The St. Charles herald., 1919-04-19

John Wesley, always correct in his
outward life, and for more than half
century Jealous worker for God.
voiced his feelings in the lines:
II the chief of sinners an,
But Jesus died for me-
Why do these men, whom We regarG
as the greatest saints, so describe
themselves? Certain it is that they
are not hypOcrites, like the man in
Robert Burns poem who called HIM
self the chief of sinners and went on
SHINING so that grace might abound!
1t is just as certain they were not i'll
that state of mind so well described
in the following words of Robert Mur-
ray McCheyne: 'Is it possible, think
you. for a person to be conceited Of
his miseries? May there not be a deep
leaven of pride in telling how desolate
and how unfeeling we are-in brood
ing over our unearthly pains-in our
being excluded from the sympathies Of
the world-in our being the invalids
of Christ's hOspital?" The men Of
whom we have been speaking believed
on Christ and rejoiced in his salvation,
yet still called themselves the chief Of
sinners. Again we ask, why do lhey
so describe themselves?
We would sum up an answer in
these words: Saints know their own
ter than the sins Of anyone else. They
feel the possibilities Of evil stirring
within them and understand why the
martyr exclaimed, as he watched the
murderer who passed by on the way to
the gallows. 'There I go, but for the
grace Of God" John Bunyan's chief
sins, in his uDregenerate days, We're
profanity and lying, but one has said:
1T was spiritual sins which In after
years laid their heavy weight over his
conscience, and these, as his greatest
biographer well says, may be even
more deadly than sensual sins In their
moral recoil. laying bare the powers.
of the SOUL" No matter how close to
Christ we walk, our sense of obligation
to him for saving and keeping US Will
be so profound that we shall say sim
cerely, SINNERS, of whom / am chief"
How happy that Paul can assure us,
"This is a faithful saying, worthy of
all acceptatiOn, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners" Some
find it hard to believe this good news.
Referring to John Bunyan again, We
recall how he feared the day uf grace
was past for him. How happy he was
to read the Scripture which says.
compel them to come in," and the
further statement, Yet there is ROOM"
Coming to more recent days, we think
of Samuel Uadley, for many years the
superintendent of the Water Street
mission Of New York. He had fallen
very low in sin and seemed a hopeless
victim of drink. When he sought the
Lord his one question was, Dear
Jesus, can you help me-? How
blessed to know that the saving is
faithful, reliable and worthy of ac-
ceptation by all men everywhere, that
Christ Jesus came into the world TO
save sinners.
Even if We had no such explicit
his very name would assure
us of his mission. Christ is the
Greek form of the Jewish "Messiah'
and tells us that this is the one so long
foretold by prophets as coming to bear
the sins of the world. Jesus is the
Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua"
"God is Saviour" But we
are not left to an inference from his
names but are plainly told that his
very purpose in coming into the world
was ito save sinners" He saves u.s.
not In spite Of the fact that we are
but because of that very fact.
We recall the man who went to good
Lady Huntington in great distress OF
soul and crying, II am lost ~ How
glad l am" she replied, ''for the Son
of Man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost"