The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1904-06-09
From Our Correspondents


| friends, love, charity, sympathy and
kindness. Under their influence his
soul becomes as symmetrical as when
a sculptor chips away the marble that
is useless and brings to light the statute
hidden within. His life becomes a cata-
logue OF holy and noble deeds, the best
legacy we can leave mankind, and the
only one that we can take with us
or that will guide us to the mansions
beyond the skies. He who is in harmony
with the universe is at peace with God,
is miracle worker, for even sin and
disease hesitate to enter where such a
soul resides supreme. And there is an
other class of emotions which literally
poison the blood and open wide the
door for every possible ailment.
They are the worst enemies of that
poise and serenity which mark an ideal
manhood, resentment, revenge, i'll tenn
per and ill will, and to cherish them is
fatal to complete happiness. They are
instruments of the human orchestra
which are out Of tune. They are hairs
in the watch, storm clouds in the sky,
the miasma of the dark and dreary
swamp of hell. Nothing demoralizes a
man SO much as a feeling of active re-
SENTIMENT a desire for revenge. The
whole nature becomes sour and self re-
spect takes it's leave. You all can see
this in some one, look around. 1t pays
you even from selfish standpoint to
forgive your worst enemy though he has
slandered and robbed you. The state of
mind OF which revenge is factor pre-
cludes the possibility of religion. You
cannot appeal to God for anything until
you have fully recovered from that SER
ious defect of character. The great
commandment is to love and the SUI
preme attainment of Christianity is the
spirit of good will to friend or foe. You
may pity him who has done you wrong
but the old rule, an eye for an eye, has
been repealed by Jesus and his love, and
in it's place has been written the higher,
more ennobling law which demands
pity, leniency, mercy and charity. The
sweetest revenge you can take is to
prove that your enemy was mistaken in
judging you harshly. Do him service
though he has done you an injury and
thus kill foe by making friend. 1t is
a very hard lesson to learn but it is
worth the learning. We live mostly in
an atmosphere Of our own making.
When what we breathe is impregnated
with hatred of anybody or anything we
become unhealthy. God so made the
world that souls can grow only by un-
selfishness. We must get it out Of us
and there is no more powerful influence
than that which follows the return of
good for evil. Try it. An evil deed
done to us ought not to excite the evil
spirit in us for it brings us down to the
level of the evil doer. If we are
Gods children we will be superior to
such policy and if the true spirit of
Christ is in us we will be. You have no
right to pray unless you have forgiven
as you would be forgiven. See. Love
me, Q God, and let me hate my neigh
Dor is prayer that would startle the
angels in Heaven. Do thou good to me,
but let me whack him won't come under
the law. In such words we read our
own condemnation, and yet there is
many prayer which is based on that
unuttered desire. The door of the in
finite is easily unlocked with the key of
love, but is barred to him who has re-
sentiments and hatreds, and will remain
so until the soul learns that good will is
better than i'll will, and that Heaven
can never be reached unless we have
something Heavenly in our lives on
earth. When anything goes wrong just
ask yourself in my opinion what would
Jesus do; you will be able to ride safely
over all the trials of life and have the
promise at it's close, you will pass
through the valley of the shadow Of
death with JOY, anticipation and hope.
By their fruits We shall know them.
Three spectreS that threaten hahv's