Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1894-11-15

We cannot wonder that men look dis
| trustfully upon their kind /. they have
been born and brought up in the midst
! of vice and sin and have never seen any
/ glorious or even any good thing in
human being. The very existence of
such as these depend upon their resisting
the seltishness around them by being
selfish themselves. To tell such men as
these to love one another, to return good
for evil, is only mockery. 1t has no mean
ing to them till in some way their eyes
are opened so they can see and under
stand that the things they have been
| born among is not the natural way; that
the men they live among are not
should live, but, on the contrary,
they are cropping in the darkness
and need to have some one to bring
them to the light Here are human souls
that must be born again-born from the
depth of misery and sin to knowledge
of the possibilities wrapped up in hui
man soul. And here lies the work for
those who have always lived and moved
in the midst of clear and candid coun-
tenances, in the changes of which might
and simple, the impress of firm and
tender nature, wearing, when it looked
abroad, the glow OF sympathy, bearing
on its brow the impress OF its Maker,
1t is to men and women who have
CROPPED their way out Of the darkness of
light OF love and kindness; it is to these
that the command "to love one another
comes with mighty significance. 1t IS
those that have found the fountain
source Of life that must hold aloft the
torch of love that it's light may fall upon
all. Get the most depraved of human
kind to believe thoroughly in the virtue
of one SOUL and you have helped him
long way toward the kingdom Of heaven.
Get the most bigoted Atheist to thor
ana
man, and it Will not be difficult to make
him believe in some overriding power
that gives strength to mortals.
Jesus did not command men to love
each other who had never seen human
being they could revere. He was Himself
member of the race He commanded to
love each other. He did not think any
man too low to be brought up to a moral
elevation equal to His own What He had
done, the height He had attained, all men
could reach. Christ stands to-day the
representative man. His life it was that
inspired Paul to utter words of love and
admonition to his various people; HIS
life it was that gave birth to Pauls
words, Love worketh no i'll to its neigh
Dor; love is the fulfilling of the law"
And We can not be the Christians we
should be until we too are saturated with
this same heavenly spirit; we have no
business to claim to be doing Gods work
unless We are striving day by day to love
our felloWmen better; unless we are de-
termined that we will be so filled with
this spirit of Christ that we will in no
way do ill to our neigh Dor, but will fulfill
the law to the last iota.
Yes, imagine, some of you are think
ing that sounds well; what para
disc this world would be if all men were
filled with such spirit of love and good
will, that no i'll could be done to any one.
But such thing is impossible. 1t Is well
enough to preach it, but it Is not prac-
teal. The spirit is willing, but the files h
is so weak.
The only way We can ever reach this
high plane is by act lombard, continual,
persistent effort. No good thing is ever
attained but through effort. We Will
never gain this spirit of love by shut
ting ourselves III our closets; con-
tinual prayer will not do it, save as
) We go forth and put IN practice the
virtues we pray for. The trouble with us
so many times is that We pray for VIZ
= tues and expect them to come to us with
out our eXcrting ourselves particle. Inc
only Way We can ever nope TO develop
our spiritual nature till we can obey his
, command of Chrst's to the uttermost is
to practice the precepts that lead to this
, end. Life is full of opportunities to
learn the lesson of love il we Will only
watch for them and improve them when
we see them.
But how shall We begin? If any man
, wrong will not right the first one, and
, love worketh no ill. The Father who is
in Heaven maketh the sun to shine on
the just and the Just, and what right
, have we to withhold the sunlight OF our
finite love from any mortal? In this we
should seek to do our heavenly Father
does, that We may some time become
perfect, even he is perfect.
> To the ignorant who wrong us, to those
, who have not had the light as we have
a ,.,f In. ft,sl haD ~ ,,f
| righteousness, when such as these forget
to do unto us as they would have US do to
. them, then let us have infinite patience
) with them. Patience is one OF the attrl-
. butes of love, and when we have learned
to be patient at all times, learned that
! Thine at last makes all things straight
> if we will only learn not to resent, but
wait we will be far on the road to know
, ing the whole lesson of love that worketh
. no i'll to its neghbor.
Another way to learn this lesson is to
be always kind. Seek to make others
, happy There is a difference between
trying to please and giving pleasure.
: Irving to please arises from selhshness
f We want to be we'll thought OF; giving
pleasure makes us forget self and re-
memt er others; our pleasure comes from
making Others happy. Then we must
learn to be generous Ill its broadcast sense.
We must be generous in our thoughts OF
others as we'll as in our acts toward them.
So sure as we let an ungentrous thought
! of another find a resting place i'll our
heart, it viii creep out i'll our acts, try as
we will to hide il. Love enVieth not and
it is envy that often makes us ungenerous
to our neighbor, it is envy that makes US
too often do ill to our neighbor.
Kindness, generosity and patience put
in practice will make every heart the
dwelling place to the Most High, and will
leave no room for the unklnd thought
that too often tiashe ont in angry words
which undo he good work OF lifetime.
Let each one OF US strive to be full OF the
Christ spirit and there will be no room
for anything save goodwill and love ior
Others We cannot stand upon this
mount at once, but day by day we can
advance little toward its summit by
seeking to be patient and generous and
kind and above all sincere toward all.
Thus day by day, striving to get nearer
and nearer to our Father, trying to walk
hand in hand with Christ till we are
filled with his spirit of love and charity
k.HNf