Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-02-27

talk as though they were independent of
1t. None of us could live without sympa-
thy. When parts Of our family are away,
how lonely the house seems until they all
get homei But, alasI for those who never
come home. Sometimes it seems as II it
must be impossible. What, will their feet
never again come over the threshold2 Will
they never again sit with us at the tablep
Will they never again knoel with us at
famiiy prayerp Shall we never again look
into their sunny facesS Shall we never
again on earth take counsel with them for
our work?
Alas me, who can stand under these
griefs! oh, Christ thou canst do more for
a bereft soul than any one else. 1t is he
who stands beside us to tell of the resur-
rection. 1t is he that came to bid peace
1t Is he that comes to us and breathes
into us the spirit of submission until
we can look up from the wreck and ruin
of our brightest expectations and say,
Father, not my will, but thine, be
DONE" Oh, ye who are bereft, ye anguish
bitten, come into this refuge. The roll of
those who came for relief to. Christ is
larger and larger. Unto this Shiloh of
'mnipotent sympathy the gathering of
the people shall be. oh, that Christ would
stand by all these empty cradles, and all
these desolated homesteads, and all these
broken hearts, and persuade us it is we'll.
Need For Sympathy.
The world cannot offer you any help at
such time. Suppose the world comes and
offers you money. You would rather live
on q crust in a cellar and have your de-
Inn .fa1 D..
palatial surroundings and they away.
Suppose the world offers you it's honors to
console you. What Is the presidency to
Abraham Lincoln when little Willie lies
dead in the White HouseY Perhaps the
world comes and says, "Time will cure 1t
all" Ah, there are griefs that have ragged
on for 80 years and are raging yet And
yet hundreds have been comforted, thou
sands have been comforted, millions have
been comforted, and Christ had done the
work. Oh, what you want Is sympathy.
The worlds heart of sympathy beats very
irregularly. Plenty of sympathy when we
do not want'it, and Often when we are in
appalling need of 1t, no sympathy. There
are multitudes of people dying for SYM
pathy-sympathy in their work, sympa-
thy in their fatigues, sympathy in their
bereavements, sympathy in their financial
losses, sympathy in their physical all
ments, sympathy in their spiritual ankle
ties, sympathy In the time of. declining
years-wide, deep, high, everlasting, al
mighty sympathy. We must have it, and
Christ gives it, That is the cord with
which he is going to draw all nations to
him.
At the story of punishment o man IS
eye flashes and his teeth set and his fist
clinohes, and he prepares to do battle even
though it be against the heavens; yet
what heart SO hard but it will succumb to
the story of compassionl Even mans
sympathy is pleasant and helpful. When
we have been in some hour of weakness,
to have a brawny man stand beside US
and promise to see us through-what
courage 1t gives to our heart and what
strength 1t gives to our arm. Still mightier
Is woman's sympathy. Let him tell the
story, who, when all his fortunes were gone
and all the world was against him, came
home and found in that home wife who
could write on the top of the empty flour
barrel, "The Lord will provide" or write
on the door of the empty wardrobe, "Con-
slider the lilies of the field; If God so cloth
ed the grass of the field, will he not olothe
us and oursF" Or let that young man tell
the story who has gone the whole round
of dissipation, The shadow of the peni-
tentiary is upon him, and even his father
says: 'Be off Never come home againr'
The young man finds still his mothers
arm outstretched for him, and how she
will stand at the wicket of the prison to
whisper consolation, or got down on her
knees before the governor, begging for
pardon, hoping on for her wayward boy
after all Others are hopeless. Or let her
tell the story who, under villainous al
lurement and impatient of parental re-
straint, has wandered off from home of
which she was the idol into the murky
and thunderous midnight of abandon
ment, away from God, and further away,
until some time she Is tossed on the beach
of that early home a mere splinter Of a
wreck. Who will pity her now? Who will
gather these dishonored locks into her
lapp Who will wash off the blood from the
gashed foreheadP Who will tell her of that
Christ who came to save the lostP Who
will put that weary head upon the clean
white pillow and watch by day and watch
by night until the hoarse voice of the suf-
ferer becomes the whisper, and the whis-
per becomes only faint motion of the
lips, and tho faint motion of the lips is
exchanged for a silent look, and the cut
feet are still, and tho weary eyes are still,
and the frenzied heart is STILL and all is
stillp Who will have compassion on her
whom no others have compassion? Motheri
Motheri
A Variety of Demons.
Oh, there is something beautiful in SYM
pathy-in manly sympathy, wifely sym
pathy, motherly sympathy; yea, and
neighborly sympathy! Why was it that
city was aroused with excitement when a
little child was kidnapped from one of the
streetsP Why were whole columns of the
newspapers filled with the story of little
child? 1t was because we are all one in
and every parent said: 'How
II it had been my LizzieY How if it had
been my Maryp How If it had been my
MaudP How If it had been my childp How
If there had been one unocoupied pillow
in our trundle bed tonightp How if my lit
tie one-bone of my bone and flesh Of my
hesh--were tonight carried captive into
some den of vagabonds, never to come
back to mep How if it had been my sor-
row looking out of the window, watching
and waiting--that sorrow worse than
deathf' Then, when they found her, why
did we declare the news all through the |
and everybody that knew how
10 pray say, "Thank GodP' Because we
are all one, bound by one great golden
chain of sympathy. Oh, yes, but have
to tell you that If you will aggregate all
neighborly, manly, wifely, motherly SYM
pathy, it will be found only poor starv-
Ing thing compared with the sympathy of |
our great Shiloh, who has held in his lap
'he sorrows Of the ages, and who is ready |
% nurse on his holy heart the woes Of all |
who will como to him. Oh, what God,
what Saviour we hayel
But in larger vision see the nations in |
iome kind Of trouble ever since the world |
vas derailod and hurled down the embank-
nents. The demon Of sin came to this
world, but other demons have gone |