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Robert W. Woodruff
Library
Gift of
Randall K. Burkett
EMORY UNIVERSITY
Special Collections & Archives
THOUGHTS I MET
ON THE HIGHWAY
-y> "*^*k
t!Dj)oua!)ts
I MET ON THE HIGHWAY
By HENRY NORMAN
boston, mass.
the everett press
mcm v
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Year 1888,
Br HENRY NORMAN,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
INTRODUCTORY
In offering this little book to the public, all I wish to say
is that I have written the thoughts it contains just as they
came into my own soul. They have been a blessing to me,
and I send them forth, hoping they will do good to others.
Henry Norman.
Lynn, Mass.
THOUGHTS I MET
ON THE HIGHWAY
OTHIN G is worth believing that is not worth the
time and trouble it takes to prove it. I always
remember this when I hear evil reports of my neighbors.
Young man, make a queen of your mother, and God
will make a prince of you.
Which is worth the most, an arm or a character? The
reason I ask is because I notice that when a man falls
and breaks his arm, everybody seems to pity him; but when
he falls and breaks his character, he seems to have few
friends, but plenty of enemies.
The true religion is that which thrusts its arm farthest
through the slush and slime of sin and degradation to lift
a soul to its own level. ^
The most profound and most profitable words that have
ever been spoken have been so simple that a love of truth
[7]
Thoughts I Met
has been all that has ever been required to understand
fem.
There never was a sin committed which was not in
some way related to some sin that I, at some period of my
life, have committed, either by deed, word, or thought.
And, this fact ever prominent in my mind, I am always re¬
minded that, no matter what crime a man commits, my
first impulse toward him must be pity.
It is just as unnatural to be a millionnaire as it is to be
a pauper. And it is the unnaturalness of both conditions
that causes envy in one and contempt in the other.
No one can find complete joy in anything that is tran¬
sient. Nothing affords perfect happiness but that which
points to a future.
The parent who cannot control and lead a child by love
is not qualified to bring up children. It is strange that so
many who call themselves Christians will worship that po¬
etic expression of Solomon, "Spare the rod and spoil the
child," while with the blindness of barbarism they walk
over all the commands and examples of Christ, every one
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On the Highway
of which breathes love, patience, and tenderest pity for
children. Physical force is not so much as once recom¬
mended in all the New Testament.
How convenient, as well as sure, is every fixed princi¬
ple of truth. No matter how ignorant one may be, if he
is honest, that one virtue will acquaint him with all the
other virtues and make him a wise and useful man. The
virtues are all united and in perfect harmony, and to be
acquainted with one is like being intimate with one mem¬
ber of a good family: through that one member it is easy
to make the acquaintance of all.
Right and wrong are so far apart that they never touch
each other; and yet they are so close together that there is
not room for a soul to walk between them. Every one
must be on one side or the other.
So you say you don't believe the story of the Jews march¬
ing from Egypt to the Promised Land ? Well, if you will
trace yourself back to the time when you first knew there
was a right and a wrong, a vivid recollection of very many
of your acts will, or at least ought to, convince you that
your life has been a complete repetition of that wilderness
[9]
^ Thoughts I Met
experience of that rebellious host. You will see that through
sinful ignorance and doubting you have suffered many
times more and been many times longer in accomplishing
all the good you have done than you need to have suffered.
No matter how poverty-stricken a man may be, nor how
limited his education, his ability and opportunity for do¬
ing good will always be equal to his love for his fellow
mortal.
How blessed it is to hear another's troubles and be able
to sympathize. To the troubled one it is like a new lease
of life, while to the one who hears in the confidence of hon¬
est love, it is a commission from the Court of Heaven to
perform a holy work.
There is not a single position that woman has been
allowed to hold that she has not filled with dignity and
first-class ability. In proportion to the number of men
in business, women are as successful as men; and fewer
women fail in the same kinds of business than men. This
is because they are not so extravagant as men and are bet¬
ter in morals, while they are equal in judgment. The boys
who grow up under the hand of their widowed mother turn
[10]
^ O n t h e H i g h w a y
out full as well as those who come up under their father's
hand, and often better. And if a woman can be the making
of a man, she can do anything. Knowing these facts, as I
do, I should feel guilty of cruelest tyranny if I were not a
Woman's Rights man with all my heart.
No matter what trouble I might have, whether it were
poverty, debt, misrepresentation, slander, scandal, disap¬
pointment in love, or if in an unguarded moment I should
commit a crime, my first move would be to take a position
on the right side of it, which would be where the truth
could speak and act through me, no matter how cutting
it might be. Then my next move would be to examine
the trouble thoroughly,— search it all over from head to
foot, just as a detective would search a thief; for I would
know that there was secreted somewhere about it some¬
thing that would be very valuable to me. No trouble shall
ever ride through my heart without paying its fare.
Retaliation exasperates to madness and furnishes the
foe with new weapons. But that'non-resistance which is
born of charity, showing its power to strike back with kill¬
ing force, yet forbearing, arrests the attention of the enemy;
and, while he is looking on and wondering why such sac-
[11]
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Thoughts I Met
rifice is made, love gets a hearing and the rebellious soul
is conquered.
You can whip anything out of a child but badness, or
whip anything into it but goodness.
If a silver-collared pug should jump into the finest car¬
riage and take a seat alongside of the occupant, he would
receive tender strokes and perhaps a kiss. But if a poor,
sickly child, or an aching-backed washerwoman should
ask to ride in the same carriage, it would be taken as an
insult.
Bring most men face to face with the real definition of
their profession, and they will deny it and turn away from
it.
I have ceased to inquire of the learning or party politics
of a candidate for office. I have only two questions to ask
concerning him: Has he done what he could toward bet¬
tering the condition of the poor widowed mothers of his
community? Has he opposed all kinds of vice by trying
to free its victims ? If these questions can be answered in
the affirmative, I know he is qualified to fill the highest
office in the land.
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On the Highway
Every profession of truth a man makes is sure to come
back to him for recognition and redemption. He may
make it in private, but it will come back in public; and
just as he rejects or receives it, just so does he put on rec¬
ord before the world the full measure of his manhood. This
is what proves and tests character.
One of the impossible things in this world is for one
person to ignore another. It cannot be done. You may
be angry with a man and decide never to speak to him
again. But you will find that it requires more thought and
effort to pass that man once without speaking than it
would to salute him forty times. This is because there is
no provision in nature for hatred.
Nothing comes by chance. Whatever is, comes by a
fixed purpose of truth, or by infernal arrangement. Trace
the smallest mistake to its cause, and you will find it so.
Pure matrimony is of that kind of love that feels no con¬
flict, sees no obstacles, fears no danger. It does little court¬
ing; is never at a loss to know what to do. The two be¬
come one as naturally and as quietly as two drops of water
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Thoughts I Met
come together in the hollow of your hand. This is God's
method of forming two together. When it is not this way,
it is always wrong. 0^**.
When we have a thrilling feeling come upon us on the
line of truth, we are apt to think that it comes merely for
our own pleasure to make us feel good. But the object
of the feeling is to put us in a condition to conceive wisdom
and power to perform some good work. And if at the
time of such an experience we would look to God and ask
Him what He would have us do, we would soon find that
good feeling forming into thoughts, then into words, and
then into action. For good feelings are like good desires:
they must be organized before they can accomplish any-
thing. ^
When an emotion comes to your heart, be sure you do
not let it go till it tells you what it came for; for it certainly
has a mission or it could not come.
No man ever accomplished a great work who was not
an extremist. For, in order to do a great and good work,
one must be wholly given up to fixed principles, and every
fixed principle points to the end of a truth. With the heart
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i,
♦
and mind fixed on the happy result, and seeing it as the
architect sees the structure, even before a stone is laid, he
is led to adopt extreme measures, because, if he did not,
the work would never be accomplished. Herein lies the
greatness of leadership. The masses do not see the com¬
pletion of the building as the architect sees it, and how
much less the completion of a great moral structure.
As the skilled sculptor looks down through the rough
rock and sees a polished statue, just so does the true child
of God look down through a whole life of sin and see a
soul clean, pure, and God-like. This is the power of Chris¬
tian vision. _
There are only two safe and available offices of the im¬
agination. One is that which makes us think of ourselves
as being in the same condition as those less favored than
ourselves; the other is that which leads us daily to the end
of life's journey, and points us back to our record.
Did you ever notice what great relief there is in confes¬
sion ? No matter how black the crime of which I might be
guilty, the first thing I would do after repenting would be
[15]
Thoughts I Met
to confess it to some one who would sympathize with me.
Such a sympathetic person can always be found; for God
always has such people in every community. No man, how¬
ever strong he may be, can himself alone bear the recol¬
lection of his wickedness without great suffering and men¬
tal injury; but when once confessed, the burden all goes.
If you are going to build a meeting-house to worship
God in, raise your hundred thousand dollars if you can;
but be sure not to put more than ten thousand of it into
the structure. Then take the other ninety thousand and
put it into houses and land. Be sure to have land enough
to each house to keep a cow and poultry, and to raise
vegetables. Then put into each house a poor, but devout
man and wife, who are beyond middle life, and put under
their care two orphans, with the understanding that they
can live there and have all the land produces, so long as
they are kind and true to the children. Then every house
would be a Christian monument, and every child a walk¬
ing sermon, and such a sermon as a sceptic could not
contradict.
I find that if I keep my mind constantly fixed on the
truth (which I can do), no evil can approach me without
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O n
THE
H
i g h w a y
a presentiment. Sin is somewhat like a rattlesnake. It
can't touch us, in spite of itself, without first making some
kind of a noise.
If I had no children of my own, I would consider my¬
self living in open rebellion against God and human na¬
ture if I did not adopt some poor, uncared-for child and
cover it with true parental care.
The only exhibition of true democracy that this world
has ever seen took place in the beginning of the Christian
era (Acts iv, 32). The great and grand lesson taught
there is, that one Throne in one universe is enough; and
that men are never properly governed until they have been
melted into brothers.
When two confidential friends fall out there comes a
test of character. The one that gives away the other's se¬
crets first is the one that was wrong, both first and last.
Did you ever think how disgustingly foolish it would be
to create men to live here for seventy years and then die
and let that be the last of them ? Most people have three
hours' hard work, or pain, or perplexity, or sorrow, to one
[17]
4
Thoughts I Met
hour's happiness. Why, if there were no happy future for
the righteous, I would consider him the wisest and kind¬
est man who devised the easiest and quickest method of
suicide. _
There is nothing that has less method than natural
and honest conversation. It is fashionable, in what is
called polite circles, to say, "Excuse me for interrupting
you," and, "I beg leave to differ," and, "Beg pardon."
But in natural and honest conversation, where the spirit
of true friendship presides, there is none of this. The
spirit of the conversation makes everything to harmonize;
that is, nothing that is said is looked upon as an interrup¬
tion, and difference of opinion gives Truth a chance to
teach. Hence there is no need of asking leave to differ;
for all are seeking for light.
Though man be converted, washed, and consecrated to
divine service, he cannot remain in a safe and progressive
condition for one single day unless he is agitated by some¬
thing; if not by zeal, it must be by tribulation. But agita¬
tion there must be. Our Saviour says that " every branch
in him that bears fruit is purged that it may bring forth
more fruit." This means agitation. So let us not call
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o n the H i g h w a y
L
♦
those cranks who are moved by the zeal of love to step
beyond the boundary line of common methods to save
man from sin. Neither let us who are called by "His
name" get discouraged when God allows tribulation to
agitate us, that we may be qualified for noble action, and
purified to receive more of His image.
There is nothing that so beclouds and weakens the
mind as smutty or unchaste thoughts and conversation.
True wisdom only associates with virtue.
However trying the case may be,
The insult great, or the injury bad,
A weak and cowardly man is he
Who to speak his mind must first get mad.
True parental love can no more actuate parents to whip
their children than hatred can prompt them to caress them.
As I am a black man, I would say a word about the
color line.
No man was ever hated on account of his color or na¬
tionality. It is true that there is a prejudice against the
[19]
Thoughts I Met
blacks; but it is no stronger against them than it would be
against a white race in the same condition. It is just as
impossible for human beings to hate each other on ac¬
count of color as it is for the different colors of the rain¬
bow to hate each other, or the different kinds of vegeta¬
bles or animals to despise each other because of their dif¬
ferent shades and colors. The strongest and most cruel
prejudice that ever existed between races was that of the
Jews against the Gentiles. So great was it that our Saviour
used it to show the power of faith when it is exercised in
the right direction; for He said, " It is not meet to take
the children's bread and cast it to dogs." This He said
to the woman of Canaan; and when her faith had proved
to be the right kind, He gave her a compliment such as He
never paid to any one else: " O woman, great is thy faith!"
This was an eternal rebuke to prejudice.
All races have been subjugated, degraded, and enslaved
at some time, and have had to pass through an ordeal as
severe as the one that the blacks have been passing through
in this country for the last two hundred and seventy-five
years. Races are much like vegetables: they grow, bloom,
and go to seed, and of the many seeds of many races a new
nation springs up. When a nation is once broken and
scattered, it never comes together again. A nation that
[20]
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On the Highway
once dies never lives again as a nation. Its fragments
mingle in with other races and help to make new nations.
That is just what the blacks are doing in this country to¬
day. If all the African blood there is in this country was
covered with black skins there would be about twenty
millions of black people in the United States; whereas
now there are only between seven and eight millions. I
can point out forty persons within the limits of the city of
Lynn that have African blood in them who pass for white.
And this was the redeeming quality in slavery; for it is
proved by ancient history, both sacred and profane, as
well as by everything that is traceable to antiquity, that
the blacks were once a great nation. But now they are
not a nation, and never will be. The only way to raise
them up from the heathenish and barbarous state into
which they had sunken was to have them pass through
the ordeal of slavery to the plane of civilization, and then
mix in with other races; for without this mingling with
other races no fallen race could be redeemed.
That is just what makes the American nation superior
to all other nations. It opens wide its doors (or did before
we had the misfortune to have a national government that
was hypocritical enough to go on its knees to a few tyrants
who called themselves democrats, and prohibit the Chi-
[21]
T l oughts I Met
nese from coming here), and says to all races, " Come,
and be one with us; we neither fear nor hate you." The
nation that is not willing to receive within its borders all
those of other races and nations that are willing to come,
and give them all the advantages of all its institutions, is
nothing but a community of tyrants and cowards. And
there is nothing more ignorant and disgusting than the
shoddy saying in this country that " all races had better
keep by themselves." Those that preach that heathenish
and cowardly doctrine are they who hold prejudice against
the blacks. But it does no hurt whatever; for they, though
perhaps the largest in numbers, are the weakest portion
of the nation. The best people,— those who are the head¬
lights, pillars of truth, the real salt and power of the earth,
God's own mouth-pieces,— have no prejudice against
races. Therefore all that is required of any man, black
or white, as qualifications to enter the best society on earth,
are a contempt for pride and all vain things, a soul con¬
secrated to God, and a mind given to the contemplation
of the fixed principles of truth. For it was the want of
these qualifications that brought all races into bondage to
their own pride and lusts first, and then into weakness,
ignorance, and barbarism. And it is the want of these
same qualifications that makes many people degrade
[22]
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On the Highway
themselves with prejudice against the blacks and other
races in this country.
As regards the black people, I must confess that we act
silly and make ourselves disgusting and hateful by finding
fault because we are not fellowshipped by certain classes,
and by trying to force ourselves into circles where we are
opposed. There is not a good institution of any kind on
this continent from which a black man is excluded. And
any man that tries to force himself into an unprofitable
institution, where he is not wanted, proves that he is not
a good man, and makes himself intolerably disgusting. If
any man opposes me on account of the condition of my
race, I take it as a blessing; for I well know that any man
who is so given to pride and ignorance as to be so foul-
minded and false-hearted as that could be of no pleasure
nor profit to me, and therefore no man for me to associate
with. In this sense my color serves to keep me clean. I
have never been slighted or insulted in any way by any
person with whom I have wanted to associate.
O love, love! what art thou ? Thou art the wisdom of
all truthful obedience, the explanation of martyrdom, the
definition of every good work, the master of all languages.
[23]
J
r
Thoughts I Met
Meekness and charity are thy weapons of warfare, and
everlasting victory and joy will yet vindicate the adoption
of all thy methods.
How blessed it is to have our mind so intently fixed up¬
on God as not to know how much good we are doing.
Man may bury his money and his talents, but there is
one thing that he cannot bury, and that is his true char¬
acter. Truth has decreed that that shall stay above ground,
either for the profit or warning of others.
In the highest sense, self is never lost sight of. The hon¬
est and best spent life is the telescope through which man
views himself in ages yet to come.
One of the most foolish acts is that of trying to advise
an original man; for no one can know his power to orig¬
inate.
The quickest and best way for black people to put dis¬
tance between themselves and all the shoddy that holds
prejudice against them is to become deeply interested in
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On the Highway
L
I
the welfare of all mankind, and engage with all their
might in every good work. To all white people that are
not shoddy, color makes no difference.
Neither matrimonial nor Christian love is trustworthy
and enduring until it has been in the refiner's fire and
suffered pain; for human affection is not born into the
world in a perfect state, and therefore has to be purified
and moulded.
We hear a great deal about the day of miracles being
past; but the greatest miracle ever wrought is that of sav¬
ing men from sin and melting them into brothers. This
is the miracle for which all other miracles are wrought;
and so great is it that the " angels have desired to look into
iL"
How dare this nation call itself Christian so long as it
thinks murder more honorable than honest labor? What
kind of a Christianity is it that, when a soldier in the act
of killing his brother gets killed himself, gives his widow
a pension, though she may have no children; but when a
man, working to support his family, gets killed or dies,
[25]
J
f
Thoughts I Met
JL
r
leaves his widow and children to suffer cold and hunger ?
This sin of neglecting the widows and orphans is the very
sin for which God rebuked the Jewish nation.
I have known every kind of a sinner to become a Chris¬
tian, save one; and that is the professional hypocrite.
There doesn't seem to be any remedy for him. For if there
should be a new plan of salvation instituted every day,
his object would be to take advantage of it to practise
hypocrisy.
Tribulation is God's own crucible. The zeal that is
born of honesty is the white fire that melts the soul; and
patience is the mould in which it gets its perfect shape.
Granting free speech is like giving vent to a sore: if
the virus is not allowed to escape, the patient will die.
Just so it is in a moral sense. If people are not allowed
to speak out what there is in them, the mental virus will
poison the soul to death. I never punish my children for
anything that escapes their lips, for I well know that if
the evil were not in them they could not speak it. My
only remedy is to pour in virtue through words of love,
[26]
4
On the Highway
until there is no room for vice left. And how shall I know
what my child is in need of if I make it afraid to speak
that which it has ?
It matters not how odd or unpopular a thought may
be, if it comes from an honest heart it is sure to reach the
heart of every honest person that reads or sees it, and will
do «ood- ^
No one in his present condition can avoid doing as he
does. Hence no man has a right to offer a rebuke, except
he that has the wisdom, power, and love to change the
condition of the wrong-doer. Christ Himself could not con¬
sistently tell a man to abstain from wrong if He could not
give him power to do right.
This world has been at war with itself ever since it has
been a world, and has not got itself conquered yet. And
what is true of the world is true of an individual; for every
man is a world in himself, because all the elements of the
world are in him. What man ever conquered himself, or
what man was ever master of himself? This nation is
proving the great fact every day that no man can be his
[27]
h o u g h t s
Met
¥
own master, that no nation can secure for itself freedom
and happiness. Here are sixty millions of people with the
freest constitution and institutions of any nation on earth,
and every man a voter; living on a continent that has a
capacity for feeding and clothing all the people in the
world; and yet with all this, and with a knowledge of the
experience of every other nation for thousands of years
back, this nation to-day has as little happiness as any civ¬
ilized nation in the world. All this goes to prove that man
can have peace only as he obeys his Creator. For noth¬
ing is conquered or made happy by its own equal.
The man who fancies himself delivered from vice, and
has not the deepest sympathy and pity for those who are
in the same condition, is in bondage to a worse vice than
he was before.
No man ever did a wrong act while in his right mind.
Therefore, Charity is every right-minded man's counsel.
The most that fashionable religion does is to make us
gather up our garments from those less fortunate than
ourselves. But the true religion, that comes of Christian-
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4
On the Highway
ity, constrains all those that have it to wade through the
slush and slime of sin to bring the lowest up to their own
level. There is no sacrifice, no wisdom, no greatness, no
work, no knowledge, no life, that is equal to this.
No truly great man or woman was ever born of a woman
that was too proud, vain, and unnatural to nurse and take
care of her own children. Humanity is something like
wheat: it takes its character from the soil that grows it.
Whatever may be the trouble between two persons,
there is always a chance to settle that trouble in a way
that will form a stronger friendship between them than
there ever was before.
The boy who is driven to church is generally led to the
devil. But the boy who has the right example of Chris¬
tian parents at home generally drives the devil all through
life.
I have known proud persons to become humble, drunk¬
ards to become sober, unchaste persons to become virtu¬
ous, atheists to become Christians, but I never knew one
[29]
^ Thoughts I Met
of these to attribute his salvation to anything said or done
by any great pulpit orator. Which fact proves to me that
the kind of talk that a sinful world can applaud is not the
kind that saves souls.
If all the officers, as well as the rest of the men aboard
of vessels, were prohibited from having deadly weapons,
it would stop all brutality and murder aboard of vessels.
For, as a rule, captain and mates are tyrants; but they
could not tyrannize the men if they had not the advantage
of them; and, as tyrants are always cowards, every cap¬
tain would make sure to ship none but men of good char¬
acter, for he would be afraid to risk his life with bad men.
And if he were not afraid it would not be safe nor wise to
ship bad men anyhow; so it would elevate seafaring life
in every respect.
Pure bravery never fights physically; yet it always
proves itself superior to and demonstrates its power over
its enemy. ^
Ideas are produced by guess-work. They come with¬
out feeling and are most always wrong. But pure thought
always comes like a flash of lightning, hits you all over,
[30]
4
On the Highway
and thrills your very soul. It always employs one's feel¬
ings; in fact it is feeling, because it is life, and is always
right.
The best, surest, and quickest way for a man to be¬
come useful to his fellowman, and also to grow in wis¬
dom, knowledge, and power, is to hasten to impart what
he knows and understands to all that will hear him; but it
must be done from the heart. And he should seek to do
it in private talks with individuals as often as possible;
for it is the private talks that do the work. The greatest
thoughts spoken from pulpit or platform would do little
good were they not talked over in private.
Trace true Democracy to its source, and you will find
it close by the "Sermon on the Mount."
When people study theology they only learn God's
reputation as it is given by speculating men. But when
they begin to listen to that voice of love which speaks
within every man's soul, then they begin to learn God's
character, because they begin to obey Him. The quick¬
est and only true way for a child to learn the real charac-
[31]
4
Thoughts I Met
t,
ter and power of a good parent is by strict obedience. The
man that is filled with God's character despises all theories
concerning God. The study of theology is the amusement
of custom-made ministers. It matters not how great and
good your father and mother may have been, you will
never be able to do them as much honor, nor the world
as much good, by trying to study up and write out an ex¬
planation of their character, as you would do by living
their character right out in your everyday work and con¬
versation.
What people seem to be more anxious to learn than
anything else is how they can conform to every vanity in
dress and everything else; go to all worthless entertain¬
ments and still have money enough; how they can indulge
all lustings of the flesh and still be healthy; how they can
live in sin and have the peace of righteousness.
There are three things that but few people make proper
use of; namely, liberty, wealth, and learning.
I find that we cannot break any one of the Command¬
ments without violating Nature. Let any one who thinks
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On the Highway
me mistaken look well into human nature, and then ob¬
serve carefully the result of obeying the least of all the in¬
junctions in the Bible.
That man is to be pitied who thinks more of law than
of love; for it is evident that he is ignorant of law's object.
Whether married or single, it is the duty of every man
to support a woman, and the right of every woman, mar¬
ried or single, to be supported; This all nature teaches
us. In all communities where women have to work the
hardest, there you will find the least virtue, the least in¬
telligence, and above all, the least love. And I say, and
know, that no nation can rise wholly above the level of
barbarism until it grants a pension to at least all of its
widowed mothers.
If a proud man could see exactly what is in his heart,
it would scare him to death.
How blessed it is, beyond all power of expression, that
when torment would gnaw into the very core of our soul,
[33]
J
T
Thoughts I Met
we can immediately enter into perfect peace by so simple
an act as fixing our mind on our Heavenly Father. I speak
from experience, and know what I am talking about.
A man is no more to blame for being born a thief, liber¬
tine, liar, loafer, drunkard, or murderer, than he is for be¬
ing born with any physical disease.
Just as soon as I was old enough, I became a Free
Mason. Not for the good it would do me, or any one else,
but merely through pride and curiosity, the real reasons that
lead all fools to join secret societies. But I soon saw that
a secret lodge was a place of sin and delusion, and came
out. The purest and greatest men and women will tell
you that the only way you can lead a useful and noble
life is to live openly and in the light. Remember it is only
sin that seeks darkness and secrecy. Remember also the
words of our Saviour: "In secret have I said nothing."
A bigot is a man who has been convinced that a thins:
is right, and whose action is equal to his conviction. It
is bigotry that kindles the fire that eventually burns off
[34]
o n the H i g h w a y
v
I
the dross and leaves us the pure gold. All truly brave
and honest men are bigots.
The greatest power that man can have is that of fixing
his mind wherever he wills. Were it not that he has this
power he could not be guilty of sin.
As proof that the Bible is true, what man ever lived ac¬
cording to its teachings and was sorry for the result ? And
what man ever lived an opposite life and was glad for the
result ?
Etiquette is one of the fine arts of deceitfulness. I
never knew one to conform to the rules of etiquette who
was not a hypocrite. But courtesy is an act of universal
love, for it bows to all alike.
The difference between true greatness and great shoddy
is this: One pays a hundred dollars for an oil painting of
a little beggar girl, and hangs the picture in his parlor,
though if he saw the little beggar in his house he would
drive her out as he would a dirty dog; the other ignores the
[35]
Thoughts
Met
picture, but adores the girl, and spends his dollars in try¬
ing to bring her to his own level.
If women would study and learn the power of defence
with which nature has furnished them, they would not
have much fear of wicked men. For there is nothing in
this world that has such repelling power as a woman's
eye, if she knows how to use it.
A man is never honest as long as he tries to appear so.
In order to have inspiring thoughts, the soul must
breathe them, as the lungs breathe the air; that is, with¬
out effort.
Any Christian man who knows how to court a girl
properly knows enough to preach the gospel. For when a
man seeks, in a proper way, to make a girl his wife, he
does not study up stories to tell her, nor does he try to
devise methods to entertain her, but in love's own simple
and earnest way he presents to her the one great object
of her own natural desire — which is a husband. So it is
[36]
4
On the Highway
in preaching the gospel. For the natural desire of every
man's soul is to be in harmony with truth, and when
the preacher yields himself wholly to truth he will find
that preaching is only courtship on a higher plane.
Truth is so plain and simple that we should be careful
not to use many words in presenting it, lest we obscure it.
We should simply let it declare itself through us in its own
way, and let those who hate it, or are ignorant of it, do
the arguing, and let our lives do the proving.
In dealing with intemperance, as with every other sin,
my method is to deal directly with the drunkard. I might
set the torch to all the distilleries and grogshops and con¬
vert them into ashes, but the drunkard would still be in
bondage to the infernal appetite, all the while trying to
invent some method by which to gratify it. But if he be
converted from the sin while in the presence of it, then he
is doubly trained and doubly saved.
The two greatest works that were ever done on this earth
were accomplished without secrecy and in public. I al-
[37]
Thoughts I Met
lude to the instituting of Christianity in the world, and
the planting of democracy in this country. And as I am
a child of both, I say cursed is everything that is done
within darkened windows and tiled doors.
Tell me how much sacrificial love a man has for his
fellowman, and I will tell you how much true greatness
there is in him, and what he is worth to the community.
No matter how little a man may know, when once his
heart becomes fixed upon a noble object he should no
longer bewail his ignorance, for the very truth of the ob¬
ject itself, if he fully yields to it, will furnish him with all
the wisdom and knowledge that he will need. One truth
always has power and understanding with another.
The most dangerous snare for young women, and the
greatest incentive to young men to become licentious, is that
popular society of men and women which holds up its
hands against the woman whose chastity has been violated,
while with outstretched arms it receives the libertine that
seduced her. There can be no greater mockery of virtue,
[38]
T
On the Highway
nor no greater hyprocisy, than this barbarous custom of
shutting out the girl because she could not control two
natures, and receiving the man, who is guilty of the whole
crime. God ever deliver all innocent young people from
such society.
When a man gets into a condition of mind and heart
where he cannot cry in sympathy with others in trouble,
that man is in a dangerous place. For a tender heart is the
only true sign of a pure and noble soul.
No man is fit to take a wife until he knows the difference
between love and lust. But very few men know that
difference.
Trying to stop the progress of a righteous man is like
trying to stop the onward flow of a stream of water. He
apparently stops, but he is only growing in strength to
sweep everything before him, which he will surely do.
I have seen a great many persons who were slaves by
law, but the most servile slaves that I can imagine are those
who, having liberty and knowledge, do not dare to say
[39]
^ Thoughts I Met
and do what they believe to be right, for fear of being de¬
nounced by those who they know are in no sense better or
wiser than themselves.
A man never knows the real power of bravery until he
can look an enemy in the eye, and tell him the whole truth
of wrong doings, without the excitement of anger or the
urging of ill-will.
Young man, or young woman, if you will permit me
to speak to you, I would say, if you have anything beyond
the average in the way of talent, learning, or wealth, nestle
right down among the masses; let it be your delight to as¬
sociate with the poor of your community in a way that
will give them the benefit of all your advantages; and be¬
fore you are ten years older the brightest star in the clear¬
est night will be dim compared with you. There is noth¬
ing so influential, convincing, elevating, and endearing as
honest condescension.
Twelve years of close observation and thorough in¬
vestigation have revealed to me the fact that those who
adopt and kindly bring up orphans, actuated by no mo¬
tive but love, are always sure to prosper. I have never
[40]
4
On the Highway
seen a single exception. In fact, there can be no exception;
for it is not a rule, but a fixed principle, and therefore
cannot fail.
It is no more of a miracle for God to heal a diseased
body completely, no matter what the disease is, than it is
for a machinist to repair an engine that was made by his
own hands.
God never placed on this earth more than one human
nature, one set of brains and one mind. And if we will al¬
low wisdom and charity to lead us in between circum¬
stances, we will come out declaring that all men and minds
are equal.
If every man were compelled to bend over a wash-tub
for two hours, just once a year, the poor widows that wash
for a living would get better support than they now receive.
No man is disgraced by imprisonment. A man is known
to be a liar, gambler, swindler, libertine, and a deserter of
wife and children; yet he is fellowshipped by respectable
society. Finally he is put in state prison. When he comes
out that same society will shun him—not because he has
[41]
Thoughts I Met
been a bad man, for they associated with him when he
was living in crime; but merely because he has been in
prison — the only place he was ever in where he had to
be decent. He never lived so long before in his life without
disgracing the community. Many of his old associates,
belonging to respectable society, used to meet him coming-
out of those very places that make prisons a necessity,
and would walk and chat with him. But when they meet
him coming out of a place of reform they are ashamed of
him. This shows how completely society is controlled by
pride and hypocrisy (which two are twins). The time
to be ashamed to associate with a bad man is before he
goes to prison. If decent people would exclude from their
company men of the above character, society would mean
something.
Can you tell me of a great philosopher or poet who ever
held prejudice against any race, or was ashamed to asso¬
ciate with any decent person ?
I have often heard it advised that people should not
give themselves up to the principle of frankness in speech
and action until they have money to back it up. But I
consider it very bad advice; for if a man is mincing and
[42]
4
On the Highway
evasive when he is poor, he will surely be dishonest and
domineering when he is rich. There is no power in wealth
to back up manhood. It requires manhood to back up
wealth.
The most inhuman and barbarous act I know of is
that of forcing a girl to marry against her will. If all
children born of such marriages should turn out to be
cold-blooded murderers, it would not be a matter of great
wonder.
We never create our own thoughts; for how can we
think of a thought before the thought comes.
We often hear it said of a man that he is a good man,
all but that one vice. But the man who has one vice is
as really ruled by sin as though he had a hundred vices.
This is proved by the fact that when any virtue steps in
between him and the indulgence of that vice he will either
sacrifice the virtue or be put in torment.
If you buy the best cows the Isle of Jersey ever pro¬
duced, and offer the milk to the city's people just as the
[43]
Thoughts I Met
cows gave it to you, eleven-twelfths of them will condemn
it as impure, and turn to that which is adulterated. Just
so is it in a religious sense. Give church people nothing
but the pure gospel, and most of them will feel insulted
and wish for a different doctrine. This shows that by the
physical we can see how the spiritual man is deluded; for
no man is willing to be cheated in an article of food.
It is always right to break a promise to keep manhood;
it is alway wrong to break manhood to keep a promise.
There never was a good-looking bad person; nor a bad-
looking good person. Each character always furnishes its
own countenance. ^
You can see a phase of insanity in the countenance of
every haughty person. And it is not strange; for how can
a person with a right condition of mind treat a brother
or sister disdainfully without cause?
A great many people think that Christ went to the
marriage in Galilee for enjoyment. I have known minis¬
ters to say as much. But it is an absurd thought. He
[44]
On the Highway
went there as He went everywhere, merely to prove His
mission and do His work. What pleasure could there be
for a holy being like Him in the midst of a people that
were dead in sin, and which people He knew would in
a few days murder Him ? The answer He made His
mother when she told Him there was no wine shows that
He was not there for enjoyment. It was a good place in
which to be, for marriage is holy; and there could not have
been a more convenient place where He could have taken
His disciples to witness a miracle that would enable them
to believe on Him, and at the same time oblige the world
to bear testimony; for they confessed that the wine was
good. So it is evident that He was there for a great work.
The purer our character is, the less we care about our
reputation.
No matter what rules I lay down for my children, nor
how I talk to them, I shall not be able to form within them
anything better than my own true character.
The way a lie is made is by putting the truth in the
wrong place, by either word or act. Man in his proper
[45]
Thoughts I Met -f»-
place or condition is the noblest truth we see; but when
he is out of that right place and condition, he is the most
dangerous lie on earth.
I never saw a great stickler for creed who was great in
charity. Large creed always means small love.
A man cannot impart, neither can he receive and appro¬
priate, anything that does not belong to the moral region
in which he lives, for the very reason that the opposites
cannot dwell together. Hence, "what ye mete to others
shall be meted to you again."
When we see the mantle of our own guilt on some one
else, how quickly we condemn ourselves.
The best, wisest, most successful, and happiest employer
is he that takes his employees into his confidence and brings
them to his own social level. If I owned the entire busi¬
ness of a State, I would not have a man in my employ that
I could not associate with. Some would say that hired
people, thus treated, would forget their place as servants.
[46]
o n the H i g h w a y
But if they did, it would only be to remember that they
were hired friends. No man is fit to have charge of men
who has no moral or social interest in them.
I have never seen any good manners, any real beauty,
anything noble or good, outside of plain, simple natural-
neSS-
Borrowed manners, that are put on for the occasion,,
are like borrowed clothes: they are more conspicuous for
their ill-fitting than for their beauty.
It is both unnatural and unvirtuous for men and women
to be ashamed or afraid to speak in each other's presence
of anything that is natural. I do not say, nor think, that all
persons who have such fears and shame are licentious^
but do say they are in bondage to the fear of licentious¬
ness; also, that it is a sin for them to be in such bondage.
For no person can be in strict harmony with truth while
having such fear and shame. It is right and proper for a
woman to say anything to a man that she would say to a
woman, or to say anything to an audience of men and
women that she would say to a woman. It is right and
[47]
-•f- Thoughts I Met ^
proper for a man to say to a woman anything that he
would say to a man, or to say anything to an audience of
men and women that he would say to a man. It is a great
strategy of the devil to make us ashamed of our nature.
When we become ashamed of that, degradation of moral
and physical life is sure to commence in some way, since
we always abuse or allow to be abused any right thing
that we are ashamed of. There is no person on earth who
can give a reason why we should be ashamed of anything
that is natural, because there is no reason to give. There
is always the most virtue where there is the least shielding
and evading of nature in speaking. Lust is always con¬
cealing and evasive in language when in the presence of
ladies. But virtue always speaks out as plainly about one
part of nature as another. The more nature is concealed
by language in the presence of young people, the more
curious it makes them, and consequently the more easily
deceived. Of course, as there is sin in the world, there will
have to be concealments in dress; but concealing nature
by language aids sin.
One of the grandest scenes that ever greets our eyes is
a good grandmother kindly caring for her little grandchild.
It is the afternoon of one generation leading into life the
[48]
4
On the Highway
early morn of another. Of all the grand things that out-
grand each other, what is more grand than a good grand¬
mother ?
The best grammar is any method of speaking by which
you can make yourself the best and quickest understood.
It is easy to know those who have been delivered from
the power of sin; for they always have the character of
their Deliverer. Their chief and constant joy is in deliv¬
ering others. When church people seek amusements, it
is evident that they have not the spirit of their profession.
If I have been delivered from an awful death, how can I
be amused when I see others in the jaws of the same death,
and at the same time have Christian love in my heart ?
When we are walking uprightly, with our minds fixed
on Christ, and come into a place wlhere it is dark and
cheerless, we can feel assured that a great blessing awaits
us close ahead. On the other hand, when we receive a
great blessing we may be sure of a great trial immediately
after. This is Christian growth. The dark and discour¬
aging season gives us occasion to exercise faith and trust
[49]
4
Thoughts
Met
by which we are brought into a more blessed place, and
the blessing we receive gives us strength for the next trial.
Thus it is, and ever will be, all the way along. Each bless¬
ing prepares us for trial, and each trial brings us greater
blessing, till finally we shall be tried and blessed into end¬
less joy.
True ability does not consist in a great store of book
knowledge, but in that condition of mind that enables one
to see and act the right at all times and under all circum¬
stances.
The true man of God is never at a loss for a sermon.
What and how he is going to preach is never a question
with him. And why should it be ? If our lungs are filled
with air, what can we exhale but air? If a man's heart
is filled with God, what can he speak but Godliness ?
I have viewed warfare from every possible standpoint
to see if I could discover anything in it to make it tolerable,
but have utterly failed to find in it a single quality that is
not degrading to manhood. The soul of warfare is pride,
and pride is never a worker of good, but always, without
a single exception, a worker of evil. No matter how great
[50]
4
On the Highway
the evil is over which men fight, the war, with its awful
results, is always a greater evil. If it was only the loss of
life, limb, and health, it might not be so bad. But war
does not end with these. A war always lasts as long as it
is remembered by the combatants and their descendants.
Who, after considering all the hatred and revengeful feel¬
ing that exists in the breasts of the vanquished, and the
malice and pride in the breasts of the victors,— all these
elements of wickedness that are passed down from gener¬
ation to generation; children nursing all these taints in
their mother's milk; their young minds poisoned by war
stories and wicked sentiments from parent's lips,— can
say conscientiously that war does not always bring a greater
curse than it removes ? Knowing, as I do, that the human
family has never been benefited by war, and that the only
way to deliver people from any kind of wrong is by con¬
stantly preaching the truth in the spirit of love, when I re¬
member the awful horrors of war, I think that warfare
surely must have originated with the devil, and should ex¬
ist only in hell.
It has long been a common saying that no woman can
be a lady who washes and scrubs. Well, if purpose gives
character to action (and we all agree that it does), then if
[51]
Thoughts I Met
it is unladylike to wash and scrub, it must be much more
unladylike to have clean dishes, clean houses, or clean
clothes. O Pride, what a blind liar you are!
There is no secret society of any kind that does not,
either in its constitution or by-laws, exclude some fixed
principle of truth.
A Christian is like a brave, zealous explorer. He is
always breaking through into new regions.
In the highest sense, no man can own more than his
living. For by what principle of truth can a man need
more than he can properly use, and therefore how can he
own more than he needs ? Hence he that has more than
his living under his control is only a steward under God
to those who are intrusted with different but equally as
good gifts as that of acquiring or managing property.
A great many people have fears that the Catholics will
get control Of this country. I am not a Catholic, but I
say this, that if the Catholics do get control of the country,
[52]
4 o N THE H I G H W A Y
it will be by the course of nature; and whatever is natural
is right. What I mean to say is that the Catholics are true
to nature, and have all the children they can; most of
the Protestants do all they can to avoid having children.
Therefore, if they lose control of the country it will be
their own fault.
There is nothing more unnatural than secrecy. This
can be proved by children; for there is nothing harder for
a child to do than to keep a secret.
In many cases it is wisdom, as well as manly strength,
to know who your enemies are and not to let them know
that you know of it.
One of the most atrocious things that I can think of is
vaccination. I would just as soon think of introducing a
little wickedness into the moral system of my boy, in order
to keep out greater wickedness, as I would think of afflict¬
ing his physical system with a prescribed amount of foul¬
ness in order to keep out a greater amount of corruption.
Why not advise my boy to steal a small amount when he
is ten years old, in order to prevent his being a burglar
when twenty-five ? Or to lie, in order to be truthful when
[53]
Thoughts I Met
older ? Or to be a little licentious, in order to be virtuous ?
If the receiving of filth into the blood will fortify the body
against disease, why would not the commission of a few
crimes fortify the soul against sin? No! No! Vaccination
out-heathens heathenism.
A true man has but one set of manners. It is all he
needs: for he will treat his equals with courtesy for what
they are, and his inferiors for what they ought to be.
Never employ a man who is afraid of you (unless it
is for the purpose of making a man of him, which indeed
would be noble); for the only difference between a cow¬
ardly servant and a pickpocket is that you pay one for
robbing you, while the other gets only what he steals.
Whenever I have a great trouble (and I have had
troubles that were worse than death), I always say that
God is the Supreme Being of the universe, and therefore
has complete power over everything that is or can be.
Knowing that the trouble can give me nothing but pain,
and then only as I keep my mind on it, and that God will
'[54]
4
On the Highway
i.
give me nothing but peace, I take my mind off the trouble
and fix it on the Lord, and always receive peace immedi¬
ately. I always remember these two things: First, if God
could not overcome the greatest trouble, then that trouble
would be the supreme being, and God would not. Sec¬
ond, that I have power to stay my mind wherever I will
have it, and that I can have it fixed upon only one power
at a time. So when I fix it upon the power of peace, that
minute peace begins to come. This is not speculation,
but my own real experience.
Think not to make yourself great by letters, wealth, or
office, young man. Show me the man who has most love
for man, and I will show you the greatest man on earth.
No man can truthfully be called civilized who is not
more willing to work morally and contribute money to
win men from the wrong than he is to punish the wrong
when it has been committed.
Did it ever occur to you why children always listen to
each other with such deep interest, when they meet and
[55]
Thoughts I Met
talk together ? It is because they talk only what they know
and show what they have received. This is a good thing
for us to remember when we talk in prayer-meeting, and,
instead of speculating, let us simply testify what we really
know, and show what we have received from the Lord.
If we should do this we should all soon become " fishers of
men."
The best way to get into the best society is to go to work
and make it, and make it of such ones as are nearest your
hand, regardless of their past life. I always remember that
if I am not capable of making good society, I am not fit
to be in it after others have made it.
When a child gets hurt it should always be allowed to
hold its hand on the place as long as it wishes to; for there
is a soothing power in one's own hand that is not in any¬
thing else. After the child is willing to take its hand away,
then the wound may be dressed.
What an awful hell Shoddy must be in all the time!
When at home, it is plotting to get into the society of some
family that does not want it, and for which it is not in
[56]
4
On the Highway
any sense qualified. When on the street, it is constantly
watching for a nod from some prominent person who, at
some former time, by force of circumstances, has been
compelled to speak to it. On the other hand, it must be
ready at any moment to look the other way, or lower the
umbrella, or drop its eye, to avoid recognizing some one
whom it considers inferior. When abroad, it always tries
to pass for one in a different station—it tries to be some¬
body else. This shows how badly it hates itself. Shoddy,
however much it may be hated by others, is always hated
more by itself.
When a man really knows a thing he does not argue
about it. WThen he speaks of it he simply declares the
truth. It is the man who never knows, but always guesses,
who is ever ready for an argument.
There are no people in the world who are so far from
and so ignorant of the real meaning of their profession as
church people in general. So few, indeed, are they who
bear the witnessing power, in any way, that we are con¬
stantly reminded of our Saviour's words: "Strait is the
gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and
[57]
Thoughts I Met
few there be that find it." The reason of this is because
the people do not have the gospel held up before them and
explained in its simplicity, nakedness, and reality. The
Bible is the easiest book to understand of any in the world,
if one's heart is only right; especially so is the New Testa¬
ment. The simplest and greatest of all things ever spoken
or written are the first four books of the New Testament.
These speak the words and works of Christ. And there
is enough in any one of the four for any man's salvation.
But the ministers do not, as a rule, preach Christ, nor urge
their hearers to fully believe and accept all His words.
Christ says, "Whosoever shall smite thee on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue
thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy
cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile,
go with him twain. Give to every one that asketh of thee,
and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not thou
away." All these injunctions are to be accepted just as they
read, and literally obeyed. Otherwise they can be of no
use whatever. Obedience to them proves to the world the
reality of the religion of Jesus Christ in a way that is over¬
whelmingly convincing, and also shows an abiding trust in
God. But how many ministers accept and declare them just
as they read ? Not one in three hundred. The people look
[58]
4
o N THE H I G H W A Y
JL
upon the ministers as guides, and accept what they say as
gospel. And the ministers are satisfied with an indorsement
of their congregations. Therefore they study and talk not
what the Bible says and really means, but what they know
will not be objectionable to the people. For he that is not
living in the fear and service of God seeks to please, and
fears to offend those of whom he receives support. Sermons
are arranged very much the same as novels. The novelist
usually takes a truth to start with, but, as a rule, gradually
changes it to a lie. Ministers, to a great extent, do about
the same. They select a saving truth for a text, but for
want of Christian experience, and through pride, a desire
for worldly honor, and above all through unbelief, they
blur, distort, and mystify the truth so that all the people
see is the intellectual ability and speculative aptness of the
ministers. Thus the religion of to-day is for the most part
a medley of convenient beliefs, guesses, and unfounded
hopes. No one can preach the gospel who has not by ex¬
perience received a knowledge of the truth. And no one
can receive a knowledge of the truth in any way other than
by the spirit of the Lord coming and dwelling in his heart;
and His spirit can only abide with those who accept His
words as He has spoken them, and fully trust Him. But
the person who speaks of fully trusting the Lord for every-
[59]
Thoughts I Met
thing, and under all circumstances, is denounced as a fa¬
natic; and any one who testifies to having been delivered
from any great affliction, such as hunger, cold, sickness,
or bad habits, wholly by trusting in Christ, without ask¬
ing any human assistance, is actually looked upon as a dan¬
gerous person, and sometimes the people of his church
are cautioned against him by the pastor. Right here is
where the church gives the lie to its profession, shows its
ignorance of the plan and power of salvation, and gives
the world cause to doubt the word of God. The church
declares that the Bible is true ; and the Bible declares that
God will supply all our needs. This includes everything,
— food, clothes, health, wisdom,— and that He will guide
us under all circumstances, so that we can always implic¬
itly trust Him to show us what to do at all times. Yet, if
a person stands up in prayer-meeting and testifies to being
healed in answer to the prayer of faith, without medicine,
the minister will call that person an heretic, saying all the
while that the Lord uses means, and that the day of mir¬
acles is past, discrediting the promise of our Lord, which
says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you."—
John xv., 7. And also another, which says, "When ye
pray, what things soever ye desire, believe that ye receive
[60]
O n t h e H i g h w a y
them, and ye shall have them."—Mark xi., 24. Out of
many millions of church people, there are few that be¬
lieve and trust in these precious promises of our dear
Saviour; but the few who do believe are they that com¬
prise the church of Christ. These souls are constantly
scoffed at, by both the world and the popular church, but
you never hear the world condemning the popular church
for its faith; for the popular church has no more faith in
Christ than the world has.
It is always easy to tell the genuine from the quack.
The quack is forever trying to make the world believe that
he is a walking miracle, and can never be equalled. But
it is the constant joy and effort of the genuine to make
others as proficient as himself.
Anything a man has which is not a blessing to all
others is a curse to himself.
How unmeaning, unprofitable, and silly it is for men to
march through the streets with guns, swords, and uniforms!
I know that there are many noble-hearted men who belong
[61]
Thoughts I M e t
to the military and to secret societies, which only goes to
show how easy and common it is for noble and intelligent
men to be brought into bondage to popular delusions. If
a man is on the right side of his nature he will no sooner
think of parading the streets with a musket or regalia than
he would think of walking out naked when mercury was
at twenty degrees below zero.
When, standing on the beach near the mouth of a sewer,
I saw the clean waves come running up to those polluted
waters, taking them in their arms, washing them from
their filth, and assimilating them, it strikingly reminded
me of the simplicity, love, and zeal of a true Christian
worker.
I have often heard it said that no woman was capable
of being her own keeper. But I never heard it from any
but the mouth of a tyrant or libertine. There are millions
of single women who are pure. Who are the men who look
after them ?
There would be just as much wisdom in breaking a
child's back to give it a beautiful form as there is in break¬
ing its will to make it a pure and noble person. Any ty-
[62]
4
On the Highway
rant can break a child's will, and none but tyrants do
break their children's will. When love, patience, and
good example are constantly brought to bear upon a child,
its mind is moulded and its will strengthened in the truth;
but the child whose will is once broken is generally weak¬
ened for life.
Nothing is so immodest as mock-modesty, for it plainly
shows a disregard for virtue.
There is no time when a man is so unmindful of his
intellect or learning as when he is praying, testifying, or
preaching in the spirit.
Mirth is good, but fun is contemptible, for it always
does harm. Mirth is the natural element of righteous
growth. In the child, as well as in the lamb, it is the joy of
innocence. In the adult it is honest labor taking a rest.
But fun is always indulged at the expense of some virtue.
It laughs at what is, or what ought to be, some one's sor¬
row. In all the vicissitudes of life, and in all persons in
their different conditions, how many things do you see that
you really think ought to be laughed at ? If I laugh and
make merry when my fellowman gets drunk and reels,
[63]
^ Thoughts I Met
when he flings a joke at Christianity, or when he makes a
fool of himself in any way, what am I to do when he comes
to be serious, sober, and wise ?
It cannot be proved that a man was ever impoverished
by a large family of children. Poverty is an unnatural con¬
dition, and how can people be brought into unnaturalness
by conforming strictly to nature ? But numerous are they,
on almost every street, who are impoverished financially,
physically, and spiritually as the result of avoiding chil¬
dren. ^
I never contradict a liar, because, if I should, he might
conceive the idea that I thought he meant to tell the truth.
The saying that " God helps those who help them¬
selves '' is false in every sense. It puts man first, and God
last. If I can help myself, what do I want God to help
me for? No, God guides and helps those who seek and
fully trust Him. Whenever I have been greatly straitened
in poverty, or sickness, or anything else, and have turned
away from my own planning, ceased running around to
hunt for work, or stopped using medicine in times of sick-
[64]
^ O n t h e H i g h w a y |»
ness, and have gone to the Lord in faith, believing, I have
always been delivered.
Every word and every thing has a surface-meaning. It
is only they who penetrate to the core who get a profitable
understanding of what they see and hear.
When a man says that the day of miracles is past, it is
evident that he is not living a Christian life. For a Chris¬
tian life is a life of miracles. The conversion of a soul is
the greatest miracle ever wrought; in fact, it is the miracle
for which all other miracles were wrought. For the salva¬
tion of souls was and is the one great object. Of course
the Lord heals us and lifts our burdens through compas¬
sion, because He loves us, and because it is only right that
we should be well and clean from all disease. Loving,
obeying, and trusting God, whom no living man has seen;
going to Him with all troubles, having great trials and
tribulation, yet being kept in peace and joy; giving love
for hate; doing good for evil; —a life like this is nothing
less than a succession of miracles. And there are those
who live just such lives as this. Viewing them from a hu¬
man standpoint, nothing seems so absurd as the Lord's
[65]
^ Thoughts I Met -f**
commands to do, or not to do, special things. What could
seem more unreasonable than, when the Israelites were
on the shore of the Red Sea, to tell them to go forward?
Or the marching around Jericho so many times, in order
to take the city ? How unwise it seems for a man to suffer
himself to be beaten, robbed, and abused in every way,
without offering any resistance! Yet our Saviour com¬
mands us to do so. But the wisdom of these commands
is shown in the result of obeying them. For what man
ever trusted God fully under any circumstances, and as
a result was not filled with joy unspeakable ? Or, what
man ever pursued a course of non-resistance, for Christ's
sake, and did not prove by so doing that he was in the
hands of a power superior to that of his persecutors ? When¬
ever non-resistance is actuated by Christian principle, it
always conquers; for by sacrificing the physical, the en¬
emy is brought to the limit of his power; while the power
of spiritual life all the while grows more prominent and
convincing.
The true definition of the word "lady" is "a Christian
woman that goes about doing good." Therefore, if the
woman who bends over a wash-tub for three hours, and
then reaches up to a clothes-line for an hour, and leans over
[66]
4
On the Highway
an ironing-board for three hours more, and then goes to see
and care for the sick, besides being always glad to speak
words of warning and wisdom to the young women about
her, is not a Christian woman going about doing good,
who is ?
When I remember that an article can be held so close
to my eyes that I cannot see it, that a noise can be made so
close to my ears that I cannot hear it, and that I can be
struck so hard that I cannot feel it, I consider the use of
time, distance, and degree.
I am glad that one can understand the word of God
only as he obeys it.
The earth and all things on it, and the heavens, are in
some way symbolically represented by man. Whether the
thing be great or small, good or bad, beast, fish, or reptile,
mountain, valley, lake, river, or cataract, a semblance of
them all can be seen in the actions or conditions of man¬
kind. In the man of wealth and pride, who is noted only
for his gold, I can see the Alps, piled in ice. He is a cold,
worthless mass of pride. In the drunkard we can see a
volcano, pouring out polluting lava. When passing by the
[67]
Thoughts I Met
door of a rum-hell we can hear the sound of every kind
of mean and vicious beast, from the growl of a tiger, the
snarl of a hyena, to the hiss of a serpent. On the other
hand, we can see everything noble, beautiful, and pure in
those who have given themselves to Christian work. They
are living fountains that continually pour forth rivers of
living water. In a family where perfect love reigns, and
all is beautiful and bright, we are reminded of a constel¬
lation, and get a foresight of Heaven. And so we might go
on. If we wish to see great and wondrous things, the first
place to look for them is within man. If we cannot see
them there first, we shall gain nothing by traveling. This
earth affords no wonders to him who has looked well into
human nature.
Though I mount the summit of the skies,
And scan creation o'er,
No greater wonder meets my eyes
Than passes by my door.
There is never any truly friendly feeling between races
that never intermarry.
The two greatest and most sacred powers in the uni¬
verse are those at which all impure people fling the most in-
[68]
On the Highway
fernal slurs and which are made the objects of the most
vulgar jokes. And there is nothing of which sinful people
are so much ashamed as of these two powers. I mean the
power of salvation and the power of human reproduction.
Man's understanding is as really related to a knowledge
of every truth in nature as are his lungs related to all the
natural elements that are in the air that he breathes. And
if we were willing to make as honest use of the truths that
we do understand as we are of the air we breathe we
should not be so ignorant as we are.
What a great blessing it is that all the truly essential
things are easily produced, and easily understood. The
harder things are to produce and learn, the less essential
they are to life or real happiness.
Of all temporal things, there is nothing that is so sacred
as marriage. So sacred is it that our Saviour used it to
illustrate some of the most precious truths of salvation; and
yet there is no earthly institution that is so lightly esteemed,
so little understood, and so much abused. There is nothing
[69]
H O U G H T S
Met
that is so false as a false marriage; and yet most marriages
are false. Nothing is rightly done but that which is done
for a right purpose, and few indeed are they that stop to
consider what is the right purpose of marriage. This is
proved by the ever-present great number of divorces, and
the still greater number of couples who are separated in
heart, if not in law. The natural and highest object of
marriage is reproduction. The marriage that has not this
for its object, or that is opposed to it, is a false and un¬
happy union. However much a couple may like each other
when they marry, if they avoid having children, they will
in time become obnoxious to each other, for this reason:
when persons hate the true object of any institution, their
hatred always antagonizes the real power of the institution.
And the real power of matrimony is love. True matrimony
is always characterized by two controlling qualities. One
is that constraining love which always proves the natural
affinity between the man and woman. The other is the
strong desire for children. These two qualities cannot be
separated, because the object of the matrimonial institu¬
tion is the perpetuation of life, and how can Love abide
with those who oppose her object? People who are op¬
posed to having children never ought to marry. First, be¬
cause they will live a life of sin, in violating nature to avoid
[70]
4
On the Highway
children; secondly, because they are liable to have chil¬
dren in spite of themselves, and all children that come into
the world against the wishes of their parents are apt to be
badly organized, and wicked. They are almost always
sure to have some great defect, and it is not to be wondered
at, for how can a marriage that is false to nature produce
that which is natural. I do not say that all persons born
of false marriage are great criminals, but I do say that all
great criminals were born of false marriage. It is safe to
say that no murderer, robber, atheist, oppressor, wife-
beater, deserter of family, was ever born of true matri¬
mony. For love always stamps her children with good
character and a belief in God. But if the marriage is false,
and love wanting, where will the child get its character?
Matrimony is always an extremist, one way or the other.
It either loves or hates. And words have not power to ex¬
press the hating and sorrowing condition of a woman's
mind and heart while bearing a child by a man whom she
hates. This condition has its effect upon the offspring for
evil, as really as the opposite does for good. The reason
why there are so many bad marriages is not because people
mean to do wrong; it is because they mistake lust for love.
It is a lamentable fact that the majority of men who marry
are led to do so by lust, thinking, and causing the women
[71]
Thoughts I Met
they marry to think, it is love. In getting married, men as
a rule are deceived only in one way—that is, by their own
lusts. But women are deceived in two ways. First, if men
make favorable appearances and good promises, the ma¬
jority of women will confide in them and give them their
affections, without any witness of love whatever; secondly,
a very large percentage of'women are, by false teachings,
deluded into believing that it is right to marry for a home
and support; and though there be no affinity, they marry,
hoping that they will learn to love their husbands. Such
are the greatest mistakes that women can make, and yet
there are no mistakes more common than these. No
woman can continue to love a man after she finds that she
is to him only an object of lust. There is no such thing as
learning to love in matrimony. Love comes spontaneously,
or not at all. And the woman who marries for a home and
support does no better than the unmarried woman who
sells her body. So in either case it amounts to nothing
more than legalized prostitution, because it is not a love
union; and all children born of such marriages are almost
sure to be just as devoid of love as the marriages are. There
is only one sure way of knowing whom to marry. When a
man meets a woman whose presence animates his whole
moral nature, and brings to his heart a deep feeling of re-
[72]
O N T H E H I G H W A Y
sponsibility for her, which actually impels him to her, with¬
out exciting his physical nature in the least, he may know
that this is true matrimonial love. When a woman meets
a man whose presence quickens her admiration for pure
and noble manhood, and inspires sacred thoughts, and she
feels drawn to him with perfect trust and confidence, and
this without any effort upon his part at the first, she may
settle it in her mind that he is the man for her. Men and
women are never animated by and drawn to each other,
in the manner described, by any power but true matri¬
mony. Whenever physical passion leads, marriage is never
right. But when love leads, proved by sacred emotions and
thought, how can marriage be wrong? A very common
saying among single people is, " I would marry, if I could
find the right one." The way to find the right one is to
have a right condition of mind. For whenever people de¬
sire to marry for right and holy purposes, they are always
brought in contact with the right one. This is done by the
power of affinity, whenever it is allowed to work. There is
an opportunity for every person to meet and marry the
right one. Bui the trouble is that men are so blinded with
lust, and women so perverted with pride, having their
mind fixed on home, dress, and position, that they cannot
tell when they meet the right one. Let the heart be deter-
[73]
Thoughts
Met
b
mined to marry only for true love, and nature, guided by
her God, will always form the right union.
In true matrimony, the question of rulership never comes
up. Naturally the man is ruler. Happiness never exists in
a house where the wife rules, because it is unnatural; and
happiness and unnaturalness cannot dwell together. But
what does ruling mean ? The majority of people think it
means giving an order and enforcing it; but that idea is
false in every sense. Any cowardly and brutal man that
has physical strength and advantage can always enforce
submission, and none but cowardly and brutal men do it.
To rule means to lead, to provide, to be responsible, and to
console. All of this is the work of love. And nature itself
teaches us that a woman who is bringing forth and bring¬
ing up children should be relieved of all other cares. Every
burden that a woman has to bear while in a reproductive
state has an ill effect upon the child. And bringing up chil¬
dren is such a peculiar and tender work that it demands an
undisturbed condition of the mother's mind. Woman is
the weaker vessel, but in none but a physical sense is she
the inferior of the man. I know that the majority of
men think that a woman is inferior to a man in every sense;
but that idea is strictly heathen, and no man has ever been
able to point to any fixed principle of truth that would sup-
[74]
O N T H E H I G H W A Y im¬
port it. To prove that the woman is the equal of the man
in everything but physical strength, observe the woman
with several young children, suddenly widowed, with no
means of support but her hands. Though she has not the
physical strength of a man, yet see with what sterling
energy, wise management, intellectual and moral training,
she brings those children to manhood and womanhood. It
is always a matter of wonder to those around her how she
succeeds so well; for to support a family properly is about
all that the average able-bodied man can do, without having
to look after the mental and moral training of the children,
for that his wife does. Of course the hard work of support¬
ing a family injures any woman that has it to do, because it
is not natural for a woman to do hard labor. Woman is
weaker than man because she is finer, and ordained to do
a finer work. Moulding a child's mind, tempering its
whole nature, implanting love in its soul, without which it
would be nothing more than a brute, giving it a completely
rounded character,— all these combined form a work that
demands the finest mind and the best judgment of any
work on earth. And this is the work that every true and
faithful mother does. While doing this work there is con¬
stant communication between the mother's mind and the
child's mind. Whether the child is in its mother's pres-
[75]
Thoughts I Met
ence or out of it, the communication goes on the same, and
so continues until the child reaches a certain stage. This
being the case, nature demands that the mother's mind be
free from all other work. So it is just as natural for a
woman to expect and desire her husband to rule as it is
natural for him to rule.
True matrimony is never ashamed of nature. The wom¬
an that is married in the right spirit, and is living in the
true order of marriage, never lives in seclusion months, or
even weeks, before giving birth to her child. Her love and
chastity shut out all fear of the licentious remarks and looks
of libertines. She stands upon the dignity of the most hon¬
orable and important institution on earth, and hopes for
and rejoices in everything that belongs to it; and, no matter
where she may be, shame is as far from her a month be¬
fore the child is born as it is a year after. Whenever a
woman is ashamed of her conception her marriage lacks
love on one side or the other; for where love reigns su¬
preme such shame cannot exist. A woman never appears
more beautiful, honest, pure, and wifelike than when in a
reproductive state. It is only when she has brought up a
noble family that she again appears as grand.
There is nothing in the world so simple, powerful, and
successful as pure matrimony. Notice the young couple.
[76]
On the Highway -f*"
Without money, without friends, and without a home, see
how simply and quietly they get married, apparently with¬
out a thought. Yet see how they prosper. Nothing impedes
their progress. No matter how hard the times, poverty
never gets permanent control of them. The most trying
circumstances only serve to reveal to the world the real
character and power of true matrimonial love.
One is first to go to God in prayer. He understands na¬
ture and knows every individual. Therefore ask Him to
present the right one, and there is no prayer that He will
more gladly answer than that one. Of course many people
will sneer at this, as they do at everything that is sacred;
but I know that what I write here is true. I have known a
man to ask the Lord to give him a wife. I have known a
woman to ask the Lord to give her a husband. The same
man and woman have met, being strangers, loved each
other at first sight, got married, and have always lived in
praise and thankfulness to God for bringing them together.
The passions all strong, extremely sensitive, a love of
virtue sufficiently strong to keep all under control,— such
a man or woman is a complete human being. Passion is
life, strength, and reproduction. Sensitiveness is good, for
[77]
-4- Thoughts I Met
how could we understand the truth without feeling it. A
pure, sensitive mind can tell every touch of right, and
therefore is sure in thought.
Ninety-seven persons out of every hundred have a
deformity of some kind.
Were you ever abused by words right to your face, and
did you go away without speaking hard or angry words,
and then afterwards did you feel small and cowardly be¬
cause you did not cut back ? No doubt you have. But did
you ever think how the other fellow must have felt ? He
surely felt worse than you did, because abuse that is un-
replied to always rebounds with double force upon the one
who gives it, and causes a lasting sting.
Settle it in your heart now and forever, reader, that
after you have once repented of any wrong that you have
ever done you are never to grieve over it. No matter what
the wrong may have been, remember that when once you
have repented of it you are a different person from
what you were when you committed the act, and if it comes
[78]
On the Highway
to your mind at all, you may think of it as you would think
of another person in another condition who had done it.
This is the great act and power of repentance. God says
that He will remember our sins no more against us. And
now, what right have you to remember with grief what
God has forgotten in love and mercy ? It seems to me that
I must have died of grief over some things that I have done
if this precious thought had not come to my poor, sorrow¬
ing heart. But now I don't know what it is to have an un-
happy day. ^
Men and grapes are very much alike. Neither of them
are worth much till they have been bruised.
No matter what or where we are, the first thing we
always look for in others is a counterpart of ourself. This
is also a fixed principle. And the purer one is the more
eagerly does he look. This is true of our Heavenly Father.
Nothing can be more pleasing to Him than to see His
image in man.
It is taught and generally believed that doctors should
not allow their feelings to be touched by the sufferings of
their patients. And there are few doctors who have any
[79]
Thoughts I Met
feeling for the suffering. Their dealings with patients are
all mechanical. But the natural doctor is all feeling. A
real doctor's first act is always to put himself between the
patient and the disease. He does this by feeling. There is
no other way to do it. No disease can enter into a person
unless the system has first been weakened in some way
by a violation of nature. And the doctor reenforces nature
in the patient. A natural doctor is always in harmony with
nature, and of course full of health and vigor. I would
consider it just as inconsistent to have a sickly doctor try
to give me health as to have a sinful minister preach to me.
Treating a person in the true and perfect way for physical
sickness is done in just the same way that one is treated
for spiritual sickness. It is all the work of God, and per¬
fectly natural. And it is all the work of feeling, for it is all
the work of love. Of course I am speaking here of doctor¬
ing in a Christian way. I believe in no other way as a sure
one. I think medicines do good sometimes, but that they
oftener do harm. When I speak of the natural doctor I
mean one that has the gift of healing, is consecrated to
God, and believes in all the promises of the Bible. No
person can be natural without being a Christian, nor be a
Christian without being natural. Christ did not come into
the world to change nature, but just the reverse. He said
[80]
^ O N T H E H I G H W A Y -f»~
He came to save that which was lost. And if humanity was
lost, of course it was by falling from the natural condition
in which God first placed it. And as the nature He placed
here first was good in itself, of course He would not destroy
it. So when a man is saved he is simply made natural.
Only in consequence of the fall, and being raised up, he is
stronger and wiser than were our fore-parents. But he is
only natural after all. Sin is unnaturalness, and righteous¬
ness is naturalness. When people speak of the supernat¬
ural as a being outside of nature I think they make a mis¬
take. We cannot see nor conceive of any being outside of
nature. Christ never called Himself anything but a man,
and He said that God was a spirit. The Bible says that
" as many as were led by the spirit, to them gave He power
to become the sons of God." And we are taught by our
Saviour to say, " Our Father who art in Heaven." We are
also called the children of God. Now the question is, if
God is one nature and mankind another, how can God and
man be father and son ? Man can, by the power that is in
him, so control certain animals as to make them take de¬
light in obeying him, and become actually attached to
him; yet the thought of father and son would never occur
to a man concerning himself and an animal so attached to
him. Christ says, " He that hath seen Me hath seen the
[81]
T
Thoughts I Met
Father." And I see Christ, in His life and work here on the
earth, as the perfection of perfect manhood: strictly nat¬
ural in everything that He said and did. I therefore look
to God as the mind, wisdom, system, power, beauty, the
great and grand all, the embodiment of nature — the
Supreme Ruler of the universe. When I look at the love
and tenderness of God in Christ, as He worked on earth to
perfect man in nature, I cannot conceive of any of His
servants doing anything for the good of man and the glory
of God without feeling.
An ideal is that which envelopes the imagination, feasts
the desire, and still holds the soul in rapture.
There is no person whose society is of so little worth as
the one who can never bear to be alone. The person who
has not a secret time and place in which to talk with the
Lord never can talk with much profit with any one else.
Who can estimate the worth of a dream? You have
been delivered from some bad habit; for some time you
have been tempted to go back to the habit. One night
in a dream you take up the habit and, after indulging,
[82]
On the Highway
you reflect, and oh, how sorry and miserable you feel! It
seems that you are forever undone. And while you are
feeling worse and worse you awake to find that it was only
a dream. You are more strongly fortified against that bad
habit than ever before, for you had a taste of consequence
without committing the sin.
The man who gives and tells of it never gives at all. He
only buys shares in reputation stock and makes poverty
his purchasing agent.
No boundary line was ever drawn straighter than that
between love and hatred. Until we cross that line revenge
and resentment are sweet and gratifying, but when we
cross that line and love gets full possession of us pity takes
the place of revenge. We see that our enemy is on the
wrong side of truth, on the wrong side of his own nature,
and altogether afflicted, and, instead of seeking revenge,
we seek the joy there is in forgiving. I know that peo¬
ple say it is impossible to love an enemy, but I know better.
I have been on both sides of the line and know what I am
talking about. There is nothing that enables a man to see
and think and gives him such power as praying for an
[83]
Thoughts I Met -{*"
enemy. He may not have much feeling beyond mere pity
when he begins to pray, but if he continues to pray the
feeling will soon come, and with it will come joy. Revenge
can gratify for a short time only, but it never can satisfy,
for revenge is an agent of hatred, and the nature of hatred
is first to destroy the hated one and then to destroy the
hater.
On any serious matter I would rather have the judgment
of a good woman than that of the Supreme Court of any
nation.
Humble, honest ignorance is more pleasing to God and
worth more to man than haughty knowledge.
True friendship is boundless and endless; that is why
it affords us so much joy. We can have no lasting joy in
anything whose limit we can see. This is a fixed principle,
and it is the strength and real life of every right union.
When once a wife comprehends her husband's greatest
powers and real worth — or when once the husband sees
the limit of his wife's loveliness —their joy in each other
ceases, and that union is proved to be a false one. In every
[84]
On the Highway
true union there is always an evidence of something greater
in the person than has been seen.
Deception can cover up and hide many things —for a
short time only. But there is one thing it cannot hide, and
that is itself. Whatever deceitfulness there is in a person is
sure to show itself in the countenance. There is no way in
which sin can be concealed all the time. Right will not
stand guard over wrong, and wrong is not broad enough
nor sufficient in any way to cover itself. One awful thing
about deceitfulness is, it has to be watched all the time.
And the mind being fixed upon it constantly, the face of
the person after a while becomes hideous.
The best way to oppose the familiarity of a bad-man¬
nered man is to treat him with extreme politeness. He
will either change his manner or evade you.
Have no fear of slander. Be like the oak, when the
poison vine entwines itself around it. It keeps quiet, and
grows, and finally the vine breaks and falls to the ground
and there lies and enriches the earth at the roots of the very
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Met
tree that it sought to kill. Slander will die at our feet if we
let it alone, and will leave our character all the richer.
Why is it that the very least thing spoils our comfort;
that the least prick of the least thorn, the slightest afflic¬
tion, affects our whole being ? It is because nature can be
satisfied with nothing less than perfection.
The Jewish nation had everything in the way of govern¬
ment that a nation could have. They had everything their
own way. They had rulers of God's choice, rulers of their
own choice, and no rulers at all. They had everything
they wanted to eat and wear. They had the wisest men
that ever lived to do their thinking, and the greatest poets
to do their singing. They had the finest meeting-house that
was ever planned in which to worship God, and it was the
very house in which they condemned the Saviour to death.
That great nation, with all of its experience and all of its
advantages, came to naught. And yet here is the popular
church to-day calling itself Christian, and putting its trust
in law and in the sword. Almost all of the ministers of the
popular church are preaching politics under the guise of
Christianity. Leading men in the church are tricky pol-
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iticians. There are thousands of young men and women
that never hear the gospel. They will not go into the pop¬
ular churches; and they would get little good if they did.
The only way to reach them is through the little missions
that are being opened, together with the poor unpopular
little churches. In these they will hear the gospel preached
in love. No matter how much law-making there is done,
nor how hard people work to enforce law, no work will be
effectual but the work of love. Our Saviour has given us a
remedy for every kind of trouble, and has told us how to
use it. Surely if there had been anything better as a rem¬
edy, or another one who knew as much as He, and did as
much as He, and loved man as He, and died to give us life
as He did, He would have told us.
The more in harmony with truth one comes to be, the
fewer bosom friends has he.
Just see how things that are little more than vanity are
esteemed high above things that are of great worth. Does
a son of Italy paint a picture or sculp a statue ? He is held
in highest honor. Does a daughter of Italy sit on the corner
of the street selling apples and nuts ? It is as much as ever
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Thoughts I Met
that she is treated as a human being. Yet that one woman
with her basket of fruits is worth more than all the painters
and sculptors, for she supplies natural need and they do
n0t
Pleasing surprises are a part of the world's health, and
an intimation and a proof of the things that belong to us
that we know not of.
The only way to know the right in all cases is always to
be in love with it. ^
There is nothing real but truth. It is the only thing
that will stand alone. It is the only thing that will satisfy ;
and as we grow into the knowledge of it, how peace and
joy spring up in our hearts, and how we throw aside all
false and unprofitable things as fast as they are revealed to
us! The only definition we can give to truth is " that which
leads us into perfect peace and happiness." Oh, how pre¬
cious it becomes to us as we learn its nature and power
from feeding upon it! We want it alone, without any addi¬
tion by man. It is like pure water.
When we were ignorant it was easy to make us believe
that there were many different kinds of drinks that would
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On the Highway
quench thirst. We would walk right by a fountain of pure
water and go into a drug-store and call for soda-water, with
its syrups and its different flavorings; but, instead of our
thirst being quenched, it was increased by the false drink.
After a while we learned that what was needed to quench
thirst was not in the soda, nor in the flavorings. It was in
nothing but the pure water. There can be nothing in any
kind of a drink that will quench thirst but the water that is
connected with it, and whatever is connected with the
water makes it harder for the water to do its work. Just so
it is with truth. In order to get the good of it we must take
it without the flavoring; and, again like pure water, it
makes no difference through what channel or in what vessel
it comes, so long as it is nothing but the clean truth it is all
right and all powerful.
The one that refuses to shun the appearance of evil will
soon be guilty of the evil.
No matter what the trouble may be between you
and another, always remember that the humble side is
always the best side, and will always prove to be the vic¬
torious side in the end. I have observed this for several
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Met
years, and have proved it to be true. This is the reason:
when you take that stand you take a position upon a fixed
principle of truth, and that principle cannot change; but
there is no fixed principle of truth for the one that takes the
opposite position, hence sure failure in the end. Humility
is a course which, if pursued by every one, would lead all
into a state of perfect peace and happiness. There is no
other way by which we can come into an acquaintance
and harmony with the fixed principles of truth than by the
way of humility. All the completely rounded characters,
all the real, noble, pure, and great men and women, who
have brought light to benighted minds, joy to the sorrow¬
ing hearts, and salvation to the lost, have always taken
their position on the humble side of every great question.
A man can have no more real joy in getting money after
he has all he needs than one can have in eating after his
stomach is full, and one is just as hurtful as the other.
At times when I have been guilty of some great sin it has
seemed as if truth herself almost prompted me to lie in
order to avoid shame. But in every case after I had owned
up and told the whole truth at every risk, the great flood of
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o N THE H I G H W A Y
joy that came into my heart proved that the prompting was
the devil "transformed into an angel of light." There
never has been, neither can there be, anybody in this whole
universe who could or can under any circumstances afford
to tell anything but the truth. It is often painful to own the
truth, but not to do so is sure death always. If I lie I be¬
come the servant of that lie; but if I tell the truth, that
truth serves me.
We cannot know any principle of truth better than we
know ourselves. ___
The highest possible joy comes only as the result of
holy action, which action always begins with sacrifice. Of
all the fixed principles, the greatest and most wonderful,
the one that nature depends most upon, is love. Degraded,
unbelieving, and generally wicked though the world is,
love is universally sought and depended upon—not be¬
cause it is in the hearts of all men, for there are few
who have love, but because it is natural to desire and
expect to be loved. In time of danger, or when about to
receive well-deserved punishment at the hands of justice,
the vilest person will plead for mercy (which indeed is a
great element of love). While his flesh is being torn al-
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Thoughts I Met
most from his bones by the cowhide which has been hard¬
ened and made all the more cruel by the dried blood from
the backs of many slaves, the poor slave in the hour of
that awful agony will look most beseechingly into the
demon eyes of his inhuman master to see if he can discover
anything that is any way akin to love, whereby he may
arouse some pity. The first sound from the infant's throat
is a cry for the action of love. The last groans in death are
for the interposition of love. After everything has failed
and reason herself has retired from the scene and there is
no hope, faint and fleeting life still looks and calls for love.
What does it all mean ? It is nature calling and looking to
her God, for " God is love."
I have looked from every standpoint, and have failed to
see wherein that man who has no higher object in life
than bodily comfort differs from a brute.
When we are delivered from great grief or any embar¬
rassment, the way in which we rejoice over our deliverance
is a proof of the moral region in which we dwell, and of the
spirit that occupies our heart. If when we are most pleased
we give thanks and praise to our Father in Heaven, it
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On the Highway 4*"
proves that we are in His spirit. But if our joy manifests
itself in the performance or thought of any earthly indul¬
gence it is proof that the spirit of sin controls us. It is the
unusual events of our lives that tell us what and where we
are. Extreme sorrow and extreme joy are sure to reveal to
us and to the world our true character.
" Give us this day our daily bread." Did you ever stop
right still and look at this prayer ? And have you fully con¬
sidered its meaning ? The Lord commands us to thus
pray. And why does He so command us to pray ? (I am
writing this book for those who believe there is a God, and
not for fools'who say there is no God). The reason is this:
God so loves us that He not only wants us to believe that
He is, but He wants us to constantly know Him, and a con¬
stant knowledge of Him always means constant trust in
Him. Thus He presents Himself to us on the fixed prin¬
ciple of parent and child, that we may realize His love for
us and be able to see that it is our right and privilege to go
to Him for all things. He would have us see that we are
placed in the same relation to Him as the relation of the
little child to its mother. Let us remember that He does
not command us to pray for help to get our daily bread, to
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Thoughts I Met
bless our intentions, to open up ways and means, or to
indirectly show us how to get a living by hard work, but
He tells us plainly to ask Him to give us our daily bread —
it is a gift. Not that we are to be idle and shiftless, but
that we are to trust Him with such a perfect trust we will
know that whatever work or business we do is by His di¬
rection, and that He takes care of us as a good earthly
father takes care of an obedient son.
Living that prayer puts and keeps a man in the wisest,
and in every sense the most powerful, the healthiest, surest,
firmest, and happiest condition for which any one can
wish. It actually makes one know that he is at all times
in full harmony and power with the Supreme Being of the
whole universe.
How very convenient it is to doubt what costs a sacrifice
to believe!
It is generally thought that to understand human nature
one must observe and study many different persons. But
it is not so. Are you not a natural being ? Then why look
to another for what you have yourself ? No matter what I
see of nature in another, I am only looking at myself in
somebody else. If I would observe and understand human
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On the Highway
nature, I must see and know myself. I can see farther into
myself than I can into any one else.
When a person becomes enraged it takes twenty-four
hours — and one-third of that time in sound sleep — to
bring the brain back to its normal condition. This shows
how killing is the loss of temper. How plainly it is to be
seen that, in any kind of a contest, when a man loses his
temper he is half whipped. If the loss of temper thus
weakens, what must the keeping of it do ?
What is charity ? Theologists have a way of tossing it
off as love. Well, it is love, but not the kind of love gener¬
ally found among theologians. That is a very cheap love.
I cannot see that it differs in any sense from the world's
love.
Charity looks upon a sinful soul just as a wise man looks
upon one with a broken leg, or with a disease that kills.
No matter how much the lame or sick man staggers, he is
not responsible for it. Just so does charity look upon a
sinner; and as the sick man is not given up until it is seen
that he must die, neither is the sinner given up until he is
wholly depraved, and only charity has a right to say
[95]
Thoughts I Met -f*"
when a soul is totally depraved. You do not see this
kind of love in the churches. The kind of love that is
popular there cannot be called charity, for the popular
church knows no religion beyond what the respectable
world can endorse. The church of to-day stands right
where the Jewish church stood when Christ was on earth.
The most advanced popular church of to-day has not gone
beyond the line of justice. It is " an eye for an eye, and a
tooth for a tooth," just as in the Jewish church. Charity is
not that kind of love that gives away one dollar and keeps
two; neither is it that kind of love that stands up in the
prayer-meeting and says it loves Jesus, and yet turns a poor
widow out-of-doors for non-payment of rent; nor is it that
kind of love that teaches a Sunday-school class of children,
and then next day refuses to let a house to a man because
he has children. Charity is the kind of love that allows the
other man to have the best end of the bargain. Charity
always seeks the humble side in all matters. Charity is the
kind of love that suffers everything, and then hangs on the
cross and pleads for its murderers.
O how precious and joyful the thought that there is no
degree of happiness that the lowest, dullest, most ignorant,
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On the Highway
and poorest of us cannot have! Great, numerous, and won¬
derful are the joys of the universe; yet any meek and honest
heart can take in all of them. No matter how poor I am,
there is no part of true riches that I cannot have. No mat¬
ter how ignorant I am, there is no needed knowledge that
is beyond my reach, and no wisdom that I cannot obtain.
No matter how much I may ever have lacked character,
there is no plane of perfect manhood to which I cannot
attain. There are no beauties that I cannot admire, and
there can be no real glories that I cannot share. All of this
do I have as a result of having God for a father.
How blessed it is that the kinds of knowledge and wis¬
dom that are most essential to health, happiness, and sal¬
vation are such as all can have. Thank Almighty God for
His loving kindness in making the best the easiest to learn.
The general course of man: first a temple of pride,
then a tyrant, then a coward, then a slave.
How miserable and worthless, and how lacking of real
manly and womanly development, are those who have no
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Thoughts I Met
higher object in life than a meal of victuals, a night's lodg¬
ing, a suit of clothes, a day's pleasure, and a night's gratifi¬
cation. Such people have but one life, and when their
bodies die that life dies with them. But how different it is
with those who find the right ways of life! They die to the
life that dies, and live in and for the life that lives forever,
and the proof of that life is the joy it constantly affords in
the midst of and under all kinds of trouble: a joy that fills
the heart so full that it runs over and fills x>ther hearts.
Even death is made its servant to show and prove the worth
of every one whose object is truth and whose words and
actions are prompted by love, for this is the second life,
that death cannot kill.
A man never has victory over a trial until he has suc¬
ceeded in making the trial his servant. Being merely will¬
ing to bear the trial is not sufficient. He must so use it, or
so see and understand it, as to be made stronger and put in
a better place. This can be done only by perfect trust in
God through the promises of our Saviour.
It is not love that leads one to treat a brute as a human
being (I mean beyond proper kindness). It is perverted
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On the Highway
affection. To prove that it is not love, you will find
that those who lavish their affections upon brutes seldom
pay much attention to destitute children. The emperor
that made a horse his counsel never made a record as a
philanthropist.
Of all the millions of people on this earth, how few
there are who give any reason for living! The great ma¬
jority of men live for nothing at all. There are few in
any community that have any special object in living.
Most men work for something to eat, and eat because they
are hungry; beyond that they have little or no object in
living. While in this condition this great majority of men
are only machines. They have no active mind of their
own and have to be operated and run by the minds of
those who have special objects in life. No matter what a
man's occupation may be, no man can be a completely
rounded man without some good and special object in
living. The man who lives for a good object never de¬
pends on others, and is never idle. He depends on the good
there is in the object, and no matter what difficulties he
encounters, he is always able to surmount them, and he is
always doing something. How often do we see people who
are looking for some kind of entertainment by which to
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Thoughts I Met
pass away the time. Such people have no special and good
object in life. The man with a good object never has any
time to pass away. He has use for all the time there is.
No matter where he is, he is at work. If he is waiting for a
train, or riding on one, he is doing in his mind what he in¬
tends to do with his hands, tongue, or pen. We can always
tell those who are living for a good object by their demeanor,
and also by the very circumstances, in which there is always
something that is inspiring. Such people never evince a
spirit of self-importance and are not given to foolish talk¬
ing. You can see that they are filled with substantial
thought. It is by such people that the world is held in ex¬
istence. They are walking fountains of life. The mind
that is rightly fixed on a good object is linked to every good
in the whole universe. People talk about trying to live a
good life; they think if they try to avoid sin they may suc¬
ceed in living a good life, but this is a mistake. The only
way one can live a good life is by having the mind fixed on
a good and special object. When a man's mind is thus
fixed, all the combined fixed principles of truth support
him and actually carry him through every trial. This is
why he succeeds in living a good life: his mind is fixed on
the good, and the good occupies him. But the man without
a special object in life is like a wanderer whose highest
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On the Highway
hope is that he may by chance come into some comfortable
place where he can eke out an existence that he does not
understand, for of all the wonders in this wonderful world
the greatest wonder to the man without any special object
in life is his own existence.
It matters not how much a man may know, when he
gets out of reach or beyond the understanding of the
masses he is no longer a benefit to any portion of the
human family.
Always remember that other knowledge will step right
up and offer itself just as soon as you have used for good
all the knowledge you have. This is a fixed principle of
truth.
You say you wish you were not so sensitive. I am glad
you are. Did you ever know anybody who was not sensi¬
tive to amount to much ? But you say you are made to suf¬
fer so much. The fine musician has a very sensitive ear and
suffers every time he hears a discord, but he would rather
suffer than to part with his sensitiveness. The more com¬
plete in every way one becomes the more sensitive that per-
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Thoughts I Met
son is sure to be, and the more sensitive a man is, the more
pliable is he to every touch of truthful intrust. That is,
if, instead of worshiping his sensitiveness, he makes his
sensitiveness to serve him.
If I am a soldier,
For truth to fight,
I will sense the wrong
To serve the right.
Have you ever taken your eyes off other people long
enough to look into your own heart and get acquainted
with yourself?
It is a great part of knowledge to know what you believe
and just how much you believe it.
I love to dwell upon the fixed principles of truth. Friend,
did you ever stop right still and look at the fixed principles
of truth, and see how they explain the things of real life ?
I do not mean the things that seem to belong to life but
really belong to death. There is not a thing that we are
prompted to do that these principles do not give a reason
for. Here is the way we may know when we are doing
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On the Highway
right. When people are doing wrong they do not see the
consequences; there is nothing to show them. The first
thing that sin does to a man is to blind him It is like a
snake with a bird. The first thing a snake does to a bird is
to make it insensible of, or blind to, all danger. That is
why he charms it. It has the bird in its power. The poor
thing does not realize what it is doing when it flits along
towards the serpent's mouth. There is a feeling produced
in the bird, and it follows that feeling without any intima¬
tion of the result. Just so it is with a man when he is
under the control of the wrong power. He may have a
desire to do right, yet he acts without knowing what the
result is going to be. But when a man is under the power
of truth he knows his promptings. No matter what he
is moved to do, he sees what the result will be before he
acts; that is, he will know whether it will result in good or
evil.
People question the religion of Jesus Christ; but the peo¬
ple that do it surely have not known a single fixed prin¬
ciple of truth, for there is not a fixed principle of truth with
which any and all of His words and acts do not perfectly
agree. Let anybody who knows any number of fixed prin¬
ciples test any word or act of the Saviour by those principles
and he will see that in every case our Lord spoke and acted
[103]
4
Thoughts
M
upon, by, and from fixed principles of truth. Look at any
word or act of His from the standpoint of any fixed prin¬
ciple of truth, and we see that it must result in good. Liv¬
ing in harmony with the fixed principles of truth is a life of
joy and gladness. Knowing your leadings, and looking
ahead along the line of those principles, and seeing the re¬
sult of your actions before you do them (that is, the nature
of whatever the result will be, for we cannot know what the
result of an act will be in amount), keeps the soul satisfied
all the time. The fixed principles of truth are the eternally
unchangeable assignments, by which all rightness—that is,
every right thing—is produced and developed. It is the
fixed principle of truth that educates man. People are
thought to be educated when they have passed through
college; but among the most ignorant men I have ever
seen have been college-bred men, some of whom have been
famous for their learning. They were so ignorant as not
to know the difference between a highly and keenly cher¬
ished custom and a fixed principle of truth. No man can
be truthfully called a learned man until he understands the
fixed principles of truth. There is one very peculiar thing
about understanding the fixed principles of truth. Thomas
a Kempis once said that he " would rather have contrition
of heart than to know the meaning thereof." So it is with
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O N T H E H I G H W A Y
some people and the fixed principles of truth: they are so
led by the spirit of truth that they understand all the fixed
principles of truth, yet they know not one of those prin¬
ciples to call it by name.
To be thus learned does not require hard study, but strict
obedience to every truth we know; a determination to do
every right thing at any cost. This is what makes the
greatest things possible to everybody.
[105]