The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-02-22
A SATURDAY SERMON.

A SATURDAY SERMON.
According to their deeds-Psalrns 2s:4
The "down-and-outs, are always
with us, they were problem long be-
fore the charity organisations reduced
Investigation OF poverty to science
Christ ran across one of them one day
beside q healing spring near the sheep
gate Of old Jerusalem. A motley crew
Of the affiicted sat and lay around on
the ground. most of them begging aims
of every passerby whose attention they
could catch. It was q selfish crowd.
each as selfish In his need and suffer-
ing as the stream OF pedestrians were
In their Indifference
The particular unfortunate who
caught the mercifu1 eye Of Jesus that
day must have been an unlovely speci-
men. He had been for 3s years a dis
eased begger by the sheep gate. His
waiHng cry, with the professional
whine, had been a familiar sound to
wayfarers Of two generations The
man lacked the virtues and graces
which attract friends. so there was no
man to give him LIT into the healing
waters as the hour of opportunity re-
CURED, month after month. year after
year.
Nor had the reckless fellow enough
gumption OF his own to carry him TO
the pools edge. He was one OF that
large and exasperating class who can
never rise unless lifted. and can never
walk straight without supporting
shoulder. Had there been Prov1dent
Association in old Jerusalem 1t would
early have had him on its books as
"Undeserving." Circumstantia1 evidences
il abundant that he had been left be-
hind In the struggle for existence-a
bit of the rag-tag and bobtail OF HE
which illustrate the survival OF the I'M
1T.
This fellow had no good claim upon
sooiety-excspt his suffering body ana
his incompetent character. Perhaps his
very disease was q direct result OF his
own sin
A shocking phase of life In pagan
lands Is the general indifference to
human suffering. This evidently
characterized the Orient For nearly
two-score years this particular dis
eased mendicant had lain In his rags.
almost within reach of healing, but
no man had lent him hand This
man by the Bethesda pool was VIC
tim of the wolf-spfrit, EVERY man for
himself, and the devil take the hind
most" These inmates Of the house
of pain did not demonstrate that "a
fellow feeling makes us wondrous
kind" Suffering had not begotten
sympathy, they were as selfish as
chronic invalids sometimes are In our
own land.
Those thirty-eight years Of waiting
appeal to the Imagination. What trag-
edies of disapp ointment had been en-
acted in themi And how little that
one poor life drama meant to the hur-
rying crowds. The busy world is too
prone to forget its 'shut-ins." its
prisoners of hope" How full the
hospitals and sanitarfums are Of these
patient, lonely, misunderstood inya-
lids. II it takes grit to fight the bat
tie of life. how much hner is the
courage required simply to endure,
without even view of the battlefield.
A little more thoughtfulness would
send US all oftener on visits Of cheer
to the sick rooms that are, alas, not
far from any one OF as.
Good people are sometimes fonder
OF giving good advice than Of giving
more substantial succor. They seem
to reason that their immunity from
misfortune constitutes them censors
times to give counsel; but there are
times also to give a lift. Often it is
true when distress is prevalent among
the unemployed, that the best sermon
is that preached by a barrel of -four
or q ton of coal or a check for over
due rent. There are times when there
is tremendous homiletic value in a
square meal
The poor wreck of humanity in the
shadow Of Bethesdafs porches was not
missed by the alert eye of Christ. He
was never blind to opportunities to
serve men. Did he read the miser-
able incompetent a lecture on his lack
of energy, or his early sin?- Not he.
Instead, with a tenderly imperious
look he commanded him, In firm but
compassionate tones, arise, take up
thy bed and walk"
Startled, bewi1dered, forgetting
even to demonstrate that he could not
walk. the diseased man needed the
master word. Tremblingly gathering
his tattered, filthy pallet about him,
he unsteaddly arose-to f1nd new life
and vigor coursing through his veins.
He was whole again. IN his excited
self-contempiation as he tested his
new powers before q growing crowd
of incredulous on-lookers, he failed
to regard the wonder-worker, until
the latter had quite lost himself in
the multitude
THE DEMOCRATS.
Democrats from all corners of Kansas