Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-13
DOES HE CARE.FOR ME
The Question That Rises at Some
Time in Every Mans Bosom,
WHY CHRIST CALLED MATTHEW.
Re Recognized Good Man, Although Very
Unpopular.
CHRISPS CRUSADE AGAINST CASTE


"As Jesus went forth from thence, we
read, s'He saw man named Matthew sitting
at the receipt of custom, and He saith unto
him: Follow me. And he arose and fol-
lowed Him."
There is something significant in the fact
that Christ saw Matthew at all.
1t means that the Divine Reformer, in
His zeal for the bettering of man, never for
got men. He knew that society can be rep
resented only by the regeneration of the in
dividual. And if you will think of it, you
will see that He worked on that principle
always. He made no attempt to get power,
either ecclesiastical or civil. He never tried
to get any kind of laws passed. He made
no effort to organize party. He took pains
TO keep away from crowds, and to keep
crowds away from Him. He seldom
preached to large congregations. On the
contrary, His way was to single out man
here and another man there, as He chose
Matthew, aud to influence that man, and to
inspire him with His spirit and His truth,
and then TO send the man out to influence
somebody else.
That is the only way in which any perma-
nent good work can be done in this world.
Men must be dealt with not as masses but as
other, and each made a center of quiet in
fuence. One of the best things lbout this
way of doing good is that it is possible to
every one of US. We cannot all influence a
crowd, but we can each of us influence
somebody. We cannot all mold public opin-
ion, but we can each of us affect some
bodv's private opinion, and by and by that
becomes public opinion of the most perma-
nent kind.
Who is there to whom as ISuch as that is
impossible? Christ, passing by, saw Mat
thew, and recognized in him a man who
needed help, and straightway set about help
ing him. You can do as much as that your
self.
CHRIST SINGLED OUT MATTHEW.
Christ passing by, saw Matthew. He
had lust been standing an the Capernaum
wharf with great crowd about him; but
He had looked over all the upturned faces
and noticed this solitary man sitting at the
door of the custom house and listening.
There was no crowd big enough to hide
man from Christ.
And Christ, as 1 was saying last Sunday,
came into this world not only to bring a
revelation, but to be revelation. In Christ
we see God. And there is one question
about God which We cannot help asking.
We look out over human life and see the
pain in it. We see the good suffering from
sickness, the strong arm which seems so
sorely needed is stricken down, the wise
lips on which men wait for guidance are
silenced, and accident comes, the dam
breaks as it did at Johnstown, the rivers
overflow as in Japan, the sea rises and the
waves engulf the shore, the rail parts and
over goes the train into the ditch, and there
is no distinction CT persons, the good and
ha6 the halnful ond xio die fouafbar
and we cannot help asking: Does God
care? Does God, looking out over the
masses of human beings which cover the
face of the earth, distinguish at all between
them? Does He care for me?
That is one OF the irresistible questions.
And Christ has answered it. He who came
TO bring a revelation OF God has assured us
by His blessed words that not a sparrow
falls to the ground without God s knowledge.
And He who came to be the revelation of
revelations looked out over the multitude at
Capernum and saw Matthew; and many an
other time saw many another poor man or
woman needing His help and pity, and cared
for them. Christ, We have seen, was always
caring for the individual. And that means
that God is always caring for the individual
In the face of all the hard things which come
into mans experience, hold still to that
Somehow-trust Christ-that is true.
GOD DOES CARE.
But when Christ saw Matthew He saw not
only an individual, but an individual of
certain marked type. He saw not only
man, but peculiar kind of man. He saw
q man whom the religious people of that
day, if they mad chanced to look at him,
would have turned their backs on. He saw
q despised man, a man burdened with uni
versal unpopularity. Everybody hated
Matthew. Nobody could think of any
name too bad for HIM.
Because Matthew was one who sat at the
receipt of customs. He was one of the Ca
pernaum revenue officers. The tax,collector
has never in bny country been a particu-
larly welcome guest But in Judea he was
disliked on principle. Not only did he take
the peoples money, and as much of it as he
could, and in a thousand vexatious ways
but the money went out of the country 10 a
foreign government, ard that an alien to
their religion. Taxation touched the He
brew pocketbook, and that was bad enough.
But il outraged the Hebrew sense of Justice;
1t symoolized tyranny and idolatry; it was a
perpetual and exasperating reminder of
their loss OF civil and religious liberty, and
that emphasized their hatred. A tax gath
erer was an Oppressor and a thief and
renegade and traitor and an infdel and
IN general a disreputable rascal No
money out of the publicans' strong
box could go into the Temple treas
ury. No money changer would change
it. cannot think that the opportunity to
get any of it for the temple treasury came very
often; but when it did-Noi There was not
water enough in all the Sea of Galilee to
make the coin clean which had been
elenched in the hand of the publican. The
publicans were shut out of everything. The
Il.
either political, ecclesiastical or social.
AND MATTHEW WAS A PUBLICAN.
And yet Christ saw Matthew, and was at
once interested in Matthew, and all the
prejudice of all the people of Palestine
affected Him not for an instant.
We hardly know which to wonder at
the most, as we study the life OF Christ:
whether at the people whom He chose. or at
the people whom He did not choose. He
behaved himself upon principles so opposite
to those which were current in His trial.
upon principles which even to-day are not
understood very generally-and certainly
not acted upon very generally-that
one cannot predict beforehand, even
sfter following Him closely, what He will
say or what He will do He meets a Samari-
tan woman beside a we'll where He has
stopped to rest. She is a Samaritan. and a
woman. and having had five husbands is
living now with a man who is not her hus-
band. Here are three damaging facts, any
one of which would have turned away the
videst-minded rabbi OF that day. Christ en-
cages her in conversation land makes known
to her the protoundest religious truth He
has to teach. One night there comes to Him
a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. This man is impressed and partly
persuaded. BE is person of authority and
influence. Here is a great chance for the
Master to strengthen his position. to gain
~ VA & among the church leaders TO gel the