The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-06
A Word About Sc rrow.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted.-Matt. ", 4.
This does not mean that sorrow, in and
Of itself, is a good thing, and that we
should deliberately 90 about in search Of it.
To place such construction upon the
words would be to do them a violent in.
justice.
There is no reason for believing that
Jesus meant to speak a beatitude for sor>,
row purely as sucn. The Son of Man was
not a g~loomy.minded ~ascetic, a hater OF
He went about inviting men to wretched.
ness would be as unnecessary as it would
be unreasonable and unwarranted.
Here, then, is the substance of the sec
ond beatitudc: "If sorrow comes, be moi
discouraged by it; be hopeful, be brave;
fer after the sorrow shall come the joy
The sorrow is only one side Of the shield;
hold on in hope until you see the Other
side, and then all will be explained, and in
the explanation you shall rejoice"
In other words, Jesus here a%nnouncef
the idea that this strange old life of mau
has q. meaning, a larger, kindlier meaning
than appears upon the surface of our hui
man experience, and that tina. meaning
finds its truest expression in the word love
infinite love.
Behind the world and our life therein
behind the serio-comic drama of our hui
man existence, with its smiles and tears
its laughter and agony, its understandable
rapture and its unutterable pathos, stands
the love which never slumbers nor sleeps
which never grows faint nor weary, which
in the nighttime of sorrow and care" a
well as in the heyday Of gladness and
mirth, is slowly but surely working out til
beautiful purpose.
That was what the Great Teacher said
that day in the long ago to the people
gathered about Him on the Mount, and
every one. who knows what it ID to sit in
away at mis- heart strings thanks the Mas
ter for the comfort that His word brings.
We are all human. No matter how much
our creeds may Llffer: no matter what
"logical' hobbyhorses we may be in thu
habit of riding, deep down in our heart
is the humanity that will not 3e hushed
and to every one of us this second beatI
tude comes with the joy and strength thai
lift us up and gi7e US courage.
Sometimes, when our evil angel has tenn
porary control of us, we feel like crying
out: "What is the use? This old life il
nothing but a curse, anyway; so what's thu
use of trying to make anything out of it?
There is a great deal of human nature n
CNdG dWlul CTy-duu Vic LuSI Nv LChuCiC
the human nature the more liable it is N
give up in despair.
Human life-iooked at just as it is-isa an
affair wherein the shade vastly predomin
ates over the light. The poet knew per
fectly well what he was doing when hi
sang that word about The low, sad mu
sic of humanity" q
We have never yet dared to confess to
ourselves the actual sadness of our life
We must be diplomatic and keep some
thing back, covering up with compliment
the cold, hard fact. .s.. b
But into LIES sadness the Master fling
the note of a victorious hope!
Life, He tells us, is not a curse" True
there is sorrow in it, but tina; sorrow il
not the final thing. Sorrow, rightly borne
sweetens, beauties, strengthens us. Sor
row is the Via Dolorosa along which inf
mite love is leading US toward the character
which no Primrose Path" could ever de-
velop in our souls.
And so, when all is said, this is the sign
by which re conquer:
Blessed are they that mourn, for they
shall be comforted." - The Rev. j. B.
Gregory.