The times., 1899-06-05
THE POWER OF SYMPATHY.
The Rev. DIR. Bristol Says Man Should
Love Nnn.


''Christ's Sympathy for Mankind" was
the subject of a sermon delivered at the
Metropolitan NJ. E. Church yesterday
morning by the Rev. Dr. Frank Bristol.
President Mckinley occupied his usual
pew. The church was filled with worship
pers. DR.. Bristol said that prior 10 the
coming of Christ religion had lost its
meaning and was nothing more than an
instrument used for worldly and political
ends. The scribes and Pharisees were its
principal advocates. These men," said
DR.. Bristol, had no sympathy FOR their
fellowmen and religion was regarded by
the common people as something only
practiced by the rich and mighty. AS the
rulers and Pharisees did everything for
their own aggrandizement and oppressed
the poorer classes religion had come to
be hated, and the people had lost faith
in its teachings. Religion, said the
pastor. must control the feelings and
must appeal to the heart and not alone to
the intellect of man. 1t was not the wis
dom, not the learning of Christ that
made him a power in the world but his
tenderness and sympathy. He was in touch
with God and by being in touch with the
people drew them to the Father" DR..
the Saviour as he looked on the sinfulness
of the world and of how his sympathy
went out TO fallen humanity.
That element of sympathy that was so
prominent in the Christ" said DR.. Bris-
tol has been of inestimable value 10
the world. and will eventually lead to its
salvation" DR.. Bristol was of the opinion
that if We wish to be of service to our fell
lowmen we must know how to sympathize
He hat a ma wi h.
out sympathy was not human and that he
possessed none of the elements of divinity
In speaking of the criminal classes he
said that many were driven to crime by
lack of symuathy and that the Christian
people CT the country were to blame for
large percentage of wrongdoing. After
man is once convicted of a crime con-
tinued the speaker. nothing but the ac-
ceptance of Christ will save him. and this
step is seldom taken on account of the
disposition of Christian people to hold
themselves aloof from the poor unfortun-
ate" DR.. Bristol said that in extending
sympathy to our fellowmen 1t should not
be done for ambitious purposes or for the
applause of the world. but for the sake
of those in need of our help. He attributed
many of the suicides OF today to the hard
ness of the world and said that many
man could have been deferred from self
destruction if he had only received the
sympathy of the world in his Affections
and struggles. He then drew picture of
the fall of the Greek and Roman en-
pires and said that it was due to the loss
of feeling. Heroes, poets, painters. and
sculptors,' continued the speaker, ARE all
men of feeling and of sentiment. and no
man is a man unless he possesses sym
pathy for the fellow creatures" He said
that sympathy is growing in the world
and only in proportion as it increases will
the world become better. In conclusion
Dr. Bristol paid a beautiful tribute TO the
soldiers and sailors in the war with Spain.
He said that after the destruction OF Ad
miral Cervera's feet the American sailors
rescued more of their enemies from watery
graves than had been destroyed by the
guns of the American wsrshps. Such a
spectacle as this" said the speaker. could
not have been possible one thousand years
ago. 1t is the sympathy Of man for man
that on last Decoration Day caused the
graves of the blue and the grey to be
alike hidden beneath the lily and the
rose"