Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10

the next surprising thing happened, and
they had another theme FOR wondering
gossip, they quite forgot this. The dea,
and dumb man and Christ who had healed
him went out Of their minds together. Ano
so these people upon whom the miracle
seemed to produce the greatest effect were
really the most affected by it. There wele
others who were more genuinely toucned.
We are told of these that they glorihed InS J,
Healer. "He hath done all things well,
they said. "He maketh both the deai 70
hear and the dumb to speak" That Is tne
reward Of the helper-a part Of his reward
REWARD OF THE HELPER.
That is the least part of the reward OF the
real helper. He values it, indeed. Ii Is
precious to him to have the appreciation OF
those about him, to hear the pleasant words
of their appreciative speech, to have one
and another say, ''this or that which you
did helped memo man may regard tnas
without gratitude. Everybody prizes sucn
friendly expression, and every BODY Is up
lifted and helped by it, or ought TO oe;
With these bystanders amazement passeu
into admiration. But 1 called that tne
least part of the reward OF the helper.
There were others who gave the helper his
best reward. st. Matthew tells us tnat
some who stood there ''gIorified the Goo Oh
Israel" That was what Christ wanted.
The helper is rewarded when he helps.
And he knows that ne helps most when ne
stirs in the hearts of others not the sense
of mere passing admiration, not even the
feeling of personal affection, but the act OF
looking up, past him, to God. To glorify
God is the aim of the genuine helper.
''Not unto us, but unto Thy name be the
praise" is the thought Of his heart And
they glorifed the God of Israel" Moth,
ing else in that Decapolis visit gladdened
the heart OF Christ like that.
A COMPANY OF UNBELIEvKRs.
1.-THE God of Israeli The expression is
worth noticing. These people of Decapolis
were pagans. They had gods, as they
thought, OF their own. They were away
outside the boundaries of the true religion.
They were the worst kind of heretics, OF un-
believers of infidels. Christ stood among
a company of infdels that day. And what
did he do? In these days OF questioning
and doubling and denying, when we hnd
ourselves sometimes in unbelieving COM
pany, we NAV we'll study this. What did
the Master do?
Did He make an elaborate argument
with premises major and minor and an II
resistibIe conclusion, and so convince their
from heaven, OF the truth about God and OF
the falsehood Of their notions about God,
and so try the persuasion of authority
Did He ridicue the idols of Decapolis?
Did He call down fire from heaven upon
this company of idolaters? There are so
many things which He might have donel so
many things which we, if we had stood In
His place, would have been glad to do!
What did He?
He preached no sermon. He said no word
at all about religion. He simply helped
those people in their need, and did it so
simply, so kindly, and SO wonderfully that
they loved Him on the spot And love and
faith go together. You cannot separate
them. So they believed in Him. and be-
lieving in Him they believed in the religion
which he stood for. That was how those
people of Decapolis found the light
THE MEANS. ADOPTED.
No sermon could have effected that. They
would have turned away, as the people OF
Athens did after the preaching OF ST. Paul.
saying, 1--WE will hear thee again of this
matter" and that would have been the end
of it. But the deed of love and helpfulness
won their hearts.
"And they gIorified the God of Israel -
Here is the conquest toward which the
energies ana prayers Oi tne ueee suui' Al
the world to-day can boast-to bring the un-
believing into the knowledge of Christ. as
Christ brought these heather of Decapolis.
How shall we do it?
In the old days men tried the sword;
against false thinking set the inquisitor
and the rack and the stake; tried violence,
and that failed and will always fail. In
these days the victory of truth over untruth
Is sometimes attempted by means of dis
putation, by logic, by battles OF words
There may be some help in that for some
people, but not much help for many.
The only invincible weapon is the one BY
which Christ conquered on the field o
Decapolis-the sword of love. 1t is only BY
Christian kindliness, and help illness anc
love that Christian truth can ever be com
mended to the minds OF men. We mus
begin BY doing all the good we can. Th'
truth will follow after. He who helps
breaches the soundest doctrine and viii
win the most converts. The best argumen
for the Christian creed is the Christian
character. The doctrine is commended b!
the deed. GEORGE HODGES.