Bible Truths Illustrated by J. C. Ferdinand Pittman

BIBLE TRUTHS ILLUSTRATED
It is not just saying what others expect to hear, or appearing
as others expect us to be in great crises of human experience,
such as bereavement, or some crushing catastrophe, but it is a
spirit of compassion, influencing the whole life, and so, ready
to be exercised at a moment's notice.
In our Lord Jesus, "we have not a high priest that cannot be
touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath
been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb.
4:15). He lessens others' burdens by sharing them. Knowing
that grief in isolation is well-nigh unendurable, and burdens are
the heaviest when borne alone, our great High Priest, "touched
with the feeling of our infirmities," graciously shares with us
our sorrows and burdens.
Nothing is more needed than sympathy—not mere platitudes,
hollow sayings, but the spirit of compassion dominating the
whole life, a heart beating in unison with the hearts of
others, resulting, when required, in the helpful deed and the
loving
word.
842. "The whole life of the Teacher of Nazareth was full of
sentiment, loving this or that young man, pardoning this or
that sinner, weeping over the dead, mourning for the doomed
city, blessing, and perhaps kissing, the little children, so that
the Gospels are still cried over, almost as often as the last work
of
fiction."
843. Sympathy is commonly confined within severe conventional
limits. It is often like a lake in a private park, and not
like the stream which weds together the private park and the
village green. It is often the dialect of the hamlet rather than
the speech of a people. It is parochial rather than national,
sectarian instead of universal. There are stern, hoary walls
within which its movements are enclosed, and beyond the enclosures
the music of its influence is never heard. But sometimes
the waters rise in a gracious flood; the imprisoning walls are
submerged, the boundary marks of the little hamlet are washed
out, and class and caste and sect are forgotten in a broad and
fruitful union. Here is a man (Cornelius) whose sympathies
are at the flood, and the obstructing barriers have melted away.
— /. H. Jowett.
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