The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1900-01-05
FARMVILIE VA. FRIDAY. JANUARY .. 1900


should, because of my unforgiving spir
1t, be denied Divine forgiveness.
But" says one woman, there is 3
horrid creature that has so injured me
that rather than make up with her
would die first" Well. sister. Won NAV
take your choice, for one or the other il
Will be-your complete pardon of her
or Gods eternal banishment OF YOU.
But says some man. that fellow who
cheated me out of those goods or dam
aged my business credit or started that
he about me in the newspapers by
ms perhdy broke up my domestic hap
piness, forgive him | cannot. forgive
him / will not" Well. brother. take
your choice. You will never be at peace
with God till you are at peace with man.
Feeling as you now do, You would not
get so near the harbor of Heaven as to
Zee the lightship. Better leave that man
with the God who said "Neneeance is
mine, / will repay" You NAV say: 81
viii make him sweat for that yet: will
make him squirm; | mean To pursue
him 10 the DEATH" but you are damag-
ing yourself more than you damage
him, and you are making Heaven for
your soul an impossibliiy. II he will
not be reconciled TO You. be reconciled
TO him. In five or six hours it will be
sundown. The dahlias will bloom
against the western sky. Somewhere
between this and that take shoyelan
bury the old quarrel at least six feet
deep. let not The sun 90 down upon
your wrath"
Oh, it makes one feel splendid TO be
able by Gods help TO practice unlim-
tied forgiveness Itimproyes ones body
and soul. My brother, il will make YOU
measure three OF four more inches
around the chest and improve your
respiration so that YOU can take a deep
er and longer breath. II improves the
countenance by scattering the gloom
and makes YOU somewhat like God
himself. lie is omnipotent and we
cannot copy that. He is independent
OF all the universe. and we cannot COPY
that. lie is creative. and we cannot
copy that. He is omnipresent. and we
cannot copy that But He forgives with /
a broad sweep all faults. and all neg T
lects, and all insults, and all wrong /
doings. and in that way we may copy
Him with mighty success. Go harness
that sublime action of your soul TO the
sunset-the hour when the gate OF
Heaven opens to let the day pass into
the eternities. and some Of the glories
escape this way through the brief OPEN
ing We talk about the Italian sunsets
and sunset amid the Apprentices and
sunset amid the cordilleras. but | will
tell you how you may see a grander sun
set than any mere lover Of nature ever
beheld; that is. by finging into il all
your hatreds and animosities, and let
the horses of fire trample them. and the
chariots of fire roll over them. and the
spearmen OF fire stab them, and the
beach Of fire consume them. and the bill
lows Of fire oyerwhelm them.
Again, we should not lei the sun 90
down on our wrath. because it is Of lit
tie importance what the world says Of
you or does to you when you have the
lffiuent God OF the sunset ss your pro-
yiGer and defender. People talk as
though il were a fixed spectacle of ma
lure and always the same. But no one
ever saw two sunsets alike, and if the
world has existed 5000 years there have
been about 2.19O,OOO sunsets, each of
hem as distinct from all the other pic
ures in the gallery of the sky as
ritian's Last supper" Rubens DE
scent From the Cross" Raphaers
and Michael Angeles
Last Judgment" are distinct from
ach hother. If that God is of such infinite
esources that he can put on the wall OF
he sky each evening more than the ,
.ouvre and Luxembourg galleries all
n one is my God and your God, our +
rovider and protector. what is the use I
f our worrying about any human an /
agonism? II we are misinterpreted ,
he God of the many-colored sunset T
an put the right color OF our action. ,
( all the garniture Of the western heav-
rs at eventide is but the upholstery Of ,
ne of the windows Of our future home, ?
that small business for us to be chas-
lg enemies. Let not this Sabbath sun "
o down upon your wrath. 4
Mohammed said: "The sword is the 4
ey of Heaven and he'll" But, my hear I
RS, in the first day we will find just a
he opposite Of that TO be true, and that !
ne sword never unlocks Heaven. and o
nat he who heals wounds is greater
ian he who makes them. and nat on (
ie same ring are two kcys-God's for v
iveness of us and our forgiveness Of h
lemies-and these two keys unlock o
aradise. 4
And now / wish for all Of you beau b
full sunset to your earthly existence. s.
18th some of YOU il has been a long j
" of trouble, and with others of YOU G.
will be far from calm. When the sun a
,se at six o'clock, il was the morning b
youth. and a fair day was prophesied. e
IT by the time the MONDAY or middle Z,
e had come and the clock OF your al
rthly existence had struck y. cloud b
cks gathered. and tempest beloved b.
the track Of tempest. But as the r,
ening Of old age approaches, pray d
ID the skies may brighten and the NJ
ouds be piled up into pillars as Of ce- t,
stial temples to which you 60, or NJ
owe as with mounted cohorts come to
ke you home. And as you sink out II
sight below the horizon, may there al
a radiance Of Christian example lin N
ring long after YOU have gone. and on n