Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-10-25

| the libcrtincs and the moral lepers
whom lie lifted up out of their sins you
would never have touched You would
! have said: ut is useless. They are de
| generates. They are Ephralms welded
to their sins. Leave them alone" You
had better be careful when you refuse
TO scatter the gospel seed in the shrivel-
| cd heart OF an outcast. Even there
| Christ will bless your seed planting
Yes, he will bless you when you plead
with a devil possessed Mary. or with a
| libertine and murderer like David. or
| with hard hearted tax collector like
Iacchaeus, or with even an aduteress
! like the woman of Samaria. Your Cos
! pei seed planting will never 90 astray.
! NO matter how unpromiSing the human
held which you sow, those seeds will
never he lost. cast thy bread upon
the waters, for thou shalt find it after
many days"
Among the lowest and most depraved
characters there is always hope of sal
vation if we go forth with faith in
Jesus Christ and scatter the right seed.
Has not Christ saved many who. Ike
Paul, have been the chief Of sinners?
! cannot he then save others from their
sins! An Impressive parable found
among the iIlndo0s Is the following:
Many years ago thief was captured
with stolen money in his hand and
sentenced to die The night before his
execution be devised this novel plan
for rescue: He called the iailer into his
cell and said, GO tell the king that IL
| can come to him | can tell him how
to grow gold The intelligence was
carried TO the king, and he said. Let
the culprit be brought before me"
When the thief entered the royal pres
ence he produced piece of gold and
said: Your majesty, If this piece of
gold he planted in the soil it will grow
into tree, every branch Of which will
be laden with gold as an orchard with
fruit But this golden seed must he
planted by hand which has never
been stained by dishonest act. or
course | am a thief and cannot plant
this seed. Ny hand is not clean, so
pass it to your majesty" The king
looked at the gold a moment; then he
said: II would plant it If could: but,
alas, my hand is not cleani l will pass
it to my prime minister" The prime
minister's hand was not clean, SO he
passed 1t 10 the governor of the citadel.
The governors hand was not clean,
and he passed it to the high priest.
Tie high priests hand was not clean,
and he passed it on to another.
An Ancient Legend.
Thus the golden seed went from
hand to hand. Then the thief said,
Your majesty, IL no mans hand Ia
clean, why should l alone die for the
crimei' You are right" said the
king "'r you sre to die, then | must
die al T.. When the conscience strcS.
en- Aing perdoned the cuiprit because
be and his officers were all sinners
alike. IS the story mere Legend
fable? l think not We say certain
men are degenerates and beyond the
pale of gospel hope. Are they? Are
our own hands morally clean? Have
we always been pure? Have we never
sinned? Are we not SHINING now? Oh.
my Lord and my God, if thou canst
save us, the chief Of sinners. canst
thou not save even The Lowest and the
vilest with whom we come IN contact
in our daily life? Yes, even the low
est and the vlest the Lord Jesus can
save. Cast thy bread upon the wa
ters. for thou shalt find It after many
days"
But the next unpromising field for
gospel seed planting to which NY mind
turns naturally is the bitter hearts OF
bn r, u,,i
have been identified with Christian
work. whose laborS were unappreciat-
ed by their contemporaries and who
have been cast out, or. rather, frozen
out, of the churches with which they
were identified. Some Of these men
and women now are among the most
bitter OF all enemies of the churches.
There are hundreds and Thousands of
men and women who despise the
church Of God because some Christian
friend or some church has proved false
to them. For years they gave their
time, their money. their whole soul. 10
church work They used to be at every
prayer meeting. every Sunday school
gathering and every Sunday service
But in that church perhaps there wGs
some man or woman who wished 10 be
an ecclesiastical boss. SO by fair or
unfair manipulations he caused these
people to be voted out of the Sunday
school superintendency or the pres-
dental chair of the Ladies' Aid soci-
ETY. or from n seat in the session or
the trustee board. or he may have
made an unjust charge against those
people, claiming that they dishonesty
used the church moneys. What has
been the result? They have not only
left their official positions. but they
have left the church, and they have
never gone back again into church
work or church service. They despisc
the church of God, which they once
loved, because some man or body of
men has been unappreciatiye of their
loyalty and self sacrifice. Now. my
friends, it is your duty and my duty
to go after these delinquent church
members We must 80 after them.
We must harness them up to the gos-
pei chariot again and get them to pull.
know it will be hard work to bring
them back | know it is an unpromis-
ing field for gospel seed planting, but
~.