multitude. But
he spoke to that one sinner by night with no
less interest and earnestness than he would
have shown, if he had been addressing ten
thousand anxious hearers. In the fourth
chapter it is said, ale must needs 90
,,,,h L,,N Al .,
was the constraint of his grace to reveal
himself as the Christ to sinful and sorrow
ing woman, cropping her way in the dark for
something that could purify aud save. To
this one sinner he reveals truth which Gre
clan culture and philosophy never perceived; !;
"God is spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth"
10 this one sinner he makes known the well
of salvation, springing up into everlasting
life, and tells her it is the gift of God
What would we not have missed, if he had
thought it beneath him to seek that one sin.
ner, and such sinner. In the fifth chapter
we see him noticing an impotent and friend.
less man and the wonderful words that fol-
low spring from his grace to single soul. If
it had not been for his interest in one sinner,
we might never have read the sweet assur-
ance that has given peacet to so many troubled
hearts, Verify, verify, say unto you, He
that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation but it is passed
from death unto life." The whole of the
chapter, containing forty-seven verses, we
owe to the fact that Jesus looked with loving
sympathy upon poor, helpless cripple. So
the whole of the sixth chapter containing
seventy-one verses, takes its rise in a conyer-
sation with Philip about five barley loayes
and two small fishes. The most trivial Incl
dents our Lord eagerly seized as the means OF
reaching the souls of men, and as the me-
dium for communicating the grandest truth
Nothing was too great for his power; moth
ing was too minute for his notice. 1t is in
this chapter we read, al am the bread of
life; he that cometh TO me shall never hun
ger; and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst. Verify, verify, | say unto you,
lie that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
lam that bread of life." The eighth chapter,
consisting Of fifty-nine verses, is due to his
grace manifested to one sinner, taken in the
act of adultery, and dragged before him TO
receive his condemnation, or to force him
into antagonism to the righteous law of Mo-
ses. "But Jesus stopped down, and with
his finger wrote on the ground" Dust
throughout the Scriptures is the symbol of
death, and he was writing the sentence of
death against her accusers, against herself,
and against himself as the substitute of sim
ners, that perfect grace might flow forth
along the channel of unsullied righteousness
for every believer. "Jesus was left alone,
and the woman standing in the midst"
She too might have gone, but she could not
tear herself away from One who could pity
and save; while to the conceited Jews he
said, "If ye believe not that am, We shall
die in your SINS" For the ninth and also
the tenth chapters, for there should be no
division here, we are indebted to his kind
ness and sympathy shown to man born
blind. He was passing by to escape the
stones Of his infuriated enemies, but he
paused in the face of danger long enough
to give sight TO one wretched sinner. 1t is
to this fact, and to his watchfulness in seek
ing opportunities to speak to single SOUL
we owe his beautiful discourse about him
self as the good Shepherd, and the testimony
that forms so sure resting place for our
faith "My sheep hear my voice, and |
know them, and they follow me and give
unto them eternal life; and they snail never
perish, neither shall any pluck them out of
my hand" But enough probably has been
written TO indicate the value of one sinner
in the estimation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and to stimulate his faithful followers to
more earnest effort in behalf of individuals
whom they may meet. 1t may be that the
coarsely clad boy or girl they kindly take
by the hand on the streets will develop,
under the quickening and Transforming
power of the Holy Ghost, into a devoted
minister or consecrated missionary of the
cross. The Holy Ghost took Philip away
from preaching to great crowd, in order to
preach to the eunuch, and none can tell the
result that followed the conversation of that
one man. At all events, we know that
there is Joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth," be
that sinner old or young, rich or poor, high
or low. "Let him know, that he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his
way shall save soul from death, and shall
hide a multitude of sins" (James 5 20).-
TTs Truth