Having thus fortified his soul, and asked for succor
where he had now so long been accustomed to seek and to find it, the
worthy missionary took his seat quietly on a log, on which the
corporal had been previously placed by his captors.
The time had arrived for the chiefs to proceed in the execution of
their purposes. Peter, profoundly struck with the prayers of the
missionary in behalf of his enemies, had taken a station a little on
one side, where he stood ruminating on what he had just heard. If
ever precept bore the stamp of a divine origin, it is this. The more
we reflect on it, the clearer do our perceptions of this truth
become. The whole scheme of Christ's redemption and future existence
is founded in love, and such a system would be imperfect while any
were excluded from its benefits. To love those who reciprocate our
feelings is so very natural, that the sympathies which engender this
feeling are soonest attracted by a knowledge of their existence,
love producing love, as power increases power. But to love those who
hate us, and to strive to do good to those who are plotting evil
against ourselves, greatly exceeds the moral strength of man,
unaided from above.
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