The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-06-08

has at times been polluted, but the love
of Christ for men has not faint of sin.
1t was with Him a passion sanctified-
made holy for Gods own purpose in the
redemption of the world. With Him it
was universal, not knowing bonds of
family ties or racial prejudice. He
made it the supreme law Of life. The
fulfilling of all law. A noted writer
SAYS: "The word love, to us one of the
most elevated in the language, had in
ancient classical use very different
reputation, and even in the fourth cen
fury, Jerome, writing the Vulgate YER
sion of the scriptures in Latin, could
not use the ordinary word amour to
express the Christian grace of love, and
had recourse to the unusual ''caritas."
Hence, the use of the word charity in
our authorized version.
The third distinctive feature in the
character Of Jesus is forgiveness. This
of course is caused by love, but is dis
tinctive from it. 1t is in the forgiven
ness of Christ that we see the progress
of Christianity beyond Judaism. The
Law of Moses was "An eye for an eye
and a tooth for a TOOTH And it's high
est statement is found in the so-called
Golden Rule, "What ye would that men
should do to you, doy We also unto them. =
aye have heard it said, thou shalt love
thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy;
but say unto you, love your enemies,
, and pray for them that persecute you.
The rough heart of the Roman soldier is
brought to faith and his lips confess.
"Surely this is the Son of Cod" When
/ Gather forgive them for they know not
, what they do
The fourth feature that is distinctive
in Jesus character is humility. 1t is
/ unnecessary to designate this quality
t as manifested in our Savior as peculiar.
t ly Christian, for the world has yet tc
t come to an appreciation of the humility
of Jesus. In the Pagan world, anything
c approaching it was despised and the
t very virtues of the.best ethical schools
: were founded on self pride. There is
b no Iordly boasting manifested in the life
of the lowly Nazerine. Nor on the
: other hand do we find the cringins
spirit of the craven. He said, "Ye cal
me Lord and Master, and -ye say well
for so am Jesus was filled with wis
dom and power of heaven. but it wa
{ all baptized with the spirit of humble
service. 1t was mark of his divinit.
for the psalmist has said: 'Thy gentle
ness, o God, hath made me great"
Then to know the character of Jesu
is to know his purity, his love, his for
giveness and his humility. And tn
preciousness of it all is not that he i
as perfect marble statue to adorn GU
halls of ethics, but that he is a spiritua
power or righteousness even as he i
righteous. We do not think of Jesu
Y Christ as dead, as an important figure Q
+ the past. 40, 1 am with you Away
! even unto the end of the ages" is hi
q promise. The growth Of the church an
the wonderful work that has been &C
complished has not been by the ideas 9
Jesus in his disciples but by the powe
y of his personal presence. Jesus pray
! ing for his disciples Of all times ha
: offered this petition: 81 in them, an
thou in me, that they may be perfecte
into one; that the world may know tina
S thou didst send me, and lovedst them a
thou iovedst me" Then, the certaint
of knowledge which we may have
Jesus holy mission is the fact that "
! can see God in Him and He in us worl
ing, "Until we all come into the unity (
j. the faith, and of the knowledge OF tn
Son of God, unto perfect man, uni