The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-06-14
THE RICH MANS CRIME.
An Earnest and Eloquent Sermon Preached
by Dr. j. A. B. Sherer.
Ne,rs and Courier.

feasts, Nicodemus and Joseph. Of
Arimathea, being his faithful friends
in death. What, then, was this rich
/ mans crime? Doubtless he was an
honest man, Of high standing in his
community. He seems also to have
loved his family. Yes, he was even
a religious man, not forgetting to
claim Abraham as his father, and
doubtless occupying front seat in
the synagogue. Yet this respectable
man, this religious man, was lost.
What was his crime?
| The rich man crime was simply
this: That he saw Lazarus lying at
his gate and let him alone. That is
all. He saw in that poor prostrate
: form only repulsiye beggar, whereas
I he should have seen in Lazarus, as
| did the Samaritan in the merchant of
Jerusalem, brother man. No, I will
go further. He saw at his gate only
a poor, disgusting beggar, where he
should have seen the Christ. There
fore, he was surprised at his hard lot.
when saw I thee an hungered and
gave thee no meat??'' ''Inasmuch as ye
did it not to one Of the least Of these,
ye did it not to Me- Christ identi-
fes himself with the meanest Of His
servants. "Ye did it not to Me.
so.the rich mans sin was the sin Of
omission. Light is shed on the Cos
pei bythe Epistle lesson which the
Church has set to so with it. If a
man say, love God, and hateth his
brother, heis liar, for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God, whom he hath
not SEEM" The lack of this rich man
was the lack Of the rich young man
who came to Jesus, and, who, when
be heard the command to sell what he
bad for tie poor and come follow Him,
event away sorrowful, for he had
great possessions" His good things"
were the things Of self.
I. Is not this precisely the danger OF
the rich? Does it not explain that
hard saying Of Christ's, that rich
man shall hardly enter into the King
dom Of Heaven? I mean the power
which riches have to build crust and
shell about a mans heart, so that
he is wrapped up in self. He is hon
est, and highly respectable, and even
pious, but for the sake Of wealth he
loses that tenderness of sight which
makes man see Christ in a beggar,
that tenderness of hearing which turns
moan of disappointment into the
terrible words, "Ye did itnot to Me. >
Beware of the sin Of sel6shness! Do
not call it listle thing, trivial fault
1t lies at the root of crime. You
shudder at the thought of murder,
but at the bottom of the first hideous
murder lay the. selfish heart of Cain.
You hear with horror Of the deed of
the traitor, Judas, bu; there is hint
Of his crime in those words which
went before "Judas had the bag.
His heart was encrusted with hard
|. sel6shness, so that, in the woman
who anointed her Saviour, he saw but a
foolish spendthrift. He mas worldly
wise, as was this rich man, who de-
| spised lone of the leass Of these.
l'God sent vision. I beheld the
mighty scales wherewish God weigheth
mankind. and as I looked, 10: bal
ance was taken. And God Judged be-
fore me many souls, and among them
was the soul Of man whom [ had ac-
counted just and generous, and over
whose misfortunes I had grieved.
And God laid in the scale against this
man what seemed at first little fault,
trivial thing. Itwas the sin Of self
love, and, 10, it had tainted the man s
whole life; it's mark was upon his
every word and deed, till all seemed
hollow lies. And God laid in the
balance against this small thing, this
heavy thing, a just and honest course:
an unsoiled name and many tempta-
tions overcome. Yet some of these
had to be cast out again. for they
were found to be tainted by that little
fault, that CHASTITY thing
1t is told Of Pousa. the Chinese
potter, that when the Emperor once
ordered him to make such piece Of
porcelain as never had been seen, he
tried agaio and again, but failed.
Finally, in despair, he flung himself
into his furnace. And by chance the
effect Of this self-immolation on the
ware was such that it came out the
most beautiful possession OF the world.
So, when self in rs disappears, as we
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