CHRIST'S SYMPATHY

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 29, 1861

CHRIST'S SYMPATHY.

No exercise of the human affections is so beneficial as that of sympathy. To the heart almost broken with sorrow, it is beyond measure cheering and refreshing. To the person bowed down with grief, it is a stay and support. To the victim of disappointment, ready to despair of success, it is a source of encouragement, often the stepping stone to prosperity and happiness. In time of rejoicing it adds that drop to our cup which causes it to overflow. When the heart has been made sick with hope deferred, and fears and doubts begin to reign within, it is a cordial to our souls, dispels our doubts and drives away our fears. Our Creator, in the exercise of his wisdom and goodness, has implanted it in the soul of man to alleviate the troubles and lessen the miseries so inseparable from our lot, even in its most pleasant form, and to heighten those joys and brighten those hopes, which make a period of sunshine in our journey through this world. Mutually dependent as we are to so great an extent, we require it, and we look for it, the one from the other, and it is our duty freely to bestow it.

In order to the exercise of this feeling there must be love. Sympathy with one whom we hate is impossible; with a person in whom we feel no interest, it can scarcely be said to exist. And in proportion to our love will be the measure of our sympathy. Hence the fullness and largeness of a mother's sympathy in all the varied hopes and fears and joys and sorrows of her children—in the childish sports and fleeting griefs of youth as well as in the real and more serious cares of later years. Hence, too, the tender sympathy of the loving partner of our life—her who has been united to us for weal or woe, till death shall separate us. Even in things in which it might be thought she would not be able to manifest it, or only in a slight degree, love comes to her assistance, and atones for all deficiencies. Oh! the value of the sympathy of a loving affectionate mother, or of a tender, faithful wife! Often has it reclaimed the erring man and strengthened his resolutions of reform. Often has it saved the strong man from ruin, and kept him from yielding to the dark and gloomy promptings of despair. Often has it eased his troubled mind, and upheld his weary hands. Often has it sweetened his cup of pleasure, and made him feel that the lines had fallen unto him in pleasant places—yea, that he had a goodly heritage.

Experience, wisdom and a knowledge of character tend to perfect our sympathy. The affectionate child may and will sympathize with his parent when in distress, but how far short does it fall of his who once buffeted the same billows of misfortune himself, or of his whom a long acquaintance has made to know his friend even better than he knows himself! But as none possess all the qualifications, and only some in a limited degree, man's sympathy is necessarily imperfect; hence the need of one superior to man to administer consolation and comfort—one who will possess in their fullest extent, all things necessary for so doing.

In nothing is the exercise of this feeling more useful or more called for than in the trials and difficulties of the Christian life; the young convert who is just setting out on his journey, especially needs it. Oftentimes has the kind sympathy of a Christian friend been like life from the dead unto him. Harrassed by temptations, he begins to think that his religion is a delusion, and that his troubles are peculiar to himself, and he is ready to give up in order to find relief. How cheering then, at such a crisis, to meet with some Christian brother who details to him a similar experience in the beginning of his Christian life, tells him not to be discouraged, for in due time, if he faint not, he will obtain deliverance! To many a believer it has been the decisive moment in his career, the grain which turned the scale when he was hesitating between going on and turning back.

We need it too, in our seasons of joy and rejoicing. How it enhances these to behold our brethren exulting in our happiness as we tell them of the goodness we have experienced at the hand of God! "Come and hear all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul," is the language of every believer. What is it makes the fellowship of Christians so delightful, and their communion so profitable as they "take sweet counsel together, and walk unto the house of God in company?" Is it not the calling out of their sympathies, in seeing so many points of resemblance in their religious experiences?

Valuable as is Christian sympathy, what is it when compared with that of our great High Priest, our elder Brother, our Saviour our Redeemer? His is so tender and comprehensive, perfect in every respect. He possesses in an infinite degree, all the requisites for the most unbounded exercise of this feeling. Consider the greatness of his love, the breadth, and length and depth and height of which surpass our comprehension. Remember, too, the intimate experimental knowledge he has of all the troubles which befall us in the course of our life. He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; in infancy he was cradled in poverty; in manhood he had not where to lay his head; at the beginning of his ministry he was tempted forty days by his great adversary; at the close of his life, in that hour which he called "your hour and the power of darkness," he was exposed to hell's ungovernable fury. He hungered, he thirsted, he was weary. He was insulted and mocked by his enemies, reproached and forsaken by his friends; he agonized in the garden, and his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. On the cross he endured the hiding of his Father's countenance, which caused him to exclaim, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Meditate on these things, and see how well able he is to sympathize with you in all your sorrows. Although God hath highly exalted him far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, he still retains that heart which took compassion on the widow who was following her only son to the grave, that heart which wept at the tomb of Lazarus, and mourned for Jerusalem as he contemplated its impending doom. Blessed be God, "we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the fellow-feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin." And blessed be his holy name for the encouragement we are to draw therefrom: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Christ suffered not only that he might satisfy divine justice, but also that he might be qualified to sympathize with his people in their sufferings.

He is acquainted, moreover, with the disposition and character of every one of his people, with all the events of their lives, with their present feelings, situations, and wants; and to all these—innumerably various though they be—his wisdom enables him to adapt those consolations which he alone is able to bestow. He knows what is in man. "He knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust!" He has wrestled with the tempter, and he knows how hard it is

for flesh and blood to overcome him. Oftentimes he sees that our inclinations exceed our ability, that "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." How well then, and how fully he can sympathize with us! "For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted."

The prophet Isaiah, when reviewing God's dealings with his ancient people, says: "In all their afflictions he was afflicted." How constant and how comprehensive this sympathy! "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" was his language to that wicked man when on his way to Damascus to destroy all those who called upon the name of Jesus.

"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me," will be his language of approval at the day of judgment to those on his right hand; while to those on his left, he will utter the language of condemnation. "Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me." See here the condescension connected therewith in his identifying of himself with the meanest of his people. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye." Believers are "members of Christ's body, of his flesh, and of his bones; and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." "Now we are the body of Christ, and members in particular." These passages present to us its quickness and completeness.

What a source of joy and rejoicing have we in these thoughts! We may be despised by the world, and unknown, but we have a friend that sticketh closer than a brother—we have one who feels for us, who pitieth us as a father pitieth his children. How cheering when alone, to know that Christ is with us to comfort us and console us! Well, then, may we dispense without a murmur with the friendship and sympathy of man; the friendship and sympathy of God are far better. These will sustain us when flesh and heart faint and fail us.—