Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-27

too hne gentleman, too well bred a man, to
have obtruded any personal gloom of coun-
tenance or manner upon the merrment we have
a right to believe He enjoyed and in which He
naturally participated. He was sometimes
about His business of saving man by showing
him how to enjoy life nationally. He loved to
be in the society of children, and, a man
could. probably joined them in their games and
play. When He wanted to describe the joy of
His Father over lost soul that saved, He
hkened it to the exuberant merriment-music
and dancing-with which the Father and his
household greeted the return of the immortal
prodigal. When He instructed His disciples
to be happy in the midst of tribulation, He
babe them leap with joy. Were they to leap
with Joy with sad faces?
Some of His sayings can be explained only
by postulating the humorous. They are in
the very nature of things absurd without
Was there not irony in the simile of the camel
and the needles eye? What do you think of
His pleasant sarcasm in bidding His hearers
who were all Jews and as provident and far
seeing then they now, to take no thought
of tomorrow, as that the distinguishing
characteristic of the Gentiles? l can almost
hear the ripple of merriment and laughter that
swept through His audience when He made
that pertinent remark about the beam and the
mote in the eye
Of old the followers of the gentle Saint
Francis of Assist were known as iocnlatores
dOmfnf, and like them the original disciples of
Christ appear to have been possessed of vi
vac1ty and cheerulnesS that was in complete
contrast to the austerity of the Pharsee or the
rigidity of the Sadducee and completely
divorced from the ascetism of the Middle Ages.
Casting the First Stone
A S illustrations subjoin just two out of the
many that might be cited, which are quite
enough to prove my contention Here is the
first example, which have set forth in dialogue
form, as it should be written to be appre-
hended:
PHARIsEEs. Master, this woman was taken
in adultery, in the very act. Now. Moses in the
law commanded us that such should be stoned:
but what sayeSt thou!
Uesus stoops down and writes on the
ground. as though he heard them not)
ScRIBEs. Master, shall we stone this
woman?
PHARIsEEs. Thus saith Moses in the law.
ScRIBEs. What sayest thou1
JESUS. He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast stone at her. (And again
he stopped down and wrote on the ground.
One by one the Scribes and the Pharisees de-
parted Sinking away, leaving the Master and
the woman alone. He turned to herr
JESUS. Woman, where are those thine ac-
cusers? Hath no man condemned thee1
WOMAN. No man, Lord.
JESUS. Neither do | condemn thee. Go, and
sin no more.
Is there anything more complete, more salts
factory, in the whole range of literature than
that, He upheld at once the dignity and in
tegr1ty OF the law, and at the same time showed
mercy it did not contemplate. Mark the
briiance with which, after they had put the
question to Him. He forced them to decide
what they had asked Him to determine.
The Most Brilliant Example
/ HAVE reserved for the last example that
which is the most brilliant if not the most
touching of them all. You understand that the
Jews constantly and persistently refused to
acknowledge in their hearts the legitimacy of
the rule of the HerodS and their oyerlords the
Roman Caesars. They were compelled by ext
gencies they could not control to accept the
condition de faeto. They never accepted the