Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1896-02-29

other surveyor take that chain and 20 to
the east. and another surveyor take that
chain and go to the west. and then make
a report OF the square miles Of that vast
kingdom Of Gods mercy. Aye. you will
have to wait to all eternity for the re-
port of that measurement. It cannot be
measured. Paul tried to climb the
height of it. and be went height over
height, altitude above altitude, noun
tain above mountain. then sank down
in encouragement and gave it up, for
he saw Sierra Neyadas beyond and Mat
terhorns beyond, and waving his hands
back 10 us in the plains he says, Past
finding out; unsearchable, that in all
things he might have the pre-eminence.
You notice that nearly all the sinners
mentioned as pardoned in the Bible
were great sinners-David a great sim
ner. Paul great sinner. Rahab great
sinner, Magdalene a great sinner, the
prodigal son great sinner. The world
easily understood how Christ could par
don half and half sinner, but what
the world wants to be persuaded Of is
that Christ will forgive the worst sim
ner, the hardest sinner, the Oldest sim
ner, the most inexcusable sinner. To
the sin pardoning Shiloh let all the
gathering of the people be.
But, ! remark again, the people will
gather around Christ as a sympathizer.
Oh, we all want sympathy I hear peo-
pie talk as though they were independ-
ent OF it. None of us could live without
sympathy. When parts of our family
are away, how lonely the house seems
until they all get homei But, alas, for
those who never come home. Sometimes
1t seems as if it must be impossible.
What, will their feet never again come
over the Threshold? Will they never
again sit with us at the table? Will
they never again kneel with us at fami-
~ prayer? Shall we never again look
into their sunny faces? 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 bereft soul than any
one elsel 1t is he who stands beside us
to tell of the resurrection. 1t is he that
came to bid peace. 1t is he that comes
to Us and breathes into rs the spirit of
submission until we can look up from
the wreck and ruin of our brightest ex-
pectations and say. Father, not my will,
but thine, be DONE. Oh, ye who are
bereft, ye anguish bitten come into this
refugei The roll of those who came for
relief TO Christ is larger and larger.
Unto this Shiloh Of omnipotent sympa-
thy 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
Christs Sympathy.
The world cannot offer you any help
at such time. Suppose the world
comes and offers you money. You would
rather live on a crust in cellar and
have your departed loved ones with you
than live in palatial surroundings and
they away. Suppose the world offers
you its honors to console you. What is
the presidency to Abraham Lincoln
when little Willie lies dead in the White
House? Perhaps the world comes and
says, Thine will cure it all. All, there
are griefs that have ragged on for 80
years and are raging yet. And yet hun
dreds have been comforted, thousands
have been comforted, millions have
been comforted, and Christ had done
the work Oh, what you want is SYM
pathyl The worlds heart of sympathy
beats very irregularly. Plenty of SYM
pathy when we do not want it, and Of
ten when we are in appalling need of it
no sympathy. There are multitudes of
people dying for sympathy-sympathy
in their work, sympathy in their ia
tigues, sympathy in their bereavements,
sympathy i'll their financial losses, SYM
pathy in their physical ailments, SYM
pathy in their spiritual anxieties, SYM
pathy in the time of declining years
wide, deep, high, everlasting, almighty
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 mans
eye flashes, and his teeth set, and his
fist clinches, and he prepares to do bat
tie even though it be against the heav-
ems. Yet what heart SO hard but it will
succumb to the story of compassiont
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 it gives to our
heart, and what strength it gives to our
arm. Still mightier is woman's sym
patty. 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
-four barrel, "The Lord will provide,
or write ON the door of the empty ward
robe: Consider the lilies of the field.
If God SO clothed the grass of the field,
will he not clothe rs and ours?"
Or let that young man tell the story
who has gone the whole round of dissi
patton. The shadow of the penitentiary
is upon him, and even his father says !:
"Be off ! Never come home again !' 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 get down on her
knees before the governor begging for
pardon, hoping Oh for her hayward 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
abandonment, away from God, and fur
Their away until some time she is tossed
on the beach of that early home mere
splinter of wreck. Who will pity her
now? Who will gather these dishonored
locks into her lap? Who will wash off
the blood from the gashed forehead
Who will tell her of that Christ who
came to save the lost? Who will put
shat weary head upon the clean white
pillow and watch by day and watch by
1ight until the hoarse voice of the suf-
.erer becomes the whisper, and the
whisper becomes only faint motion of