KB wm HI ■! Ideals of Life: Wisdom of the Ages A SERIES OF WHOLESOME, PRACTICAL TOPICS, ON WHICH ARE PRESENTED THE BEST THINGS FROM MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED GREAT THINKERS AND ACTORS OF ALL TIMES. BY OSGOOD E. FULLER, M. A., Author of *' The Year of Christ." *\ "For mine own part, I shall be glad to learn of noble men." —Shakespeare. DETROIT: J. C. FULLER & CO. 1880. • 1 x Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by O. E. FULLER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. PREFACE l HE Situation," says Mr. Carlyle, "that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never yet occupied by man." This fact implies at least two more : I. We succeed in any position just in proportion as we keep before us and seek to realize the Ideal of Excellence which that position requires. II. The man or woman without an Ideal is nothing but a weary, hopeless plodder. Appreciating, therefore, the importance of prop- er conceptions of Life in its manifold aspects, the Author and Editor of this volume has aimed to construct a series of wholesome Ideals, or Patterns of Life ; which, he trusts, will prove suggestive and helpful to all who are preparing to take their place in the great arena of action, as also to those already in the midst of the battle ; always striving to illustrate, in some sort, the greatness of Truth, "the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." And since passages from Life's Drama are found, in the most eminent degree, along the trial- paths of the great Thinkers and Actors of the world, his chief reliance for material, after that afforded by the Divine Master, has been the out- come or record of their lives — " Lives spent in serving God Through labor for Humanity." Detroit, July, 1880. O. E. F. Life is to labor where'er Duty's voice May call, with strength to spurn the baser choice And who so triumphs, angels write his name As one deserving more than mortal fame. The conflict is at hand! Take tip thy shield, My soul! and to whatever battle-field Thotc rangest, nerve thyself to courage there, And, flinging scorn upon that word Despair, Remember aye this verse of lofty cheer : The Helper yonder helps the helper here. CONTENTS. J>ari Hir*t« Page Key-Notes 10 What to Live For . 11 Pursuit of the Ideal 18 Duty ....... 24 Work 27 Work and Worship . 30 Life-Work 32 Concentration ... 42 Prudence 45 Page Perseverance .... 47 Economy 51 Labor and Greatness 57 Failures and Successes 63 Prayer 69 Faith 74 Hope 77 Charity 80 The Day of Judgment 85 fnv\ jiBtnttitn Key-Notes 90 God 91 The Second Man . . 94 Immanuel 100 Simplicity 103 Virtue 105 Goodness 108 Conscience , ■ . Ill Truth and Obedience 114 Uprightness Courtesy . Courage . Decision . Character Common Sense Time. — A Ballad for New- Year Day Eternity . . . (v) 116 119 125 130 133 137 140 148 VI IDEALS OF LIFE. fnv\ Page Key-Notes .... 152 Education 153 Teachers 160 Books 165 Encouragement, or What I Carried to College 171 Ambition 178 Opportunities . . . 182 Employment .... 185 trfr* Page Sponge, or Fountain . 189 Home .... . 190 Childhood . . . . 193 Plighted Love . . 197 Wedded Love . . 201 Children . . . . 206 Woman's Work . . 211 Health . . . . 220 Recreation . , . 225 fnx\ %*uvfy. Key-Notes . . . 232 Reformation . . . . 268 The Two Helpers . 233 The Seven Words 276 Purity 238 Forgiveness . . . . 278 Food for the Soul . 245 Sympathy .... . 282 Temptation .... 250 Repentance . . . 288 The Angel of Prayer 255 Forsaken .... 291 Tribulation .... 258 Spiritual Thirst . 296 Gilead 260 Life's Completion . 300 Affliction .... 262 Death 306 fnv\ V»*. Key-Notes .... 316 The Flowers . . 348 Immortality .... 317 Wages of Sin . . 352 Personality Forever 326 Heaven .... 358 Satisfied 333 Hell 362 The Riddle of the The Divine Law . 365 Sphinx 337 Resignation . . . 368 Unbelief 342 Life 371 Under the Stars . ^ 345 In One 376 CONTENTS. Jnri jKrtft. Key-Notes .... 384 The Beautiful Plant 385 Brotherhood . . . 390 Eloquence .... 398 Fame 400 Pastors 404 Zeai 406 Nature 408 Cheerfulness . . . 414 Competition . . . . 420 Cold- Water Pourers 425 Detraction .... 431 Temperance .... 435 Honesty 441 Devotion, or the Secret of Success . 445 JTari JBsasttty Key-Notes .... 452 Truth 453 But One Physician . 460 Riches 464 Appreciation. . . . 468 Evil-Eyed .... 469 Greatness 470 Originality .... 474 Music 479 Confusion 482 Conversion .... 486 Imagination .... 489 The Great Stone Face 494 Patience 496 Reward 499 •nti JttgW. Key-Notes .... 504 Learning 505 Money ...... 510 Contentment. . . . 513 Transformations . . 517 Fate ...... 521 Freedom ..... 525 Action 528 The Soldier of Christ 533 Rest 535 Thanks ...... 539 Prayers 544 Praises 560 Proverbs 563 Index of Authors . 575 Index of Subjects . 593 IDEALS OF LIFE. UffttsfraHott*. Page 1. Morning Frontis-piece. 2. " When I have idle been" 80 3. The Spendthrift 52 4- "Thou art the true and undefiled" 103 5. " The beauty of a ivayside flower " 105 6. u The Hours swept on in their rapid flight" . . . HI 7. " God's music round the common hearth''' .... 191 8. "Dear Recreation claims her hour " 225 9. "Behold this angel — not one in disguise — " .... 234 10. "Is there any ease from my pain to be had ?" . . 260 11. "By and by another sleep'''' 333 12. "And with their vernal beauty rife" ...... 348 13. Nooning ■ 886 14. The Matin-Bell : . . Jfi8 15. "The river of beneficence to w,an" 445 16. " What though the venerable oak be broken" . . . 455 17. "Let crimson Battle tread on many a bosom" . . . 460 18. "The major notes and minor" 479 19. " The glory of the summer mom" 499 20. "He is the rainbow of the heart" 517 21. " The thread of life will soon be wound" .... 552 22. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" 567 f. !**-S***8- Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. — Hebrews, x. 9. Men must know that in this theatre of human life it remaineth only to God and the angels to be lookers-on. — Lord Bacon. It is an uncontroverted truth that no man ever made an ill figure who understood his own talents, nor a good one who mistook them. — Dean Swift. I have never known an individual, least of all an individual of genius, healthy or happy without a profession, i. e., some regular employment, which does not depend on the will of the moment, and which can be carried on so far mechanically, that an average quantum only of health, spirits and intellectual exertion are requisite to its faithful discharge. — Coleridge. Time and patience change the mulberry leaf to satin. — Oriental Proverb. Do what thou dost as if the earth were heaven, And that thy last day were the judgment day. — Charles Kingsley. (10) Ideals of Life. Wfynl fa Jtfas °^xt^ + ^HROUGH purity and strength of will *^ To work to some high mark, Which in the heavens is shining still When all below is dark. The Ideals of Life, which Wisdom has hung out in the firmament of Humanity, are like the stars in multitude. Like the stars, too, they have a common centre, around which they revolve, and from which they derive their glory. And that centre is the life-giving Ideal suggested by the pro- phetic announcement, " Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God," rounded by these other words of the Divine Man, " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work." Work is the essence of all wholesome Ideals, heaven-appointed work, of the heart, of the brain, of the hands ; Something to be done, Something to be won; (ID 12 IDEALS OF LIFE. and under die Eye which is always a glory to die diligent and a terror to the idle. Work, glorified as duty, is the perennial foun- tain of happiness, and the source of all that is excellent in the earth. " There is always hope in a man," says Mr. Carlyle, " that actually and earn- nestly works. In idleness alone is there perpetual despair." Work is the law of our being — the living prin- ciple that carries men and nations onward. The greater number of men have to work with their hands, as a matter of necessity, in order to live; but all must work in one way or another, if they would enjoy life as it ought to be enjoyed. Labor may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honor and a glory. Without it nothing can be accomplished. All that is great in man comes through work, and civilization is its product. Were labor abolished, the race of Adam were at once stricken by moral death. It is idleness that is the curse of man — not labor. Idleness eats the heart out of men as of nations, and consumes them as rust does iron. When Alexan- der conquered the Persians, and had an opportunity of observing their manners, he remarked that they did not seem conscious that there could be anything more servile than a life of pleasure, or more princely than a life of toil. When the Emperor Severus lay on his death- bed at York, whither he had been borne on a litter from the foot of the Grampians, his final watchword WHAT TO LIVE FOB. 13 to his soldiers was, " Laboremus " (we must work) ; and nothing but constant toil maintained the power and extended the authority of the Roman generals. In describing the earlier social condition of Italy, when the ordinary occupations of rural life were considered compatible with the highest civic dignity, Pliny speaks of the triumphant generals and their men returning contentedly to the plough. In those days the lands were tilled by the hands even of generals, the soil exulting beneath a ploughshare crowned with laurels, and guided by a husbandman graced with triumphs : " Ipsorum tunc manibus im- peratortim colebantur agri : ut fas est credere gau- dente terra vomere laureato et triumphale aratore!' It was only after slaves became extensively em- ployed in all departments of industry that labor came to be regarded as dishonorable and servile. And so soon as indolence and luxury became the characteristics of the ruling classes of Rome, the downfall of the empire, sooner or later, was inevit- able. — Samuel Smiles. Happiness, prosperity and safety in any attained position depend upon work, which, of some sort or other, may be pursued by every member of the race. " We are not born," says Goethe, " to solve the problem of the universe, but to find out what we have to do, and to confine ourselves within the limits of our power of comprehension." And we need not go far to make the discovery. Providence reveals to every man, who has eyes to see and ears to hear, his proper work. And then the mark of honor and glory is to do it faithfully. 14 J DUALS OF LIFE. I have always remembered something I heard many years ago of the late Mr. Gray, of Boston, "Billy Gray," as he was commonly called, who from nothing made a vast estate. Standing one day on the deck of one of his numerous ships, he observed a carpenter busy at some matter of repairs. " Johnny Thompson," said he, " why do you not do it so in- stead of the way you are doing it ? " " Billy Gray," replied the man, " why do you speak so to me ? Don't I remember you when you were nothing but a poor drummer-boy ? " " Ah," rejoined Mr. Gray, "ah, Johnny Thompson, but didnt I drum well?''' I have thought of this a thousand times, for there is a great deal in it. To do well what we have to do, this sums up the whole practical end of living. The honest purpose and endeavor to do so puts every- one on an equal footing of worthiness. It is the secret of acceptable goodness, and the secret also of happiness. All true happiness, all that is worth the name, lies in a harmony between the spirit of our life and the duties of our place in life. One of the pleasantest sights of serene happi- ness I ever saw was an old woman, whose life was narrowed down and restricted by infirmity to the sole activity of sitting in an arm-chair by the fireside of a humble dwelling - and knitting and mending the stockings of the children and grandchildren that could play and work. Thankful for the arm-chair and the clean-swept hearth, she passed her con- tented and cheerful days in doing well what she could do. To me that old arm-chair was trans- WHAT TO LIVE FOR. 15 figured to a throne of glory more to be envied than an imperial throne filled by a selfish, ambitious monarch, and a divine radiance invested its occu- pant and all her homely implements and humble industry that outshone the glitter and the glare of golden sceptres and jewelled swords of state. To do our duty well — whatever it be, whether to sweep the streets, to saw wood, or grind knives, whatever lowliest work it be — to do it well, to do it in a sense of duty, unites us to the Highest One by a bond that nothing can break, gains us a posi- tion in the infinite spiritual universe, from which nothing can cast us down. We may not have received ten talents, nor two, nor even one, but only a very small fraction of one. No matter, if faithful, we shall live to just as good a purpose, so far as our worthiness is concerned, as though we had a million talents and improved them all. The poorest cobbler who, in a dutiful spirit, out of love to God and man, does the work of his calling, is just as acceptable as the righteous ruler of the greatest kingdom on the earth, just as acceptable as the highest archangel that stands before the Throne of the universe, or flies on flaming wings to carry the orders of his Sovereign to the armies of Heaven that have their stations among the stars. — C. S. Henry. To do our duty in that station of life into which it has pleased God to call us, is the infinite thing to live for : which is full of blessed realities in the pres- ent, and prophetic of an ever-brightening future. 16 IDEALS OF LIFE. " Forgetting those things which are behind," how- ever pleasant they have been, the diligent doer of duty has but one aim, and that is to press for- ward. Every young man, as he stands on the threshold of life, preparing to step forward into the vague, uncertain future, may take to his heart the trumpet- like words of Saint Simon: " L'age d'or, quune aveugle tradition a place jusqiiici dans la passe, est devant nous" — (The golden age, which a blind tradition has hitherto placed in the past, is before us). What has been possible to our fellows is possible to us, and something, perhaps, which never was by them achieved. Hope is ours, and love, and truth, and honor ; high aspiration and earnest prayer ; the consciousness of a battle well fought and a victory well won. The race may be a long one, and the way rugged and thorny, but mayhap there are flowers in many a bosky nook, and we shall feel, though we may not discern, the presence of the angels like a soundless wind on a summer sea. We have only to take heart and work. We know the conditions of success — diligence and pa- tience, and a firm purpose and a lofty aim, self-reli- ance, courage, self-denial, self-elevation. These are within our reach if we submit to the necessary dis- cipline. And why should we not ? Is not this life the vestibule of eternity, and shall we neglect or despise it as a thing worthless and wearisome ? Do we not know it to be the training place of our spir- itual nature ? Do we not know that the faculties WHAT TO LIVE FOB. 17 cultivated here will grow into a glorious fruition hereafter ? Ah, the nobleness of labor ! How it develops the thought, how it braces up the soul, how it crushes back the evil impulse ! When we bethink ourselves of the pleasure it yields, of the moral elevation which it involves, we are lost in wonder at the infatuation of the fools who idly turn from it to expend their lives in luxurious indulgence. But when we speak of labor we mean something more than the occupation of the business day, some- thing more than the toil that properly belongs to our respective callings ; we mean that general pro- cess of culture by which mind, soul and body alike are benefited ; we mean all that assiduous prepara- tion and finish which carefully occupies the hours not devoted to amusement or repose. Our com- plex humanity has many sides, all of which demand our assiduous vigilance ; this vigilance we regard as part and parcel of our daily duty. — W. H. D. Adams. Two men I honor, and no third. First, the toil- worn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth and makes her man's. Venerable to me is the hard hand, crooked, coarse, wherein notwithstanding lies a cunning vir- tue, indefeasibly royal, as if the sceptre of this planet Toil on, toil on ; thou art in thy duty, be out of it who may ; thou toilest for the altogether indispensable, for daily bread. A second man I honor, and still more highly : him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispen- 18 IDEALS OF LIFE. sable, not daily bread, but the bread of life. Is not he, too, in his duty ; endeavoring towards inward harmony ; revealing this by act or by word, through all his outward endeavors, be they high or low. Highest, of all, when his outward and his inward endeavors are one ; when we can name him artist ; not earthly craftsman only, but inspired thinker, who with heaven-made implement conquers heaven for us ! — Carlyle. JW$wf nl| i\$ %hni Who is she that \ooketh forth as the morning, Fair as the moon, Clear as the sun, And terrible as an army with banners ? — Song of Solomon, iv. 10. ,ifi)NE who holds my heart forever, ^^ And I bless her night and day: Night and day where'er I wander, She is ever on my way. Tender maiden, watchful maiden, Friend to me she is alway, And with countenance angelic All my baser thoughts doth fray. PURSUIT OF THE IDEAL. 19 Now she chides me and she guides me, If by chance I go astray : Then she scorns me and she warns me, If to rest my head I lay. Purer than the virgin dew-drops, And more beautiful than they, Clothed she is in lily-meekness And a youth forever May. Who would not rejoice to woo her, Who is clad in such array? Who would not rejoice to win her, Who may never know decay? Fairer maiden, rarer maiden, Poet never may portray; Purer maiden, truer maiden, Never dwelt in mortal clay. And such charms she always weareth, And so modest to display ! Oh my airy, fairy maiden Over me hath perfect sway ! Should King Oberon, the Fairy, Haply from his kingdom stray, And be questioned if he love her, He could never answer nay ; Such his eager heart to woo her, And her to his realm convey, 20 IDEALS OF LIFE. Where her beauty would enthrone her Queen of every elf and lay. Oh, her smile to me is better Than the sparkle of Tokay, And the sweetness of her silence Than all harems of Cathay. But, ah me ! she e'er so coy is — And I always hate delay — Oft my heart grows dark within me, Void of hope's celestial ray. For when I would fain embrace her, Blushingly she flits away, Darting, glancing like a sunbeam, As if mocking my dismay ; Leaving me, and then returning, Like the sunlight in the spray ; And my soul is half distracted With such Tantalus-survey. Why will not the cruel maiden Once my beauty- thirst allay? Doth she stoop at last to vengeance, Dooming me a castaway ? Airy maiden, fairy maiden, Do not keep me thus at bay ; Linger yet a little, maiden ; Maiden, yet a little stay. PURSUIT OF THE IDEAL. 21 Ah, she will not deign to listen, Though I sue and I inveigh ; Ah, she will not deign to listen, Doth she, then, my love repay ? If I ask her if she love me, Blushing, she will nothing say, Nothing answer to convince me, Nothing, neither nay or yea. But retreating, softly fleeting, Like a rainbow, heavenly gay, She doth call me, she doth call me, And I cannot but obey. And as bold and eager -hearted As a school -boy, who at play Bright -hued butterflies in chasing O'er the fragrant, new -mown hay, Vexed, successless, yet determined On the capture of his prey, Which allures him and eludes him, Follow softly as he may; I pursue my airy maiden From the morning twilight grey, Till the mists of evening gather, And no conquest doth defray All my yeanlings and my heart -beats, For she every art doth slay. 22 IDEALS OF LIFE. Yet with new and light endeavor, To allure her I essay, Purposing no base inaction And no sluggard's welaway, Till I touch the happy altar, Crowned on with the fadeless bay. And I think my heart grows better, And I count not what I pay For the airy chase and earthly, Where she seemeth to betray ; For I feel if here I never Win my maiden, as I pray, I shall in yon sphere eternal Prosper in her love for aye; Where the splendor of the virgin Satisfies the heart straightway, And all work is but the rhythm Of a blessed holiday, But the worship and the freedom Of a blessed holy -day ; And the rhyme that never changes, Fringes the Celestial Lay. — Too late did I love Thee, O Fairness, so ancient and yet so new ! Too late did I love Thee ! For behold, Thou wert within, and I without, and there did I seek Thee ; I, unlovely, rushed heedlessly PURSUIT OF THE IDEAL. 23 among the things of beauty Thou madest. Thou wert with me, but I was not with Thee. Those things kept me from Thee, which, unless they were in Thee, were not. Thou calledst, and criedest aloud, and forcedst open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and chase away my blindness. Thou didst exhale odors, and I drew in my breath, and do pant after Thee. I tasted, and do hunger and thirst. Thou didst teach me, and I burn for Thy peace. — St. Augustine. The Situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never yet occupied by man. Yes here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual, wherein thou even now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal : work it out therefrom ; and working, believe, live, be free. Fool ! the Ideal is in thyself, the impediment, too, is in thyself: thy Condition is but the stuff thou art to shape that same Ideal out of: what matters whether such stuff be of this sort or that, so the Form thou give it be heroic, be po- etic ? O, thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth : the thing thou seekest is already with thee, " here or nowhere," couldst thou only see ! — Carlyle. We cannot understand the Actual of a character or system without in some degree entering into its Ideal.— Miss Greenwell. All visible greatness grows in looking at an in- visible that is greater. — James Martineau. 24 IDEALS OF LIFE. "fTHE petty Done, the Undone vast!" ^ So once a Poet sung, By both the Present and the Past Upraided, goaded, stung. And it were well if all had eyes To see the Infinite, Humbled, exalted, and grown wise In all-enfolding light. And it were well if all had pain Which passes human speech, In view of all there is to gain, Not yet within their reach. But eyes and pain with valiant heart, Abashed by no "Too late," To choose Eternal Duty's part Where no accusers wait. , Duty ! wondrous thought, that workest neither by fond insinuation, flattery, nor by any threat, but merely by holding up thy naked law in the soul, and so extorting for thyself always reverence, if not always obedience ; before whom all appetites are dumb, however secretly they rebel. — Kant. Duty is far more than love. It is the upholding law through which the weakest become strong, with- DUTY. 25 out which all strength is unstable as water. No character, however harmoniously framed and glori- ously gifted, can be complete without this abiding principle : it is the cement which binds the whole moral edifice together, without which all power, goodness, intellect, truth, happiness, love itself, can have no permanence ; but all the fabric of existence crumbles away from under us, and leaves us at last sitting in the midst of a ruin, — astonished at our own desolation. — Mrs. Jameson. Duty is based upon a sense of justice — justice inspired by love, which is the most perfect form of goodness. Duty is not a sentiment, but a principle pervading the life: and it exhibits itself in conduct and in acts, which are mainly determined by man's conscience and freewill. — Smiles. Everybody ought to have a flag — something sa- cred, something to live by and die by, convictions that one is not only not ashamed of, but counts it an honor and a glory to avow. Everybody should carry his flag aloft and unfurled, ready to main- tain and defend it, to suffer and to die for it if need be. The man who has no flag, or does not carry it unfurled where duty, honor and manliness bid him do so, is a thoroughly base and mean man. He is fit neither to live nor to die. So far from having anything heroic in him, he lacks the essential ingre- dients of tolerable respectability of character. What is the worth of a man who does not prefer duty to life ? Just nothing at all, or at best he is good for nothing but to eat, drink, make money perhaps, and 3 26 / DEALS OF LIFE. then mould°r to dust. Thousands of men and women — soldiers, sailors, medical men, fathers, mothers, nurses — do their duty every day in peril of their lives. They are not canonized for it, but they would be thought meanly of if they did it not. How universally the cowardice that shrinks from dangerous duty is despised. — C. S. Henry. Remember your honor, which raises you above fortune and above kings ; by that alone, and not by the splendor of titles, is glory acquired — that glory which it will be your happiness and pride to trans- mit unspotted to your posterity. — Vittoria Co- lonna. My brother, the brave man has to give his Life away. Give it, i advise thee ; — thou dost not ex- pect to sell thy Life in an adequate manner ? What price, for example, would content thee? The just price of thy Life to thee, — why, God's entire Crea- tion to thyself, the whole Universe of Space, the whole Eternity of Time, and what they hold : that is the price which would content thee ; that, and if thou wilt be candid, nothing short of that ! It is thy all ; and for it thou wouldst have all. Thou art an unreasonable mortal ; — or, rather thou art a poor, infinite mortal, who, in thy narrow clay-prison here, seemest so unreasonable ! Thou wilt never sell thy Life, or any part of thy Life, in a satisfactory man- ner. Give it, like a royal heart ; let the price be nothing : thou hast then, in a certain sense, got All for it! — Carlyle. I become more and more alive to the happiness WORK. 27 which consists in the fulfillment of Duty, I believe there is no other so deep and so real. There is only one great object in the world which deserves our efforts, and that is, the good of mankind. — De TOCQUEVILLE. " The word Duty," said George Wilson, a dis- tinguished professor in the University of Edinburgh, when almost worn out in faithful work, " The word Duty seems to me the biggest word in the world, and is uppermost in all my serious doings." . ark jji) LITTLE birds of grace. ®^ How in my work ye sing ! Ye make my heart your nesting - place, And all your gladness bring. When ye are in my heart, How swiftly pass the days ! The fears and doubts of life depart And leave the room to praise My work I find like play, And all day long rejoice ; 28 IDEALS of LIFE. But if I linger on my way, I hear this warning voice : With fervor work and pray, And let not coldness come ; Or birds of grace will fly away To seek a warmer home. We enjoy ourselves only in our work, in our doings ; and our best doing is our best enjoyment. — Jacobi. I have fire-proof, perennial enjoyments, called employments. — Richter. Wouldst thou discover Nature's true path to happiness ? Listen to her first command : Labor ! The hours fly swiftly to him who has daily occu- pation ; a lifetime creeps slowly away with the idle. — Leopold. All the virtues and joys of life grow up in labor; only through labor does a human being become truly a man. . . . Work and love, — these are the body and soul of human being ; happy is he with whom they are one. — Auerbach. The very exercise of industry immediately in itself is delightful, and hath an innate satisfaction which tempereth all annoyance, and even ingratia- teth the pains going with it. — Barrow. It sweeteneth our enjoyments, and seasoneth our attainments with a delightful relish. — Barrow. Is the world a great harmonious organ, where all parts are played, and where all play parts : and must thou alone sit and hear it? — Dr. Donne. WORK. 29 There is no spirituality at all without use. Spirituality begins, continues, and culminates in use. To be genuinely useful, in any way, is to be so far spiritual. To be nobly, comprehensively, humanly useful, is to be spiritual in a grand way. O. B. Frothingham. Work in every hour, paid or unpaid. See only that thou work, and thou canst not escape the reward. Whether thy work be fine or coarse, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thoughts. The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. — Emerson. A man should inure himself to voluntary labor, and should not give up to indulgence and pleasure ; as they beget no good constitution of body, nor knowledge of the mind. — Socrates. Employment, which Galen calls "nature's physi- cian," is so essential to human happiness that indo- lence is justly considered the mother of misery. — Robert Burton. The wise prove, and the foolish confess, by their conduct, that a life of employment is the only life worth leading. — Paley. 30 WEALS OF LIFE. W^xxk mh l(xrr$|tp< rO labor is to pray, e ** As some dear saint has said ; And with this truth for many a day Have I been comforted. The Lord has made me bold When I have labored most, And with His gifts so manifold Has given the Holy Ghost. When I have idle been Until the sun went down, Mine eyes so dim have never seen His bright, prophetic crown. O praise the Lord for work Which maketh time so fleet, In which accusers never lurk, Whose end is very sweet. — There is a perennial nobleness, and even sacred- ness, in Work. Were he never so benighted, for- getful of his high calling, there is always hope in a man that actually and earnestly works : in Idleness alone is there perpetual despair. Work, never so Mammonish, mean, is in communication with Na- ture ; the real desire to cret Work done will itself " When I have idle been Until the sun went down, Mine eyes so dim have never seen His bright, prophetic crown." WORK AND WORSHIP. 31 lead one more and more to truth, to Nature's ap- pointments and regulations, which are truth. The latest Gospel in this world is, Know thy work and do it. 'Know thyself:' long enough has that poor 'self of thine tormented thee; thou wilt never get to ' know ' it, I believe ! Think it not thy business, this of knowing thyself; thou art an un- knowable individual : know what thou canst work at ; and work at it, like a Hercules ! That will be thy better plan. It has been written, ' an endless significance lies in Work ; ' a man perfects himself by working. Foul jungles are cleared away, fair seed-fields rise instead, and stately cities ; and withal the man him- self first ceases to be a jungle and foul, unwhole- some desert thereby. Consider how, even in the meanest sorts of Labor, the whole soul of a man is composed into a kind of real harmony the instant he sets himself to work ! Doubt, Desire, Sorrow, Remorse, Indignation, Despair itself, all these, like hell-dogs, lie beleaguering the soul of the poor day- worker as of every man ; but he bends himself with free valor against his task, and all these are stilled, all these shrink murmuring far off into their caves. The man is now a man. The blessed glow of Labor in him, is it not as purifying fire, wherein all poison is burnt up, and of sour smoke itself there is made bright, blessed flame ! — Carlyle. All true Work is Religion : and whatsoever Re- ligion is not Work may go and dwell among the Brahmins, Antinomians, Spinning Dervishes, or 32 IDEALS OF LIFE. where it will ; with me it shall have no harbor. Admirable was that of the old Monks, ' Laborare est Orare,' (Work is Worship!. — Carlyle. All true Work is sacred ; in all true Work, were it but true hand labor, there is something of divine- ness. Labor, wide as the Earth, has its summit in Heaven. Sweat of the brow ; and up from that to sweat of the brain, sweat of the heart, which in- cludes all Kepler calculations, Newton meditations, all Sciences, all spoken Epics, all acted Heroisms, Martyrdoms, — up to that ' Agony of bloody sweat,' which all men have called divine ! O, brother, if this is not ' worship,' then, I say, the more pity for worship ; for this is the noblest thing yet discov- ered under God's sky. Who art thou that corn- plainest of thy life of toil ? Complain not. Look up. my wearied brother ; see thy fellow-workmen there, in God's Eternity ; surviving there, they alone surviving ; sacred Band of the Immortals, celestial Bodyguard of the Empire of Mankind. — Carlyle. Jttb-![oiji ^X^ES, I have found the work at last "k" Which Providence alone forecast; LIFE- WORK. 33 And nevermore for me is rest, Save when I labor at my best. Dear younger brother, wouldst thou know The way the Master loves to show His will and wish? The search is vain, Unless it be through toil and pain. There is no easy lesson here Where wisdom lingers many a year. Most their vocation never know, Since wisdom comes so slow, so slow ! Discerning not the will of God, They walk the way the fathers trod, And He who marks the sparrow's fall, Observes His lowly children all. But thou of hunger hast the smart Pent up within a conscious heart. God's providence is speaking there, Telling what thou shouldst do and dare. Be bold to heed the silent voice And crucify each meaner choice ; Or else forever lose the place Assigned thee in the realm of Grace. God speaks not many times to those To whom His will He would disclose. Have they, alas, no ears to hear, No more, no more He draweth near. 34 /DEALS OF LIFE. He needs thee not against thy will, Thy little place His hand can fill. From stones can He, of old I AM, Raise children unto Abraham. So thou, thy work to know and do, Must unto Providence be true, And heed the signals and the siens, Although the light but dimly shines. What though the signs are not so plain As to shut out all doubt and pain ? The doubt and pain will not grow less While thou remain'st in idleness. What if the signals be but faint, And in thy heart there is complaint ? Ah, they will all the fainter be During thine inactivity. When once the signal voice is heard, And the unfathomed heart is stirred To action, we have found the way Where life is greater than to-day, (However vast its treasures be) And boldly claims eternity. Henceforth we no more reckon worth By the arithmetic of earth. The great is small, the small is great, Often in after estimate, LIFE- WORK. 35 And nobler aims and visions rise What time we see with other eyes. Hast thou despised the little things ? Know thou the smallest duty brings A prophecy of coming time, For thee ignoble or sublime. The gifts of God thou dost not use, Little or great, thou dost abuse. What if — the forfeit comes at last — From thee be taken what thou hast ? Thy sacred trusts each day increase : Evening shall bring a psalm of peace, And in a broader circle shine The lantern of the Word Divine. The blessed things of God no more Shall be as shadow, as before, But real, precious, and sublime, To grow more fair by use and time. Stand still, the darkness on thy track Pushes no more its column back. Halt not, the light gleams wide and far, And thine is an unsetting star. There always will be clouds. Thy mark May sometimes vanish in the dark. What then ? Wilt thou at this despair ? It is thy trial — oh beware ! 36 IDEALS OF LIFE. Renew thy faltering zeal and trust The Lord, O creature of the dust. Young faith will perish in the night, If thou dost only walk by sight. Without the sun, the air, the earth, The seed comes not unto its birth ; Its hidden power of life will die, Or dormant in its prison lie. Without the word and deed, the thought Is to no blessed uses brought, But quickly withers from the soul, Evanishing beyond control. Act to the purpose of thy heart, And Providence, with wondrous art, Shall fashion it to beauty there, Transmuting all thy work and prayer, Till it shall come to be thy life, Grown strong in every manly strife, And, when the time is ripe, approve Thee for the Master's work of love. — If you desire to represent the various parts in life by holes in a table of different shapes, — some circular, some triangular, some square, some oblong — and the persons acting these parts by bits of wood of similar shapes, we shall generally find that the triangular person has got into the square hole, the oblong into the triangular, while the LIFE-WORK. 37 square person has squeezed himself into the round hole. — Sydney Smith. The errors committed in the choice of a voca- tion are sometimes amusing, or would be so if we could forget how serious might have been their consequences. The parents of Claude Lorraine, who divides with our own Turner the supremacy in landscape - painting, would have made him a pastry-cook! His brother was a little keener of insight, for he took him from the pastry-cook's into his own shop, a wood-carver's ; and in this kind of work there was at least more room for the development of his artistic faculty. Turner was intended by his father, for the respectable but inglorious trade of a barber. One day, how- ever, a design of a coat-of-arms which the boy had scratched on a silver salver attracted the at- tention of a customer whom his father was shav- ing, and he was so struck by its promise that he strongly recommended the latter not to inter- fere with his son's evident bias. The lover of art almost shudders at the thought of what the world would have lost had Claude continued a pastry - cook, and Turner shaved the bristling chins of his father's patrons. — W. H. D. Adams\ No doubt parents and guardians have often made mistakes ; but far more numerous have been the mistakes of young men whom an im- prudent ambition or a greed of gain has led into paths they were incompetent to tread success- fully. As a rule, it is always best to accept and 38 WEALS OF LIFE. act upon the advice of our elders. The avoca- tion may be uncongenial, and after a while it may appear plainly unsuitable. It will then be open to us to seize the first opportunity of choosing another career, if this can be done without injury. Jntances there will always be, similar to those we have already set before the reader, of a strong and masterful talent asserting itself in the face of every discouragement, and seeking and finding its natural and legitimate outlet. But let us re- member with humility that such talent is given to very few, and with gratitude that Heaven esti- mates our life-work noc by its brilliancy but by its honesty. If we do our duty, it matters not whether we be the leaders in the fore front of the battle, or only the rank and file. In fixing upon a pursuit, let us, therefore, be guided by nobler thoughts than those of ambition, emulation or envy. Let us bethink ourselves of the old saying that the greatest man is he who chooses right with the most unconquerable resolution ; who withstands the sorest temptations within and with- out ; who patiently bears the weightiest burdens ; who is calmest in the storm, and most fearless under frown and menace ; whose faith in truth, in virtue, in God, is most unfaltering. We can- not all be great sculptors, painters, musicians, men of letters or successful merchants or wealthy manufacturers. The dishonor ^and the failure do not lie in the choice of a lowly trade, or even in the unfortunate selection of the wrong vocation ; LIFE-WORK. 39 they lie in our not doing the work before us with all our might. It is no disgrace to be a shoemaker ; but it is a shame for a shoemaker to make bad shoes. — W. H. D. Adams. " Blessed is he," says Carlyle, " who found his work," and, it should be added, who resists all temptations and persuasions to abandon it. For a man's true work is as sacred as his life ; and should never be relinquished but with his life. The following parable is a good illustration : — There were, once upon a time, two men who were friends, but whose characters and pursuits in life were different. The one was a lover of Beauty, the other a lover, as he said, of Use. The latter had given up his life to " practical purposes ; " he had built houses for the poor, he had arranged the sanitary measures of a city, he had visited the prisons and hospitals, and had toiled to save disease and crime. And his char- acter and strength were suited to this work, so that he did it well. The other had spent his life in examining the Beautiful ; he had studied its laws in nature and art, and he devoted himself in retirement to ex- pressing what he had discovered in the most beautiful manner possible : his enthusiasm pushed him to think that men would be interested in his work, and his aim was to awaken in the world the love of Beauty by giving a high and noble pleasure. He did not care to teach morality as the first thing, but to make beautiful things fa- 40 WEALS OF LIFE. miliar ; and by bringing these beautiful things before men, to refine imaginations not as yet re- fined, till they could see the more ideal beauty. This being his work, and his character and phy- sical temper being suited to it, he did it well, and he did nothing else. He did not visit the poor, nor was he seen in hospitals. His money was spent on beautiful things such as he wanted for his work, not on sanitary improvements and model cottages. With this life and with this expenditure his friend became angry. 'What!' he said, 'will you make poems while famine is making death ? The poor are perishing ; God's children are be- ing done to death ; disease and crime are de- vouring the nation, and you sit still in your poetic and artistic leisure, producing only words. Throw away all this useless work, attack evil, expose oppression, cleanse the foul dwelling, see and realize what poverty and pain mean. To what purpose is this waste ? Those things which you call beautiful might be sold for much money and given to the poor.' So he spake in his dark anger ; and the spirit of his friend was moved, and he went forth to the rude work of the world. It sickened and dismayed him ; his poet- ical power went from him ; his faculty for reveal- ing the Beautiful passed away ; his delicacy and sympathy caused him to break down in contact with crime and disease. He tried hard, but it was a failure ; his life was ruined and no good LIFE-WORK. 41 was done. He could not do his friends work, and trying to do it, he ceased to be able to do his own. — Stopford A. Brooke. It may be proved, with much certainty, that God intends no man to live in this world without working ; but it seems to me no less evident that he intends every man to be happy in his work. It is written " in the sweat of thy brow," but it was never written " in the breaking of thy heart," thou shalt eat bread : and I find that, as on the one hand infinite misery is caused by idle people, who both fail in doing what was appointed for them to do, and set in motion certain springs of mischief in matters in which they should have had no concern, so on the other hand, no small misery is caused by over-worked and unhappy people, in the dark views which they necessarily take up themselves, and force upon others, of work 'itself. Were it not so, I believe the fact of their being unhappy is in itself a violation of di- vine law, and a sign of some kind of folly or sin in their way of life. Now in order that people may be happy in their work, these three things are needed : they must be fit for it ; they must not do too much of it ; and they must have a sense of success in it — not a doubtful sense such as needs some testimony of other people for its confirmation, but a sure sense, or rather know- ledge, that so much work has been done well, and faithfully done, whatever the world may think or say about it. So that in order that a man 4 42 IDEALS OF LIFE. may be happy, it is necessary that he should not only be capable of his work, but a good judge of his work. — Ruskin. iotitmtlraltmt* ^7I70 eyes that see what is divine, ^^ A heaven-appointed work is mine: Naught else have I the power to do, And keep the sense of being true. For when I sometimes turn aside, The still small voice is sure to chide And resolutely call me back : Peace will not leave her chosen track. My lowly work I need not name, Which has for thee, perhaps, no claim ; Some other work belongs to thee, In which thou canst be true and free. That work alone pursue — pursue Until the earth shall fade from view ; And thy devotion will insure The daily triumphs that endure. Wise concentration of purpose on a single CONCENTRATION. 43 object made Faraday a great chemist. When an apprentice in a book -binder's shop, he devoted his scanty leisure to the acquisition of the knowl- edge for which his soul thirsted. In the hours after work he learned the beginnings of his phi- losophy from the books given him to bind. There were two that helped him materially, the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," from which he gained his first notions of electricity, and Mrs. Marcet's " Conversations in Chemistry," which afforded an introduction to that science of wonders. In time he obtained his master's permission to attend a series of scientific lectures at a Mr. Tatum's, and afterwards, through the kindness of a gentleman who had noticed and admired his remarkable in- dustry and intelligence, he was present at the last four public lectures of Sir Humphry Davy. "The eager student sat in the gallery, just over the clock, and took copious notes of the Profes- sor's explanation of radiant matter, chlorine, simple inflammables and metals, while he watched the experiments that were performed. Afterwards he wrote the lectures fairly out in a quarto vol- ume that is still preserved ; first, the theoretical portions, then the experiments with drawings, and finally an index." Sending these notes to Sir Humphry Davy, with a letter explaining his intense attachment to scientific research, he was offered the post of assistant in the laboratory of the Royal Institution of London. Gladly he accepted it, with its weekly wage of twenty-five 44 IDEALS OF LIFE. shillings and the advantage of a room in the house. Thenceforward his career was assured ; but it must be remembered that the renown which gilded it was won by Faraday's unwav- ering pursuit of a single end. — Adams. A concentration of energy and talent upon the object which it is most important for us to secure, implies no absolute disregard of every other. Because a traveller presses forward reso- lutely to the desired haven, and refuses to wan- der from the direct road, it by no means follows that he shall have no eyes for the blossoms that shine by the wayside, no ears for the music of the brook that ripples through the bracken. An indifference to everything that brightens or en- nobles life is very apt to militate against success — success, that is, of the highest and purest kind. Because Faraday made chemistry his great pursuit, he did not neglect every other branch of science. Because John Stuart Mill gave him- self up chiefly to political economy and meta- physical inquiry, he did not deny himself the sweet pleasures of botany and music. — Adams. Just as the general who scatters his soldiers all about the country ensures defeat, so does he whose attention is forever diffused through such innumerable channels that it can never gather in force on any one point. The human mind, in short, resembles a burning-glass, whose rays are intense only as they are concentrated. As the glass burns only when its light is conveyed to PR VDENGE, 45 the focal point, so the former illumines the world of science, literature, or business, only when it is directed to a solitary object. Or, to take an- other illustration, what is more powerless than the scattered clouds of steam as they rise in the sky ! They are as impotent as the dewdrops that fall nightly upon the earth ; but concen- trated and condensed in a steam-boiler, they are able to cut through solid rock, to move moun- tains into the sea, and to bring the Antipodes to our doors. — Anonymous. 3Pntbmtt& c|u)E prudent, yet be not afraid ; < ^ No ghost by fear was ever laid, Nor any mountain made a plain. With bold and prudent step advance Without one thought of luck or chance, Success will follow in thy train. If Prudence but impart her skill, The legions of the mighty Will Can storm the gates of Paradise : W 7 ho has them fighting on his side Will from the field in triumph ride, Though all the world against him rise. |i; IDEALS OF LIFE. Prudence is the combination of wisdom, rea- son, discretion, and common sense ; the offspring of a clear head, a correct judgment, and a good heart. It regards the past, the present, and the future ; time and eternity ; never shrinks from known duty ; acts with coolness and decision ; investigates impartiality, reasons correctly, and condemns reluctantly. The prudent man meets the dispensations of Providence calmly ; views mankind in the clear sunshine of charity; is guided by the golden rule in his dealings ; cher- ishes universal philanthropy ; and soars, in peer- less majesty, above the trifling vanities and cor- rupting vices of the world, and lives in constant readiness to enter the mansions of bliss beyond this vale of tears. It is not the consequent re- sult of shining talents, brilliant genius or great learning. It has been truly said by Dr. Young, and demonstrated by thousands, With the talents of an angel, a man may be a fool. A profound scholar may astonish the world with his scientific researches and discoveries ; pour upon mankind a flood of light; illuminate and enrapture the immortal mind with the beauties of expounded revelation ; point erring man to the path of recti- tude ; direct the anxious mind to the Saviour's love ; and render himself powerless in the cause of truth by imprudent and inconsistent practices. "How empty learning, and how vain is art; Save when it guides the life, and mends the heart." One grain of prudence is of more value than PERSEVERANCE. 47 a cranium crowded with unbridled genius, or a flowing stream of vain wit. It is the real ballast of human life. Without it, dangers gather quick and fast around the frail bark of man, and hurry him on to destruction. The shores of time are lined with wrecks, driven before the gales of Imprudence. — L. C. Judson. Is he a prudent man as to his temporal estate, who lays designs only for a day, with- out any prospect to, or provision for, the re- maining part of life ? — Tillqtson. fmmmntt. VJT7HINE enemy of greatness sings, ^ Yet pours contempt on little things. O brand him with his shame, And purge the chambers of thy heart, And bid him with his lie depart, And all who bear his name. Be right, be firm ; be strong of will, Which in defeat continues still Where daily duties are ; Admiring angels soon will bless Thee with the sweetness of success, And hide thine evil star. 48 IDEALS OF LIFE. All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance : it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals. If a man was to compare the effect of a single stroke of the pick-axe, or of one impression of a spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their dispro- portion ; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest diffi- culties, and mountains are levelled, and oceans bounded, by the slender force of human beings. It is, therefore of the utmost importance that those who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a repu- tation superior to names hourly swept away by time among the refuse of fame, should add to their reason and their spirit, the power of per- sisting in their purpose ; acquire the art of sap- ping what they cannot batter; and the habit ot vanquishing obstinate resistance by obstinate at- tacks. — Dr. Johnson. People may tell you of your being unfit for some peculiar occupation in life ; but heed them not. Whatever employ you follow with perse- verance and assiduity will be found fit for you : it will be your support in youth and your com- fort in age. In learning the useful part of any profession, very moderate abilities will suffice — great abilities are generally injurious to the pos- PERSE VERA NCE. 49 sessors. Life has been compared to a race ; but the allusion still improves by observing that the most swift are ever the most apt to stray from the course. — Goldsmith. That policy that can strike only while the iron is hot, will be overcome by that perseve- rance which, like Cromwell's, can make the iron hot by striking ; and he that can only rule the storm must yield to him who can both raise and rule it. — Colton. Perseverance, working in the right direction, grows with time, and when steadily practiced, even by the most humble, will rarely fail of its reward. Trusting in the help of others is oi comparatively little use. When one of Michael Angelo's principal patrons died he said, " I be- gin to understand that the promises of the world are for the most part vain phantoms, and that to confide in one's self, and become something of worth and value, is the best and safest counsel." — Smiles. Acting — wrote one of the great ornaments of the English stage — does not, like Dogberry's reading and writing, " come by nature ; " with all the high qualities which go to the formation of a great exponent of the book of life (for so the stage may justly be called), it is impossible, totally impossible, to leap at once to fame. 11 What wound did ever heal but by slow de- grees ? " says our immortal author ; and what man, say I, ever became an actor without a long 50 IDEALS OF LIFE. and sedulous apprenticeship ? I know that many men think to step from behind a counter or jump from the high stool of an office to the boards, and take the town by storm in " Richard " or " Othello," is " as* easy as lying." O, the born idiots ! They remind me of the halfpenny candles stuck in the windows on illumination nights ; they flicker and flutter their brief minute, and go out unheeded. — Kean. While yet a youth, says a successful business man, in giving his early experience, I entered a store one day, and asked if a clerk was not wanted. " No ! " in a rough tone, was the an- swer, all being too busy to bother with me ; when I reflected that if they did not want a clerk they might want a laborer, but I was dressed too fine for that. I went to my lodgings, put on a rough garb, and the next day went into the same store and demanded if they did not want a por- ter, and again " No, sir," was the response ; when I exclaimed, in despair almost, "A laborer? Sir, I will work at any wages. Wages is not my ob- ject. I must have employ, and I want to be use- ful in business." These last remarks attracted their attention ; and in the end I was hired as a laborer in the basement and sub -cellar at a very low pay, scarcely enough to keep body and soul together. In the basement and sub-cellar I soon at- tracted the attention of the counting-house and chief clerk. I saved enough for my employers, ECONOMY. 51 in little things usually wasted, to pay my wages ten times over, and they soon found it out. I did not let anybody about commit petty lar- cenies without remonstrance and threats of ex- posure, and real exposure if remonstrance would not do. I did not ask for any two hours' leave. If I was wanted at three in the morning I never growled, and told everybody to go home, "and I will see everything right." I loaded off at day- break packages for the morning boats, or carried them myself. In short, I soon became — as I meant to be — indispensable to my employers, and I rose, and rose, until I became head of the house, with money enough for any luxury or any position a mercantile man may desire for himself and family in a great city. — Anonymous. Jkflttotmf* Ifj^TOW quietly yon maple lifts ^^ Its branches to the skies, Because it uses all the gifts Which Providence supplies ! Economy of every gift Which God on us bestows Produces grace and strength and thrift And all that from them grows. 52 IDEALS OF LIFE. It makes each day a stepping-stone To mark the sure increase, The silent climbing which alone Imparts the sense of peace. It gives a task to every power, Proportioned to its range ; And Recreation has her hour, And Friendship sweet exchange. It does not suffer any waste Of substance, time or health, Nor ever plunge in headlong haste To gain ensnaring wealth ; But gathers wholesome property For uses manifold, Becoming that high alchemy Whose wonders are untold. Economy is the parent of integrity, of liberty. and of ease ; and the beauteous sister of temper- ance, of cheerfulness, and health; and profuseness is a cruel and crafty demon that gradually in- volves her followers in dependence and debts ; that is, fetters them with irons that enter into their souls. — Dr. Johnson. It is, indeed, important that the standard ' of living in all classes should be high ; that is, it should include the comforts of life, the means of neatness and order in our dwellings, and such ECONOMY. 53 supplies of our wants as are fitted to secure vig- orous health. But how many waste their earn- ings on indulgences which may be spared, and thus have no resource for a dark day, and are always trembling on the brink of pauperism i Needless expenses keep many too poor for self- improvement. And here let me say, that expen- sive habits among the more prosperous laborers often interfere with the mental culture of them- selves and their families. How many among them sacrifice improvement to appetite ! How many sacrifice it to the love of show, to the desire of outstripping others, and to habits of expense which grow out of this insatiable passion ! In a country so thriving and luxurious as ours, the laborer is in danger of contracting artificial wants and diseased tastes; and to gratify these he gives himself wholly to accumulation, and sells his mind for gain. Our unparalleled prosperity has not been an unmixed good. It has inflamed cupidity, has diseased the imagination with dreams of boundless success, and plunged a vast multitude into excessive toils, feverish competitions, and ex- hausting cares. A laborer having secured a neat home and a wholesome table, should ask nothing more for the senses ; but should consecrate his leisure, and what may be spared of his earnings to the culture of himself and his family, to the best books, to the best teaching, to pleasant and profitable intercourse, to sympathy and the offices of humanity, and to the enjoyment of the beau- 54 IDEALS OF LIFE. tiful in nature and art. Unhappily, the laborer, if prosperous, is anxious to ape the rich man, instead of trying to rise above him, as he often may, by noble acquisitions. The young in par- ticular, the apprentice and the female domestic, catch a taste for fashion, and on this altar sacri- fice too often their uprightness, and almost al- ways the spirit of improvement, dooming them- selves to ignorance, if not to vice, for a vain show. Is this evil without remedy ? Is human nature always to be sacrificed to outward decora- tion ? Is the outward always to triumph over the inward man ? Is nobleness of sentiment never to spring up among us ? May not a reform in this particular begin in the laboring class, since it seems so desperate among the more prosperous? Cannot the laborer, whose condition calls him so loudly to simplicity of taste and habits, take his stand against that love of dress which dissipates and corrupts so many minds among the opulent? Cannot the laboring class refuse to measure men by outward success, and pour utter scorn on all pretensions founded on outward show or condi- tion? Sure I am that, were they to study plain- ness of dress and simplicity of living, for the pur- pose of their own true elevation, they would sur- pass in intellect, in taste, in honorable qualities, and in present enjoyment, that great proportion of the prosperous who are softened into indul- gences or enslaved to empty show. By such self-denial, how might the burden of labor be ECONOMY. 55 lightened, and time and strength redeemed for improvement. — Channing. Parsimony is not economy. It is separate in theory from it ; and in fact it may or may not be a part of economy, according to circum- stances. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy. If parsimony were to be considered as one of the attributes of that virtue, there is, however, another and a higher economy. Economy is a distributive vir- tue, and consists, not in saving, but in selection. Parsimony requires no providence, no sagacity, no powers of combination, no comparison, no judgment. Mere instinct, and that not an in- stinct of the noblest kind, may produce this false economy in perfection. The other economy has larger views. It demands a discriminating judg- ment, and a firm, sagacious mind. It shuts one door to impudent importunity, only to open an- other, and a wider, to unpresuming merit. If none but meritorious service, or real talent were to be rewarded, this nation has not wanted, and this nation will not want, the means of reward- ing all the service it ever will receive, and en- couraging all the merit it ever will produce. No state, since the foundation of society, has been impoverished by that species of profusion. — Burke. As not less important than that economy of money which is insisted upon so strongly by all our moralists, we would recommend an economy 56 IDEALS OF LIFE. of mental power. Many of us waste our resources in the early stages of our career, forgetful that the race is won by the slaying power of the run- ners. Napoleon gained his victories by his judi- cious employment of his reserves. The general who risks all his forces in a single charge must expect and will deserve defeat. It is not the first blow that strikes home the nail, and what is to be done if we leave ourselves no strength with which to strike a second, and a third, or it may be a hundredth? . . . Read aright, the fable of the tortoise and the hare points a moral in this direc- tion. The hare was beaten by the tortoise because the latter possessed the staying faculty. At school and at college we frequently see the prizes carried off by the men whom an ignorant impatience had criticised as dull, slow, and incapable plodders, while the dashing, bril- liant fellows, apparently sure of victory without an effort, were left hopelessly behind in the race. They had no reserve to fall back upon, while the former had a latent accumulation of strength on which they drew at need, enabling them to meet every demand. It is hardly necessary to say that we can hold no such reserve as that of which we are speak- ing unless we submit to the severest self-disci- pline. We must be content to wait and watch, to husband our powers, to accumulate materials, to cultivate habits of rigorous thought and exact LABOR AND GREATNESS. 57 judgment, to conquer hasty impulses, and enforce a strict restraint upon our passions. The vigor and certainty with which a great painter wields his brush and manipulates his colors, until the thought in his brain becomes visible to all men on the enchanted canvas, have been acquired by long and assiduous practice, by the discipline and self-command of patient years. And this disci- pline and self-command have given him so thor- ough a knowledge of his resources that he un- dertakes nothing which he cannot execute. — Adams. ^.t. Jbforr mh fmlttm. ,^\NLY through toil and pain and tribulation <2> ^ The blessed things of heaven and earth are won, What time the man grows less in his probation, And God is more with each successive sun. And shall the dream of life, the quenchless yearn- ing For something which is yet beyond control, The flame within the breast forever burning, Not leap to action and exalt the soul ? — 5 58 IDEALS OF LIFE. Surmount all barriers to brave endeavor, Make for itself a way where it would go, And flash the crown of ecstacy forever, Which only laborers with God may know ? In action there is joy which is no fiction, The hope of something- as in faith begun, God's sweet and everlasting benediction, The flush of victory and labor done ! Labor puts on the livery of greatness While genius, idle, withers from the sight, And in its triumph takes no note of lateness, For time exists not in eternal light. Generally speaking, the life of all truly great men has been a life of intense and incessant la- bor. They have commonly passed the first half of life in the gross darkness of indigent humil- ity, — overlooked, mistaken, contemned, by weaker men, — thinking while others slept, reading while others rioted, feeling something within them that told them they should not always be kept down among the dregs of the world ; and then when their time was come, and some little accident has given them their first occasion, they have burst into the light and glory of public life, rich with the spoils of time, and mighty in all the labors and struggles of the mind. Then do the multi- tude cry out, "A miracle of genius;" yes, he is LABOR AND GREATNESS. 59 a miracle of genius, because he is a miracle of labor ; because, instead of trusting to the re- sources of his own single mind, he has ransacked a thousand minds; because he makes use of the accumulated wisdom of ages, and takes as his point of departure the very last line and bound- ary to which science has advanced ; because it has ever been the object of his life to assist every intellectual gift of nature, however munifi- cent, and however splendid, with every resource that art could suggest, and every attention dili- gence could bestow. — Sydney Smith. There needs all the force that enthusiasm can give to enable a man to succeed in any great enterprise of life. Without it, the obstruction and difficulty he has to encounter on every side might compel him to succumb ; but with courage and perseverance, inspired by enthusiasm, a man feels strong enough to face any danger, or to grapple with any difficulty. What an enthusiasm was that of Columbus, who, believing in the ex- istence of a new world, braved the dangers of unknown seas ; and, when those about him de- spaired and rose up against him, threatening to cast him into the sea, still stood firm upon his hope and courage until the great new world at length rose upon the horizon! The brave man will not be baffled, but tries and tries again until he succeeds. The tree does not fall at the first stroke, but only by repeated strokes and after great labor. We may see the 60 J DEALS OF LIFE. invisible success at which a man has arrived, but forget the toil and suffering and peril through which it has been achieved. When a friend of Marshal Lefevre was complimenting him on his possessions and good fortune, the Marshal said : " You envy me, do you ? Well, you shall have these things at a better bargain than I had. Come into the court: I'll fire at you with a gun twenty times at thirty paces, and if I don't kill you, all shall be your own. What ! you wont ? Very well ; recollect, then, that I have been shot at more than a thousand times, and much nearer, before I arrived at the state in which you now find me ! " The apprenticeship of difficulty is one which the greatest of men had to serve. It is usually the best stimulus and discipline of character. It often evokes power of action that, but for it, would have remained dormant. As comets are sometimes revealed by eclipses, so heroes are brought to light by sudden calamity. It seems as if, in certain cases, genius, like iron struck by the flint, needed the sharp and sudden blow of adversity to bring out the divine spark. There are natures which blossom and ripen amidst trials, which would only wither and decay in an atmosphere of ease and comfort. Thus it is good for men to be roused into action and stiffened into self-reliance by diffi- culty, rather than to slumber away their lives in useless apathy and indolence. If there were no LABOR AND GREATNESS. 61 difficulties, there would be no need of efforts ; if there were no temptations, there would be no training in self-control, and but little merit in virtue ; if there were no trial and suffering-, there would be no education in patience and resigna- tion. Thus difficulty, adversity and suffering are not all evil, but often the best source of strength, discipline, and virtue. For the same reason, it is often of advantage for a man to be under the necessity of having to struggle with poverty and conquer it. " He who has battled," says Carlyle, " were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than he who could stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision wagons, or even rest unwatchfully ' abiding by the stuff.' " Scholars have found poverty tolerable com- pared with the privation of intellectual food. Riches weigh much more heavily upon the mind. " I cannot but choose say to Poverty," said Richter, " Be welcome ! so that thou come not too late in life." Poverty, Horace tells us, drove him to poetry, and poetry introduced him to Varus and Virgil and Maecenas. " Obstacles," says Michelet, " are great incentives. I lived for whole years upon a Virgil, and found myself well off. An odd volume of Racine, purchased by chance at a stall on the quay, created the poet of Toulon." The Spaniards are even said to have meanly rejoiced in the poverty of Cervantes, but for <>2 WEM.s OF LIFE. which they supposed the production of his great works might have been prevented. When the Archbishop of Toledo visited the French Ambas- sador at Madrid, the gentlemen in the suite of the latter expressed their high admiration of the writings of the author of "Don Quixote," and in- timated their desire of becoming, acquainted with one who had given them so much pleasure. The answer they received was, that Cervantes had borne arms in the service of his country, and was now old and poor. " What ! " exclaimed one of the Frenchmen, " is not Senor Cervantes in good circumstances ? Why is he not maintained, then, out of the public treasury?" "Heaven forbid ! " was the reply, "that his necessities should be ever relieved, if it is those which make him write ; since it is his poverty that makes the world rich ! " It is not prosperity so much as adversity, not wealth so much as poverty, that stimulates the perseverance of strong and healthy natures, rouses their energy and develops their character. Burke said of himself: "I was not rocked and swaddled and dandled into a legislator. ' Nitor in advcrsuni is the motto for a man like me." Some men only require a great difficulty set in their way to exhibit the force of their character and genius ; and that difficulty, once conquered, becomes one of the greatest incentives to their further progress. — Smiles. FAILURES AND SUCCESSES. 63 Ifmlum mh jSura$$$$ + ^fjThat though the triumph of thy fond fore- ' N ^ r casting Lingers till earth is fading from thy sight ? Thy part with Him whose arms are everlasting, Is not forsaken in a hopeless night. Paul was not begotten in the death of Stephen ; Fruitful through time shall be that precious blood : No morning yet has ever worn to even And missed the glory of its crimson Flood. There is a need of all the blood of martyrs, Forevermore the eloquence of God ; And there is need of him who never barters His patience in that desert way the Master trod. What mean the strange, hard words, "through tribulation," O Man of Sorrows, only Thou canst tell, And such as in Thy life's humiliation, Have oft been with Thee, ay, have known Thee well. The failures of the world are God's successes, Although their coming be akin to pain ; 64 IDEALS OF LIFE. And frowns of Providence are but caresses, Prophetic of the rest sought long in vain. It is a mistake to suppose that men succeed through success ; they much oftener succeed through failure. By far the best experience of men is made up of their remembered failures in dealing with others in the affairs of life. Such failures, in sensible men, incite to better self- management, and greater tact and self-control, as a means of avoiding them in the future. Ask the diplomatist, and he will tell you that he has learned his art through beinor baffled, defeated, thwarted, and circumvented, far more than from having succeeded. Precept, study, advice, and example could never have taught them so well as failure has done. It has disciplined them ex- perimentally, and taught them what to do as well as what not to do — which is often still more important in diplomacy. Many have to make up their minds to en- counter failure again and again before they suc- ceed ; but if they have pluck, the failure will only serve to rouse their courage, and stimulate them to renewed efforts. Talma, the greatest of actors, was himself hissed off the stage when he ap- peared on it. Lacordaire, one of the greatest preachers of modern times, only acquired celeb- rity after repeated failures. Montalembart said of his first public appearance in the Church of St. FAILURES AND SUCCESSES. 65 Roch : " He failed completely, and, on coming out, everyone said , ' Though he may be a man of tal- ent, he will never be a preacher.' " Again and again he tried, until he succeeded ; and only two years after his debut, Lacordaire was preaching in Notre Dame to audiences such as few French orators have addressed since the time of Bossuet and Massillon. When Mr. Cobden first appeared as a speaker, at a public meeting in Manchester, he completely broke down, and the chairman appologized for his failure. Sir James Graham and Mr. Disraeli failed and were derided at first, and only suc- ceed by dint of great labor and application. At one time Sir James Graham had almost given up public speaking in despair. He said to his friend Sir Francis Baring : " I have tried it in every way — extempore, from notes, and committing all to memory — and I can't do it. I don't know why it is, but I am afraid I shall never succeed." Yet, by dint of perseverance, Graham, like Disraeli, lived to become one of the most effective and impressive of parliamentary speakers. Failures in one direction have sometimes had the effect of forcing the far-seeing student to ap- ply himself in another. Thus Prideaux's failure as a candidate for the post of parish-clerk of Ugboro, in Devon, led to his applying himself to learning, and to his eventual elevation to the bishopric of Worcester. When Boileau, educated for the bar, pleaded his first cause, he broke 66 IDEALS OF LIFE. down amidst shouts of laughter. He next tried the pulpit, and failed there too. And then he tried poetry, and succeeded. Fontenelle and Vol- taire both failed at the bar. So Cowper, though his diffidence and shyness, broke down when pleading his first cause, though he lived to re- vive the poetic art in England. Montesquieu and Bentham both failed as lawyers, and forsook the bar for more congenial pursuits — the latter leav- ing behind him a treasury of legislative proceed- ure for all time. Goldsmith failed in passing as a surgeon ; but he wrote the " Deserted Village " and the "Vicar of Wakefield;" while Addison failed as a speaker, but succeeded in writing " Sir Roger de Coverley," and his many famous papers in the " Spectator." Even the privation of some important bodily sense, such as sight or hearing, has not been suf- ficient to deter corageous men from zealously pursuing the struggle of life. Milton, when struck by blindness, " still bore up and steered right onward." His greatest works were pro- duced during that period of his life in which he suffered most — when he was poor, sick, old, blind, slandered, and persecuted. The lives of some of the greatest men have been a continuous struggle with difficulty and ap- parent defeat. Dante produced his greatest work in penury and exile. Banished from his native city by the local faction to which he was opposed, his house was given up to plunder, and he was FAILURES AND SUCCESSES. 67 sentenced, in his absence, to be burned alive. When informed by a friend that he might return to Florence, if he would ask for pardon and ab- solution, he replied : " No ! This is not the way that shall lead me back to my country. I will re- turn with hasty steps if you, or any other, can open to me a way that shall not derogate from the fame or honor of Dante ; but if by no such way Florence can be entered, then to Florence I shall never return." His enemies remaining im- placable, Dante, after a banishment of twenty years, died in exile. They even pursued him after death, when his book, " De Monarchia," was publicly burned at Bologna, by order of the Papal Legate. Camoens also wrote his great poems mostly in banishment. Tired of solitude at Santarem, he joined an expedition against the Moors, in which he distinguished himself by his bravery. He lost an eye when boarding an enemy's ship in a sea- fight. At Goa, in the East Indies, he witnessed with indignation the cruelty practised by the Por- tugese on the natives, and expostulated with the governor against it. He was in consequence ban- ished from the settlement, and sent to China. In the course of his subsequent adventures and mis- fortunes Camoens suffered shipwreck, escaping only with his life and the manuscript of his " Lusiad." Persecution and hardship seemed everywhere to pursue him. At Macao he was thrown into prison. Escaping from it, he set sail 68 IDEALS OF LIFE. for Lisbon, where he arrived, after sixteen years' absence, poor and friendless. His " Lusiad," which was shortly after published, brought him much fame, but no money. But for his old Indian slave Antonio, who begged for his master in the streets, Camoens must have perished. As it was, he died in a public alms-house, worn out by dis- ease and hardship. An inscription was placed over his grave : " Here lies Luis de Camoens : he excelled all the poets of his time : he lived poor and miserable ; and he died so, mdlxxix." This record, disgraceful but truthful, has since been removed ; and a lying and pompous epi- taph, in honor of the great national poet of Por- tugal, substituted in its stead. Even Michael Angelo was exposed, during the greater part of his life, to the persecutions of the envious — vulgar nobles, vulgar priests, and sor- did men of every degree, who could neither sym- pathize with him nor comprehend his genius. When Paul IV. condemned some of his work in " The Last Judgment," the artist observed that " The Pope would do better to occupy him- self with correcting the disorders and indecencies which disgrace the world than with any such hypercriticisms upon his art." Tasso, also, was the victim of almost contin- ual persecutions and calumny. After lying in a mad-house for seven years, he became a wan- derer over Italy ; and when on his death-bed he wrote : " I will not complain of the malignity of PEA YER. 69 fortune, because I do not choose to speak of the ingratitude of men who have succeeded in draw- ing me to the tomb of a mendicant." But time brings about strange revenges. The persecutors and the persecuted often change places ; it is the latter who are great — the former who are infamous. Even the name of the per- secutors would probably long ago have been forgotten, but for their connection with the his- tory of the men whom they have persecuted. — Smiles. JVntpr< GRAYER is the better sacrifice than whole w Burnt offerings, to stay the lifted rod, Up-flaming from the altar of a soul Returning to the royalty of God. Prayer is the manly cry for sympathy To One who made the Father's will His own, That something of His wondrous alchemy May in our weak, disordered lives be shown. Prayer is the herald of outgoing love, Which in the wilderness prepares the way, 70 IDEALS OF LIFE. Till on the wings of the swift-flying dove Come back the tidings of the better day. Prayer is the mighty spirit of our work, Which wins the smile of God, and fills the heart Until there is no room for self to lurk, And all the doubts and fears of life depart. Prayer is an acknowledgment of our depend- ence upon God ; which dependence could have no firm foundation without unchangeableness. Prayer doth not desire any change in God, but is offered to God that He would confer those things which He has immutably willed to com- municate; but He willed them not without prayer as the means of bestowing them. The light of the sun is ordered for our comfort, for the dis- covery of visible things, for the ripening of the fruits of the earth ; but, withal, it is required that we use our faculty of seeing, that we employ our industry in sowing and planting, and expose our fruits to the view of the sun, that they may re- ceive the influence of it. If a man shuts his eyes, and complains that the sun is changed into darkness, it would be ridiculous ; the sun is not changed, but we alter ourselves ; nor is God changed in not giving us the blessings He hath promised, because He hath promised in the way of a due address to Him, and opening our souls to receive His influence, and to this His immu- PRAYER. 71 tability is the greatest encouragement. — Char- nock. Perhaps nothing on the subject of prayer has ever been uttered wiser than the following speech in the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The speaker was in his 82a! year: — In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the Divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were gra- ciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent in- stances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten this powerful Friend ? or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance ? I have lived for a long time ; and the longer I live the more convincing proofs 1 see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of man. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid ? We have been assured, sir, in the Sacred Writings, that " Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this ; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall proceed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel : we shall be divided by our little, partial, local interests ; our prospects 72 IDEALS OF LIFE. will be confounded ; and we ourselves shall be- come a reproach and a by-word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may here- after, from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, or conquest. I therefore beg leave to move that henceforth prayers, im- ploring the assistance of Heaven and its bless- ing on our deliberations, be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business ; and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service. — Dr. Franklin. We are not to pray that all things may go on as we would have them, but as most con- ducing to the good of the world; and we are not in our prayers to obey our wills, but pru- dence — Montaigne. Many times that which we ask would if it should be granted be worse for us, and perhaps tend to our destruction ; and then God by deny- ing the particular matter of our prayers doth grant the general matter of them. — Hammond. Pray for others in such forms, with such length, importunity, and earnestness, as you use for yourself; and you will find all little, ill-na- tured passions die away, your heart grow great and generous, delighting in the common happi- ness of others, as you used only to delight in your own. — Law. Prayer is the peace of our spirit, the stillness PRAYER. 73 of our thoughts, the evenness of recollection, the seat of meditation, the rest of our cares, and the calm of our tempest : prayer is the issue of a quiet mind, of untroubled thoughts ; it is the daughter of charity, and the sister of meekness. — Jeremy Taylor. Prayer opens the understanding to the bright- ness of Divine light, and the will to the warmth of heavenly love; nothing can so effectually purify the mind from its many ignorances, or the will from its perverse affections. It is as a healing water which causes the roots of our good desires to send forth fresh shoots, which washes away the soul's imperfections, and allays the thirst of passion — St. Francis de Sales. No one will refuse to identify holiness with prayer. To say a man is religious is to say the same thing as to say he prays. For what is prayer? To connect every thought with the thought of God ; to look on everything as His will and His appointment ; to submit every thought, wish, and resolve to Him ; to feel His presence so that it shall restrain us even in our wildest joy. That is prayer. And what we are now, surely we are by prayer. If we have at- tained any measure of goodness, if we have re- sisted temptation, if we have any self-command, or if we live with aspirations and desires be- yond the common, we shall not hesitate to as- cribe them to prayer. — F. W. Robertson. IDEALS OF LIFE. %}\\\\ The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.- Heurews XI. I. /T^AITH is repose in Providence, <"~*r Whose ways we cannot tell, Divine, resistless evidence Of things invisible. Faith is consent that God is God In living unto Him, With strong assurance girt and shod, Although our eyes are dim. Faith is the voice of hung-erinpfs That to che soul belong, Unerring sense of living things To breathe in prayer and song. Faith is the light of daily toil To make it p-low and shine, God's animating wine and oil Our hearts pronounce divine. Faith addresses itself to man's whole being, — it sounds every depth ; it touches every spring; it calls back the soul from its weary search within itself, full of doubt and contradiction ; it presents it with an object, implicit, absolute, greater than FAITH. 75 itself, — "One that knoweth all things." It pro- vides for every affection, every want and aspira- tion. Faith stretches itself over Humanity as the prophet stretched himself above the child, — eye to eye, mouth to mouth, heart to heart; and to work a kindred miracle, to bring back life to the dead, by restoring the One to the One, — the whole nature of Man to the whole nature of God. — Miss Green- well. Faith says many things concerning which the senses are silent; but nothing which the senses deny : it is always above them, but never contrary to them. — Pascal. Never yet did there exist a full faith in the Divine Word (by whom light as well as immor- tality was brought into the world) which did not expand the intellect, while it purified the heart, — which did not multiply the aims and objects of the understanding, while it fixed and simplified those of the desires and passions. — Coleridge. " We live by faith," says the philosophic apostle ; but faith without principles (on which to ground our faith and our hope) is but a flattering phrase for wil- ful positiveness or fanatical bodily sensations. , Well, and with good right, therefore, do we maintain (and with more zeal than we should defend body or estate) a deep and inward conviction, which is as a moon to us ; and like the moon, with all its massy and decep- tive gleams, it yet lights us on our way (poor trav- ellers as we are, and benighted pilgrims). With all its spots and changes and temporary eclipses — with 76 IDEALS OF LIFE. all its vain haloes and bedimming vapors — it yet reflects the light that is to rise upon us, which even now is rising, though intercepted from our imme- diate view by the mountains that enclose and frown over the whole of our mortal life. — Coleridge. Faith is Light transforming Chaos into Order — Conviction passing into Conduct. The author of "Sartor Resartus " presents this idea in his own inimitable way, in the following passage : — It is with man's Soul as it was with Nature : the beginning of creation is — Light. Till the eye have vision the whole members are in bonds. Di- vine moment, when over the tempest-tost Soul, as once over the wild-weltering Chaos, it is spoken : Let there be Light ! Ever to the greatest that has felt such moment, it is not miraculous and God-an- nouncing ; even as, under simpler figures, to the simplest and least. The mad primeval Discord is hushed; the rudely-jumbled, conflicting elements bind themselves into separate Firmaments : deep, silent, rock-foundations are built beneath ; and the skyey vault, with its everlasting Luminaries above : instead of a dark, wasteful Chaos, we have a bloom- ing, fertile, heaven-encompassed World. I, too, could now say to myself: Be no longer a Chaos, but a World, Or even Worldkin. Produce ! Produce ! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal fraction of a product, produce it, in God's name ! 'Tis the utmost thou hast in thee: out with it, then. Up, up ! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To- hope. 77 day ; for the Night cometh, wherein no man can work. — Carlyle. Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say. Thou hast faith, and I have works : shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. — St. James II. 17-18. IfflpL M PRESENCE on the mountain J? ^"^ Which beckons up the mighty slope To her perennial fountain. A mighty power above us, Which gives us strength with foes to cope, And win new friends to love us. An ever brave forerunner, Far swifter than the antelope, — Nay, light cannot outrun her. A star the night adorning, That doth the midnight portals ope And bid the soul Good-morning. 78 IDEALS OF LIFE. A bright, immortal glory, Whose pilgrims past the sunset grope To verify her story. Our actual enjoyments are so few and transient that man would be a very miserable being were he not endowed with this passion, which gives him a taste of those good things that may possibly come into his possession. " We should hope for every- thing that is good," says the old poet Linus, " be- cause there is nothing which may not be hoped for, and nothing but what the gods are able to give us." Hope quickens all the still parts of life, and keeps the mind awake in her most remiss and indolent hours. It gives habitual serenity and good humor. It is a kind of vital heat in the soul, that cheers and gladdens her, when she does not attend to it. It makes pain easy, and labor pleasant. — Addison. Hope is the principle of activity ; without holding out hope, to desire one to advance is absurd and senseless. Suppose, without a sou in my hand, one were to say, " Exert yourself: for there is no hope," — it would be to turn me into ridicule, and not to advise me. To hold out to me the hopelessness of my condition never was a reason for exertion ; for when, ultimately, equal evils attend upon exertion and rest, rest has clearly the preference. — Burke. Hope is necessary in every condition. The mis- eries of poverty, of sickness, or captivity, would, without this comfort, be insupportable ; nor does it appear that the happiest lot of terrestrial existence HOPE. 79 can set us above the want of this general blessing; or that life, when the gifts of nature and of fortune are accumulated upon it, would not still be wretched, were it not elevated and delighted by the expecta- tion of some new possession, of some enjoyment yet behind by which the wish shall be at last satisfied, and the heart filled up to its utmost extent. Hope is, indeed, very fallacious, and promises what it seldom gives; but its promises are more valuable than the gifts of fortune, and it seldom frustrates us without assuring us of recompensing the delay by a greater bounty. — Dr. Johnson. Hope throws a generous contempt upon ill- usage, and looks like a handsome defiance of a misfortune; as who should say, You are somewhat troublesome now, but I shall conquer you. — Jeremy Collier. Used with due abstinence, hope acts as a health- ful tonic ; intemperately indulged, as an enervating opiate. The visions of future triumph which at first animate exertion, if dwelt upon too intensely, will usurp the place of the stern reality; and noble ob- jects will be contemplated, not for their own inher- ent worth, but on account of the day-dreams they engender. Thus hope, aided by imagination, makes one man a hero, another a somnambulist, and a third a lunatic ; while it renders them all enthusiasts. — Sir J. Stephen. A religious life is which most abounds in well- grounded hope, and such an one as is fixed on ob- jects that are capable of making us entirely happy. SO IDEALS OF LIFE. This hope in a religious man is much more sure and certain than the hope of any temporal blessing, as it is strengthened not only by reason, but by faith. It has at the same time its eye perpetually fixed on that state, which implies in the very notion of it the most full and most complete happiness. Religious hope has likewise, this advantage above any other kind of hope, that it is able to revive the dying man, and to fill his mind not only with secret comfort and refreshment, but sometimes with rap- ture and transport. He triumphs in his agonies, whilst the soul springs forward with delight to the great object which she has always had in view, and leaves the body with an expectation of being re- united to her in a glorious and joyful resurrection. — Addison. SipHtf. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest ol these is charity. — I Cor. XIII. 13. H^IVINE Elixer flows from Heaven < ^ To make our manhood pure and strong: To all who love this wine is given Transmuting life to prayer and song. CHARITY. 81 And in the sweet transfiguration The joy, the joy alone abides : The shining stairs of Tribulation Go winding up where God resides. O, Christ, divinest fairest Lover, Since Thou hast smitten me with love, I must tell out what I discover, — This dear Elixer from above. It is the honey of Existence, The sweetness of a virgin bride, The nectar of divine subsistence, The beauty that must needs abide. And when, like rain or sunshine vernal, It comes with virtue in its train, The pure, sweet breath of the Eternal, Which maketh all things live again, — A blessed sense of liberation Goes prancing all my being through ; And the invisible creation Majestically comes to view. I gaze upon the world around me, Beholding that which is divine ; All beauteous things which here surrounc me, They speak to me, and they are mine. I see in every man a brother, Whose life, like mine, is infinite, 82 IDEALS OF LIFE. All interlocked with one another, Companions struggling to the light. I look beyond the shining portals, And strength comes back for life on earth I feel the glory of immortals Transfigure me with kindred worth. Henceforth all joys are antedated Along my pathway here below : I know I am to God related, And that is joy of joys to know. And Charity has surely founded Her peaceful dwelling in my breast, And I shall never be confounded, Partaking her eternal rest. . The earth does not gladden more when the morning sun flashes his light on her bosom, than does the soul rejoice when the light of the heavenly Sun first touches it, and it passes out of darkness into warm, bright day. Circumstances are nothing. " I have found Him whom my soul loveth " is the cry ; and nothing can kill, nothing can even dash, the joy which that consciousness quickens within. — J. Baldwin Brown. The raptures of love are of little value, if they end with the bosom in which they begin. Genuine love is active benevolence or charity. . Charity, taken in its largest extent, is nothing CHARITY. 83 else but the sincere love of God and our neighbor. — Wake. Charity is more extensive than either of the two other graces, which centre ultimately in ourselves : for we believe and we hope for our own sakes ; but love, which is a more disinterested principle, carries us out of ourselves into desires, and endeavors of promoting the interests of other beings. — Atter- BURY. Charity is made the constant companion and perfection of all virtues ; and well it is for that virtue where it most enters and longest stays — Sprat. Charity is universal duty, which it is in every man's power sometimes to practice ; since every degree of assistance given to another, upon proper motives, is an act of charity ; and there is scarcely any man in such a state of imbecility as that he may not, on some occasions, benefit his neighbor. He that cannot relieve the poor may instruct the ignor- ant ; and he that cannot attend the sick may reclaim the vicious. He that can give little assistance him- self may yet perform the duty of charity by influ- encing the ardor of others, and recommending the petitions which he cannot grant to those who have more to bestow. The widow that shall give her mite to the treasury, the poor man who shall bring to the thirsty a cup of cold water, shall not lose their reward. — Dr. Johnson. That charity alone endures which flows from a sense of duty and a hope in God. This is the char- 84 WEALS OF LIFE. ity that treads in secret those paths of misery frcm which all but the lowest of human wretches have fled : this is that charity which no labor can weary, no ingratitude detach, no horror disgust ; that toils, that pardons, that suffers ; that is seen by no man, and honored by no man, but, like the great laws of nature, does the work of God in silence, and looks to a future and better world for its reward. — Syd- ney Smith. Every good act is charity. Giving water to the thirsty is charity ; removing stones and thorns from the road is charity ; smiling in your brother's face is charity. A man's true wealth is the good he does in this world. When he dies, mortals will ask what property he left behind him ; but angels will ask him, What good deeds hast thou sent before thee ? — Mohammed. A poor man, with a single handful of flowers, heaped the alms-bowl of Buddha, which the rich could not fill with ten thousand bushels. — From the Chinese. The liberal man who eats and bestows is better than the pious man who fasts and hoards. — From the Persian. Give, if thou canst, an alms ; if not, afford instead of that a sweet and gentle word. — Robert Herrick. Love or charity is life — the life lived and taught by One " Who left us an example that we should follow His steps." . THE DAY OF JUDGMENT. >fp J)jj£ nf ft&grtmti TORE ye with the preparation C-J^. of the Gospel shod, Fear ye not the tribulation Of the day of God ! He will come in all the glory Of a smiling face, And rehearse the happy story Of the day of grace. Are ye with no preparation Of the Gospel shod, Then, alas ! the tribulation Of the day of God! He will come, but in the glory Of a clouded face, And recall the mournful story Of His wasted grace. — 85 "There is a Spirit in man," faithful to its in- stincts, even when astray as to their true object ; it wanders often, yet feels through very sadness and weariness how far it has got from home. And hence come those utterances (of which you tell me), strange, prophetic voices, a groaning and travail- pain of Humanity, which, even in the hearts of those who reject revelation, testify its waiting for some great Redemption. If man refused the bread which 86 IDEALS OF LIFE. came down from Heaven, never was it so hard for him to live "by bread alone" as now. His very wealth and increase has brought with it a sense of poverty, — because he has become rich, and increased in goods, he knows, as he did not before, that he is wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked. The energy of his wrestling with the things of time and sense has awakened instincts of which, but for the ardor of that struggle, he might have known little. He conquers kingdoms, and weeps like the ancient conqueror. The world which he has vanquished cannot satisfy him. He feels himself to be greater than the universe, yet feebler than the meanest thing within it which can follow the appointed law of its being. The splendor of his material acquisi- tions is but a robe, too short and thin to wrap him from cold and shame. He can do great things, but what is he? To have all, and to die saying, "Is this all?" is the epitaph of many a rich and wasted life. — Miss Greenwell. Methinks neither the voice of the archangel, nor the trump of God, nor the dissolution of the ele- ments, nor the face of the Judge itself, from which the heavens will flee away, will be so dismaying and terrible to these men as the sight of the poor mem- bers of Christ ; whom, having spurned and rejected in the days of their humiliation, they will then be- hold with amazement united to their Lord, covered with His glory, and seated on His throne. How will they be astonished to see them surrounded with so much majesty ! How will they cast down their eyes TEE DAY OF JUDGMENT. 87 in their presence ! How will they curse that gold which will then eat their flesh as with fire, and that avarice, that indolence, that voluptuousness which will entitle them to so much misery ! You will then learn that the imitation of Christ is the only wisdom: you will then be convinced it is better to be en- deared to the cottage than admired in the palace ; when to have wiped the tears of the afflicted, and •inherited the prayers of the widow and the father- less, shall be found a richer patrimony than the fa- vor of princes. — Robert Hall. How can we think of appearing at that tribunal without being able to give a ready answer to the questions which He shall then put to us about the poor and the afflicted, the hungry and the naked, the sick and the imprisoned ? — Atterbury. All the precepts, promises, and threatenings of the gospel will rise up in judgment against us; and the articles of our faith will be so many articles of accusation: and the great weight of our charge will be this, that we did not obey the gospel, which we professed to believe; that we made confession of the Christian faith, but lived like heathens. — Tillotson. As the Supreme Being is the only proper judge of our perfections, so He is the only fit rewarder of them. This is a consideration that comes home to our interest, as the other adapts itself to our ambi- tion. And what could the most aspiring or the most selfish man desire more, were he to form the notion of a being to whom he would recommend himself, than such a knowledge as can discover the 88 IDEALS OF LIFE. least appearance of perfection in him, and such a goodness as will proportion a reward to it? Let the ambitious man, therefore, turn all his desire of fame this way; and, that he may propose to himself a fame worthy of his ambition, let him consider, that if he employs his abilities to the best advantage, the time will come when the Supreme Governor of the world, the Great Judge of man- kind, who sees every degree of perfection in others, and possesses all possible perfection in Himself, shall proclaim his worth before men and angels, and pronounce to him, in the presence of the whole creation, that best and most significant of applauses, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into thy Master's joy. — Addison. '■¥• Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. — I. John v. 4. O keep me innocent ! make others great. — Queen Caroline Ma- tilda, of Denmark. A handful of good life is better than a bushel of learning. — George Herbert. The voice of God himself speaks in the hearts of men, whether they understand it or not. — South. Whatever people think of you, do that which you believe to be right. — Pythagoras. A beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form. — Emerson. He lives long that lives well ; and time mis-spent is not lived, but lost. — Thomas Fuller. A man must not so much prepare himself for eternity as plant eter- nity in himself— RlCHTER. (00) §A fjgTERNAL Providence: * 5= ^ Throughout His Infinite Abode The Whither and the Whence. The Virtue of the world: Life, Life above, below the sod, In mystery impearled. Eternity and Time Rolled up together at His nod Within the soul sublime. The Strength that is so still, The Glory on the heavenly road Which doth all creatures fill. One always sacrificed: Forever Love with Justice shod, Forevermore the Christ. While earthly objects are exhausted by famili- arity, the thought of God becomes to the devout man continually brighter, richer, vaster ; derives (91) 92 IDEALS OF LIFE. fresh lustre from all that he observes of nature and Providence, and attracts to itself all the glories of the universe. The devout man, espe- cially in moments of strong- religious sensibility, feels distinctly that he has found the true happi- ness of man. He has found a Being for his ven- eration and love, whose character is inexhaustible, who after ages shall have passed will still be un- comprehended in the extent of His perfections, and will still communicate to the pure mind stronger proofs of His excellence and more in- timate signs of His approval. — Channing. His eye is upon every hour of my existence. His spirit is intimately present with every thought of my heart. His inspiration gives birth to every purpose within me. His hand impresses a direction on every footstep of my goings. Every breath I inhale is drawn by an energy which God deals out to me. — Dr. Chalmers. God is a perpetual refuge and security to His people. His providence is not confined to one generation ; it is not only one age that tastes of His bounty and compassion. His eye never yet slept, nor hath He suffered the little ship of His church to be swallowed up, though it hath been tossed upon the waves ; He hath always been a haven to preserve us, a house to secure us ; He hath always had compassion to pity us, and power to protect us ; He hath had a face to shine, when the world hath had an angry coun- tenance to frown. He brought Enoch home by GOD. 93 an extraordinary translation from a brutish world; and when He was resolved to reckon with men for their brutish lives, He lodged Noah, the phce- nix of the world, in an ark, and kept him alive as a spark in the midst of many waters, whereby to rekindle a church in the world; in all genera- tions He is a dwelling-place to secure His people here or entertain them above. — Charnock. It is a singular piece of wisdom to apprehend truly, and without passion, the works of God, and so well to distinguish His justice from His mercy as not to miscall those noble attributes ; yet it is likewise an honest piece of logic, so to dispute and argue the proceedings of God as to dis- tinguish even His judgments into mercies. For God is merciful unto all, because better to the worst than the best deserve ; and to say He punisheth none in this world, though it be a paradox, is no absurdity. — Sir Thomas Browne. Unto them that love Him, God causeth all things to work for the best. So that with Him, by the heavenly light of steadfast faith, they see life even in death ; with Him, even in heaviness and sorrow, they fail not of joy and comfort; with Him, even in poverty, affliction, and trouble, they neither perish nor are forsaken. — Bishop COVERDALE. May I be one of the weakest, provided only in my weakness, that immortal and better vigor be put forth with greater effect; provided only, in my darkness, the light of the Divine counte- 94 IDEALS OF LIFE. nance does but the more brightly shine : for then I shall at once be the weakest and the most mighty, — shall be at once blind and of the most piercing sight. — Milton. DP mmw w$tt* The first man is of the earth, earthy ; the second man is the Lord fror heaven. —I Cor. XV. 47. Sjfj^OD is God all world before, ^^ Fulness of Eternal Love : God is Man forevermore, All created things above. Incarnation known at last Earth's divinest dream fulfils: Into Man forever passed, God achieves there what He wills ; Builds again at wondrous cost, Cost which Earth cannot compute, And restores the Image lost Through the death-concealing fruit; Fashions in our earthy shrine All His beauty, all His grace, THE SECOND MAN 95 Which eternally will shine In this lowly, narrow place ; And uplifts for evermore What was prostrate in the dust, Breathing to the very core Sweet divinity of Trust. O my Soul, in wonder bow ! Heart of mine, in awe retreat! God abideth with thee now, Strength divine and weakness meet. Truth and Immortality Are the gifts He bringeth thee ; Take them with humility, Keep them beautiful and free ; Wondrous germs of wondrous life In this earthly house of thine, Mighty seed of mighty strife Till the victory divine. Hast thou pain and travail now Though thy face is to the van ? With His sign upon thy brow, Prophesy the Second Man : Who, in thee the hope of glory, Crowned with sorrow, strong and brave, Chants the One Heroic Story, Epic of both sides the grave. 96 IDEALS OF LIFE. Hast though tribulation yet? Fear, which thou canst not recount, Lest to Love thou be in debt In the day of thine account ? God is greater than thy heart, And thy measure is not His: Thou in Him forever art, Infinite His goodness is. Hast thou eyes too dim to see In this tragedy below All that must forever be, All that will to-morrow go? In the marvellous To-day Walk in thine Eternal Light ; Heaven and Earth shall pass away, Thou remainest in thy right, — Heir of God and Liberty, And possessor even here, In thy life Eternity Making Christ forever clear : Who, for thy deliverance From the power of Death and Hell, Bids thee trust Him and advance, Hailing Him Immanuel : Liberator of the race And Ideal of the soul, THE SECOND MAN. 97 Building into living grace Image of the One and Whole. Lord and God all world before, All created things above, Man Divine forevermore, Fulness of Eternal Love. And thus Christianity is the poetry of life ; the singing of songs to heavy hearts. "True poetry,'' says M. Jouffroy, "has but one theme — that of the yearning of the human Soul in the presence of the question of its destiny." And such a theme pervades the Epic of Redemption ; to such yearnings it addresses itself ; by such yearnings alone can it be understood, embraced, and applied; for such yearnings it supplies the consolation of the Heavenly Father. The whole scheme of the Gospel is a drama of Redemp- tion from darkness to light, from death to life. It is the poem of Paradise regained. And Jesus is the maker of this poem ; the Hero of this drama, through all its action, its vicissitudes, its catastrophe, to its final consumation. So various is the work of this Redeemer that the Scrip- ture writers exhaust the most copious imagery to illustrate all its bearings and results. His coming into the world for this end, they liken to the self-sacrifice of a self-denying benefactor beggaring himself to enrich the. destitute ; of a prince descending from his father's splendor to 98 IDEALS OF LIFE. do service for the meanest of his subjects, even to humiliation and death. His presence in the world, they compare to the sun in heaven, shed- ding over all men light and life. His office in the world is likened to a sower sowing seed ; to a fisherman casting his net into the sea ; to a physician going where there is disease. His teachings are compared to the indispensable bread of life ; to the manna which fell from heaven ; to the streams which flowed from the stricken rock. His death is likened to the self-sacrifice of a faithful shepherd who rescues his flock at the price of his own life ; to the lifting up of the serpent in the wilderness for the healing of poisoned sinners ; to the ransom or redemption price by which slaves are bought out of bond- age ; to the Paschal lamb which warded off the Angel of death ; to the triumph of a conqueror of mighty foes ; to the work of a surety cancel- ling the demands of an antiquated covenant, and of a mediator ratifying a new and better one ; to the atoning sacrifice which lifted up the penalty from the transgressors of the Mosaic law ; and to the substituted victim which, clearing off all charges against us, makes us feel at one with God. His functions are likened to that of a peace-maker, doing away with all differences between God and men, and therewith between the several divisions of God's family ; of the prophets, who proclaimed God's words ; of the kings, who maintained God's truth ; the priests, who made intercession for THE SECOND MAN. 90 God's people ; the high priest, who penetrated to God's presence-chamber with propitiations and came back thence with benedictions. And the total restilt of His interposition is compared to that of an intervening friend who brings together a disorganized and scattered family, and reunites them with perfect amity with their father's rule. For this was " the good pleasure which God pur- posed in Himself, to gather back into one body under one head the whole family in heaven and earth." — Griffeth. Now for my life, it is a miracle of thirty years, which to relate, were not a history, but a piece of poetry, and would sound to common ears like a fable : for the world, I count it not an inn, but an hospital ; and a place not to live, but to die in. The world that I regard is myself; it is the mi- crocosom of mine own frame that I cast mine eye on ; for the other, I use it but like my globe, and turn it round sometimes for my recreation. Men that look on my outside, perusing only my condi- tion and fortune, do err in my altitude ; for I am above Atlas his shoulders. The Earth is a point not only in respect to the heavens above us, but of that heavenly and celestial part within us : that mass of flesh that circumscribes me, limits not my mind : that surface that tells the heavens it hath an end, cannot persuade me that I have any ; I take my circle to above three hundred and sixty ; though the number of the arc do measure my body, it comprehendeth not my mind : whilst I 100 IDEALS OF LIFE. study to find how I am a microcosm, or a little world, I find myself more than the great. There is surely a piece of divinity in us, something that was before the elements, and owes no homage to the sun. Nature tells me that I am the image of God, as well as Scripture : he that understands not thus much, hath not his introduction or first lesson, and is yet to begin the alphabet of man. — Sir Thomas Browne. amumwii % God, ^^^ Since I have trod The way of love and duty, Thy miracle Immanuel Has blossomed into beauty. Before, I conned it o'er And found no revelation: To me it seemed As if men dreamed, Who called it consolation. IMMANUEL. 101 But now I know that Thou, God, art in us dwelling, Interpreter And Comforter, ill power of man excelling. My life Is not a strife In darkness any longer; For Thou therein Dost frown on sin, Then smile to make me stronger. Thy strength Becomes at length A very fortress in me, From which no foe To overthrow- Hath any power to win me. Through Thee Eternity Is ever growing clearer, And day by day Upon my way 1 know that Heaven is nearer. And some of you say sometimes, often I dare say, " I am tired, I am sick and weary of it all ; I would to God I were at rest ! " Why ? When 102 IDEALS OF LIFE. has this heart-sickness overtaken you ? When has life seemed so poor and worthless ? When has your soul thus preyed upon itself, filled your face with restless sadness, and sapped your health in its very springs? Was it in the seasons when faith was strong, when the vision of the unseen realities was keen, when the light of God was on your tabernacle of life? Was it when your soul was armed and paraded for duty in God's ser- vice, and your noblest powers were drawn forth and strained in the work for Christ and man- kind ? Nay ! I see your form then, it is erect and eager ; I see your eye, it flashes with ardor ; I hear your voice, it rings with exultation; I catch the heart-beats, they are full and musical, and they throb with the energy of victorious life. No; no faintness then, no heart-sickness, no life-weari- ness then ; but abounding strength, abounding joy, abounding hope. There is but one thing which makes life worth having, worth living, and that makes it simply of priceless worth ; it was expressed in one brief phrase .by the lips of the dying Wesley : " The best of all is, God is with us." — J. Baldwin Brown. Thou art the true and nndofiled-. SIMPLICITY. X03 JRmfify W,OME hither, little child, ^ And bring thy heart to me : Thou art the true and undefiled, So full of melody. The presence of a child Has taught me more of Heaven, And more my heart has reconciled, Than Greece' immortal Seven. For when I sometimes think That vain are prayer and song, Before a little child I sink And own that I am wrong. And, lo, my heart grows bright, That was before so dark, Till in the tender morning light I find the vanished mark. Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all tem- porary nature. Simplicity is in the intention, pur- ity in the affection : simplicity turns to God ; purity unites with and enjoys Him. If thou hadst simplicity and purity thou wouldst be able 104 IDEALS OF LIFE. to comprehend all things without error, and be- hold them without danger. The pure heart safely pervades not only heaven but hell. — Thomas A Kempis. The truly great man is he who does not lose his child -heart. He does not think beforehand that his words shall be sincere, nor that his ac- tion shall be resolute : he simply always abides in the right. — Mencius. Innocence, in its highest degree, is wisdom ; for every one is wise so far as he is led by the Lord. The wiser the angels are, the more inno- cent they are ; and the more innocent they are, the more they seem to themselves like little chil- dren. SWEDENBORG. Even the child who is transiently with us in this world may paint on the darkness of our sor- row so fair a vision of loving wonder, of rever- ent trust, and of patience, that a Divine Presence abides with us forever, as the mild and constant light of hope and faith. — James Martineau. Simplicity is the character of the spring of life : costliness becomes its autumn ; but a neat- ness and purity, like that of the snowdrop or lily of the valley, is the peculiar fascination of beauty, to which it lends enchantment, and gives a charm even to a plain person, being to the body what amiability is to the mind. ... In character, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity. — Longfellow. Simplicity is that grace which frees the soul The beauty of a wayside flower. VIRTUE. 105 from all unnecessary reflections upon itself. — Fenelon. Are not the signs of the heavenly kingdom distinctly visible in the nature of a little child ? Love, simplicity, and faith are the characteristics of little children. How simple and touching is their faith ! Imitate little children, and trust. — N. L. Frothingham. ^7f7HE spirit of a little child, ^ The beauty of a wayside flower, And to the passions growing wild A silent and subduing power ; — The secret of the Second Man, The order of a perfect world — Our narrow words may never span All that in Virtue lies impearled : But human lives may compass it, And somewhat of its marvels show, With the bright beams celestial lit As once the Son of Man below ; And pour the sunshine of His love In calm effulgence all around, Till they to mute Amazement prove Divinity in man is found. 106 IDEALS OF LIFE. Virtue — says a writer of the last century, in a passage that was a great favorite with the poet Rogers, — Virtue is of intrinsic value and good desert, and of indispensable obligation ; not the creature of will, but necessary and immutable; not local or temporary, but of equal extent and an- tiquity with the Divine mind; not a mode of sen- sation, but everlasting Truth ; not dependent on power, but the guide of all power. Virtue is the foundation of honor and esteem, the source of all beauty, order, and happiness in nature. It is what confers value on all other endowments and qualities of a reasonable being, to which they ought to be absolutely subservient, and without which, the more eminent they are, the more hide- ous deformities and the greater curses they be- come. The use of it is not confined to any stage of our existence, or to any particular situation we can be in, but reaches through all the periods and circumstances of our being. Many of the endowments and talents we now possess, and of which we are too apt to be proud, will cease entirely with the present state ; but this will be our ornament and dignity in every future state to which we may be removed. Beauty and wit will die, learning will vanish away, and all the arts of life be soon forgot ; but Virtue will re- main forever. This unites us to the whole rational creation, and fits us for conversing with any order of superior natures, and for a place in any part of God's works. It procures us the VIRTUE. 107 approbation of all wise and good beings, and renders them our allies and friends. But what is of unspeakably greater consequence is, that it makes God our friend, assimilates and unites our minds to His, and engages His almighty power in our defense. Superior beings of all ranks are bound by it no less than ourselves. It has the same authority in all worlds that it has in this. The further any being is advanced in excellence and perfection the greater is his attachment to it, and the more he is under its influence. To say no more, it is the law of the whole universe; it stands first in the estimation of the Deity ; its original is His nature ; and it is the very object that makes Him lovely. Such is the importance of Virtue. Of what consequence, therefore, is it that we practise it ! There is no argument or motive which is at all fitted to influence a reasonable mind, which does not call us to this. One virtuous disposition of soul is preferable to the greatest natural accom- plishments and abilities, and of more value than all the treasures of the world. If you are wise, then, study virtue, and contemn everything that can come in competition with it. Remember, that nothing else deserves one anxious thought or wish. Remember, that this alone is honor, glory, wealth and happiness. Secure this, and you se- cure everything ; lose this, and all is lost. — Dr. Price. There is but one pursuit in life which it is in 103 IDEALS OF LIFE. the power of all to follow, and of all to attain. It is subject to no disappointments, since he that perseveres makes every difficulty an advance- ment, and every contest a victory ; and this is the pursuit of virtue. Sincerely to aspire after virtue is to gain her, and zealously to labor after her wages is to receive them. Those that seek her early will find her before it is late ; her re- ward also is with her, and she will come quickly. For the breast of a good man is a little heaven commencing on earth, where the Deity sits en- throned with unrivalled influence, every subju- gated passion " like the wind and storm fulfilling His word." — Colton. itooitom. ^OODNESS needs no lure: ^ All compensations are in her enshrined, Whatever things are right and fair and pure, Wealth of the heart and mind. Failure and success, The Day and Night of every life below, Are but the servants of her blessedness, That come and spend and go. GOODNESS. 109 Life is her reward, A life brim-full, in every day's employ, Of sunshine, inspiration, every word And syllable of joy. Heaven to thee is known, If Goodness in the robes of common earth Becomes a presence thou canst call thine own, To warm thy heart and hearth. Goodness I call the habit, and goodness of na- ture the inclination. This, of all virtues and dig- nities of mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity, — and without it man is a busy, mis- chievous, wretched thing, — no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theological virtue charity, and admits no excess but error. The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall ; the desire of knowledge in excess caused man to fall ; but in charity there is no excess, neither can angel or man come in danger by it. — Lord Bacon. A holy hermit had passed a long life in a cave of the Thebaid, remote from all intercourse with mankind. He fasted and prayed, and performed many severe penances ; and his whole thought was how he should make himself of account with God, so that he might be sure of a seat in Para- dise. Having lived in this way for threescore and ten years, he became much puffed up with ideas HO IDEALS OF LIFE. of his own sanctity. He besought the Lord to show him some saint greater than himself, that he might imitate him ; thinking, perhaps, that the Lord would reply that there was no saint greater and holier than he was. That same night an angel appeared to him and said : " If thou wouldst excel all others in virtue and sanctity, strive to imitate a certain min- strel who goes singing and begging from door to door." The hermit, in great astonishment, took his staff and went forth in search of the minstrel. And when he found him, he questioned him earn- estly, saying, " Tell me, I pray thee, brother, what prayers and penance and good works thou hast performed, by which thou hast made thyself ac- ceptable to God ?" The man was greatly surprised to be accosted in that manner. He hung down his head, and replied : " I beseech thee, holy father, not to mock me. I have performed no good works ; and as for praying, alas ! sinner that I am, I am not worthy to pray. I only go from door to door, to amuse people with my viol and my flute." The hermit insisted, and said ; " But peradven- ture even in the midst of this thy evil life thou hast done some good works." The man replied : " Nay, I know of nothing good that I have done." The hermit, wondering more and more, said : " How hast thou become a beggar ? Hast thou CONSCIENCE. Ill spent thy substance in riotous living, like most others of thy calling ?" The man answered . " Nay, not so. But I met a poor woman running hither and thither dis- tracted, because her husband and children had been sold into slavery, to pay a debt. The wo- man was very beautiful, and certain sons of Bel- ial pursued after her. I took her home and pro- tected her from them. I gave her all I possessed to redeem her family ; then I conducted her safely to the city, where she was reunited to her hus- band and children. But what of that, my father ? Is there any man who would not have done the same ?" The hermit, hearing these words, shed tears. " Alas,', said he, " I have not done so much good in all my long life ; yet they call me a man of God: and thou art only a poor minstrel." — St. Jerome. immtstttk HE Spirit that so calmly strives with man, Of old was conscience to Elijah's breast ; Through which a tremor of contrition ran, And vanished but with self and sin confessed. 112 IDEALS OF LIFE. The still small voice was vocal in a look, When three times Peter had denied his Lord; And tears went flowing like a mountain brook, Made burning through a false, ungrateful word. The silent whisper which his bosom stirred Amid the trappings of the Judgment Hall, In vain, in vain the troubled Pilate heard, And who shall paint the darkness of his fall? Full many a time all hear the Voice Divine, For every one is born a child of God: Full many a time does light from Heaven shine To show the pilgrim the Celestial road. Ah, what of them who will not see or heed, All self- directed in the course they run? God summons to account for every deed In light above the brightness of the sun. A man's first, care should be to avoid the re- proaches of his own heart; his next, to escape the censure of the world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there cannot be a greater satisfac- tion to an honest mind than to see those appro- bations which it gives itself, seconded by the ap- plause of the public. A man is more sure of his conduct when the verdict which he passes upon his own behavior is thus warranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him. — Addison. CONSCIENCE. 113 A tender conscience, of all things, ought to be tenderly handled : for if you do not, you injure not only the conscience, but the whole moral frame and constitution is injured, recurring at times to remorse, and seeking refuge only in making the conscience callous. — Burke. He that loses his conscience has nothing left that is worth keeping. Therefore, be sure you look to that. And, in the next place, look to your health ; and if you have it, praise God, and value it next to a good conscience ; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of; a blessing that money cannot buy; therefore value it, and be thankful for it — Izaak Walton. The testimony of a good conscience will make the comforts of Heaven descend upon man's weary head like a refreshing dew or shower upon a parched land. It will give him lively earnests and secret anticipations of approaching joy ; it will bid his soul go out of the body un- dauntedly, and lift up his head with confidence before saints and angels. The comfort which it conveys is greater than the capacities of mor- tality can appreciate, mighty and unspeakable, and not to be understood till it is felt. — South. What comfort does overflow the devout soul from a consciousness of its own innocence and integrity.- — Tillotson. 114 IDEALS OF LIFE. intllj mtb ibbbnt^ If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. — St. John. VII. 17. )irRUTH and Obedience *®^ Are wonder-working powers, Whose foot-prints are their evidence Through all this world of ours : The trainers in the race To an eternal goal : Revealers of undying grace, The beauty of the soul. Truth and Obedience Can wash out many a taint, Tame the wild hands of Violence, Turn sinner into saint ; And bring the Age of Gold God's singers see afar, Until the blessed things foretold Become the things that are. Truth is the light of the Infinite Mind, and the image of God in his creatures. Nothing endures but truth. The dreams, fictions, theories, which men would substitute for it, soon die. Without its guidance effort is vain, and hope baseless. Accordingly, the love of truth, a deep thirst for it, a deliberate purpose to seek it and hold it fast, TRUTH AND OBEDIENCE. 115 may be considered as the very foundation of hu- man culture and dignity. Precious as thought is, the love of truth is still more precious ; for without it — thought wanders and wastes itself, and precipitates men into guilt and misery. There is no greater defect in education and the pulpit than that they inculcate so little an impartial, earnest, reverential love of truth, a readiness to toil, to live and die for it. Let the laboring man be imbued in a measure with this spirit; let him learn to regard himself as endowed with the power of thought, for the very end of acquiring truth ; let him learn to regard truth as more precious than his daily bread; and the spring of true and per- petual elevation is touched within him. He has begun to be a man ; he becomes one of the elect of his race. Nor do I despair of this elevation of the laborer. Unhappily little, almost nothing, has been done as yet to inspire either rich or poor with the love of truth for its own sake, or for the life and inspiration, and dignity it gives to the soul. The prosperous have as little of this prin- ciple as the laboring mass. I think, instead, that the spirit of the luxurious, fashionable life, is more hostile to it than the hardships of the poor. Un- der a wise culture, this principle may be awak- ened in all classes, and wherever awakened, it will form philosophers, successful and noble think- ers. These remarks seem to me particularly im- portant, as showing how intimate a union sub- sists between the moral and intellectual nature, 116 IDEALS OF LIFE. and how both must work together from the begin- ning. All human culture rests on a moral found- ation, on an impartial, disinterested spirit, on a. willingness to make sacrifices to the truth. With- out this moral power, mere force of thought avails nothing towards our elevation. — Channing. nm« ^UPRIGHTNESS is the talisman of life, ***" With charity and every virtue rife, To render one invincible : Who bears it with him through the sun and storm, At every moment has his ranks in form To stand against the gates of hell. In ancient times, a man in the East received from venerated hands a ring of inestimable value. In it was set a precious opal, from which differ- ent colors glanced as the light varied ; and there was a virtue within this ring, which made him who wore it, and believed in its efficacy, beloved by God and man. Naturally, therefore, the owner of this ring never removed it from his finger, UPRIGHTNESS. 117 and was desirous to transmit it to his posterity. When he felt death approaching, he gave it to his favorite son, and ordained that when this son died, he also should bequeath it to whichever of his sons he loved the best, without regard to priority of birth; and that whoever came into possession of it should, by virtue thereof, become lord of the house. In this way the ring descended from son to son, till at last it was owned by a father who had three sons equally dear to him. They were all so obedient and good, that, in the weakness of his affection for them, he sometimes promised the ring to one and sometimes to another. So, when death approached, he was much embarrassed ; for it pained him to disappoint two of his sons for the benefit of the third one. In this dilemma, he sent for a jeweller and ordered him to make two rings after the model of the original ring, and to spare no pains or cost to make them so much alike that one could not be distinguished from the other. The jeweller obeyed his orders so well that the father himself could not tell the rings apart. On each of his sons he separately bestowed one of the rings, blessed him and died. When he was gone, each one of the sons claimed to be the sole lord of the house, by vir- tue of his ring. Hence contention arose, and they appealed to the judge to settle their con- tending claims. Each one of them showed his ring, and swore that he received it from his 118 IDEALS OF LIFE. father's hand. How was the true ring to be distinguished from the others ? The judge said : " Unless I could summon your father himself as a witness, it is impossible for me to decide which of these rings is the real one. But, hold ! I do perceive one means of proving which of them is genuine. You say the real ring had an inward power which made all who wore it, and who be- lieved in its efficacy, beloved of God and man. Now tell me, which one of you do the two other brothers love the best ? You are silent. Is it because each one of you loves himself alone ? Then, you are all deceived and deceivers. None of your rings is the true one. Perhaps the real ring is gone, and your father, to hide the loss, may have ordered three for one. But if, instead of a decision, you will take my advice, I counsel each one of you to believe his own ring to be the genuine one. Your father loved you all alike. Perhaps he did not want to justify either one of you in claiming superiority over the other two ; but desired that each of you should feel honored by a token of his free affection. There- fore, let each one of you try who best can mani- fest the inward virtue of the real ring. Let each one assist the power of his ring by gentle- ness, benevolence, lorbearance, and resignation to the will of God. If the virtues of your rings are manifested in this way by yourselves, by your children, and your children's children, a Greater Judge than I am will decide the question of gen- uineness." — Lessing. COURTESY. 119 §XHtrfe$| + fT?HE savor of our household talk *** Which earneth silent thanks : The glory of our daily walk Among the busy ranks. Life's cleanly, lubricating oil In which a help is found To make the wheels of common toil Go lightly, swiftly round. Politeness in a thousand forms One cannot stop to name, Correcting while it cheers and warms, Like Paul imparting blame. Benevolence and grace of heart That gives no needless pain, And pours a balm on every smart Till smiles appear again. A man's manner, to a certain extent, indicates his character. It is the external exponent of his inner nature. It indicates his taste, his feelings, and his temper, as well as the society to which he has been accustomed. There is a conventional manner, which is of comparatively little import- 120 WEALS OF LIFE. ance; but the natural manner, the outcome of nat- ural gifts, improved by careful self-culture, signi- fies a great deal. Grace of manner is inspired by sentiment, which is a source of no slight enjoyment to a cultivated mind. Viewed in this light, sentiment is of almost as much importance as talents and acquirements, while it is even more influential in giving the direction to a man's tastes and char- acter. Sympathy is the golden key that unlocks the hearts of others. It not only teaches polite- ness and courage, but gives insight and unfolds wisdom, and may almost be regarded as the crowning grace of humanity. Artificial rules of politeness are of very little use. What passes by the name of " Etiquette " is often of the essence of impoliteness and un- truthfulness. It consists in a great measure of posture-making, and is easily seen through. Even at best, etiquette is but a substitute for good man- ners, though it is often but their mere counterfeit. Good manners consist, for the most part, in courteousness and kindness. Politeness has been described as the art of showing, by external signs, the internal regard we have for others. But one may be perfectly polite to another with- out necessarily having a special regard for him. Good manners are neither more nor less than beau- tiful behavior. It has been well said that "a beau- tiful form is better than a beautiful face, and a beautiful behavior is better than a beautiful form ; COURTESY. 121 it gives a higher pleasure than statues or pic- tures — it is the finest of the fine arts." The truest politeness comes of sincerity. It must be the outcome of the heart, or it will make no lasting impression ; for no amount of polish can dispense with truthfulness. The natural char- acter must be allowed to appear, freed of its sin- gularities and asperities. Though politeness, in its best form, should (as St. Francis de Sales says) resemble water — " best when clearest, most simple, and without taste " — yet genius in a man will al- ways cover many defects of manner, and much will be excused to the strong and original. With- out genuineness and individuality, human life would lose much of its interest and variety, as well as its .manliness and robustness of character. True courtesy is kind. It exhibits itsetf in the disposition to contribute to the happiness of others, and in refraining from all that may annoy them. It is grateful as well as kind and readily acknowledges kind actions. Curiously enough, Captain Speke found this quality of character recognized even among the natives of Uganda, on the shores of Lake Nyanza, in the heart of Africa, where, he says, " Ingratitude, or neglecting to thank a person for a benefit conferred, is punishable." True politeness especially exhibits itself in re- gard for the personality of others. A man will respect the individuality of another, if he wishes to be respected himself. He will have due re- gard for his views and opinions, even though they 122 IDEALS OF LIFE. differ from his own. The well-mannered man pays a compliment to another, and sometimes even se- cures his respect, by patiently listening to him. He is simply tolerant and forbearant, and re- frains from judging harshly ; and harsh judgments of others will almost invariably provoke harsh judgment of ourselves. The impolite, impulsive man will, however, sometimes rather loose his friend than his joke. He may surely be pronounced a very foolish per- son who secures another's hatred at the price of a moment's gratification. It was a saying of Bru- nei the engineer — himself one of the kindest-na- tured of men — that " spite and ill-nature are among the most expensive luxuries of life." — Smiles. A man has no more right to say an uncivil thing than to act one ; no more right to say a rude thing to another than to knock him down. — Dr. Johnson. Incivility is the extreme of pride ; it is built on the contempt of mankind. — Zimmermann. Nothing is more silly than the pleasure some people take in " speaking their minds." A man of this make will say a rude thing for the mere pleasure of saying it, when an opposite behavior, full as innocent, might have preserved his friend, or made his fortune. — Sir Richard Steele. Men are like wine ; not good before the lees of clownishness be settled. — Felltham. I know men — I am sure they are tyrants at home, bully their servants, pester their wives, and COURTESY. 123 beat their childern — who seem to take a delight in harrassing, badgering, objurgating the waiter ; set- ting pit-falls in the reckoning that he may stumble, and giving him confused orders that he may trip himself up. These are the men who call in the landlord and demand the waiter's instant dismissal because their mutton-chops has a curly tail; these are the pleasant fellows who threaten to write to the Times because the cayenne pepper won't come out of the caster. These are the jocund fellows who quarrel with the cabmen and menace them with ruin and the tread-mill. — Household Words. Manners are the shadows of virtues ; the mo- mentary display of those qualities which our fel- low-creatures love and respect. If we strive to be- come then what we strive to appear, manners may often be rendered useful guides to the per- formance of our duties. — Sydney Smith. Manners are of more importance than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, the laws depend. The law touches us but here and there, and now and then, Manners are what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, exalt or debase, barbarize or refine us, by a constant, steady, uniform, insensible operation, like that the air we breathe in. They give their whole form and color to our lives. Ac- cording to their quality, they aid morals, they supply them, or they totally destroy them. — Burke. I soon found the advantage of this change in my manners: the conversations I engaged in 124 IDEALS OF LIFE. went on more pleasantly. The modest way in which I proposed my opinions procured them a readier reception and less contradiction. I had less mortification when I was found to be in the wrong, and I more easily prevailed with others to give up their mistakes and join with me when I happened to be in the right. And this mode, which I at first put on with some violence to natural inclination, became at length easy, and so habitual to me that perhaps for the last fifty years no one has ever heard a dogmatical ex- pression escape me. — Dr. Franklin. The manner of saying or of doing anything goes a great way in the value of the thing itself. It was well said of him that called a good office that was done harshly and with an ill-will, a stony piece of bread : it is necessary for him that is hungry to receive it, but it almost chokes a man in the going down. — Seneca. True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It simply consists in treating others just as you love to be treated yourself. — Lord Chesterfield. All the possible charities of life ought to be cultivated, and where we can be neither brethren nor friends, let us be kind neighbors and pleas- ant acquaintances. — Burke. Compliments of congratulation are always kindly taken, and cost one nothing but pen, ink, and paper. — Lord Chesterfield. It is all very well to say, " There is no use in bidding Good-morrow, or Good-night, to those COURAGE. 125 who know I wish it ; of sending one's love, in a letter, to those who do not doubt it," etc. All this sounds very well in theory, but it will not do for practice. Scarce any friendship, or any politeness, is so strong - as to be able to subsist without any external supports of this kind ; and it is even better to have too much form than too little. — Whately. Air and manner are more expressive than words. — Richardson. We are to carry it from the hand to the heart ; to improve a ceremonial nicety into a sub- stantial duty, and the modes of civility into the realities of religion. — South. -* intirngs, £7[?HE resolution of the heart ^ At which bewildering fears depart, Is courage which befits the man Who seeks a place within the van. Equipment of a quiet mind With eyes before and eyes behind, Which daily duties always fill, Is courage of a manly will. 126 IDEALS OF LIFE. The temper of old Latimer, From whose great heart the bugle - stir Of prophecy, amid the flame, Is heard at mention of his name, — Is courage of celestial mould Beyond all earthly boldness bold ; Which sees the hard - fought battle gained And God's minority sustained. A great deal of talent is lost in the world for the want of a little courage. Every day sends to their graves a number of obscure men who have only remained in obscurity because their timidity has prevented them from making a first effort ; and who, if they could have been induced to begin, would in all probability have gone great lengths in the career of fame. The fact is, that to do anything in this world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can. It will not do to be perpetually calculating risks and adjusting nice chances ; it did very well before the Flood, when a man could consult his friends upon an intended publication for a hundred and fifty years, and then live to see his success afterwards ; but at present a man waits, and doubts, and consults his brother and his particular friends, till one fine day he finds that he is sixty years of age ; that he has lost so much time in consulting his first COURAGE. 127 cousins and particular friends, that he has no more time to follow their advice. — Sydney Smith. It is the strong and courageous men who lead and guide and rule the world. The weak and timid leave no trace behind them ; while the life of a single upright and energetic man is like a track of light. His example is remembered and appealed to ; and his thoughts, his spirit, and his courage continue to be the inspiration of succeed- ing generations. It is energy — the central element of which is will — that produces the miracles of enthusiasm in all ages. Everywhere it is the mainspring of what is called force of character, and the sustain- ing power of all great action. In a righteous cause the determined man stands upon his cour- age as upon a granite block; and, like David, he will go forth to meet Goliath, strong in heart though a host be encamped against him. Men often conquer difficulties because they feel they can. Their confidence in themselves inspires the confidence of others. When Caesar was at sea, and a storm began to rage, the cap- tain of the ship which carried him became un- manned by fear. " What art thou afraid of? " cried the great captain ; " thy vessel carries Cae- sar ! " The courage of the brave man is conta- gious, and carries others along with it. His stronger nature awes weaker natures into silence, or inspires them with his own will and purpose. The persistent man will not be baffled or re- 128 IDEALS OF LIFE. pulsed by opposition. Diogenes, desirous of be- coming the disciple of Antisthenes, went and offered himself to the cynic. He was refused. Diogenes, still persisting, the cynic raised his knotty staff, and threatened to strike him if he did not depart. " Strike ! " said Diogenes ; " you will not find a stick hard enough to conquer my perseverance." Antisthenes, overcome, had not another word to say, but forthwith accepted him as his pupil. Energy of temperament, with a moderate de- gree of wisdom, will carry a man farther than any amount of intellect without it. Energy makes the man of practical ability. It gives him vis, force, momentum. It is the active motive power of character ; and, if combined with saga- city and self-possession, will enable a man to em- ploy his powers to the best advantage in all the affairs of life. — Smiles. Dear daughter — wrote a great artist — strive to be of good courage, to be gentle - hearted ; these are the true qualities for a woman. Trou- bles everybody must expect. There is but one way of looking at fate — whatever that be, whether blessings or afflictions — to behave with dignity under both. We must not lose heart, or it will be the worse both for ourselves and for those whom we love. To struggle, and again and again renew the conflict — this is life's inheritance. — Ary SCHEFFER. As to moral courage, I have rarely met with COURAGE. 129 the two o'clock in the morning courage. I mean, un- prepared courage, that which is necessary on an unexpected occasion, and which, in spite of the most unforeseen events, leaves full freedom of judgment and decision. — Napoleon I. Johnson, with that native fortitude which, amidst all his bodily distress and mental suffer- ings, never forsook him, asked Dr. Brocklesby, as a man in whom he had confidence, to tell him plainly whether he could recover. "Give me," said he, "a direct answer." The doctor, having first asked him if he could bear the whole truth, which way soever it might lead, and being an- swered that he could, declared that, in his opin- ion, he could not recover without a miracle. " Then," said Johnson, " I will take no more phy- sic, not even my opiates ; for I have prayed that I may render my soul up to God unclouded." — BOSWELL. " Be of good comfort," said the brave old Lat- imer to his companion at the stake ; " be of good comfort, Master Ridley, for we shall this day light such a candle through all England as, by God's grace, shall never be put out." When, after the restoration of Charles II., Sir John Elliot was rid- ing to the place of execution, he stood up in the cart, on seeing his wife looking down upon him from a window in the Tower, and waved his hat and said, " To heaven, my love ; to heaven, my love, and leave you in the storm ! " . 130 IDEALS OF LIFE. Jterisimt SfgECISION is the soul of luck, ^~ Which, flashing through it, makes it pluck, The genius and the power to do That which the lightning brings to view. Decision walks on solid ground, A factor in the world around : It treads wherever Truth commands, And firm become the shrinking sands. Decision lingers not with fate, On which is writ the word " Too late," But through the gate of Penitence Pursues the way of Providence. Without Decision life is lost, A ship upon the ocean tost, Without a rudder or a hand To guide it to the wished - for land. A man without decision can never be said to belong to himself; since, if he dared to assert that he did, the puny force of some cause, about as powerful you would have supposed as a spi- der, may make a seizure of the unhappy boaster the very next moment, and contemptuously ex- hibit the futility of the determinations by which DECISION. 131 he was to have proved the independence of his understanding and will. He belongs to whatever can make captive of him ; and one thing after another vindicates its right to him, by arresting him while he is trying to go on ; as twigs and chips floating near the edge of a river are inter- cepted by every weed, and whirled in every little eddy. Having concluded on a design, he may pledge himself to accomplish it, if the hundred diversities of feeling which may come within the work will let him. His character precluding all foresight of his conduct, he may sit and wonder what form and direction his views and actions are destined to take to-morrow ; as a farmer has often to acknowledge that next day's proceedings are often at the disposal of its winds and clouds. — John Foster. And of all wretched characters, the man "who can never make up his mind " is the most wretched. A torment to himself, he is the re- proach and laughter of others, who frequently suffer in no small degree from his hesitation, delay and fickleness. There can scarcely be any more fatal censure passed upon a man than that implied in the Patriarch's apostrophe to his son: " Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." The very promise of well-doing must be denied to the waverer. History has recorded the evils in- flicted on two nations by the instability of James I. of England and VI. of Scotland ; and many of us have read with appreciation the anecdote of 132 IDEALS OF LIFE. the criticism so aptly passed upon him by his chaplain, who, when ordered to preach before the king, read as his text, with emphatic significance, " yames i. and 6th — " He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed," provoking from the self-conscious mon- arch the exclamation, " Saul o' my body, he is at me already ! " — Adams. Irresolution on the schemes of life which offer themselves to our choice, and inconstancy in pur- suing them, are the greater and most universal causes of all our disquiet and unhappiness. When ambition pulls one way, interest another, and in- clination a third, and perhaps reason contrary to all, a man is likely to pass his time but ill when he has so many different parties to please. When the mind hovers among such a variety of alure- ments, one had better settle on a way of life that is not the very best we might have chosen, than grow old without determining our choice, and go out of the world, as the greater part of mankind do, before we have resolved how to live in it. There is but one method of setting ourselves at rest in this particular, and that is by adhering steadfastly to one great end as the chief and ulti- mate aim of all our pursuits. If we are firmly resolved to live up to the dictates of reason, without any regard to wealth, reputation, or the like considerations, any more than as they fall in with our principal design, we may go through life with steadiness and pleasure ; but if we act CHARACTER. 133 by several broken views, and will not only be virtuous, but wealthy, popular, and everything that has a value set upon it by the world, we shall live and die in misery and repentance. — Addison. I would recommend to every one that admir- able precept which Pythagoras is said to have given to his disciples, and which that philosopher must have drawn from the observation which I have enlarged upon ; Optimum vitae genus eligito, nam consuetudo faciei jucundissimum : " Pitch upon that course of life which is the most excellent, and custom will render it the most delightful." Men whose circumstances will permit them to choose their own way of life are inexcusable if they do not pursue that which their judgment tells them is the most laudable. The voice of reason is more to be regarded than the bent of any present inclination, since, by the rule above mentioned, inclination will at length come over to reason, though we can never force reason to com- ply with inclination. — Addison. Slptnttfer, HE fortress of the man, *^ Built on a base divine, 134 IDEALS OF LIFE. Through which no tremor ever ran To break its perfect line. The wondrous citadel, Which reaches unto Heaven, Wherein courageous angels dwell, To whom its keys are given. The noblest thing which God Has honored with His mark, And made a beacon on the road, Far - shining through the dark. The property which all Who build upon the truth Are girded with — the jasper wall Around eternal youth. Character is one of the greatest motive pow- ers in the world. In its noblest embodiments, it exemplifies human nature in its highest forms, for it exhibits man at his best. Men of genuine excellence, in every station of life — men of industry, of integrity, of high prin- ciple, of sterling honesty of purpose — command the spontaneous homage of mankind. It is natu- ral to believe in such men, to have confidence in them, and to imitate them. All that is good in the world is upheld by them, and without their presence in it the world would not be worth liv- ing in. CHARACTER. 135 Although genius always commands admiration, character most secures respect. The former is more the product of brain-power, the latter of heart -power; and in the long run it is the heart that rules in life. Men of genius stand to society in the relation of its intellect, as men of character of its conscience ; and while the former are ad- mired, the latter are followed. — Smiles. You insist, — wrote the author of this para- graph to a friend, — on respect for learned men. I say, Amen ! But, at the same time, don't for- get that eagerness of mind, depth of thought, appreciation of the lofty, experience of the world, delicacy of manner, tact and energy in action, love of truth, honesty, and amiability — that all these may be wanting in a man who may yet be very learned. — Perthes. I have read books enough, and observed and conversed with enough of eminent and splendidly- cultured minds, too, in my time; but, I assure you, I have heard higher sentiments from the lips of poor, uneducated men and women, when exerting the spirit of severe yet gentle heroism under difficulties and afflictions, or speaking their simple thoughts as to circumstances in the lot of friends and neighbors, than I ever yet met with- out of the Bible. We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider everything as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart. — Sir Walter Scott. 136 IDEALS OF LIFE. Character is property. It is the noblest of possessions. It is an estate in the general good- will of men ; and they who invest in it — though they may not become rich in .this world's goods — will find their reward in esteem and reputation fairly and honorably won. And it is right that in life good qualities should tell — that industry, virtue, and goodness should rank the highest — and that the really best men should be foremost. Simple honesty of purpose in a man goes a long way in life, if founded on a just estimate of himself and a steady obedience to the rule he knows and feels to be right. It holds a man straight, gives him strength and sustenance, and forms a main spring of vigorous action. " No man," once said Sir Benjamin Rudyard, " is bound to be rich or great — no, nor to be wise ; but every man is bound to be honest." — Smiles. A good character, when established, should not be rested in as an end, but only employed as a means of doing still farther good. — Atterbury. There is no man at once either excellently good or extremely evil, but grows either as he holds himself up in virtue or lets himself slide to viciousness. — Sir Philip Sidney. As a man thinks or desires in his heart, such, indeed, he is ; for then most truly, because most incontrollably, he acts himself. — South. Health and sickness, enjoyment and suffering, riches and poverty, knowledge and ignorance, power and subjection, liberty and bondage, civil- COMMON SENSE. 137 ization and barbarity, have all their offices and duties; all serve for the formation of character. — Paley. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of. — Swift. § Inittmrra mnn. fTpHE lightning of the common mind, ^ Which pierces to the heart of things, While logic lingers far behind, Possessed of no celestial wings ; The native faculty of man, Which separates the false and true, As only eyes of wisdom can, And sees the thing to say or do. To act with common sense, according to the moment, is the best wisdom I know; and the best philosophy, to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, submit respectfully to one's lot, bless the goodness which has given us so much happi- ness with it, whatever it is, and despise affecta- tion. — Horace Walpole. 10 138 IDEALS OF LIFE. The longer we live, the more we are con- vinced of the justice of the old saying, that an ounce of mother wit is worth a pound of clergy ; that discretion, gentle manners, common sense, and good nature, are, in men of high ecclesiasti- cal station, of far more importance than the greatest skill in distinguishing between sublap- sarian and supralapsarian doctrines. — Sydney Smith. Common sense should lie at the bottom of all enterprises, the literary and poetical as well as the practical and scientific. Good sense is the ballast of genius ; nay, we might say, it is the cargo itself out of which genius works its suc- cesses. — Calvert. When asked how he felt on the ill-success of his tragedy, he (Dr. Johnson) replied, " Like the monument ; " meaning that he continued firm and unmoved as that column. And, let it be remem- bered, as an admonition to the genus irritabile of dramatic writers, that this great man, instead of peevishly complaining of the bad taste of the town, submitted to its decision without a murmur. He had, indeed, upon all occasions a great def- erence for the general opinion. " A man," said he, " who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them ; and the public to whom he appeals must, after all, be the judges of his pretensions." — Boswell. Gov. Hubbard, of Connecticut, once called at COMMON SENSE. 139 the White House in reference to a newly-in- vented gun, concerning which a committee had been appointed to make a report. The report was sent for, and when it came in was found to be of the most voluminous description. Mr. Lin- coln glanced at it, and said : " I should want a new lease of life to read this through ! " Throw- ing it down upon the table, he added : " Why can't a committee of this kind occasionally ex- hibit a grain of common sense ? If I send a man to buy a horse for me, I expect him to tell me his points — not how many hairs there are in his tail." — Stories of Lincoln. Fine sense and exalted sense are not half so useful as common sense : there are forty men of wit for one of good sense ; and he that will carry nothing about with him but gold will be every day at a loss for readier change. — Addison. What we call good sense in the conduct of life consists chiefly in that temper of mind which enables its possessor to view at all times, with perfect coolness and accuracy, all the various cir- cumstances of his situation : so that each of them may produce its due impression on him, without any exaggeration arising from his own peculiar habits. But to a man of an ill-regulated imagina- tion, external circumstances only serve as limits to excite his own thoughts, and the conduct he pursues has in general far less reference to his real situation than to some imaginary one in which he conceives himself to be placed ; and in 140 IDEALS OF LIFE. consequence of which, while he appears to him- self to be acting with the most perfect wisdom and consistency, he may frequently exhibit to others all the appearances of folly. — Dugald Stewart. mm$4 A BALLAD FOR NEW-YEAR DAY. t£?)H did you not see him that over the snow <2 *^ Came on with a pace so cautious and slow? — That measured his step to a pendulum-tick, Arriving in town when the darkness was thick? I saw him last night, with locks so gray, A little way off, as the light died away. And I knew him at once, so often before Had he silently, mournfully passed at my door. He must be cold and weary, I said, Coming so far, with that measured tread. I will urge him to linger awhile with me Till his withering chill and weariness flee. A story — who knows ? — he may deign to rehearse, And when he is gone I will put it in verse. TIME. 141 I turned to prepare for the coming- guest, With curious, troublous thoughts oppressed. The window I cheered with the taper's glow Which glimmered afar o'er the spectral snow. My anxious care the hearth-stone knew, And the red flames leaped and beckoned anew. But chiefly myself, with singular care, Did I for the hoary presence prepare. Yet with little success, as I paced the room, Did I labor to banish a sense of gloom. My thoughts were going and coming like bees, With store from the year's wide-stretching leas, Some laden with honey, some laden with gall, And into my heart they dropped it all ! O miserable heart, at once over-run With the honey and gall thou canst not shun. O wretched heart ! in sadness I cried, Where is thy trust in the Crucified ? And in wrestling prayer did I labor long That the Mighty One would make me strong. That prayer was more than a useless breath: It brought to my soul God's saving health. When the hours went by on their sluggish flight, And came the middle watch of the night ; 142 IDEALS OF LIFE. In part unmanned, in spite of my care, I beheld my guest in the taper's glare; A wall of darkness around him thick, As onward he came to a pendulum- tick. Then quickly I opened wide the door, And bade him pass my threshold o'er, And linger awhile away from the cold, And repeat some story or ballad old — His weary limbs to strengthen with rest, For his course to the ever receding west. Through the vacant door in wonder I olanced, <-> o » And stood — was it long? — as one entranced. Silence so awful did fill the room, That the tick of the clock was a cannon's boom. And my heart it sank to its lowest retreat, And in whelming awe did muffle its beat. For now I beheld, as never before, And heard to forget, ah, nevermore ! For with outstretched hand, with scythe and glass, With naught of a pause did the traveller pass. And with upturned face he the silence broke, And thus, as he went, he measuredly spoke ; My journey is long, but my limbs are strong; And I stay not for rest, for story, or song. TIME. 143 It is only a dirge, that ever I sing; It is only of death, the tale that I bring: Of death that is life, as it cometh to pass; Of death that is death, alas! alas! And these I chant, as I go on my way, As I go on my way forever and aye. Call not thyself wretched, though bitter and sweet, In thy cup at this hour intermingle and meet. Some cloud with the sunshine must ever appear, And darkness prevails till morning is near. But who doth remember the gloom of the night, When the sky is aglow with the beautiful light ? Oh alas ! if thou drinkest the bitter alone, Nor heaven nor earth may stifle thy moan ! Thy moan ! — and the echo died away — Thy moan ! thy moan forever and aye ! His measured voice I heard no more, But not till I stand on eternity's shore, And the things of time be forgotten all, Shall I cease that traveller's words to recall. As onward he moved to a pendulum- tick, The gloom and darkness around him thick, I fell on my knees and breathed a prayer ; And it rose, I ween, through the midnight air 144 IDEALS OF LIFE. To a God who knoweth the wants and all The evil and good of this earthly thrall : To One who suffered as on this day, And began our sins to purge away : To Him who hath promised to heed our cry, And a troubled heart to purify. And I feel that the gall will ever grow less, Till I see His face in righteousness. And now my soul is filled with cheer For the march of a bright and Happy New Year As years roll on, whether sun doth shine Or clouds overcast, I will never repine; For I know, when the race of Time is run, I shall enter a realm of Eternal Sun. Time is exactly what we make it ; in the hands of the foolish, a curse ; in the hands of the wise, a preparation for life eternal ; in the hands of the foolish, a preparation for the con- demnation that is everlasting. To you it is much ; to your neighbor it is naught. He is as anxious to throw it away as you (we hope) are anxious to cultivate it to the greatest advantage. Ah, if all of us did but know what it is, what it might be, how we should watch over every grain in the hour-glass ! How great would be our ac- tivity, how solicitous our labor, how profound our TIME. 145 consciousness of duty ! How we should aspire to avail ourselves of each passing moment! How keen would be our regret if conscience could speak to us of days wasted and opportunities neglected ! In commenting on the importance of thrift in regard to time, it would be easy to lay down a few practical and familiar rules for the benefit of the young adventurer in life's chequered career. As for instance : — One thing at a time. Do at once what ought to be done at once. Never put off till to-morrow what ought to be done to-day. Never leave to another that which you can do yourself. More haste, worse speed. Stay a little that we may make an end the sooner. But more is to be learned from example than precept ; and the lives of great men ; or of men good and great, will prove of higher and more lasting value to the student than the most preci- ous fragments of proverbial philosophy. Show me a man who has attained to eminence, or ex- cellence, and you show me a man who has econ- omized his time. Show me a man who has ben- efited the world by his wisdom, or his country by his patriotism, or his neighborhood by his philan- thropy, and you show me a man who has made the best of every minute. In business, the men 14G IDEALS OF LIFE. who have attained success are the men who have known the importance of method, the men who have appreciated the potentiality of time. — Adams. Thrift of time will repay you in after-life with a usury of profit beyond your most sanguine dreams ; while the waste of it will make you dwindle, alike in intellectual and moral stature, beyond your darkest reckonings. — Gladstone. Time is the most indefinable yet paradoxical of things : the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires. — Time is the measurer of all things, but is itself immeas- urable, and the grand discloser of all things, but is itself undisclosed. Like space, it is incompre- hensible, because it has no limit, and it would be still more so if it had. It is more obscure in its source than the Nile, and in its termination than the Niger ; and advances like the slowest, but retreats like the swiftest torrent. It gives wings of lightning to pleasure, but feet of lead to pain, and lends expectation a curb, but enjoy- ment a spur. It robs Beauty of her charms, to bestow them on the picture, and builds a monu- ment to merit, but denies it a house: it is- the transient and deceitful flatterer of falsehood, but the tried and final friend of truth. Time is the most subtle yet the most insatiable of depreda- tors, and by appearing to take nothing, is per- TIME. 147 mitted to take all, nor can it be satisfied until it has stolen the world from us, and us from the world. It constantly flies, yet overcomes all things by flight ; and although it is the present ally, it will be the future conquerer, of death. Time, the cradle of hope, but the grave of ambi- tion, is the stern corrector of fools, but the salu- tary counsellor of the wise, bringing all they dread to the one, and all they desire to the other ; but, like Cassandra, it warns us with a voice that even the sagest discredit too long, and the silliest believe too late. Wisdom walks before it, opportunity with it, and repentance be- hind it : he that has made it his friend will have little to fear from his enemies, but he that hath made it his enemy will have little to hope from his friends. — Colton. Dost thou love life? Then waste not time, for time is the stuff that life is made of. — Dr. Franklin. Time is painted with a lock before, and bald behind, signifying thereby that we must take time by the forelock ; for, when it is once past, there is no recalling it. — Swift. 148 IDEALS OF LIFE. The things which are seen are temporal ; but the things which are not seen are eternal. — I Cor. iv. 18. TERNITY! Eternity! How wonderful Thou art, Wide as the Sea of Deity, And narrow as a heart ! The pulses of Eternity Are throbbing everywhere : Time holds Eternity in fee, And thus becomes so fair. Each moment is Eternity, Mother of mighty years, Whose chariot is Infinity, Whose steeds are smiles and tears. Eternity ! Eternity ! The Present, Future, Past, Forever are but one to Thee, — Thou art the First, the Last. All life contains Eternity, Where sight through truth abounds ; Clothed, clothed with Christ's humility, I see His pleading wounds. ETERNITY. 149 Illumined by Eternity, How very new they are, Those wounds as of Humanity, No more, no more afar ! The mansion of Eternity Is built in every breath; And into it despairingly Look the great eyes of Death. Eternity ! Eternity ! How prodigal Thou art, Calm, uncreated Mystery. The Whole in every part! It is not by our feet or change of place that we leave Thee, or return to Thee. Nor did that younger son of Thine look out for horses or chariots, or ships, and fly with visible wings, or journey by the motion of his limbs, that he might in a far country waste in riotous living all Thou gavest at his departure. A loving Father Thou wert when Thou gavest ; but more loving unto him wert Thou when he returned empty. . . . We forget that Thou art everywhere, whom no place encompasseth ! that Thou alone art near even to those that remove far from Thee. O Lord, help us to turn and seek Thee ; for not as we have forsaken our Creator hast Thou for- saken Thy creation. . . . Our good only lives with Thee ; when we 150 IDEALS OF LIFE. turn away from Thee we are perverted. Let us, then, O Lord, return, that we may not be over- turned ; because with Thee good lives without any decay, for Thou art good ; nor need we fear lest there be no place whither to return, because we fell from it ; for our mansion — Thy Eternity — fell not when we left Thee. — St. Augustine. In my solitary and retired imagination, I re- member that I am not alone, and therefore for- get not to contemplate Him and His attributes who is ever with me, especially those two mighty ones, His wisdom and eternity: with the one I recreate, with the other I confound my under- standing ; for who can speak of eternity without a solecism, or think thereof without an ecs- tacy ? . . . St. Peter speaks modestly, when he saith, a thousand years to God are but as one day ; for to speak like a philosopher, those continued in- stances of time which flow into a thousand years, make not to Him one moment: what to us is to come, to His eternity is present, His whole dura- tion being but one permanent point, without suc- cession, parts, flux or division. — Sir Thomas Browne.. 8*v-3