The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-11-16

, war was over all the veterans of Crimea
| in London We're asked at a banquet one
night to write down upon a piece of pa
| per the name that was dearest to them
in connection with the war When the
papers were collected there was only one
name found on them all Ii was Flor
! ence Nightingale.
/, Incapacitv to suffer or Indifference to
| the suffering Of others leads downward
| toward the brutes and not upward toward
/ God The Alaskan smothers his own
mother The Caucasion suffers an ex-
| uuisite nervous shock at the sight of the
mangling of dog beneath the railway
! cars Which is blessed?
I Herodias looked with feeling of grim
| satisfaction upon the still twitching feat
ures of John the Baptist whose head
! was half floating In blood upon the rude
platter upon which the headsman pre-
sented It, Clara Barton's heart broke
over our wounded soldiers When was
! blessed?
! The Pharisees gloated over the prospect
! OF stoning the life out af the woman
! taken in adultery. Jesus. with heavy
! heart and downcast countenance. stopped
| to write short sentence in tn" sand
Which was blessed?
/
those who have the capacity for suffer
ing, mourning or sympathetic gric.." but
Blessed are the actual sufferers. Blessed
are those who are bearing heavy burdens
those undergoing a terrible shock.
| Let us see If we can not enter more
| fully into the mind of our Master. No
| man ever comes to know himself or ar
+, rves at an experience OF great hearted
tn W
as marriage bell. Most Of are
| held In a sort of spell by the external
! world. We know a thousand things, but
we do not know self 10 mutitudes. real
! self has never been revealed. We cal
| culate the earning power OF our money,
| the drawing power of our horses. The
! yield of our lands. the horsepower of
| our engines and the volts OF our dyna-
mos. but we do rot know the possibilities
| In self. No man ever comes to know him
self or to find his real self till he is
/ shocked into consciousness Living as
we do in a sort of dream, we have to be
awakened The spell OF the external
world must be broken The charm OF
material things must be dispellco. The
man who finds hts better self IN finding
it. also finds God. The spirit of our
| Good Father hoveYs above the fragments
! OF our broken idols
| ANY experience that helps to find real
| self and truth and humanity and God is
q blessed thing. Suffering and bereave-
| ment 0ftenest do it. No man can THINK
| himself into large sympathy with his fel-
| lows A heavy spell of sickness often
| teaches US more about God than an
octave volume on theology. The human
| heart is Hike the rock which Moses smote
| IN the Wilderness from which refreshing
| streom ms flowed Blessed is the man who
has had the fiinty surface Of his own
/ heart broken that from it may flow
streams OF nifty, gentleness tenderness,
| compassion ana sympathy. The serious
Illness or death Of relative or dear
| friend may make look at self and
| things for the first time in the light Of
| the eternities and cause us 60 estimate
things according to the standard Of eter-
, T.ftv
friend Of mine one day brought me
q beautiful mineral specimen. 1t was
what the seologist calls a geode. From
the outside It locked like simply course
! round stone No ono ever discovered
anything OF beauty or attractivencss in
| it. 1t had lain for years in a roadway
and the wheels Of the passing vehicles
! an unusually heavy wheel had struck it
! severe blow and broken 1t in half
! Then the beauty was revealed lining
/ the entire inside, for It was hollow. was
/ layer Of limpid quart crystals as
! spa killing as diamonds that caught the
| rays Ct sunlight and broke them into TO-
! 600 rainbows that dazzled the eyes. so
with man. Only through the crevices
! of the broken heart does the Christlilse
/ shine
The world confounds happiness with
/ blesscdness. IN a very superficial sense a
! man may be happy without ever being
/ touched in his deepest part. in his Vi
/ tails, and walenad to profound conscious
/ ness, but without such an experience he
/ can never he strong and brave, Joyful or
! blessed Most persons who discover their
] own inherent poverty ana their pOssii i'll
! ties OF greatness are j0stled INTO con-
seriousness by pain, disease or bereave-
ment. So Jesus would say by This beat
itude That man who has been reared
! in ahiuence, who has always enjoyed ro-
/ bust health. who has never lost. by death,
! 4 member of his immediate family. or
dear friend. Is not the man TO be envied
4 not the blessed man Likely ne is self
ism self-centered, self-contaiued, indf
/ ferent 10 the sufferngs of others On the
/ other hand, that man is to be enEied
. =
/ experience "a the loss Of his property
/ or long sickness or especially the loss
! OF some Of them who were as dear to
/ him rs life itself"
Job furnishes us with an excellent illus
tration Of the philosophy Of this beatl-
! tude. When first we see him he is the
central figure Of a picture that seems
to be drawn to the ideal Of oriental hap
/ piness He enjoys good health. He has
/ a strong ana well ordered house seven
sons and three daughters. He Is rich in
! all that goes to make up the wealth of
an eastern country-nOcks ana herds and
| drovcs OF canels and she asses. And.
withal he is pious There seems little
| that could be added to the picture as we
! see the patriarch going early in the morn
| ing to the place OF sacrifice, and, while
the smoke Of incense rises, throwing the
mantle of his prayers over the members
of his house Job prays for his wife and
children.
It is hard for us to find the flaw in
| Job as we gaze upon this scene And yet
! the flaw is TO be found a the highest
NE His synpathies and prayers are
See him as he comes out from under
the heavy experience that befel him.
! The Sablans have driven away his oxen
and she asses The Chadeans have
stolen his camels. The lightning has
killed his sheep. His servants are slain.
: A tornado has killed his children at their
feast in the eldest brothers house. Sore
hollis. or leprosy. has seized his own
body. In poverty, pain and humiliation
, he creeps to the 'sh heap and. having
/ torn his garments from his burning body.