The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1878-12-28
rrrE puwnn or sNmpATHY.

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T1aE pOwEh or SYMPATHY,
Neithtr wisdom nor personal purity
nor authority nor eloquence nor any
ordinary gift Of the human mind, said
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher in recent
discourse, is to be compared for power
with sympathy. Where there is sym
pathy all these others come in and aug
mcnt power and influence but where
It Is not the vital air is wanting-the
secret of power is wanting. A man
that Is rude and ignorant and cannot
speak the English tongue within sight
Of grammar, a man that would not be
tolerated In an ordinary audience, but
who has great soul and is filed with
sorrow for his fellow men, will do more
for them one hundred fold than Aris.
totle and Plato and Bacon rolled togeth.
er without sympathy. Why is 1t that
such man as Murphy brings thousands
and thousands Of men to him? Is 1t
because he understands anatomy and
physiology perfectly? No; for he does
not. Is it because his theories of think
Ing are SO clever? No; for he is fire.
Quently wrong. Is it because he has
such sense of the economic relations
Of things? Not at all. But he is man
and has a great soul IN him, and when
men come to him they feel that that
man brothers and mothers them. 1t is
the response of the soul to soul. But
take long, straight, white cravated
clergyman, who peers through his spec
tacles and tells you all about the whole
theory Of Gods government, and that
there is a condition in life, and that un-
less every man must walk in this way
or that he will be damned forever, and
then sits down and wipes his mouth
with his handkerchief, and walks home
aud feels that he has sustained the dig
uity of God and the authority of God
(Laugbter.) God don't thank him for
upholding His dignity or anything Of
the kind.
There has never been in our time
anything that reminded US mole of the
opening Of the mouth of one of the great
sewers of New York than did Dennis
Kearney. And yet there is no deny
ing one thing-that this i!literate and
foul mouthed ex-drayman had the pow
er to stir up communities as very few
men ever had, in bringing together tens
of thousands. Though in many re-
spects brutal toward the Norkingman,
undoubtedly he had fellow feeling.
lie was fellow workman, and he had
such a big belly and such Il big chest
that when he had feeling it went like
lightning to their hearts. Woe be tC
the arrow that has not a bow strong
enough to drive it home | Many mar
has good impulses who has not the
physical power to make them operative
Blessed be the body for any one tina
Wants to have an effective soul. II wa'
not In what he said that Kearney's pow
er lay, but he took hold of great class
of IneE whose condition was pitiable
but which capitalists did not pity anC
which the ordinary political parties diC
not pity and he did. And when h
showed pity he had power with thost
men. That, too, Is the secret of Mr.
MOody's power ! his theology and hi
teachings are old fashioned. but he ha
all intense sympathy with human suf.
ferlng. The power that he has is tn,
man, the power Of the soul, that i
tou he'd with other mems sorrows ant
sufIerngs. 1t is not his scholarship, /
Is not his eloquence, it Is not the theO
lOgy, but the man that is in him, ant
that is the true spirit of Christ. 1t |
the spirit Of love that wins, becaus
every man feels the influence of tn
true power that is in him.
liza violet of wax were brought to
man, the giver might point out its beau
tiful resemblance to nature, and
might be admired as work of art, bu
would have no fragrance. 1t was S
with the true and the false philanthropy
II Christian people attend meetings fC
the poor and said to them, "We hav
left our warm houses tonight to CON
down and teach yOu," and so on, or
would snore, another would swear, an
all would soon clear out. But II a ma
didn't tell them what he came for, bI
found one Of them In a ditch, pickG
him out ard helped and encourage
him and stood by him, he would
least realize what was being done f
him, and the power OF sympathy al
gratitude would save him. The preac
er pleaded for more leniency tOTa
those who have once uansgressed Il
law, divine or human. AS it is nos
he said, man might as well run {
the spear points of hell as to go again
the sentiment of the civilized communi
or of Christian churches of to. day.
one attempted to display toward Grim
nails the feeling which Christ had f
those who prosecuted Him men did N
understand it. They said, "Oh, tn
won't do; that's too thin" They ca
IL Sentimentalism and "gush."
The following acts of Congress we