Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-12

and tied them to four eagles necks
which few awny In opposite directions.
And there are now domestic antipa-
thies that seem forever to have scat
tered all parental memories to the four
winds OF heaven. How far the eagles
fly with those sacred ashes! The hour
OF sundown makes to that family no
practical suggestion. Thomas Carlyle,
In his biography of Frederick the
Great, says the old king was told by
the confessor he must be at peace with
his enemies II be wanted to enter
heaven. Then he said to his wife, the
queen, write to your brother after
am dead that L forgive him." Roloff,
the confessor. said, Her majesty had
better write him Immediately" NO."
said the king, after l am dead; that
will be safer" So he let the sun of
his earthly existence go down upon his
wrath.
Again, we ought not to allow the
sun to set before forgiveness takes
place. because we might not live to see
another day. And what II we should
be ushered into the presence Of our
Maker with grudge upon our soul !?
The majority of people depart this life
in the night. Between IL o'clock p. IN.
and o'clock q. IN. there Is some
thing In the atmosphere which relaxes
the grip which the body has on the
soul, and most people enter the next
world through the shadows of this
world. Perhaps God may have ar
ranged 1t in that way SO as to make
the contrast the more glorious. / have
seen sunshiny days In this world that
must have been almost like the radl-
nnce Of heaven. But as most people
leave the earth between sundown and
sunrise they quit this world at its
darkest, and heaven. always bright,
will be the brighter for that contrast.
Out Of darkness into irradlation.
Burden of Old Grudres.
Shall we then leap over the roseate
bank of sunset into the favorite hunt
ing ground Of disease and death. car
ryipg our animosities with us? Who
would want to confrAt his God,
against whom we have I'll done mean
er things than anybody has even done
against us, carrying old grudges? How
can we expect his forgiveness for the
greater when we are not willing to for
give others for the less? Napoleon
was encouraged to undertake the cross
ing Of the Alps because Charlemngne
had previously crossed them. And all
this rugged path Of forgiveness bears
the bleeding footsteps of him who con-
quered through suffering, and we
ought to be willing to follow. On the
night Of our departure from this life in
to the next our one plea will have to
be for mercy, and 1t will have to be
offered In the presence Of him who has
said, "If you forgive not men their
trespasses. neither will your Heavenly
Father forgive your trespasses." What
a sorry plight II we stand there hat
Ing this one. and hating that one. and
wishing that one a damage, and wish
Ing some one else calamity, and we
ourselves needing forgiveness for TO-
600 obliquit!es of heart and life. When
our last hour comes, we want 1t to find
us all right. Hardly anything affects
me SO much In the uncoverlng Of Pom
peii as the account Of the soldier who,
after the city had for many centuries
been covered with the ashes and
scorie of Vesuvius. was found stand
ing In his place on guard, hnnd on
spear and helmet op head. Others fed
at the awful submergement. but the
explorer. 1.700 years after, found the
body Of that brave fellow in right posi-
tion. And 1t will be a grand thing IT,,
when our last moment comes, we are
found In right position toward God, on
guard and unaffrlghted by the descend
Ing ashes from the mountain of death.
do not suppose that am any more
OF a coward than most people, but de-
clare to you that would not dare to
sleep tonight IL there were any being
In all the earth with whom l would
not gladly shake hands, lest during the
night hours my spirit dismissed to 9TH
er realms, should, because of my un-
forgivIng spirit, be denied divine for
giveness.
But" says some woman, there is q
horrid creature that has SO injured me
that rather than make up with her
would die first" Well, sister, you
may take your choice, for one or the
other 1t will bA-your complete pardon
Of her or Gods eternal Punishment Of
you. But" says some man, that fel-
low who cheated me out of those
goods. or damaged my business credit,
or started that lie about me In the
newspapers. or by his perfldy broke
up my domestic happiness, forgive him
! cannot. forgive him will not" Well,
brother, take your choice. You will
never be at peace with God till you are
ut peatH with man. Feeling as you
now do, you would not get so near the
harbor Of heaven as to see the light
ship. Better leave that man with the
God who said: vengeance is mine.
will repay" You may say: II will
make him sweat for that yet. will
make him squirm, l mean to pursue
him to the DEATH" But you are damag-
Ing yourself more than you damage
him, and you are making heaven for
your own soul an impossibility. If he
will not be reconciled to you. be recon-
ciled to him. In five or six hours 1t will
be sundown. The dahlias will bloom
against the western sky. Somewhere
between this and that take shovel
and bury the old quarrel at least six
feet deep. "Let not the sun go down
upon your wrath"
Ronounce Hatrods.
NRutn Won say UI haya mora Than