HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.–Luke 15:28

The Causes for Such Silence: The Stress on Compassion

The second reason is to be found in this–in the Gospel message of compassion. That was so new, so new and so amazing, that for a little it obscured all else. There may be elements in the ethic of the Gospel which were familiar to the older world. That is exactly what we should expect since God has never left Himself without a witness. But there was one thing in the Gospel that was new and set it apart from all the thought of ages, and that was its magnificent insistence on the need and the blessing of compassion. For the first time in the world, the grace of pity was placed in the very center of the virtues. For the first time tenderness of heart was made a manly and a noble thing. And such was the thrill of this discovery, and the power it gained over the hearts of men, that it dimmed the thought of duty towards equals. It was the Christian’s mark to be compassionate –to help the poor, to cheer the solitary. He went to the least and lowest of mankind, in the great love wherewith His heart was burning. And you cannot wonder that that great enthusiasm, so utterly unknown in paganism, pushed into the background, as it were, the statement of our duty towards equals.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW …..