The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-25


self down deep on the belief that there
is God in the universe who has respect
unto His own principles and that this
! God is the Father of the faithful, anc
on the confidence that there is a future
for upright, trusting men, in which He
who is their Father will vindlcate thelr
motives and preserve their honor unfair
nished. 1t can never exist in the case
of a soul that is without this faith. dc
you call that simply a reserving OF
judgment and vengeance, a Sinking of
responsibility? DO you call it the ex-
preston of a refined self-interest? You
would better call it faith; you would
better say, it was wise and trustful
purpose to let God rule the world while
He ruled His own spirit. No man can
show that temper who does not believe
in Gods righteousness and fatherly
love; no man can show that temper I'M
til he has settled certain questions con-
corning Gods character and his rela-
ton to the order of the universe and the
lives of individuals. Then he learns
that there is something better than con-
tention, or self-assertion, or revenge,
and that this better thing is calm,
dence in the purposes of God.
There stands Jesus of Nazareth at the
| head of the line Of believing men, teach
ing and practicing a humility that is a
practical self-control, and confidence
in the righteousness of God that never
wavers. In view of this Interpretation
of Peters, how puerile are the slurs that
short-sighted and hot-tempered men
have attempted to cast upon the attt-
tude of Jesus! He never taught the
weak and unmanly dostrines that His
critics have tried to put into His mouth
nor practiced humility that is pitched
in the ''bondman's key" He did not
forbid men to defend the weak and the
oppressed or to fight for the right. But
He did teach faith and practice a man
ly self-control He did insist that be-
lieving men should commit their cause
to the Judge of all the Earth, and let
God rule the world while they ruled
their own spirits. And if that principle
pushed them to the extreme Of reviling
not when they were reviler nor threat
ening when they suffered, or to going
two miles with the bully who compelled
them to go one rather than lower them
selves to his level then let them still be
loyal to the principle and carry an I'M
soiled manhood into the final Judgment
That was the humility of Jesus.
The second prominent characteristic
which you see in Jesus is His intense,
unceasing sympathy. The key to that
quality may be found in the words, And
seeing the multitude He had compass
s4;A hon how yYnr n G
sheep not having a shepherd" 1t was
a profound and abiding interest in men;
it was pity for them; it was unselfish-
ness that paid first regard to the needs
of others. There is sympathy and SYM
pathy. There is sympathy where IS
mere emotion more or less maudlin, con-
tenting itself with conventional express
sions of sorrow; there are those who
excuse their selfishness by affirming.
MY sympathies are so strong that [
cannot come in contact with suffering
and need" There is a sympathy that
perceives and appreciates conditions,
puts the beholder in the place of the
sufferer sees need, plans to help and
cheerfully assumes the burden of the
heavy-1aden and weary. What is the
final word concerning sympathy? Tt is
It can only exist where there
is appeal and answer. The same things
do not appeal to us all, nor at all times.
Song and laughter appeal resistlessly
to the group of merry girls just releas-
ed from school, but they find no re-
spense in the heart of the mother bend
ing above her dead babe. Need and |
misery which make the pitiful weep do
not appeal to selfish natures. A broad, !
generous action wakens no response in
lean and narrow souls. Sympathy is
response-there must be something |
within one to which appeal can be made, |
kindred to that which makes
the appeal.
"There is in souls a sympathy with
sounds:
And as the mind is pitched the ear is
pleased
With melting airs or martial, brisk or
grave;
Some chord in unison with what we
hear
Is touched within us, and the heart re-
plies"
Thus Cowper lays bare the very soul
and vital spark of sympathy. And
Scott in the Lay of the Last Minstrel,
lefnes true love-
''the gift which God has given
70 man alone beneath the heaven" as
''the secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which heart to heart and mind to mind
n body and in soul can bind"
Response to what appeals to you, that
S sympathy. Every human need APP
,ealed to Jesus and there was re-
ponse that brought all that was in
lin into the service of man. 1t was
lot sympa thy that said, Il am sorry"
nd wept while it passed comfortably
long ION the other side" it touched
very need helpfully; it reached out to
light every wrong, to ease every bur-
en- to guide every wanderer, and save
very sinner. There is no other sympa-
by that counts in Gods world; but it
wolves insight, appreciation, the time,
he poker, the whole equipment; it
orces an active encouragement Of the
light and an ardent encouragement of
he wrong for it sees the inner life of | {
he struggling multitude, and has COM
assion upon them because they are as c
heep not havina shepherd G
From these two characteristics third {
rould inevitably folloW-tenderness S