The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-03-25

Help Them Up.

Observing yesterday a crowd gath
cred around poor horse that had
slipped down on the icy pavement, 1
could not but say to myself, Would that
people were as ready to help up fallen
man or woman as they are to help up
that fallen beast! Life is full of slip |
perry places; and many fall results in
a broken bone, sometimes in broken |
heart. Brethren" said the great |
Apostle of Christ, Z" if man be over
taken in fault, we which are spiritual
restore such an one in the spirit of |
meekness." If a man has fallen into |
sin, instead of leaving him there, or in
stead of pelting him with insult and |
cruel contempt and driving him to des-
peration, help him up. Did not the di-
vine love help penitent David to get |
upon his feet again after one of the |
most disgraceful falls on record? Did
not our compassionate Lord restore
and reinstate the disciple who had de-
MED him? The story of the Good
Samaritan has a wide range of applica-
ton; and among other things it teaches
the value of friendly lift to wounded
fellow-man, and the blessed effects of
the oil of love when poured into the
SDOb. 1ICb us ICIllCluDtI bDdb
the very Being who abhors sin with in
finite displeasure is he who came the
farthest and stopped the lowest to raise
fallen sinners from the depths. We
suspect that the word "restore used
by the apostle may have been derived
from surgery. If so, it applies to the
setting of broken bone. Falling into
sin produces moral fracture-often a
compound fracture" Left in sin, I'M
pitied and unrestored, the sinner may
languish into death. Society is as full
of fractured consciences, and SCARED
characters, and sin-bruised hearts as
an army hospital is of mangled soldiers.
But when the trespass has been COM
mitted and the mischief wrought, what
then? When professed child of God
has been overtaken in fault" how
shall he be treated? Shall the broken
bone remain unset? Shall the self
wounded man limp along, a cripple for
life, Stunned and scowled at, and per-
haps pointed at as " terrible exam
pie -? Shall even a once good man
who has fallen under sudden and severe
temptation, as David and Peter did, re-
main in the dust of disgrace, or be in
humanity kicked over into the pit of
despair? Such is not the answer of
him, or of his gospel, who came to seek
out and to save the lost. The spiritual
restoration of every transgressor rests
first of all with God. He only can par
don the transgressor and restore him
to favor. The conditions of such res
toration are repentance for sin, faith
in the Redeemer, and life of new
obedience. Christ atones for sin; the
Holy Spirit awakens to repentance, and
God accepts and pardons "to the ut
termost" the sincere penitent who
comes to Him through Jesus. But for
the up-lift of that pierced hand, where
were the best of us? But have Chris
tan men and women, has the church,
no part to perform? If the holy God is
willing to restore the penitent wrong
more carefully, shall Gods people be
unmerciful towards every weak fellow
creature who has slipped on the ice of
temptation, or been tripped up by the
adversary, or even ventured recklessly
over the edge of precipice? Heaven
forbid! If son, in the heat of youth
full passions, has flung himself into dis
graceful sin, shall pious father lock
him out from the family circle and the
family-altar with an iron hand? Or shall
he stretch forth the soft yet strong hand
of paternal love to reclaim and restore?
The practical answer to these questions
has decided the salvation or the perdi-
ton of more than one young man. If a
domestic in our families has been
temped to commit a theft, it may de-
pend upon us whether she becomes a
confirmed, desperate thief, or peni-
tent, self-watchful woman, for the flu
ture. The statistics of prostitution
prove that there is more than one
wretched prowler on the midnight
streets who might have been saved if
the paternal door had been opened to
her after the first fall from virtue.
Society not only sins grievously by
sparing the man and striking the
woman, but often sins cruelty by strik-
ing down at once without ever giving
"space for repentance. l am not Of
fering an excuse for sin. l am only
pleading for the saving of the sinner by
every Christian method. If Gods love
has built bridge of recovery, then in
his name let us point it out, and help
the fallen towards it. | am pleading
for every one, man or woman, who has
fallen into the clutch of devil, that
they may not be left there for that de-
mon to - bring seven other devils !" to
torment them into desperation and
perdition. l am pleading for the liher-
ated prison-convict, and the disciplined
church-member, and the erring girl
(who was quite as much sinned against
as sinning) and for the inebriate, that
each should have a fair chance and a
helping hand to climb back to the posi-
ton from which their sins have hurled
them down. Shall a fallen horse have
more pity than the fallen and bruised
and bleeding creature for whose saliva
ton Christ died? If Jesus came to this
sin-cursed world to be Redeemer and
Restorer, woe be to us if we refuse to
lift up them that be down Gin the spirit
of meekness ~! The apostle clenches
his appeal for Christian charity with g
powerful home-thrust when he ends il
by saying, Consider thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. RE-. Il. L. Cuyler
i,l Nelc Yorl El,oooobct