The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-11-01
TIE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON ef
DR.. LOUIS ALBERT EkNKS.
Subject: The Compassion OF Christ.

Brooklyn, n. Y.-Dr. Louis AlDer.
Banks, at one time pastor Of the Han
son Place NJ. E. Church, where be was
most successful, preached there Sun
day morning Oh The Christ Who is
Touched With the Feeling OF Our In
firmities." The text was from He
brews iv:15. I'VE have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our inirmities, but was
in all points tempted as we are, yet
without SIM" DR.. Banks said:
1.-The last part of this text explains
the first. Christ is in sensitive touch
with US in the temptations and trials
of life because He has personally eH-
perienced them. He is not a stranger
standing of on the ramparts of heav-
en-, looking down, though it be ever
so benevolently. upon sorrows and Diff
ficulties which He has never person
ally known. Such compassion could
not mean much to is. But Jesus
Christ perfected Himself as the cap
tain of our salvation through suffering.
For three and thirty years He wore
our flesh, and tasted our grief, and He
Is touched with the feeling OF OUT in
irmities. How much that ought to
mean to US. When we are in any trial
or trouble, and we need comfort, it is
not to the most joyous and happy. who
have never known what sorrow was,
to whom we go for sympathy.
There was a woman whose little
child very suddenly died in her arms,
1t was her only child, and the yer!
idol Of her heart She was stunned
by her grief. She could not even cry.
The fountain of her tears seemed to
be. frozen. She would not let anybody
take the body of her child out of her
arms. Her husband lovingly tried to
comfort her, and sought to persuade
her to give the child to him, but she
would not. For hours she held the
little body close to her breast, her face
full of untold agony. At last, the hus.
band thought of a neighbor down the
street who had lost a little child not
long before, about the same age as
their little one. He went to her, and
told her of the awful sorrow that had
come to their home and the sad con-
dition of his wife, and begged her to
come and see if she would know how
to comfort her. The woman came, and
quietly went in, and without a word
sat down beside the poor, grief-dazed
mother, put her arms around her, her
own tears rolling down over her
cheeks, and kissed her, and simply
said, 1 know all about It, dear The
face Of the mother softened in q mo-
ment. The refreshing tears came to
her eyes; her frozen heart melted in
her bosom, and she held the body Of
the child out to her %neighbor. and
said: 4 IAN give it to you I could
not give it to anyone else. for they did
not know
Some FEARS ago I was surprised to
receive from a very rich man in a city
where I was then pastor a check for
q large sum of money which he said
he wished me to use among the Ioor
i'll 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 Of it.
After it had gone on for nearly a year
I received a letter from him inviting
me to take lunch with him at a hotel.
When we met he said: I suppose you
have wondered at my sending this
money to you, an 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 it
oopooo NJr fofhar Iio5 WHOM I woc q
very little boy. My mother was left
a widow with q large family Of chill
dren, 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 / 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 l was so hungry.
I 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 more than one occasion l
have run and snatched a crust of
bread thrown away from a wagon
where some teamster had, eaten his
lunch, and rescued it from a dog, and
sat down and ate it gratefully, and
washed it down with a drink from
the town pump Then the tears came
into the big mans eye and n rolled
out OH his cheek as he said: Now you
know why I have so much sympathy
for the poor children. 1t makes me
shiver on a cold night when I 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. I know how a boy
feels when he is hungry and cold. and,
God helping me, I shall never lose a
chance to help a boy or a girl that is
In a hard place.
GAS I listened to this big-hearted
nan 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
sorrows.
$50, no one could be a Savior for us
who had not suffered. No n could
have compassion on us in Il weak
nesses who had not himself been
tempted and tried as by fire. Only q
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.
Only 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 thnrnS. who has been spit uDon