Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1910-01-05

CHRISTMAS THOUGHTS.
Patience the Road to Perfect Love
and Hope.

TO maintain steady and unbro-
ken mind, amid all the shocks of
adversely, forms the highest honor Of
man. AflictiOn, supported by pa
tience and surmounted by fortitude,
gives the last finishing stroke to the
heroic and virtuous character. Thus
the vale Of tears becomes the theater
Of human glory; that dark cloud
presents all the beauties In the bow
Of virtue. Moral grandeur, like the
sun, Is the brightest in the day Of
storm, and never Is so truly sublime
as when struggling through the dark
ness Of an eclipse.
Job had great faith and unbound
ed patience. After all Of his prop
erty had been swept away, and a
great wind from the wilderness smote
the four corners Of his house, killing
his children, Job arose and rent his
mantle and shaved his head, and fell
down on the ground and w0rshiped.
Patience and love are synonymous
terms. Patience Is the guardian of
faith, the preserver of peace, the
cherisher Of love, the teacher Of hui
mility Patience governs the flesh,
strengthens the spirit; It sweetens
the temper, 1t stiles anger, extin-
guishes envy, subdues pride; 1t bri-
dies the tongue, restrains the hand,
tramples upon temptations and en-
dures prosecutions. Some one has
said that patience Is love exulting,
peace Is love in repose, long-suffering
is love untiring, gentleness Is love
enduring; goodness is love in action,
faith is love on the battlefield; meek
ness IS love under discipline, temper
ance Is love under training" Love
is the supreme test of Christian char
acter 1t is unbounding; it has nei-
ther brim nor bottom. Love and
truth must be kept pure; both lie at
the bottom Of the well (hearD &.
There are no heights that must be
reached with bleeding hands, where
truth and love are to be found, but
we can put forth our hands and
touch them. The love of God in the
heart can make the soul happy under
the darkest cloud. and amid the
storms and shocks Of earthly misfor-
tune. In poverty, there Is no want
which 1t cannot alleviate; in sick
ness, no pangs which 1t cannot re-
lieve; in reproach, no stain which II
cannot wipe out; in bondage, no
chain which 1t cannot tighten; and
in death, no sting which it cannot
take away. 1t brings contentment
which bleSSes poverty, patience
which alleviates sickness, bright
ness which pours confusion on SLAM
der; n freedom from bondage and
corruption which makes the rod Of
the oDpressor light; faith by which
death Is vanquished, and in the end
1T has fullness Of joy In Gods pres
ence. This good part which shall
not be taken away"
Tennyson never spoke a greater
truth than when he said,
"Forward let the stormy moments
fly and minglc with the past:
| that loathed have come to love him
Love will conquer at the last"
Love, like truth, can be crush
ed, but 1t will rise again as If on
eagles wings. What does Paul say
about perfect love: "Who shall sep
arate us from the love of Christ? :?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or fam
Inc, or nakedness, or peril, or sword :?
Nay, in all these things, we are more
than conqucrOra through him that
loved us" Cor" says Paul, 81 am
persuaded (assured) that neither
death, nor life, nor. angels, nor prin-
cipalittcs, nor powers, nor things
present, nor things to come, nor
height nor depth. nor any other
creature, shall be able TO separate us
from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord"
And now last, let us consider Da-
vid, the shepherd boy. who, imma-
ture and youthful as he seemed
went out to meet the giant of sin,
that seemed invincible from a physi-
cal standpoint. but who proved no
match for the lad who was prompted
by the strongest motive power. We
may say, speaking hsuratively, that
the lad chose the following five
stones: "(D faith; (2) truth: (3)
obedience; CD patience, and (5) the
love OF God. How repugnant to the
spirit Of this boy was the taunting
and boasting OF this wicked monster
| against the people OF God! and we
may Justly believe that the stone
which he chose to cast first was that
invincible factor in the Gouly char
acter-love-born OF the many les
sons which he had had in patience
while following his nocks. May we
be more patient and know that our
God is working our welfare through
our great trials and afTlictions; and
may we thereby nurture that Chris
tian love, that sweet flower and lus-
cious fruit OF patience.
This IS Christmas day, and In all
Christianized lands the 25th day Of