Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-16

PITTSBURG DISPATCH
hesitate to help, and then presently, as if
yielding to persuasion, help? The answer to
this two-fold question is in our Lords own
words
THE RIGHT EXPLANATION.
"I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the
house of Israeli is the reason why He
hesitated. 80 woman, great is thy faith, !"
is the reason WHY He helped. Christ helped
within certain limit; outside that limit,
He did not help. The woman came within
that limit, and got help. This is what we
have to study.
1t is an evident fact that Christ limited
His personal ministry to the boundaries of
the province of Palestine, and to members of
the Jewish church. Only upon rare occasions
such as the present, did He depart outside
the boundaries OF this limitation. The same
rule which He observed Himself, He set tor
His disciples. Only within the same con-
trscted limits, only to the house of Israel
were they to go. Even the cities OF the
Samaritan they were not to enter.
1t is equally evident that along with this
limitation went the purpose OF the widest
universally. Nothing is more remarkable
about the words of Christ than their contin-
ual reaching out and taking everybody in.
The field is the world. The religion of
Christ is for all nations. He is the light
which lighteth every man born into our
human life. Somehow, then, the limited
and the universal were reconciled in the
thought of Christ. He set limits that thereby
He might reach out and touch all sides of
the world. think we can understand that
Christ recognized the value of limitations.
Whoever gets any good work done in this
world gets it done by recognizing the value
of limitations. Whoever would help men
must help man. The fire warns the room
because it is within the limits of the CRATE.
The man who knows little about every
thing contributes nothing to the knowledge
of his generation. He is not the man who
makes the discoveries. The Christian who
makes resolution "to be good" or to enter
upon any general new course of conduct is
not the Christian who gets on toward saint
hood. Nobody gets much inspiration from
the example of such Christian. There is
nothing to take hold OF. The way to the
knowing OF something that will help men is
along the path of limitation.
NOT IN THE BY-PATHs.
A hundred gates must be shut and barred.
which lead into paths along which one would
like to 60. One gate and one way must
be chosen and resolutely followed. To be
professor of things in general is to sit
in chair to which no man could look
for an oracle, to know one thing and to
know more about it than anybody else Is the
way to be of intellectual use to ones gener-
alton.
That is what mean by the value of linn
itation. If we learn Alright the lesson of
Christ's life. Limitation is the initial con-
dition of good work for God. In our own
homes to be by word and good example
preachers of righteousness, within the small
circle of our acquaintances to give what
help we can, to uplift whomsoever we can,
to learn what lessons are there set for us
this is His way who lived in the narrow
province of Palestine.
He had come to help the world, but He
chose to do it by helping few people in the
small towns and country villages OF
Syria. And out of that helping
has grown the Church. Christ
helps us to-day because He helped
Peter and James and j ohm and a few others.
Christ recognized the value of Limitations.
81 am not sent" He said, ''but unto the lost
sheep of the house OF Israel" That was the
method along which He worked.
But even within the contracted bounda-
ries OF Palestine Christ did not help every-
body. Beside and within the limit which
which was set for him. There was another limit
not written down and measured out in any
geography, but established in the heart of
man. Some, Christ could not help. There
were villages in which He could not neal
nor help anybody. 1t was because the bar
rier OF unbelef was built between His bless
Ing and mans need.
THE LIMIT OF FAITH.
All work of helping others is done within
the limits of their faith. All influence waits
upon appreciation, upon confidence, upon
the open heart. We know ourselves how with
some people we are at our best and speak
our truest thoughts, and give out the worth
lest that is in us, and go away conscious
that we have left a benediction behind us.
With others we are constrained, silent, un-
helpful So We get to realize this fact of
Limitation which we read of in the lite of
Christ.
The Master may have hesitated on ac-
count of the limitations which He had
wisely set around His work. For the
woman was heather. But it seems nearer
the real truth to say that He hesitated be-
cause of the limitations which human faith
and unfaith set about Him. "Jesus gave
the woman what she wanted" says wise
preacher, 'Just as soon as it was possible for
it were, behind His back, watching her face
to see when was the best moment for Him to
give it to her. He was telling of a genuine
when he said, II am not
sent but to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel" He could not give her what she
wanted then; but when by her belief in
Him she had crossed the line and become
spiritually one of His people, then the i'm
possibility was removed, and we may even
say, II think He could not help helping
her."
We are all the time limiting the benedic-
tions oil God. Gods hand waits upon our |
hearts. To the closed heart comes no bless
ing. To the open heart, to the heart of love
and faith, God is always waiting to be gra-
cious. and is always just as gracious as we
will let him be, gives His richest gifts "If |
thou canst believe-all things are possible |
to him that believeth."
GEORGE HODGES.