The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-22

A wonderfully inspiring sermon based
on the parable of the lost sheep as
recorded in Luke 10: to Z was preached
last night in Grace Reformed Episcopal
church by Rev. w. d. Stevens, of New
ark, N. j. Rev. MIR. Stevens Is son of
blind Bishop Stevens who has charge
Of the missionary work Of the Reformed
Episcopal church in the South and who
preached In this city several months
ago.
In his sermon last night he developed
the thought that the world today finds
it just as hard to grasp the idea that
Christianity is religion for the sinner
and for the sinner only as did the
Pharsees of old to whom Jesus re-
counted the parable. He spoke in part
as follows:
The lesson OF this parable was to the
Pharisees an unthinkable proposition.
They were nazed and astounded to
think that the sinner should be pleasant
in the sight Of the living God. 1t was
past all belief 1t was something entire
ly out of all harmony with the processes
of their minds. They contended that
there could be no harmony in the moral
world if such teachings were followed
out.
Yet we must not marvel at the Phari-
sees for men OF all times have found
this doctrine n stumbling block and have
received 1t with the utmost difficulty.
Men of all nations. even in this glorious
twentieth century find it hard to accept
this teaching that the sinner is precious
in the sight of God. Can we Justify 1t,
you ask. Let us see.
IN CIVIL LIFE.
The civil sinner is never regarded as a
subject of tender love. Our jails are not
built with that idea in mind nor is our
legislative machinery being operated
with such an object in view. Civil life
stands on this question where the Phar.
isees of old stood. The slums and dark
by-ways of our cities are never the first
objects of civic care nor do we give first
place to the law breakers and the shift
less
If you have read some of the admirable
addresses which our noble president has
been delivering of late you will have
noted that in the most of them he has
exalted the man who can do things and
that he despises the dishonest man and
the impractical idealst. That is the idea
of the world today. We seem to want
men who can square their ideals with
the ability to carry them out. We seem
to have no sympathy with the broken
down and the weak. The idea that the
lame. the halt and the blind should be
precious in the sight of God seems to be
foreign to American thought today.
This teaching, we are told is contrary
to science. We are shown that one of
the great laws of nature is the survival
of the fittest; that this universe has
been for ages the scene of an awful
struggle between contending forces. and
that the weak and the broken have gone
down and that only the fittest and the
best are existent and can be existent.
1t seems strange, therefore, that Cod s
search should be for the broken man;
that the weak sinner should have His
first consideration; should be in fact the
very centre of His mind, of His heart
and of His activity.
We reason as did the Pharisees that
God should give first place to the re-
fined man, to the man with a cultivated
Intelligence. to those who have taken the
trouble to lift themselves to Il little high
er plane Intellectually than their fellows.
STAND AS DID THE PHARISEES.
We say that the moral man, the man
with clean hands and pure mind should
be considered before the sinner. =
We are inclined to think that the states
man, the warrior, the humanitarian by
reason of their excellences and worth
should be placed in the front rank and
by reason of their virtues should be able
to claim the consideration of God more
than the weaklngs and the stray sheep.
We stand, as l said before, as stood the
Pharisees of old.
TO my mind there Is only one thing in
the world that can be compared with
Gods consideration for the broken and
bruised sinner and that is the love which
the mother bears for her little crippled
babe. No healthy child receives half the
care or half the attention as does that
little helpless infant. That Is the only
place where the broken and the bruised
stand first except in the heart of the liv-
Ing God. The whole scheme of redemp-
tion is based on this one fact The out
cast and the sinner occupies the centre
and is supremely first
What people did God in the early days
choose for His own? Did he choose the
cultured Greeks whose names are written
on some of the most glorious pages of
the worlds history? No, He did not
Did He choose the Romans who made
the power of the Roman empire felt all
over the civilized world? He passed over
these. Did He choose the fierce Teutons
and did He go to the heart of the Black
Forest? No. He did not. Did He choose
the hardy Norsemen of romance, those
dauntless sailors who conquered the
mighty deep? No, He passed them by.
w NOM tHen ulu lie chOOSe! lie round
an enslaved and debased race, possess
ing many ignoble qualities and He made
them the centre of the Divine plan.
NOT SUPREMELY A TEACHER.
Did you ever think that Jesus Christ
was not supremely teacher? Did you
ever consider the silence of Christ?
Drunkenness and slavery We're wide,
spread during His life on earth and not
n word did He utter AGAINST these yipas
mjustices and corruption In civil life was
on every hand and not word as to the
rights of men, He did not come as a
teacher. He came to give His life as a
ransom.
Can we ever hesitate to give ourselves