Holiness: For the Will of God Is Your Sanctification – 1 Thessalonians 4:3 [Annotated, Updated]

by J.C. Ryle

Empathy has the greatest power to draw us and to open our hearts. Proper and correct counsel often falls dead and useless on a heavy heart. Cold advice often makes us remain silent, shrink, and withdraw into ourselves when it is given in the day of trouble. Genuine sympathy in such a day will call out all our better feelings, if we have any, and obtain an influence over us when nothing else can.