Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1902-11-20

Christ no other face could be worthy of his
skill L doubt if any man could paint the
trembling woman, her face now flushed and
body, and yet you can see it all as you stop
and think. know why He was SO merci-
ful. You say it was because He was di-
vine, and that is true without saying it,
but It seems to me He must have been es-
pecially merciful because of the night He
had spent at the Mount Of Olives I ann
perfectly sure that that man who prays
much with Christ is ever charitable in his
trea tment of those who have gone astrav.
Mrs. Whlttemore's treatment of Bluebird,
the poor fallen girl, who becomes the mis-
slonary to the outcast; Jerry McAuley's
arm about S. II. Hadley and his prayer,
which reveal to the poor sinful man that
Jerry McAuley knew Christ. are but illus
tTatIons OF the spirit of which | speak.
The man who has the spirit Of Christ
| IS ever, gentle with the erring, and
up and down the streets of our cities men
go IN multitudes longing for just one word
of sympathy
Said a young business man to me this
week: I have been four years in New
No one has ever spoken to me of Christ,
nor invited me to the church, nor asked IL
| he could be my friend, and [ have never
craved money from any one, for have not
| needed it, but my heart has been hungry
for sympathy and the touch of brothers.
hand" Dc you notice the manner of Jesus.
First, ..He stopped down and wrote in
the dust" Some one has said that He did
| it just because His mind was occupied
with thinking what He should do with the
you. would have if you would scribb.e upon
/ piece OF paper while your mind was TAX
| ing in some weighty problem. Some one
/ else IS suggested that in the purity of
His nature, standing in the presence of the
/ woman Of sin, He stopped down to write
L Ao ID 4l,o u. Nf
own face That dust that was then at His
feet IS gone forever; only God Himself
1 could bring it back, and yet if by miracle
He should bring it before us tonight be-
heve know what would be written there
sin no more" And ]. am glad that we are
not shut up to the sand for record Of that
truth 1t is written in this book. "There
is. therefore, no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus" and this record
is eternal. Heaven and earth shall pass,
1 but Ny word shall never pass away"
i 81 Second, when He continued with bowed
i head to write the crowd became exceed
! lngly anxious, and finally they asked Him
what He had to say about the woman whe
was :: sinner, and then comes one of the
# grandest sentences that ever fell1from His
Ips,. and gives us all the beauty of His
4 manhood, as well as the power Of His God
Il hood when He said, 'sLet he who is with
out sin cast the first stone" I doubt not
i the woman began to tremble, and she must
have said to herself, My punishment is
q upon me, for here are these Pharisees who.
have made loud professions of their purity,
81 surely they VIII cast the first stone," but
never a hand was lifted and never stone
was thrown, which only reveals to me the
fact that when men are cast with those
men who are sinful, not outbreakingly sin
full, but nevertheless wrong in the sight Of
stt God, who of us could cast the first stone in
this assembly tonight? The very fact that
i hands are not lifted and stones are not
i thrown is our own condemnation.
Third, in the ninth verse we read, "And
they which heard it being convicted by
| their own conscience, went out one by one,
beginning at the eldest, even unto the last,
and Jesus was left alone and the woman
standing in the midst" That to my mind
is the most dramatic scene in all the chap
ter, if not in the New Testament. Sud-
denly the shouts Of the mob are hushed,
they have taken their hands off from the
trembling woman, they are speechless in
the presence of this Son of God, and with
can see them go, until finally the last one
is gone and there is The hush Of death upon
! the two as they stand together. You can
: all but hear the throbbing of their hearts;
: you can detect the quick breathing Of the
woman, who thinks that the time for SEN
, tence has come. Mercy and pity face each
! other, and mercy waits for pity to speak,
Neither do l condemn thee; go and sin
no more" And we are ever to remember
| three things in connection with our Sa-
| viour:
J First, there is never question as to
| how deeply we have sinned; the stories OF
) the greatest sinners are told In the New
Testament for our hope.
: Second, there is power enough in the
blood Of the Son to blot out the deepest
2 sin. Though your sins be as scarlet they
! shall be as white as snow; though they be
| crimson theV shall be as wool.
And the third thing to remember is If
the man with sin is like the sands of the
e sea for number if he would feel the power
Of the shed blood Of the Son Of God s;h,s he
e lay hold upon Him, for eternal life.
: His kindness lifted her burden, and the
e world is just dying to-day for the want OF
!. sympathy. [ think the time, is long past
t when men are willing in these days to
V spend an hour in listening to abstract rea.
t soning or deep theological discussions. ]
: feel confident that the time is upon us
f when 1ien are ready to explain to that
Y church, or that minister ready to bestow a
K word of cheer, ready to help little In
: bearing the burden of life.
) A woman came with handful OF sand
y to her minister and said, "My sins are like
n that for number" and he said, ''Take the
sand back to the sea and let wave roil
n over your handful of sand and they will be
!. gone. Tonight / bring you to the sea
y gifateI tEdA duy tHe Woi1u HOS c'SA A0OA~N
! upon.
d "Theresis fountain filed with blood,
Drawn from Iramanuel's vein,
IS And sinners plunged beneath that Hood,
u Lose all their guilty stains"
! Neither do condemn thee" said Jesus
:, when sll her accusers had slipped away
!, We do not know what became of this
!, l., woman, but I am perfectly sure that she
y never sinned again. This is the secret Of
. victory over sin: Catch glimpse OF the
= face fairer than all the sons of men, listen
but once to the sound of His voice, sweetei
than all the music of earth. How the man
it that breaches the development OF character
,r can match this matchless story cannot
d see: how the man who takes the blood eut
e of the word of God and the sacrificiai part
o away from the death of Christ can Tor .
III moment compare his message with this
n story Of the divine Son of God is more thar
j. I can tell I bid ali burdened ones
ID weighed down because of sin to come into
" His presence tonight and you can heal
le Hin, say Neither dol condemn thee; g
n and SIN no more.
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