SYMPATHY FOR SINNERS
Rawlings Uses an Incident to Make an Appeal for Brotherly Love.
Mr Editor:- I have not bothered you for some time and I hope that you will give me space in your paper for this letter.
Two days ago, a poor, unfortunate woman was put in jail here, and her little five-year-old daughter was left outside. The next day, the little girl came out on the street and spoke to her mother through the windows of the jail. I have never seen a more pathetic sight. The little girl seemed to see her mother only as a mother. There was some delay in fixing the bond, and the little girl expressed, through both words and her face, the greatest anxiety for her mother. The little one didn’t see the crime, sin, or disgrace; she only saw her mother as graciously as if she had been the purest mother in Valdosta.
Now, Mr. Editor, you know there has been some comment on the piece I wrote about the sin against the Holy Ghost. You also know that Christ said: “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now, Mr. Editor, I want everyone who reads this to apply it to themselves and see if they can receive their fellow man as the little child received her mother. I know there are some whom I cannot receive that way, and that is why I say I am lost. God’s word condemns me, and anyone who cannot receive their worst enemy or the illest sinner as that little girl received her mother is lost just the same as I am. “If ye have not the spirit of Christ, ye are none of His.” And if we love not our brother whom we have not seen, how can we love God whom we have not seen? Except ye be converted and become as a little child, ye can in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
I hope you will print this, as it does no harm to anyone and may do some good.
Very earnestly,
J.G. Rawlings