The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-11-08

Is TtDOItSu Vi u river III WhCiClh1 Al
black sheep be but bathed, their wool imme-
diately will turn white, and it is well known
that the waters of Jordan cleansed the lep-
rosy of Naaman the Syrian. So whatsoever
he be that bathes himself in the pure fount-
ain of repentant tears shall be purged from
all the filthiness of sin. Our tears are
kind of silent prayers, which, though they
say nothing, yet they obtain pardon, and
though they plead not mans cause, yet they
procure mercy from Gods hands,"
Attempts have been made to describe the
comfort one feels, who, having confessed his
sins, is forgiven; but we get outside of the
realm of human vocabularies when we try
to put comfort of this sort into nouns, verbs,
etc.
Doubtless the text has bearing on a
general providential fact in life, to wit, that
present crosses, tolls, sacrifices, may end in
triumphs call for palms of victory instead
of handkerchief of grief. David said: " 1t
is good for me that 1 have been afflicted.
Ps., 1871. Most successful men can look
back on early days of severe trial. Cicero
was not far from Christian when he said ::
"No man can be brave who thinks pain the
greatest evil; nor temperate who considers
pleasure the highest good"
What shall wish thee, thenf God knoweth
well,
If should have my way. no shade of woe
Should ever dim thy sunshine; but know
Strong courage Is not learnt in happy sleep,
Nor patience sweet by eyes that never weep"
d. We now reach st. Luke's fourth be-
Blessed are ye when men shall
hate you, and when they shall separate you
from their company, and shall reproach you
and cast out your name as evil for the Son
of Mans sake, rejoice ye in that day and
leap for joy, for, behold, your reward is
great in Heaven; for in the like manner did
their fathers unto the prophets" St Luke,
6:22, %. This corresponds with st. Mat
thew's eighth beatitude. 5: 1912. st. Mat
thew's reads: Blessed are they which are
prosecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs
is the Kingdom of Heaven; blessed are ye
when men shall revile you and prosecute
you, and shall say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake; rejoice and be ex-
ceeding glad, for great is your reward in
Heaven; for so prosecuted they, the pro-
phets, which were before YOU"
" 1t is only when we are reviled for Christ's
sake that we have any right to enjoy it, or
to think it brings blessing. A great many
of us are reviled on our own account, and to
those who know US, this doesn't seem very
strange. Even though all manner of evil
should be spoken against us falsely because
of personal hostility to us and to our ways,
or because of pure righteousness on the
part of the slanderers, it does not follow that
we shall have special blessing through
being prosecuted. 1t is when our devotion
to Christ is made an object of revilng; when
our faith in him in matters of daily life are
sneered at or misrepresented; when our
readiness to give of our substance with the
utmost freedom at his call is called folly or
sin; when our separateness from the world
is denounced as bigotry; when our adher-
ence to the demands of conscience at great
cost and at every risk loses US employment,
or friendship, or Tespect-then it is that we
claim this blessing; and that it will hold
good to us in it's literalness."
Beecher declared:
THE most you can do to a good man is to
prosecute him, and the worst that persecu-
ton can do is to kill him. And killing a
good man is as bad as it would be to spite a
ship by launching it, The soul is built for
Heaven, and the ship for the ocean, and
blessed be the hour that gives both to the
true element"
Alexander Pope said:
Ny first happiness arises from a con-
sciousness that have the friendship of the
wise, the learned and the good my next
greatest felicity, from knowing l have the
ill-will of all fools, coquets and scoundrels."
II. CHRIsT's WOES VS.. BEATITUDEs.
We have three verses from ST. Luke (6 ::
2426, inclusive) which are in contrast with
the beatitGdes There is not space for full
notes on this paragraph. The following
summary of sermon by the Right Rev.
Arthur G.. A. Hall, of Vermont. may serve.
His subject was verses "a and %. What
men want is not what they really need !;
what is needed is TO correct our desires and
to ra;se our minds TO nobler aspirations
than what is worldly merely. Riches may
take to themselves wings and fly away.
The earthly merriment and joys, IN the
very nature of things, must soon pass away,
and then what is there left To console US !?
When Jesus pronounces woes against riches,
it is not the riches in themselves that he de-
nounces. II is the hindrance they present
to spiritual advancement. 1t is not the &C
emulation of riches but it is the seeking
our consolation in them, and allowing our
senses TO clog our souls. 1t is not that the
possession of wealth shuts one out from the
kingdom of heaven, and that TO enter it one
must be poor. God never intended anything
of the kind when he spoke of the difficulty
of rich man entering his kingdom. Wealth
does not shut one out from heaven, nor does
poverty give one right to enter it. The
man who accumulates property in an honest
and honorable manner, and uses it for the
welfare of others, is as acceptable in the
sight OF God as the man who lives in pow
erty all his days. The danger of wealth is
that it is liable to Withdraw the mind from
spiritual things and cause one to neglect the
duty he owes to God"