The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-05-23

evolve from this subject. NO audlCOn Oh
health to others unless there be Il subtrac-
ton of strength from ourselves. lie felt
that strength had gone out of him:
Notice also in this subject Il Christ SEN
sitive TO human touch We talk about
God on 4 vast scale so much we hardly
appreciate his accessibility, God in mag
nitude rather than God in minutiae, God
in the infinitive rather than God in the IN
fnitcsimaI; but here in my text we have
a God arrested by a suffering toucn. When
in the sham trial Of Christ they struck
him on the check we can realize COW tnat
check tngled with pain. When under the
scourging the rod struck the shoulders
and back of Christ we can realize how he
must have wrthcd under the decorations.
But here there is sick and nerveless
finger that lust touches the long thr'aoS
of the blue fringe Of hise o onf ana ne JOCKS
We talk about sensitive people but
Christ was the impcrs0natino of all sen
sitiynncSs The slightest stroke of the
smallest finger of human disability makes
all the nerves of his head and heart and
hand and feet vibratc. 1t is not stohd
Christ not a phlegmatic Christ not
preoccupied Christ. not hard Christ. not
an iron-cased Christ. but an eXqnlsltry
sensitive Christ that my text unveils. All
the things that touch us touch him If by
the hand Of prayer we make the connect
ing line between him and ourselves com
pletc. Mark you, this invalid OF the text
might nave walked through that croWd
all day and cried about her sutfcring and
no relief would have come If size had not
touched him. When in your prayer YOU
Law your hand on Christ You touch all the
sylnpathies of an ardent and glowing and
responsive nature.
You know that in telcgraphy there are
two currents of electricity. SO when you
put out your hand of prayer TO Christ
there are two currcnts-a current OF sor-
row rolling I'D from your heart TO Christ.
and n current Of commisCratiOn rolling
from the heart Of Christ to You Two cur,
rents. Oh, why do you go unheped?
Why do you 90 wondering about TINS ana
wondering about that? Why do you not
touch him?
Are YOU sick? l do not think you are
any worse off than this invalid OF the text
Have YOU had long struggle! L DO not
think it has been more than twelve years.
Is your case hopeless! SO was tins OF
which my text is the diagnosis and prog
nosis. oh" you say, there are so many
things between me and God. There was
a whole mob between this invalid ana
Christ She pressed through and l guess
YOU can press through
Is your trouble a home trouble? Christ
shows himself especially sympathetic with
questions of domcstlcity, as when at the
wedding in Cana he alleviated a house
keepers predcament, as when tears rush.
cd forth at Tsie broken home of Mary and
Martha and Lazarus. Men are sometimes
ashamed to weep. There are men who II
the tears start will conceal them. They
think it is unmanly to cry. In'y 40 not
seem TO understand it is manlincss ana
evidence of a great heart. | am afraid OF
n man who does not know how TO cry.
The Christ of the text was not ashamed TO
cry over human misfortune. Look at that
deem lake of tears opened by the two words
of the evangelist: Jesus wept: Behoit'
Christ on the only day of his early triumph
marching on Jerusalem, the glitter'ng
domcs ob!itcratcd by the binding rain of
tnors in his ewes and on his cheek; for
when he bchcd the city he wcpt over 1t:
q man of the many trials. o woman or
the heartbreak. why do you not touch
him? .c,u;s+ aon,+ o,ro
for me. Christ is looking the other way.
Christ has the vast affairs OF his FlhSdom
to look after. He has the armies OF SIN
10 overthrow, and there are so many
worse cases of trouble than mine he doesn
care about me. and his face Is turned the
orher WAY" So his back was turned to TINS
invalid of the text. lie was on his way 10
effect a cure which was famous and pop
mar and Understanding. But the context
,re WIS IdyiiS 10 u kan Il tc NaS
+hc west? What turner Him about? The
Bible says He has no shadow of turning
lie rides on in His chariot through the
etcrnities. He marches on crushing scep-
tors as though they We're the cracking
aldcrS on brooks bank. and tossing
thrones on either side Of him without stop
ping to look which way they fail. From
everlasting to everlasting che turned him
about He whom all the allied
armies of hell cannot stop a minute or divert
an inch, by the wan. sick nerveless finger
of human suffering turned clear about.
Oh. what comfort there is in this sub
ject for people who are called nervous. OF
course it is a miSappied word in that
case, but ] use it in the ordinary parlance.
After twelve years of suffering oh, what
nervous depression she must have lad.
You all know that a good deal of medi-
cine taken if it does not cure leaves the
system exhausted. and in the Bible in so
many words she had suffered many things
OF many physicians, and was nothing bet
tered, but rather grew worse" She was as
nervous as nervous could be. She knew all
about insomnia and about the awful ar pre-
hension of something going to happen, and
irritahility about little things that in health
would not have pcrturhed her. ! warrant
You it was not n straight strike he gave
to the garment of Christ. hYt n trembling
forearm, and an uncertain motion of the
hand. and n Quivcring finger with which
she missed the mark toward which she
aimed. She did not touch the garment just
where she expected to touch IT,
When | see this nervous woman coming
to the Lord Jesus Christ, | say size is
making the way for all r"rvons rcCrle
Nervous people do not get much sympathy
If a man breaks his arm everybody is sorry
and they talk about it all up and down the
street If woman has an Eye tut out
By accident, they say: That's a dreadful
thing" Everybody is asking about her con-
valescence. But when a person is suffering
under the aiment of which I am now
speaking, they say: oh that's nothing
she's little nervous. that's AL putting
a slight upon the most agoniziug Of suffer-
ing.
Now, | have a new prescription to give
you. l do not ask You to discard hun. an
medicament. | believe in it. When the
slightest thing occurs in the way of sick
ness in my household, we always run for
the doctor. ! do not want to Iespisc med
lrine If yGu cannot sleep nights do not
deSplse bromide of potassium. if YOU have
nervous parOXySm do not GeSDiSe NOR
phine. If you want to Strcgthon up your
system do not despise quinine as Il tonic
Use all right and proper medicines. I,ut I
want you to bring your insomnia. and bring
your irritablity. and bring all ~our weak
ncSSes, and with them touch thrist Touch
Him not only on the hem Of His garments.
but touch Him on the shoulder where
he carries our burden. touch Him on the
head where He remembers all our s0r-
L, 10.