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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/36162-8.txt b/36162-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..598f559 --- /dev/null +++ b/36162-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3229 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Living for the Best, by James G. K. McClure + +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: Living for the Best + +Author: James G. K. McClure + +Release Date: May 17, 2011 [EBook #36162] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING FOR THE BEST *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Living for the Best + + By + + James G. K. McClure + + Author of "A Mighty Means of Usefulness," "The Great Appeal," + "Possibilities," etc. + + + CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO + Fleming H. Revell Company + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + Copyright, 1903 + By FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + MARCH + + CHICAGO: 63 WASHINGTON STREET + NEW YORK: 158 FIFTH AVENUE + TORONTO: 27 RICHMOND STREET, W. + LONDON: 21 PATERNOSTER SQUARE + EDINBURGH: 30 ST. MARY STREET + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The publisher of a large metropolitan journal, a most effective man in +reaching and influencing his fellows, once expressed to me the thought, +"From what I know of myself and others, were I a writer or speaker +desiring to enforce truth, I would always try to vivify that truth +through illustration and story. The every-day intelligence of man +rejoices to have truth put before it in living form." + +It is with these words in mind that this book is written. Its purpose is +to set forth great ideas, and so to set them forth, each one illustrated +by a historic life already familiar, that these ideas shall be made +luminous, and even vivid, to the reader. The characters chosen for such +illustration are from the Old Testament--those men of ancient times +whose humanity is the humanity of every race and clime, and whose +experiences touch our own with sympathy and suggestion. May these +old-day heroes live again before the mind of him who turns these pages, +and may the ideas which they are used to illustrate be an abiding power +in the memory of every reader. + + JAMES G. K. MCCLURE. + + LAKE FOREST, + ILLINOIS. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Open to the Best 11 + + II. Winning the Best Victories 31 + + III. Making the Best Use of Our Lives 49 + + IV. Putting the Best into Others 67 + + V. Developing Our Best under Difficulties 87 + + VI. The Need of Retaining the Best Wisdom 105 + + VII. The Best Possession 123 + + VIII. Using Aright Our Best Hours 141 + + IX. Giving Our Best to God 161 + + + + +OPEN TO THE BEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OPEN TO THE BEST. + + +"If every morning we would fling open our windows and look out on the +wide reaches of God's love and goodness, we could not help singing." So +it has been written. So Luther thought. When he was at Wartburg Castle, +in the perilous times of the Reformation, he went every morning to his +window, threw it open, looked up to the skies, and veritable prisoner +though he was, cheerily sang, "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very +present Help." Then he carried a buoyant heart to the labor of the day. + +The joy of a glad outlook was well understood by Ruskin. His guests at +Brantwood were often awakened early in the morning by a knocking at +their doors and the call, "Are you looking out?" When in response to +this summons they pushed back the window-blinds a scene of beauty +greeted their eyes. The glory of sunlight and the grandeur of forest +dispelled care, quieted fret, and animated hope. + +Scarce anything in life more determines a soul's welfare than the nature +of its outlook. If spiritual frontage is toward the shadow, the soul +sees all things in the gloom of the shadow; if spiritual frontage is +toward the sunlight, the soul sees all things in the brightness of the +sunlight. + +The preliminary question of character is, What is the outlook? Let that +outlook be wrong, and opinion and conduct in due time will be wrong; let +it be right, and whatever the temporary mistakes of opinion and conduct, +the permanent tendency of character will be toward the right. + +"From a small window one may see the infinite," Carlyle wrote. This was +Daniel's belief. He acted upon his belief. The windows of his soul were +always open to the infinite. In that fact lies the explanation of his +character--a character of which every child hears with interest, every +youth with admiration, and every mature man with reverence. + +To-day in eastern lands the Mohammedan, wherever he may be, turns his +face toward Mecca when, seeking help, he worships God. To him Mecca is +the central spot of Mohammedan revelation, and is the focus of all +Mohammedan brotherhood. So in olden times the Israelite, wherever he +might be, thought of Jerusalem as the place where God's worship was +worthiest and where Israelitish fellowship was heartiest. The name +"Jerusalem" strengthened his religious faith and stirred his national +patriotism. To open the windows of his soul toward Jerusalem was to open +the soul to the best thoughts and impressions that the world provided. + +As the premier of the great Medo-Persian empire Daniel had his own +palatial residence. The windows of the different rooms fronted in their +special directions. There was one room that was his particular and +private room. It was an "upper room" or "loft," somewhere apart by +itself. The distinctive feature of this room was that its windows opened +toward Jerusalem. Into this room Daniel was accustomed to go three times +a day, throw open the lattice windows, look toward Jerusalem, and then +in the thought of all that Jerusalem represented, kneel and talk with +God. + +Such was his custom. If the matters of his life were comparatively +comfortable, he did this; and if those matters were seriously +unpleasant, he did the same. Should, then, an occasion much out of the +ordinary arise, an occasion involving a crisis in his life, it would be +perfectly natural that he should, as he had invariably done, go into his +retired chamber and open the windows. + +Such an extraordinary occasion arose when Darius issued the decree that +the man who prayed to other than himself should be cast into a den of +lions. In itself the decree seemed justifiable. It was customary for the +Persians to worship their kings as gods. Ormuzd was said to dwell in +every Persian king. Accordingly, divine authority was attributed to +Persian kings, and whenever one of them issued a law, it had the force +of infallibility. So it was "that the law of the Medes and the Persians +published by a king altereth not." + +At this particular time a decree commanding all people to bow to the +king was perhaps a matter of state policy. The kingdom of the Medes and +Persians had just been established. Here was an opportunity of testing +the loyalty of the entire realm to the new king, Darius. If the people +far and wide would bow to him, then they were loyal; but if they refused +so to bow, then they evidently were disloyal. + +There was, however, an ulterior motive lying back of this seemingly +rational decree. Many of the state officials envied Daniel. He was a +foreigner, and still he held higher place than they. They desired to +bring him into disrepute. They could not accomplish their purposes +through charges of malfeasance of office, for his actions were +absolutely faultless. They therefore resorted to the securing of this +decree, believing, from what they knew of Daniel's habits and character, +that he would, as he always had done, pray to Jehovah and not to Darius. +In such case he would violate the decree and expose himself to the +penalty of death. + +Daniel knew that the decree had been issued. What would he do about it? +The envious officials watched to see. When Daniel went to his palace +their eyes followed him. Perhaps they had spies in the palace. In any +case, some eyes tracked him as he passed from room to room until he came +into his "loft," his "upper room," and then they saw him open the +windows toward Jerusalem and kneel before Jehovah! So much was it a part +of Daniel's life to keep the windows of his soul open to the best, that +the direst threat had no power to divert him for an instant from his +wonted course. + +Daniel kept the windows of his soul open to the best _religion_. To him +Jerusalem stood for the best religion on earth. From the time, as a boy +of fourteen, he first went away from home, he had lived among peoples +having different faiths. He had known the religion of the Chaldeans, and +had seen its phases under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. It had much in +its favor: its temples were beautiful, its ceremonies ornate, its feasts +imposing. It had much however that was not in its favor: its +heartlessness, its impurity, and its deceit. He had known, too, the +fire-worshiping religion of the Persians. Many of its features appealed +to him. The sun then as always was an object of admiration. As it rises +above the horizon, moving with a stately progress that no cloud can +check, no force of nature can retard, and no hand of man can withstand, +it is the personification of majesty. As it causes the birds to sing, +the beasts of the field to bestir themselves, and mankind to issue forth +to labor, it is the emblem of power. As it makes the grass to grow and +the flower to bloom, and as it draws skyward the moisture of lake and +ocean that, like a great benefactor, it may send accumulated showers to +refresh the parched earth, the sun is a very life-giver. It was no +wonder that the Persians of Daniel's day, with their imperfect +knowledge, bowed before that sun and worshiped it; nor was it a wonder +that they worshiped all fire that has within itself such transforming +and beautifying and energizing power. + +But though Daniel knew this religion, and the many other religions that +in his time had their votaries in Babylon, he kept his windows open +toward Jerusalem. Other religions might attempt the answer to the soul's +inquiries concerning the meaning of life, other religions might have +their beauties and their deformities, other religions might help him +very materially in his political career, but to him one religion was the +highest and the best, and to the influence of that religion he opened +his soul. Jerusalem stood for one God--an invisible Creator who formed +all things and was Lord over the sun itself as well as over man. This +God, an unseen Spirit, was spotless in his character, and would dwell in +the heart of man as man's friend and helper. To Daniel there was no such +religion anywhere as the religion that taught this incomparable God--a +God without a vice, a God who forgives sin, a God who never disdains the +weakest soul that comes to him in penitence--and still is "Lord of lords +and King of kings," the only wise and only Eternal One. + +Once a distinguished thinker, addressing students, said: "I have found +great benefit in my own experience by emphasizing a very simple +principle, one which never fails me when it is applied to questions of +the spiritual life: '_It is always best to believe the best._'" + +Then he illustrated his meaning. The religion that teaches that all +events are guided by intelligence toward a goal of love, rather than by +blind and remorseless force, enables us to live in hope. It makes +existence, not a prison-house, but a place of broad and splendid +horizons; it makes the service of humanity a prophecy of blessing for +all; it makes the discipline of the race a means toward a beneficent +end. The religion that also teaches that we all are children of a good +God, and that to the weakest and humblest of us there may be deliverance +from all evil, transformation into all holiness, and finally reception +to immortality in the presence and service of regnant perfection, such a +religion is the best--the best in its hopes, the best in its +inspiration, the best in its purposes, and the best in its results. +Because it is the best, it is best to believe it; best to believe it, +because through believing it we are helped toward the noblest manhood +and are enabled to face life and death alike, with bravery. + +All this Daniel realized. Accordingly, amid all the distractions and +appeals, and even temptations, of other religions, he kept his heart's +windows open to the influences of God's religion. That was the wise +attitude for him. It is the wise attitude for all. It is a man's duty, +if he be true to his own soul, to keep an open mind to the best +religion. Christianity claims to be the best, and asks acceptance on +that ground alone. It welcomes study of every other religion. It +rejoices in a "Parliament of Religions," wherein the advocates of +different religions may present the claims of their religions in the +strongest language possible. It listens as one religion is praised +because it can secure calmness of mind, and as another is praised +because it can secure heroism of life. As it listens, it delights in +every word of encomium, _so long as each speaker and hearer keeps an +open heart toward the best religion_. Then, when its own opportunity +comes, Christianity presents itself, and asserting that the evil that is +in any other religion is not in Christianity at all, that the good that +is in any other religion is in Christianity far more abundantly, and +that there are blessings in Christianity that appear in no other +religion whatever, it claims to be the transcendent religion. + +In the activity of intellectual life common to all awakening and +thoughtful minds it is inevitable that doubts will arise concerning the +worthiness of Christianity. Every age finds the special doubts of its +own age peculiar to itself. In this present age questions are in the air +concerning the authorship of the Bible, concerning the person of Christ, +and concerning the authenticity of the records of Christ's earthly +ministry. Men are asking whether this world is impelled by a blind, +resistless, heartless force, whether we are merely a mass of atoms, +whether we may be delivered from the thraldom of sin, and whether when +we die we become dust and dust alone. What shall we do in the face of +all these questions? _Keep the windows of our souls open to the beliefs +that are best for our life's grandeur and for humanity's uplift._ That +is what we may do, what we should do, and what if we so do, will +invariably lead the mind to a higher and higher valuation of the +pre-eminence of Christianity. + +Daniel kept his windows open to the best _commands_ of the best +religion. His daily surroundings from the hour as a youth he entered the +king's palace at Babylon were demoralizing. The ideals of his associates +were low. The religious life of his fellow-students was a mere form. +Domestic life all about him was unsound. Public life was dishonest. +Looseness of character everywhere prevailed. Impurity was alluring. +Bribery was considered a necessary feature of authority. The weak were +crushed by the mighty. Selfishness characterized both king and people. + +The difficulty of his position was great: to breathe malaria and not be +affected by it. He was in the whirl of worldliness and still he must not +be made dizzy thereby. His one resource for safety was his daily +consideration of the commands of God. Those commands charged men to be +upright, to be clean, to do duty faithfully, even though it was duty to +a heathen master, and to make life serviceable to the welfare of others. +Again and again all through the years of his exile it was necessary for +his soul's welfare that he should ponder these commands of God and not +let the atmosphere that surrounded him lower and destroy his ideals. + +On that day when the unalterable decree was issued Daniel was in +imminent and unescapable peril. Jealous officers already rejoiced in his +anticipated death. The danger of weakening threatened his heart. He +remembered that Abraham once in Egypt surrendered his principles and +thereby saved his life; that the Gibeonites once falsified and so +preserved themselves alive. He might have reasoned, "Why should not I, +in this special matter, yield, and give up recognition of Jehovah until +the storm of persecution is past?" He could easily say, "Perhaps I am +making too much of this whole subject; what difference will there be if +I, away off here in Babylon, hundreds of miles from home, call this a +case of expediency, and temporarily relinquish my ideals?" The +temptation was a fearful one. Many a man has gone down before it. +Cranmer did, Pilate did; but not Daniel. He kept his eyes on God's +commands--those commands that told him to do the right and scorn the +consequences, those commands that told him that faithfulness to +principle, though it ended in martyrdom, was essential to place in God's +hero list. He remembered Joseph, who would not sin against God in doing +evil. He remembered God, that bade him bear his testimony, sealing it if +necessary with his life's blood. So remembering he kept the faith and +proved invincible. + +Many a man, like Daniel, exposed to a peculiar temptation, has been +made brave as he has remembered the standards set for him by another. He +has thought of the wife perhaps, who charged him to meet his duties as a +man of God, though godliness should involve them both in disgrace, and +thus thinking he has stood firm before evil. Or as a youth, away from +home, in a school or factory, with deteriorating influences all about +him, and his feet well-nigh gone from the ways of uprightness, he has +turned his heart toward that mother who would rather have him die than +be false, and the remembrance of her has roused his self-assertion and +made him master of the environment. + +The commands of God summon men to _principle_, to _fidelity_, to +_serviceableness_, to _self-renunciation_, and to _holiness_. The man +has never lived, nor ever will live, who can fulfil these commands of +God unless his windows are continually open toward Jerusalem. We need, +we always need, to have our ideals kept large and our standards kept +high if we are to be noble souls. + +Daniel kept the windows of his soul open, too, to the best _promises_ +of the best religion. Even though the prince of the eunuchs was kind to +the home-sick captive, and a king was gracious to the interpreter of +dreams, Daniel was always exposed to discouragement. Like the missionary +of to-day, alone in a foreign land, he was surrounded by the depressing +influences of heathenism. As he advanced in power there was no one to +whom he could go for religious fellowship. The aids of comradeship and +the aids of public worship were wanting. There were no audible voices +summoning him to trust, and there was no tangible evidence of the +existence of a people of God. He therefore needed every day to go to God +Himself, and find in Him a refuge for his heart; needed to hear God's +reassuring voice telling him that God was with him, was watching over +him in love, and would provide for him as occasion might require. How +often Daniel must have been comforted and heartened as he opened his +soul to the promises of God! + +But what an hour of need that was when he was tracked to his upper room! +Every power in the great Medo-Persian Empire was arrayed against him. No +friend, no helper, was at hand. He stood alone before his fearful +crisis. Brave and determined as his spirit might be, he was still a +man--a man of flesh and blood. He needed strength: needed, as Christ +afterward in Gethsemane needed, supporting and encouraging sympathy. He +turned his soul toward the promises of God's protection and help. He let +those promises flood his heart. Those promises made his will like +adamant. + +We do well when we front our hearts to God's promises. Every earnest +soul, trying to make this world better, meets severe discouragements. +Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that the ends of the +earth are given to Christ and that good shall indeed come off +victorious. Every weak soul struggling to subdue its sin comes to hours +of weariness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that He +giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might He increaseth +strength. Every sorrowing soul, sighing for the loved and the lost, has +days of loneliness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance +that life and immortality are brought to light in Jesus Christ. Only as +the needy world of humanity opens its heart to God's promises can it +walk in light and possess the peace that passeth understanding. + +There is always danger lest men let the windows of their souls be shut +toward God. Our particular _sins_ cause us to shut these windows. We do +not like to look into God's face when we are conscious of cherished +evil. Adam and Eve hid themselves from God when they knew they had done +wrong. Those who condemned the reformers to death, often put wax in +their ears so that they might not hear the testimony given by those +reformers at the stake. _Cares_, too, cause us to shut these windows. We +have so much responsibility to absorb us that we have "no time to look +out to any distant tower of a sanctifying thought." All sorts of sights +are before our windows--society, business, pleasure, study--but not God. +Our life seems to open in every other direction than toward the holy +city. We do not go alone into a private place and expose ourselves to +the influences God stands ready to send to our hearts. It would be far +better if we did. We should find that almost as gently as comes the +sunlight, ideas, inspirations, and aspirations would be suggested to our +hearts. They would enter our hearts, we would not know how; and if we +cherished them, they would correct our false estimates of life, would +re-mint our courage, would clarify the vision of our faith, and would +prepare us, as they prepared Daniel, to discharge all life's duties with +integrity, humanity, and composure. + +It is a blessed, very blessed, way to live, this way of keeping our +hearts open to the best. We all can so live. We can have a secret +chamber--a very closet of the soul--into which we can go, whether we are +with the multitude or are alone; and if through the broadly opened +windows of that closet we look out toward the best--distant as that best +may seem--back from the best will come the light that never fails and +the strength that never breaks. + + + + +WINNING THE BEST VICTORIES. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WINNING THE BEST VICTORIES. + + +Success in life is determined by the victories we win. Only he who +triumphs over obstacles is a successful man. + +There are as many kinds of victory as there are kinds of obstacles. Some +kinds of obstacles call upon us for the use of our secondary powers, and +some for the use of our primary powers. When the obstacles bring into +play the very best powers of our natures, and those powers conquer the +obstacles, then we win our best victories. + +David is a most interesting illustration of the winning of victories. +The Bible evidently considers him one of its greatest heroes. While it +gives eleven chapters to Jacob and fourteen chapters to Abraham, it +gives sixty-one chapters to David. It thus asks us to pay great heed to +the story and lessons of David's life. + +Almost our first introduction to David represents him in a fight. He is +a mere shepherd lad, out in the wilderness, perhaps miles from another +human being, when a lion springs forth and seizes a lamb from the flock +he is guarding. It was a fearsome hour for a boy. He might have deserted +the flock and fled, preserving himself. But not so. He faced the lion. +He even attacked the lion. He wrested the lamb from its mouth, and he +slew the lion. Again, when, under similar circumstances, a beast of +another kind, a bear, laid hold of a lamb, David stood up to the danger, +and with such weapons of club and knife as he had, fought the bear to +its death. + +Some years ago in Alaska, in a house hundreds of miles from any other +white man's home, I saw a bearskin lying upon the sitting-room floor. +The son of the house, out hunting, had suddenly come upon a bear, that +rose up within a few feet of his face. The boy lifted his gun, shot, +aiming at the bear's heart, and then, trembling with terror, ran for +home. The next day the boy's father took associates to the spot, found +the body of the bear, and brought the skin home as a trophy of the boy's +skill and pluck. And a trophy it was! But when David, scarce armed at +all, a boy, brought down his lion and his bear, in an actual +face-to-face encounter, the skins of the lion and of the bear were +trophies indeed! + +The next scene in David's life is when he meets Goliath. David is still +a youth. The ruddy color has not yet been burned out of his cheeks by +the Oriental sun. This meeting is different from any he has faced. It is +not with a beast, but with a man--a man armed, a man experienced in +combat, a man of much larger size and weight than himself, a man who had +an assured sense of his own strength, a man whose voice, manner, and +prowess put fear into the heart of every fighter in the army of Israel. +In David's previous contests there had been an element of suddenness, so +there was no time for hesitation, and so no time for the cowardice often +born of hesitation; in this contest there was delay, and during that +delay David was twitted with the foolishness of even thinking of facing +Goliath, and an effort was made to break down his courage. Right +manfully, however, did he stand up to the danger. Instead of a lamb, an +army was in peril. The cause was worthy of a great venture. He made the +venture. He took smooth stones from the brook, he used his shepherd's +sling, he conquered Goliath, and Goliath's sword and Goliath's head +became trophies of a splendid victory. The youth had rescued an army +from paralyzing fear, and had saved the glory of Jehovah's name! He +deserved credit then. He received it then. And he became forever an +inspiring example to all youth who would fight their country's battles, +and win laurels for the God of battles. + +These two scenes are suggestive. The one with the lion and the bear +speaks to us of pure physical bravery. David has such muscular strength +that he, by the power in his hands and arms, can hold beasts and fight a +winning fight with them. David's strength makes the killing of a lion or +bear with a rifle, whether at long distance or even near at hand, seem +small. It makes the ordinary successes of those who contest in the +athletic trials of our day seem insignificant. Still it glorifies those +successes. Physical bravery is most desirable. People believe so. They +love to see contests of physical endurance. They will go miles to watch +such contests, and they will cheer the victors to the echo. In so doing +to-day they follow the example of all preceding generations. Barbarian, +Greek, Roman, Indian, every man everywhere is interested in muscular +power. It fells trees and wins victories over the forest; it plows soil +and wins victories over the fields; it breaks stone and wins victories +over roadbeds. Physical victories are not to be gainsaid. May every life +win them if it can against nature, against other lives in fair +athletics, against any one who would rob a home or burn a house. The +ambition to win muscular victories, in a right way, for the defense or +honor of a worthy cause, is to be commended. Victories so won make their +winners heroes. Waterloo is said to have been fought and won on the +foot-ball ground of Rugby. + +The other scene is likewise suggestive--of David with Goliath. It is +that of a youth fighting for his country and his God. It is still a +physical contest, but it is now skill and muscle combined; or rather, +muscle directed by skill. The contest, physically considered, is +unequal. David is no match for Goliath. They are in different classes. +But a calm mind, a dexterous hand, and a high purpose are David's, and +they more than compensate for lack of physical force. The strongest +battalions do not always conquer. The strongest physical force is not to +conquer in this instance. Patriotism may so nerve the heart that one man +is equal to a hundred, and resolute purpose may develop such skill and +sturdiness that a few can put a thousand to flight. It has always been +so--in days of Marathon and in days of Bunker Hill--and it always will +be so. The men who win such victories may well be lauded. It was right +that David's name should go into the ballads of his country and be +repeated again and again to stir the heart of patriotism. Any man who +can fight the battles of trade or of manufacturing or of invention--any +man who can head a great industry, who can write a strong book, or who +can make an eloquent speech--any man who conquers the difficulty of his +position by skill and energy, and succeeds, has indeed won a great +victory. For a mere shepherd youth to conquer a trained fighter was +superb; and it is superb to-day when a poor boy honestly wins his way to +wealth, and a stammering boy learns to speak like a Demosthenes, and a +seeming dunce becomes a brilliant Scott. All soldiers conquering like +Grant, all discoverers succeeding like Columbus, all investigators +searching like Darwin and writing like Spencer, deserve crowns of +recognition for victories they have won. + +As a result of these two scenes in David's life many other scenes of a +somewhat similar nature occurred. As occasions arose, David led many +another attack upon the nation's foes. He possessed the rare power of +creating a well-disciplined force out of outlaws. He so combined skill +and leadership that none of the enemies of Israel could resist him. The +story of his battles is a long and a glorious one. He was a fighter of +whom the nation might be proud. If physical prowess and military skill +and administrative force and legislative provision are essential to +kingly success, he had them. Victory after victory, in all these lines, +were written upon his banner. + +But David's fame does not rest upon the victories he won over beast or +fellow-man, interesting and great as these victories are. The reason +that the Bible gives him the space it does, and the reason Christ is +said to be David's son (though never the son of any other Old Testament +hero), is because of the victories David won over himself. In the sphere +of his own heart he found his greatest difficulties, for in that sphere +he found his strongest foes; but in that sphere he wrought out his +greatest victories. The best element in David's life is not his physical +strength, not his intellectual skill, not his ability as a singer, a +general, a judge, a builder, or a king, but the best element is his +conquest of himself. + +What a victory of _magnanimity_ that was, when Saul, who was bitterly +persecuting David, entered the cave in whose dark recesses David was +concealed, and lay down for sleep! David had him in his power. He could +have killed him instantly, and forever ended the persecution. He was +even urged to do so by his followers. But he conquered his enmity, he +looked upon the sleeping Saul with pity, and he left him unharmed. It is +a mighty soul that can pity and forgive. Here was a king pursuing an +innocent subject who had no other thought than of loyalty to his +king--pursuing him relentlessly. The whole transaction on Saul's part +was unjust and cruel. But David, deeply feeling the wrong he was +suffering, crowded down the bitterness of his heart, and treated Saul +magnanimously. + +How many men, otherwise splendid men, have failed just here. They could +fight bravely as sailors or soldiers, but later they could not treat a +rival graciously. They could win successes socially or commercially or +scholastically, but they became jealous of their places and their +recognitions, and they wished no good to the one who in any way stood in +their path. But David, knowing that he himself was anointed to be king, +and that Saul's persecution of him was unjustifiable, still rose so far +above all thought of preserving his own dignity and insisting on his own +rights, that when his enemy lay helpless at his feet, he treated him +with deference! Now we begin to see why David is called "a man after +God's own heart." Was it because he could fight beast and man well? No; +but because he could fight his own jealous, bitter heart and make it +generous and kind and magnanimous. + +What a victory of _penitence_ that was when David sinned in the matter +of Uriah and Bathsheba! He did sin. No one exculpates David. The Bible +does not exculpate him, nor will any sane man exculpate him. He did a +wrong that brought incessant sorrow on his heart and home. During all +the remaining years of his life he had cause to regret his wrong. It +might have been alleged that he did only what king after king, situated +like himself in that Oriental land, with its despotic power and its +manner of life, had done before him and would do after him. He might +have justified himself by the custom of the day and by the prerogative +of royalty. The probability is that he acted impulsively, allowing in an +unguarded moment a wicked suggestion to conquer him. But when a prophet +of God, Nathan, brought home to his soul the fact that he had sinned, +what a victory that was, as the man fought down all the voices within +him, calling to him to "brave it out," to "show no weakening before the +prophet," to "justify himself to himself on the score of a king's right +to do as he pleased," and in conquering these voices, humbled himself +before God, making the one voice that triumphantly rose above every +other voice the voice of penitence--"Against Thee, Thee only, have I +sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight. Create in me a clean heart and +renew a right spirit within me!" + +There is nothing in our world that shows high victory better than +penitence. Mankind does wrong. Sometimes it knows the wrong. Then +perhaps it confesses its wrong in the hurried words, "I have sinned." So +said Pharaoh, and immediately did again what he had done before. So said +Saul, and never gave up the wrong that forced the confession from him. +So said Judas, and went out to hang himself. But when David said it, he +said it with a broken and a contrite heart. The man who having sinned +conquers all the passion and pride of his soul and becomes a sweet, +true, pure penitent is a victor over whom angels rejoice. Thousands of +men who have made a success in their own field of labor fail to win +life's best victories because they never bow before God and say, "Lord, +be merciful to me a sinner." They are as stout-hearted as the Pharisee, +and as self-deceived. They forget the bitternesses they have cherished +toward their fellow-men, they overlook all the omissions of goodness +that have marked their lives, they do not consider how terrible is their +present and their past ingratitude to God for all His goodness to them, +and so they lack that gentlest, most beautiful, and most exalting virtue +of penitence. + +What a victory of _humility_ that was, when David, forbidden to carry +out the supreme desire of his heart in the building of a temple, exerted +all his power to help another to build it! The erection of a temple that +should be the richest structure of its time was David's dream. It was to +be the consummation of his effort. Enemies should be subdued, laws +should be passed, government should be sustained, and foreign alliances +made--all to this end. He looked forward to the day when the temple +would crown Moriah, as the happiest day of his life. But God told him +that another, not he, should build the temple, and that it would be +known, not as David's Temple, but as Solomon's Temple. Should he then +withdraw all interest from the undertaking? Should he say, "This is not +my matter, it is another's; let another then carry its burden, as he +will carry its glory." He was sorely disappointed. The one thing he had +aimed to do was denied him. But he rose above his disappointment; he +conquered it. He who was to take secondary place, threw himself into the +help of him who was to have first place. He devised plans, he organized +forces, he started instrumentalities, he gave his money by the millions, +he animated others to follow his example, and he did all that chastened +devotion could do to help another to complete the building which should +forever sound the praises of Solomon. + +Humility is not a virtue easily won. The virtue of sweetly accepting +minor place when we wished major place, and of working as earnestly for +another as for ourselves, is very rare. In the army of Washington there +was a general, Charles Lee, who again and again was conquered by his own +jealousy, and would not do as the interests of Washington, his +commanding officer, demanded. He would have fought to the death for his +own reputation, but not for the reputation of Washington. Self-made men +find it exceedingly difficult to be humble. David won a far higher +victory when he cheerily went about all the self-imposed tasks of +gathering material for Solomon's temple than when he fought the lion or +Goliath, or led an army into battle. The man that does justice does +well; the man that does justice and loves mercy does better; the man +that does justice and loves mercy and walks humbly before God does best. +And no man, whoever he may be, strong, reputable, industrious, +scholarly, wealthy, ever wins his best victories until he walks humbly +with his God. + +And what a victory of _unselfishness_ that was when David, in the time +of the numbering, called upon God to lay all penalty for the sin upon +himself! Again the lower propensities of David's heart had misled him. +He thought that he would number his military forces and let the nation +know how strong and ample its army was. The thought was a mistaken one. +Safety lay, not in numbers, but in the virtues that spring from obedient +trust in God. The deed of numbering, however, had been done. Then the +plague came. God would show that in three days the army could be so +reduced by sickness as to make it, however large its numbers, utterly +impotent. David saw the angel of destruction as the angel drew near to +the threshing-floor of Araunah. With a heart overflowing with +unselfishness, he cried to God, "I have sinned, I have done perversely, +but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand be against me, and +against my father's house." He would die himself--to have others live. + +This was perhaps his very best victory. Winkelried opened his breast to +receive all the concentrated spear thrusts of the enemy, that thus the +army behind him might have chance to advance. The self-immolating life +is the noblest. True love comes to its expression in self-sacrifice. +Christ reached His highest glory, not when He battled with wind and wave +and conquered them, not when He battled with disease and demons and +conquered them, not when He battled with lawyers and dialecticians and +conquered them, but when He poured out His life for others. + +There are victories to be won at every step of our life's progress. No +one of them is to be underestimated. Victories of mere brawn, wrought +worthily in proper time and proper place, are good; victories of +intellectual skill, wrought worthily in proper purpose and proper +spirit, are good; but the best victories any life can win are the +victories won within a man's own heart. These are the most difficult +victories, and they are the most glorious victories. Each person, +equally with every other, has opportunity for such victories. Whenever +David failed to carry God and God's help into a battle he lost; but +whenever he fought under God and for God he won. David's life knew many +and many a failure, but he rose from every failure and made a new +effort. As a result, victory crowned his life, and he died a man of God. +Victory, too, may crown our lives, however weak they are, if like David, +after every fall, we penitently turn to God, and in His grace strive +once again to win the victories of faith. + + + + +MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR LIVES. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR LIVES. + + +The great Humboldt once said, "The aim of every man should be to secure +the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete +and consistent whole." Another thoughtful man, Sir John Lubbock, also +said, "Our first object should be to make the most and best of +ourselves." + +Prominent among the historic personages who have made the best use of +their lives is Joseph. Touch his career at any point that is open to +investigation, and always Joseph will be found doing the very best that +under the circumstances can be done. When his father tells him to carry +food to his envious brothers, he obediently faces the danger of their +hatred and goes. When he is a slave in Potiphar's house he discharges +all his duties so discreetly that the prison-keeper trusts him +implicitly. When his fellow-prisoners have heavy hearts, he feels their +sorrows and tries to give them relief. When Pharaoh commits the ordering +of a kingdom to his keeping, he governs the nation ably. When foresight +has placed abundant food in his control, he feeds the famishing nations +so that all are preserved. When his father and his brethren are in need, +he graciously supplies their wants. When that father is dying, the son +is as tender with him as a mother with her child. And when that father +has died, the son reverences his father's last request and carries +Jacob's body far up into the old home country at Machpelah for burial. + +There were many occasions in Joseph's life in which he might have +failed. At least, in any one of them he might have come short of the +best. Seneca used to say of himself, "All I require of myself is, not to +be equal to the best, but only to be better than the bad." But Joseph +aimed in every individual experience to be equal to the best. In that +aim he succeeded wondrously. Going out, as a young boy, from the simple +home of a shepherd, becoming a captive in a strange land, subjected to +great temptations in a luxurious civilization, tested with a great +variety of important duties, exposed to the peril of pride and +self-sufficiency, given opportunity for revenge upon those who had +injured him, he always, without exception, carried himself well, doing +his part bravely, earnestly, and wisely, and making of his life, in each +opportunity, the best. + +It is not every one that is called to such a vast range of experience as +was Joseph. Even Christ never traveled out of His own little environment +of Judea, that was a few miles north and south, and still fewer miles +east and west. The great majority of lives never come into public +prominence. They have no part in administering the affairs of a kingdom +or in managing large mercantile transactions. Even among the apostles +there were some whose history is almost lost in obscurity. We scarce +know anything of what Bartholomew said or Lebbeus did. It is not a +question whether we can make a great name for ourselves. That may be +absolutely impossible. Many a beautiful flower is so placed in some +extensive field that human eyes never see it and human lips consequently +never praise it. But the question is, whether we are doing the best that +can be done with our lives such as they are. + +Every human life is like the life of some tree. Each tree is at its +best when it well fulfils the purpose for which it was made. There are +trees which must stand as towering as the date-palm if they answer their +end, and there are other trees which can never expect to be towering, +for they were made, like the box, to keep near the ground. Some trees +are for outward fruit, as the apple, and some for inward fruit, as the +ash. Fruit is "correspondence in development with the purpose for which +the tree exists," is "production in the line of the nature of the tree." +When, then, the orange tree produces sound, sweet oranges that refresh +the dry lips of an invalid or ornament the table of a prince, the orange +tree does well; and if it produces such fruit to as large a degree as +possible, and for as long a time as possible, it has done its best. So, +too, does the pine do well when it produces wood wherewith a good house +for family joy may be built, and the spruce does well when it brings +forth a fiber that may be fashioned into paper on which words of truth +can be printed, and the oak does well when it develops a grain suitable +for the construction of a vessel that plowing the waves shall carry +cargoes of merchandise. If the pine, the spruce, the oak, grow to the +extent of their opportunity, and become all that they can become in the +line of their own possibility, each and all have made the best use of +their lives. + +But how varied are the opportunities as well as the missions of trees, +of the garden cherry and the forest poplar, of the swamp tamarack and +the plantation catalpa! Trees of the same genus may be so differently +placed that one can attain an abundant growth while another must strive +hard simply to exist. An elm along a river bottom, fed by constant +moisture, lifts wide arms to the sunlight, while an elm on a rocky hill, +scarce finding crevices for its roots, necessarily is small and stunted. +And still that stunted elm may, in its place, make or not make the best +use of its life. + +Human lives are as diversified in their natures as the growths of the +field and forest. Our tastes, our aptitudes, our memories, our +imaginations, widely vary. The world is made up of thousands upon +thousands of different needs, that must be met if mankind is to prosper. +Every function necessary for the world's welfare is an honorable +function and becomes, when attempted by a consecrated heart, a sacred +function. The world cannot live without cooking, nor can it live without +building, nor without bartering, nor without teaching. How to make the +best of the function or functions that are his, is the question every +human being should ponder. + +A man may make a _bad_ use of his life. He may throw away his +opportunities, he may wreck his powers of mind and body, he may tear +down that good in the world which he was put here to build up. This _is_ +a possibility! Every life should understand that it is a possibility. +John Newton held in his hand a ring. As he was leaning over the rail of +an ocean vessel he had no thought that perhaps through careless handling +he might drop that ring and lose it forever. His mind was entirely on +the ring, not on the danger of losing the ring. Suddenly the ring +slipped through his fingers, and before he could get hold of it again, +it was in the depths of the sea. It is for this reason that the book of +Proverbs is constantly calling to men to see that the priceless jewels +of opportunity are "retained," and that Christ's word, "not to let our +light become darkness," has so much significance. Men often squander +fortunes. They also squander virtues and reputation and aptitudes and +opportunities. Jails, reformatories, houses of detention, drunkards' +graves, the gathering places of tramps, all tell us that people can make +a miserable use of life. So does many a beautiful banquet-hall, many a +luxurious home, many a speculator's resort, many a student's room, tell +us that those we see there have had powers of mind and body and +opportunities of social position and of wealth which they have thrown +away. They have wasted their good as truly as a prodigal who has spent +his all in riotous living. They are Jeroboams; dowered with gifts that +might have been used for their own development and the welfare of others +they have let mean and low and unworthy attractions secure their gifts, +thus spoiling their own characters and causing Israel to sin. Every +blessing that a man has may become his curse, and drag him down and drag +others down with him. + +This truth is well known. The other truth is not so well known, that a +man may make an _inferior_ use of his life. This is exactly what that +Seneca did who declared that his ambition was, "not to be equal to the +best, but only to be better than the bad." He gained large knowledge, he +wrote and spoke much that was philosophical and moral, he pointed out +many of the perils of a misuse of wealth, he was better than the bad, +better than the Nero who would kick his mother, kill his wife, make +merry over his own indecencies, and gloat in the crucifixion of martyrs. +Seneca was better than the man who never made effort to cultivate his +mind, was better than the man who spent his days in orgies, yes, was far +better than the man who was blind to the beauty of gems, of poetry, and +of architecture. But all the same he made an inferior use of his life. +His library, his furniture, his precious stones, his worldly wisdom, +were very great. Let him be tutor even to an emperor, an emperor that +was a "Cæsar"! And still, better than the bad, he made a lamentable +misuse of life when he let luxury enervate his righteous principles, let +the pleasures of the table rob him of his integrity, and let his own +hand, in an hour of humiliation, end the life which was not his to end. +Seneca was the man who let an inferior standard decide his purposes, and +thus vitiated his powers. Any standard lower than the highest produces +poor material. Second-rate standards make second-rate goods and +second-rate men. Second-rate men are brought to hours of emergency +calling for first-rate principles. In such hours second-rate men go +down. A man satisfied to live for anything less than the best of which +he is capable may stand well for a considerable time, but before his +days are over he will be found to be an unsuccessful workman, a +disappointing teacher, a weak financier, an inaccurate student, an +untrustworthy friend. + +But while we may make a bad or inferior use of life, we also may make +the _best_ use of it. To do this should be our ambition. It should be +the underlying, all-pervading purpose that quietly but regnantly +dominates our being. The best use of our life will never be secured +apart from such ambition. It will not come of itself. We do not drift +into a best use. The best use is a matter of toil and perseverance, of +thoughtfulness and devotion. It cost Joseph hours of consideration, days +of application, and years of adaptation to make the best use of his +life. He found himself in new positions constantly. The boy naturally +had looked forward to being a shepherd. To that end he studied the lie +of pasturage lands. When his father sent him to his brethren he knew the +way to Shechem and Dothan, and he found his brethren. + +But with his forced departure into Egypt, probably into the city of +Memphis, all his surroundings are new and untried. The shepherd boy is +given the duties of a household servant, exchanging the freedom of the +field for the confinement of the palace. But he takes up his new duties, +magnifying them as an opportunity of development, and he makes the best +use of them. Later, he who has known only a tent and a palace is in a +prison, and is charged with the work of a prison guard. Right well he +does that work, studying it, giving himself to it, and making a success +of it by his heartiness and fidelity. Later still, he who has only +tended sheep and ordered a household and enforced discipline is called +to be a comforter to souls. He summons his sympathy, he persuasively +approaches those whose hearts are sore, he obtains their confidence, and +relieves their anxiety. Still again, this prisoner, this shepherd boy, +this household servant, this man with pity in his eyes, is called to a +new adaptation. He must appear before a Pharaoh and as a courtier have +interview with him! That underlying purpose of his heart, always to make +the best of the hour and place, stands him in good stead, and the +courtier conducts himself so wisely that he is advanced to be an +Egyptian viceroy. Later still this viceroy must become a minister of +agriculture and charge a nation when and how to sow the fields. Still +later he must become a secretary of the treasury, purchasing grain and +building store-houses. Still later he must be a great premier, both +providing for present need and making arrangements for future taxation. +Later he must be a brother with a true brother's heart and a son with a +son's gentleness toward an aged and perhaps imperious parent. Later he +must be a mourner, then a traveler, and then as an orphan son he must +assume again the heavy burdens of statesmanship. + +What strange varieties of experience Joseph thus met! How those +experiences kept changing every little while! Why did he succeed so well +in them? Because in every one of them he made the best use of himself +that the occasion allowed. He magnified the opportunity he had. The +thing that was at hand to do he did with absolute fidelity. + +We do not forget and we must not forget that at the very bottom of his +life was a _belief in God_ and an intention to do what God sanctioned +and only what God sanctioned. He would not disobey what he believed to +be a wish of God! Somehow, in that far-away country, surrounded by +temples and idols, meeting the thousands of priests of Isis, hearing the +daily services of heathenism, and seeing the unceasing vices of the +land, he kept God and God's principles in his soul. Those principles in +general taught him purity and honesty; in particular they taught him +_fidelity_ in the service of others and _desire to benefit_ his +fellow-men. Such fidelity and helpfulness--united with dependence on the +aid of God--enabled him always and everywhere to make the best use of +his life. He trusted God when doors were shut as well as when they were +open. Privation as truly as prosperity was to him an opportunity. + +Accordingly, _heartiness_ went into his opportunities. The spirit of +grumbling never appeared in his career. No hour came too suddenly for +him, no task was too small nor too great, no occasion too low nor too +high, no association too mean nor too noble. As a household servant he +did his work as under God and for God, and as a ruler of a nation he did +it as under God and for God, and as an obedient son he did it as under +God and for God. + +A physician whose life has been beautiful in good deeds and in a high +faith once said, "My happiness and usefulness in the world are due to a +chance question from a stranger. I was a poor boy and a cripple. One +day, standing on a ball-field and watching other boys who were strong, +well clothed, and healthy, I felt bitter and envious. The friends of the +players were waiting to applaud them. I never could play nor have +applause! I was sick at heart. + +"A young man beside me must have seen the discontent on my face. He +touched my arm, and said, 'You wish you were one of those boys, do you?' +'Yes, I do,' I answered quickly. 'They have everything and I have +nothing.' + +"Quietly he said, 'God has given them money, education, and health that +they may be of some account in the world. Did it never strike you that +he gave you your lameness for the same reason, to make a splendid man of +you?' + +"I did not answer, but I never forgot the words. 'My lameness given me +by God to teach me patience and strength!' + +"At first I did not believe the words, but I was a thoughtful boy, +taught to reverence God, and the more I considered the words, the +clearer I saw their truth. I decided to accept the words. I let them +work upon my temper, my purposes, my actions. I now looked on every +difficulty as an opportunity for struggle, every situation of my life as +an occasion for good. If a helpless invalid was cast on me for support, +or whatever the burden that came to me, I resolved to do my best. Since +then life has been sweetened and growth into peace and usefulness has +come." + +Soon after the death of Carlyle two friends met: "And so Carlyle is +dead," said one. "Yes," said the other, "he is gone; but he did me a +very good turn once." "How was that," asked the first speaker, "did you +ever see him or hear him?" "No," came the answer, "I never saw him nor +heard him. But when I was beginning life, almost through my +apprenticeship, I lost all interest in everything and every one. I felt +as if I had no duty of importance to discharge; that it did not matter +whether I lived or not; that the world would do as well without me as +with me. This condition continued more than a year. I should have been +glad to die. One gloomy night, feeling that I could stand my darkness no +longer, I went into a library, and lifting a book I found lying upon a +table, I opened it. It was Sartor Resartus, by Thomas Carlyle. My eye +fell upon one sentence, marked in italics, 'Do the duty which _lies +nearest to thee_, which thou knowest to be a duty! The second duty will +already have become clearer.' That sentence," continued the speaker, +"was a flash of lightning striking into my dark soul. It gave me a new +glimpse of human existence. It made a changed man of me. Carlyle, under +God, saved me. He put content and purpose and power into my life." + +"The duty lying nearest" was the duty Joseph magnified. He accepted +that duty as divine, and he performed it under God faithfully, +serviceably, and cheerily. Any and every life that meets duty as Joseph +did, will make the best of its life. We may be placed in low position or +in high position; we may have menial or kingly responsibilities; we may +have temptations of all possible kinds about us; but if we look to God +for guidance, and carry faithfulness, serviceableness, and cheer into +each and every duty, we shall have made of life the best. + + + + +PUTTING THE BEST INTO OTHERS. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PUTTING THE BEST INTO OTHERS. + + +There is nothing more worthy than the desire to perpetuate the good. +That desire implies that the person cherishing it has good within +himself, and that he wishes that good to live and flourish after his +death. If a man thinks that his views are the best that can be held, +then, if he is a noble soul, interested in the world's welfare, he longs +to have his best enter into other lives, and so continue to bless the +world. + +This longing characterized Elijah. He came upon the scene of human life +at a time when the worship of the low and debased threatened to dominate +the people of Israel. The priests of Baal, an impure god, were in the +ascendant. Vices, as a consequence, prevailed. These vices controlled +even the court. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were impiously wrong. Elijah +had stern work to do. He must reprove the people for their errors. He +must face the priests of Baal and show them and show the nation that +their god, as compared to Jehovah, was powerless. He must tell those in +high places, even the king and queen themselves, that their sins, if +persisted in, would surely be visited by Jehovah's wrath. + +His was a difficult task. It required courage, persistency, and +determined purpose. It would have been folly for him to undertake it +unless he felt that his ideas were essential to the nation's good. He +would be resisted and hated. Hours would come when he would seem to +stand wholly alone, and the cause he represented would appear to him +hopeless. Still, difficult as his task was, he undertook it. All this +worship of Baal and all these vicious practices of the people were +wrecking the nation. As a patriot, as a lover of his fellow-man, as a +good servant of God, he must do and he would do whatever was in his +power to replace the wrong with the right, to implant in the lives of +the people, from peasant to king, the truest and purest ideals. +Accordingly he faithfully taught the will of God, called upon God to +reveal Himself on Mount Carmel, reproved Ahab and Jezebel, and did his +best to put the best into the life of his day. + +But he could not live forever. At any hour he might be stricken down by +the hand of an enemy or by the power of some illness. Like a wise man, +loving the cause he had espoused, he looked about for some one who, in +case of his disability or death, could take up his work and carry +forward his ideas. His mind turned toward one special man, perhaps just +coming out of boyhood into maturity, a man who seemed to have the +inherent power of development, and he set his heart on putting into him, +Elisha, the best thought and the best principles that he had. He came +upon Elisha in the full vigor of youth, plowing with twelve yoke of +oxen. The distinctive garment of Elijah's mission was his mantle. That +stood for Elijah's special work of speaking the truth of God and calling +the nation to righteousness. Upon seeing Elisha in the field, Elijah +passed over from the caravan path that he was traveling, and threw his +mantle upon Elisha's shoulders! The action carried its own meaning. It +indicated to Elisha that Elijah wished him to take up his work and stand +for his ideas. Elisha instantly realized the meaning of the act, and, in +briefest time compatible with filial duty, he answered to Elijah's wish. + +One little sentence in the story of these two men's lives is very +instructive. "They two went on." It is a very brief summary of what was +occurring for days and months and years before Elijah died. "They two +went on." They were together. They talked together. They thought +together. They prayed together. Little by little Elijah imparted to +Elisha his views of life and imparted to him also his enthusiasm for the +welfare of Israel. When the time came for Elisha to step forward and do +his part for Israel's good, he was ready to act. He became and long +continued to be a wise, helpful, instructive benefactor to Israel. The +best that had been in Elijah's life was perpetuated in Elisha's life. + +It is a beautiful way to live, this way of putting the best into other +lives. It confers such a blessing on the particular _individual_ who is +thus helped. We cannot say with positiveness that the world might never +have known the full force of Elisha's character had not Elijah cast his +mantle over Elisha's shoulder, but the probability is that it was +Elijah's interest in Elisha and his success in educating him toward his +own ideals that gave the world Elisha's elevated personality. Paul acted +similarly with Timothy. Timothy was undoubtedly a good boy of many +worthy parts, and with many noble views of life. But Paul laid his hand +and heart upon him, and claimed him for the special purpose of +continuing the ministry of the gospel, and educated him to be a faithful +representative of the truth. Often there is much hesitancy to be +overcome, even in worthy people, before natural endowments will be put +to the best use. Such may have been the case with both Elisha and +Timothy. They needed encouragement. They needed inspiration through a +sense of responsibility. This was the situation with John Knox. He, +humanly speaking, never could have come forward as an advocate of +Christ's truth and religious freedom had it not been that another +approached him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "You have powers +of good in you. You must use them in standing up for God and Scotland." + +Wonderful resources are often developed in others through this purpose +to put our best into them. No one knows the power latent in another +life. The most unpromising looking people may have faculties that, once +awakened, directed, and called into action, will do a blessed part in +the world's advance. Every school whose history can be followed for +fifty years has had pupils that at the outset seemed absolutely +unpromising, that seemed even incapable of appreciation or development, +but who, under the devotion and inspiration of some teacher or +fellow-pupil, became so aroused and so efficient that their names are an +honor to the school. The glory of every Ragged Boys' Home in a great +city is that former inmates who were thieves, parentless and friendless, +were so reached by a patient, loving man or woman that they became +industrious and honorable citizens, holding positions of power in the +city itself or possessing prosperous acres in the country. It is the boy +picked up in the streets of New York and sent West to be a member of a +farmer's household that was led by that household's interest into such +character that he was appointed governor of Alaska. "I have made," said +Sir Humphry Davy, "many discoveries, but the best discovery was when I +discovered Michael Faraday." There is scarcely any joy comparable with +the joy of discovering to himself and to the world the best elements +possible in another's life. The one who brought about this discovery +gladly sinks into the background, and rejoices to let the field be +occupied by the one discovered. It would seem as though God Himself must +have rejoiced when, after all His patient teaching of Moses on the side +of Horeb, He saw Moses showing his superb power of leadership in Egypt, +and that God must have similarly rejoiced when He saw Paul responding to +His charge and manifesting traits of love, forbearance, and humility +that Paul had not thought he possessed. To put one Elisha into the +world's arena, there to stand and battle for the right, was the crowning +glory and the crowning joy of Elijah's life. The men or women that can +take the best that is in them and put it into another, so that another +shall live the best, honor the best, and glorify the best, can ask no +higher privilege in life. + +But beyond the good secured to the individual by putting the best into +him is the good secured to the _world_ thereby. It was not merely that +Elijah inspired a new life in Elisha's soul and transformed a man, it +was also that he set in operation a new _influence_. The influence was +not exactly like his own. It was like Elijah's in that it was righteous, +safe, and helpful, but it was unlike Elijah's in its temper and +expression. Elijah was a great destroyer of evil: Elisha was a great +uplifter of good. Elijah's earliest proclamation was, "There shall not +be dew nor rain these years": Elisha's earliest miracle is, "There shall +be from hence life and fruitful land." Both were alike in their general +purpose, both alike in their courage. Neither one of them could be moved +from the path of duty by fear of man or men. But each was himself, as +distinct as two mountain peaks in the same range or as two ships on the +same sea. Elijah imparted his best to Elisha, but that best took shape +in Elisha according to Elisha's individuality. Elisha was not Elijah +over again, but he was Elijah's best in a new form--a new form that was +demanded by the needs of a new day. Elijah had laid blows of +condemnation on the nation: Elisha was to apply the balm of healing +where those blows had fallen. Elijah was an agitator: Elisha was a +teacher. Elijah was denunciatory: Elisha was tolerant. Each in his place +held the best views held by any man of his time, but each in his place +was called upon to hold those views according to his own temperament and +express them according to the need immediately at hand. + +No parent, teacher, or friend can possibly reproduce himself in +another. It is God's law that, however alike plants may seem in +reproduction, no child shall see life exactly as his parents, nor shall +a pupil see it exactly as a teacher. This law is most wise. The same +work is never given to any two people to do. It may be work of the same +general nature, but never work the same in all particulars. Different +types of men, actuated by the same motives, are required for different +types of work. Any man who endeavors to be a pure copyist of another +gone before him, always fails of individual development and fails of +usefulness. Elijah could not foresee the changed circumstances in which +Elisha would live, when many of the vexatious questions of Elijah's day +would be settled and new questions of morality and public welfare would +arise. All that he could do, all that any man can do, is to give the +best he has to another, and send him forth to use that best as well as +the other can in the new place. The beauty of human history is that the +work the best man of one age could not accomplish, another coming after +him does accomplish, and he accomplishes it, not because he is any +better than his predecessor, but because he is the man for this hour as +his predecessor was for the hour before this. There is always work to be +done. There are always tasks left over from a previous generation. There +are always ideas hitherto unemphasized that to-day must be emphasized, +else society will not know its duty. For this work and task and emphasis +new men are needed, men who do not see exactly as their fathers saw, nor +pronounce nor act exactly as their fathers did. To provide such men, to +inspire them with a great sense of duty, and send them out into life +with open minds toward God and open hearts toward their fellows, and +then withdraw our hand and let them do their own work, in their own way, +this is our blessed privilege. + +We may endeavor to put the best into others _directly_. A parent is a +parent largely for this particular purpose. The father and mother have +this end as their greatest and highest responsibility. They cannot shirk +it without hurt to themselves and to their child. No one can and no one +should influence a child as directly as does a parent. The parent may +temporarily place the child beneath the influence of a nurse, a pastor, +or a teacher, but the abiding influence should be and is the parent's. +Little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, conduct upon +conduct, the parent should endeavor to set before the child the highest +ideas of life. Skill is requisite in stating these ideas, in +illustrating them, in making them attractive, in persuading to their +acceptance. The evil or the inferior lodged in the child's heart needs +to be forced out, that the best may enter. Happy the parent whose +forcing process is like the incoming of light into a darkened room, a +process that is gentle and conciliatory, a process that never boasts of +victory and never leaves a pain. + +This is the parent's greatest hope and greatest reward, to have a child +who shall in the child's own time and place be an advancer of the +world's good. A thousand spheres of opportunity open before each new +generation. Into any one of them the child may carry the best his father +or mother ever thought or said. Many parents wish their children to do +in life work of the very same type that they once did. It was therefore +a gratification to their ministerial fathers when they saw their own +sons enter the ministry, Henry Ward Beecher, Jonathan Edwards, Frederick +W. Farrar, Charles H. Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Reginald Heber. But +other ministerial fathers likewise might be gratified when they saw +their sons helpfully laboring in noble spheres not specifically "the +ministry," as in poetry, Joseph Addison, Samuel T. Coleridge, William +Cowper, Ben Jonson, Oliver Goldsmith, Alfred Tennyson, James Russell +Lowell, Oliver W. Holmes, John Keble, and James Montgomery; as in +literature, Matthew Arnold, Bancroft, Froude, Hallam, and Parkman; as in +art, Joshua Reynolds and Christopher Wren; as in law, Lord Ellenborough, +Stephen J. Field, David J. Brewer, David Dudley Field; as in +statesmanship, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, Sir William Harcourt, John B. +Balfour, and William Forster; and as in invention, Samuel F. B. Morse. + +But while the great opportunity of putting the best into others is the +parent's (and men out in earnest usefulness thank God most of all for +their mothers and fathers, especially as they grow older and realize how +early in youth it was that their characters received determining +impressions), still others, besides parents, may use direct means toward +this same end. Here is the teacher's opportunity. A plastic, receptive +mind is before him. It says to him: "I am here to be taught. Teach me +the best--the best way to see, to reason, to act, the best way to do my +part in society and the world." Many a teacher has looked on that +opportunity as sacred; has valued it as much as Elijah valued his +opportunity to cast his mantle on Elisha. Such teachers have wrought out +most valuable results. They have put ideas, methods, principles, and a +spirit into pupils that have made those pupils a blessing to the world. +The pupils may not recall much of what the teacher said--perhaps they +cannot recall one particular truth that the teacher enforced--but they +recall a purpose that dominated the teacher, and the pupils now are +endeavoring to fulfil what they feel would be the wishes of that teacher +if the teacher to-day could stand beside them. + +And why should we stop with parents and teachers in speaking of this +direct effort to put the best into other lives. Nurses in homes have +endeavored to give little children the truest knowledge of God and of +beauty, and have succeeded. The world owes them much for its best men +and women. Had they not seconded parents, had they attempted to uproot +the good implanted by parents, all would have been ruined. So, too, have +friends, masters, employers, writers in the press, writers of books, +lecturers, and preachers aimed at this same end. They have felt a great +desire to give their fellows beautiful thoughts, strong principles, +supporting comforts, and heavenly ideals. They have felt that their +heart's supreme wish would be met if they could only cause a double +portion of their own spirit--aye, a four-fold, a hundred-fold of their +good purposes to rest upon others--and to this end they have prayed, +given money and counsel, spoken to employees and friends and comrades, +written, sung, preached, labored, and died. The company of those who +have wished to put the best into others is a glorious company, the +company of prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, workmen in every sphere, +in every clime, in every age. Surely this host is the host of the elect, +the choicest ones of all God's people on earth and in heaven. + +Apart from and beyond our direct effort to put the best into other lives +is our _indirect_, our unconscious influence to this good end. +Personality is more potent than words. Men and women impart ozone to the +atmosphere without knowing what good they have done. They become +standards of righteousness and are all unaware that any one looks at +them to gauge his own opinion or shape his own conduct. They are like +regulator clocks, by which the watches of the world seen to be wrong are +set aright and are kept aright. To try to live the best in the hope that +somehow one can put the best into the very air, and get it into the life +of the school and community, and have it become a part of public +sentiment, that surely is noble. That is the way to live. No one ever +lives in vain who so lives. Some one is helped by him. Some one tells of +him. Cecil's saying of Sir Walter Raleigh, "I know he can toil +terribly," is an electric touch. + +In one of my pastorates there was a farmer's son, living two miles from +the church. Almost all the young men of his age in the village and +congregation were careless, selfish, and a little fast. His father was +out of sympathy with religious earnestness. But the son resolved that he +would put his best into others' lives. He thought, prayed, worshiped, to +that end. Through snow and rain and mud he came where earnestness and +high ideals were in the air. He did a manly, helpful part in his home, +in his village, and in his church. Then, thinking that he knew farming +and could teach it, he volunteered to go to an Indian school in Indian +Territory, and as a farm manager, teach farming. He went, on almost no +salary, and lived and labored, that through his words, conduct, and +spirit he might put the best into others' lives. Thus he lived and +labored till he died, two thousand miles from home, and was buried +there, the only one of his family not placed in the village graveyard. +But his work has not died. It lives in all who know of it. They think of +it again and again, and it always makes them wish to fulfil to the best +all their opportunity for the good of others. + +There are many, many hearts so conscious of the help they have received +from others that they read with appreciation the commemorative tablet +placed by the distinguished Pasteur on the house of his birth: "O my +father and mother, who lived so simply in that tiny house, it is to you +that I owe everything! Your eager enthusiasm, my mother, you passed on +into my life. And you, my father, whose life and trade were so toilsome, +you taught me what patience can accomplish with prolonged effort. It is +to you that I owe tenacity in daily labor." + + "Others shall sing the song; + Others shall right the wrong, + Finish what I begin, + And all I fail of, win. + What matter, I or they, + Mine or another's day, + So the right word be said, + And life the sweeter made." + + + + +DEVELOPING OUR BEST UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +DEVELOPING OUR BEST UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + + +There is nothing in this world that more appeals to my admiration than +a man who makes the best of himself _under difficulties_. Robert Louis +Stevenson deservedly has many admirers by reason of his writings, but +what in him most appeals to my admiration was the struggle he waged with +difficulties. "For fourteen years," he wrote the year before his death, +"I have not had a day's real health. I have wakened sick and gone to bed +weary. I have written in bed, written in hemorrhages, written in +sickness, written worn by coughing, written when my head swam for +weakness. I am better now, and still few are the days when I am not in +some physical distress. And the battle goes on--ill or well is a trifle, +so as it goes. I was made for a contest, and the Powers have so willed +that my battle-field should be this dingy, inglorious one of the bed and +the physic bottle. I would have preferred a place of trumpetings and the +open air over my head. Still I have done my work unflinchingly." + +The story of many a strong and useful life is very similar to this story +of Stevenson's. + +Parkman wrote his histories in the brief intervals between racking +headaches. Prescott struggled with blindness as he prepared his volumes. +Kitto was deaf from boyhood, but he wrote works that caught the hearing +of the English-speaking world. + +It sometimes seems as though God never intended to bring the best out of +us excepting through pain and pressure. The most costly perfume that is +known is the pure attar of roses, and one drop of it represents millions +of damascene roses that were bruised before the sweet scent they +contained was secured. + + "The best of men + That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer." + +The sphere of difficulty is usually the sphere of opportunity. "I was +made for contest," Stevenson said. We all are made for it. As we let the +contest overpower us, we fail; as we overpower the contest, we succeed. + +One particular personage of the Old Testament is in mind as +illustrative of these thoughts, Jeremiah. He always reminds me of a +violet I once saw growing on Mount St. Bernard in Switzerland. The snow +was deep on every side, excepting on one little slope a few feet in +width, exposed to the eastern sun. There, so close to the snow as almost +to be chilled to death by the cold atmosphere about it, was a violet +sweetly lifting its head and blooming as serenely as though it knew +nothing of the struggle for life. + +Jeremiah was a mere youth when the conviction came into his heart, "God +wishes me to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people to do right." He +lived at Anathoth, three miles from Jerusalem, the distance of an hour's +easy walk. His father was a priest who probably in his turn served in +the duties of the temple at Jerusalem. But though he came of religious +ancestry, and though he heard much of the religious exercises of the +temple, this call from God to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people +to do right, broke in upon his life as a disturbing force. The times +were worldly, and even wrong. Nobles and princes, merchants, scholars, +and priests had put the fear of God away from their eyes, and were +acting according to the selfish impulses of the hour. The general +outward life of the nation was pure, but it was the pureness of mere +formality. Beneath the surface ambitions and purposes were cherished +that uncorrected would surely lead the people into selfishness, +idolatry, and transgression. + +It was no easy thing for Jeremiah to answer "yes" to this call of God. +The call involved a lifetime of brave service. Matters in the nation +were sure to go from bad to worse. Difficulties after difficulties +therefore, as they developed, must be faced. He stood at what we name +"the parting of the ways"; if he did as God wished, his whole life must +be given to the work indicated; if he said "no" to God's call, he would +drift along with the rest of the people, leaving them to their fate, he +no better and perhaps no worse than they. + +In some respects there is nothing better than to be _forced_ to a +decision on some important matter, particularly if that decision is a +decision involving character. It was a choice with Jeremiah whether he +would live unselfishly for God or selfishly for himself. That choice +ordinarily is the supreme choice in every one's life. It is the supreme +choice that the Christian pulpit is constantly presenting. Present +character and eternal destiny are shaped according to that choice. + +In Jeremiah's case there was a native reluctance to do the deeds which +he saw were involved in obedience to God's call. He was by temperament +modest and retiring. He shrank from publicity. He did not like to +reprove any one. Severe words were the last words he wished to speak. It +would have been a relief to him if God had simply let him alone and +imposed on others this duty of trying to make the people better. Some +men seem to be adapted for a fray, as Elijah was, and as John the +Baptist was. But Jeremiah was more like John the beloved. He would have +been glad to live and die, simply saying, "Little children, love one +another." + +It is God's way, however, again and again, to take lives that to +themselves seem utterly unfitted for special duties and assign them to +those duties. Almost all the best workers in God's cause came into it +reluctantly, and against the feeling that they were fitted for it. We +are bidden ask the Lord of the harvest to _thrust_ men into the fields +of need. Jeremiah felt in his heart this "thrusting." He did not kick +against it. He yielded to it. + +But with what results? The first result was _estrangement_. His goodly +life and conversation soon made the people of his village and even the +brothers and sisters of his home feel that he was different from +themselves. They chafed under the contrast of their carelessness and his +earnestness. He found himself left out of their pleasures and chilled by +their indifference. The estrangement developed until his fellow-townsmen +were eager to rid themselves of his presence, and his own family were +ready to deal treacherously with him. + +It is just at this point that so often a good purpose breaks down. When +a man's foes are they of his own household or comradeship, he is very +apt to give up his good purpose. It is more difficult for a beginner in +the religious life to resist the insinuating and depreciating remarks of +near acquaintances than to face a mob. It must have cut Christ to the +heart's core when his brethren said of him, "He hath a devil!" "I would +rather go into battle," said a soldier newly enlisted as a Christian, +"than go back to the mess-room and hear what the men will say when they +know of my decision." + +Jeremiah started his obedience to God amid estrangement. It was not long +before estrangement had given place to _threatening_. His duties as he +grew older called him to Jerusalem. The youth become a man must leave +the village, go to the city, and in the larger sphere of need, speak the +messages of God. In Jerusalem he assured the people that if they did +injustice, oppressed the poor, built themselves rich houses out of wages +withheld from servants, made sacrifices to base idols, and strengthened +the hands of evil-doers, God would bring a terrible overthrow upon them. +His task was made the more difficult because in his words and attitude +he stood alone. He had no following among priests or prophets to back +him. With one consent they affirmed that he was wrong and that a lie was +on his lips when he predicted desolation if present practices were +continued. + +It is a great hour in any man's life when he is obliged to stand up +alone and state his case or defend his cause. What an hour that was in +Paul's history when before the Roman officials "no man stood with him," +but, dependent as he was on sympathy and fellowship, he stood alone! It +is when a man is absolutely left alone, in danger or disgrace, that the +deepest test of his character is reached. That is the reason why the +night-time, which seems to say to us "You are alone with God," has its +impressiveness, and why the death hour has a similar impressiveness. + +Jeremiah felt his loneliness. There was nothing of the stoic in him. He +could not school himself to be brazen-hearted. He was so human, so like +the great majority of people, that every now and then some cry of +weariness would escape his lips. "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast +borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I +have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent me on usury; yet every one +of them doth curse me." Sometimes his outbursts of mental agony make us +feel that the man has almost lost his bravery. "Cursed be the day +wherein I was born! Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor +and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" But glad as he +would have been to escape the responsibility of rebuking people, and +glad as he would have been to hold the affection and regard of his +companions, he never for a moment kept back the truth, nor for a moment +did he distrust God's blessing on his life. "All my familiars watched +for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall +prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him." "But the +Lord is with me," he declared, and so declaring he was immovable before +his adversaries. + +There came a third experience into his life, which carried his +difficulties one degree higher. It was the experience of _disdain_. He +knew full well that the wicked course of the nation was inevitably +leading to destruction. Unless the evil of the people should cease the +powers of Babylon would come and would destroy Judah. He was debarred an +interview with the king. He therefore wrote his message on a roll, put +it in the hands of a messenger, Baruch, and in due time that roll was +carried into the king's presence by Baruch and read to the king. The +king was sitting in his winter house. The weather was cold. A fire was +burning before him in a brazier. As the king heard the words of Jeremiah +that called him and the people to penitence, his anger was aroused. He +seized the roll ere three or four of the columns had been read, cut it +up with his penknife, and cast the whole roll into the fire to be +utterly consumed therein. He did this in the presence of his court. He +did it with a disdain and contempt that made every man present feel that +Jeremiah and Jeremiah's words were to be despised. + +It never is a pleasure to be despised. Contempt usually embitters a man +or suppresses him. The derisive laugh against a man is more powerful in +breaking him than the compactest argument. Many men can remain steadfast +to convictions in estrangement or in opposition who give way when they +hear that their words and actions are the subject of twitting and +ridicule. "Who is this Jeremiah, and what are his words, that we should +think of them a second time? I will cut these words into fragments even +with my pocket-knife, and then I will burn them in this little brazier, +and that shall be the last of them!" So said and did King Jehoiakim. And +his princes heard and saw. + +But whatever the effect produced on others, the effect produced on +Jeremiah must have been to the king a great disappointment. Jeremiah +heard God's voice saying in his heart, "You must write those same words +of truth again." And again he wrote them on a roll. And just here comes +out one of the sweetest and most characteristic features of Jeremiah's +character. The ordinary man, if he has made up his mind to retort or to +ridicule, says to himself, "Now I will pour out my wrath on my +adversary." But such was Jeremiah's self-control and peacefulness of +temper that perhaps he would have erred on the side of leniency unless +God had charged him, not to soften or to suppress one part of the +message, but to write _all_ the words that were in the former roll and +add thereto other special predictions. To this charge, whatever his +obedience might lead to, Jeremiah immediately and completely responded. + +Then came Jeremiah's fourth experience. His persistence in duty now +cost him _imprisonment_. Not an ordinary imprisonment, but such an +imprisonment as Oriental monarchs employ when they wish to place those +whom they dislike in a living death. The king first put Jeremiah in a +dungeon-house where there were cells. This was not very bad. Then, when +Jeremiah still was true to his testimony, the king put him in the court +of the guard, giving him a daily allowance of one little eastern +bread-loaf. This also was not very bad. But later the king, when the +princes claimed Jeremiah for their victim, as afterward the rabble +claimed Christ from Pilate for their victim, gave Jeremiah into the +hands of the princes to do with him as they pleased. Then it was that +they with cords dropped him down into a deep subterranean pit, whose +bottom was mire, so that Jeremiah sank in the mire. + +How many people in the time of the Inquisition, when they were racked +to pieces, when thumb-screws agonized them, when water drop by drop fell +ceaselessly on their foreheads, and when pincers tore their flesh little +by little continuously, renounced their faith and so saved themselves +from slow torture! It was not an easy thing to die from starvation in a +dark, damp pit, with mire creeping up all about him. It never has been +easy to die slowly and alone for the faith; to die for a testimony; to +die for a message that involved others much more than one's self. All +that was needed to protect him from pain and to preserve his life was +silence. If Jeremiah would keep quiet all would be well. But for +Jeremiah to keep quiet would be to prove disobedient to a sense of duty +implanted by God in his heart. So this gentle nature, that shrank from +the horrors of the miry pit, horrors more to be dreaded than the lions' +den or the fiery furnace or the executioner's sword, went down into the +pit unbroken--precursor of those sweet natures in woman and child that +all the beasts of the Colosseum could not dismay, and that all the fires +of martyrdom could not weaken. + +One more experience awaited Jeremiah--_deportation_. So far as we know, +it was the closing experience of his life. The dauntless soul had not +been suffered to die in the pit. Patriotic men who realized the folly of +letting an unselfish, high-minded citizen perish so terribly, and who +realized, too, the desirability of preserving alive so wise a counselor, +secured permission from the vacillating king to take rags and worn-out +garments, and let them down by cords into the pit. "Put now these rags +and worn-out garments under thine arm-holes under the cords," they said, +"and Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords." Once +again he was in his position of responsibility as God's messenger. In +that position he held fast to his faithfulness. + +Then came his final experience. Judah had passed through trial upon +trial. Jeremiah had shared in her trials, never running away from them, +but always bearing his full brunt of burden and loss. Then he was forced +to go away from the land of his love and his tears to Egypt! He did not +wish to go. He assured those who headed the movement that it was folly +to go. But they took him with them, and carried him, like a captive, off +to a foreign land. + +All this would have meant little to some men, but to Jeremiah it meant +everything. Jerusalem and the land of Judah were dear to his heart. He +had lived for them, spoken for them, suffered for them, and well-nigh +died for them. In older years the land of one's birth and of one's +sacrifices becomes very dear. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my +right hand forget her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue +cleave to the roof of my mouth!" Into that deportation we cannot follow +him. We only know that up to the very last minute in which we see him +and hear his words, he was unceasingly true to his God, and true to the +people around him, loving his Master and loving his brethren, with an +unfailing devotion. + +But this we do know, ignorant as we are whether he died naturally or was +stoned to death, that in after years this Jeremiah became among the Jews +almost an ideal character. They saw that all his words predicting the +destruction of the holy city and the captivity were fulfilled. They +learned to revere his fidelity. They even called him "the greatest" of +all their prophets. They well-nigh glorified him. In times of war and +difficulty they used his name wherewith to rouse halting hearts to +bravery and to lead the fearful into the thick of perilous battles. + +Here, then, is a life that came to its best and developed its best under +difficulties. "Best men are molded out of faults." So was this man +molded to his best out of faults of hesitation and unwillingness and +impatience. No one knows the best use we can make of ourselves but the +One who created us and understands our possibilities. + +In the struggle against difficulties we have Christ's constant +sympathy. Were not _estrangement_, _threatening_, _disdain_, +_imprisonment_, and _deportation_ His own experiences? And did not they +come in this same order? And does not He realize all the stress through +which a soul must pass that would fight its contest and advance to its +best? Certainly He does. And when He lays a cross upon us, it is that +through our right spirit in carrying that cross we may become sweeter in +our hearts and braver in our lives, and thus change our cross into a +very crown of manliness and of usefulness. + +To many a man there is no object in this earth that so appeals to his +admiration as a person who makes the best of himself under difficulties. +We may well believe that to Christ likewise there is no human being so +prized and admired as he who advances to his best through the conquest +of difficulties. + + + + +THE NEED OF RETAINING THE BEST WISDOM. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE NEED OF RETAINING THE BEST WISDOM. + + +No one can read the story of Solomon's life, as given in the Bible and +as given in eastern writings, without wonder. That story in the Bible is +amazing; that story in the historic legends of Persia, Abyssinia, +Arabia, and Ethiopia is still more amazing. It is said of Solomon that +"those who never heard of Cyrus, or Alexander, or the Cæsars have heard +of him," and that "his name belongs to more tongues, and his shadow has +fallen farther and over a larger surface of the earth than any other +man's. Equally among Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan nations his name +furnishes a nucleus around which have gathered the strangest and most +fantastic tales." + +Almost at the beginning of his public activities he made a prayer to +God that may well be the prayer of every one. In a dream God appears to +him, asking what he most wishes God to confer upon him. Humbly and +earnestly he asks for a discerning mind--a mind capable of +distinguishing between good and evil. He passes by long life, passes by +wealth, passes by victory over enemies, and he asks only for such +understanding as shall enable him to know the right from the wrong. + +We cannot call this prayer a surprise to God, but we can call it a +delight to Him. There are very many kinds of wisdom, but in God's +judgment, the best wisdom is that which always discriminating between +the good and the bad, the true and the false, the permanent and the +fleeting, prefers the good, the true, and the permanent. It surprises us +that Solomon was wise enough to make the desire for discrimination the +one petition of his heart. He was comparatively young, he was +inexperienced in life's responsibilities, he was at the threshhold of +what promised to be a great, almost a spectacular career. Most men, +under such circumstances, given the opportunity of asking for anything +and everything they pleased, would have said, "Give me many, many years +of mental growth; give me much, very much material wealth; give me great +and constant triumphs over all who in any way oppose me." But Solomon +asked only for a discerning mind that could see the difference between +right and wrong, and in asking that, he asked for the best wisdom any +human life can ever have. + +Solomon had other kinds of wisdom. How they came to him we do not know. +Perhaps he was born with a large degree of mother wit and with a very +strong mental grasp. Perhaps his father, himself a thoughtful man and a +brilliant writer, provided the best teachers that wealth could procure +for his son. Perhaps his mother, who had eager ambition for her son, +constantly urged him on to large intellectual development. + +Explain his case as we may, the facts are that he had _scientific_ +wisdom. He knew nature so well that careful writers have even called him +"the father of natural science." He knew trees, from the lordly +cedar-tree that graced Lebanon to the little hyssop that springs out +from between the stones of a wall, as I once saw it in an old well near +Jerusalem. He knew beasts of the field, fowls of the air, animals that +creep on the ground, and fishes that swim in the water. Such is the +brief résumé by the Scriptures of his acquaintance with nature. The +legends of the East add that he could interpret the speech of beasts and +birds, that he understood the hidden virtues of herbs, and that he was +familiar with the secret forces of nature. + +He had also _literary_ wisdom. He was a beautiful, trained, and +forceful writer. The seventy-second Psalm, beginning "Give the king thy +judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son," is +ascribed to him. So is the one hundred and twenty-seventh Psalm, opening +with the words, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain +that build it." Much of the book of Proverbs is written by him or +compiled by him--a book whose concise, striking, intelligent, helpful +utterances are a monument of literary skill. Ecclesiastes, with its +philosophical dissertations on the fleeting and disappointing elements +of human life, is also assigned to him. So is the Song of Solomon, which +breathes a wealth of poetical fervor, that understood and applied +spiritually, is as sweet as the voice of the meadow lark soaring skyward +in the light and beauty of a summer day. Yet these writings are only a +part of what he produced. His songs were a thousand and five, his +proverbs not less than three thousand. What we have in the Bible simply +suggests the variety and power of his literary style, the force and +sagacity of his sound sense, the brilliancy and fitness of his practical +wisdom. Solomon's words are such that to this day, in this land, and in +every land of the earth, they are competent to teach prudence, economy, +reverence for parents, self-protection, purity, honesty, and +faithfulness to duty. The boy that learns them and carries them with him +as a vital principle of being and of conduct will move unsoiled and +unhurt wherever he may go. The home that places them at its center and +reveres them will be cheerful and brave. The grown man that carries them +with him into every detail of business and care will be upright and +beautiful. + +The wisdom of Solomon was _commercial_ as well as scientific and +literary. He recognized the advantages of trade. He extended it. He sent +ships so far away to the east that passing through the Red Sea out into +the Indian Ocean they brought back the treasures of Arabia and India and +Ceylon--gold and silver and precious stones; nard, aloes, sandalwood, +and ivory; apes and peacocks. He sent other ships along the +Mediterranean coasts to the north, where Hiram, king of Tyre, lived, and +then to the west, out between the gates of Hercules, past the present +Gibraltar, up the Atlantic Ocean to the north until they touched at +southern England, at Cornwall, where they found the tin which, combined +with copper, formed the bronze for armor and for all so-called "brazen" +furniture. Not alone through ships of the sea did he seek out the best +treasures of all the accessible earth and beautify Jerusalem with them, +but also through ships of the desert--camels--did he do the same. He +caused the great caravan routes of the day to pass through Jerusalem, +and he levied duties on the objects transported from Damascus on the +north to Memphis on the south, and from Tadmor in the east to Asia Minor +in the west. He put himself into contact with all the thought and +purposes of other nations than his own, he learned what their kings and +queens, their merchants, their sailors, their writers, were saying and +doing, and thus he brought home to his mind the leading ideas of his +time. His knowledge of men, of methods, and of enterprise became vast. + +Nor did his wisdom stop with commerce; it included government also, and +was _political_. He took the throne at a time when government was weak, +or almost disorganized. David's last years were years of physical +disability, wherein he could not curb the rebellious spirits that were +gaining influence in many quarters. Solomon, upon his assumption of +rule, judiciously subdued all rebellion of every kind, united the entire +kingdom, and started that kingdom upon the period of its greatest glory. +He made treaties that bound adjacent principalities to him and caused +them to pay tribute. He held such power that nations did not care to +fight with him, and so he became a king of peace. He laid taxes on his +own people that brought in large revenue. It was indeed the golden +period of Israel. + +The effect of Solomon's wisdom was great and extensive. His +_reputation_ went far and wide. People made long journeys to see him, +ask him questions, and honor him. Even one like the Queen of Sheba came +with a great retinue, up through the desert, past village and town, to +bring him costly gifts and talk with the man who knew so much. His +_influence_ became pervasive. It entered into the legends of people who +never saw him, and became so fixed a part of those legends, that those +legends, repeated until to-day, still sound his praise. He was known in +tent and in palace as the wisest man that had ever lived, and the most +exaggerated statements were made and received of his insight into the +mysteries of the spirit world and his power to control the supposed +spirit forces of the air. His _wealth_ became almost incredible. Nothing +like it has ever been known--not in the time of the Roman emperors, nor +in the time of to-day. The fabulous magnificence of Mexican and Peruvian +kings helps us to realize Solomon's glory. "The walls, the doors, the +very floor of the temple, were plated with gold, furnishing gorgeous +imagery for John's description of heaven." Two hundred targets and three +hundred shields of beaten gold were held by the guard through whose +lines Solomon passed to the temple or to his house of the forest. His +throne of ivory, as were its steps, was overlaid with plates of gold. +All his drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house +of the forest were of pure gold, none were of silver. He was able to +make the temple the costliest structure for its size the world has ever +seen. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into its erection and +decoration. When to-day the traveler visits Baalbec and sees stones over +seventy feet in length and fourteen in width and in depth--stones +quarried, conveyed, raised up into high walls and securely masoned +there; when to-day the traveler sees the golden jewelry gathered from +ancient Grecian graves and placed on exhibition in Athens; and when +to-day the traveler examines the massive work done in Egypt, whose ruins +are overpowering in their grandeur, and seeing these stones, jewelry, +and structures remembers that Solomon knew all the skill, wealth, and +buildings of the whole Mediterranean world, then he can understand how +Solomon, with his resources, built a city like Palmyra, and a house of +worship like the temple, and made silver to be as stones in Jerusalem. + +Ah, if this Solomon, so brilliant and so powerful, so "glorious," as +Christ called him, could only have preserved the best wisdom all through +his years, whose name--except Christ's--would be comparable to his! + +He asked God for the wisdom that discerns between the good and the +evil. God answered that prayer and gave him such wisdom. How clearly he +saw at the first! If two women came to him, each claiming to be the +mother of a little child, and asking for the child's possession, how +skilful he was in ordering that the child be cut in twain in their +presence, thus causing the true mother to cry out in love for her child +and then giving her the child unhurt. The traditions of the east--some +of them perhaps once a part of those lost books mentioned in the Bible, +The Book of the Acts of Solomon, The Book of Nathan the Prophet, The +Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, The Visions of Iddo the Seer, tell +again and again how quiet and accurate Solomon's perception was in +distinguishing real flowers from artificial, in distinguishing girls +from boys though dressed alike, and in deciding case after case of legal +perplexity. He did have a discerning heart when, in his early days, he +knew who his enemies were and he crushed them, who his true counselors +were and he listened to them, what his supreme duty was and he built +God's house, what his sinful heart needed and he shed the blood of +atonement for it. It was discernment when, though he made his own house +rich, he made God's house richer; when he counted his gift of millions +of dollars to God's honor a delight; and when he would let neither +knowledge nor pleasure nor pomp nor glory withdraw his supreme affection +from God. + +Would that he had always continued as he was! Would that he had +remembered that the prayer offered to-day for a blessing in character +must be offered again to-morrow if that blessing in character is to be +retained! Prayer is not so much a momentary wish as a continuous spirit. +His momentary wish and the resolve that sprang from it were at the time +all that God or man could desire. A mind distrustful of its own +omniscience, humbly waiting on God for discernment, is the wisest of all +minds. That mind was once in Solomon, but not always. When grown to +maturity he talked philosophy, still he was wise. But when he came to +act upon his philosophy, he was unwise. He failed to discern between the +value and the curse of wealth. He became a lover of money for money's +sake. He laid taxes on the people that they could not endure. He treated +them no longer as a father, but as a master. He ceased to distinguish +between the beauty and the disease of luxury. He built gardens and +palaces, and made displays, not with the thought of any praise they +would be to Jehovah, or to the establishment of God's people on a sound +financial and political basis, but for the honor and recognition that +would come to him. He became a captive to the love of magnificence and +to the desire for display. He made marriages that were matters of state +expediency and were not matters of heart conviction, and thus put +himself under the influence of those whose religious purposes were +wholly opposed to his own. He filled his palaces with women whose +presence indeed was a great indication of Oriental affluence, but whose +presence was a menace to clear vision of integrity, and was a woeful +example to the nation. He grew blinder and blinder to fine perceptions, +not alone of what was good in taste, but of what was right in principle. +He became so broad in his religious sympathies that he seemed to forget +that there can be but one living and true God. He even went after +"Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcar, the +abomination of the Amonites." And as a last blind act of folly, he even +raised within sight of God's holy temple "an high place for Chemosh, the +abomination of Moab, and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of +Ammon, in the hill that is before Jerusalem." What men like Daniel would +not do, what men like Shadrach would not do, what martyrs in after days, +asked to say the simple word "Cæsar" and throw a grain of corn on an +heathen altar, would not do, though death awaited them, Solomon did. He +gave up the fine distinction between the true and the untrue, between +God and idolatry, between divine principle and human expediency. And +with this loss of the best wisdom came loss of manliness, loss of peace, +and loss of the favor of God. Wealth, power, luxury, praise, glory, were +still about him, but he had made the most serious of all serious +mistakes. Later he recognized his mistake. We hope that he repented, +genuinely repented, of his mistake, and before his death turned back to +God and the best wisdom. But whether he died repentant or unrepentant +Solomon is the man who is forever the example of unparalleled wisdom and +of ruinous folly--of ruinous folly because his wisdom failed to retain +the element of the discerning mind. + +Here, then, is a lesson: "With all thy getting, get understanding." Life +is not a best success, whatever else it may have in it, unless it draws +fine lines of separation between good and evil. The wealth and learning +and glory of the wide world cannot make up for a lack of sensitive +conscientiousness. The study and ambition of life must be applied to the +securing and retaining of fine powers of moral discrimination if we are +to be truly wise. Every one can have this discerning mind, at least to +such a degree as shall enable him to avoid the fearful mistake of +palliating evil and of becoming enslaved to evil. A little child may in +this respect be wiser than the oldest man; the simple peasant may be +safer than the most cultured scholar. Not even libraries of knowledge +can save the character of the man whose vision of good and evil is +blunted. + +Youth is the time to make this prayer for true wisdom--when life's +decisions are first opening before us. Youth is the time when God can +best answer and when God cares most to answer prayer for the discerning +mind. We need to start upon our careers with hearts exceedingly +sensitive to the least variation from right. As the gunner cultivates +his aim and notes his least deviation from the true line to the target, +so should we cultivate clearness of moral perception. We need the +"practiced" eye and the "practiced" heart, for safe judgment. + +"The grand endowment of Washington," wrote Frederic Harrison, "was +character, not imagination, not subtlety, not brilliancy, but wisdom. +The wisdom of Washington was the genius of common sense, glorified into +_unerring truth of view_." + +Almost the same tribute can be paid to Victoria. When, six months after +her accession, Victoria drove to the House of Parliament, there was not +a hat raised nor a voice heard. But when sixty years later her jubilee +was held, such pæans of admiration and love swelled in London's streets +as never before had greeted any sovereign's ears--and all because the +people saluted in Victoria's person the _discrimination_ that had +shunned vice, corrected abuses, exalted integrity, and glorified +religion. + +What every one needs, Washington, Victoria, and all--and what every +one should crave--is such wisdom, as all through life shall keep him +from confusing moral principles and shall make him see, choose, love, +and follow the best. + + + + +THE BEST POSSESSION. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BEST POSSESSION. + + +What is the best possession a human life can have? Judging from the +efforts made to secure wealth, fame, and power, the answer would seem to +be that they--wealth, fame, and power--are the best possessions any one +can have. Observant and thoughtful people know, however, that such +possessions do not necessarily nor ordinarily make their owners happy. +They therefore argue that there must be better possessions than these. +So they say, eloquence is perhaps the best possession, or knowledge is, +or ability to do great deeds or express great thoughts is. But the +wisest book that has ever been written says that something not yet +mentioned is the best possession, and says that that something makes +life the happiest, and even makes it the holiest. That something, in the +language of the Bible, is _love_. The man that in his heart has love, +true, pure, lasting love, has the best possession that can be secured. + +It is for this reason that Jonathan is such an inspiring character. The +story of his life, hastily viewed, seems almost incidental, but +scholarly examination of it shows that its light and gladness are in +marked contrast to the darkness and sorrow in the careers of Saul and +David. The story of Jonathan's life has probably done more to suggest +and arouse the unselfish devotion of man to man, than any story, apart +from that of the Christ, that has ever been told. If we wish to find one +who really had the best possible possession, Jonathan is that one, a man +whose heart was bright, whose deeds were noble, and whose death was +glorious. + +Jonathan was a physical hero. He had both muscular strength and +muscular skill. The way he could throw a spear and shoot an arrow made +him famous. He had rare courage. Assisted only by his armor-bearer he +once made an attack upon a whole garrison at Michmash, slaying twenty +men within a few rods and putting an entire army to flight. He had great +self-control. Found fault with by his father because in an hour of +weariness he had tasted honey--in ignorance of his father's wish to the +contrary--he opened his breast to receive the death penalty vowed by the +father, and stood unmoved until the soldiers cried to Saul that the deed +of blood must not be done. He was no weakling. Rather he was a mighty +man, able to command military forces and call out their enthusiasm. Men +rallied about him for hazardous undertakings, saying, "Do all that is in +thy heart; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart." In the field +or in the court he was equally acceptable. His father, the king, had +implicit confidence in him, and took him into all his counsels. In the +language of poetry, he was "swifter than an eagle, he was stronger than +a lion." Israel might well look forward to the day when this stalwart, +inspiring, wise son should succeed his father and be their king. His +name, in time of battle, would be a terror to their foes. + +But better than Jonathan's strong arm and clear intellect and winsome +personality was his loving heart. He never had read Paul's description +of love as given in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, nor had +he read Henry Drummond's exposition of love as "The Greatest Thing in +the World," nor had he ever seen the devoted character of Christ, nor +known any of the beautiful examples of love created by the Gospel. He +was living in a selfish age--an age of strife and tumult and blood--and +still his whole being seemed pervaded by that love which is "unselfish +devotion to the highest interests of others." Such love was his joyous +and abiding possession. + +The first time we have an opportunity of reading his inmost heart is +when David, having slain Goliath, stands before Saul, holding Goliath's +head in his hand. Here we see the _generosity_ of love. It was an hour +when every eye was turned from Jonathan and centered upon an unknown +stripling who had carried off the honors of the day by a startling and +brilliant deed. Hitherto Jonathan had been the national hero; now he was +to be set aside, and David was everywhere to come into the foreground. +How should all this transfer of honor affect Jonathan? Should it sour +him, making him look askance on this new competitor for the public +recognition, and influencing him to send back David to his father's +flocks, away from further opportunity for martial deeds? Any such method +would be what is called "natural." Men usually try to get rid of +competitors. They do this in business and in games. Opera singers often +keep back, if they can, the voice that once heard will supersede their +own voice in popular favor. We do not like to have another outshine us. +Praise is sweet. People hate to lose it. Plaudits transferred to another +leave a painful vacancy in the ordinary soul. We crave favor, and when +that favor passes from us to rest upon another we are severely tried. +Many a man has thought himself kindly dispositioned until he found that +some one else was obtaining the recognition previously so secure to him, +and then to his own surprise he has found himself grudging the other +that recognition. How much of the unhappiness of human life comes from +the fact that persons do not speak to us or of us as they do of others! +How apprehensively many people protect their place--social, political, +or commercial--lest another shall in any wise encroach upon it! Jonathan +might easily have recognized that, so far as his interests were +concerned, it was far better that David should be dismissed to the sheep +pastures than allowed to stay near the court. + +But in spite of what Jonathan recognized, Jonathan's heart warmed to +David. By the time he had heard the story of David's home and family, +the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved +him as his own soul. The interests of David became his interests. He +wished David to succeed. Praises of David sounded sweet in his hearing. +He showed such wish to have David stay right there, at the heart of the +nation's capital, where people could see him and honor him, and where +David could have new opportunity for public service, that Saul would not +let David go back to the distant and quiet pastures. Jonathan even made +a covenant with David, promising to be his friend and helper. To show +the sincerity of that covenant, or rather in the expression of that +covenant, Jonathan took off his robe and his garments, even to his sword +and to his bow and to his girdle--stripped himself of them--and gave +them to David. Jonathan wished David to be ready for possible +opportunities of military success, and therefore he armed him with his +own chosen and well-tried weapons. + +So their friendship began. It was a friendship that was all "give" on +one side and all "take" on the other. There never was a clearer +illustration of what love is than the relation between Jonathan and +David. It is always said that "Jonathan loved David," but no emphasis is +placed on David's love for Jonathan. David appreciated Jonathan, but +Jonathan loved David, and loving him, unceasingly aided him. "I call +that man my friend," a noble poet declared, "for whom I can do some +favor." Love exists only where costly kindnesses are conferred upon +another. + +Turner, England's honored painter, exemplified love when he was on a +committee on hanging pictures for exhibition in London and a picture +came from an unknown artist after the walls were full. "This picture is +worthy; it must be hung," he said. "Impossible; the walls are full now," +others asserted. Quietly saying "I will arrange it," Turner took down +one of his own pictures and hung the new picture in its place. + +The second scene of Jonathan's devotion to David reveals the +_protection_ of love. David's life was in danger. Saul, jealous of +David's popularity, desired to be rid of David. He even wished to kill +him. He let his servants know his wish. David was encompassed by peril. +What would Jonathan do now? When others were turning against him, would +he also turn against him? The current was all setting one way. Any +kindness to David would now be in direct opposition to a ruler's will +and to the sentiment of the court. Interest in another often becomes +luke-warm under such circumstances. "There is no use of resisting the +tide of events," people say. They therefore leave the man that is down +to himself and to his fate. How lovers fall away in the hour of disgrace +and danger! How difficult it becomes to speak favorably of a man when +every other is condemning him! In periods of excitement when the motives +of men are called into question and innuendo is in the air, how +reluctant we are to avow our confidence and try to still the cries of +opposition. + +But what was the effect of this situation on Jonathan? His heart warmed +all the more to the imperiled man whose one crime was that he was a +deliverer to Israel. Jonathan delighted much in David. Jonathan revealed +to David Saul's purpose to kill him. Jonathan provided for David's +immediate safety and took means to anticipate his future safety. Then he +went to the king and _plead_ for David. That was a splendid piece of +work. It was much as John Knox plead with Mary, Queen of Scots, for +Scotland. She did not wish to hear Knox's words. She was bitter against +Scotland and Scotland's religion. He risked much in venturing into her +presence and interceding. But he loved Scotland and Scotland's religion. +He would rather die than have Scotland suffer, and so he braved Mary's +tears and entreaties and commands, and he spoke for Scotland. Love is a +very expensive thing; it often summons us to surrender our personal +ease, and surrender, too, our closest comradeships. It may cost us +obloquy, it may cost us loss of standing with king and court, it may +cost us the disdain of the world, but cost what it might, Jonathan plead +for David's safety, and temporarily secured his wish. + +Later the love of Jonathan was to be subjected to a more subtle and +more difficult test. It was to be called upon for _self-effacement_. +Saul's misdemeanors and incompetences had so weighed on Saul's mind that +Saul actually hated the David whose conduct was always irreproachable; +Saul's mind, too, at times had lost its balance, and he had done the +insane acts of a madman toward David. Saul, now half-sane and +half-insane, was irrevocably determined to kill David. He learned that +Samuel had quietly anointed David as king, and that David in due time +would succeed to the throne! Saul's heart was aflame with +bitterness--the bitterness that is born of chagrin and envy. David knew +of that bitterness, and knew that Saul's persistent enmity left but a +"step between him and death." Then it was that Jonathan ventured to +interview his father and see whether his father's hatred could not in +some way be appeased and David's safety be secured. + +But with the first revelation of Jonathan's interest in David came an +outburst from Saul that showed the utter implacability of Saul's rage. +Saul even tried to inflame Jonathan's temper, charging him with +perversity and rebellion, and with acting undutifully; and then, when he +hoped that Jonathan was excited, he introduced the thought, "This David, +if you let him live, will seize the throne which is yours as my son and +heir! Will you suffer David to live and take your throne?" It was an +appeal to Jonathan's envy, and that appeal touched on the most delicate +ambition of Jonathan's heart. What a fearful thing envy is! History is +full of its unfortunate work. It hurts him who cherishes it as well as +him against whom it rages. Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis because +he could draw a stronger bow than himself or his party. Dionysius the +tyrant, out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician because he could +sing, and Plato the philosopher because he could dispute, better than +himself. "Envy is the very reverse of charity; it is the supreme source +of pain, as charity is the supreme source of pleasure. The poets +imagined that envy dwelt in a dark cave; being pale and lean, looking +asquint, abounding with gall, her teeth black, never rejoicing but in +the misfortune of others, ever unquiet and anxious, and continually +tormenting herself." + +When such an appeal to envy as that subtly made by Saul to Jonathan +comes to most human hearts they are conquered by it. Few, very few, men +hail the rise of the sun that pales their own star. But Jonathan could +not be overpowered by this appeal, however wilily the king drove it +home. He stood true to David, though by so doing he imperiled his own +life. For with his quick perception of Jonathan's fixed adherence to +David, Saul hurled his javelin at his own son's breast and would have +slain him on the spot. + +In the days that followed this stormy interview, when the king's wrath +against David was still at white heat, and when one turn of Jonathan's +hand could have ended all possible rivalry between himself and David for +the throne, Jonathan sought David, said gladly to him, "Thou shalt be +king in Israel, and I shall be next unto thee," and saying this, made a +new covenant of love that should bind themselves and their descendants +to all generations! + +I know not what others may think, but as for me, nothing in this world +is sweeter, stronger, nobler, than an unselfish friendship. We have used +and misused the word "love" so often that we have dragged it down from +its high meaning. We have flippantly passed it over our lips when by +"love" we meant mere interest, or sympathy, or fondness, or even a +mental or a physical passion. We have belittled it and even smirched it +in the mire. But next to the word "God" it is the greatest word of human +life, and is associated with God as no other word is. The man that can +and will prove a generous, unselfish, devoted friend is the highest type +of man. The man that can cherish a sweet, uplifting love that is beyond +the reach of envy, and that will lay down every treasure but itself for +another, is the noblest specimen of manhood that can be produced. More +and more it becomes clear that genuine devotion to the highest interests +of others is the solution of the world's social problems. Love makes its +owner happy. It is a giver and a sustainer of joy. There is no +bitterness in its root and no acid in its fruit. By nature it is the +sweet, the healthy, the sane. The absence of love always means the +presence of the selfish, or of the vain, or of the proud, or of the +self-seeking, or of the cruel. Envy is a thorn in the soul. Love is +content and cheer, a radiant flower whose perfume is refreshingly +fragrant. + + "For life, with all it yields of joy or woe, + And hope or fear, + Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love-- + How love might be, hath been, indeed, and is." + +To the very end of his days Jonathan stood true to David. He +accomplished what might seem to many an impossible task, but what by his +accomplishment of it is shown to be possible. He was true to two persons +whose interests were opposite, proving a friend to each. He loved his +father. He knew his father's weaknesses. They tried him seriously. When +his father threw the spear at his head, and maligned his mother, and +charged him with ingratitude, his whole being was stirred; he went out +from his father's presence "angry." But that anger was merely a +temporary emotion. He soon realized his duty to his father. He returned, +placed himself at his father's hand, continued to be his adherent, +counselor, and helper, went with him as one of his lieutenants to the +battle on Gilboa, and fought beside him until he fell dead at Saul's +side! + +There is nothing weak in this character of Jonathan. Let him who can +reproduce it. Christ said of John the Baptist, "There hath not been born +of women a greater than he," because John, free from envy, was so full +of love that he rejoiced to see Christ come into a recognition that +absolutely displaced John. By these words of Christ John is made to loom +up as no other character of his day. Jonathan was John's prototype--a +massive man, a man of momentum, a man of absolute fearlessness, whose +virtues were crowned by his generous, protecting, self-effacing love. No +wonder that when word reached David that Jonathan had been slain in +fierce battle his heart poured out the greatest elegy of history--an +elegy that has been sung and resung for thousands of years--"How are the +mighty fallen! I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very +pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing +the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war +perished!" Noticeable it is that the supreme elegy of the Old Testament +is on the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, Jonathan; and that +the one elegy of the New Testament pronounced by Christ, is likewise on +the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, John the Baptist. The +greatest possession any one can have is a loving heart--a heart that +generously recognizes worth in another and tries to make place for that +worth; a heart that guards another's interests, even though such +guarding costs intercession; a heart that gladly surrenders its own +advantage that another may advance to the place which might be its own. + +No one can tell another how and when the heart of love should show +itself. All that can be told is this: "Let any one be pervaded by love +as Jonathan was, and in that one's home, in that one's business, and in +that one's pleasures God will provide him occasion upon occasion for +living that love." The love that a man gives away is the only love his +heart can retain. The man that has such a heart of love has the +sweetest, happiest, gladdest possession that can be obtained on earth or +in heaven. All the money in the world leaves a man poor if his heart is +bitter. All the poverty that can come to a man finds him rich if his +heart is glad and strong. Love is the only possession that a man can +carry with him to heaven and always keep with him in heaven. He lives +for eternity who lives for love. + + "The one great purpose of creation--love, + The sole necessity of earth and heaven." + + + + +USING ARIGHT OUR BEST HOURS. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +USING ARIGHT OUR BEST HOURS. + + +Every writer who has described what we call opportunity has insisted +upon the necessity of seizing opportunity as it flies. We are told that +there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at its proper moment +leads us on to fortune. It is also asserted that once at least there +comes into every one's life a special hour which used aright has much to +do with assuring his permanent welfare. + +Universal experience bears witness to the truthfulness and force of +these sayings. Every human being who has studied the history of the race +is aware that now and then decisive hours come to his fellows, and +according as those hours are used to advantage or to disadvantage, is +the success or failure of his fellows. We know this fact applies also to +ourselves. All our hours are not the same hours, either in their nature +or in their possibility. Some hours are special hours when, for one +reason or another, crises are present; if we meet these hours aright we +advance, if we fail to meet them aright we fall back. + +Such hours are the supreme opportunities of our entire existence: the +hours when duty appears more clear than is its wont, or hours when the +heart is strangely moved toward the good, or hours when a new and very +uplifting sense of God's presence is felt. It is not asserted that such +hours are equally bright and glorious to every one. They may not be +bright at all. They may be dull and heavy. But they bring us a +conviction of what is right, a sense of obligation to do the right, and +an assurance that God's way is the way our feet should tread. Given any +such hour, whether it be on the mountain or in the valley, and a man has +his best hour. All other hours, as we plod or play, may be good, but the +hour when a soul is brought face to face with duty and with God is the +best hour in that particular period of our life. + +It was simply and only because Jacob used aright his best hours that he +rescued his name from disgrace and crowned it with glory. If ever a man +started in life handicapped by unfortunate characteristics and +unfortunate environments Jacob was such a man. One of the modern +sculptors, George Grey Barnard, has a life-sized marble, showing what he +names "Our Two Natures," two men, one the good and one the evil, coming +out of the same block of stone, and struggling, each to see which shall +gain the ascendancy over the other. Such two natures are in every one; +but they appear with special prominence in Jacob. The question of his +life was, Which is to conquer, the good or the evil? The struggle of the +good for ascendancy was prolonged and severe. It was a struggle in which +there were disgraceful defeats, but in which there was also a +persistency of purpose and a reassertion of effort whereby the good +finally triumphed. And this triumph, it may safely be asserted, was +secured through the use Jacob made of a few supreme hours in his life. + +When we first begin to notice Jacob, we see him participating in the +deception of his aged and almost blinded father, Isaac. We do well, in +studying that deception, to bear in mind that the mother, before Jacob's +birth, had been told that Jacob should inherit his father's blessing. So +she had probably taught Jacob that this blessing belonged to him, and +that she and he were justified in securing it in any way they could. And +we do well also to bear in mind that the mother recognized a certain +undeveloped but capable fitness in Jacob for this blessing, a fitness +that Esau lacked. Esau was a lusty, out-of-doors, happy-going man who +would not control his appetites, and who, however pleasant he might be +to have around when merry-making and sport were in the air, was not +prudent enough and judicious enough to be the head of a great people. +Rebekah, and Jacob, too, may have felt that it would be the height of +family folly to leave the family blessing with Esau, who probably in a +short time would squander it; it ought, therefore, to be diverted from +him. Besides, the age was one in which fine distinctions between right +and wrong, as we to-day see these distinctions, were not clear. We thus +can understand some of the reasoning which lay back of the fraud +practiced on Isaac when Jacob made believe that he was Esau bringing the +desired venison, and so secured the blessing. + +But we do not mean to justify the deception. It carried--as every sin +carries--fearful consequences, and those consequences affected all of +Jacob's future life. As he had deceived his father, again and again his +children deceived their father. Even immediately upon its perpetration +Jacob's life became endangered. He was obliged to flee from enraged and +threatening Esau. Then it was that Jacob, at nightfall, coming alone to +rocky Bethel, and lying down to sleep--a wrong-doer, a fugitive, +homeless, friendless, and in peril--had his dream. He saw heaven opened +over him, with angels ascending as it were by a ladder to God and then +descending by that ladder from God to his resting-place. The dream bore +in upon his mind certain thoughts. One was, that God had not forsaken +him, but was with him. Another was, that God was ready to forgive him +for his sin and bless him. And still a third was, that God would take +even his life and so use it, if he should be consecrated to Him, that +he, Jacob, should some day come back to Bethel as its owner and be the +head of that people through whom the whole world should be blessed. And +a fourth thought was, that however long the delay in fulfilling the +promises, God certainly would fulfil them, and He would watch over Jacob +until they were fulfilled. + +As Jacob awaked from his dream those four thoughts were in his mind: of +God's presence, of God's forgiveness, of God's call, and of God's +protection. Up to this time the hour of this awakening was the best hour +of his life. Thoughts stirred in his heart different in degree and +different in quality than any he had ever had. There came a new sense of +the wonderful love of God. What had he done to deserve it? Nothing. Why +should not the heavens be closed, and be dark and forbidding to a +defrauder like himself? That certainly was what one like himself might +expect. Did not the cherubim drive sinful Adam and Eve out of the +garden, and stand with flaming sword forbidding their return? But here +was God appearing in mercy, assuring of His readiness to pardon +transgression, and calling upon the wrong-doer to repent, to be earnest, +and to make his life a benediction rather than a curse. Here, too, was +God pledging His unfailing aid to Jacob if Jacob would struggle toward +success! + +What should Jacob do with these thoughts? He might have brushed them +away from his heart as he brushed away the morning dew from his eyes, +and thus immediately have banished them. He might have pondered the +thoughts for a day or two, being softened and comforted by them, and +then let them pass out of his mind forever. Many men have acted in such +ways. A wicked man opened a letter from his mother, and with the sight +of her penmanship there came to him the memory of all her interest in +his purity, integrity, and godliness. He crushed the letter in his hand +and threw it into the fire burning on the hearth. But another man, many +another man, though moved by good impulses, and even touched to the +quick by them after a while has let such impulses glide away from his +heart and carry with them their helpfulness. That is what Darwin says +that he did. The thought of God came to him now and then in special +hours of his earlier life, but he did not hold fast to it, he let it +escape, and the thought of a personal God who watches over and blesses +never became the cheering possession of his soul. + +But it was not so with Jacob; and because it was not so, hope of +betterment dawned upon his character. He _valued_ the thoughts that had +come to him. He was awed. Awe, or reverence, is the originating spring +of worthy character. His was not a simple mind easily affected. Jacob +was a cool, calculating, careful, worldly-wise man, almost the last type +of man that finds it easy to be awed. But to him--with whom money and +sheep and slaves and retinue were now and were long afterward to be very +prominent objects of ambition--there was a feeling that, after all, God +and God's blessings are the supreme things of life. So he did not let +the awe of the hour pass unimproved. He acted on that awe. He then and +there as best he could confessed God and his faith in Him, raising a +pillar of stone in God's name and anointing it with oil in significance +that the spot upon which it stood was consecrated to God. Thus he +erected the first of all those tabernacles, temples, synagogues, +churches, cathedrals, chapels, that have been a testimony to faith in +God all over the earth. And then, as though an outward thing was not +enough, but some inner thing of character was now required, he vowed a +vow--the best vow probably that he, with his idea of God and of money, +knew how to vow. He vowed that if God who had thus shown him his +opportunity and duty would be true to His promises and would take care +of him as covenanted, he, Jacob, would uphold the worship of God and +would give a tenth of all he might ever obtain unto God. + +That vow laid hold on Jacob's life. It began to work a change that only +many, many years advanced toward completion. But it began the change. +When a soul, in a best moment of life, seeing duty clearly, or beholding +a new revelation of God, crystallizes the emotions thus aroused by a vow +that consecrates its dearest treasures to God, then the soul has taken +its first step toward strong and beautiful character. Here it was that +Esau failed. He seems to have had more traits that men would name +attractive than had Jacob. An open-hearted, open-handed, out-spoken man, +rough but kind and generous and ready, he at life's beginning appeared +to have more in his favor than this grasping, secretive brother. When +Esau's best hours came--hours when the sense of his own misdeeds rankled +in his heart and when he was aware that repentance and reformation and a +new application to duty should be his--he felt his situation deeply; he +even, as a man of his temperament could do, shed tears of grief over his +mistakes and losses. But he did not realize with awe the gravity of his +situation, nor did he turn to God and to duty with a softened, chastened +spirit, and vow his life in devotion to God. Jacob's right use of his +best hours set Jacob's face towards God and character. Esau's wrong use +of his best hours set Esau's face away from God and character. + +But Jacob's life needed, as every life needs, more than one best hour. +Off in Haran where he dwelt for twenty years he was among heathen +people. As he served seven years for Leah and seven years for Rachel and +six years beside, he preserved many of the ideals and purposes that came +to him in the morning hour at Bethel, but not all of them. These +purposes seem to have kept him from idolatry and to have given him +patience and fortitude and prolonged endurance. Laban treated him +deceivingly and unkindly. Jacob showed much self-control and much +generosity. Laban's flocks increased beneath Jacob's care until Laban +became a very rich man. If a lamb or a sheep was injured in any way +Jacob bore all the expense connected with its hurt or its death. Had +Laban recognized the value of his services, then perhaps Jacob would not +again have come under the power of his own crafty, calculating, +money-making propensities. But Laban treated Jacob like a slave, and +Jacob retaliated with meanness. He speciously secured from Laban a large +proportion of Laban's cattle, and with his wealth thus gathered started +away from his angry master toward the old-time Bethel, that somehow was +always in his memory. There was a sense in which he deserved every sheep +and goat and servant that he had: he had earned them all; they ought by +right of service to be his. But in another sense he had tricked Laban +and was going away with ill-gotten gains. + +Now is to come the second great crisis in his life. Jacob is to venture +into the country where Esau is, Esau who for years has been cherishing +hatred against Jacob. Hatred cherished sours and becomes malice. Esau +was a difficult one to meet--fierce, strong, and determined. It was then +that another great hour came to Jacob. To the east he had parted company +with Laban, who had become reconciled to Jacob and who had given him his +farewell blessing. To the west, where Bethel lay and whither his heart +called him, is Esau. How shall he meet Esau? He does now what seems, +from the night at Bethel, to have become more or less of a custom with +him; he consults God. He lays the situation as it lies in his mind +before God. He thus tries to see the situation as it actually is when +seen in the presence of One who is omniscient. As he thus studies the +situation he deems it wise to send ahead, in relays, goodly parts of his +flocks, which, as they pass Esau, should be announced as gifts to Esau. +It is the same cool, calculating Jacob still at work. Then he sends +forward all his family and all his cattle, over the Jabbok, toward the +country where Esau is. This done he remained behind alone. + +Again it was the night-time. There was darkness, the darkness that often +is so conducive to earnest thought and clear vision of the right. Light +is indeed essential that men already in the path of duty may walk safely +therein, but the path of duty itself is more often discovered when we +look out of darkness than when we stand in the sunlight. + +It was a time of uncertainty and almost of fear on Jacob's part--a +time of heart searching in view of the past and of hesitation in view of +the present. Such a time can come only to one who has ceased being a +mere child and has entered into the experiences of manhood. The great +questions of the nature of God and of the protection of His providence +stirred in Jacob's heart. His had been a sinful career. Still he had +repented, and repenting had grown in grace. But even yet his faith was +fearful and his trust hesitant. Was God really on his side? Would this +God, the God that had promised to bring him back to Canaan and give him +a place there, surely preserve him? Then it was, while these questions +were throbbing within him, that in the darkness one like a man grappled +with him in wrestling. Should he be faint-hearted and cowardly, +distrusting God's promise of protection, and let this stranger throw +him, kill him, and so forever end the possibility of God's fulfilling +His promise? Or should he lay hold of God's promise to sustain him, and +do his best to throw this stranger, and thus preserve his life and +accomplish his mission? It was a decisive time. Luther had such a time +the night before the Diet of Worms, when he had to wrestle with the +thought "Shall I be distrustful of God's providence and recant +to-morrow, or shall I hold fast to my faith in God and stand by the +truth to-morrow?" Hamilton had such a time the night before he decided +that he would be burned at the stake rather than deny the truth. Such +times come into many lives, when great questions about a right or a +wrong marriage, a right or a wrong business, a right or a wrong +amusement, must be decided. + +Jacob _would_ not surrender to fear! He _would_ trust God to continue +his life. He therefore relaxed no hold on the stranger, but wrestled +with him as best he could. Then came the revelation. The stranger simply +touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and by that touch put it out of +joint! Here was an Almighty One wrestling with him! Jacob realized that +_God_ had come to him! With that revelation, even in his weakened +condition, he clings the closer to the stranger; he _will_ hold on to +God. "Let me go, for the day breaketh," cries the stranger. "I will not +let thee go, except thou bless me," Jacob replies. Jacob cleaves to God. +Jacob longs for God's blessing. He has found God very near to him. He +will avail himself of His nearness. The face of God is turned upon him +in love. He will not let this hour go without getting from it all the +inspiration and help he can obtain. + +And he did obtain the best blessing that ever came to his life--the +blessing that assured him his character was to be completely changed, +and made beautiful and strong for God. Christ once said to a weak, +impulsive, oft-falling man: "Thou art Simon, son of Jonah"--that is, the +"listening" son of a weak "dove," unreliable, changeable, frail--"thou +shalt be Peter"--that is, a "rock," firm, stable. Christ thus indicated +that he would make of weak Simon a resolute, trustworthy Peter, as He +did. Just so God in this hour said, "Thy name shall be called no more +Jacob"--the "supplanter," the tricky, the calculating--"but Israel"--a +"prince of God," a man that has power with God and men, a man that even +_prevails_ with God and men! + +What a benediction that was, one of the choicest in all history! No +higher designation could be promised to such a man as Jacob had been, +than "Israel"! I would rather--under God and for God--have that name +given me by God than any other name that can be named upon a weak, frail +man: "Israel"--a man who can _prevail_ with his _fellows_ and with _God_ +for _human good_! + +All this came about because Jacob used aright his best hours; because +when God was near him, he held on to God; because when he was +discouraged and heavy-hearted and the prospect was dark, he trusted God; +because when he was weakened and brought low, he would not let God go +unless He bless him. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," Job +said. "Even if God will not deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, +still we will not disobey Him," said the three prisoners at Babylon. + +Henceforth in Jacob's life there would still be vicissitudes. Troubles, +responsibilities, disappointments, sorrows, needs, would come. His +children did not always treat him aright. Joseph was mourned as dead. +Benjamin was taken from him to Egypt. He had cares and burdens, as all +men must have them, until life's end. But the thought of God became +increasingly precious to him year by year; his spirit sweetened and +softened; his memory was full of the loving kindnesses of God, and his +hope laid hold on a blessed future. Down in Egypt as he draws nigh to +death he triumphantly speaks of "God, before whom my fathers, Abraham +and Isaac, did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this +day, and the Angel which redeemed me from all evil." He died a man of +God, honored in his day, and honored since--a man who had such faith in +the promises that he charged Joseph to carry his body to the Holy Land +and bury it there where the Christ was to come. He started life with +most unfortunate traits of character and in most unfortunate +surroundings of environment, but he came off a victor, not a perfect +man, but a successful man, a man whom we may well praise, a man who +preserved the faith and blessed the world, and all because he made a +right use of his best hours. + +Where the highest thoughts are in the air, where the holiest persons +gather, where the loftiest influences of God's Holy Spirit breathe, +there we do well to go. There we do well to stay. Any voice that calls +us nearer God should be followed, any motion of our heart toward duty +should be obeyed. God is sure to send us, one and all, special hours in +which His wishes are clear to our understandings and His promises are +reassuring to our wills. Those are the golden hours of existence. Even +God can provide no better. If we use these best hours aright, our whole +moral nature is changed, and the weakest of us becomes a mighty "prince +of God." + + + + +GIVING OUR BEST TO GOD. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GIVING OUR BEST TO GOD. + + +God asks every man to give to Him his best. It is God's way, God's +undeviating way with each individual to say to him, "Whatever in +yourself or in your possessions is best, that I ask you to devote to +Me." + +Students of God, in all ages, have recognized this fact. They have +understood that a human life cannot wholly follow God unless all the +holdings of that life are consecrated to God. They have also understood +that a man's "all" includes his best, and that unless that best is +God's, the man's real heart and the man's strongest purposes are not +God's. + +Abraham realized these truths. Accordingly, when Abraham, pondering his +personal relation to God, asked himself whether he was a perfectly +devoted man, the thought of his son Isaac crept into his mind. Isaac was +his only real son. He dearly loved him. He was the supreme treasure of +his heart. Abraham's hopes centered in Isaac. His ambitions and his joys +were bound up in that son and in that son's life. + +Was Abraham willing to give to God his best treasure, his Isaac? That +was the question Abraham found himself called upon to face. In facing it +he was affected by the theories of consecration that prevailed among the +surrounding nations. Those theories asserted that consecration meant +sacrifice--that to consecrate a lamb to a god meant to slay the lamb +upon the altar of that god, and that to consecrate a child to Jehovah +would mean to slay the child upon the altar of Jehovah. + +As he thought on these things and knew God wished him to give to Him his +best, there came to him a conviction that spoke to his heart with all +the authority of the voice of God. "Abraham, if you are ready to give Me +your best, you will take Isaac, your son, your only son, whom you love, +and in Moriah offer him there for a burnt-offering." + +That was the most searching command that could have entered his soul. It +asked of him the sacrifice of the dearest object of his life. + +Nobly, even sublimely, did he meet the test. Believing, according to +the ideas prevalent about him, that perfect devotion to God and to God's +kingdom called him to lift his fatherly hand and plunge the knife of +death into the heart of his child, Abraham lifted his hand for the +sacrifice. In that act God, who ever stood ready to correct Abraham's +misconception of method, had evidence that before Him was an absolutely +loyal soul. Here was one who to all generations might deservedly be +called, "The father of the faithful." Accordingly, with the man who +would give Him his best and who thus became a worthy example for all +mankind, God made a covenant; "In Abraham and in his seed all the +nations of the earth should be blessed." + +This impressive scene heads the very beginning of the salvation of the +race. It is the prelude to the definite record of the world's +redemption. It ushers in that line of history that starting with Abraham +advances through a chosen people until a Christ is come and in Him and +through Him and for Him all people are asked to give their best to God +and to the world's help. + +What is a person's best? Sometimes the question can easily be answered. +In Malachi's time, when people were bringing their offerings to the +temple, and those offerings were the blind, the lame, and the sick of +the flock, it was evident that these imperfect creatures were not the +best. The best were the clear-eyed, the strong-limbed, and the +vigorous-bodied sheep that were left at home. Of two talents or five +talents or ten talents, all in the possession of the same owner, it is +clear that the ten talents are the best. The thing that to a man's own +heart is the dearest is to him his best. The thing that for the world's +betterment is the most helpful is to that world the man's best. Usually +these two things are the same thing; a man's dearest treasure +consecrated to the world's uplift is the best thing he can give to the +world's good. Whatever carries a man's undivided and enthusiastic heart +into usefulness is the best that he can offer to God and to God's world. + +For a man is at his best when in utter self-abnegation his heart is +enlisting every power of mind and body in devotion to a worthy cause. +Moses was good as a shepherd. The rabbins love to tell of his protection +of sheep in time of danger and of his provision for them in time of +need. But Moses was at his best when, under God's call, he conquered his +fear and reluctance, resolved to do what he could to rescue Israel from +cruel Pharaoh, and throwing his heart into the effort, undertook the +redemption of his race. Joshua was good as a servant and as a spy, but +he was at his best when he took the lead of armies, won glorious +victories, and wisely administered government. Paul was good when he sat +at the feet of Gamaliel and studied well, and when, grown older, he was +an upright citizen of Judea, but Paul was at his best when, under the +inspiration of a cause that inflamed his whole life, he pleaded on Mar's +Hill, wrote to Roman saints, and triumphed over suffering in prison. + +It is not easy for a youth to know what is his best. He is uncertain of +his aptitudes. He is not sure that he _has_ special aptitudes. His +marked characteristics have not become clear to his own eye, if they +have become clear to the eyes of others; nor does he understand what +power is latent in his distinctive characteristics, whose existence he +is beginning to suspect. Such a youth need not, must not, be discouraged +and think he has no "best." He has a "best" that in God's sight +individualizes him, a "best" that God wishes consecrated to him. +Whatever is most precious to that youth, whatever he least likes to have +injured and most likes to have prosper, that is the element of his life +that he should lay at God's feet. If the most treasured possession of +his being is thus given to God, God in the due time will develop its +aptitudes. He will provide a place or an hour when those aptitudes shall +be given opportunity. No Moses--competent for mighty tasks--is ever +allowed to remain unsummoned, provided such competency is wholly given +to God. There are many marvels in human history, but no marvel is +greater than the coming of the hour of opportunity to every man to do +his best and to reveal his best. It is not so much a question of what is +our best, as it is whether we are willing to consecrate the thing we +prize most to the service of God's world. + +That world _needs_ our best. The problems of human society and the +wants of men can never be met by the cheap. What costs the giver little, +accomplishes little with the receiver. Skin deep beneficences never +penetrate beyond the skin of those helped. The woes of the world lie far +beneath the skin. When we study them, we are amazed by their depth; we +see how futile many of the efforts of mankind to relieve them are. The +failure of so many of these efforts causes some souls to question +whether it is possible for any one ever to relieve humanity's needs. +That question will always suggest a negative answer, so long as the +superficial, the secondary, and the merely good are brought to the +relief of mankind. It is only when the best that an individual can give +or society can provide is offered men that men will be redeemed. + +The existence in our world to-day of so much sin and sorrow is most +significant. It exists and will continue to exist so long as we bring +anything less than our best to its help. There was no cure for the +lepers of Palestine so long as men threw them coins that they could +easily spare, gave them food that cost them little self-denial, and said +under their breath, "How pitiable those lepers are!" But when One came +who gave _Himself_ for them, who risked being put out of synagogue and +temple and all society by _touching_ them, who even ceremonially defiled +Himself with their defilement, and thus did the best He possibly could +do for them, the lepers were healed. + +The best men in the world are not too good for the world's needs. The +streets of cities and the lanes of towns will never be purified by any +instrumentalities of usefulness that are less than the best. The heathen +world has not a village in which the wisest, noblest, purest man or +woman will not have to battle hard before the work to be done can be +done. Inexpensive apparatus may avail where operations are simple, but +the most expensive apparatus that can be found is required where +operations are intensely complicated. + +It sometimes seems as though even intelligent people had not +comprehended these facts. They talk of the foolishness of casting pearls +before swine. But the woes of humanity are not the woes of swine. They +are the woes of men and women in bondage to wrong--and pearls are none +too good to set before them that thereby the beauty of life may be seen +by them and thereby that earthly condition of society whose every gate +is one single pearl of purity, may be desired by them. If in a home we +cannot be a comfort to the sorrowful, or in a school be an inspiration +to the laggard, or in business be a cheer to the discouraged, without +giving the very best out of our hearts that we can give, how shall we +expect that the great mass of evil congested in dense centers and +compacted through ancient custom, will ever be purified, unless we take +the best resources we can command, in ourselves and in others, and bring +those best resources face to face, yes, heart to heart, to that mass of +evil. The world will never be saved until we offer our Isaacs upon the +altar of its needs. + +That world _deserves_ our best. We never can repay to this world the +good this world has done us. The richest man on the earth is the most +heavily indebted to his fellows. All our knowledge, culture, and safety +are gifts from others. Our schools are the product of men who for a +hundred generations have thought and labored for us. "Every ship that +comes to America got its chart from Columbus. Every novel is a debtor to +Homer." The more of treasure any man has, the more of toil others have +borne for him. The best elements of our homes, our business, and our +civilization reach us through the tears and blood of others. Were the +man who has two hundred millions of dollars to attempt to meet his +indebtedness to the world by the expenditure of that sum in charities, +he would not _begin_ to discharge his indebtedness. Every single benefit +we enjoy cost many men their best. + +The nobler our type of manhood the gladder we are to acknowledge this +indebtedness and the gladder we are in our present place and time to +give our best for others. + + "Fame is what you have taken, + Character is what you give; + When to this truth you waken, + Then you begin to live." + +Something of fineness and of greatness is lacking in the person who +thinks himself above his neighbors and their needs. The better and the +larger a man becomes, the readier he is to declare himself a brother to +suffering humanity and to feel that no sacrifice he can make of himself +is too costly if thereby he can elevate others. It is "angelic" to be a +ministering spirit sent forth to minister to those who may be made heirs +of salvation. + +The highest examples possible to our emulation confirm this theory of +the gift of the best. Christ Himself withheld not any treasures He +possessed, but He gave them all and gave them cheerily for foolish +humanity. He laid upon the altars of the world's need His best wisdom, +His best power, His best glory. He even laid upon that altar His own +precious life, and He laid it there, in all its spotlessness, subject to +the very curses of men. + +So, too, did the Father unhesitatingly give His best for the world's +welfare. He gave His Son, His only begotten Son, in whom He was well +pleased, to save the lost. He gave that Son to any and to every pain +involved in the cheering of the sorrowful and the strengthening of the +weak. Not even from Gethsemane, no, nor from Calvary, did He withhold +His best. What Abraham was ready to do, but what God spared him from +doing, that God Himself did--and God's Isaac was stretched upon the +cross and died there a sacrifice. + +It is the gift of the best that touches the heart of the recipient. +Superficial kindnesses are impotent, but kindnesses that involve the +surrender of the giver's treasures sway the soul of the recipient. This +is not always true, but it is true as a principle. "They will reverence +My Son." Yes, though they pay no heed to mere servants and prophets, and +though some unappreciative men slay even the Son, other men, the great +multitude of men, when they realize that the Son is God's best +possession, and realize that in His gift of Christ God exhausts the +treasury of His heart, will reverence His Son. The cross is sure to win +the whole world to God, because the cross stands for God's gift of His +best. God's way of doing good should be our way. It is the only way that +has assurance of success. Our wisest learning, our best possessions, our +choicest scholars, our dearest children, our brightest hours, our +largest abilities--all must be given to the service of humanity, if the +needs of humanity are to be met. + +Look where we will, the souls of men are waiting for help. Thousands +upon thousands of lives will not suffice to provide this help. Millions +upon millions of dollars may be expended, and still, in this land and in +other lands, there will be the destitute, the afflicted, and the +enslaved. It was not Abraham's gift of his sheep nor of his shekels that +made him the forerunner of the Christ, but it was his gift of Isaac. Our +gift of the best alone will put us in line with Abraham and Christ, and +make our service a power for salvation. + +Only a large-hearted life will give its best to God. Small hearts cling +to their best treasures. Achan puts God's name on every object found in +fallen Jericho excepting the most valuable; that he hides in his tent. +Saul devotes to Jehovah all the cattle conquered from the Ammonites but +the best; those he reserves for himself. It was the mark of the +greatness of her nature that when to the widow there came a man of God +asking for food, and her meal was only enough to bake a cake for her son +and herself ere they died, she took that meal, obedient to what she +considered to be a call from God, and made of it, her best, her all, a +cake for the man of God. God honored that gift and paid back into her +own life the blessing of His unfailing provision. He always honors any +such gift. A man like Joseph gives his best and keeps giving his best to +God all his days, and God never suffers Joseph to lose his spiritual +vigor. But if Solomon only gives his best in his early life, and +withholds his best in his later life, that later life becomes weak and +meager. + +The proof to which God put Abraham is the most soul-searching proof that +ever comes into human lives. If we answer to it as did Abraham, we are +immediately brought into a new and sweeter relation to God. God +withholds no blessing from him who offers Him his best. God enters into +a dearer and closer fellowship with such an one. He declares to him that +His name is "Jehovah-Jireh," "The Lord will provide," assuring the man +that though he does make great sacrifices for God, God will provide for +him abundantly more than he has thus sacrificed. The young ruler went +away from Christ sorrowful when he declined to give Christ his best, but +no soul ever can be sorrowful that gives its best to Christ. "You shall +have a hundred-fold more in this world and in the world to come life +everlasting." It was because the disciples gave their best to Christ +that they became so efficient in his service. "What things were gain to +me, those I counted loss for Christ." Accordingly Paul became mighty to +the upbuilding of the kingdom of his Master and was always joyous. + +Let every one look into his life and find his best. "What is it I prize +most? What is it that gives me largest place among my fellows?" Then let +every one consecrate that best to God. That best may be the enthusiasm +of our youth, or the wisdom of our maturity, or the wealth of our age. +It may be a child in our home, or our hope of advancement, or some +special attractiveness we possess. Whatever our best may be, God asks us +to consecrate it to Him. Whoever so consecrates his best will find God +dearer, life sweeter, and service richer than ever before. + + "There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave, + There are souls that are pure and true; + Then give to the world the best you have, + And the best shall come back to you. + + "Give love, and love to your heart will flow, + A strength in your utmost need; + Have faith, and a score of hearts will show + Their faith in your word and deed. + + "For life is the mirror of king and slave, + 'Tis just what you are and do; + Then give to the world the best you have, + And the best will come back to you." + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + + Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + + The word "repentence" on page 149 was changed to "repentance." + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Living for the Best, by James G. K. 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K. McClure. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + +p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + +hr {width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; clear: both;} + +table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + +a {text-decoration: none;} + +.big {font-size: 125%;} +.huge {font-size: 150%;} +.giant {font-size: 200%;} + +.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + +.poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Living for the Best, by James G. K. McClure + +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: Living for the Best + +Author: James G. K. McClure + +Release Date: May 17, 2011 [EBook #36162] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING FOR THE BEST *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p> </p> +<p class="center"><span class="giant">Living for the Best</span></p> + +<p class="center">By</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge">James G. K. McClure</span></p> + +<p class="center">Author of "A Mighty Means of Usefulness," "The Great Appeal," +"Possibilities," etc.</p> +<p> </p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/001.png" alt="" /></div> +<p> </p> +<p class="center"> +<span class="smcap">Chicago</span> <span class="smcap">New York</span> <span class="smcap">Toronto</span><br /> +<span class="big">Fleming H. Revell Company</span><br/> +<span class="smcap">London and Edinburgh</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p class="center">Copyright, 1903<br/> +By <span class="smcap">Fleming H. Revell Company</span><br/> +<small>MARCH</small></p> +<p> </p> + + +<p class="center">CHICAGO: 63 WASHINGTON STREET<br/> +NEW YORK: 158 FIFTH AVENUE<br/> +TORONTO: 27 RICHMOND STREET, W.<br/> +LONDON: 21 PATERNOSTER SQUARE<br/> +EDINBURGH: 30 ST.MARY STREET</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">PREFACE.</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>The publisher of a large metropolitan journal, a most effective man in +reaching and influencing his fellows, once expressed to me the thought, +"From what I know of myself and others, were I a writer or speaker +desiring to enforce truth, I would always try to vivify that truth +through illustration and story. The every-day intelligence of man +rejoices to have truth put before it in living form."</p> + +<p>It is with these words in mind that this book is written. Its purpose is +to set forth great ideas, and so to set them forth, each one illustrated +by a historic life already familiar, that these ideas shall be made +luminous, and even vivid, to the reader. The characters chosen for such +illustration are from the Old Testament—those men of ancient times +whose humanity is the humanity of every race and clime, and whose +experiences touch our own with sympathy and suggestion. May these +old-day heroes live again before the mind of him who turns these pages, +and may the ideas which they are used to illustrate be an abiding power +in the memory of every reader.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 8em;"><span class="smcap">James G. K. McClure.</span></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><span class="smcap">Lake Forest</span>,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;"><span class="smcap">Illinois.</span></span><br /> +</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">TABLE OF CONTENTS</span></p> +<p> </p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="5" summary="table"> + +<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small></td><td> </td> <td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">I.</td><td> Open to the Best</td><td align="right"> <a href="#Page_11">11</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">II.</td><td> Winning the Best Victories</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">III.</td><td> Making the Best Use of Our Lives</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_49"> 49</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IV.</td><td> Putting the Best into Others</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_67"> 67</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">V.</td><td> Developing Our Best under Difficulties</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_87"> 87</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VI.</td><td> The Need of Retaining the Best Wisdom </td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_105"> 105</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VII.</td><td> The Best Possession</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_123"> 123</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">VIII.</td><td> Using Aright Our Best Hours</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_141"> 141</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">IX.</td><td> Giving Our Best to God</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_161"> 161</a></td></tr> +</table> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Open to the Best.</span></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER I.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Open to the Best.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>"If every morning we would fling open our windows and look out on the +wide reaches of God's love and goodness, we could not help singing." So +it has been written. So Luther thought. When he was at Wartburg Castle, +in the perilous times of the Reformation, he went every morning to his +window, threw it open, looked up to the skies, and veritable prisoner +though he was, cheerily sang, "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very +present Help." Then he carried a buoyant heart to the labor of the day.</p> + +<p>The joy of a glad outlook was well understood by Ruskin. His guests at +Brantwood were often awakened early in the morning by a knocking at +their doors and the call, "Are you looking out?" When in response to +this summons they pushed back the window-blinds a scene of beauty +greeted their eyes. The glory of sunlight and the grandeur of forest +dispelled care, quieted fret, and animated hope.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>Scarce anything in life more determines a soul's welfare than the nature +of its outlook. If spiritual frontage is toward the shadow, the soul +sees all things in the gloom of the shadow; if spiritual frontage is +toward the sunlight, the soul sees all things in the brightness of the +sunlight.</p> + +<p>The preliminary question of character is, What is the outlook? Let that +outlook be wrong, and opinion and conduct in due time will be wrong; let +it be right, and whatever the temporary mistakes of opinion and conduct, +the permanent tendency of character will be toward the right.</p> + +<p>"From a small window one may see the infinite," Carlyle wrote. This was +Daniel's belief. He acted upon his belief. The windows of his soul were +always open to the infinite. In that fact lies the explanation of his +character—a character of which every child hears with interest, every +youth with admiration, and every mature man with reverence.</p> + +<p>To-day in eastern lands the Mohammedan, wherever he may be, turns his +face toward Mecca when, seeking help, he worships God. To him Mecca is +the central spot of Mohammedan<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> revelation, and is the focus of all +Mohammedan brotherhood. So in olden times the Israelite, wherever he +might be, thought of Jerusalem as the place where God's worship was +worthiest and where Israelitish fellowship was heartiest. The name +"Jerusalem" strengthened his religious faith and stirred his national +patriotism. To open the windows of his soul toward Jerusalem was to open +the soul to the best thoughts and impressions that the world provided.</p> + +<p>As the premier of the great Medo-Persian empire Daniel had his own +palatial residence. The windows of the different rooms fronted in their +special directions. There was one room that was his particular and +private room. It was an "upper room" or "loft," somewhere apart by +itself. The distinctive feature of this room was that its windows opened +toward Jerusalem. Into this room Daniel was accustomed to go three times +a day, throw open the lattice windows, look toward Jerusalem, and then +in the thought of all that Jerusalem represented, kneel and talk with +God.</p> + +<p>Such was his custom. If the matters of his life were comparatively +comfortable, he did<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> this; and if those matters were seriously +unpleasant, he did the same. Should, then, an occasion much out of the +ordinary arise, an occasion involving a crisis in his life, it would be +perfectly natural that he should, as he had invariably done, go into his +retired chamber and open the windows.</p> + +<p>Such an extraordinary occasion arose when Darius issued the decree that +the man who prayed to other than himself should be cast into a den of +lions. In itself the decree seemed justifiable. It was customary for the +Persians to worship their kings as gods. Ormuzd was said to dwell in +every Persian king. Accordingly, divine authority was attributed to +Persian kings, and whenever one of them issued a law, it had the force +of infallibility. So it was "that the law of the Medes and the Persians +published by a king altereth not."</p> + +<p>At this particular time a decree commanding all people to bow to the +king was perhaps a matter of state policy. The kingdom of the Medes and +Persians had just been established. Here was an opportunity of testing +the loyalty of the entire realm to the new king, Darius. If the people +far and wide would bow to him, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> they were loyal; but if they refused +so to bow, then they evidently were disloyal.</p> + +<p>There was, however, an ulterior motive lying back of this seemingly +rational decree. Many of the state officials envied Daniel. He was a +foreigner, and still he held higher place than they. They desired to +bring him into disrepute. They could not accomplish their purposes +through charges of malfeasance of office, for his actions were +absolutely faultless. They therefore resorted to the securing of this +decree, believing, from what they knew of Daniel's habits and character, +that he would, as he always had done, pray to Jehovah and not to Darius. +In such case he would violate the decree and expose himself to the +penalty of death.</p> + +<p>Daniel knew that the decree had been issued. What would he do about it? +The envious officials watched to see. When Daniel went to his palace +their eyes followed him. Perhaps they had spies in the palace. In any +case, some eyes tracked him as he passed from room to room until he came +into his "loft," his "upper room," and then they saw him open the +windows toward Jerusalem and kneel before Jehovah! So much was it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> part +of Daniel's life to keep the windows of his soul open to the best, that +the direst threat had no power to divert him for an instant from his +wonted course.</p> + +<p>Daniel kept the windows of his soul open to the best <i>religion</i>. To him +Jerusalem stood for the best religion on earth. From the time, as a boy +of fourteen, he first went away from home, he had lived among peoples +having different faiths. He had known the religion of the Chaldeans, and +had seen its phases under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. It had much in +its favor: its temples were beautiful, its ceremonies ornate, its feasts +imposing. It had much however that was not in its favor: its +heartlessness, its impurity, and its deceit. He had known, too, the +fire-worshiping religion of the Persians. Many of its features appealed +to him. The sun then as always was an object of admiration. As it rises +above the horizon, moving with a stately progress that no cloud can +check, no force of nature can retard, and no hand of man can withstand, +it is the personification of majesty. As it causes the birds to sing, +the beasts of the field to bestir themselves, and mankind to issue forth +to labor, it is the emblem of power. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> it makes the grass to grow and +the flower to bloom, and as it draws skyward the moisture of lake and +ocean that, like a great benefactor, it may send accumulated showers to +refresh the parched earth, the sun is a very life-giver. It was no +wonder that the Persians of Daniel's day, with their imperfect +knowledge, bowed before that sun and worshiped it; nor was it a wonder +that they worshiped all fire that has within itself such transforming +and beautifying and energizing power.</p> + +<p>But though Daniel knew this religion, and the many other religions that +in his time had their votaries in Babylon, he kept his windows open +toward Jerusalem. Other religions might attempt the answer to the soul's +inquiries concerning the meaning of life, other religions might have +their beauties and their deformities, other religions might help him +very materially in his political career, but to him one religion was the +highest and the best, and to the influence of that religion he opened +his soul. Jerusalem stood for one God—an invisible Creator who formed +all things and was Lord over the sun itself as well as over man. This +God, an unseen Spirit, was spotless<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span> in his character, and would dwell in +the heart of man as man's friend and helper. To Daniel there was no such +religion anywhere as the religion that taught this incomparable God—a +God without a vice, a God who forgives sin, a God who never disdains the +weakest soul that comes to him in penitence—and still is "Lord of lords +and King of kings," the only wise and only Eternal One.</p> + +<p>Once a distinguished thinker, addressing students, said: "I have found +great benefit in my own experience by emphasizing a very simple +principle, one which never fails me when it is applied to questions of +the spiritual life: '<i>It is always best to believe the best.</i>'"</p> + +<p>Then he illustrated his meaning. The religion that teaches that all +events are guided by intelligence toward a goal of love, rather than by +blind and remorseless force, enables us to live in hope. It makes +existence, not a prison-house, but a place of broad and splendid +horizons; it makes the service of humanity a prophecy of blessing for +all; it makes the discipline of the race a means toward a beneficent +end. The religion that also teaches that we all are children of a good +God, and that to the weakest and humblest of us there may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> be deliverance +from all evil, transformation into all holiness, and finally reception +to immortality in the presence and service of regnant perfection, such a +religion is the best—the best in its hopes, the best in its +inspiration, the best in its purposes, and the best in its results. +Because it is the best, it is best to believe it; best to believe it, +because through believing it we are helped toward the noblest manhood +and are enabled to face life and death alike, with bravery.</p> + +<p>All this Daniel realized. Accordingly, amid all the distractions and +appeals, and even temptations, of other religions, he kept his heart's +windows open to the influences of God's religion. That was the wise +attitude for him. It is the wise attitude for all. It is a man's duty, +if he be true to his own soul, to keep an open mind to the best +religion. Christianity claims to be the best, and asks acceptance on +that ground alone. It welcomes study of every other religion. It +rejoices in a "Parliament of Religions," wherein the advocates of +different religions may present the claims of their religions in the +strongest language possible. It listens as one religion is praised +because it can secure calmness<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> of mind, and as another is praised +because it can secure heroism of life. As it listens, it delights in +every word of encomium, <i>so long as each speaker and hearer keeps an +open heart toward the best religion</i>. Then, when its own opportunity +comes, Christianity presents itself, and asserting that the evil that is +in any other religion is not in Christianity at all, that the good that +is in any other religion is in Christianity far more abundantly, and +that there are blessings in Christianity that appear in no other +religion whatever, it claims to be the transcendent religion.</p> + +<p>In the activity of intellectual life common to all awakening and +thoughtful minds it is inevitable that doubts will arise concerning the +worthiness of Christianity. Every age finds the special doubts of its +own age peculiar to itself. In this present age questions are in the air +concerning the authorship of the Bible, concerning the person of Christ, +and concerning the authenticity of the records of Christ's earthly +ministry. Men are asking whether this world is impelled by a blind, +resistless, heartless force, whether we are merely a mass of atoms, +whether we may be delivered from the thraldom of sin, and whether<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> when +we die we become dust and dust alone. What shall we do in the face of +all these questions? <i>Keep the windows of our souls open to the beliefs +that are best for our life's grandeur and for humanity's uplift.</i> That +is what we may do, what we should do, and what if we so do, will +invariably lead the mind to a higher and higher valuation of the +pre-eminence of Christianity.</p> + +<p>Daniel kept his windows open to the best <i>commands</i> of the best +religion. His daily surroundings from the hour as a youth he entered the +king's palace at Babylon were demoralizing. The ideals of his associates +were low. The religious life of his fellow-students was a mere form. +Domestic life all about him was unsound. Public life was dishonest. +Looseness of character everywhere prevailed. Impurity was alluring. +Bribery was considered a necessary feature of authority. The weak were +crushed by the mighty. Selfishness characterized both king and people.</p> + +<p>The difficulty of his position was great: to breathe malaria and not be +affected by it. He was in the whirl of worldliness and still he must not +be made dizzy thereby. His one resource for safety was his daily +consideration of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> the commands of God. Those commands charged men to be +upright, to be clean, to do duty faithfully, even though it was duty to +a heathen master, and to make life serviceable to the welfare of others. +Again and again all through the years of his exile it was necessary for +his soul's welfare that he should ponder these commands of God and not +let the atmosphere that surrounded him lower and destroy his ideals.</p> + +<p>On that day when the unalterable decree was issued Daniel was in +imminent and unescapable peril. Jealous officers already rejoiced in his +anticipated death. The danger of weakening threatened his heart. He +remembered that Abraham once in Egypt surrendered his principles and +thereby saved his life; that the Gibeonites once falsified and so +preserved themselves alive. He might have reasoned, "Why should not I, +in this special matter, yield, and give up recognition of Jehovah until +the storm of persecution is past?" He could easily say, "Perhaps I am +making too much of this whole subject; what difference will there be if +I, away off here in Babylon, hundreds of miles from home, call this a +case of expediency, and temporarily relinquish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span> my ideals?" The +temptation was a fearful one. Many a man has gone down before it. +Cranmer did, Pilate did; but not Daniel. He kept his eyes on God's +commands—those commands that told him to do the right and scorn the +consequences, those commands that told him that faithfulness to +principle, though it ended in martyrdom, was essential to place in God's +hero list. He remembered Joseph, who would not sin against God in doing +evil. He remembered God, that bade him bear his testimony, sealing it if +necessary with his life's blood. So remembering he kept the faith and +proved invincible.</p> + +<p>Many a man, like Daniel, exposed to a peculiar temptation, has been +made brave as he has remembered the standards set for him by another. He +has thought of the wife perhaps, who charged him to meet his duties as a +man of God, though godliness should involve them both in disgrace, and +thus thinking he has stood firm before evil. Or as a youth, away from +home, in a school or factory, with deteriorating influences all about +him, and his feet well-nigh gone from the ways of uprightness, he has +turned his heart toward that mother<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> who would rather have him die than +be false, and the remembrance of her has roused his self-assertion and +made him master of the environment.</p> + +<p>The commands of God summon men to <i>principle</i>, to <i>fidelity</i>, to +<i>serviceableness</i>, to <i>self-renunciation</i>, and to <i>holiness</i>. The man +has never lived, nor ever will live, who can fulfil these commands of +God unless his windows are continually open toward Jerusalem. We need, +we always need, to have our ideals kept large and our standards kept +high if we are to be noble souls.</p> + +<p>Daniel kept the windows of his soul open, too, to the best <i>promises</i> +of the best religion. Even though the prince of the eunuchs was kind to +the home-sick captive, and a king was gracious to the interpreter of +dreams, Daniel was always exposed to discouragement. Like the missionary +of to-day, alone in a foreign land, he was surrounded by the depressing +influences of heathenism. As he advanced in power there was no one to +whom he could go for religious fellowship. The aids of comradeship and +the aids of public worship were wanting. There were no audible voices +summoning him to trust, and there was no tangible evidence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span> of the +existence of a people of God. He therefore needed every day to go to God +Himself, and find in Him a refuge for his heart; needed to hear God's +reassuring voice telling him that God was with him, was watching over +him in love, and would provide for him as occasion might require. How +often Daniel must have been comforted and heartened as he opened his +soul to the promises of God!</p> + +<p>But what an hour of need that was when he was tracked to his upper room! +Every power in the great Medo-Persian Empire was arrayed against him. No +friend, no helper, was at hand. He stood alone before his fearful +crisis. Brave and determined as his spirit might be, he was still a +man—a man of flesh and blood. He needed strength: needed, as Christ +afterward in Gethsemane needed, supporting and encouraging sympathy. He +turned his soul toward the promises of God's protection and help. He let +those promises flood his heart. Those promises made his will like +adamant.</p> + +<p>We do well when we front our hearts to God's promises. Every earnest +soul, trying to make this world better, meets severe discouragements.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that the ends of the +earth are given to Christ and that good shall indeed come off +victorious. Every weak soul struggling to subdue its sin comes to hours +of weariness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that He +giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might He increaseth +strength. Every sorrowing soul, sighing for the loved and the lost, has +days of loneliness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance +that life and immortality are brought to light in Jesus Christ. Only as +the needy world of humanity opens its heart to God's promises can it +walk in light and possess the peace that passeth understanding.</p> + +<p>There is always danger lest men let the windows of their souls be shut +toward God. Our particular <i>sins</i> cause us to shut these windows. We do +not like to look into God's face when we are conscious of cherished +evil. Adam and Eve hid themselves from God when they knew they had done +wrong. Those who condemned the reformers to death, often put wax in +their ears so that they might not hear the testimony given by those +reformers at the stake. <i>Cares</i>, too, cause us to shut<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span> these windows. We +have so much responsibility to absorb us that we have "no time to look +out to any distant tower of a sanctifying thought." All sorts of sights +are before our windows—society, business, pleasure, study—but not God. +Our life seems to open in every other direction than toward the holy +city. We do not go alone into a private place and expose ourselves to +the influences God stands ready to send to our hearts. It would be far +better if we did. We should find that almost as gently as comes the +sunlight, ideas, inspirations, and aspirations would be suggested to our +hearts. They would enter our hearts, we would not know how; and if we +cherished them, they would correct our false estimates of life, would +re-mint our courage, would clarify the vision of our faith, and would +prepare us, as they prepared Daniel, to discharge all life's duties with +integrity, humanity, and composure.</p> + +<p>It is a blessed, very blessed, way to live, this way of keeping our +hearts open to the best. We all can so live. We can have a secret +chamber—a very closet of the soul—into which we can go, whether we are +with the multitude or are alone; and if through the broadly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span> opened +windows of that closet we look out toward the best—distant as that best +may seem—back from the best will come the light that never fails and +the strength that never breaks.</p> +<p> </p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Winning the Best Victories.</span></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER II.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Winning the Best Victories.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Success in life is determined by the victories we win. Only he who +triumphs over obstacles is a successful man.</p> + +<p>There are as many kinds of victory as there are kinds of obstacles. Some +kinds of obstacles call upon us for the use of our secondary powers, and +some for the use of our primary powers. When the obstacles bring into +play the very best powers of our natures, and those powers conquer the +obstacles, then we win our best victories.</p> + +<p>David is a most interesting illustration of the winning of victories. +The Bible evidently considers him one of its greatest heroes. While it +gives eleven chapters to Jacob and fourteen chapters to Abraham, it +gives sixty-one chapters to David. It thus asks us to pay great heed to +the story and lessons of David's life.</p> + +<p>Almost our first introduction to David represents him in a fight. He is +a mere shepherd lad, out in the wilderness, perhaps miles<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> from another +human being, when a lion springs forth and seizes a lamb from the flock +he is guarding. It was a fearsome hour for a boy. He might have deserted +the flock and fled, preserving himself. But not so. He faced the lion. +He even attacked the lion. He wrested the lamb from its mouth, and he +slew the lion. Again, when, under similar circumstances, a beast of +another kind, a bear, laid hold of a lamb, David stood up to the danger, +and with such weapons of club and knife as he had, fought the bear to +its death.</p> + +<p>Some years ago in Alaska, in a house hundreds of miles from any other +white man's home, I saw a bearskin lying upon the sitting-room floor. +The son of the house, out hunting, had suddenly come upon a bear, that +rose up within a few feet of his face. The boy lifted his gun, shot, +aiming at the bear's heart, and then, trembling with terror, ran for +home. The next day the boy's father took associates to the spot, found +the body of the bear, and brought the skin home as a trophy of the boy's +skill and pluck. And a trophy it was! But when David, scarce armed at +all, a boy, brought down his lion and his bear,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> in an actual +face-to-face encounter, the skins of the lion and of the bear were +trophies indeed!</p> + +<p>The next scene in David's life is when he meets Goliath. David is still +a youth. The ruddy color has not yet been burned out of his cheeks by +the Oriental sun. This meeting is different from any he has faced. It is +not with a beast, but with a man—a man armed, a man experienced in +combat, a man of much larger size and weight than himself, a man who had +an assured sense of his own strength, a man whose voice, manner, and +prowess put fear into the heart of every fighter in the army of Israel. +In David's previous contests there had been an element of suddenness, so +there was no time for hesitation, and so no time for the cowardice often +born of hesitation; in this contest there was delay, and during that +delay David was twitted with the foolishness of even thinking of facing +Goliath, and an effort was made to break down his courage. Right +manfully, however, did he stand up to the danger. Instead of a lamb, an +army was in peril. The cause was worthy of a great venture. He made the +venture. He took smooth stones from the brook, he used his shepherd's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +sling, he conquered Goliath, and Goliath's sword and Goliath's head +became trophies of a splendid victory. The youth had rescued an army +from paralyzing fear, and had saved the glory of Jehovah's name! He +deserved credit then. He received it then. And he became forever an +inspiring example to all youth who would fight their country's battles, +and win laurels for the God of battles.</p> + +<p>These two scenes are suggestive. The one with the lion and the bear +speaks to us of pure physical bravery. David has such muscular strength +that he, by the power in his hands and arms, can hold beasts and fight a +winning fight with them. David's strength makes the killing of a lion or +bear with a rifle, whether at long distance or even near at hand, seem +small. It makes the ordinary successes of those who contest in the +athletic trials of our day seem insignificant. Still it glorifies those +successes. Physical bravery is most desirable. People believe so. They +love to see contests of physical endurance. They will go miles to watch +such contests, and they will cheer the victors to the echo. In so doing +to-day they follow the example of all preceding generations. Barbarian, +Greek, Roman,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span> Indian, every man everywhere is interested in muscular +power. It fells trees and wins victories over the forest; it plows soil +and wins victories over the fields; it breaks stone and wins victories +over roadbeds. Physical victories are not to be gainsaid. May every life +win them if it can against nature, against other lives in fair +athletics, against any one who would rob a home or burn a house. The +ambition to win muscular victories, in a right way, for the defense or +honor of a worthy cause, is to be commended. Victories so won make their +winners heroes. Waterloo is said to have been fought and won on the +foot-ball ground of Rugby.</p> + +<p>The other scene is likewise suggestive—of David with Goliath. It is +that of a youth fighting for his country and his God. It is still a +physical contest, but it is now skill and muscle combined; or rather, +muscle directed by skill. The contest, physically considered, is +unequal. David is no match for Goliath. They are in different classes. +But a calm mind, a dexterous hand, and a high purpose are David's, and +they more than compensate for lack of physical force. The strongest +battalions do not always conquer. The strongest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span> physical force is not to +conquer in this instance. Patriotism may so nerve the heart that one man +is equal to a hundred, and resolute purpose may develop such skill and +sturdiness that a few can put a thousand to flight. It has always been +so—in days of Marathon and in days of Bunker Hill—and it always will +be so. The men who win such victories may well be lauded. It was right +that David's name should go into the ballads of his country and be +repeated again and again to stir the heart of patriotism. Any man who +can fight the battles of trade or of manufacturing or of invention—any +man who can head a great industry, who can write a strong book, or who +can make an eloquent speech—any man who conquers the difficulty of his +position by skill and energy, and succeeds, has indeed won a great +victory. For a mere shepherd youth to conquer a trained fighter was +superb; and it is superb to-day when a poor boy honestly wins his way to +wealth, and a stammering boy learns to speak like a Demosthenes, and a +seeming dunce becomes a brilliant Scott. All soldiers conquering like +Grant, all discoverers succeeding like Columbus, all investigators +searching like Darwin<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> and writing like Spencer, deserve crowns of +recognition for victories they have won.</p> + +<p>As a result of these two scenes in David's life many other scenes of a +somewhat similar nature occurred. As occasions arose, David led many +another attack upon the nation's foes. He possessed the rare power of +creating a well-disciplined force out of outlaws. He so combined skill +and leadership that none of the enemies of Israel could resist him. The +story of his battles is a long and a glorious one. He was a fighter of +whom the nation might be proud. If physical prowess and military skill +and administrative force and legislative provision are essential to +kingly success, he had them. Victory after victory, in all these lines, +were written upon his banner.</p> + +<p>But David's fame does not rest upon the victories he won over beast or +fellow-man, interesting and great as these victories are. The reason +that the Bible gives him the space it does, and the reason Christ is +said to be David's son (though never the son of any other Old Testament +hero), is because of the victories David won over himself. In the sphere +of his own heart he found his greatest difficulties, for in that sphere<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +he found his strongest foes; but in that sphere he wrought out his +greatest victories. The best element in David's life is not his physical +strength, not his intellectual skill, not his ability as a singer, a +general, a judge, a builder, or a king, but the best element is his +conquest of himself.</p> + +<p>What a victory of <i>magnanimity</i> that was, when Saul, who was bitterly +persecuting David, entered the cave in whose dark recesses David was +concealed, and lay down for sleep! David had him in his power. He could +have killed him instantly, and forever ended the persecution. He was +even urged to do so by his followers. But he conquered his enmity, he +looked upon the sleeping Saul with pity, and he left him unharmed. It is +a mighty soul that can pity and forgive. Here was a king pursuing an +innocent subject who had no other thought than of loyalty to his +king—pursuing him relentlessly. The whole transaction on Saul's part +was unjust and cruel. But David, deeply feeling the wrong he was +suffering, crowded down the bitterness of his heart, and treated Saul +magnanimously.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>How many men, otherwise splendid men, have failed just here. They could +fight bravely as sailors or soldiers, but later they could not treat a +rival graciously. They could win successes socially or commercially or +scholastically, but they became jealous of their places and their +recognitions, and they wished no good to the one who in any way stood in +their path. But David, knowing that he himself was anointed to be king, +and that Saul's persecution of him was unjustifiable, still rose so far +above all thought of preserving his own dignity and insisting on his own +rights, that when his enemy lay helpless at his feet, he treated him +with deference! Now we begin to see why David is called "a man after +God's own heart." Was it because he could fight beast and man well? No; +but because he could fight his own jealous, bitter heart and make it +generous and kind and magnanimous.</p> + +<p>What a victory of <i>penitence</i> that was when David sinned in the matter +of Uriah and Bathsheba! He did sin. No one exculpates David. The Bible +does not exculpate him, nor will any sane man exculpate him. He did a +wrong that brought incessant sorrow on his heart and home. During all +the remaining<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> years of his life he had cause to regret his wrong. It +might have been alleged that he did only what king after king, situated +like himself in that Oriental land, with its despotic power and its +manner of life, had done before him and would do after him. He might +have justified himself by the custom of the day and by the prerogative +of royalty. The probability is that he acted impulsively, allowing in an +unguarded moment a wicked suggestion to conquer him. But when a prophet +of God, Nathan, brought home to his soul the fact that he had sinned, +what a victory that was, as the man fought down all the voices within +him, calling to him to "brave it out," to "show no weakening before the +prophet," to "justify himself to himself on the score of a king's right +to do as he pleased," and in conquering these voices, humbled himself +before God, making the one voice that triumphantly rose above every +other voice the voice of penitence—"Against Thee, Thee only, have I +sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight. Create in me a clean heart and +renew a right spirit within me!"</p> + +<p>There is nothing in our world that shows high victory better than +penitence. Mankind does<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> wrong. Sometimes it knows the wrong. Then +perhaps it confesses its wrong in the hurried words, "I have sinned." So +said Pharaoh, and immediately did again what he had done before. So said +Saul, and never gave up the wrong that forced the confession from him. +So said Judas, and went out to hang himself. But when David said it, he +said it with a broken and a contrite heart. The man who having sinned +conquers all the passion and pride of his soul and becomes a sweet, +true, pure penitent is a victor over whom angels rejoice. Thousands of +men who have made a success in their own field of labor fail to win +life's best victories because they never bow before God and say, "Lord, +be merciful to me a sinner." They are as stout-hearted as the Pharisee, +and as self-deceived. They forget the bitternesses they have cherished +toward their fellow-men, they overlook all the omissions of goodness +that have marked their lives, they do not consider how terrible is their +present and their past ingratitude to God for all His goodness to them, +and so they lack that gentlest, most beautiful, and most exalting virtue +of penitence.</p> + +<p>What<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> a victory of <i>humility</i> that was, when David, forbidden to carry +out the supreme desire of his heart in the building of a temple, exerted +all his power to help another to build it! The erection of a temple that +should be the richest structure of its time was David's dream. It was to +be the consummation of his effort. Enemies should be subdued, laws +should be passed, government should be sustained, and foreign alliances +made—all to this end. He looked forward to the day when the temple +would crown Moriah, as the happiest day of his life. But God told him +that another, not he, should build the temple, and that it would be +known, not as David's Temple, but as Solomon's Temple. Should he then +withdraw all interest from the undertaking? Should he say, "This is not +my matter, it is another's; let another then carry its burden, as he +will carry its glory." He was sorely disappointed. The one thing he had +aimed to do was denied him. But he rose above his disappointment; he +conquered it. He who was to take secondary place, threw himself into the +help of him who was to have first place. He devised plans, he organized +forces, he started instrumentalities, he gave his money<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> by the millions, +he animated others to follow his example, and he did all that chastened +devotion could do to help another to complete the building which should +forever sound the praises of Solomon.</p> + +<p>Humility is not a virtue easily won. The virtue of sweetly accepting +minor place when we wished major place, and of working as earnestly for +another as for ourselves, is very rare. In the army of Washington there +was a general, Charles Lee, who again and again was conquered by his own +jealousy, and would not do as the interests of Washington, his +commanding officer, demanded. He would have fought to the death for his +own reputation, but not for the reputation of Washington. Self-made men +find it exceedingly difficult to be humble. David won a far higher +victory when he cheerily went about all the self-imposed tasks of +gathering material for Solomon's temple than when he fought the lion or +Goliath, or led an army into battle. The man that does justice does +well; the man that does justice and loves mercy does better; the man +that does justice and loves mercy and walks humbly before God does best. +And no man, whoever he may be, strong, reputable,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> industrious, +scholarly, wealthy, ever wins his best victories until he walks humbly +with his God.</p> + +<p>And what a victory of <i>unselfishness</i> that was when David, in the time +of the numbering, called upon God to lay all penalty for the sin upon +himself! Again the lower propensities of David's heart had misled him. +He thought that he would number his military forces and let the nation +know how strong and ample its army was. The thought was a mistaken one. +Safety lay, not in numbers, but in the virtues that spring from obedient +trust in God. The deed of numbering, however, had been done. Then the +plague came. God would show that in three days the army could be so +reduced by sickness as to make it, however large its numbers, utterly +impotent. David saw the angel of destruction as the angel drew near to +the threshing-floor of Araunah. With a heart overflowing with +unselfishness, he cried to God, "I have sinned, I have done perversely, +but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand be against me, and +against my father's house." He would die himself—to have others live.</p> + +<p>This was perhaps his very best victory. Winkelried<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> opened his breast to +receive all the concentrated spear thrusts of the enemy, that thus the +army behind him might have chance to advance. The self-immolating life +is the noblest. True love comes to its expression in self-sacrifice. +Christ reached His highest glory, not when He battled with wind and wave +and conquered them, not when He battled with disease and demons and +conquered them, not when He battled with lawyers and dialecticians and +conquered them, but when He poured out His life for others.</p> + +<p>There are victories to be won at every step of our life's progress. No +one of them is to be underestimated. Victories of mere brawn, wrought +worthily in proper time and proper place, are good; victories of +intellectual skill, wrought worthily in proper purpose and proper +spirit, are good; but the best victories any life can win are the +victories won within a man's own heart. These are the most difficult +victories, and they are the most glorious victories. Each person, +equally with every other, has opportunity for such victories. Whenever +David failed to carry God and God's help into a battle he lost; but +whenever he fought under God and for God he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> won. David's life knew many +and many a failure, but he rose from every failure and made a new +effort. As a result, victory crowned his life, and he died a man of God. +Victory, too, may crown our lives, however weak they are, if like David, +after every fall, we penitently turn to God, and in His grace strive +once again to win the victories of faith.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Making the Best Use of Our Lives.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER III.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Making the Best Use of Our Lives.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>The great Humboldt once said, "The aim of every man should be to secure +the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete +and consistent whole." Another thoughtful man, Sir John Lubbock, also +said, "Our first object should be to make the most and best of +ourselves."</p> + +<p>Prominent among the historic personages who have made the best use of +their lives is Joseph. Touch his career at any point that is open to +investigation, and always Joseph will be found doing the very best that +under the circumstances can be done. When his father tells him to carry +food to his envious brothers, he obediently faces the danger of their +hatred and goes. When he is a slave in Potiphar's house he discharges +all his duties so discreetly that the prison-keeper trusts him +implicitly. When his fellow-prisoners have heavy hearts, he feels their +sorrows and tries to give them relief. When Pharaoh commits the ordering +of a kingdom to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span> his keeping, he governs the nation ably. When foresight +has placed abundant food in his control, he feeds the famishing nations +so that all are preserved. When his father and his brethren are in need, +he graciously supplies their wants. When that father is dying, the son +is as tender with him as a mother with her child. And when that father +has died, the son reverences his father's last request and carries +Jacob's body far up into the old home country at Machpelah for burial.</p> + +<p>There were many occasions in Joseph's life in which he might have +failed. At least, in any one of them he might have come short of the +best. Seneca used to say of himself, "All I require of myself is, not to +be equal to the best, but only to be better than the bad." But Joseph +aimed in every individual experience to be equal to the best. In that +aim he succeeded wondrously. Going out, as a young boy, from the simple +home of a shepherd, becoming a captive in a strange land, subjected to +great temptations in a luxurious civilization, tested with a great +variety of important duties, exposed to the peril of pride and +self-sufficiency, given opportunity for revenge upon those who had +injured him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> he always, without exception, carried himself well, doing +his part bravely, earnestly, and wisely, and making of his life, in each +opportunity, the best.</p> + +<p>It is not every one that is called to such a vast range of experience as +was Joseph. Even Christ never traveled out of His own little environment +of Judea, that was a few miles north and south, and still fewer miles +east and west. The great majority of lives never come into public +prominence. They have no part in administering the affairs of a kingdom +or in managing large mercantile transactions. Even among the apostles +there were some whose history is almost lost in obscurity. We scarce +know anything of what Bartholomew said or Lebbeus did. It is not a +question whether we can make a great name for ourselves. That may be +absolutely impossible. Many a beautiful flower is so placed in some +extensive field that human eyes never see it and human lips consequently +never praise it. But the question is, whether we are doing the best that +can be done with our lives such as they are.</p> + +<p>Every human life is like the life of some tree. Each tree is at its +best when it well fulfils<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> the purpose for which it was made. There are +trees which must stand as towering as the date-palm if they answer their +end, and there are other trees which can never expect to be towering, +for they were made, like the box, to keep near the ground. Some trees +are for outward fruit, as the apple, and some for inward fruit, as the +ash. Fruit is "correspondence in development with the purpose for which +the tree exists," is "production in the line of the nature of the tree." +When, then, the orange tree produces sound, sweet oranges that refresh +the dry lips of an invalid or ornament the table of a prince, the orange +tree does well; and if it produces such fruit to as large a degree as +possible, and for as long a time as possible, it has done its best. So, +too, does the pine do well when it produces wood wherewith a good house +for family joy may be built, and the spruce does well when it brings +forth a fiber that may be fashioned into paper on which words of truth +can be printed, and the oak does well when it develops a grain suitable +for the construction of a vessel that plowing the waves shall carry +cargoes of merchandise. If the pine, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> spruce, the oak, grow to the +extent of their opportunity, and become all that they can become in the +line of their own possibility, each and all have made the best use of +their lives.</p> + +<p>But how varied are the opportunities as well as the missions of trees, +of the garden cherry and the forest poplar, of the swamp tamarack and +the plantation catalpa! Trees of the same genus may be so differently +placed that one can attain an abundant growth while another must strive +hard simply to exist. An elm along a river bottom, fed by constant +moisture, lifts wide arms to the sunlight, while an elm on a rocky hill, +scarce finding crevices for its roots, necessarily is small and stunted. +And still that stunted elm may, in its place, make or not make the best +use of its life.</p> + +<p>Human lives are as diversified in their natures as the growths of the +field and forest. Our tastes, our aptitudes, our memories, our +imaginations, widely vary. The world is made up of thousands upon +thousands of different needs, that must be met if mankind is to prosper. +Every function necessary for the world's welfare is an honorable +function and becomes, when attempted by a consecrated heart, a sacred<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +function. The world cannot live without cooking, nor can it live without +building, nor without bartering, nor without teaching. How to make the +best of the function or functions that are his, is the question every +human being should ponder.</p> + +<p>A man may make a <i>bad</i> use of his life. He may throw away his +opportunities, he may wreck his powers of mind and body, he may tear +down that good in the world which he was put here to build up. This <i>is</i> +a possibility! Every life should understand that it is a possibility. +John Newton held in his hand a ring. As he was leaning over the rail of +an ocean vessel he had no thought that perhaps through careless handling +he might drop that ring and lose it forever. His mind was entirely on +the ring, not on the danger of losing the ring. Suddenly the ring +slipped through his fingers, and before he could get hold of it again, +it was in the depths of the sea. It is for this reason that the book of +Proverbs is constantly calling to men to see that the priceless jewels +of opportunity are "retained," and that Christ's word, "not to let our +light become darkness," has so much significance. Men often squander +fortunes. They also squander<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> virtues and reputation and aptitudes and +opportunities. Jails, reformatories, houses of detention, drunkards' +graves, the gathering places of tramps, all tell us that people can make +a miserable use of life. So does many a beautiful banquet-hall, many a +luxurious home, many a speculator's resort, many a student's room, tell +us that those we see there have had powers of mind and body and +opportunities of social position and of wealth which they have thrown +away. They have wasted their good as truly as a prodigal who has spent +his all in riotous living. They are Jeroboams; dowered with gifts that +might have been used for their own development and the welfare of others +they have let mean and low and unworthy attractions secure their gifts, +thus spoiling their own characters and causing Israel to sin. Every +blessing that a man has may become his curse, and drag him down and drag +others down with him.</p> + +<p>This truth is well known. The other truth is not so well known, that a +man may make an <i>inferior</i> use of his life. This is exactly what that +Seneca did who declared that his ambition was, "not to be equal to the +best, but only to be better than the bad." He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> gained large knowledge, he +wrote and spoke much that was philosophical and moral, he pointed out +many of the perils of a misuse of wealth, he was better than the bad, +better than the Nero who would kick his mother, kill his wife, make +merry over his own indecencies, and gloat in the crucifixion of martyrs. +Seneca was better than the man who never made effort to cultivate his +mind, was better than the man who spent his days in orgies, yes, was far +better than the man who was blind to the beauty of gems, of poetry, and +of architecture. But all the same he made an inferior use of his life. +His library, his furniture, his precious stones, his worldly wisdom, +were very great. Let him be tutor even to an emperor, an emperor that +was a "Cæsar"! And still, better than the bad, he made a lamentable +misuse of life when he let luxury enervate his righteous principles, let +the pleasures of the table rob him of his integrity, and let his own +hand, in an hour of humiliation, end the life which was not his to end. +Seneca was the man who let an inferior standard decide his purposes, and +thus vitiated his powers. Any standard lower than the highest produces +poor material. Second-rate standards<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span> make second-rate goods and +second-rate men. Second-rate men are brought to hours of emergency +calling for first-rate principles. In such hours second-rate men go +down. A man satisfied to live for anything less than the best of which +he is capable may stand well for a considerable time, but before his +days are over he will be found to be an unsuccessful workman, a +disappointing teacher, a weak financier, an inaccurate student, an +untrustworthy friend.</p> + +<p>But while we may make a bad or inferior use of life, we also may make +the <i>best</i> use of it. To do this should be our ambition. It should be +the underlying, all-pervading purpose that quietly but regnantly +dominates our being. The best use of our life will never be secured +apart from such ambition. It will not come of itself. We do not drift +into a best use. The best use is a matter of toil and perseverance, of +thoughtfulness and devotion. It cost Joseph hours of consideration, days +of application, and years of adaptation to make the best use of his +life. He found himself in new positions constantly. The boy naturally +had looked forward to being a shepherd. To that end he studied the lie +of pasturage<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> lands. When his father sent him to his brethren he knew the +way to Shechem and Dothan, and he found his brethren.</p> + +<p>But with his forced departure into Egypt, probably into the city of +Memphis, all his surroundings are new and untried. The shepherd boy is +given the duties of a household servant, exchanging the freedom of the +field for the confinement of the palace. But he takes up his new duties, +magnifying them as an opportunity of development, and he makes the best +use of them. Later, he who has known only a tent and a palace is in a +prison, and is charged with the work of a prison guard. Right well he +does that work, studying it, giving himself to it, and making a success +of it by his heartiness and fidelity. Later still, he who has only +tended sheep and ordered a household and enforced discipline is called +to be a comforter to souls. He summons his sympathy, he persuasively +approaches those whose hearts are sore, he obtains their confidence, and +relieves their anxiety. Still again, this prisoner, this shepherd boy, +this household servant, this man with pity in his eyes, is called to a +new adaptation. He must appear before a Pharaoh and as a courtier have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +interview with him! That underlying purpose of his heart, always to make +the best of the hour and place, stands him in good stead, and the +courtier conducts himself so wisely that he is advanced to be an +Egyptian viceroy. Later still this viceroy must become a minister of +agriculture and charge a nation when and how to sow the fields. Still +later he must become a secretary of the treasury, purchasing grain and +building store-houses. Still later he must be a great premier, both +providing for present need and making arrangements for future taxation. +Later he must be a brother with a true brother's heart and a son with a +son's gentleness toward an aged and perhaps imperious parent. Later he +must be a mourner, then a traveler, and then as an orphan son he must +assume again the heavy burdens of statesmanship.</p> + +<p>What strange varieties of experience Joseph thus met! How those +experiences kept changing every little while! Why did he succeed so well +in them? Because in every one of them he made the best use of himself +that the occasion allowed. He magnified the opportunity he had. The +thing that was at hand to do he did with absolute fidelity.</p> + +<p>We<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> do not forget and we must not forget that at the very bottom of his +life was a <i>belief in God</i> and an intention to do what God sanctioned +and only what God sanctioned. He would not disobey what he believed to +be a wish of God! Somehow, in that far-away country, surrounded by +temples and idols, meeting the thousands of priests of Isis, hearing the +daily services of heathenism, and seeing the unceasing vices of the +land, he kept God and God's principles in his soul. Those principles in +general taught him purity and honesty; in particular they taught him +<i>fidelity</i> in the service of others and <i>desire to benefit</i> his +fellow-men. Such fidelity and helpfulness—united with dependence on the +aid of God—enabled him always and everywhere to make the best use of +his life. He trusted God when doors were shut as well as when they were +open. Privation as truly as prosperity was to him an opportunity.</p> + +<p>Accordingly, <i>heartiness</i> went into his opportunities. The spirit of +grumbling never appeared in his career. No hour came too suddenly for +him, no task was too small nor too great, no occasion too low nor too +high, no association too mean nor too noble. As a household<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> servant he +did his work as under God and for God, and as a ruler of a nation he did +it as under God and for God, and as an obedient son he did it as under +God and for God.</p> + +<p>A physician whose life has been beautiful in good deeds and in a high +faith once said, "My happiness and usefulness in the world are due to a +chance question from a stranger. I was a poor boy and a cripple. One +day, standing on a ball-field and watching other boys who were strong, +well clothed, and healthy, I felt bitter and envious. The friends of the +players were waiting to applaud them. I never could play nor have +applause! I was sick at heart.</p> + +<p>"A young man beside me must have seen the discontent on my face. He +touched my arm, and said, 'You wish you were one of those boys, do you?' +'Yes, I do,' I answered quickly. 'They have everything and I have +nothing.'</p> + +<p>"Quietly he said, 'God has given them money, education, and health that +they may be of some account in the world. Did it never strike you that +he gave you your lameness for the same reason, to make a splendid man of +you?'</p> + +<p>"I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> did not answer, but I never forgot the words. 'My lameness given me +by God to teach me patience and strength!'</p> + +<p>"At first I did not believe the words, but I was a thoughtful boy, +taught to reverence God, and the more I considered the words, the +clearer I saw their truth. I decided to accept the words. I let them +work upon my temper, my purposes, my actions. I now looked on every +difficulty as an opportunity for struggle, every situation of my life as +an occasion for good. If a helpless invalid was cast on me for support, +or whatever the burden that came to me, I resolved to do my best. Since +then life has been sweetened and growth into peace and usefulness has +come."</p> + +<p>Soon after the death of Carlyle two friends met: "And so Carlyle is +dead," said one. "Yes," said the other, "he is gone; but he did me a +very good turn once." "How was that," asked the first speaker, "did you +ever see him or hear him?" "No," came the answer, "I never saw him nor +heard him. But when I was beginning life, almost through my +apprenticeship, I lost all interest in everything and every one. I felt +as if I had no duty of importance to discharge; that it did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> matter +whether I lived or not; that the world would do as well without me as +with me. This condition continued more than a year. I should have been +glad to die. One gloomy night, feeling that I could stand my darkness no +longer, I went into a library, and lifting a book I found lying upon a +table, I opened it. It was Sartor Resartus, by Thomas Carlyle. My eye +fell upon one sentence, marked in italics, 'Do the duty which <i>lies +nearest to thee</i>, which thou knowest to be a duty! The second duty will +already have become clearer.' That sentence," continued the speaker, +"was a flash of lightning striking into my dark soul. It gave me a new +glimpse of human existence. It made a changed man of me. Carlyle, under +God, saved me. He put content and purpose and power into my life."</p> + +<p>"The duty lying nearest" was the duty Joseph magnified. He accepted +that duty as divine, and he performed it under God faithfully, +serviceably, and cheerily. Any and every life that meets duty as Joseph +did, will make the best of its life. We may be placed in low position or +in high position; we may have menial or kingly responsibilities; we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +have temptations of all possible kinds about us; but if we look to God +for guidance, and carry faithfulness, serviceableness, and cheer into +each and every duty, we shall have made of life the best.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Putting the Best into Others.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER IV.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Putting the Best Into Others.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>There is nothing more worthy than the desire to perpetuate the good. +That desire implies that the person cherishing it has good within +himself, and that he wishes that good to live and flourish after his +death. If a man thinks that his views are the best that can be held, +then, if he is a noble soul, interested in the world's welfare, he longs +to have his best enter into other lives, and so continue to bless the +world.</p> + +<p>This longing characterized Elijah. He came upon the scene of human life +at a time when the worship of the low and debased threatened to dominate +the people of Israel. The priests of Baal, an impure god, were in the +ascendant. Vices, as a consequence, prevailed. These vices controlled +even the court. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were impiously wrong. Elijah +had stern work to do. He must reprove the people for their errors. He +must face the priests of Baal and show them and show the nation that +their god, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> compared to Jehovah, was powerless. He must tell those in +high places, even the king and queen themselves, that their sins, if +persisted in, would surely be visited by Jehovah's wrath.</p> + +<p>His was a difficult task. It required courage, persistency, and +determined purpose. It would have been folly for him to undertake it +unless he felt that his ideas were essential to the nation's good. He +would be resisted and hated. Hours would come when he would seem to +stand wholly alone, and the cause he represented would appear to him +hopeless. Still, difficult as his task was, he undertook it. All this +worship of Baal and all these vicious practices of the people were +wrecking the nation. As a patriot, as a lover of his fellow-man, as a +good servant of God, he must do and he would do whatever was in his +power to replace the wrong with the right, to implant in the lives of +the people, from peasant to king, the truest and purest ideals. +Accordingly he faithfully taught the will of God, called upon God to +reveal Himself on Mount Carmel, reproved Ahab and Jezebel, and did his +best to put the best into the life of his day.</p> + +<p>But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> he could not live forever. At any hour he might be stricken down by +the hand of an enemy or by the power of some illness. Like a wise man, +loving the cause he had espoused, he looked about for some one who, in +case of his disability or death, could take up his work and carry +forward his ideas. His mind turned toward one special man, perhaps just +coming out of boyhood into maturity, a man who seemed to have the +inherent power of development, and he set his heart on putting into him, +Elisha, the best thought and the best principles that he had. He came +upon Elisha in the full vigor of youth, plowing with twelve yoke of +oxen. The distinctive garment of Elijah's mission was his mantle. That +stood for Elijah's special work of speaking the truth of God and calling +the nation to righteousness. Upon seeing Elisha in the field, Elijah +passed over from the caravan path that he was traveling, and threw his +mantle upon Elisha's shoulders! The action carried its own meaning. It +indicated to Elisha that Elijah wished him to take up his work and stand +for his ideas. Elisha instantly realized the meaning of the act, and, in +briefest time compatible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span> with filial duty, he answered to Elijah's wish.</p> + +<p>One little sentence in the story of these two men's lives is very +instructive. "They two went on." It is a very brief summary of what was +occurring for days and months and years before Elijah died. "They two +went on." They were together. They talked together. They thought +together. They prayed together. Little by little Elijah imparted to +Elisha his views of life and imparted to him also his enthusiasm for the +welfare of Israel. When the time came for Elisha to step forward and do +his part for Israel's good, he was ready to act. He became and long +continued to be a wise, helpful, instructive benefactor to Israel. The +best that had been in Elijah's life was perpetuated in Elisha's life.</p> + +<p>It is a beautiful way to live, this way of putting the best into other +lives. It confers such a blessing on the particular <i>individual</i> who is +thus helped. We cannot say with positiveness that the world might never +have known the full force of Elisha's character had not Elijah cast his +mantle over Elisha's shoulder, but the probability is that it was +Elijah's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> interest in Elisha and his success in educating him toward his +own ideals that gave the world Elisha's elevated personality. Paul acted +similarly with Timothy. Timothy was undoubtedly a good boy of many +worthy parts, and with many noble views of life. But Paul laid his hand +and heart upon him, and claimed him for the special purpose of +continuing the ministry of the gospel, and educated him to be a faithful +representative of the truth. Often there is much hesitancy to be +overcome, even in worthy people, before natural endowments will be put +to the best use. Such may have been the case with both Elisha and +Timothy. They needed encouragement. They needed inspiration through a +sense of responsibility. This was the situation with John Knox. He, +humanly speaking, never could have come forward as an advocate of +Christ's truth and religious freedom had it not been that another +approached him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "You have powers +of good in you. You must use them in standing up for God and Scotland."</p> + +<p>Wonderful resources are often developed in others through this purpose +to put our best into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> them. No one knows the power latent in another +life. The most unpromising looking people may have faculties that, once +awakened, directed, and called into action, will do a blessed part in +the world's advance. Every school whose history can be followed for +fifty years has had pupils that at the outset seemed absolutely +unpromising, that seemed even incapable of appreciation or development, +but who, under the devotion and inspiration of some teacher or +fellow-pupil, became so aroused and so efficient that their names are an +honor to the school. The glory of every Ragged Boys' Home in a great +city is that former inmates who were thieves, parentless and friendless, +were so reached by a patient, loving man or woman that they became +industrious and honorable citizens, holding positions of power in the +city itself or possessing prosperous acres in the country. It is the boy +picked up in the streets of New York and sent West to be a member of a +farmer's household that was led by that household's interest into such +character that he was appointed governor of Alaska. "I have made," said +Sir Humphry Davy, "many discoveries, but the best discovery was when I +discovered Michael<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> Faraday." There is scarcely any joy comparable with +the joy of discovering to himself and to the world the best elements +possible in another's life. The one who brought about this discovery +gladly sinks into the background, and rejoices to let the field be +occupied by the one discovered. It would seem as though God Himself must +have rejoiced when, after all His patient teaching of Moses on the side +of Horeb, He saw Moses showing his superb power of leadership in Egypt, +and that God must have similarly rejoiced when He saw Paul responding to +His charge and manifesting traits of love, forbearance, and humility +that Paul had not thought he possessed. To put one Elisha into the +world's arena, there to stand and battle for the right, was the crowning +glory and the crowning joy of Elijah's life. The men or women that can +take the best that is in them and put it into another, so that another +shall live the best, honor the best, and glorify the best, can ask no +higher privilege in life.</p> + +<p>But beyond the good secured to the individual by putting the best into +him is the good secured to the <i>world</i> thereby. It was not merely that +Elijah inspired a new life in Elisha's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> soul and transformed a man, it +was also that he set in operation a new <i>influence</i>. The influence was +not exactly like his own. It was like Elijah's in that it was righteous, +safe, and helpful, but it was unlike Elijah's in its temper and +expression. Elijah was a great destroyer of evil: Elisha was a great +uplifter of good. Elijah's earliest proclamation was, "There shall not +be dew nor rain these years": Elisha's earliest miracle is, "There shall +be from hence life and fruitful land." Both were alike in their general +purpose, both alike in their courage. Neither one of them could be moved +from the path of duty by fear of man or men. But each was himself, as +distinct as two mountain peaks in the same range or as two ships on the +same sea. Elijah imparted his best to Elisha, but that best took shape +in Elisha according to Elisha's individuality. Elisha was not Elijah +over again, but he was Elijah's best in a new form—a new form that was +demanded by the needs of a new day. Elijah had laid blows of +condemnation on the nation: Elisha was to apply the balm of healing +where those blows had fallen. Elijah was an agitator: Elisha was a +teacher. Elijah was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> denunciatory: Elisha was tolerant. Each in his place +held the best views held by any man of his time, but each in his place +was called upon to hold those views according to his own temperament and +express them according to the need immediately at hand.</p> + +<p>No parent, teacher, or friend can possibly reproduce himself in +another. It is God's law that, however alike plants may seem in +reproduction, no child shall see life exactly as his parents, nor shall +a pupil see it exactly as a teacher. This law is most wise. The same +work is never given to any two people to do. It may be work of the same +general nature, but never work the same in all particulars. Different +types of men, actuated by the same motives, are required for different +types of work. Any man who endeavors to be a pure copyist of another +gone before him, always fails of individual development and fails of +usefulness. Elijah could not foresee the changed circumstances in which +Elisha would live, when many of the vexatious questions of Elijah's day +would be settled and new questions of morality and public welfare would +arise. All that he could do, all that any man can do, is to give the +best he has to another, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span> send him forth to use that best as well as +the other can in the new place. The beauty of human history is that the +work the best man of one age could not accomplish, another coming after +him does accomplish, and he accomplishes it, not because he is any +better than his predecessor, but because he is the man for this hour as +his predecessor was for the hour before this. There is always work to be +done. There are always tasks left over from a previous generation. There +are always ideas hitherto unemphasized that to-day must be emphasized, +else society will not know its duty. For this work and task and emphasis +new men are needed, men who do not see exactly as their fathers saw, nor +pronounce nor act exactly as their fathers did. To provide such men, to +inspire them with a great sense of duty, and send them out into life +with open minds toward God and open hearts toward their fellows, and +then withdraw our hand and let them do their own work, in their own way, +this is our blessed privilege.</p> + +<p>We may endeavor to put the best into others <i>directly</i>. A parent is a +parent largely for this particular purpose. The father and mother have +this end as their greatest and highest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> responsibility. They cannot shirk +it without hurt to themselves and to their child. No one can and no one +should influence a child as directly as does a parent. The parent may +temporarily place the child beneath the influence of a nurse, a pastor, +or a teacher, but the abiding influence should be and is the parent's. +Little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, conduct upon +conduct, the parent should endeavor to set before the child the highest +ideas of life. Skill is requisite in stating these ideas, in +illustrating them, in making them attractive, in persuading to their +acceptance. The evil or the inferior lodged in the child's heart needs +to be forced out, that the best may enter. Happy the parent whose +forcing process is like the incoming of light into a darkened room, a +process that is gentle and conciliatory, a process that never boasts of +victory and never leaves a pain.</p> + +<p>This is the parent's greatest hope and greatest reward, to have a child +who shall in the child's own time and place be an advancer of the +world's good. A thousand spheres of opportunity open before each new +generation. Into any one of them the child may carry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> the best his father +or mother ever thought or said. Many parents wish their children to do +in life work of the very same type that they once did. It was therefore +a gratification to their ministerial fathers when they saw their own +sons enter the ministry, Henry Ward Beecher, Jonathan Edwards, Frederick +W. Farrar, Charles H. Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Reginald Heber. But +other ministerial fathers likewise might be gratified when they saw +their sons helpfully laboring in noble spheres not specifically "the +ministry," as in poetry, Joseph Addison, Samuel T. Coleridge, William +Cowper, Ben Jonson, Oliver Goldsmith, Alfred Tennyson, James Russell +Lowell, Oliver W. Holmes, John Keble, and James Montgomery; as in +literature, Matthew Arnold, Bancroft, Froude, Hallam, and Parkman; as in +art, Joshua Reynolds and Christopher Wren; as in law, Lord Ellenborough, +Stephen J. Field, David J. Brewer, David Dudley Field; as in +statesmanship, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, Sir William Harcourt, John B. +Balfour, and William Forster; and as in invention, Samuel F. B. Morse.</p> + +<p>But while the great opportunity of putting the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> best into others is the +parent's (and men out in earnest usefulness thank God most of all for +their mothers and fathers, especially as they grow older and realize how +early in youth it was that their characters received determining +impressions), still others, besides parents, may use direct means toward +this same end. Here is the teacher's opportunity. A plastic, receptive +mind is before him. It says to him: "I am here to be taught. Teach me +the best—the best way to see, to reason, to act, the best way to do my +part in society and the world." Many a teacher has looked on that +opportunity as sacred; has valued it as much as Elijah valued his +opportunity to cast his mantle on Elisha. Such teachers have wrought out +most valuable results. They have put ideas, methods, principles, and a +spirit into pupils that have made those pupils a blessing to the world. +The pupils may not recall much of what the teacher said—perhaps they +cannot recall one particular truth that the teacher enforced—but they +recall a purpose that dominated the teacher, and the pupils now are +endeavoring to fulfil what they feel would be the wishes of that teacher +if the teacher to-day could stand beside them.</p> + +<p>And<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> why should we stop with parents and teachers in speaking of this +direct effort to put the best into other lives. Nurses in homes have +endeavored to give little children the truest knowledge of God and of +beauty, and have succeeded. The world owes them much for its best men +and women. Had they not seconded parents, had they attempted to uproot +the good implanted by parents, all would have been ruined. So, too, have +friends, masters, employers, writers in the press, writers of books, +lecturers, and preachers aimed at this same end. They have felt a great +desire to give their fellows beautiful thoughts, strong principles, +supporting comforts, and heavenly ideals. They have felt that their +heart's supreme wish would be met if they could only cause a double +portion of their own spirit—aye, a four-fold, a hundred-fold of their +good purposes to rest upon others—and to this end they have prayed, +given money and counsel, spoken to employees and friends and comrades, +written, sung, preached, labored, and died. The company of those who +have wished to put the best into others is a glorious company, the +company of prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, workmen in every sphere, +in every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> clime, in every age. Surely this host is the host of the elect, +the choicest ones of all God's people on earth and in heaven.</p> + +<p>Apart from and beyond our direct effort to put the best into other lives +is our <i>indirect</i>, our unconscious influence to this good end. +Personality is more potent than words. Men and women impart ozone to the +atmosphere without knowing what good they have done. They become +standards of righteousness and are all unaware that any one looks at +them to gauge his own opinion or shape his own conduct. They are like +regulator clocks, by which the watches of the world seen to be wrong are +set aright and are kept aright. To try to live the best in the hope that +somehow one can put the best into the very air, and get it into the life +of the school and community, and have it become a part of public +sentiment, that surely is noble. That is the way to live. No one ever +lives in vain who so lives. Some one is helped by him. Some one tells of +him. Cecil's saying of Sir Walter Raleigh, "I know he can toil +terribly," is an electric touch.</p> + +<p>In one of my pastorates there was a farmer's son, living two miles from +the church. Almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> all the young men of his age in the village and +congregation were careless, selfish, and a little fast. His father was +out of sympathy with religious earnestness. But the son resolved that he +would put his best into others' lives. He thought, prayed, worshiped, to +that end. Through snow and rain and mud he came where earnestness and +high ideals were in the air. He did a manly, helpful part in his home, +in his village, and in his church. Then, thinking that he knew farming +and could teach it, he volunteered to go to an Indian school in Indian +Territory, and as a farm manager, teach farming. He went, on almost no +salary, and lived and labored, that through his words, conduct, and +spirit he might put the best into others' lives. Thus he lived and +labored till he died, two thousand miles from home, and was buried +there, the only one of his family not placed in the village graveyard. +But his work has not died. It lives in all who know of it. They think of +it again and again, and it always makes them wish to fulfil to the best +all their opportunity for the good of others.</p> + +<p>There are many, many hearts so conscious of the help they have received +from others that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> they read with appreciation the commemorative tablet +placed by the distinguished Pasteur on the house of his birth: "O my +father and mother, who lived so simply in that tiny house, it is to you +that I owe everything! Your eager enthusiasm, my mother, you passed on +into my life. And you, my father, whose life and trade were so toilsome, +you taught me what patience can accomplish with prolonged effort. It is +to you that I owe tenacity in daily labor."</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Others shall sing the song;<br /> +Others shall right the wrong,<br /> +Finish what I begin,<br /> +And all I fail of, win.<br /> +What matter, I or they,<br /> +Mine or another's day,<br /> +So the right word be said,<br /> +And life the sweeter made."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Developing Our Best Under Difficulties.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER V.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Developing Our Best Under Difficulties.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>There is nothing in this world that more appeals to my admiration than +a man who makes the best of himself <i>under difficulties</i>. Robert Louis +Stevenson deservedly has many admirers by reason of his writings, but +what in him most appeals to my admiration was the struggle he waged with +difficulties. "For fourteen years," he wrote the year before his death, +"I have not had a day's real health. I have wakened sick and gone to bed +weary. I have written in bed, written in hemorrhages, written in +sickness, written worn by coughing, written when my head swam for +weakness. I am better now, and still few are the days when I am not in +some physical distress. And the battle goes on—ill or well is a trifle, +so as it goes. I was made for a contest, and the Powers have so willed +that my battle-field should be this dingy, inglorious one of the bed and +the physic bottle. I would have preferred a place of trumpetings and the +open air over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> my head. Still I have done my work unflinchingly."</p> + +<p>The story of many a strong and useful life is very similar to this story +of Stevenson's.</p> + +<p>Parkman wrote his histories in the brief intervals between racking +headaches. Prescott struggled with blindness as he prepared his volumes. +Kitto was deaf from boyhood, but he wrote works that caught the hearing +of the English-speaking world.</p> + +<p>It sometimes seems as though God never intended to bring the best out of +us excepting through pain and pressure. The most costly perfume that is +known is the pure attar of roses, and one drop of it represents millions +of damascene roses that were bruised before the sweet scent they +contained was secured.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The best of men<br /> +That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer."</p> + +<p>The sphere of difficulty is usually the sphere of opportunity. "I was +made for contest," Stevenson said. We all are made for it. As we let the +contest overpower us, we fail; as we overpower the contest, we succeed.</p> + +<p>One particular personage of the Old Testament is in mind as +illustrative of these thoughts, Jeremiah. He always reminds me of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> a +violet I once saw growing on Mount St. Bernard in Switzerland. The snow +was deep on every side, excepting on one little slope a few feet in +width, exposed to the eastern sun. There, so close to the snow as almost +to be chilled to death by the cold atmosphere about it, was a violet +sweetly lifting its head and blooming as serenely as though it knew +nothing of the struggle for life.</p> + +<p>Jeremiah was a mere youth when the conviction came into his heart, "God +wishes me to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people to do right." He +lived at Anathoth, three miles from Jerusalem, the distance of an hour's +easy walk. His father was a priest who probably in his turn served in +the duties of the temple at Jerusalem. But though he came of religious +ancestry, and though he heard much of the religious exercises of the +temple, this call from God to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people +to do right, broke in upon his life as a disturbing force. The times +were worldly, and even wrong. Nobles and princes, merchants, scholars, +and priests had put the fear of God away from their eyes, and were +acting according to the selfish impulses of the hour. The general +outward life of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span> the nation was pure, but it was the pureness of mere +formality. Beneath the surface ambitions and purposes were cherished +that uncorrected would surely lead the people into selfishness, +idolatry, and transgression.</p> + +<p>It was no easy thing for Jeremiah to answer "yes" to this call of God. +The call involved a lifetime of brave service. Matters in the nation +were sure to go from bad to worse. Difficulties after difficulties +therefore, as they developed, must be faced. He stood at what we name +"the parting of the ways"; if he did as God wished, his whole life must +be given to the work indicated; if he said "no" to God's call, he would +drift along with the rest of the people, leaving them to their fate, he +no better and perhaps no worse than they.</p> + +<p>In some respects there is nothing better than to be <i>forced</i> to a +decision on some important matter, particularly if that decision is a +decision involving character. It was a choice with Jeremiah whether he +would live unselfishly for God or selfishly for himself. That choice +ordinarily is the supreme choice in every one's life. It is the supreme +choice that the Christian pulpit is constantly presenting.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span> Present +character and eternal destiny are shaped according to that choice.</p> + +<p>In Jeremiah's case there was a native reluctance to do the deeds which +he saw were involved in obedience to God's call. He was by temperament +modest and retiring. He shrank from publicity. He did not like to +reprove any one. Severe words were the last words he wished to speak. It +would have been a relief to him if God had simply let him alone and +imposed on others this duty of trying to make the people better. Some +men seem to be adapted for a fray, as Elijah was, and as John the +Baptist was. But Jeremiah was more like John the beloved. He would have +been glad to live and die, simply saying, "Little children, love one +another."</p> + +<p>It is God's way, however, again and again, to take lives that to +themselves seem utterly unfitted for special duties and assign them to +those duties. Almost all the best workers in God's cause came into it +reluctantly, and against the feeling that they were fitted for it. We +are bidden ask the Lord of the harvest to <i>thrust</i> men into the fields +of need. Jeremiah felt in his heart this "thrusting." He did not kick +against it. He yielded to it.</p> + +<p>But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> with what results? The first result was <i>estrangement</i>. His goodly +life and conversation soon made the people of his village and even the +brothers and sisters of his home feel that he was different from +themselves. They chafed under the contrast of their carelessness and his +earnestness. He found himself left out of their pleasures and chilled by +their indifference. The estrangement developed until his fellow-townsmen +were eager to rid themselves of his presence, and his own family were +ready to deal treacherously with him.</p> + +<p>It is just at this point that so often a good purpose breaks down. When +a man's foes are they of his own household or comradeship, he is very +apt to give up his good purpose. It is more difficult for a beginner in +the religious life to resist the insinuating and depreciating remarks of +near acquaintances than to face a mob. It must have cut Christ to the +heart's core when his brethren said of him, "He hath a devil!" "I would +rather go into battle," said a soldier newly enlisted as a Christian, +"than go back to the mess-room and hear what the men will say when they +know of my decision."</p> + +<p>Jeremiah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> started his obedience to God amid estrangement. It was not long +before estrangement had given place to <i>threatening</i>. His duties as he +grew older called him to Jerusalem. The youth become a man must leave +the village, go to the city, and in the larger sphere of need, speak the +messages of God. In Jerusalem he assured the people that if they did +injustice, oppressed the poor, built themselves rich houses out of wages +withheld from servants, made sacrifices to base idols, and strengthened +the hands of evil-doers, God would bring a terrible overthrow upon them. +His task was made the more difficult because in his words and attitude +he stood alone. He had no following among priests or prophets to back +him. With one consent they affirmed that he was wrong and that a lie was +on his lips when he predicted desolation if present practices were +continued.</p> + +<p>It is a great hour in any man's life when he is obliged to stand up +alone and state his case or defend his cause. What an hour that was in +Paul's history when before the Roman officials "no man stood with him," +but, dependent as he was on sympathy and fellowship,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> he stood alone! It +is when a man is absolutely left alone, in danger or disgrace, that the +deepest test of his character is reached. That is the reason why the +night-time, which seems to say to us "You are alone with God," has its +impressiveness, and why the death hour has a similar impressiveness.</p> + +<p>Jeremiah felt his loneliness. There was nothing of the stoic in him. He +could not school himself to be brazen-hearted. He was so human, so like +the great majority of people, that every now and then some cry of +weariness would escape his lips. "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast +borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I +have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent me on usury; yet every one +of them doth curse me." Sometimes his outbursts of mental agony make us +feel that the man has almost lost his bravery. "Cursed be the day +wherein I was born! Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor +and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" But glad as he +would have been to escape the responsibility of rebuking people, and +glad as he would have been to hold the affection and regard of his +companions, he never<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> for a moment kept back the truth, nor for a moment +did he distrust God's blessing on his life. "All my familiars watched +for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall +prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him." "But the +Lord is with me," he declared, and so declaring he was immovable before +his adversaries.</p> + +<p>There came a third experience into his life, which carried his +difficulties one degree higher. It was the experience of <i>disdain</i>. He +knew full well that the wicked course of the nation was inevitably +leading to destruction. Unless the evil of the people should cease the +powers of Babylon would come and would destroy Judah. He was debarred an +interview with the king. He therefore wrote his message on a roll, put +it in the hands of a messenger, Baruch, and in due time that roll was +carried into the king's presence by Baruch and read to the king. The +king was sitting in his winter house. The weather was cold. A fire was +burning before him in a brazier. As the king heard the words of Jeremiah +that called him and the people to penitence, his anger was aroused. He +seized the roll ere three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> or four of the columns had been read, cut it +up with his penknife, and cast the whole roll into the fire to be +utterly consumed therein. He did this in the presence of his court. He +did it with a disdain and contempt that made every man present feel that +Jeremiah and Jeremiah's words were to be despised.</p> + +<p>It never is a pleasure to be despised. Contempt usually embitters a man +or suppresses him. The derisive laugh against a man is more powerful in +breaking him than the compactest argument. Many men can remain steadfast +to convictions in estrangement or in opposition who give way when they +hear that their words and actions are the subject of twitting and +ridicule. "Who is this Jeremiah, and what are his words, that we should +think of them a second time? I will cut these words into fragments even +with my pocket-knife, and then I will burn them in this little brazier, +and that shall be the last of them!" So said and did King Jehoiakim. And +his princes heard and saw.</p> + +<p>But whatever the effect produced on others, the effect produced on +Jeremiah must have been to the king a great disappointment. Jeremiah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +heard God's voice saying in his heart, "You must write those same words +of truth again." And again he wrote them on a roll. And just here comes +out one of the sweetest and most characteristic features of Jeremiah's +character. The ordinary man, if he has made up his mind to retort or to +ridicule, says to himself, "Now I will pour out my wrath on my +adversary." But such was Jeremiah's self-control and peacefulness of +temper that perhaps he would have erred on the side of leniency unless +God had charged him, not to soften or to suppress one part of the +message, but to write <i>all</i> the words that were in the former roll and +add thereto other special predictions. To this charge, whatever his +obedience might lead to, Jeremiah immediately and completely responded.</p> + +<p>Then came Jeremiah's fourth experience. His persistence in duty now +cost him <i>imprisonment</i>. Not an ordinary imprisonment, but such an +imprisonment as Oriental monarchs employ when they wish to place those +whom they dislike in a living death. The king first put Jeremiah in a +dungeon-house where there were cells. This was not very bad. Then, when +Jeremiah still was true to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> his testimony, the king put him in the court +of the guard, giving him a daily allowance of one little eastern +bread-loaf. This also was not very bad. But later the king, when the +princes claimed Jeremiah for their victim, as afterward the rabble +claimed Christ from Pilate for their victim, gave Jeremiah into the +hands of the princes to do with him as they pleased. Then it was that +they with cords dropped him down into a deep subterranean pit, whose +bottom was mire, so that Jeremiah sank in the mire.</p> + +<p>How many people in the time of the Inquisition, when they were racked +to pieces, when thumb-screws agonized them, when water drop by drop fell +ceaselessly on their foreheads, and when pincers tore their flesh little +by little continuously, renounced their faith and so saved themselves +from slow torture! It was not an easy thing to die from starvation in a +dark, damp pit, with mire creeping up all about him. It never has been +easy to die slowly and alone for the faith; to die for a testimony; to +die for a message that involved others much more than one's self. All +that was needed to protect him from pain and to preserve his life was +silence. If Jeremiah<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> would keep quiet all would be well. But for +Jeremiah to keep quiet would be to prove disobedient to a sense of duty +implanted by God in his heart. So this gentle nature, that shrank from +the horrors of the miry pit, horrors more to be dreaded than the lions' +den or the fiery furnace or the executioner's sword, went down into the +pit unbroken—precursor of those sweet natures in woman and child that +all the beasts of the Colosseum could not dismay, and that all the fires +of martyrdom could not weaken.</p> + +<p>One more experience awaited Jeremiah—<i>deportation</i>. So far as we know, +it was the closing experience of his life. The dauntless soul had not +been suffered to die in the pit. Patriotic men who realized the folly of +letting an unselfish, high-minded citizen perish so terribly, and who +realized, too, the desirability of preserving alive so wise a counselor, +secured permission from the vacillating king to take rags and worn-out +garments, and let them down by cords into the pit. "Put now these rags +and worn-out garments under thine arm-holes under the cords," they said, +"and Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords." Once +again he was in his position<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> of responsibility as God's messenger. In +that position he held fast to his faithfulness.</p> + +<p>Then came his final experience. Judah had passed through trial upon +trial. Jeremiah had shared in her trials, never running away from them, +but always bearing his full brunt of burden and loss. Then he was forced +to go away from the land of his love and his tears to Egypt! He did not +wish to go. He assured those who headed the movement that it was folly +to go. But they took him with them, and carried him, like a captive, off +to a foreign land.</p> + +<p>All this would have meant little to some men, but to Jeremiah it meant +everything. Jerusalem and the land of Judah were dear to his heart. He +had lived for them, spoken for them, suffered for them, and well-nigh +died for them. In older years the land of one's birth and of one's +sacrifices becomes very dear. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my +right hand forget her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue +cleave to the roof of my mouth!" Into that deportation we cannot follow +him. We only know that up to the very last minute in which we see him +and hear his words, he was unceasingly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span> true to his God, and true to the +people around him, loving his Master and loving his brethren, with an +unfailing devotion.</p> + +<p>But this we do know, ignorant as we are whether he died naturally or was +stoned to death, that in after years this Jeremiah became among the Jews +almost an ideal character. They saw that all his words predicting the +destruction of the holy city and the captivity were fulfilled. They +learned to revere his fidelity. They even called him "the greatest" of +all their prophets. They well-nigh glorified him. In times of war and +difficulty they used his name wherewith to rouse halting hearts to +bravery and to lead the fearful into the thick of perilous battles.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is a life that came to its best and developed its best under +difficulties. "Best men are molded out of faults." So was this man +molded to his best out of faults of hesitation and unwillingness and +impatience. No one knows the best use we can make of ourselves but the +One who created us and understands our possibilities.</p> + +<p>In the struggle against difficulties we have Christ's constant +sympathy. Were not <i>estrangement</i>, <i>threatening</i>, <i>disdain</i>, +<i>imprisonment</i>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span> and <i>deportation</i> His own experiences? And did not they +come in this same order? And does not He realize all the stress through +which a soul must pass that would fight its contest and advance to its +best? Certainly He does. And when He lays a cross upon us, it is that +through our right spirit in carrying that cross we may become sweeter in +our hearts and braver in our lives, and thus change our cross into a +very crown of manliness and of usefulness.</p> + +<p>To many a man there is no object in this earth that so appeals to his +admiration as a person who makes the best of himself under difficulties. +We may well believe that to Christ likewise there is no human being so +prized and admired as he who advances to his best through the conquest +of difficulties.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">The Need of Retaining the Best Wisdom.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VI.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">The Need of Retaining the Best Wisdom.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>No one can read the story of Solomon's life, as given in the Bible and +as given in eastern writings, without wonder. That story in the Bible is +amazing; that story in the historic legends of Persia, Abyssinia, +Arabia, and Ethiopia is still more amazing. It is said of Solomon that +"those who never heard of Cyrus, or Alexander, or the Cæsars have heard +of him," and that "his name belongs to more tongues, and his shadow has +fallen farther and over a larger surface of the earth than any other +man's. Equally among Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan nations his name +furnishes a nucleus around which have gathered the strangest and most +fantastic tales."</p> + +<p>Almost at the beginning of his public activities he made a prayer to +God that may well be the prayer of every one. In a dream God appears to +him, asking what he most wishes God to confer upon him. Humbly and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +earnestly he asks for a discerning mind—a mind capable of +distinguishing between good and evil. He passes by long life, passes by +wealth, passes by victory over enemies, and he asks only for such +understanding as shall enable him to know the right from the wrong.</p> + +<p>We cannot call this prayer a surprise to God, but we can call it a +delight to Him. There are very many kinds of wisdom, but in God's +judgment, the best wisdom is that which always discriminating between +the good and the bad, the true and the false, the permanent and the +fleeting, prefers the good, the true, and the permanent. It surprises us +that Solomon was wise enough to make the desire for discrimination the +one petition of his heart. He was comparatively young, he was +inexperienced in life's responsibilities, he was at the threshhold of +what promised to be a great, almost a spectacular career. Most men, +under such circumstances, given the opportunity of asking for anything +and everything they pleased, would have said, "Give me many, many years +of mental growth; give me much, very much material wealth; give me great +and constant triumphs over all who in any<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> way oppose me." But Solomon +asked only for a discerning mind that could see the difference between +right and wrong, and in asking that, he asked for the best wisdom any +human life can ever have.</p> + +<p>Solomon had other kinds of wisdom. How they came to him we do not know. +Perhaps he was born with a large degree of mother wit and with a very +strong mental grasp. Perhaps his father, himself a thoughtful man and a +brilliant writer, provided the best teachers that wealth could procure +for his son. Perhaps his mother, who had eager ambition for her son, +constantly urged him on to large intellectual development.</p> + +<p>Explain his case as we may, the facts are that he had <i>scientific</i> +wisdom. He knew nature so well that careful writers have even called him +"the father of natural science." He knew trees, from the lordly +cedar-tree that graced Lebanon to the little hyssop that springs out +from between the stones of a wall, as I once saw it in an old well near +Jerusalem. He knew beasts of the field, fowls of the air, animals that +creep on the ground, and fishes that swim in the water. Such is the +brief résumé by the Scriptures of his acquaintance with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> nature. The +legends of the East add that he could interpret the speech of beasts and +birds, that he understood the hidden virtues of herbs, and that he was +familiar with the secret forces of nature.</p> + +<p>He had also <i>literary</i> wisdom. He was a beautiful, trained, and +forceful writer. The seventy-second Psalm, beginning "Give the king thy +judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son," is +ascribed to him. So is the one hundred and twenty-seventh Psalm, opening +with the words, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain +that build it." Much of the book of Proverbs is written by him or +compiled by him—a book whose concise, striking, intelligent, helpful +utterances are a monument of literary skill. Ecclesiastes, with its +philosophical dissertations on the fleeting and disappointing elements +of human life, is also assigned to him. So is the Song of Solomon, which +breathes a wealth of poetical fervor, that understood and applied +spiritually, is as sweet as the voice of the meadow lark soaring skyward +in the light and beauty of a summer day. Yet these writings are only a +part of what he produced. His songs were a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> thousand and five, his +proverbs not less than three thousand. What we have in the Bible simply +suggests the variety and power of his literary style, the force and +sagacity of his sound sense, the brilliancy and fitness of his practical +wisdom. Solomon's words are such that to this day, in this land, and in +every land of the earth, they are competent to teach prudence, economy, +reverence for parents, self-protection, purity, honesty, and +faithfulness to duty. The boy that learns them and carries them with him +as a vital principle of being and of conduct will move unsoiled and +unhurt wherever he may go. The home that places them at its center and +reveres them will be cheerful and brave. The grown man that carries them +with him into every detail of business and care will be upright and +beautiful.</p> + +<p>The wisdom of Solomon was <i>commercial</i> as well as scientific and +literary. He recognized the advantages of trade. He extended it. He sent +ships so far away to the east that passing through the Red Sea out into +the Indian Ocean they brought back the treasures of Arabia and India and +Ceylon—gold and silver and precious stones; nard, aloes, sandalwood, +and ivory; apes and peacocks. He sent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span> other ships along the +Mediterranean coasts to the north, where Hiram, king of Tyre, lived, and +then to the west, out between the gates of Hercules, past the present +Gibraltar, up the Atlantic Ocean to the north until they touched at +southern England, at Cornwall, where they found the tin which, combined +with copper, formed the bronze for armor and for all so-called "brazen" +furniture. Not alone through ships of the sea did he seek out the best +treasures of all the accessible earth and beautify Jerusalem with them, +but also through ships of the desert—camels—did he do the same. He +caused the great caravan routes of the day to pass through Jerusalem, +and he levied duties on the objects transported from Damascus on the +north to Memphis on the south, and from Tadmor in the east to Asia Minor +in the west. He put himself into contact with all the thought and +purposes of other nations than his own, he learned what their kings and +queens, their merchants, their sailors, their writers, were saying and +doing, and thus he brought home to his mind the leading ideas of his +time. His knowledge of men, of methods, and of enterprise became vast.</p> + +<p>Nor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> did his wisdom stop with commerce; it included government also, and +was <i>political</i>. He took the throne at a time when government was weak, +or almost disorganized. David's last years were years of physical +disability, wherein he could not curb the rebellious spirits that were +gaining influence in many quarters. Solomon, upon his assumption of +rule, judiciously subdued all rebellion of every kind, united the entire +kingdom, and started that kingdom upon the period of its greatest glory. +He made treaties that bound adjacent principalities to him and caused +them to pay tribute. He held such power that nations did not care to +fight with him, and so he became a king of peace. He laid taxes on his +own people that brought in large revenue. It was indeed the golden +period of Israel.</p> + +<p>The effect of Solomon's wisdom was great and extensive. His +<i>reputation</i> went far and wide. People made long journeys to see him, +ask him questions, and honor him. Even one like the Queen of Sheba came +with a great retinue, up through the desert, past village and town, to +bring him costly gifts and talk with the man who knew so much. His +<i>influence</i> became pervasive. It entered into the legends<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span> of people who +never saw him, and became so fixed a part of those legends, that those +legends, repeated until to-day, still sound his praise. He was known in +tent and in palace as the wisest man that had ever lived, and the most +exaggerated statements were made and received of his insight into the +mysteries of the spirit world and his power to control the supposed +spirit forces of the air. His <i>wealth</i> became almost incredible. Nothing +like it has ever been known—not in the time of the Roman emperors, nor +in the time of to-day. The fabulous magnificence of Mexican and Peruvian +kings helps us to realize Solomon's glory. "The walls, the doors, the +very floor of the temple, were plated with gold, furnishing gorgeous +imagery for John's description of heaven." Two hundred targets and three +hundred shields of beaten gold were held by the guard through whose +lines Solomon passed to the temple or to his house of the forest. His +throne of ivory, as were its steps, was overlaid with plates of gold. +All his drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house +of the forest were of pure gold, none were of silver. He was able to +make the temple the costliest structure for its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span> size the world has ever +seen. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into its erection and +decoration. When to-day the traveler visits Baalbec and sees stones over +seventy feet in length and fourteen in width and in depth—stones +quarried, conveyed, raised up into high walls and securely masoned +there; when to-day the traveler sees the golden jewelry gathered from +ancient Grecian graves and placed on exhibition in Athens; and when +to-day the traveler examines the massive work done in Egypt, whose ruins +are overpowering in their grandeur, and seeing these stones, jewelry, +and structures remembers that Solomon knew all the skill, wealth, and +buildings of the whole Mediterranean world, then he can understand how +Solomon, with his resources, built a city like Palmyra, and a house of +worship like the temple, and made silver to be as stones in Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>Ah, if this Solomon, so brilliant and so powerful, so "glorious," as +Christ called him, could only have preserved the best wisdom all through +his years, whose name—except Christ's—would be comparable to his!</p> + +<p>He asked God for the wisdom that discerns between the good and the +evil. God answered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> that prayer and gave him such wisdom. How clearly he +saw at the first! If two women came to him, each claiming to be the +mother of a little child, and asking for the child's possession, how +skilful he was in ordering that the child be cut in twain in their +presence, thus causing the true mother to cry out in love for her child +and then giving her the child unhurt. The traditions of the east—some +of them perhaps once a part of those lost books mentioned in the Bible, +The Book of the Acts of Solomon, The Book of Nathan the Prophet, The +Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, The Visions of Iddo the Seer, tell +again and again how quiet and accurate Solomon's perception was in +distinguishing real flowers from artificial, in distinguishing girls +from boys though dressed alike, and in deciding case after case of legal +perplexity. He did have a discerning heart when, in his early days, he +knew who his enemies were and he crushed them, who his true counselors +were and he listened to them, what his supreme duty was and he built +God's house, what his sinful heart needed and he shed the blood of +atonement for it. It was discernment when, though he made his own house<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +rich, he made God's house richer; when he counted his gift of millions +of dollars to God's honor a delight; and when he would let neither +knowledge nor pleasure nor pomp nor glory withdraw his supreme affection +from God.</p> + +<p>Would that he had always continued as he was! Would that he had +remembered that the prayer offered to-day for a blessing in character +must be offered again to-morrow if that blessing in character is to be +retained! Prayer is not so much a momentary wish as a continuous spirit. +His momentary wish and the resolve that sprang from it were at the time +all that God or man could desire. A mind distrustful of its own +omniscience, humbly waiting on God for discernment, is the wisest of all +minds. That mind was once in Solomon, but not always. When grown to +maturity he talked philosophy, still he was wise. But when he came to +act upon his philosophy, he was unwise. He failed to discern between the +value and the curse of wealth. He became a lover of money for money's +sake. He laid taxes on the people that they could not endure. He treated +them no longer as a father, but as a master. He ceased to distinguish +between the beauty and the disease of luxury.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> He built gardens and +palaces, and made displays, not with the thought of any praise they +would be to Jehovah, or to the establishment of God's people on a sound +financial and political basis, but for the honor and recognition that +would come to him. He became a captive to the love of magnificence and +to the desire for display. He made marriages that were matters of state +expediency and were not matters of heart conviction, and thus put +himself under the influence of those whose religious purposes were +wholly opposed to his own. He filled his palaces with women whose +presence indeed was a great indication of Oriental affluence, but whose +presence was a menace to clear vision of integrity, and was a woeful +example to the nation. He grew blinder and blinder to fine perceptions, +not alone of what was good in taste, but of what was right in principle. +He became so broad in his religious sympathies that he seemed to forget +that there can be but one living and true God. He even went after +"Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcar, the +abomination of the Amonites." And as a last blind act of folly, he even +raised within sight of God's holy temple<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> "an high place for Chemosh, the +abomination of Moab, and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of +Ammon, in the hill that is before Jerusalem." What men like Daniel would +not do, what men like Shadrach would not do, what martyrs in after days, +asked to say the simple word "Cæsar" and throw a grain of corn on an +heathen altar, would not do, though death awaited them, Solomon did. He +gave up the fine distinction between the true and the untrue, between +God and idolatry, between divine principle and human expediency. And +with this loss of the best wisdom came loss of manliness, loss of peace, +and loss of the favor of God. Wealth, power, luxury, praise, glory, were +still about him, but he had made the most serious of all serious +mistakes. Later he recognized his mistake. We hope that he repented, +genuinely repented, of his mistake, and before his death turned back to +God and the best wisdom. But whether he died repentant or unrepentant +Solomon is the man who is forever the example of unparalleled wisdom and +of ruinous folly—of ruinous folly because his wisdom failed to retain +the element of the discerning mind.</p> + +<p>Here,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> then, is a lesson: "With all thy getting, get understanding." Life +is not a best success, whatever else it may have in it, unless it draws +fine lines of separation between good and evil. The wealth and learning +and glory of the wide world cannot make up for a lack of sensitive +conscientiousness. The study and ambition of life must be applied to the +securing and retaining of fine powers of moral discrimination if we are +to be truly wise. Every one can have this discerning mind, at least to +such a degree as shall enable him to avoid the fearful mistake of +palliating evil and of becoming enslaved to evil. A little child may in +this respect be wiser than the oldest man; the simple peasant may be +safer than the most cultured scholar. Not even libraries of knowledge +can save the character of the man whose vision of good and evil is +blunted.</p> + +<p>Youth is the time to make this prayer for true wisdom—when life's +decisions are first opening before us. Youth is the time when God can +best answer and when God cares most to answer prayer for the discerning +mind. We need to start upon our careers with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> hearts exceedingly +sensitive to the least variation from right. As the gunner cultivates +his aim and notes his least deviation from the true line to the target, +so should we cultivate clearness of moral perception. We need the +"practiced" eye and the "practiced" heart, for safe judgment.</p> + +<p>"The grand endowment of Washington," wrote Frederic Harrison, "was +character, not imagination, not subtlety, not brilliancy, but wisdom. +The wisdom of Washington was the genius of common sense, glorified into +<i>unerring truth of view</i>."</p> + +<p>Almost the same tribute can be paid to Victoria. When, six months after +her accession, Victoria drove to the House of Parliament, there was not +a hat raised nor a voice heard. But when sixty years later her jubilee +was held, such pæans of admiration and love swelled in London's streets +as never before had greeted any sovereign's ears—and all because the +people saluted in Victoria's person the <i>discrimination</i> that had +shunned vice, corrected abuses, exalted integrity, and glorified +religion.</p> + +<p>What every one needs, Washington, Victoria,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span> and all—and what every +one should crave—is such wisdom, as all through life shall keep him +from confusing moral principles and shall make him see, choose, love, +and follow the best.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">The Best Possession.</span></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">The Best Possession.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>What is the best possession a human life can have? Judging from the +efforts made to secure wealth, fame, and power, the answer would seem to +be that they—wealth, fame, and power—are the best possessions any one +can have. Observant and thoughtful people know, however, that such +possessions do not necessarily nor ordinarily make their owners happy. +They therefore argue that there must be better possessions than these. +So they say, eloquence is perhaps the best possession, or knowledge is, +or ability to do great deeds or express great thoughts is. But the +wisest book that has ever been written says that something not yet +mentioned is the best possession, and says that that something makes +life the happiest, and even makes it the holiest. That something, in the +language of the Bible, is <i>love</i>. The man that in his heart has love, +true, pure, lasting love, has the best possession that can be secured.</p> + +<p>It is for this reason that Jonathan is such an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span> inspiring character. The +story of his life, hastily viewed, seems almost incidental, but +scholarly examination of it shows that its light and gladness are in +marked contrast to the darkness and sorrow in the careers of Saul and +David. The story of Jonathan's life has probably done more to suggest +and arouse the unselfish devotion of man to man, than any story, apart +from that of the Christ, that has ever been told. If we wish to find one +who really had the best possible possession, Jonathan is that one, a man +whose heart was bright, whose deeds were noble, and whose death was +glorious.</p> + +<p>Jonathan was a physical hero. He had both muscular strength and +muscular skill. The way he could throw a spear and shoot an arrow made +him famous. He had rare courage. Assisted only by his armor-bearer he +once made an attack upon a whole garrison at Michmash, slaying twenty +men within a few rods and putting an entire army to flight. He had great +self-control. Found fault with by his father because in an hour of +weariness he had tasted honey—in ignorance of his father's wish to the +contrary—he opened his breast to receive the death penalty vowed by the +father, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span> stood unmoved until the soldiers cried to Saul that the deed +of blood must not be done. He was no weakling. Rather he was a mighty +man, able to command military forces and call out their enthusiasm. Men +rallied about him for hazardous undertakings, saying, "Do all that is in +thy heart; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart." In the field +or in the court he was equally acceptable. His father, the king, had +implicit confidence in him, and took him into all his counsels. In the +language of poetry, he was "swifter than an eagle, he was stronger than +a lion." Israel might well look forward to the day when this stalwart, +inspiring, wise son should succeed his father and be their king. His +name, in time of battle, would be a terror to their foes.</p> + +<p>But better than Jonathan's strong arm and clear intellect and winsome +personality was his loving heart. He never had read Paul's description +of love as given in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, nor had +he read Henry Drummond's exposition of love as "The Greatest Thing in +the World," nor had he ever seen the devoted character of Christ, nor +known any of the beautiful examples of love<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> created by the Gospel. He +was living in a selfish age—an age of strife and tumult and blood—and +still his whole being seemed pervaded by that love which is "unselfish +devotion to the highest interests of others." Such love was his joyous +and abiding possession.</p> + +<p>The first time we have an opportunity of reading his inmost heart is +when David, having slain Goliath, stands before Saul, holding Goliath's +head in his hand. Here we see the <i>generosity</i> of love. It was an hour +when every eye was turned from Jonathan and centered upon an unknown +stripling who had carried off the honors of the day by a startling and +brilliant deed. Hitherto Jonathan had been the national hero; now he was +to be set aside, and David was everywhere to come into the foreground. +How should all this transfer of honor affect Jonathan? Should it sour +him, making him look askance on this new competitor for the public +recognition, and influencing him to send back David to his father's +flocks, away from further opportunity for martial deeds? Any such method +would be what is called "natural." Men usually try to get rid of +competitors. They do this in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> business and in games. Opera singers often +keep back, if they can, the voice that once heard will supersede their +own voice in popular favor. We do not like to have another outshine us. +Praise is sweet. People hate to lose it. Plaudits transferred to another +leave a painful vacancy in the ordinary soul. We crave favor, and when +that favor passes from us to rest upon another we are severely tried. +Many a man has thought himself kindly dispositioned until he found that +some one else was obtaining the recognition previously so secure to him, +and then to his own surprise he has found himself grudging the other +that recognition. How much of the unhappiness of human life comes from +the fact that persons do not speak to us or of us as they do of others! +How apprehensively many people protect their place—social, political, +or commercial—lest another shall in any wise encroach upon it! Jonathan +might easily have recognized that, so far as his interests were +concerned, it was far better that David should be dismissed to the sheep +pastures than allowed to stay near the court.</p> + +<p>But in spite of what Jonathan recognized, Jonathan's heart warmed to +David. By the time<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> he had heard the story of David's home and family, +the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved +him as his own soul. The interests of David became his interests. He +wished David to succeed. Praises of David sounded sweet in his hearing. +He showed such wish to have David stay right there, at the heart of the +nation's capital, where people could see him and honor him, and where +David could have new opportunity for public service, that Saul would not +let David go back to the distant and quiet pastures. Jonathan even made +a covenant with David, promising to be his friend and helper. To show +the sincerity of that covenant, or rather in the expression of that +covenant, Jonathan took off his robe and his garments, even to his sword +and to his bow and to his girdle—stripped himself of them—and gave +them to David. Jonathan wished David to be ready for possible +opportunities of military success, and therefore he armed him with his +own chosen and well-tried weapons.</p> + +<p>So their friendship began. It was a friendship that was all "give" on +one side and all "take" on the other. There never was a clearer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +illustration of what love is than the relation between Jonathan and +David. It is always said that "Jonathan loved David," but no emphasis is +placed on David's love for Jonathan. David appreciated Jonathan, but +Jonathan loved David, and loving him, unceasingly aided him. "I call +that man my friend," a noble poet declared, "for whom I can do some +favor." Love exists only where costly kindnesses are conferred upon +another.</p> + +<p>Turner, England's honored painter, exemplified love when he was on a +committee on hanging pictures for exhibition in London and a picture +came from an unknown artist after the walls were full. "This picture is +worthy; it must be hung," he said. "Impossible; the walls are full now," +others asserted. Quietly saying "I will arrange it," Turner took down +one of his own pictures and hung the new picture in its place.</p> + +<p>The second scene of Jonathan's devotion to David reveals the +<i>protection</i> of love. David's life was in danger. Saul, jealous of +David's popularity, desired to be rid of David. He even wished to kill +him. He let his servants know his wish. David was encompassed by peril. +What would Jonathan do now? When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span> others were turning against him, would +he also turn against him? The current was all setting one way. Any +kindness to David would now be in direct opposition to a ruler's will +and to the sentiment of the court. Interest in another often becomes +luke-warm under such circumstances. "There is no use of resisting the +tide of events," people say. They therefore leave the man that is down +to himself and to his fate. How lovers fall away in the hour of disgrace +and danger! How difficult it becomes to speak favorably of a man when +every other is condemning him! In periods of excitement when the motives +of men are called into question and innuendo is in the air, how +reluctant we are to avow our confidence and try to still the cries of +opposition.</p> + +<p>But what was the effect of this situation on Jonathan? His heart warmed +all the more to the imperiled man whose one crime was that he was a +deliverer to Israel. Jonathan delighted much in David. Jonathan revealed +to David Saul's purpose to kill him. Jonathan provided for David's +immediate safety and took means to anticipate his future safety. Then he +went to the king and <i>plead</i> for David. That<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> was a splendid piece of +work. It was much as John Knox plead with Mary, Queen of Scots, for +Scotland. She did not wish to hear Knox's words. She was bitter against +Scotland and Scotland's religion. He risked much in venturing into her +presence and interceding. But he loved Scotland and Scotland's religion. +He would rather die than have Scotland suffer, and so he braved Mary's +tears and entreaties and commands, and he spoke for Scotland. Love is a +very expensive thing; it often summons us to surrender our personal +ease, and surrender, too, our closest comradeships. It may cost us +obloquy, it may cost us loss of standing with king and court, it may +cost us the disdain of the world, but cost what it might, Jonathan plead +for David's safety, and temporarily secured his wish.</p> + +<p>Later the love of Jonathan was to be subjected to a more subtle and +more difficult test. It was to be called upon for <i>self-effacement</i>. +Saul's misdemeanors and incompetences had so weighed on Saul's mind that +Saul actually hated the David whose conduct was always irreproachable; +Saul's mind, too, at times had lost its balance, and he had done the +insane<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> acts of a madman toward David. Saul, now half-sane and +half-insane, was irrevocably determined to kill David. He learned that +Samuel had quietly anointed David as king, and that David in due time +would succeed to the throne! Saul's heart was aflame with +bitterness—the bitterness that is born of chagrin and envy. David knew +of that bitterness, and knew that Saul's persistent enmity left but a +"step between him and death." Then it was that Jonathan ventured to +interview his father and see whether his father's hatred could not in +some way be appeased and David's safety be secured.</p> + +<p>But with the first revelation of Jonathan's interest in David came an +outburst from Saul that showed the utter implacability of Saul's rage. +Saul even tried to inflame Jonathan's temper, charging him with +perversity and rebellion, and with acting undutifully; and then, when he +hoped that Jonathan was excited, he introduced the thought, "This David, +if you let him live, will seize the throne which is yours as my son and +heir! Will you suffer David to live and take your throne?" It was an +appeal to Jonathan's envy, and that appeal touched on the most delicate +ambition of Jonathan's<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> heart. What a fearful thing envy is! History is +full of its unfortunate work. It hurts him who cherishes it as well as +him against whom it rages. Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis because +he could draw a stronger bow than himself or his party. Dionysius the +tyrant, out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician because he could +sing, and Plato the philosopher because he could dispute, better than +himself. "Envy is the very reverse of charity; it is the supreme source +of pain, as charity is the supreme source of pleasure. The poets +imagined that envy dwelt in a dark cave; being pale and lean, looking +asquint, abounding with gall, her teeth black, never rejoicing but in +the misfortune of others, ever unquiet and anxious, and continually +tormenting herself."</p> + +<p>When such an appeal to envy as that subtly made by Saul to Jonathan +comes to most human hearts they are conquered by it. Few, very few, men +hail the rise of the sun that pales their own star. But Jonathan could +not be overpowered by this appeal, however wilily the king drove it +home. He stood true to David, though by so doing he imperiled his own +life. For with his quick perception<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> of Jonathan's fixed adherence to +David, Saul hurled his javelin at his own son's breast and would have +slain him on the spot.</p> + +<p>In the days that followed this stormy interview, when the king's wrath +against David was still at white heat, and when one turn of Jonathan's +hand could have ended all possible rivalry between himself and David for +the throne, Jonathan sought David, said gladly to him, "Thou shalt be +king in Israel, and I shall be next unto thee," and saying this, made a +new covenant of love that should bind themselves and their descendants +to all generations!</p> + +<p>I know not what others may think, but as for me, nothing in this world +is sweeter, stronger, nobler, than an unselfish friendship. We have used +and misused the word "love" so often that we have dragged it down from +its high meaning. We have flippantly passed it over our lips when by +"love" we meant mere interest, or sympathy, or fondness, or even a +mental or a physical passion. We have belittled it and even smirched it +in the mire. But next to the word "God" it is the greatest word of human +life, and is associated with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> God as no other word is. The man that can +and will prove a generous, unselfish, devoted friend is the highest type +of man. The man that can cherish a sweet, uplifting love that is beyond +the reach of envy, and that will lay down every treasure but itself for +another, is the noblest specimen of manhood that can be produced. More +and more it becomes clear that genuine devotion to the highest interests +of others is the solution of the world's social problems. Love makes its +owner happy. It is a giver and a sustainer of joy. There is no +bitterness in its root and no acid in its fruit. By nature it is the +sweet, the healthy, the sane. The absence of love always means the +presence of the selfish, or of the vain, or of the proud, or of the +self-seeking, or of the cruel. Envy is a thorn in the soul. Love is +content and cheer, a radiant flower whose perfume is refreshingly +fragrant.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"For life, with all it yields of joy or woe,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">And hope or fear,</span><br /> +Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love—<br /> +How love might be, hath been, indeed, and is."</p> + +<p>To the very end of his days Jonathan stood true to David. He +accomplished what might seem to many an impossible task, but what<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span> by his +accomplishment of it is shown to be possible. He was true to two persons +whose interests were opposite, proving a friend to each. He loved his +father. He knew his father's weaknesses. They tried him seriously. When +his father threw the spear at his head, and maligned his mother, and +charged him with ingratitude, his whole being was stirred; he went out +from his father's presence "angry." But that anger was merely a +temporary emotion. He soon realized his duty to his father. He returned, +placed himself at his father's hand, continued to be his adherent, +counselor, and helper, went with him as one of his lieutenants to the +battle on Gilboa, and fought beside him until he fell dead at Saul's +side!</p> + +<p>There is nothing weak in this character of Jonathan. Let him who can +reproduce it. Christ said of John the Baptist, "There hath not been born +of women a greater than he," because John, free from envy, was so full +of love that he rejoiced to see Christ come into a recognition that +absolutely displaced John. By these words of Christ John is made to loom +up as no other character of his day. Jonathan was John's prototype—a +massive man, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> man of momentum, a man of absolute fearlessness, whose +virtues were crowned by his generous, protecting, self-effacing love. No +wonder that when word reached David that Jonathan had been slain in +fierce battle his heart poured out the greatest elegy of history—an +elegy that has been sung and resung for thousands of years—"How are the +mighty fallen! I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very +pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing +the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war +perished!" Noticeable it is that the supreme elegy of the Old Testament +is on the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, Jonathan; and that +the one elegy of the New Testament pronounced by Christ, is likewise on +the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, John the Baptist. The +greatest possession any one can have is a loving heart—a heart that +generously recognizes worth in another and tries to make place for that +worth; a heart that guards another's interests, even though such +guarding costs intercession; a heart that gladly surrenders its own +advantage that another may advance to the place which might be its own.</p> + +<p>No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> one can tell another how and when the heart of love should show +itself. All that can be told is this: "Let any one be pervaded by love +as Jonathan was, and in that one's home, in that one's business, and in +that one's pleasures God will provide him occasion upon occasion for +living that love." The love that a man gives away is the only love his +heart can retain. The man that has such a heart of love has the +sweetest, happiest, gladdest possession that can be obtained on earth or +in heaven. All the money in the world leaves a man poor if his heart is +bitter. All the poverty that can come to a man finds him rich if his +heart is glad and strong. Love is the only possession that a man can +carry with him to heaven and always keep with him in heaven. He lives +for eternity who lives for love.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"The one great purpose of creation—love,<br /> +The sole necessity of earth and heaven."</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Using Aright Our Best Hours.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER VIII.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Using Aright Our Best Hours.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>Every writer who has described what we call opportunity has insisted +upon the necessity of seizing opportunity as it flies. We are told that +there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at its proper moment +leads us on to fortune. It is also asserted that once at least there +comes into every one's life a special hour which used aright has much to +do with assuring his permanent welfare.</p> + +<p>Universal experience bears witness to the truthfulness and force of +these sayings. Every human being who has studied the history of the race +is aware that now and then decisive hours come to his fellows, and +according as those hours are used to advantage or to disadvantage, is +the success or failure of his fellows. We know this fact applies also to +ourselves. All our hours are not the same hours, either in their nature +or in their possibility. Some hours are special hours when, for one +reason or another, crises are present; if we meet these hours aright we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +advance, if we fail to meet them aright we fall back.</p> + +<p>Such hours are the supreme opportunities of our entire existence: the +hours when duty appears more clear than is its wont, or hours when the +heart is strangely moved toward the good, or hours when a new and very +uplifting sense of God's presence is felt. It is not asserted that such +hours are equally bright and glorious to every one. They may not be +bright at all. They may be dull and heavy. But they bring us a +conviction of what is right, a sense of obligation to do the right, and +an assurance that God's way is the way our feet should tread. Given any +such hour, whether it be on the mountain or in the valley, and a man has +his best hour. All other hours, as we plod or play, may be good, but the +hour when a soul is brought face to face with duty and with God is the +best hour in that particular period of our life.</p> + +<p>It was simply and only because Jacob used aright his best hours that he +rescued his name from disgrace and crowned it with glory. If ever a man +started in life handicapped by unfortunate characteristics and +unfortunate environments Jacob was such a man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> One of the modern +sculptors, George Grey Barnard, has a life-sized marble, showing what he +names "Our Two Natures," two men, one the good and one the evil, coming +out of the same block of stone, and struggling, each to see which shall +gain the ascendancy over the other. Such two natures are in every one; +but they appear with special prominence in Jacob. The question of his +life was, Which is to conquer, the good or the evil? The struggle of the +good for ascendancy was prolonged and severe. It was a struggle in which +there were disgraceful defeats, but in which there was also a +persistency of purpose and a reassertion of effort whereby the good +finally triumphed. And this triumph, it may safely be asserted, was +secured through the use Jacob made of a few supreme hours in his life.</p> + +<p>When we first begin to notice Jacob, we see him participating in the +deception of his aged and almost blinded father, Isaac. We do well, in +studying that deception, to bear in mind that the mother, before Jacob's +birth, had been told that Jacob should inherit his father's blessing. So +she had probably taught Jacob that this blessing belonged to him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> and +that she and he were justified in securing it in any way they could. And +we do well also to bear in mind that the mother recognized a certain +undeveloped but capable fitness in Jacob for this blessing, a fitness +that Esau lacked. Esau was a lusty, out-of-doors, happy-going man who +would not control his appetites, and who, however pleasant he might be +to have around when merry-making and sport were in the air, was not +prudent enough and judicious enough to be the head of a great people. +Rebekah, and Jacob, too, may have felt that it would be the height of +family folly to leave the family blessing with Esau, who probably in a +short time would squander it; it ought, therefore, to be diverted from +him. Besides, the age was one in which fine distinctions between right +and wrong, as we to-day see these distinctions, were not clear. We thus +can understand some of the reasoning which lay back of the fraud +practiced on Isaac when Jacob made believe that he was Esau bringing the +desired venison, and so secured the blessing.</p> + +<p>But we do not mean to justify the deception. It carried—as every sin +carries—fearful consequences, and those consequences affected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> all of +Jacob's future life. As he had deceived his father, again and again his +children deceived their father. Even immediately upon its perpetration +Jacob's life became endangered. He was obliged to flee from enraged and +threatening Esau. Then it was that Jacob, at nightfall, coming alone to +rocky Bethel, and lying down to sleep—a wrong-doer, a fugitive, +homeless, friendless, and in peril—had his dream. He saw heaven opened +over him, with angels ascending as it were by a ladder to God and then +descending by that ladder from God to his resting-place. The dream bore +in upon his mind certain thoughts. One was, that God had not forsaken +him, but was with him. Another was, that God was ready to forgive him +for his sin and bless him. And still a third was, that God would take +even his life and so use it, if he should be consecrated to Him, that +he, Jacob, should some day come back to Bethel as its owner and be the +head of that people through whom the whole world should be blessed. And +a fourth thought was, that however long the delay in fulfilling the +promises, God certainly would fulfil them, and He would watch over Jacob +until they were fulfilled.</p> + +<p>As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> Jacob awaked from his dream those four thoughts were in his mind: of +God's presence, of God's forgiveness, of God's call, and of God's +protection. Up to this time the hour of this awakening was the best hour +of his life. Thoughts stirred in his heart different in degree and +different in quality than any he had ever had. There came a new sense of +the wonderful love of God. What had he done to deserve it? Nothing. Why +should not the heavens be closed, and be dark and forbidding to a +defrauder like himself? That certainly was what one like himself might +expect. Did not the cherubim drive sinful Adam and Eve out of the +garden, and stand with flaming sword forbidding their return? But here +was God appearing in mercy, assuring of His readiness to pardon +transgression, and calling upon the wrong-doer to repent, to be earnest, +and to make his life a benediction rather than a curse. Here, too, was +God pledging His unfailing aid to Jacob if Jacob would struggle toward +success!</p> + +<p>What should Jacob do with these thoughts? He might have brushed them +away from his heart as he brushed away the morning dew from his eyes, +and thus immediately have banished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> them. He might have pondered the +thoughts for a day or two, being softened and comforted by them, and +then let them pass out of his mind forever. Many men have acted in such +ways. A wicked man opened a letter from his mother, and with the sight +of her penmanship there came to him the memory of all her interest in +his purity, integrity, and godliness. He crushed the letter in his hand +and threw it into the fire burning on the hearth. But another man, many +another man, though moved by good impulses, and even touched to the +quick by them after a while has let such impulses glide away from his +heart and carry with them their helpfulness. That is what Darwin says +that he did. The thought of God came to him now and then in special +hours of his earlier life, but he did not hold fast to it, he let it +escape, and the thought of a personal God who watches over and blesses +never became the cheering possession of his soul.</p> + +<p>But it was not so with Jacob; and because it was not so, hope of +betterment dawned upon his character. He <i>valued</i> the thoughts that had +come to him. He was awed. Awe, or reverence, is the originating spring +of worthy character.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> His was not a simple mind easily affected. Jacob +was a cool, calculating, careful, worldly-wise man, almost the last type +of man that finds it easy to be awed. But to him—with whom money and +sheep and slaves and retinue were now and were long afterward to be very +prominent objects of ambition—there was a feeling that, after all, God +and God's blessings are the supreme things of life. So he did not let +the awe of the hour pass unimproved. He acted on that awe. He then and +there as best he could confessed God and his faith in Him, raising a +pillar of stone in God's name and anointing it with oil in significance +that the spot upon which it stood was consecrated to God. Thus he +erected the first of all those tabernacles, temples, synagogues, +churches, cathedrals, chapels, that have been a testimony to faith in +God all over the earth. And then, as though an outward thing was not +enough, but some inner thing of character was now required, he vowed a +vow—the best vow probably that he, with his idea of God and of money, +knew how to vow. He vowed that if God who had thus shown him his +opportunity and duty would be true to His promises and would take care +of him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> as covenanted, he, Jacob, would uphold the worship of God and +would give a tenth of all he might ever obtain unto God.</p> + +<p>That vow laid hold on Jacob's life. It began to work a change that only +many, many years advanced toward completion. But it began the change. +When a soul, in a best moment of life, seeing duty clearly, or beholding +a new revelation of God, crystallizes the emotions thus aroused by a vow +that consecrates its dearest treasures to God, then the soul has taken +its first step toward strong and beautiful character. Here it was that +Esau failed. He seems to have had more traits that men would name +attractive than had Jacob. An open-hearted, open-handed, out-spoken man, +rough but kind and generous and ready, he at life's beginning appeared +to have more in his favor than this grasping, secretive brother. When +Esau's best hours came—hours when the sense of his own misdeeds rankled +in his heart and when he was aware that repentance and reformation and a +new application to duty should be his—he felt his situation deeply; he +even, as a man of his temperament could do, shed tears of grief over his +mistakes and losses. But he did not realize<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> with awe the gravity of his +situation, nor did he turn to God and to duty with a softened, chastened +spirit, and vow his life in devotion to God. Jacob's right use of his +best hours set Jacob's face towards God and character. Esau's wrong use +of his best hours set Esau's face away from God and character.</p> + +<p>But Jacob's life needed, as every life needs, more than one best hour. +Off in Haran where he dwelt for twenty years he was among heathen +people. As he served seven years for Leah and seven years for Rachel and +six years beside, he preserved many of the ideals and purposes that came +to him in the morning hour at Bethel, but not all of them. These +purposes seem to have kept him from idolatry and to have given him +patience and fortitude and prolonged endurance. Laban treated him +deceivingly and unkindly. Jacob showed much self-control and much +generosity. Laban's flocks increased beneath Jacob's care until Laban +became a very rich man. If a lamb or a sheep was injured in any way +Jacob bore all the expense connected with its hurt or its death. Had +Laban recognized the value of his services, then<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> perhaps Jacob would not +again have come under the power of his own crafty, calculating, +money-making propensities. But Laban treated Jacob like a slave, and +Jacob retaliated with meanness. He speciously secured from Laban a large +proportion of Laban's cattle, and with his wealth thus gathered started +away from his angry master toward the old-time Bethel, that somehow was +always in his memory. There was a sense in which he deserved every sheep +and goat and servant that he had: he had earned them all; they ought by +right of service to be his. But in another sense he had tricked Laban +and was going away with ill-gotten gains.</p> + +<p>Now is to come the second great crisis in his life. Jacob is to venture +into the country where Esau is, Esau who for years has been cherishing +hatred against Jacob. Hatred cherished sours and becomes malice. Esau +was a difficult one to meet—fierce, strong, and determined. It was then +that another great hour came to Jacob. To the east he had parted company +with Laban, who had become reconciled to Jacob and who had given him his +farewell blessing. To the west, where Bethel lay and whither his heart +called him, is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> Esau. How shall he meet Esau? He does now what seems, +from the night at Bethel, to have become more or less of a custom with +him; he consults God. He lays the situation as it lies in his mind +before God. He thus tries to see the situation as it actually is when +seen in the presence of One who is omniscient. As he thus studies the +situation he deems it wise to send ahead, in relays, goodly parts of his +flocks, which, as they pass Esau, should be announced as gifts to Esau. +It is the same cool, calculating Jacob still at work. Then he sends +forward all his family and all his cattle, over the Jabbok, toward the +country where Esau is. This done he remained behind alone.</p> + +<p>Again it was the night-time. There was darkness, the darkness that often +is so conducive to earnest thought and clear vision of the right. Light +is indeed essential that men already in the path of duty may walk safely +therein, but the path of duty itself is more often discovered when we +look out of darkness than when we stand in the sunlight.</p> + +<p>It was a time of uncertainty and almost of fear on Jacob's part—a +time of heart searching in view of the past and of hesitation in view<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> of +the present. Such a time can come only to one who has ceased being a +mere child and has entered into the experiences of manhood. The great +questions of the nature of God and of the protection of His providence +stirred in Jacob's heart. His had been a sinful career. Still he had +repented, and repenting had grown in grace. But even yet his faith was +fearful and his trust hesitant. Was God really on his side? Would this +God, the God that had promised to bring him back to Canaan and give him +a place there, surely preserve him? Then it was, while these questions +were throbbing within him, that in the darkness one like a man grappled +with him in wrestling. Should he be faint-hearted and cowardly, +distrusting God's promise of protection, and let this stranger throw +him, kill him, and so forever end the possibility of God's fulfilling +His promise? Or should he lay hold of God's promise to sustain him, and +do his best to throw this stranger, and thus preserve his life and +accomplish his mission? It was a decisive time. Luther had such a time +the night before the Diet of Worms, when he had to wrestle with the +thought "Shall I be distrustful of God's providence and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> recant +to-morrow, or shall I hold fast to my faith in God and stand by the +truth to-morrow?" Hamilton had such a time the night before he decided +that he would be burned at the stake rather than deny the truth. Such +times come into many lives, when great questions about a right or a +wrong marriage, a right or a wrong business, a right or a wrong +amusement, must be decided.</p> + +<p>Jacob <i>would</i> not surrender to fear! He <i>would</i> trust God to continue +his life. He therefore relaxed no hold on the stranger, but wrestled +with him as best he could. Then came the revelation. The stranger simply +touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and by that touch put it out of +joint! Here was an Almighty One wrestling with him! Jacob realized that +<i>God</i> had come to him! With that revelation, even in his weakened +condition, he clings the closer to the stranger; he <i>will</i> hold on to +God. "Let me go, for the day breaketh," cries the stranger. "I will not +let thee go, except thou bless me," Jacob replies. Jacob cleaves to God. +Jacob longs for God's blessing. He has found God very near to him. He +will avail himself of His nearness. The face of God is turned upon him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span> +in love. He will not let this hour go without getting from it all the +inspiration and help he can obtain.</p> + +<p>And he did obtain the best blessing that ever came to his life—the +blessing that assured him his character was to be completely changed, +and made beautiful and strong for God. Christ once said to a weak, +impulsive, oft-falling man: "Thou art Simon, son of Jonah"—that is, the +"listening" son of a weak "dove," unreliable, changeable, frail—"thou +shalt be Peter"—that is, a "rock," firm, stable. Christ thus indicated +that he would make of weak Simon a resolute, trustworthy Peter, as He +did. Just so God in this hour said, "Thy name shall be called no more +Jacob"—the "supplanter," the tricky, the calculating—"but Israel"—a +"prince of God," a man that has power with God and men, a man that even +<i>prevails</i> with God and men!</p> + +<p>What a benediction that was, one of the choicest in all history! No +higher designation could be promised to such a man as Jacob had been, +than "Israel"! I would rather—under God and for God—have that name +given me by God than any other name that can<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> be named upon a weak, frail +man: "Israel"—a man who can <i>prevail</i> with his <i>fellows</i> and with <i>God</i> +for <i>human good</i>!</p> + +<p>All this came about because Jacob used aright his best hours; because +when God was near him, he held on to God; because when he was +discouraged and heavy-hearted and the prospect was dark, he trusted God; +because when he was weakened and brought low, he would not let God go +unless He bless him. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," Job +said. "Even if God will not deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, +still we will not disobey Him," said the three prisoners at Babylon.</p> + +<p>Henceforth in Jacob's life there would still be vicissitudes. Troubles, +responsibilities, disappointments, sorrows, needs, would come. His +children did not always treat him aright. Joseph was mourned as dead. +Benjamin was taken from him to Egypt. He had cares and burdens, as all +men must have them, until life's end. But the thought of God became +increasingly precious to him year by year; his spirit sweetened and +softened; his memory was full of the loving kindnesses of God, and his +hope laid hold on a blessed future. Down in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> Egypt as he draws nigh to +death he triumphantly speaks of "God, before whom my fathers, Abraham +and Isaac, did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this +day, and the Angel which redeemed me from all evil." He died a man of +God, honored in his day, and honored since—a man who had such faith in +the promises that he charged Joseph to carry his body to the Holy Land +and bury it there where the Christ was to come. He started life with +most unfortunate traits of character and in most unfortunate +surroundings of environment, but he came off a victor, not a perfect +man, but a successful man, a man whom we may well praise, a man who +preserved the faith and blessed the world, and all because he made a +right use of his best hours.</p> + +<p>Where the highest thoughts are in the air, where the holiest persons +gather, where the loftiest influences of God's Holy Spirit breathe, +there we do well to go. There we do well to stay. Any voice that calls +us nearer God should be followed, any motion of our heart toward duty +should be obeyed. God is sure to send us, one and all, special hours in +which His wishes are clear to our understandings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> and His promises are +reassuring to our wills. Those are the golden hours of existence. Even +God can provide no better. If we use these best hours aright, our whole +moral nature is changed, and the weakest of us becomes a mighty "prince +of God."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="huge"><span class="smcap">Giving Our Best to God.</span></span></p> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span></p> +<p class="center"><span class="huge">CHAPTER IX.</span></p> + +<p class="center"><span class="big"><span class="smcap">Giving Our Best to God.</span></span></p> +<p> </p> + +<p>God asks every man to give to Him his best. It is God's way, God's +undeviating way with each individual to say to him, "Whatever in +yourself or in your possessions is best, that I ask you to devote to +Me."</p> + +<p>Students of God, in all ages, have recognized this fact. They have +understood that a human life cannot wholly follow God unless all the +holdings of that life are consecrated to God. They have also understood +that a man's "all" includes his best, and that unless that best is +God's, the man's real heart and the man's strongest purposes are not +God's.</p> + +<p>Abraham realized these truths. Accordingly, when Abraham, pondering his +personal relation to God, asked himself whether he was a perfectly +devoted man, the thought of his son Isaac crept into his mind. Isaac was +his only real son. He dearly loved him. He was the supreme treasure of +his heart. Abraham's hopes centered in Isaac. His ambitions<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> and his joys +were bound up in that son and in that son's life.</p> + +<p>Was Abraham willing to give to God his best treasure, his Isaac? That +was the question Abraham found himself called upon to face. In facing it +he was affected by the theories of consecration that prevailed among the +surrounding nations. Those theories asserted that consecration meant +sacrifice—that to consecrate a lamb to a god meant to slay the lamb +upon the altar of that god, and that to consecrate a child to Jehovah +would mean to slay the child upon the altar of Jehovah.</p> + +<p>As he thought on these things and knew God wished him to give to Him his +best, there came to him a conviction that spoke to his heart with all +the authority of the voice of God. "Abraham, if you are ready to give Me +your best, you will take Isaac, your son, your only son, whom you love, +and in Moriah offer him there for a burnt-offering."</p> + +<p>That was the most searching command that could have entered his soul. It +asked of him the sacrifice of the dearest object of his life.</p> + +<p>Nobly, even sublimely, did he meet the test. Believing, according to +the ideas prevalent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> about him, that perfect devotion to God and to God's +kingdom called him to lift his fatherly hand and plunge the knife of +death into the heart of his child, Abraham lifted his hand for the +sacrifice. In that act God, who ever stood ready to correct Abraham's +misconception of method, had evidence that before Him was an absolutely +loyal soul. Here was one who to all generations might deservedly be +called, "The father of the faithful." Accordingly, with the man who +would give Him his best and who thus became a worthy example for all +mankind, God made a covenant; "In Abraham and in his seed all the +nations of the earth should be blessed."</p> + +<p>This impressive scene heads the very beginning of the salvation of the +race. It is the prelude to the definite record of the world's +redemption. It ushers in that line of history that starting with Abraham +advances through a chosen people until a Christ is come and in Him and +through Him and for Him all people are asked to give their best to God +and to the world's help.</p> + +<p>What is a person's best? Sometimes the question can easily be answered. +In Malachi's time, when people were bringing their offerings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> to the +temple, and those offerings were the blind, the lame, and the sick of +the flock, it was evident that these imperfect creatures were not the +best. The best were the clear-eyed, the strong-limbed, and the +vigorous-bodied sheep that were left at home. Of two talents or five +talents or ten talents, all in the possession of the same owner, it is +clear that the ten talents are the best. The thing that to a man's own +heart is the dearest is to him his best. The thing that for the world's +betterment is the most helpful is to that world the man's best. Usually +these two things are the same thing; a man's dearest treasure +consecrated to the world's uplift is the best thing he can give to the +world's good. Whatever carries a man's undivided and enthusiastic heart +into usefulness is the best that he can offer to God and to God's world.</p> + +<p>For a man is at his best when in utter self-abnegation his heart is +enlisting every power of mind and body in devotion to a worthy cause. +Moses was good as a shepherd. The rabbins love to tell of his protection +of sheep in time of danger and of his provision for them in time of +need. But Moses<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span> was at his best when, under God's call, he conquered his +fear and reluctance, resolved to do what he could to rescue Israel from +cruel Pharaoh, and throwing his heart into the effort, undertook the +redemption of his race. Joshua was good as a servant and as a spy, but +he was at his best when he took the lead of armies, won glorious +victories, and wisely administered government. Paul was good when he sat +at the feet of Gamaliel and studied well, and when, grown older, he was +an upright citizen of Judea, but Paul was at his best when, under the +inspiration of a cause that inflamed his whole life, he pleaded on Mar's +Hill, wrote to Roman saints, and triumphed over suffering in prison.</p> + +<p>It is not easy for a youth to know what is his best. He is uncertain of +his aptitudes. He is not sure that he <i>has</i> special aptitudes. His +marked characteristics have not become clear to his own eye, if they +have become clear to the eyes of others; nor does he understand what +power is latent in his distinctive characteristics, whose existence he +is beginning to suspect. Such a youth need not, must not, be discouraged +and think he has no "best." He has a "best" that in God's sight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +individualizes him, a "best" that God wishes consecrated to him. +Whatever is most precious to that youth, whatever he least likes to have +injured and most likes to have prosper, that is the element of his life +that he should lay at God's feet. If the most treasured possession of +his being is thus given to God, God in the due time will develop its +aptitudes. He will provide a place or an hour when those aptitudes shall +be given opportunity. No Moses—competent for mighty tasks—is ever +allowed to remain unsummoned, provided such competency is wholly given +to God. There are many marvels in human history, but no marvel is +greater than the coming of the hour of opportunity to every man to do +his best and to reveal his best. It is not so much a question of what is +our best, as it is whether we are willing to consecrate the thing we +prize most to the service of God's world.</p> + +<p>That world <i>needs</i> our best. The problems of human society and the +wants of men can never be met by the cheap. What costs the giver little, +accomplishes little with the receiver. Skin deep beneficences never +penetrate beyond the skin of those helped. The woes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> of the world lie far +beneath the skin. When we study them, we are amazed by their depth; we +see how futile many of the efforts of mankind to relieve them are. The +failure of so many of these efforts causes some souls to question +whether it is possible for any one ever to relieve humanity's needs. +That question will always suggest a negative answer, so long as the +superficial, the secondary, and the merely good are brought to the +relief of mankind. It is only when the best that an individual can give +or society can provide is offered men that men will be redeemed.</p> + +<p>The existence in our world to-day of so much sin and sorrow is most +significant. It exists and will continue to exist so long as we bring +anything less than our best to its help. There was no cure for the +lepers of Palestine so long as men threw them coins that they could +easily spare, gave them food that cost them little self-denial, and said +under their breath, "How pitiable those lepers are!" But when One came +who gave <i>Himself</i> for them, who risked being put out of synagogue and +temple and all society by <i>touching</i> them, who even ceremonially defiled +Himself with their defilement, and thus did the best He possibly<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span> could +do for them, the lepers were healed.</p> + +<p>The best men in the world are not too good for the world's needs. The +streets of cities and the lanes of towns will never be purified by any +instrumentalities of usefulness that are less than the best. The heathen +world has not a village in which the wisest, noblest, purest man or +woman will not have to battle hard before the work to be done can be +done. Inexpensive apparatus may avail where operations are simple, but +the most expensive apparatus that can be found is required where +operations are intensely complicated.</p> + +<p>It sometimes seems as though even intelligent people had not +comprehended these facts. They talk of the foolishness of casting pearls +before swine. But the woes of humanity are not the woes of swine. They +are the woes of men and women in bondage to wrong—and pearls are none +too good to set before them that thereby the beauty of life may be seen +by them and thereby that earthly condition of society whose every gate +is one single pearl of purity, may be desired by them. If in a home we +cannot be a comfort to the sorrowful,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> or in a school be an inspiration +to the laggard, or in business be a cheer to the discouraged, without +giving the very best out of our hearts that we can give, how shall we +expect that the great mass of evil congested in dense centers and +compacted through ancient custom, will ever be purified, unless we take +the best resources we can command, in ourselves and in others, and bring +those best resources face to face, yes, heart to heart, to that mass of +evil. The world will never be saved until we offer our Isaacs upon the +altar of its needs.</p> + +<p>That world <i>deserves</i> our best. We never can repay to this world the +good this world has done us. The richest man on the earth is the most +heavily indebted to his fellows. All our knowledge, culture, and safety +are gifts from others. Our schools are the product of men who for a +hundred generations have thought and labored for us. "Every ship that +comes to America got its chart from Columbus. Every novel is a debtor to +Homer." The more of treasure any man has, the more of toil others have +borne for him. The best elements of our homes, our business, and our +civilization reach us through the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> tears and blood of others. Were the +man who has two hundred millions of dollars to attempt to meet his +indebtedness to the world by the expenditure of that sum in charities, +he would not <i>begin</i> to discharge his indebtedness. Every single benefit +we enjoy cost many men their best.</p> + +<p>The nobler our type of manhood the gladder we are to acknowledge this +indebtedness and the gladder we are in our present place and time to +give our best for others.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"Fame is what you have taken,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Character is what you give;</span><br /> +When to this truth you waken,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then you begin to live."</span></p> + +<p>Something of fineness and of greatness is lacking in the person who +thinks himself above his neighbors and their needs. The better and the +larger a man becomes, the readier he is to declare himself a brother to +suffering humanity and to feel that no sacrifice he can make of himself +is too costly if thereby he can elevate others. It is "angelic" to be a +ministering spirit sent forth to minister to those who may be made heirs +of salvation.</p> + +<p>The highest examples possible to our emulation confirm this theory of +the gift of the best.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> Christ Himself withheld not any treasures He +possessed, but He gave them all and gave them cheerily for foolish +humanity. He laid upon the altars of the world's need His best wisdom, +His best power, His best glory. He even laid upon that altar His own +precious life, and He laid it there, in all its spotlessness, subject to +the very curses of men.</p> + +<p>So, too, did the Father unhesitatingly give His best for the world's +welfare. He gave His Son, His only begotten Son, in whom He was well +pleased, to save the lost. He gave that Son to any and to every pain +involved in the cheering of the sorrowful and the strengthening of the +weak. Not even from Gethsemane, no, nor from Calvary, did He withhold +His best. What Abraham was ready to do, but what God spared him from +doing, that God Himself did—and God's Isaac was stretched upon the +cross and died there a sacrifice.</p> + +<p>It is the gift of the best that touches the heart of the recipient. +Superficial kindnesses are impotent, but kindnesses that involve the +surrender of the giver's treasures sway the soul of the recipient. This +is not always true, but it is true as a principle. "They will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> reverence +My Son." Yes, though they pay no heed to mere servants and prophets, and +though some unappreciative men slay even the Son, other men, the great +multitude of men, when they realize that the Son is God's best +possession, and realize that in His gift of Christ God exhausts the +treasury of His heart, will reverence His Son. The cross is sure to win +the whole world to God, because the cross stands for God's gift of His +best. God's way of doing good should be our way. It is the only way that +has assurance of success. Our wisest learning, our best possessions, our +choicest scholars, our dearest children, our brightest hours, our +largest abilities—all must be given to the service of humanity, if the +needs of humanity are to be met.</p> + +<p>Look where we will, the souls of men are waiting for help. Thousands +upon thousands of lives will not suffice to provide this help. Millions +upon millions of dollars may be expended, and still, in this land and in +other lands, there will be the destitute, the afflicted, and the +enslaved. It was not Abraham's gift of his sheep nor of his shekels that +made him the forerunner of the Christ, but it was his gift<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span> of Isaac. Our +gift of the best alone will put us in line with Abraham and Christ, and +make our service a power for salvation.</p> + +<p>Only a large-hearted life will give its best to God. Small hearts cling +to their best treasures. Achan puts God's name on every object found in +fallen Jericho excepting the most valuable; that he hides in his tent. +Saul devotes to Jehovah all the cattle conquered from the Ammonites but +the best; those he reserves for himself. It was the mark of the +greatness of her nature that when to the widow there came a man of God +asking for food, and her meal was only enough to bake a cake for her son +and herself ere they died, she took that meal, obedient to what she +considered to be a call from God, and made of it, her best, her all, a +cake for the man of God. God honored that gift and paid back into her +own life the blessing of His unfailing provision. He always honors any +such gift. A man like Joseph gives his best and keeps giving his best to +God all his days, and God never suffers Joseph to lose his spiritual +vigor. But if Solomon only gives his best in his early life, and +withholds his best in his later life, that later life becomes weak and +meager.</p> + +<p>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> proof to which God put Abraham is the most soul-searching proof that +ever comes into human lives. If we answer to it as did Abraham, we are +immediately brought into a new and sweeter relation to God. God +withholds no blessing from him who offers Him his best. God enters into +a dearer and closer fellowship with such an one. He declares to him that +His name is "Jehovah-Jireh," "The Lord will provide," assuring the man +that though he does make great sacrifices for God, God will provide for +him abundantly more than he has thus sacrificed. The young ruler went +away from Christ sorrowful when he declined to give Christ his best, but +no soul ever can be sorrowful that gives its best to Christ. "You shall +have a hundred-fold more in this world and in the world to come life +everlasting." It was because the disciples gave their best to Christ +that they became so efficient in his service. "What things were gain to +me, those I counted loss for Christ." Accordingly Paul became mighty to +the upbuilding of the kingdom of his Master and was always joyous.</p> + +<p>Let every one look into his life and find his best. "What is it I prize +most? What is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> it that gives me largest place among my fellows?" Then let +every one consecrate that best to God. That best may be the enthusiasm +of our youth, or the wisdom of our maturity, or the wealth of our age. +It may be a child in our home, or our hope of advancement, or some +special attractiveness we possess. Whatever our best may be, God asks us +to consecrate it to Him. Whoever so consecrates his best will find God +dearer, life sweeter, and service richer than ever before.</p> + +<p class="poem"> +"There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">There are souls that are pure and true;</span><br /> +Then give to the world the best you have,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the best shall come back to you.</span><br /> +<br /> +"Give love, and love to your heart will flow,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A strength in your utmost need;</span><br /> +Have faith, and a score of hearts will show<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their faith in your word and deed.</span><br /> +<br /> +"For life is the mirror of king and slave,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis just what you are and do;</span><br /> +Then give to the world the best you have,<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the best will come back to you."</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="big">TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:</span></p> + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 1em;">The word <i>repentence</i> on page 149 was changed to <i>repentance.</i></span></p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Living for the Best, by James G. 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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: + + https://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. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/36162-h/images/001.png b/36162-h/images/001.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf3199e --- /dev/null +++ b/36162-h/images/001.png diff --git a/36162-h/images/cover.jpg b/36162-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..01616f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/36162-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/36162.txt b/36162.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3802f1b --- /dev/null +++ b/36162.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3229 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Living for the Best, by James G. K. McClure + +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: Living for the Best + +Author: James G. K. McClure + +Release Date: May 17, 2011 [EBook #36162] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVING FOR THE BEST *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David E. Brown, and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + Living for the Best + + By + + James G. K. McClure + + Author of "A Mighty Means of Usefulness," "The Great Appeal," + "Possibilities," etc. + + + CHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO + Fleming H. Revell Company + LONDON AND EDINBURGH + + + Copyright, 1903 + By FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY + MARCH + + CHICAGO: 63 WASHINGTON STREET + NEW YORK: 158 FIFTH AVENUE + TORONTO: 27 RICHMOND STREET, W. + LONDON: 21 PATERNOSTER SQUARE + EDINBURGH: 30 ST. MARY STREET + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The publisher of a large metropolitan journal, a most effective man in +reaching and influencing his fellows, once expressed to me the thought, +"From what I know of myself and others, were I a writer or speaker +desiring to enforce truth, I would always try to vivify that truth +through illustration and story. The every-day intelligence of man +rejoices to have truth put before it in living form." + +It is with these words in mind that this book is written. Its purpose is +to set forth great ideas, and so to set them forth, each one illustrated +by a historic life already familiar, that these ideas shall be made +luminous, and even vivid, to the reader. The characters chosen for such +illustration are from the Old Testament--those men of ancient times +whose humanity is the humanity of every race and clime, and whose +experiences touch our own with sympathy and suggestion. May these +old-day heroes live again before the mind of him who turns these pages, +and may the ideas which they are used to illustrate be an abiding power +in the memory of every reader. + + JAMES G. K. MCCLURE. + + LAKE FOREST, + ILLINOIS. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. Open to the Best 11 + + II. Winning the Best Victories 31 + + III. Making the Best Use of Our Lives 49 + + IV. Putting the Best into Others 67 + + V. Developing Our Best under Difficulties 87 + + VI. The Need of Retaining the Best Wisdom 105 + + VII. The Best Possession 123 + + VIII. Using Aright Our Best Hours 141 + + IX. Giving Our Best to God 161 + + + + +OPEN TO THE BEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OPEN TO THE BEST. + + +"If every morning we would fling open our windows and look out on the +wide reaches of God's love and goodness, we could not help singing." So +it has been written. So Luther thought. When he was at Wartburg Castle, +in the perilous times of the Reformation, he went every morning to his +window, threw it open, looked up to the skies, and veritable prisoner +though he was, cheerily sang, "God is our Refuge and Strength, a very +present Help." Then he carried a buoyant heart to the labor of the day. + +The joy of a glad outlook was well understood by Ruskin. His guests at +Brantwood were often awakened early in the morning by a knocking at +their doors and the call, "Are you looking out?" When in response to +this summons they pushed back the window-blinds a scene of beauty +greeted their eyes. The glory of sunlight and the grandeur of forest +dispelled care, quieted fret, and animated hope. + +Scarce anything in life more determines a soul's welfare than the nature +of its outlook. If spiritual frontage is toward the shadow, the soul +sees all things in the gloom of the shadow; if spiritual frontage is +toward the sunlight, the soul sees all things in the brightness of the +sunlight. + +The preliminary question of character is, What is the outlook? Let that +outlook be wrong, and opinion and conduct in due time will be wrong; let +it be right, and whatever the temporary mistakes of opinion and conduct, +the permanent tendency of character will be toward the right. + +"From a small window one may see the infinite," Carlyle wrote. This was +Daniel's belief. He acted upon his belief. The windows of his soul were +always open to the infinite. In that fact lies the explanation of his +character--a character of which every child hears with interest, every +youth with admiration, and every mature man with reverence. + +To-day in eastern lands the Mohammedan, wherever he may be, turns his +face toward Mecca when, seeking help, he worships God. To him Mecca is +the central spot of Mohammedan revelation, and is the focus of all +Mohammedan brotherhood. So in olden times the Israelite, wherever he +might be, thought of Jerusalem as the place where God's worship was +worthiest and where Israelitish fellowship was heartiest. The name +"Jerusalem" strengthened his religious faith and stirred his national +patriotism. To open the windows of his soul toward Jerusalem was to open +the soul to the best thoughts and impressions that the world provided. + +As the premier of the great Medo-Persian empire Daniel had his own +palatial residence. The windows of the different rooms fronted in their +special directions. There was one room that was his particular and +private room. It was an "upper room" or "loft," somewhere apart by +itself. The distinctive feature of this room was that its windows opened +toward Jerusalem. Into this room Daniel was accustomed to go three times +a day, throw open the lattice windows, look toward Jerusalem, and then +in the thought of all that Jerusalem represented, kneel and talk with +God. + +Such was his custom. If the matters of his life were comparatively +comfortable, he did this; and if those matters were seriously +unpleasant, he did the same. Should, then, an occasion much out of the +ordinary arise, an occasion involving a crisis in his life, it would be +perfectly natural that he should, as he had invariably done, go into his +retired chamber and open the windows. + +Such an extraordinary occasion arose when Darius issued the decree that +the man who prayed to other than himself should be cast into a den of +lions. In itself the decree seemed justifiable. It was customary for the +Persians to worship their kings as gods. Ormuzd was said to dwell in +every Persian king. Accordingly, divine authority was attributed to +Persian kings, and whenever one of them issued a law, it had the force +of infallibility. So it was "that the law of the Medes and the Persians +published by a king altereth not." + +At this particular time a decree commanding all people to bow to the +king was perhaps a matter of state policy. The kingdom of the Medes and +Persians had just been established. Here was an opportunity of testing +the loyalty of the entire realm to the new king, Darius. If the people +far and wide would bow to him, then they were loyal; but if they refused +so to bow, then they evidently were disloyal. + +There was, however, an ulterior motive lying back of this seemingly +rational decree. Many of the state officials envied Daniel. He was a +foreigner, and still he held higher place than they. They desired to +bring him into disrepute. They could not accomplish their purposes +through charges of malfeasance of office, for his actions were +absolutely faultless. They therefore resorted to the securing of this +decree, believing, from what they knew of Daniel's habits and character, +that he would, as he always had done, pray to Jehovah and not to Darius. +In such case he would violate the decree and expose himself to the +penalty of death. + +Daniel knew that the decree had been issued. What would he do about it? +The envious officials watched to see. When Daniel went to his palace +their eyes followed him. Perhaps they had spies in the palace. In any +case, some eyes tracked him as he passed from room to room until he came +into his "loft," his "upper room," and then they saw him open the +windows toward Jerusalem and kneel before Jehovah! So much was it a part +of Daniel's life to keep the windows of his soul open to the best, that +the direst threat had no power to divert him for an instant from his +wonted course. + +Daniel kept the windows of his soul open to the best _religion_. To him +Jerusalem stood for the best religion on earth. From the time, as a boy +of fourteen, he first went away from home, he had lived among peoples +having different faiths. He had known the religion of the Chaldeans, and +had seen its phases under Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. It had much in +its favor: its temples were beautiful, its ceremonies ornate, its feasts +imposing. It had much however that was not in its favor: its +heartlessness, its impurity, and its deceit. He had known, too, the +fire-worshiping religion of the Persians. Many of its features appealed +to him. The sun then as always was an object of admiration. As it rises +above the horizon, moving with a stately progress that no cloud can +check, no force of nature can retard, and no hand of man can withstand, +it is the personification of majesty. As it causes the birds to sing, +the beasts of the field to bestir themselves, and mankind to issue forth +to labor, it is the emblem of power. As it makes the grass to grow and +the flower to bloom, and as it draws skyward the moisture of lake and +ocean that, like a great benefactor, it may send accumulated showers to +refresh the parched earth, the sun is a very life-giver. It was no +wonder that the Persians of Daniel's day, with their imperfect +knowledge, bowed before that sun and worshiped it; nor was it a wonder +that they worshiped all fire that has within itself such transforming +and beautifying and energizing power. + +But though Daniel knew this religion, and the many other religions that +in his time had their votaries in Babylon, he kept his windows open +toward Jerusalem. Other religions might attempt the answer to the soul's +inquiries concerning the meaning of life, other religions might have +their beauties and their deformities, other religions might help him +very materially in his political career, but to him one religion was the +highest and the best, and to the influence of that religion he opened +his soul. Jerusalem stood for one God--an invisible Creator who formed +all things and was Lord over the sun itself as well as over man. This +God, an unseen Spirit, was spotless in his character, and would dwell in +the heart of man as man's friend and helper. To Daniel there was no such +religion anywhere as the religion that taught this incomparable God--a +God without a vice, a God who forgives sin, a God who never disdains the +weakest soul that comes to him in penitence--and still is "Lord of lords +and King of kings," the only wise and only Eternal One. + +Once a distinguished thinker, addressing students, said: "I have found +great benefit in my own experience by emphasizing a very simple +principle, one which never fails me when it is applied to questions of +the spiritual life: '_It is always best to believe the best._'" + +Then he illustrated his meaning. The religion that teaches that all +events are guided by intelligence toward a goal of love, rather than by +blind and remorseless force, enables us to live in hope. It makes +existence, not a prison-house, but a place of broad and splendid +horizons; it makes the service of humanity a prophecy of blessing for +all; it makes the discipline of the race a means toward a beneficent +end. The religion that also teaches that we all are children of a good +God, and that to the weakest and humblest of us there may be deliverance +from all evil, transformation into all holiness, and finally reception +to immortality in the presence and service of regnant perfection, such a +religion is the best--the best in its hopes, the best in its +inspiration, the best in its purposes, and the best in its results. +Because it is the best, it is best to believe it; best to believe it, +because through believing it we are helped toward the noblest manhood +and are enabled to face life and death alike, with bravery. + +All this Daniel realized. Accordingly, amid all the distractions and +appeals, and even temptations, of other religions, he kept his heart's +windows open to the influences of God's religion. That was the wise +attitude for him. It is the wise attitude for all. It is a man's duty, +if he be true to his own soul, to keep an open mind to the best +religion. Christianity claims to be the best, and asks acceptance on +that ground alone. It welcomes study of every other religion. It +rejoices in a "Parliament of Religions," wherein the advocates of +different religions may present the claims of their religions in the +strongest language possible. It listens as one religion is praised +because it can secure calmness of mind, and as another is praised +because it can secure heroism of life. As it listens, it delights in +every word of encomium, _so long as each speaker and hearer keeps an +open heart toward the best religion_. Then, when its own opportunity +comes, Christianity presents itself, and asserting that the evil that is +in any other religion is not in Christianity at all, that the good that +is in any other religion is in Christianity far more abundantly, and +that there are blessings in Christianity that appear in no other +religion whatever, it claims to be the transcendent religion. + +In the activity of intellectual life common to all awakening and +thoughtful minds it is inevitable that doubts will arise concerning the +worthiness of Christianity. Every age finds the special doubts of its +own age peculiar to itself. In this present age questions are in the air +concerning the authorship of the Bible, concerning the person of Christ, +and concerning the authenticity of the records of Christ's earthly +ministry. Men are asking whether this world is impelled by a blind, +resistless, heartless force, whether we are merely a mass of atoms, +whether we may be delivered from the thraldom of sin, and whether when +we die we become dust and dust alone. What shall we do in the face of +all these questions? _Keep the windows of our souls open to the beliefs +that are best for our life's grandeur and for humanity's uplift._ That +is what we may do, what we should do, and what if we so do, will +invariably lead the mind to a higher and higher valuation of the +pre-eminence of Christianity. + +Daniel kept his windows open to the best _commands_ of the best +religion. His daily surroundings from the hour as a youth he entered the +king's palace at Babylon were demoralizing. The ideals of his associates +were low. The religious life of his fellow-students was a mere form. +Domestic life all about him was unsound. Public life was dishonest. +Looseness of character everywhere prevailed. Impurity was alluring. +Bribery was considered a necessary feature of authority. The weak were +crushed by the mighty. Selfishness characterized both king and people. + +The difficulty of his position was great: to breathe malaria and not be +affected by it. He was in the whirl of worldliness and still he must not +be made dizzy thereby. His one resource for safety was his daily +consideration of the commands of God. Those commands charged men to be +upright, to be clean, to do duty faithfully, even though it was duty to +a heathen master, and to make life serviceable to the welfare of others. +Again and again all through the years of his exile it was necessary for +his soul's welfare that he should ponder these commands of God and not +let the atmosphere that surrounded him lower and destroy his ideals. + +On that day when the unalterable decree was issued Daniel was in +imminent and unescapable peril. Jealous officers already rejoiced in his +anticipated death. The danger of weakening threatened his heart. He +remembered that Abraham once in Egypt surrendered his principles and +thereby saved his life; that the Gibeonites once falsified and so +preserved themselves alive. He might have reasoned, "Why should not I, +in this special matter, yield, and give up recognition of Jehovah until +the storm of persecution is past?" He could easily say, "Perhaps I am +making too much of this whole subject; what difference will there be if +I, away off here in Babylon, hundreds of miles from home, call this a +case of expediency, and temporarily relinquish my ideals?" The +temptation was a fearful one. Many a man has gone down before it. +Cranmer did, Pilate did; but not Daniel. He kept his eyes on God's +commands--those commands that told him to do the right and scorn the +consequences, those commands that told him that faithfulness to +principle, though it ended in martyrdom, was essential to place in God's +hero list. He remembered Joseph, who would not sin against God in doing +evil. He remembered God, that bade him bear his testimony, sealing it if +necessary with his life's blood. So remembering he kept the faith and +proved invincible. + +Many a man, like Daniel, exposed to a peculiar temptation, has been +made brave as he has remembered the standards set for him by another. He +has thought of the wife perhaps, who charged him to meet his duties as a +man of God, though godliness should involve them both in disgrace, and +thus thinking he has stood firm before evil. Or as a youth, away from +home, in a school or factory, with deteriorating influences all about +him, and his feet well-nigh gone from the ways of uprightness, he has +turned his heart toward that mother who would rather have him die than +be false, and the remembrance of her has roused his self-assertion and +made him master of the environment. + +The commands of God summon men to _principle_, to _fidelity_, to +_serviceableness_, to _self-renunciation_, and to _holiness_. The man +has never lived, nor ever will live, who can fulfil these commands of +God unless his windows are continually open toward Jerusalem. We need, +we always need, to have our ideals kept large and our standards kept +high if we are to be noble souls. + +Daniel kept the windows of his soul open, too, to the best _promises_ +of the best religion. Even though the prince of the eunuchs was kind to +the home-sick captive, and a king was gracious to the interpreter of +dreams, Daniel was always exposed to discouragement. Like the missionary +of to-day, alone in a foreign land, he was surrounded by the depressing +influences of heathenism. As he advanced in power there was no one to +whom he could go for religious fellowship. The aids of comradeship and +the aids of public worship were wanting. There were no audible voices +summoning him to trust, and there was no tangible evidence of the +existence of a people of God. He therefore needed every day to go to God +Himself, and find in Him a refuge for his heart; needed to hear God's +reassuring voice telling him that God was with him, was watching over +him in love, and would provide for him as occasion might require. How +often Daniel must have been comforted and heartened as he opened his +soul to the promises of God! + +But what an hour of need that was when he was tracked to his upper room! +Every power in the great Medo-Persian Empire was arrayed against him. No +friend, no helper, was at hand. He stood alone before his fearful +crisis. Brave and determined as his spirit might be, he was still a +man--a man of flesh and blood. He needed strength: needed, as Christ +afterward in Gethsemane needed, supporting and encouraging sympathy. He +turned his soul toward the promises of God's protection and help. He let +those promises flood his heart. Those promises made his will like +adamant. + +We do well when we front our hearts to God's promises. Every earnest +soul, trying to make this world better, meets severe discouragements. +Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that the ends of the +earth are given to Christ and that good shall indeed come off +victorious. Every weak soul struggling to subdue its sin comes to hours +of weariness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance that He +giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might He increaseth +strength. Every sorrowing soul, sighing for the loved and the lost, has +days of loneliness. Then let the soul open itself to God's assurance +that life and immortality are brought to light in Jesus Christ. Only as +the needy world of humanity opens its heart to God's promises can it +walk in light and possess the peace that passeth understanding. + +There is always danger lest men let the windows of their souls be shut +toward God. Our particular _sins_ cause us to shut these windows. We do +not like to look into God's face when we are conscious of cherished +evil. Adam and Eve hid themselves from God when they knew they had done +wrong. Those who condemned the reformers to death, often put wax in +their ears so that they might not hear the testimony given by those +reformers at the stake. _Cares_, too, cause us to shut these windows. We +have so much responsibility to absorb us that we have "no time to look +out to any distant tower of a sanctifying thought." All sorts of sights +are before our windows--society, business, pleasure, study--but not God. +Our life seems to open in every other direction than toward the holy +city. We do not go alone into a private place and expose ourselves to +the influences God stands ready to send to our hearts. It would be far +better if we did. We should find that almost as gently as comes the +sunlight, ideas, inspirations, and aspirations would be suggested to our +hearts. They would enter our hearts, we would not know how; and if we +cherished them, they would correct our false estimates of life, would +re-mint our courage, would clarify the vision of our faith, and would +prepare us, as they prepared Daniel, to discharge all life's duties with +integrity, humanity, and composure. + +It is a blessed, very blessed, way to live, this way of keeping our +hearts open to the best. We all can so live. We can have a secret +chamber--a very closet of the soul--into which we can go, whether we are +with the multitude or are alone; and if through the broadly opened +windows of that closet we look out toward the best--distant as that best +may seem--back from the best will come the light that never fails and +the strength that never breaks. + + + + +WINNING THE BEST VICTORIES. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WINNING THE BEST VICTORIES. + + +Success in life is determined by the victories we win. Only he who +triumphs over obstacles is a successful man. + +There are as many kinds of victory as there are kinds of obstacles. Some +kinds of obstacles call upon us for the use of our secondary powers, and +some for the use of our primary powers. When the obstacles bring into +play the very best powers of our natures, and those powers conquer the +obstacles, then we win our best victories. + +David is a most interesting illustration of the winning of victories. +The Bible evidently considers him one of its greatest heroes. While it +gives eleven chapters to Jacob and fourteen chapters to Abraham, it +gives sixty-one chapters to David. It thus asks us to pay great heed to +the story and lessons of David's life. + +Almost our first introduction to David represents him in a fight. He is +a mere shepherd lad, out in the wilderness, perhaps miles from another +human being, when a lion springs forth and seizes a lamb from the flock +he is guarding. It was a fearsome hour for a boy. He might have deserted +the flock and fled, preserving himself. But not so. He faced the lion. +He even attacked the lion. He wrested the lamb from its mouth, and he +slew the lion. Again, when, under similar circumstances, a beast of +another kind, a bear, laid hold of a lamb, David stood up to the danger, +and with such weapons of club and knife as he had, fought the bear to +its death. + +Some years ago in Alaska, in a house hundreds of miles from any other +white man's home, I saw a bearskin lying upon the sitting-room floor. +The son of the house, out hunting, had suddenly come upon a bear, that +rose up within a few feet of his face. The boy lifted his gun, shot, +aiming at the bear's heart, and then, trembling with terror, ran for +home. The next day the boy's father took associates to the spot, found +the body of the bear, and brought the skin home as a trophy of the boy's +skill and pluck. And a trophy it was! But when David, scarce armed at +all, a boy, brought down his lion and his bear, in an actual +face-to-face encounter, the skins of the lion and of the bear were +trophies indeed! + +The next scene in David's life is when he meets Goliath. David is still +a youth. The ruddy color has not yet been burned out of his cheeks by +the Oriental sun. This meeting is different from any he has faced. It is +not with a beast, but with a man--a man armed, a man experienced in +combat, a man of much larger size and weight than himself, a man who had +an assured sense of his own strength, a man whose voice, manner, and +prowess put fear into the heart of every fighter in the army of Israel. +In David's previous contests there had been an element of suddenness, so +there was no time for hesitation, and so no time for the cowardice often +born of hesitation; in this contest there was delay, and during that +delay David was twitted with the foolishness of even thinking of facing +Goliath, and an effort was made to break down his courage. Right +manfully, however, did he stand up to the danger. Instead of a lamb, an +army was in peril. The cause was worthy of a great venture. He made the +venture. He took smooth stones from the brook, he used his shepherd's +sling, he conquered Goliath, and Goliath's sword and Goliath's head +became trophies of a splendid victory. The youth had rescued an army +from paralyzing fear, and had saved the glory of Jehovah's name! He +deserved credit then. He received it then. And he became forever an +inspiring example to all youth who would fight their country's battles, +and win laurels for the God of battles. + +These two scenes are suggestive. The one with the lion and the bear +speaks to us of pure physical bravery. David has such muscular strength +that he, by the power in his hands and arms, can hold beasts and fight a +winning fight with them. David's strength makes the killing of a lion or +bear with a rifle, whether at long distance or even near at hand, seem +small. It makes the ordinary successes of those who contest in the +athletic trials of our day seem insignificant. Still it glorifies those +successes. Physical bravery is most desirable. People believe so. They +love to see contests of physical endurance. They will go miles to watch +such contests, and they will cheer the victors to the echo. In so doing +to-day they follow the example of all preceding generations. Barbarian, +Greek, Roman, Indian, every man everywhere is interested in muscular +power. It fells trees and wins victories over the forest; it plows soil +and wins victories over the fields; it breaks stone and wins victories +over roadbeds. Physical victories are not to be gainsaid. May every life +win them if it can against nature, against other lives in fair +athletics, against any one who would rob a home or burn a house. The +ambition to win muscular victories, in a right way, for the defense or +honor of a worthy cause, is to be commended. Victories so won make their +winners heroes. Waterloo is said to have been fought and won on the +foot-ball ground of Rugby. + +The other scene is likewise suggestive--of David with Goliath. It is +that of a youth fighting for his country and his God. It is still a +physical contest, but it is now skill and muscle combined; or rather, +muscle directed by skill. The contest, physically considered, is +unequal. David is no match for Goliath. They are in different classes. +But a calm mind, a dexterous hand, and a high purpose are David's, and +they more than compensate for lack of physical force. The strongest +battalions do not always conquer. The strongest physical force is not to +conquer in this instance. Patriotism may so nerve the heart that one man +is equal to a hundred, and resolute purpose may develop such skill and +sturdiness that a few can put a thousand to flight. It has always been +so--in days of Marathon and in days of Bunker Hill--and it always will +be so. The men who win such victories may well be lauded. It was right +that David's name should go into the ballads of his country and be +repeated again and again to stir the heart of patriotism. Any man who +can fight the battles of trade or of manufacturing or of invention--any +man who can head a great industry, who can write a strong book, or who +can make an eloquent speech--any man who conquers the difficulty of his +position by skill and energy, and succeeds, has indeed won a great +victory. For a mere shepherd youth to conquer a trained fighter was +superb; and it is superb to-day when a poor boy honestly wins his way to +wealth, and a stammering boy learns to speak like a Demosthenes, and a +seeming dunce becomes a brilliant Scott. All soldiers conquering like +Grant, all discoverers succeeding like Columbus, all investigators +searching like Darwin and writing like Spencer, deserve crowns of +recognition for victories they have won. + +As a result of these two scenes in David's life many other scenes of a +somewhat similar nature occurred. As occasions arose, David led many +another attack upon the nation's foes. He possessed the rare power of +creating a well-disciplined force out of outlaws. He so combined skill +and leadership that none of the enemies of Israel could resist him. The +story of his battles is a long and a glorious one. He was a fighter of +whom the nation might be proud. If physical prowess and military skill +and administrative force and legislative provision are essential to +kingly success, he had them. Victory after victory, in all these lines, +were written upon his banner. + +But David's fame does not rest upon the victories he won over beast or +fellow-man, interesting and great as these victories are. The reason +that the Bible gives him the space it does, and the reason Christ is +said to be David's son (though never the son of any other Old Testament +hero), is because of the victories David won over himself. In the sphere +of his own heart he found his greatest difficulties, for in that sphere +he found his strongest foes; but in that sphere he wrought out his +greatest victories. The best element in David's life is not his physical +strength, not his intellectual skill, not his ability as a singer, a +general, a judge, a builder, or a king, but the best element is his +conquest of himself. + +What a victory of _magnanimity_ that was, when Saul, who was bitterly +persecuting David, entered the cave in whose dark recesses David was +concealed, and lay down for sleep! David had him in his power. He could +have killed him instantly, and forever ended the persecution. He was +even urged to do so by his followers. But he conquered his enmity, he +looked upon the sleeping Saul with pity, and he left him unharmed. It is +a mighty soul that can pity and forgive. Here was a king pursuing an +innocent subject who had no other thought than of loyalty to his +king--pursuing him relentlessly. The whole transaction on Saul's part +was unjust and cruel. But David, deeply feeling the wrong he was +suffering, crowded down the bitterness of his heart, and treated Saul +magnanimously. + +How many men, otherwise splendid men, have failed just here. They could +fight bravely as sailors or soldiers, but later they could not treat a +rival graciously. They could win successes socially or commercially or +scholastically, but they became jealous of their places and their +recognitions, and they wished no good to the one who in any way stood in +their path. But David, knowing that he himself was anointed to be king, +and that Saul's persecution of him was unjustifiable, still rose so far +above all thought of preserving his own dignity and insisting on his own +rights, that when his enemy lay helpless at his feet, he treated him +with deference! Now we begin to see why David is called "a man after +God's own heart." Was it because he could fight beast and man well? No; +but because he could fight his own jealous, bitter heart and make it +generous and kind and magnanimous. + +What a victory of _penitence_ that was when David sinned in the matter +of Uriah and Bathsheba! He did sin. No one exculpates David. The Bible +does not exculpate him, nor will any sane man exculpate him. He did a +wrong that brought incessant sorrow on his heart and home. During all +the remaining years of his life he had cause to regret his wrong. It +might have been alleged that he did only what king after king, situated +like himself in that Oriental land, with its despotic power and its +manner of life, had done before him and would do after him. He might +have justified himself by the custom of the day and by the prerogative +of royalty. The probability is that he acted impulsively, allowing in an +unguarded moment a wicked suggestion to conquer him. But when a prophet +of God, Nathan, brought home to his soul the fact that he had sinned, +what a victory that was, as the man fought down all the voices within +him, calling to him to "brave it out," to "show no weakening before the +prophet," to "justify himself to himself on the score of a king's right +to do as he pleased," and in conquering these voices, humbled himself +before God, making the one voice that triumphantly rose above every +other voice the voice of penitence--"Against Thee, Thee only, have I +sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight. Create in me a clean heart and +renew a right spirit within me!" + +There is nothing in our world that shows high victory better than +penitence. Mankind does wrong. Sometimes it knows the wrong. Then +perhaps it confesses its wrong in the hurried words, "I have sinned." So +said Pharaoh, and immediately did again what he had done before. So said +Saul, and never gave up the wrong that forced the confession from him. +So said Judas, and went out to hang himself. But when David said it, he +said it with a broken and a contrite heart. The man who having sinned +conquers all the passion and pride of his soul and becomes a sweet, +true, pure penitent is a victor over whom angels rejoice. Thousands of +men who have made a success in their own field of labor fail to win +life's best victories because they never bow before God and say, "Lord, +be merciful to me a sinner." They are as stout-hearted as the Pharisee, +and as self-deceived. They forget the bitternesses they have cherished +toward their fellow-men, they overlook all the omissions of goodness +that have marked their lives, they do not consider how terrible is their +present and their past ingratitude to God for all His goodness to them, +and so they lack that gentlest, most beautiful, and most exalting virtue +of penitence. + +What a victory of _humility_ that was, when David, forbidden to carry +out the supreme desire of his heart in the building of a temple, exerted +all his power to help another to build it! The erection of a temple that +should be the richest structure of its time was David's dream. It was to +be the consummation of his effort. Enemies should be subdued, laws +should be passed, government should be sustained, and foreign alliances +made--all to this end. He looked forward to the day when the temple +would crown Moriah, as the happiest day of his life. But God told him +that another, not he, should build the temple, and that it would be +known, not as David's Temple, but as Solomon's Temple. Should he then +withdraw all interest from the undertaking? Should he say, "This is not +my matter, it is another's; let another then carry its burden, as he +will carry its glory." He was sorely disappointed. The one thing he had +aimed to do was denied him. But he rose above his disappointment; he +conquered it. He who was to take secondary place, threw himself into the +help of him who was to have first place. He devised plans, he organized +forces, he started instrumentalities, he gave his money by the millions, +he animated others to follow his example, and he did all that chastened +devotion could do to help another to complete the building which should +forever sound the praises of Solomon. + +Humility is not a virtue easily won. The virtue of sweetly accepting +minor place when we wished major place, and of working as earnestly for +another as for ourselves, is very rare. In the army of Washington there +was a general, Charles Lee, who again and again was conquered by his own +jealousy, and would not do as the interests of Washington, his +commanding officer, demanded. He would have fought to the death for his +own reputation, but not for the reputation of Washington. Self-made men +find it exceedingly difficult to be humble. David won a far higher +victory when he cheerily went about all the self-imposed tasks of +gathering material for Solomon's temple than when he fought the lion or +Goliath, or led an army into battle. The man that does justice does +well; the man that does justice and loves mercy does better; the man +that does justice and loves mercy and walks humbly before God does best. +And no man, whoever he may be, strong, reputable, industrious, +scholarly, wealthy, ever wins his best victories until he walks humbly +with his God. + +And what a victory of _unselfishness_ that was when David, in the time +of the numbering, called upon God to lay all penalty for the sin upon +himself! Again the lower propensities of David's heart had misled him. +He thought that he would number his military forces and let the nation +know how strong and ample its army was. The thought was a mistaken one. +Safety lay, not in numbers, but in the virtues that spring from obedient +trust in God. The deed of numbering, however, had been done. Then the +plague came. God would show that in three days the army could be so +reduced by sickness as to make it, however large its numbers, utterly +impotent. David saw the angel of destruction as the angel drew near to +the threshing-floor of Araunah. With a heart overflowing with +unselfishness, he cried to God, "I have sinned, I have done perversely, +but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand be against me, and +against my father's house." He would die himself--to have others live. + +This was perhaps his very best victory. Winkelried opened his breast to +receive all the concentrated spear thrusts of the enemy, that thus the +army behind him might have chance to advance. The self-immolating life +is the noblest. True love comes to its expression in self-sacrifice. +Christ reached His highest glory, not when He battled with wind and wave +and conquered them, not when He battled with disease and demons and +conquered them, not when He battled with lawyers and dialecticians and +conquered them, but when He poured out His life for others. + +There are victories to be won at every step of our life's progress. No +one of them is to be underestimated. Victories of mere brawn, wrought +worthily in proper time and proper place, are good; victories of +intellectual skill, wrought worthily in proper purpose and proper +spirit, are good; but the best victories any life can win are the +victories won within a man's own heart. These are the most difficult +victories, and they are the most glorious victories. Each person, +equally with every other, has opportunity for such victories. Whenever +David failed to carry God and God's help into a battle he lost; but +whenever he fought under God and for God he won. David's life knew many +and many a failure, but he rose from every failure and made a new +effort. As a result, victory crowned his life, and he died a man of God. +Victory, too, may crown our lives, however weak they are, if like David, +after every fall, we penitently turn to God, and in His grace strive +once again to win the victories of faith. + + + + +MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR LIVES. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MAKING THE BEST USE OF OUR LIVES. + + +The great Humboldt once said, "The aim of every man should be to secure +the highest and most harmonious development of his powers to a complete +and consistent whole." Another thoughtful man, Sir John Lubbock, also +said, "Our first object should be to make the most and best of +ourselves." + +Prominent among the historic personages who have made the best use of +their lives is Joseph. Touch his career at any point that is open to +investigation, and always Joseph will be found doing the very best that +under the circumstances can be done. When his father tells him to carry +food to his envious brothers, he obediently faces the danger of their +hatred and goes. When he is a slave in Potiphar's house he discharges +all his duties so discreetly that the prison-keeper trusts him +implicitly. When his fellow-prisoners have heavy hearts, he feels their +sorrows and tries to give them relief. When Pharaoh commits the ordering +of a kingdom to his keeping, he governs the nation ably. When foresight +has placed abundant food in his control, he feeds the famishing nations +so that all are preserved. When his father and his brethren are in need, +he graciously supplies their wants. When that father is dying, the son +is as tender with him as a mother with her child. And when that father +has died, the son reverences his father's last request and carries +Jacob's body far up into the old home country at Machpelah for burial. + +There were many occasions in Joseph's life in which he might have +failed. At least, in any one of them he might have come short of the +best. Seneca used to say of himself, "All I require of myself is, not to +be equal to the best, but only to be better than the bad." But Joseph +aimed in every individual experience to be equal to the best. In that +aim he succeeded wondrously. Going out, as a young boy, from the simple +home of a shepherd, becoming a captive in a strange land, subjected to +great temptations in a luxurious civilization, tested with a great +variety of important duties, exposed to the peril of pride and +self-sufficiency, given opportunity for revenge upon those who had +injured him, he always, without exception, carried himself well, doing +his part bravely, earnestly, and wisely, and making of his life, in each +opportunity, the best. + +It is not every one that is called to such a vast range of experience as +was Joseph. Even Christ never traveled out of His own little environment +of Judea, that was a few miles north and south, and still fewer miles +east and west. The great majority of lives never come into public +prominence. They have no part in administering the affairs of a kingdom +or in managing large mercantile transactions. Even among the apostles +there were some whose history is almost lost in obscurity. We scarce +know anything of what Bartholomew said or Lebbeus did. It is not a +question whether we can make a great name for ourselves. That may be +absolutely impossible. Many a beautiful flower is so placed in some +extensive field that human eyes never see it and human lips consequently +never praise it. But the question is, whether we are doing the best that +can be done with our lives such as they are. + +Every human life is like the life of some tree. Each tree is at its +best when it well fulfils the purpose for which it was made. There are +trees which must stand as towering as the date-palm if they answer their +end, and there are other trees which can never expect to be towering, +for they were made, like the box, to keep near the ground. Some trees +are for outward fruit, as the apple, and some for inward fruit, as the +ash. Fruit is "correspondence in development with the purpose for which +the tree exists," is "production in the line of the nature of the tree." +When, then, the orange tree produces sound, sweet oranges that refresh +the dry lips of an invalid or ornament the table of a prince, the orange +tree does well; and if it produces such fruit to as large a degree as +possible, and for as long a time as possible, it has done its best. So, +too, does the pine do well when it produces wood wherewith a good house +for family joy may be built, and the spruce does well when it brings +forth a fiber that may be fashioned into paper on which words of truth +can be printed, and the oak does well when it develops a grain suitable +for the construction of a vessel that plowing the waves shall carry +cargoes of merchandise. If the pine, the spruce, the oak, grow to the +extent of their opportunity, and become all that they can become in the +line of their own possibility, each and all have made the best use of +their lives. + +But how varied are the opportunities as well as the missions of trees, +of the garden cherry and the forest poplar, of the swamp tamarack and +the plantation catalpa! Trees of the same genus may be so differently +placed that one can attain an abundant growth while another must strive +hard simply to exist. An elm along a river bottom, fed by constant +moisture, lifts wide arms to the sunlight, while an elm on a rocky hill, +scarce finding crevices for its roots, necessarily is small and stunted. +And still that stunted elm may, in its place, make or not make the best +use of its life. + +Human lives are as diversified in their natures as the growths of the +field and forest. Our tastes, our aptitudes, our memories, our +imaginations, widely vary. The world is made up of thousands upon +thousands of different needs, that must be met if mankind is to prosper. +Every function necessary for the world's welfare is an honorable +function and becomes, when attempted by a consecrated heart, a sacred +function. The world cannot live without cooking, nor can it live without +building, nor without bartering, nor without teaching. How to make the +best of the function or functions that are his, is the question every +human being should ponder. + +A man may make a _bad_ use of his life. He may throw away his +opportunities, he may wreck his powers of mind and body, he may tear +down that good in the world which he was put here to build up. This _is_ +a possibility! Every life should understand that it is a possibility. +John Newton held in his hand a ring. As he was leaning over the rail of +an ocean vessel he had no thought that perhaps through careless handling +he might drop that ring and lose it forever. His mind was entirely on +the ring, not on the danger of losing the ring. Suddenly the ring +slipped through his fingers, and before he could get hold of it again, +it was in the depths of the sea. It is for this reason that the book of +Proverbs is constantly calling to men to see that the priceless jewels +of opportunity are "retained," and that Christ's word, "not to let our +light become darkness," has so much significance. Men often squander +fortunes. They also squander virtues and reputation and aptitudes and +opportunities. Jails, reformatories, houses of detention, drunkards' +graves, the gathering places of tramps, all tell us that people can make +a miserable use of life. So does many a beautiful banquet-hall, many a +luxurious home, many a speculator's resort, many a student's room, tell +us that those we see there have had powers of mind and body and +opportunities of social position and of wealth which they have thrown +away. They have wasted their good as truly as a prodigal who has spent +his all in riotous living. They are Jeroboams; dowered with gifts that +might have been used for their own development and the welfare of others +they have let mean and low and unworthy attractions secure their gifts, +thus spoiling their own characters and causing Israel to sin. Every +blessing that a man has may become his curse, and drag him down and drag +others down with him. + +This truth is well known. The other truth is not so well known, that a +man may make an _inferior_ use of his life. This is exactly what that +Seneca did who declared that his ambition was, "not to be equal to the +best, but only to be better than the bad." He gained large knowledge, he +wrote and spoke much that was philosophical and moral, he pointed out +many of the perils of a misuse of wealth, he was better than the bad, +better than the Nero who would kick his mother, kill his wife, make +merry over his own indecencies, and gloat in the crucifixion of martyrs. +Seneca was better than the man who never made effort to cultivate his +mind, was better than the man who spent his days in orgies, yes, was far +better than the man who was blind to the beauty of gems, of poetry, and +of architecture. But all the same he made an inferior use of his life. +His library, his furniture, his precious stones, his worldly wisdom, +were very great. Let him be tutor even to an emperor, an emperor that +was a "Caesar"! And still, better than the bad, he made a lamentable +misuse of life when he let luxury enervate his righteous principles, let +the pleasures of the table rob him of his integrity, and let his own +hand, in an hour of humiliation, end the life which was not his to end. +Seneca was the man who let an inferior standard decide his purposes, and +thus vitiated his powers. Any standard lower than the highest produces +poor material. Second-rate standards make second-rate goods and +second-rate men. Second-rate men are brought to hours of emergency +calling for first-rate principles. In such hours second-rate men go +down. A man satisfied to live for anything less than the best of which +he is capable may stand well for a considerable time, but before his +days are over he will be found to be an unsuccessful workman, a +disappointing teacher, a weak financier, an inaccurate student, an +untrustworthy friend. + +But while we may make a bad or inferior use of life, we also may make +the _best_ use of it. To do this should be our ambition. It should be +the underlying, all-pervading purpose that quietly but regnantly +dominates our being. The best use of our life will never be secured +apart from such ambition. It will not come of itself. We do not drift +into a best use. The best use is a matter of toil and perseverance, of +thoughtfulness and devotion. It cost Joseph hours of consideration, days +of application, and years of adaptation to make the best use of his +life. He found himself in new positions constantly. The boy naturally +had looked forward to being a shepherd. To that end he studied the lie +of pasturage lands. When his father sent him to his brethren he knew the +way to Shechem and Dothan, and he found his brethren. + +But with his forced departure into Egypt, probably into the city of +Memphis, all his surroundings are new and untried. The shepherd boy is +given the duties of a household servant, exchanging the freedom of the +field for the confinement of the palace. But he takes up his new duties, +magnifying them as an opportunity of development, and he makes the best +use of them. Later, he who has known only a tent and a palace is in a +prison, and is charged with the work of a prison guard. Right well he +does that work, studying it, giving himself to it, and making a success +of it by his heartiness and fidelity. Later still, he who has only +tended sheep and ordered a household and enforced discipline is called +to be a comforter to souls. He summons his sympathy, he persuasively +approaches those whose hearts are sore, he obtains their confidence, and +relieves their anxiety. Still again, this prisoner, this shepherd boy, +this household servant, this man with pity in his eyes, is called to a +new adaptation. He must appear before a Pharaoh and as a courtier have +interview with him! That underlying purpose of his heart, always to make +the best of the hour and place, stands him in good stead, and the +courtier conducts himself so wisely that he is advanced to be an +Egyptian viceroy. Later still this viceroy must become a minister of +agriculture and charge a nation when and how to sow the fields. Still +later he must become a secretary of the treasury, purchasing grain and +building store-houses. Still later he must be a great premier, both +providing for present need and making arrangements for future taxation. +Later he must be a brother with a true brother's heart and a son with a +son's gentleness toward an aged and perhaps imperious parent. Later he +must be a mourner, then a traveler, and then as an orphan son he must +assume again the heavy burdens of statesmanship. + +What strange varieties of experience Joseph thus met! How those +experiences kept changing every little while! Why did he succeed so well +in them? Because in every one of them he made the best use of himself +that the occasion allowed. He magnified the opportunity he had. The +thing that was at hand to do he did with absolute fidelity. + +We do not forget and we must not forget that at the very bottom of his +life was a _belief in God_ and an intention to do what God sanctioned +and only what God sanctioned. He would not disobey what he believed to +be a wish of God! Somehow, in that far-away country, surrounded by +temples and idols, meeting the thousands of priests of Isis, hearing the +daily services of heathenism, and seeing the unceasing vices of the +land, he kept God and God's principles in his soul. Those principles in +general taught him purity and honesty; in particular they taught him +_fidelity_ in the service of others and _desire to benefit_ his +fellow-men. Such fidelity and helpfulness--united with dependence on the +aid of God--enabled him always and everywhere to make the best use of +his life. He trusted God when doors were shut as well as when they were +open. Privation as truly as prosperity was to him an opportunity. + +Accordingly, _heartiness_ went into his opportunities. The spirit of +grumbling never appeared in his career. No hour came too suddenly for +him, no task was too small nor too great, no occasion too low nor too +high, no association too mean nor too noble. As a household servant he +did his work as under God and for God, and as a ruler of a nation he did +it as under God and for God, and as an obedient son he did it as under +God and for God. + +A physician whose life has been beautiful in good deeds and in a high +faith once said, "My happiness and usefulness in the world are due to a +chance question from a stranger. I was a poor boy and a cripple. One +day, standing on a ball-field and watching other boys who were strong, +well clothed, and healthy, I felt bitter and envious. The friends of the +players were waiting to applaud them. I never could play nor have +applause! I was sick at heart. + +"A young man beside me must have seen the discontent on my face. He +touched my arm, and said, 'You wish you were one of those boys, do you?' +'Yes, I do,' I answered quickly. 'They have everything and I have +nothing.' + +"Quietly he said, 'God has given them money, education, and health that +they may be of some account in the world. Did it never strike you that +he gave you your lameness for the same reason, to make a splendid man of +you?' + +"I did not answer, but I never forgot the words. 'My lameness given me +by God to teach me patience and strength!' + +"At first I did not believe the words, but I was a thoughtful boy, +taught to reverence God, and the more I considered the words, the +clearer I saw their truth. I decided to accept the words. I let them +work upon my temper, my purposes, my actions. I now looked on every +difficulty as an opportunity for struggle, every situation of my life as +an occasion for good. If a helpless invalid was cast on me for support, +or whatever the burden that came to me, I resolved to do my best. Since +then life has been sweetened and growth into peace and usefulness has +come." + +Soon after the death of Carlyle two friends met: "And so Carlyle is +dead," said one. "Yes," said the other, "he is gone; but he did me a +very good turn once." "How was that," asked the first speaker, "did you +ever see him or hear him?" "No," came the answer, "I never saw him nor +heard him. But when I was beginning life, almost through my +apprenticeship, I lost all interest in everything and every one. I felt +as if I had no duty of importance to discharge; that it did not matter +whether I lived or not; that the world would do as well without me as +with me. This condition continued more than a year. I should have been +glad to die. One gloomy night, feeling that I could stand my darkness no +longer, I went into a library, and lifting a book I found lying upon a +table, I opened it. It was Sartor Resartus, by Thomas Carlyle. My eye +fell upon one sentence, marked in italics, 'Do the duty which _lies +nearest to thee_, which thou knowest to be a duty! The second duty will +already have become clearer.' That sentence," continued the speaker, +"was a flash of lightning striking into my dark soul. It gave me a new +glimpse of human existence. It made a changed man of me. Carlyle, under +God, saved me. He put content and purpose and power into my life." + +"The duty lying nearest" was the duty Joseph magnified. He accepted +that duty as divine, and he performed it under God faithfully, +serviceably, and cheerily. Any and every life that meets duty as Joseph +did, will make the best of its life. We may be placed in low position or +in high position; we may have menial or kingly responsibilities; we may +have temptations of all possible kinds about us; but if we look to God +for guidance, and carry faithfulness, serviceableness, and cheer into +each and every duty, we shall have made of life the best. + + + + +PUTTING THE BEST INTO OTHERS. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PUTTING THE BEST INTO OTHERS. + + +There is nothing more worthy than the desire to perpetuate the good. +That desire implies that the person cherishing it has good within +himself, and that he wishes that good to live and flourish after his +death. If a man thinks that his views are the best that can be held, +then, if he is a noble soul, interested in the world's welfare, he longs +to have his best enter into other lives, and so continue to bless the +world. + +This longing characterized Elijah. He came upon the scene of human life +at a time when the worship of the low and debased threatened to dominate +the people of Israel. The priests of Baal, an impure god, were in the +ascendant. Vices, as a consequence, prevailed. These vices controlled +even the court. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were impiously wrong. Elijah +had stern work to do. He must reprove the people for their errors. He +must face the priests of Baal and show them and show the nation that +their god, as compared to Jehovah, was powerless. He must tell those in +high places, even the king and queen themselves, that their sins, if +persisted in, would surely be visited by Jehovah's wrath. + +His was a difficult task. It required courage, persistency, and +determined purpose. It would have been folly for him to undertake it +unless he felt that his ideas were essential to the nation's good. He +would be resisted and hated. Hours would come when he would seem to +stand wholly alone, and the cause he represented would appear to him +hopeless. Still, difficult as his task was, he undertook it. All this +worship of Baal and all these vicious practices of the people were +wrecking the nation. As a patriot, as a lover of his fellow-man, as a +good servant of God, he must do and he would do whatever was in his +power to replace the wrong with the right, to implant in the lives of +the people, from peasant to king, the truest and purest ideals. +Accordingly he faithfully taught the will of God, called upon God to +reveal Himself on Mount Carmel, reproved Ahab and Jezebel, and did his +best to put the best into the life of his day. + +But he could not live forever. At any hour he might be stricken down by +the hand of an enemy or by the power of some illness. Like a wise man, +loving the cause he had espoused, he looked about for some one who, in +case of his disability or death, could take up his work and carry +forward his ideas. His mind turned toward one special man, perhaps just +coming out of boyhood into maturity, a man who seemed to have the +inherent power of development, and he set his heart on putting into him, +Elisha, the best thought and the best principles that he had. He came +upon Elisha in the full vigor of youth, plowing with twelve yoke of +oxen. The distinctive garment of Elijah's mission was his mantle. That +stood for Elijah's special work of speaking the truth of God and calling +the nation to righteousness. Upon seeing Elisha in the field, Elijah +passed over from the caravan path that he was traveling, and threw his +mantle upon Elisha's shoulders! The action carried its own meaning. It +indicated to Elisha that Elijah wished him to take up his work and stand +for his ideas. Elisha instantly realized the meaning of the act, and, in +briefest time compatible with filial duty, he answered to Elijah's wish. + +One little sentence in the story of these two men's lives is very +instructive. "They two went on." It is a very brief summary of what was +occurring for days and months and years before Elijah died. "They two +went on." They were together. They talked together. They thought +together. They prayed together. Little by little Elijah imparted to +Elisha his views of life and imparted to him also his enthusiasm for the +welfare of Israel. When the time came for Elisha to step forward and do +his part for Israel's good, he was ready to act. He became and long +continued to be a wise, helpful, instructive benefactor to Israel. The +best that had been in Elijah's life was perpetuated in Elisha's life. + +It is a beautiful way to live, this way of putting the best into other +lives. It confers such a blessing on the particular _individual_ who is +thus helped. We cannot say with positiveness that the world might never +have known the full force of Elisha's character had not Elijah cast his +mantle over Elisha's shoulder, but the probability is that it was +Elijah's interest in Elisha and his success in educating him toward his +own ideals that gave the world Elisha's elevated personality. Paul acted +similarly with Timothy. Timothy was undoubtedly a good boy of many +worthy parts, and with many noble views of life. But Paul laid his hand +and heart upon him, and claimed him for the special purpose of +continuing the ministry of the gospel, and educated him to be a faithful +representative of the truth. Often there is much hesitancy to be +overcome, even in worthy people, before natural endowments will be put +to the best use. Such may have been the case with both Elisha and +Timothy. They needed encouragement. They needed inspiration through a +sense of responsibility. This was the situation with John Knox. He, +humanly speaking, never could have come forward as an advocate of +Christ's truth and religious freedom had it not been that another +approached him, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "You have powers +of good in you. You must use them in standing up for God and Scotland." + +Wonderful resources are often developed in others through this purpose +to put our best into them. No one knows the power latent in another +life. The most unpromising looking people may have faculties that, once +awakened, directed, and called into action, will do a blessed part in +the world's advance. Every school whose history can be followed for +fifty years has had pupils that at the outset seemed absolutely +unpromising, that seemed even incapable of appreciation or development, +but who, under the devotion and inspiration of some teacher or +fellow-pupil, became so aroused and so efficient that their names are an +honor to the school. The glory of every Ragged Boys' Home in a great +city is that former inmates who were thieves, parentless and friendless, +were so reached by a patient, loving man or woman that they became +industrious and honorable citizens, holding positions of power in the +city itself or possessing prosperous acres in the country. It is the boy +picked up in the streets of New York and sent West to be a member of a +farmer's household that was led by that household's interest into such +character that he was appointed governor of Alaska. "I have made," said +Sir Humphry Davy, "many discoveries, but the best discovery was when I +discovered Michael Faraday." There is scarcely any joy comparable with +the joy of discovering to himself and to the world the best elements +possible in another's life. The one who brought about this discovery +gladly sinks into the background, and rejoices to let the field be +occupied by the one discovered. It would seem as though God Himself must +have rejoiced when, after all His patient teaching of Moses on the side +of Horeb, He saw Moses showing his superb power of leadership in Egypt, +and that God must have similarly rejoiced when He saw Paul responding to +His charge and manifesting traits of love, forbearance, and humility +that Paul had not thought he possessed. To put one Elisha into the +world's arena, there to stand and battle for the right, was the crowning +glory and the crowning joy of Elijah's life. The men or women that can +take the best that is in them and put it into another, so that another +shall live the best, honor the best, and glorify the best, can ask no +higher privilege in life. + +But beyond the good secured to the individual by putting the best into +him is the good secured to the _world_ thereby. It was not merely that +Elijah inspired a new life in Elisha's soul and transformed a man, it +was also that he set in operation a new _influence_. The influence was +not exactly like his own. It was like Elijah's in that it was righteous, +safe, and helpful, but it was unlike Elijah's in its temper and +expression. Elijah was a great destroyer of evil: Elisha was a great +uplifter of good. Elijah's earliest proclamation was, "There shall not +be dew nor rain these years": Elisha's earliest miracle is, "There shall +be from hence life and fruitful land." Both were alike in their general +purpose, both alike in their courage. Neither one of them could be moved +from the path of duty by fear of man or men. But each was himself, as +distinct as two mountain peaks in the same range or as two ships on the +same sea. Elijah imparted his best to Elisha, but that best took shape +in Elisha according to Elisha's individuality. Elisha was not Elijah +over again, but he was Elijah's best in a new form--a new form that was +demanded by the needs of a new day. Elijah had laid blows of +condemnation on the nation: Elisha was to apply the balm of healing +where those blows had fallen. Elijah was an agitator: Elisha was a +teacher. Elijah was denunciatory: Elisha was tolerant. Each in his place +held the best views held by any man of his time, but each in his place +was called upon to hold those views according to his own temperament and +express them according to the need immediately at hand. + +No parent, teacher, or friend can possibly reproduce himself in +another. It is God's law that, however alike plants may seem in +reproduction, no child shall see life exactly as his parents, nor shall +a pupil see it exactly as a teacher. This law is most wise. The same +work is never given to any two people to do. It may be work of the same +general nature, but never work the same in all particulars. Different +types of men, actuated by the same motives, are required for different +types of work. Any man who endeavors to be a pure copyist of another +gone before him, always fails of individual development and fails of +usefulness. Elijah could not foresee the changed circumstances in which +Elisha would live, when many of the vexatious questions of Elijah's day +would be settled and new questions of morality and public welfare would +arise. All that he could do, all that any man can do, is to give the +best he has to another, and send him forth to use that best as well as +the other can in the new place. The beauty of human history is that the +work the best man of one age could not accomplish, another coming after +him does accomplish, and he accomplishes it, not because he is any +better than his predecessor, but because he is the man for this hour as +his predecessor was for the hour before this. There is always work to be +done. There are always tasks left over from a previous generation. There +are always ideas hitherto unemphasized that to-day must be emphasized, +else society will not know its duty. For this work and task and emphasis +new men are needed, men who do not see exactly as their fathers saw, nor +pronounce nor act exactly as their fathers did. To provide such men, to +inspire them with a great sense of duty, and send them out into life +with open minds toward God and open hearts toward their fellows, and +then withdraw our hand and let them do their own work, in their own way, +this is our blessed privilege. + +We may endeavor to put the best into others _directly_. A parent is a +parent largely for this particular purpose. The father and mother have +this end as their greatest and highest responsibility. They cannot shirk +it without hurt to themselves and to their child. No one can and no one +should influence a child as directly as does a parent. The parent may +temporarily place the child beneath the influence of a nurse, a pastor, +or a teacher, but the abiding influence should be and is the parent's. +Little by little, line upon line, precept upon precept, conduct upon +conduct, the parent should endeavor to set before the child the highest +ideas of life. Skill is requisite in stating these ideas, in +illustrating them, in making them attractive, in persuading to their +acceptance. The evil or the inferior lodged in the child's heart needs +to be forced out, that the best may enter. Happy the parent whose +forcing process is like the incoming of light into a darkened room, a +process that is gentle and conciliatory, a process that never boasts of +victory and never leaves a pain. + +This is the parent's greatest hope and greatest reward, to have a child +who shall in the child's own time and place be an advancer of the +world's good. A thousand spheres of opportunity open before each new +generation. Into any one of them the child may carry the best his father +or mother ever thought or said. Many parents wish their children to do +in life work of the very same type that they once did. It was therefore +a gratification to their ministerial fathers when they saw their own +sons enter the ministry, Henry Ward Beecher, Jonathan Edwards, Frederick +W. Farrar, Charles H. Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Reginald Heber. But +other ministerial fathers likewise might be gratified when they saw +their sons helpfully laboring in noble spheres not specifically "the +ministry," as in poetry, Joseph Addison, Samuel T. Coleridge, William +Cowper, Ben Jonson, Oliver Goldsmith, Alfred Tennyson, James Russell +Lowell, Oliver W. Holmes, John Keble, and James Montgomery; as in +literature, Matthew Arnold, Bancroft, Froude, Hallam, and Parkman; as in +art, Joshua Reynolds and Christopher Wren; as in law, Lord Ellenborough, +Stephen J. Field, David J. Brewer, David Dudley Field; as in +statesmanship, Henry Clay, Edward Everett, Sir William Harcourt, John B. +Balfour, and William Forster; and as in invention, Samuel F. B. Morse. + +But while the great opportunity of putting the best into others is the +parent's (and men out in earnest usefulness thank God most of all for +their mothers and fathers, especially as they grow older and realize how +early in youth it was that their characters received determining +impressions), still others, besides parents, may use direct means toward +this same end. Here is the teacher's opportunity. A plastic, receptive +mind is before him. It says to him: "I am here to be taught. Teach me +the best--the best way to see, to reason, to act, the best way to do my +part in society and the world." Many a teacher has looked on that +opportunity as sacred; has valued it as much as Elijah valued his +opportunity to cast his mantle on Elisha. Such teachers have wrought out +most valuable results. They have put ideas, methods, principles, and a +spirit into pupils that have made those pupils a blessing to the world. +The pupils may not recall much of what the teacher said--perhaps they +cannot recall one particular truth that the teacher enforced--but they +recall a purpose that dominated the teacher, and the pupils now are +endeavoring to fulfil what they feel would be the wishes of that teacher +if the teacher to-day could stand beside them. + +And why should we stop with parents and teachers in speaking of this +direct effort to put the best into other lives. Nurses in homes have +endeavored to give little children the truest knowledge of God and of +beauty, and have succeeded. The world owes them much for its best men +and women. Had they not seconded parents, had they attempted to uproot +the good implanted by parents, all would have been ruined. So, too, have +friends, masters, employers, writers in the press, writers of books, +lecturers, and preachers aimed at this same end. They have felt a great +desire to give their fellows beautiful thoughts, strong principles, +supporting comforts, and heavenly ideals. They have felt that their +heart's supreme wish would be met if they could only cause a double +portion of their own spirit--aye, a four-fold, a hundred-fold of their +good purposes to rest upon others--and to this end they have prayed, +given money and counsel, spoken to employees and friends and comrades, +written, sung, preached, labored, and died. The company of those who +have wished to put the best into others is a glorious company, the +company of prophets, apostles, saints, martyrs, workmen in every sphere, +in every clime, in every age. Surely this host is the host of the elect, +the choicest ones of all God's people on earth and in heaven. + +Apart from and beyond our direct effort to put the best into other lives +is our _indirect_, our unconscious influence to this good end. +Personality is more potent than words. Men and women impart ozone to the +atmosphere without knowing what good they have done. They become +standards of righteousness and are all unaware that any one looks at +them to gauge his own opinion or shape his own conduct. They are like +regulator clocks, by which the watches of the world seen to be wrong are +set aright and are kept aright. To try to live the best in the hope that +somehow one can put the best into the very air, and get it into the life +of the school and community, and have it become a part of public +sentiment, that surely is noble. That is the way to live. No one ever +lives in vain who so lives. Some one is helped by him. Some one tells of +him. Cecil's saying of Sir Walter Raleigh, "I know he can toil +terribly," is an electric touch. + +In one of my pastorates there was a farmer's son, living two miles from +the church. Almost all the young men of his age in the village and +congregation were careless, selfish, and a little fast. His father was +out of sympathy with religious earnestness. But the son resolved that he +would put his best into others' lives. He thought, prayed, worshiped, to +that end. Through snow and rain and mud he came where earnestness and +high ideals were in the air. He did a manly, helpful part in his home, +in his village, and in his church. Then, thinking that he knew farming +and could teach it, he volunteered to go to an Indian school in Indian +Territory, and as a farm manager, teach farming. He went, on almost no +salary, and lived and labored, that through his words, conduct, and +spirit he might put the best into others' lives. Thus he lived and +labored till he died, two thousand miles from home, and was buried +there, the only one of his family not placed in the village graveyard. +But his work has not died. It lives in all who know of it. They think of +it again and again, and it always makes them wish to fulfil to the best +all their opportunity for the good of others. + +There are many, many hearts so conscious of the help they have received +from others that they read with appreciation the commemorative tablet +placed by the distinguished Pasteur on the house of his birth: "O my +father and mother, who lived so simply in that tiny house, it is to you +that I owe everything! Your eager enthusiasm, my mother, you passed on +into my life. And you, my father, whose life and trade were so toilsome, +you taught me what patience can accomplish with prolonged effort. It is +to you that I owe tenacity in daily labor." + + "Others shall sing the song; + Others shall right the wrong, + Finish what I begin, + And all I fail of, win. + What matter, I or they, + Mine or another's day, + So the right word be said, + And life the sweeter made." + + + + +DEVELOPING OUR BEST UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +DEVELOPING OUR BEST UNDER DIFFICULTIES. + + +There is nothing in this world that more appeals to my admiration than +a man who makes the best of himself _under difficulties_. Robert Louis +Stevenson deservedly has many admirers by reason of his writings, but +what in him most appeals to my admiration was the struggle he waged with +difficulties. "For fourteen years," he wrote the year before his death, +"I have not had a day's real health. I have wakened sick and gone to bed +weary. I have written in bed, written in hemorrhages, written in +sickness, written worn by coughing, written when my head swam for +weakness. I am better now, and still few are the days when I am not in +some physical distress. And the battle goes on--ill or well is a trifle, +so as it goes. I was made for a contest, and the Powers have so willed +that my battle-field should be this dingy, inglorious one of the bed and +the physic bottle. I would have preferred a place of trumpetings and the +open air over my head. Still I have done my work unflinchingly." + +The story of many a strong and useful life is very similar to this story +of Stevenson's. + +Parkman wrote his histories in the brief intervals between racking +headaches. Prescott struggled with blindness as he prepared his volumes. +Kitto was deaf from boyhood, but he wrote works that caught the hearing +of the English-speaking world. + +It sometimes seems as though God never intended to bring the best out of +us excepting through pain and pressure. The most costly perfume that is +known is the pure attar of roses, and one drop of it represents millions +of damascene roses that were bruised before the sweet scent they +contained was secured. + + "The best of men + That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer." + +The sphere of difficulty is usually the sphere of opportunity. "I was +made for contest," Stevenson said. We all are made for it. As we let the +contest overpower us, we fail; as we overpower the contest, we succeed. + +One particular personage of the Old Testament is in mind as +illustrative of these thoughts, Jeremiah. He always reminds me of a +violet I once saw growing on Mount St. Bernard in Switzerland. The snow +was deep on every side, excepting on one little slope a few feet in +width, exposed to the eastern sun. There, so close to the snow as almost +to be chilled to death by the cold atmosphere about it, was a violet +sweetly lifting its head and blooming as serenely as though it knew +nothing of the struggle for life. + +Jeremiah was a mere youth when the conviction came into his heart, "God +wishes me to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people to do right." He +lived at Anathoth, three miles from Jerusalem, the distance of an hour's +easy walk. His father was a priest who probably in his turn served in +the duties of the temple at Jerusalem. But though he came of religious +ancestry, and though he heard much of the religious exercises of the +temple, this call from God to be his mouthpiece in teaching the people +to do right, broke in upon his life as a disturbing force. The times +were worldly, and even wrong. Nobles and princes, merchants, scholars, +and priests had put the fear of God away from their eyes, and were +acting according to the selfish impulses of the hour. The general +outward life of the nation was pure, but it was the pureness of mere +formality. Beneath the surface ambitions and purposes were cherished +that uncorrected would surely lead the people into selfishness, +idolatry, and transgression. + +It was no easy thing for Jeremiah to answer "yes" to this call of God. +The call involved a lifetime of brave service. Matters in the nation +were sure to go from bad to worse. Difficulties after difficulties +therefore, as they developed, must be faced. He stood at what we name +"the parting of the ways"; if he did as God wished, his whole life must +be given to the work indicated; if he said "no" to God's call, he would +drift along with the rest of the people, leaving them to their fate, he +no better and perhaps no worse than they. + +In some respects there is nothing better than to be _forced_ to a +decision on some important matter, particularly if that decision is a +decision involving character. It was a choice with Jeremiah whether he +would live unselfishly for God or selfishly for himself. That choice +ordinarily is the supreme choice in every one's life. It is the supreme +choice that the Christian pulpit is constantly presenting. Present +character and eternal destiny are shaped according to that choice. + +In Jeremiah's case there was a native reluctance to do the deeds which +he saw were involved in obedience to God's call. He was by temperament +modest and retiring. He shrank from publicity. He did not like to +reprove any one. Severe words were the last words he wished to speak. It +would have been a relief to him if God had simply let him alone and +imposed on others this duty of trying to make the people better. Some +men seem to be adapted for a fray, as Elijah was, and as John the +Baptist was. But Jeremiah was more like John the beloved. He would have +been glad to live and die, simply saying, "Little children, love one +another." + +It is God's way, however, again and again, to take lives that to +themselves seem utterly unfitted for special duties and assign them to +those duties. Almost all the best workers in God's cause came into it +reluctantly, and against the feeling that they were fitted for it. We +are bidden ask the Lord of the harvest to _thrust_ men into the fields +of need. Jeremiah felt in his heart this "thrusting." He did not kick +against it. He yielded to it. + +But with what results? The first result was _estrangement_. His goodly +life and conversation soon made the people of his village and even the +brothers and sisters of his home feel that he was different from +themselves. They chafed under the contrast of their carelessness and his +earnestness. He found himself left out of their pleasures and chilled by +their indifference. The estrangement developed until his fellow-townsmen +were eager to rid themselves of his presence, and his own family were +ready to deal treacherously with him. + +It is just at this point that so often a good purpose breaks down. When +a man's foes are they of his own household or comradeship, he is very +apt to give up his good purpose. It is more difficult for a beginner in +the religious life to resist the insinuating and depreciating remarks of +near acquaintances than to face a mob. It must have cut Christ to the +heart's core when his brethren said of him, "He hath a devil!" "I would +rather go into battle," said a soldier newly enlisted as a Christian, +"than go back to the mess-room and hear what the men will say when they +know of my decision." + +Jeremiah started his obedience to God amid estrangement. It was not long +before estrangement had given place to _threatening_. His duties as he +grew older called him to Jerusalem. The youth become a man must leave +the village, go to the city, and in the larger sphere of need, speak the +messages of God. In Jerusalem he assured the people that if they did +injustice, oppressed the poor, built themselves rich houses out of wages +withheld from servants, made sacrifices to base idols, and strengthened +the hands of evil-doers, God would bring a terrible overthrow upon them. +His task was made the more difficult because in his words and attitude +he stood alone. He had no following among priests or prophets to back +him. With one consent they affirmed that he was wrong and that a lie was +on his lips when he predicted desolation if present practices were +continued. + +It is a great hour in any man's life when he is obliged to stand up +alone and state his case or defend his cause. What an hour that was in +Paul's history when before the Roman officials "no man stood with him," +but, dependent as he was on sympathy and fellowship, he stood alone! It +is when a man is absolutely left alone, in danger or disgrace, that the +deepest test of his character is reached. That is the reason why the +night-time, which seems to say to us "You are alone with God," has its +impressiveness, and why the death hour has a similar impressiveness. + +Jeremiah felt his loneliness. There was nothing of the stoic in him. He +could not school himself to be brazen-hearted. He was so human, so like +the great majority of people, that every now and then some cry of +weariness would escape his lips. "Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast +borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth. I +have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent me on usury; yet every one +of them doth curse me." Sometimes his outbursts of mental agony make us +feel that the man has almost lost his bravery. "Cursed be the day +wherein I was born! Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor +and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?" But glad as he +would have been to escape the responsibility of rebuking people, and +glad as he would have been to hold the affection and regard of his +companions, he never for a moment kept back the truth, nor for a moment +did he distrust God's blessing on his life. "All my familiars watched +for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall +prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him." "But the +Lord is with me," he declared, and so declaring he was immovable before +his adversaries. + +There came a third experience into his life, which carried his +difficulties one degree higher. It was the experience of _disdain_. He +knew full well that the wicked course of the nation was inevitably +leading to destruction. Unless the evil of the people should cease the +powers of Babylon would come and would destroy Judah. He was debarred an +interview with the king. He therefore wrote his message on a roll, put +it in the hands of a messenger, Baruch, and in due time that roll was +carried into the king's presence by Baruch and read to the king. The +king was sitting in his winter house. The weather was cold. A fire was +burning before him in a brazier. As the king heard the words of Jeremiah +that called him and the people to penitence, his anger was aroused. He +seized the roll ere three or four of the columns had been read, cut it +up with his penknife, and cast the whole roll into the fire to be +utterly consumed therein. He did this in the presence of his court. He +did it with a disdain and contempt that made every man present feel that +Jeremiah and Jeremiah's words were to be despised. + +It never is a pleasure to be despised. Contempt usually embitters a man +or suppresses him. The derisive laugh against a man is more powerful in +breaking him than the compactest argument. Many men can remain steadfast +to convictions in estrangement or in opposition who give way when they +hear that their words and actions are the subject of twitting and +ridicule. "Who is this Jeremiah, and what are his words, that we should +think of them a second time? I will cut these words into fragments even +with my pocket-knife, and then I will burn them in this little brazier, +and that shall be the last of them!" So said and did King Jehoiakim. And +his princes heard and saw. + +But whatever the effect produced on others, the effect produced on +Jeremiah must have been to the king a great disappointment. Jeremiah +heard God's voice saying in his heart, "You must write those same words +of truth again." And again he wrote them on a roll. And just here comes +out one of the sweetest and most characteristic features of Jeremiah's +character. The ordinary man, if he has made up his mind to retort or to +ridicule, says to himself, "Now I will pour out my wrath on my +adversary." But such was Jeremiah's self-control and peacefulness of +temper that perhaps he would have erred on the side of leniency unless +God had charged him, not to soften or to suppress one part of the +message, but to write _all_ the words that were in the former roll and +add thereto other special predictions. To this charge, whatever his +obedience might lead to, Jeremiah immediately and completely responded. + +Then came Jeremiah's fourth experience. His persistence in duty now +cost him _imprisonment_. Not an ordinary imprisonment, but such an +imprisonment as Oriental monarchs employ when they wish to place those +whom they dislike in a living death. The king first put Jeremiah in a +dungeon-house where there were cells. This was not very bad. Then, when +Jeremiah still was true to his testimony, the king put him in the court +of the guard, giving him a daily allowance of one little eastern +bread-loaf. This also was not very bad. But later the king, when the +princes claimed Jeremiah for their victim, as afterward the rabble +claimed Christ from Pilate for their victim, gave Jeremiah into the +hands of the princes to do with him as they pleased. Then it was that +they with cords dropped him down into a deep subterranean pit, whose +bottom was mire, so that Jeremiah sank in the mire. + +How many people in the time of the Inquisition, when they were racked +to pieces, when thumb-screws agonized them, when water drop by drop fell +ceaselessly on their foreheads, and when pincers tore their flesh little +by little continuously, renounced their faith and so saved themselves +from slow torture! It was not an easy thing to die from starvation in a +dark, damp pit, with mire creeping up all about him. It never has been +easy to die slowly and alone for the faith; to die for a testimony; to +die for a message that involved others much more than one's self. All +that was needed to protect him from pain and to preserve his life was +silence. If Jeremiah would keep quiet all would be well. But for +Jeremiah to keep quiet would be to prove disobedient to a sense of duty +implanted by God in his heart. So this gentle nature, that shrank from +the horrors of the miry pit, horrors more to be dreaded than the lions' +den or the fiery furnace or the executioner's sword, went down into the +pit unbroken--precursor of those sweet natures in woman and child that +all the beasts of the Colosseum could not dismay, and that all the fires +of martyrdom could not weaken. + +One more experience awaited Jeremiah--_deportation_. So far as we know, +it was the closing experience of his life. The dauntless soul had not +been suffered to die in the pit. Patriotic men who realized the folly of +letting an unselfish, high-minded citizen perish so terribly, and who +realized, too, the desirability of preserving alive so wise a counselor, +secured permission from the vacillating king to take rags and worn-out +garments, and let them down by cords into the pit. "Put now these rags +and worn-out garments under thine arm-holes under the cords," they said, +"and Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords." Once +again he was in his position of responsibility as God's messenger. In +that position he held fast to his faithfulness. + +Then came his final experience. Judah had passed through trial upon +trial. Jeremiah had shared in her trials, never running away from them, +but always bearing his full brunt of burden and loss. Then he was forced +to go away from the land of his love and his tears to Egypt! He did not +wish to go. He assured those who headed the movement that it was folly +to go. But they took him with them, and carried him, like a captive, off +to a foreign land. + +All this would have meant little to some men, but to Jeremiah it meant +everything. Jerusalem and the land of Judah were dear to his heart. He +had lived for them, spoken for them, suffered for them, and well-nigh +died for them. In older years the land of one's birth and of one's +sacrifices becomes very dear. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my +right hand forget her cunning; if I do not remember thee, let my tongue +cleave to the roof of my mouth!" Into that deportation we cannot follow +him. We only know that up to the very last minute in which we see him +and hear his words, he was unceasingly true to his God, and true to the +people around him, loving his Master and loving his brethren, with an +unfailing devotion. + +But this we do know, ignorant as we are whether he died naturally or was +stoned to death, that in after years this Jeremiah became among the Jews +almost an ideal character. They saw that all his words predicting the +destruction of the holy city and the captivity were fulfilled. They +learned to revere his fidelity. They even called him "the greatest" of +all their prophets. They well-nigh glorified him. In times of war and +difficulty they used his name wherewith to rouse halting hearts to +bravery and to lead the fearful into the thick of perilous battles. + +Here, then, is a life that came to its best and developed its best under +difficulties. "Best men are molded out of faults." So was this man +molded to his best out of faults of hesitation and unwillingness and +impatience. No one knows the best use we can make of ourselves but the +One who created us and understands our possibilities. + +In the struggle against difficulties we have Christ's constant +sympathy. Were not _estrangement_, _threatening_, _disdain_, +_imprisonment_, and _deportation_ His own experiences? And did not they +come in this same order? And does not He realize all the stress through +which a soul must pass that would fight its contest and advance to its +best? Certainly He does. And when He lays a cross upon us, it is that +through our right spirit in carrying that cross we may become sweeter in +our hearts and braver in our lives, and thus change our cross into a +very crown of manliness and of usefulness. + +To many a man there is no object in this earth that so appeals to his +admiration as a person who makes the best of himself under difficulties. +We may well believe that to Christ likewise there is no human being so +prized and admired as he who advances to his best through the conquest +of difficulties. + + + + +THE NEED OF RETAINING THE BEST WISDOM. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE NEED OF RETAINING THE BEST WISDOM. + + +No one can read the story of Solomon's life, as given in the Bible and +as given in eastern writings, without wonder. That story in the Bible is +amazing; that story in the historic legends of Persia, Abyssinia, +Arabia, and Ethiopia is still more amazing. It is said of Solomon that +"those who never heard of Cyrus, or Alexander, or the Caesars have heard +of him," and that "his name belongs to more tongues, and his shadow has +fallen farther and over a larger surface of the earth than any other +man's. Equally among Jewish, Christian, and Mohammedan nations his name +furnishes a nucleus around which have gathered the strangest and most +fantastic tales." + +Almost at the beginning of his public activities he made a prayer to +God that may well be the prayer of every one. In a dream God appears to +him, asking what he most wishes God to confer upon him. Humbly and +earnestly he asks for a discerning mind--a mind capable of +distinguishing between good and evil. He passes by long life, passes by +wealth, passes by victory over enemies, and he asks only for such +understanding as shall enable him to know the right from the wrong. + +We cannot call this prayer a surprise to God, but we can call it a +delight to Him. There are very many kinds of wisdom, but in God's +judgment, the best wisdom is that which always discriminating between +the good and the bad, the true and the false, the permanent and the +fleeting, prefers the good, the true, and the permanent. It surprises us +that Solomon was wise enough to make the desire for discrimination the +one petition of his heart. He was comparatively young, he was +inexperienced in life's responsibilities, he was at the threshhold of +what promised to be a great, almost a spectacular career. Most men, +under such circumstances, given the opportunity of asking for anything +and everything they pleased, would have said, "Give me many, many years +of mental growth; give me much, very much material wealth; give me great +and constant triumphs over all who in any way oppose me." But Solomon +asked only for a discerning mind that could see the difference between +right and wrong, and in asking that, he asked for the best wisdom any +human life can ever have. + +Solomon had other kinds of wisdom. How they came to him we do not know. +Perhaps he was born with a large degree of mother wit and with a very +strong mental grasp. Perhaps his father, himself a thoughtful man and a +brilliant writer, provided the best teachers that wealth could procure +for his son. Perhaps his mother, who had eager ambition for her son, +constantly urged him on to large intellectual development. + +Explain his case as we may, the facts are that he had _scientific_ +wisdom. He knew nature so well that careful writers have even called him +"the father of natural science." He knew trees, from the lordly +cedar-tree that graced Lebanon to the little hyssop that springs out +from between the stones of a wall, as I once saw it in an old well near +Jerusalem. He knew beasts of the field, fowls of the air, animals that +creep on the ground, and fishes that swim in the water. Such is the +brief resume by the Scriptures of his acquaintance with nature. The +legends of the East add that he could interpret the speech of beasts and +birds, that he understood the hidden virtues of herbs, and that he was +familiar with the secret forces of nature. + +He had also _literary_ wisdom. He was a beautiful, trained, and +forceful writer. The seventy-second Psalm, beginning "Give the king thy +judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son," is +ascribed to him. So is the one hundred and twenty-seventh Psalm, opening +with the words, "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain +that build it." Much of the book of Proverbs is written by him or +compiled by him--a book whose concise, striking, intelligent, helpful +utterances are a monument of literary skill. Ecclesiastes, with its +philosophical dissertations on the fleeting and disappointing elements +of human life, is also assigned to him. So is the Song of Solomon, which +breathes a wealth of poetical fervor, that understood and applied +spiritually, is as sweet as the voice of the meadow lark soaring skyward +in the light and beauty of a summer day. Yet these writings are only a +part of what he produced. His songs were a thousand and five, his +proverbs not less than three thousand. What we have in the Bible simply +suggests the variety and power of his literary style, the force and +sagacity of his sound sense, the brilliancy and fitness of his practical +wisdom. Solomon's words are such that to this day, in this land, and in +every land of the earth, they are competent to teach prudence, economy, +reverence for parents, self-protection, purity, honesty, and +faithfulness to duty. The boy that learns them and carries them with him +as a vital principle of being and of conduct will move unsoiled and +unhurt wherever he may go. The home that places them at its center and +reveres them will be cheerful and brave. The grown man that carries them +with him into every detail of business and care will be upright and +beautiful. + +The wisdom of Solomon was _commercial_ as well as scientific and +literary. He recognized the advantages of trade. He extended it. He sent +ships so far away to the east that passing through the Red Sea out into +the Indian Ocean they brought back the treasures of Arabia and India and +Ceylon--gold and silver and precious stones; nard, aloes, sandalwood, +and ivory; apes and peacocks. He sent other ships along the +Mediterranean coasts to the north, where Hiram, king of Tyre, lived, and +then to the west, out between the gates of Hercules, past the present +Gibraltar, up the Atlantic Ocean to the north until they touched at +southern England, at Cornwall, where they found the tin which, combined +with copper, formed the bronze for armor and for all so-called "brazen" +furniture. Not alone through ships of the sea did he seek out the best +treasures of all the accessible earth and beautify Jerusalem with them, +but also through ships of the desert--camels--did he do the same. He +caused the great caravan routes of the day to pass through Jerusalem, +and he levied duties on the objects transported from Damascus on the +north to Memphis on the south, and from Tadmor in the east to Asia Minor +in the west. He put himself into contact with all the thought and +purposes of other nations than his own, he learned what their kings and +queens, their merchants, their sailors, their writers, were saying and +doing, and thus he brought home to his mind the leading ideas of his +time. His knowledge of men, of methods, and of enterprise became vast. + +Nor did his wisdom stop with commerce; it included government also, and +was _political_. He took the throne at a time when government was weak, +or almost disorganized. David's last years were years of physical +disability, wherein he could not curb the rebellious spirits that were +gaining influence in many quarters. Solomon, upon his assumption of +rule, judiciously subdued all rebellion of every kind, united the entire +kingdom, and started that kingdom upon the period of its greatest glory. +He made treaties that bound adjacent principalities to him and caused +them to pay tribute. He held such power that nations did not care to +fight with him, and so he became a king of peace. He laid taxes on his +own people that brought in large revenue. It was indeed the golden +period of Israel. + +The effect of Solomon's wisdom was great and extensive. His +_reputation_ went far and wide. People made long journeys to see him, +ask him questions, and honor him. Even one like the Queen of Sheba came +with a great retinue, up through the desert, past village and town, to +bring him costly gifts and talk with the man who knew so much. His +_influence_ became pervasive. It entered into the legends of people who +never saw him, and became so fixed a part of those legends, that those +legends, repeated until to-day, still sound his praise. He was known in +tent and in palace as the wisest man that had ever lived, and the most +exaggerated statements were made and received of his insight into the +mysteries of the spirit world and his power to control the supposed +spirit forces of the air. His _wealth_ became almost incredible. Nothing +like it has ever been known--not in the time of the Roman emperors, nor +in the time of to-day. The fabulous magnificence of Mexican and Peruvian +kings helps us to realize Solomon's glory. "The walls, the doors, the +very floor of the temple, were plated with gold, furnishing gorgeous +imagery for John's description of heaven." Two hundred targets and three +hundred shields of beaten gold were held by the guard through whose +lines Solomon passed to the temple or to his house of the forest. His +throne of ivory, as were its steps, was overlaid with plates of gold. +All his drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house +of the forest were of pure gold, none were of silver. He was able to +make the temple the costliest structure for its size the world has ever +seen. Hundreds of millions of dollars went into its erection and +decoration. When to-day the traveler visits Baalbec and sees stones over +seventy feet in length and fourteen in width and in depth--stones +quarried, conveyed, raised up into high walls and securely masoned +there; when to-day the traveler sees the golden jewelry gathered from +ancient Grecian graves and placed on exhibition in Athens; and when +to-day the traveler examines the massive work done in Egypt, whose ruins +are overpowering in their grandeur, and seeing these stones, jewelry, +and structures remembers that Solomon knew all the skill, wealth, and +buildings of the whole Mediterranean world, then he can understand how +Solomon, with his resources, built a city like Palmyra, and a house of +worship like the temple, and made silver to be as stones in Jerusalem. + +Ah, if this Solomon, so brilliant and so powerful, so "glorious," as +Christ called him, could only have preserved the best wisdom all through +his years, whose name--except Christ's--would be comparable to his! + +He asked God for the wisdom that discerns between the good and the +evil. God answered that prayer and gave him such wisdom. How clearly he +saw at the first! If two women came to him, each claiming to be the +mother of a little child, and asking for the child's possession, how +skilful he was in ordering that the child be cut in twain in their +presence, thus causing the true mother to cry out in love for her child +and then giving her the child unhurt. The traditions of the east--some +of them perhaps once a part of those lost books mentioned in the Bible, +The Book of the Acts of Solomon, The Book of Nathan the Prophet, The +Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, The Visions of Iddo the Seer, tell +again and again how quiet and accurate Solomon's perception was in +distinguishing real flowers from artificial, in distinguishing girls +from boys though dressed alike, and in deciding case after case of legal +perplexity. He did have a discerning heart when, in his early days, he +knew who his enemies were and he crushed them, who his true counselors +were and he listened to them, what his supreme duty was and he built +God's house, what his sinful heart needed and he shed the blood of +atonement for it. It was discernment when, though he made his own house +rich, he made God's house richer; when he counted his gift of millions +of dollars to God's honor a delight; and when he would let neither +knowledge nor pleasure nor pomp nor glory withdraw his supreme affection +from God. + +Would that he had always continued as he was! Would that he had +remembered that the prayer offered to-day for a blessing in character +must be offered again to-morrow if that blessing in character is to be +retained! Prayer is not so much a momentary wish as a continuous spirit. +His momentary wish and the resolve that sprang from it were at the time +all that God or man could desire. A mind distrustful of its own +omniscience, humbly waiting on God for discernment, is the wisest of all +minds. That mind was once in Solomon, but not always. When grown to +maturity he talked philosophy, still he was wise. But when he came to +act upon his philosophy, he was unwise. He failed to discern between the +value and the curse of wealth. He became a lover of money for money's +sake. He laid taxes on the people that they could not endure. He treated +them no longer as a father, but as a master. He ceased to distinguish +between the beauty and the disease of luxury. He built gardens and +palaces, and made displays, not with the thought of any praise they +would be to Jehovah, or to the establishment of God's people on a sound +financial and political basis, but for the honor and recognition that +would come to him. He became a captive to the love of magnificence and +to the desire for display. He made marriages that were matters of state +expediency and were not matters of heart conviction, and thus put +himself under the influence of those whose religious purposes were +wholly opposed to his own. He filled his palaces with women whose +presence indeed was a great indication of Oriental affluence, but whose +presence was a menace to clear vision of integrity, and was a woeful +example to the nation. He grew blinder and blinder to fine perceptions, +not alone of what was good in taste, but of what was right in principle. +He became so broad in his religious sympathies that he seemed to forget +that there can be but one living and true God. He even went after +"Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcar, the +abomination of the Amonites." And as a last blind act of folly, he even +raised within sight of God's holy temple "an high place for Chemosh, the +abomination of Moab, and for Moloch, the abomination of the children of +Ammon, in the hill that is before Jerusalem." What men like Daniel would +not do, what men like Shadrach would not do, what martyrs in after days, +asked to say the simple word "Caesar" and throw a grain of corn on an +heathen altar, would not do, though death awaited them, Solomon did. He +gave up the fine distinction between the true and the untrue, between +God and idolatry, between divine principle and human expediency. And +with this loss of the best wisdom came loss of manliness, loss of peace, +and loss of the favor of God. Wealth, power, luxury, praise, glory, were +still about him, but he had made the most serious of all serious +mistakes. Later he recognized his mistake. We hope that he repented, +genuinely repented, of his mistake, and before his death turned back to +God and the best wisdom. But whether he died repentant or unrepentant +Solomon is the man who is forever the example of unparalleled wisdom and +of ruinous folly--of ruinous folly because his wisdom failed to retain +the element of the discerning mind. + +Here, then, is a lesson: "With all thy getting, get understanding." Life +is not a best success, whatever else it may have in it, unless it draws +fine lines of separation between good and evil. The wealth and learning +and glory of the wide world cannot make up for a lack of sensitive +conscientiousness. The study and ambition of life must be applied to the +securing and retaining of fine powers of moral discrimination if we are +to be truly wise. Every one can have this discerning mind, at least to +such a degree as shall enable him to avoid the fearful mistake of +palliating evil and of becoming enslaved to evil. A little child may in +this respect be wiser than the oldest man; the simple peasant may be +safer than the most cultured scholar. Not even libraries of knowledge +can save the character of the man whose vision of good and evil is +blunted. + +Youth is the time to make this prayer for true wisdom--when life's +decisions are first opening before us. Youth is the time when God can +best answer and when God cares most to answer prayer for the discerning +mind. We need to start upon our careers with hearts exceedingly +sensitive to the least variation from right. As the gunner cultivates +his aim and notes his least deviation from the true line to the target, +so should we cultivate clearness of moral perception. We need the +"practiced" eye and the "practiced" heart, for safe judgment. + +"The grand endowment of Washington," wrote Frederic Harrison, "was +character, not imagination, not subtlety, not brilliancy, but wisdom. +The wisdom of Washington was the genius of common sense, glorified into +_unerring truth of view_." + +Almost the same tribute can be paid to Victoria. When, six months after +her accession, Victoria drove to the House of Parliament, there was not +a hat raised nor a voice heard. But when sixty years later her jubilee +was held, such paeans of admiration and love swelled in London's streets +as never before had greeted any sovereign's ears--and all because the +people saluted in Victoria's person the _discrimination_ that had +shunned vice, corrected abuses, exalted integrity, and glorified +religion. + +What every one needs, Washington, Victoria, and all--and what every +one should crave--is such wisdom, as all through life shall keep him +from confusing moral principles and shall make him see, choose, love, +and follow the best. + + + + +THE BEST POSSESSION. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BEST POSSESSION. + + +What is the best possession a human life can have? Judging from the +efforts made to secure wealth, fame, and power, the answer would seem to +be that they--wealth, fame, and power--are the best possessions any one +can have. Observant and thoughtful people know, however, that such +possessions do not necessarily nor ordinarily make their owners happy. +They therefore argue that there must be better possessions than these. +So they say, eloquence is perhaps the best possession, or knowledge is, +or ability to do great deeds or express great thoughts is. But the +wisest book that has ever been written says that something not yet +mentioned is the best possession, and says that that something makes +life the happiest, and even makes it the holiest. That something, in the +language of the Bible, is _love_. The man that in his heart has love, +true, pure, lasting love, has the best possession that can be secured. + +It is for this reason that Jonathan is such an inspiring character. The +story of his life, hastily viewed, seems almost incidental, but +scholarly examination of it shows that its light and gladness are in +marked contrast to the darkness and sorrow in the careers of Saul and +David. The story of Jonathan's life has probably done more to suggest +and arouse the unselfish devotion of man to man, than any story, apart +from that of the Christ, that has ever been told. If we wish to find one +who really had the best possible possession, Jonathan is that one, a man +whose heart was bright, whose deeds were noble, and whose death was +glorious. + +Jonathan was a physical hero. He had both muscular strength and +muscular skill. The way he could throw a spear and shoot an arrow made +him famous. He had rare courage. Assisted only by his armor-bearer he +once made an attack upon a whole garrison at Michmash, slaying twenty +men within a few rods and putting an entire army to flight. He had great +self-control. Found fault with by his father because in an hour of +weariness he had tasted honey--in ignorance of his father's wish to the +contrary--he opened his breast to receive the death penalty vowed by the +father, and stood unmoved until the soldiers cried to Saul that the deed +of blood must not be done. He was no weakling. Rather he was a mighty +man, able to command military forces and call out their enthusiasm. Men +rallied about him for hazardous undertakings, saying, "Do all that is in +thy heart; behold, I am with thee according to thy heart." In the field +or in the court he was equally acceptable. His father, the king, had +implicit confidence in him, and took him into all his counsels. In the +language of poetry, he was "swifter than an eagle, he was stronger than +a lion." Israel might well look forward to the day when this stalwart, +inspiring, wise son should succeed his father and be their king. His +name, in time of battle, would be a terror to their foes. + +But better than Jonathan's strong arm and clear intellect and winsome +personality was his loving heart. He never had read Paul's description +of love as given in the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, nor had +he read Henry Drummond's exposition of love as "The Greatest Thing in +the World," nor had he ever seen the devoted character of Christ, nor +known any of the beautiful examples of love created by the Gospel. He +was living in a selfish age--an age of strife and tumult and blood--and +still his whole being seemed pervaded by that love which is "unselfish +devotion to the highest interests of others." Such love was his joyous +and abiding possession. + +The first time we have an opportunity of reading his inmost heart is +when David, having slain Goliath, stands before Saul, holding Goliath's +head in his hand. Here we see the _generosity_ of love. It was an hour +when every eye was turned from Jonathan and centered upon an unknown +stripling who had carried off the honors of the day by a startling and +brilliant deed. Hitherto Jonathan had been the national hero; now he was +to be set aside, and David was everywhere to come into the foreground. +How should all this transfer of honor affect Jonathan? Should it sour +him, making him look askance on this new competitor for the public +recognition, and influencing him to send back David to his father's +flocks, away from further opportunity for martial deeds? Any such method +would be what is called "natural." Men usually try to get rid of +competitors. They do this in business and in games. Opera singers often +keep back, if they can, the voice that once heard will supersede their +own voice in popular favor. We do not like to have another outshine us. +Praise is sweet. People hate to lose it. Plaudits transferred to another +leave a painful vacancy in the ordinary soul. We crave favor, and when +that favor passes from us to rest upon another we are severely tried. +Many a man has thought himself kindly dispositioned until he found that +some one else was obtaining the recognition previously so secure to him, +and then to his own surprise he has found himself grudging the other +that recognition. How much of the unhappiness of human life comes from +the fact that persons do not speak to us or of us as they do of others! +How apprehensively many people protect their place--social, political, +or commercial--lest another shall in any wise encroach upon it! Jonathan +might easily have recognized that, so far as his interests were +concerned, it was far better that David should be dismissed to the sheep +pastures than allowed to stay near the court. + +But in spite of what Jonathan recognized, Jonathan's heart warmed to +David. By the time he had heard the story of David's home and family, +the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved +him as his own soul. The interests of David became his interests. He +wished David to succeed. Praises of David sounded sweet in his hearing. +He showed such wish to have David stay right there, at the heart of the +nation's capital, where people could see him and honor him, and where +David could have new opportunity for public service, that Saul would not +let David go back to the distant and quiet pastures. Jonathan even made +a covenant with David, promising to be his friend and helper. To show +the sincerity of that covenant, or rather in the expression of that +covenant, Jonathan took off his robe and his garments, even to his sword +and to his bow and to his girdle--stripped himself of them--and gave +them to David. Jonathan wished David to be ready for possible +opportunities of military success, and therefore he armed him with his +own chosen and well-tried weapons. + +So their friendship began. It was a friendship that was all "give" on +one side and all "take" on the other. There never was a clearer +illustration of what love is than the relation between Jonathan and +David. It is always said that "Jonathan loved David," but no emphasis is +placed on David's love for Jonathan. David appreciated Jonathan, but +Jonathan loved David, and loving him, unceasingly aided him. "I call +that man my friend," a noble poet declared, "for whom I can do some +favor." Love exists only where costly kindnesses are conferred upon +another. + +Turner, England's honored painter, exemplified love when he was on a +committee on hanging pictures for exhibition in London and a picture +came from an unknown artist after the walls were full. "This picture is +worthy; it must be hung," he said. "Impossible; the walls are full now," +others asserted. Quietly saying "I will arrange it," Turner took down +one of his own pictures and hung the new picture in its place. + +The second scene of Jonathan's devotion to David reveals the +_protection_ of love. David's life was in danger. Saul, jealous of +David's popularity, desired to be rid of David. He even wished to kill +him. He let his servants know his wish. David was encompassed by peril. +What would Jonathan do now? When others were turning against him, would +he also turn against him? The current was all setting one way. Any +kindness to David would now be in direct opposition to a ruler's will +and to the sentiment of the court. Interest in another often becomes +luke-warm under such circumstances. "There is no use of resisting the +tide of events," people say. They therefore leave the man that is down +to himself and to his fate. How lovers fall away in the hour of disgrace +and danger! How difficult it becomes to speak favorably of a man when +every other is condemning him! In periods of excitement when the motives +of men are called into question and innuendo is in the air, how +reluctant we are to avow our confidence and try to still the cries of +opposition. + +But what was the effect of this situation on Jonathan? His heart warmed +all the more to the imperiled man whose one crime was that he was a +deliverer to Israel. Jonathan delighted much in David. Jonathan revealed +to David Saul's purpose to kill him. Jonathan provided for David's +immediate safety and took means to anticipate his future safety. Then he +went to the king and _plead_ for David. That was a splendid piece of +work. It was much as John Knox plead with Mary, Queen of Scots, for +Scotland. She did not wish to hear Knox's words. She was bitter against +Scotland and Scotland's religion. He risked much in venturing into her +presence and interceding. But he loved Scotland and Scotland's religion. +He would rather die than have Scotland suffer, and so he braved Mary's +tears and entreaties and commands, and he spoke for Scotland. Love is a +very expensive thing; it often summons us to surrender our personal +ease, and surrender, too, our closest comradeships. It may cost us +obloquy, it may cost us loss of standing with king and court, it may +cost us the disdain of the world, but cost what it might, Jonathan plead +for David's safety, and temporarily secured his wish. + +Later the love of Jonathan was to be subjected to a more subtle and +more difficult test. It was to be called upon for _self-effacement_. +Saul's misdemeanors and incompetences had so weighed on Saul's mind that +Saul actually hated the David whose conduct was always irreproachable; +Saul's mind, too, at times had lost its balance, and he had done the +insane acts of a madman toward David. Saul, now half-sane and +half-insane, was irrevocably determined to kill David. He learned that +Samuel had quietly anointed David as king, and that David in due time +would succeed to the throne! Saul's heart was aflame with +bitterness--the bitterness that is born of chagrin and envy. David knew +of that bitterness, and knew that Saul's persistent enmity left but a +"step between him and death." Then it was that Jonathan ventured to +interview his father and see whether his father's hatred could not in +some way be appeased and David's safety be secured. + +But with the first revelation of Jonathan's interest in David came an +outburst from Saul that showed the utter implacability of Saul's rage. +Saul even tried to inflame Jonathan's temper, charging him with +perversity and rebellion, and with acting undutifully; and then, when he +hoped that Jonathan was excited, he introduced the thought, "This David, +if you let him live, will seize the throne which is yours as my son and +heir! Will you suffer David to live and take your throne?" It was an +appeal to Jonathan's envy, and that appeal touched on the most delicate +ambition of Jonathan's heart. What a fearful thing envy is! History is +full of its unfortunate work. It hurts him who cherishes it as well as +him against whom it rages. Cambyses killed his brother Smerdis because +he could draw a stronger bow than himself or his party. Dionysius the +tyrant, out of envy, punished Philoxenius the musician because he could +sing, and Plato the philosopher because he could dispute, better than +himself. "Envy is the very reverse of charity; it is the supreme source +of pain, as charity is the supreme source of pleasure. The poets +imagined that envy dwelt in a dark cave; being pale and lean, looking +asquint, abounding with gall, her teeth black, never rejoicing but in +the misfortune of others, ever unquiet and anxious, and continually +tormenting herself." + +When such an appeal to envy as that subtly made by Saul to Jonathan +comes to most human hearts they are conquered by it. Few, very few, men +hail the rise of the sun that pales their own star. But Jonathan could +not be overpowered by this appeal, however wilily the king drove it +home. He stood true to David, though by so doing he imperiled his own +life. For with his quick perception of Jonathan's fixed adherence to +David, Saul hurled his javelin at his own son's breast and would have +slain him on the spot. + +In the days that followed this stormy interview, when the king's wrath +against David was still at white heat, and when one turn of Jonathan's +hand could have ended all possible rivalry between himself and David for +the throne, Jonathan sought David, said gladly to him, "Thou shalt be +king in Israel, and I shall be next unto thee," and saying this, made a +new covenant of love that should bind themselves and their descendants +to all generations! + +I know not what others may think, but as for me, nothing in this world +is sweeter, stronger, nobler, than an unselfish friendship. We have used +and misused the word "love" so often that we have dragged it down from +its high meaning. We have flippantly passed it over our lips when by +"love" we meant mere interest, or sympathy, or fondness, or even a +mental or a physical passion. We have belittled it and even smirched it +in the mire. But next to the word "God" it is the greatest word of human +life, and is associated with God as no other word is. The man that can +and will prove a generous, unselfish, devoted friend is the highest type +of man. The man that can cherish a sweet, uplifting love that is beyond +the reach of envy, and that will lay down every treasure but itself for +another, is the noblest specimen of manhood that can be produced. More +and more it becomes clear that genuine devotion to the highest interests +of others is the solution of the world's social problems. Love makes its +owner happy. It is a giver and a sustainer of joy. There is no +bitterness in its root and no acid in its fruit. By nature it is the +sweet, the healthy, the sane. The absence of love always means the +presence of the selfish, or of the vain, or of the proud, or of the +self-seeking, or of the cruel. Envy is a thorn in the soul. Love is +content and cheer, a radiant flower whose perfume is refreshingly +fragrant. + + "For life, with all it yields of joy or woe, + And hope or fear, + Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love-- + How love might be, hath been, indeed, and is." + +To the very end of his days Jonathan stood true to David. He +accomplished what might seem to many an impossible task, but what by his +accomplishment of it is shown to be possible. He was true to two persons +whose interests were opposite, proving a friend to each. He loved his +father. He knew his father's weaknesses. They tried him seriously. When +his father threw the spear at his head, and maligned his mother, and +charged him with ingratitude, his whole being was stirred; he went out +from his father's presence "angry." But that anger was merely a +temporary emotion. He soon realized his duty to his father. He returned, +placed himself at his father's hand, continued to be his adherent, +counselor, and helper, went with him as one of his lieutenants to the +battle on Gilboa, and fought beside him until he fell dead at Saul's +side! + +There is nothing weak in this character of Jonathan. Let him who can +reproduce it. Christ said of John the Baptist, "There hath not been born +of women a greater than he," because John, free from envy, was so full +of love that he rejoiced to see Christ come into a recognition that +absolutely displaced John. By these words of Christ John is made to loom +up as no other character of his day. Jonathan was John's prototype--a +massive man, a man of momentum, a man of absolute fearlessness, whose +virtues were crowned by his generous, protecting, self-effacing love. No +wonder that when word reached David that Jonathan had been slain in +fierce battle his heart poured out the greatest elegy of history--an +elegy that has been sung and resung for thousands of years--"How are the +mighty fallen! I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very +pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing +the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war +perished!" Noticeable it is that the supreme elegy of the Old Testament +is on the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, Jonathan; and that +the one elegy of the New Testament pronounced by Christ, is likewise on +the man who had a heart of unselfish devotion, John the Baptist. The +greatest possession any one can have is a loving heart--a heart that +generously recognizes worth in another and tries to make place for that +worth; a heart that guards another's interests, even though such +guarding costs intercession; a heart that gladly surrenders its own +advantage that another may advance to the place which might be its own. + +No one can tell another how and when the heart of love should show +itself. All that can be told is this: "Let any one be pervaded by love +as Jonathan was, and in that one's home, in that one's business, and in +that one's pleasures God will provide him occasion upon occasion for +living that love." The love that a man gives away is the only love his +heart can retain. The man that has such a heart of love has the +sweetest, happiest, gladdest possession that can be obtained on earth or +in heaven. All the money in the world leaves a man poor if his heart is +bitter. All the poverty that can come to a man finds him rich if his +heart is glad and strong. Love is the only possession that a man can +carry with him to heaven and always keep with him in heaven. He lives +for eternity who lives for love. + + "The one great purpose of creation--love, + The sole necessity of earth and heaven." + + + + +USING ARIGHT OUR BEST HOURS. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +USING ARIGHT OUR BEST HOURS. + + +Every writer who has described what we call opportunity has insisted +upon the necessity of seizing opportunity as it flies. We are told that +there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at its proper moment +leads us on to fortune. It is also asserted that once at least there +comes into every one's life a special hour which used aright has much to +do with assuring his permanent welfare. + +Universal experience bears witness to the truthfulness and force of +these sayings. Every human being who has studied the history of the race +is aware that now and then decisive hours come to his fellows, and +according as those hours are used to advantage or to disadvantage, is +the success or failure of his fellows. We know this fact applies also to +ourselves. All our hours are not the same hours, either in their nature +or in their possibility. Some hours are special hours when, for one +reason or another, crises are present; if we meet these hours aright we +advance, if we fail to meet them aright we fall back. + +Such hours are the supreme opportunities of our entire existence: the +hours when duty appears more clear than is its wont, or hours when the +heart is strangely moved toward the good, or hours when a new and very +uplifting sense of God's presence is felt. It is not asserted that such +hours are equally bright and glorious to every one. They may not be +bright at all. They may be dull and heavy. But they bring us a +conviction of what is right, a sense of obligation to do the right, and +an assurance that God's way is the way our feet should tread. Given any +such hour, whether it be on the mountain or in the valley, and a man has +his best hour. All other hours, as we plod or play, may be good, but the +hour when a soul is brought face to face with duty and with God is the +best hour in that particular period of our life. + +It was simply and only because Jacob used aright his best hours that he +rescued his name from disgrace and crowned it with glory. If ever a man +started in life handicapped by unfortunate characteristics and +unfortunate environments Jacob was such a man. One of the modern +sculptors, George Grey Barnard, has a life-sized marble, showing what he +names "Our Two Natures," two men, one the good and one the evil, coming +out of the same block of stone, and struggling, each to see which shall +gain the ascendancy over the other. Such two natures are in every one; +but they appear with special prominence in Jacob. The question of his +life was, Which is to conquer, the good or the evil? The struggle of the +good for ascendancy was prolonged and severe. It was a struggle in which +there were disgraceful defeats, but in which there was also a +persistency of purpose and a reassertion of effort whereby the good +finally triumphed. And this triumph, it may safely be asserted, was +secured through the use Jacob made of a few supreme hours in his life. + +When we first begin to notice Jacob, we see him participating in the +deception of his aged and almost blinded father, Isaac. We do well, in +studying that deception, to bear in mind that the mother, before Jacob's +birth, had been told that Jacob should inherit his father's blessing. So +she had probably taught Jacob that this blessing belonged to him, and +that she and he were justified in securing it in any way they could. And +we do well also to bear in mind that the mother recognized a certain +undeveloped but capable fitness in Jacob for this blessing, a fitness +that Esau lacked. Esau was a lusty, out-of-doors, happy-going man who +would not control his appetites, and who, however pleasant he might be +to have around when merry-making and sport were in the air, was not +prudent enough and judicious enough to be the head of a great people. +Rebekah, and Jacob, too, may have felt that it would be the height of +family folly to leave the family blessing with Esau, who probably in a +short time would squander it; it ought, therefore, to be diverted from +him. Besides, the age was one in which fine distinctions between right +and wrong, as we to-day see these distinctions, were not clear. We thus +can understand some of the reasoning which lay back of the fraud +practiced on Isaac when Jacob made believe that he was Esau bringing the +desired venison, and so secured the blessing. + +But we do not mean to justify the deception. It carried--as every sin +carries--fearful consequences, and those consequences affected all of +Jacob's future life. As he had deceived his father, again and again his +children deceived their father. Even immediately upon its perpetration +Jacob's life became endangered. He was obliged to flee from enraged and +threatening Esau. Then it was that Jacob, at nightfall, coming alone to +rocky Bethel, and lying down to sleep--a wrong-doer, a fugitive, +homeless, friendless, and in peril--had his dream. He saw heaven opened +over him, with angels ascending as it were by a ladder to God and then +descending by that ladder from God to his resting-place. The dream bore +in upon his mind certain thoughts. One was, that God had not forsaken +him, but was with him. Another was, that God was ready to forgive him +for his sin and bless him. And still a third was, that God would take +even his life and so use it, if he should be consecrated to Him, that +he, Jacob, should some day come back to Bethel as its owner and be the +head of that people through whom the whole world should be blessed. And +a fourth thought was, that however long the delay in fulfilling the +promises, God certainly would fulfil them, and He would watch over Jacob +until they were fulfilled. + +As Jacob awaked from his dream those four thoughts were in his mind: of +God's presence, of God's forgiveness, of God's call, and of God's +protection. Up to this time the hour of this awakening was the best hour +of his life. Thoughts stirred in his heart different in degree and +different in quality than any he had ever had. There came a new sense of +the wonderful love of God. What had he done to deserve it? Nothing. Why +should not the heavens be closed, and be dark and forbidding to a +defrauder like himself? That certainly was what one like himself might +expect. Did not the cherubim drive sinful Adam and Eve out of the +garden, and stand with flaming sword forbidding their return? But here +was God appearing in mercy, assuring of His readiness to pardon +transgression, and calling upon the wrong-doer to repent, to be earnest, +and to make his life a benediction rather than a curse. Here, too, was +God pledging His unfailing aid to Jacob if Jacob would struggle toward +success! + +What should Jacob do with these thoughts? He might have brushed them +away from his heart as he brushed away the morning dew from his eyes, +and thus immediately have banished them. He might have pondered the +thoughts for a day or two, being softened and comforted by them, and +then let them pass out of his mind forever. Many men have acted in such +ways. A wicked man opened a letter from his mother, and with the sight +of her penmanship there came to him the memory of all her interest in +his purity, integrity, and godliness. He crushed the letter in his hand +and threw it into the fire burning on the hearth. But another man, many +another man, though moved by good impulses, and even touched to the +quick by them after a while has let such impulses glide away from his +heart and carry with them their helpfulness. That is what Darwin says +that he did. The thought of God came to him now and then in special +hours of his earlier life, but he did not hold fast to it, he let it +escape, and the thought of a personal God who watches over and blesses +never became the cheering possession of his soul. + +But it was not so with Jacob; and because it was not so, hope of +betterment dawned upon his character. He _valued_ the thoughts that had +come to him. He was awed. Awe, or reverence, is the originating spring +of worthy character. His was not a simple mind easily affected. Jacob +was a cool, calculating, careful, worldly-wise man, almost the last type +of man that finds it easy to be awed. But to him--with whom money and +sheep and slaves and retinue were now and were long afterward to be very +prominent objects of ambition--there was a feeling that, after all, God +and God's blessings are the supreme things of life. So he did not let +the awe of the hour pass unimproved. He acted on that awe. He then and +there as best he could confessed God and his faith in Him, raising a +pillar of stone in God's name and anointing it with oil in significance +that the spot upon which it stood was consecrated to God. Thus he +erected the first of all those tabernacles, temples, synagogues, +churches, cathedrals, chapels, that have been a testimony to faith in +God all over the earth. And then, as though an outward thing was not +enough, but some inner thing of character was now required, he vowed a +vow--the best vow probably that he, with his idea of God and of money, +knew how to vow. He vowed that if God who had thus shown him his +opportunity and duty would be true to His promises and would take care +of him as covenanted, he, Jacob, would uphold the worship of God and +would give a tenth of all he might ever obtain unto God. + +That vow laid hold on Jacob's life. It began to work a change that only +many, many years advanced toward completion. But it began the change. +When a soul, in a best moment of life, seeing duty clearly, or beholding +a new revelation of God, crystallizes the emotions thus aroused by a vow +that consecrates its dearest treasures to God, then the soul has taken +its first step toward strong and beautiful character. Here it was that +Esau failed. He seems to have had more traits that men would name +attractive than had Jacob. An open-hearted, open-handed, out-spoken man, +rough but kind and generous and ready, he at life's beginning appeared +to have more in his favor than this grasping, secretive brother. When +Esau's best hours came--hours when the sense of his own misdeeds rankled +in his heart and when he was aware that repentance and reformation and a +new application to duty should be his--he felt his situation deeply; he +even, as a man of his temperament could do, shed tears of grief over his +mistakes and losses. But he did not realize with awe the gravity of his +situation, nor did he turn to God and to duty with a softened, chastened +spirit, and vow his life in devotion to God. Jacob's right use of his +best hours set Jacob's face towards God and character. Esau's wrong use +of his best hours set Esau's face away from God and character. + +But Jacob's life needed, as every life needs, more than one best hour. +Off in Haran where he dwelt for twenty years he was among heathen +people. As he served seven years for Leah and seven years for Rachel and +six years beside, he preserved many of the ideals and purposes that came +to him in the morning hour at Bethel, but not all of them. These +purposes seem to have kept him from idolatry and to have given him +patience and fortitude and prolonged endurance. Laban treated him +deceivingly and unkindly. Jacob showed much self-control and much +generosity. Laban's flocks increased beneath Jacob's care until Laban +became a very rich man. If a lamb or a sheep was injured in any way +Jacob bore all the expense connected with its hurt or its death. Had +Laban recognized the value of his services, then perhaps Jacob would not +again have come under the power of his own crafty, calculating, +money-making propensities. But Laban treated Jacob like a slave, and +Jacob retaliated with meanness. He speciously secured from Laban a large +proportion of Laban's cattle, and with his wealth thus gathered started +away from his angry master toward the old-time Bethel, that somehow was +always in his memory. There was a sense in which he deserved every sheep +and goat and servant that he had: he had earned them all; they ought by +right of service to be his. But in another sense he had tricked Laban +and was going away with ill-gotten gains. + +Now is to come the second great crisis in his life. Jacob is to venture +into the country where Esau is, Esau who for years has been cherishing +hatred against Jacob. Hatred cherished sours and becomes malice. Esau +was a difficult one to meet--fierce, strong, and determined. It was then +that another great hour came to Jacob. To the east he had parted company +with Laban, who had become reconciled to Jacob and who had given him his +farewell blessing. To the west, where Bethel lay and whither his heart +called him, is Esau. How shall he meet Esau? He does now what seems, +from the night at Bethel, to have become more or less of a custom with +him; he consults God. He lays the situation as it lies in his mind +before God. He thus tries to see the situation as it actually is when +seen in the presence of One who is omniscient. As he thus studies the +situation he deems it wise to send ahead, in relays, goodly parts of his +flocks, which, as they pass Esau, should be announced as gifts to Esau. +It is the same cool, calculating Jacob still at work. Then he sends +forward all his family and all his cattle, over the Jabbok, toward the +country where Esau is. This done he remained behind alone. + +Again it was the night-time. There was darkness, the darkness that often +is so conducive to earnest thought and clear vision of the right. Light +is indeed essential that men already in the path of duty may walk safely +therein, but the path of duty itself is more often discovered when we +look out of darkness than when we stand in the sunlight. + +It was a time of uncertainty and almost of fear on Jacob's part--a +time of heart searching in view of the past and of hesitation in view of +the present. Such a time can come only to one who has ceased being a +mere child and has entered into the experiences of manhood. The great +questions of the nature of God and of the protection of His providence +stirred in Jacob's heart. His had been a sinful career. Still he had +repented, and repenting had grown in grace. But even yet his faith was +fearful and his trust hesitant. Was God really on his side? Would this +God, the God that had promised to bring him back to Canaan and give him +a place there, surely preserve him? Then it was, while these questions +were throbbing within him, that in the darkness one like a man grappled +with him in wrestling. Should he be faint-hearted and cowardly, +distrusting God's promise of protection, and let this stranger throw +him, kill him, and so forever end the possibility of God's fulfilling +His promise? Or should he lay hold of God's promise to sustain him, and +do his best to throw this stranger, and thus preserve his life and +accomplish his mission? It was a decisive time. Luther had such a time +the night before the Diet of Worms, when he had to wrestle with the +thought "Shall I be distrustful of God's providence and recant +to-morrow, or shall I hold fast to my faith in God and stand by the +truth to-morrow?" Hamilton had such a time the night before he decided +that he would be burned at the stake rather than deny the truth. Such +times come into many lives, when great questions about a right or a +wrong marriage, a right or a wrong business, a right or a wrong +amusement, must be decided. + +Jacob _would_ not surrender to fear! He _would_ trust God to continue +his life. He therefore relaxed no hold on the stranger, but wrestled +with him as best he could. Then came the revelation. The stranger simply +touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh and by that touch put it out of +joint! Here was an Almighty One wrestling with him! Jacob realized that +_God_ had come to him! With that revelation, even in his weakened +condition, he clings the closer to the stranger; he _will_ hold on to +God. "Let me go, for the day breaketh," cries the stranger. "I will not +let thee go, except thou bless me," Jacob replies. Jacob cleaves to God. +Jacob longs for God's blessing. He has found God very near to him. He +will avail himself of His nearness. The face of God is turned upon him +in love. He will not let this hour go without getting from it all the +inspiration and help he can obtain. + +And he did obtain the best blessing that ever came to his life--the +blessing that assured him his character was to be completely changed, +and made beautiful and strong for God. Christ once said to a weak, +impulsive, oft-falling man: "Thou art Simon, son of Jonah"--that is, the +"listening" son of a weak "dove," unreliable, changeable, frail--"thou +shalt be Peter"--that is, a "rock," firm, stable. Christ thus indicated +that he would make of weak Simon a resolute, trustworthy Peter, as He +did. Just so God in this hour said, "Thy name shall be called no more +Jacob"--the "supplanter," the tricky, the calculating--"but Israel"--a +"prince of God," a man that has power with God and men, a man that even +_prevails_ with God and men! + +What a benediction that was, one of the choicest in all history! No +higher designation could be promised to such a man as Jacob had been, +than "Israel"! I would rather--under God and for God--have that name +given me by God than any other name that can be named upon a weak, frail +man: "Israel"--a man who can _prevail_ with his _fellows_ and with _God_ +for _human good_! + +All this came about because Jacob used aright his best hours; because +when God was near him, he held on to God; because when he was +discouraged and heavy-hearted and the prospect was dark, he trusted God; +because when he was weakened and brought low, he would not let God go +unless He bless him. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him," Job +said. "Even if God will not deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, +still we will not disobey Him," said the three prisoners at Babylon. + +Henceforth in Jacob's life there would still be vicissitudes. Troubles, +responsibilities, disappointments, sorrows, needs, would come. His +children did not always treat him aright. Joseph was mourned as dead. +Benjamin was taken from him to Egypt. He had cares and burdens, as all +men must have them, until life's end. But the thought of God became +increasingly precious to him year by year; his spirit sweetened and +softened; his memory was full of the loving kindnesses of God, and his +hope laid hold on a blessed future. Down in Egypt as he draws nigh to +death he triumphantly speaks of "God, before whom my fathers, Abraham +and Isaac, did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this +day, and the Angel which redeemed me from all evil." He died a man of +God, honored in his day, and honored since--a man who had such faith in +the promises that he charged Joseph to carry his body to the Holy Land +and bury it there where the Christ was to come. He started life with +most unfortunate traits of character and in most unfortunate +surroundings of environment, but he came off a victor, not a perfect +man, but a successful man, a man whom we may well praise, a man who +preserved the faith and blessed the world, and all because he made a +right use of his best hours. + +Where the highest thoughts are in the air, where the holiest persons +gather, where the loftiest influences of God's Holy Spirit breathe, +there we do well to go. There we do well to stay. Any voice that calls +us nearer God should be followed, any motion of our heart toward duty +should be obeyed. God is sure to send us, one and all, special hours in +which His wishes are clear to our understandings and His promises are +reassuring to our wills. Those are the golden hours of existence. Even +God can provide no better. If we use these best hours aright, our whole +moral nature is changed, and the weakest of us becomes a mighty "prince +of God." + + + + +GIVING OUR BEST TO GOD. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GIVING OUR BEST TO GOD. + + +God asks every man to give to Him his best. It is God's way, God's +undeviating way with each individual to say to him, "Whatever in +yourself or in your possessions is best, that I ask you to devote to +Me." + +Students of God, in all ages, have recognized this fact. They have +understood that a human life cannot wholly follow God unless all the +holdings of that life are consecrated to God. They have also understood +that a man's "all" includes his best, and that unless that best is +God's, the man's real heart and the man's strongest purposes are not +God's. + +Abraham realized these truths. Accordingly, when Abraham, pondering his +personal relation to God, asked himself whether he was a perfectly +devoted man, the thought of his son Isaac crept into his mind. Isaac was +his only real son. He dearly loved him. He was the supreme treasure of +his heart. Abraham's hopes centered in Isaac. His ambitions and his joys +were bound up in that son and in that son's life. + +Was Abraham willing to give to God his best treasure, his Isaac? That +was the question Abraham found himself called upon to face. In facing it +he was affected by the theories of consecration that prevailed among the +surrounding nations. Those theories asserted that consecration meant +sacrifice--that to consecrate a lamb to a god meant to slay the lamb +upon the altar of that god, and that to consecrate a child to Jehovah +would mean to slay the child upon the altar of Jehovah. + +As he thought on these things and knew God wished him to give to Him his +best, there came to him a conviction that spoke to his heart with all +the authority of the voice of God. "Abraham, if you are ready to give Me +your best, you will take Isaac, your son, your only son, whom you love, +and in Moriah offer him there for a burnt-offering." + +That was the most searching command that could have entered his soul. It +asked of him the sacrifice of the dearest object of his life. + +Nobly, even sublimely, did he meet the test. Believing, according to +the ideas prevalent about him, that perfect devotion to God and to God's +kingdom called him to lift his fatherly hand and plunge the knife of +death into the heart of his child, Abraham lifted his hand for the +sacrifice. In that act God, who ever stood ready to correct Abraham's +misconception of method, had evidence that before Him was an absolutely +loyal soul. Here was one who to all generations might deservedly be +called, "The father of the faithful." Accordingly, with the man who +would give Him his best and who thus became a worthy example for all +mankind, God made a covenant; "In Abraham and in his seed all the +nations of the earth should be blessed." + +This impressive scene heads the very beginning of the salvation of the +race. It is the prelude to the definite record of the world's +redemption. It ushers in that line of history that starting with Abraham +advances through a chosen people until a Christ is come and in Him and +through Him and for Him all people are asked to give their best to God +and to the world's help. + +What is a person's best? Sometimes the question can easily be answered. +In Malachi's time, when people were bringing their offerings to the +temple, and those offerings were the blind, the lame, and the sick of +the flock, it was evident that these imperfect creatures were not the +best. The best were the clear-eyed, the strong-limbed, and the +vigorous-bodied sheep that were left at home. Of two talents or five +talents or ten talents, all in the possession of the same owner, it is +clear that the ten talents are the best. The thing that to a man's own +heart is the dearest is to him his best. The thing that for the world's +betterment is the most helpful is to that world the man's best. Usually +these two things are the same thing; a man's dearest treasure +consecrated to the world's uplift is the best thing he can give to the +world's good. Whatever carries a man's undivided and enthusiastic heart +into usefulness is the best that he can offer to God and to God's world. + +For a man is at his best when in utter self-abnegation his heart is +enlisting every power of mind and body in devotion to a worthy cause. +Moses was good as a shepherd. The rabbins love to tell of his protection +of sheep in time of danger and of his provision for them in time of +need. But Moses was at his best when, under God's call, he conquered his +fear and reluctance, resolved to do what he could to rescue Israel from +cruel Pharaoh, and throwing his heart into the effort, undertook the +redemption of his race. Joshua was good as a servant and as a spy, but +he was at his best when he took the lead of armies, won glorious +victories, and wisely administered government. Paul was good when he sat +at the feet of Gamaliel and studied well, and when, grown older, he was +an upright citizen of Judea, but Paul was at his best when, under the +inspiration of a cause that inflamed his whole life, he pleaded on Mar's +Hill, wrote to Roman saints, and triumphed over suffering in prison. + +It is not easy for a youth to know what is his best. He is uncertain of +his aptitudes. He is not sure that he _has_ special aptitudes. His +marked characteristics have not become clear to his own eye, if they +have become clear to the eyes of others; nor does he understand what +power is latent in his distinctive characteristics, whose existence he +is beginning to suspect. Such a youth need not, must not, be discouraged +and think he has no "best." He has a "best" that in God's sight +individualizes him, a "best" that God wishes consecrated to him. +Whatever is most precious to that youth, whatever he least likes to have +injured and most likes to have prosper, that is the element of his life +that he should lay at God's feet. If the most treasured possession of +his being is thus given to God, God in the due time will develop its +aptitudes. He will provide a place or an hour when those aptitudes shall +be given opportunity. No Moses--competent for mighty tasks--is ever +allowed to remain unsummoned, provided such competency is wholly given +to God. There are many marvels in human history, but no marvel is +greater than the coming of the hour of opportunity to every man to do +his best and to reveal his best. It is not so much a question of what is +our best, as it is whether we are willing to consecrate the thing we +prize most to the service of God's world. + +That world _needs_ our best. The problems of human society and the +wants of men can never be met by the cheap. What costs the giver little, +accomplishes little with the receiver. Skin deep beneficences never +penetrate beyond the skin of those helped. The woes of the world lie far +beneath the skin. When we study them, we are amazed by their depth; we +see how futile many of the efforts of mankind to relieve them are. The +failure of so many of these efforts causes some souls to question +whether it is possible for any one ever to relieve humanity's needs. +That question will always suggest a negative answer, so long as the +superficial, the secondary, and the merely good are brought to the +relief of mankind. It is only when the best that an individual can give +or society can provide is offered men that men will be redeemed. + +The existence in our world to-day of so much sin and sorrow is most +significant. It exists and will continue to exist so long as we bring +anything less than our best to its help. There was no cure for the +lepers of Palestine so long as men threw them coins that they could +easily spare, gave them food that cost them little self-denial, and said +under their breath, "How pitiable those lepers are!" But when One came +who gave _Himself_ for them, who risked being put out of synagogue and +temple and all society by _touching_ them, who even ceremonially defiled +Himself with their defilement, and thus did the best He possibly could +do for them, the lepers were healed. + +The best men in the world are not too good for the world's needs. The +streets of cities and the lanes of towns will never be purified by any +instrumentalities of usefulness that are less than the best. The heathen +world has not a village in which the wisest, noblest, purest man or +woman will not have to battle hard before the work to be done can be +done. Inexpensive apparatus may avail where operations are simple, but +the most expensive apparatus that can be found is required where +operations are intensely complicated. + +It sometimes seems as though even intelligent people had not +comprehended these facts. They talk of the foolishness of casting pearls +before swine. But the woes of humanity are not the woes of swine. They +are the woes of men and women in bondage to wrong--and pearls are none +too good to set before them that thereby the beauty of life may be seen +by them and thereby that earthly condition of society whose every gate +is one single pearl of purity, may be desired by them. If in a home we +cannot be a comfort to the sorrowful, or in a school be an inspiration +to the laggard, or in business be a cheer to the discouraged, without +giving the very best out of our hearts that we can give, how shall we +expect that the great mass of evil congested in dense centers and +compacted through ancient custom, will ever be purified, unless we take +the best resources we can command, in ourselves and in others, and bring +those best resources face to face, yes, heart to heart, to that mass of +evil. The world will never be saved until we offer our Isaacs upon the +altar of its needs. + +That world _deserves_ our best. We never can repay to this world the +good this world has done us. The richest man on the earth is the most +heavily indebted to his fellows. All our knowledge, culture, and safety +are gifts from others. Our schools are the product of men who for a +hundred generations have thought and labored for us. "Every ship that +comes to America got its chart from Columbus. Every novel is a debtor to +Homer." The more of treasure any man has, the more of toil others have +borne for him. The best elements of our homes, our business, and our +civilization reach us through the tears and blood of others. Were the +man who has two hundred millions of dollars to attempt to meet his +indebtedness to the world by the expenditure of that sum in charities, +he would not _begin_ to discharge his indebtedness. Every single benefit +we enjoy cost many men their best. + +The nobler our type of manhood the gladder we are to acknowledge this +indebtedness and the gladder we are in our present place and time to +give our best for others. + + "Fame is what you have taken, + Character is what you give; + When to this truth you waken, + Then you begin to live." + +Something of fineness and of greatness is lacking in the person who +thinks himself above his neighbors and their needs. The better and the +larger a man becomes, the readier he is to declare himself a brother to +suffering humanity and to feel that no sacrifice he can make of himself +is too costly if thereby he can elevate others. It is "angelic" to be a +ministering spirit sent forth to minister to those who may be made heirs +of salvation. + +The highest examples possible to our emulation confirm this theory of +the gift of the best. Christ Himself withheld not any treasures He +possessed, but He gave them all and gave them cheerily for foolish +humanity. He laid upon the altars of the world's need His best wisdom, +His best power, His best glory. He even laid upon that altar His own +precious life, and He laid it there, in all its spotlessness, subject to +the very curses of men. + +So, too, did the Father unhesitatingly give His best for the world's +welfare. He gave His Son, His only begotten Son, in whom He was well +pleased, to save the lost. He gave that Son to any and to every pain +involved in the cheering of the sorrowful and the strengthening of the +weak. Not even from Gethsemane, no, nor from Calvary, did He withhold +His best. What Abraham was ready to do, but what God spared him from +doing, that God Himself did--and God's Isaac was stretched upon the +cross and died there a sacrifice. + +It is the gift of the best that touches the heart of the recipient. +Superficial kindnesses are impotent, but kindnesses that involve the +surrender of the giver's treasures sway the soul of the recipient. This +is not always true, but it is true as a principle. "They will reverence +My Son." Yes, though they pay no heed to mere servants and prophets, and +though some unappreciative men slay even the Son, other men, the great +multitude of men, when they realize that the Son is God's best +possession, and realize that in His gift of Christ God exhausts the +treasury of His heart, will reverence His Son. The cross is sure to win +the whole world to God, because the cross stands for God's gift of His +best. God's way of doing good should be our way. It is the only way that +has assurance of success. Our wisest learning, our best possessions, our +choicest scholars, our dearest children, our brightest hours, our +largest abilities--all must be given to the service of humanity, if the +needs of humanity are to be met. + +Look where we will, the souls of men are waiting for help. Thousands +upon thousands of lives will not suffice to provide this help. Millions +upon millions of dollars may be expended, and still, in this land and in +other lands, there will be the destitute, the afflicted, and the +enslaved. It was not Abraham's gift of his sheep nor of his shekels that +made him the forerunner of the Christ, but it was his gift of Isaac. Our +gift of the best alone will put us in line with Abraham and Christ, and +make our service a power for salvation. + +Only a large-hearted life will give its best to God. Small hearts cling +to their best treasures. Achan puts God's name on every object found in +fallen Jericho excepting the most valuable; that he hides in his tent. +Saul devotes to Jehovah all the cattle conquered from the Ammonites but +the best; those he reserves for himself. It was the mark of the +greatness of her nature that when to the widow there came a man of God +asking for food, and her meal was only enough to bake a cake for her son +and herself ere they died, she took that meal, obedient to what she +considered to be a call from God, and made of it, her best, her all, a +cake for the man of God. God honored that gift and paid back into her +own life the blessing of His unfailing provision. He always honors any +such gift. A man like Joseph gives his best and keeps giving his best to +God all his days, and God never suffers Joseph to lose his spiritual +vigor. But if Solomon only gives his best in his early life, and +withholds his best in his later life, that later life becomes weak and +meager. + +The proof to which God put Abraham is the most soul-searching proof that +ever comes into human lives. If we answer to it as did Abraham, we are +immediately brought into a new and sweeter relation to God. God +withholds no blessing from him who offers Him his best. God enters into +a dearer and closer fellowship with such an one. He declares to him that +His name is "Jehovah-Jireh," "The Lord will provide," assuring the man +that though he does make great sacrifices for God, God will provide for +him abundantly more than he has thus sacrificed. The young ruler went +away from Christ sorrowful when he declined to give Christ his best, but +no soul ever can be sorrowful that gives its best to Christ. "You shall +have a hundred-fold more in this world and in the world to come life +everlasting." It was because the disciples gave their best to Christ +that they became so efficient in his service. "What things were gain to +me, those I counted loss for Christ." Accordingly Paul became mighty to +the upbuilding of the kingdom of his Master and was always joyous. + +Let every one look into his life and find his best. "What is it I prize +most? What is it that gives me largest place among my fellows?" Then let +every one consecrate that best to God. That best may be the enthusiasm +of our youth, or the wisdom of our maturity, or the wealth of our age. +It may be a child in our home, or our hope of advancement, or some +special attractiveness we possess. Whatever our best may be, God asks us +to consecrate it to Him. Whoever so consecrates his best will find God +dearer, life sweeter, and service richer than ever before. + + "There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave, + There are souls that are pure and true; + Then give to the world the best you have, + And the best shall come back to you. + + "Give love, and love to your heart will flow, + A strength in your utmost need; + Have faith, and a score of hearts will show + Their faith in your word and deed. + + "For life is the mirror of king and slave, + 'Tis just what you are and do; + Then give to the world the best you have, + And the best will come back to you." + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + + Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + + The word "repentence" on page 149 was changed to "repentance." + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Living for the Best, by James G. K. 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