The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-06-08
Richmond, Ind.

The Blessedness of Right Desire.
Blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be
flled.-Matt., ". 6.
Observe the word. 1t is not creed, or
ritual, or money, or power, or pleasure,
but righteousness. BLESSED are they
which do hunger and thirst after right
eousness."
Character, manhood, the noble life
that was what Jesus was talking about.
But take care not to miss the main
point in this Beatitude. Jesus did not say
BLESSED are they which are righteous"
say it. What He said was this: Blessed
are they which do hunger after righteous
mesa,
In other words, the Great Teacher de-
clared, in substance, that there is a bless
ing for those who truly and sincerely de-
sire to lead the noble life, even though
they should often fail in their attempt to
lead it.
OF course, righteousness is a grand and
beautiful thing, and he who has it is to be
congratulated, for his is the peace which
passeth all Understandings" but he must
not forget the man who, though he often
bitterest grief, and, getting up, fights like
q hero for his ideal until he falls again!
It is not the falling, but the way in
which one falls, that tells the story of
ones worth or worthlessness. To fall and
not to care about the falling, to do wrong
and to feel no remorse for the wrong, to
insult hfe's sanctities and to feel no grief
for the insult-thaJ is one thing; but to
fall and feel the shame Of the fall, to do
wrong and heartily to repent of the
wrong, to degrade ones better self and to
keenIy feel the degradation, is quite
another thing.
1t is one thing to fall easily, contentedly,
like a weakling and a coward; it is an.
other thing to fall against ones will, and
only after a hard fight has been made
with the finally victorious tempter.
There are noble men and women who
have never fallen; but all who fall are not
ignoble. Anything but ignoble is the man
who, though oyerthrown, never shows the
white feather, never swears allegiance to
the evil that wounds him; is ever, in his
heart of hearts, a lover Of the good, and,
fighting to the last ditch, dies with his
face toward the light!
The desire for righteousness! 1t is not
to be despised, for it has the blessing of
the Master Himself.
Speak not too lightly of those who fall,
of those who, hard pressed by temptation,
stagger and stumble along the way.
Some Of them, We know, have fought
the temptation hard and long, have tried
manfully to keep up, and have been more
heroic in their failures than others have
been in their success.
They have hungered and thirsted after
Righteousness; they have hated the evil
that has ~despoiled them; in their hearts
they have loved the good that they have
so poorly, served, and they know, and God
knows, that their souls have never err
rendered.
And so Jesus threw out this fourth
Beatitude, like a lifeline, to those who
were struggling in the deep waters of Sin.
He knew that those waters were, to
those who were struggling in them, the
waters not only of Sin, but of Sorrow, and
He took pity on them and gave them his
blessing.
Now it is when we perceive and act
upon such large and noble Spirit as this
that we become Christians.
Jesus was great. and beautiful, and di.
vine, not because He was of the House OF
David" but because He. had q heart pure
enough and large enough to recognize
goodness, even when it existed only in the
shape of a good intention.
Whenever He saw the good intention,
the noble desire, He crowned it with His
loving approval, and, in his infinite char
ity. accepted tie will for the deed.
Yes, let the narrow-minded and the
s~cornful say what they will, it is true that
blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, fcr they shall be
filed"
ga filed" There is health in the
word, and victory! The desire for right
eousress means that somewhere, some
time, somehow, the desire shall be
crowned with ~fruition, for something
deeper than mere logic tells us that
Fierce tho the fends may fight,
And long tho the angels hide,
We know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side.