The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-05-02


sat down and cried with them.
It is spoken of as the shortest verse
in the Bible, bat 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 awhile some one else came
in, and without saying a word sat down
and burst into a food Of tears at the
sight of our woe, and somehow it help
ed Us right away. "Jesus wept." You
sex, it was adeeply attached household,
that of Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
The father and mother were dead, and
the girls depended 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 mel"
Comfort Of Tears.
But now Lazarus was sick-yea, Lag
arus was dead ALI broken up, the Sis
tiers sit d~isconsolate, and there is aknock
at the door. Come in" says Martha.
Come in,'' says Mary. Christ entered,
and he Just broke down It was too much
for him. He had been SO often and so
kindly entertained in that horne before
sickness and death devastated it that he
choked up and sobbed aloud, and the
tears trickled down the sad face Of the
sympathetic Christ. "Jesus wept."
Why do you not try that mode OF help
ing? You say, II am a man Of few
words" or 81 am a woman Of few
words" Why, you dear SOUL words are
not necessary. Initiate your Lord and
20 to those afflicted homes and cry with
them.
John Murphy! Well, you did not
know him. Once, when I was in great
bereavement, he anne to my house.
Kind ministers of the gospel had come
and talked beautifully and prayed with
us and did all they could to console.
But John Murphy, one Of the bestfriends
I ever had, a big souled, glorious Irish
man, came in and looked into my face,
put out his broad, strong hand and said
not a word, but sat down and cried with
as. I am not enough Of a~philosopher to
say how it was or whyi it was, but some
how from door to door and from floor
to ceiling the room was filed with an
all pervading comfort Jesus wept.
I think that is what makes Christ
such a popular Christ. There are so
many who want sympathy. Miss Fiske,
the famous HISTORIAN missionary, was
in the chapel one day talking to the
heather, and she was in very poor health
and so weak she sat upon a mat while
she talked and felt the need Of some
thing to lean against, when she felt q
woman's form at her back and heard a
woman's voice saying, Lean on me. !"
She leaned q little, but did not want to
be- too cumbersome, when the woman's
voice said, Clean hard; if you love me,
lean hard"
And that makes Christ so lovely. He
wants all the sick and troubled and
weary to lean against him, and he says,
ssLean hard; if you love me, lean hard
Aye, he is close by with his sympathet-
ic help. Hedley Wears, the famous SOL
der and Christian Of the Crimean war,
died because when he was wounded has
regiment was too far of from the tent
of suprlies. he was not mortally wound
ed, and if the surgeons could only have
got at the bandages and the medicines
he would have recovered So much OF
human sympathy and hopefnlness comes
too late. But Christ is always close by
Il we want him, and has all the medl-
cines ready, and has eternal life for all
who ask for it. Sympathy!
A Sublime Self Sacrifice.
Ave, he was lovely in his doctrines.
Self sacrifice or the relief of the suffer
ing Of others by our own suffering. He
was the only physician that ever pro-
posed to cure his patients by taking their
disorders. Self sacrificed And what did
he not give up for others? The best eli
mate in the universe, the air Of heaven,
for the wintry weather Of Palestine, a
scepter Of unlimited dominion for a
prisoners box in an earthly courtroom,
a flashing tiara for a crown Of singing
brambles, a palace for a cattle pen, a
throne for a cross. Self sacrificed What
is more lovely? Mothers dying for their
children down with scarlet fever, rail-
road engineers going down through
the open drawbridge to save the train,
frernen scorched to death trying to help
some one down the ladder from the
fourth story of the consuming house.
All these put together only faint and
insufficient SMILES by which to illustrate
the grander, mightier, farther reaching
self sacrifice Of the altogether lovely
Do you wonder that the story OF his
self sacrifice has led hundreds OF thou
sands to die for him? In one series Of
prosecutions over 200, 600 were put to
death for Christ's sake, For him Blan-
dina was tied to a post and wild beasts
were let out upon her, and when life
continued after the attack Of tooth and