The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-05-11


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 mower, 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
lie might have said that bat He did not
say 1t. What He said was this: blessed
are they which do hunger after righteous.
ness"
In other words, the Great Teacher de.
cIared, in substance, that there is 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 4. grand and
beautiful thing, and ne who has it is to be
congratulated, tor his is the peace which
passeth all understanding; but ne must
not forget the man who though he often
falls, falls under protest, falls in deepest,
bitterest grief. and. getting up, fights like
hero Tor 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 teel no remorse for the wrong, to
insult life's sanctties and to feel no grief
for the insult--that is one thing; but to
fall and feel the shame of the fail, to do
wrong and heartily to repent of the
)ng, to degrade ones better self and to
anIIy feel the degradation, is quite
another thing
-, 1t is one thing to fall easily, contentedly,
like ,weaklng, 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 temptcr.
Ihere are noble men and women who
have never fallen; but all who fall are not
ignoble. Anything but ignoble is the man
VINO, 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!
Inc desire for righteousness II is not
TO be desplsed, 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
mantuliy 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 despolled 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 sur.
rendered
And so Jesus threw out this fourth
Beatitude, like a lifeline, to those who
were struggling in the deep waters of Sin
-, lie knew that those waters were to
those who were struggling in them, the
waters not only of Sin, but cf Sorrow, and
ne took pity on them and gave them his
blessing.
Now 1t 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 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 l1is infinite char.
ity accepted tie will for the deed.
Yes. let the narrow minded and the
seorntul say what they will, it is true that
blessed are they which do hunger and
thirst after righteousness, f. they shall be
filed"
'Be filed" There is health in the
word, and victory! The desire for right.
eou5ncss 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 fiends may fight,
And long tho the angels hide,
We know that truth and right
Have the universe on their side.
Rev. I. b. Gregory, in the New York
American.