_
_O Lord, the way is hard and steep,
Help me to walk that way with Thee,
To watch with Thee, and not to sleep
Heedless of Thy Gethsemane,
Till love becomes my worshipping,
Who have no other gift to bring._
_It is no hour for angel-harp,
The sky is dark, the Cross is near,
The agony of Death is sharp,
The scorn of men upbraids Thine ear.
Fain would I leave all empty creeds,
And make a music of my deeds._
XII
THE LAW OF COMPASSION
Thus to love our fellow men is a difficult business,--there is none
harder. It is so difficult that only a few in any age succeed on so
conspicuous a scale as to attract prolonged attention. Yet the secret
of success is not obscure; it lies in that temper of compassion which
is the most beautiful of all features in the character of Jesus. When
He looked upon the multitude He was "moved with compassion"--never was
there more illuminative sentence. It reveals an attitude of mind
absolutely original. For the general attitude towards the multitude in
Christ's day was harsh and scornful. All the splendid intellectualism
of Greece existed for the favoured few; beneath that glittering edifice
of art and letters lay the dungeons of the slave. It was the same with
Rome; it was an empire of privilege, in which the multitude had no
part.
Pages:
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83