Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-06-01

while we feel kindling sympathy
with the wide visioned martyr, pray
ing as the flames licked his feet, lord,
open Thou the King Of England's
eyes," it is in order for us to pray for
ourselves the heroic petition. "Con-
slider and hear me, o Lord, my God;
tighten mine eyes,"
If, however, the time Of Christian
the prerogative of Christian service
is certainly to introduce the same to
great and masterful ones, and to teach
it to find its choicer fellowship as it
does it's mightier inspirations here.
Pilates question, ''What is truth?" is
pertinent to-day. Is it mere cunning
assembling and formulation Of facts?
There it is a cold, inert. useless thing.
Is it glowing faith, a vital, personal,
obsolute experience? There it is warm
with a divine fire and instinct with
glowing anticipation.
Henry DrummOnd marked that day
with red letter when he ceased to
ignore truth as mere pr0positonal wis
dom and began to realize it as per.
ceptive wisdom. He declares that he
had almost finished his college course
before he had any other conception of
Christ than that He was a theological
conscience in the interests of the Trim
ity. But the day came when the eyes
of his understanding were opened, and
he came to know Christ. Not as alb.
stract but as concrete truth. Not az
related to life philosophically by
series of dreary propositions, but as
implanted in his own life vitality by
personal friendship, which deepened
with every trial, widened with every
experience and heightened with every
aspiration. Then he was recognizing
truth as spirit that Drummond begar
those tireless, fearless, splendid ser.
vices which made more than one dis.
eliminating observer declare him the
towering and outstanding Christian OF
his generation.
Nor will the Christian service which
incarnates the truth be long beyond the
Quickening influences Of sympathy. Nc
man liveth unto himself and when the
man tries to he always makes sorry
job of his life. II want to have some
thing to do with the material world"
exclaimed Hawthorne, when by the
long and brilliant cultivation Of his i'm
aginaion he began to feel his isolation
from humanity. 'sThere is nothing so
horrible" he wrote to Longfellow, lin
this world as to have no share in its
joys and sorrOws." The reason. why
the fingers of much that is called Chris
tan service are all thumbs is because
while much is given, little is shared!
Sympathy always has something to di-
vide, not merely something to do.
The boy Fichte had struggle in
conscience between his school books
and his fairy stories. It was great
day for him! Any boys first struggle
is! But the man in the boy won the
fight and in order to establish himself
beyond the possibility of a lapse, he
| threw his book of fairy stories into the
| brook. His father, a precise, unimag-
,inative, dutiful soul, saw the beau
tiful book floating away and proceeded
| to thrash his conQuering boy for his
wanton destruction. That is about all
many fathers appear to know how to
do effectively! What wonder he did
not spoil his boy! What boon bit
| of appreciation. of sympathy would
have been to the suffering but victor
ious lad. He needed bread and his OBJ
| tuse father gave him 4 stone! The
| father could do what he thought was
his duty, but he had nothing to share
with his boy. He was monumental
parental failure!
Large Christian service Is always in
| quest of the joint of sympathy: II
makes its alliance with what is, help
| ing it to what it ought to be, and avoids
the folly of inverting the divine order
This type of helpfulness may bt
meager in it's ability to do, but is for
ever finding to it's unspeakable JOY
that it has a boundless store to divide
Sharing sympathy is an infinitely mor'
royal privilege than donating cast of
clothing, or stale food, for s'if I bestov
all my goods to feed the poor, but hau
not love it profiteth me nothingt"
Sympathy as an elective Of Christian
service forever pushes soul Oh towart
democracy Surely one may confes
with Lowell that while his tastes ar
with the aristocrats, his conviction
are with the people and yet, like Low
ell, he forever more and more pushe
into the very heart of humanity an
glory in the push, too!
. The preacher who confessed to
: friend that he loved to preach an
who was met by the stinging, search
. ing question, s1Do you love the men
: whom you preach as well as you loy
to preach?' felt the thrust Of the swor
l between the joints OF his harnes
7 which sent him to bis study to ia
! upon his knees and passionately pra
t that he might be delivered from b