Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-11-22

more striking in the life of Jesus than
his affection for ordinary men. Tha
cultured Pharlsees, the philosophical
Sadducees seem to have much less at
traction to him than the rude fisher
man and the toiler. These men were
often weak, sometimes cowardly, obsti-
nate, dull. mediocre; yet he committed
his kingdom to them; he believed in
them. Before they had faith in him he
had faith in them; and that ultimate
ly made them men.
1t sounded much like cruel sarcasm
when he told that weak, vacillating
Simon that he was rock. Those who
knew Peter best must have smiled; he
was more like a jelly fish. But Jesus
could see the best that was in a man.
He detected the hidden good even in
Peter. He proves his own goodness by
his faith in the good in every man.
Later, when Peter fails him, he still
believes In the better Peter.
Somewhere in every man there is
some good. Overlaid it may be by pas
sion, by habits, by prejudice grown out
of wrong and suffering perchance but
still 1t Is there. Faith in this and SYM
pathy, these are the golden keys that
unlock the doors to where the good
lies buried.
The saviors of society have always
been those who looked for the best in
it. If you go through life seeking the
beast in man, you will find 1t, and the
chances are 1t will devour you; If you
look for the beauty that is from above
you will find it. and it will bless you.
There are reformers who call all men
the children of the devil; they never
induce them to become the sons Of God.
1t Is just as necessary to have faith
in man as 1t Is to have faith in God.
If men cannot become good, then there
is no God in the sense Of power that
makes for goodness. The 0ptimist net
only believes in the best, he creates the
better.
Some there are who reluctantly ad-
NIT that God Is little better than they
are, though that may be due to his
circumstances, but they have never i'm
agined for an instant that any one else
Is at all good. Believe that men are
wholly bad and they will not disap-
point you. Every man somehow re-
spends to the expectations Of others.
You had better damn man than des-
pair Of him. Neither church nor an
individual can help this world when
they have more confidence In the pow
er Of evil to become all pervasive than
in the power OF the Most High to
make his purposes felt in every
heart as truly as he makes his sun
to shine on the just and the unjust. The
church first consigns men to perdition
and then wonders why they are reluc-
tant to walk with it the other way. So
long as you have faith in total deprav-
ity you will find some facts to substan-
tiate 1t.
But there Is better way. Sympa-
thy with men will do more for them
than sermons on their sins. Look for
the best in them and you will find
things better than you expected. There
are flower beds as well as garbage
heaps In every heart; at least there
are spots where seeds of the fairest
flowers Of heaven may be shown.
You dosnot have to be a fool to have
faith in your fellows. You do not
need to take the padlocks off your
house; but you do need to take them
off your heart. There may be those
whom it would be wrong to trust with
your cash box; but it is a greater
wrong to withhold from them your
kindness. You can show them that
you believe the best instead of the
worst in them.
The great teacher told men that he
came not to condemn but to give life.
His followers have too often occupied
themselves wholly with condemnation
and then wondered that their sentences
saved none. Every soul knows its own
sentence; what it needs to feel Is that
God and all good men are with 1t, help
Ing 1t to shake off that sentence, to
arise and return to the Father, that,
instead Of all things conspiring to keep
a man down, there Is cloud Of wit
nesses cheering him on, a mighty choir
Invisible inspiring his heart. And there
is nothing any man can do of greater
worth to the world than to cheer on
another by his faith in him, his high
expectation Of him, his wise blindness
to some little faults, and his propa-
eating approval Of the least beginnings
of any good. Men are the saviors of
men by their faith in men.