The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1897-01-23
cHRlsT,s WAY.
His High Standard of Conduct-His Atsi-
tude Toward sinners.

divine character of Christ's teachings
is that they do not, like pagan sys-
| TENS, become obsolete The progress
of the world has not made them appear
untitled 10 any stage of moral and in
| tellectual development, however adj
yanced. Nineteen centuries have shown
no moral defect in them; and the creeds
which men have drawn, as the express
sion Of those teachings, may have grad
ually become outworn, the teachings
themselves stand more firmly than ever
| The best OF mankind have not yet come
TO the point where they can say: "We
have passed beyond this doctrine OF
the Great Teachers. we have improved
upon that doctrine; some of His say
ings can no longer be reconciled with
sound moral views" The defects and
| Inconsistencies md unsoundness of the
teachings of Confucius. OF Buddha, OF
| Mohammed, of Zoroaster are so obvious
that they do not need to be argued.
| they are self-evident 10 the enlightened
| Their standards are far below the ideal.
| But IL is not so with Christ's stand
ard. We have no broader or deeper
humanity than He showed TO the world
ages and ages ago; we have no loftier
aspirations, no higher ideal than VS.
get from His system. In fact, we have
not measured up to the stature of the
full manhood which lie portrayed. We
have left far behind us the other grent
teachers of the past; but we know that
we have still to Learn Of Him. and IL
does not appear that Che world viii ever
outgrow the Divine Teacher. He viii
always be the one supreme teacher,
and men will always be learning of
Him.
One thing we need to learn more per
fectly OF Him is how TO treat trans
gressors. IL is very difficult for robust
| Christian moralists not TO deal with the
unrepentant in censorious spirit We
are inclined TO measure this class OF men
and women with our moral yardstick
and to upbraid them. We feel a moral
repulsion when we come in contact
with the wicked, the vicious, which we
take no pains 10 hide. We remind them
that they are moral lcpers; we paint
their sins in vivid terms; we show
them how great is the condemnation
into which they have fallen.
This was not Christ's attitude. And
yet 20 whom could sin be more repulsive
than 10 Him? Who could have so just
and keen n sense of the difference be-
tween holiness and sinfulness as He
who was tempted but knew no sinc
He was always so gentle with sinners.
His denunciations were for those who
| professod 10 be righteous and were not.
He told the self-rightcous scribes and
Pharisees that publcans and harlots
would go into the kingdom of Heavens
before them. They needed to have
their hypocrisy brought home TO them.
But lie had soft, soothing words for
the woman (which was q sinner" who
came to Him while He was at dinner i'm
the Pharisee's house. She came TO
onoint Him with precious ointment,
and, greatly to the astonishment of
His host, He did not rcbulSc or rcpulsc
her. The host wondered that lie who
had wrought miracles and seemed TO bo
prophet did not recognize "what man
ner OF woman this is" Surely, he
thought. lie does not know her, or Ha
would not allow her 10 touch him; and
how can He be prophet2 That touch
10 the Pharisee was defilemcnt. The
woman was n sinner. an outcast, and
was MS filth 10 the self-righteous man.
The Master was not blind. He saw
all that the Pharisee saw; but He saw
much more. Tie shw ON immortal soul.
stained deeply with sin. but still OF
infinite value; and his whole thought
was 10 save IL. He defended the act
Of the woman against the implication
OF the host, and this must have seemed
| exceeding strange TO the hospitable
! Phnrisec. The Master seemed 10 put
him in tho wrong. and the woman, vile
woman that she was. in the right. We
may be sure, however that Christ did
not palliate or excuse her sinfulness.
! lie saw In her ministrQtion the manifes-
tation Of a love which had In IL the pos
sibilty Of better and higher things
| He commended her for her faith aud
| love and told her TO go her way In peacc,
her sins were forgiven.
How gentle lie was with her, and with
! others like her; how patient, how kind,
how careful lie wUnted TO call her
| back. Her salvation could not have
! been accomplished by condemning her
/ and spurning her. A touch Of kind
ness goes long way with erring souls.
I Personal contact IS necessary to reach
/ and move them. Christ ate with pub
\ leans and sinners and astonished the
! Tharisccs. He told them that He did
| Il because He had come 10 save tho
wicked. not the righteous; and He ex-
horted them to go ana learn the mean
ing OF the passage IN Hosea; 81 will
have mercy and not sacrifice" lie came
on an crrand Of mercy; not TO condemn,
not 10 dcnounce. not 10 XIII. but to
save. We need 10 learn this as much as
the Ph0risecs.. We are severe. often UNI
rclentng critics. We shall be more sue
cessful II we study Christ's way and 90
20 work in His spirit. - n. y Inde-
| pendent.