p. 195 | TEMPTED LIKE UNTO US

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 10, 1860

TEMPTED LIKE UNTO US.

How precious the sympathy of Christ with human infirmity! He knew what hunger and thirst were—He knew what labor and fatigue were—He knew what hunger and sleeplessness were—He knew what pain and suffering were—He knew what spiritual depression and mental darkness were—He knew what the weight, and cause, and sorrow of sin were—He knew what the assaults of the world, the malignity of foes, the fickleness of friends, the mistrust and woundings of brethren were—He knew what it was to be denied by one disciple, to be betrayed by another, and to be forsaken by all! Child of God! what more shall Christ endure, what ruder path shall He tread, what deeper sorrow shall He experience, what bitterer cup shall He drink, what darker cloud shall He penetrate, what infirmities more human, more severe, more humiliating, shall He take, in order to be touched with the feeling of yours? Will not this suffice to wake your heart to love, to win your mind to confidence, to inspire your soul with hope, to replenish your spirit with joy and tune your lips with praise—that Christ's sympathy, so human yet divine, all so tender, all so clinging, all so personal, entwines around your every infirmity—bodily, mental, spiritual—and makes it all his own.

"Seeing then that we have a great High Priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb. iv 14-16.