The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-02-28

Gods mercy through Jesus Christ. Let
one surveyor take that chain and go
to the north, and another surveyor take
that chain and go to the south, and
another surveyor take that chain and
go 10 the east, and another surveyor
Ike that chain and go to the west, and
then make a report of the square miles
of that vast kingdom of Gods mercy.
All! you will have to wait to all eternity
! for the report of that measurement. 1t
cannot be measured. Paul tried to
climb the height of it, and he went
height over height, altitude above aiti-
tude, mountain above mountain, then
sank down in Encouragement anu
gave 1T up, for he saw Sierra Nevadas
beyond and Matterhorns beyond, and
waving his hands back to US In the
plains, he says, Past finding out; UNI
searchable, that in all things he might
nave the pre-eminence." You notice
that nearly all the sinners mentioned
as pardoned in the Bible were great
sinners-Davd great sinner, Paul
great sinner. Magdalen great sinner,
the Prodigal Son great sinner. The
world easily understood how Christ
could pardon half-and-half sinner,
| but what the world wants to be persuad-
| ed of is that Christ will forgive the
| worst sinner, the hardest sinner, the
Oldest sinner, the most ineXcusable sim
ner. To the sin-pardoning Shiloh let
all the gathering OF the people be.
But, remark again, the people will
gather round Christ as sympathiZer.
| Oh! we all want sympathy. / 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 home! But alas! for
those who never come home. Some
| times 1t seems as IL it must be impos-
sible. 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
| family 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 else. 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 us
| the spirit of submission until we can
| look up from the wreck and ruin OF
| h,;o of
Father, not my will, but thine be
DONE" Oh, We who are bereft, we an
guish- bitten, come into this refuge. The
roll of those who came for relief to
Christ is larger and larger. Unto this
Shiloh Of omnipotent 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.
The world cannot offer you any help
at such time. Suppose the world
comes and offers you money. You would
rather live on crust in a cellar and
have your departed loved ones with
you, than live in palatial surroundings
and they away. Suppose the world Of
| fers 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: Time will cure it
ALL" All, there are gricfs that have
ragged on for thirty years and are rag
ing yet And yet hundreds have been
comforted, thousands have been COM
| forted, 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 it no SYM
Dathy. There are multitudes of peo-
pie dying for sympathy-sympathy in
their work, sympathy in their fatigues,
sympathy in their bereavements, sym
pathy in their financial losses, sympa-
thy in their physical ailments, sympa-
thy in the time Of declining years
wide, deep, high, everlasting, almighty
sympathy. We must have it, and Christ
gives it. That is the chord with which
he is going to draw all nations to him.
At the story of punishment o mans
eye flashes and his teeth set and his
fist clinches, 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 compass
SIGN! Even mans sympathy is pleas
ant and helpful. When we have been
in some hour OF weakness, to have q
brawny man stand beside us and prom
Use to see us through, what courage it
gives to our heart and what strength
il gives TO our arm. Still mightier is a
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 "a
wife who could write on the top Of the
empty flourbarrel, THE Lord will pro-
vide;" or write on the door of the empty
wardrobe, Consider the lilies of the
field; IL God SO clothed the grass of the
field, will he not clothe us and ours?"
UT let that young man tell the story