Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1892-02-20

tlAC olatlOi NliitN iiAo liiC
horses neck and kissed the dumb
brute 1t was not hollow sentiment
when David. the psalmist, cried out
at the news of his sons death. al
though he had been a desperately
bad boy "Oh, Absalom, my son my
son. Would God had died for thee.
Oh, Absalom, my son my SON." But
for such and all other bereavement
there is divine coincidence
Christ on the plain. | care not from
what side you approach him, you can
touch him and get his help. Is it
mental depression you sufferl Re
member him who said, My God, my
God. why hast thou forsaken mei"
Is it struggle for bread Remember
him who fed the five thousand with
two minnows and five biscuits. neither
of the biscuits larger than your fist
/ Is it chronic ailment7 Remember the
woman who for eighteen years was
bent almost double, and he lifted her
face until she could look into the blue
sky. Are you sailor and spend your
life battling with the tempestsi Re
member him who flung the tempest
of Genesareth fiat on the crystal pave
ment of a quiet sea
That Christ is in sympathy with
all who have trouble with their eyes,
and that is becoming an almost uni
/ versal trouble through much reading
in rail cars. and the overpressure of
study in the schools where children
are expected to be philosophers at
! ten. boys and girls at fourteen with
spectacles | say with all such trou
bic Christ is in sympathy. Witness
blind Bartimcus. Witness the two
blind men in the house Witness
+ the two blind men near Jericho
/ Witness the man born blind Did he
not turn their perpetual midnight
into midnoon, till they ran up and
down clapping their hands and say
ing, Il scei | see!"
+ That Christ is i'll sympathy with
those who stammer, or have silenced
ears, notice how promptly he came
to that man with impediment of
speech and gave him command of
the tongue so that he could speak
with ease, and, putting his fingers
into the ears, retuned the tympanum
Is there lack of circulation in your
arm, think of him who cured the de
fective circulation and the inactive
muscles of Il patient who had lost the
use of hand and arm, by saying.
Stretch forth thy handI" and the
veins and nerves and muscles re
sumed their offices, and though in
doing so the joints may have cracked
from long disllse, and there may have
been a strange sensation from elbow
to finger tip, he stretched it forth
And nothing is the matter with you.
but you may appeal to Il sympathetic
Christ. And if you feel yourself to
be great sinner, hear what he said
to that repenting Magdalen. while
with scalding sarcasm he dashed
her hypocritical pursuers
THE CRY OF THE PUBLICAN
And see how he made an immortal
liturgy out of the publican's cry.
God be merciful TO me sinner"
prayer so short that the most over,
whelmed offender can utter it, and
yet long enough TO win celestial do
minions. 1t was well put by Il man
who had been converted. and who re
membered that in his dissolute days
he found it hard to get occupation,
bcc.,u,,. n,. could not present &C
/ titicatc fui good character.
In commencing Christ to the peo-
pie he SAID. Bless God. have found
out that Jesus will take II man with
out a character!" Christ on level
with suffering humanity. My text
,yS He came down with them and
food III the plain" No climbing up
through attributes you cannot under
stand. No ascending of the heights
of beautiful rhetoric of prayer. No
straining after elevations you cannot
reach No hunting for God that
you cannot find But going right
straight to him and looking into his
face ana taking his hand and asking
for his pardon, his comfort, his grace
his heaven.
Christ on the level When during
the siege of Sebastopol an officer had
commanded a private soldier to stand
on the wall exposed to the enemy
and receive the ammunition as it was
handed up, while he, the officer.
stood i'll place sheltered from the
enemy's guns. General Gordon lcaped
upon the wall to help and com
manded the officer to follow him
and then closed with the words.
Never order man to do anything
that you are afraid to do yourself.
Glory he to God. the captain of our
salvation has himself gone through
all the exposures in which he com
mands us To be courageous. He has
been through it all, and now offers
his sympathy IN similar struggle
One of the kings of England one
night i'll disguise walking the streets
of London. and not giving account
of himself. was arrested and put in n
and getting back to the palace he
ordered thirty tons of coal and II
large supply of food for the night
prisoners of London Ont of his
own experiences that night he did
this And our Lord the king afore
time endungeoned and sick and
hungry and prosecuted and slam,
out of his own experiences is ready
to help all and pardon all, and com
fort all, and rescue all
Oh. join him in the plain. A. long
as you stay up in the mountain OF
your pride you will get no help. That
is the reason so many never find the
salvation of the Gospel They sit
high up in the Mont Blanc of their
opinionativeness. and they have then
opinion about God. and their opinion