The Newtown bee., 1897-07-30

when PLATE stood at Gods bar-depen6
upon it, he stood there guilty, self-con-
demned murderer of the Son of God
You can't dodge God so easily as that,
PLATE! Your pretty speech may hood
wink the Courts of Earth, but no man.
yet has quite succeeded in the role of
trickster at the Court of Heaven! You
may wash your hands in scalding water
and nitre, but you can't wash out the
blood stains of Jesus from your craven
heart and guilty hands.
Beloved, to tell the truth, our hands
are too clean. 1t would do us gooG to
get some sanctiied dirt rubbed into
them. An unsoiled hand in these DAYS
of sin and woe and suffering and sorrow
Is a tremendous rebuke to the owner
thereof. To tell the truth, this world
would be better world, and our Chris
tianity would be healthier and stronger,
if we discarded the ''glove business" and
left our hands free and bare, Gas God
made them) to do the many little deeds
of kindness that confront us eyerv dav.
and that can't be done when the hand is
encased in glove that is two sizes too
small, that twists and doubles the hand
into all manner of shapes, causing it to
resemble stick of wood rather than
warm, sympathetic, helping hand. To
imagine Jesus, Paul, Stephen, Peter.
James and all the apostles going round
on their errands of mercy and love, their
hands encased in ''gloves," is too absurd
to even mention it! To ''teach" human
ity, you must touch" humanity. You
can't boil water with the fire on the top.
1t must be beneath. And you can't save
society by preaching to and touching the
upper classes" You must preach to,
and touch, the lowest classes. The crv
of the great, unwashed "masses' is the
cry of the poet:
| sob, tor the touch OF vanished hand,
And the sound of voice that is STILL
Jesus did not utter the parable of the
"Good Samaritan" for amusement, any
more than He went to Calvary for amuse-
ment. And that parable tells me most
| clearly, if it tells me aught, that New
York's ''waifs" are our waits; Chicago's
''strays" are our strays; San Francisco's
''outcasts" are our outcasts. The coun-
try's struggling, .downhearted, oppressed,
discouraged, sinful, goddess, hopeless,
| despairing, hungry, storm tossed, beat.
en-, buffeted, weary, sin-sick men and
women are my brothers are my sisters
in very deed!
THE GREAT, COMPLICATED MACHINE
CALLED HUMANITY"
| while each part may have its separate
and distinct function, yet all parts are
needed that the whole may progress and
develop. While it is necessary to save
''individuals" to save society society
| still has rights that the individual should
grant. And one of those rights is that
regenerated men help regenerated soci-
ETY. to lift men Godwardi The charac-
| teristic that is tending most in these days
to thwart Gods plans and purposes for
| the salvation Of the whole world is clean,
| clear, positive, heartless, ease-loving
selfishness! That, and that alone! HUI
man natlre is sadly and superlatively
selfish. Paul found it SO. Jesus knew
| it. And because He knew it--because
He knew that faith and works had been
SO sadly and SO disastrously divorced
He spake those deathless words in Mat
thew 25, saying: Come, We blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the
world For | was an hungered, and ye
gave me meat I was thirsty. and ye
gave me drink. was q stranger, and
ye took me in: Naked, and We clothed
me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I
was in prison, and We came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him,
saying, Lord. when saw we thee an
hungered and fed thee? or thirsty, and
gave thee drink When saw we thee