The Penn's Grove record., 1906-01-12

Pl1SlOU WHOSE lie was all lOr uuUdIi
veal, cruciied in the populous capital
of His nation as a ~malefactor, and the
tragedy of Calvary becomes pathetic
in the extreme. If the Oberammergau
play is so h~eartrending, the loved dis
ciples of Jesus must have had an ex-
p%erience in pathos rarely felt by NOR
tai. 1t is a wonder some of them did
not die from sheer pity.
To-day we observe Passion Week
and the forty days of Lent. Art, lit
erature and sermons picture the pa
thetic profile of Jesus and melt
hearts. The courageous mar of Cal
vary is less viewed, and wisely so.
We need to be infused with the pas
sion of Jesus to give US the heart to
feel. The melted heart first.
Darwin ruled sympathy out of order
in this world of struggle. A recent
reputable socioiogist shows how SYM
patty evidenced in mutual aid has
made possible the life of the animate
world and the progress of nan In
the highest form of life the offspring
Is fewest and weakest. Pity absent,
and such would perish. God plying
perishing man brought redemption.
Jesus magnifed sympathy. 1t melts
the heart to love. There is false sym
pathy. A sect, the Jainists, so pity ven-
OmOus insects as not to kill them. The
Doukhobors absurdly pity the putting
engine. Sentimentalists so pity the
perpetrators Of horrible murder as to
foil justice; parents their d~isobedient
child as to spare the rod and spoil.
False philanthropists feed the lazy
and ~pauperize those who ought not to
eat because they do not work. We
must sympathize Alright.
The woman who cares for the or
phan; the nurse who ceases not her
vigils in the epidemic; the neighbor
who grants a loan to a deserving man
in a hard place; the friend with his
fifty spoken word to tighten the
weighted heart and gladden. the record
ing ~angel-these are all illustrations Of
sympathizing Alright. The highest form
is the poor sympathizing with the rich
in their loneliness, and the rich with
the poor In their needs. When the
highest and lowest feel as one, SYM
pathy has its perfect work. The heart
thus sympathetic will go down In pity,
out in love to enemies and up in love
to God, and throughout envieth not.
Thus this most blessed faculty of the
heart is pure. We preach Love one
another with a pure heart, ~fervently."
Love, the most prominent thread warp.
is more than mere morality" Kpowl-
edge of the good does not overcome
the inertia to its doing. The impera-
tives of duty must be divinely spoken
and warmed. It's not the act, but the
motive that gives quality. The love
of God to us in Christ Jesus drawing
us into fellowship with the Infinite
heart imparts the highest quality to our
deeds.
Hate is another thread in the warp.
We have earned advanced university
degrees in this accomplishment. In
stance civil wars and religious inquisi-
tons. There is an Orientalism in
Thugism, whose vOtaries worship the
sword as the Greek his Icon. Killing
is worship wherein they do the will
of their goddess. Asceticism could
have a patent office all its w for in
Instruments of f1agellatiOn devised to
| scourge monks into hatred of this
beautiful world. Count the number of
those you hate. We naturally love
friends and hate enemies. From
Christ we learn to hate Alright.
The Pharisee's law was: BE holy,
as the Lord your God is holy" Jesus
sat at meat in a Pharisee'S house.
There were good Pharisees. There
were others whom the Master branded
as generation of vipers, straining at
a gnat and swallowing a camel; with
out whited sepulchres, and full Of
dead mems bones within" Not the
Pharisees, but their sins, Jesus hated
The cross shows Gods unreasonable
hatred Of sin. Paul delivered the most
drastic philippics against sin, the de-
stroyer of soul. To describe sin as
the glory of the imperfect is worse
than criminal. We ought to hate sin
with all passion.
Work is a prominent thread in the
warp. Love, hate, fear are emotional.
John Wesley, in his experience of
Swing faith. says the heart was
strangely warmed. The Sermon on the
Mount is a message to the heart. The
feelings have reared the great faiths
"Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh." Tonurse our feel
ings for themselves is irreligious.
| They must issue in acts. Hunger leads
us to eat. not for the Utilization of the
palate. but 70 restore lost tissue and
complete the body The blessing ~
hungering and thirsting after right
eousness IS in leading 70 the activity
that fills rs witt the fGllness Of God.
Feelings ~evideRclng in action is what
we need.
True character is within. But no
man liveth t. himself" "Let your
light shine is the command 10 OBJ
1ectify that character. TO be seen. IL
must be in good ne~As, and those best
seen are to mems bodily needs. Flee
mosynarv provisions must always
characterize Christians.