Milford chronicle., 1893-05-26
THE TWO CURRENTS.

on a vast scale so much we hardly appre-
ciate his aceessibility-Go in magnitude
rather than God in minutiR, God in the in
finite rather than God in the infnitesimal.
But here in my text we have a God arrest
ed by a suffering touch. When in the sham
trial of Christ they struck him on the
cheek, 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 lacerations. But here
there is q sick and nerveless finger that
Just touches the long threads of the blue
fringe of his coat. and he looks around and
says, "Who touched me?"
We talk about sensitive people, but
Christ was the impersonation Of Il sensi-
tiyeness The slightest stroke Of tie small
est finger Of human disability makes all
the nerves of his head and heart and hand
and feet vibrate. It IS not stolid Christ,
not phlegmatic Christ, nH preoccupied
Christ, not hard Christ, not an iron cased
Christ, but an exquisitely sensitive Christ
that my text unveils. All the things that
touch us touch him If 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
cried about her suffering, and no relief
would have come if she had not touched
him. When in your prayer you lay your
hand on Christ, you touch all the sympa-
thies Of an ardent and glowing and respon.
sive nature.
You know that in telegraphy 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 cur
rent of commiseration rolling from the
heart of Christ to You. Two currents. oh,
why do you go unhelped? Why do you go
wondering about this and wondering about
that2 Why do you not touch him?
Are you sick? Idonot 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 y years. Is
your case hopeless? So was this Of which
my text is the diagnosis and prognosis.
"Oh, ," YOU say, there are so 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 home trouble' Christ
shows himself especially sympathetic with
questions of domesticity, as when at the
weddingin Cana he alleviated a housekeep-
er's predicament, as when tears rushed
forth at the broken home of Mary and Mar
tha 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 eyi
dence of a 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 weptw Behold
Christ on the only day of his early triumph
marching on Jerusalem, the glitterlng
domes obliteratcd by the binding rain OF
tears in his ewes and on his check, for when
he beheld the city he wept over it QNman
Of the many trials, o woman Of thet hrt-
break, why do you not touch himl
"Oh," says some one, "Christ don't care
for me. Christ is looking the other way,
Christ has the vast affairs of his Kingdom
to look after. He has the armies of sin to
overthrow, and there are so many worse
cases of trouble than mine he doesn't care
about me, and his face is turned the other
wav" So his back was turned to this in
valid of the text. He was on his way to
effect a cure which was famous and popu-
lar and wide resoundiug. But the context
SAYS, ''He turned him about" If he was
facing to the north, he turned to the SOUTH
if he was facing to the east, he turned to
the west What turned him aboutg The
Bible says he has no shadow OF turning
He rides on in his chariot through the eter-
mites. lie marches on crushing scepters as
though they were the cracking alders on a
brooks bank, aud tossing thrones on either
side of him without stopping to look which
way they fall. From everlasting to ever
LASTING. He turned him about" He whom
all the allied armies Of hell cannot stop
minute or divert an inch, by the wan, sick,
nerveless finger Of human suffering turned
clear about
MEDICINE FOk NERVOUS PEOPLE.
Oh, what comfort there is in this subject
for people who are called neryousl Oi
course il is a nisapplied word in that case,
but use it in the ordinary parlance. After
12 wears Of suffering, oh, what nervous de
pression she must have had You all know
that a good deal of medicine 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 betteTed, but rather grew
worse" She was as nervous as nervous
could be. She knew all about insomnia,
and about the awful apprehension OF some
thing going to happen, and irritabilitv
about little things that in health would
not have perturbed her. ! warrant you 1t
was not a straight stroke she gave to the
garment Of Christ, but a trembling fore
arm, and an uncertain motion of the hand,
and a uuivering 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 she Is max
ing the way for all nervous people. Nervous
people do not get much sympathy. II a
man breaks his arm, everybody IS sorry, and
they talk about it all up and down the
street. If a woman has an eye put out by
accident, they say, 'That's a dreadful
thing" Everybody is asking about her con-
valescence. Put when person is suffering
under the ailment of which / am now speak
ing they say "Oh. that's nothing; she's a
little nervous; that's all, !" putting slight
upon the most agonizing of suffering
Now, have a new prescription to give
YOU. | DO not ask you to discard human
medicament. 1 believe in it. When the
slightest thing occurs In the way Of sick
ness in my household, we always run for
the doctor. I do not want to despise medi-
cine. If you cannot sleep nights, do not
despise bromide of potassium. If you have
nervous paroxysm, do not despisemorphine.
If YOU want to strengthen up your system,
do not despise quinine as tonic. Use all
right and proper medicines. But ] wan
you to bring your insomnia, and bring you
irritability, and bring all your weaknesses
and with them touch Christ. Touch hin
not only on the hem of his garments, Du
touch him on the shoulder, where he carrie
our burden; touch him on the head, wher
he remembers all our sorrows; touch hin
onthe heart, thecenter of all hiss sympathies
Oh, yes, Paul was right when he said, w
have not q high priest who cannot b
touched"
The fact is Christ himself is nervous. al
those nights out Of doors in malarial dis
tricts where an Englishman or Ga American
1 dies if he goes at ccrslin seasons, sleepin!