River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-05-26
A SIN
SPECIALIST
Bv REV. F. r. MARSH
Pastor of Congregational Church
Houston, Texas

This is a faithful saying and worthy of
| all the acceptation that Christ Jesus came
! into the world to save sinners.--1 Tim,
| lis.
| Many men claim place in the worlds
crowded temple of fame. Explorers
who have discovered new worlds; in
| ventors who have opened new fields of
activity, astronomers who have re-
vealed new heavens, scientists who
have formulated the natural laws of
the physical universe, artists who
/ have made canvas speak and marble
breathe, soldiers who have carved
empires from human flesh, statesmen
who have vitalized dismembered parts
into one organic body, reformers who
have lifted continents of humanity to
higher levels of life-these are the
men whose finished task has set the
seal of greatness upon their names
Amid that host no man can number.
one figure stands supreme, pre-emin-
ent among the sons of men. Richter
says: Christ has lifted empires off
their hinges and turned streams of
history into new channels" Emerson
declared: "The name of Christ is
plowed deep into the world" Even Re-
nan admits: His life has been made
a corner stone to the building of our
race"
The question is not impertinent:
Man of Galilee, what have you done
to receive such recognition and
achieve such recognition and achieve
such results? What have you added to
the wealth or knowledge or progress
of the world, that the world should
SO honor you?" Ponder wel2 the an
swer, for it is strange: 81 seek and
save sinners"
Jesus Christ is unique among men.
He is the sin specialist of the world.
Human philosophy has specialized
on the results of sin and ended in
fatalism. Human materialism has
blinked at the presence of sin and
ended in sensuality. Human sympathy
has faced the fact of sin and tried
to ease it's suffering with the anodyne
of charity. But Robert Morrison was
right after ALL He closed the Bible,
exiled God, annihilated heaven and
hell and said logically: ''It is no use
discussing the matter; there is no
remedy for bad heart"
Jenner discovered how to combat
and counterfeit smallpox. Pasteur for
mulated laws for the treatment of
germ disease. tuberculosis, typhoid,
diphtheria and host of ills to which
the flesh is heir are capable of being
controlled. But the problem of hui
man happiness and human progress is
far more difficult than these incidents
of our mortality.
It was Macbeth who complained to
his physician:
Canst thou not minister to mind dis
| eaSed;
Raze out the written troubles of the
| brain,
And with some sweet, oblivious antidote
| Cleanse the stuffed bosom of the perilcus
! stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?
Poor Jean Vatican wept bitterly for
his sins as he watched the boy play
with the buttercups and prayed that
God would give him, criminal though
he was, to feel again as he felt when
years before he had pressed his cheek
against his mothers knee. Eugene
Aram dared not trust himself out un-
der the stars at night, for they blazed
upon him out of the night like eyes
that would not relent The water in
the basin could not wash off the red
spots on the hands Of Lady Macbeth,
| but would the "multitudinOuS seas in
carnadine."
Is there no balm in Gilead for bro
ken spirit? Is there no hearts ease
to soothe sorrowing soul? Is there
no bosom on which poor Magdalene
can sob her bitter confessions? No
rest from remorse? No surcease from
sorrow? No cure for sin? Perhaps
the gods may forgive sin," said Plato
to Socrates. Perhaps, but I do not
know" replied his master. Il do not
know that it would be safe for the
gods to pardon"
Save sinners-even Paul said: 'That
means me-" Our human sympathies
go out to the good man in hard luck.
Christ's love calls the corrupt man in
any circumstances. The sinner is lit
orally one who has missed the mark
The figure is that of the archer who
shoots the arrow and fails to hit the
target And some of us have shot so
many times, aimed high, striven sin
cerely to ring the right-and failed.
Sometimes it has seemed like all the
arrows were sped-quiver empty, bow
string slack, defeat certain. When the
vessel was broken the potter made 1t
over again. That is what Jesus Christ
can do for a life-can do? Will do If
we let him. That is his business. He
came to seek and to save sinners.