The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-10-12
The PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON eY
DR.. LOUIS AlS:RT EANKS.
Subject: The Compassion OF Christ.

/ Banks. At one llme p3SlOr Oh me IdH-
;on Place NJ. L. Church. where he was
most successful. preached there Sun
| day morning Oh The Christ Who is
Touched With the Feeling Of Our In
Grmtips." Tie text was from He
brew; iv:1J. We have not 4 high
! priest which cannot bu touched with
| the feeling of our infirmities. but was
in Ill points tempted rs we are. yet
without sin DR.. Banks said:
The last part OF this text explains
the first. Christ is in sensitive touch
with us in the temptations ana trials
Of life because lie has personally eE-
nerienced them. He is not stranger
standing off on the ramparts OF heav-
en-. looking down. though it be ever
so banevolently. upon sorrows and diff
fcultieS which He has never person
ally known. Such compassion could
not mean much to us. But Jesus
Christ perfected Himself as the cap
tain of our salvation through suffering.
Fer three and thirty years He wore
our flesh, and tasted our grief. and He
is touched with the feeling of our in
tirnlities. How much that ought to
mean to us. When we are in any trial
Or trouble. and We need comfort, 1t is
not to the most joyous and happy, who
have never known what sorrow was.
to whom we go for sympathy.
Some -ears ago l was surprised to
receive from a very rich man in city
! where Iwas then pastor 4 check for
a large sum Of money which he said
he wished me to use among the poor
in my part Of the city, and especially
among children who were having a
hard time of it, I followed his direc-
tons and gave him an account OF how
portions Of it were used. Still other
sums followed until I was very much
interested in the matter. and Won
dered not a little at the cause of it..
After it had gone on for nearly year
l received a letter from him inviting
me to take lunch with him at a hotel.
When We met he said: 4 suppose you
have wondered at my sending this
money to you, all entire stranger to
me. and at my being so much interest
ed in the children of the poor in your
section of the city. But this is how 1t
comes. My father died when l was
very little boy. Ny mother was left
a widow with large family of chill
Gren. all of whom were too small to
be of much help. She had to work
very hard. but work as hard as she
could. she was unable to procure
enough food and clothing to give us
comfort all the time. For two or
three years I knew what it was to be
hungry. Many a night I have cried
myself to sleep in silence lest my
mother should hear and it should make
her feel bad. because was so hungry.
l could not keep back the tears, and l
knew she had no bread to give me.
You would scarcely believe it, con-
tinued the millionaire, looking at me
now and knowing what you do of me
that on mora than one occasion l
have run and snatched a crust OF
bread thrown away from wagon
where some teamster had eaten his
lunch. and rescued it from dog, and
sat down and ate it gratefully, and
washed it down with drink from
the town pump Then the tears came
into the big mans eye and one rolled
out on his cheek as he said: Now you
know why l have so much sympathy
for the poor children. 1t makes me
shiver on a cold night when 1 think
of the boys and girls who have not
clothing enough to keep them warm.
For I have been in their place. and
know how it feels. / know how a boy
feels when he is hungry and cold. and,
God helping me, I shall never lose a
chance to help boy or girl that is
in hard place
"As I listened to this big-hearted
man there came into my mind the
Scripture we are studying. He was
able to sympathize with and comfort
others. because he had a fellow feel
ing with their infrmities and their
sorrows.
$50. no one could be Savior for US
who had not suffered. No one could
have compassion on US in our weak
nesses who had not himself been
tempted and tried as by fire. Only a
man who has been hungry, and has
not known where to lay his head at
times, knows how to sympathize with
others who are in similar experience.
Oniy he who has been in the wilder
ness with the devil, tempted on every
side, struggling for his life, knows
how to sympathize and have true COM
passion with tempted men and women
to-day. Only He who has been crowned
with thorns. who has been spit upon
and whipped with the scourge. who
has tainted under His cross, knows
real compassion, knows how to be
touched with the feeling Of people who
are lashed by cruel misfortune and
who are fainting under burdens too
heavy for their shoulders. But Jesus
Christ meets all these requirements.
He knows all about it.
THE incarnation of Jesus was no
sham. He wore our humanity COM
pletely, and there never was q more
perfectly sensitive human nature. one
more tender and exquisite in human
feelings than that of Jesus Christ. AS
has been we'll said, Christ affected
none of that hard Indifference III
which some ancient philosophers vain
" sloried. He felt as man, and he
sympathized with the feelings OF
others. On different occasions we are
informed that He was troubled in
spirit, that He groaned, and that He
wept. The story Of His agony in the
Garden of Gethsemane exhibits q
striking picture Of the sensations of