Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-04-27

the silent galleries of deaf ear; and
| giving healthful nervous system to
catalepticsl Sympathy He did not
give them stoical advice, or philoso-
phize about the science of grief He
sat down and cried with them.
IL Is spoken of as the shortest verse
in the Bible, but to me it is about the
longest and grandest-''Jesus wept"
All! many of us know the meaning of
that. When we were in great trouble.
some one came in with voluble consola-
ton and quoted the scripture in a sort
of heartless way, and did not help us at
all But after. while some one else
came in, and without saying word
sat down and burst into flood of tears
at the sight of our woe, and somehow
it helped us right away. 'Jesus
wept" You see, it was deeply-at-
tached household, that of Mary and
Martha, and Lazarus The father and
mother were dead, and the girls de-
pended on their brother. Lazarus had
said to them, Now Mary, now Martha,
stop your worrying. will take care
of you. will be to you both father
and mother. My arm is strong. Girls,
you can depend on mer'
John Murphy! Well, you did not
know him. Once, when was in great
bereavement, he came to my house.
Kind ministers of the gospel had come
and talked beautifully and prayed
with us, and did all they could to con-
sole. But John Murphy, one of the
best friends l ever had, a big-souled,
glorious Irishman, came in and looked
into my face, put out his broad, strong
hand and said not a word, but sat
down and cried with us. l am not
enough of philosopher to say how it
was, or why it was, but somehow
from door to door and from floor to
ceiling the room was filed with an all
pervading comfort Jesus wept"
/ think that is what makes Christ
such popular Christ There are SO
many who want sympathy. Miss
FislSe, the famous HISTORIAN mission
airy, was in the chapel one day talking
to the heather, and she was in very
poor health, and so weak she sat upon
mat while she talked, and felt the
when she felt woman's form at her
back, and heard n woman's voice say
ing, Lean on me-" She leaned lit
tie, but did not want to be too cum
bersome when the woman's voice said.
Lean hard, if you love me, lean hard. I"
And that makes Christ so lovely. He
wants all the sick, and troubled, and
weary to lean against him, and he
says. 'Lsan hard, if you love me, lean
hard" Aye, he is close by with his
sympathetic help. Hedley Wears, the
famous soldier and Christian of the
Crimean war, died because when he
was wounded his regiment was too far
off from the tent of supplies He was
not mortally wounded, and if the
surgeons could only have got at the
bandages and the medicines, he would
have recovered. So much of human
sympathy and hopefulness comes too
late; but Christ is always close by if
we want him, and has all the medi-
cines ready and has eternal life for all
who ask for it. Sympathy!
Aye, he was lovely IN his doctrines.
Self-sacrifice, or the relief of the suf-
fering of others by our own suffering.
lie was the only physician that ever
proposed to cure his patients by tax
ing their disorders Self-sacrifice! And
what did he not give up for others?
The best climate in the universe, tho
air of heaven, for the wintry weather
of Palestine; a scepter of unlimited
dominion for a prisoners box in an
earthly courtroom, flashing tiara for
a crown of singing brambles; palace
for a cattle pen; throne for a cross
Self sacrifice. What is more lovely?
Mothers dying for their children down
with scarlet fever; railroad engineers
going down through the open draw
bridge to save the train; aremen
scorched to death trying TO help ONE
one down the ladder from the fourth
story of the consuming house; all
these put together only faint and in
sufficient SMILES by which to illustrate
the grander, mightier, farther-reach-
ing self-sacritice of the altogether
lovely"
Do you wonder that the story of his
self-sacritice has led hundreds of thou
sands to die for him? In one series of
prosecutions over 200, 900 were put to
death for Christ's sake. For him
Blandina was tied TO n post and wild
beasts were let out upon her, and
when life continued after the attack
of tooth and paw, she was put in n
net, and that net containing her was
thrown to wild bull, that tossed her
with its horns till life was extinct
All for Christ! Huguenots dying for
Christ! Albigenses dying for Christi
The Vaudois dying for Christ! Smith
field fires endured for Christi The
bones of martyrs, if distributed, would
make a path of moldering life all
around the earth. The loveliness OF
the Savior's sacrifice has inspired all
the heroisms, and all the martyrdoms
of subsequent centuries. Chris. has
had more men and womcn aie for him
than all the other inhabitants of all
the ages have had die for them.
Furthermore, he was lovely in his
sermons He knew when to begin,