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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18712-8.txt b/18712-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b59fb6a --- /dev/null +++ b/18712-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5759 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Levels of Living, by Henry Frederick Cope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Levels of Living + Essays on Everyday Ideals + + +Author: Henry Frederick Cope + + + +Release Date: June 29, 2006 [eBook #18712] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEVELS OF LIVING*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +LEVELS OF LIVING + +Essays on Everyday Ideals + +by + +HENRY FREDERICK COPE + +Author of "The Modern Sunday-School +in Principle and Practice" + + + + + + + +New York ---- Chicago ---- Toronto +Fleming H. Revell Company +London And Edinburgh +Copyright, 1908, by +Fleming H. Revell Company +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue +Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + + To My Wife + + Not in the sentiment of dedication alone, + offering to you what I may have done, but + in simple acknowledgment of obligation + to you + + Elizabeth + + best gift of God and inspiration of man + + + + +Under the title of "A Sermon For To-day" these short essays, on the art +of every-day living in the light of eternal life, were published by +_The Chicago Sunday Tribune_, through a series of years, and were +regularly printed in the Sunday editions of a group of the great +dailies. The short sentences were also published with the Sermons +under the head of "Sentence Sermons." The courtesy of _The Chicago +Daily Tribune_ in permitting the publication of these "sermons," with +such changes as have seemed best, is gratefully acknowledged. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE HIGHER LEVELS + The Real and the Ideal--The Bread of Life--Life's + Unvarying Values. + + II. INVISIBLE ALLIES + More than a Fighting Chance--The Unseen + Hand--The One in the Midst. + + III. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SERVICE + Self and Service--My Soul or My Service?--The + Satisfaction of Service. + + IV. THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS + The Power of Happiness--The Secret of + Happiness--The Folly of Anxiety. + + V. THE CURRICULUM OF CHARACTER + The Great School--The Purpose of the + Course--The Price of Perfection. + + VI. THE AGE-LONG MIRACLE + The Sufficient Sign--Behold the Man--The + Life that Lifts. + + VII. SEEING THE UNSEEN + The Sense of the Unseen--The Brook in the + Way--That Which Is High. + + VIII. SOURCES OF STRENGTH AND INSPIRATION + Strength for the Daily Task--The Sense of + the Infinite--The Great Inspiration. + + IX. FINDING FOUNDATIONS + The Passing and Permanent--Facing the + Facts--The Real Foundation. + + X. THE PASSION FOR PERFECTION + The Great Search--The Hunger of the Ages--The + Sole Satisfaction. + + XI. THE PRICE OF SUCCESS + The Law of Selection--The Fallacy of + Negation--The Secret of All. + + XII. DIVINE SERVICE + The Ideal Service--The Orthodox Service--The + Heavenly Service. + + XIII. OUR FATHER AND OUR FELLOWS + The Primary Reconciliation--Faith in Our + Fellows--The Law of Forgiveness. + + XIV. MEN AND MAMMON + Riches and Righteousness--Religion and + Business--The Moral End of Money-Making. + + XV. THE EVERY-DAY HEAVEN + The Beauty of Holiness--The Gladness of + Goodness--The True Paradise + + XVI. TRUTH AND LIFE + Religion of a Practical Mind--The Head + and the Heart--New Truths for New Days. + + XVII. THE FRUITS OF FAITH + Root and Fruit--The Orthodox Accent--The + Business of Religion. + + XVIII. THE FORCE OF FAITH + "The Victory that Overcometh"--Fear + and Faith--Faith for the Future. + + XIX. HINDRANCES AND HELPS FROM WITHIN + Worry--A Cure for the Blues--The Gospel of Song. + + XX. DOES HE CARE? + The One at the Helm--The Shepherd and + the Sheep--The Father's Care. + + + + +I + +The Higher Levels + + _The Real and the Ideal_ + _The Bread of Life_ + _Life's Unvarying Values_ + + +_The ideal is the mold in which the real is cast._ + +_Half of success is in seeing the significance of little things._ + +_He finds no weal who flees all woe._ + +_You do not make life sacred by looking sad._ + +_Sympathy is a key that fits the lock of any heart._ + +_Soul health will not come by taking religion as a dose._ + +_Many a cloud that we call sorrow is but the shadow of our own +selfishness._ + +_To live wholly for possessions is to paralyze the life to the +possibility of permanently possessing anything._ + +_It takes more than willingness to be nothing to make you amount to +something._ + +_This is never a wrong world to him who is right with its heart._ + + +THE REAL AND THE IDEAL + +It is probable that from the age of sixteen up to thirty Jesus of +Nazareth spent His life in mechanical toil; He made wooden plows, ax +handles, and yokes; He served as a carpenter. Then for three years He +gave Himself to the ministry of ideal things, exclusively to the +service of the spirit. + +There is a wonderful satisfaction in making things, in looking over +some concrete piece of work accomplished when the day ends. It is a +satisfaction that belongs to the artisan. Is it not probable that many +said that it was a great pity when Jesus gave up so useful a trade as +His? To them He seemed to be but chasing the rainbow. + +But to-day who possesses a single one of the things that young +carpenter made? And did we possess them all what better off would the +world be? Yet, on the other hand, how ill could this world afford to +lose what He gave it by those three years of the service of the ideal. + +In our age of things we so easily forget how large is the place of the +ideal and the spiritual. Ever estimating our assets in the concrete, +we fail to recognize that our real wealth lies in thoughts and things +abstract. The permanent possessions of humanity are spiritual. Not +acres nor armies, not banks nor business make a nation, but mighty, +compelling ideals and traditions. + +Jesus, Shakespeare, Browning, Lowell, Emerson left no goods and +chattels, no bonds and mortgages; they left inspirations; they +bequeathed ideals; living first for the soul, their souls survive and +remain to us all. The truly great who still stand after the test of +the years are those who have lived for the spirit. + +This is as true of the worker and the warrior as of the philosopher and +poet. All were inspired by glowing visions; they set their affections +on things above the trifles for which we struggle and spend ourselves. +They endured as seeing glories to us invisible; therefore their names +endure. + +The great undertakings of our own day are possible only under spiritual +inspirations. No rewards of money only can induce a man to steadfastly +conduct affairs of great moment and enterprise; he is buoyed up by a +great hope; often the very greatness of the task and the sense of +serving great ends carry him on; always he sees the worth in the ideal +rather than the wage. + +We must learn to measure life with the sense of the infinite. We must +not think that a man has failed because he has not left burdened +warehouses and bonds. We must cease to think that we can tell whether +work be high or lowly by the size of the wage. We need eyes to see the +glory of the least act in the light of the glowing motive. + +A new estimate is placed on each act when it is measured not by bread +alone but by the things of the soul. The mother's care of the +children; the father's steady humble toil for them, the faithful +watching over the sick, the ministry of the lowly, all have a new glory +in the light of the love that leads the way and the spirit that guides +those who do the least of these things. + +We need to learn for ourselves what is the work that endures. It is a +good thing to lay a course of bricks so that it shall be true, but of +greater value to the world than the wall that stands firm is the spirit +that forces the man to build aright. No man can do even this without +an ideal set in his heart, and when the wall shall have fallen the +world shall still be enriched by his ideal. + +Too many of us are fretting because we are not getting on in the world. +Seeing the apparent ease with which some acquire fortune, we become +discontented with our small gains. We talk as though fortunes and +follies, money and lands were the only things worth while. Yet we know +better, for we all find our real joys in other things. + + + +THE BREAD OF LIFE + +There are lives that have bread in abundance and yet are starved; with +barns and warehouses filled, with shelves and larders laden they are +empty and hungry. No man need envy them; their feverish, restless +whirl in the dust of publicity is but the search for a satisfaction +never to be found in things. They are called rich in a world where no +others are more truly, pitiably poor; having all, they are yet lacking +in all because they have neglected the things within. + +The abundance of bread is the cause of many a man's deeper hunger. +Having known nothing of the discipline that develops life's hidden +sources of satisfaction, nothing of the struggle in which deep calls +unto deep and the true life finds itself, he spends his days seeking to +satisfy his soul with furniture, with houses and lands, with yachts and +merchandise, seeking to feed his heart on things, a process of less +promise and reason than feeding a snapping turtle on thoughts. + +It takes many of us altogether too long to learn that you cannot find +satisfaction so long as you leave the soul out of your reckoning. If +the heart be empty the life cannot be filled. The flow must cease at +the faucet if the fountains go dry. The prime, the elemental +necessities of our being are for the life rather than the body, its +house. But, alas, how often out of the marble edifice issues the poor +emaciated inmate, how out of the life having many things comes that +which amounts to nothing. + +The essential things are not often those which most readily strike our +blunt senses. We see the shell first. To the undeveloped mind the +material is all there is. But looking deeper into life there comes an +awakening to the fact and the significance of the spiritual, the +feeling that the reason, the emotions, the joys and pains that have +nothing to do with things, the ties that knit one to the infinite, all +constitute the permanent elements of life. + +Because man is a spirit his life never can consist wholly in things; he +must come into his heritage of the soul wealth of all the ages; he must +reach out, though often as in the dark, until across the void there +come voices, the sages and the seers, the prophets, and the poets +speaking the language of the soul. In these he finds his food nor can +his deeper hunger be assuaged until it thus is fed. + +Because man is a spirit and gradually is coming into the dominant +spirit life in which things shall count for less and thought and +character for more, he seeks after his own kind. The deeps of life +have their relationships. The spirit of man cries out after the father +of spirits. By whatever name men have called the most high they ever +have sought after Him, the eternal, who would be one with them in soul, +in all that is essential and abiding in being. + +Every religion, every philosophy, every endeavour after character and +truth is but the cry of humanity for word with God. Hearing His word +on any lip the heart of man answers with joy. The words of eternal +truth have been the food of the great in all ages. Fainting in the +fight the message from the unseen, the echo of everlasting verities, +has revived their spirits; they have fought the fight that despises +things and seeks truth. + +Who would not exchange a mess of pottage for the benediction from a +father's lips? Who is so dead he no longer finds more satisfaction in +truth and love and beauty than in food or furniture? And why are we so +foolish as to seek to satisfy ourselves with things that perish, while +down to the least blade of creation earth is laden with unfading riches +and God is everywhere? + +If we might but learn this lesson, we people of the laden hand and the +empty heart, that since life is more than digestion and man more than +beast or machine, since determining all is the spiritual world, they +only are wise who set first things first, who use the garnered +experience of the past and the opportunities of the present to the +enriching of the soul, who listen among all the voices of time for the +words that proceed from the lips of Him who inhabiteth eternity. + + + +LIFE'S UNVARYING VALUES + +Life is the business of learning to use things as tools, the real as +the servant of the ideal, to make conditions even better that character +may grow the more, to serve in the making of things and the enduring of +things under the inspiration of the full and glorious purpose of life, +the realizing of the best for ourselves, the rendering of our best to +others. + +Only an age that has lost both heart and intellect--the divinely given +measuring rods of life--will think of estimating a life by the money +measure. It is a shallow world that knows a man as soon as and only +when it has scheduled his marketable assets; nor is it a happy augury +for a nation when it acquires the habit of estimating its men by the +length of the catalogues of their possessions. + +A period of outer prosperity is always in danger of being one of inner +paralysis. Luxury is a foe to life. Character does not develop +freely, largely, beautifully in an atmosphere of commercialism. A +moral decline that but presages enduring disaster is sure to succeed +the supremacy of the market. + +The great danger is that we shall set the tools of life before its +work, that we shall make life serve our business or our ambitions +instead of causing ambitions, activities, and opportunities all to +contribute to the deepening, enriching, and strengthening of the life +itself. In the details of making a living it is easy to lose sight of +the prime thing, the life; it is easy to forget that the great question +is not, what have you? but, what are you? + +Life cannot consist in things any more than silk can consist of +shuttles, or pictures of brushes and palettes. Life is both process +and product; but things and fame and power are no more than the tools +and machinery serving to perfect the product. Life must consist in +thoughts, experiences, motives, ideals--in a word, in character. A +man's life is what he is. + +But what a man is will depend on what he does with the things he has or +may have. Let him once set the possession of things as his loftiest +ideal, let this avarice of things enter the heart and speedily the love +of the good will leave. To that god all honour, all truth loving, all +gentleness and humanity are sacrificed. When possession becomes life's +ruling passion it doesn't take long for principle to be forgotten. + +The danger to-day is not that our people will fail in the world's +contests because they lack either money, mind, or muscle. We are in +little danger from illiteracy or from business incompetency; but we are +in danger from moral paralysis, due to undue pressure on the money +nerve. We have talked before the youth in the home and amongst +ourselves on the street as though the only thing worth living for was +money, as though they alone were great who had it and they only to be +despised who had it not. + +The danger is neither in our market, our commerce, nor our laws; the +danger is in our own hearts. No matter how world-potent our +merchandise, how marvellous our mechanical and material powers, how +brilliant our business strategy, all will not avail to silence the +voice, "Thou fool, this night thy soul is required of thee." Then +whose shall these things be? + +We need, not fewer things, not the return to an age of poverty or +dreary destitution; we need more power over things; to let the man, so +long buried beneath the money and the lands and houses, come to the +top; to set ourselves over our things; to make them serve us, minister +to our lives and our purposes in living. + +There must be an elevation of standards, the institution of new +valuations, clearer, nobler conceptions of what living means. Boys and +girls must be taught from the beginning that life is more than +self-serving, more than fame or glory; it is the service of humanity. +A passion for humanity will cure the passion for gold, will teach the +true value of life as something that only the infinite can estimate and +will give to the heart those true riches that do not tarnish and that +cannot be stolen. + + + + +II + +Invisible Allies + + _More Than a Fighting Chance_ + _The Unseen Hand_ + _The One in the Midst_ + + + +_Logic may illumine, but love leads._ + +_The religion that produces no sunshine is all moonshine._ + +_Imaginary evils have more than imaginary effects._ + +_He who lays out each day with prayer leaves it with praise._ + +_Light from above is for the path below._ + +_Singing of heaven gives no certainty of singing in heaven._ + +_It is better to have your bank in heaven than your heaven in a bank._ + +_The burdens of earth demand that our hearts be nourished with the +bread of heaven._ + +_There are too many hungry for love for any ever to talk of suffering +from loneliness._ + +_The man who lives with God does not have to advertise the fact._ + + +II + +MOKE THAN A FIGHTING CHANCE + +Who has not cried out, in haste but still in anguish: "Alas! All +things are against me; foes are many and friends there are none!" The +roads to pessimism are many; but surely this is the shortest one, to +get to think that life is but a conflict waged single-handed against +great odds, a long story of struggle, difficulties, pains, +disappointments, temptations, failures, wounds, ending only in death. + +Even though you escape that chronic jaundiced view of life there are +seasons of depression when it seems easy to get out of bed on the wrong +side and to plow all day into stumps instead of in the good, clear +ground. Ever we need the vision that Elisha of old gave to his young +man, to see the hills about us alive with our allies. Otherwise it is +easy to conclude the fates fight against us. + +How slight is the evidence on which men base their gloomy conclusions! +The pessimist always argues from a single instance to a general law. +If he strikes a poor peach on top he throws the whole basket away--or +sells them as soon as he can. He insists on sitting square on the +cactus bunch when there is only one on the whole bench-land. He then +becomes an authority on cactus. If he can discover a few foes on the +horizon he is blind to a regiment of friends close at hand. + +But the seers, our poets and teachers, have a wider vision; they seek +the glory rather than the gloom and they tell us that every man has +more friends than foes. This is the song of those who told us long ago +of Providence, the one who backs a man up and fights on his side and +furnishes him in the hour of need. This is the song of Lowell, +Tennyson, Whittier, and Browning. Life is not a lone-handed fight +against unnumbered foes; it is not a losing fight to any who will fight +it well. + +Every force in this world works with the man who seeks the good. This +is a right world and only he who fights the right faces the +unconquerable. A man may meet rebuffs, battle's tides may sweep back +and forth, but in the end, as it has ever been in all the long story of +man's conflict with nature, so in the conflict with every other foe, he +is bound to win. This is as true in the individual life of every +fighter as nature and history show it to be in universal life. + +On our side there is the great world of the unseen. Little do we know +of it, but still that little gives us confidence to believe it is +peopled with our allies. Our fairest hopes of good angels may be +delusions as to details, but they are essentially true, being born of +an eternal verity. + +The gospel of good hope declares there is One over all, the friend of +all; greater is He that is with you than any against you; greater is He +than your temptations, your adversaries, your difficulties, and your +sorrows. This was what the great Teacher came to tell men, that God +was on their side, seeking to help them, loving, caring, coöperating, +leading them into the life of victory over every enemy. + +Let a man face life in this confidence and he is invincible. He goes +forth and an unseen army goes with him. He gains the seer's vision to +see even the plotting of the enemy and the forces that fight against +him all working for his good. From many combats he gains strength for +the decisive struggle. All things work together for good. He serves +the right, the truth, the things that are eternal; he fights for +character, for manhood, and the good; and the eternal forces that rule +the universe fight by his side. He beholds the hills full of the hosts +of heaven; though he has no time to enjoy the vision he knows they are +there, his allies, his assurance of ultimate victory. + + + +THE UNSEEN HAND + +The mightiest and the eternal forces fight ever on the side of the +right. True, things do not always look that way. Sometimes Napoleon's +sneer about God being on the side of the largest battalions seems to +have truth in it. But ere long we see the large battalions swept away +before the strange, unaccountable, and irresistible power of an +insignificant body having truth and God on its side. + +The man who takes up the struggle for truth, who puts his hand to the +sword for the oppressed, for the right, finds himself holding a +two-handled weapon, and if he grasps firmly the one hilt it is as +though there were an omnipotent hand grasping the other. He who fights +worthily, in fitting battle, never fights alone. + +It is not that some omnipotent person steps down from a throne in the +heavens and plunges into the battle; it is that every time a man steps +out for right and truth he places himself in accord with eternal +spiritual forces that give themselves to him and his work. It is not +that God comes to fight for a man so much as that a man finds himself +fighting beside God; entering this battle, he sees that where he +thought none had been serving heaven had long been waging the contest. + +It is so easy, like old Elijah, to think that you alone are left to +witness for truth, to feel the loneliness of standing for things noble +and worthy, to become oppressed with the hopelessness of the minority +in which you find yourself. When real and concrete things press upon +us and their uproar is in our ears we become deaf and blind to the +greater forces that from the beginning of time have been working for +the best. + +Every great reform has looked like a losing movement; it has begun with +most insignificant minorities; it has met with violent and +well-organized opposition; its supporters have often been +faint-hearted, and yet ultimately it has overcome always. As men have +fought on they have found an unseen hand grasping the sword beside +theirs. + +We all need this sense of God with us, helping us in our lives. This +gives courage and confidence. It does not mean weak reliance upon +heaven to do things for us; it means entering on the things that look +impossible because we know that, if they are right, every great force +in the universe will coöperate with us. + +This is the fine sense in which the human enters into partnership with +the heavenly. This determines whether we may call our work divine or +not. It is to be judged, not by whether it is pleasant or looks +respectable, but by whether it is the work in which we know the Lord of +all can lay His hand to the tool or weapon alongside of our hands. + +With a consciousness like this, one attempts anything. The practical +question is not, "Can this be done?" but "Ought this to be done?" "Is +it such a task as will enlist the coöperation of the eternal spirit of +truth and right?" With the cry of Gideon on their lips, men have fared +forth facing fearful odds; their hands have fallen from their swords, +but the unseen hand has carried them on until the cause has won. + +The Almighty, who would have love and peace and righteousness to +prevail, needs your hand for His sword; the sword of the Lord is vain +without Gideon. Ideals and spiritual forces may exist, but men must be +their realizations, their visible hands. God's work waits for you to +put your hand to the sword; you will find His already there. + +This helping hand is always unseen; spiritual things are often +apparently unreal. God cannot be reduced to figures nor to material +elements. This hand that works with ours may mean one thing to one and +another to another. What we all need is to simply grasp the great fact +of the spiritual forces that strengthen every good resolve, that give +vigour in every good work, and give victory at last to the right. + + + +THE ONE IN THE MIDST + +There are always a thousand blind men to one who can see. All have +eyes, but not all have vision. The things we most need and the things +for which we most long are often nearest to us, while we, with eyes +fast shut, grope our way to the place where we think they ought to be. +The best things are the things we miss. The crowd by the fords of the +Jordan was longing to see the Messiah; yet of them all there was only +one, the son of the desert, who saw that He was actually with them +already. John had eyes that pierced the husk of things. He looked on +this son of the carpenter and a thousand years of prophecy sank into +insignificance beside its fulfillment; the multitude became as nothing +beside the all glorious Son of Man. He alone knew his Lord, because he +alone looked with eyes of love. + +John announced the sublime central truth that all the world's great +seers have declared; God is in His world. Man is an animal who seeks +God; he finds Him when his eyes are opened. Some are looking for Him +in the records of His ways with men; many are hoping to see Him in some +other world; a few see Him by their side. + +Some, priding themselves on their spiritual vision, and boastingly +describing God as He was or God as He will be, have eyes of stone when +it comes to seeing God as He is. They do not stop to think that we +want a God in the present tense--a God in our homes, on our streets, in +our affairs. And others say, this thing is unthinkable, for, if you +say that this is a spiritual presence, you at once remove the whole +question from touch with real things. + +They forget that the most real things lie beyond the senses. Who ever +saw mother-love? Yet who will not believe in it? Ambition, affection, +pity, memory, hope; these are the real things, the lasting things; +these are the spiritual things. No one ever saw these things, and yet +they can be seen everywhere; it only needs the vision; we all have seen +them at times. + +There are the selfish, gross, and sensual who tell us there is no love +in the world; and there are those to whom every common bush is aflame +with God. So hearts that have forsaken the good see nothing but a +God-forsaken world; and, in this same world, hearts that are lifted up +find Him everywhere, they see Him in the movements of history, in the +forces of nature, they hear Him in the hum of commerce and in the +silence of the fields, in every human voice they catch His tone. He is +ever in the midst. He is more than a force, a dream, a thought. He is +to men to-day what He was to men when He walked their streets and +touched their sick; all that we think He would have been in that long +ago He is to-day. + +Personal? Yes, that He may reach persons, for we cannot know +impersonal love or impersonal help. His personality turns the universe +from an institution into an organism. Yet more than personal; this one +in the midst is infinite; He is the whole where we are but fractions. +But He does not hide Himself in His infinity; He is "among you," with +men. Not by descent into the grave of the past, nor by ascent into +heaven do we find Him; He is here, on every hand. This it is that +transforms individual character, to know that He is by my side; this it +is that solves our problems, to see Him linking my fellow to me; this +it is that gives strength, to hear His voice; this it is that gives +hope, to know He is working with us; this it is that makes burdens +bearable, to know that He is sympathetic and strong. This one in the +midst explains suffering, inspires heroism, is the promise and the +potency of all the possibilities of the sons of men. + + + + +III + +The Sovereignty of Service + + _Self and Service_ + _My Soul or My Service_ + _The Satisfaction of Service_ + + +_The fruits of sacrifice become the roots of love._ + +_A tin halo makes a fine trap for a man to tangle himself in._ + +_It takes the base line of two worlds to get a correct elevation of any +life._ + +_Life is always a dull grind to the man who thinks only of the grist._ + +_Knocking the saints will not open the doors of paradise._ + +_Capacity for that heaven comes from creating this one._ + +_Another man's burden is the Christian's best badge._ + +_The only way to lift life is to lay life down._ + +_It doesn't take long to choose between a sinner who swears once in a +while and a saint who makes every one swear all the while._ + +_You cannot lift folks while you are looking down on them._ + + +III + +SELF AND SERVICE + +There is such a thing as supremely selfish self-denial. A man retires +into the monk's pietic seclusion; he isolates himself from interest in +the world battles; he shuts himself from sympathy with the struggles of +business, civil, and even social life. To him these things are carnal. +He is engrossed with the complication of interpretations of languages +long dead, or with visions of an unknown heaven, and this, he thinks, +is living the life of self-denial. + +The denial of self is not the death of self; it is the leading of the +best self into larger life. It is not the dwarfing of the life; it is +its development into usefulness. It is not the emasculation of +character; it is the submission and discipline of the life to new and +nobler motives. + +He best denies himself who best develops himself with the purpose of +serving his fellows. What Jesus meant was that if any man would be one +of His he must cease to make his own selfish pleasures, ambitions, and +passions the end of his living; he must make the most of himself that +he might have the more to give to the service of mankind; he must make +the one motive and end of his life the benefit and help of every other +man. + +That kind of a life means a change of centre. Instead of regarding the +universe as revolving about itself it sees that self as but part of the +great machinery of life, planned and operating for the good of all. A +man begins to deny himself as soon as he begins to love another. Even +a yellow dog may act to deflect the heart from its old self-centre. +The love of kin and family, of friends, and associates all serve to +strengthen the habit of self-denial. + +The fewer people a man takes into his plan of life the more likely is +he to be selfish. But some lives are but the more selfish because they +take in all mankind and look on them as designed to contribute to their +single enriching. That kind of a life commits suicide; ever grasping +and never giving it dies of plethora. It had never learned that +strange secret of the best self-development, sacrificing service. + +We need to guard ourselves against the delusion that the denial of +oneself means the impoverishment of the life. There can be no true +giving of the life in service unless there is a wise enriching of the +self, a thorough fitting for that service. The more of a man you are, +the brighter your intellect, the broader your sympathies, the better +your service to the world may be. The sloth that sinks the soul in +indifference to its own development is the most sinful of all forms of +selfishness. + +This way of denial is more, the Master tells His disciples, than an +emptying of the life. If some of the cares of self are cast out the +burdens of others more than take their place. It is a full life, +overflowing with the interests, the fears, loves, hopes, and longings +of other lives. It bears the cross, not of an ornamental, +vanity-serving glory, but the cross of a world's sin and sorrow. + +Each man must carry his cross not on his breast but on his heart and +brain. It is what he can do, what he can plan, suggest, undertake +towards saving this world. The cross of discipleship will be to some +statesmanship, to others science, to others the daily service of a home +or the work in the shop; it is the kindly word, the cheering look, the +lift by the way; it is whatever is done in unselfish desire to make +life better, to bring men nearer to one another and to the Father of +all. + +You have only to look at the great Teacher to know what self-denial and +cross bearing really mean, and you have only to follow Him to fully +carry out their principles. To Him they meant the life of doing good, +of seeking the sorrowing, befriending the forsaken, helping the +helpless. They who follow Him lead the world; they who seek to +minister instead of being ministered to are the world's masters. The +value of every life must be measured at last not by what it has +gathered to itself but by what it has given for the enriching and help +of the whole life of the world. + + + +MY SOUL OR MY SERVICE + +There is no more subtle temptation than that which sets the soul as a +hindrance to the service we should render. A surprise awaits him who +carefully will compare the emphasis laid upon the individual soul and +its salvation by the modern church with the place given this in the +teachings of the Bible. Perhaps he will find in modern preaching, with +its insistent appeal to men to save their own souls, an explanation of +prevalent selfishness. The moral effect of urging a man to save his +soul is not much better than that which comes from advising him to save +his skin at any cost. + +The most serious objection ever made to religion is that it produces a +narrow, self-centred type of mind. That type of religion cannot be +right, regardless of its doctrinal orthodoxy, which produces a wrong +type of men and women. But may not failure here be accounted for by +the selfish basis on which men build the plea for what they call +personal salvation? + +What could be more selfish than this continual appeal to fear, this +urging of men to escape from punishment, to make sure of a house in the +heavenly city, this offering of crowns and perpetual rest, plenty and +peace, this emphasis on the great object of saving your own soul? It +is opposite directly to what the great Teacher told men. Did He not +say that the man who would save his own life should lose it? + +The concentration of mind on the self, whether in the name of religion +or in any other name, is but moral suicide. People who have no other +object in life than that of saving their own souls are but little +better than those whose whole object is to fatten, protect, and keep +safe their bodies. + +But Christianity must be perverted greatly to make it teach men to set +their own interests first. It is the religion of the other man. Its +appeal is not to the love of self, but to the love of society. It +offers a way of salvation, not as a thing desirable for your exclusive +use, but as the pathway for all lives, for all the people. Its tree of +life is not for a single pair, but for the healing of the nations. + +True religion is not in self-centred culture, but in the culture of all +through the service of the single ones and the culture of the one +through his service for all. Only in the atmosphere of service does +the soul grow, expand, and find itself. To live in a circle is to die; +it is the centrifugal life that finds salvation. They court death who +seek only their own lives; they find life who, disregarding death and +loss, seek only to make others live. + +Religion is not simply a cure for my ills. True, it does cure many of +them, but only that I may be better able to do its work. It is a great +cause, a mighty project, commanding the noblest enthusiasms and the +highest efficiency of effort, the project of bringing this whole world +to salvation. And that not the salvation of a mental condition but of +the perfection of its whole being, the realization of its highest +possibilities, the full noontide of the day of God. + +Is not this enough to satisfy any man and to call forth the best in +him, that he should in some way serve this glorious ideal? Is not this +man's purpose in this world even as it was the purpose of the one who +called Himself the Son of Man? What nobler summary could any life have +than His, that He went about doing good? How quickly would that +kingdom of heaven come if this were the program of every life! + +Let but a man do his duty towards this shining ideal, let him but be +lifted up, carried along in the mighty enthusiasm it ought to engender, +and his own soul, his own development, his character perfection will +take care of itself. No man ever did any great work without becoming +greater himself, and greatness never was found in any other way. This +is an unvarying law. Service is the secret of culture. + +The pious hypochondriac is sure to be a sickly soul. The best thing +you can do for your soul is to forget that you have one, just as the +healthy man forgets he has a heart or liver. The self-forgetting +service is the secret of happiness, of full finding of self. Freedom +in self-giving brings fullness in living. + +In the right life the hour of prayer, the quiet thought, the search for +abstract truth, may all have their place; but it is only the place that +the wise workman gives to his meals. He does not live for these +things; they are but ministrants to his work. He uses everything that +will make him a better workman; but not because he sees the workman as +his end. He forgets himself in the perfection of that he seeks to +make. The saving of the soul, the culture of the self, as an end is +shame and suicide; as a means to service it is life and peace and +perfection. + + + +THE SATISFACTION OF SERVICE + +A man always thinks more of his work than of his wages. He would never +be content to toil day in and day out but for the thought that somehow +to some one his work was worth while. Neither wages, nor salary, nor +any other cash consideration would of itself be sufficient to satisfy +him. The workman is proud of the product of his hands; his reward is +in that he has made; the good shepherd thinks more of the flock than of +their fleece or his pay. + +Satisfaction in work can only come from service rendered. Whether a +man be plowing or preaching, sweeping the streets or building empires, +his work is only worthy if his motive be the good he is doing, the +value of the work itself. We call the man who preaches a minister, a +servant. There is no more honourable title, but it belongs to every +one who seeks to do any worthy work in the world. + +The purpose of living is service, therefore the business of religion +must be the cultivation of proficiency in service. The work of +Christianity is to teach men how to be most valuable and useful as +children and parents, as neighbours and citizens, how to make the most +of their lives and to do the most with them. It aims to bring the race +to its highest efficiency. + +Religion reveals to man the worth-while object of all his endeavours, +to work as a servant for others. Never was Jesus more glorious than +when He stooped to lift the palsied, to heal the sick, to feed the +hungry. He found His right to rule men by His exercise of the +privilege of serving them. The sheep belong to the good shepherd +because he gives his life to them. + +This marks the true follower of the great Teacher to-day; his business +is to serve, he makes living an investment for humanity. He is +commanded to lose his life, to be willing to give up, to sacrifice all +in self-denial, to take his cross and suffer persecution and loss in +this way of walking after his Master. + +But he is not told to throw his life away as a worthless thing. He is +to lose it as the seed is lost in the sowing, as the money in the +investing; to sacrifice it as the tool is sacrificed to that which it +is carving. He who would be of real service to the world must +cultivate the best in himself. If living is seed sowing, then the seed +must be good or the harvest will be thin. + +True altruism finds right expression first in self-care. It is a man's +business to be strong, healthy, sane, trained, developed; to be the +best kind of a man, complete in all his faculties, that he may have the +more to offer to the service of his fellows. There is no merit in +offering the wrecked body and soured mind. If you are going to give +your life to the world you must make it worth the giving. + +Heaven's work demands the finest tools. Nothing is too good for the +service of humanity. There is a good deal more religion in the honest +attempt to make the most of yourself, to keep health, to secure +education and culture, in order that you may have the larger, better, +wealthier self to use in service than in unending ascetic exercises, +prayers, devotions, meditations, mumbling, or visions of things +spiritual. + +The only way you can prove the genuineness of your religion is by your +gifts to the children of God, your own brothers about you. There is no +gift that begins to compare in value with a well-trained, +well-equipped, strong and clean life. We cannot all give gold or +lands, or even learning to men, but we can all give lives, and that +which heaven and earth both have a right to expect is that we shall +give the best lives we can. + + + + +IV + +The Right to Happiness + + _The Power of Happiness_ + _The Secret of Happiness_ + _The Folly of Anxiety_ + + +_Happy is that happy makes._ + +_Heaven leaves the heart when hatred enters._ + +_The man who is so wise that he never laughs is the greatest of fools._ + +_When your face spells failure it's no use talking of the glory of your +faith._ + +_To set a child towards gladness is to incline him towards God._ + +_The graces do not grow in gloom._ + +_There's no argument equal to a happy smile._ + +_Stealing sorrow is as much a sin as acquiring stolen joys._ + +_Life's music is never perfect without the chord of pain._ + +_Happiness is never found by dodging my neighbour's sorrows._ + + +IV + +THE POWER OF HAPPINESS + +Instead of the strength of your faith being marked by the length of +your sighs, the genuineness of your religion is to be known by its +joyfulness. The same God who gives the sunlight and the smiling +fields, who makes the brooks to laugh through the meadows and the stars +to sing at night, would rather see smiles than frowns on the faces of +His children. His glory is not in gloom but in gladness. He designed +this world for happiness, and religion is but the pursuing of His plans +for the good of His children. + +That which is holy must be happy. Artificial sadness is always sinful. +A church is not sacred because it looks like a sepulchre; music is not +sacred because all the spring is taken out of it. You do not keep a +day sacred to divine ends by making it dismal. It is a religious duty +resting on all to cultivate happiness, to make this world less sad. + +No matter how sincere a man may be, if his sanctity results only in +sorrow to others its satisfaction to him must count for nothing. There +is a great deal of piety that needs an operation to cut the bands that +bind its heart and reduce the inflammation of its spleen. Happiness is +the very health of religion. If religion does not give right relations +to those things that determine the tone and colour of life it is a +failure. + +But true happiness can never be selfish. It grows only by giving. No +one can eat a feast by himself. Happiness is not found on lonely +mounts of vision. It is a fair, refreshing stream that flows through +the dusty ways of daily life. Its waters are never so sweet and cool +to you as when you seek them for others. None ever find it who go only +with their own pitchers. The reason so many would-be saints are sad is +because they will not be other than selfish. + +It is not strange that men who love this heaven-born life of ours +should turn away from the religion that represented every happy, joyous +human thing as an enormous offense against its God. Once men gathered +together every dark and depressing thought and thing and said these +constitute the divine in this world; they looked out through the smoked +glasses of sanctimony and declared that every glad, generous hearty +impulse and action must be evil because such things gave happiness. + +The old boundary line between the pain that was piety and the pleasure +that spelt perdition has almost passed away. Men now know that there +is pain and loss in the way of sin, that the way of the transgressor is +hard; they learn by tasting that the fruits of righteousness are joy +and peace. The age demands what the Lord of all has ever intended, +that religion should send men on their way with the vigour of happier +hearts, with the upwelling love for men that should drive the squalor, +misery, despair, and heart-aches of sin before it. + +Life has its work and it has its sorrows; but they ought both to be for +its enriching. The business of religion is to teach us that +understanding and adjustment of life which will make it a feast of fat +things, to teach us that the God of all desires the good of all. The +more true piety--the seeking for the loving will of the all wise and +loving--there is in this world the more pleasure there will be in it. + +This happiness is the cure for the madness that some call pleasure. +Life is a mockery indeed to those whose only hope is for the hours of +leisure in which to drink the deadening drafts of excitement, the +lethal cup that only hides life's misery by paralyzing the faculties +against the possibilities of real pleasure. If men might only hear +again the call of Him who bade the weary and heavy laden to come; if +they might but know that His way of life can give strength, rest, +peace, joy, what an enriching life might have. + +Make life happier and you will make it holier. Make it full of +pleasure--not that of a fool's paradise--but that of peace with +heaven's plans, with the joy of knowing that over all is infinite love, +the strength that comes from knowing right is invincible, the tender +and sweet joys that spring up at the touch of human love. Go your ways +to make them paths of gladness, to show love shining through sorrow, to +give love in the name of the Lord of love and yours shall be religious +service indeed. + + + +THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS + +How did your Puritan forefathers dispose of the text which in their day +read, "A merry heart is a continual feast." Did they explain it away +by saying that the man was made anyway for fasting and not for +feasting? Perhaps underneath their austere exterior they, after all, +knew something of deep joys and unfailing sources of refreshing +happiness. + +In their teaching they made the mistake of insisting that it was +necessary to seem sad in order to please the Most High. We make the +mistake of being sad in order to please ourselves. Their misery at +least had the grace of a high motive; ours is born of a short-sighted +selfishness that grasps at the shadow of a fleeting satisfaction and +loses the substance of lasting joy. + +Happiness is the highest aim of life, higher than holiness or +usefulness, because it must include both. To us it is so unfamiliar +that we do not know it from frivolity; we seek the excitement of some +pleasing sensation, and, rising to its stimulus, we fall afterwards +into the reaction of misery. Happiness is the poise, calm, strength, +and spring of the life fully in harmony with all things good and true. + +Nothing praises God better than a happy disposition. Many have thought +to give Him glory by learned treatises on His majesty and mystery. But +a little child, so happy that he only can kick and crow, praises the +Almighty more effectively and even devoutly than does the theologian +who only can offer his bloodless speculations. + +The great Father gives His children a world brimming over with joy, +with laughing meadows, with smiling morns, with rippling bird song, and +to man He gives faculties of immeasurable happiness. Life is learning +the law of happiness and practicing its use and service. + +But what is the secret of happiness? How can we learn to be happy when +life has so much to make us sad? The praise of happiness does not take +away the fact of sorrow or solve its dark problem. There remain the +million aching hearts and all the griefs of a world. True. God forbid +that we should lose our sorrows; that were to make this a sad world +indeed. Our cares are but part of joy's curriculum. Learning their +lesson, bearing their load is essential to deep, lasting happiness. + +It is not the life of the butterfly experience that is firm, calm, +serene in times of storm and stress. It is the life that by loads of +care has been forced to strike its roots down to the rocks. There are +some lives that seem to run over with a happiness that is full of +refreshing to all who know them, and these have come out of great +tribulation. + +At first the multiplication table is a burden; later, when mastered, it +becomes a wonderful bearer of burdens. To wear a careworn, fretful +look, to go through life shedding misery, is to confess that we have +not learned our lesson, that we are dunces in life's school. + +The secret of happiness is in grasping the significance of living, to +learn that we live for things other and higher than those mad follies +and fading prizes for which men sell their bodies and souls and fret +out their nerves and hearts. No man can be happy whose heart is set on +the changing fashion of things or who looks for satisfaction in things. + +The lover is happy because he has discovered his prize and is +enthralled by a pursuit that makes all other things seem mean and +paltry. Men are happy in proportion as they yield themselves to the +best, as they tune their hearts to strike the highest key of their +lives. Paul is happier in the dungeon, where he can be true to his +ideal, than Nero on the throne without one. + +There is feast in days of famine for those who have the inner eyes for +the riches of life. You always can find in this world what your heart +is looking for. But you cannot satisfy your heart on everything you +may chance to find, and until the heart is satisfied and the deeper +needs of the life are met there is no happiness. + +The search for happiness is not altogether selfish. Few things can we +do that will help others more than the cultivation of serene strength +and cheer in ourselves. Not the soulless, set smile, but the strength +and sympathy that flow from a life fixed in confidence in eternal right +and good and unfailing love. + + + +THE FOLLY OF ANXIETY + +The great Teacher does not say that we are not to be thoughtful, or +provident; but He insists that no event can be provided for by anxiety, +by fretting over it before it comes. Half the people on our streets +look as though life was a sorry business. It is hard to find a happy +looking man or woman. Worry is the cause of their woebegone +appearance. Worry makes the wrinkles; worry cuts the deep, +down-glancing lines on the face; worry is the worst disease of our +modern times. + +Care is contagious; it is hard work being cheerful at a funeral, and it +is a good deal harder to keep the frown from your face when you are in +the throng of the worry worn ones. Yet, we have no right to be +dispensers of gloom; no matter how heavy our loads may seem to be we +have no right to throw their burden on others nor even to cast the +shadow of them on other hearts. + +Anxiety is instability. Fret steals away force. He who dreads +to-morrow trembles to-day. Worry is weakness. The successful men may +be always wide-awake, but they never worry. Fret and fear are like +fine sand, thrown into life's delicate mechanism; they cause more than +half the friction; they steal half the power. + +Cheer is strength. Nothing is so well done as that which is done +heartily, and nothing is so heartily done as that which is done +happily. Be happy, is an injunction not impossible of fulfillment. +Pleasure may be an accident; but happiness comes in definite ways. It +is the casting out of our foolish fears that we may have room for a few +of our common joys. It is the telling our worries to wait until we get +through appreciating our blessings. Take a deep breath, raise your +chest, lift your eyes from the ground, look up and think how many +things you have for which to be grateful, and you will find a smile +growing where one may long have been unknown. + +Take the right kind of thought--for to take no thought would be +sin--but take the calm, unanxious thought of your business, your +duties, your difficulties, your disappointments and all the things that +once have caused you fear, and you will find yourself laughing at most +of them. In some you will see but friends in disguise, and in others +puny foes decked out as giants. But begin to dread them, brood over +them, look at them with eyes prejudiced with fear, and the least +difficulties rise like mountains. In winter some people worry +themselves into malaria over the mosquitoes they may meet next summer. + +Mistaken ideas of religion are responsible for a great many of the +unnecessary wrinkles on the human face. Too many have thought it would +be impossible to be happy in two worlds, and so, having elected +happiness in the one which they thought would last longest, they have +no choice but to be unhappy in this one. In fact, some seem to suppose +that the greater their misery here the more intense will their bliss be +there. If heaven is to be bought that way certainly many are paying +full price for it. + +Burdens we all must bear; but they need not break us. Sorrows we all +must share; but they need not unmake us. They will not if we have +learned the Teacher's secret of living; He, the man of sorrows, was the +man who could bequeath to His friends His joy. To Him life lost its +anxiety, because the chief things of life were not food or raiment, or +even social standing, but manhood and unselfishness to men, and the +possibilities of these were as easily realized in need and adversity as +in riches and prosperity. + + + + +V + +The Curriculum of Character + + _The Great School_ + _The Purpose of the Course_ + _The Price of Perfection_ + + +_A good many resolutions die of heart failure._ + +_No man possesses more religion than he practices._ + +_When men say "our faults" they usually mean yours._ + +_There are no delights in the worship that dodges duty._ + +_When fear gets into the pulpit faith goes out of the pews._ + +_It's not the man with a putty backbone who is most truly resigned to +the will of God._ + +_When a man buys a horse on its specifications he is likely to call his +folly faith and its consequences the dispensation of Providence._ + +_It is folly to hope to have a clean heart when you pay no attention to +what enters its doorways._ + +_Some folks think they have the house of character because they possess +the plans of virtue._ + +_It is folly to talk of being guided by the light of your conscience +when you take pains to keep it in the dark._ + + +V + +THE GREAT SCHOOL + +With all our learning the greatest lesson before us is this one of +living right, of finding our full heritage and filling our places as +men and women in this world. If our systems of education fail to teach +us how to live they fail altogether. + +The great need of our day is that we shall train the conscience to +right moral judgment, that we shall educate all for the business of +living, and that we shall so educate all that we shall not only have a +generation of bright, smart, money-making or fame-making machines, but +that we may have clean, upright, truth-loving, self-reverencing, +God-fearing men and women. + +There is little likelihood that America will fail for lack of business +ability. The danger is that we shall fail at the point of character; +that we shall fail where failure is fatal to every other kind of +success. This is the crucial point. + +We do well to perfect the plans by which we teach men the encyclopedia +of their bodies, their country, the world and its history. But we +cannot forget, and recent events have reminded us with a terrible note +of warning, that no amount of knowledge constitutes any sort, even the +feeblest kind, of guarantee as to rectitude of life. + +If you neglect the heart, the will, and conscience, if you neglect the +knowledge of and training in right relations with men, reverence and +right relations to the most high, your culture of the intellect is +worse than waste; it is the perfecting of the poison of our social +life; it is the whetting of the edge of a man's villainy and grossness. + +Above all other things, the most desirable is that men shall love truth +and hate a lie; that they shall love honour and truth so much more than +fame, power, or possessions that never for an instant will these weigh +in the scale against the former. But for long it has been thought that +this choice flower of nobility grew by chance; the culture of the soul +was so mysterious as never to be brought under scientific law. + +If a man grew up to be good it was due either to accident or to +miracle. The realm of character has been the last to come under the +reign of law. Now we recognize that we must learn to live as truly as +we must learn to read, and that the culture of the soul must profit by +the wondrous strides that all educational science has made; that all +our efforts to produce character must be so wisely directed that we +shall secure the best and most enduring results. + +One message comes from the lips of every seer, from every page of +history. It is that the man or the nation alone is wise, alone finds +enduring life, who sets before commercial supremacy or political power +or fame in learning the glory of righteousness, the beauty of practical +holiness. Their wealth lies beyond corruption and their days know no +end who are wise and rich in the things within. + +The greatest service we can render our day is by giving it the riches +of worthy living, by setting before ourselves the production of high +character through all life's processes of learning, and by bringing in +every way we may to an age engrossed in selfishness and commercialism +the significance of the call of character. + +No wonder it sometimes seems to us that we have forgotten to smile; +that our faces are so drawn with the tense struggle of life that we +have lost sight of the meaning of happiness. How can we be happy +unless we shall set our whole lives in harmony with the things that are +fundamental and eternal? + +We must learn to order our lives, not as machines to be driven at the +top of their efficiency in the money mill, but as part of the great +life of the spiritual world, as inheritors of things divine, sublime, +and glorious, as possessors of the joy that made the morning stars sing +together and the beauty that paints the evening red. + + + +THE PURPOSE OF THE COURSE + +The early question of the old creeds, "What is the chief end of man?" +was conceived in a spirit more practical than academic. It was the +voice of the constant inquiry as to the purpose of living. But the +answer given by the creed lacks the assurance of a moral conviction; it +fails to find any response in us. "To glorify God and to enjoy Him +forever" may be the portion of angels, but honest men have to confess +that they have no great desire to be angels, yet. + +The emphasis of the creed with that as its basis practically was on +dying rather than on living; it owed whatever grip it had on men to the +promise it held, to those who were in the midst of the sordid round of +tasks or the dull, heavy grind of poverty, of a felicitude that knew +neither hunger, fear, nor pain; it offered a heaven forever to those +who could endure a hell for a short time. + +The logical consequence was to make dying the chief end of living. Who +cannot remember being told to despise the present, to consider how +brief it is, like a cloud before the dawn of the endless day? It was +compared to the short waiting outside some door beyond which was +warmth, cheer, and unending bliss. So that the pious soul thought of +life only in terms of waiting, watching, enduring. Piety became +positive only in prospect, negative in the present. + +To say to a man, be patient with wrong and oppression to-day and you +will be prospered tomorrow, is to teach him to compound a felony, to +wink at the despoiling of the earth by the iniquitous for the +consideration of a title to the riches of heaven. It is to lose sight +of the fact that unless the life finds itself now it never will find +itself, that to dwarf a soul to-day is to dwarf it forever. + +"Then," says the practical man, "this means that we can ignore the +future; we must make the most of the present; get all you can; keep all +you get; the whole purpose of life is to make a good living, to enjoy +yourself." This is only the swing of the pendulum away from the old +thought. The ideal of the present day is material advantage. The +chief end of man is to make money. If once he was the slave of an +unjust order, he now is the slave of an unworthy appetite. + +Living only for wealth or for wages is not living at all. Who knows +less of life than the slave of modern commercialism, the man who lifts +his eyes no higher than the pay roll, or the ticker tape? It is better +to be the victim of a delusion that gives some happiness, that gives +some fortitude, and to live the simple life of the poor than to be the +slave bound to the wheel of modern social greed and money madness. + +Life itself is the object of living; the chief end of man is to become +glorious as his ideal of God is glorious, to realize the highest that +comes to him in the song of poet, the vision of seer, the hope of his +own heart. The money, the acres, the resources are the tools for the +development of life. This world is a workshop; it has failed utterly +if it produces nothing but an array of machines and a heap of shavings; +it must turn out the finished product of men. + +Are you living thus for life, or are you living to do no more than make +a living? We need to educate our children to set honour, truth, +justice, a high life, before all things, to prize noble attainments so +that they shall not be content with the lesser prizes of prosperity in +things, so that whether we win or lose in the markets of the world we +shall stand rich and glorious in manhood, finding the ends of life in +the achievement of high character and finding in commerce but the +servant of character. + + + +THE PRICE OF PERFECTION + +Gold may depreciate, stocks rise or fall, and business values change so +as to leave the market in panic, but every man on the street or in the +store knows that one value forever remains permanent, unvarying, and +that is character. Every other asset may be swept away and success +still achieved if this remain; every other aid may be at its best and +failure only await him who lacks the wealth of character. + +Character is that of which reputation is but the echo, often mistaken +and misleading. Character is the last, the ultimate, value of life. +It is the trend of the whole being towards the best. It is the passion +and power that holds one true despite all persuasion. + +It is the one thing worth having, because upon it all other values +depend. The wealth of the whole world still leaves poor him from whom +the soul, the power to appreciate, the purity of heart which sees God +and the good, the peace and quietness of a good conscience, have fled. +When we turn away from our fighting for fame and our grinding for gold +long enough to think, then we know that the things within determine +wholly the value and reality of all things without. + +The wise ever have set this treasure above all others. Happy the +people that love righteousness more than revenue, the way of virtue, +the clear eye, the upward look, and the approval of a good conscience +above all other prosperity or advantage. The days of national +greatness ever have been those when the things that make manhood bulked +far above all other considerations. Alike to people and individuals, +the imperishable value ever has been that of character. + +This asset comes not to a man by accident. He who is rich in +character, whose success in many ways is built upon his resources in +this way, does not just simply happen to be good, true, and square. +There is a price to character; it costs more than any other thing, for +it is worth more than all other things. Essentially it never is +inherited, but always acquired by processes often slow and toilsome and +at great price. + +If you would be perfect you must pay the price of perfection. Unless +the passion of life is this perfection it never will be your +possession. Dreams of ideal goodness only waste the hours in which it +might have been achieved. No man ever finds character in his sleep. +The education of the heart is a thing even more definite than the +education of the head. The school of character has an infinite variety +of courses and an unending curriculum. + +Folks who are sighing for goodness usually go away sorrowful when they +learn what it costs. But life ever is putting to us just such tests as +the wise teacher put to the rich young man. You say you desire +character, the perfection of manhood or womanhood above all other +things; do you desire this enough to pay for it your ease, your coveted +fame, your cherished gold, perhaps your present good name and peace of +mind? Is the search for character a passion or only a pastime? + +This does not mean that this prize of eternity falls only to those who +devote themselves wholly to self-culture, to the salvation of their own +souls. The best lives have thought little of themselves, but they have +lived for the ends of the soul, to help men to better living, to save +them from the things that blight and damn the soul. Like the Leader of +men they have found the life unending by laying down their lives, +paying the full price, selling all in order that right and truth and +honour and purity, love and kindness and justice might remain to man. + +The world's wealth depends not on what we have in our hands, nor even +on what we can carry in our heads. It depends on the things that we +have and the beings we are in our hearts. Fools we are who live only +to make a living, houses, shelter, food, rags, and toys, who might live +to make a life, and to mold lives, to earn the riches and honour +enduring; who have not learned the gain of all loss that leads the +heart to look up, the joy of all sorrow that sweetens the soul, and the +profit from every sacrifice that is a paying of the price of perfection. + + + + +VI + +The Age-Long Miracle + + _The Sufficient Sign_ + _Behold the Man_ + _The Life that Lifts_ + + +_Silent goodness speaks loudest._ + +_Our loads lift us up to strength._ + +_Life grows as love is given._ + +_From the grind of drudgery comes at last the glorious divine spark._ + +_The spirit of the father never works separation in the family._ + +_That day best fulfills its purpose which is a preparation for the +next._ + +_The proof of a faith is not in its prestige, but in its present power._ + +_Things divine are not defended by dodging._ + +_It is the heart that gives ease to any work._ + +_The door of truth never opens to the key of prejudice._ + +_Love never knows how much it gives nor what it costs._ + + +VI + +THE SUFFICIENT SIGN + +The scribe and the Pharisee are still with us. "Establish the +credibility of the miracles of Jesus, or, better still, let Him work a +miracle to-day, and we will believe," they say. This age is credulous; +it hungers to believe the extraordinary. Yet, while it is running +after folly, it is blind to the most extraordinary fact, the most +stupendous miracle that ever took place, although it goes on right +before its eyes and is open to every kind of proof. It cannot see the +miracle of Jesus in the world to-day, the miracle beside which all the +works He did in His lifetime sink into insignificance. + +Here is the sign to-day offered to the skeptic: Once, nearly twenty +centuries ago, a young preacher travelled and taught through the +villages and by the wayside in an obscure oriental country. He +addressed a subject race, insular in their prejudices, lacking in +political genius and in artistic culture. He lived in days calculated +to chill the most fervid religious enthusiasm. He was at first ignored +and then hated by His own people; the religious leaders became His +implacable foes. His work ended in apparent failure, in a death of +shame. + +But that was not the end. It is strange that the world remembers +anything about that young preacher; but stranger still is the fact that +to-day He influences more than half the population of the globe, +surpassing all other teachers, more people are under His sway now than +the whole world held when He lived. These millions make Him the object +of their worship and devotion; in His name they gather regularly all +over the world, without regard to language or race. + +More than this, this one whom the wise men of His day ignored has been +the inspiration of the works of genius and art, of the deeds of +heroism, of the lofty endeavours of the world since He died. He has +changed the mind. He has changed the appearance of the world; by Him +nations have fallen and risen. The humble, the despised, the rejected +has become the world's hero, the mightiest of all the sons of men, the +saviour of His race. + +Once He touched a few who were blind and lame and they were healed; +to-day in His name, in every city, a thousand suffering ones are made +whole. Science does the work; but the opportunity for its development +and the inspiration for its application came from Him. + +Nor is this all. He made the world to see; He touched the blind eyes +of the people, as they groped in superstition, and has given them +sight; He has made the ages, once limping and halting, to arise and +march forward with magnificent tread; He found the world a babel of +jarring voices and fretting purposes, and His touch gave peace and +singleness of purpose until men could discern that "through the ages +one unceasing purpose runs." He did for man and mind what was first +done for matter, brought the cosmos out of chaos. This is the miracle +indeed. + +It goes right on before our eyes. They take His name to a dead people, +and soon there is life there. Light, and love, and larger life spring +up everywhere in His name. From this modern miracle of the power, the +growing authority, the kingship of the once despised Jesus we cannot +escape; we are perforce participants in its benefits; it conditions all +our lives. + +If all the gospel stories could be proved myths and the miracles but +inventions, there would still remain the greater, the insuperable +miracle of the world's picture of the perfect and all glorious +personality of Jesus and the fact of His preëminent power in the world +to-day. This is the sign He gives this age, and to this the open mind +answers: "Thou art the Christ, the saviour of the world." + + + +BEHOLD THE MAN + +The two words, "Ecce homo," contemptuously spoken by the cynical Roman +governor contained the highest tribute that had been given to Jesus. +How empty appear all the high sounding titles, such as king and +emperor, beside this significant one of Man. How sad and self-damning +the bitter railing of His enemies in the light of that serene dignity. +How puerile the bickering over words and ways of worship, and all the +wrangling that blinded them to the heavenly radiance of that all +glorious manhood. The wonder of Jesus is not in the deeds He did, but +in the being He was. And the wonder of His being is not in that it +offers elements for arguments as to a divine personality, but it is +that of a simple, clear, sublimely perfect manhood. It is upon this +perfection of personal character that His abiding claim to divinity +must rest; it depends not on His birth but on His being. + +There is something strange about the perversity with which the church +has emphasized the least attractive aspects of its master's person. +The preachers have scolded men for not coming to church, and when they +did come they offered them pictures of an emaciated, effeminate being +for their adoration. With them the painters have conspired to set on +canvas and in church window representations from the reality of which +we would turn with repulsion or on which we would look with pity. + +If Jesus is to be the leader of men He must go before them. He must +stand in the front, not set there by artificial arguments as to His +right to rule over men, but there because He belongs there, first +because He is first in all that makes manhood; He is king because He +can, and because He has overcome in life's great conflict. + +If He is to show us the way we should go He must walk in that way; He +must be flesh of our flesh, true man, knowing the full fellowship of +our lives. If He was born with a halo; if He lived on angel's fare; if +somehow He belongs to another world and His perfections are not those +of our nature, then, almighty as He may be as a leader for beings of +another world, He has no value to us. + +But men have ever set aside the weavings of minds so absorbed in the +wonder of their speculations that they could not see the truth. They +have seen through the dreamings of poets, painters, and preachers, who +pictured only their sickly ideals. And, instead of their caricatures, +men have held in their hearts a man, one of their own. And this true +fellow, brother and friend, has spurred them to noble deeds and lofty +living. + +Perfection is seen in strength, not in weakness, in virility and not in +tears, in majesty, the majesty truly of meekness, but not of a maudlin, +mooning etherealism. The revelation of the perfect man cannot come in +a form that a child will pity; it will be admirable from all points of +view. It is the heroic rather than the esthetic we must admire. + +The men who followed that one long ago did so not because they had +heard arguments as to His divine claims, but because they were drawn by +the heavenly power of His manhood. This it is that wins men ever, the +magnetism of manhood. The force of a great life is mightier than any +of the things it does. There is about this leader, Jesus, that which +compels us to greatness, spurs us to strife for our better selves, +strengthens to sacrifice and to service for our fellows. + +It matters little whence a life like this has come; the greater +question is where does it lead us. Childish minds spend time on the +genealogical trees of the giants; the wise men follow them. The value +of the life of the great Teacher does not depend on our ability to +comprehend it biologically or arrange it chronologically, but on our +vision of its moral and manly perfections and on the power these +attributes have over our lives. + +This world will be little helped by the most irrefutable syllogism +concerning the peculiar nature and separate exclusive divinity of its +great religious Teacher. But lives will be lifted everywhere in the +measure that they see the man in Him who taught us of God. For men +need not so much a God who has come down as a man who has attained to +God, not a descent, but an ascent, one who is the life and the truth +because He is the way which they may tread up to the glory that is +their heritage and the God who is their own. + + + +THE LIFE THAT LIFTS + +To any save the few in the group of His friends that statement of Jesus +that being lifted up He would draw all men to Him must have sounded +like the ravings of one deluded. It has taken the centuries to show +that He was right. He was right in His estimation of His life's end; +it was a lifting up. His enemies thought it a casting down, a defeat; +He knew it to be a triumph. Sorrow, injustice, oppression, hatred, the +things that seem to crush are the things that elevate. Only by +opposition has any life discovered power. The fiercer blow these winds +the firmer grows the tree. Out of the petty persecutions, the +countless meannesses, the littleness of those who oppose him the great +soul builds its greatness. It is, and ever has been by a cross that +men are lifted up. History abounds with prisons, gibbets, and crosses +which have become thrones of eternal glory. + +Whether we shall be cast down or lifted up depends upon ourselves; +neither enemies nor adverse circumstances have the power to do this. +The soul that seeks the stars builds its staircase out of the stones +flung by the persecutor, out of the rocks of difficulties. If your +heart is great, my brother, nothing can keep you from greatness; if it +is mean, no amount of o'ervaulting ambition can make you other than a +little, obscure man, as truly lost on the peak as you would be at the +base. + +Jesus died a failure; His friends were few, and the best of them +thought His life a mistake. It takes more than the span of our lives +to measure their size. It is better that a great soul should be called +a failure than that it should die a shrivelled success. Earth measures +by what the hands hold; heaven by the heart. The hands at last lose +their grasp, but the heart wealth goes on from more to more. This it +is that is worth while. + +Jesus was right when He said that He would draw all men to Him. Then +it sounded like folly; to-day it demonstrates His divine insight. +Lifted up in shame the riches of His life were revealed. After all, +the best in us answers to the best; it is love that leads. In the end, +goodness, truth, gentleness, sincerity have the greatest attraction for +men. Jesus is known and loved by millions who never heard of Nero or +of Augustus. Their glory was that of circumstance; His that of +character. His life lifts. + +This it is that most helps the world; not learning, but a life; not +power or position, but simple passion for men; not riches, but wealth +of the inner life. You may not found a university or build libraries +or hospitals, or even write books or preach sermons. But every one may +do the principal thing that Jesus did. That was to live a life amongst +men of love for them, of simple kindnesses, of God-seeking aspiration, +of white sincerity. The race needs not so much men who will shake it +with their power or dazzle it with their learning as it needs men and +women who will lift it with the quiet earnestness and sincerity of +their lives. Herein is lasting greatness and true power, to live as He +lived, to love as He loved, true to God, to yourself, and to your +fellows, seeking the best and giving of your best. + +Service and sacrifice are the things that lift to the supreme places; +the lower you stoop in helpfulness the higher you are lifted in lasting +glory. And they are lifted to heaven, they achieve immortality, they +can never die who were willing to die if death lay in the path of duty, +to be sacrificed if sacrifice was part of their service. + + + + +VII + +Seeing the Unseen + + _The Sense of the Unseen_ + _The Brook in the Way_ + _That Which is High_ + + +_The song of sympathy never comes until the singer has been to the +school of sorrow._ + +_True spirituality can see the altar in the cookstove and the washtub._ + +_People who are always off the key are never content out of the choir._ + +_The only version of the Bible authorized by heaven is that on two +feet._ + +_Every life must have days in the desert but it does not need to build +its house there._ + +_Many a man thinks he is patient with pain when he is only perverse in +eating pickles._ + +_No man knows how much religion he has until he goes of fishing alone +where mosquitoes are many._ + +_There are too many people to whom God has given wings who are +complaining of corns._ + +_It is some consolation to know that when you aim at nothing you are +sure to hit it._ + +_If you have large reserves of religion you will not be without the +small change of kindness._ + + +VII + +THE SENSE OF THE UNSEEN + +When the practically-minded man Paul writes of looking at the things +which are not seen his words sound like either fantasy or folly. Yet +it is plain fact, practical, and certainly essential to any success. +He is blind who can see only with his eyes, and he only is sensible who +knows there are many things beyond his senses. Practical men consider +all the factors to every problem, and things are not less real to them +because they may chance to be intangible. + +The unseen things are imminent to us always. There are many things not +yet pigeonholed by our science nor catalogued by our philosophies. You +can dissect a daisy and enumerate its parts; but you never know a daisy +until you have seen the unseen things thereof, until you have felt the +subtle appeal of its beauty. Bobbie Burns saw more of the daisy than +the greatest botanist without his spiritual eyes. + +The danger is that in our hard workaday we shall forget the reality of +the unseen, we shall get to think that gold and steel and land are the +only real things, and we shall shape ourselves by the blind and base +creed of gold, and steel, and land. How easy it is to measure every +man by his possessions in tangible things. How easy to make these our +chief end in life, to slight the real prizes, the unseen wealth that +lies so close at hand or already possessed, while we rush and strive +for the rainbow of riches. + +Deep within us we know that he is rich, and he alone, who has wisdom, +love, patience, who possesses friends, who creates kindly thoughts, +whose life with simple joy abounds. Once again and often do we need to +see Bunyan's picture of the man bending over his refuse, gathered with +the muck rake, and heedless of the angel holding the crown that only +waits his taking. + +A man is wealthy according to what is within him. His greatness is of +the things that are unseen. There are limits to the possession and the +use of the things that are seen; but who shall set a limit to a man's +possible wealth in love and honour, in wisdom and integrity, in all the +things that make up the soul of man? Few are the things that a man may +hold for his own all the days of his life, and fewer still are those he +may grasp with pleasure when the hands are falling helpless by his +side. But many are the riches he may have to hold forever in the +things of the unseen. Many a man walks through the fields penniless +and yet richer far than their owner; to him the birds sing, for him the +flowers bloom, to his eyes there are beauties in the blue beyond all +words, and all the loveliness of the fair land lifts his heart within +him. The other man who holds the title deeds sees nothing beside them. +Possession is wholly a matter of appreciation. The earth is the Lord's +and He gives it to those who have eyes to see. + +It is the eye to see the unseen that gives wealth to the seen. Values +depend on vision. Appreciation does not prevent possession; it makes +the possession actual. And the vision of the realities behind things +keeps a man from the sense of destitution when all things are taken +from him. He cannot be destitute. He may lose all his fellows, but he +cannot be friendless; the Father of Spirits cannot lose him, nor can he +be cut off from fellowship with those who die no more. + +The seeing eye is the stimulus to the worth while endeavour. The +inventors who have enriched the world endured derision seeing the +things invisible to others. The truth is that it is the unspiritual +world that makes the least progress in things material. The men of +faith and vision are back of all advance. They have endurance, +patience, and strength. The sense of another world where motives are +rightly measured, the sense of a great cloud of worthy witnesses to +other eyes invisible, the sense of reward in the very service itself, +rewards intangible yet most real, the joy of sacrifice and service; +these all enable one to push on, to toil, to endure. Then, long +afterwards, the dull, weary world sees and understands. + + + +THE BROOK IN THE WAY + +Alongside every highway runs the brook whereof a man may drink often if +he will and drinking lift up his head. Its little song we scarce hear +in the rush of our businesses; its refreshing we forget even though our +throats be parched with the dust of our petty affairs. Yet it is ever +there, cool, refreshing, this world of spirits and ideals. + +Nature has a prodigal way of scattering rivulets down the hillside and +along the pathways, little heeding whether men walk there or not. The +practical eye sees waste; these streams might have been made to turn +wheels; the needs of the traveller, weary with the way, might be met by +faucets at regular intervals. + +It is well for us all that the power of the practical man finds its +limitations, else all poetry would have gone from the world, and great +and glorious as might have been our physical perfections our bodies +would be but the empty habitations whence souls had long since fled. +The utilitarian would have stolen from us the bliss of the deep draft +from the pebbly brook. + +The man who is proud of being practical tells us we are wasting time +and nervous energy in stopping to think of ideal things; we must take +the world as we find it, he says, forgetting how fair and poetic we +once found it and how bleak and ugly we are likely to leave it. But to +him trees are always lumber, grass and flowers but hay, bird songs +spell poultry, wind and waters energy. Many are too busy making things +ever to enjoy anything that is made. + +In this steel age it may seem folly and waste to stop and think of +sacrifice and courage and love, to admire and answer to the thrill of +human passions; but alas for him who never sees the light of heaven in +another's tear, nor hears the brush of angels' wings when men and women +fly to their fellow's aid. + +If you haven't time in your busy life to turn aside to drink of the +brook of human affection, to look deep into the eyes of friendship, to +sympathize, to comfort, to taste this strange sweet and bitter cup of +our common fellowship, then is your heart going dry and thirsty and +life becoming a whitened road that knows no wells or springs. + +But something there is in man that calls for drafts at yet deeper +streams than these. Foolish and unlearned he may be, ignorant of the +wise conclusions of philosophers who have looked into these things with +their lanterns, but through the ages he has been drinking eagerly at +the waters of eternity. In every man there is a thirst after the deep, +immeasurable things divine; the deeper the nature of the man the +greater his necessity for drinking often here. + +The consciousness of the great life that embraces all life, the sense +of its nearness to us all, has been a perennial refreshing to all great +hearts. In some way to bring the life into touch with the infinite is +to take down its limitations, break its barriers, and give it a sense +of infinitude, to lift up the head in vision of the divinity of our +lives and of every life. We who walk in the dust often need to be +filled with the divine lest we become ourselves but dust. + +This world of things is hungry for the life that is more than things, +the life of the spirit; that is why so many love to sing of heaven and +dream of a fair world peopled by strange and glorious celestial ones. +Heaven is nearer than we think; like the brook by the way, the life of +the spirit flows beside this life; happy they who drink of its waters, +who already enter into eternity, who find strength for this life's way +and work by the contact with the life that is life indeed. + +Is it any wonder that life is a wearisome thing, a dead drag, when you +are starving its very sources? You neglect the soul at the peril of +all. So anxious are you to run this race that you have no time to +allow him who rides in the chariot to drink of the water of life. This +is not utilitarianism; this is suicide from the centre out. + +The most practical common sense demands that you feed the inner places +of your life, the heart that has gone so long thirsty and longing for +love, for things too deep for words, for things that cannot be used and +cannot be quoted in dollars. Give your inner life its deep drafts of +the infinite life and your outer life shall take its place and do its +work in the world. + + + +THAT WHICH IS HIGH + +There are two ways of viewing the oncoming years, as burdens or as +opportunities, with fear or with expectation. The days of the new year +may loom up as a series of unwelcome tasks to be unwillingly done or as +so many invitations to attempt and achieve great things. The +difference between these two points of view marks the difference +between enduring life and finding the life that endures. + +The wise preacher of long ago caught sight of one of these distinctions +that cut clear through to the roots of things. He says that the sign +of old age is that a man is "afraid of that which is high." When +courage and ambition have gone old age and decrepitude have entered in, +no matter whether a man be eighteen or eighty. + +He alone has youth, he alone has life before him, who can still catch +the vision of the ideal, of that which is high, who can lift up his +eyes beyond the horizon of practicabilities and precedents and see the +things not yet realized. There is a time when men must dream dreams +and see visions, when they must feast on noble purposes or die so far +as the inner spirit and all that makes real living is concerned. + +If you find the will becoming dull and listless, with no quickening of +the pulses, but only apathy or a sneer for the high purpose or the +great promise, it is but a sign of the approach of senility, of the +failure of the powers. When the ambition can be satisfied with the +less while the greater is before it, when things low and base are +preferred to things high, afar off, and difficult to attain, the heart +is dying already. + +Cherish as the spark of life the aspiration to have and do and be the +best. Yet who is there does not know the paralyzing chill that the +sneer of the philistine or even the memory of our own many failures can +give when great possibilities offer themselves to us? How easily enter +in the cold considerations that deaden our aspirations; how subtle the +temptation to be content with the condition that involves neither toil +nor pain. How hard to realize that this is an invitation to death. + +To all men comes the thrill of the passion to do some great thing, to +give to our world some worthy service. To yield to this is to keep the +heart young, is to defy time, to conquer the years. Whether the coming +days shall bend the back with their burdens or shall nerve and +strengthen the life does not depend on whether they have cares or joys +in them, but on whether they find us responsive to the call of noble +things. + +No man can afford to let a pure and lofty impulse die, nor, for fear of +failure or of ridicule, to become afraid or ashamed of his ideals. +Living is more than a dull feeding at tables or troughs, more than +shelter and sleep; it is growing, climbing, becoming, finding higher +levels and seeing yet higher before. + +Nor is this all; the spirit of greatness finds ample play in daily +duties. The success of the year does not depend on whether you can do +things that shall amaze men to-day or make your name known forever, but +upon whether into all the things you do, lowly, humdrum, commonplace as +they may seem to be, the daily duties of home or shop or store, the +care of the baby, or the running of a typewriter, there shall enter the +great and high motive. + +This is what we all need, the high vision of the lowly things, the +sight of the fact that the least piece of work is an essential part of +the service of the whole universe, that a man serves the Divine not by +wearing a black coat but by doing, as in God's name, with high motives +the least duties that may be his. It is not place nor authority nor +wage that makes the work high or low; it is the spirit of the service +and the part it plays in the world's great business of perfecting +humanity. + +Would you ward off old age, cherish vitality and give value to your +days, seek the things that are above, the life that serves some worthy +end. One is young as long as his heart leaps responsive to a noble +call. But he who lives to pleasure, to the satisfaction of self, who +has shut his eyes to the high things that call for self-denial, for +toil and loss, is dead already. + + + + +VIII + +Sources of Strength and Inspiration + + _Strength for the Daily Task_ + _The Sense of the Infinite_ + _The Great Inspiration_ + + +_Living heartily is one secret of living happily._ + +_Life is early blighted if it knows no clouds._ + +_You can tell the character of any age by the place it gives to +character._ + +_There is little danger in the discontent with conditions that is +equalled by discontent with character._ + +_Heart health never comes so long as the hand is kept on the pulse._ + +_Feed on garbage and you soon lose faith in good things._ + +_The fruitful life seeks showers as well as sunshine._ + +_It's hard for a man who has ground of his nose on the money mill to +smell a taint on anything._ + +_Many a man goes back by trying to put up a good front and nothing +more._ + +_Every life is worth the love it gives._ + + +VIII + +STRENGTH FOR THE DAILY TASK + +It is the dull grind and monotony of life that makes it so hard to bear +for the ninety-nine per cent. of us. Sometimes it seems as though we +spend all our days toiling, wearing strength, and hope, and heart away +for no other end than to gain just bread and shelter so as to keep the +machine in condition for further toil. + +How hopeless is the outlook of many a life! The mother with the weary +round of home duties day after day, the father who goes to the same +task year after year, seeing the same people, doing the same things, +and coming home at the day's end with the same weariness, only +augmented as age makes itself felt--all who toil feel at times these +depressing limitations. + +Little wonder that lives snatch at every fleeting, alluring promise of +relief, through amusement, through anything that offers change and +excitement. Little wonder that, robbed of opportunity for vision, they +foment blind discontent, so that we all feel there is a mighty +substratum of wretchedness and of menace lying under our social order. + +Yet there are few lives, perhaps no worthy ones, without tasks that +often seem monotonous and become matters of dull grinding that bring +weariness and longing for relief. All worth while work involves much +tediousness, painstaking exertion. All great things stand for so much +life poured out, and life is never poured out without pain and loss. + +The stern Puritan was doubtless wrong when he saw nothing in life but +repression and stern duty, but he was nearer right than he who looks +only for frivolity and amusement. Life is too large a business to be +always light and trivial. Yet we must not allow its high purposes to +be thwarted by robbing ourselves and our fellows of all joy and +brightness and converting life into dull, mechanical servitude. + +How may we find that proportion of toil and relief, that happy mixture +of duty and delight that shall make life not only endurable but also +useful, fruitful, and enjoyable? For it is man's duty to be happy; +otherwise he can never be useful in any high or valuable sense. + +It would be easy to try to give comfort by the philosophy which sees +the fine fruitage that is coming from to-day's stern discipline. That +fair fruitage is coming, but the trouble is it is too far off to give +us much comfort now; we want something nearer and more easily +apprehended. Then, too, the truth is no high fruitage will ever issue +from a life crushed by slavish subjection. + +After all, what life is to every one of us depends not on the demands +of outer circumstances, but on the development of the life within. The +heart determines the worth and beauty of life. It makes all the +difference whether the physical determines its circumference or whether +you have an intellect that is reaching out to the things unmeasurable +and a soul that grows into glory indescribable. + +You can tie a great soul down hand and brain to a loom or a machine and +he will still see his visions and dream his deep, refreshing dreams; +you can set the brutish being down in a gallery of the world's +treasures of art and beauty and he will think of nothing and see +nothing but bread and beer. + +We must do our dull and heavy tasks, but we can do them and not be +crushed by them so long as within there are fragrant memories, high +aspirations, great thoughts; so long as the task does not set the +boundary of the life. And it is the cherishing of these eternal riches +within that lifts any life and makes it worthy of higher tasks. + +We need to seek out the springs of noble thoughts, to find in the +riches of the world's literature, in music, and in beauty of art the +food for that inner life in the strength of which, drawing often on its +secret resources, we can go many days through the desert of toil. + +The wise life uses every opportunity of refreshing; it drinks of every +spring of the up-welling waters of life; it seeks communion with every +great soul. Holidays and rest days are to it times of replenishing +when the eyes that ache from bending over the machine or desk lift +themselves to the eternal hills and the heart turns to the things that +are infinite. + + + +THE SENSE OF THE INFINITE + +One does not have to believe in the same kind of a god as did the seers +and singers of long ago in order to obtain the spiritual values which +they found in the thought of his nearness to them. David and Browning, +Isaiah and Whittier, with all the centuries between them, still come to +the same thought--we know that Thou art near. + +Through all ages and in all peoples this sense of that which is other +than ourselves, from which our highest good comes, towards which our +ideals and aspirations strain, the ultimate force of our being, this +feeling after the infinite is universal. It is the essential and +determinative mark of every religion. + +When those singers of long ago tried to express their sense of the +infinite life and love they used words which make it appear that they +thought only of some being larger, mightier, wiser than themselves, +yet, after all, like themselves, a great man deified because He was +great. Perhaps that really was their conception; still, we use +precisely the same language, even though our ideas are entirely +different. + +It makes relatively little difference what their conceptions were, so +far as ours are concerned. Their words are not accurate, detailed pen +pictures of some being who can be described or photographed. No man +has seen the infinite at any time. The great thing is that ever and +everywhere men find themselves with a hunger after this sublime unseen. + +One may use terms of personality and another terms of power; to one the +infinite may be but a local deity; to another, that which embraces all +spirit and being, and each may have all of the divine his heart is +capable of containing. Here none may dogmatize for others. + +Religion does not depend on uniformity of conceptions of the divine. +It depends more upon universality of consciousness of the infinite and +openness of mind and life to whatever we may feel and know, from any +source or through any means whatsoever, of that life or energy which +lies back of all life and energy, of that love and light which cheer +and lighten every son of man. + +Definitions determine nothing, but they do work great damage when minds +capable of being stereotyped to them agree to impose those definitions +on their fellows as final, authoritative, and essential to their +welfare. The divine is neither infinite nor sublime when you can say, +Here are His lineaments and He has no other likeness or appearance. + +To the question, How shall we think of the divine? there can be but one +answer--in higher, wider, deeper, nobler, purer ways than yesterday. +The conception must be a developing one. A man's spiritual capacities +develop as his inner vision becomes more keen. The soul takes wider +flight, and in our deep thoughts we discover that which language cannot +compass. + +There are those who think they must be atheists because they cannot +believe in the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Old Testament--a +limited personality. But the genuine atheists are more likely to be +those who are without a sense of the divine, because they have taken +definitions and descriptions prepared by others instead of seeking +truth for themselves. + +We are but poor learners of those ancient teachers if we have not +discovered that their greatest lesson to us is not truth, as they had +found it, but the blessing of the persistent search after truth. To +cherish as final past presentations of truth is to be false to its +present possibilities. + +We do not need to worry over definitions of the divine. We do need to +cultivate the temper of mind and the sensitiveness of spirit that will +save us from blindness to the higher facts of life, that will save us +from the blasting whirlwind of materialism, with its sense of nothing +but a soulless world of things. + +We need to avoid the mind that shuts the divine up in some far off +heaven to be reached only by formal telephony called prayer; that fails +to see the infinite in all things--in sunlight and flower, in +children's laughter, and in misery's wail, in factories and stores, as +well as in churches. We need the mind that argues not about +omnipresence, but in duty and delight cries, Always and everywhere, +Thou art near. + + +THE GREAT INSPIRATION + +Christianity is distinguished and dominated by the ideal of the life +and character of Jesus of Nazareth; it is a philosophy and a system of +individual and social ethics under the inspiration of a glowing ideal. +No matter how greatly its people may differ on other points, all are +agreed in recognizing in Jesus the fairest of the sons of men. + +There never was a time when the thought of this life was more potent +than it is to-day. Men think of Him as a fellow being, one who went +about doing good, who looked out on life with the windows of His soul +unsullied and who lived out ever the holiest and highest that came to +Him. + +The thought of such a one has become so real to men that they do not +stop to argue about His existence, as once they did. If it was +possible indisputably to disprove the historic Christ men still would +cherish, as highly as ever, the ideal, the vision of such a life, and +in their hearts would know that such a picture could only have been +born of such a person. + +This goodly, glorious man no longer is one who now sits on the throne +of heaven. Men are not particularly concerned as to whether He is +artistically glorified and perpetuated by some divine decree. He has +crowned Himself in the glory of a pure and beneficent character; He has +perpetuated Himself in human loves and admiration. + +Because He once showed Himself as the friend of all, the pure, high +souled friend of the down-trodden and the outcast, the strong, +invigorating friend of the rich and successful, He to-day walks by many +a man as His unseen friend, and in busy mart or office men feel the +presence of a heavenly guest. + +Once men made that life the centre of dispute; they sought to prove His +divinity by His unlikeness to ordinary humanity. But the facts +defeated them. This man whom men so learned to love that they became +willing to die for Him was in all respects a man. His life is worth so +much to us because He was so much like us. + +It has come as a new revelation to the world that the supreme religious +soul of the ages should be so tenderly, naturally human. We cry +"Father!" with a new sense of relationship and fellowship when we see +the likeness of the father in the face of such a son. + +We are coming to believe that just what the great friend of mankind was +so is the great father of us all to us all, that just as the Son of the +most high moved amongst men seeking to help, cheering, comforting, +loving, so is the eternal spirit moving in our world, going about doing +good. + +Once every effort of the theologian was bent to setting this majestic +figure apart from mankind to secure Him sovereignty over us by +separation from us. How different is that from the simple pictures +drawn of Him, from the naturalness of His life, from the love which He +had for homes and human friendships, from the life which earned the +illuminating rebuke of being called a friend of sinners. + +It is a good thing for us all often to remember that there has been +such a life, that one born in poverty and unknown, far removed from +centres of culture and wealth, living the hard life of a peasant, +knowing all our temptations and weaknesses, yet should open His life so +fully and completely to spiritual influences as to become to all the +ages the greatest of all spiritual leaders. + +What one has done another may do. What He has been we may be. He but +shows the possibility of any life. He had no advantage over us; we +know no disadvantages against which He did not have to strive. The +divine heights have been scaled by human feet; His footprints beckon us +on. + + + + +IX + +Finding Foundations + + _The Passing and Permanent_ + _Facing the Facts_ + _The Real Foundation_ + + +_Things not right can never be religious._ + +_Bigotry puts blinders on the best of men._ + +_Submission is the first step to sovereignty._ + +_The principle of expediency expels all other principle._ + +_Quiet lives are often eloquent._ + +_The love of wealth steals wealth of love._ + +_It's the common virtues that make uncommon saints._ + +_Many a man is shouting his convictions to drown the voice of +conscience._ + +_A little learning is dangerous if you are planning to get to heaven by +degrees._ + +_When a man gets over anxious about the gnat it's time to hang on to +the camel._ + + +IX + +THE PASSING AND PERMANENT + +When the walls are being rebuilt it is easy to imagine that the +foundations are being destroyed. Old creeds pass away, but truth +remains; if they were true in their day they do but give place to the +larger truth of the new day. We need to distinguish between the +turmoil attendant to the process of building and the beauty of the new +temple that arises. + +The old folks hear the new truths and ask, where are the foundations +gone? The young hear the discussion between the old and the new and +ask, is there anything settled, anything worth believing? What are the +permanent elements in religion on which the life may build while the +things that are but temporary are adjusting themselves? + +It would be the height of folly to assert that there is no change. +Some say that we must believe precisely the same things as our fathers +believed. To do so would be to be false to our fathers, for they +refused to accept the traditions of their elders. The landmarks we +leave behind once were far in front of the seekers after truth. + +Truth never changes but our vision is ever enlarging. The road +remains, but the traveller moves on. With the living every day has +some new light. Creeds are crystallized statements of truth; truth is +vital and cannot be contained in unchanging forms. Credulity blindly +accepts yesterday's picture of truth; faith, with open eyes, seeks +to-day's truth itself. + +Skepticism is much less sinful than credulity. The sloth of the man +who will not examine things, will not prove them, who prefers to buy +his garments of truth ready made, results in what is worse than +unbelief, and that is blind belief in the false. It is a religious +duty to question every teaching, to prove all things. + +How may we find those things that are certain? How may we discover the +truth for our day, the truth upon which we may build? Surely there are +some things fixed and certain, there is somewhere pole star and +compass. How may we find that truth which belongs to our day and in +which we may have the confidence that our fathers had in their truth? + +The test of the vital truths is a practical one. Only those truths are +vital which concern the present business of living in all its wide +sweep. + +It is a matter of indifference what we may think of the colour of +angels' hair or the number of strings to their harps; it is a vastly +different matter what we may believe as to moral obligations, human +rights, and duties. + +The test of creed is an ethical one. What things work out best in +living, what are the ideals, doctrines, beliefs that make the noblest +characters and the most useful citizens, the best sons, and daughters, +and parents, and neighbours? What are the things that help me most in +my life, the things that give me moral stimulus and bracing, the things +that lead me to covet the best? + +The way to find the truth is to do the truth; only the truth that we +can do is worth discussing. If you will give yourself to the business +of living the truth you have you soon will have the living truth for +this new day. + +Too many people are holding up as saving doctrines matters of +philosophy and speculation, matters of childish curiosity, because it +is easier to hold these things theoretically than to hold living truth +practically. The truths that save men are the ones that change their +characters; the great authorized and divine translation of the Bible is +its translation into present day lofty living. + +Build your life on the belief in goodness, in eternal, infinite +goodness as the order of the universe, on the superiority of love to +hatred, on the final victory of love and goodness, on the ideal of this +great human family of ours that shall come to live in unity and +brotherliness, and so fulfill the will of the infinite father of all. +These things work well. + + + +FACING THE FACTS + +This is the age of the dominance of science. When a man asks, What +shall I believe? only one answer can be returned: Believe the things +that are. An age now past found it easy to believe that it believed +what it was told, even the things that it knew were not so. But to-day +at least has the merit of finding no merit in that form of +self-deception. + +The passion for absolute truth and rightness is one of the noblest that +can spring up in any breast; it is a ripe fruit of religion. The +scientist, by his devotion to exact facts, to pure truth, is the +religious man of our day, and the schools become religious educators in +their power to instill a primary love for truth and to lift up ideals +of exactness and equity. + +When we translate religion into terms of life, into actuality as +contrasted with imagination, we begin to discover the necessity for +foundations deeper than legend or romance. So long as a man's religion +consisted in what he might picture in glowing colours of imagination on +the canvas of fancy about his past or future he did not need to take +his designs from facts. + +But when religion becomes the science of right living, the process of +securing right social relationships and character as the expression of +ideal personal and individual character, it is evident that in such a +work religion must proceed on ascertained, indisputable verities. + +We may be satisfied with myths as to the ordering of the first family, +and we may leave to the play of fancy the specifications of an ideal +heaven; but when we begin to order our own families and adjust our +social and civic affairs we are compelled to wait for principles based +on facts, for truth. Religion thus becomes a science. + +Much eloquence was spilled over the conflict between religion and +science. It was only a conflict between the old religion and its new +form, between the gray dawn and the growing day. Our fathers were not +wilfully false, holding on to darkness when the light came; but they so +long had held sacred the pictures seen in twilight they were loath to +give them up for those of the full day's printing. + +The most damaging infidelity is the lack of faith in truth, the fear +that it might not be safe to allow all the facts to be known. He who +in the name of religion seeks to prevent our seeing and accepting the +full facts is religion's greatest foe. Only the full truth can set us +fully free, intellectually, spiritually, morally. + +Why should we fear the light of investigation on the things of +religion? There is more sacredness in simple truth than in secrecy. +It were better to be lost forever seeking truth than saved by +sophistry. How foolish to attempt to adjust our lives by laws built +out of speculation, to attempt to steer by a compass when there is no +pole of truth? + +In to-day's changing tides of thought, when the old faiths seem +slipping away, when we wonder why we have lost the simple faith of our +own youth or our father's, looking for some firm ground for our feet, +we do well to set them down on nothing but facts, to discriminate among +the sands of time and the alluvial deposits of tradition till we find +the rock of truth. + +But facing the facts we find everywhere one writ large, over all one +great principle of unchanging law, one great purpose moving through all +nature and all history, and what we once only dared to hope and dream, +that back of all there throbs infinite love and there rules infinite +wisdom, now is attested by the impressive array of the witnesses of +science. + +Truth always is safe. The holiest error must be born of hell. We can +make no mistake in refusing to go beyond truth, and we will find that +she leads to the ordering of life according to eternal laws, to the +doing of duties and finding of sweet joys as old as the hills and as +unchanging; she will lead in the paths of rightness. + +Some day our race will know all the alphabet of nature and be able to +read the story of the unchanging goodness; some day we shall comprehend +the wavering handwriting of history; some day we shall catch the +harmony of love and law; we shall know the full truth that is religion; +shall know things as they are and be what we should be. + + + +THE REAL FOUNDATION + +A good many thousand sermons have been preached on the parable of the +houses built on sand and on rock, probably nearly all of them with the +intent to prove that the way to build the life on a rock foundation is +to pass through the experience known as conversion, obtain saving faith +and join the church. This is typical of a popular way of interpreting +the scriptures: First, determine what you wish them to mean and then +make them mean that. The purpose being to persuade people to join the +church, then by hook or crook that duty must be discovered in every +divine precept. + +But this is simply to ignore the plain words of the great Teacher. It +would be impossible to clarify His statement: "If any man hears and +does the things I have been teaching he is like one who builds on a +rock." One thing marks the rock founded life, the doing of Christly +deeds. The course of conduct, the kind of character He has just +outlined in the sermon on the mount gives the established staple +character. + +The enduring life is not built on dreams. Many people think that their +lives are rock founded because they have a nebulous admiration for the +moral teachings of Jesus. On the whole they admire the sermon on the +mount; having taken the trouble to say as much as this they sit back +with the comfortable feeling that they have set themselves right with +the universe, that the Almighty will be delighted with their +indorsement. + +One of the most dangerous hypocrites is the easy-going, thoughtless +being who fancies that the indorsement of a duty is equivalent to the +doing of it. He evaporates his convictions into compliments instead of +crystallizing them into conduct. So far from being built on a rock he +floats around like a wisp of hay in a high wind. A butterfly might +better hope to drill and quarry out a foundation than he. Besides +this, his hypocritical praise of right precepts makes them only +offensive to those who might desire to practice them. + +Others imagine that an intellectual assent to certain statements +concerning the church or the Bible or Jesus is sufficient to fix the +life in stability. But the great Teacher does not place the emphasis +so much on what men may think of His character or mission, nor even on +their honest opinions on the theories of the past and the future, which +have delighted mental gymnasts since the world was young, to Him the +great differentiating fact touches those dynamic convictions that are +determining your conduct this day. + +He places conduct before creed. He long ago took that method of +teaching which modern pedagogy approves. He taught religion by the +manual method. Instead of saying, as theologians do, first comprehend +these doctrines and then you will be able to do them, He says, first do +these things, practice My precepts, and they will ere long become plain +to you. Men learn religion by doing. Begin to do the right and you +will get the reason; get the rule through the example. Deeds are the +solvents of doctrines. + +The house of life is built differently from any other; we get the plans +by erecting the structure. In the realm of character it is houses +rather than architecture we need. Build but one hour's conduct +squarely on the plain, cogent teachings of the man of Nazareth and you +will serve the world better than if you gave a lifetime to the +explanation of His words. + +Doctrines are but teachings intended to be done into deeds. Doing them +you gain a larger peace of mind and sense of stability of life than in +any other way. If you want the equilibrium of faith you will find it +by simply laying life's daily details on the plain foundation of His +principles. Nothing could be plainer; there are no hair-splitting +metaphysics, no subtle questions of policy here; do these things and +the heart finds calm, the life certitude, the soul satisfaction. + + + + +X + +The Passion for Perfection + + _The Great Search_ + _The Hunger of the Ages_ + _The Sole Satisfaction_ + + +_Pain is the parent of power._ + +_Marking time leaves no mark on time._ + +_The proof of love is loving the unlovely._ + +_Truth never is found by twisting the facts._ + +_Wings come not to those who refuse to walk._ + +_An ideal usually is what we want the other man to be._ + +_There is no righteousness without some self-respect._ + +_You cannot lead men to the divine by crawling in the dust._ + +_The real saints have no time to write their autobiographies._ + +_When a man boils over quickly you soon find out what is in him._ + +_True piety simply is the prosperity of the eternal things in a man._ + +_The world never will be won from the love of evil until we make the +good lovely._ + + +X + +THE GREAT SEARCH + +The cry, "How may I be right?" is the cry of the ages. Human history +is the record of our attempt to answer it. Man is naturally a truth +seeker, and this is the search of all truly great souls. The enduring +monuments of literature are those that have in some measure answered +this question. All things that have been worth while have helped us to +know and to realize the right. Health, happiness, freedom, morality, +all are but parts of the right; all are but sections of the sublime +whole for which man ever seeks. The search manifests itself in +different ways; it may be as science, the passion for the knowledge of +the right relations of things; as justice, for right relations amongst +men; as philosophy, as ethics, as religion. Back of all our life is +the instinct of progress; we push towards the perfect. And perfection +we now know rests not in more things but in bringing all the things +that are into right relations with one another. + +The idea that any man can be right regardless of others we scout as +absurd. The ideal civilization we work for here, even the heaven we +long for, is simply a condition of living where the things that +separate, despoil, and introduce discord are no more. The hope of the +race is to be in right relations with all things. All the great +religions are as the footprints of peoples who have sought the truth +that would lead them to be right and just with one another, with the +world, and with the great unseen powers behind all being. Our +universal sense of wrongness is but part of our passion for rightness. + +The sense of imperfection and the desire for improvement have marked +all religions that have influenced men. In the Jew this desire for +righteousness was supreme. Job is but a type. Coming to himself +amongst the ruin of all the things he counted most precious, he forgets +their loss in his desire to solve the great problem, What is right and +how may I reach it? Somewhere he knows there is a solution to all the +riddles of his friends and the questions of his own heart. An orderly +universe is not crowned by a being whose life must ever remain an +unsolved riddle. Men are not adrift in a fog with no hope of taking +bearings. If men have marked the natural world with lines of latitude +and longitude for the guidance of its travellers, the moral world is +not without its markings. + +Job's very question contains the only answer that has ever satisfied +man. God Himself is the great meridian of all morality. From Him we +may measure all relationships and get them right. That is the +essential message of the Bible; it strikes that first of all in "In the +beginning God----" Every life is right in the measure that it adjusts +itself to the unvarying will; amongst the nations they have the kingdom +who do His will. The world has made progress in precisely the +proportion that this will has been realized. The promise of the +present is that this great standard, this universal law by which all +may find the right, has been made known to all through a life. One of +our own has set forth God. One has lived who has shown us how to live. +For every problem there is now an example of its solution. For every +difficulty there is something better far than a declaration of duty; +there is the great Doer of the deed. He has come near to man that men +might come near to one another. He reveals the right. + +Yet we must not allow His perfection to make Him unapproachable. He is +only an example as long as His example is attainable. His divinity +does not depend on His distance from us but on the degree in which He +lifts us, inspires us towards the height He has gained. + + + +THE HUNGER OF THE AGES + +"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for +they shall be filled," is the central beatitude; in a measure it +embraces all the others, for every virtue they inculcate is included in +righteousness. But it is often rejected as impracticable because +fanciful teachers who substitute subtle definitions for simple duties +have twisted its plain words until righteousness is made something so +unreasonable as to be repulsive to a right mind. As a matter of fact, +it means no more than rightness; the hunger and thirst for +righteousness is but the earnest, supreme desire and endeavour to be +right and to do right at all times, the appetite for the right. + +Theological righteousness may mean some strange imputed quality laid on +a man like a cloak to cover his real condition or a bill of health +given to a sick man. But men who live next to real things care nothing +one way or the other for theoretical rightness; they want the real +article. And a right man will not be satisfied to have even the Most +High think of him as being perfectly right when he knows he falls far +short of it. He would rather be the faltering pursuer of actual +rightness than the possessor of a hypothetical, ascribed perfection. + +The great Teacher cares nothing about imaginary virtues; He praises +those who ardently seek the real ones. He knows that in the market of +character cash alone is currency; here you cannot draw checks on some +other person's deposits. To Him it is better by far to die facing the +right than to live in smug content with borrowed merits. This world +will never be content with a gospel that offers only vicarious virtues; +at its heart it knows too well its need of the genuine usable ones; it +has at least the dormant faculties of an appetite for rightness. + +And all this world story is but a record of the struggle for rightness. +All human progress is but its fruitage. In every age there have been +glorious souls who have made this passion a thing that glowed in their +lives and became a light to their day. In every man the divine +discontent that divides him from the animal is the sign of this desire +in some form; it shows man seeking to find more perfect, more nearly +right relations with the things about him. As the things about him +come to include God and heaven and things unseen so will his search for +rightness become wider and deeper and more spiritual. Every form of +spiritual aspiration, every religion, no matter how uncouth and +strange, is still the soul of man seeking right relations to the +infinite. + +What a glorious thing is this passion for the right; what visions it +has seen, what strength it has given to their realization. It is the +great tide that, moving restless and resistless in our bosoms, has +carried us on towards God. We cannot but believe it is born of him. +It does not originate in him, for it disturbs his peace, it stirs him +from sloth, it spurs him to new and often unwelcome endeavours. It +ever holds before him the shining possibility of a perfect being in a +perfect world. + +No wonder Christ used the figure of hunger and thirst. Literal +appetites have been the motives back of the world's struggle for +physical rightness; yet these cravings have not been more general or +more forceful than those of the soul. But for hunger and thirst man +would have lived in perfect content with the form and facts of life as +he found them; progress, all that we call civilization, would not have +been. + +Man is happy in proportion as necessity compels him to heed these +cravings. So is it in the moral world; the struggle has been our +salvation. To cease to strive for rightness is to cease to live. +Individually and nationally they are happy who accept the rigorous +climate of lofty ethical ideals, who are not content to take life as +they find it, but who seek to cultivate flowers and fruits of paradise +on the sterile, rocky soil of the human heart. This is the life that +Jesus shows, the life that seeks and finds the truth, that with +passionate ardour seeks right relations both with His fellows and with +His Father. Out of the fullness of experience, in the midst of His own +struggle He encourages all who strive; they shall be satisfied. No +ideal, no noble passion, no glorious sacrifice, no honest endeavour for +the right was ever in vain; the soul finds itself in seeking the +supreme good. + + + +THE SOLE SATISFACTION + +Through the ages men have waited for voices to speak from out the great +unknown. Answering to this universal longing for larger light, to this +search for truth, there has been the conviction that, where our own +scanty knowledge ended, there something akin to revelation would give +us light. We have been listening for voices that would speak with an +authority transcending that given to our fellows. + +Cold reason may mock at revelation, but the soul struggling in +darkness, baffled by its problems, lost in the night, still looks up +and hopes. For what awaits us but despair if the mysteries of the +universe are forever sealed, our questions forever unanswered, and no +higher appeal to be known than that to our own selfish interests? It +is not strange that men have heeded those who, though often mistaken or +but impostors, have cried, "Thus saith the Lord!" + +It would be strange if in a world of spirits there might be no +communication of spirit. If the fairest thought of our era is that +which was given us when man was taught to think of the omnipotent as +father, it would be strange if there should be no way by which such a +father might speak to his children. Such a world would contradict all +our best instincts. Such a world would mean that man was better than +his maker. + +The divine voice speaks, but we too often listen in the wrong +direction. It falls not from the skies; it comes not in strange, +unusual ways of visions and portents. But it is ever speaking through +the things of daily life; it is ever revealing truth and beauty to the +inner ear, for it comes not from without but springs up within; heard +by the heart rather than by the ear. + +The best things have not dropped down; they have grown up. Life is not +from without, but from within. God speaks not in thunders, but in the +hopes and the longings of hearts. Even the voice we hear in the +sighings of the wind or the message we read in the rays of setting sun +must be in us before it means aught to us. + +The ten commandments owe their force not to any writing on stone but to +their writing on our hearts; to them the soul of man answers +affirmatively. The only moral code we can follow is that which speaks +with the authority of a conscience convicted. That does not mean that +man is his own God, nor that he knows no law higher than himself; it +does mean that by the laws of spiritual development the law is being +written on every heart. + +Every real revelation is a divine revelation, since all truth is +divine. Once we thought the scientist the enemy of religion; now we +know that whenever science lays bare one of the facts of the universe +we do but look on what the finger of the Infinite has written. When +religion fights truth simply because truth speaks an unfamiliar tongue +or fails to respect her traditions, she is fighting against God Himself. + +Our need is not some strange, awe-inspiring voice that shall break the +silence of the midnight sky; our need is an ear trained to hear, a +spirit to understand and reverence the sublime voices that are ever +speaking in our world, the voices of the beauty of nature, the joy of +living, the stories of every-day divine heroism, the forces that are +making a new world to-day as truly as ever one was made long ago. + +The life of our day has not less of the divine than the life of long +ago; but the message is harder to read; it is for an educated race; it +is spiritual rather than merely material; it is from within; it is +found in every good impulse, in every outgoing sympathy, in the +kindling of eye as friend greets friend, in the good that men are +doing, in the toleration that is becoming wider, the love stronger +between man and man. + +God speaks to men now as He spoke to Moses or to David, though the +manner may have changed. But the poor in spirit, those with whom pride +of the past has not served to make them unwilling to learn, these hear +the voice; the pure in heart see Him; the seekers after truth find Him, +and to all He comes in the thrilling moment or in the quiet hour when +the voice of the heart makes itself heard. + + + + +XI + +The Price of Success + + _The Law of Selection_ + _The Fallacy of Negation_ + _The Secret of All_ + + +_No life is lost that is lived for love._ + +_The only wealth you can possess is that you have in the heart._ + +_Love never knows hardship, even when it meets it._ + +_When men pray for harvest they often get a plow._ + +_A man's holiness is to be measured by the happiness he creates._ + +_The only way to reach heaven is by attempting to realize heaven now._ + +_Whatever is saved by selfishness is lost to the true self._ + +_One of the worst offenses against humanity is the pretense of +divinity._ + +_Weapons that fly off the handle have little effect on the walls of +sin._ + +_Many a man thinks that taking a lease on a front pew gives him a +freehold on a corner lot in heaven._ + +_Success is not in an endeavour to do a great things but in repeated +endeavours to do greater things._ + + +XI + +THE LAW OF SELECTION + +Jesus said, "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and +cast them from thee," but this age finds it hard to accept that saying. +It asks, If we are to throw life away why should it have been given to +us? Why this selfhood with its passions, its surging desires, its +great longing to be untrammelled and free if all is to be restrained +and the passions are to be perpetually denied? If religion means, as +some plainly have said, doing the things you don't want to do and +leaving undone those you desire, then it is a mockery, a contradiction +of our lives and natures. + +Therefore there exists another philosophy which says, boldly: Live out +all that is in you; do all the things you want to do; your passions in +themselves are sufficient justification for their gratification. They +say man is free; therefore, let him realize himself by giving free and +full expression to every thought, inclination, appetite, and +possibility within him. + +When the average man puts the two philosophies in contrast he is likely +to conclude that the path of self-denial, of stern repression, is the +mistaken one; for, he will say, does it not contradict nature?--does it +not involve the repression of natural instincts and make all life a +perpetual fight against ourselves, a waste of forces, instead of, as it +should be, a plan by which a man might find success through the +realization of the best in himself? + +But let another test be put to this philosophy--the test of life. How +does it work out? What are the best lives, the lives that are richest +and that have most enriched the world? Are they those that have given +free rein to every fancy, that have nurtured and brought to fruitage +every growth of the heart's garden, whether it be thistle, brier, or +poison root, or fair, nutritious product? Are they those that have +given the tiger and the beast of prey free and full range of the life? + +There is striking unanimity in the answer. The rich and the enriching +lives have been those that have come by the path of the cross; they +have learned repression, practiced denial, and suffered death. In +every sphere the lights that have illumined the way of man's advance +have not been the dancing flames of selfish, sensual passion but the +consuming of the bodies of the martyrs and heroes, either burning in +their passion for others or denying and losing all rather than denying +truth and light. + +The law runs through all; if you would have a perfect flower you must +deny existence to many weeds, you must repress the rank growth, you +must pluck off many a leaf and nip many a bud that the one may come to +the fullness of its beauty. Through the grain of character goes the +wise husbandman, and death is in his hand--the death of the less +worthy, the harmful, and the enemy that life may abound yet more and +more in that which is worthy. + +In those fields where all things grow in their own way the weeds become +the standard for all; license brings all down to the level of the +lowest. But life is not license--it is choice, selection, sacrifice, +death. Pain is the only price at which perfection may be purchased. +Self-realization comes not by permitting all things to have their way +but by subjecting all parts to the securing of that high end. + +It is but cowardice that cries for the so-called natural outworking of +everything within man; it seeks to save the labour of weeding, the pain +of cutting here and pruning there. It asks only to be left alone. But +that way lies the deepest pain of all, the pain of a life where there +is nothing but tangles of weeds--no flowers, no capacities for joy, no +power to will, no eye to see the good and true and beautiful. + +No; the great Teacher was right when He called for self-denial and +self-victory. He only is great, he alone has found life who has +learned to bring all his parts and faculties into service, who brings +all his body and self into subjection that all may be keen and well +kept tools in the work he is doing as a servant of his brothers and his +age. This service gives the supreme and sufficient motive for the +suppression and elimination of all things that might hinder; the +development of the best self for the best service by means of the +cutting off of anything that might hinder or thwart the high and holy +service purposes of a life. + + + +THE FALLACY OF NEGATION + +The ancient law that nature abhors a vacuum holds true in the moral +realm. The heart of man is never long empty. And yet the whole scheme +of modern ecclesiastical regulation of life is built on the plan of +making a man holy by emptying him of all evil and stopping there, +leaving a negative condition, without a thought of the necessity of +filling the void. + +So long have we been trained in this that we are all a good deal more +concerned about the things we ought not to do than about the things we +ought to do. We spend our days nipping off the buds of evil +inclinations, pulling up the weeds of evil habits, wondering how it +happens they multiply so fast, forgetting altogether the wiser plan we +would adopt with weeds and briers in our gardens. + +There are many who still think of the pious man as one who succeeds in +accomplishing the largest number of repressions in his life, the ideal +being the colourless life, never doing a thing that is wrong or subject +to criticism. The energy of many a life is being spent in a campaign +against a certain list of proscribed deeds. Blessed is the +man--according to their beatitudes--who has the largest number of +things he does not do. + +But if rightness is abstinence from evil, then a lamp-post must always +be better than a man, for it justly can lay claim to all the negative +virtues. What an easy way of life is this, simply to find out the +things we know other people like to do and to determine that if we only +can leave them undone we are holy in the sight of heaven. + +But not only is this a way of folly, it is a way of positive harm, a +way fatal at last to the true life. To do no more than to turn out one +set of devils only is to invite other and worse devils into the heart. +To seek emptiness only is to invite yet more iniquity. An empty heart +is as dangerous as an empty hour. + +Emptiness is not holiness, it is idiocy. There cannot be an empty +heart. To take a bad thing away from a man gives an opportunity for a +worse thing to enter unless you simply choke the bad by implanting the +good. Some of the most dangerous people are those who feel pious +because they can say, We never did any harm. + +Religion often has come to mean only a multitude of repressive +regulations, apparently a scheme for making others abstain from those +things for which we have no appetite. Little wonder that children feel +only repulsion for a church which seems to take delight in finding +impiety in every natural pleasure; that men turn from a path which, +according to its prospectus, promises nothing but pain, privation, and +emptiness. + +We do not object to the pain and privation provided they have their +purpose. But all nature objects to a course of life that maims, +pinches, and restricts without corresponding and compensating +development and liberty somewhere. We fight against every law of life +and court the ways of death so long as we endeavour to develop +character by putting it into bandages, leading strings, and legal +restrictions. + +There is evil to be eliminated; there are thousands of things we ought +not to do. But the best way to get rid of the tares is to sow good +wheat in abundance. The way to avoid the things we ought not to do is +to do the things that ought to be done. The empty life is a standing +invitation to temptation; the busy man seldom finds the devil's card +left at his door. + +Live the life above the things you would overcome. It never has been +found necessary to pass a law prohibiting the president from playing +marbles; larger interests fill his life so that these things do not +even occur to him. Give a man a great work to do and you will save him +from a thousand temptations to do small and unworthy things. Do not +allow the modern conception of religion as gloom and denial to keep you +from that which is your right as a spiritual being, the strength, joy +and beauty of the divine life. + +Holiness of life is not in innocence of evil but in positive +forcefulness for good; not in doing as little harm as we can, but in +filling the whole life with worthy, helpful, uplifting deeds. The good +life not only has no debts--it has large assets, deep and lasting +value; it enriches all life. It offers to the world not barren land +claiming the virtue of freedom from the thorn and the brier, it crowns +all with the abundance and glory of fir and myrtle. + + + +THE SECRET OF ALL + +The words hold a large place in every alert life: Happiness, Health and +Heart; some may put them Success, Strength and the Soul. It is easy to +recognize the importance of the first two; that of the third is more +remote. Some have imagined that religion emphasizes the last alone and +ignores the other two. + +Evidently it is a legitimate thing for the Christian to pray for +prosperity; and it is right for him to try to answer his own prayers. +Poverty is no proof of piety. Nothing about God is or can be +poverty-stricken. He gives us a rich and glorious world, prolific in +its resources; its life is rich and prosperous. Nature is running +over, fairly rioting in splendour and wealth. The Creator has given +man this garden of glory that he might enjoy it. It is a sin not to +enter into its possession; he is dead already who does not desire +prosperity, who no longer seeks success in life. It is an easy matter +for the man who has made an all around failure to talk about the +dispensations of Providence and the compensations of the future. +Prosperity is always a sin to the man who lacks the pluck to secure it. + +Yet many who seem to have failed may have succeeded best of all. +Prosperity often comes in strange packages; it may even be labelled +Adversity. Not all will succeed according to popular standards. Many +will be more fortunate; they will win the riches of influence, +friendship, family, thought, knowledge, love, character. It is not the +things we have that make us rich; it is the amount of life we are +capable of enjoying. The soul determines prosperity. It is the +energizing spirit of man, stirring him out of the ignoble dust, +creating the desire for more of the things of life and then for more of +life itself. It determines values. It has a way of reversing things +so that one man gets more out of a dollar book than another gets out of +a million dollar bond. It alone gives appetite and appreciation, and, +without these, though there may be many possessions, there is no +prosperity. + +What is true of prosperity is true also of health. Happily the days +are gone when sickness passed for saintliness. No longer is red blood +counted a foe of righteousness. We are getting back to the simpler, +earlier thinking. It is not only right to seek health; it is wrong not +to. The haggard face no longer indicates the holy heart; it is likely +to evidence the opposite. We are getting over the notion that God is +glorified by ruining the fair temple He has given us. Men no longer +count on being beautiful angels in the skies because they have looked +like walking sepulchres on our streets. It is an imperfect holiness +that does not have health. Health, that is physical prosperity, is a +duty. + +And here, also, the soul is central. The clean heart, pure thoughts, +controlled appetites, aspiring hopes, these make health. Evil temper, +lust, worry, care, envy, these are the soul processes that disturb the +life and destroy health. Happiness is health, and happiness is wholly +of the heart. The soul is but the sum of all the things within, the +force that moves all things in life; if within the man looks up, then +he lives up; if the soul droops, he decays. What you are within +determines what you are without; he who is poor in heart, in this inner +life, will be poor in prosperity and weak in health, no matter how much +he possesses. But he who with his soul takes in the world of beauty, +of love, of joy, who reaches out to heaven and God, all these things +are his and he is rich and strong indeed. + + + + +XII + +Divine Service + + _The Ideal Service_ + _The Orthodox Service_ + _The Heavenly Service_ + + +_Kindness is the evidence of kingliness._ + +_The surest way to impoverish your heart is to hoard up your love._ + +_A really smart man will refrain from saying things that smart._ + +_Many a prayer for vision ought to be changed to a petition for +vertebra._ + +_The damning doubts are those that deter us from good deeds._ + +_The leaders of men are not the ones who are trying to get ahead of +their fellows._ + +_Folks who are too good for anything are good for nothing._ + +_It's hard to steer a straight course if your conscience is in your +pants pocket._ + +_You do not have much faith in your Father unless you have some in His +family._ + +_No man can have a place in the kingdom of heaven who is complacent to +the ills of earth._ + + +XII + +THE IDEAL SERVICE + +Never was the greatest of all greater than when He put about Him the +badge of the servant. His example has made the towel, the apron, the +badge of true honour. Nothing could have surprised those men who were +quarrelling over their precedence more than that their great Master +should stoop to perform this menial service of washing their feet. +Like many who call themselves His to-day they strove over chief seats, +honours, titles, and dignities. They were seeking the chief places and +by their strife showing themselves fit only for the lowest. Nowhere is +the sense of honour more easily slain than in the search for honours. + +The only dignity that really adorns a man is that which comes without +his demanding it. How often have the servants of the meek and lowly +Jesus turned the world away from Him by their examples of vanity, +greed, lust for power, their pomp and pride of self-glory. They who +were sent to be the shepherds of men have fleeced the flock for their +own adorning and then fought amongst themselves to see who should wear +the choicest robes. History has shown that they were wrong and their +Master was right. The greater their greedy ambition the greater their +shame; the higher the place they have claimed the lower has been that +which the voice of humanity has awarded them. + +On the other hand there shine forth those who have followed Him in +lowly service; theirs is the honour to-day. Because He took upon Him +the form of a servant then now is the kingdom and the power and the +glory His. + +So it has always been, sovereignty comes by way of service; heaven and +earth unite in honouring those who have not scorned the humble place of +helpfulness. John says that it was because Jesus was conscious of His +divine origin and His glorious destiny that He took the towel and did +the work of the slave. Only those who realize their true greatness can +ignore the littleness of man's petty dignities, can lose all sense of +stooping, of condescension when they serve others, and so can be of +service to mankind. A man proves that he is the son of a heavenly +Father by his service for his least brother. When that dignity, heaven +born, is in a man's heart there is nothing in the dirt he may touch by +deeds of kindness that can defile him; contact does not contaminate. + +Love never thinks of any of its services as loathsome. That from which +a superficial dignity would revolt love does with rejoicing. It thinks +nothing of the honour or the dishonour, but only of the helpfulness it +may render. It is not asking whether men are approving or whether +promotion is coming. It needs no promotion or approval; the work +itself is the highest reward; the service elevates to the loftiest of +all positions. + +The world's sovereigns are its servants. He makes an alliance with God +who helps a fellow man. Work is that by which the Creator has lifted +man above the creatures of the field, and the work that sacrifices that +it may serve is that by which God lifts man to Himself. The heavenly +gate may be shut to robes and miters, epaulettes and crowns; but it +shall be open wide to that great throng who bear the stains of toil, +who have served their fellows, who wear the apron of sacrificing +service; and the Son of the carpenter shall lead them in. + +This is a working world; its Maker is pictured as a worker; there is no +better evidence of religion than willingness to serve. Work determines +a man's worth to the world. And religion must be known by the things +it does, and not, as many have fondly supposed, by the dreams it has. + + + +THE ORTHODOX SERVICE + +This is a working world, with no place for the idler, whether he be +high or low, rich or poor. The measure of a man is the service he +renders humanity. Actions are measured by the same rule. The value of +religion to life, its right to time and place, is measured by this, +Does it help or inspire men to service, does it increase the quantity +or improve the quality of the work that they do for their world? + +Men rightly ignore the piety that satisfies itself with platitudes on +the duties of others, or with philosophical speculations on problems +which, if they were accurately solved, would contribute nothing either +to our peace, our possessions, or our personal characters. Yet, how +many imagine that they are profoundly pious because they cherish +properly indorsed opinions, duly certified as to their antiquity. + +They who profess to follow the Man of Nazareth cannot do it by sitting +in their pews or kneeling at their altars; they cannot do it by +dreaming of a place of bliss or picturing one of torment. One of the +first lessons He gives His disciples is that it is not he that speaketh +the word, but he that doeth the will, who is pleasing to God. + +Nor do men do His will in any important or complete sense by going to +church or serving in its meetings or on its committees. When a man is +ordained to divine orders, that is, to give himself wholly to do the +will and work of the Most High, it is said that he becomes a minister. +If "minister" means anything at all it means servant, one who works for +others, who ministers to them. The Master spoke of Himself as being +among men as one who served them. The only orthodox service is the +service of humanity. + +This is religion, such a consciousness of the reality of the Infinite +Spirit that you will steadily do the things that that spirit of love is +doing in this world, ministering to men, binding up the broken in +heart, lifting the lame, and leading the wandering, feeding the hungry +and clothing the naked, bringing light and love and cheer to those that +sit in darkness, you will become feet and fingers to God. + +One does not need to wait for a special garb to do this religious work; +one does not need to wait for formal ordination; whoever loves men +already is divinely ordained to serve them. One does not need to wait +for a church or a special organization; the sufficient motive is deep, +sacrificing love; the method will be just what the Master's was, to go +where men are and help them. + +After all, what this world needs is not so much that men shall go to +their fellows with money, with clothes, or even with employment; it +needs that they shall just go to them. The good mixer, who mingles +with men, who knows how they live, and what they think, how they +suffer, and what they feel, if, going amongst them, he carries a clean +heart, a love for his fellows, a firm faith in heaven, and hope for +men, is doing them more good by his presence than he who may send +carloads of goods. + +Men did not need that Jesus should wear a label saying that the Most +High was with Him; the more He mingled with men, the more clearly they +saw He belonged to God. What He was willing to do for them showed that +they, too, were the children of the Most High. If any man would have +that infinite presence with him, if he desires the deep sense of the +spiritual, let him seek it not in closet or convent, but in the touch +of hand and in the sight of the face of friend and fellow being. + +Many of us are worried at times because our lives seem wasted in doing +little things; we would become immortal by saving our powers for some +great deed. We need to remember Him whom the world most easily +remembers and most highly honours, the Man of Nazareth, whose life was +spent in trivial services, doing the next thing that came to hand, +helping ordinary people in every-day needs. Yet God was with Him, as +He ever is with those who love their fellows in sincere service. + + + +THE HEAVENLY SERVICE + +It seems easy to see something peculiarly holy, something deeply +religious in the occupations and acts of the priesthood or the +ministry. But thinking of these as religious and of such service as +divine we fall into the habit of thinking that they alone, in all the +world of action, are divine. We set on one side of life the religious +service limited to these formal acts and on the other side what we call +the secular life and service. + +We have sacred days, sacred deeds, sacred callings, religious services; +all separate from the rest of life, belonging in a department, a +pigeon-hole, by themselves. Whatever is not of these is of the world, +worldly, secular, lacking in the peculiar aroma of sanctity that +attaches to the church or the profession of religion. + +There are many who desire to do some religious work; who fain would +engage in divine service. There is in almost every breast a desire to +do something high and holy, something that is not necessary, +utilitarian, with some other motive than bread-winning. But there +seems to be no opportunity; such deeds are supposed to belong to +special callings; one must be ordained to do divine service. + +The truth is, divine service is the duty and high privilege of every +human being; we all are divinely called to the ministry; the service of +God and humanity belongs to us all. We must not wait for ordaining +hands nor ecclesiastical robes nor for the environment of official +sanctity. Every impulse to do good, to show human love, and do loving +service is a commission from high heaven. + +The good Master invites men and women to His kind of service, the +highest and holiest known to all the ages. He never was separated to a +clerical calling; He did not wait for an ordaining council nor did He +confine His divine service to prayer and praise or to the activities of +the church ritual. His divine service was the service of the sons of +men, the going about doing good. + +Heavenly work is not work for some far off heaven; it is the work of +making this present earth like heaven. The work of God is not working +for an absent deity; it is doing the work that the God of all love +would do in this world; it is being feet and fingers, voice and lips to +the great Spirit who is over and in us all. It is making that spirit +of love real, actual, concrete to our fellows. + +The holiest work in this world may be done in the humblest places; the +most divine service may not be in the cathedral but in the cottage; the +angels may pass by the intoning choir to listen to a mother's crooning +cradle song or to watch the patient service, the loving kindness shown +in washing the faces or wiping away the tears of dirty and destitute +children. + +The holy service which will fill your heart with joy and give you the +unfading crown of eternity, never will be done if you are waiting for +some ecclesiastical uniform to do it in. Whatever is done in the +spirit of the infinite love, in the spirit of the great Master, that +truly is divine and glorious. + +It is the good work that is glorious. It is a thing more truly divine +to do well your daily duty, to put out good, honest work, than it is to +wear a clerical garb or perform professional religious duties. The +honour, the worthiness, the glory of your work may be measured by the +spirit in which it is done and by its helpfulness and worth to the +world. + +All life becomes glorious as we see that even in the least of our daily +tasks we may be doing the will of God, that it may be just as necessary +a part of the divine service that I should serve at a desk, a counter, +or a machine, should sweep a room or tend a child as that another +should preach or pray. For the great Master of all who knows all our +work, measures it all, not as we do; He sees the glory of the cup of +cold water and the divinity of the commonplace. + + + + +XIII + +Our Father and Our Fellows + + _The Primary Reconciliation_ + _Faith in Our Fellows_ + _The Law of Forgiveness_ + + +_Sorrow is sympathy's school._ + +_Love makes the heaviest load seem light._ + +_To be willing to be saved alone is to be lost._ + +_The truly godly see something divine in all._ + +_Your appreciation may be another's inspiration._ + +_Kindness is the sign of divine kinship._ + +_You cannot knit the souls of men with soft sawder._ + +_You cannot be a leader and lose sight of those who are to be led._ + +_The shortness of the day excuses no man from greatness of endeavour._ + +_When a man thinks of nothing but his sins and failures he will have +nothing else to think of._ + +_Lots of people who talk of their lives as blue are only colour blind, +they either are green or yellow._ + +_He is only shortsighted who pronounces the world bad after looking in +his own heart._ + +_Many a man is waiting for an inspiration who would find success at +once if he was not so afraid of a little perspiration._ + + +XIII + +THE PRIMARY RECONCILIATION + +Men in the days of the great Teacher were as we are to-day, prone to +compound for the neglect of duties near at hand by the adoration of +spiritual delights far off. They talked about getting right with God +while they continued to do wrong to men. The problem of the hypocrite +who is so thrilled with the delights of heaven that he scorns earthly +duties and decencies is not a new one. + +How easy it is to substitute syllogisms for service, to think that we +do our duty by describing it, so to exhaust oneself in pleasant and +seductive dreams of a distant heaven that we have no power left to +apply to the problems of a needy present-day world. + +The mockery of religion to-day is that men and women are going to the +churches, singing themselves into ecstatic complacency and imaginary +harmony with their God while their greed is crushing the hearts of the +helpless and they are blinding themselves to the world's gloom and pain +that unhindered they may enjoy spiritual delights. + +Things cannot be right in our relations to the Father of spirits until +they are made right in our relations with our brothers in the flesh. +In Christianity social righteousness is basic to spiritual blessing. +The ideal kingdom waits for ideal conditions and relations amongst its +subjects. + +The way to the Father lies through the brother. If you would learn to +love God--and how indefinite and idealistic that seems to most of +us--the lesson is simple, first learn to love His other children, +especially the helpless, needy, and wronged. Delights high and +spiritual always will be remote until duties near at hand are done. + +The revival we most of all need to-day is a revival of the social +conscience, the recognition of the fact that we can offer no gift +acceptable, in the temple of worship or the place of prayer, until we +have washed our hands from the blood of our fellows, that we can pay +nothing to God until we have in earnest set about paying our debts to +men. + +Anxious, perhaps, to claim our rights as children of the Father in +heaven, we have forgotten that that title is promised to the +peacemakers. What avail is it to pray, Thy kingdom come, if we block +its advent by cherishing enmity in our hearts? What use is it to carry +hearts torn with malice, souls sunken in selfishness, and spirits torn +with pride and covetousness to the place that belongs to the meek and +lowly? + +Many a man is going to church and coming away empty in heart; perhaps +he has given up any hope of finding solace in religion, who would find, +as it were, the windows of heaven opened up if he should give himself +for an hour to making some other helpless lives happy, to righting some +wrong or bringing some joy to lives embittered and oppressed. + +The pathway to God is a plain one, strikingly lacking in romance, with +no attendant visible angelic choir. It is the doing of whatever duty +or kindness I owe to those near me, the breaking down of walls of +prejudice--spite fences built in ignorance and hatred--the learning to +love and help, the seeking of peace, good feeling, and harmony with all +men. + +This does not mean that all must become professors of sociology; the +study of social theories often is a substitute for the practice of +social duties; but that we must seek out the good in men, we must set +ourselves right with them, we must discharge all our responsibilities +towards men before we can realize God. The kingdom comes as we +recognize the kingliness in all the sons of the kingdom, as we express +our faith in God by friendship for our fellows. + + + +FAITH IN OUR FELLOWS + +Poor Peter has never been much of a favourite with the preachers; he +was so thoroughly unstable, unideal. But the people have always had a +tender feeling for him, partly because he was a fisherman, partly +because he was so much like the rest of us. Nothing is more striking +in the life of Jesus than His affection for ordinary men. The cultured +Pharisees, the philosophical Sadducees seem to have much less +attraction to Him than the rude fisherman and the toiler. These men +were often weak, sometimes cowardly, obstinate, dull, mediocre; yet He +committed His kingdom to them; He believed in them. Before they had +faith in Him He had faith in them; and that ultimately made them men. + +It sounded much like cruel sarcasm when He told that weak, vacillating +Simon that he was a rock. Those who knew Peter best must have smiled; +he was more like a jellyfish. But Jesus could see the best that was in +a man. He detected the hidden good even in Peter. He proves His own +goodness by His faith in the good in every man. + +Somewhere in every man there is some good. Overlaid it may be by +passion, by habits, by prejudice grown out of wrong and suffering +perchance; but still it is there. Faith in this and sympathy, these +are the golden keys that unlock the doors to where the good lies buried. + +The saviours of society have always been those who looked for the best +in it. If you go through life seeking the beast in man, you will find +it, and the chances are it will devour you; if you look for the beauty +that is from above you will find it, and it will bless you. It is just +as necessary to have faith in man as it is to have faith in God. If +men cannot become good, then there is no God in the sense of a power +that makes for goodness. The optimist not only believes in the best, +he creates the better. + +Some there are who reluctantly admit that God is a little better than +they are, though that may be due to His circumstances, but they have +never imagined for an instant that any one else is at all good. +Believe that men are wholly bad and they will not disappoint you. +Every man somehow responds to the expectations of others. You had +better damn a man than despair of him. Neither a church nor an +individual can help this world when they have more confidence in the +power of evil to become all pervasive than in the power of the Most +High to make His purposes felt in every heart as truly as He makes His +sun to shine on the just and the unjust. The church first consigns men +to perdition and then wonders why they are reluctant to walk with it +the other way. So long as you have faith in total depravity you will +find some facts to substantiate it. + +But there is a better way. Sympathy with men will do more for them +than sermons on their sins. Look for the best in them and you will +find things better than you expected. There are flower beds as well as +garbage heaps in every heart; at least, there are spots where seeds of +the fairest flowers of heaven may be sown. + +You do not have to be a fool to have faith in your fellows. You do not +need to take the padlocks off your house; but you do need to take them +off your heart. There may be those whom it would be wrong to trust +with your cash box; but it is a greater wrong to withhold from them +your kindness. You can show them that you believe the best instead of +the worst of them. + +The great Teacher told men that He came not to condemn but to give +life. His followers have too often occupied themselves wholly with +condemnation and then wondered that their sentences saved none. Every +soul knows its own sentence; what it needs to feel is that God and all +good men are with it, helping it to shake off that sentence, to arise +and return to the Father, that, instead of all things conspiring to +keep a man down, there is a cloud of witnesses cheering him on, a +mighty choir invisible inspiring his heart. And there is nothing any +man can do of greater worth to the world than to cheer on another by +his faith in him, his high expectation of him, his wise blindness to +some little faults, and his propagating approval of the least +beginnings of any good. Men are the saviours of men by their faith in +men. + + + +THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS + +A silly interpretation often leads to the utter rejection of a law. +Sentimentalists have caused men of sense to pronounce Christ's law of +forgiveness an impractical one. Yet we indorse it every time we utter +the Lord's prayer, and still we hope to be forgiven whether we find it +possible to forgive or not. If this law means the mental flabbiness +that sends bouquets to bloody criminals and petitions the pardon of +murderers and the release of the foes of humanity, we must reject it as +the utterance of one unacquainted with the rugged facts of life. + +But forgiveness and pardon are two different things; forgiveness is +between man and man; pardon is a matter of executive power. You can +forgive a child and still punish him. The forgiveness that does away +with consequences would make this an immoral world. No greater wrong +can be done to a man than to protect him from the deserts of his evil +deeds. This is as unjust as to withhold the rewards of the right. + +The difference between the law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth and the law of the great Teacher lies largely in the spirit of +dealing with the offenses. The old spirit was that of getting even +with the wrongdoer. His act was largely regarded from the personal +standpoint; a crime was individual and not social. Revenge followed +wrongdoing. + +But Jesus says it is better to lift a man up than to get even with him. +It is better to help men to the right than to satisfy your desire for +revenge. Forgiveness is more than saying, "Go without punishment"; +rather it says, "Come learn a better way; live without sin." +Forgiveness takes malice from the mind of the offended; it substitutes +for it the motive of friendship for the offender. + +Revenge says, "I will make it worse for you than you have made it for +me." Sentimentalism says: "Let the poor victim of circumstances go; +send him a rosewater spray and an embroidered text and he won't do it +again." But love, she of the clear eye and the steady hold, takes him +by the hand in silence, lifts him up, and leads him, perhaps by paths +of pain, to his better self. Love puts his sins behind her back and +teaches him to face her way. Love lets the wrong teach its own lesson, +bear its own fruit. And in her labour for him she forgets her own pain +and loss caused by his offense. + +The best way to forgive a burglar would not be to let him out of jail, +but to teach him the laws of property, to train him in the self-respect +that would lead to industry, to make him a brother and a fellow worker +among men instead of an outcast and a social parasite. The test of any +forgiveness is its helpfulness, the manner in which it wipes out the +enmity of the victim and turns the guilty into better ways. + +Many say, I can forgive, but I cannot forget. No one asks you to +forget; but you cannot fully forgive unless you will forego the feeling +of enmity and the desire for revenge. You cannot make any one forget +that which he has once known; but you can substitute helpfulness for +hatred and restoration for revenge. True love simply discounts the +past as a ground for present action; it refuses to determine its +personal bearing and deeds in to-day by the other's ill deeds of +yesterday. + +All we are asked to do is to forgive as we are forgiven. Our hope is +that when we have fallen our friends will not lose their faith in us +nor entirely forsake us, that they will give us another chance; not +that they will shield us from the fruitage of our follies and our +falseness, but that they will not shut us off forever from their faces. + +So far from forgiveness being the weakness of the thoughtless, it is +the helpfulness of the strong and the wise. To forgive a man will not +mean to escape from the trouble of securing his punishment; it will not +mean the weak complaisance of indolent tolerance. It will mean thought +for his weakness, taking up his burden, doing the brother's part for +him, the endeavour to do for him what we would like to have the Father +of us all do for us all. + + + + +XIV + +Men and Mammon + + _Riches and Righteousness_ + _Religion and Business_ + _The Moral End of Money-Making_ + + +_Better a sweet failure than a sour success._ + +_An itching palm causes a crook in the fingers._ + +_Many a moral squint comes from a money monocle._ + +_The fortunate people are those who believe they are._ + +_We are always building bridges for things with wings._ + +_The best way to wipe out a friendship is to sponge on it._ + +_Many a man thinks he is pious when he is only petrified._ + +_A little plain honesty is worth untold professional holiness._ + +_The religion that runs to fever usually evens up with chills._ + +_Nothing is easier than being benevolent with other people's money._ + + +XIV + +RICHES AND RIGHTEOUSNESS + +Let no man take it, that the statement on the inaccessibility of heaven +to the rich involves the opposite, how easily shall they that have +nothing enter in. The people who have lived pulseless lives are apt to +point to their poverty as the proof of their piety. But righteousness +is neither a matter of riches nor of rags. The great Teacher glorifies +neither. The qualifications for citizenship in His kingdom strike +deeper than that. + +His words have nothing to do with the bitter envy of the demagogue who +denounces those who have earned that for which he would not labour. He +measures men not by that they have but by that they are. He looks +through both the fine linen and the tattered rags to the man. Money +interests Him only as it affects character. The question of riches and +poverty is not a matter of housing and eating, but what a man does for +himself and his world with that which he has. + +Riches of themselves do not bar a man from heaven; but they full often +eat into his heart, become of absorbing interest, and so effectually +and forever blind the inner vision to the best things. It is not that +heaven has shut its gates, but that the love of money, the selfishness, +born of cupidity, has paralyzed those spiritual senses by which he +might have found his way therein. + +The possession of wealth is not a sin; to some it has come almost +without effort, even against their wills; but it does constitute one of +the most severe tests that can be set before a soul. It increases the +difficulties of the right life, because it enlarges so greatly the +responsibilities. The greater the wealth the greater the trust laid +upon a man as the steward of the produce of the earth. + +The principle holds of all possessions; all are tests of character. A +man can love gold just as ardently when he has but a grain as when he +has possessions beyond computation. A single dollar, laid on the +heart, can shut out the light of heaven as effectually as can a +million. The relation between riches and righteousness is not +determined by the balance in the bank, but by the balance that a man +succeeds in maintaining in his heart between his own interests and the +trusteeship which possession places upon him. + +Money makes men as well as unmakes them. The burdens, the tests, the +responsibilities it entails, the temptations it presents, all form part +of life's great lesson. Out of the struggle between self and the +service we owe the world, out of the keen fighting against +covetousness, and the battle against the debasing tendencies of the +love for gold and the greed for gain arise the giants--or fall the lost +souls. + +The rich young ruler came to Jesus and faced his test; the demand that +he should sell all and give to the poor simply put his heart on trial; +it set before him the great choices; it decided as to the things which +he held first. To him the possession of things was more than the +possibilities of using them in service; before the great test he fell. + +It is just as easy and often fully as dangerous to set your heart on +the gold you haven't got as it is to fall into the snare of the miser. +Everything depends on the place you give to riches in your life. One +man seeks them as a prize to be won and enjoyed for his own +gratification, his own glory and fame; another seeks them only as +larger avenues to usefulness, and to him riches come as tools, as +servants, as possibilities of making his life count for more. + +Some men die with their houses full of tools unused; they have made the +fatal mistake of setting their hearts on the tools instead of on the +work. Others come to their accounting possessing as many tools, but +all of them shining from hard use, and counting as their treasures not +the tools but the things produced, the good accomplished. Wealth is +for work and the work is for the making of the man. They enter the +kingdom who are kingly, whether they learned the royal lesson and +acquired the heavenly character through the school of poverty or that +of riches. + + + +RELIGION AND BUSINESS + +The question, can a man be a Christian and succeed in business, though +old, is still asked every day. There are yet a great many who regard +religion and business as conflicting pursuits, and they attempt a +compromise by the clear-cut division of time into business hours and +church time. Others are answering this question in the negative. +"Look at me," they say. "I have always been pious and honest, and +therefore I have failed to make money or achieve success; religion does +not pay." + +If the question means, can a man take out his backbone and succeed in +business, there need be no hesitancy as to the answer. If becoming a +Christian means the elimination of all virility from the character, the +substitution of soft soap and sawder for strength and diligence, +religion cannot be regarded as a help in business. There are too many +people who think that sloth is a sign of spirituality and that you +cannot be a saint unless you have softening of the brain. + +But it is simply whether you can keep your whole life, in the market or +out, up to the level of a certain ideal, whether you can be honest, +true, fair-minded, unselfish, merciful, and kind and at the same time +do the work and meet the exigencies of modern commercial and industrial +strife. It is whether you can measure steadily towards heaven's ideal +while mastering earth's daily duties. + +The question is either a reproach to religion or to business. It is +assumed by many, with especial conviction by those who know business +only by reputation, that it demands the sacrifice constantly of honour, +truth, mercy, and every other virtue. The man who thinks that he is +pious because he is pulseless, draws a fancy picture of red-blooded men +fighting, intriguing, slaying, like demons new from the pit; and that, +he thinks, is modern business. + +Strife is everywhere. If religion means sequestration from temptation +we need to pray to be delivered from it. There is as much danger of a +man's losing his character, selling his soul, in the church as in the +market. The temptation to the merchant to misrepresent his goods for a +larger profit is not greater than that which comes to the minister to +magnify his abilities for an increase in fame. + +Things honourable are the same everywhere; they are written deep within +us, and by them church and mart both are judged. Every man knows that +the chief business of life, whether through commerce, toil, study, +recreation, or worship, is to develop the best life, to make of himself +a true, full grown man, who shall render to this world a full man's +service. + +Business is a more effective school of character than any other we +have. If some of the standards of that school have been unworthy--and +who shall say they have not?--it is our duty to revise them, to make +them higher; not to abolish the school, not to stay away from it +because it is imperfect, but to make it fit to serve its true purpose. + +Business always will be immoral as long as it is an end in itself. The +product is greater than the machine, the making of character greater +than the mechanism by which we make a living. The serious danger comes +when a man begins to lay his soul on the counter, when he reverses the +course in this school of character and makes the end serve the means, +when he sacrifices honour, truth, and the soul that business may +succeed. + +Only failure lies that way. No business ever became permanently great +by making its people small. Success here is to be measured by the +soul. No matter what a man may be doing he must keep himself above his +task. The work must serve the worker. + +The question is whether we are serving business or it is serving us. +If a man lives for his wage he will sacrifice everything to get it, but +if he works that he may find life, then he will ever refuse to lose the +things of which life is made in the pursuit of success. He knows he +does not have to make money, but he does have to make manhood. That is +the end both of religion and of business. + + + +THE MORAL END OF MONEY-MAKING + +There are those who talk of money and business as though these were +necessarily and intrinsically evil. It is often supposed that capacity +for goodness is established by incapacity for business, while those to +whom poverty seems inevitable find consolation in regarding it as +evidence of piety. + +Large numbers of otherwise sensible people feel that there is some +unavoidable conflict between the ideal and the real, between what they +call the sacred and the secular, between the things they would like to +do and to be and the things they actually have to do as part of their +daily affairs and duties. + +Probably the greater number try to meet the difficulty by dividing +their lives and interest into separate parts. They say, business is +business; religion is another thing altogether; I will work hard and +honestly at my business and look forward to the comforts and pleasures +of religion and ideal things. + +So it happens that there are those who feel that to speak of religion +on a week-day reveals a lack of the sense of the fitness of things, +while other good people are quite sure that it is a wholly irreverent +thing to speak of business on a Sunday. We tend to dwell alternately +in two sets of apartments, the practical and the pious. + +Even where there are no such sharp lines through the life we feel that +manufacture and the market, money-making, and trading tend to blunt the +finer sensibilities and act as a hindrance to the realization of our +ideals, while, on the other hand, we are sure that the life of ideals +is unfitted for business. + +The result of this separation and apparent antagonism is that we cannot +develop our lives symmetrically; we are torn by conflicting purposes; +we fail to see any ideal ends in business or to find any practical +values in religion. Religion without business tends to dreamy, +purposeless moral enervation; business without ideal ends and aims to +grossness and materialism. + +We need to spiritualize all our acts, our whole lives, our business, +our work, our pleasures, by giving them moral intent and value, so as +to unify the sacred and the secular, the utilitarian, and the ideal by +making each serve the other. + +It does not make so much difference whether a man is engaged in +money-making or in writing poems and picturing the fair dreams of +better things; the question is this, is the money-making for the sake +of the money or for some high and worthy end? What is the motive that +impels either the dealer in dollars or the dealer in dreams? + +Our ideals, visions, aspirations, and our religion become most damaging +if they fail to find expression in conduct and work; lacking the +practical, they result in a character that is satisfied with +contemplating the good instead of realizing it. The man who sinks his +soul in dollars may personally be no worse than he who allows it to +atrophy while he dreams. + +Here in religion are the dynamic and the motives that bear men on and +buoy them up to do the toil, bear the burdens, stand in the fight of +daily living; here are the visions that lift our eyes from the desk and +the machine, from profits and discounts, and help us to see the worthy +prizes of life. + +No man could become a saint by separating himself from this world's +turmoil and reading his Bible alone; neither can any man find strength +and stability for life's business and battle, find satisfaction in its +service and rewards, unless he sees through its dollars and its dirt +the moral ends of all this world's work. + +This noisy mill of daily living may be the greatest blessing we know; +it is the opportunity for the expression of our highest ideals, for the +translation of religion into terms of daily living; it is the place +where character is molded by its stress, its calls to the strong will, +and its manifold opportunities for the service of all mankind by each +man in his place. + + + + +XV + +The Every-Day Heaven + + _The Beauty of Holiness_ + _The Gladness of Goodness_ + _The True Paradise_ + + +_Self shrinks the soul._ + +_The keen eye needs the kindly heart._ + +_There's no argument equal to a happy smile._ + +_Imaginary evils have more than imaginary effects._ + +_You never find truth by losing the temper._ + +_Menial work may be noblest service._ + +_They who live off the flock are never willing to die for it._ + +_The life that would be fruitful seeks showers as well as sunshine._ + +_Kindness makes all kin._ + +_All we get from heaven we owe to earth._ + +_Pain is a small price to pay for the joy of sacrifice._ + +_He who gives on feeling generally begrudges in fact._ + +_Every loss met by love leads to gain._ + +_The long look within ourselves will cure us of a lot of impatience +with other folks._ + +_The last person to enter heaven will be the one whose religion has all +been in the first person singular._ + +_We often talk a good deal about the salvation of souls in order to +escape service for the salvation of society._ + +_Much that is called orthodoxy is scepticism at heart, fear to examine +the foundations lest there are none._ + + +XV + +THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS + +Religion ought to be the most natural, desirable, and attractive thing +to man, for it simply stands for the development of the best in us, the +coming into the full and rich heritage that is ours as spiritual +beings, and the realization of our highest possibilities of character +and service. He who ignores religion is cutting himself off from the +best and most beautiful possibilities in his life. + +Some have talked of the necessity of making religion attractive. It +does not have to be made attractive; there is nothing more desirable +than the peace, the power, and prosperity of the real life which it +confers. It is the imitation, the false and prejudiced presentation of +religion that men endeavour to dress up attractively. In that they +never succeed, for cramping the soul and twisting the intellect ever +are opposed by the best in us. + +From the caricature of religion we turn with loathing. Mummeries and +mockeries, fads and forms leave us empty and impatient. The heart of +man goes out to things fair, lovely, joyous, and uplifting, and they +who find no God in the elaborate sermon or the service in the church +somehow are thrilled with the feeling of the divine and inspiring in +the woods and field and mountains. + +All things good, all things attractive and lovely, uplifting and +sublime have but one source. They touch our hearts because they come +from the heart of all being; they reach our spirits because they are +spiritual. Deep calls unto deep when the divine in man answers to the +divine in the world without, in human affections, in noble aspirations, +and in glorious deeds. + +Too long have we believed that only the unpleasant, the gloomy, and +repellent could be right or religious. There is a type of conscience +that determines action by the rule that if a thing is pleasant or +beautiful it must be sinful and wrong. To such souls it is a sin to be +sunny in disposition, to delight in the Father's fair world, with its +glowing riches and bounty dropping daily from His hand. + +It would be safer to say that sin must be somewhere lurking wherever +there is deformity, pain, or discord--that, as a common phrase has it, +the bleak and barren is the evidence of that which is forsaken of God. +Things desolate are not divine. Religion is not repression but +development into a fullness and beauty far beyond our dreams. + +It is a good thing to see the divine in all things fair and lovely; to +take them as evidences that the love that once pronounced this world +good in its primeval glory still is working, still is seeking to enrich +our lives and lead them out in fullness of joy. Why should not we, +like the poets and preachers of ancient Israel, taste again of the +gladness of living. + +Character may need for its full development the storms and wintry +blasts of life, but it needs just as truly and just as much the +sunshine, the days when the heart goes out and joins in the song of +nature, when something leaps within us at the gladness of being alive, +and we drink in of the infinite love that is over all. + +Just as the sun seems to call the flowers out of the dark earth and +draw out their beauty, calls forth the buds and brings the blossom into +perfect fruit, so there is a spirit of divine life in our world calling +us out to the best, seeking to woo us to the things beautiful. Man +needs not to repress his life, but to learn to respond to every worthy +impulse, every high hope, to find the life beautiful. + +The beauty of holiness is the beauty of character. It is the +adjustment of life to nature and neighbour and heaven so that strength +and harmony ensue, so that duty becomes a delight, labour a song of +praise, and out of life's burden and battle the beauties of godliness, +of love, and tenderness, joy and gratitude begin to bloom. + +Lay hold on everything good and true, on all things glad and elevating; +cherish every fair thought and aspiration; learn to see the essentially +religious in whatever lifts up life, in whatever helps humanity, and so +make life rich in heavenly treasure and glowing with the glory of other +worlds. + + + +THE GLADNESS OF GOODNESS + +Life's poverty is due, not to what we have had and lost, not to what +has been withheld or taken from us, but to the good which we might have +had which we carelessly have passed by. No others despoil us as we +despoil ourselves by our blindness and indifference to the wealth of +our own lives and the beauty ever close at hand. + +We who scurry over land and sea, who dig, and toil, and fret to find +happiness, come back at last to learn that the sweet-faced guest has +been waiting close by our door all the time. + +He perishes in the pitiless snows who, blind to the good and the glory +in every valley and hillside, heeds only the impulse to climb and find +the good in some remote height. Ambition and pride lift ever new peaks +ahead only to mock him when at last, worn, spent, and empty in heart, +he falls by the way. + +The old theology talked much of a heaven far away, to be attained in +the remote future; the new theology often seems inclined to ignore any +heaven, but what the hearts of men need is the sense of the heaven that +is all about them, the God who ever is near, and the blessedness even +now attainable. + +Some live in the past, complacently contemplating the glories that once +were theirs or their ancestors'; some live in the future, dreaming of +felicities yet to be; but they are wise only who live to the full in +the present, who catch the richness and beauty, all the wealth that the +passing hour or the present opportunity may have. + +He is truly godly who sees God in all things, in the affairs of this +day, in the faces of living men, in the flowers and fields, who sees +all the divine wonder and beauty of life, and not he who sees the Most +High only in some legendary past or in a strange, imaginary future. + +No man becomes strong by reminiscence of his breakfast or dreaming of +his next meal alone; each portion of time must have its own fitting +food. The soul of man never can find its fullness through either +history or prophecy; it needs the sense of the spiritual in this +living, pulsating, matter-of-fact present. + +This world is slovenly, sinful, and evil because so many of us are +content with the past or the future, with myth or with imagination, and +fail to demand the development of the good that is our heritage to-day. +The better day comes not by dreams, but by each man doing the best he +can and securing all the good he can for his own day. + +We need to give up the plan of saving the world by the piety of +postponed pleasures and to find the fullness of life in the present, to +get below the surface of things and discover life's real riches, to +interpret this daily toil and struggle, and all this world of ours, in +terms of the divine and infinite. + +How much it would mean to our lives if we might learn, instead of +sighing for the impossible, to get all the sweetness and joy that is in +the things we have, how rich we would find the common lot to be, how +many things that now seem dreary and empty would bloom into new beauty. +In a child's smile, a wild flower's fragrance, a glint of sunlight, +things possible to all, we would find joys unspeakable and full of +glory. + +This does not mean dull content with things as they are; it does mean +the development of the faculties of appreciation, the growth of the +life in power to see, the development of vision. It means the +transformation of the dull earth with the glory of the ideal. + +Some day, when we look back over our lives, how keen will be our regret +as we realize what we have missed, how we have spurned the substance of +life's lasting treasures, human loves, friendships, every-day beauties, +and happiness, while chasing the shadows of imaginary joys. + + + +THE TRUE PARADISE + +The religion that has relations only to heaven and angels, or only to a +supreme being remote and detached from daily life and from our families +and friends, our business and affairs, issues in personal selfishness +and is one of the causes of social disorganization and need. + +It postpones to that dim future the problems that ought to be solved in +the present. It promises those who are broken with the injustice and +greed of their fellows a place where right would prevail and rest would +be their portion in the future. It shifts to an imaginary and ideal +world all the perplexities and wrongs of the real present world. + +That kind of teaching ingrained in generations accounts for the dull +patience, the stolid, brute-like content of the peasant in Europe; he +is born a bearer of burdens, a tiller of the soil, to walk bent and +never look up; it is all endurable because it is all so short; he some +day will be better off than kings and emperors are now. + +But as the generations are born the inspiring vision of that future +loses its force; the ideals are gone and the children come into the +world with their fathers content with their present condition, but +devoid of aspiration and also devoid of their father's faith in the +compensations of the future. + +Then comes the reaction. Some daring spirits assert that if there is +any good, if there is equity and rights, men ought to enter into and +enjoy them here and now. And some who catch the vision of a God of +real love are unwilling to believe that He keeps from His children the +present joys of His home; they invite to a present heaven. + +Then how easy it is to fall into the error of seeking only a material +present-day paradise, to live as if the only things worth living for +were food and clothes and pleasant circumstances. Better a worthy, +beautiful ideal afar off than an unworthy and debasing one already +realized. The heaven that so many are seeking will but bring all men +to the level of the brute. + +The danger is that we shall miss the real benefit of this great truth +that whatever good is designed for man may be realized in large measure +while he lives and shall make his good to consist only in goods. +Better conditions of living easily become the foe of the best. Heaven +is not meat and drink; it is the better heart. + +Making houses and lands the supreme end of living is little better than +looking forward to harps and crowns. It is easy, being freed from +slavery to a superstition to relapse into slavery to our lower selves. +We are in danger of living for a living instead of for our lives. We +are "on the make" instead of being engaged in making manhood. We are +digging the lead of commercial advantage with the gold shovels of +character. + +We may be measured by our own measurements. In sermons and orations we +assure ourselves that we are a great people because we have here so +many acres, so many millions of bushels of corn and of wheat, so high +wages, so vast financial resources. We are living in the glut of +things and setting these things as the end of living. + +All this does not mean that prosperity is wrong; it does not mean that +misery or poverty is a virtue. The danger is not in our many acres, +our high wages, our millions of money; the danger is that these are the +ends instead of the means; that we are existing for our living; that we +make the man the tool of his money instead of the money being the +making of the man. + +Every man has in his breast the keys to his own heaven. If he will he +may find the riches of character; he may enter into the paradise of a +mind at peace; he may taste of the divine joys of serving his fellows; +he may, in thought, commune with all the good and great; he may hear +the morning stars sing together. + +The eternal crown of glory is the crown of character. The streets +paved with gold are the fair, clear ways of virtue. The harps of whose +music we never weary are the strings of sympathy and love and pain; +these make the heavenly harmony. The angels are in the faces we learn +to love. These make heaven when we see them in the light of the +presence of eternal love. + + + + +XVI + +Truth and Life + + _Religion of a Practical Mind_ + _The Head and the Heart_ + _New Truths for New Days_ + + +_A life is an empty lamp without the oil of love._ + +_The only way to have happiness as a permanent guest is to keep your +door open to the helpless._ + +_Self shrinks the soul._ + +_It is much easier to get interested in art doilies for Hottentots than +it is to be simply human to the washerwoman at home._ + +_Whoever helps us to think kindly of another aids the coming of the +kingdom of heaven._ + +_You are not likely to cheer the hearts of men by looking down in the +mouth yourself._ + +_No man climbs to the Father by treading on his brother._ + +_Many things may keep you from the triumphs of life but only +selfishness can keep you from the victories of love._ + +_The child of heaven always sees something of heaven in the child._ + +_There are too many people trying to clean up the world by scalding +their neighbours._ + + +XVI + +RELIGION OF A PRACTICAL MIND + +Is there a faith for the practically minded man and woman? Or is +religion exclusively for the dreamers and those who are contented with +sentiment and feeling? These people of action, who measure by results, +who have no life to waste on things not evidently useful; these who +feel so intensely the needs of humanity that they have no time to waste +in anything other than work--is there a religion for them? + +But religion is not a form of life nor a point of view for one kind of +people alone; it is the spirit of higher things coming into the lives +of all kinds of people. Its expression will depend on the temperament +of the individual. It may lead some to sing hymns, but it will +certainly compel others to build houses and to care for the sick and +needy. + +In a world of men and affairs no man is actually religious unless his +faith is finding some practical expression, and the greatest need of +our day is that our hard-headed men and women who do things shall +become inspired with the spirit and ideas of religion and shall do +those things which religion's spirit of love and service would indicate +as needing to be done. + +Pious people are deluding themselves if they think that they are +cultivating the religious life and meriting the rewards of faith by +simply sitting in church and feeding themselves on beautiful sentiments +and thrilling visions, or even by vigorously attacking all those who +dare to differ from them in matters of religious philosophy. + +Nor can religion find full expression in harking back over the +centuries and elucidating the mysteries of ancient miracles or tracing +the history of ancient peoples. + +If as much brain and energy had been given to solving the problem of +society and leading men into the way of right living to-day as have +been given to digging into the historical and philological problems of +Scripture this world would be a better world by far. We must let the +dead past bury its dead. Stay not weeping by the tomb of yesterday; do +the work of to-day. + +There will be much more real religion in the intelligence, care, and +sacrifice applied to the problem presented by the millions coming in at +the gates of our country than in the most pains-taking study of the +emigration of a horde of Israelites millenniums ago. This is what the +practical man feels; there is so much to be done, why waste time in +dreaming of how things once were done or in wishing for a world where +no need or sorrow exists? Therefore, he is apt to say, in the business +of bringing things to pass religion has no place; it is only for the +dreamers. + +Yet no one needs religion more than the man who would do any worthy and +lasting work in the world. Indeed, the possibility of such a work will +not dawn upon him unless some of the spirit of religion and the +possession of desire to do great and worth while things is evidence of +the heavenly flame within. Any work for the sake of humanity needs a +wider vision than that of its own field. Courage fails and hope dies +if we see only the dismal problem; if we have only the practical +outlook. Some vision of the ideal must enter into all great work; one +must learn to see humanity in the light of divinity. + +It is a good thing to be able to see the Divine in the commonplace, the +hand of Providence in American history, the work of the Most High as +recorded in the daily papers, as well as in the Gospels; to do our work +whether it be laying railroad track, selling dry goods, making or +teaching or trading, as part of the service necessary to bring in the +better day. + +Here is the religion of the practical mind, to express by the service +of heart and brain and hand the belief that he has in the possibilities +humanity, the hope that he has of a fairer, sweeter, nobler age than +this, to make real the world's best ideals. So, seeking to bring to +earth the best that heaven has dreamed, men have found themselves +lifted into the light of infinite truth and love. + + + +THE HEAD AND THE HEART + +There are temperamental types which never reach any conclusion by pure +reasoning; intuitions, emotions, and inspirations take the place of +intellectual processes. It would be the height of folly to attempt to +make such natures reduce their religion to syllogisms, or to ask them +to bring to the bar of the head all the findings of the heart. + +The emotional nature does not comprehend the manner in which the +average mind must wait for its own light. These souls that move by +great tides often reach sublime heights. The world would be poor, +indeed, without their all-compelling enthusiasms, their glorious +visions, and their dominant convictions. But such ones must not forget +that there is no royal road to truth; that human nature is not cast in +one single, unvarying mold; diversity is not necessarily heresy. + +There are other natures, not less necessary to the world, not less +glorious in their records of leaders, martyrs, and masters of men. +These are those that find truth by the slow steps of reasoning; that +seek the way of right, with hearts of reverence and feet of faith, in +the light of the faculties heaven has given them. They do not feel, +they do not understand the winds that, sighing round them, convey such +mighty meaning to other souls; they cannot buy progress at the price of +blindness. They are the intellectual type. + +The conclusion that the emotional type must, after all, be the right +one is a common one. This is because it makes the most noise and the +most easily apprehended demonstration. And, therefore, some tell us +that the man who seeks to find the way of truth by the light of the +intellect must, without fail, wander into the pit of error; that the +only way to come to religious truth is to shut the eyes of the mind and +yield to emotion. + +The thinker constantly is being warned that he cannot apprehend God +with his intellect; that he cannot see the way to heaven with the eyes +of reason. He is urged to give up the use of his head that he may +develop his heart. He even is told that faith is incompatible with +reason, and love with logic. So strong is the emphasis on this that he +is led to suspect that indolence is seeking to deify ignorance, and +that men whose intellectual faculties have atrophied by their +subjection to the emotional now are envious of those who retain the +power to think clearly, and would have them also deprived of these +powers. + +Nothing could be more clearly opposed to the way of truth than the +notion that religion can be bought only at the price of reason, or that +the consequence of using the intelligence is the losing of the power of +affection for the divine, the good, and the true--of the warmth of +heart and feeling that often determine character and conduct. + +If the faculties are God given they are given for working purposes. If +man has a mind and yet may not think concerning the deepest and highest +things of his own nature and destiny, then the giving of that mind or +the permitting it to develop is the most cruel mockery known to human +history. + +But the simple law of nature that every faculty has some purpose, that +no power is without its duty, is the answer to all this. The mind is +as sacred as the heart; it is as much a sacred duty to think as it is +to aspire. There is nothing too holy for men to think about, to reason +about. The mind must serve the truth--must with reverence lead to +larger truth. + +No man is religious who represses any of his reasoning faculties. +Every one of the higher powers must be brought to their greatest +perfection. Not by dwarfing but by developing themselves do men +glorify their Creator. Just as the finest tree in the forest speaks +most eloquently of the bounty and beauty of nature, so does the +gigantic intellect glorify the intelligence that ordered its being. + +Fear not to think of sacred things; nothing is sacred because it is +mysterious; reverence does not dwell apart from reason. Faith does not +reach its perfection in the fool; it shines most glorious where wisdom +dwells. There still are the superstitious souls who confound darkness +with divinity; who cry aloud against the light of knowledge. But they +can no more stay the discovery of truth than the bats can hold back the +dawn. + + + +NEW TRUTHS FOR NEW DAYS + +There are many who think they must live without religion because they +cannot be content with the views held by their fathers. The facts on +which the faith of the past was based have come into the light so that +the modern man, examining them, finds himself in all honesty compelled +to question them and often ultimately to call them fables. + +The attempt to answer the questions of the clear-eyed modern scientific +mind by accusing it of inherent antagonism to religion is cheap and +ineffectual. There are honest doubters who at the same time are +earnest seekers after truth, who desire the best, who are willing to +pay any price for personal character and social righteousness. + +It is because such men are honest that they refuse to be bound by +creeds they cannot believe and to buttress beliefs they cannot indorse. +No greater loss could come to character than to insist that we shall +act and speak a lie in order that the body of religious teaching shall +remain undisturbed. The heresy we most need to fear is that which +blatantly declares one thing while at heart fearing that another is +true. + +The old generation in religion is accusing the new of treason to faith +and the new is accusing the old of blindness to truth. When the father +says to the son, "Believe this or be lost," the son answers that he +rather would be lost in company with truth and honesty of conscience +than be saved at the cost of both. + +But do these divergencies mean that the man of the modern mind must +give up religion and that those who hold to the traditional views can +find no fellowship with those who see new light? This is more than an +academic question; it presses on every man who, finding in him the +universal thirst for religion, finds also standing before the living +waters him who says, "You can drink only out of this cup handed down +from the fathers; you can approach only on speaking our shibboleth." + +Our fathers looked on religious truth as something complete and +unchangeable, once for all delivered to the saints. But they forgot +how different was the truth, as they saw it, from its vision as given +to their fathers. Every age tends to look upon itself as the final +goal and on its views as the last possible statement of truth. + +Yet how clearly does the past teach us that our vision of truth is ever +changing. The science of to-day will be largely the folly of +to-morrow. Truth, in any realm, is a country whose boundaries lie ever +before us, whose geography each age must write anew. Truth is a road, +not a terminus; a process of search and not the thing discovered alone. + +He only is religious really who opens heart and mind to the increasing +vision of truth, in whom religion is not a cut and dried, fixed and +unchanging philosophy, but to whom it is a method and motive for +living, a process of adjusting himself to all his world in the full +light of all the truth that can come to him. + +There is a religion for the man who must deny many things that once +seemed essential to religion; for the man who feels compelled to doubt +all things; it is the religion of the honest, open souled, unreserved +search for truth and the translation of that truth as it is known into +character, and living. + +If the setting of the face towards truth means breaking through ancient +theology it also will mean bringing us face to face with the infinite. +It is a good thing to lose the symbol if we only will seek for the +substance. The heart of man cries out for the reality that lies back +of all our words and for the realization of our doctrines in deeds. + +When the test of trouble comes, when earth is a desert and the heavens +are brass, we find our refreshing, we find the real resources of +religion not in doctrinal statements, not in formal creeds, but in that +creed which experience has written on our hearts, in the consciousness +of an eternal love not demonstrated by logic, in the sense of the unity +of ourselves and our race with the infinite and divine. + +Every day must have its new creed, its enlarging vision of truth, but +back of all lies truth itself, the reality upon which our fathers +leaned and the unfailing springs where they were refreshed and the +glowing visions that led them on. In that reality lies every man's +religion. + + + + +XVII + +The Fruits of Faith + + _Root and Fruit_ + _The Orthodox Accent_ + _The Business of Religion_ + + +_Killing hope is moral suicide._ + +_Sow happiness and reap heaven._ + +_Every man is made up of many men._ + +_You cannot travel towards heaven with your back turned to honour._ + +_Earthly prudence is a large part of heavenly providence._ + +_Homes are often closest knit about some grave of separation._ + +_Your credit in heaven depends on earth's debts to you._ + +_To attempt a great work is to become a great worker._ + +_The practice of happiness does much for the power of holiness._ + +_No man ever found this world a weary place who had a worthy work to +do._ + +_It's no use talking about the religion in your heart if it is not +visible in your home._ + + +XVII + +ROOT AND FRUIT + +There is honest inquiry rather than querulous criticism in the +question, often asked, Why does not religion produce a higher and +stronger type of moral character? Enthusiasm for the teachings of +Christ often is cooled by contact with some flabby-willed, +narrow-minded professed follower of those teachings. + +It is a common saying with business men that it is hard to find a man +of absolute integrity, one who even measures up to the standards of +commercial honour among those who are religious, either by vocation or +avocation. At any rate, it is true that a certificate of religious +affiliations by no means is equivalent to a guarantee of high moral +worth. + +Yet it is easy to arrive at wrong conclusions when judging the effect +of religion on personal character as tested by daily business and +living. One is in danger of judging from exceptions. We may remember +as a religious person the man who makes the loudest protestations of +his piety and fail to recognize the religious sources of strength in +the quieter one of whose sterling qualities we need no persuasion. + +When religion has little root it often springs up with a rapid +self-assertive growth; but it withers even more quickly under the +scorching sun of the market and business affairs. It also would be the +height of folly to conclude that religion contributed nothing to a +man's moral worth, because the morally worthless seek to hide their +nakedness by wearing it as a cloak. + +If we stop to think of the strong men and women we know, of those whose +integrity is undoubted, whose character wealth constitutes the real +reserve and bulwark of our business stability, we shall find that they +are controlled by religious ideals and principles, that the strength +and beauty which we admire in them in itself is religion. + +They may have or may not have ecclesiastical affiliations; these are +but incidental. They do have religion. Somehow we feel that their +actions rise not from superficial wells of policy or custom but from +deep springs that go back into the roots and rock of things. They look +out on life with eyes that see beyond questions of immediate and +passing advantage; they see visions and ideals; they are drawn on by +lofty aspirations. + +The recognition which we accord to real worth, to high, and noble, and +strong manhood and womanhood, with the scorn we have for the canting +weakling, is but part of our discrimination between a living, deep +religion expressed in conduct and a mask or pretense adopted for profit +or convenience. + +Still there are many good people, sincere in their religious +professions, who practically are no good at all when they come to some +strain on conscience, or some real test in life. Is it not because in +their minds religion never has been related to conduct? They are +grounded on the eschatology of Christianity but not on its ethics. + +It is possible to go through a full course of religious instruction in +the regularly appointed agencies of many churches and to come out with +clear-cut conceptions of heaven and angels, but with the most misty and +even misleading conceptions of right relations among men, of honesty, +and justice, and truth. + +The schools teach us about the stars and the earth, about men dead and +beasts living; the church teaches us of saints and seraphs, and about +an ancient literature; but who shall teach us and our children the art +of living, the laws of human duties? Of what value is all our +knowledge unless we get the wisdom of right living? + +No man is saved until he is made strong, sane, useful, and reliable. +The most irreligious thing in this world is a religion that makes +people think that an imputed or technical salvation absolves them from +the necessity of practical salvation, the working out of the best and +noblest in their lives. Religion without morality is a mockery. + +Real religion is the secret and source of the highest, strongest, +cleanest character. It furnishes the life with motives mightier than +any considerations of advantage or profit; it ties the soul up to +eternal and spiritual verities; it refreshes the heart as with living +waters when life seems all desert; it sets the heart in step with the +Infinite One who marches on through the ages. + + + +THE ORTHODOX ACCENT + +Perhaps the chief damage done by the confusion of tongues at Babel was +that it tended to a multiplicity of words. Whether it was so before +that time or not, it is certain that ever since there has been a +constant likelihood of religion and every other good thing being +drowned in floods of rhetoric. Where there are ten ways of saying a +thing it is so much easier to use them all than to do the thing in the +one way in which it may be done. Words become the chief enemies of +works. A volume containing all the words of the great Teacher would +look mighty insignificant beside the ponderous tomes of the modern +exponents of His teachings. That is because the minister has become +the preacher. + +The tendency also is for laymen to prove their piety by becoming +teachers. It is so in every direction. Reforms dissipate into theses; +it is always easier to make speeches on the city beautiful than it is +to refrain from throwing the refuse in the street. We are all talking +about what ought to be done. Perhaps some leader will arise and +institute the order of the practicers. + +Dreamers, philosophers, thinkers, writers have poured forth their +floods upon a thirsty world. But the only words that have been worth +anything to mankind have been those that have grown out of the +speaker's soul as it has been molded by his living and doing. + +Because talking is so easy to the knowing ones it is not strange that +they should water their stock of superstitious prestige with the less +knowing ones from their reservoir of words. Then it is the most +natural thing for the glib man to set up the thing he can do most +easily as the thing essential to salvation, and thus a shibboleth +becomes the saving sign. + +But salvation does not depend on any shibboleth. No man is going to +fail of seeing the Most High because he cannot render the precise name +by which one race chose to call Him, nor will the sun cease to shine +upon him should he seek the highest good in other ways than names. The +heart of the universe asks not that we be consistent with the +syllogisms of the past, but that we be true to the truth we know +ourselves. + +Every man has some creed back of every deed; but when he puts his creed +up in front his deeds soon die. Where words reign they soon reign +alone, with nothing but words to serve them. Orthodoxy is so general, +because it is so easy and so meaningless. Catch the accent and you are +orthodox. But if heaven is to be won by an accent most honest men +would rather pay board, somewhere else. + +No life can be interpreted in language alone. The church is but an +obscuration on Christianity when it meets only to analyze the life of +its Lord and never to exemplify His deeds. What must heaven think to +see a thousand able-bodied men and women gather in a beautiful building +to sing hymns of praise to their Diety [Transcriber's note: Deity?] and +to listen to arguments about His divinity while, within block of them, +there are, in sickness and squalor, distress and sorrow, the ones to +whom He sent these people to minister? The doctrines manufactured +about Him have hidden the directions given by Him. + +The trouble is not that we have too much doctrine so much as that we +have the wrong kind. The Master's great teaching was, Do the divine +things, and the divine truths will take care of themselves. + +The kingdom will never come until His will is done. Half-tones of +heaven will not keep people warm in winter; it is half tons of coal +they need. The world will believe in any church that tries to do good. +But the church does not believe in itself yet; half the people are +strenuously endeavouring to fool themselves into what they call +spiritual warmth. What they need is plain Christian perspiration. No +man really credits his own religion until he converts it into reality. + +But the man who prides himself on his heterodoxy is often equally +guilty here. He ridicules the old type of piety and thinks to improve +on it with new sets of phrases. All these critics have is new +arrangements of words. Even the man who rejects all religion satisfies +himself with the cant phrase of irreligion. + +We need most of all to treat religion as sensibly as we do business, to +leave the science to those interested while we give ourselves to the +practice of its art, the doing of its deeds, the living its life. + + + +THE BUSINESS OF RELIGION + +Any religion that will not stand the strain of modern business may have +been good for some other age; but it is valueless in this one. The +test of your piety is not peace in the pews of the church, but power +and direction in the stress of the market, its adaptability to your +activities as well as your meditations. + +The problem of the reconciliation of business and religion is not +nearly so complex as we would believe. The people who are saying it is +impossible to be upright and get on in the world mean that it is +impossible to be honest and to gain all the questionable advantages on +which they have set their hearts. When a man says that religion and +business will not work in harmony he either has a wrong brand of piety +or a false conception of business. + +Religion is built for business. The only creed that is worth a +moment's thought is a working creed, that is, one that gets into +action. Religion is not the mere acceptance of a speculative +philosophy of this and other worlds. It consists in principles, +ideals, and motives which dominate conduct. It is more concerned with +the kind of a world you are making here than with the conceptions you +may have of a world beyond. + +Religion is more than an institution; it is a course of life. It has +to do with the church only in so far as the church serves its purposes. +It is more concerned with what a man pays his employees than with what +he puts into the plate at the collection. The man who can put all his +piety into the prayer-meeting and the services of the church never has +enough seriously to embarrass him under any circumstances. + +If for your religion you have adopted principles of high living; if you +have set the worth of the soul above all other things; if you have +determined to frame your life according to the golden rule of the great +Teacher, and, with Him as hero and ideal, are seeking to do good to +others and make this world a better place for us all, with less of sin +and sorrow and more of joy and love, you will make your business as +well as your praying the servant of these ends. + +But if you have said that you wish to do these things, that you wish to +live the pure and beneficent life while in your heart your sole desire +is to get riches, to gain fame, to secure power, then there is bound to +be conflict between the religion you profess and the business that +possesses you. + +Everything depends on the purposes of living, on the things a man +really and deep within himself sets first in his life; he will follow +those things no matter what other professions he may make. Business as +a servant deserves our allegiance and devotion; business as a master is +the most evil and soul devastating thing in this universe. + +There is the most perfect harmony; there is relatively easy settlement +of problems and difficulties if but this principle be adopted; that you +have taken as your chief business in life the ends of true religion, +the development of character and the service of humanity, and, with +this purpose, the daily toil, the opportunities and enginery of your +trade or profession shall be made to serve these higher ends. + +Religion then becomes the motive in business and business the +manifestation of religion. A man serves the Most High in his office +with the same devotion and elevation of spirit as a priest at the +altar. He is doing a great work, because the spirit is great. In +questions of conscience he can afford to lose everything except the +great end; he will not sacrifice the lesser to the greater. + + + + +XVIII + +The Force of Faith + + "_The Victory that Overcometh_" + _Fear and Faith_ + _Faith for the Future_ + + +_Some talk so hard about duty they have no strength left for deeds._ + +_When a good man gets down in the dirt some one is sure to stumble over +him._ + +_Many a man who would make a first-class lighthouse is wasting his life +trying to be a fog-horn._ + +_The mournful saint works a good deal more harm than the cheerful +sinner._ + +_The faith that shows up strong on the fence may fail altogether when +it gets on the field._ + +_It's not the man who says the loudest amen who makes the most +impression on heaven._ + +_There are too many folks trying to meet the world's hunger for love +with essays on affection._ + +_Lots of people let their daily manna spoil while they pray for butter +and sugar to spread on it._ + +_People who lay their sins on the old Adam are not anxious to have +their successes attributed to him._ + +_Many a man thinks his life is clouded over when the truth is he is +burying his head in the steam of his own sighings._ + + +XVIII + +"THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH" + +You cannot believe little things and do great ones; you cannot believe +in half successes and accomplish whole ones. A man's faith sets the +boundaries of his work. He will do what he believes and accomplish +what he believes can be accomplished. Mountains are not subdued by men +who stand discouraged at a mole-hill. A man must conquer the fatigues +of the way in his own heart or he will never set out on the road. + +Back of all free action lies some creed, some conviction. All great +battles have been fought and either lost or won in the heart. The +simple or stubborn confidence that leads to all-conquering effort, this +is faith, the vision that vitalizes. The eye of faith sees the prize +at the end long before it is reached; the eye of fear looks so closely +at the difficulties and dangers of the course that the prize is not +seen at all. + +There is a good deal of fatalism seeking to pass as faith. People say +we must have faith in God; let things take their course and they will +come out all right. The church long commended the slothful who let +things drift, and called their laziness resignation. But faith feels +the certitude of a harvest because it has first diligently plowed and +sown and because of the goodness that has ever brought the seed-time +and the harvest. + +Superstitious credulity is not faith. It is more than the foresight +that feeds on visions of a future heaven; it is the clear eye that +looks keenly at the things of to-day. No truth is the better for being +taken on trust; it cannot be possessed until it is known, not on the +authority of another but on your own experience. No man ever became a +martyr for a truth he received at second hand. + +Only a first hand faith is a force in the world. It is born of life; +it determines life. Your faith forms you. If you do not believe men, +how can you be a man? If you do not believe in things better, nobler, +purer, how can you move towards them? If at bottom your faith is in +things mean, sordid, sensual, base, then thither turns your life, and +no extraneous efforts, no badges, buttons, or creeds can change its +course. + +You can measure a man's weight in this world, by the strength and +clearness of his convictions. Poor you may be, friendless, alone, +weak, unlearned; but all this can be overcome if bright in the heart +there burns the unquenchable flame of some great passion, some high +faith. Given this fire within them, all the tools shall be found, but +without it the finest endowment of brain and body is valueless. + +Given but some great principle, some purpose that becomes a holy +passion, something that leads you, like one of long ago who +"steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem," then all power is +yours. The man who has faith to remove mountains always finds the +picks and the steam shovels somewhere. He takes the tools he has, +though they may seem but toys beside his task, and lo! some morning +when the dreamers awake the mountain is no longer there. Faith has had +her perfect work. + +It is faith that gives fortitude, faith that gives force. The dreamers +of dreams have ever been, after all, the doers of the great deeds. +Seeing the things that are not seen is the secret of doing the things +that remain to be seen. + +No worthier word was ever said of the divine Man than that which spoke +of Him as the leader and completer of faith. So great a work was +possible only with sublime confidence in the glorious possibilities of +mankind, only with unshakable assurance that all that was good and true +in the universe was working with Him for the good of all. With Him +faith was an eye that saw man's hidden good, a hand that grasped the +infinite might moving for the best. + + + +FEAR AND FAITH + +To many faith simply means denying the reason and relying on emotion. +They have what is called saving faith and are able to feel that the +Almighty forgives their wrong-doings, ceasing to be angry with them; +their faith being perfect when it takes away fear of punishment. To +these faith is that which they pay in the form of credence to whatever +is ecclesiastically asserted in exchange for the complaisance of diety +[Transcriber's note: deity?]. + +Those who deny all religion assert that it is founded on fear. There +is enough in that assertion to give it the colour of truth. Yet fear +of the unseen is but the survival of savagery. Faith founded on fear +becomes servile, debasing, superstitious. If religion has no higher +motive than that of fear, the trembling and dread before some great +omnipotent unknown, it can give the world neither help nor uplift. + +What is there in God to fear? Is the Lord of life also the foe of our +lives? Is the author of a world so fair and lovely, inviting us to joy +and inspiring with feelings of pleasure, the foe of happiness? Has He +made the world a paradise and planted in man's breast the seeds of +kindness, gentleness and sweet thoughts only to glower over His world +in hatred and to damn it with dread of Himself? + +All things that can be known argue the goodness of the unknown. As +soon as a man learns to live with nature he loses his fear of forest, +beast, and sea. Familiarity breeds confidence, affection and +reverence. Only the remote and unfamiliar fill us with dread. The +city bred tremble in the woods at night, where the native feels himself +amongst well loved friends. + +In the same manner the fear of the divine, born of unfamiliarity, +instead of being an evidence of reverence or of religion, becomes the +mark of ignorance and cowardice. Rectitude of conduct, resulting +wholly from regulating oneself as under an all-seeing critical eye and +in dread of a far-reaching devastating hand, cannot produce enrichment +of character. Hatred never gave birth to holiness. + +The souls that in all ages have lived nearest to things spiritual, that +have most enriched the world with thoughts, whose inner visions pierced +our outer clouds, seeing something of the glory of the infinite, +brought back no pictures of a face austere, of a cruel despot, or of +aught for love or truth to fear. + +True faith instead of being a compromise to allay our fears of unknown +ills and calamities, ever has been the fearless, reverent search for +the face of the infinite. It does not say: "I believe that God will +let me alone because I did those prescribed things"; rather it says: "I +cannot be satisfied alone and apart from Him, the source and sole +satisfaction of all life." + +Science with its passion for truth, art with its passion for beauty, +ethics with its passion for rightness, are all but parts of true +religion, the soul's passion for the infinite heart and mind in which +all ideas of truth and beauty take their rise and find their full +realization. + +The soul of man never has ceased to cry out for the living God; the +religion of fear has given it no satisfaction. Its followers have been +too busy building themselves shelters from the heaven they dread, +shelters that become as leaden shields shutting out the eternal +tenderness and beneficence. No man ever found the celestial city or +its glorious king so long as he regarded his religion as a cyclone +cellar. + +To those who, with eyes of reverence, seek to find the good in all +things here, believing that love is better and mightier than hate, that +whatever is good, kindly, tender, pure, and ennobling in us, is but the +reflection from the glory of the infinite, traces in our dust by which +we find our way to Him who inhabits eternity, these, through eyes of +faith, have found a presence beyond description or definition. + +Fear sets afar off a mighty monarch; faith finds near at hand one whom +it calls "Father." Fear shrinks from the impending wrath, love rests +in the unchanging goodness. Fear imagines a throne and flaming sword; +faith has confidence in a better day ever dawning, in the triumph at +last of right, in the reality of an incomprehensible love that sings in +its joy, soothes in its sorrow, strengthens in its discipline, a life +and love nearer and more real than any of the other facts of living. + + + +FAITH FOR THE FUTURE + +You cannot tell much about a man's faith by his willingness to deal in +futures without any foundation in fact. And yet no man is ready to +face the future unless his heart is nerved by a high and worthy faith. +This alone can give strength to look down the coming days and to take +up their tasks. + +None of us can know what these new days hold for us; fear readily +conjures up pictures of disaster. But because of certain sublime +confidences we hold we banish our fears, shake off our sloth, and +gladly step out into the unknown and untrodden country of to-morrow. + +Faith is the force of all the ages. It accounts for the past; it +enters and determines the future. Because certain men in days gone by +believed certain things intensely; because they were thrilled by great +visions, by glorious ideals, history was wrought out in the forge of +their convictions, under the hammer of their wills. + +No great things are done except by the power of faith, under glowing +hopes and compelling convictions. It is her faith in her boy's future +that makes the mother willing to suffer, keeps her patient, that buoys +up the father in the strife and weariness of life. No man or woman is +doing anything that makes the world richer for mere bread and butter; +some purpose and vision is behind the worthy work. + +It is because somehow we believe, no matter how we may phrase the +belief, that destiny is behind this strange weaving we call life that +we are content to seem to be the shuttles jerked hither and thither. +We bear the ills of to-day because we dimly see the glorious goal of +the good of all. We do a full day's work only as we see somehow an +eternal wage. + +It makes little difference what creed a man may hold, for that has +become almost wholly a matter of philosophical speculation regarding +things unknown and often unimportant, but it makes all the difference +what measure and quality of faith he has, whether he feels the force of +great aspirations and is controlled by eternal principles. + +It may belong to few of us to be heralded as heroes, and the judgment +of history may confer on none the martyr's crown, but the hero's joy +and the martyr's glory are in the heart of every one who boldly reaches +up to and lives out the highest he conceives, for he will not do that +without sacrifice and pain on his side nor without enriching for +mankind on the other. + +The largest faith may be manifest in the lowliest places. When all the +work of the ages appears, when the weaving of the centuries is turned +with its finished side towards us, we may see that the man who has laid +the brick or fed the furnace or the woman who has washed and cooked in +the home and tended the little ones, doing these things for love, has +shot the most glowing colours into the great fabric. + +It is not the thing you do so much as the spirit in which you do it +that makes it great or small. Faith determines this spirit, for faith +is that which fashions the ideal of the one we love, the ideal we serve +and for which we joyfully suffer. The prophet whose burning words +cannot forget lives by the faith in a vision broad and sweeping; but +not less is the faith of the humble toiler who lives each day by the +vision of his home and fireside. + +Nor is this all. It is faith that draws on life's invisible sources of +power and refreshing; it is faith that finds inner contact with the +invisible. How empty is life if it hold nothing but things; how hungry +grows the heart fed only on cold facts. For each day as it comes we +need to be able to draw on the deep springs of the water of life, the +springs from which our fathers drank and found strength to lay the +foundations of our day. + +Faith is not the blind confidence that, somehow, Providence will send +us daily bread. It is the faculty by which the heart eats of the bread +of heaven, by which it comes into fellowship with the great and +immortal of all ages, by which it walks with Jesus of Nazareth and +every spirit like His and learns to read life as love law and see it as +leading to eternal good. + + + + +XIX + +Hindrances and Helps from Within + + _Worry_ + _A Cure for the Blues_ + _The Gospel of Song_ + + +_Airing our aches will never heal them._ + +_This would be a sad world but for our sorrows._ + +_A merry heart kills more microbes than any medicine._ + +_It is always a pleasure to boost another sinner down._ + +_We make mistakes; other people commit sins._ + +_Nothing worries worry worse than work._ + +_A little modesty often hides a lot of vanity._ + +_He whose life leads nowhere is never late in getting there._ + +_Love runs over but it never gives over._ + +_Never put off to-morrow the meanness you can put off to-day._ + +_Happiness rests on thoughts and not on things._ + +_He who has friends only to use them has them only to lose them._ + +_To-morrow's burden is the only one that breaks the back of to-day._ + + +XIX + +WORRY + +Worry is wicked because it causes weakness. It robs the life of its +powers; it thwarts our possibilities. Anxiety is wrong, not because it +indicates infidelity as to the wise and loving providence overruling +life, but because it is a criminal waste of life's forces, it prevents +our doing our own work, and it irritates and hinders others. + +What a great cloud would be lifted from our world if all the needless +fears and frowns were chased away. One scowling man, going to his work +worrying over it, will spread the contagion of apprehension and +cowardly fretfulness through almost every group with which he mingles. +Our mental health has as much to do with our success and happiness as +any other thing. + +The fog that bothers us most of all is that we carry on our faces, that +which rises from our heart fears. Once savage man lived in perpetual +fear of innumerable malignant spirits; civilized man lives in fear of +invisible and imaginary accidents. For every real foe that has to be +faced we fight out hypothetical battles with a dozen shadows. + +Worry is a matter of outlook and habit. It depends, first of all, on +whether you are going to take all the facts into account and look on +life as a whole, or see only the dismal possibilities. Then it depends +on whether you will yield continually to the blue moods that may arise +from apprehension or from indigestion until you have become colour +blind to all but the blue things. + +How trivial are the things over which we worry, by means of which we +cultivate the enslaving habit of worry, whether we will catch the +approaching car or the one that will come two minutes later, whether it +will rain when we want it to shine, or shine when we want it to rain. + +How ineffective it all is. Whoever by worrying all night succeeded in +bringing about the kind of weather he wanted? More than that, it is +fatal to successfully accomplishing those things that do lie within our +power. The worry over catching a train or doing a piece of work so +agitates the mind and unsettles the will that it reduces the chances of +efficiency. + +But there are larger causes of worry than these, sickness, loss, +impending disasters. Yet how futile to help and how potent to increase +these ills is worry. The darkest days and the deepest sorrows need +that we should be at our best to meet them. To yield to fear and +fretting is to turn the powers of heart and brain from allies to +enemies. + +No occasion is so great or so small that we can afford to meet it +either with fear or without forethought. The imperative obligation to +make the most of our lives is not met by apprehending the worst, but by +doing the best we can. We have no right to give to forebodings the +time and force we need for preparing for and actually meeting our +duties. + +The best cure for worry is work. In the larger number of instances if +we but do our work well we shall have no need to worry over the +results. Much of our fearful fretting is but a confession of work illy +done and the apprehension of deserved consequences. + +Then faithful work by absorbing the thought and energies cures the +habit of worry. It is the empty mind that falls first prey to +foreboding, and is most easily filled with the spectres of woe. Do +your work with all your might; let it go at that, knowing that no +amount of further thought can affect the issue of it. + +No matter how dark the way, how empty the scrip, the cheerful heart has +sunshine and feasting. And this not by a blind indifference, a +childish optimism, but by the blessed faculty of finding the riches +that are by every wayside, of catching at all the good there is in +living. If you would dispel your gloom and depreciate your burdens, +begin to appreciate your blessings. Do your best, seek out the best, +believe in the best, and the best shall be. + + + +A CURE FOR THE BLUES + +There is an honest confession, and one that proved to be good for the +soul of the man who made it, in the Seventy-seventh Psalm. Asaph, the +singer of that song, had had a bad spell of the blues. He was nervous, +sleepless, fretful, full of vague regrets and querulous complainings. +He had reviewed the whole troop of his imaginary miseries, and wound up +by wondering whether God really cared anything about him. One might +well believe that he had been taking in altogether too many social +functions. Whatever the cause, he had come to an exceedingly +disagreeable condition. + +Despite the fact that many suppose that saintliness is never fully +achieved unless the whole nature be soured, it still remains true that +of all the blights upon this earth, few are more contrary to the will +of a God of love and sunshine than the disposition that abides in the +chronic blues. It lives on regrets for the good things that might have +been and dreadings of the evil things that yet may be. It is either +complaining or criticising. + +Their gall enters the hearts of such people. They who look within and +see nothing but bitterness, when they look without find a film over +their eyes that colours their whole world, until they lose faith in God +and hope for man. Then they lay the blame on their circumstances, or, +worse yet, on what they call an "All Wise Providence," whom they +imagine to be as bitter against them as they are against the world. + +This attitude soon becomes fixed. Unconsciously it is cultivated. +Then friends and members of the family turn with loathing from the +atmosphere of chronic pessimism; the habitué has become a cuttlefish +among his fellows, only emanating floods of inky misery. He wonders +why things do not come his way; why business associates desert him and +troubles assail him more and more. The truth is that imaginary +troubles tend to become real, and fortune never smiles on a man who +turns a sour face towards her. + +Character is contagious. Even if we had the right to enjoy our own +misery we have no right to infect our neighbours with it. You are +bound by social obligations as well as by selfish reasons to cure the +blues every time you have them. + +And there is a remedy. Asaph began to cure himself when, instead of +saying, "All things are against me," he said, "This is my infirmity," +my fault; I am enough to turn a beehive sour. His cure was almost +perfect when he said, "I will remember the years of the right hand of +the Most High." The cure for the blues is simple, then. First, own up +to it that the largest part of your miseries comes out of your own +mind, out of your distorted views of things. Then begin to thank God +for His goodness, call to mind the many things for which you should be +grateful. + +To remember our mercies is to bury our miseries. There is a lot of +good in this old world and they get it who go for it. There is +something good in every man; the best people find the best in people. +After all, our lives are determined not by the things about us but by +the things we invite into us. It is impossible to keep that man blue +who persistently looks for the bright side of things, or to keep him +poor or sad who is affording a welcome to every good thing, every +happy, cheering thought. Soon the man who lives like that gets so busy +keeping track of his own and other people's happiness that he forgets +to think whether he is happy or not, just as a healthy man forgets to +count his pulse or his respirations. So, if you are tempted to feel +blue, remember it is a sin to nurse your sadness; it is a duty to +cultivate happiness. + + + +THE GOSPEL OF SONG + +Singing cures sighing. Lift up a note of praise and you can raise the +heaviest off and roll it clean off the heart. Christianity is a +religion of song. Its forerunner, Judaism, left the ages the rich +legacy of the Psalms. Its founder, when he knew that death was +imminent, sang one of those ancient songs with his friends. His +followers early gathered for worship in song. Peter beguiled prison +hours with hymns. Meeting in the catacombs, the early Christians made +the galleries echo with their praise. + +To-day every revival is but a wave of song. The successful churches +know the inspirational and the ethical power of good hymns. The +decline of many a church may be traced to the exclusion of the people +from their share in the worship, to the attempt to praise God by proxy, +or to substitute an artistic exhibition for an act of exaltation. + +Not only in public worship, but in private life, hymns and songs have a +significant influence. It is always easy to remember rhymed forms of +truth; happy the heart with a store of good hymns; it is provisioned +for many a long voyage. When the light burns low the heart is +illumined by the memory of choice thoughts expressed in poetry, by +songs sung long ago. When the burden seems all too heavy, and the +traveller would fain lie down in despair, he remembers some word of +cheer, some stanza from another pilgrim's song, and he is strengthened +for the road. + +Christianity is a singing religion, because it is a happy religion. It +came to end the gloom of this world. The song must take the place of +the sigh. Happiness must rule the utterance. Even a hearty whistle +may be a wonderful means of grace. Every natural expression of +happiness becomes a religious act. The flowers praise the gardener by +being beautiful and fragrant, and men praise God by being happy. + +Song is a creator of happiness. You cannot sing songs of joy and +nourish jealousy or hatred. A song of gratitude for things you have +will often chase away the clouds of gloom over those you dread. It is +a sin to be sad when you might as well be glad, and it is a sin to be +silent when you might as well be singing. + +One song may surpass many a sermon in its power over a life. Great +songs have sung men into battle and stiffened their melting hearts. +Great songs have touched our clay and thrilled it to the divinely +heroic. Songs sung in the stillness of the evening over the baby's +cradle have ever been the mother's consecration for all her sacrifice. +Hymns bring back hallowed memories; a strain of song will touch a chord +no syllogism could sound; the simple words of an old hymn bring comfort +and new hope to hearts broken and crushed. + +We may not all make sermons, but we can all sing songs. To make the +good singer there is needed not the artist but the heart. Sing away +the gloom; sing in the gratitude, the joy, and love, and strength; sing +in the courage, the aspiration and hope. Men may reject our sermons, +but they will rejoice in our songs, for they are theirs also. The +creeds change, but the old hymns stand. + +Store your memory with the songs that time has tried. The thoughts +that were meat and strength to others shall be your bread in desert +days, your light in darkness. Praise God by a life of happy praise. + + + + +XX + +Does He Care? + + _The One at The Helm_ + _The Shepherd and The Sheep_ + _The Father's Care_ + + +_Faith's fervour is more than effervescence._ + +_The lights of the world are not advertising signs._ + +_Sow the sand and you reap only cinders in your eyes._ + +_No man ever broke his back under his brother's burden._ + +_The fear of reputation is often taken for the love of righteousness._ + +_You cannot cure your sorrows by taking them out in a wheel chair._ + +_A niggardly purse in the pocket becomes a thorn in the side._ + +_Tears over yesterday's broken toys blind us to today's treasures._ + +_Things do not prove themselves sacred by segregating themselves from +secular concerns._ + +_Heaven intrusts no great cargo to the vessel that spreads its sails to +every wind that blows._ + +_When a man is getting fat out of the fall of others he is sure to be a +warm advocate of their right to be free to fall._ + +_Many a man will be surprised when he gets to heaven to find how large +a place his little kindly deeds occupy in its history._ + + +XX + +THE ONE AT THE HELM + +Danger tears away our disguises. In hours of peril the true man +appears, and at such times, if ever, the man speaks the truth. Fearing +the boat was sinking, the disciples had little thought of the dignity +or the divinity of the one who lay asleep in the helmsman's place. +Rudely they awaken Him with their indignant cries, wondering why one +who had spoken such wondrous words before seems indifferent now to +their danger. "Carest Thou not that we perish?" they cry. + +Every man who has been accustomed to take God for granted has used +almost the same words at some time in his life. The hour of tempest, +when the uncontrollable waves of trouble and winds of adversity seemed +ready to overwhelm him, when he had done all that mortal might do, then +it seemed as though this God to whom he had prayed so often, of whom he +had learned to think as part of his life, was absent or indifferent. + +It is the question of every soul in sorrow or testing, "Does God care +anything about me?" It is more than a speculative inquiry then. +Theologians may have drawn up their specifications of the Most High, +and, in the peaceful ways of their lives, they may be satisfied with +their handiwork. But when, even into their cloistered walks, some +great sorrow or grim death has come stalking, then, with dry lips and +moist brow they cry, "Master, are you asleep? Do you not care?" + +What is there at the helm of this great ship of life? Is there any one +or is it steered automatically, blindly holding its way and heeding +neither waves nor rocks nor other craft? Has this universe a heart or +only an engine at its centre? The inquiry becomes pressing and +pertinent, indeed, when inexplicable distress and anguish that seem all +unnecessary break down all the man's strength and courage. + +A man can no more content himself with a far off being, sitting in the +heavens in royal state, winning reverence by remoteness, than his own +children would be satisfied to know him only as a sovereign. He craves +the friendship of that one; he longs for compassion, sympathy, +assistance such as friend gives to friend; in a word, he looks for +love. You cannot love an absentee God any more than you can love an +abstraction or a theory. + +But the need of one who will come close into our lives, who aids in the +hour of extremity, does not meet itself. The fact remains that often +we seem to be left to the mercy of the tempest; the elements do their +worst and no hand is lifted and no voice is heard that still the waves. +Full often the storm seems to finish its work and only clinging to the +wreckage or swept on the waves do we come into port. + +Is there any answer to the great question, Does any greater one care +for our lives? If we are looking for an answer as susceptible to +demonstration as a mathematical proposition we are doomed to +disappointment. It is possible to believe in providence without being +able either to prove or fully comprehend it. The child must become the +parent before he can understand the ways of the father or mother with +him; yet he can know their love before he can comprehend their ways. + +Nothing could do more harm than to have the absolute assurance that an +almighty friend would fly to our aid and protection in every time of +danger or need. A friend whose power relieved us from the necessity of +prudence or courage or endeavour would be a foe indeed. The All Wise +loves man too well and too wisely to make plain always His ways of +caring for him and His purposes of protection. + +The furrowed faces and whitened heads of men may be the will of love as +truly as the smooth ways of ease and complacency. There is one at the +helm, but His concern is more for the making of strong sailors than for +the securing of smooth sailing. The best evidence of the care of the +Most High for all the sons of men is not in the immediate unbaring of +His arm for their protection, but rather in the manner in which He +causes the wind and the waves, the struggle with the tempest, the need +for the nerving of the soul in the hour of peril all to work out His +will, the will of great love, the bringing of the mariner to His +likeness in character and soul. + + + +THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP + +Millions have lived and died in faith in that word, The Lord is my +Shepherd; nations have sung its strain into the strength of their +being. The picture of the one who leads His flock, who carries the +lambs in His arms, appeals to all; yet who has not some time, perhaps +often, questioned: After all, is there any one who cares; is there any +eye to see or heart to heed if I--or, indeed, all men--should faint or +fall by the way? + +Perhaps there are some who no longer find aught beyond an imagery of +poetic beauty in the old strain, who even feel that it would be +retreating intellectually to conceive of an infinite heart that broods +over men or a hand that helps. They tell us that science has wiped out +the possibility of such an one as this great Shepherd of the flock of +humanity. Yet even they are not dead to this great thought that so +long stirred men's souls and made them brave, ready to sacrifice, to +die. + +The truth is, the singer of long ago was but giving expression, in +figures familiar to him, of a truth we all apprehend with greater or +less clearness, one that alone gives strength, hope, and faith to our +hearts, the conviction that back of all the warring purposes and +jangling discords of our lives and our world there is reason, and +order, and beneficence. + +The science that seemed to wipe out the conception of a mighty Creator +who fashioned the first man with His fingers, but emphasizes with a +stress that grows from day to day the fact that this universe is not +without order, its forces as sheep without a shepherd; that the stars +are not wandering, nor the least atom without guidance; that, as one +put it long ago, all things work together for good. + +If the remotest particle of matter is bound up with the mighty laws of +the universe, guided, governed, led to its appointed end, bound to +serve its purpose, shall we not have faith that the law that guides the +atom and holds the planet, pervades all the universe and takes us in +its mighty grasp? + +Not with doubt but with larger meaning and deeper assurance may I sing, +"The Lord is my shepherd," thinking not only of one who takes up my +little life and carries it, but of the great fact of all life under +law, law divine, all pervading, moving in majesty on to the completion +of its purposes. I may not know what the Shepherd looks like; I may +have lost my old simple pictures of personality and appearance; the +larger fact grows too great for fixed words. + +This is to see the guidance of the Shepherd in the great things of our +world as well as in the little. It is a strange, a poor religion that +believes that providence will send a man his dinner but never gives a +thought to the great purposes working out through all the strife of our +common life, through our industrial, social, and political problems, +nor remembers that life is more than meals or millinery. + +There is the large faith which we need for all times, to believe that a +plan is being wrought out behind all the seeming chaos, that there is a +purpose even though we cannot yet trace its lines, to be willing to go +on doing our work, laying down our lives, because the great world needs +us; the Shepherd cannot bring His flock to the green pastures and the +still waters unless we live and labour and die. + +There is only one solution to all the mystery of our lives, the riddle +of history and the universe; it is the spirit solution, that we are but +the offspring, as all things are but the creation of Spiritual forces; +that we are working out spiritual destinies, the green pastures and the +still waters are but emblems of felicities and beauties beyond our +tongue, the full orbed glory of the soul to which the Shepherd leads by +toilsome mountain ways or dreary desert trails; but at last we come to +the house of the Lord, where we may dwell forever. + + + +THE FATHER'S CARE + +Formal creeds have little to say of the belief in the overruling care +of the All Father. Perhaps the belief is so nearly universal as to be +without the range of debate so dear to creed makers. Yet at all times, +in all lands, man, whether the savage, the oriental mystic, or the +cool-headed Christian, in various ways and with different phrases, has +recognized the hand that, from behind the scenes, touched his affairs +and often seemed to order his life. Whether it be the hand of force or +of friend, the fact has been felt. + +True, the laziest man is apt to have the readiest sense of the +intention of Providence to care for him, to send him bread well +buttered; the foolish and thoughtless depend on heaven to do their +thinking, and many court bankruptcy while praying for solvency. But +the improvidence of man does not disprove the providence of God. So +far from encouraging sloth and recklessness this truth provokes to +progress by the assurance of the coöperation of infinite powers with +our best endeavours. + +It is a thought we cannot escape; the all wise must be the all loving. +The spirit at the centre of all must embrace all within the circle of +his love; and that love will not lie quiescent, helpless when its +objects are in distress, in perplexity, or need, when it might succour, +save, or suggest the way of success. If there is a heart of love there +is a hand of help. + +Yet it seems too great a thought. What are we but dust on the wheels +of the universe? Often do our fainting hearts question whether there +be any, outside our own little circle, who care whether we suffer, +whether we succeed. Can it be that the petty affairs of a life that +passes like the hoar frost before the morning sun can even interest, +still less call forth the aid, of the one in whom we all live and move +and have our being? + +Despite all questionings men will ever go on praying to that one; they +will turn to an ear that hears, they will seek a heart that feels, and +look for hands reached out in hours of necessity. Experience indorses +their faith. Nearly all can look back and see where destiny has seemed +to breathe upon them; their old plans wilted, and new ones, and new +ways sprung up, bearing other and fairer flowers than they had ever +dreamed; a mighty, mysterious power had intervened. + +What does it all mean? That we are but puppets in these strange unseen +hands; that we can neither will nor work for ourselves? No; it but +means what poets sang long ago when, seeking after that which far +transcends all thought and all imagery, they cried, "Surely Thou art +our Father." That which was best in them, the holy fire of fatherhood, +became a mirror in which they saw the infinite. + +From the source of all life, humanity has learned the great lessons of +family care and provision. All that is good in our families is true of +this great family of all mankind. The great purpose of this family, as +of all families, is the development of the highest, fullest life in its +members. Fatherhood regards the provision of food, clothing, and +shelter but as incidental to the great purpose of training the children. + +This is the purpose of the Father of us all, to develop the best in us. +When our weak hearts cry for ease, for rest, for pleasures, He sends +the task, the sorrow, the loss. When we think all life's lessons well +learned He sends us up to higher grades with harder tasks. Yet ever +over all is the pitying, compassionate yearning of a father's heart +that never forgets the weakness of the child. + +Wisely the father's love seems to hide its working. Like all things +deep and sublime it passes comprehension; it may often seem like +indifference. All the child can do is to bend every effort to do his +best, to work out the father's plan so far as he knows it, to know, +through all, that God is good. Then, when the child grows to the man, +the man towards the divine, the things that seemed strange are made +plain in the light of the Father's face. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEVELS OF LIVING*** + + +******* This file should be named 18712-8.txt or 18712-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/7/1/18712 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/18712-8.zip b/18712-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdde73c --- /dev/null +++ b/18712-8.zip diff --git a/18712.txt b/18712.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b4fa55 --- /dev/null +++ b/18712.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5759 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Levels of Living, by Henry Frederick Cope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Levels of Living + Essays on Everyday Ideals + + +Author: Henry Frederick Cope + + + +Release Date: June 29, 2006 [eBook #18712] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEVELS OF LIVING*** + + +E-text prepared by Al Haines + + + +LEVELS OF LIVING + +Essays on Everyday Ideals + +by + +HENRY FREDERICK COPE + +Author of "The Modern Sunday-School +in Principle and Practice" + + + + + + + +New York ---- Chicago ---- Toronto +Fleming H. Revell Company +London And Edinburgh +Copyright, 1908, by +Fleming H. Revell Company +New York: 158 Fifth Avenue +Chicago: 80 Wabash Avenue +Toronto: 25 Richmond Street, W. +London: 21 Paternoster Square +Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street + + + + + To My Wife + + Not in the sentiment of dedication alone, + offering to you what I may have done, but + in simple acknowledgment of obligation + to you + + Elizabeth + + best gift of God and inspiration of man + + + + +Under the title of "A Sermon For To-day" these short essays, on the art +of every-day living in the light of eternal life, were published by +_The Chicago Sunday Tribune_, through a series of years, and were +regularly printed in the Sunday editions of a group of the great +dailies. The short sentences were also published with the Sermons +under the head of "Sentence Sermons." The courtesy of _The Chicago +Daily Tribune_ in permitting the publication of these "sermons," with +such changes as have seemed best, is gratefully acknowledged. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE HIGHER LEVELS + The Real and the Ideal--The Bread of Life--Life's + Unvarying Values. + + II. INVISIBLE ALLIES + More than a Fighting Chance--The Unseen + Hand--The One in the Midst. + + III. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SERVICE + Self and Service--My Soul or My Service?--The + Satisfaction of Service. + + IV. THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS + The Power of Happiness--The Secret of + Happiness--The Folly of Anxiety. + + V. THE CURRICULUM OF CHARACTER + The Great School--The Purpose of the + Course--The Price of Perfection. + + VI. THE AGE-LONG MIRACLE + The Sufficient Sign--Behold the Man--The + Life that Lifts. + + VII. SEEING THE UNSEEN + The Sense of the Unseen--The Brook in the + Way--That Which Is High. + + VIII. SOURCES OF STRENGTH AND INSPIRATION + Strength for the Daily Task--The Sense of + the Infinite--The Great Inspiration. + + IX. FINDING FOUNDATIONS + The Passing and Permanent--Facing the + Facts--The Real Foundation. + + X. THE PASSION FOR PERFECTION + The Great Search--The Hunger of the Ages--The + Sole Satisfaction. + + XI. THE PRICE OF SUCCESS + The Law of Selection--The Fallacy of + Negation--The Secret of All. + + XII. DIVINE SERVICE + The Ideal Service--The Orthodox Service--The + Heavenly Service. + + XIII. OUR FATHER AND OUR FELLOWS + The Primary Reconciliation--Faith in Our + Fellows--The Law of Forgiveness. + + XIV. MEN AND MAMMON + Riches and Righteousness--Religion and + Business--The Moral End of Money-Making. + + XV. THE EVERY-DAY HEAVEN + The Beauty of Holiness--The Gladness of + Goodness--The True Paradise + + XVI. TRUTH AND LIFE + Religion of a Practical Mind--The Head + and the Heart--New Truths for New Days. + + XVII. THE FRUITS OF FAITH + Root and Fruit--The Orthodox Accent--The + Business of Religion. + + XVIII. THE FORCE OF FAITH + "The Victory that Overcometh"--Fear + and Faith--Faith for the Future. + + XIX. HINDRANCES AND HELPS FROM WITHIN + Worry--A Cure for the Blues--The Gospel of Song. + + XX. DOES HE CARE? + The One at the Helm--The Shepherd and + the Sheep--The Father's Care. + + + + +I + +The Higher Levels + + _The Real and the Ideal_ + _The Bread of Life_ + _Life's Unvarying Values_ + + +_The ideal is the mold in which the real is cast._ + +_Half of success is in seeing the significance of little things._ + +_He finds no weal who flees all woe._ + +_You do not make life sacred by looking sad._ + +_Sympathy is a key that fits the lock of any heart._ + +_Soul health will not come by taking religion as a dose._ + +_Many a cloud that we call sorrow is but the shadow of our own +selfishness._ + +_To live wholly for possessions is to paralyze the life to the +possibility of permanently possessing anything._ + +_It takes more than willingness to be nothing to make you amount to +something._ + +_This is never a wrong world to him who is right with its heart._ + + +THE REAL AND THE IDEAL + +It is probable that from the age of sixteen up to thirty Jesus of +Nazareth spent His life in mechanical toil; He made wooden plows, ax +handles, and yokes; He served as a carpenter. Then for three years He +gave Himself to the ministry of ideal things, exclusively to the +service of the spirit. + +There is a wonderful satisfaction in making things, in looking over +some concrete piece of work accomplished when the day ends. It is a +satisfaction that belongs to the artisan. Is it not probable that many +said that it was a great pity when Jesus gave up so useful a trade as +His? To them He seemed to be but chasing the rainbow. + +But to-day who possesses a single one of the things that young +carpenter made? And did we possess them all what better off would the +world be? Yet, on the other hand, how ill could this world afford to +lose what He gave it by those three years of the service of the ideal. + +In our age of things we so easily forget how large is the place of the +ideal and the spiritual. Ever estimating our assets in the concrete, +we fail to recognize that our real wealth lies in thoughts and things +abstract. The permanent possessions of humanity are spiritual. Not +acres nor armies, not banks nor business make a nation, but mighty, +compelling ideals and traditions. + +Jesus, Shakespeare, Browning, Lowell, Emerson left no goods and +chattels, no bonds and mortgages; they left inspirations; they +bequeathed ideals; living first for the soul, their souls survive and +remain to us all. The truly great who still stand after the test of +the years are those who have lived for the spirit. + +This is as true of the worker and the warrior as of the philosopher and +poet. All were inspired by glowing visions; they set their affections +on things above the trifles for which we struggle and spend ourselves. +They endured as seeing glories to us invisible; therefore their names +endure. + +The great undertakings of our own day are possible only under spiritual +inspirations. No rewards of money only can induce a man to steadfastly +conduct affairs of great moment and enterprise; he is buoyed up by a +great hope; often the very greatness of the task and the sense of +serving great ends carry him on; always he sees the worth in the ideal +rather than the wage. + +We must learn to measure life with the sense of the infinite. We must +not think that a man has failed because he has not left burdened +warehouses and bonds. We must cease to think that we can tell whether +work be high or lowly by the size of the wage. We need eyes to see the +glory of the least act in the light of the glowing motive. + +A new estimate is placed on each act when it is measured not by bread +alone but by the things of the soul. The mother's care of the +children; the father's steady humble toil for them, the faithful +watching over the sick, the ministry of the lowly, all have a new glory +in the light of the love that leads the way and the spirit that guides +those who do the least of these things. + +We need to learn for ourselves what is the work that endures. It is a +good thing to lay a course of bricks so that it shall be true, but of +greater value to the world than the wall that stands firm is the spirit +that forces the man to build aright. No man can do even this without +an ideal set in his heart, and when the wall shall have fallen the +world shall still be enriched by his ideal. + +Too many of us are fretting because we are not getting on in the world. +Seeing the apparent ease with which some acquire fortune, we become +discontented with our small gains. We talk as though fortunes and +follies, money and lands were the only things worth while. Yet we know +better, for we all find our real joys in other things. + + + +THE BREAD OF LIFE + +There are lives that have bread in abundance and yet are starved; with +barns and warehouses filled, with shelves and larders laden they are +empty and hungry. No man need envy them; their feverish, restless +whirl in the dust of publicity is but the search for a satisfaction +never to be found in things. They are called rich in a world where no +others are more truly, pitiably poor; having all, they are yet lacking +in all because they have neglected the things within. + +The abundance of bread is the cause of many a man's deeper hunger. +Having known nothing of the discipline that develops life's hidden +sources of satisfaction, nothing of the struggle in which deep calls +unto deep and the true life finds itself, he spends his days seeking to +satisfy his soul with furniture, with houses and lands, with yachts and +merchandise, seeking to feed his heart on things, a process of less +promise and reason than feeding a snapping turtle on thoughts. + +It takes many of us altogether too long to learn that you cannot find +satisfaction so long as you leave the soul out of your reckoning. If +the heart be empty the life cannot be filled. The flow must cease at +the faucet if the fountains go dry. The prime, the elemental +necessities of our being are for the life rather than the body, its +house. But, alas, how often out of the marble edifice issues the poor +emaciated inmate, how out of the life having many things comes that +which amounts to nothing. + +The essential things are not often those which most readily strike our +blunt senses. We see the shell first. To the undeveloped mind the +material is all there is. But looking deeper into life there comes an +awakening to the fact and the significance of the spiritual, the +feeling that the reason, the emotions, the joys and pains that have +nothing to do with things, the ties that knit one to the infinite, all +constitute the permanent elements of life. + +Because man is a spirit his life never can consist wholly in things; he +must come into his heritage of the soul wealth of all the ages; he must +reach out, though often as in the dark, until across the void there +come voices, the sages and the seers, the prophets, and the poets +speaking the language of the soul. In these he finds his food nor can +his deeper hunger be assuaged until it thus is fed. + +Because man is a spirit and gradually is coming into the dominant +spirit life in which things shall count for less and thought and +character for more, he seeks after his own kind. The deeps of life +have their relationships. The spirit of man cries out after the father +of spirits. By whatever name men have called the most high they ever +have sought after Him, the eternal, who would be one with them in soul, +in all that is essential and abiding in being. + +Every religion, every philosophy, every endeavour after character and +truth is but the cry of humanity for word with God. Hearing His word +on any lip the heart of man answers with joy. The words of eternal +truth have been the food of the great in all ages. Fainting in the +fight the message from the unseen, the echo of everlasting verities, +has revived their spirits; they have fought the fight that despises +things and seeks truth. + +Who would not exchange a mess of pottage for the benediction from a +father's lips? Who is so dead he no longer finds more satisfaction in +truth and love and beauty than in food or furniture? And why are we so +foolish as to seek to satisfy ourselves with things that perish, while +down to the least blade of creation earth is laden with unfading riches +and God is everywhere? + +If we might but learn this lesson, we people of the laden hand and the +empty heart, that since life is more than digestion and man more than +beast or machine, since determining all is the spiritual world, they +only are wise who set first things first, who use the garnered +experience of the past and the opportunities of the present to the +enriching of the soul, who listen among all the voices of time for the +words that proceed from the lips of Him who inhabiteth eternity. + + + +LIFE'S UNVARYING VALUES + +Life is the business of learning to use things as tools, the real as +the servant of the ideal, to make conditions even better that character +may grow the more, to serve in the making of things and the enduring of +things under the inspiration of the full and glorious purpose of life, +the realizing of the best for ourselves, the rendering of our best to +others. + +Only an age that has lost both heart and intellect--the divinely given +measuring rods of life--will think of estimating a life by the money +measure. It is a shallow world that knows a man as soon as and only +when it has scheduled his marketable assets; nor is it a happy augury +for a nation when it acquires the habit of estimating its men by the +length of the catalogues of their possessions. + +A period of outer prosperity is always in danger of being one of inner +paralysis. Luxury is a foe to life. Character does not develop +freely, largely, beautifully in an atmosphere of commercialism. A +moral decline that but presages enduring disaster is sure to succeed +the supremacy of the market. + +The great danger is that we shall set the tools of life before its +work, that we shall make life serve our business or our ambitions +instead of causing ambitions, activities, and opportunities all to +contribute to the deepening, enriching, and strengthening of the life +itself. In the details of making a living it is easy to lose sight of +the prime thing, the life; it is easy to forget that the great question +is not, what have you? but, what are you? + +Life cannot consist in things any more than silk can consist of +shuttles, or pictures of brushes and palettes. Life is both process +and product; but things and fame and power are no more than the tools +and machinery serving to perfect the product. Life must consist in +thoughts, experiences, motives, ideals--in a word, in character. A +man's life is what he is. + +But what a man is will depend on what he does with the things he has or +may have. Let him once set the possession of things as his loftiest +ideal, let this avarice of things enter the heart and speedily the love +of the good will leave. To that god all honour, all truth loving, all +gentleness and humanity are sacrificed. When possession becomes life's +ruling passion it doesn't take long for principle to be forgotten. + +The danger to-day is not that our people will fail in the world's +contests because they lack either money, mind, or muscle. We are in +little danger from illiteracy or from business incompetency; but we are +in danger from moral paralysis, due to undue pressure on the money +nerve. We have talked before the youth in the home and amongst +ourselves on the street as though the only thing worth living for was +money, as though they alone were great who had it and they only to be +despised who had it not. + +The danger is neither in our market, our commerce, nor our laws; the +danger is in our own hearts. No matter how world-potent our +merchandise, how marvellous our mechanical and material powers, how +brilliant our business strategy, all will not avail to silence the +voice, "Thou fool, this night thy soul is required of thee." Then +whose shall these things be? + +We need, not fewer things, not the return to an age of poverty or +dreary destitution; we need more power over things; to let the man, so +long buried beneath the money and the lands and houses, come to the +top; to set ourselves over our things; to make them serve us, minister +to our lives and our purposes in living. + +There must be an elevation of standards, the institution of new +valuations, clearer, nobler conceptions of what living means. Boys and +girls must be taught from the beginning that life is more than +self-serving, more than fame or glory; it is the service of humanity. +A passion for humanity will cure the passion for gold, will teach the +true value of life as something that only the infinite can estimate and +will give to the heart those true riches that do not tarnish and that +cannot be stolen. + + + + +II + +Invisible Allies + + _More Than a Fighting Chance_ + _The Unseen Hand_ + _The One in the Midst_ + + + +_Logic may illumine, but love leads._ + +_The religion that produces no sunshine is all moonshine._ + +_Imaginary evils have more than imaginary effects._ + +_He who lays out each day with prayer leaves it with praise._ + +_Light from above is for the path below._ + +_Singing of heaven gives no certainty of singing in heaven._ + +_It is better to have your bank in heaven than your heaven in a bank._ + +_The burdens of earth demand that our hearts be nourished with the +bread of heaven._ + +_There are too many hungry for love for any ever to talk of suffering +from loneliness._ + +_The man who lives with God does not have to advertise the fact._ + + +II + +MOKE THAN A FIGHTING CHANCE + +Who has not cried out, in haste but still in anguish: "Alas! All +things are against me; foes are many and friends there are none!" The +roads to pessimism are many; but surely this is the shortest one, to +get to think that life is but a conflict waged single-handed against +great odds, a long story of struggle, difficulties, pains, +disappointments, temptations, failures, wounds, ending only in death. + +Even though you escape that chronic jaundiced view of life there are +seasons of depression when it seems easy to get out of bed on the wrong +side and to plow all day into stumps instead of in the good, clear +ground. Ever we need the vision that Elisha of old gave to his young +man, to see the hills about us alive with our allies. Otherwise it is +easy to conclude the fates fight against us. + +How slight is the evidence on which men base their gloomy conclusions! +The pessimist always argues from a single instance to a general law. +If he strikes a poor peach on top he throws the whole basket away--or +sells them as soon as he can. He insists on sitting square on the +cactus bunch when there is only one on the whole bench-land. He then +becomes an authority on cactus. If he can discover a few foes on the +horizon he is blind to a regiment of friends close at hand. + +But the seers, our poets and teachers, have a wider vision; they seek +the glory rather than the gloom and they tell us that every man has +more friends than foes. This is the song of those who told us long ago +of Providence, the one who backs a man up and fights on his side and +furnishes him in the hour of need. This is the song of Lowell, +Tennyson, Whittier, and Browning. Life is not a lone-handed fight +against unnumbered foes; it is not a losing fight to any who will fight +it well. + +Every force in this world works with the man who seeks the good. This +is a right world and only he who fights the right faces the +unconquerable. A man may meet rebuffs, battle's tides may sweep back +and forth, but in the end, as it has ever been in all the long story of +man's conflict with nature, so in the conflict with every other foe, he +is bound to win. This is as true in the individual life of every +fighter as nature and history show it to be in universal life. + +On our side there is the great world of the unseen. Little do we know +of it, but still that little gives us confidence to believe it is +peopled with our allies. Our fairest hopes of good angels may be +delusions as to details, but they are essentially true, being born of +an eternal verity. + +The gospel of good hope declares there is One over all, the friend of +all; greater is He that is with you than any against you; greater is He +than your temptations, your adversaries, your difficulties, and your +sorrows. This was what the great Teacher came to tell men, that God +was on their side, seeking to help them, loving, caring, cooeperating, +leading them into the life of victory over every enemy. + +Let a man face life in this confidence and he is invincible. He goes +forth and an unseen army goes with him. He gains the seer's vision to +see even the plotting of the enemy and the forces that fight against +him all working for his good. From many combats he gains strength for +the decisive struggle. All things work together for good. He serves +the right, the truth, the things that are eternal; he fights for +character, for manhood, and the good; and the eternal forces that rule +the universe fight by his side. He beholds the hills full of the hosts +of heaven; though he has no time to enjoy the vision he knows they are +there, his allies, his assurance of ultimate victory. + + + +THE UNSEEN HAND + +The mightiest and the eternal forces fight ever on the side of the +right. True, things do not always look that way. Sometimes Napoleon's +sneer about God being on the side of the largest battalions seems to +have truth in it. But ere long we see the large battalions swept away +before the strange, unaccountable, and irresistible power of an +insignificant body having truth and God on its side. + +The man who takes up the struggle for truth, who puts his hand to the +sword for the oppressed, for the right, finds himself holding a +two-handled weapon, and if he grasps firmly the one hilt it is as +though there were an omnipotent hand grasping the other. He who fights +worthily, in fitting battle, never fights alone. + +It is not that some omnipotent person steps down from a throne in the +heavens and plunges into the battle; it is that every time a man steps +out for right and truth he places himself in accord with eternal +spiritual forces that give themselves to him and his work. It is not +that God comes to fight for a man so much as that a man finds himself +fighting beside God; entering this battle, he sees that where he +thought none had been serving heaven had long been waging the contest. + +It is so easy, like old Elijah, to think that you alone are left to +witness for truth, to feel the loneliness of standing for things noble +and worthy, to become oppressed with the hopelessness of the minority +in which you find yourself. When real and concrete things press upon +us and their uproar is in our ears we become deaf and blind to the +greater forces that from the beginning of time have been working for +the best. + +Every great reform has looked like a losing movement; it has begun with +most insignificant minorities; it has met with violent and +well-organized opposition; its supporters have often been +faint-hearted, and yet ultimately it has overcome always. As men have +fought on they have found an unseen hand grasping the sword beside +theirs. + +We all need this sense of God with us, helping us in our lives. This +gives courage and confidence. It does not mean weak reliance upon +heaven to do things for us; it means entering on the things that look +impossible because we know that, if they are right, every great force +in the universe will cooeperate with us. + +This is the fine sense in which the human enters into partnership with +the heavenly. This determines whether we may call our work divine or +not. It is to be judged, not by whether it is pleasant or looks +respectable, but by whether it is the work in which we know the Lord of +all can lay His hand to the tool or weapon alongside of our hands. + +With a consciousness like this, one attempts anything. The practical +question is not, "Can this be done?" but "Ought this to be done?" "Is +it such a task as will enlist the cooeperation of the eternal spirit of +truth and right?" With the cry of Gideon on their lips, men have fared +forth facing fearful odds; their hands have fallen from their swords, +but the unseen hand has carried them on until the cause has won. + +The Almighty, who would have love and peace and righteousness to +prevail, needs your hand for His sword; the sword of the Lord is vain +without Gideon. Ideals and spiritual forces may exist, but men must be +their realizations, their visible hands. God's work waits for you to +put your hand to the sword; you will find His already there. + +This helping hand is always unseen; spiritual things are often +apparently unreal. God cannot be reduced to figures nor to material +elements. This hand that works with ours may mean one thing to one and +another to another. What we all need is to simply grasp the great fact +of the spiritual forces that strengthen every good resolve, that give +vigour in every good work, and give victory at last to the right. + + + +THE ONE IN THE MIDST + +There are always a thousand blind men to one who can see. All have +eyes, but not all have vision. The things we most need and the things +for which we most long are often nearest to us, while we, with eyes +fast shut, grope our way to the place where we think they ought to be. +The best things are the things we miss. The crowd by the fords of the +Jordan was longing to see the Messiah; yet of them all there was only +one, the son of the desert, who saw that He was actually with them +already. John had eyes that pierced the husk of things. He looked on +this son of the carpenter and a thousand years of prophecy sank into +insignificance beside its fulfillment; the multitude became as nothing +beside the all glorious Son of Man. He alone knew his Lord, because he +alone looked with eyes of love. + +John announced the sublime central truth that all the world's great +seers have declared; God is in His world. Man is an animal who seeks +God; he finds Him when his eyes are opened. Some are looking for Him +in the records of His ways with men; many are hoping to see Him in some +other world; a few see Him by their side. + +Some, priding themselves on their spiritual vision, and boastingly +describing God as He was or God as He will be, have eyes of stone when +it comes to seeing God as He is. They do not stop to think that we +want a God in the present tense--a God in our homes, on our streets, in +our affairs. And others say, this thing is unthinkable, for, if you +say that this is a spiritual presence, you at once remove the whole +question from touch with real things. + +They forget that the most real things lie beyond the senses. Who ever +saw mother-love? Yet who will not believe in it? Ambition, affection, +pity, memory, hope; these are the real things, the lasting things; +these are the spiritual things. No one ever saw these things, and yet +they can be seen everywhere; it only needs the vision; we all have seen +them at times. + +There are the selfish, gross, and sensual who tell us there is no love +in the world; and there are those to whom every common bush is aflame +with God. So hearts that have forsaken the good see nothing but a +God-forsaken world; and, in this same world, hearts that are lifted up +find Him everywhere, they see Him in the movements of history, in the +forces of nature, they hear Him in the hum of commerce and in the +silence of the fields, in every human voice they catch His tone. He is +ever in the midst. He is more than a force, a dream, a thought. He is +to men to-day what He was to men when He walked their streets and +touched their sick; all that we think He would have been in that long +ago He is to-day. + +Personal? Yes, that He may reach persons, for we cannot know +impersonal love or impersonal help. His personality turns the universe +from an institution into an organism. Yet more than personal; this one +in the midst is infinite; He is the whole where we are but fractions. +But He does not hide Himself in His infinity; He is "among you," with +men. Not by descent into the grave of the past, nor by ascent into +heaven do we find Him; He is here, on every hand. This it is that +transforms individual character, to know that He is by my side; this it +is that solves our problems, to see Him linking my fellow to me; this +it is that gives strength, to hear His voice; this it is that gives +hope, to know He is working with us; this it is that makes burdens +bearable, to know that He is sympathetic and strong. This one in the +midst explains suffering, inspires heroism, is the promise and the +potency of all the possibilities of the sons of men. + + + + +III + +The Sovereignty of Service + + _Self and Service_ + _My Soul or My Service_ + _The Satisfaction of Service_ + + +_The fruits of sacrifice become the roots of love._ + +_A tin halo makes a fine trap for a man to tangle himself in._ + +_It takes the base line of two worlds to get a correct elevation of any +life._ + +_Life is always a dull grind to the man who thinks only of the grist._ + +_Knocking the saints will not open the doors of paradise._ + +_Capacity for that heaven comes from creating this one._ + +_Another man's burden is the Christian's best badge._ + +_The only way to lift life is to lay life down._ + +_It doesn't take long to choose between a sinner who swears once in a +while and a saint who makes every one swear all the while._ + +_You cannot lift folks while you are looking down on them._ + + +III + +SELF AND SERVICE + +There is such a thing as supremely selfish self-denial. A man retires +into the monk's pietic seclusion; he isolates himself from interest in +the world battles; he shuts himself from sympathy with the struggles of +business, civil, and even social life. To him these things are carnal. +He is engrossed with the complication of interpretations of languages +long dead, or with visions of an unknown heaven, and this, he thinks, +is living the life of self-denial. + +The denial of self is not the death of self; it is the leading of the +best self into larger life. It is not the dwarfing of the life; it is +its development into usefulness. It is not the emasculation of +character; it is the submission and discipline of the life to new and +nobler motives. + +He best denies himself who best develops himself with the purpose of +serving his fellows. What Jesus meant was that if any man would be one +of His he must cease to make his own selfish pleasures, ambitions, and +passions the end of his living; he must make the most of himself that +he might have the more to give to the service of mankind; he must make +the one motive and end of his life the benefit and help of every other +man. + +That kind of a life means a change of centre. Instead of regarding the +universe as revolving about itself it sees that self as but part of the +great machinery of life, planned and operating for the good of all. A +man begins to deny himself as soon as he begins to love another. Even +a yellow dog may act to deflect the heart from its old self-centre. +The love of kin and family, of friends, and associates all serve to +strengthen the habit of self-denial. + +The fewer people a man takes into his plan of life the more likely is +he to be selfish. But some lives are but the more selfish because they +take in all mankind and look on them as designed to contribute to their +single enriching. That kind of a life commits suicide; ever grasping +and never giving it dies of plethora. It had never learned that +strange secret of the best self-development, sacrificing service. + +We need to guard ourselves against the delusion that the denial of +oneself means the impoverishment of the life. There can be no true +giving of the life in service unless there is a wise enriching of the +self, a thorough fitting for that service. The more of a man you are, +the brighter your intellect, the broader your sympathies, the better +your service to the world may be. The sloth that sinks the soul in +indifference to its own development is the most sinful of all forms of +selfishness. + +This way of denial is more, the Master tells His disciples, than an +emptying of the life. If some of the cares of self are cast out the +burdens of others more than take their place. It is a full life, +overflowing with the interests, the fears, loves, hopes, and longings +of other lives. It bears the cross, not of an ornamental, +vanity-serving glory, but the cross of a world's sin and sorrow. + +Each man must carry his cross not on his breast but on his heart and +brain. It is what he can do, what he can plan, suggest, undertake +towards saving this world. The cross of discipleship will be to some +statesmanship, to others science, to others the daily service of a home +or the work in the shop; it is the kindly word, the cheering look, the +lift by the way; it is whatever is done in unselfish desire to make +life better, to bring men nearer to one another and to the Father of +all. + +You have only to look at the great Teacher to know what self-denial and +cross bearing really mean, and you have only to follow Him to fully +carry out their principles. To Him they meant the life of doing good, +of seeking the sorrowing, befriending the forsaken, helping the +helpless. They who follow Him lead the world; they who seek to +minister instead of being ministered to are the world's masters. The +value of every life must be measured at last not by what it has +gathered to itself but by what it has given for the enriching and help +of the whole life of the world. + + + +MY SOUL OR MY SERVICE + +There is no more subtle temptation than that which sets the soul as a +hindrance to the service we should render. A surprise awaits him who +carefully will compare the emphasis laid upon the individual soul and +its salvation by the modern church with the place given this in the +teachings of the Bible. Perhaps he will find in modern preaching, with +its insistent appeal to men to save their own souls, an explanation of +prevalent selfishness. The moral effect of urging a man to save his +soul is not much better than that which comes from advising him to save +his skin at any cost. + +The most serious objection ever made to religion is that it produces a +narrow, self-centred type of mind. That type of religion cannot be +right, regardless of its doctrinal orthodoxy, which produces a wrong +type of men and women. But may not failure here be accounted for by +the selfish basis on which men build the plea for what they call +personal salvation? + +What could be more selfish than this continual appeal to fear, this +urging of men to escape from punishment, to make sure of a house in the +heavenly city, this offering of crowns and perpetual rest, plenty and +peace, this emphasis on the great object of saving your own soul? It +is opposite directly to what the great Teacher told men. Did He not +say that the man who would save his own life should lose it? + +The concentration of mind on the self, whether in the name of religion +or in any other name, is but moral suicide. People who have no other +object in life than that of saving their own souls are but little +better than those whose whole object is to fatten, protect, and keep +safe their bodies. + +But Christianity must be perverted greatly to make it teach men to set +their own interests first. It is the religion of the other man. Its +appeal is not to the love of self, but to the love of society. It +offers a way of salvation, not as a thing desirable for your exclusive +use, but as the pathway for all lives, for all the people. Its tree of +life is not for a single pair, but for the healing of the nations. + +True religion is not in self-centred culture, but in the culture of all +through the service of the single ones and the culture of the one +through his service for all. Only in the atmosphere of service does +the soul grow, expand, and find itself. To live in a circle is to die; +it is the centrifugal life that finds salvation. They court death who +seek only their own lives; they find life who, disregarding death and +loss, seek only to make others live. + +Religion is not simply a cure for my ills. True, it does cure many of +them, but only that I may be better able to do its work. It is a great +cause, a mighty project, commanding the noblest enthusiasms and the +highest efficiency of effort, the project of bringing this whole world +to salvation. And that not the salvation of a mental condition but of +the perfection of its whole being, the realization of its highest +possibilities, the full noontide of the day of God. + +Is not this enough to satisfy any man and to call forth the best in +him, that he should in some way serve this glorious ideal? Is not this +man's purpose in this world even as it was the purpose of the one who +called Himself the Son of Man? What nobler summary could any life have +than His, that He went about doing good? How quickly would that +kingdom of heaven come if this were the program of every life! + +Let but a man do his duty towards this shining ideal, let him but be +lifted up, carried along in the mighty enthusiasm it ought to engender, +and his own soul, his own development, his character perfection will +take care of itself. No man ever did any great work without becoming +greater himself, and greatness never was found in any other way. This +is an unvarying law. Service is the secret of culture. + +The pious hypochondriac is sure to be a sickly soul. The best thing +you can do for your soul is to forget that you have one, just as the +healthy man forgets he has a heart or liver. The self-forgetting +service is the secret of happiness, of full finding of self. Freedom +in self-giving brings fullness in living. + +In the right life the hour of prayer, the quiet thought, the search for +abstract truth, may all have their place; but it is only the place that +the wise workman gives to his meals. He does not live for these +things; they are but ministrants to his work. He uses everything that +will make him a better workman; but not because he sees the workman as +his end. He forgets himself in the perfection of that he seeks to +make. The saving of the soul, the culture of the self, as an end is +shame and suicide; as a means to service it is life and peace and +perfection. + + + +THE SATISFACTION OF SERVICE + +A man always thinks more of his work than of his wages. He would never +be content to toil day in and day out but for the thought that somehow +to some one his work was worth while. Neither wages, nor salary, nor +any other cash consideration would of itself be sufficient to satisfy +him. The workman is proud of the product of his hands; his reward is +in that he has made; the good shepherd thinks more of the flock than of +their fleece or his pay. + +Satisfaction in work can only come from service rendered. Whether a +man be plowing or preaching, sweeping the streets or building empires, +his work is only worthy if his motive be the good he is doing, the +value of the work itself. We call the man who preaches a minister, a +servant. There is no more honourable title, but it belongs to every +one who seeks to do any worthy work in the world. + +The purpose of living is service, therefore the business of religion +must be the cultivation of proficiency in service. The work of +Christianity is to teach men how to be most valuable and useful as +children and parents, as neighbours and citizens, how to make the most +of their lives and to do the most with them. It aims to bring the race +to its highest efficiency. + +Religion reveals to man the worth-while object of all his endeavours, +to work as a servant for others. Never was Jesus more glorious than +when He stooped to lift the palsied, to heal the sick, to feed the +hungry. He found His right to rule men by His exercise of the +privilege of serving them. The sheep belong to the good shepherd +because he gives his life to them. + +This marks the true follower of the great Teacher to-day; his business +is to serve, he makes living an investment for humanity. He is +commanded to lose his life, to be willing to give up, to sacrifice all +in self-denial, to take his cross and suffer persecution and loss in +this way of walking after his Master. + +But he is not told to throw his life away as a worthless thing. He is +to lose it as the seed is lost in the sowing, as the money in the +investing; to sacrifice it as the tool is sacrificed to that which it +is carving. He who would be of real service to the world must +cultivate the best in himself. If living is seed sowing, then the seed +must be good or the harvest will be thin. + +True altruism finds right expression first in self-care. It is a man's +business to be strong, healthy, sane, trained, developed; to be the +best kind of a man, complete in all his faculties, that he may have the +more to offer to the service of his fellows. There is no merit in +offering the wrecked body and soured mind. If you are going to give +your life to the world you must make it worth the giving. + +Heaven's work demands the finest tools. Nothing is too good for the +service of humanity. There is a good deal more religion in the honest +attempt to make the most of yourself, to keep health, to secure +education and culture, in order that you may have the larger, better, +wealthier self to use in service than in unending ascetic exercises, +prayers, devotions, meditations, mumbling, or visions of things +spiritual. + +The only way you can prove the genuineness of your religion is by your +gifts to the children of God, your own brothers about you. There is no +gift that begins to compare in value with a well-trained, +well-equipped, strong and clean life. We cannot all give gold or +lands, or even learning to men, but we can all give lives, and that +which heaven and earth both have a right to expect is that we shall +give the best lives we can. + + + + +IV + +The Right to Happiness + + _The Power of Happiness_ + _The Secret of Happiness_ + _The Folly of Anxiety_ + + +_Happy is that happy makes._ + +_Heaven leaves the heart when hatred enters._ + +_The man who is so wise that he never laughs is the greatest of fools._ + +_When your face spells failure it's no use talking of the glory of your +faith._ + +_To set a child towards gladness is to incline him towards God._ + +_The graces do not grow in gloom._ + +_There's no argument equal to a happy smile._ + +_Stealing sorrow is as much a sin as acquiring stolen joys._ + +_Life's music is never perfect without the chord of pain._ + +_Happiness is never found by dodging my neighbour's sorrows._ + + +IV + +THE POWER OF HAPPINESS + +Instead of the strength of your faith being marked by the length of +your sighs, the genuineness of your religion is to be known by its +joyfulness. The same God who gives the sunlight and the smiling +fields, who makes the brooks to laugh through the meadows and the stars +to sing at night, would rather see smiles than frowns on the faces of +His children. His glory is not in gloom but in gladness. He designed +this world for happiness, and religion is but the pursuing of His plans +for the good of His children. + +That which is holy must be happy. Artificial sadness is always sinful. +A church is not sacred because it looks like a sepulchre; music is not +sacred because all the spring is taken out of it. You do not keep a +day sacred to divine ends by making it dismal. It is a religious duty +resting on all to cultivate happiness, to make this world less sad. + +No matter how sincere a man may be, if his sanctity results only in +sorrow to others its satisfaction to him must count for nothing. There +is a great deal of piety that needs an operation to cut the bands that +bind its heart and reduce the inflammation of its spleen. Happiness is +the very health of religion. If religion does not give right relations +to those things that determine the tone and colour of life it is a +failure. + +But true happiness can never be selfish. It grows only by giving. No +one can eat a feast by himself. Happiness is not found on lonely +mounts of vision. It is a fair, refreshing stream that flows through +the dusty ways of daily life. Its waters are never so sweet and cool +to you as when you seek them for others. None ever find it who go only +with their own pitchers. The reason so many would-be saints are sad is +because they will not be other than selfish. + +It is not strange that men who love this heaven-born life of ours +should turn away from the religion that represented every happy, joyous +human thing as an enormous offense against its God. Once men gathered +together every dark and depressing thought and thing and said these +constitute the divine in this world; they looked out through the smoked +glasses of sanctimony and declared that every glad, generous hearty +impulse and action must be evil because such things gave happiness. + +The old boundary line between the pain that was piety and the pleasure +that spelt perdition has almost passed away. Men now know that there +is pain and loss in the way of sin, that the way of the transgressor is +hard; they learn by tasting that the fruits of righteousness are joy +and peace. The age demands what the Lord of all has ever intended, +that religion should send men on their way with the vigour of happier +hearts, with the upwelling love for men that should drive the squalor, +misery, despair, and heart-aches of sin before it. + +Life has its work and it has its sorrows; but they ought both to be for +its enriching. The business of religion is to teach us that +understanding and adjustment of life which will make it a feast of fat +things, to teach us that the God of all desires the good of all. The +more true piety--the seeking for the loving will of the all wise and +loving--there is in this world the more pleasure there will be in it. + +This happiness is the cure for the madness that some call pleasure. +Life is a mockery indeed to those whose only hope is for the hours of +leisure in which to drink the deadening drafts of excitement, the +lethal cup that only hides life's misery by paralyzing the faculties +against the possibilities of real pleasure. If men might only hear +again the call of Him who bade the weary and heavy laden to come; if +they might but know that His way of life can give strength, rest, +peace, joy, what an enriching life might have. + +Make life happier and you will make it holier. Make it full of +pleasure--not that of a fool's paradise--but that of peace with +heaven's plans, with the joy of knowing that over all is infinite love, +the strength that comes from knowing right is invincible, the tender +and sweet joys that spring up at the touch of human love. Go your ways +to make them paths of gladness, to show love shining through sorrow, to +give love in the name of the Lord of love and yours shall be religious +service indeed. + + + +THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS + +How did your Puritan forefathers dispose of the text which in their day +read, "A merry heart is a continual feast." Did they explain it away +by saying that the man was made anyway for fasting and not for +feasting? Perhaps underneath their austere exterior they, after all, +knew something of deep joys and unfailing sources of refreshing +happiness. + +In their teaching they made the mistake of insisting that it was +necessary to seem sad in order to please the Most High. We make the +mistake of being sad in order to please ourselves. Their misery at +least had the grace of a high motive; ours is born of a short-sighted +selfishness that grasps at the shadow of a fleeting satisfaction and +loses the substance of lasting joy. + +Happiness is the highest aim of life, higher than holiness or +usefulness, because it must include both. To us it is so unfamiliar +that we do not know it from frivolity; we seek the excitement of some +pleasing sensation, and, rising to its stimulus, we fall afterwards +into the reaction of misery. Happiness is the poise, calm, strength, +and spring of the life fully in harmony with all things good and true. + +Nothing praises God better than a happy disposition. Many have thought +to give Him glory by learned treatises on His majesty and mystery. But +a little child, so happy that he only can kick and crow, praises the +Almighty more effectively and even devoutly than does the theologian +who only can offer his bloodless speculations. + +The great Father gives His children a world brimming over with joy, +with laughing meadows, with smiling morns, with rippling bird song, and +to man He gives faculties of immeasurable happiness. Life is learning +the law of happiness and practicing its use and service. + +But what is the secret of happiness? How can we learn to be happy when +life has so much to make us sad? The praise of happiness does not take +away the fact of sorrow or solve its dark problem. There remain the +million aching hearts and all the griefs of a world. True. God forbid +that we should lose our sorrows; that were to make this a sad world +indeed. Our cares are but part of joy's curriculum. Learning their +lesson, bearing their load is essential to deep, lasting happiness. + +It is not the life of the butterfly experience that is firm, calm, +serene in times of storm and stress. It is the life that by loads of +care has been forced to strike its roots down to the rocks. There are +some lives that seem to run over with a happiness that is full of +refreshing to all who know them, and these have come out of great +tribulation. + +At first the multiplication table is a burden; later, when mastered, it +becomes a wonderful bearer of burdens. To wear a careworn, fretful +look, to go through life shedding misery, is to confess that we have +not learned our lesson, that we are dunces in life's school. + +The secret of happiness is in grasping the significance of living, to +learn that we live for things other and higher than those mad follies +and fading prizes for which men sell their bodies and souls and fret +out their nerves and hearts. No man can be happy whose heart is set on +the changing fashion of things or who looks for satisfaction in things. + +The lover is happy because he has discovered his prize and is +enthralled by a pursuit that makes all other things seem mean and +paltry. Men are happy in proportion as they yield themselves to the +best, as they tune their hearts to strike the highest key of their +lives. Paul is happier in the dungeon, where he can be true to his +ideal, than Nero on the throne without one. + +There is feast in days of famine for those who have the inner eyes for +the riches of life. You always can find in this world what your heart +is looking for. But you cannot satisfy your heart on everything you +may chance to find, and until the heart is satisfied and the deeper +needs of the life are met there is no happiness. + +The search for happiness is not altogether selfish. Few things can we +do that will help others more than the cultivation of serene strength +and cheer in ourselves. Not the soulless, set smile, but the strength +and sympathy that flow from a life fixed in confidence in eternal right +and good and unfailing love. + + + +THE FOLLY OF ANXIETY + +The great Teacher does not say that we are not to be thoughtful, or +provident; but He insists that no event can be provided for by anxiety, +by fretting over it before it comes. Half the people on our streets +look as though life was a sorry business. It is hard to find a happy +looking man or woman. Worry is the cause of their woebegone +appearance. Worry makes the wrinkles; worry cuts the deep, +down-glancing lines on the face; worry is the worst disease of our +modern times. + +Care is contagious; it is hard work being cheerful at a funeral, and it +is a good deal harder to keep the frown from your face when you are in +the throng of the worry worn ones. Yet, we have no right to be +dispensers of gloom; no matter how heavy our loads may seem to be we +have no right to throw their burden on others nor even to cast the +shadow of them on other hearts. + +Anxiety is instability. Fret steals away force. He who dreads +to-morrow trembles to-day. Worry is weakness. The successful men may +be always wide-awake, but they never worry. Fret and fear are like +fine sand, thrown into life's delicate mechanism; they cause more than +half the friction; they steal half the power. + +Cheer is strength. Nothing is so well done as that which is done +heartily, and nothing is so heartily done as that which is done +happily. Be happy, is an injunction not impossible of fulfillment. +Pleasure may be an accident; but happiness comes in definite ways. It +is the casting out of our foolish fears that we may have room for a few +of our common joys. It is the telling our worries to wait until we get +through appreciating our blessings. Take a deep breath, raise your +chest, lift your eyes from the ground, look up and think how many +things you have for which to be grateful, and you will find a smile +growing where one may long have been unknown. + +Take the right kind of thought--for to take no thought would be +sin--but take the calm, unanxious thought of your business, your +duties, your difficulties, your disappointments and all the things that +once have caused you fear, and you will find yourself laughing at most +of them. In some you will see but friends in disguise, and in others +puny foes decked out as giants. But begin to dread them, brood over +them, look at them with eyes prejudiced with fear, and the least +difficulties rise like mountains. In winter some people worry +themselves into malaria over the mosquitoes they may meet next summer. + +Mistaken ideas of religion are responsible for a great many of the +unnecessary wrinkles on the human face. Too many have thought it would +be impossible to be happy in two worlds, and so, having elected +happiness in the one which they thought would last longest, they have +no choice but to be unhappy in this one. In fact, some seem to suppose +that the greater their misery here the more intense will their bliss be +there. If heaven is to be bought that way certainly many are paying +full price for it. + +Burdens we all must bear; but they need not break us. Sorrows we all +must share; but they need not unmake us. They will not if we have +learned the Teacher's secret of living; He, the man of sorrows, was the +man who could bequeath to His friends His joy. To Him life lost its +anxiety, because the chief things of life were not food or raiment, or +even social standing, but manhood and unselfishness to men, and the +possibilities of these were as easily realized in need and adversity as +in riches and prosperity. + + + + +V + +The Curriculum of Character + + _The Great School_ + _The Purpose of the Course_ + _The Price of Perfection_ + + +_A good many resolutions die of heart failure._ + +_No man possesses more religion than he practices._ + +_When men say "our faults" they usually mean yours._ + +_There are no delights in the worship that dodges duty._ + +_When fear gets into the pulpit faith goes out of the pews._ + +_It's not the man with a putty backbone who is most truly resigned to +the will of God._ + +_When a man buys a horse on its specifications he is likely to call his +folly faith and its consequences the dispensation of Providence._ + +_It is folly to hope to have a clean heart when you pay no attention to +what enters its doorways._ + +_Some folks think they have the house of character because they possess +the plans of virtue._ + +_It is folly to talk of being guided by the light of your conscience +when you take pains to keep it in the dark._ + + +V + +THE GREAT SCHOOL + +With all our learning the greatest lesson before us is this one of +living right, of finding our full heritage and filling our places as +men and women in this world. If our systems of education fail to teach +us how to live they fail altogether. + +The great need of our day is that we shall train the conscience to +right moral judgment, that we shall educate all for the business of +living, and that we shall so educate all that we shall not only have a +generation of bright, smart, money-making or fame-making machines, but +that we may have clean, upright, truth-loving, self-reverencing, +God-fearing men and women. + +There is little likelihood that America will fail for lack of business +ability. The danger is that we shall fail at the point of character; +that we shall fail where failure is fatal to every other kind of +success. This is the crucial point. + +We do well to perfect the plans by which we teach men the encyclopedia +of their bodies, their country, the world and its history. But we +cannot forget, and recent events have reminded us with a terrible note +of warning, that no amount of knowledge constitutes any sort, even the +feeblest kind, of guarantee as to rectitude of life. + +If you neglect the heart, the will, and conscience, if you neglect the +knowledge of and training in right relations with men, reverence and +right relations to the most high, your culture of the intellect is +worse than waste; it is the perfecting of the poison of our social +life; it is the whetting of the edge of a man's villainy and grossness. + +Above all other things, the most desirable is that men shall love truth +and hate a lie; that they shall love honour and truth so much more than +fame, power, or possessions that never for an instant will these weigh +in the scale against the former. But for long it has been thought that +this choice flower of nobility grew by chance; the culture of the soul +was so mysterious as never to be brought under scientific law. + +If a man grew up to be good it was due either to accident or to +miracle. The realm of character has been the last to come under the +reign of law. Now we recognize that we must learn to live as truly as +we must learn to read, and that the culture of the soul must profit by +the wondrous strides that all educational science has made; that all +our efforts to produce character must be so wisely directed that we +shall secure the best and most enduring results. + +One message comes from the lips of every seer, from every page of +history. It is that the man or the nation alone is wise, alone finds +enduring life, who sets before commercial supremacy or political power +or fame in learning the glory of righteousness, the beauty of practical +holiness. Their wealth lies beyond corruption and their days know no +end who are wise and rich in the things within. + +The greatest service we can render our day is by giving it the riches +of worthy living, by setting before ourselves the production of high +character through all life's processes of learning, and by bringing in +every way we may to an age engrossed in selfishness and commercialism +the significance of the call of character. + +No wonder it sometimes seems to us that we have forgotten to smile; +that our faces are so drawn with the tense struggle of life that we +have lost sight of the meaning of happiness. How can we be happy +unless we shall set our whole lives in harmony with the things that are +fundamental and eternal? + +We must learn to order our lives, not as machines to be driven at the +top of their efficiency in the money mill, but as part of the great +life of the spiritual world, as inheritors of things divine, sublime, +and glorious, as possessors of the joy that made the morning stars sing +together and the beauty that paints the evening red. + + + +THE PURPOSE OF THE COURSE + +The early question of the old creeds, "What is the chief end of man?" +was conceived in a spirit more practical than academic. It was the +voice of the constant inquiry as to the purpose of living. But the +answer given by the creed lacks the assurance of a moral conviction; it +fails to find any response in us. "To glorify God and to enjoy Him +forever" may be the portion of angels, but honest men have to confess +that they have no great desire to be angels, yet. + +The emphasis of the creed with that as its basis practically was on +dying rather than on living; it owed whatever grip it had on men to the +promise it held, to those who were in the midst of the sordid round of +tasks or the dull, heavy grind of poverty, of a felicitude that knew +neither hunger, fear, nor pain; it offered a heaven forever to those +who could endure a hell for a short time. + +The logical consequence was to make dying the chief end of living. Who +cannot remember being told to despise the present, to consider how +brief it is, like a cloud before the dawn of the endless day? It was +compared to the short waiting outside some door beyond which was +warmth, cheer, and unending bliss. So that the pious soul thought of +life only in terms of waiting, watching, enduring. Piety became +positive only in prospect, negative in the present. + +To say to a man, be patient with wrong and oppression to-day and you +will be prospered tomorrow, is to teach him to compound a felony, to +wink at the despoiling of the earth by the iniquitous for the +consideration of a title to the riches of heaven. It is to lose sight +of the fact that unless the life finds itself now it never will find +itself, that to dwarf a soul to-day is to dwarf it forever. + +"Then," says the practical man, "this means that we can ignore the +future; we must make the most of the present; get all you can; keep all +you get; the whole purpose of life is to make a good living, to enjoy +yourself." This is only the swing of the pendulum away from the old +thought. The ideal of the present day is material advantage. The +chief end of man is to make money. If once he was the slave of an +unjust order, he now is the slave of an unworthy appetite. + +Living only for wealth or for wages is not living at all. Who knows +less of life than the slave of modern commercialism, the man who lifts +his eyes no higher than the pay roll, or the ticker tape? It is better +to be the victim of a delusion that gives some happiness, that gives +some fortitude, and to live the simple life of the poor than to be the +slave bound to the wheel of modern social greed and money madness. + +Life itself is the object of living; the chief end of man is to become +glorious as his ideal of God is glorious, to realize the highest that +comes to him in the song of poet, the vision of seer, the hope of his +own heart. The money, the acres, the resources are the tools for the +development of life. This world is a workshop; it has failed utterly +if it produces nothing but an array of machines and a heap of shavings; +it must turn out the finished product of men. + +Are you living thus for life, or are you living to do no more than make +a living? We need to educate our children to set honour, truth, +justice, a high life, before all things, to prize noble attainments so +that they shall not be content with the lesser prizes of prosperity in +things, so that whether we win or lose in the markets of the world we +shall stand rich and glorious in manhood, finding the ends of life in +the achievement of high character and finding in commerce but the +servant of character. + + + +THE PRICE OF PERFECTION + +Gold may depreciate, stocks rise or fall, and business values change so +as to leave the market in panic, but every man on the street or in the +store knows that one value forever remains permanent, unvarying, and +that is character. Every other asset may be swept away and success +still achieved if this remain; every other aid may be at its best and +failure only await him who lacks the wealth of character. + +Character is that of which reputation is but the echo, often mistaken +and misleading. Character is the last, the ultimate, value of life. +It is the trend of the whole being towards the best. It is the passion +and power that holds one true despite all persuasion. + +It is the one thing worth having, because upon it all other values +depend. The wealth of the whole world still leaves poor him from whom +the soul, the power to appreciate, the purity of heart which sees God +and the good, the peace and quietness of a good conscience, have fled. +When we turn away from our fighting for fame and our grinding for gold +long enough to think, then we know that the things within determine +wholly the value and reality of all things without. + +The wise ever have set this treasure above all others. Happy the +people that love righteousness more than revenue, the way of virtue, +the clear eye, the upward look, and the approval of a good conscience +above all other prosperity or advantage. The days of national +greatness ever have been those when the things that make manhood bulked +far above all other considerations. Alike to people and individuals, +the imperishable value ever has been that of character. + +This asset comes not to a man by accident. He who is rich in +character, whose success in many ways is built upon his resources in +this way, does not just simply happen to be good, true, and square. +There is a price to character; it costs more than any other thing, for +it is worth more than all other things. Essentially it never is +inherited, but always acquired by processes often slow and toilsome and +at great price. + +If you would be perfect you must pay the price of perfection. Unless +the passion of life is this perfection it never will be your +possession. Dreams of ideal goodness only waste the hours in which it +might have been achieved. No man ever finds character in his sleep. +The education of the heart is a thing even more definite than the +education of the head. The school of character has an infinite variety +of courses and an unending curriculum. + +Folks who are sighing for goodness usually go away sorrowful when they +learn what it costs. But life ever is putting to us just such tests as +the wise teacher put to the rich young man. You say you desire +character, the perfection of manhood or womanhood above all other +things; do you desire this enough to pay for it your ease, your coveted +fame, your cherished gold, perhaps your present good name and peace of +mind? Is the search for character a passion or only a pastime? + +This does not mean that this prize of eternity falls only to those who +devote themselves wholly to self-culture, to the salvation of their own +souls. The best lives have thought little of themselves, but they have +lived for the ends of the soul, to help men to better living, to save +them from the things that blight and damn the soul. Like the Leader of +men they have found the life unending by laying down their lives, +paying the full price, selling all in order that right and truth and +honour and purity, love and kindness and justice might remain to man. + +The world's wealth depends not on what we have in our hands, nor even +on what we can carry in our heads. It depends on the things that we +have and the beings we are in our hearts. Fools we are who live only +to make a living, houses, shelter, food, rags, and toys, who might live +to make a life, and to mold lives, to earn the riches and honour +enduring; who have not learned the gain of all loss that leads the +heart to look up, the joy of all sorrow that sweetens the soul, and the +profit from every sacrifice that is a paying of the price of perfection. + + + + +VI + +The Age-Long Miracle + + _The Sufficient Sign_ + _Behold the Man_ + _The Life that Lifts_ + + +_Silent goodness speaks loudest._ + +_Our loads lift us up to strength._ + +_Life grows as love is given._ + +_From the grind of drudgery comes at last the glorious divine spark._ + +_The spirit of the father never works separation in the family._ + +_That day best fulfills its purpose which is a preparation for the +next._ + +_The proof of a faith is not in its prestige, but in its present power._ + +_Things divine are not defended by dodging._ + +_It is the heart that gives ease to any work._ + +_The door of truth never opens to the key of prejudice._ + +_Love never knows how much it gives nor what it costs._ + + +VI + +THE SUFFICIENT SIGN + +The scribe and the Pharisee are still with us. "Establish the +credibility of the miracles of Jesus, or, better still, let Him work a +miracle to-day, and we will believe," they say. This age is credulous; +it hungers to believe the extraordinary. Yet, while it is running +after folly, it is blind to the most extraordinary fact, the most +stupendous miracle that ever took place, although it goes on right +before its eyes and is open to every kind of proof. It cannot see the +miracle of Jesus in the world to-day, the miracle beside which all the +works He did in His lifetime sink into insignificance. + +Here is the sign to-day offered to the skeptic: Once, nearly twenty +centuries ago, a young preacher travelled and taught through the +villages and by the wayside in an obscure oriental country. He +addressed a subject race, insular in their prejudices, lacking in +political genius and in artistic culture. He lived in days calculated +to chill the most fervid religious enthusiasm. He was at first ignored +and then hated by His own people; the religious leaders became His +implacable foes. His work ended in apparent failure, in a death of +shame. + +But that was not the end. It is strange that the world remembers +anything about that young preacher; but stranger still is the fact that +to-day He influences more than half the population of the globe, +surpassing all other teachers, more people are under His sway now than +the whole world held when He lived. These millions make Him the object +of their worship and devotion; in His name they gather regularly all +over the world, without regard to language or race. + +More than this, this one whom the wise men of His day ignored has been +the inspiration of the works of genius and art, of the deeds of +heroism, of the lofty endeavours of the world since He died. He has +changed the mind. He has changed the appearance of the world; by Him +nations have fallen and risen. The humble, the despised, the rejected +has become the world's hero, the mightiest of all the sons of men, the +saviour of His race. + +Once He touched a few who were blind and lame and they were healed; +to-day in His name, in every city, a thousand suffering ones are made +whole. Science does the work; but the opportunity for its development +and the inspiration for its application came from Him. + +Nor is this all. He made the world to see; He touched the blind eyes +of the people, as they groped in superstition, and has given them +sight; He has made the ages, once limping and halting, to arise and +march forward with magnificent tread; He found the world a babel of +jarring voices and fretting purposes, and His touch gave peace and +singleness of purpose until men could discern that "through the ages +one unceasing purpose runs." He did for man and mind what was first +done for matter, brought the cosmos out of chaos. This is the miracle +indeed. + +It goes right on before our eyes. They take His name to a dead people, +and soon there is life there. Light, and love, and larger life spring +up everywhere in His name. From this modern miracle of the power, the +growing authority, the kingship of the once despised Jesus we cannot +escape; we are perforce participants in its benefits; it conditions all +our lives. + +If all the gospel stories could be proved myths and the miracles but +inventions, there would still remain the greater, the insuperable +miracle of the world's picture of the perfect and all glorious +personality of Jesus and the fact of His preeminent power in the world +to-day. This is the sign He gives this age, and to this the open mind +answers: "Thou art the Christ, the saviour of the world." + + + +BEHOLD THE MAN + +The two words, "Ecce homo," contemptuously spoken by the cynical Roman +governor contained the highest tribute that had been given to Jesus. +How empty appear all the high sounding titles, such as king and +emperor, beside this significant one of Man. How sad and self-damning +the bitter railing of His enemies in the light of that serene dignity. +How puerile the bickering over words and ways of worship, and all the +wrangling that blinded them to the heavenly radiance of that all +glorious manhood. The wonder of Jesus is not in the deeds He did, but +in the being He was. And the wonder of His being is not in that it +offers elements for arguments as to a divine personality, but it is +that of a simple, clear, sublimely perfect manhood. It is upon this +perfection of personal character that His abiding claim to divinity +must rest; it depends not on His birth but on His being. + +There is something strange about the perversity with which the church +has emphasized the least attractive aspects of its master's person. +The preachers have scolded men for not coming to church, and when they +did come they offered them pictures of an emaciated, effeminate being +for their adoration. With them the painters have conspired to set on +canvas and in church window representations from the reality of which +we would turn with repulsion or on which we would look with pity. + +If Jesus is to be the leader of men He must go before them. He must +stand in the front, not set there by artificial arguments as to His +right to rule over men, but there because He belongs there, first +because He is first in all that makes manhood; He is king because He +can, and because He has overcome in life's great conflict. + +If He is to show us the way we should go He must walk in that way; He +must be flesh of our flesh, true man, knowing the full fellowship of +our lives. If He was born with a halo; if He lived on angel's fare; if +somehow He belongs to another world and His perfections are not those +of our nature, then, almighty as He may be as a leader for beings of +another world, He has no value to us. + +But men have ever set aside the weavings of minds so absorbed in the +wonder of their speculations that they could not see the truth. They +have seen through the dreamings of poets, painters, and preachers, who +pictured only their sickly ideals. And, instead of their caricatures, +men have held in their hearts a man, one of their own. And this true +fellow, brother and friend, has spurred them to noble deeds and lofty +living. + +Perfection is seen in strength, not in weakness, in virility and not in +tears, in majesty, the majesty truly of meekness, but not of a maudlin, +mooning etherealism. The revelation of the perfect man cannot come in +a form that a child will pity; it will be admirable from all points of +view. It is the heroic rather than the esthetic we must admire. + +The men who followed that one long ago did so not because they had +heard arguments as to His divine claims, but because they were drawn by +the heavenly power of His manhood. This it is that wins men ever, the +magnetism of manhood. The force of a great life is mightier than any +of the things it does. There is about this leader, Jesus, that which +compels us to greatness, spurs us to strife for our better selves, +strengthens to sacrifice and to service for our fellows. + +It matters little whence a life like this has come; the greater +question is where does it lead us. Childish minds spend time on the +genealogical trees of the giants; the wise men follow them. The value +of the life of the great Teacher does not depend on our ability to +comprehend it biologically or arrange it chronologically, but on our +vision of its moral and manly perfections and on the power these +attributes have over our lives. + +This world will be little helped by the most irrefutable syllogism +concerning the peculiar nature and separate exclusive divinity of its +great religious Teacher. But lives will be lifted everywhere in the +measure that they see the man in Him who taught us of God. For men +need not so much a God who has come down as a man who has attained to +God, not a descent, but an ascent, one who is the life and the truth +because He is the way which they may tread up to the glory that is +their heritage and the God who is their own. + + + +THE LIFE THAT LIFTS + +To any save the few in the group of His friends that statement of Jesus +that being lifted up He would draw all men to Him must have sounded +like the ravings of one deluded. It has taken the centuries to show +that He was right. He was right in His estimation of His life's end; +it was a lifting up. His enemies thought it a casting down, a defeat; +He knew it to be a triumph. Sorrow, injustice, oppression, hatred, the +things that seem to crush are the things that elevate. Only by +opposition has any life discovered power. The fiercer blow these winds +the firmer grows the tree. Out of the petty persecutions, the +countless meannesses, the littleness of those who oppose him the great +soul builds its greatness. It is, and ever has been by a cross that +men are lifted up. History abounds with prisons, gibbets, and crosses +which have become thrones of eternal glory. + +Whether we shall be cast down or lifted up depends upon ourselves; +neither enemies nor adverse circumstances have the power to do this. +The soul that seeks the stars builds its staircase out of the stones +flung by the persecutor, out of the rocks of difficulties. If your +heart is great, my brother, nothing can keep you from greatness; if it +is mean, no amount of o'ervaulting ambition can make you other than a +little, obscure man, as truly lost on the peak as you would be at the +base. + +Jesus died a failure; His friends were few, and the best of them +thought His life a mistake. It takes more than the span of our lives +to measure their size. It is better that a great soul should be called +a failure than that it should die a shrivelled success. Earth measures +by what the hands hold; heaven by the heart. The hands at last lose +their grasp, but the heart wealth goes on from more to more. This it +is that is worth while. + +Jesus was right when He said that He would draw all men to Him. Then +it sounded like folly; to-day it demonstrates His divine insight. +Lifted up in shame the riches of His life were revealed. After all, +the best in us answers to the best; it is love that leads. In the end, +goodness, truth, gentleness, sincerity have the greatest attraction for +men. Jesus is known and loved by millions who never heard of Nero or +of Augustus. Their glory was that of circumstance; His that of +character. His life lifts. + +This it is that most helps the world; not learning, but a life; not +power or position, but simple passion for men; not riches, but wealth +of the inner life. You may not found a university or build libraries +or hospitals, or even write books or preach sermons. But every one may +do the principal thing that Jesus did. That was to live a life amongst +men of love for them, of simple kindnesses, of God-seeking aspiration, +of white sincerity. The race needs not so much men who will shake it +with their power or dazzle it with their learning as it needs men and +women who will lift it with the quiet earnestness and sincerity of +their lives. Herein is lasting greatness and true power, to live as He +lived, to love as He loved, true to God, to yourself, and to your +fellows, seeking the best and giving of your best. + +Service and sacrifice are the things that lift to the supreme places; +the lower you stoop in helpfulness the higher you are lifted in lasting +glory. And they are lifted to heaven, they achieve immortality, they +can never die who were willing to die if death lay in the path of duty, +to be sacrificed if sacrifice was part of their service. + + + + +VII + +Seeing the Unseen + + _The Sense of the Unseen_ + _The Brook in the Way_ + _That Which is High_ + + +_The song of sympathy never comes until the singer has been to the +school of sorrow._ + +_True spirituality can see the altar in the cookstove and the washtub._ + +_People who are always off the key are never content out of the choir._ + +_The only version of the Bible authorized by heaven is that on two +feet._ + +_Every life must have days in the desert but it does not need to build +its house there._ + +_Many a man thinks he is patient with pain when he is only perverse in +eating pickles._ + +_No man knows how much religion he has until he goes of fishing alone +where mosquitoes are many._ + +_There are too many people to whom God has given wings who are +complaining of corns._ + +_It is some consolation to know that when you aim at nothing you are +sure to hit it._ + +_If you have large reserves of religion you will not be without the +small change of kindness._ + + +VII + +THE SENSE OF THE UNSEEN + +When the practically-minded man Paul writes of looking at the things +which are not seen his words sound like either fantasy or folly. Yet +it is plain fact, practical, and certainly essential to any success. +He is blind who can see only with his eyes, and he only is sensible who +knows there are many things beyond his senses. Practical men consider +all the factors to every problem, and things are not less real to them +because they may chance to be intangible. + +The unseen things are imminent to us always. There are many things not +yet pigeonholed by our science nor catalogued by our philosophies. You +can dissect a daisy and enumerate its parts; but you never know a daisy +until you have seen the unseen things thereof, until you have felt the +subtle appeal of its beauty. Bobbie Burns saw more of the daisy than +the greatest botanist without his spiritual eyes. + +The danger is that in our hard workaday we shall forget the reality of +the unseen, we shall get to think that gold and steel and land are the +only real things, and we shall shape ourselves by the blind and base +creed of gold, and steel, and land. How easy it is to measure every +man by his possessions in tangible things. How easy to make these our +chief end in life, to slight the real prizes, the unseen wealth that +lies so close at hand or already possessed, while we rush and strive +for the rainbow of riches. + +Deep within us we know that he is rich, and he alone, who has wisdom, +love, patience, who possesses friends, who creates kindly thoughts, +whose life with simple joy abounds. Once again and often do we need to +see Bunyan's picture of the man bending over his refuse, gathered with +the muck rake, and heedless of the angel holding the crown that only +waits his taking. + +A man is wealthy according to what is within him. His greatness is of +the things that are unseen. There are limits to the possession and the +use of the things that are seen; but who shall set a limit to a man's +possible wealth in love and honour, in wisdom and integrity, in all the +things that make up the soul of man? Few are the things that a man may +hold for his own all the days of his life, and fewer still are those he +may grasp with pleasure when the hands are falling helpless by his +side. But many are the riches he may have to hold forever in the +things of the unseen. Many a man walks through the fields penniless +and yet richer far than their owner; to him the birds sing, for him the +flowers bloom, to his eyes there are beauties in the blue beyond all +words, and all the loveliness of the fair land lifts his heart within +him. The other man who holds the title deeds sees nothing beside them. +Possession is wholly a matter of appreciation. The earth is the Lord's +and He gives it to those who have eyes to see. + +It is the eye to see the unseen that gives wealth to the seen. Values +depend on vision. Appreciation does not prevent possession; it makes +the possession actual. And the vision of the realities behind things +keeps a man from the sense of destitution when all things are taken +from him. He cannot be destitute. He may lose all his fellows, but he +cannot be friendless; the Father of Spirits cannot lose him, nor can he +be cut off from fellowship with those who die no more. + +The seeing eye is the stimulus to the worth while endeavour. The +inventors who have enriched the world endured derision seeing the +things invisible to others. The truth is that it is the unspiritual +world that makes the least progress in things material. The men of +faith and vision are back of all advance. They have endurance, +patience, and strength. The sense of another world where motives are +rightly measured, the sense of a great cloud of worthy witnesses to +other eyes invisible, the sense of reward in the very service itself, +rewards intangible yet most real, the joy of sacrifice and service; +these all enable one to push on, to toil, to endure. Then, long +afterwards, the dull, weary world sees and understands. + + + +THE BROOK IN THE WAY + +Alongside every highway runs the brook whereof a man may drink often if +he will and drinking lift up his head. Its little song we scarce hear +in the rush of our businesses; its refreshing we forget even though our +throats be parched with the dust of our petty affairs. Yet it is ever +there, cool, refreshing, this world of spirits and ideals. + +Nature has a prodigal way of scattering rivulets down the hillside and +along the pathways, little heeding whether men walk there or not. The +practical eye sees waste; these streams might have been made to turn +wheels; the needs of the traveller, weary with the way, might be met by +faucets at regular intervals. + +It is well for us all that the power of the practical man finds its +limitations, else all poetry would have gone from the world, and great +and glorious as might have been our physical perfections our bodies +would be but the empty habitations whence souls had long since fled. +The utilitarian would have stolen from us the bliss of the deep draft +from the pebbly brook. + +The man who is proud of being practical tells us we are wasting time +and nervous energy in stopping to think of ideal things; we must take +the world as we find it, he says, forgetting how fair and poetic we +once found it and how bleak and ugly we are likely to leave it. But to +him trees are always lumber, grass and flowers but hay, bird songs +spell poultry, wind and waters energy. Many are too busy making things +ever to enjoy anything that is made. + +In this steel age it may seem folly and waste to stop and think of +sacrifice and courage and love, to admire and answer to the thrill of +human passions; but alas for him who never sees the light of heaven in +another's tear, nor hears the brush of angels' wings when men and women +fly to their fellow's aid. + +If you haven't time in your busy life to turn aside to drink of the +brook of human affection, to look deep into the eyes of friendship, to +sympathize, to comfort, to taste this strange sweet and bitter cup of +our common fellowship, then is your heart going dry and thirsty and +life becoming a whitened road that knows no wells or springs. + +But something there is in man that calls for drafts at yet deeper +streams than these. Foolish and unlearned he may be, ignorant of the +wise conclusions of philosophers who have looked into these things with +their lanterns, but through the ages he has been drinking eagerly at +the waters of eternity. In every man there is a thirst after the deep, +immeasurable things divine; the deeper the nature of the man the +greater his necessity for drinking often here. + +The consciousness of the great life that embraces all life, the sense +of its nearness to us all, has been a perennial refreshing to all great +hearts. In some way to bring the life into touch with the infinite is +to take down its limitations, break its barriers, and give it a sense +of infinitude, to lift up the head in vision of the divinity of our +lives and of every life. We who walk in the dust often need to be +filled with the divine lest we become ourselves but dust. + +This world of things is hungry for the life that is more than things, +the life of the spirit; that is why so many love to sing of heaven and +dream of a fair world peopled by strange and glorious celestial ones. +Heaven is nearer than we think; like the brook by the way, the life of +the spirit flows beside this life; happy they who drink of its waters, +who already enter into eternity, who find strength for this life's way +and work by the contact with the life that is life indeed. + +Is it any wonder that life is a wearisome thing, a dead drag, when you +are starving its very sources? You neglect the soul at the peril of +all. So anxious are you to run this race that you have no time to +allow him who rides in the chariot to drink of the water of life. This +is not utilitarianism; this is suicide from the centre out. + +The most practical common sense demands that you feed the inner places +of your life, the heart that has gone so long thirsty and longing for +love, for things too deep for words, for things that cannot be used and +cannot be quoted in dollars. Give your inner life its deep drafts of +the infinite life and your outer life shall take its place and do its +work in the world. + + + +THAT WHICH IS HIGH + +There are two ways of viewing the oncoming years, as burdens or as +opportunities, with fear or with expectation. The days of the new year +may loom up as a series of unwelcome tasks to be unwillingly done or as +so many invitations to attempt and achieve great things. The +difference between these two points of view marks the difference +between enduring life and finding the life that endures. + +The wise preacher of long ago caught sight of one of these distinctions +that cut clear through to the roots of things. He says that the sign +of old age is that a man is "afraid of that which is high." When +courage and ambition have gone old age and decrepitude have entered in, +no matter whether a man be eighteen or eighty. + +He alone has youth, he alone has life before him, who can still catch +the vision of the ideal, of that which is high, who can lift up his +eyes beyond the horizon of practicabilities and precedents and see the +things not yet realized. There is a time when men must dream dreams +and see visions, when they must feast on noble purposes or die so far +as the inner spirit and all that makes real living is concerned. + +If you find the will becoming dull and listless, with no quickening of +the pulses, but only apathy or a sneer for the high purpose or the +great promise, it is but a sign of the approach of senility, of the +failure of the powers. When the ambition can be satisfied with the +less while the greater is before it, when things low and base are +preferred to things high, afar off, and difficult to attain, the heart +is dying already. + +Cherish as the spark of life the aspiration to have and do and be the +best. Yet who is there does not know the paralyzing chill that the +sneer of the philistine or even the memory of our own many failures can +give when great possibilities offer themselves to us? How easily enter +in the cold considerations that deaden our aspirations; how subtle the +temptation to be content with the condition that involves neither toil +nor pain. How hard to realize that this is an invitation to death. + +To all men comes the thrill of the passion to do some great thing, to +give to our world some worthy service. To yield to this is to keep the +heart young, is to defy time, to conquer the years. Whether the coming +days shall bend the back with their burdens or shall nerve and +strengthen the life does not depend on whether they have cares or joys +in them, but on whether they find us responsive to the call of noble +things. + +No man can afford to let a pure and lofty impulse die, nor, for fear of +failure or of ridicule, to become afraid or ashamed of his ideals. +Living is more than a dull feeding at tables or troughs, more than +shelter and sleep; it is growing, climbing, becoming, finding higher +levels and seeing yet higher before. + +Nor is this all; the spirit of greatness finds ample play in daily +duties. The success of the year does not depend on whether you can do +things that shall amaze men to-day or make your name known forever, but +upon whether into all the things you do, lowly, humdrum, commonplace as +they may seem to be, the daily duties of home or shop or store, the +care of the baby, or the running of a typewriter, there shall enter the +great and high motive. + +This is what we all need, the high vision of the lowly things, the +sight of the fact that the least piece of work is an essential part of +the service of the whole universe, that a man serves the Divine not by +wearing a black coat but by doing, as in God's name, with high motives +the least duties that may be his. It is not place nor authority nor +wage that makes the work high or low; it is the spirit of the service +and the part it plays in the world's great business of perfecting +humanity. + +Would you ward off old age, cherish vitality and give value to your +days, seek the things that are above, the life that serves some worthy +end. One is young as long as his heart leaps responsive to a noble +call. But he who lives to pleasure, to the satisfaction of self, who +has shut his eyes to the high things that call for self-denial, for +toil and loss, is dead already. + + + + +VIII + +Sources of Strength and Inspiration + + _Strength for the Daily Task_ + _The Sense of the Infinite_ + _The Great Inspiration_ + + +_Living heartily is one secret of living happily._ + +_Life is early blighted if it knows no clouds._ + +_You can tell the character of any age by the place it gives to +character._ + +_There is little danger in the discontent with conditions that is +equalled by discontent with character._ + +_Heart health never comes so long as the hand is kept on the pulse._ + +_Feed on garbage and you soon lose faith in good things._ + +_The fruitful life seeks showers as well as sunshine._ + +_It's hard for a man who has ground of his nose on the money mill to +smell a taint on anything._ + +_Many a man goes back by trying to put up a good front and nothing +more._ + +_Every life is worth the love it gives._ + + +VIII + +STRENGTH FOR THE DAILY TASK + +It is the dull grind and monotony of life that makes it so hard to bear +for the ninety-nine per cent. of us. Sometimes it seems as though we +spend all our days toiling, wearing strength, and hope, and heart away +for no other end than to gain just bread and shelter so as to keep the +machine in condition for further toil. + +How hopeless is the outlook of many a life! The mother with the weary +round of home duties day after day, the father who goes to the same +task year after year, seeing the same people, doing the same things, +and coming home at the day's end with the same weariness, only +augmented as age makes itself felt--all who toil feel at times these +depressing limitations. + +Little wonder that lives snatch at every fleeting, alluring promise of +relief, through amusement, through anything that offers change and +excitement. Little wonder that, robbed of opportunity for vision, they +foment blind discontent, so that we all feel there is a mighty +substratum of wretchedness and of menace lying under our social order. + +Yet there are few lives, perhaps no worthy ones, without tasks that +often seem monotonous and become matters of dull grinding that bring +weariness and longing for relief. All worth while work involves much +tediousness, painstaking exertion. All great things stand for so much +life poured out, and life is never poured out without pain and loss. + +The stern Puritan was doubtless wrong when he saw nothing in life but +repression and stern duty, but he was nearer right than he who looks +only for frivolity and amusement. Life is too large a business to be +always light and trivial. Yet we must not allow its high purposes to +be thwarted by robbing ourselves and our fellows of all joy and +brightness and converting life into dull, mechanical servitude. + +How may we find that proportion of toil and relief, that happy mixture +of duty and delight that shall make life not only endurable but also +useful, fruitful, and enjoyable? For it is man's duty to be happy; +otherwise he can never be useful in any high or valuable sense. + +It would be easy to try to give comfort by the philosophy which sees +the fine fruitage that is coming from to-day's stern discipline. That +fair fruitage is coming, but the trouble is it is too far off to give +us much comfort now; we want something nearer and more easily +apprehended. Then, too, the truth is no high fruitage will ever issue +from a life crushed by slavish subjection. + +After all, what life is to every one of us depends not on the demands +of outer circumstances, but on the development of the life within. The +heart determines the worth and beauty of life. It makes all the +difference whether the physical determines its circumference or whether +you have an intellect that is reaching out to the things unmeasurable +and a soul that grows into glory indescribable. + +You can tie a great soul down hand and brain to a loom or a machine and +he will still see his visions and dream his deep, refreshing dreams; +you can set the brutish being down in a gallery of the world's +treasures of art and beauty and he will think of nothing and see +nothing but bread and beer. + +We must do our dull and heavy tasks, but we can do them and not be +crushed by them so long as within there are fragrant memories, high +aspirations, great thoughts; so long as the task does not set the +boundary of the life. And it is the cherishing of these eternal riches +within that lifts any life and makes it worthy of higher tasks. + +We need to seek out the springs of noble thoughts, to find in the +riches of the world's literature, in music, and in beauty of art the +food for that inner life in the strength of which, drawing often on its +secret resources, we can go many days through the desert of toil. + +The wise life uses every opportunity of refreshing; it drinks of every +spring of the up-welling waters of life; it seeks communion with every +great soul. Holidays and rest days are to it times of replenishing +when the eyes that ache from bending over the machine or desk lift +themselves to the eternal hills and the heart turns to the things that +are infinite. + + + +THE SENSE OF THE INFINITE + +One does not have to believe in the same kind of a god as did the seers +and singers of long ago in order to obtain the spiritual values which +they found in the thought of his nearness to them. David and Browning, +Isaiah and Whittier, with all the centuries between them, still come to +the same thought--we know that Thou art near. + +Through all ages and in all peoples this sense of that which is other +than ourselves, from which our highest good comes, towards which our +ideals and aspirations strain, the ultimate force of our being, this +feeling after the infinite is universal. It is the essential and +determinative mark of every religion. + +When those singers of long ago tried to express their sense of the +infinite life and love they used words which make it appear that they +thought only of some being larger, mightier, wiser than themselves, +yet, after all, like themselves, a great man deified because He was +great. Perhaps that really was their conception; still, we use +precisely the same language, even though our ideas are entirely +different. + +It makes relatively little difference what their conceptions were, so +far as ours are concerned. Their words are not accurate, detailed pen +pictures of some being who can be described or photographed. No man +has seen the infinite at any time. The great thing is that ever and +everywhere men find themselves with a hunger after this sublime unseen. + +One may use terms of personality and another terms of power; to one the +infinite may be but a local deity; to another, that which embraces all +spirit and being, and each may have all of the divine his heart is +capable of containing. Here none may dogmatize for others. + +Religion does not depend on uniformity of conceptions of the divine. +It depends more upon universality of consciousness of the infinite and +openness of mind and life to whatever we may feel and know, from any +source or through any means whatsoever, of that life or energy which +lies back of all life and energy, of that love and light which cheer +and lighten every son of man. + +Definitions determine nothing, but they do work great damage when minds +capable of being stereotyped to them agree to impose those definitions +on their fellows as final, authoritative, and essential to their +welfare. The divine is neither infinite nor sublime when you can say, +Here are His lineaments and He has no other likeness or appearance. + +To the question, How shall we think of the divine? there can be but one +answer--in higher, wider, deeper, nobler, purer ways than yesterday. +The conception must be a developing one. A man's spiritual capacities +develop as his inner vision becomes more keen. The soul takes wider +flight, and in our deep thoughts we discover that which language cannot +compass. + +There are those who think they must be atheists because they cannot +believe in the God of the Hebrews, the God of the Old Testament--a +limited personality. But the genuine atheists are more likely to be +those who are without a sense of the divine, because they have taken +definitions and descriptions prepared by others instead of seeking +truth for themselves. + +We are but poor learners of those ancient teachers if we have not +discovered that their greatest lesson to us is not truth, as they had +found it, but the blessing of the persistent search after truth. To +cherish as final past presentations of truth is to be false to its +present possibilities. + +We do not need to worry over definitions of the divine. We do need to +cultivate the temper of mind and the sensitiveness of spirit that will +save us from blindness to the higher facts of life, that will save us +from the blasting whirlwind of materialism, with its sense of nothing +but a soulless world of things. + +We need to avoid the mind that shuts the divine up in some far off +heaven to be reached only by formal telephony called prayer; that fails +to see the infinite in all things--in sunlight and flower, in +children's laughter, and in misery's wail, in factories and stores, as +well as in churches. We need the mind that argues not about +omnipresence, but in duty and delight cries, Always and everywhere, +Thou art near. + + +THE GREAT INSPIRATION + +Christianity is distinguished and dominated by the ideal of the life +and character of Jesus of Nazareth; it is a philosophy and a system of +individual and social ethics under the inspiration of a glowing ideal. +No matter how greatly its people may differ on other points, all are +agreed in recognizing in Jesus the fairest of the sons of men. + +There never was a time when the thought of this life was more potent +than it is to-day. Men think of Him as a fellow being, one who went +about doing good, who looked out on life with the windows of His soul +unsullied and who lived out ever the holiest and highest that came to +Him. + +The thought of such a one has become so real to men that they do not +stop to argue about His existence, as once they did. If it was +possible indisputably to disprove the historic Christ men still would +cherish, as highly as ever, the ideal, the vision of such a life, and +in their hearts would know that such a picture could only have been +born of such a person. + +This goodly, glorious man no longer is one who now sits on the throne +of heaven. Men are not particularly concerned as to whether He is +artistically glorified and perpetuated by some divine decree. He has +crowned Himself in the glory of a pure and beneficent character; He has +perpetuated Himself in human loves and admiration. + +Because He once showed Himself as the friend of all, the pure, high +souled friend of the down-trodden and the outcast, the strong, +invigorating friend of the rich and successful, He to-day walks by many +a man as His unseen friend, and in busy mart or office men feel the +presence of a heavenly guest. + +Once men made that life the centre of dispute; they sought to prove His +divinity by His unlikeness to ordinary humanity. But the facts +defeated them. This man whom men so learned to love that they became +willing to die for Him was in all respects a man. His life is worth so +much to us because He was so much like us. + +It has come as a new revelation to the world that the supreme religious +soul of the ages should be so tenderly, naturally human. We cry +"Father!" with a new sense of relationship and fellowship when we see +the likeness of the father in the face of such a son. + +We are coming to believe that just what the great friend of mankind was +so is the great father of us all to us all, that just as the Son of the +most high moved amongst men seeking to help, cheering, comforting, +loving, so is the eternal spirit moving in our world, going about doing +good. + +Once every effort of the theologian was bent to setting this majestic +figure apart from mankind to secure Him sovereignty over us by +separation from us. How different is that from the simple pictures +drawn of Him, from the naturalness of His life, from the love which He +had for homes and human friendships, from the life which earned the +illuminating rebuke of being called a friend of sinners. + +It is a good thing for us all often to remember that there has been +such a life, that one born in poverty and unknown, far removed from +centres of culture and wealth, living the hard life of a peasant, +knowing all our temptations and weaknesses, yet should open His life so +fully and completely to spiritual influences as to become to all the +ages the greatest of all spiritual leaders. + +What one has done another may do. What He has been we may be. He but +shows the possibility of any life. He had no advantage over us; we +know no disadvantages against which He did not have to strive. The +divine heights have been scaled by human feet; His footprints beckon us +on. + + + + +IX + +Finding Foundations + + _The Passing and Permanent_ + _Facing the Facts_ + _The Real Foundation_ + + +_Things not right can never be religious._ + +_Bigotry puts blinders on the best of men._ + +_Submission is the first step to sovereignty._ + +_The principle of expediency expels all other principle._ + +_Quiet lives are often eloquent._ + +_The love of wealth steals wealth of love._ + +_It's the common virtues that make uncommon saints._ + +_Many a man is shouting his convictions to drown the voice of +conscience._ + +_A little learning is dangerous if you are planning to get to heaven by +degrees._ + +_When a man gets over anxious about the gnat it's time to hang on to +the camel._ + + +IX + +THE PASSING AND PERMANENT + +When the walls are being rebuilt it is easy to imagine that the +foundations are being destroyed. Old creeds pass away, but truth +remains; if they were true in their day they do but give place to the +larger truth of the new day. We need to distinguish between the +turmoil attendant to the process of building and the beauty of the new +temple that arises. + +The old folks hear the new truths and ask, where are the foundations +gone? The young hear the discussion between the old and the new and +ask, is there anything settled, anything worth believing? What are the +permanent elements in religion on which the life may build while the +things that are but temporary are adjusting themselves? + +It would be the height of folly to assert that there is no change. +Some say that we must believe precisely the same things as our fathers +believed. To do so would be to be false to our fathers, for they +refused to accept the traditions of their elders. The landmarks we +leave behind once were far in front of the seekers after truth. + +Truth never changes but our vision is ever enlarging. The road +remains, but the traveller moves on. With the living every day has +some new light. Creeds are crystallized statements of truth; truth is +vital and cannot be contained in unchanging forms. Credulity blindly +accepts yesterday's picture of truth; faith, with open eyes, seeks +to-day's truth itself. + +Skepticism is much less sinful than credulity. The sloth of the man +who will not examine things, will not prove them, who prefers to buy +his garments of truth ready made, results in what is worse than +unbelief, and that is blind belief in the false. It is a religious +duty to question every teaching, to prove all things. + +How may we find those things that are certain? How may we discover the +truth for our day, the truth upon which we may build? Surely there are +some things fixed and certain, there is somewhere pole star and +compass. How may we find that truth which belongs to our day and in +which we may have the confidence that our fathers had in their truth? + +The test of the vital truths is a practical one. Only those truths are +vital which concern the present business of living in all its wide +sweep. + +It is a matter of indifference what we may think of the colour of +angels' hair or the number of strings to their harps; it is a vastly +different matter what we may believe as to moral obligations, human +rights, and duties. + +The test of creed is an ethical one. What things work out best in +living, what are the ideals, doctrines, beliefs that make the noblest +characters and the most useful citizens, the best sons, and daughters, +and parents, and neighbours? What are the things that help me most in +my life, the things that give me moral stimulus and bracing, the things +that lead me to covet the best? + +The way to find the truth is to do the truth; only the truth that we +can do is worth discussing. If you will give yourself to the business +of living the truth you have you soon will have the living truth for +this new day. + +Too many people are holding up as saving doctrines matters of +philosophy and speculation, matters of childish curiosity, because it +is easier to hold these things theoretically than to hold living truth +practically. The truths that save men are the ones that change their +characters; the great authorized and divine translation of the Bible is +its translation into present day lofty living. + +Build your life on the belief in goodness, in eternal, infinite +goodness as the order of the universe, on the superiority of love to +hatred, on the final victory of love and goodness, on the ideal of this +great human family of ours that shall come to live in unity and +brotherliness, and so fulfill the will of the infinite father of all. +These things work well. + + + +FACING THE FACTS + +This is the age of the dominance of science. When a man asks, What +shall I believe? only one answer can be returned: Believe the things +that are. An age now past found it easy to believe that it believed +what it was told, even the things that it knew were not so. But to-day +at least has the merit of finding no merit in that form of +self-deception. + +The passion for absolute truth and rightness is one of the noblest that +can spring up in any breast; it is a ripe fruit of religion. The +scientist, by his devotion to exact facts, to pure truth, is the +religious man of our day, and the schools become religious educators in +their power to instill a primary love for truth and to lift up ideals +of exactness and equity. + +When we translate religion into terms of life, into actuality as +contrasted with imagination, we begin to discover the necessity for +foundations deeper than legend or romance. So long as a man's religion +consisted in what he might picture in glowing colours of imagination on +the canvas of fancy about his past or future he did not need to take +his designs from facts. + +But when religion becomes the science of right living, the process of +securing right social relationships and character as the expression of +ideal personal and individual character, it is evident that in such a +work religion must proceed on ascertained, indisputable verities. + +We may be satisfied with myths as to the ordering of the first family, +and we may leave to the play of fancy the specifications of an ideal +heaven; but when we begin to order our own families and adjust our +social and civic affairs we are compelled to wait for principles based +on facts, for truth. Religion thus becomes a science. + +Much eloquence was spilled over the conflict between religion and +science. It was only a conflict between the old religion and its new +form, between the gray dawn and the growing day. Our fathers were not +wilfully false, holding on to darkness when the light came; but they so +long had held sacred the pictures seen in twilight they were loath to +give them up for those of the full day's printing. + +The most damaging infidelity is the lack of faith in truth, the fear +that it might not be safe to allow all the facts to be known. He who +in the name of religion seeks to prevent our seeing and accepting the +full facts is religion's greatest foe. Only the full truth can set us +fully free, intellectually, spiritually, morally. + +Why should we fear the light of investigation on the things of +religion? There is more sacredness in simple truth than in secrecy. +It were better to be lost forever seeking truth than saved by +sophistry. How foolish to attempt to adjust our lives by laws built +out of speculation, to attempt to steer by a compass when there is no +pole of truth? + +In to-day's changing tides of thought, when the old faiths seem +slipping away, when we wonder why we have lost the simple faith of our +own youth or our father's, looking for some firm ground for our feet, +we do well to set them down on nothing but facts, to discriminate among +the sands of time and the alluvial deposits of tradition till we find +the rock of truth. + +But facing the facts we find everywhere one writ large, over all one +great principle of unchanging law, one great purpose moving through all +nature and all history, and what we once only dared to hope and dream, +that back of all there throbs infinite love and there rules infinite +wisdom, now is attested by the impressive array of the witnesses of +science. + +Truth always is safe. The holiest error must be born of hell. We can +make no mistake in refusing to go beyond truth, and we will find that +she leads to the ordering of life according to eternal laws, to the +doing of duties and finding of sweet joys as old as the hills and as +unchanging; she will lead in the paths of rightness. + +Some day our race will know all the alphabet of nature and be able to +read the story of the unchanging goodness; some day we shall comprehend +the wavering handwriting of history; some day we shall catch the +harmony of love and law; we shall know the full truth that is religion; +shall know things as they are and be what we should be. + + + +THE REAL FOUNDATION + +A good many thousand sermons have been preached on the parable of the +houses built on sand and on rock, probably nearly all of them with the +intent to prove that the way to build the life on a rock foundation is +to pass through the experience known as conversion, obtain saving faith +and join the church. This is typical of a popular way of interpreting +the scriptures: First, determine what you wish them to mean and then +make them mean that. The purpose being to persuade people to join the +church, then by hook or crook that duty must be discovered in every +divine precept. + +But this is simply to ignore the plain words of the great Teacher. It +would be impossible to clarify His statement: "If any man hears and +does the things I have been teaching he is like one who builds on a +rock." One thing marks the rock founded life, the doing of Christly +deeds. The course of conduct, the kind of character He has just +outlined in the sermon on the mount gives the established staple +character. + +The enduring life is not built on dreams. Many people think that their +lives are rock founded because they have a nebulous admiration for the +moral teachings of Jesus. On the whole they admire the sermon on the +mount; having taken the trouble to say as much as this they sit back +with the comfortable feeling that they have set themselves right with +the universe, that the Almighty will be delighted with their +indorsement. + +One of the most dangerous hypocrites is the easy-going, thoughtless +being who fancies that the indorsement of a duty is equivalent to the +doing of it. He evaporates his convictions into compliments instead of +crystallizing them into conduct. So far from being built on a rock he +floats around like a wisp of hay in a high wind. A butterfly might +better hope to drill and quarry out a foundation than he. Besides +this, his hypocritical praise of right precepts makes them only +offensive to those who might desire to practice them. + +Others imagine that an intellectual assent to certain statements +concerning the church or the Bible or Jesus is sufficient to fix the +life in stability. But the great Teacher does not place the emphasis +so much on what men may think of His character or mission, nor even on +their honest opinions on the theories of the past and the future, which +have delighted mental gymnasts since the world was young, to Him the +great differentiating fact touches those dynamic convictions that are +determining your conduct this day. + +He places conduct before creed. He long ago took that method of +teaching which modern pedagogy approves. He taught religion by the +manual method. Instead of saying, as theologians do, first comprehend +these doctrines and then you will be able to do them, He says, first do +these things, practice My precepts, and they will ere long become plain +to you. Men learn religion by doing. Begin to do the right and you +will get the reason; get the rule through the example. Deeds are the +solvents of doctrines. + +The house of life is built differently from any other; we get the plans +by erecting the structure. In the realm of character it is houses +rather than architecture we need. Build but one hour's conduct +squarely on the plain, cogent teachings of the man of Nazareth and you +will serve the world better than if you gave a lifetime to the +explanation of His words. + +Doctrines are but teachings intended to be done into deeds. Doing them +you gain a larger peace of mind and sense of stability of life than in +any other way. If you want the equilibrium of faith you will find it +by simply laying life's daily details on the plain foundation of His +principles. Nothing could be plainer; there are no hair-splitting +metaphysics, no subtle questions of policy here; do these things and +the heart finds calm, the life certitude, the soul satisfaction. + + + + +X + +The Passion for Perfection + + _The Great Search_ + _The Hunger of the Ages_ + _The Sole Satisfaction_ + + +_Pain is the parent of power._ + +_Marking time leaves no mark on time._ + +_The proof of love is loving the unlovely._ + +_Truth never is found by twisting the facts._ + +_Wings come not to those who refuse to walk._ + +_An ideal usually is what we want the other man to be._ + +_There is no righteousness without some self-respect._ + +_You cannot lead men to the divine by crawling in the dust._ + +_The real saints have no time to write their autobiographies._ + +_When a man boils over quickly you soon find out what is in him._ + +_True piety simply is the prosperity of the eternal things in a man._ + +_The world never will be won from the love of evil until we make the +good lovely._ + + +X + +THE GREAT SEARCH + +The cry, "How may I be right?" is the cry of the ages. Human history +is the record of our attempt to answer it. Man is naturally a truth +seeker, and this is the search of all truly great souls. The enduring +monuments of literature are those that have in some measure answered +this question. All things that have been worth while have helped us to +know and to realize the right. Health, happiness, freedom, morality, +all are but parts of the right; all are but sections of the sublime +whole for which man ever seeks. The search manifests itself in +different ways; it may be as science, the passion for the knowledge of +the right relations of things; as justice, for right relations amongst +men; as philosophy, as ethics, as religion. Back of all our life is +the instinct of progress; we push towards the perfect. And perfection +we now know rests not in more things but in bringing all the things +that are into right relations with one another. + +The idea that any man can be right regardless of others we scout as +absurd. The ideal civilization we work for here, even the heaven we +long for, is simply a condition of living where the things that +separate, despoil, and introduce discord are no more. The hope of the +race is to be in right relations with all things. All the great +religions are as the footprints of peoples who have sought the truth +that would lead them to be right and just with one another, with the +world, and with the great unseen powers behind all being. Our +universal sense of wrongness is but part of our passion for rightness. + +The sense of imperfection and the desire for improvement have marked +all religions that have influenced men. In the Jew this desire for +righteousness was supreme. Job is but a type. Coming to himself +amongst the ruin of all the things he counted most precious, he forgets +their loss in his desire to solve the great problem, What is right and +how may I reach it? Somewhere he knows there is a solution to all the +riddles of his friends and the questions of his own heart. An orderly +universe is not crowned by a being whose life must ever remain an +unsolved riddle. Men are not adrift in a fog with no hope of taking +bearings. If men have marked the natural world with lines of latitude +and longitude for the guidance of its travellers, the moral world is +not without its markings. + +Job's very question contains the only answer that has ever satisfied +man. God Himself is the great meridian of all morality. From Him we +may measure all relationships and get them right. That is the +essential message of the Bible; it strikes that first of all in "In the +beginning God----" Every life is right in the measure that it adjusts +itself to the unvarying will; amongst the nations they have the kingdom +who do His will. The world has made progress in precisely the +proportion that this will has been realized. The promise of the +present is that this great standard, this universal law by which all +may find the right, has been made known to all through a life. One of +our own has set forth God. One has lived who has shown us how to live. +For every problem there is now an example of its solution. For every +difficulty there is something better far than a declaration of duty; +there is the great Doer of the deed. He has come near to man that men +might come near to one another. He reveals the right. + +Yet we must not allow His perfection to make Him unapproachable. He is +only an example as long as His example is attainable. His divinity +does not depend on His distance from us but on the degree in which He +lifts us, inspires us towards the height He has gained. + + + +THE HUNGER OF THE AGES + +"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for +they shall be filled," is the central beatitude; in a measure it +embraces all the others, for every virtue they inculcate is included in +righteousness. But it is often rejected as impracticable because +fanciful teachers who substitute subtle definitions for simple duties +have twisted its plain words until righteousness is made something so +unreasonable as to be repulsive to a right mind. As a matter of fact, +it means no more than rightness; the hunger and thirst for +righteousness is but the earnest, supreme desire and endeavour to be +right and to do right at all times, the appetite for the right. + +Theological righteousness may mean some strange imputed quality laid on +a man like a cloak to cover his real condition or a bill of health +given to a sick man. But men who live next to real things care nothing +one way or the other for theoretical rightness; they want the real +article. And a right man will not be satisfied to have even the Most +High think of him as being perfectly right when he knows he falls far +short of it. He would rather be the faltering pursuer of actual +rightness than the possessor of a hypothetical, ascribed perfection. + +The great Teacher cares nothing about imaginary virtues; He praises +those who ardently seek the real ones. He knows that in the market of +character cash alone is currency; here you cannot draw checks on some +other person's deposits. To Him it is better by far to die facing the +right than to live in smug content with borrowed merits. This world +will never be content with a gospel that offers only vicarious virtues; +at its heart it knows too well its need of the genuine usable ones; it +has at least the dormant faculties of an appetite for rightness. + +And all this world story is but a record of the struggle for rightness. +All human progress is but its fruitage. In every age there have been +glorious souls who have made this passion a thing that glowed in their +lives and became a light to their day. In every man the divine +discontent that divides him from the animal is the sign of this desire +in some form; it shows man seeking to find more perfect, more nearly +right relations with the things about him. As the things about him +come to include God and heaven and things unseen so will his search for +rightness become wider and deeper and more spiritual. Every form of +spiritual aspiration, every religion, no matter how uncouth and +strange, is still the soul of man seeking right relations to the +infinite. + +What a glorious thing is this passion for the right; what visions it +has seen, what strength it has given to their realization. It is the +great tide that, moving restless and resistless in our bosoms, has +carried us on towards God. We cannot but believe it is born of him. +It does not originate in him, for it disturbs his peace, it stirs him +from sloth, it spurs him to new and often unwelcome endeavours. It +ever holds before him the shining possibility of a perfect being in a +perfect world. + +No wonder Christ used the figure of hunger and thirst. Literal +appetites have been the motives back of the world's struggle for +physical rightness; yet these cravings have not been more general or +more forceful than those of the soul. But for hunger and thirst man +would have lived in perfect content with the form and facts of life as +he found them; progress, all that we call civilization, would not have +been. + +Man is happy in proportion as necessity compels him to heed these +cravings. So is it in the moral world; the struggle has been our +salvation. To cease to strive for rightness is to cease to live. +Individually and nationally they are happy who accept the rigorous +climate of lofty ethical ideals, who are not content to take life as +they find it, but who seek to cultivate flowers and fruits of paradise +on the sterile, rocky soil of the human heart. This is the life that +Jesus shows, the life that seeks and finds the truth, that with +passionate ardour seeks right relations both with His fellows and with +His Father. Out of the fullness of experience, in the midst of His own +struggle He encourages all who strive; they shall be satisfied. No +ideal, no noble passion, no glorious sacrifice, no honest endeavour for +the right was ever in vain; the soul finds itself in seeking the +supreme good. + + + +THE SOLE SATISFACTION + +Through the ages men have waited for voices to speak from out the great +unknown. Answering to this universal longing for larger light, to this +search for truth, there has been the conviction that, where our own +scanty knowledge ended, there something akin to revelation would give +us light. We have been listening for voices that would speak with an +authority transcending that given to our fellows. + +Cold reason may mock at revelation, but the soul struggling in +darkness, baffled by its problems, lost in the night, still looks up +and hopes. For what awaits us but despair if the mysteries of the +universe are forever sealed, our questions forever unanswered, and no +higher appeal to be known than that to our own selfish interests? It +is not strange that men have heeded those who, though often mistaken or +but impostors, have cried, "Thus saith the Lord!" + +It would be strange if in a world of spirits there might be no +communication of spirit. If the fairest thought of our era is that +which was given us when man was taught to think of the omnipotent as +father, it would be strange if there should be no way by which such a +father might speak to his children. Such a world would contradict all +our best instincts. Such a world would mean that man was better than +his maker. + +The divine voice speaks, but we too often listen in the wrong +direction. It falls not from the skies; it comes not in strange, +unusual ways of visions and portents. But it is ever speaking through +the things of daily life; it is ever revealing truth and beauty to the +inner ear, for it comes not from without but springs up within; heard +by the heart rather than by the ear. + +The best things have not dropped down; they have grown up. Life is not +from without, but from within. God speaks not in thunders, but in the +hopes and the longings of hearts. Even the voice we hear in the +sighings of the wind or the message we read in the rays of setting sun +must be in us before it means aught to us. + +The ten commandments owe their force not to any writing on stone but to +their writing on our hearts; to them the soul of man answers +affirmatively. The only moral code we can follow is that which speaks +with the authority of a conscience convicted. That does not mean that +man is his own God, nor that he knows no law higher than himself; it +does mean that by the laws of spiritual development the law is being +written on every heart. + +Every real revelation is a divine revelation, since all truth is +divine. Once we thought the scientist the enemy of religion; now we +know that whenever science lays bare one of the facts of the universe +we do but look on what the finger of the Infinite has written. When +religion fights truth simply because truth speaks an unfamiliar tongue +or fails to respect her traditions, she is fighting against God Himself. + +Our need is not some strange, awe-inspiring voice that shall break the +silence of the midnight sky; our need is an ear trained to hear, a +spirit to understand and reverence the sublime voices that are ever +speaking in our world, the voices of the beauty of nature, the joy of +living, the stories of every-day divine heroism, the forces that are +making a new world to-day as truly as ever one was made long ago. + +The life of our day has not less of the divine than the life of long +ago; but the message is harder to read; it is for an educated race; it +is spiritual rather than merely material; it is from within; it is +found in every good impulse, in every outgoing sympathy, in the +kindling of eye as friend greets friend, in the good that men are +doing, in the toleration that is becoming wider, the love stronger +between man and man. + +God speaks to men now as He spoke to Moses or to David, though the +manner may have changed. But the poor in spirit, those with whom pride +of the past has not served to make them unwilling to learn, these hear +the voice; the pure in heart see Him; the seekers after truth find Him, +and to all He comes in the thrilling moment or in the quiet hour when +the voice of the heart makes itself heard. + + + + +XI + +The Price of Success + + _The Law of Selection_ + _The Fallacy of Negation_ + _The Secret of All_ + + +_No life is lost that is lived for love._ + +_The only wealth you can possess is that you have in the heart._ + +_Love never knows hardship, even when it meets it._ + +_When men pray for harvest they often get a plow._ + +_A man's holiness is to be measured by the happiness he creates._ + +_The only way to reach heaven is by attempting to realize heaven now._ + +_Whatever is saved by selfishness is lost to the true self._ + +_One of the worst offenses against humanity is the pretense of +divinity._ + +_Weapons that fly off the handle have little effect on the walls of +sin._ + +_Many a man thinks that taking a lease on a front pew gives him a +freehold on a corner lot in heaven._ + +_Success is not in an endeavour to do a great things but in repeated +endeavours to do greater things._ + + +XI + +THE LAW OF SELECTION + +Jesus said, "If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and +cast them from thee," but this age finds it hard to accept that saying. +It asks, If we are to throw life away why should it have been given to +us? Why this selfhood with its passions, its surging desires, its +great longing to be untrammelled and free if all is to be restrained +and the passions are to be perpetually denied? If religion means, as +some plainly have said, doing the things you don't want to do and +leaving undone those you desire, then it is a mockery, a contradiction +of our lives and natures. + +Therefore there exists another philosophy which says, boldly: Live out +all that is in you; do all the things you want to do; your passions in +themselves are sufficient justification for their gratification. They +say man is free; therefore, let him realize himself by giving free and +full expression to every thought, inclination, appetite, and +possibility within him. + +When the average man puts the two philosophies in contrast he is likely +to conclude that the path of self-denial, of stern repression, is the +mistaken one; for, he will say, does it not contradict nature?--does it +not involve the repression of natural instincts and make all life a +perpetual fight against ourselves, a waste of forces, instead of, as it +should be, a plan by which a man might find success through the +realization of the best in himself? + +But let another test be put to this philosophy--the test of life. How +does it work out? What are the best lives, the lives that are richest +and that have most enriched the world? Are they those that have given +free rein to every fancy, that have nurtured and brought to fruitage +every growth of the heart's garden, whether it be thistle, brier, or +poison root, or fair, nutritious product? Are they those that have +given the tiger and the beast of prey free and full range of the life? + +There is striking unanimity in the answer. The rich and the enriching +lives have been those that have come by the path of the cross; they +have learned repression, practiced denial, and suffered death. In +every sphere the lights that have illumined the way of man's advance +have not been the dancing flames of selfish, sensual passion but the +consuming of the bodies of the martyrs and heroes, either burning in +their passion for others or denying and losing all rather than denying +truth and light. + +The law runs through all; if you would have a perfect flower you must +deny existence to many weeds, you must repress the rank growth, you +must pluck off many a leaf and nip many a bud that the one may come to +the fullness of its beauty. Through the grain of character goes the +wise husbandman, and death is in his hand--the death of the less +worthy, the harmful, and the enemy that life may abound yet more and +more in that which is worthy. + +In those fields where all things grow in their own way the weeds become +the standard for all; license brings all down to the level of the +lowest. But life is not license--it is choice, selection, sacrifice, +death. Pain is the only price at which perfection may be purchased. +Self-realization comes not by permitting all things to have their way +but by subjecting all parts to the securing of that high end. + +It is but cowardice that cries for the so-called natural outworking of +everything within man; it seeks to save the labour of weeding, the pain +of cutting here and pruning there. It asks only to be left alone. But +that way lies the deepest pain of all, the pain of a life where there +is nothing but tangles of weeds--no flowers, no capacities for joy, no +power to will, no eye to see the good and true and beautiful. + +No; the great Teacher was right when He called for self-denial and +self-victory. He only is great, he alone has found life who has +learned to bring all his parts and faculties into service, who brings +all his body and self into subjection that all may be keen and well +kept tools in the work he is doing as a servant of his brothers and his +age. This service gives the supreme and sufficient motive for the +suppression and elimination of all things that might hinder; the +development of the best self for the best service by means of the +cutting off of anything that might hinder or thwart the high and holy +service purposes of a life. + + + +THE FALLACY OF NEGATION + +The ancient law that nature abhors a vacuum holds true in the moral +realm. The heart of man is never long empty. And yet the whole scheme +of modern ecclesiastical regulation of life is built on the plan of +making a man holy by emptying him of all evil and stopping there, +leaving a negative condition, without a thought of the necessity of +filling the void. + +So long have we been trained in this that we are all a good deal more +concerned about the things we ought not to do than about the things we +ought to do. We spend our days nipping off the buds of evil +inclinations, pulling up the weeds of evil habits, wondering how it +happens they multiply so fast, forgetting altogether the wiser plan we +would adopt with weeds and briers in our gardens. + +There are many who still think of the pious man as one who succeeds in +accomplishing the largest number of repressions in his life, the ideal +being the colourless life, never doing a thing that is wrong or subject +to criticism. The energy of many a life is being spent in a campaign +against a certain list of proscribed deeds. Blessed is the +man--according to their beatitudes--who has the largest number of +things he does not do. + +But if rightness is abstinence from evil, then a lamp-post must always +be better than a man, for it justly can lay claim to all the negative +virtues. What an easy way of life is this, simply to find out the +things we know other people like to do and to determine that if we only +can leave them undone we are holy in the sight of heaven. + +But not only is this a way of folly, it is a way of positive harm, a +way fatal at last to the true life. To do no more than to turn out one +set of devils only is to invite other and worse devils into the heart. +To seek emptiness only is to invite yet more iniquity. An empty heart +is as dangerous as an empty hour. + +Emptiness is not holiness, it is idiocy. There cannot be an empty +heart. To take a bad thing away from a man gives an opportunity for a +worse thing to enter unless you simply choke the bad by implanting the +good. Some of the most dangerous people are those who feel pious +because they can say, We never did any harm. + +Religion often has come to mean only a multitude of repressive +regulations, apparently a scheme for making others abstain from those +things for which we have no appetite. Little wonder that children feel +only repulsion for a church which seems to take delight in finding +impiety in every natural pleasure; that men turn from a path which, +according to its prospectus, promises nothing but pain, privation, and +emptiness. + +We do not object to the pain and privation provided they have their +purpose. But all nature objects to a course of life that maims, +pinches, and restricts without corresponding and compensating +development and liberty somewhere. We fight against every law of life +and court the ways of death so long as we endeavour to develop +character by putting it into bandages, leading strings, and legal +restrictions. + +There is evil to be eliminated; there are thousands of things we ought +not to do. But the best way to get rid of the tares is to sow good +wheat in abundance. The way to avoid the things we ought not to do is +to do the things that ought to be done. The empty life is a standing +invitation to temptation; the busy man seldom finds the devil's card +left at his door. + +Live the life above the things you would overcome. It never has been +found necessary to pass a law prohibiting the president from playing +marbles; larger interests fill his life so that these things do not +even occur to him. Give a man a great work to do and you will save him +from a thousand temptations to do small and unworthy things. Do not +allow the modern conception of religion as gloom and denial to keep you +from that which is your right as a spiritual being, the strength, joy +and beauty of the divine life. + +Holiness of life is not in innocence of evil but in positive +forcefulness for good; not in doing as little harm as we can, but in +filling the whole life with worthy, helpful, uplifting deeds. The good +life not only has no debts--it has large assets, deep and lasting +value; it enriches all life. It offers to the world not barren land +claiming the virtue of freedom from the thorn and the brier, it crowns +all with the abundance and glory of fir and myrtle. + + + +THE SECRET OF ALL + +The words hold a large place in every alert life: Happiness, Health and +Heart; some may put them Success, Strength and the Soul. It is easy to +recognize the importance of the first two; that of the third is more +remote. Some have imagined that religion emphasizes the last alone and +ignores the other two. + +Evidently it is a legitimate thing for the Christian to pray for +prosperity; and it is right for him to try to answer his own prayers. +Poverty is no proof of piety. Nothing about God is or can be +poverty-stricken. He gives us a rich and glorious world, prolific in +its resources; its life is rich and prosperous. Nature is running +over, fairly rioting in splendour and wealth. The Creator has given +man this garden of glory that he might enjoy it. It is a sin not to +enter into its possession; he is dead already who does not desire +prosperity, who no longer seeks success in life. It is an easy matter +for the man who has made an all around failure to talk about the +dispensations of Providence and the compensations of the future. +Prosperity is always a sin to the man who lacks the pluck to secure it. + +Yet many who seem to have failed may have succeeded best of all. +Prosperity often comes in strange packages; it may even be labelled +Adversity. Not all will succeed according to popular standards. Many +will be more fortunate; they will win the riches of influence, +friendship, family, thought, knowledge, love, character. It is not the +things we have that make us rich; it is the amount of life we are +capable of enjoying. The soul determines prosperity. It is the +energizing spirit of man, stirring him out of the ignoble dust, +creating the desire for more of the things of life and then for more of +life itself. It determines values. It has a way of reversing things +so that one man gets more out of a dollar book than another gets out of +a million dollar bond. It alone gives appetite and appreciation, and, +without these, though there may be many possessions, there is no +prosperity. + +What is true of prosperity is true also of health. Happily the days +are gone when sickness passed for saintliness. No longer is red blood +counted a foe of righteousness. We are getting back to the simpler, +earlier thinking. It is not only right to seek health; it is wrong not +to. The haggard face no longer indicates the holy heart; it is likely +to evidence the opposite. We are getting over the notion that God is +glorified by ruining the fair temple He has given us. Men no longer +count on being beautiful angels in the skies because they have looked +like walking sepulchres on our streets. It is an imperfect holiness +that does not have health. Health, that is physical prosperity, is a +duty. + +And here, also, the soul is central. The clean heart, pure thoughts, +controlled appetites, aspiring hopes, these make health. Evil temper, +lust, worry, care, envy, these are the soul processes that disturb the +life and destroy health. Happiness is health, and happiness is wholly +of the heart. The soul is but the sum of all the things within, the +force that moves all things in life; if within the man looks up, then +he lives up; if the soul droops, he decays. What you are within +determines what you are without; he who is poor in heart, in this inner +life, will be poor in prosperity and weak in health, no matter how much +he possesses. But he who with his soul takes in the world of beauty, +of love, of joy, who reaches out to heaven and God, all these things +are his and he is rich and strong indeed. + + + + +XII + +Divine Service + + _The Ideal Service_ + _The Orthodox Service_ + _The Heavenly Service_ + + +_Kindness is the evidence of kingliness._ + +_The surest way to impoverish your heart is to hoard up your love._ + +_A really smart man will refrain from saying things that smart._ + +_Many a prayer for vision ought to be changed to a petition for +vertebra._ + +_The damning doubts are those that deter us from good deeds._ + +_The leaders of men are not the ones who are trying to get ahead of +their fellows._ + +_Folks who are too good for anything are good for nothing._ + +_It's hard to steer a straight course if your conscience is in your +pants pocket._ + +_You do not have much faith in your Father unless you have some in His +family._ + +_No man can have a place in the kingdom of heaven who is complacent to +the ills of earth._ + + +XII + +THE IDEAL SERVICE + +Never was the greatest of all greater than when He put about Him the +badge of the servant. His example has made the towel, the apron, the +badge of true honour. Nothing could have surprised those men who were +quarrelling over their precedence more than that their great Master +should stoop to perform this menial service of washing their feet. +Like many who call themselves His to-day they strove over chief seats, +honours, titles, and dignities. They were seeking the chief places and +by their strife showing themselves fit only for the lowest. Nowhere is +the sense of honour more easily slain than in the search for honours. + +The only dignity that really adorns a man is that which comes without +his demanding it. How often have the servants of the meek and lowly +Jesus turned the world away from Him by their examples of vanity, +greed, lust for power, their pomp and pride of self-glory. They who +were sent to be the shepherds of men have fleeced the flock for their +own adorning and then fought amongst themselves to see who should wear +the choicest robes. History has shown that they were wrong and their +Master was right. The greater their greedy ambition the greater their +shame; the higher the place they have claimed the lower has been that +which the voice of humanity has awarded them. + +On the other hand there shine forth those who have followed Him in +lowly service; theirs is the honour to-day. Because He took upon Him +the form of a servant then now is the kingdom and the power and the +glory His. + +So it has always been, sovereignty comes by way of service; heaven and +earth unite in honouring those who have not scorned the humble place of +helpfulness. John says that it was because Jesus was conscious of His +divine origin and His glorious destiny that He took the towel and did +the work of the slave. Only those who realize their true greatness can +ignore the littleness of man's petty dignities, can lose all sense of +stooping, of condescension when they serve others, and so can be of +service to mankind. A man proves that he is the son of a heavenly +Father by his service for his least brother. When that dignity, heaven +born, is in a man's heart there is nothing in the dirt he may touch by +deeds of kindness that can defile him; contact does not contaminate. + +Love never thinks of any of its services as loathsome. That from which +a superficial dignity would revolt love does with rejoicing. It thinks +nothing of the honour or the dishonour, but only of the helpfulness it +may render. It is not asking whether men are approving or whether +promotion is coming. It needs no promotion or approval; the work +itself is the highest reward; the service elevates to the loftiest of +all positions. + +The world's sovereigns are its servants. He makes an alliance with God +who helps a fellow man. Work is that by which the Creator has lifted +man above the creatures of the field, and the work that sacrifices that +it may serve is that by which God lifts man to Himself. The heavenly +gate may be shut to robes and miters, epaulettes and crowns; but it +shall be open wide to that great throng who bear the stains of toil, +who have served their fellows, who wear the apron of sacrificing +service; and the Son of the carpenter shall lead them in. + +This is a working world; its Maker is pictured as a worker; there is no +better evidence of religion than willingness to serve. Work determines +a man's worth to the world. And religion must be known by the things +it does, and not, as many have fondly supposed, by the dreams it has. + + + +THE ORTHODOX SERVICE + +This is a working world, with no place for the idler, whether he be +high or low, rich or poor. The measure of a man is the service he +renders humanity. Actions are measured by the same rule. The value of +religion to life, its right to time and place, is measured by this, +Does it help or inspire men to service, does it increase the quantity +or improve the quality of the work that they do for their world? + +Men rightly ignore the piety that satisfies itself with platitudes on +the duties of others, or with philosophical speculations on problems +which, if they were accurately solved, would contribute nothing either +to our peace, our possessions, or our personal characters. Yet, how +many imagine that they are profoundly pious because they cherish +properly indorsed opinions, duly certified as to their antiquity. + +They who profess to follow the Man of Nazareth cannot do it by sitting +in their pews or kneeling at their altars; they cannot do it by +dreaming of a place of bliss or picturing one of torment. One of the +first lessons He gives His disciples is that it is not he that speaketh +the word, but he that doeth the will, who is pleasing to God. + +Nor do men do His will in any important or complete sense by going to +church or serving in its meetings or on its committees. When a man is +ordained to divine orders, that is, to give himself wholly to do the +will and work of the Most High, it is said that he becomes a minister. +If "minister" means anything at all it means servant, one who works for +others, who ministers to them. The Master spoke of Himself as being +among men as one who served them. The only orthodox service is the +service of humanity. + +This is religion, such a consciousness of the reality of the Infinite +Spirit that you will steadily do the things that that spirit of love is +doing in this world, ministering to men, binding up the broken in +heart, lifting the lame, and leading the wandering, feeding the hungry +and clothing the naked, bringing light and love and cheer to those that +sit in darkness, you will become feet and fingers to God. + +One does not need to wait for a special garb to do this religious work; +one does not need to wait for formal ordination; whoever loves men +already is divinely ordained to serve them. One does not need to wait +for a church or a special organization; the sufficient motive is deep, +sacrificing love; the method will be just what the Master's was, to go +where men are and help them. + +After all, what this world needs is not so much that men shall go to +their fellows with money, with clothes, or even with employment; it +needs that they shall just go to them. The good mixer, who mingles +with men, who knows how they live, and what they think, how they +suffer, and what they feel, if, going amongst them, he carries a clean +heart, a love for his fellows, a firm faith in heaven, and hope for +men, is doing them more good by his presence than he who may send +carloads of goods. + +Men did not need that Jesus should wear a label saying that the Most +High was with Him; the more He mingled with men, the more clearly they +saw He belonged to God. What He was willing to do for them showed that +they, too, were the children of the Most High. If any man would have +that infinite presence with him, if he desires the deep sense of the +spiritual, let him seek it not in closet or convent, but in the touch +of hand and in the sight of the face of friend and fellow being. + +Many of us are worried at times because our lives seem wasted in doing +little things; we would become immortal by saving our powers for some +great deed. We need to remember Him whom the world most easily +remembers and most highly honours, the Man of Nazareth, whose life was +spent in trivial services, doing the next thing that came to hand, +helping ordinary people in every-day needs. Yet God was with Him, as +He ever is with those who love their fellows in sincere service. + + + +THE HEAVENLY SERVICE + +It seems easy to see something peculiarly holy, something deeply +religious in the occupations and acts of the priesthood or the +ministry. But thinking of these as religious and of such service as +divine we fall into the habit of thinking that they alone, in all the +world of action, are divine. We set on one side of life the religious +service limited to these formal acts and on the other side what we call +the secular life and service. + +We have sacred days, sacred deeds, sacred callings, religious services; +all separate from the rest of life, belonging in a department, a +pigeon-hole, by themselves. Whatever is not of these is of the world, +worldly, secular, lacking in the peculiar aroma of sanctity that +attaches to the church or the profession of religion. + +There are many who desire to do some religious work; who fain would +engage in divine service. There is in almost every breast a desire to +do something high and holy, something that is not necessary, +utilitarian, with some other motive than bread-winning. But there +seems to be no opportunity; such deeds are supposed to belong to +special callings; one must be ordained to do divine service. + +The truth is, divine service is the duty and high privilege of every +human being; we all are divinely called to the ministry; the service of +God and humanity belongs to us all. We must not wait for ordaining +hands nor ecclesiastical robes nor for the environment of official +sanctity. Every impulse to do good, to show human love, and do loving +service is a commission from high heaven. + +The good Master invites men and women to His kind of service, the +highest and holiest known to all the ages. He never was separated to a +clerical calling; He did not wait for an ordaining council nor did He +confine His divine service to prayer and praise or to the activities of +the church ritual. His divine service was the service of the sons of +men, the going about doing good. + +Heavenly work is not work for some far off heaven; it is the work of +making this present earth like heaven. The work of God is not working +for an absent deity; it is doing the work that the God of all love +would do in this world; it is being feet and fingers, voice and lips to +the great Spirit who is over and in us all. It is making that spirit +of love real, actual, concrete to our fellows. + +The holiest work in this world may be done in the humblest places; the +most divine service may not be in the cathedral but in the cottage; the +angels may pass by the intoning choir to listen to a mother's crooning +cradle song or to watch the patient service, the loving kindness shown +in washing the faces or wiping away the tears of dirty and destitute +children. + +The holy service which will fill your heart with joy and give you the +unfading crown of eternity, never will be done if you are waiting for +some ecclesiastical uniform to do it in. Whatever is done in the +spirit of the infinite love, in the spirit of the great Master, that +truly is divine and glorious. + +It is the good work that is glorious. It is a thing more truly divine +to do well your daily duty, to put out good, honest work, than it is to +wear a clerical garb or perform professional religious duties. The +honour, the worthiness, the glory of your work may be measured by the +spirit in which it is done and by its helpfulness and worth to the +world. + +All life becomes glorious as we see that even in the least of our daily +tasks we may be doing the will of God, that it may be just as necessary +a part of the divine service that I should serve at a desk, a counter, +or a machine, should sweep a room or tend a child as that another +should preach or pray. For the great Master of all who knows all our +work, measures it all, not as we do; He sees the glory of the cup of +cold water and the divinity of the commonplace. + + + + +XIII + +Our Father and Our Fellows + + _The Primary Reconciliation_ + _Faith in Our Fellows_ + _The Law of Forgiveness_ + + +_Sorrow is sympathy's school._ + +_Love makes the heaviest load seem light._ + +_To be willing to be saved alone is to be lost._ + +_The truly godly see something divine in all._ + +_Your appreciation may be another's inspiration._ + +_Kindness is the sign of divine kinship._ + +_You cannot knit the souls of men with soft sawder._ + +_You cannot be a leader and lose sight of those who are to be led._ + +_The shortness of the day excuses no man from greatness of endeavour._ + +_When a man thinks of nothing but his sins and failures he will have +nothing else to think of._ + +_Lots of people who talk of their lives as blue are only colour blind, +they either are green or yellow._ + +_He is only shortsighted who pronounces the world bad after looking in +his own heart._ + +_Many a man is waiting for an inspiration who would find success at +once if he was not so afraid of a little perspiration._ + + +XIII + +THE PRIMARY RECONCILIATION + +Men in the days of the great Teacher were as we are to-day, prone to +compound for the neglect of duties near at hand by the adoration of +spiritual delights far off. They talked about getting right with God +while they continued to do wrong to men. The problem of the hypocrite +who is so thrilled with the delights of heaven that he scorns earthly +duties and decencies is not a new one. + +How easy it is to substitute syllogisms for service, to think that we +do our duty by describing it, so to exhaust oneself in pleasant and +seductive dreams of a distant heaven that we have no power left to +apply to the problems of a needy present-day world. + +The mockery of religion to-day is that men and women are going to the +churches, singing themselves into ecstatic complacency and imaginary +harmony with their God while their greed is crushing the hearts of the +helpless and they are blinding themselves to the world's gloom and pain +that unhindered they may enjoy spiritual delights. + +Things cannot be right in our relations to the Father of spirits until +they are made right in our relations with our brothers in the flesh. +In Christianity social righteousness is basic to spiritual blessing. +The ideal kingdom waits for ideal conditions and relations amongst its +subjects. + +The way to the Father lies through the brother. If you would learn to +love God--and how indefinite and idealistic that seems to most of +us--the lesson is simple, first learn to love His other children, +especially the helpless, needy, and wronged. Delights high and +spiritual always will be remote until duties near at hand are done. + +The revival we most of all need to-day is a revival of the social +conscience, the recognition of the fact that we can offer no gift +acceptable, in the temple of worship or the place of prayer, until we +have washed our hands from the blood of our fellows, that we can pay +nothing to God until we have in earnest set about paying our debts to +men. + +Anxious, perhaps, to claim our rights as children of the Father in +heaven, we have forgotten that that title is promised to the +peacemakers. What avail is it to pray, Thy kingdom come, if we block +its advent by cherishing enmity in our hearts? What use is it to carry +hearts torn with malice, souls sunken in selfishness, and spirits torn +with pride and covetousness to the place that belongs to the meek and +lowly? + +Many a man is going to church and coming away empty in heart; perhaps +he has given up any hope of finding solace in religion, who would find, +as it were, the windows of heaven opened up if he should give himself +for an hour to making some other helpless lives happy, to righting some +wrong or bringing some joy to lives embittered and oppressed. + +The pathway to God is a plain one, strikingly lacking in romance, with +no attendant visible angelic choir. It is the doing of whatever duty +or kindness I owe to those near me, the breaking down of walls of +prejudice--spite fences built in ignorance and hatred--the learning to +love and help, the seeking of peace, good feeling, and harmony with all +men. + +This does not mean that all must become professors of sociology; the +study of social theories often is a substitute for the practice of +social duties; but that we must seek out the good in men, we must set +ourselves right with them, we must discharge all our responsibilities +towards men before we can realize God. The kingdom comes as we +recognize the kingliness in all the sons of the kingdom, as we express +our faith in God by friendship for our fellows. + + + +FAITH IN OUR FELLOWS + +Poor Peter has never been much of a favourite with the preachers; he +was so thoroughly unstable, unideal. But the people have always had a +tender feeling for him, partly because he was a fisherman, partly +because he was so much like the rest of us. Nothing is more striking +in the life of Jesus than His affection for ordinary men. The cultured +Pharisees, the philosophical Sadducees seem to have much less +attraction to Him than the rude fisherman and the toiler. These men +were often weak, sometimes cowardly, obstinate, dull, mediocre; yet He +committed His kingdom to them; He believed in them. Before they had +faith in Him He had faith in them; and that ultimately made them men. + +It sounded much like cruel sarcasm when He told that weak, vacillating +Simon that he was a rock. Those who knew Peter best must have smiled; +he was more like a jellyfish. But Jesus could see the best that was in +a man. He detected the hidden good even in Peter. He proves His own +goodness by His faith in the good in every man. + +Somewhere in every man there is some good. Overlaid it may be by +passion, by habits, by prejudice grown out of wrong and suffering +perchance; but still it is there. Faith in this and sympathy, these +are the golden keys that unlock the doors to where the good lies buried. + +The saviours of society have always been those who looked for the best +in it. If you go through life seeking the beast in man, you will find +it, and the chances are it will devour you; if you look for the beauty +that is from above you will find it, and it will bless you. It is just +as necessary to have faith in man as it is to have faith in God. If +men cannot become good, then there is no God in the sense of a power +that makes for goodness. The optimist not only believes in the best, +he creates the better. + +Some there are who reluctantly admit that God is a little better than +they are, though that may be due to His circumstances, but they have +never imagined for an instant that any one else is at all good. +Believe that men are wholly bad and they will not disappoint you. +Every man somehow responds to the expectations of others. You had +better damn a man than despair of him. Neither a church nor an +individual can help this world when they have more confidence in the +power of evil to become all pervasive than in the power of the Most +High to make His purposes felt in every heart as truly as He makes His +sun to shine on the just and the unjust. The church first consigns men +to perdition and then wonders why they are reluctant to walk with it +the other way. So long as you have faith in total depravity you will +find some facts to substantiate it. + +But there is a better way. Sympathy with men will do more for them +than sermons on their sins. Look for the best in them and you will +find things better than you expected. There are flower beds as well as +garbage heaps in every heart; at least, there are spots where seeds of +the fairest flowers of heaven may be sown. + +You do not have to be a fool to have faith in your fellows. You do not +need to take the padlocks off your house; but you do need to take them +off your heart. There may be those whom it would be wrong to trust +with your cash box; but it is a greater wrong to withhold from them +your kindness. You can show them that you believe the best instead of +the worst of them. + +The great Teacher told men that He came not to condemn but to give +life. His followers have too often occupied themselves wholly with +condemnation and then wondered that their sentences saved none. Every +soul knows its own sentence; what it needs to feel is that God and all +good men are with it, helping it to shake off that sentence, to arise +and return to the Father, that, instead of all things conspiring to +keep a man down, there is a cloud of witnesses cheering him on, a +mighty choir invisible inspiring his heart. And there is nothing any +man can do of greater worth to the world than to cheer on another by +his faith in him, his high expectation of him, his wise blindness to +some little faults, and his propagating approval of the least +beginnings of any good. Men are the saviours of men by their faith in +men. + + + +THE LAW OF FORGIVENESS + +A silly interpretation often leads to the utter rejection of a law. +Sentimentalists have caused men of sense to pronounce Christ's law of +forgiveness an impractical one. Yet we indorse it every time we utter +the Lord's prayer, and still we hope to be forgiven whether we find it +possible to forgive or not. If this law means the mental flabbiness +that sends bouquets to bloody criminals and petitions the pardon of +murderers and the release of the foes of humanity, we must reject it as +the utterance of one unacquainted with the rugged facts of life. + +But forgiveness and pardon are two different things; forgiveness is +between man and man; pardon is a matter of executive power. You can +forgive a child and still punish him. The forgiveness that does away +with consequences would make this an immoral world. No greater wrong +can be done to a man than to protect him from the deserts of his evil +deeds. This is as unjust as to withhold the rewards of the right. + +The difference between the law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a +tooth and the law of the great Teacher lies largely in the spirit of +dealing with the offenses. The old spirit was that of getting even +with the wrongdoer. His act was largely regarded from the personal +standpoint; a crime was individual and not social. Revenge followed +wrongdoing. + +But Jesus says it is better to lift a man up than to get even with him. +It is better to help men to the right than to satisfy your desire for +revenge. Forgiveness is more than saying, "Go without punishment"; +rather it says, "Come learn a better way; live without sin." +Forgiveness takes malice from the mind of the offended; it substitutes +for it the motive of friendship for the offender. + +Revenge says, "I will make it worse for you than you have made it for +me." Sentimentalism says: "Let the poor victim of circumstances go; +send him a rosewater spray and an embroidered text and he won't do it +again." But love, she of the clear eye and the steady hold, takes him +by the hand in silence, lifts him up, and leads him, perhaps by paths +of pain, to his better self. Love puts his sins behind her back and +teaches him to face her way. Love lets the wrong teach its own lesson, +bear its own fruit. And in her labour for him she forgets her own pain +and loss caused by his offense. + +The best way to forgive a burglar would not be to let him out of jail, +but to teach him the laws of property, to train him in the self-respect +that would lead to industry, to make him a brother and a fellow worker +among men instead of an outcast and a social parasite. The test of any +forgiveness is its helpfulness, the manner in which it wipes out the +enmity of the victim and turns the guilty into better ways. + +Many say, I can forgive, but I cannot forget. No one asks you to +forget; but you cannot fully forgive unless you will forego the feeling +of enmity and the desire for revenge. You cannot make any one forget +that which he has once known; but you can substitute helpfulness for +hatred and restoration for revenge. True love simply discounts the +past as a ground for present action; it refuses to determine its +personal bearing and deeds in to-day by the other's ill deeds of +yesterday. + +All we are asked to do is to forgive as we are forgiven. Our hope is +that when we have fallen our friends will not lose their faith in us +nor entirely forsake us, that they will give us another chance; not +that they will shield us from the fruitage of our follies and our +falseness, but that they will not shut us off forever from their faces. + +So far from forgiveness being the weakness of the thoughtless, it is +the helpfulness of the strong and the wise. To forgive a man will not +mean to escape from the trouble of securing his punishment; it will not +mean the weak complaisance of indolent tolerance. It will mean thought +for his weakness, taking up his burden, doing the brother's part for +him, the endeavour to do for him what we would like to have the Father +of us all do for us all. + + + + +XIV + +Men and Mammon + + _Riches and Righteousness_ + _Religion and Business_ + _The Moral End of Money-Making_ + + +_Better a sweet failure than a sour success._ + +_An itching palm causes a crook in the fingers._ + +_Many a moral squint comes from a money monocle._ + +_The fortunate people are those who believe they are._ + +_We are always building bridges for things with wings._ + +_The best way to wipe out a friendship is to sponge on it._ + +_Many a man thinks he is pious when he is only petrified._ + +_A little plain honesty is worth untold professional holiness._ + +_The religion that runs to fever usually evens up with chills._ + +_Nothing is easier than being benevolent with other people's money._ + + +XIV + +RICHES AND RIGHTEOUSNESS + +Let no man take it, that the statement on the inaccessibility of heaven +to the rich involves the opposite, how easily shall they that have +nothing enter in. The people who have lived pulseless lives are apt to +point to their poverty as the proof of their piety. But righteousness +is neither a matter of riches nor of rags. The great Teacher glorifies +neither. The qualifications for citizenship in His kingdom strike +deeper than that. + +His words have nothing to do with the bitter envy of the demagogue who +denounces those who have earned that for which he would not labour. He +measures men not by that they have but by that they are. He looks +through both the fine linen and the tattered rags to the man. Money +interests Him only as it affects character. The question of riches and +poverty is not a matter of housing and eating, but what a man does for +himself and his world with that which he has. + +Riches of themselves do not bar a man from heaven; but they full often +eat into his heart, become of absorbing interest, and so effectually +and forever blind the inner vision to the best things. It is not that +heaven has shut its gates, but that the love of money, the selfishness, +born of cupidity, has paralyzed those spiritual senses by which he +might have found his way therein. + +The possession of wealth is not a sin; to some it has come almost +without effort, even against their wills; but it does constitute one of +the most severe tests that can be set before a soul. It increases the +difficulties of the right life, because it enlarges so greatly the +responsibilities. The greater the wealth the greater the trust laid +upon a man as the steward of the produce of the earth. + +The principle holds of all possessions; all are tests of character. A +man can love gold just as ardently when he has but a grain as when he +has possessions beyond computation. A single dollar, laid on the +heart, can shut out the light of heaven as effectually as can a +million. The relation between riches and righteousness is not +determined by the balance in the bank, but by the balance that a man +succeeds in maintaining in his heart between his own interests and the +trusteeship which possession places upon him. + +Money makes men as well as unmakes them. The burdens, the tests, the +responsibilities it entails, the temptations it presents, all form part +of life's great lesson. Out of the struggle between self and the +service we owe the world, out of the keen fighting against +covetousness, and the battle against the debasing tendencies of the +love for gold and the greed for gain arise the giants--or fall the lost +souls. + +The rich young ruler came to Jesus and faced his test; the demand that +he should sell all and give to the poor simply put his heart on trial; +it set before him the great choices; it decided as to the things which +he held first. To him the possession of things was more than the +possibilities of using them in service; before the great test he fell. + +It is just as easy and often fully as dangerous to set your heart on +the gold you haven't got as it is to fall into the snare of the miser. +Everything depends on the place you give to riches in your life. One +man seeks them as a prize to be won and enjoyed for his own +gratification, his own glory and fame; another seeks them only as +larger avenues to usefulness, and to him riches come as tools, as +servants, as possibilities of making his life count for more. + +Some men die with their houses full of tools unused; they have made the +fatal mistake of setting their hearts on the tools instead of on the +work. Others come to their accounting possessing as many tools, but +all of them shining from hard use, and counting as their treasures not +the tools but the things produced, the good accomplished. Wealth is +for work and the work is for the making of the man. They enter the +kingdom who are kingly, whether they learned the royal lesson and +acquired the heavenly character through the school of poverty or that +of riches. + + + +RELIGION AND BUSINESS + +The question, can a man be a Christian and succeed in business, though +old, is still asked every day. There are yet a great many who regard +religion and business as conflicting pursuits, and they attempt a +compromise by the clear-cut division of time into business hours and +church time. Others are answering this question in the negative. +"Look at me," they say. "I have always been pious and honest, and +therefore I have failed to make money or achieve success; religion does +not pay." + +If the question means, can a man take out his backbone and succeed in +business, there need be no hesitancy as to the answer. If becoming a +Christian means the elimination of all virility from the character, the +substitution of soft soap and sawder for strength and diligence, +religion cannot be regarded as a help in business. There are too many +people who think that sloth is a sign of spirituality and that you +cannot be a saint unless you have softening of the brain. + +But it is simply whether you can keep your whole life, in the market or +out, up to the level of a certain ideal, whether you can be honest, +true, fair-minded, unselfish, merciful, and kind and at the same time +do the work and meet the exigencies of modern commercial and industrial +strife. It is whether you can measure steadily towards heaven's ideal +while mastering earth's daily duties. + +The question is either a reproach to religion or to business. It is +assumed by many, with especial conviction by those who know business +only by reputation, that it demands the sacrifice constantly of honour, +truth, mercy, and every other virtue. The man who thinks that he is +pious because he is pulseless, draws a fancy picture of red-blooded men +fighting, intriguing, slaying, like demons new from the pit; and that, +he thinks, is modern business. + +Strife is everywhere. If religion means sequestration from temptation +we need to pray to be delivered from it. There is as much danger of a +man's losing his character, selling his soul, in the church as in the +market. The temptation to the merchant to misrepresent his goods for a +larger profit is not greater than that which comes to the minister to +magnify his abilities for an increase in fame. + +Things honourable are the same everywhere; they are written deep within +us, and by them church and mart both are judged. Every man knows that +the chief business of life, whether through commerce, toil, study, +recreation, or worship, is to develop the best life, to make of himself +a true, full grown man, who shall render to this world a full man's +service. + +Business is a more effective school of character than any other we +have. If some of the standards of that school have been unworthy--and +who shall say they have not?--it is our duty to revise them, to make +them higher; not to abolish the school, not to stay away from it +because it is imperfect, but to make it fit to serve its true purpose. + +Business always will be immoral as long as it is an end in itself. The +product is greater than the machine, the making of character greater +than the mechanism by which we make a living. The serious danger comes +when a man begins to lay his soul on the counter, when he reverses the +course in this school of character and makes the end serve the means, +when he sacrifices honour, truth, and the soul that business may +succeed. + +Only failure lies that way. No business ever became permanently great +by making its people small. Success here is to be measured by the +soul. No matter what a man may be doing he must keep himself above his +task. The work must serve the worker. + +The question is whether we are serving business or it is serving us. +If a man lives for his wage he will sacrifice everything to get it, but +if he works that he may find life, then he will ever refuse to lose the +things of which life is made in the pursuit of success. He knows he +does not have to make money, but he does have to make manhood. That is +the end both of religion and of business. + + + +THE MORAL END OF MONEY-MAKING + +There are those who talk of money and business as though these were +necessarily and intrinsically evil. It is often supposed that capacity +for goodness is established by incapacity for business, while those to +whom poverty seems inevitable find consolation in regarding it as +evidence of piety. + +Large numbers of otherwise sensible people feel that there is some +unavoidable conflict between the ideal and the real, between what they +call the sacred and the secular, between the things they would like to +do and to be and the things they actually have to do as part of their +daily affairs and duties. + +Probably the greater number try to meet the difficulty by dividing +their lives and interest into separate parts. They say, business is +business; religion is another thing altogether; I will work hard and +honestly at my business and look forward to the comforts and pleasures +of religion and ideal things. + +So it happens that there are those who feel that to speak of religion +on a week-day reveals a lack of the sense of the fitness of things, +while other good people are quite sure that it is a wholly irreverent +thing to speak of business on a Sunday. We tend to dwell alternately +in two sets of apartments, the practical and the pious. + +Even where there are no such sharp lines through the life we feel that +manufacture and the market, money-making, and trading tend to blunt the +finer sensibilities and act as a hindrance to the realization of our +ideals, while, on the other hand, we are sure that the life of ideals +is unfitted for business. + +The result of this separation and apparent antagonism is that we cannot +develop our lives symmetrically; we are torn by conflicting purposes; +we fail to see any ideal ends in business or to find any practical +values in religion. Religion without business tends to dreamy, +purposeless moral enervation; business without ideal ends and aims to +grossness and materialism. + +We need to spiritualize all our acts, our whole lives, our business, +our work, our pleasures, by giving them moral intent and value, so as +to unify the sacred and the secular, the utilitarian, and the ideal by +making each serve the other. + +It does not make so much difference whether a man is engaged in +money-making or in writing poems and picturing the fair dreams of +better things; the question is this, is the money-making for the sake +of the money or for some high and worthy end? What is the motive that +impels either the dealer in dollars or the dealer in dreams? + +Our ideals, visions, aspirations, and our religion become most damaging +if they fail to find expression in conduct and work; lacking the +practical, they result in a character that is satisfied with +contemplating the good instead of realizing it. The man who sinks his +soul in dollars may personally be no worse than he who allows it to +atrophy while he dreams. + +Here in religion are the dynamic and the motives that bear men on and +buoy them up to do the toil, bear the burdens, stand in the fight of +daily living; here are the visions that lift our eyes from the desk and +the machine, from profits and discounts, and help us to see the worthy +prizes of life. + +No man could become a saint by separating himself from this world's +turmoil and reading his Bible alone; neither can any man find strength +and stability for life's business and battle, find satisfaction in its +service and rewards, unless he sees through its dollars and its dirt +the moral ends of all this world's work. + +This noisy mill of daily living may be the greatest blessing we know; +it is the opportunity for the expression of our highest ideals, for the +translation of religion into terms of daily living; it is the place +where character is molded by its stress, its calls to the strong will, +and its manifold opportunities for the service of all mankind by each +man in his place. + + + + +XV + +The Every-Day Heaven + + _The Beauty of Holiness_ + _The Gladness of Goodness_ + _The True Paradise_ + + +_Self shrinks the soul._ + +_The keen eye needs the kindly heart._ + +_There's no argument equal to a happy smile._ + +_Imaginary evils have more than imaginary effects._ + +_You never find truth by losing the temper._ + +_Menial work may be noblest service._ + +_They who live off the flock are never willing to die for it._ + +_The life that would be fruitful seeks showers as well as sunshine._ + +_Kindness makes all kin._ + +_All we get from heaven we owe to earth._ + +_Pain is a small price to pay for the joy of sacrifice._ + +_He who gives on feeling generally begrudges in fact._ + +_Every loss met by love leads to gain._ + +_The long look within ourselves will cure us of a lot of impatience +with other folks._ + +_The last person to enter heaven will be the one whose religion has all +been in the first person singular._ + +_We often talk a good deal about the salvation of souls in order to +escape service for the salvation of society._ + +_Much that is called orthodoxy is scepticism at heart, fear to examine +the foundations lest there are none._ + + +XV + +THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS + +Religion ought to be the most natural, desirable, and attractive thing +to man, for it simply stands for the development of the best in us, the +coming into the full and rich heritage that is ours as spiritual +beings, and the realization of our highest possibilities of character +and service. He who ignores religion is cutting himself off from the +best and most beautiful possibilities in his life. + +Some have talked of the necessity of making religion attractive. It +does not have to be made attractive; there is nothing more desirable +than the peace, the power, and prosperity of the real life which it +confers. It is the imitation, the false and prejudiced presentation of +religion that men endeavour to dress up attractively. In that they +never succeed, for cramping the soul and twisting the intellect ever +are opposed by the best in us. + +From the caricature of religion we turn with loathing. Mummeries and +mockeries, fads and forms leave us empty and impatient. The heart of +man goes out to things fair, lovely, joyous, and uplifting, and they +who find no God in the elaborate sermon or the service in the church +somehow are thrilled with the feeling of the divine and inspiring in +the woods and field and mountains. + +All things good, all things attractive and lovely, uplifting and +sublime have but one source. They touch our hearts because they come +from the heart of all being; they reach our spirits because they are +spiritual. Deep calls unto deep when the divine in man answers to the +divine in the world without, in human affections, in noble aspirations, +and in glorious deeds. + +Too long have we believed that only the unpleasant, the gloomy, and +repellent could be right or religious. There is a type of conscience +that determines action by the rule that if a thing is pleasant or +beautiful it must be sinful and wrong. To such souls it is a sin to be +sunny in disposition, to delight in the Father's fair world, with its +glowing riches and bounty dropping daily from His hand. + +It would be safer to say that sin must be somewhere lurking wherever +there is deformity, pain, or discord--that, as a common phrase has it, +the bleak and barren is the evidence of that which is forsaken of God. +Things desolate are not divine. Religion is not repression but +development into a fullness and beauty far beyond our dreams. + +It is a good thing to see the divine in all things fair and lovely; to +take them as evidences that the love that once pronounced this world +good in its primeval glory still is working, still is seeking to enrich +our lives and lead them out in fullness of joy. Why should not we, +like the poets and preachers of ancient Israel, taste again of the +gladness of living. + +Character may need for its full development the storms and wintry +blasts of life, but it needs just as truly and just as much the +sunshine, the days when the heart goes out and joins in the song of +nature, when something leaps within us at the gladness of being alive, +and we drink in of the infinite love that is over all. + +Just as the sun seems to call the flowers out of the dark earth and +draw out their beauty, calls forth the buds and brings the blossom into +perfect fruit, so there is a spirit of divine life in our world calling +us out to the best, seeking to woo us to the things beautiful. Man +needs not to repress his life, but to learn to respond to every worthy +impulse, every high hope, to find the life beautiful. + +The beauty of holiness is the beauty of character. It is the +adjustment of life to nature and neighbour and heaven so that strength +and harmony ensue, so that duty becomes a delight, labour a song of +praise, and out of life's burden and battle the beauties of godliness, +of love, and tenderness, joy and gratitude begin to bloom. + +Lay hold on everything good and true, on all things glad and elevating; +cherish every fair thought and aspiration; learn to see the essentially +religious in whatever lifts up life, in whatever helps humanity, and so +make life rich in heavenly treasure and glowing with the glory of other +worlds. + + + +THE GLADNESS OF GOODNESS + +Life's poverty is due, not to what we have had and lost, not to what +has been withheld or taken from us, but to the good which we might have +had which we carelessly have passed by. No others despoil us as we +despoil ourselves by our blindness and indifference to the wealth of +our own lives and the beauty ever close at hand. + +We who scurry over land and sea, who dig, and toil, and fret to find +happiness, come back at last to learn that the sweet-faced guest has +been waiting close by our door all the time. + +He perishes in the pitiless snows who, blind to the good and the glory +in every valley and hillside, heeds only the impulse to climb and find +the good in some remote height. Ambition and pride lift ever new peaks +ahead only to mock him when at last, worn, spent, and empty in heart, +he falls by the way. + +The old theology talked much of a heaven far away, to be attained in +the remote future; the new theology often seems inclined to ignore any +heaven, but what the hearts of men need is the sense of the heaven that +is all about them, the God who ever is near, and the blessedness even +now attainable. + +Some live in the past, complacently contemplating the glories that once +were theirs or their ancestors'; some live in the future, dreaming of +felicities yet to be; but they are wise only who live to the full in +the present, who catch the richness and beauty, all the wealth that the +passing hour or the present opportunity may have. + +He is truly godly who sees God in all things, in the affairs of this +day, in the faces of living men, in the flowers and fields, who sees +all the divine wonder and beauty of life, and not he who sees the Most +High only in some legendary past or in a strange, imaginary future. + +No man becomes strong by reminiscence of his breakfast or dreaming of +his next meal alone; each portion of time must have its own fitting +food. The soul of man never can find its fullness through either +history or prophecy; it needs the sense of the spiritual in this +living, pulsating, matter-of-fact present. + +This world is slovenly, sinful, and evil because so many of us are +content with the past or the future, with myth or with imagination, and +fail to demand the development of the good that is our heritage to-day. +The better day comes not by dreams, but by each man doing the best he +can and securing all the good he can for his own day. + +We need to give up the plan of saving the world by the piety of +postponed pleasures and to find the fullness of life in the present, to +get below the surface of things and discover life's real riches, to +interpret this daily toil and struggle, and all this world of ours, in +terms of the divine and infinite. + +How much it would mean to our lives if we might learn, instead of +sighing for the impossible, to get all the sweetness and joy that is in +the things we have, how rich we would find the common lot to be, how +many things that now seem dreary and empty would bloom into new beauty. +In a child's smile, a wild flower's fragrance, a glint of sunlight, +things possible to all, we would find joys unspeakable and full of +glory. + +This does not mean dull content with things as they are; it does mean +the development of the faculties of appreciation, the growth of the +life in power to see, the development of vision. It means the +transformation of the dull earth with the glory of the ideal. + +Some day, when we look back over our lives, how keen will be our regret +as we realize what we have missed, how we have spurned the substance of +life's lasting treasures, human loves, friendships, every-day beauties, +and happiness, while chasing the shadows of imaginary joys. + + + +THE TRUE PARADISE + +The religion that has relations only to heaven and angels, or only to a +supreme being remote and detached from daily life and from our families +and friends, our business and affairs, issues in personal selfishness +and is one of the causes of social disorganization and need. + +It postpones to that dim future the problems that ought to be solved in +the present. It promises those who are broken with the injustice and +greed of their fellows a place where right would prevail and rest would +be their portion in the future. It shifts to an imaginary and ideal +world all the perplexities and wrongs of the real present world. + +That kind of teaching ingrained in generations accounts for the dull +patience, the stolid, brute-like content of the peasant in Europe; he +is born a bearer of burdens, a tiller of the soil, to walk bent and +never look up; it is all endurable because it is all so short; he some +day will be better off than kings and emperors are now. + +But as the generations are born the inspiring vision of that future +loses its force; the ideals are gone and the children come into the +world with their fathers content with their present condition, but +devoid of aspiration and also devoid of their father's faith in the +compensations of the future. + +Then comes the reaction. Some daring spirits assert that if there is +any good, if there is equity and rights, men ought to enter into and +enjoy them here and now. And some who catch the vision of a God of +real love are unwilling to believe that He keeps from His children the +present joys of His home; they invite to a present heaven. + +Then how easy it is to fall into the error of seeking only a material +present-day paradise, to live as if the only things worth living for +were food and clothes and pleasant circumstances. Better a worthy, +beautiful ideal afar off than an unworthy and debasing one already +realized. The heaven that so many are seeking will but bring all men +to the level of the brute. + +The danger is that we shall miss the real benefit of this great truth +that whatever good is designed for man may be realized in large measure +while he lives and shall make his good to consist only in goods. +Better conditions of living easily become the foe of the best. Heaven +is not meat and drink; it is the better heart. + +Making houses and lands the supreme end of living is little better than +looking forward to harps and crowns. It is easy, being freed from +slavery to a superstition to relapse into slavery to our lower selves. +We are in danger of living for a living instead of for our lives. We +are "on the make" instead of being engaged in making manhood. We are +digging the lead of commercial advantage with the gold shovels of +character. + +We may be measured by our own measurements. In sermons and orations we +assure ourselves that we are a great people because we have here so +many acres, so many millions of bushels of corn and of wheat, so high +wages, so vast financial resources. We are living in the glut of +things and setting these things as the end of living. + +All this does not mean that prosperity is wrong; it does not mean that +misery or poverty is a virtue. The danger is not in our many acres, +our high wages, our millions of money; the danger is that these are the +ends instead of the means; that we are existing for our living; that we +make the man the tool of his money instead of the money being the +making of the man. + +Every man has in his breast the keys to his own heaven. If he will he +may find the riches of character; he may enter into the paradise of a +mind at peace; he may taste of the divine joys of serving his fellows; +he may, in thought, commune with all the good and great; he may hear +the morning stars sing together. + +The eternal crown of glory is the crown of character. The streets +paved with gold are the fair, clear ways of virtue. The harps of whose +music we never weary are the strings of sympathy and love and pain; +these make the heavenly harmony. The angels are in the faces we learn +to love. These make heaven when we see them in the light of the +presence of eternal love. + + + + +XVI + +Truth and Life + + _Religion of a Practical Mind_ + _The Head and the Heart_ + _New Truths for New Days_ + + +_A life is an empty lamp without the oil of love._ + +_The only way to have happiness as a permanent guest is to keep your +door open to the helpless._ + +_Self shrinks the soul._ + +_It is much easier to get interested in art doilies for Hottentots than +it is to be simply human to the washerwoman at home._ + +_Whoever helps us to think kindly of another aids the coming of the +kingdom of heaven._ + +_You are not likely to cheer the hearts of men by looking down in the +mouth yourself._ + +_No man climbs to the Father by treading on his brother._ + +_Many things may keep you from the triumphs of life but only +selfishness can keep you from the victories of love._ + +_The child of heaven always sees something of heaven in the child._ + +_There are too many people trying to clean up the world by scalding +their neighbours._ + + +XVI + +RELIGION OF A PRACTICAL MIND + +Is there a faith for the practically minded man and woman? Or is +religion exclusively for the dreamers and those who are contented with +sentiment and feeling? These people of action, who measure by results, +who have no life to waste on things not evidently useful; these who +feel so intensely the needs of humanity that they have no time to waste +in anything other than work--is there a religion for them? + +But religion is not a form of life nor a point of view for one kind of +people alone; it is the spirit of higher things coming into the lives +of all kinds of people. Its expression will depend on the temperament +of the individual. It may lead some to sing hymns, but it will +certainly compel others to build houses and to care for the sick and +needy. + +In a world of men and affairs no man is actually religious unless his +faith is finding some practical expression, and the greatest need of +our day is that our hard-headed men and women who do things shall +become inspired with the spirit and ideas of religion and shall do +those things which religion's spirit of love and service would indicate +as needing to be done. + +Pious people are deluding themselves if they think that they are +cultivating the religious life and meriting the rewards of faith by +simply sitting in church and feeding themselves on beautiful sentiments +and thrilling visions, or even by vigorously attacking all those who +dare to differ from them in matters of religious philosophy. + +Nor can religion find full expression in harking back over the +centuries and elucidating the mysteries of ancient miracles or tracing +the history of ancient peoples. + +If as much brain and energy had been given to solving the problem of +society and leading men into the way of right living to-day as have +been given to digging into the historical and philological problems of +Scripture this world would be a better world by far. We must let the +dead past bury its dead. Stay not weeping by the tomb of yesterday; do +the work of to-day. + +There will be much more real religion in the intelligence, care, and +sacrifice applied to the problem presented by the millions coming in at +the gates of our country than in the most pains-taking study of the +emigration of a horde of Israelites millenniums ago. This is what the +practical man feels; there is so much to be done, why waste time in +dreaming of how things once were done or in wishing for a world where +no need or sorrow exists? Therefore, he is apt to say, in the business +of bringing things to pass religion has no place; it is only for the +dreamers. + +Yet no one needs religion more than the man who would do any worthy and +lasting work in the world. Indeed, the possibility of such a work will +not dawn upon him unless some of the spirit of religion and the +possession of desire to do great and worth while things is evidence of +the heavenly flame within. Any work for the sake of humanity needs a +wider vision than that of its own field. Courage fails and hope dies +if we see only the dismal problem; if we have only the practical +outlook. Some vision of the ideal must enter into all great work; one +must learn to see humanity in the light of divinity. + +It is a good thing to be able to see the Divine in the commonplace, the +hand of Providence in American history, the work of the Most High as +recorded in the daily papers, as well as in the Gospels; to do our work +whether it be laying railroad track, selling dry goods, making or +teaching or trading, as part of the service necessary to bring in the +better day. + +Here is the religion of the practical mind, to express by the service +of heart and brain and hand the belief that he has in the possibilities +humanity, the hope that he has of a fairer, sweeter, nobler age than +this, to make real the world's best ideals. So, seeking to bring to +earth the best that heaven has dreamed, men have found themselves +lifted into the light of infinite truth and love. + + + +THE HEAD AND THE HEART + +There are temperamental types which never reach any conclusion by pure +reasoning; intuitions, emotions, and inspirations take the place of +intellectual processes. It would be the height of folly to attempt to +make such natures reduce their religion to syllogisms, or to ask them +to bring to the bar of the head all the findings of the heart. + +The emotional nature does not comprehend the manner in which the +average mind must wait for its own light. These souls that move by +great tides often reach sublime heights. The world would be poor, +indeed, without their all-compelling enthusiasms, their glorious +visions, and their dominant convictions. But such ones must not forget +that there is no royal road to truth; that human nature is not cast in +one single, unvarying mold; diversity is not necessarily heresy. + +There are other natures, not less necessary to the world, not less +glorious in their records of leaders, martyrs, and masters of men. +These are those that find truth by the slow steps of reasoning; that +seek the way of right, with hearts of reverence and feet of faith, in +the light of the faculties heaven has given them. They do not feel, +they do not understand the winds that, sighing round them, convey such +mighty meaning to other souls; they cannot buy progress at the price of +blindness. They are the intellectual type. + +The conclusion that the emotional type must, after all, be the right +one is a common one. This is because it makes the most noise and the +most easily apprehended demonstration. And, therefore, some tell us +that the man who seeks to find the way of truth by the light of the +intellect must, without fail, wander into the pit of error; that the +only way to come to religious truth is to shut the eyes of the mind and +yield to emotion. + +The thinker constantly is being warned that he cannot apprehend God +with his intellect; that he cannot see the way to heaven with the eyes +of reason. He is urged to give up the use of his head that he may +develop his heart. He even is told that faith is incompatible with +reason, and love with logic. So strong is the emphasis on this that he +is led to suspect that indolence is seeking to deify ignorance, and +that men whose intellectual faculties have atrophied by their +subjection to the emotional now are envious of those who retain the +power to think clearly, and would have them also deprived of these +powers. + +Nothing could be more clearly opposed to the way of truth than the +notion that religion can be bought only at the price of reason, or that +the consequence of using the intelligence is the losing of the power of +affection for the divine, the good, and the true--of the warmth of +heart and feeling that often determine character and conduct. + +If the faculties are God given they are given for working purposes. If +man has a mind and yet may not think concerning the deepest and highest +things of his own nature and destiny, then the giving of that mind or +the permitting it to develop is the most cruel mockery known to human +history. + +But the simple law of nature that every faculty has some purpose, that +no power is without its duty, is the answer to all this. The mind is +as sacred as the heart; it is as much a sacred duty to think as it is +to aspire. There is nothing too holy for men to think about, to reason +about. The mind must serve the truth--must with reverence lead to +larger truth. + +No man is religious who represses any of his reasoning faculties. +Every one of the higher powers must be brought to their greatest +perfection. Not by dwarfing but by developing themselves do men +glorify their Creator. Just as the finest tree in the forest speaks +most eloquently of the bounty and beauty of nature, so does the +gigantic intellect glorify the intelligence that ordered its being. + +Fear not to think of sacred things; nothing is sacred because it is +mysterious; reverence does not dwell apart from reason. Faith does not +reach its perfection in the fool; it shines most glorious where wisdom +dwells. There still are the superstitious souls who confound darkness +with divinity; who cry aloud against the light of knowledge. But they +can no more stay the discovery of truth than the bats can hold back the +dawn. + + + +NEW TRUTHS FOR NEW DAYS + +There are many who think they must live without religion because they +cannot be content with the views held by their fathers. The facts on +which the faith of the past was based have come into the light so that +the modern man, examining them, finds himself in all honesty compelled +to question them and often ultimately to call them fables. + +The attempt to answer the questions of the clear-eyed modern scientific +mind by accusing it of inherent antagonism to religion is cheap and +ineffectual. There are honest doubters who at the same time are +earnest seekers after truth, who desire the best, who are willing to +pay any price for personal character and social righteousness. + +It is because such men are honest that they refuse to be bound by +creeds they cannot believe and to buttress beliefs they cannot indorse. +No greater loss could come to character than to insist that we shall +act and speak a lie in order that the body of religious teaching shall +remain undisturbed. The heresy we most need to fear is that which +blatantly declares one thing while at heart fearing that another is +true. + +The old generation in religion is accusing the new of treason to faith +and the new is accusing the old of blindness to truth. When the father +says to the son, "Believe this or be lost," the son answers that he +rather would be lost in company with truth and honesty of conscience +than be saved at the cost of both. + +But do these divergencies mean that the man of the modern mind must +give up religion and that those who hold to the traditional views can +find no fellowship with those who see new light? This is more than an +academic question; it presses on every man who, finding in him the +universal thirst for religion, finds also standing before the living +waters him who says, "You can drink only out of this cup handed down +from the fathers; you can approach only on speaking our shibboleth." + +Our fathers looked on religious truth as something complete and +unchangeable, once for all delivered to the saints. But they forgot +how different was the truth, as they saw it, from its vision as given +to their fathers. Every age tends to look upon itself as the final +goal and on its views as the last possible statement of truth. + +Yet how clearly does the past teach us that our vision of truth is ever +changing. The science of to-day will be largely the folly of +to-morrow. Truth, in any realm, is a country whose boundaries lie ever +before us, whose geography each age must write anew. Truth is a road, +not a terminus; a process of search and not the thing discovered alone. + +He only is religious really who opens heart and mind to the increasing +vision of truth, in whom religion is not a cut and dried, fixed and +unchanging philosophy, but to whom it is a method and motive for +living, a process of adjusting himself to all his world in the full +light of all the truth that can come to him. + +There is a religion for the man who must deny many things that once +seemed essential to religion; for the man who feels compelled to doubt +all things; it is the religion of the honest, open souled, unreserved +search for truth and the translation of that truth as it is known into +character, and living. + +If the setting of the face towards truth means breaking through ancient +theology it also will mean bringing us face to face with the infinite. +It is a good thing to lose the symbol if we only will seek for the +substance. The heart of man cries out for the reality that lies back +of all our words and for the realization of our doctrines in deeds. + +When the test of trouble comes, when earth is a desert and the heavens +are brass, we find our refreshing, we find the real resources of +religion not in doctrinal statements, not in formal creeds, but in that +creed which experience has written on our hearts, in the consciousness +of an eternal love not demonstrated by logic, in the sense of the unity +of ourselves and our race with the infinite and divine. + +Every day must have its new creed, its enlarging vision of truth, but +back of all lies truth itself, the reality upon which our fathers +leaned and the unfailing springs where they were refreshed and the +glowing visions that led them on. In that reality lies every man's +religion. + + + + +XVII + +The Fruits of Faith + + _Root and Fruit_ + _The Orthodox Accent_ + _The Business of Religion_ + + +_Killing hope is moral suicide._ + +_Sow happiness and reap heaven._ + +_Every man is made up of many men._ + +_You cannot travel towards heaven with your back turned to honour._ + +_Earthly prudence is a large part of heavenly providence._ + +_Homes are often closest knit about some grave of separation._ + +_Your credit in heaven depends on earth's debts to you._ + +_To attempt a great work is to become a great worker._ + +_The practice of happiness does much for the power of holiness._ + +_No man ever found this world a weary place who had a worthy work to +do._ + +_It's no use talking about the religion in your heart if it is not +visible in your home._ + + +XVII + +ROOT AND FRUIT + +There is honest inquiry rather than querulous criticism in the +question, often asked, Why does not religion produce a higher and +stronger type of moral character? Enthusiasm for the teachings of +Christ often is cooled by contact with some flabby-willed, +narrow-minded professed follower of those teachings. + +It is a common saying with business men that it is hard to find a man +of absolute integrity, one who even measures up to the standards of +commercial honour among those who are religious, either by vocation or +avocation. At any rate, it is true that a certificate of religious +affiliations by no means is equivalent to a guarantee of high moral +worth. + +Yet it is easy to arrive at wrong conclusions when judging the effect +of religion on personal character as tested by daily business and +living. One is in danger of judging from exceptions. We may remember +as a religious person the man who makes the loudest protestations of +his piety and fail to recognize the religious sources of strength in +the quieter one of whose sterling qualities we need no persuasion. + +When religion has little root it often springs up with a rapid +self-assertive growth; but it withers even more quickly under the +scorching sun of the market and business affairs. It also would be the +height of folly to conclude that religion contributed nothing to a +man's moral worth, because the morally worthless seek to hide their +nakedness by wearing it as a cloak. + +If we stop to think of the strong men and women we know, of those whose +integrity is undoubted, whose character wealth constitutes the real +reserve and bulwark of our business stability, we shall find that they +are controlled by religious ideals and principles, that the strength +and beauty which we admire in them in itself is religion. + +They may have or may not have ecclesiastical affiliations; these are +but incidental. They do have religion. Somehow we feel that their +actions rise not from superficial wells of policy or custom but from +deep springs that go back into the roots and rock of things. They look +out on life with eyes that see beyond questions of immediate and +passing advantage; they see visions and ideals; they are drawn on by +lofty aspirations. + +The recognition which we accord to real worth, to high, and noble, and +strong manhood and womanhood, with the scorn we have for the canting +weakling, is but part of our discrimination between a living, deep +religion expressed in conduct and a mask or pretense adopted for profit +or convenience. + +Still there are many good people, sincere in their religious +professions, who practically are no good at all when they come to some +strain on conscience, or some real test in life. Is it not because in +their minds religion never has been related to conduct? They are +grounded on the eschatology of Christianity but not on its ethics. + +It is possible to go through a full course of religious instruction in +the regularly appointed agencies of many churches and to come out with +clear-cut conceptions of heaven and angels, but with the most misty and +even misleading conceptions of right relations among men, of honesty, +and justice, and truth. + +The schools teach us about the stars and the earth, about men dead and +beasts living; the church teaches us of saints and seraphs, and about +an ancient literature; but who shall teach us and our children the art +of living, the laws of human duties? Of what value is all our +knowledge unless we get the wisdom of right living? + +No man is saved until he is made strong, sane, useful, and reliable. +The most irreligious thing in this world is a religion that makes +people think that an imputed or technical salvation absolves them from +the necessity of practical salvation, the working out of the best and +noblest in their lives. Religion without morality is a mockery. + +Real religion is the secret and source of the highest, strongest, +cleanest character. It furnishes the life with motives mightier than +any considerations of advantage or profit; it ties the soul up to +eternal and spiritual verities; it refreshes the heart as with living +waters when life seems all desert; it sets the heart in step with the +Infinite One who marches on through the ages. + + + +THE ORTHODOX ACCENT + +Perhaps the chief damage done by the confusion of tongues at Babel was +that it tended to a multiplicity of words. Whether it was so before +that time or not, it is certain that ever since there has been a +constant likelihood of religion and every other good thing being +drowned in floods of rhetoric. Where there are ten ways of saying a +thing it is so much easier to use them all than to do the thing in the +one way in which it may be done. Words become the chief enemies of +works. A volume containing all the words of the great Teacher would +look mighty insignificant beside the ponderous tomes of the modern +exponents of His teachings. That is because the minister has become +the preacher. + +The tendency also is for laymen to prove their piety by becoming +teachers. It is so in every direction. Reforms dissipate into theses; +it is always easier to make speeches on the city beautiful than it is +to refrain from throwing the refuse in the street. We are all talking +about what ought to be done. Perhaps some leader will arise and +institute the order of the practicers. + +Dreamers, philosophers, thinkers, writers have poured forth their +floods upon a thirsty world. But the only words that have been worth +anything to mankind have been those that have grown out of the +speaker's soul as it has been molded by his living and doing. + +Because talking is so easy to the knowing ones it is not strange that +they should water their stock of superstitious prestige with the less +knowing ones from their reservoir of words. Then it is the most +natural thing for the glib man to set up the thing he can do most +easily as the thing essential to salvation, and thus a shibboleth +becomes the saving sign. + +But salvation does not depend on any shibboleth. No man is going to +fail of seeing the Most High because he cannot render the precise name +by which one race chose to call Him, nor will the sun cease to shine +upon him should he seek the highest good in other ways than names. The +heart of the universe asks not that we be consistent with the +syllogisms of the past, but that we be true to the truth we know +ourselves. + +Every man has some creed back of every deed; but when he puts his creed +up in front his deeds soon die. Where words reign they soon reign +alone, with nothing but words to serve them. Orthodoxy is so general, +because it is so easy and so meaningless. Catch the accent and you are +orthodox. But if heaven is to be won by an accent most honest men +would rather pay board, somewhere else. + +No life can be interpreted in language alone. The church is but an +obscuration on Christianity when it meets only to analyze the life of +its Lord and never to exemplify His deeds. What must heaven think to +see a thousand able-bodied men and women gather in a beautiful building +to sing hymns of praise to their Diety [Transcriber's note: Deity?] and +to listen to arguments about His divinity while, within block of them, +there are, in sickness and squalor, distress and sorrow, the ones to +whom He sent these people to minister? The doctrines manufactured +about Him have hidden the directions given by Him. + +The trouble is not that we have too much doctrine so much as that we +have the wrong kind. The Master's great teaching was, Do the divine +things, and the divine truths will take care of themselves. + +The kingdom will never come until His will is done. Half-tones of +heaven will not keep people warm in winter; it is half tons of coal +they need. The world will believe in any church that tries to do good. +But the church does not believe in itself yet; half the people are +strenuously endeavouring to fool themselves into what they call +spiritual warmth. What they need is plain Christian perspiration. No +man really credits his own religion until he converts it into reality. + +But the man who prides himself on his heterodoxy is often equally +guilty here. He ridicules the old type of piety and thinks to improve +on it with new sets of phrases. All these critics have is new +arrangements of words. Even the man who rejects all religion satisfies +himself with the cant phrase of irreligion. + +We need most of all to treat religion as sensibly as we do business, to +leave the science to those interested while we give ourselves to the +practice of its art, the doing of its deeds, the living its life. + + + +THE BUSINESS OF RELIGION + +Any religion that will not stand the strain of modern business may have +been good for some other age; but it is valueless in this one. The +test of your piety is not peace in the pews of the church, but power +and direction in the stress of the market, its adaptability to your +activities as well as your meditations. + +The problem of the reconciliation of business and religion is not +nearly so complex as we would believe. The people who are saying it is +impossible to be upright and get on in the world mean that it is +impossible to be honest and to gain all the questionable advantages on +which they have set their hearts. When a man says that religion and +business will not work in harmony he either has a wrong brand of piety +or a false conception of business. + +Religion is built for business. The only creed that is worth a +moment's thought is a working creed, that is, one that gets into +action. Religion is not the mere acceptance of a speculative +philosophy of this and other worlds. It consists in principles, +ideals, and motives which dominate conduct. It is more concerned with +the kind of a world you are making here than with the conceptions you +may have of a world beyond. + +Religion is more than an institution; it is a course of life. It has +to do with the church only in so far as the church serves its purposes. +It is more concerned with what a man pays his employees than with what +he puts into the plate at the collection. The man who can put all his +piety into the prayer-meeting and the services of the church never has +enough seriously to embarrass him under any circumstances. + +If for your religion you have adopted principles of high living; if you +have set the worth of the soul above all other things; if you have +determined to frame your life according to the golden rule of the great +Teacher, and, with Him as hero and ideal, are seeking to do good to +others and make this world a better place for us all, with less of sin +and sorrow and more of joy and love, you will make your business as +well as your praying the servant of these ends. + +But if you have said that you wish to do these things, that you wish to +live the pure and beneficent life while in your heart your sole desire +is to get riches, to gain fame, to secure power, then there is bound to +be conflict between the religion you profess and the business that +possesses you. + +Everything depends on the purposes of living, on the things a man +really and deep within himself sets first in his life; he will follow +those things no matter what other professions he may make. Business as +a servant deserves our allegiance and devotion; business as a master is +the most evil and soul devastating thing in this universe. + +There is the most perfect harmony; there is relatively easy settlement +of problems and difficulties if but this principle be adopted; that you +have taken as your chief business in life the ends of true religion, +the development of character and the service of humanity, and, with +this purpose, the daily toil, the opportunities and enginery of your +trade or profession shall be made to serve these higher ends. + +Religion then becomes the motive in business and business the +manifestation of religion. A man serves the Most High in his office +with the same devotion and elevation of spirit as a priest at the +altar. He is doing a great work, because the spirit is great. In +questions of conscience he can afford to lose everything except the +great end; he will not sacrifice the lesser to the greater. + + + + +XVIII + +The Force of Faith + + "_The Victory that Overcometh_" + _Fear and Faith_ + _Faith for the Future_ + + +_Some talk so hard about duty they have no strength left for deeds._ + +_When a good man gets down in the dirt some one is sure to stumble over +him._ + +_Many a man who would make a first-class lighthouse is wasting his life +trying to be a fog-horn._ + +_The mournful saint works a good deal more harm than the cheerful +sinner._ + +_The faith that shows up strong on the fence may fail altogether when +it gets on the field._ + +_It's not the man who says the loudest amen who makes the most +impression on heaven._ + +_There are too many folks trying to meet the world's hunger for love +with essays on affection._ + +_Lots of people let their daily manna spoil while they pray for butter +and sugar to spread on it._ + +_People who lay their sins on the old Adam are not anxious to have +their successes attributed to him._ + +_Many a man thinks his life is clouded over when the truth is he is +burying his head in the steam of his own sighings._ + + +XVIII + +"THE VICTORY THAT OVERCOMETH" + +You cannot believe little things and do great ones; you cannot believe +in half successes and accomplish whole ones. A man's faith sets the +boundaries of his work. He will do what he believes and accomplish +what he believes can be accomplished. Mountains are not subdued by men +who stand discouraged at a mole-hill. A man must conquer the fatigues +of the way in his own heart or he will never set out on the road. + +Back of all free action lies some creed, some conviction. All great +battles have been fought and either lost or won in the heart. The +simple or stubborn confidence that leads to all-conquering effort, this +is faith, the vision that vitalizes. The eye of faith sees the prize +at the end long before it is reached; the eye of fear looks so closely +at the difficulties and dangers of the course that the prize is not +seen at all. + +There is a good deal of fatalism seeking to pass as faith. People say +we must have faith in God; let things take their course and they will +come out all right. The church long commended the slothful who let +things drift, and called their laziness resignation. But faith feels +the certitude of a harvest because it has first diligently plowed and +sown and because of the goodness that has ever brought the seed-time +and the harvest. + +Superstitious credulity is not faith. It is more than the foresight +that feeds on visions of a future heaven; it is the clear eye that +looks keenly at the things of to-day. No truth is the better for being +taken on trust; it cannot be possessed until it is known, not on the +authority of another but on your own experience. No man ever became a +martyr for a truth he received at second hand. + +Only a first hand faith is a force in the world. It is born of life; +it determines life. Your faith forms you. If you do not believe men, +how can you be a man? If you do not believe in things better, nobler, +purer, how can you move towards them? If at bottom your faith is in +things mean, sordid, sensual, base, then thither turns your life, and +no extraneous efforts, no badges, buttons, or creeds can change its +course. + +You can measure a man's weight in this world, by the strength and +clearness of his convictions. Poor you may be, friendless, alone, +weak, unlearned; but all this can be overcome if bright in the heart +there burns the unquenchable flame of some great passion, some high +faith. Given this fire within them, all the tools shall be found, but +without it the finest endowment of brain and body is valueless. + +Given but some great principle, some purpose that becomes a holy +passion, something that leads you, like one of long ago who +"steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem," then all power is +yours. The man who has faith to remove mountains always finds the +picks and the steam shovels somewhere. He takes the tools he has, +though they may seem but toys beside his task, and lo! some morning +when the dreamers awake the mountain is no longer there. Faith has had +her perfect work. + +It is faith that gives fortitude, faith that gives force. The dreamers +of dreams have ever been, after all, the doers of the great deeds. +Seeing the things that are not seen is the secret of doing the things +that remain to be seen. + +No worthier word was ever said of the divine Man than that which spoke +of Him as the leader and completer of faith. So great a work was +possible only with sublime confidence in the glorious possibilities of +mankind, only with unshakable assurance that all that was good and true +in the universe was working with Him for the good of all. With Him +faith was an eye that saw man's hidden good, a hand that grasped the +infinite might moving for the best. + + + +FEAR AND FAITH + +To many faith simply means denying the reason and relying on emotion. +They have what is called saving faith and are able to feel that the +Almighty forgives their wrong-doings, ceasing to be angry with them; +their faith being perfect when it takes away fear of punishment. To +these faith is that which they pay in the form of credence to whatever +is ecclesiastically asserted in exchange for the complaisance of diety +[Transcriber's note: deity?]. + +Those who deny all religion assert that it is founded on fear. There +is enough in that assertion to give it the colour of truth. Yet fear +of the unseen is but the survival of savagery. Faith founded on fear +becomes servile, debasing, superstitious. If religion has no higher +motive than that of fear, the trembling and dread before some great +omnipotent unknown, it can give the world neither help nor uplift. + +What is there in God to fear? Is the Lord of life also the foe of our +lives? Is the author of a world so fair and lovely, inviting us to joy +and inspiring with feelings of pleasure, the foe of happiness? Has He +made the world a paradise and planted in man's breast the seeds of +kindness, gentleness and sweet thoughts only to glower over His world +in hatred and to damn it with dread of Himself? + +All things that can be known argue the goodness of the unknown. As +soon as a man learns to live with nature he loses his fear of forest, +beast, and sea. Familiarity breeds confidence, affection and +reverence. Only the remote and unfamiliar fill us with dread. The +city bred tremble in the woods at night, where the native feels himself +amongst well loved friends. + +In the same manner the fear of the divine, born of unfamiliarity, +instead of being an evidence of reverence or of religion, becomes the +mark of ignorance and cowardice. Rectitude of conduct, resulting +wholly from regulating oneself as under an all-seeing critical eye and +in dread of a far-reaching devastating hand, cannot produce enrichment +of character. Hatred never gave birth to holiness. + +The souls that in all ages have lived nearest to things spiritual, that +have most enriched the world with thoughts, whose inner visions pierced +our outer clouds, seeing something of the glory of the infinite, +brought back no pictures of a face austere, of a cruel despot, or of +aught for love or truth to fear. + +True faith instead of being a compromise to allay our fears of unknown +ills and calamities, ever has been the fearless, reverent search for +the face of the infinite. It does not say: "I believe that God will +let me alone because I did those prescribed things"; rather it says: "I +cannot be satisfied alone and apart from Him, the source and sole +satisfaction of all life." + +Science with its passion for truth, art with its passion for beauty, +ethics with its passion for rightness, are all but parts of true +religion, the soul's passion for the infinite heart and mind in which +all ideas of truth and beauty take their rise and find their full +realization. + +The soul of man never has ceased to cry out for the living God; the +religion of fear has given it no satisfaction. Its followers have been +too busy building themselves shelters from the heaven they dread, +shelters that become as leaden shields shutting out the eternal +tenderness and beneficence. No man ever found the celestial city or +its glorious king so long as he regarded his religion as a cyclone +cellar. + +To those who, with eyes of reverence, seek to find the good in all +things here, believing that love is better and mightier than hate, that +whatever is good, kindly, tender, pure, and ennobling in us, is but the +reflection from the glory of the infinite, traces in our dust by which +we find our way to Him who inhabits eternity, these, through eyes of +faith, have found a presence beyond description or definition. + +Fear sets afar off a mighty monarch; faith finds near at hand one whom +it calls "Father." Fear shrinks from the impending wrath, love rests +in the unchanging goodness. Fear imagines a throne and flaming sword; +faith has confidence in a better day ever dawning, in the triumph at +last of right, in the reality of an incomprehensible love that sings in +its joy, soothes in its sorrow, strengthens in its discipline, a life +and love nearer and more real than any of the other facts of living. + + + +FAITH FOR THE FUTURE + +You cannot tell much about a man's faith by his willingness to deal in +futures without any foundation in fact. And yet no man is ready to +face the future unless his heart is nerved by a high and worthy faith. +This alone can give strength to look down the coming days and to take +up their tasks. + +None of us can know what these new days hold for us; fear readily +conjures up pictures of disaster. But because of certain sublime +confidences we hold we banish our fears, shake off our sloth, and +gladly step out into the unknown and untrodden country of to-morrow. + +Faith is the force of all the ages. It accounts for the past; it +enters and determines the future. Because certain men in days gone by +believed certain things intensely; because they were thrilled by great +visions, by glorious ideals, history was wrought out in the forge of +their convictions, under the hammer of their wills. + +No great things are done except by the power of faith, under glowing +hopes and compelling convictions. It is her faith in her boy's future +that makes the mother willing to suffer, keeps her patient, that buoys +up the father in the strife and weariness of life. No man or woman is +doing anything that makes the world richer for mere bread and butter; +some purpose and vision is behind the worthy work. + +It is because somehow we believe, no matter how we may phrase the +belief, that destiny is behind this strange weaving we call life that +we are content to seem to be the shuttles jerked hither and thither. +We bear the ills of to-day because we dimly see the glorious goal of +the good of all. We do a full day's work only as we see somehow an +eternal wage. + +It makes little difference what creed a man may hold, for that has +become almost wholly a matter of philosophical speculation regarding +things unknown and often unimportant, but it makes all the difference +what measure and quality of faith he has, whether he feels the force of +great aspirations and is controlled by eternal principles. + +It may belong to few of us to be heralded as heroes, and the judgment +of history may confer on none the martyr's crown, but the hero's joy +and the martyr's glory are in the heart of every one who boldly reaches +up to and lives out the highest he conceives, for he will not do that +without sacrifice and pain on his side nor without enriching for +mankind on the other. + +The largest faith may be manifest in the lowliest places. When all the +work of the ages appears, when the weaving of the centuries is turned +with its finished side towards us, we may see that the man who has laid +the brick or fed the furnace or the woman who has washed and cooked in +the home and tended the little ones, doing these things for love, has +shot the most glowing colours into the great fabric. + +It is not the thing you do so much as the spirit in which you do it +that makes it great or small. Faith determines this spirit, for faith +is that which fashions the ideal of the one we love, the ideal we serve +and for which we joyfully suffer. The prophet whose burning words +cannot forget lives by the faith in a vision broad and sweeping; but +not less is the faith of the humble toiler who lives each day by the +vision of his home and fireside. + +Nor is this all. It is faith that draws on life's invisible sources of +power and refreshing; it is faith that finds inner contact with the +invisible. How empty is life if it hold nothing but things; how hungry +grows the heart fed only on cold facts. For each day as it comes we +need to be able to draw on the deep springs of the water of life, the +springs from which our fathers drank and found strength to lay the +foundations of our day. + +Faith is not the blind confidence that, somehow, Providence will send +us daily bread. It is the faculty by which the heart eats of the bread +of heaven, by which it comes into fellowship with the great and +immortal of all ages, by which it walks with Jesus of Nazareth and +every spirit like His and learns to read life as love law and see it as +leading to eternal good. + + + + +XIX + +Hindrances and Helps from Within + + _Worry_ + _A Cure for the Blues_ + _The Gospel of Song_ + + +_Airing our aches will never heal them._ + +_This would be a sad world but for our sorrows._ + +_A merry heart kills more microbes than any medicine._ + +_It is always a pleasure to boost another sinner down._ + +_We make mistakes; other people commit sins._ + +_Nothing worries worry worse than work._ + +_A little modesty often hides a lot of vanity._ + +_He whose life leads nowhere is never late in getting there._ + +_Love runs over but it never gives over._ + +_Never put off to-morrow the meanness you can put off to-day._ + +_Happiness rests on thoughts and not on things._ + +_He who has friends only to use them has them only to lose them._ + +_To-morrow's burden is the only one that breaks the back of to-day._ + + +XIX + +WORRY + +Worry is wicked because it causes weakness. It robs the life of its +powers; it thwarts our possibilities. Anxiety is wrong, not because it +indicates infidelity as to the wise and loving providence overruling +life, but because it is a criminal waste of life's forces, it prevents +our doing our own work, and it irritates and hinders others. + +What a great cloud would be lifted from our world if all the needless +fears and frowns were chased away. One scowling man, going to his work +worrying over it, will spread the contagion of apprehension and +cowardly fretfulness through almost every group with which he mingles. +Our mental health has as much to do with our success and happiness as +any other thing. + +The fog that bothers us most of all is that we carry on our faces, that +which rises from our heart fears. Once savage man lived in perpetual +fear of innumerable malignant spirits; civilized man lives in fear of +invisible and imaginary accidents. For every real foe that has to be +faced we fight out hypothetical battles with a dozen shadows. + +Worry is a matter of outlook and habit. It depends, first of all, on +whether you are going to take all the facts into account and look on +life as a whole, or see only the dismal possibilities. Then it depends +on whether you will yield continually to the blue moods that may arise +from apprehension or from indigestion until you have become colour +blind to all but the blue things. + +How trivial are the things over which we worry, by means of which we +cultivate the enslaving habit of worry, whether we will catch the +approaching car or the one that will come two minutes later, whether it +will rain when we want it to shine, or shine when we want it to rain. + +How ineffective it all is. Whoever by worrying all night succeeded in +bringing about the kind of weather he wanted? More than that, it is +fatal to successfully accomplishing those things that do lie within our +power. The worry over catching a train or doing a piece of work so +agitates the mind and unsettles the will that it reduces the chances of +efficiency. + +But there are larger causes of worry than these, sickness, loss, +impending disasters. Yet how futile to help and how potent to increase +these ills is worry. The darkest days and the deepest sorrows need +that we should be at our best to meet them. To yield to fear and +fretting is to turn the powers of heart and brain from allies to +enemies. + +No occasion is so great or so small that we can afford to meet it +either with fear or without forethought. The imperative obligation to +make the most of our lives is not met by apprehending the worst, but by +doing the best we can. We have no right to give to forebodings the +time and force we need for preparing for and actually meeting our +duties. + +The best cure for worry is work. In the larger number of instances if +we but do our work well we shall have no need to worry over the +results. Much of our fearful fretting is but a confession of work illy +done and the apprehension of deserved consequences. + +Then faithful work by absorbing the thought and energies cures the +habit of worry. It is the empty mind that falls first prey to +foreboding, and is most easily filled with the spectres of woe. Do +your work with all your might; let it go at that, knowing that no +amount of further thought can affect the issue of it. + +No matter how dark the way, how empty the scrip, the cheerful heart has +sunshine and feasting. And this not by a blind indifference, a +childish optimism, but by the blessed faculty of finding the riches +that are by every wayside, of catching at all the good there is in +living. If you would dispel your gloom and depreciate your burdens, +begin to appreciate your blessings. Do your best, seek out the best, +believe in the best, and the best shall be. + + + +A CURE FOR THE BLUES + +There is an honest confession, and one that proved to be good for the +soul of the man who made it, in the Seventy-seventh Psalm. Asaph, the +singer of that song, had had a bad spell of the blues. He was nervous, +sleepless, fretful, full of vague regrets and querulous complainings. +He had reviewed the whole troop of his imaginary miseries, and wound up +by wondering whether God really cared anything about him. One might +well believe that he had been taking in altogether too many social +functions. Whatever the cause, he had come to an exceedingly +disagreeable condition. + +Despite the fact that many suppose that saintliness is never fully +achieved unless the whole nature be soured, it still remains true that +of all the blights upon this earth, few are more contrary to the will +of a God of love and sunshine than the disposition that abides in the +chronic blues. It lives on regrets for the good things that might have +been and dreadings of the evil things that yet may be. It is either +complaining or criticising. + +Their gall enters the hearts of such people. They who look within and +see nothing but bitterness, when they look without find a film over +their eyes that colours their whole world, until they lose faith in God +and hope for man. Then they lay the blame on their circumstances, or, +worse yet, on what they call an "All Wise Providence," whom they +imagine to be as bitter against them as they are against the world. + +This attitude soon becomes fixed. Unconsciously it is cultivated. +Then friends and members of the family turn with loathing from the +atmosphere of chronic pessimism; the habitue has become a cuttlefish +among his fellows, only emanating floods of inky misery. He wonders +why things do not come his way; why business associates desert him and +troubles assail him more and more. The truth is that imaginary +troubles tend to become real, and fortune never smiles on a man who +turns a sour face towards her. + +Character is contagious. Even if we had the right to enjoy our own +misery we have no right to infect our neighbours with it. You are +bound by social obligations as well as by selfish reasons to cure the +blues every time you have them. + +And there is a remedy. Asaph began to cure himself when, instead of +saying, "All things are against me," he said, "This is my infirmity," +my fault; I am enough to turn a beehive sour. His cure was almost +perfect when he said, "I will remember the years of the right hand of +the Most High." The cure for the blues is simple, then. First, own up +to it that the largest part of your miseries comes out of your own +mind, out of your distorted views of things. Then begin to thank God +for His goodness, call to mind the many things for which you should be +grateful. + +To remember our mercies is to bury our miseries. There is a lot of +good in this old world and they get it who go for it. There is +something good in every man; the best people find the best in people. +After all, our lives are determined not by the things about us but by +the things we invite into us. It is impossible to keep that man blue +who persistently looks for the bright side of things, or to keep him +poor or sad who is affording a welcome to every good thing, every +happy, cheering thought. Soon the man who lives like that gets so busy +keeping track of his own and other people's happiness that he forgets +to think whether he is happy or not, just as a healthy man forgets to +count his pulse or his respirations. So, if you are tempted to feel +blue, remember it is a sin to nurse your sadness; it is a duty to +cultivate happiness. + + + +THE GOSPEL OF SONG + +Singing cures sighing. Lift up a note of praise and you can raise the +heaviest off and roll it clean off the heart. Christianity is a +religion of song. Its forerunner, Judaism, left the ages the rich +legacy of the Psalms. Its founder, when he knew that death was +imminent, sang one of those ancient songs with his friends. His +followers early gathered for worship in song. Peter beguiled prison +hours with hymns. Meeting in the catacombs, the early Christians made +the galleries echo with their praise. + +To-day every revival is but a wave of song. The successful churches +know the inspirational and the ethical power of good hymns. The +decline of many a church may be traced to the exclusion of the people +from their share in the worship, to the attempt to praise God by proxy, +or to substitute an artistic exhibition for an act of exaltation. + +Not only in public worship, but in private life, hymns and songs have a +significant influence. It is always easy to remember rhymed forms of +truth; happy the heart with a store of good hymns; it is provisioned +for many a long voyage. When the light burns low the heart is +illumined by the memory of choice thoughts expressed in poetry, by +songs sung long ago. When the burden seems all too heavy, and the +traveller would fain lie down in despair, he remembers some word of +cheer, some stanza from another pilgrim's song, and he is strengthened +for the road. + +Christianity is a singing religion, because it is a happy religion. It +came to end the gloom of this world. The song must take the place of +the sigh. Happiness must rule the utterance. Even a hearty whistle +may be a wonderful means of grace. Every natural expression of +happiness becomes a religious act. The flowers praise the gardener by +being beautiful and fragrant, and men praise God by being happy. + +Song is a creator of happiness. You cannot sing songs of joy and +nourish jealousy or hatred. A song of gratitude for things you have +will often chase away the clouds of gloom over those you dread. It is +a sin to be sad when you might as well be glad, and it is a sin to be +silent when you might as well be singing. + +One song may surpass many a sermon in its power over a life. Great +songs have sung men into battle and stiffened their melting hearts. +Great songs have touched our clay and thrilled it to the divinely +heroic. Songs sung in the stillness of the evening over the baby's +cradle have ever been the mother's consecration for all her sacrifice. +Hymns bring back hallowed memories; a strain of song will touch a chord +no syllogism could sound; the simple words of an old hymn bring comfort +and new hope to hearts broken and crushed. + +We may not all make sermons, but we can all sing songs. To make the +good singer there is needed not the artist but the heart. Sing away +the gloom; sing in the gratitude, the joy, and love, and strength; sing +in the courage, the aspiration and hope. Men may reject our sermons, +but they will rejoice in our songs, for they are theirs also. The +creeds change, but the old hymns stand. + +Store your memory with the songs that time has tried. The thoughts +that were meat and strength to others shall be your bread in desert +days, your light in darkness. Praise God by a life of happy praise. + + + + +XX + +Does He Care? + + _The One at The Helm_ + _The Shepherd and The Sheep_ + _The Father's Care_ + + +_Faith's fervour is more than effervescence._ + +_The lights of the world are not advertising signs._ + +_Sow the sand and you reap only cinders in your eyes._ + +_No man ever broke his back under his brother's burden._ + +_The fear of reputation is often taken for the love of righteousness._ + +_You cannot cure your sorrows by taking them out in a wheel chair._ + +_A niggardly purse in the pocket becomes a thorn in the side._ + +_Tears over yesterday's broken toys blind us to today's treasures._ + +_Things do not prove themselves sacred by segregating themselves from +secular concerns._ + +_Heaven intrusts no great cargo to the vessel that spreads its sails to +every wind that blows._ + +_When a man is getting fat out of the fall of others he is sure to be a +warm advocate of their right to be free to fall._ + +_Many a man will be surprised when he gets to heaven to find how large +a place his little kindly deeds occupy in its history._ + + +XX + +THE ONE AT THE HELM + +Danger tears away our disguises. In hours of peril the true man +appears, and at such times, if ever, the man speaks the truth. Fearing +the boat was sinking, the disciples had little thought of the dignity +or the divinity of the one who lay asleep in the helmsman's place. +Rudely they awaken Him with their indignant cries, wondering why one +who had spoken such wondrous words before seems indifferent now to +their danger. "Carest Thou not that we perish?" they cry. + +Every man who has been accustomed to take God for granted has used +almost the same words at some time in his life. The hour of tempest, +when the uncontrollable waves of trouble and winds of adversity seemed +ready to overwhelm him, when he had done all that mortal might do, then +it seemed as though this God to whom he had prayed so often, of whom he +had learned to think as part of his life, was absent or indifferent. + +It is the question of every soul in sorrow or testing, "Does God care +anything about me?" It is more than a speculative inquiry then. +Theologians may have drawn up their specifications of the Most High, +and, in the peaceful ways of their lives, they may be satisfied with +their handiwork. But when, even into their cloistered walks, some +great sorrow or grim death has come stalking, then, with dry lips and +moist brow they cry, "Master, are you asleep? Do you not care?" + +What is there at the helm of this great ship of life? Is there any one +or is it steered automatically, blindly holding its way and heeding +neither waves nor rocks nor other craft? Has this universe a heart or +only an engine at its centre? The inquiry becomes pressing and +pertinent, indeed, when inexplicable distress and anguish that seem all +unnecessary break down all the man's strength and courage. + +A man can no more content himself with a far off being, sitting in the +heavens in royal state, winning reverence by remoteness, than his own +children would be satisfied to know him only as a sovereign. He craves +the friendship of that one; he longs for compassion, sympathy, +assistance such as friend gives to friend; in a word, he looks for +love. You cannot love an absentee God any more than you can love an +abstraction or a theory. + +But the need of one who will come close into our lives, who aids in the +hour of extremity, does not meet itself. The fact remains that often +we seem to be left to the mercy of the tempest; the elements do their +worst and no hand is lifted and no voice is heard that still the waves. +Full often the storm seems to finish its work and only clinging to the +wreckage or swept on the waves do we come into port. + +Is there any answer to the great question, Does any greater one care +for our lives? If we are looking for an answer as susceptible to +demonstration as a mathematical proposition we are doomed to +disappointment. It is possible to believe in providence without being +able either to prove or fully comprehend it. The child must become the +parent before he can understand the ways of the father or mother with +him; yet he can know their love before he can comprehend their ways. + +Nothing could do more harm than to have the absolute assurance that an +almighty friend would fly to our aid and protection in every time of +danger or need. A friend whose power relieved us from the necessity of +prudence or courage or endeavour would be a foe indeed. The All Wise +loves man too well and too wisely to make plain always His ways of +caring for him and His purposes of protection. + +The furrowed faces and whitened heads of men may be the will of love as +truly as the smooth ways of ease and complacency. There is one at the +helm, but His concern is more for the making of strong sailors than for +the securing of smooth sailing. The best evidence of the care of the +Most High for all the sons of men is not in the immediate unbaring of +His arm for their protection, but rather in the manner in which He +causes the wind and the waves, the struggle with the tempest, the need +for the nerving of the soul in the hour of peril all to work out His +will, the will of great love, the bringing of the mariner to His +likeness in character and soul. + + + +THE SHEPHERD AND THE SHEEP + +Millions have lived and died in faith in that word, The Lord is my +Shepherd; nations have sung its strain into the strength of their +being. The picture of the one who leads His flock, who carries the +lambs in His arms, appeals to all; yet who has not some time, perhaps +often, questioned: After all, is there any one who cares; is there any +eye to see or heart to heed if I--or, indeed, all men--should faint or +fall by the way? + +Perhaps there are some who no longer find aught beyond an imagery of +poetic beauty in the old strain, who even feel that it would be +retreating intellectually to conceive of an infinite heart that broods +over men or a hand that helps. They tell us that science has wiped out +the possibility of such an one as this great Shepherd of the flock of +humanity. Yet even they are not dead to this great thought that so +long stirred men's souls and made them brave, ready to sacrifice, to +die. + +The truth is, the singer of long ago was but giving expression, in +figures familiar to him, of a truth we all apprehend with greater or +less clearness, one that alone gives strength, hope, and faith to our +hearts, the conviction that back of all the warring purposes and +jangling discords of our lives and our world there is reason, and +order, and beneficence. + +The science that seemed to wipe out the conception of a mighty Creator +who fashioned the first man with His fingers, but emphasizes with a +stress that grows from day to day the fact that this universe is not +without order, its forces as sheep without a shepherd; that the stars +are not wandering, nor the least atom without guidance; that, as one +put it long ago, all things work together for good. + +If the remotest particle of matter is bound up with the mighty laws of +the universe, guided, governed, led to its appointed end, bound to +serve its purpose, shall we not have faith that the law that guides the +atom and holds the planet, pervades all the universe and takes us in +its mighty grasp? + +Not with doubt but with larger meaning and deeper assurance may I sing, +"The Lord is my shepherd," thinking not only of one who takes up my +little life and carries it, but of the great fact of all life under +law, law divine, all pervading, moving in majesty on to the completion +of its purposes. I may not know what the Shepherd looks like; I may +have lost my old simple pictures of personality and appearance; the +larger fact grows too great for fixed words. + +This is to see the guidance of the Shepherd in the great things of our +world as well as in the little. It is a strange, a poor religion that +believes that providence will send a man his dinner but never gives a +thought to the great purposes working out through all the strife of our +common life, through our industrial, social, and political problems, +nor remembers that life is more than meals or millinery. + +There is the large faith which we need for all times, to believe that a +plan is being wrought out behind all the seeming chaos, that there is a +purpose even though we cannot yet trace its lines, to be willing to go +on doing our work, laying down our lives, because the great world needs +us; the Shepherd cannot bring His flock to the green pastures and the +still waters unless we live and labour and die. + +There is only one solution to all the mystery of our lives, the riddle +of history and the universe; it is the spirit solution, that we are but +the offspring, as all things are but the creation of Spiritual forces; +that we are working out spiritual destinies, the green pastures and the +still waters are but emblems of felicities and beauties beyond our +tongue, the full orbed glory of the soul to which the Shepherd leads by +toilsome mountain ways or dreary desert trails; but at last we come to +the house of the Lord, where we may dwell forever. + + + +THE FATHER'S CARE + +Formal creeds have little to say of the belief in the overruling care +of the All Father. Perhaps the belief is so nearly universal as to be +without the range of debate so dear to creed makers. Yet at all times, +in all lands, man, whether the savage, the oriental mystic, or the +cool-headed Christian, in various ways and with different phrases, has +recognized the hand that, from behind the scenes, touched his affairs +and often seemed to order his life. Whether it be the hand of force or +of friend, the fact has been felt. + +True, the laziest man is apt to have the readiest sense of the +intention of Providence to care for him, to send him bread well +buttered; the foolish and thoughtless depend on heaven to do their +thinking, and many court bankruptcy while praying for solvency. But +the improvidence of man does not disprove the providence of God. So +far from encouraging sloth and recklessness this truth provokes to +progress by the assurance of the cooeperation of infinite powers with +our best endeavours. + +It is a thought we cannot escape; the all wise must be the all loving. +The spirit at the centre of all must embrace all within the circle of +his love; and that love will not lie quiescent, helpless when its +objects are in distress, in perplexity, or need, when it might succour, +save, or suggest the way of success. If there is a heart of love there +is a hand of help. + +Yet it seems too great a thought. What are we but dust on the wheels +of the universe? Often do our fainting hearts question whether there +be any, outside our own little circle, who care whether we suffer, +whether we succeed. Can it be that the petty affairs of a life that +passes like the hoar frost before the morning sun can even interest, +still less call forth the aid, of the one in whom we all live and move +and have our being? + +Despite all questionings men will ever go on praying to that one; they +will turn to an ear that hears, they will seek a heart that feels, and +look for hands reached out in hours of necessity. Experience indorses +their faith. Nearly all can look back and see where destiny has seemed +to breathe upon them; their old plans wilted, and new ones, and new +ways sprung up, bearing other and fairer flowers than they had ever +dreamed; a mighty, mysterious power had intervened. + +What does it all mean? That we are but puppets in these strange unseen +hands; that we can neither will nor work for ourselves? No; it but +means what poets sang long ago when, seeking after that which far +transcends all thought and all imagery, they cried, "Surely Thou art +our Father." That which was best in them, the holy fire of fatherhood, +became a mirror in which they saw the infinite. + +From the source of all life, humanity has learned the great lessons of +family care and provision. All that is good in our families is true of +this great family of all mankind. The great purpose of this family, as +of all families, is the development of the highest, fullest life in its +members. Fatherhood regards the provision of food, clothing, and +shelter but as incidental to the great purpose of training the children. + +This is the purpose of the Father of us all, to develop the best in us. +When our weak hearts cry for ease, for rest, for pleasures, He sends +the task, the sorrow, the loss. When we think all life's lessons well +learned He sends us up to higher grades with harder tasks. Yet ever +over all is the pitying, compassionate yearning of a father's heart +that never forgets the weakness of the child. + +Wisely the father's love seems to hide its working. Like all things +deep and sublime it passes comprehension; it may often seem like +indifference. All the child can do is to bend every effort to do his +best, to work out the father's plan so far as he knows it, to know, +through all, that God is good. Then, when the child grows to the man, +the man towards the divine, the things that seemed strange are made +plain in the light of the Father's face. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LEVELS OF LIVING*** + + +******* This file should be named 18712.txt or 18712.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/7/1/18712 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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