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Throwing Stones At Christ
by
Do you strive when criticised to transfer the criticism from yourself to the Savior? Do you brand men who dare to differ from you as blasphemers,–as though you were one with God and that to question your superior wisdom and goodness were equal to deny the Almighty? Do you, by presumption where you should be meek, by belligerency where you should act the peacemaker, by dogmatism where you should humbly seek the light, by denunciation where you should propitiate, call down the world’s contempt on the cause you profess to serve–Cast Stones at Christ?
It is Written, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Do you Always heed the law?–carefully refrain from resolving yourself into an inquisitorial court,–becoming both prosecutor and judge and condemning those who chance to differ from you?
“Why so hot, little man?” The world rolled on, oh so many weary years before the Fates kindly sent thee to set it right; it will go on much in the same old way after both thee and thy work have been forgotten.
To the stones cast at Christ by professed unbelievers we need give but little heed. They rain harmless as Parthian shafts on the shield of Achilles. Never was atheistical book written, never was infidel argument penned that touched the core of any religion, Christian or Pagan. They but serve as driving sand of the desert to scour the eating rust from the Christian armor. Seldom indeed does the avowed infidel cast a stone at Christ,–he contents himself with holding up to the world’s scorn the mummeries in which dogmatizers have invested the teachings of the grandest man that ever died for truth. God created nothing in vain. Even the atheist has his uses; nay, even the splenetic preacher may fill an important niche in the great world’s economy–may be a real blessing in disguise.
Very remarkable is it that Christ’s holy cause best prospered, was purest, most powerful for good when most persecuted, “The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.” From the auto da fe arose the anthem that thrilled the Pagan heart. From prison cells poured forth paeans of praise that caused princes to kiss the cross. From the outlawed conventicle went forth a holy zeal that carried millions to the throne of grace,–from the gloomy midnight meeting there burst a light that illumed the world.
The stones cast by avowed enemies were the steps by which the Cause of Christ mounted from poverty and obscurity to thrones and wealth, to name and fame,–the wings with which it encircled the great round globe, the power that enabled it to break down the barriers of the most obdurate hearts.
It is the stones cast by professed friends–the stones of Selfishness and Pride, of Intolerance and Vain-glory,–of Hate and Discord masquerading in the garb of Love and Law–that cause the wounds on Calvary to bleed afresh, the tears in Gethsemane to flow anew, the Crown of Thorns to once more burn the throbbing brow, the scourge to fall across the naked shoulders of the Son of God.
Are you Throwing Stones at Christ and His Cause?