Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-01

and never presumed to look up. That, how
ever, would be both an artificial and an
unreal humility. 1t would be a sort of
humility which is synonymous with self
conceit. Whoever looks down, looks at
himself And true humility does not spend
much time thinking of self
No; the better way to think about it is
that the humble man is he who has his feet
set firmly on the ground. knows where he is,
stands on the solid foundation of reality. A
humble man does not desire to think of
himself or of anybody else in any untrue
way. Ii he is wiser or better in any respect
than his brother, he has no wish to tell him.
self lies about it. Probably in some other
respect his brother is wiser and better than
he is. Almost every honest man DISCOVERIES
that: The Christian grace of humility does
not consist in disparaging ourselves, nor in
thinking of ourselves more meanly than
we ought to think All that the genuinely
humble man desires is to stand on the good
ground of actual truth.
LUKE HAD CONFIDENCE.
If St. Luke had been hindered by false
humility he would never have under
taken the writing of gospel. The gospel
had already been written: who was this OBJ
scure Troy doctor that he should write a
new one? Luke would have kept in the
background, persuading himself that he was
not competent to that good work. Yes; and
worse than that, he would probably have
stayed on silently at Troy and never have
Joined himself to the company of Paul,
arguing that that great apostle could prob
ably get on very well without him, that
there could hardly be any need for such an
inexperienced and inefficient person as he
was.
The church is all the time losing the ser
vices of good people who distrust themselves.
They hold back from the work of the church
because they do not believe in putting
themselves forward. They do not even
come into the church at all, but stay on the
outside, reminding themselves of their
manifold imperfections, and thinking that
God surely cannot want any such poor
Christia 8 as they are. They need to be
taught that old German proyerb, 'The best
is often the enemy of the good" That
means that we will not attempt to do the
good because we cannot start of with the
achievement of the ideal best.
AN END TO ALL ENDEAvoR-
Whv, that would spoil nine-tenths Of all
the excellent work in the world. If we are
not to preach unless we preach like st.
Peter, if we are not to teach in the Sunday
school unless we can teach like st. Paul, if
we are not to enter into Christian disciple
ship, not to join the church, unless We are
as good Christians as st. John-why, there
is an end to all endeavor.
That is not Christian humility. The
great ground truth which is the foundation
of real humility is the truth that the work
is of more Importance than the worker.
Whoever realizes that must have some share
in the work, cannot be contented without
doing something in tine service of God,
which is also the service of man. But how
much or how little credit he may get for it,
how high or how low in the list of workers
his name may stand, he does not care at all.
st. Luke was so interested in the great work
that Christ did, and that Peter and Paul
did, that, though he was constrained to do
his share in it, he forgot himself entirely.
sTHE GRACE oF HELPFULNEss.
st.tLuke, accordingly, was possessed of q
very strong desire to help his fellow men.
He forgot himself because he was thinking
80 much about them. That is the best way
to cultivate the grace of humility-to en-
phasize the grace Of helpfulness. Whoever
is really thinking good deal about others
about himself This is another Christian
characteristic Of st. Luke, which it will be
profitable for US to think about-his help
fulness.
One of the most helpful individuals in
any community is the doctor. Nobody
knows the amount of good that is done
every day by good doctor. No doubt but
Luke, before he ever saw Paul, was going
about doing good. Probably at Philippi,
during his seven years pastorate in that
town, he was the parish priest and the par
ish doctor both together. One of the best
kind of missionaries we have to-day is the
rno mi nj
need to go to China to be a medical mission
ary. He can do that service right here in
PIttsburg. We are learning more and
more that the body influences not the mind
only but the soul. The physician of the
soul must be helped by the physician Of the
body. There is real connection between
HEALTH AND HOLINESS,
between sanctity and sanitation. Luke, the
doctor first, setting things straight phys
ically, getting wholesome conditions of liv-
ing, clearing out the slnms, tearing down
the tenements, letting in the light, feeding
starving people with decent food; and then,
Luke the evangelist. The gospel is vitality
with the bettering Of the bodily
of the people. If the devil does
not actually cause disease he has hand in
it and profits by it. The doctor and the
parson must work together to cast the devil
out.
Then Luke met Paul and was converted.
That means that he wanted to do better
work than he had ever done before. It
means also that he saw the difference IN
value between the soul and the body, set
the soul first, desired above all else to save
mems souls. And he learned that the
Savior of the soul is Jesus Christ, and
that if he wanted to save anybody's soul he
must first make Jesus Christ real to that
soul And so he listened to everything |
hat anyone could tell him about |
Jesus Christ, and he wrote it down and |
made gospel of it.
WROTE FOB THE GENTILEs.
Probably St. Paul taught him more than |
my other. The Third Gospel is the Gospel |
according to st. Paul The great cha-ac- |
Christ came for the Gentiles. Compare it |
with st. Matthews and you will see the |
difference. st. Matthew wrote in Judea for
Hebrew Christians. and his gospel is full of /
Did prophecies, and Jewish customs, and |
quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures. st. |
Luke wrote in Greece for Gentle Chris
sians. He remembered better than any of
,he others how Christ held out his hand of
and invitation to those who
we're not counted in the ancient fold. He
alone tells us of the Samaritan who helped
he man by the wayside, and OF the other
matarian who alone of the ten lepers
,ame back and gave Christ thanks. He
lone records the parable which set the pub
ican above the pharisee, and the feast in
he house of Zaccheus the publican.
To desire to know all that we can about
he works and the words of Jesus, to try to
PATTERN our lives according to his life, to
hink as he thought, to be just as broad and
ust as narrow as he was, to go about doing