Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1896-02-27

our wOrkP
Alas me, who can stand under those
griefs Oh, Christ thou canst do more for
n bereft soul than any one else. 1t is he
who stands beside us to tell of the resur-
roction. 1t is Nio 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 ore beroft, ye anguish
bitten, come into this refuge. Tho roll of
those who came for relief to Christ Is
larger and larger. Unto this Shiloh Of
omnipotont sympathy tho gathering of
tho people shall be. Oh, that Christ would
stand by all these empty cradles and all
these dcsolated homestoads and oil these
brokon hearts, and persuade us 1t Is we'll.
Need For Sympathy.
The world cannot offer you any help ut
such time. Suppose tho world comes and
offors you money. You would rather live
on n crust in a cellar and have your do
parted loved ones with you than live in
palatial surroundings and they away.
Suppose tho world offers you its honors to
console you. What is tho presidency to
Abraham Lincoln when little Willie lies
world comes and says, thine will cure it
all" All, there are griofs that have ragged
on for 80 years and are raging yet And
yet hundreds have boon comforted, thou
sands have been comforted, millions have
been oomforted, and Christ had dono tho
work. Oh, what you want is sympathy
Tho worlds heart of sympathy beats very
irregularly. Plenty of sympathy when wo
do not want it, and often, when we arc in
appalling need of 1t, no sympathy There
arc multitudes of people dying for SYM
pathy-sympathy in their work, sympa-
thy IL their fatigues, sympathy In their
Entertainments, sympathy in their financial
losses, sympathy in their physical all
monts, sympathy In their spiritual ankle
ties, sympathy in the tmo of declining
years-wide, Deep high, everlasting, al
mighty sympathy. We must have 1t, and
Christ gives It, That is the cord with
which ho Is going to draw all nations to
him.
At the story of punishment man s
eyo flashes and his teeth set and his fist
clinchos, and he prepares to do battle even
though it be against tho heavens; yet
what heart so hard but it will sucoumb to
tho story Of compassion Even mans
sympathy Is pleasant and helpful. When
we have been In some hour of weakness,
to have q brawny man stand beside us
and promise to SEQ us through-what
courage it 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 tho top of tho empty flour
l y 4 ,,it a
on tho door of the empty wardrobe, Con
slider the lilies of tho field; If God SO cloth
ed the grass of the field, will he not olothe
us and ours?" Or let that young man tell
the story who has gone the whole round
of dissipation. The shadow of tho peni-
Tertiary Is upon him, and oven his father
says BE off Never come home againl'
Tho young man finds still his mother s
arm outstretchod for him, and how she
will stand at the wicket of tho prison to
whisper consolation, or get down on her
knees before the governor, begging for
pardon, hoping on for her hayward boy
after all others arc hopeless. Or lot hor
tell the story who, under villainous al
lurement and impatient Of parental re-
straint, has wandered off from q 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 sho is tossed on the beach
| of that early home mere splinter OF u
wreck. Who will pity her nowY Who will
| gather these dishonored locks into hor
lapp Who will wash off the blood from the
gashed forehead? Who will tell her of that
Christ who came to save tho lost? Who
will put that weary head upon tho clean
white pillow and watch by day and watch
| by night until the hoarse voice of the suf-
fercr becomes the whisper, and the whis-
| per becomes only II faint motion Of the
! lips, and the faint motion of tho lips Is
exchanged for IA silent look, and the cut
feet arc still, and the weary eyes are still,
and the frenzied heart is still, and all is
stillS Who will have compassion on her
whom no others have compassion? Mother!
Mother
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 a
city was aroused with excitement when a
little child was kidnapped from ono of the
streetsY Why were whole columns of the
newspapers filled with the story of little
childg 1t was because we are all ono in
sympathy, and every parent said: How
If 1t had been my LizzeY How II it had
been my Mary? How If it had been my
Mauds How If it had been my child? How
II there had been ono unoccupied pillow
in our trundle bed tonightp How if my lit
tie one-bone Of my bone and flesh of my
fcsh-were tonight carried captive into
some den of yagabonds, never to como
back to me? How if it had been my sor-
row looking out Of the window, watching
and Taiting-that sorrow worse than
deathY' Then, when they found her, why
did wo declare the news all through the
households and everybody that knew how
to pray say, Thank God?' Because we
are al 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, mothcrly SYM
pathy, 1t Will bo found only poor starry
Ing thing compared with the sympathy of
our great Shiloh, who has held in his lap
the SORROWS OF the ages, and who is ready
10 nurse ON his holy heart the woes of all
who Will come to him. Oh, what God,
what Saviour we havel
But in larger vision SEQ tho nations in
some kind of trouble ever since the world
was derailcd and hurled down tho embank-
mcnts. Tho demon of sin came to this
world, but other demons have gone
through other worlds. The demon Of con-
Migration, the demon of volcanic disturb
anco, the demon of destruction.
La Place says he saw one world In TIL
northern hemisphere 10 months burning
Tyoho Brahe said he saw another worlt
burning. A French astronomer says tina