Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-01
WHERE ARE THE NINE
The Story Of the Ten Lepers Teaches
the Christian World That
1T Is OUR DUTY TO BE THANKFUL.
Nan Can Always Thank God When He
Remembers That Often
TRIALS ARE BLESSINGS In DISGUISE
IT is OUR DUTY TO BE THANKFUL.
TRIALS ARE BLESSINGS In DISGUISE
WRITTEN FOR THE D1spArcH.I

went the bonds of their leDrosy were loosed,
a new strength came into their muscles, 8
new glow luto their faces, a new hops
dawned in their hearts.
The ten had been deserted of all men
They had been forbidden to live any Longer
in the company of their families and friends
They had been commanded to cry out un-
clean! unckan! when any man came
uuawares into their neighborhood. The
ten had associated themselves into a miser'
able fraternity. Ten outcasts, ten beggars,
ten leDers.
One day the ten had seen across field
one whom they had heard of as the leper's
friend. There was notable distinction in
those days when lepers had no friends. They
had heard that this singular teacher, whom
most people in authority in the church
thought to be little better than a hereto,
had touched leper once and healed him.
And now there He was-this kind and won-
6erful Rabbi-just across the field from
them. They Joined their weak and pitiiul
voices in an appealing cry to Him that He
would help them. And He did help them
As they went, they were ceansed. Then 1t
was that nine went straight on, and out OF
the ten only one came back to say ''thank
you" to the Healer.
/ cannot think that the nine were alto
gether ungrateful people. That is not hu-
man nature. They could not have looked
into the new and unexpected future which
was opening before them, and into which
they were going, without a memory of Him
who had made that future possible, and a
sincerely grateful memory. Christ had not
passed out of their thoughts. That is quite
unlikely.
MEN WHO DID NOT THINK.
The men were not ungrateful; they were
only silent. And their silence shows that
they were thoughtless men. 1t did not occur
TO these nine, in the gladness of their new
life, that they could be of any help to Him
who had helped them; that they could put
any joy into His life who had filed their
lives full of such joy that it seemed almost
too good TO be true. The trouble with the
men was simply that they did not think.
Even if they had thought, thev might
have found it hard to know exactly what to
say. For joy is of all emotions the most
difficult to put into speech. Sorrow is easier
OF expression. Think of the notable scenes
IN which the masters of fiction have
pictured the crises of human life. The best
are the pathetic. There is no perfect
picture of happiness Gratitude is especial
ly hard to put into words. 1t eludes the
pen and the tongue. 1t can be seen in peo-
pies eyes, but it refuses to be made
audible in speech. 1t defes the grammars
and the dictionaries.
There is really more thankfulness and ap-
precIation in the world than we get credit
for If we ever get into such a state of in
tellectual cultu-, that the language which
We now use viii be discarded, like the old
picture writings of our remote ancestors,
and instead of speech we will substitute
thought, and in the place OF conversation
simply read each others minds, there will
be trouble abou3 gratitude. Perhaps
there Is no emotio' which will gain more in
its expression th an this. Everybody who is
good to US will know in that millennial
day just how glad and appreciative we are.
Probably, however, the nine men who
went on did not think. There was only one
among the ten who had the manners, the
courtesy, the thoughtfulness, the genuine
gratitude which made him 90 back and
look into the face of Christ, and fall down
at His feet giving Him thanks.
HELPING THE HELPER.
It did make difference to Christ. after
all. 1t grieved Him to see the backs of the
nine, and only one solitary figure turning
about. "Were there not ten cleansed2' He
asks.
There was something divine as we'll
as human in the question. Christ, we
may believe, in whom heaven and earth
met, represented God as we'll as man when
He asked that. 1t pleases God that we
should thank Him. Of course, that ideal
reading OF the mind, of which ] spoke, is
realized In God. And yet He who has
given US lips asks the offering of utterance
He wants Us to tell Him, when we are CRATE
full to Him. He wants us to kneel down in
His presence, as we do to-day, and put our
gratitude into speech. The words NAV be
new, and hesitating, and inadequate, yet God
wants the words.
These are four elements which ought to
enter into our prayer. Praying is thinking,
telling, thanking, and trusting. That is,
we kneel down and spend moment in SIM
pie, silent, reverent thinking We remem-
Der where we are, and what we are here for,
and to whom we speak. Then we tell God
whatever is In our minds, our troubles and
trials, our needs, our wishes. Finally,
we trust God; we commend to His
keeping those whom we love, the living,
and, would say, the departed also, ex-
pressing our trust in Him who knows what
is best for all Of US, and will do that and no
other. And between the telling and the
trusting ought to be thanksgiving. We
thanking God for the blessing of the hours
which are passed. God wants us to thank
Him.
I suppose that we do thank God for most
Of the extraordinary blessings of our lives.
A sudden danger, a sharp sickness brings
us so close to face with eternal realities that
God seems nearer than usual. When the
danger is passed, when the crisis of the
disease is reached and safely turned. then
we think of God, and thank Him. 1t is
not likely that any of us would have been
among the nine.
THE DUTY OF THANKFULNEss.
But we ought to thank God for the COM
mon blessings Of our lives Just as much:
yes, more would say, than for His help in
the uncommon emergencies Christ taught
the truth, which in the past has often
been forgotten, but which in late davs has
been emphasized by clearer knowledge of
the world Of nature, that our Heavenly
Father is forever present in this world and
forever working in it. All is miraculous.
all is proyidential, all is theSForking of
God. Somehow we manage to deceive our
selves by giving Latin names to the laws
and the happenings of the life about us-we
manage to deceive ourselves into the idea
that because We call this phenomenon and
that by.a scientific title therefore we have
separated it from the supervision of God.
TIE old Hebrews were wiser who attributed
all things TO Gods working. If the army
lost the battle, God had somehow turned
against them. 1t the rain descended and
the wind blew, God was in the wind and in
the rain. 1t is true, law is but statement
which we set down OF the wav in which God
works. God is in all All is of God. In
Him we live and move. and have our being.
And the commonest blessings of our
lives. then, are blessings which God sends. |
and for which we ought to thank Him