Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1906-10-13
NU1BER IS

have not any money TO give, but l
leave my blessing to all mankind.
first ask forgiveness from all those
whom may have injured in life or to-
ward whom | have acted unjustly.
Then / leave my forgiveness to all
those who have done me any injury.
Then / ask that when my literary ex-
ecutor publishes hereafter any OF my
works he Will Gull from them any Bit
ter words which might wound the
heart Of any living man or the hearts
Of the loved ones Of any Of my politi-
cal foes" Did you ever read a senti-
ment more beautiful and Christlike
than that? My brother, you have
greeted many friends In your home.
They have dined with you and you
with them. But have you ever spoken
the words Of q Davitt? Alas, IL not
then fear you have shut out "angellc
visitors" who, II they should enter your
home, would bring to you the greatest
Of spiritual blessings. These angelic
messengers may be men who have
uSCd sOhs 1ohAOb yON 6i'O
them a loving welcome for Chrlsts
sake, as Abraham asked the three
strangers to rest with him under the
shadow OF his eastern tent?
Should Not End There.
But should our hospitality end here?
Oh, no. If you turn to the fourteenth
chapter of Luke you find these words:
when thou makest feast or a sup
per, call not thy friends nor thy breth-
rem, neither thy kinsmen nor thy rich
neighbors, lest they also bid thee again
and recompense be made thee. But
when thou makest q feast call the
poor. the manned, the lame, the blind"
Now, who are the MANNED and the
lame and the blind? Are they simply
the poor who go around on crutches or
feel their way with a staff? / think
not. Christ would not here say "the
Door and the manned and the halt and
the blind If that was the case. |
think the manned and the halt and the
blind mean the moral crlpples. 1
think these words to a great extent
mean the spiritual outcasts. think
they mean those who are like the sew
en- deviled Mary and Zacchaeus, whom
honest people shun as the healthy
physical man would run from a laZa-
retto or a loathsome plague. Yes, we
are to give q cordial welcome even to
the vilest Of sinners, such a welcome
as Abraham gave the three strangers
at his home.
These words mean that we should go
forth In the name Of Christ and try to
save those who have sunk so low In
the quagmires of sin that, befOuled and
reeking with immoral filth, like wild
beasts of prey, they seem TO be stag
gerlng alone through a dark wilder
ness Of despair. They seem to be
alone, all alone In their crimes. When
the great Roman orator Cicero was
hurting his condemnation against the
sins Of Catilne, so oyerpowering was
the scene that no senator would sit by
the conspirator and destroyer of young
mems virtues. One by one they left
the bench upon which the cringing
| Catiline crouched. There he trembled,
with no friend by his side, while the
Edmund Burke Of Caesars reign was
denouncing him as Warren Hastings
centuries later was denounced in West-
minister. Thus as we see the wrong
doer cringing under the lash as he sat
alone we can see the modern Catillnes
| Stunned and forsaken on account or
their sins. We can see the poor har-
lots. the brazen faced lIbertines and
the immoral lepers reeking with sin
Christ bids us to 60 to them, even to
the MANNED and the halt and the blind
and give them gospel salutation, as
Abraham accosted the three angels.
All Prime Ministers.
And, my friends, sinner can never
sink so low but in that sinful degrade
ton the true Christian may see the In
finite possibilities Of glory that will re-
dound to Christ If his redemption could
only enter that sinful soul.
Friend, how is 1t with thy Christian
life? Art thou opening wide thy doors?
| Art thou looking for the coming angelic
messengers? Art thou trying to spy
out these visitors from God when they
are In the far distance? Art thou will
ing to run to them and greet themf
Canst thou not see them? There they
are in that dark alley. There they
come down the street. Do you not see
them? Why, they are by your side
now. Will you greet them and go after
| them In the name of Christ?
copyright, 1906. by Louis Klopsch.l