Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-01-22

the most precious sermons ever given to any
OF his followers. "And she saith unton Him,
know that Messias conIeth, which Is called
Christ: when He j. come He will tell US all
things" Wonderful and blessed knowledge
and confession, Oh, how few of the great
and wise have this knowledge and make this
confession. nd to whom did He ever reveal
himself in such plain and positive terms2
Jesus saith unto her, | that speak unto thee
am He And the woman was so filled with
this knowledge that she forgot her erraDd,
left her waterproof and went intOshe city say
ing: "Come, see a man that told me all
things that ever did; is not this the Christ ~
And many believed on Him because of the
testimony Of the woman. Isn't this a re-
markable Sermon The preacher the Son of
God, the pulpit acob's well and the congre-
CATION the woman of Samaria' How many
such sermons do We have to-day? What a
resuke 10 our pride and selh=hness l. here
given by the blessed Master Himself. He
knew He had but three years to preach, and
vet would spend 50 much Of ii in saving one
poor vile woman; and said, when urged
by His disciples TO eat, 81 have meat to eat
that ye know not OF" On, how few of uF,
His disciples, have such meat to eat, or
rather how few feed upon such meat, for it
is not difficult to obtain. Have we no en-
couragement here? On, the infinite, unut-
terable grace and condescension of our
Lord! Let Us magnify His name forever
There are many more precious lessons We
might learn from this passage. People now
would say, "Such a woman ought to keep
quiet. 1t is in bad taste and unbecoming, to
say the least, for her to be telling What Jesus
has done for her.
sHE HAD BETTER ATTEND TO HER WATER
POT"
Is there not too much of this spirit, now,
among Christian people, concerning those
who have been turned from darkness to light,
from death unto life? Caution is a good
thing in its place, bat too much is danger
GUS, inasmuch as it leads to undue suspicion
and uncharitableness. 1t has been said "the
churches are dying of respectability," but is
it not oftener OF dignity and self-righteous-
ness? We forget "the Son of Man came to
seek and to save that which was lost" We
fail to take our places as sinners, as recipi-
ents Of divine grace, and therefore fail to see
that the whole life of Christ was the fullest
and fttest outflow of divine love, and that,
chiefly to publicans and sinners. We are
willing to accept our blessed privilege and
standing, "As He is SO are we in this world, :"
but are not willing to say, GAS He was when
on earth 80 will we be-" The seventh chan
ter of Luke is full of precious practical in
struction. Christ is here invited by one
Simon, Pharisee, to dine with him, and
Simon shows his want of respect
and appreciation of Jesus by neglect
ing the common courtesies of the occa-
sion. "And behold, woman of the
city which was a sinner, when she knew that
Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house,
brought an alabaster box of ointment an
stood at His feet 18th tears, and did wipe
them with the hairs of her head, ami kissed
His feet and anointed them with ointment"
"Now, when the Pharisee saw it, he spoke
within himself, saying: This man, if He
were a prophet, would have known who and
what manner of woman this is that touched
him, for she is a sinner" He didn't know
that this being a sinner was the strongest
claim she could have on him. And then
follows that inimitable conversation between
Christ and Simon, which tells out more Of
divine love than anything that is written.
We must take in the whole picture from
hum an standpoint to be able to appreciate it.
"And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon,
/ have something to say unto thee;' and he
saith, Master, say on There was a GER
tain creditor which had two debtors-the one
owed FIVE hundred pence and the other fifty.
When they had nothing to pay he frankly
forgave them both. Tell me, therefore,
which will love him mostP Simon answered
and said, 4 suppose that he to whom he
forgave most And Jesus said unto him,
Thou hast rightly judged And he turned
unto the woman, and said unto Simon: 'Seest
thou this woman? L entered thine house;
thou gavest me no water for my feet, but she
hath washed my feet with her tears, and
wiped them with the hairs of her head
Thou gavest me no kiss but this woman
since the time came in, hath not ceased to
kiss my feet My hair with oil thou didst
not anoint, but this woman hath anointed
my feet with ointment" And, as if his
great heart could contain the glad news no
longer from the poor, penitent suppliant, he
said, Therefore, say unto thee, her sins,
which are many, are forgiven, for she loved
much; but to whom little is forgiven the
same loveth little" And he said unto her,
"THY SINS ARE FORGIVEN"
And it was as if she fingered, 10th to go. And
He said, "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in
peace" Blessed woman! And yet who,
here 10 day, would not have chosen the place
of the Pharisee? "My thoughts are not as
your thoughts, nor my ways your ways"
saith the Lord. Ryle says, "There is much
variety OF opinion among commentators as to
who this woman was but on one point
almost all are agreed; she had been noto-
rious sinner against the seventh command
these accounts from Gods word, and yet fold
our hands and say there is no hope for them?
The blessed Lord knew how much opposition
and how many discouragements this kind of
work would meet with, and thus gave for our
comfort and encouragement so many instances
of His own dealings with this class. There
is no other character SO fully and plainly
dealt with as this in all His teachings. Our
attention was called to this class in the city
of Memphis in 1875, from finding
number of applicants at our intelli-
gence office, and We did not know what
to do with them, or how to find them en-
ployment This led TO the thought of a
home where they could be taught cared for
and tested. That Home has been in opera
ton since December, 1876, and in the four
years We have admitted two hundred and if
ty persons, the larger proportion of whom,
as far as we have the means of knowing, are
living correct lives. Our work has changed
since its commencement, as at first
we only admitted women but the last year
We have been induced to take, in addition,
girls and children, that are not admitted to
the different orphan asylums. And now, our
Home is bright with the faces and voices of
little children; little waits, and the children
Of drunken fathers and mothers, and of those |
too poor and unfortunate to care for them |
We find this works admirably, as it fur |
nishes employment for the adults to care |
for the children, and the presence of children |
has a softeniDg influence on the adults |
We employ the best talent we can find for |
the work-educated, consecrated Christian |
We have two matrons, teacher |
and missionary. We feel that ours is but |
the beginning OF great work, and we hope |
what we have been permitted to say here to-
day may encourage and induce other asso-
cIations to engage in similar work. We |
think it the duty OF every Christian COM
munity to provide such home, that all that |
will may be saved; that the hearts and |
minds OF Christian people may be opened to |
see the Importance of this work more and |
more is our sincere and earnest prayer.