Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-05-25

her dress and let the dress ellde through
her pale fingers: she salu u heIped Iei
pam so much and maze her SO happy all the
uay' aye, nave we not IN all our nwelllngs
garments OIL the departeu' Vouch Oh whlch
thrllls us through ana through Vhe ire OF
those VINO are gone thrlilng ohrough inc
lie or those VINO stay but' marx you, the
principie / evolve from uhls suolect-no
Houltloh OF heallh To o'uers unless onere DC
a subtraction OF strehg.h from ourselves
ii' io'' 'ii'O 81 i'''' S0'io 0'O Vi ni'n'
TIE TWO CuhhhNlS.
Notice also In TINS sunJecu ohrlst sensl'
tive to human touch. we talK about God
on vast scale so mucu we hardly appre'
ciate his accessibility IN magnitude
rather than God III mlnuua'' uou IN the In
lhlte rather Than God III the lhlhlteslmaL
But here III my text we nave God arrest
ed by suffering touch. w men IN the sham
trlal OF Christ they struck MN on the
check, we can realize how that cheek tin
gled with pain. When under the securing
the rod struck the shoulders and back OF
Christ, we can realize how he must have
writhed under the decorations. But here
there is sick and nerveIess finger that
/ Just touches the long threads OF the blue
fringe of hrs coat, and he looks around and
says, "Nho touched me-!
We talk about sensitive people, but
christ was the impersafs'tlon OF all sensi-
tlVeness. The slightest stroke OF the small
est finger of human disability makes all
the nerves of his head and heart and hand
and feet vibrate. 1T is not stolid Christ,
not phlegmatic Christ, not preoccupied
| Christ, not hard Christ, not an iron cased
! Christ, but an eNquioitely sensitive Christ
that my text unveils. All the things that
| touch us touch him II by the hand of
! prayer we make the connecting line be
tween him and ourselves complete. Mark
! you. this invalid OF the text might have
walked through that crowd all day and
cried about her suffering, and no relief
would have come II she had not touched
| nm. When in your prayer you lay your
hand on Christ, you touch all the sympa-
thles of an ardent and glowing and respon-
sive nature.
You know that in biography there are
two currents of electricity. SO when YOU
/ put out your hand OF prayer to Christ there
are two currentS-a current of sorrow roll
| ing up from your heart to Christ and "A cur
rent of commiseration rolling from the
heart of Christ to you. Two currents. Oh,
why do you 20 uuhelpedF Why do You go
wondering about TINS and wondering about
thatY Why do you not touch him?
Are you slck; lao not thlhk you are any
/ worse oil than TINS invalid OF the text.
! Have you had long struggle; | do not
think 1t has been more than II years Is
/ your case hopeless? 80 was this of which
my text Is the diagnosis and prognosis.
! "Oh, You say, there are 80 many things
/ between me and God There was whole
/ mob between this invalid and Christ She
| pressed through, and GUESS you can press
through
/ Is your trouble q home trouble' Christ
shows himself especially sympathetic with
questions Of domcsticity, as when at the
wedding in Cana he alleviated a housek eep-
er's predicament, as when tears rushed
forth at the broken home OF Mary and Mar
tina and Lazarus Men are sometimes
ashamed to weep. There are men who if
the tears start will conceal them. They
think it is unmanly to cry They do not
seem to understand it is manliness and evil
dence of Il great heart. | am afraid of a
man who DOES not know how to cry. The
! Christ of the text was not ashamed to cry
| over human misfortune Look at that
/ deep lake of tears opened by the two words
Of the evangelist, Jesus wept" Behold