The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-12-19

your enemies. Do good to them that
hate you. Render not evil for evil,
but return evil with good.
There is a jungle story of monkeys
who found a string of priceless
pearls. Pearls naturally meant moth
ing to the monkeys, but their leader
knew that something about the lus-
trous rope of shining white globes
was rare. So through the tree-tops
he went, waving his find, chattering
and squawking, and after him came,
chattering and squawking, his noisy
people.
Just so man knew, even from the
beginning, that what the Master
preached was rare; that in those
simple words lay the secret of life,
the cure for all the worlds dis
orders. He seized upon his prize
and carried it down the years, call
ing to all who would listen that he
had found something quite unique
among the worlds treasures.
But apparently man knew no more
how to use it than the monkeys
knew what to do with their pearls.
If man HAD known there would new
er have been war; there would
never have been poverty and slunS,
with all that they breed of suffering
and crime and sickness. There
would never have been kings nor rul-
ers, for the greatest among us would
have been our servant, and it would
have been the noble object of the
leaders to see how humble, how
helpful, how like the Master they
might make themselves.
We know how different has been
the worlds story! We know that
hate and greed and fear are reach
ing their fateful zenith today, and
that in all Europe there are only a
few nations left where one may dare
voice even the name of Christ. We
know that in stupid blindness, we
have been building Maginot lines
and Siegfried lines of hatred and re-
venge in our hearts, and that the
war fever is crossing the ocean to
touch us and infect us with the mad
ness that is reigning there.
Pray for Guidance.
But still the miracle of the Christ.
mas Child lives on. He is still near,
with His eternal promise of peace
and forgiveness and love. However
full of mistakes the past, it can be
wiped away by the simple prayer
that brings to Him a child's heart
and child's trust. We don't know
the way out of the darkness. We
have lost faith in ourselves. But
the way is always there. And the
promise is always there; task and
We shall receive. Knock, and it shall
be opened unto you.''
A sobered Christmas, a quiet
ChristmaS,-not like our usual JOY
GUS holidays. But perhaps to prove
someday the most fruitful of even
tual good that the world has known
since the first Christmas of all.
So I think our prayer this Christ
mas should be only prayer for
guidance. Not that dictators will
die and guns will succeed and con-
querors be humbled and ships be
sunk. Not anything about great
world affairs at all.
But that in each one of our hearts
a new spirit will be born at that
star-lighted hour when the Child
Himself is born anew.
Let us offer a solemn prayer not
for pride and power, not for what
you think and l think is the solu-
ton for all national and information
al problems. But that each of us, in
her own sphere and through her own
homely daily duties, may begin to
follow the law. With forgiveness,
even for what seems unforgivable.
With charity. With confidence that
when we are worthy of peace, and
only then, real peace will be given
the world, and that the price of that
peace can only come on the old
terms of loving your neighbor as
yourself for the love of God.