USA > Delaware > New Castle County > Wilmington > Centennial services of Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church, Wilmington, Delaware, October 13-20, 1889 > Part 11
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Let that which is perishable fall and vanish. That which cannot be shaken will remain. When the cities of earth in the last conflagra- tion are tottering to their fall, above the fire and the smoke whichi envelope them will rise the gilded domes and glittering spires of the "city that hath foundation whose maker and builder is God." Death and darkness are not the end of all human existence. "Dust thou art, to dust returnest," was not spoken of the soul. Above earth's vast necropolis, over the graves of all the ages, spiritual man shall walk through the gates into the city and be forever with the Lord.
No honest labor in this universe is ever lost. Apparent failure and defeat, no less than success and victory, are chiseling character into the Christ-like. Death only ends the toil but cannot touch the finished work. "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. They rest from their labors and their works do follow them." Out of all this wither- ing, dying foliage, comes at last a flower of fadeless, deathless bloom- Light after darkness, and life after death, is the song both of nature and revelation. Forward, brother, and be not dismayed. "Look not behind you, neither stay in all the plain. Escape to the mountain." "Unter die graben, oben die sterne." Beneath us are graves, above are the stars. "Here eyes do regard you in eternity's stillness. Here is all fullness ye brave to reward you. Work and despair not."
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The Heroic Element in Christ's Sympathy.
BY THE REV. W. SWINDELL, D. D
Text -Luke xix : 7: "He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner."
The land of our Lord's birth, as it stands in the history of His life, impresses us as a great infirmary. As we follow the footsteps of Jesus through the streets of the cities and towns, or along the public highways of His native land, we feel as though we are walking through the corridors of a hospital. Wherever we go there are sick people- the blind, the lame, the halt, the withered, the leprous and the fever- stricken. We visit the Pool of Bethesda, and the steps of the pool are crowded with suffering people, who are waiting for an angel to trouble the water. For whosoever steps in first after the waters are troubled, is healed of whatsoever disease he may have. We go down to the pool of Siloam and a man approaches with his eyes bandaged with clay. He reports that a man named Jesus, spat upon the ground and made clay of the spittle, and annointed his eyes, and bade him go wash in the pool of Siloam and his sight should be restored.
The Saviour no sooner enters a house in Capernaum than the house is thronged with people, who implore him to heal their sick friends. The dwelling is crowded to its threshold so that a few tardy friends bringing a sick man upon a cot are compelled to climb the out- side staircase to the roof. Tearing up the tiles they lower the man down through the roof into the presence of Jesus and implore Him to exercise His beneficent power and heal him.
The population of Palestine in the time of Christ seems to have been divided into two classes, people that were sick and people that
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were possessed with devils. As a matter of fact this was not its con- dition. The office book of a physician contains only the names of invalids, and if we follow the physician in his round of daily visita- tion, we discover that he stops only at houses in which there are sick persons. The explanation is simple and explicit. It is the business of the physician to prescribe for the sick, either to restore them to. health or to alleviate their sufferings. In like manner we must reflect upon the fact that Christ came to this world on a mission of b nevo- lence. He was dedicated to humanity. A great many questions that were unsettled when He came were not settled when He left the world. They did not belong to His mission. He came not to determine for us the antiquity of the universe, to furnish us with an exact chronology, or to construct for us any of the natural sciences that interpret to us the composition, relations or movements of matter. He came to seek and to save that which was lost.
On a visit to Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Phila- delphia, Dr. Hanlon stood in the presence of five hundred little people and asked this question, "What did Christ come into the world for ?" A child of six years of age lifted her hand in readiness to answer, when he repeated the question and she replied, "To help people along, sir." Was not that His work when on the earth, a man among men; has it not been the mission of Christ ever since, to help people along ?- to help them along from sin to holiness, from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom ? Work among the troubled in spirit or such as are engaged in a very great moral struggle requires large sympathy. The heart must be quick to receive the photograph of other people's sorrows and joys. There never was a heart that responded more promptly to human appeal than the heart of Jesus. But it is not the general question of His sympathy that I wish to discuss, but its staunchness or the heroic element in it.
However deaf others might be to the cry of the needy, none ever cried to Him in vain. The outcast, the forlorn, the oppressed, found in Him an instant and unfailing friend. This element of His character is nowhere more evident than in the incident of which the text forms a part. First, in the character of the man He befriended, "a sinner." A man is a sinner in one of two senses, either by the omission of a duty, or by the direct violation of a law. The mass of mankind are sinners in both senses. It is written "The soul that sinneth it shall die," and as all men have sinned, all are lost sinners. Christ died for all men, "that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." But it was not in this generic sense that He used the term lost, He employed it in a special sense. For instance, some
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men are lost sinners by force of strong passions. Strong feelings and convictions are included in God's best gifts, but like many of His gifts they may be a blessing or bane as we use or abuse them, as we control them by reason and conscience or permit them to control us. If we throw the bridle upon the neck of our passions they will speedily ruin body and soul for time and eternity, but if they are curbed by intelligent judgement and strong moral sense, they will be powerful allies in achieving success, and be the support of hope and courage in the stress and peril of life. Take for example, Judas. He was born with the lust of gold in him. He loved money but not for the sake of the good that money would enable him to do, but for its own sake. As he laid shekel of silver upon shekel of silver, or shekel of gold upon shekel of gold, they furnished him with more satisfaction than an epicure could derive from the richest banquet.
On the occasion of the Saviour's visit to the house of Si111011, Mary purchased a box of spikenard, and breaking it poured the con- tents upon the Saviour's head ; the precious odor soon advertised itself and her deed through the house. When Judas came in he detected instantly the value of the perfume and churlishly complained, saying: "Wherefore was this waste, for this might have been sold for much and the money given to the poor?" But one who was present and wrote of it in this book has said of him, "Not that he loved the poor but because he loved the bag, " while another said of him, "Judas was a thief." This inordinate greed of money so consumed every virtue in him, that at last he was induced to barter away the life of his Lord and Master for the paltry sum of thirty pieces of silver. When he could not retain the money but returned and threw it upon the table in the presence of the chief priests and elder saying, "I have betrayed the innocent," they ruthlessly turned to him and said " What is that to us? see thion to that," and he went out and hung himself; a lost sinner by force of the strong passion for money. With Absalom the case was entirely different. He had an inordinate love of power. He was born in a court, the son of a king. Shekels of silver and gold were the toys of his childhood. Alienated from the court and reconciled to his father by the kindness of the Prime Minister, he spent his idle time at the king's gate. As the people went out or came in he said to each man that had a controversy and whose case remained unheard "Oh that I were made judge in the land that every man which hath any suit or cause might come to me. All wrongs should be redressed and all rights secured." And so he stole the hearts of the `people away from his father, and out of a great inob he organized a formidable army. He drove his father from the palace, and David
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became a fugitive, pursued by an ambitious and malignant son. Absalom would have gladly purpled his hands in the blood of his own father, if by stepping over the body of David he could have ascended the throne of Israel and heard the shout of the people "Long live King Absalom." He staked his ambition upon a battle in the neigh- borhood of the wood Ephraim. The day was lost. ' He fled through the forest on the back of a mule. In some mysterious way his head became entangled in the boughs of a tree, and as he could not release himself, he remained suspended in mid-air. When Joab learned of his plight he hastened to the spot, and finding the helpless rebel, he took three darts and thrust Absalom through, and the epitaph of Absalom was then as now, "He died as the fool dieth." He was a lost sinner by force of the passion for authority and power.
How many there are who are lost sinners by force of the strong passion for drink. The awful thirst for intoxicants, cultivated and strengthened by frequent indulgence, corrupts every noble attribute, weakens the human will, destroys all natural affections, until the sense of manhood or womanhood utterly destroyed, the helpless victim becomes a lost sinner by force of this awful appetite for drink. Have you tasted your first cup ? Let it be your last. Now you may resist but repeated indulgence may make you the sport of this dreadful passion.
Some men are lost sinners by force of worldly entanglements. While it is true that by the bias of our nature we are in constant jeopardy, yet there is frequently added the peril of circumstances in business, political and social life. They constitute a great net work in which multitudes are snared. A giant might laugh at any attempt to bind him by a spider's web, but let spider's web be added to spider's web, and enough of such flimsy threads will bind him as securely as though he were held by cords of steel. So in business partnerships, in domestic fellowships, in social and political clubs, in the countless relationships by which we are bound to each other in human society, men are the slaves of custom or opinion. They have not the courage, the spirit of self-denial or the defianceof worldly usage that are neces- sary to run the gauntlet of worldly criticism. Many who would turn to Christ and accept as imperative the ethics of the New Testament, are ashamed of ridicule. Many a young man, caught in the snare of a social club, feels himself too weak to resign from its membership or endure the scoffs of his associates.
Others are lost sinners by force of social laws. David preferred punishment by the hand of God rather than to fall into the hands of man. His verdict is that "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."
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When once society has put its ban upon a man or woman how hardly can they be saved.
God made us to need human as well as divine sympathy. Many bereft of kindly encouragement from those about them, as leaden weights drop to the bottom of the sea, so they sink into sin, guilt, misery and deatlı.
I stood in the jail in Allentown at the close of a religious service, and observed a man leave one of the upper cells with a bundle of clothes under his arm. I suspected that his term of imprisonment had expired, but his face was sad and his steps heavy, so that when he reached me I said "Has your term of imprisonment expired?" and he answered "Yes." I further inquired "How is it, then, that you feel so badly about it? you look more like a man going in than one coming out." I never can forget his answer: "Ah sir," he said, "You don't know what a world I am going into. When it is known that I have been in this jail I shall be received in contempt and suspicion by every one, I shall not be able to get a night's lodging in this town except in connection with some low bar-room."
How true his words. Suppose he had come to your house or mine and informed us that he had just been dismissed from prison, but wanted a night's lodging and a chance to begin a better life. . What would we have done. We should probably have told him that the station house was erected for his benefit; or if we had entertained him, we should have put him in the uppermost story in the back room, locked the door, put the key under our pillow and then laid awake all night, afraid lest he should by some trick unlock the door and burglarize the house before morning.
The criminal classes are lost sinners by the very hostility of of society to their existence. The Saviour said, "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of heaven, " and we may simply change the direction of his interrogation and say, how hardly shall they whom society has branded with its curse be saved.
It is stated that a man who now wears Episcopal robes and has attained to much literary distinction, was in an Illinois prison for six months. There he resolved that at the expiration of his term, he would live a true life. The day of his release he secured employment. but before twenty-four hours had elapsed some one informed his employer that he was an ex-convict, and he was instantly dismissed. He obtained work again in a few hours, for he was willing to take any honest task however lowly it might be, and again some one informed on him, and again he was sent adrift. Time after time he secured a position that would have afforded him an honest living, and each time
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some one was malignant enough to betray him. He one day answered an advertisement and found that the inquirer was a lady who owned a large factory. He said, "Madam, I might as well make a clean breast of it, I have been in prison and have obtained work several times and some one has secured my discharge each time, I want to be a true man, won't you give me a chance ?" She replied, "Come to-morrow morn- ing." He returned at the appointed time and she said, "I have con- cluded to give you a chance and hope you will not be false to my confidence." She gave him the lowest position in the factory and he was faithful in things that were least and finally came to things that were greatest, for she made him superintendent of her works. He soon obtained money enough to support him in college where he graduated with. honor, then entered the ministry, and few occupy a higher rank among his brethren.
But we can see that where one rises to virtue and honor hrough such an awful struggle, multitudes sink in hopeless despair under the frown of society. Indeed, it is even true that society lays its fierce hand, not always an iron hand, frequently a gloved hand, on the poor struggling sinner, and holds him under the curse of his own sin until he is lost to all sense of honor, susceptibility and truth. But Christ came to save the lost. He is their friend. Let thiem cry to Him. He will not turn them away.
Second, The heroic element in the sympathy of Christ is further manifest in the circumstances under which Christ became this man's friend. Friendship frequently costs us no more than the formal salute by which we recognize a neighbor on the street. It means no more than the mere vibration of the air by which we hail in the morning or evening the faces that are familiar to us. But there are times in almost every man's life when friendship requires courage, patience and self-sacrifice. When to stand by a friend is to endure with him neglect, scorn, calumny and bitter persecution. This man was isolated from public sympathy, he was a tax collector but not unpopular on that account, though tax collectors have never been popular under any form of government. He was a Jew, but not hated on account of his race or nationality. The offense that he had com- mitted lies in the fact that he was a Roman officer and as a Jew had consented to occupy an office under a powerful but detested empire.
The Roman government had planted its iron heel upon the Jewish nation and stamped out its national existence, for there was no Hebrew king in Judea or Gallilee. Herod was king. When a Jew therefore forgot liis loyalty to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and so far abandoned the God of his fathers as to accept an office under an alien
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empire, he brought down upon himself the contempt and hatred of every loyal Jew. No patriot Jew would walk with him on the same side of the street or sit down to eat with him at the same table. The Jews taught their children to spit in the very tracks of his feet. This man, by the office he occupied, was an outcast from Jewish society. His life only was sacred because guarded by the sword of Cæsar. Again the Saviour became this man's friend at the time when Ile was universally popular. We well know His life was not uniform, one day they would take Him and make Him a king, the next day they would cast Him fro.n the brow of a hill headlong that they might destroy Him, but at this time He was in favor with all classes. He left the city of Caesarea Philipi, at the foot of Mount Hermon, for the city of Jerusalem proceeding along the highway which forms the backbone of Palestine. His fame had preceded Him. The people came out of the hamlets and villages, down from the mountains and up from the valleys, hoping to see His mighty works or hear His wonderful sayings. The citizens of Jericho coneluded to extend to Him a royal reception. It was then the metropolis of fashion. Jerusalem was the seat of religion. The preparation for His visit was so enthusiastic, that a special anthem was adopted with which to welcome Him. The children were trained to sing it. The excitement attracted the attention of Zaccheus. I fancy that as an old surly Jew visited the receipt of custom to pay his taxes, Zaccheus said, "I have seen groups of people throughout the city and evidently there is an unusual stir among all classes, why is it?" Then the old Jew deigns to answer him by say- ing "The Messiah is coming, He who has given eyesight to the blind, cured the leprous and even raised the dead, and whom we hope will restore the glory of Israel." On the eventful day Zaccheus emerges from the city gates before the crowd pass out and climbs a sycamore tree or Egyptian fig tree that stands by the wayside. He went out before the rest, for he knew they despised him and that on such a day the mob might turn against him and rend him. He sought the fig tree both because he was little of stature and to escape the observation of the crowd. Hiding himself in the leaves he must have said, "I can see and not be seen." Yonder comes the Messialı, and the children herald his approach waving palm branches and singing, hosanna. It is a great gala day and religious jubilee. The Saviour advances with the happy procession until He stands in the shadow of the overspread- ing tree and looks up into its boughs. Zaccheus says, "I am dis- covered and the Messiah is about to upbraid me even as others. He will arraign me for my disloyalty." The Master calls him, calls hin by name, and the tax gatherer says, "Why He knows my name, some one has told Him all about me." But there is a tone in the Saviour's
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voice that reassures the heart of this wayward Jew. In it perhaps the first kind tone that had fallen upon his ear since his mother died, when as he laid his hand in her withered hand she said, "Zaccheus, be true to the God of your fathers," and he had pledged her his loyalty to those triple names that constitute the federal head of the Israelitish race. The Master says, "I shall abide at thy house." The tax gatherer instantly descends and joins, himself to the Lord's company. Yonder they go, Jesus and Zaccheus. The elders of the church have silenced the happy voices of the children and tearing the palm branches from their innocent fingers have trampled them in the dust.
Yonder they go, the Saviour and the sinner. Passing through the gates of the city and pursuing one narrow street after another, at last they reach the home of the hated Jew and enter it. The crowd gathers without the door and murmurs. Murmurs as the wind murmurs through the pine forest before the wild blast leaps from its lair. Murmurs as the sea murmurs before the fermenting storm laslies its calm bosom into savage rage. They say, "It is too bad, too bad, we hoped to have given him a magnificent reception in the home of one of our loyal citizens, but he has gone to be the guest of a man that is a sinner."
I have no doubt that Zaccheus spread a rich banquet for Jesus. But as I look in upon the scene: Zaccheus reclines upon a divan there and Jesus rests his weary body upon a luxuriant couch here. The feast between them has not been touched, no pomagranate eaten nor a grape plucked from the stem. Both had meat that the world could not provide or relish. The sinner had found a sufficient Saviour. The Saviour whose one mission was to save men had found one soul weary of the world and wrong doing and willing to be saved.
The penitent sinner confessed his sin saying, "Lord I give half of my goods to feed the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man wrongfully I will return him fourfold," and Jesus answered, "This day is salvation come to this house for thon also art a son of Abraham." He was a son both by blood and faith descent.
We learn here not only the heroism of true friendship, but that the hardest heart may have one tender spot, that touched with Christian sympathy, may yield a fountain of penitence. This man had waited for a kindly word and touch. Jesus had touched the one spot that could be responsive to the claims of truth and righteousness.
I think of a day when I stood in a great garden. It was adorned with the works of the great masters in sculpture. A statue of a woman, fresh from the artist's chisel, had just been put upon a pedestal. The figure was life size, and the face shone with a joy that was without
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a shadow. Out of the rude block the sculptor had carved a face that was the embodiment of human satisfaction. Life mantled with eloquent fullness on her lips and sparkled in her glance. I gazed for an hour wondering at the great achievement of the artist, then turning aside in a by-path I cast one more look at an image that I might never see again, when, to my surprise, the face that I had looked upon was but a marble mask and behind the counterfeit was the real face. He who had made the marble gleam with the realization of the proudest hopes had made the real face so dark with sorrow and despair that not a ray of light could be seen on brow, or cheek, or lip. The eyes were lightless and every line of the countenance had fallen.
Oh, how many pass us on the street each day, some of whom sit in the evening at the same fireside wearing some disguise to shield an awful sorrow or dreadful struggle, longing again and again for a little sympathy, yet too proud and self-willed to ask for it. Why should we dole out our sympathy as a miser contributes to charity, even though much of what we bestow is wasted? If we were more bountiful in our kindness, here and there a human heart would receive it, and encouraged and strengthened by it, would feel that we are but the medium through which the love of God reaches them and be led to the feet of Him who never breaks the bruised reed or quenches the smok- ing flax.
Third, The heroic element in the sympathy of Christ is also indicated in the overflowing kindness that Christ bestowed upon this man. He went to be his guest, not to lend sanction to his sin, but to save the sinner. It is the Christ attitude toward every transgressor.
It was reported with great pride, that as the train lingered a few moments one day in Philadelphia, General Grant called an apple girl to him, and after purchasing some of her fruit, printed a kiss upon her brow. It was published as a mark of the great commander's generous nature and real sympathy for humanity. But infinitely above this is the gracious visit of Jesus to the house of this sinner. The King of Kings accepts the hospitality of a penitent rebel. He not only absolves him but abides in his house and assures him of His love and confidence.
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