The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-05-20
On the Road to Jertcho.s

ana IS there road TO Jerlcho IN your
life and mine? Come! Let us wander
down it little while to-day. Perhaps
when we come back we shall know our
selves the better.
= 1t matters little if you be priest or LIE.
vite or Samaritan, you have all journeyed
this way. Do you remember how fair the
day seemed at morning when you. started
upon that road. You were bound to the
city on business or on pleasure bent. The
flowers nodded to you along the way and
the wild, rocky, wooded way appealed to
you and thrilled your heart with its
beauty, and you were at peace with the
world--and with God, you thought. You
dreaded not a danger that might lurk.
could come to you that day.
The song birds chorused all about you
and you lifted your eyes to the heaven
above you and felt Joy in the clear depths
of blue, with an underlying satisfaction in
your own self and the success you were
making of your life.
Then all suddenly you came to the turn
in the road-you remember-where the
path leads abruptly up over the rocky hill
side, or by shorter cut down into the
wood below, where all is cool and green
and dark, and as the sun was mounting
high and the climb steep one you chose
head in that direction. And just as the
shadow Of the forest fell above you and
shut out heavens blue you caught sight
of some one lying bruised and bleeding
ahead of you in the shadows of the road.
You started and drew rein at once, pom.
dering what it might mean, and looked
stealtnily from side to side. Where dan
ger had befallen one man, danger might
also hefall you. Whether the thieves were
only, armed with laughter and sneer-
those weapons cut to the vitals sometimes,
physical harm, ! know not, 'tis.. enough
held you from going on, or was it the
urgency of your business, the necessity for
haste, that impelled you to turn away from
the sufferer you might have helped? For
you turned away, you remember, and went
by on the other side of the ravine, the up
per road, whence you could look down and
see the man lying half dead. You remem-
ber that you tried to shut your eyes to
keep the bright sunshine out-and the
sight of him you did not help. Oh, it mat.
ters not, you know, that he ought to have
been well armed when travelling that road
and not have got into scrape like this.
you pass through this way again and see
the place where he lay and wonder what
good Samaritan, if any, helped him away,
that you should have been brave and kind
and you were not.
You have not even the excuse of the
Samaritan, for he might have said: ''The
dying one is Jew. am not. Other
Jews will come along this road and dis
cover him before long. 1t is their business
to look out for their own" No, you have
not that excuse, for you claim to belong
fo hn aha Cow ,1,y of I'D
in your creed, is brother. Even better
for your peace Of mind DE it if you ran
away for fear.
The Expositor's Bible says, speaking Of
the priest and Levite who passed by on
the other side:" "It is Just possible that
they do not deserve all the censure which
the critics and the centuries have given.
It is easy for us to condemn their action
as selfish, heartless, but let us put our
selves in their place, alone in the lonely
pass, with this proof of an imminent dam
ger, sprung suddenly upon us, and it is pos
sible that we ourselves should not have
we imagine ourselves to be. The fact is it
needed something more than sympathy to
make them turn aside and befriend the
wounded man; it needed physical courage,
and that of the highest kind, and, this
wanting, sympathy itself would not be
sufficient. The heart may long to help,
even when the feet were fastening away"
And so if you have turned away there
may be lower reasons for it than the mere
panic of alright.
But the Masters words were "Love your
neighbor as yourself" If yourself had been
lying there wounded-or one you loved as
yourself - how quickly would you have
thrown to the winds your fears and hast
ened down to help!
ITO the Jewish mind 'neighbor' was
simplyNJew' spelt large" says DR.. Bur-
ton. And to o-day, have you any more d.
vine idea of the word than had they? Oh,
when you 60 this Jericho road again, be-
ware! for at any turn you may have q
chance to act the good Samaritan's part.