Year: 1863

FORGIVING SPIRIT.


Perfection in this world is unknown.
1t is only superior development of what |
nature has endowed us, that we need at
tempt. The qualities that compose each
character are few and peculiar, but in
every life there is, in greater or less de-
gree, the essential and indispensabl, at
tribute of forgiveness. Developing char
acter without this, would lie like building
barrel without the last stave. However
Systematically and perfectly we may have
arranged the preceding slaves, without
the last one the others would surely fall.
We also may cultivate sincerity, benevo-
lence, good humor, &C., but if these are
not crowned with forgiveness, the chief
value and beauty of our labor is wanting.
A forgiving spirit grants US that peace
fnl rest, excelled only by purity of con-
science. 1t dispcls all hatred and rancor
from the heart while it supports and
strengthens love and forbearance. 1t
makes the rough places of our own way
smooth, while it is beacon light to the
advancement of others. We may scan the
world in search of happiness; sift society
to ascertain friends, and after thorough
test and diligent investigation, we arrive
at one predominant fact. 1t is this,
meet with some whose austere and cynical
countenancc pierces the very heart of man,
whose frigid department benumbs the at
mosphere around him. We meet with
others whose action alone welcomes our
presence with delight. They blandly
observe civil obeisance, and friendly
fathom the soul with some kind word,
that wells the shadows of our own lite. |
pause and ask why this difference II
trace and retrace from fact to cause; view
and review the several characteristics,
and as summary Of the whole find
the welcome smile, and the tenderly ex-
pressed sentiment of the soul. are ever
proceeding from torgirtng spirit, so
carefully nurtured that it stealthily passes
the arbitrary passions like sister of





charity, breathing love and goodwill to
man. She kindly smooths the wrinkled
brow Of combativeness, and softens the
piercing eye of destructiveuess. In the
heart there is no burning volcano of re-
taliation. All is peace and quietude.
Happiness sits upon every chord of the
heart, radiating the entire being.


Again, in ascertaining friends, we are,
for time thronged with high sounding
encomiums and words of congratulation,
with those who make broad their phylac.
tcries of devotional friendship, and are,
apparently, as firm on the rock of ages.
But the cloud of misfortune is lowering
around us. We are struggling with the
counter-currents Of fate, with heart and
hand full of calculation to escape the
storm. But as misfortunes come not singly,
what accompanies this one9 One by one
do friends fall away like water dropping
from the caves. "The places that know
them now, shall know them no more"
Moreover, when life seems bitterest, who
shall come as sweet cordial to the tired
soul, save kind, forgiving being whose
aim it is to forgive that he may be for
given"


Such ones come with ready hand and
willing heart, to assist in ploughing the
greensward of life. They do not pass US
by like Levites, but like the good samari-
tan administer to our wants. 1t is thus we
sift the wheat from the tares. The self
ish and uncharitable slide away, while
the life, embcllished with forgivness is
the one you will find to be friend in
time of need. They rise not with the
morning sun, and for some mistaken deed
sink with its setting. They know that
to err is human, to forgive divine"