/ THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON
THE REV. JASON NOBLE PIERCE.
Subject: The Compassion of Jesus.
I
Brooklyn, N. Y.—In Puritan
gregational Church Sunday the
tor, the Rev. Jason Noble
preached on “The Compassion
Jesus. • > The text from
was
7:13: • ■ And when the Lord saw
He had compassion on her and
unto her, weep not." Mr. Pierce said:
I have taken as my subject
morning one of the most
and comforting themes in the Bible,
"The Compassion of Jesus.” If
is any one present in this
tion who has been experiencing trial
and suffering, or who has been called
upon to bear some grievous burden
or suffer loss, I ask his attention,
pecially, to the consideration of this
theme. And if there is any one here
who would make more sure of God’s
personal love for His individual chil¬
dren, let him discover that love as it
is revealed in the compassion of His
Son, our Lord and Saviour.
Briefly but clearly the author of
our Gospel presents the scene: “Be
hold, there was a dead man carried
out, the only son of his mother, and
she was a widow; and much people
of the city was with her. • • From our
text we know that she was weeping,
and well she might, for death leaves
a smarting sting. This was not the
first time she had faced death in the
Inner circle of her home. She was a
widow. But how often does the los¬
ing of one member of the family
make it any easier to part with an¬
other, especially when it is an only
son, a young man, and probably the
main support and stay of his wid¬
owed mother? Circumstances seemed
to conspire to make the occasion full
of greatest sorrow for her, and as the
procession passes through the city
gate and turns toward the burying
ground the burning tears course
down her cheeks and she sees naught,
feels naught, knows naught but the
grief that is in her heart.
Of all the helpless ones in Israel
she, passing out of the gate, was most
helpless. And that was the very hour
the mightiest one in all Israel drew
nigh to the city. Weakness and
strength; human need and divine
help; these are never far separated.
But will the divine grace become op¬
erative? Will the Saviour act?
«< When the Lord saw her He had
compassion on her and said unto her,
Weep not. And He came and touched
the bier; and they that bear him
stood still. And He said, Young man,
I say unto thee, arise. And he that
■was dead sat up and began to speak.
And He delivered him unto his
mother. »»
Halleluiah! What a Saviour!
If the issue could be avoided I
•would gladly pass over a discussion
of the miracle involved in this lesson.
But how can I? If I assume that you
all accept the miracles ascribed to
Jesus, I make a false assumption, for
I know from personal conversation
that some of you have questionings
and uncertainties in your minds. If
I could separate the question of Jesus’
compassion from His miracles I
might do that. But how can I?
Everywhere in the Gospels where
Jesus’ compassion is referred to it is
in connection with some miracle. His
was not an inactive compassion. He
did not do as so many of us do, allow
our sympathy to vent itself in empty
air. His great heart made demands
upon a great power, and the sight of
sorrow ever made Him exert Himself
for its relief. Four times does St.
Matthew and four times does St.
Mark refer directly to Jesus’ compas¬
sion, and upon each occasion do we
find Him working a miracle. St.
Luke speaks directly concerning the
compassion of our Lord only once
and that is in our text. The subject
demands our atiention.
There are some men who are not
greatly troubled concerning the mira¬
cles. They sweep them all in or all
out of their theological acceptance
with no hard thinking or penetrat
ing vision. Their theological house
is one of the portable variety, cheap
Iy bought, ready made, quickly
clapped together over a foundation
of sand. It may serve cn a fair day,
but when the test comes how is it?
The rain descends and the floods come
and the winds blow and beat upon
that house; and it falls; and great is
the fall of it.
Ofle of the safeguardsof the church
Is the number of thinking men and
women within it, who concentrate
not only their hearts, but their minds
unto the Lord, and who meditate
upon Him in the night watches. And
to all such comes sooner or later the
question of the miracles. We wres
tie with these miracles, we pray over
them we come to some conclusion
concerning them and our conclusions
arp There' always alike.
are some who discriminate
among the miracles. Those they can
explain through understood laws they
accept; the rest they hold in alley
ance Some of the most consecrated
and loyal follower, ot the Master are
among these disciples.
And there are those also who be
“eve that through Jesus were done
m ^ My ,r/nnV that
approval'to mean we
give unqualified all that
Jesus was said to have done. His is
the only instance on record, it it is
so, that all that was said of Him is
Him deeds wereloneTbat the hum an It
mind does not yet understand
does not mean that Jesus d fl tne e
mighty works in His own strength
and oi His own knoxvl
of ,, u p
mi ” e ,°™ dwelletb
said, . . “but the Father that that dwelled.
in Me, He doeth the works. •»
And the number or thinking men
who _____
hold this belief is fast increas¬
ing. not through an increase of faith
by itself, but through an increase of
experience. The metaphysical world
is yielding up her secrets one by
and we are discovering that there is
a the relationship between the seen and
unseen of which our fathers only
dreamed. Miracles are daily taking
place through human agency co-oper¬
ating with the laws of God. And it
is because we are coming to better
understand the inter-relation of
forces and the amazing consequence
certain causes, that we turn to the
Gospels and read with deeper insight
! and larger faith of the mighty works
of Jesus.
But I call your attention this morn¬
ing not to the miracles themselves,
but to their cause; not to an analysis
of their accomplishment, but to the
discernment of that w'hich called
them forth, the compassion of Jesus.
Often th,e crowd gathered about
Jesus and demanded some marvelous
work, a sign from heaven. He re¬
fused them. Men came to Him seek¬
ing to enlist His power for their sel¬
fish gain, but they always departed
sadder and wiser men. Nothing
could tempt Him to make a show or
win the crowd through the marvel¬
lous. But when He saw people in
! need or in sorrow or suffering, when
J I did He ever turn them away? How
quick was His response.' How suffi
I cient in power! His maxim was.
, “They that are whole have no need
j ! of the physician, but they that are
sick.”
I When the multitude penetrated the
j desert whither He had gone for retire¬
ment and needed rest, when He be¬
held their desire for Him and knew
the hunger and heart sickness that
impelled them to seek Him, “He was
moved with compassion on them be¬
cause they were scattered abroad as
sheep having no shepherd.”
When the blind and the demented
j and cried Spirit unto Him, mighty the in Lord deed. of When Light
was
: the leper of Galilee knelt before Him
j saying, make “If clean," Thou wilt His Thou heart canst
| me was
, touched. “And Jesus, moved with
! compassion, put forth His hand and
| touched him and saith unto him, 1
will; be thou clean.”
Oh, the mighty love of Jesus! It
met that dear mother at the gate of
Nain and did for her what none in all
the city could do, restore to her her
son. Can any of you imagine the
wonder and joy unspeakable that
came to her when Jesus delivered
him to her?
One of the striking characteristics
of the compassion of Jesus is its in¬
elusiveness. It knows no hounds. It
goes out to the multitude and to the
individual, to the stranger as freely
as to the friend, to the Jew and to the
Gentile. His heart went out for the
city and He wept over it and His
heart went out to the lone woman in
need of a Saviour. The one essential
was that there exist a grief, a burden,
a sorrow and immediately His help
was forthcoming. Where the sick
were gathered by their friends, or
among the porches by the pool where
the impotent lay, there was Jesus to
bless. No custom delayed Him, no
fear for life nor weariness of the
flesh restrained Him, but freely He
ministered unto all who called upon
Him.
Another characteristic of Jesus’
compassion is its attitude toward evil.
He does not tell the blind man that
it is best for him to remain blind, nor
does He point out to the leper that
there are compensating blessings that
come through his affliction. His ac¬
tion is rather to strike at the evil that
is responsible for their condition. I
dare say that He could have visited
the widow of Nain and through His
revelation of the heavenly home and
the Father’s love He could have light¬
ened her heart of much of its sorrow.
But His way was that of the most in¬
cisive action against the cause of her
grief. Affliction and sorrow and pain
are not regarded by Jesus as divinely
sent nor to be unnecessarily borne.
He opposed them, He threw the
weight of His teachings and life
against everything that tended to pro¬
duce them. He set a priceless value
not only upon human life, but upon
the liberty that life was to enjoy, and
[ everything that bound and dwarfed
that liberty He fought unto the end.
Oh, what a judgment upon this coun
try, where human life is held so
cheaply, where men perish by thou
sands upon the railroads and in the
mines, where grinding industrial life
sweeps pinching poverty into the
homes, where selfishness and pleasure
allow disease and suffering to spread
far and wide with ravaging hand!
Jesus fought this misery and gave
Himself unstintedly to unburden the
lives of men. ,
approaching the , final _
And now in
consideration of this theme it is im
portant that we bear in mind the
steps thus far taken, for they have an
immediate hearing upon wrmt ^ to
follow. We have seen that Jesus was
in fullest sympathy with all who car
riea a burden, and that all such found
a way of approach to Him at all times,
that In the He second was m place, sue i we * f.r- 8 g£
-.
| Father m heaven that tne mistiest n tiest
| wo« of works wereS' “ f hrouah iSd X “hole
i seen t t00 ^ that His loving compassion
; ’ that it embraced
k Q bounds> multi
individual a8 well as the
tude, that it left no one with whom
; He “me ^ indTstl?! wetave opposed Him
^ fact tbat j e sus
, sei^io in whatever form it was
^ regarded pain and afflic
tion as enemies to be trodden under
; {riendS) while we have been
talking ta^ about Jesus we have In reality
heavenly
Father. While we have been coasid
ering the compassion of Jesus we
& ing the loving com
have been discuS3
Everything to Build With.
We have recently purchased the Harris Manufacturing
! Company’s lumber plant and stock and will devote our
exclusive attention to the builders supply busines in tho
! future.
'
Our very complete stock includes
Brick, Lime, Sand, Cement, Fiber Wall Plaster, Paris
Plaster, Laths, Framing—rough or sized to order;
Weatherboarding—several grades; Sheeting, Shingles,
Prepared Rooting, Kiln Dried Flooring and Ceiling, the
kind that don’t crack open—several grades; Doors—
plain, and fancy glass front doors; Sash and Blinds—
in usual sizes; Window Cords, Weights and Pulleys;
Mantels, Columns, Balusters, Brackets, Mouldings,
Wainscoting, Corner and Plinth Blocks; Turned and
Sawed Work Made to Order; Door and Window
Frames; Sherwin-Williams Paint, Oils and Varnishes;
Guaranteed Roof Paint.
IN FACT
Evenytbing to Build UJitb*
Bring us a list of the material that you want, or a plan of
the house you anticipate building, and let us convince you
that our prices are right.
Fort Valley Lumber Company.
passion of God. The former is the
perfect manifestation of the latter.
All that has been said of Jesus’ com¬
passion I now assert to be true of
God’s love. If there is any one here
with a burden, a heavy sorrow, a hid¬
den grief, let me tell you that you do
not bear it alone, It may have
seemed ofttimes that the Father had
forgotten you or had overlooked you
in the multitude, but the very mo¬
ment that the hour has been dark¬
est is the time He has been most
near. He has always kept the way of
approach open, which is more than
we can say for ourselves, and often
when our ear heard not and our
heart inclined not His voice has been
calling “Come unto Me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and 1 will
give you rest.”
Nor has He overlooked one. No
one is beyond the reach of His love
It may have been long ago that you
turned aside from Him and you
feel that you are indeed a stranger
with no claim upon Him. But it Is
not so. His compassion is without
bound.
FEMININE NEWS NOTES.
Women of China are .said to be
keenly anxious to have a voice in pub¬
lic affairs.
The Victoria Legislative Council
has passed the bill empowering wom¬
en to vote at State elections.
Mrs. .Toset'a Osborn's will, fil ''’ 1 in
the Surrocaie’s Court, in New York
City, left $75,000 to Ernest Lawford,
the English actor.
Mrs. Annie Yeamnns celebrated her
seventy-third birthday by rehcars’ng
diligenilv her new part in a new play
in New York City.
Mrs. Russell Sne’° gave a ! a !r>“d
glass window to the Histoi Mo¬
elet.v of New York commemo tive of
'.'.he Huguenot refugees.
After being blind fhirty-W; ye-rs,
Miss Alice Hollis, of New York City,
recovered her sight, thanks in the
skill of a famous German oculist.
Dr. Charles H. Farkhurst told his
congregation in New York City tbat.
any woman whose big bat obstructed
the view of those behind he com
initied a theft.
Helen Kathryn Sharpe, of Indian¬
apolis, is an an'h or ess at the of
twelve. A book she has written,
“Sparkles From a Child’s Pen,” has
just been published.
Supreme Court. JnsUoo Bisohnff. of
New York City, denied Mrs. Howard
Crmld’s petition fo- an allow of
5120,000 a year, She must nmt along
on her present allowance, 525,000 a
year.
Tt is semi-offlcially rmmnn^d in
llalv that the marriage of Miss Elkins
with the Duke of the Abriivzi would
have taken place before this if the
bride had been willing to forego royal
rank.
The will of Mrs. William Astor,
probated in New York, leaves virtu¬
ally her entire estate to her two
daughters, leaving onlv heirlooms to
her son. John Jacob Ast.or. who was
provided for amply by his father.
Bird Snaring in Connecticut.
Reports from hunters who have
made trips to different points where
game usually can be found indicate
that snaring has prevailed this sea¬
son to a greater extent than ever bd
fere. Evidence is abundant in 'any
locality frequented by game, the tell¬
tale snare, not unfrequently still hold¬
ing its prey, being a dumb but sure
witness tnnt 1 n 7 /1)reuisr tt s.re numer
! ! our and are ^Sinttro almost thoughtless in
their boldness,
j some idea of the magnitude of this
! law 1 brpa kiug work in this State may
] } from the fact, that one man
^ s5lippefl some 30ft birds to
another after the State close season within was a ^jveeks on. Kouv
| f or d Courant.
p|enty of Time .
j Jud?e (to read prisoner)—We list of are your now far
^ in "convictions. t0 you a
er
Prisoner—In that case, perhaps your
j d hi / will allow me to sit down.—
p hilBd lphla inquirer.
W. H. HAFER,
DENTIST.
Fort Valley, Georgia
Office over First National Bank.
C. Z. McArthur,
Dentist
FORT VALLEY, GA.
Office over Slappey’s Drug Store.
A. C. RILEY,,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW,
WRIGHT BUILDING,
Fort Valley, Ga.
Practice in all the courts. Money
loaned. Titles abstracted.
Tire $ Ofe Insurance
H. D. Skellie.
Office Phone No. 54.
FORT VALLEY, GA.
C. L. SHEPARD,
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW,
Fort Valley, Ga.
Office Over Firet National Dank.
TONSORIAL ARTIST
For anything in the tonsorial lino
don’t fail to call on
WILLIAMS
Next Door to Post Office.
Experienced workmen and conrtooTM at*
tention to all Everything up-to-date.
FISH WITH A SAIL.
Hoists or Lowers It at Will and Navi¬
gates Shallow South Pacific Waters.
Few marine animals seem at first
glance to betray less Intelligence
than the jellyfish. Up with the tide
and down with the tide, carried along
by tliis or that current, moving with the
eddy of a backwater hither and thith¬
er, the jellyfish has become almost a
synonym for helplessness.
Scientifically, of course, the popular
idea of the jellyfish is wholly mis¬
taken; hut It is perhaps only in
tropical waters that he is found in
the perfection of intelligence. In
the South Pacific, around the islands
of Polynesia, and as far south as the
upper portion of the North Island of
New’ Zealand there is a jellyfish who
not only knows where he wants to
go hut is even provided with a sail
which he can and does hoist or low
| er at will. The sail, like the rest of
i this curious animal, is almost trans
| parent, but unlike the body of the
! fish, which is of the usual gelatinous
I construction, the sail is a- membrane
j almost a3 hard as shell. Group the
Roundabout the Ellice
navigating fish is often found with
j j sail measuring five inches across,
a
and he navigates the shallow island
■ waters with the skill of a Hooghly
pilot, steering in and out of snaggy
places and avoiding obstructions both
above and below the surface with un¬
erring skill. Like his cousins in
home waters this navigating jslly
fish has the power of stinging its
j natural enemies and its sting to is fa¬
tal to fish and dangerous man.-—
• London Standard.
“Some men,” said Uncle Ebed,
“doesn’t, display no resolution nor
firmness ‘ceppin when de makes up
de ir minds dat dey isn gwinter do no
j babcf work.’ Washington Star.
.1®
i ® q r —i
UTit
§>tmi>at)-<§>cfwof
INTERNATIONAL LESSON COM¬
MENTS FOH DECEMBER (J.
Subject: Solomon Chooses Wisdom,
t Kings tti-l-IS—Golden Text,
l’rov. 0:10—Commit Verses 11,
12—Commentary,
TIME.— 1014 B. C. PLACE.—
Gibeon.
EXPOSITION. — I. Solomon's
Prayer to Jehovah, ‘1-0. Solomon
went to Gibeon because the Taber¬
nacle, the place where Jehovah pe¬
culiarly manifested Himself to Ills
people, was there (1 Chron. 21:29;
2 Chron. 1:3, 7, R. V.; Ex. 29:42, 43.
R. V.). Until the Temple superseded
It, that is where men who longed to
meet God wont, the place God Him¬
self had appointed. The Tabernacle
was a typo of Christ (Jno. 1:14, R.
V.), it is in Him that we meet God
(.Jno. 14:6). Each one of the thou¬
sand burnt offerings that Solomon
offered also pointed forward to
Christ. In Him there is a better
ground of approach to God than In
countless slain beasts (Heb. 10:1*
22). The desire with which Solomon
went to Gibeon was satisfied. God met
him there. Twice in his life was It
granted Solomon to meet God (cf. ch.
9:2; 11:9). To many of us it ia
granted to meet God far moro fre¬
quently than that. The appearance
was in a dream, but it was a real ap¬
pearance (cf. Gen. 28:12, 13; Nu„
12:6* Job 33:14, 15; Matt. 1:20;
2:13, 19; Acts 18:9, 10). That God
really spoke to Solomon, and that the
whole Incident was no product of a
disordered fancy, is evident from the
outcome—Solomon really obtained
what God promised at this time. It
was a wonderful thing that God snld
to Solomon, “ask what I shall give
th©e”-—God setting all the infinite re¬
sources of His power at the disposal
of a man. But He says the same won¬
derful thing to each humblest child
of God to-day (Jno. 14:13, 14; 15:7;
Matt. 7:7, 8; Mark 11:24; Jno.
15:16; 16:23, 24; 1 Jno. 3:22; 5:14,
15). Before asking for anything,
Solomon acknowledged the wonderful
goodness of Jehovah already mani¬
fested toward his father and himself
(cf. Phil. 4:6; Col. 4:2). God’s ■ >■ reat
“kindness” _
(R. V.) to his father in
the past encouraged Solomon to ask
great things for himself in the pres¬
ent. pod's dealing In kindness with
David was according to David's sin¬
cere, righteous and upright walk (cf.
ch. 9:4; 15:5; 2 K. 20:3. 4; Ps. 15:1,
2j- 18:20-24; 1 J no. 3:22). A crown¬
ing manifestation of God’s kindness
was that He had given him a son to
succeed to his position and his work:
Solomon speaks of his father by a
more honorable title than king, “Thy
servant David.” Jehovah Himself
had conferred this title upon David
(2 Sam. 7:5). Solomon recognized
that he owed Ills own present exalted
position entirely to God (cf. Dan.
2:21; 4:25, 32; 5:18, 21), He also
recognized his own utter insufficiency;
for the position. He was psrhajjj
twenty-one years of age at this time.
In his own eyes he was “but a little
child’’ (cf. 1 Chron. 29:1; Jer. 1:6;
Lu. 14:11). He saw the greatness of
the responsibility that had been laid
upon him. He asked, therefore, for
an “understanding heart”—literally,
a “hearing heart,” i. e., a heart that
should hear the voice of God. What he
asked is of more value than all honors
and all riches (Prov. 3:13-18; 16:16).
His father’s words to him and prayer
for him had suggested to Sol¬
omon this request (1 Chron. 22:12;,
29:19). Those words had gone deep
into Solomon’s heavt. This great
thing that Solomon allied we may all
ask and get (Jas. 1:5-7). It was not
for his own sake that Solomon asked
for an understanding heart, hut for
the people’s good, and above all be¬
cause they were Jehovah’s people. In
the final analysis the chief aim of the
prayer was Jehovah’s glory. That ia
the chief aim of all true prayer.
11. Jehovah’s Answer to Solomon,
10-13. God was pleased with Sol
omen’s prayer. He Is always pleased
with an intelligent prayer (Prov.
15:8). He mentions some of the
things that Solomon might have
asked, things that many would have
asked had they had Solomon's oppor¬
tunity. But Solomon’s choice was
much wiser. A wonderful thing God
Buys to him, “1 have done according
to thy words.” Think of it, the in¬
finite God doing according to the
words of a finite man. But He often
does that (Jno. 15:7). Solomon got
what he had asked, but he got it in a
more abundant measure than he had
asked. His wisdom became noted
throughout the earth, and throughout
all ages (v. 28; ch. 4:29-34; 5:12;
10:3-8, 23, 24). God also gave him
exceeding abundantly above what he
asked (cf. Eph. 3:20). If we seek the
best thing, God will give us with it
the minor things (Matt. 6: o o o o . ; P3.
.
84:11, 12; Ito. 8:32). Ilis riches
were enormous (ch. 10:23-29). Wis¬
dom which ho sought came bringing
riches and honor in her hand (cf.
Prov. 3:1G). God made Solomon still
another promise, but this was condi¬
tional upon his future conduct (v.
14). The promise was lone life; the
condition, obedience. Obedience to
God’s laws is the great secret of
longevity (Deu. 5:16; 25:15; Prov.
3:1, 2, 16; 1 Tim. 4:3) All God’s
richest blessings are conditioned upon
obidence (Acts 5:32; Jno. 14:15-23).
Solomon did not fulfill the condition
a u3 missed the promised blessing, he
died comparatively young (l K.
11:42). He showed his appreciation
of Jehovah’s goodness in the only way
known to him. The sacrifices that we
offer are different (He. 13:15, 16, It.
V.) but have the same purposa.
