The record-union., 1897-11-10
THE STORY OF zACCHEUS.
HOW THE PUBLICAN BECAME
CONVERTED.
Noel HI. Jacks Address to Men at
the Y. M. C.. A. Rooms
Last Night.

"a AiASii i-SlCiicd " lliIi, Lie lid9.N
was specially good. Mr.. Jacks spoke
as follows:
Once, when Jesus Christ was on the
earth, he passed through the old city
of Jericho. He stopped here only a
day. but in that day he did a wonder
ful work. Before Jesus came to the
place there were two sinners there Mno
were considered the worst cases in all
that region. Nobody supposed that Je-
sLs, whose fame was now at its hight,
would condescend to notice or speak
10 these men. Yet these two persons
were the very ones Jesus sought out
and saved, One of these sinners was a
blind beggar
After you go home tonight Won
you take your Bible and read how he
was healed and saved, in the eighteenth
| chapter of st. Luke. The other man
whom the Savior blessed that day was
| Zaccheus, and he, / think, was the
| hardest case-the most unlikely sin
ner to be saved-in the city of Jericho.
1t seemed a more difficult thing to reach
him than to heal the blind man, and
/ will try TO tell you why.
/ First, he was a dwarf What diff
ference could that make, you ask. Well,
| think a moment. Is it not true that
thoughtless people like to make fun OF
deformed or queer looking persons.
venture to say that if there is some
| dwarfed, deformed or crazy man about
the streets of Sacramento he is the OBJ
iect of jokes and ridicule by many peo-
pie. I have known several dwarfs and
deformed men who We're all moody, un
| ha INV ND diceop4antaG av1 tbpv 11cp1
to hate and curse at their tormentors.
/ have no doubt Zaccheus was sub
ject to such treatment, and because of
it he had acquired a disposition and
hardness Of heart that made it very
difficult TO reach him. Then, in addi-
ton to this, his short stature made ii
impossible for him to see Jesus at all
as the great crowds thronged about
him.
In the second place, it was hard
for Zaccheus to be saved, because OF
his occupation. He was a publican
That meant that he was tax conec-
| tor Zaccheus was the head man III
! the tax collectors office of Jericho. Tax
| collectors in those days were in the en-
ploy of the Roman Government, and
| they received very small pay, but they
were allowed to oppress and cheat the
people, making them pay more money
than was due They We're cruel and
heartless They We're called more saw
age than beasts Of prey Zaccheus
belonged to this hated class, and that
made it hard for him to become fol
| lower of Jesus. How many like him
to-day. Hundreds of men who have
felt the call to a Christian life turn
away to-day because Of their occuDa-
| ton The saloon keeper, the gdm-
bier, the dishonest business nan-all
know that to become Christian means
the surrendering of these things.
There was still another reason why il
was difficult for this man to be saved
He was rich. When Jesus was on the
earth very few rich people followed
him. He said it was hard for rich
man to enter the kingdom Of heaven
And why? Because too often riches
make men proud and selfish. The love
for money becomes very strong, and
the fascination of making money is sc
absorbing that men turn from that
which they think will interfere with
their ambitions.
"A lighted piece of paper laid fiat
on a piece Of metal will go out, for the
metal absorbs the heat and starves
the fame. So does gold laid close tc
the soul cause the holy flame Of love
for God to shrink and die The heart
cannot embrace Cod and money, and
therefore, if it give its affection and
solicitude to the latter, it is guilty OF
idolatry.
"All these things were in the way OF
~, I-crt~
happened that this man did find Jesus
and was saved. See what Zaccheus
himself did First, he wanted 10 sec
Jesus That was the beginning. Whe.
a sinner wants to be saved he has tax
en- the first important step. Then he
went further than this-he climbed III
a tree on the roadside so that he could
see Jesus. He did not stop to think ot
what the people would say when they
saw him perched on the limb Of a tree
This was his one opportunity, and he
made the most of it.
Now see what the Lord did First
he came by where Zaccheus was. He
might have gone some other road, oil
passed by without noticing Zaccheus
IN the tree. But he did not, he acte1
as he always does-he went where ths
sinner was. More than that, he looked
at Zaccheus and gave him a glance
that went to his heart The last thing
Jesus did was to speak to him. FL
said: "Zaccheus, make haste and
come down, for this day l must abide al
thy house
Now. how do I know zaccheus
was converted? Why. by what he dii
You can always tell a true Christian
by his daily life. Professions count
for but little; it's what man is, day
by day, that tells the story.
First then, Zaccheus obeyed. Ht
made haste and came down. He joy
fuzzy received Jesus to his home. lie
was not ashamed to confess Jesus as
his savior before all Jericho. But
more than this-he showed his conver-
sion by restoring all his stolen money
He promised to give back to any man
| whom he had cheated four times a.
much money as he had taken from
Rim Then he was ever after kind tc
l'the poor. His purse now. as wei rs
his heart, had been converted
In closing. Mr.. Jacks urged all young
men to follow the example of Zacche-
US in so fully following and receiving
Jesus Christ.
The subject of the address tonight
will be, What Will 1t Cost9" Al
young men are invited to attend.