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The Finger of Charity

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 9, 1871

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 37, No. 21.

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The Finger of Charity

WHEN an eminent painter was requested to paint Alexander the Great, so as to give a perfect likeness of the Macedonian conqueror, he felt a difficulty. Alexander in his wars had been struck by a sword, and across his forehead was an immense scar. The painter said, “If I retain the scar, it will be an offense to the admirers of the monarch; and if I omit it, it will fail to be a perfect likeness. What shall I do?” He hit upon a happy expedient; he represented the emperor leaning on his elbow, with his fore-finger on his brow, accidentally, as it seemed, covering the scar on his forehead. Might we represent each other with the finger of charity on the scar, instead of representing the scar deeper, darker, and blacker, than it actually is? Might not Christians learn from heathendom a lesson of charity, of kindness, and of love?