The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-22
The Victories Of the Meek.

Blessed are the meek for they shall
herit tine earth.-Matt. ", s.
When these words were spoken by
Son of Man-who had not where u
His head-Imperial Caesar had but to
to be obeyed by a hundred millions OF
pie.
Behind Caesar were the proud Leg
and all the boast of heraldry and q
Of power" that went along with t
| while behind the Son OF Man there
nothing but the simple truth winch
hoped might, some time or other maj
all "free."s
Caesar and his legions and pandects aal
| palaces are a faded memory, a part of OF
archaeology of things, but the Gahiesn y
stronger to-day than He was when, yyR6
years ago He uttered that word about VI
meek.
and g%entieness and truth has been seaI
ing, while the man OF power, the man WltH
the legions back Of him, has been dwindj
ling.
brute force, is slowly butS6urely fetrogradj
ing, while the kingdom oxf reason, of love
and of quiet truth has been pushing tnth
front. q,
meekness it sounded very strange: II va
a time of storm and stress, OF blood amt
iron, OF organized violence and robbery,
and in the midst of such condition Of af-
fairs what show was there for such as were
meek" for such as were modest, gentle
unassuning?
But Jesus knew what he was about. JIG
was talking. not wildly, but nationally al
we'll, and the twenty centuries that hav
elapsed since He threw His beatitude int
the world only seem to show how well II
knew what He was saying.
Brute force and violence are but preiHl
the place of the beast for brute force
have reason and for violence love.
The history of the process we call ciTi
zation is the history OF the slos
steady advance. of the spiritual upd
animal, the elimination of the amin
enthroneu1ent Of the spiritual.
Even when the most noise is being
when the armies are laundering az
trumpets are changing, it will be four
it is the quiet genius of the few ii
behind it all that is doing the busina
Power, when all is said, is subj
not objection; a thing of the bra
heart and soul, rather than of the
enginery panopled with its insia
material might.
This is the greatest and grandest
ton simply because it is the fullest q
of gent1eness and Of Sweet reasona62
ness"
The old idea Of the conquerer-"wading
through slaughter to a throne" and found
ing his dynasty" on the wreck and TuiDS5
OF millions of human lives-is fast making
way for another idea-that of the one wh6s
conquers by good will, by the force of5
truth, by the client omnipotence of princt3
PIE. T.
And 80 it has steadily gone on from
beginning right down to the present,
the "meek"-the kind, the rational
just-have been getting more and md
a footing IN the earth, and a larger
in its true possessions.
The old-time struggle for life" still
or, it is true, and in the struggle 1t -
the fttest that survives, but the fttestj t.
to-day is a finer thing than was the ftti
of the long ago.
There has been a great moral adyap&
and the cookies of mems hearts to-dsE&;
warmed by the great spiritual a 6t
which Caesar never dreamy Of Hai
which the AleZanders and Dariuses net1
once heard.
The giants of the Prince that tare ess
other in their. shrine" are long since dsal
and the physical force that once lorde6
over the world is beginning to b.
mated to the force of mind and
which wins its battles not by
blood. bur by the silent inflGe1
own superior excellence.-ThomasB.V
Dry, in the New York American.