Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-01-27


LIKE THE TIMID WOMAN
'1n every congregation there is some
body like the timid woman. Somebody
who has been going to other doctors for
years, without getting any help, but
rather growing worse, and now they have
come to the conclusion that they will as
a last resort try jesus. 1t was a desper-
ate resolve the woman made, but hers
was o. desperate case, and so was mine
and yours. 1t was the only thing she
could do. Had she only had one more
dollar to try one more doctor that pro-
cesson toward the sorrowing home of
Jairus wouldn't have halted in the street
of Capernaum that morning. She coulCln I
| do anything else, and she couldn't be any
worse off il she failed, and SO she made
the venture. Venturing on Christ Is the
best days work anybody can ever do
She ventured, though, with great tlmdlty
l can see Jesus beginning to walk little
slower as that poor weak woman comes
/ limping toward him, for he always suits
his pace to the strength of those who
seek Him. She had no one to help her
make a plan, and so she had to do the
best sho could, and make her own plan
1t wasn't much of a plan but II was the
best she could make, and I" worked
THAT kind OF a plan will always work
| The plan that puts Jesus right in the CEN
| tire always works, no matter how poor a
plan 1t may be in other respects. Jesus
never turns away from any poor soul who
seeks Him, Just because they may not
know anything about theology. 1t is nat
theology. 1t is not theology that saves
but Christ. The scribes and pharisees
who crucified the Lord were the best
theologians in the country. on that limo
they could not only split hairs with any
body, but they could quarter them, and
then whttle each quarter to a point No
body has ever been kept out of heaven
because they didn't know much about the
atonement.
THE poor woman said IF can touch
but the fringe of His garment She
didn't know it, but she was away over in
Alaska in her theology on that. She was
putting piece of cloth in the place of
Christ and every theologan will tell you
there is nothing in piece of cloth. 1t Is
Christ that saves. But she had made her
plan the best she could, theology or no
theology, and it worked. She had never
been able to go to school a day in any
academy who're theology WAS taught, and
1T was a good thing she hadn't, or she
might not have got withina n mile of Christ
She didn't know anything better than just
to try to get as close to Jesus as sho
could in the only way she could think OF.
The reason why she wanted to touch His
garment was because He was in it, and
brother. you touch the thing that Christ
Is in and you will be certain to get n
blessing from it. Join the church; attend
the revival meeting; read your Bible, for
Christ is in all these and He will know
whether you really want to touch Him
or not, Her plan was very poor one,
the scribes and pharisees and even some
of the disciples would have said, but it
worked.
BAPTIZED BY IMMERSION.
MANY poor soul has said IF I can
be baptized by immersion 1 shall be
saved And they tried it and 1t worked.
saved, just as they believed they would
be. Another has said 4 will join this
church or that. and 1 believe that If I |
do 1 will be saved and they tried it, and
1t worked, just as they believed 1t |
would, and they didn't have to go under |
the water at ALL They made their own !
little plan and God looked into their |
hearts, and saw they were walking in
all the light they had, and he let it go |
at that Another said: IF I can only
get out of bed and get down on my
knees and pray L believe I will be saved, |
and he tried it and it worked. And |
another said: If l can only take the
communion L shall be saved and he
tried it and it worked, and some of these
who made their own plans the best
they could and tried them and found
salvation by doing it, were our fathers
and our mothers, and they are in
Heaven now, because Jesus knew what
they meant as He looked into their
poor, hungry hearts and He blessed them |
because they did the best they knew, |
and he will do it with you, my brother,
and with you, my sister, If you will only
take the step you believe in your souls
you ought to take, and will take it
now.
Yes, all the little plans of which I |
have been telling you, and a great many
mored, worked, and yet every theologian
knows they were all wrong; and you
say so yourself when you take them all
to pieces and look into them like a
botanist looks at flower; but thank |
God. He can and does save people, and |
lie does 1t in hurry, in spite Of wrong
theology. Theology may stand UP and
tell you until 1t is black in the face that
all the water in the world can't save a |
sinner by his being baptized in 1t; for
water has nothing to do with it; IL is
the blood of Christ that saves, and vet |
everybody who has got into the Kingdom |
ln that way knows that theology is talk
ing through its hat, for they tried il and
It worked. Theology will tell you that |
Joining the church won't lift you toward
heaven an inch-and l say 1t, too, If
there is no faith in Christ behind it
and yet people join the church because
hey know they must do something or
De lost and SO they blunder toward God
he best they know how, and in their
ioing 1t they get touch from Christ that
saves them through and through.
1t is a thousand times better to blum
Ter toward God in the worst kind of |
way than it is to do nothing at ali.
Theology viii also tell you that there
Is nothing in a mourners bench, and
that you may pray to your dying day;
for prayers alone cannot save; and that
you may take the communion without
getting any help, or whatever else Won
will and yet never Get rid OF your sins,
because these things are all nothing in
themselves, and II Is true, every word
)f 1t, Just as theology says, but poor sim
.ul souls have tried them, some one, and
some another, and they worked with
hem, and they were saved because they
lust stepped ont and blundered toward
God the best they could, as the poor
lmid woman did. Thank God that Jesus
wasn't hair-splitter, that He wasn't
lide-bound. and dead set on having
everything done in an iron-clad ana