How beautiful and yet how rare is forgiveness! Christ taught His disciples to forgive their enemies, and in this respect as in all others, He is our great example. He said amid the agonies of the crucifixion, “Father forgive them.” A deaf mute being asked, “What is forgiveness?” took a pencil and wrote, “It is the odor which a flower yields when trampled upon,” and Sir William Jones has given us the following extract from the Persian poet Sadi-
The sandal-tree perfumes when riven
The axe that laid it low;
Let man, who hopes to be forgiven,
Forgive and bless his foe.