  Who is thine enemy that thou shouldst love him? Is it a creature or a thing outside thine own creation? [10] Can you see an enemy, except you first formulate this enemy and then look upon the object of your own conception? What is it that harms you? Can height, or depth, or any other creature separate you from the Love that is omnipresent good,—that blesses infinitely [15] one and all? Simply count your enemy to be that which defiles, defaces, and dethrones the Christ-image that you should reflect. Whatever purifies, sanctifies, and consecrates human life, is not an enemy, however much we suffer in [20] the process. Shakespeare writes: “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” Jesus said: “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake; ... for so persecuted they the prophets which were before [25] you.” The Hebrew law with its “Thou shalt not,” its de- mand and sentence, can only be fulfilled through the gospel's benediction. Then, “Blessed are ye,” inso- much as the consciousness of good, grace, and peace, [1] comes through affliction rightly understood, as sanctified by the purification it brings to the flesh,—to pride, self- ignorance, self-will, self-love, self-justification. Sweet, indeed, are these uses of His rod! Well is it that the [5] Shepherd of Israel passes all His flock under His rod into His fold; thereby numbering them, and giving them refuge at last from the elements of earth. “Love thine enemies” is identical with “Thou hast no enemies.” Wherein is this conclusion relative to [10] those who have hated thee without a cause? Simply, in that those unfortunate individuals are virtually thy best friends. Primarily and ultimately, they are doing thee good far beyond the present sense which thou canst entertain of good. [15] Whom we call friends seem to sweeten life's cup and to fill it with the nectar of the gods. We lift this cup to our lips; but it slips from our grasp, to fall in frag- ments before our eyes. Perchance, having tasted its tempting wine, we become intoxicated; become lethar- [20] gic, dreamy objects of self-satisfaction; else, the con- tents of this cup of selfish human enjoyment having lost its flavor, we voluntarily set it aside as tasteless and unworthy of human aims. And wherefore our failure longer to relish this fleet- [25] ing sense, with its delicious forms of friendship, wherewith mortals become educated to gratification in personal pleasure and trained in treacherous peace? Because it is the great and only danger in the path that winds upward. A false sense of what consti- [30] tutes happiness is more disastrous to human progress than all that an enemy or enmity can obtrude upon the mind or engraft upon its purposes and achievements [1] wherewith to obstruct life's joys and enhance its sor- rows. We have no enemies. Whatever envy, hatred, revenge —the most remorseless motives that govern mortal mind [5] —whatever these try to do, shall “work together for good to them that love God.” Why? Because He has called His own, armed them, equipped them, and furnished them defenses impregnable. Their [10] God will not let them be lost; and if they fall they shall rise again, stronger than before the stumble. The good cannot lose their God, their help in times of trouble. If they mistake the divine command, they will recover |
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