Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-02-25

And without moments delay she arose.
her eyeo wide open. her cheeks turning
from white lily TO red rose, and the parents
cry, "She livesl She livesP' and in the next
room they take up the sound, ''She livesl
She liyesP and the throng in front Of the
doorway repeat It. ''She livesl She livesl"
VIII not all those who have lost dauRh-
ter feel that such Christ as that can sym
pathizei
81 SAT- UNTO THEE, ARISE"
On another occasion he showed how he
felt about the loss Of a SON Here are the
obsequies. A long procession, widowed
mother following her only son. know
not how long the husband and father had
been gone, but upon this son, who had now
come to be a young man, the leadership Of
that household had fallen think he had
got to be the breadwinner. He was proud
of his mother, and she should never lack
anything as long as he lived. And there
is no grander spectacle on earth than a
young man standing between want and a
widowed mother. But that young man
had fallen lifeless under accident or disas-
ter, and he WAS being carried out.
Only a very few hours in that land are
allowed to pass between decease and
burial. 1t is the same day or the next.
And there they move on. Christ meets the
procession. His eye picks out the chief
mourner. He puts his hand on the bier as
much as to say to the pallbearers: "Stopl
There will be no burial today. That broken
heart must be healed. That mother must
have her home rebuilt" And then looking
into the face Of the young man for in
those lands the face is always exposed in
such procession), Christ speaks one SEN
tence, before which Death fell prostrate
under the bier, young man, say unto
thee, arise" He sat up, while the over.
joyed mother wrapped him in her arms,
and well nigh smothered him with her ca
resses and the air was rent with congratu-
lations.
Can any one who has ever lost son
doubt that Christ sympathizes with such
woei And how many there are who need
that particular comfort. 1t was not hol-
lowsentiment when, after Edmund Burke,
the greatest orator of his time, had lost his
son. and the bereaved father, crossing the
| pasture field, met the horse that had be-
| longed to that deceased son, that the ora
tor threw his arms around the horses neck
and kissed the dumb brute. 1t was not
hollow sentiment when David, the psalm
ist, cried out at the news of his sons death,
although he had been desperately bad
boy: "Oh, Absalom, my sonl my sonI
Would God had died for thee. Oh, Abb
salon, my sonl my sonP But for such
| and all other bereavement there is divine
coincidence.
Christ on the plain. Icare not from what
side you approach him you can touch him
| md hiu haly Ia nI
you suffer- Remember him who said,
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?" Is it struggle for bread9 Remem-
Der him who fed the five thousand with
two minnows and five biscuits, neither of
the biscuits larger than your fist. Is it
chronic ailment? Remember the woman
who for eighteen years was bent almost
| double, and lifted her face until she could
look into the blue sky. Are you sailor
and spend your life battling with the tenn
pestsH Remember him who flung the tenn
pest of Genesareoh fiat on the crystal pave
ment Of the quiet sea-
That Christ is in sympathy with all who
have trouble with their eyes, and that is be-
coming an almost universal 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 spec
tacles. say with all such trouble Christ
| Is in sympathy. Witness blind Bartimeus.
| 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 mid
noon, till they ran up and down clapping
their hands and saying, II seel seep'
That Christ is in sympathy with those
who stammer or have silenced ears, notice
how promptly he came to that man with
| impediment of speech and gave him COM
mand 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 defective eircu-
lation and the inactive muscles of a patient
| who had lost the use of hand and arm by
saying, Stretch forth thy hand" and the
veins and nerves and muscles resumed
their offices, and though in doing so the
joints may have cracked from long disuse,
and there may have been a strange sensa-
| tion from elbow to finger tip, he stretched
it forthl And nothing is the matter with
you, but you may appeal to sympathic
Christ. And if you feel yourself to be a
great sinner, hear what he said to that re-
penting Magdalen, while with scalding
sarcasm he dashed her hypocritical pur-
suers.
GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME, A SINNER"
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 overwhelmed offender
can utter it, and yet long enough to win
celestial dominions. 1t was we'll put by
man who had been converted, and who
remembered that in his dissolute days he
found it hard to get occupation, because
he could not present certificate of good
character. In commencing Christ to the
people he said, ''Bless God, have found
out that Jesus will take man without
a characterl" Christ on level with
suffering humanity. My text says, HE
came down with them and stoGd in the
plain" No climbing up through attri-
butes you cannot understand. No ascend
ing 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 and tax
ing 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 com
manded 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 in place sheltered from
the enemy's guns, General Gordon leaped
upon the wall to help, and commanded the
officer to follow him, and then closed with
the words, ''Never order man to do any
thing that you are afraid to do yourself
Glory be to God, the captain of our saliva
tion has himself gone through all the ex
posures in which he commands US to bt
courageous. He has been through it all
and now offers his sympathy in similar
struggles.
I One of the kings of England one night IL