Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-16
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"Transgression AS Rebel
lion Against Love. Hosea,
II:I-4; Luke, I3:34-35.
REV. SAMUEL w. GRAFFLIN.
m the story of Samson and Delilaf
we find q question upon the lips o.

1
| III we find q question upon the lips of
that typical enchantress that holds
so much Of truth and meaning that we
may still ask it of unfaithful lover or err
ing child Of God: How canst thou say
| I love thee when thine heart is not with
me?' For moral rebellion is not so much
against law as against love. Jesus makes
| evil thought a carnal sin. and hatred
without cause is murder in His sight. No
law Of government or society is broken
by this sin of the mind and heart, but
the greater law of love is shattered when
ever those who profess to love their God
60 after those sins and follies which they
know will grieve His heart.
Who that remembers the gteat orations
| of Cough and Boole can forget the chang
es, rung upon one of the stanzas, of
| Robert Robinson's famous hymn, in
| which occur the lines:
Prone to wander Lord feel it.
| Prone to leave the God l love-
/ and how they challenged the statement
| that any one was .'prone to leave" any
| thing that they loved; showing how ridic
| ulous was the thought by asking some
| man to sing the stanza, substituting the
| word wife" for Lord and God
do not leave that which we love. Think
| of how ridiculous would be the lover who
| sang of 'proneness to wander from the
| object of his love; of the tippler. who sang
| it of his cups indeed, Of my enthusiast
who sang thus concerning his particular
| fad. No, the bitterly sad thing about
| the story of every great sin and sinner
has been the evidence of rebellion
i against love-
Adam disobeys God amid the God-given
abundance of Eden; David breaks through
| his law in the very hour of his providen-
| tial deliverance from his enemies, while
Judas goes from the very presence and
| fellowship of his loving Lord to barter
| Him away.
| This week, as last, We have Scripture
/ lesson from Hosea, and one from the New
| Testament. The former reveals God in
| the capacity of a parent teaching his
child to walk and deeply concerned about
/ it's welfare: the latter is that picture from
| ST. Luke where Jesus weeps over Jeru-
| salem, crying out with breaking heart:
20. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often
| gether, as a hen doth gather her brood
! under her wings, and We would not
| Two thoughts are here.
/. The sin of rebellion against God
| love. If mad King Lear may cry How
sharper than a serpents tooth it is to
| have a thankless child" what may not
be the grief of God as He sees His chill
dren use the very gifts which He in love
hath given as the instruments wherewith
| to break His law. There is scarce a day
| that passes in which we do not see the
| law of love transgressed by faithless
friends OF the thankless recipients OF
mans generosity. There is hardly a
night that closes in upon the crowded
day in which thousand pillows are not
wet with tears that rise from the deep
| springs of broken hearts, broken by
ruthless usage at the hands of those who
| owed their very life to these heartbroken
fhaS iyan f VnSf hn
sin Of it, we may well say: but think
how doubly grievous Is the sin when to
the grief of weeping wife or praying par
ent we add the worse Indictment. that in
grieving them we have transgreSsed the
compassionate love of God.
II. The testimony of Jesus tears. We
do not know that Jesus ever laughed;
| that He who sowed the star dust through
day. who saw God-imaged man rebel
against His maker, and then, in pity,
| came to die for man, who knew the roster
of both heaven and he'll, should ever
laugh seems out Of thought to US. suf-
Ace it that We know that Jesus wept."
Laughter might cover any attitude to-
ward this poor child of time. His tears
reveal grief and interest too deep for
words. The homely simile which Jesus
| used to show His interest in rebellious
Israel retains it's value to this very
hour. and His indictment is as real to us:
And We would not And, after all, the
, mystery lies not half so much in His
| unfailing love as in the hardness of our
! hearts. and we may ask ourselves with
profit the poets query:
| And can it be that should gain
| An interest in the Savior's blood;
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me. who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how it be
That Thou, my Lord, shoudst die for me?
He left His Fathers throne above
| $50 Free % infinite, His graceD;
| Emptied Himself Of all but love,
| And bled for Adams helpless race.
| IT'S mercy ALL immense and free,
| For, o my God, 1t found out me!