Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1917-12-19
DISCORD in FANIL Y
The Only Remedy for the Quar-
reIs in the Home Is Greatest
Thing in WorId-Love.
(Teyt-Genesis 81 1929

more common than, and none so dis
tressing as family discord. The closer
the ties that bind, the greater the
chafng may be and the sorer the
wound that this cbafng makes. The
sweeter the fruit, the sourer the vim
egar; and when family affection turns
sour, the product is worthy of the dis
cord of the bottomless pit.
No better illustration Of the causes
and results of family discord does the
Bible afford than the story of Joseph,
his father and his brethren.
How many children today grieve
over the preference of parents for a
brother or sister! The less favored
one is not so winsome or pretty, per-
haps, or he finds it less easy to express
his affection; and in secret, though too
proud to tell his sorrow, he grieves
over this partiality, and comes to
think at last that he has no chance to
make his way in life in comparison
with his more favored brother.
Nothing is more foolish than the
exhibition of such partiality. Indeed,
it is almost criminal. 1t is apt to rem
der the favored one conceited and top
lofty, and to depress and mortify and
sour the less attractive. 1t is crafty
ing to know-that often the affection OF
father and mother is poured out more
lavishly on the SICK the crippled, the
ill-favored; but when the reverse is the
case, family quarrels are sure to fol-
low.
Our theme has to do with the fam
lily life of Jacobs sons. We can easily
trace the course of the quarrel which
almost ripeped into murder. PARTIAL
ity, wrangling, conspiracy and intend
ed fratricide were the seeds and fruits
of this evil tree. Every family quarrel
contains some of these hateful seeds
and may bear such hideous fruits. l
am glad that the future story OF Jo-
seph relieves this dark picture. Age
sometimes hardens and sOurs the dis
position, but sometimes it sOftens and
sweetens it. In the case of Jacob and
his sons it seems to have the latter
effect. They grew to be better men as
they grew older.
At last Joseph had an opportunity
to take glorious revenge. During all
the years of his obscurity in the pal
ace and in prison he kept warm place
in his heart for his old father, and bore
no ill-will toward the brothers who had
treated him so i'll.
SIS the old man your father, yet
alive?" he asks with trembling voice
and eyes so moist that he dared not
eat with his brothers in the palace lest
he betray himself. Tie hcaped Benja-
Minis plate with q fivefold portion.
showing the same partiality for the
youngest brother that his father had
shown for him, but not with the same
disastrous results. For the older broth
crs had been chaStened by their af-
flictions, and starved into humility.
and did not resent the favOritism
shown to Benjamin. They groveled IT
the feet Of their unknown brother, the
great premier of Egypt bowling before
him rs his dream predicted, and he
completed the conquest by forsivinG
and loving them, and falling on their
necks with kisses, and giving them aft
erward Of the best of the land.
Thus ended this bitter family feud.
We could scarcely have expected such
sequel.
The sequel to the feud in Jacobs
family points to the only remedy, for
all such quarrels. 1t is spelled love,
and it is described more beautifully
than in in any other literature in the
thirteenth chapter Of Corinthians.
What a divine remedy is love for
curing family discord! 1t is the only
one. Such quarrels, unless love ends
them, will be likely to grow more and
more bitter until they end in the di-
vorce court, as they have done so
often, or possibly in murder and the
murderer's cell.
Let us pray in every family circle,
at every family altar, for the love that
is kind, modest well behaved, gen.
erous, gentle, that hopes and believes
all good things about another-the love
that never faileth.-Rev. Francis E.
Clark, D. D., LII. D., founder and
President Of Christian Endeavor.