Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-12-08
DON'T THROW STONES.
We Should Not Hear or Say Hard
Words About Our NeighbOrs.
MORE GOOD THAEEYILIN MANKIND
Christ's Unexpected Reply to the Accussrs
of o Woman.
FEW OF Us can AFFORD TO BE ACCUSERS
WRITTEN ron THE DIsPAToH.I

kingdom which Christ instructed US to call
Gods kingdom, and which-whatever else
it means-will evidently be the reign OF
peace and good will and love over the deeds
and speech and hearts of men, has not
come" yet; and we are accordingly tempted
every day either to say or to hear hard things
about people. And we want to know how
to behave ourselves when that temptation
comes. This is the question which, as say,
enters of necessity into the daily thinking
of ali people who are attentive to the voice Of
conscience.
The temptation comes because the ofenses
come. And the ofenses will undoubtedly
keep on coming. ut must needs be that
offenses come" And when they do come
we have in spite of ourselves a strong curl
osity to hear about them, and an instructive
impulse to speak about them. Now, what
shall we do?
Why, we will do, if we are good Chris
tians, whatever Christ tells us 70 do. We
look to Him.
We have but slender record of the life
of Christ 1t is all set down within the
compass of few pages. And yet the
record is singularly adequate. This brief
recital of the words and works Of Christ, SO
meager as history, is absolutely complete
as a revelation. No man, these Is CEN
turtles hack, has been in any place of
difficulty so dark but that the light of the
life of Christ could show him a way out.
And when we look for an answer to this
question, which concerns so closely our re-
lation to our fellow men, we find 1t readily.
1t is within our reach to know exactly what
Christ Himself would do If He were placed,
as we are every day, within touch OF the
temptation to speak and hear hard things
about our neighbors.
A PLAIN DUTY.
The hard things which solicit hearing or
speech from US are some of them true, but
great many of them are false. And so far
as the false reports are concerned, our duty
is of the plainest We do not need to open
the pages of the Bible to learn it. There is
only one thing to do with lies. And that is
to deal with them as they dealt in the mid
die ages with blasphemers, cut their tongues
out first and their heads of afterward
There is no question as to the attitude of
Christian toward lie.
Now, I will venture to affirm that two
thirds of the evil report which gets a hear
ing In the world is false. / would not say
that it is malieiously false, though, OF
course, some of it is. But it is, nevertheless,
false. 1t is founded upon mistake, scafolded
with misapprehension, wiped over with igno-
rance. Isuppose that, as matter of fact,
addition and multiplication take up the
most pages in the arithmetic of gossip; but
division and subtraction will bring us nearer
to the truth, and get the right answer often
est.
Because the evidence upon which we con-
vict people is of necessity circumstantial.
H. so, k1oeo 1ona
aging circumstances cover is almost always
covered out of sight. We can only guess at
it. The whole Specification Of the circum-
stances waits upon the motive. The whole
meaning OF this suspicious transaction de-
pends for solution upon factor %hiehs we
have no absolute knowledge Of -, \
And, as for motive, know that the world !,
is pretty bad world, and that the prince Of
this worId-the devll-has an extended en-
pire and good many loyal subjects, and yet 1
would fain believe that there is a large proper
ton Of goodnessint the world after all that total
depravity has no real existence ouside the
logic of the theologies and that the motives
of men and women are at least as likely to
be good as to be bad. Indeed, my own
opinion is that SO far as desire, intention
and motive go, there is more of good in
most people than there is of bad. The
kindest Judgment, ninety times out Of
ninety, is the truest.
THE BEST THING TO DO
when we hear an evil report is to decline to |
believe it. There is some explanation of it,
there is some other side to it, there is some
other meaning hidden somewhere behind it.
Put it away. Do not repeat it; do not let it
stay in your mind; do not believe it 1t is
a lie.
But sometimes it is not lie. Sometimes
the evil report is unfortunately and miser-
ably true. What shall we do then? Here
we appeal to Christ We ask advice from
the Master. What would Christ have US do
in such a case as that?
One day they brought to Christ an offender
caught in the offeise. Concerning the
offenders guilt there was no possible ques-
ton. Here, they said, is one whom we have
found breaking a commandment of God.
What shall be done2
There they stood before the Master, the
accused and the accusers. On one side
woman taken in a grievous sin; on the
other the upright, the pious, the orthodox,
scandalized, whispering among themselves,
frowning, making their stern information
had hard thing to say about a neighbor.
and the hard thing was no lie; it was plainly
and disgracefnlly true. Thus before the
great teacher of Gods law, the preacher of
Immaculate purity, the upholder OF absolute
righteousness, they bring this miserable
fallen woman. Moses, they said, COM
manded that such as this should be stoned. |
What sayest thou?
The whole thing was evidently a very
cunning trap. 1t was the case of the trib- |
ute money over again. Christ must, they |
thought, make either damaging assertion |
OF damaging denial OF the justice of that |
old law. If He said, ''let her be stoned"
He put Himself in opposition to the |
Romans, who alone held in that conquered |
province the right to infict capital punish !
ment. If He said, "let her alone" He |
put slight upon the legislation of the |
Hebrews. 1t was choice between Cesar and |
Moses. Whatever answer He returned, |
whatever choice He made, would be the fur |
nishing of material for accusation against |
Him. The men were thinking more about |
humbling the Master than about Furnishing |
the sinner. There can be no question as to !
WHAT THESE MEN EXPECTED.
Christ. however, was always saying and |
doing that which no man expected. He |
looked at human life from point of view so |
different from ours, that His conversation |
of necessity was full of surprises. Through |
out the record OF His dealings with men, in |
every chronicle of what they say and what !
He answers, there is constantly present this I
element of unexpectedness.
And so when they bring this shrinking |
and humiliated woman and ask the judg- |
ment OF Christ upon her sin. He does not !
make the answer which they look for. ''Let |
him." he says, that is without sin among
you first cast stone at her.
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