the law, from the same divine concern
he will glory to declare the way of return, the counsel and invitation
of mercy. Even as none but a pitiful man can declare the words of the
law so only a pitiful man can declare the provisions and conditions of
the Cross. If the words of the Law, without pity are mere scolding and
fault-finding and threatening, the words of the Gospel without pity
must be cold, perfunctory and lifeless. Calvary was the expression of
infinite compassion. In its own spirit alone can its message be set
forth. You may preach even the justice of God in such a way as to make
His judgments seem full of the kindest intention to the heart. On the
other hand, you may preach the sacrifice of love in such a manner as to
make the story hard as judgment thunders. You may throw a pardon at a
man in such a fashion as to make the forgiveness it expresses more
bitter than a curse.

But how are we so to abound in pity as to be able, at all times, to
fill our message with its gracious influence, for pity is not always
easy, in which fact is one element of its high nobility? The sins of
men, their vices with their results in life and character, often make
it hard to pity them. A horrible thing is sin, and so horrible its
effects that it seems, at times, almost impossible to look upon those
in whom these effects are evident with any emotions save those of
loathing and disgust. It was no very natural thing for Jonah to look
with any sort of tenderness on that great, debauched, besotted Nineveh,
reeking in its vileness, foul with the accumulated moral filth of many
generations. Out of a man's own righteousness, too, his jealousy for
God and his reverence for goodness, there may grow a certain hardness
and, from very loyalty to God, it may not be easy to look with
compassionate eyes upon the transgressor. We cannot but remember that
every blessed purpose of the Kingdom is delayed by sin. By this black
impediment every golden dream of devout saints, of moral and spiritual
reformers is held back from happy fulfilment. It is difficult, indeed,
to feel pitiful when the heart for Christ's sake is longing to behold
the glories He died to bring to pass and sees those glories thus
wantonly postponed. Yes, the note of pity is often hard to strike.
The more we think of all that is involved the more emphasis we throw
into the question--_how has it to be done_?

The truth is that pity for such a service needs to be ear