The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1905-03-24

through your Willingness 10 forgive
those who have "reviled you and perse-
cuted you and have said all manner Of
evil against you falsely for my sake"
Don't you remember how you we're
distressed by calumnles and false
charges uttered by some malicious enc
my? How angry and furious you were
against the calumniatorl You have
learned your lesson now; you have
learned how TO forgive. Was it not IN
trying TO overcome those bitternesses
and hatreds that you were led into the
realization Of the truth that God is
love and that we must forgive men
their trespasses, even as our Father
i'm heaven forgives us our trespasses.
Oh, yes, iniustlces have their spiritual
mission. They have taught us that the
true gospel does not consist simply I'm
showing how we should reach out our
hands 10 our friends, but also how we
should reach ont loving hands to our
enemies. In triumphing over the
wrongs by which We are surrounded
God is teaching MS how, for his sake, we
can triumph over our own evil selves.
Has death no purpose in the divine
economy? Have all the agonies and
sorrows and bereavements no wise de-
slgnf Ask that father who when he
parted with his beloved child learned
to love and trust God and lived hal
lowed life ever after in the hope Of
once more clasping her i'm his arms.
Ask that husband whose wife passed
from his ken and whose days Of lone
lincss drove him for comfort to him
whose love brightens every sorrow. II
is at a fearful cost that some men
learn the lesson Of faith. but ence
learned they bless even the loss that
taught them.
Our earthly loss may mean our heav.
enly gain. The agonies Of death may
yet be swallowed up in victories that
shall never die There is a beautiful
legend told that in the far east a king
was TO make long journey. lie there
fore sent ahead Of him his representa-
tive TO build for him a palace in which
he might live while he sOjourned there.
lie provided this forerunner literally
with money and supplies. When the
representative Of the king arrived In
this faron land he found there raging
a great famine and plague. Thousands
upon thousands Of the people there
were dying from hunger and the dis
eases resultant from starvation. SO
this representative Of the king changed
his gold into bread. He sold all the
royal jewels and bought still more
bread Then he bartered away the
kings raiment and his horses and char
lots. and with the money he bought still
more bread until all the people were
fed and the famine was stopped At
first when the king heard what had
been done he was very wroth. But
when he found out how many lives had
been saved with his money he honored
his forerunner 10y making him prime
minister
A short time after this the king died.
When he came 10 the gate Of heaven,
NJ first he was refused admlttance, for
he seemed 10 have no heavenly pass
port. Then the great King Of kings
came forth and said: Let him in. Let
him In. lie has one OF the finest man
sions in heaven reserved for him"
Then the King Of kings took the
frightened immortal along
one Of the chief bouleyards Of heaven
and pointed TO a mansion near the
great white throne and said There
is your palace. You have built H."
when and where did | build yonder
palacef' asked the earthly king. Then
the King Of kings answered: when
your forerunner with your consent
wiped away the tears Of those starving
people I'm that faroI land caught
those tears and changed them
into Jewels Here they are glltterlng
I'm your crown, which you will end in
yOnder palace When he erected tomb
stones over the pauper graves Of the
dead took those stones and lifted
them into the stones Of yonder walls
When he stllled the cries Of the hun
cry begging for bread | transformed
those sobs into the songs Of your ever
last triumph. Here IS your palace,
here your jeweled crown"
In this strange legend find a mes
sage Of consolation. Our gifts. our sor-
rows. our sacrifices. all the pain and
sadness and WEAKNESS we bear. are not
lost. They are intrusted 10 Christ,
who uses them all in his ministry Of
love. The Divine Father accepts the
Offering and transforms It into treas
ury Of gems. an eternal palace in which
we shall live forever with our Lord.
There we shall fnd our loved ones
whom we lost; there our heartaches
and tears take on the form Of brilliant !
whose glory shall never fade,
and in the terrible black winged mon
ster Of death we recognize the white