The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1905-06-08

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job of his life.l Il want to have some
thing to do with the material world'
exclaimed Hawthorne, when by the
long and brilliant cultivation OF his inn
agination he began to feel his isolation
from humanity There is nothing so
horrible he w'ote to Longfellow, lin
this world as II have no share in its
joys and Sorrows" The reason why
the fingers of much that is called Chris
tan service are al thumbs is because
while much is gwen. little is sharedI
| sympathy Away. has something to di-
vide, not merely something to do
The boy Fichte had a struggle in
conscience between his school books
and his fairy stolies. 1t was a great
day for him. Any boys first struggle
is! But the man IN the boy won the
fight and in order % establish himself
beyond the possibility of lapse, he
threw his book of fairy stories into the
brook. His father, / precise, unimag-
| NATIVE, dutiful sou, saw the beau
| tiful book floating away and proceeded
to thrash his conquering boy for his
wanton destruction. That is about a1R
| many fathers appear 20 know how t9
do effectively! What wonder he did
not spoil his boy! What a boon a bit !
OF appreciation, Of sympathy woul6
have been to the suffering but victo&
| ious lad. He needed bread and his OBJ
fuse father gave him q stone! The
father could do what he thought was
his duty, but he had nothing to share
with his boy. He was a monumental
parental failure!
Large Christian service is always in
quest of the joint of sympathy; it
makes its alliance with what is, help
ing it to what it ought to be, and avoids
the folly of inverting the divine orderv
This type Of helpfulness may be
meager in it's ability to do, but is for
ever finding to it's unspeakable joy
that 1t has a bOundless store to dividet
Sharing sympathy is an infinitely more
royal privilege than donating cast of
clothing, or stale food, for "if bestow
all my goods to feed the poor, but hath
not love 1t profiteth me nothingr'
Sympathy as an elective of Christian
service forever pushes soul OH toward
democracy. Surely one may confess
with Lowell that while his tastes are
with the aristocrats, his convictions
are with the people and yet, like Low
ell, he forever more and more pushed
into the very heart of humanity and
glory in the push, too!
The preacher who confessed to al
friend that he loved to preach and
who was met by the singing, search
ing question, "Do you love the men to
whom you preach as we'll as you love-
to preach?" felt the thrust of the sword
between the joints of his harness.
which sent him to his study to fall
upon his knees and passionately pray
that he might be delivered from his
temptation to love his sermons better
than he did souls, preaching better than
persons. The appeal Of humanity must
outstrip that Of homiletics.
Christian service to-day must be i'm
mersed in the democratic spirit; it's \
mission is to humanity-humanity as
represented by Ellis Island. also By
Clinton avenue: by Greater New York.
also by the lumber camps of Michigan.
Every man is son of God. Every
woman is daughter of God Go, find
your man, and by the shining truth in
your soul, by the sympathy in your
heart, by the humanity in your out
stretched hand. make him believe that
you seek not his, but him.
This-this alone-is Christian service! X
Christian service after this fashion be-
comes at once an interpreter. 1t makes
a Gibraltar out Of a disadvantageous
position; it transforms an ordinary,
commonplace ability into a shining n
angel of privilege and achievement.
Everything counts: all things work to-
gether. Because the world Is one and
the kingdom one nothing is lost, notA
ing trivial, nothing inconsequential! I'll
makes man grow tall and strong andk
confident to really believe the constants
assurance of Christian service, that
. All men ignored in me
This was / worth to God
Whose wheel the pitcher shaped
1t is to such service, broad, true,
sympathetic, humanitarian, Christian,
that we commit ourselves to-day; it isl
in such service that we expect to findE
our privilege and joy, and from such
service that we hope to demonstrates
the reasonableness of our united en-
deavor.