I can't remember when I've read a more moving piece on Christian compassion.

 "Here is a little penurious, destitute, whipster of a man, --- as it were, made up of that which was left, a mere biscuit after the loaf. You hear the neighbors say he is "the smallest specimen of a man in this neighborhood. But if you, a minister of Christ's gospel, look upon him, there is that in him which ought to make our heart yearn and swell towards him. Christ died for him, and eternity has registered his name. Simple as he is, poor as he is, thin as he is, unsatisfactory as he is, though he were but a sand-bank among rich soils, it is for you to find a way of culture that shall bring forth some beauty out of the very barrenness of his nature. Your heart should sympathize with him in such a way that you can say, "I will add to him what he lacks; I will shine into him and warm him, I will brood over him and will help him. I will do it myself!"

Lay down your life for him. Give him something of your life.

This is what you ought to live for, and this is what is meant by living a godly life, producing not ideas alone, not arguments only, but living, loving manhood, --- doctrine in living forms. It is what men ought to seek for in their closet and in their daily conversation. Henry Ward Beecher.