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6 5 6i

Cornell University Library

BV4900 .B62
Comfort, by Hugh Black.

3 1924 029 349 622


olin

The

original of this

book

is in

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

restrictions in

the United States on the use of the

text.

http://archive.org/details/cu31924029349622

By

THE SAME AUTHOR

Friendship

Work

&_

&_

&.

fe.

&.
<&.

Culture &nd Restraint


Listening to

God

Christ's Service of

CKe

&.

Love

Gift of Influence

A-V7H3S

Copyright, igto, by

Fleming H. Revell Company

Designed by Griselda McClure


Printed by The Caxton Press

New York

To

W. B. MACLEOD
who has learned

to

comfort others

by the comfort
wherewith he himself has been
comforted of God

And let the base of Heaven's deep organ

blow.

Milton.
\

Hath he a cup of affliction in one hand? Lift


up your eyes and you will see a cup of consolation in another.

And

if all the stars withdraw

their light whilst you are in the

sure yourselves that the sun

is

way of God, asready to

rise.

-John Owen.

THE

world is full of men and women


who are carrying burdens of work
or care or sorrow, and the burden

often seems too heavy for the bearer.


sorest part of the trouble

is

that

it

The

appears

meaningless, with no evident relation to

The

life.

dull

result

is

that there

doing

listless

of

the

duty.

burden seem inevitable,


thing
in

is

only a

bending of the neck for the load, or a

we could see some useful purpose


The apparent aimlessness of pain is

disabling than the pain

loses its

when

Should the

would be some-

if

it.

more

it

itself.

Life

spring and the world turns to drab,

the eye has no larger vision.

The

greatest need of

men

is

a message

of good cheer, of heartening for the daily


task.

But

this

cannot come by mere well-

wishing and the usual surface consolations,

^^^S^^g^^H^
Ghe Gospel of Comfort
azzEssssss zgaaszasms!
"patching grief with proverbs."
reasonable and can be

For great

meaning.

made

front

we

faith,

we can

worth of
to

enough

that

to

In the face

life.

difficulties that

con-

life

At

sane.

the

same

hold this central faith of the

life,

theory

show some

are nevertheless driven to

meet them to keep


time

life is

we need

living,

believe in the worth of

of the almost appalling

to

can

It

only be by seeing that the whole of

without having

explain

we

the

a rounded

universe.

It

is

see cause to take heart of

grace and to be strong and of good courage.


So, the

give

purpose of this book

speculative

solution

is

not to

of the deep

problem of pain, but to show the practical

ways by which

brave soul can gather

courage and strength and comfort.


to note the

It is

which the tree of life


can be made to bear.
There is a way to
peace of heart and comfort of mind and
composure of soul. This is the Gospel of
fruits

Comfort, needed not merely for the sorrow12

EUSSH

mmmM

^^^y^^^^^
Cbe Gospel of Comfort
*

VOjavV

7jT;i

ing, but

human

for all

iJftlMA Mitt

who bend

Charles

life.

to the

yoke of

Reade begins

his

novel The Cloister and the Hearth

great

with the remark that not a day passes over

men and women of no note


do great deeds, speak great words, and

the earth but

Fortunately for the

suffer noble sorrows.

world

this is true,

though most are moved

by a deep instinct rather than by a rational

When

purpose.

the instinct

fails, it

needs

to be reinforced by a purpose, and the one


effective

dynamic must

region of faith.

Our

come from

the

present purpose

is

the practical one of relating that faith to


the needs of

We are

life.

all

of course affected by our time

and by the prevalent mood of our age.


There have been periods when it was easy
to be an extreme optimist,

was

own

difficult to

when indeed

be anything

age pessimism

is

else.

it

In our

more than an

affec-

sombre view of the world is


when men have been flooded
to-day
natural

tation.

13

W)

Gbe Gospel of Comfort]

pnzsasss r^//mvmifaf
with more knowledge than they have been

when they are confused


when much of the

able to absorb, and

about moral issues, and


traditional

has

faith

Sometimes

this

cynical depreciation of

up

been

questioned.

sombre view appears

with vain imaginings as

his little heart

Sometimes

to his place in the universe.


it

as a

man, who has puffed

appears as a blind rage at the inequalities

and wrongs of society,


history, at the dark

" Truly God


but

men

is

at the cruelties

mystery of

human

of

life.

good," said the Psalmist,

are not so sure of

it

to-day.

we can make up our mind about


the worth of life we must decide what our
standard of judgment should be.
Are we
going to make our values by counting up
Before

the pleasures and

Or

are

Might

may

we
it

subtracting the pains

by ethical standards

to decide

not be possible that moral interests

justify

much

inexplicable

If

that otherwise
it

would be

were entirely a ques-

tion of happiness and pleasurable sensation

14

S^m^s

S^MJ

Cbc Gospel of Comfort


/

u u rsww gazza ftvms

would be a matter of arithmetic, but


even then nothing would be settled about
it

the worth of

life,

since

bundle of sensations.

man

more than a

is

There

is

a point of

view from which the existence of evil


justified, even if it is not explained.

may be

that

what we

call evil is a

necessary to the fulfillment of

cosmic process

condition

human

man's wishes but by the end, and

we

is

least

learn

if

we

worth while, and

if

much

we

see that obstruction and

call evil are conditions

at

life.

not to be judged by

is

decide that growth

is

It

of growth,

that

we

will

patience and be content to

exercise faith.

Of all

the problems associated with the

existence of evil, the problem of pain has

become the most poignant.


world

men

is

The modern

perhaps not so sensitive to sin as

used to be, but

it is

tive to pain.

There

conditions of

human

is

much more

sensi-

a revolt against the


life.

Sometimes

it

appears as a stony despair, or a wild de-

MSJ^^S^M

^^

K^^2^y^sk

of Comfort

Cbe Gospel

^^mgnnfa

nrzzsssasa

To

fiance.

God

speak of

as

good or as

loving creates rage in hearts that see

meaning

Sometimes
jaunty

of one

the

in

appears

it

who

tries

the

in

mood of

in the selfishness

or

indifference,

no

round of events.

tragic

Again,

not to care.

it is

seen in the despair which gives up hope of

any

light

In

on the dark subject.

many

cases there

of the eyes to
a

facts,

shallow optimism.

enough and

fast

is

a willful shutting

and the preaching of

we wink hard
we can make be-

If

enough,

is no ugly side to life and


no abyss at the world's end. It is assumed in some pretentious faiths that if

lieve that there

we

assert loudly that there is

will

be none

if

no pain there

we deny with

sufficient

assurance that sin and sorrow exist they


cease to be.
petty shift

could

It is all so futile

for

even

if

and such a

by that means

save ourselves from any

experience of the mystery of

evil,

we

personal

we need

only look back over history to be con16

gkm^M&^m

^^^r^sf^^^M
Cbe Gospel of Comfort

vinced that the whole creation has groaned


in pain until now.
on the flinty track of
ascent where human feet have

and travailed together

We

see blood-stains

the

steep

trod.

And we

need only look around us

to see lives that

seem made

and to see many modern

to dishonour,

of

illustrations

the ancient problem that often the good


suffer,

with a suffering from which the

Our

wicked are exempt.


is

little

human

life

enisled amidst a trackless ocean of un-

rest.

There

is

moaning at the bar as the


upon the shores of

sea beats and breaks


life.

The

world

is

a place of need, and of

all

the needs of the needy world the greatest


is

that

human

The word

hearts should find comfort.

to comfort

soothe and console.

means more than to


It means originally

to strengthen, to fortify, to bring support

and courage

and naturally enough

it

has

been narrowed down to the special meani7

^^^y^g^^^
Gbe Gospel of Comfort

eazzss^ MWAWVUEaai
to

ing

We

bring solace and good cheer, to

some one

soothe

word when we think

and trouble.
meaning in the

grief

in

see the wide range of

that comfort

used for the satisfaction

is

often

of bodily needs,

freedom from care and trouble, a state of


well-being,

physical

"creature

phrase

as

in

of the word

significance

our

comforts."
is

common
The true

to get

some-

thing which will give strength to endure

under

It

trial

and to enable

work of

the

is

in

word

this

that

it

men

to carry

on

with faith and courage.

life

large and virile sense of the


is

used as the

title

of this

book, and not merely as consolation for


those

At
of

who mourn.
same time the profoundest needs
focussed for us in some such

the

life

are

dire strait as

man may

bereavement suggests, and a

be said not to

know

life, if

he

has never faced

death for himself or for

one

But

he

loves.

our

needs are not

limited to these times of grand crisis, but

18

mmmsi^mgmm

&>e Gospel of Comfort


j

n a sasa

meet us

at

classify

all

every turn.
the

same

the

It is impossible to

and

cares

They

necessities.

even

z a 22a nssfcfa

and

troubles

are past counting, and

sorrow creates different

What

problems to different hearts.

is

to

enable us to meet the terrible uncertainties

of

life

and

its

more

terrible certainties, to

doubt and disarm

master

fear,

to

carry

burdens patiently and face death calmly

By what can we reach and maintain the


equilibrium of

life

What

can give the

victory over sorrow and pain, and


possible

victory

source

The

of comfort

Himself,

in

faith

in

meaning

of

all

men may be led


may learn His

trial

is

any

unfailing

Bible

is

God

love and grace.

hearts and stablish

ultimate

the

Indeed,

them.

the

His

Only He can comfort

one

is

religious

that through

it

or drawn to God, and


statutes

and find peace

under His shadow.

We

cannot

intelligently,

read the

New

Testament

without being impressed that


19

&gmm3,

-^^i^^^s^^M
Cbe Gospel

of

Comfort

//^w zazgcass^
new source of
men who had learned to
know God through Jesus Christ. The
contrast is most marked when we know
the world into which the new message
came, and this we can do to-day as never
a

new

sense of power and a

comfort came

before.

The

to

epitaphs and papyri, which

are being discovered in

such numbers in

Egypt and elsewhere,

us of the customs

common
common point

of the

early

tell

people, and

Christianity before

of the world.
people

show us the

of view in the time of

We

hungering

it

see the

had

hold

laid

mass of the

for religion,

and with

nothing substantial to satisfy the hunger,

and on that account open to


superstition.

lessness

We

before the

see

them

all

manner of

in their help-

inevitable distress of

death and before the great problem of

life,

usually either with a hopeless resignation,

or with a forced gaiety that

is

more

pathetic

still.

One

of these witnesses to a past

life is

^225ZZ^S^
Cbe 6ospl of Comfort

suggestive
state

comfortless

indicating the

as

In Yale

of the world.

University

Library there has been deposited a Greek

Papyrus of the second century, which

is

a letter of comfort sent over a bereavement.

" Eirene

It reads thus,

Philon good cheer

many

and shed as
I

Taonnophris and

to

was

tears over

shed for Didymus, and

that

was

family.

still

there

do in the face of such

you

is

as

my

whole

nothing one can

trouble.

to comfort yourselves.

It is quite evidently not


less,

Eumoiros

I did everything

and so did

fitting,

But

much grieved

as

So

I leave

Good-bye."

meant to be heart-

but there was not anything more to

be said before the


Paul's

word

is

final

thrown

passion of

life.

into bold relief when

he wrote to his converts " that ye sorrow


not, even as the rest,

When we
ing of
in

trial

is

which have no hope."

say that the religious


that

God, we cannot

men

mean-

should find peace

forget,

however, that

21

'D^^m

i^MJ

zz^yyy^sz^
Gbe Gospel of Comfw
ZZZSggg ZZBZZEEES
the very existence of
leads

To

men

human misery

God

to the denial of

them

it

seems

often

altogether.

like reasoning in a circle

God,
mean-

to justify pain by the existence of

and then to
ing in

justify

God by

The

pain.

tragedy of the

great

world has often brought to

wreck of

faith,

and

this

rinding

men
is

the ship-

the greatest

all.
How can God be possible
and permit in His world the horrors we

tragedy of

know, the
tornado,

the

deadly

pestilence,

earth

solid

rent

the

fierce

by earth-

quakes, the peaceful town buried by the


volcano's molten lava, the desolation of

war

This tragedy on the large

scale has

destroyed faith which could withstand even


personal sorrow.
that

the

home to
own sore

Others again only realize

problem
their

exists

own

when it strikes
Only their

hearts.

experience, their own anguish


and pain, bring them to despair of God.

With

others, faith can survive both the


thought of the world's tragedy in the mass

&mm%

^g^ ^g?^?^
Cbe Gospel of Comfort
Tifii rVVh*~

~*?*J* ittiWQk

and even personal misfortune, but

down when

it

breaks

they have to stand helpless

before the suffering of those bound to them

by

all

the ties of love.

Sooner or

later

we have

all

great essay.

Sooner or

of us

one or other of

all

in

to

later
its

it

make

the

comes to

forms

the

weight of the mystery of pain.

Into each

woven.

We have

life

the scarlet thread

is

to be very dull of heart indeed and blind

of eye,

we

if

infinite pathos

vinced of
lurid

it

are never

of

human

we do

touched by the

To

life.

be con-

not need to wait for

pictures of the devastation of cities

and countries.

Life

is

steeped in sorrow.

must be impressed some time with a


sense of the weakness of human power
All

and the pettiness of


old

human

life, as

in the

prayer of the Breton fisherfolk, "

God,

protect us

the sea

is

for our boat

great."

grief and loss are

Pain and
all

around

is little

and

failure

and

us,

if

not

within us, and the sorest plight on earth

Mmm&L

t^mmx

^SS3^^^^
Gbe Gospel of Comfort
tin,

is

K\\\\\ Y/jw/A Hssg

know

to

the

bitter

problem without

knowing the source of any


to

know

real comfort,

the burden and

know nothing

We

cannot walk the

of a burden-bearer.
streets

without seeing the stricken look on

many

face and read a

eyes, the telltale

story in

windows of the

Mr. Joseph Hatton

many

soul.

recalled recently a

pathetic incident that occurred to himself

and William Black, the novelist. As they


were about to sail for Liverpool from

New

York, a man rushed hurriedlv on

board with a basket of flowers in his hand

and came up to William Black and

"

On my

girl,

last

voyage here

and she was buried

and such a

at

Now,

said,

lost a little

sea in such

you
upon the waves when
you pass over that latitude ? " Of course
he willingly promised to do this. Very
early, when it was still dark, long before
any one had risen, the two stole up on
latitude.

sir, will

scatter these flowers

deck,

and

there,

beneath

the

morning

24

s&mmM

^fc*wvsag^jF^

Gbe Gospel of Comfort

stars,

they cast the father's flowers upon

the daughter's vast and wandering grave.

To

all

must come some time the breaking


ties, and all sometimes

of the strongest

must be moved with


of

life

and with a sense of the vanity of

The

earthly pursuits.

all

pity for the pathos

barer and poorer

world

when we

feel

made

is

that

all

loving interest in us and our doings and


fortunes

has gone out of

" What

life.

shadows we are and what' shadows we


pursue

In such a mood

we can

ask

if

it is

worth

being renewed in courage for the

while

tasks of each day, and if any comfort could

bring back

What
and

make

destiny
it

again the

old

us

What

calmly

accept

can dignify

appear inherently great

trial is

zest

for

life.

can brace us again for the conflict

life

duty

and

and make

For, often the

simply the smallness and monotony

of our daily

interests, the

disheartening

uniformity, the petty pace at which

life

25

&illl^^fe^iM

Gbe Gospel

Comfor

of

Sometimes small

creeps from day to day.

disappointments
great sorrow

harder even than a

are

the pin-pricks of circum-

can goad some to madness

stances

who

could bear with fortitude and dignity a

wound.

great

Petty annoyances and

little

discomforts are often harder to bear than a

heavy

affliction.

ence to find
are

It

that, to

is

common

experi-

some, small vexations

more trying than

great ones.

great

sorrow will often be accepted in a great

mood, whereas patience is exhausted and


the nerves worn bare by exasperating
and

trials

little

quarrel that

disappointments.

many have with

life is

The
that

it

does not offer enough scope, and does not

measure

Many

up to reasonable expectations.

people suffer the pain of maladjust-

ment rather than any severe agony.


feel
It is

They

they have not the right environment.


not so

much

a revolt against

life as

revolt against their lot.

Every

sympathetic observer

must be

26

Mmmsa

mmm&

i^^vs^s^^^zM
Che 6ospl

of Comfort

struck with the patience of the multitude,


the silent endurance of the mass of

but underneath

Many wonder

if

men,

often a sense of wrong.

is

it is

worth going through

with the prosaic duties, petty self-denials,


obscure privations, and constant drudgery.
It

is

not the fact of struggle, but that the

struggle should be on such a slight field

and

for

such

slight

daily bread or in a
genial.

There

even

the kind of

in

it

'

life

faction.

same

for

uncon-

is

trial.

demand

It is

made with

not that

for self-denial,

should be so petty.

sacrifice could be

but

merely

often something squalid

is

there should be a

but that

things

work which

great

a glorious joy,

has never offered even that satis-

There

is

fretting cares,

routine, and the

never other than the

and the same grinding

same colourless

lot.

The

years bring to most a perpetual disappoint-

ment of hope.
Life has

little

to teach us if

we

are not

^^^sr^^^^i^^
Cbe Gospel

Comfort

of

zrazsssss sBzaganBgcg
willing to learn the

If our standard of values

tions.

one,
is

meaning of our

we must

great and

revise our

what

is

limitaa moral

judgment of what

We will see that

small.

these petty trials and tantalizing privations

growth

in grace

may

be

made occasions

for

and

in

gracious

They become

the

divine

of

life.

appointment of our

part
life.

These experiences may be to us not only


means of God's education for us, but even
sacraments of His love. That is at least
the religious answer, that there
blessing

some

even

fruit

in

dreary

the

to be gathered

we

and

from the most

When we

untoward experience.
that

may be
day,

are in the will of

believe

God, a thing
becomes

ceases to be merely hard luck and


a

heroic

occasion.

disappointment

changes from a grief into a glory,

when

it

is

seen to be an appointment of God.

is

a school of discipline and an altar of

sacrifice.

essential

Everything

view of

life,

28

depends

and that

on

It

our

in turn

i^^^N^^Zg^
Cbe 6ospel

of

Comfort

The

depends on our view of God.


tian life
It

is

becomes consistent and

when

Chris-

not a matter of great and small.

it is

all

seen in the light of

the Christian answer to

whatever sort

is

simply

all

this

Jesus Christ Himself, and

of a piece,

And

faith.

need or

trial

of

" Our Lord

God

our Father,

which loved us and gave us eternal comfort


and good hope through grace, comfort your
hearts and stablish them in every good

work and word."

The only dignified alternative to faith


in God as the source of comfort is the
The world can sometimes
stoical attitude.
meet suffering with defiance or resignation,
can refuse to bend even though it must
break, can speak of the unconquerable soul

even
grief.

mon

in

the keenest pain or the deepest

Of

a piece with

this is the

com-

advice to bury sorrow in the presence

of duty, and to brace oneself up for the


There is a great and
stern realities of life.
blessed truth

in

this, that

29

some comfort

frfrgfrfrSr-frftSS

Gbe Gospel

of Comfort

rVAW

raj&X waft

i iffi

comes

man who

to the

turns

thought of grief to daily duty.

wrongly when
lessly, as

done

is

it

from the
It is

used

bitterly or faith-

an opiate to deaden pain and for-

get thought, as

The

sad mechanic exercise


like dull narcotics numbing pain.

It is a true
faith,

word when duty

when men

is

the fruit of

are established in every

good work and word through the comfort


of heart which comes from the sense of

God's presence.
It

might be thought, then, that here

we

have the true nepenthe, the cup of comfort

to

drown

thought that

all

sorrow.

It

we can do without

might be
the

com-

fort

of heart of religion, the eternal com-

fort

and good hope through grace,

if

we

can only by some means stablish ourselves


in

every good work.

We

might do with-

gkaMsM
out religion, and turn with defiance or res-

^SKO^JE
Gbe Gospel

Comfort

of

ignation according to our temperament to

what we know

The

be daily duty.

to

came to this in one


Somewhat cynically he had

writer of Ecclesiastes

of his moods.

been pursuing a train of thought suggested

He saw

by death.

that without religious

faith in a future life death levels

however higher

the animal,
intellect

man with

in faculty

and

he may stand above the animal

in

Here at least, when they alike turn


to dust, " a man has no preeminence over
It is an argument of despair
a beast."

life.

pointing to the futility of the high thoughts

and high hopes of men, yet


possible conclusion
as for the
writer.

of

men

so

dieth

moment

careful and

as the

The

the other."

man

ever from similar

stoic

befalleth the sons

befalleth beasts

a wise

the only

contemplated by the

is

" That which

drawn by

it is

from such materialism

is

one

lesson

the lesson

dieth,
to

be

drawn

philosophy, that of a

prudent epicureanism with a

touch in

it

" Wherefore
3

perceive

&mMM

Che Gospel of Comfort


fiu'i

that there

ivXv>V raWA lYsssi

is

is

man

nothing better than that a

own

should rejoice in his

He

his portion."

works, for that

recommend

does not

a wild and reckless grasp at

what sources

of enjoyment are afforded by our short

That
and

fills

best

life.

defeats itself, only shortens the time,

way

it

with ennui and disgust.

is

The

to seek the calmer happiness

got from the simpler sources of

human

life,

and among them the enjoyment of healthy

much with

labour, not worrying too

the

malady of thought, but accepting the good


of the

common

lot

of man, finding some

content and joy in his

own

works.

We do not need to examine the poverty


of such a scheme of

life,

and the weakness

of such a foundation, to show that materialism

of creed in the long run means

materialism of
ing to keep

form.

it

life,

and that there

is

noth-

from being of the grossest

But accepting the undoubted truth

that serious occupation

piness and of comfort,

32

mmm*&

is

a source of hap-

MM

we may

well ask if

"

ss^^^s^g
Cbe Gospel of Comfort

work

can insure happiness and as-

itself

suage grief.

If so,

strange that such

it is

a simple secret should be so often missed,

and strange that even the workers themselves should seek to escape

what they imagine the

The

ness.

fact

work itself does


Without it happiness

impossible, but alone

and a sense of

futility.

clesiastes himself again

of

vanity.

its

worketh

As

" What

it

brings weariness

The

writer of Ec-

and again speaks


profit

hath he that

that wherein he laboureth

man can be
own work, to say nothing
his life.
The man who

a matter of fact no wise

satisfied

of

in

to

it

that

is

not bring happiness.


is

from

better lot of idle-

with his

satisfying

its

looks complacently on what he does has a

very meagre standard of excellence.


if

it

satisfied his

there remains the

ward
sel

life.

Even

needs of outward activity,

whole region of his

If that be

left, it is

in-

only a coun-

of despair to recommend ceaseless in-

dustry

to

fill

up the
33

void.

There

will

^yjg^i^k^^i

^^^y^y.-^^
Cbe Gospel of Comfort

zazagcasi

zazz^SBSs

creep in the haunting doubt as to whether


it

is

worth while going on merely as a

We

machine.
is

need to

worth doing, that

something, and that


of duty
bigger.

we

feel that
is

it

our work

accomplishing

following the line

in

are also in line with something

We

need to have our

activities

related to the larger life of the world,

and

work

into

faith alone does this.

duty, giving

our

life

to

it

It turns

a secure motive.

God, and makes us

ple trust that neither

He

of the

The

twin

and

false.

peace are faith and duty

God,

in

The weakness

faith in

is

in that loving faith.

of thinking that

we can

surcease of sorrow without finding

any inward comfort


of those
is

simple

His love and justice, and simple

duty whose motive

find

sure in sim-

nor the laws of

source of happiness

our nature will play us


secrets

It relates

is

seen

who cannot work,

distasteful

when we
or

by temperament.

think

whose work

What,

for

34

^^^m

tMmmji

^^v\sa^^
Xshz Gospel of Comfort

mggasg
example, of

zzzzzznsss

man

the

struck

weakness, as must happen


all

What about the bitterness

aside,

down

by

some time
of being

to

laid

and no longer able to work, when


stop though the web be

the loom must

but half finished

It

is

very well to

all

speak of the relief which work brings to


sorrow, how a man can forget grief in his
labour, and

wound

who
in

true that

it

staunches the

for the time at least.

To the man

it

is

faces duty bravely, and will not give

to self- repining, the doing of duty does

bring

some repose of

when

man

is

cut

off"

soul.

But what

from

his interests

and occupations, and loses the happiness

which he found

man

is

break, and if there


his

life

activity

in

The

sick

held in a chain which he cannot

was nothing

else

in

but the surface happiness brought

by his ways of employing himself, then


he

is

indeed to be pitied.

whatever
the

befalls

If

we

say that

there will always remain

joy of performing natural duty, the


35

Mli^^^im

^^ywvg!^
Gbt Gospel

Comfort

of

angg^ss rfVAw>m
content of doing

peace and

and that should


will

from

be taken

the road of

suffice,

life

we

something,

even that refuge

Somewhere on
met by some

us.

will be

calamity or weakness,

when we,

be stricken like the strongest.


early or late

off

the

in

early, as with

midst of his

too, will

It

may be

Romanes, cut
busy

scientific

work, to review again the whole foundations of faith and life

whom

or like Amiel, to

the terror of the invalid

life was
meant an end of everything but
waiting, and whose pitiful cry on his
death-bed was, " I cannot work "
or it

that

it

may be

late, as

of whose

life

with Carlyle, the

last

of the power of writing, and to


idleness
will, in

years

were darkened by the

loss

whom

was misery. Come it must and


some form or other, and we dis-

cover that our scheme of life has only


been a makeshift, and that it turns to dust

and ashes like other

We

less

worthy ends.

are driven relentlessly back

36

mmm*&

on

God

P^ggg^^^
Cbe 6o*oi of Comfort
zzgssss zzzsasssaa

R
As

years go on, and the sadness of life


comes home to us, we feel that we get
comfort and strength nowhere else but in

the reality of
in Christ's

hand

God

and

" Hereafter."

in the

in

a simple trust

It is like a strong

dark to believe that

God

our

Father loved us and gave us eternal com-

is

way of

the infallible

for

That

and good hope through grace.

fort

finding comfort

our hearts and stablishing them in

every good work

and word.

The

only

way to make peace secure, and to save our


work from futility and our lives from vanity, is the way of faith.
Without faith in

God

and God's love and God's future for

us, there

cannot

be for us any true and

Without

permanent comfort.
open

at

and to every alarm of


such

it,

we

are

every turn to any shock of chance

faith

we can

lift

fate.

But with

up our burden with

serenity, and perform our tasks with peace,

and

find joy in

simply and

our work, looking upon

sweetly as service.

And

it

if,

37

i\imiiiU*iMm^MijJ^

and when, the very worst comes when all


our activities are taken from us, we are
not

robbed of

everything

robbed of nothing
Christ

God.

in

nay,

for our life

is

we

are

hid with

True faith expands for


when the need comes

every fresh need, and

comes
ness men are made

the comfort

also,

and out of weak-

When we

strong.

are

oppressed by the burden and overwhelmed

human

by the spectacle of

must learn

that there

happiness, and that

peace

is

is
is

peace

only to be had

with the eternal God.

misery,

we

a deeper thing than

in

and eternal

communion

THE

first

find

we

If

duty of

man

not to

is

reasons but to find facts.

ever find a reason,

it is

an

after-thought, the result of the after-look

over the

field

great thing

laws of

is

to learn,

we

exist.

Often there

isfaction of the heart,

satisfaction

The

facts.

and submit

when

We

of the reason.

is

we

ways

We

contrive to live.
dealing

with

ultimate

a satis

no

live

all

there

the time in the presence of mystery


yet

the

to,

and the actual conditions un-

life

der which

of ascertained

and

are not alissues,

but

mostly are content to find a practical

way

out of our present difficulty, and to clear

enough space
is

to

in

which

to walk.

Still, it

the part of candour and also of courage

acknowledge the actual

when

it

involves mystery.

4i

ragaaaa

situation,

even

^^^^^ss^^^^

Zhz
The

of the world's

fact

always oppressed

has
It

flfter-Look

evil is

the

one that

human mind.

sometimes presses sorer on youth than

on age, on youth with its warm eager


sympathies, its keen sensibilities, its unenthusiasm

regulated

world.

on

behalf of the

It certainly presses sorer

on

faith

than on unfaith; for unbelief can give

up

swallow

in despair or

some

its

certain convictions of

the facts of
It

difficulty

it

with

flippant theory, but faith has to rec-

oncile

ward

its

God

with

life.

sorer in relation to the out-

presses

society, the world around us, than

it

mine
if
were the only sorrow,
mine were the
only pain, the problem would not hang
does even in the individual

life.

with such a dread weight.

If

can some-

times see glimmerings of a light through


the darkness

can sometimes understand

some reason and mayhap unbare even a


cause

can sometimes

a leading hand

feel the

touch of

and when I cannot see


42

;:

ZU

After-Look

ZZZZESSSS522
can

and where

trust,

But

can bear.

nvrra
can do neither

to see a world in

back and trace the groaning and

to look

through

travailing

the

years;

around and mark sorrow


head and hear pain

know

to

that

agony

is

look

in the tones of a voice

that our case

is

the world's case

the hugeness of the problem.

What

is

meaning

to

droop of a

in the

the
Is

meaning and
it

that sin

is

there any

must not go un-

punished, as the hard dogmatist explains


it ?

his

If so, the avenger

is

unblunted

should

shiver

such

in

darts

surely blind that

unexpected

strike

and

marks.

Ig-

norance finds no mercy, and innocence no


History

reprieve.

records

amples where the sin of one

countless ex-

man was

paid

We

see
by the blood of multitudes.
the innocent suffer with and for the guilty
for

we

see

his ruin

one man drag down many others


:

we

pay out the price paid for the


of others

in

see blameless lives helping to

we

see

folly

and

sin

a nation brought to

im^^i^^ni

^^^S^^^^^J^

Zht

After-Lock

shame by the ambition and selfishness of


its rulers. There are inherited defects and
miseries that cannot be justified by such a

cut-and-dry explanation.
begin

by

with dreadful

life

evil

example

if

Little children

disability, infected

not with an evil taint of

hampered by an

blood, and

evil environ-

ment.
Is

it all

game of chance,

a blind whirl

of atoms, as the hard materialist sometimes explains

That

it ?

to

is

make

like a Parisian barricade in the days

Revolution, with

over

the

bombs shot

seething

crowd,

in

life

of the

the air

letting

them

whom

and where they may. The


normal civic life would cease in a perpetual state of siege, and the normal hustrike

man

life

could hardly be expected to per-

form

its

functions in such a beleaguered

condition.

The

world has never found

comfort in

this

explanation, never even

found forgetfulness there.


spair,

There

and the heart of man

mmm*

lies

rejects

dethe

44

Mmmjt

Zh*

After-Look

gospel of despair.

than a dead force

Better a dread avenger


:

better the creed of the

religious dogmatist than that of the scientific

dogmatist

than no reign

The

better a blind faith than a

callous fatalism

better a reign of terror

at all

problem may be insoluble from the

speculative point of view, yet

it

is

one

that a theistic explanation of the universe

must meet

If

fairly.

God

be

all

that

is

claimed for Him, what about the almost


intolerable suffering of the world

are

the

old alternatives

view of the physical


either

God

is

not all-loving.

evil

from

and the moral

not all-powerful, or

To

They

a surface
evil

He

is

force this antithesis to

a logical conclusion

men have

painted the

in darkest colours, have shown na" red in tooth and claw," have enlarged on the misery of mankind, have
described a world void of meaning and of
evils

ture

purpose, seeing nothing in history but a


track

of blood, hearing
45

nothing

but

*thz Jfftcr-Look

nnzss^a
of pain.

shriek

*j>jjj*\\\k\l

They

tell

us that they

would not make a dog suffer what


makes man suffer. The argument

God
is

to

drive us to blank infidelity.

Well, we are justified

in carrying the

into the enemies' territory and asking

war

what

they propose for the desperate situation they


depict.

If

it

be

true and if there be to a

all

candid mind nothing but suffering in the


world, what do they suggest except a wild
protest against

God

If I

and a

life

know

fierce denial

pain, there

is little

of

miti-

gation of pain in merely hearing another

What

curse.

aid can this negation of

hope

give us, what strength can this doctrine of


despair bring us to help us carry our load
It

is

is

to

as true as ever that to be without

God

be without hope in the world.

If

there be nothing that


in the

universe and

loving, if there be

we can

if that

call

purpose

purpose be not

no soul of good work-

ing in and through things evil, there can be

no

real

comfort even possible.

The

only

46

kiiiia^yfe^^j

Zhe

After-Look

7;rj aTCCcv -stusa iTiu


chance for us

in

lies

something that

will

help us to believe in a reasonable universe,

and that will help us to

We

it.

can

at

least

fall

into line with

welcome whatever

gives us hope and courage in the desperate

Of

plight.

course

if

man

is

willing to

go the length of acting on the complete


conclusion of pessimism, which makes the
extinction of mankind the solution, we at
least

escape

the

added problem of his

prating.

There

are

some important

things to say

concerning this doleful picture of the world

which pessimism
the picture

is

paints.

The

first is

out of perspective.

pression of unmitigated evil and


lated pain
It

is

know
all

is

that

im-

accumu-

produced by a selective process.

not the ordinary world as


it,

The

even

and only cruel

and

we each

Nature

at its worst.

is

not

implacable, and

grinding out results from causes, heedless

of what

is

broken and torn.


47

Nor

is

she

all
is

and only red

in tooth

There

and claw.

a wonderfully healing ministry in nature,

which she covers

a magic by

Even

medicates wounds.

in

scars

and

the matter

of

human

pleasures and pains, the picture

is

unfair

and untrue.

their instinct

Most men

trust

which convinces them

that

them is good. In their sanest and


healthiest moods they feel sure that it was
worth living. Most men will admit, even
in the question of the relative amount of
life

for

pleasure and pain, that pleasure has far out-

Pain

weighed the other.


tor in

life,

but

We

factor.

it

is

cannot hold the balance with

steady and unbiassed hand


settle

this

The
picture

try to

own

lives.

evil of the
all

beam, so heavily does


its

when we

question about our

At the time a little


make all the good of
scales in

a constant fac-

not the predominant

is

own

day will

the years kick the

it

weigh down the

interest.

lack of the true perspective in the

which pessimism paints


48

is

due to a

^^v^safey^gg

Zhz HfUr-Look
r//<wA\\vs

Eoazsssg
sentimentalism which

count of

all

does not take ac-

the facts.

eralizing in the

It is

mass from a

due to gen-

single experi-

Robert

ence, or even without experience.

Louis Stevenson,

who

suffered

much from

sickness and weakness, writes in one of his


letters,

" That which we

has no longer the same


injustice

of monstrous

and wanton cruelty that suffering

wears when

So we

suffer ourselves
air

we

see

it

in the case

'

of others.

begin gradually to see that things are

not black but have their strange compensations j and when they draw towards their

worst the idea of death


on.

not

is

like a

bed to

did

to

fail

should bear false witness


happy." To speak of
life

declare

suffering being wantonly inflicted

to understand the kind of world


as

lie

if I

if

it

is

we

live in,

were the sport of caprice or of

partiality.

The second answer to be made to this


indictment of the world and this denial of
God is the further fact that the worst evils
49

ESS

gs==*

Zhe

After-Look

^aamss

zrazsssss:
of

life

are

The

man-made.

est to bear are those

or selfishness or

troubles hard-

produced by the cruelty

There can

shame of men.

be no blinking the fact of sin as the

mother of misery.

Of

to introduce a darker

course this

problem

still,

fertile
is

only

but the

acknowledgment of this fact at least points


the way to duty, and relieves the pressure

Out of the
man proceed the evils
much human life a hell.

of the impeachment of God.


corrupt

heart

of

which make so

Malice and hatred and greed and

lust

and

selfishness bring sorrow on countless thou-

sands.

Men

defile the innocent,

oppress

the weak, torture the sensitive.

This can
that such

at least be said

with emphasis

facts are a trumpet-call to duty,

and point the way to a high task.

If

much

of the pain of the world

is

due to man's

inhumanity to man, there

is

open to every

feeling heart

and

to

every willing soul a

sphere of service to alleviate evil conditions and to chain the beast in

man.

What

if^xvy^^f
Zhz

flfter-Lock

sazzangg

Eg2zsaag8a

can be nobler than to bring solace to the


world's woes and relieve the pressure

somewhere
to us

This very

only comes

ideal

through religion, and religion alone

can supply the adequate motive, and so


only in religion can we ever approach an
explanation.

To

on the score

that the fact of evil

belief in

God

reject the religious hope,

impossible,

is

makes

not to alleviate

the evil in the slightest, but to refuse the

one chance of

relief.

third fact to take account of

that

is

while suffering has always been a great


difficulty

a benevolent and

accepting

in

moral government of the world,


to be a condition of sentient

the only form in which

we know

not be, were this element


possibility

of pain

organism,

if

Life in
it

could

left out.

The

inherent in the animal

only in the shape of the re-

The

current wants.

explained

is

seems

it

life.

by

the

Martineau puts

it,

pains

part

of want

they

" Hunger,

are

play.

As

thirst,

fa-

5i

M^JMM

^wym^^i
^hc

After-Look
y^vw Aawysmuit
1

tigue serve not only as heralds punctually

announce a need, but as guides and inThis class of pain


it.

to

centives to supply
is

and reacts into

self-corrective,

strictly

corresponding

the

pleasures.

The

tired

animal sleeps, the thirsty drinks, the shivering creeps into shelter, the threatened

on

or stands

the pain of

going.

its

life

Further,

human

fact

that

perilous

necessary to keep

Its effect on the whole

be beneficent,

of

is

if life is

life

seen to

is

worth while.

when we come
life

flies

Thus, some of

guard."

to the region

something follows from the

man's place
in proportion

exalted.

is

that

it

is

It

is

exalted.

He

possesses the glorious and dangerous

gift

of freedom, the power of choice with

the chance of mistake and the inevitable


responsibility.

Freedom

necessary for moral

life,

of

will

seems

and so danger

is

bound up in the very nature of man.


Huxley in one of his addresses said that if
any being offered to wind him up like a
52

g^SryfrffflggS:

Zht

flfter-Look

clock so that he should always do the right

and think the

true,

the offer and

make no mourning

loss of his

moral freedom.

of his fine
of

all

right

he would close with

spirit

This

is

for the
typical

with his passionate love

and truth, but the idea presents

a contradiction in terms.

we were

world where
clocks, and

In a mechanical

all

wound up like
we know

unlike the clocks

could not go wrong, there could not be

morals at

and the passionate longing


and truth would be im-

all,

for righteousness
possible,
life

and Huxley's

This

brave and true

is

it

seems

" the mark of rank

in na-

to be said that

also has

to be true

ture

own

could never have been lived.

that

capacity for

downward

in

From man

pain."

a descending scale this ca-

evidently reaches

pacity lessens,

till

vanishing point

when we come

blooded types of

it

If

life.

pain-bearer of the world,

man

it is

to the coldis

the great

because of his

higher organism, and because his higher type

S3

n^m

^^**5^Nggre^

Zhe

flfter-Look

fjMVAWmf

jjjj^waj*,
life

presupposes

dition

which makes

of

It is the

it.

very con-

his higher pleasures pos-

There is needed a background, and


seem necessary for the full enjoy-

sible.

contrasts

ment of
cloys

Even

well as for the artistic repre-

life as

sentation of

life.

a garden

honey soon

diet all

roses loses distinction.

all

the rose has a thorn at her throat.

world

all

laid

Dutch gardening,

out in

without the grandeur of the

waste of the seas, would

hills

pall.

and the
life all

sunshine would not content us for long.

We need

the shadows, and the clouds, and

the twilight, and the dark, even to appreciate the light.

When
human

our greatest

life

for us in

they are forced to


side, the

structions

we

crisis

artists

reconstruct

drama or romance,

make

use of the darker

and the tragedy, the ob-

and privations and pains that

think only

make even a

maim

life.

They

could not

readable book or a tolerable

play without them.

It

54.

may be

stated as a

^^SSS5^^
Zhe

flfter~Lok

canon of

f^jmB fla

z^gssasss
art that a

>>,

predetermined end

fatal to the living interest of a book,

is

which

one of the reasons why a novel written


The charfor a purpose is seldom great.
is

acters

must be more than puppets, and

must produce in the reader a sense of freedom, which means struggle and the chance
of failure. There never was a work of art
produced by

man

were

out.

kept

which pain and sorrow

in

The

not only

authors

accept the ordinary disabilities of


artificially

make

life,

but

loads of other trouble and

What

pain for their creatures.

straits

the

heroes and heroines have to meet, and what

deep waters they must pass through


pain be an unmitigated evil,
that

when man

ideal

life

should

pelled to
lavish

copies

put

hand

If

remarkable

gets a chance to create an

and an
our
in
It

world, he should

ideal

persist in inserting such

Why

it is

huge chunks of

highest

art

feel

it.

com-

the shadows with such a


is

not

merely that

art

nature, and seeks to give a tran55

imaa^

Msmm

^^^^^g^^^
Zbc

After-Look

tiff, rsvwft"

script

from

they must,
teresting,

The authors

life.

if

'faWA mLa

make

only to

do

and to give a sphere

because

it

their

book

in-

for the de-

velopment of character and for the play of

human

The

faculties.

quence from the


very

which

evil,

is

When we

human mind

have said

The

conseis

the

the puzzle that has at-

tracted and baffled the

mains.

inevitable

of freedom

gift

all,

for ages.

the puzzle re-

after-look enables us to see

and at that, but

light at this point

we

find

no single formula that explains the problem.

is

is
easy to quote comforting
and generally cover the sore. It

It

texts,

easy to

ing

hide

language

There

sorrow.

row.

Our

the difficulty

about

the

in

sound-

philosophy

of

no philosophy of sorplummet cannot sound

is

little

the unfathomable depths of the mystery.

In the presence of a great grief, our proverbs

work.

and

our logic-chopping seem poor

Try

as

we

like,

we cannot squeeze

relpiSiiiljglll

Hf^K^-^^^^l

Zht

flfter-Look

We

the facts into any statement.

all

can

only reach out through the darkness, and


lay hold

on the

rational.

We

end, and think


before comfort

faith that alone

begin

often

we need
is

makes life
wrong

at the

to explain things

possible.

That

is

not

method of religion. It makes for the


mountain top, and looking back into the
valley can see some of the way traversed and some of the reason for it, and

the

enters into peace.

But we can often get a solution


personal and particular problem.

we

cannot explain

world,

we can

mystery of our

the

often

own

our

mystery of the

see
life.

for

Though

light

into the

This personal

explanation comes from the after-look into

own

Oscar Wilde in his


was
a dandy and a
prosperity, when he

our

experience.

mere phrase-monger, had said that there


is enough suffering in one narrow London
lane to show that God did not love man.

Then, when he had

^^^m

suffered his dreadful

.57

mm&M

i^^zr^s^^^s^
Zhe

flftcr-Look

shame and punishment, branded with the


world's infamy, he wrote in

"

It

seems to

me

De

that love of

Profundi!,

some kind

is

the only possible explanation of the extra-

amount of

ordinary
in

the world.

suffering that there

other explanation.
there

is

is

cannot conceive of any

am

no other, and that

convinced that
if

the world has

indeed as I have said been built of sorrow


it

has been built by the hands of love, be-

cause in no other

man,

for

whom

way could

the soul of

the world was made, reach

the full stature of

its

Pleasure

perfection.

for the beautiful body, but pain

for the

beautiful soul."

It

is

never the Christian view that pain

and sorrow are good

in

themselves, or that

pain can expiate sin, or please God.


is

But

it

the Christian view that everything that

happens

in life to a believing

man can be

used for the highest spiritual purposes, so


that

even pain can be

glorified,

58

<smmig

&

and sorrow

mmm

^^53^^^S2
Zhe
sanctified.

dence

is

If

over

After-Look

we

all

believe that

our

God's provi-

lives, that

God's grace

never leaves us, that God's love walks with


us through this great wilderness, we cannot
cut off a section of our

life,

as if

it

were

out of His ken and had no lesson for us.

The
is

root principle of the Christian view

that life

is

a discipline, by which the di-

vine love moulds

which men

We

human

life,

and through

are trained to be sons of

may never

God.

get a complete explanation

of the mystery of pain, but better than finding a speculative solution,


right spirit in

which

That

be met.

is

all

it is

the spirit of faith, not

blind faith in that of

which we have no

experience, but faith which

experience

we

to learn the

discipline should

is

built

on the

already possess of the love

and the justice of God.

The

after-look

suggests and gives ground for the forelook.

Take

tribulation

by

itself,

and

it

is

hideous discord, a thing against which hu-

59

Zbe
/i

After-Look

m^A

S Ja

/VWWMtlWft

Ji

man

nature revolts.
Yet when it has
come and gone, we look back and some" No chastentimes see a track of light.
ing for the present seemeth to be joyous,

grievous

but

nevertheless

afterwards

it

yieldeth the peaceful fruit of righteousness

unto them that are exercised thereby."

To
It

judge

ing back

at the

time

we

to misjudge

is

itself.

it.

Look-

see that the sore sorrow of the

which blinded us

past

go

it

cannot be understood by

at the

for nothing, that the loss

time did not

which

left

us

so poor carried another sort of riches in


its

bosom ;

that the tears

the world for us washed

from

brain

which

and heart; that the clouds

obscured

left

noonday

the

grouped themselves
sunset

which darkened
away some stain

at

of

life

even for a golden

that the pruner's cruel knife that

branches torn and bleeding made fruit

possible

in

the

autumn

that the disap-

pointment which killed hope and seemed

^wMsa^gr^
to stop

the pulse of

60

life

made

life after-

i^^^VS^<!k^^lM

Zh*

After-Look

wards a sweet and solemn sacrament that


the open grave which seemed to us the
;

end of

all

things really opened to us the

gates of a larger
soft

The

life.

pathos and

beauty of that after-look

We

do

not altogether understand even then, but


we see enough to make us willing to be
patient and to wait.

Looking

into the great darkness of the

problem we can see now one side and now


another of the answer which comes out of
the

At

depths.

how

see

made

great mystery can be


in the

we

least

the

to play a part

training of character.

It

may be

we learned the meaning of sin, which


before was disregarded or lightly regarded,
so
till the chastening opened our eyes ;
that

that

now we know what

meant

when

afflicted, I

kept
it.

he

went

Thy
Or it may

son of

said,

astray, but

word," or

faith,

the

"Before

Psalmist
I

at least tried to

be that

we

was

now have

keep

learned the les-

when through the chastening


61

Zhe

After-Look

K2Z2Z3SS5SS AflWrVMI\E B
we gave up our
ing and
life.

saw

Or

self-conceit and self-trust-

into the deeper

meaning of

we

learned the

may

it

be that

lesson of sympathy,

when our proud

will

was broken and our selfish ambition was


curbed, and ever since we have touched
all life with a gentler hand and looked at
it

with softer eyes.

was

to the fold

when

to devour us
is

may

It

be that pain

as the dogs that drove us like sheep

the wilderness threatened

that the

the only law of

life

law of

God which

became our law, and

our stubborn feet were driven into the way


of peace

so -that

at

least after

many

wandering we make the Psalmist's word


ours, and confess, " It is good for me that
I

have been

Thy

afflicted, that

statutes."

which at
There

last
is

tribulation.

Welcome

The

might learn

can take that after-look.

thus no one formula to explain


It

comes with

colour to each, and with


son.

the chastening

present look

62

its

separate

its

individual les-

is

never joyous

Zhz
/

flfter-Look

a a sasas azaza mus

but grievous to

all

will be depends

but what the after-look

on each heart and how

How

has accepted the discipline.

seem afterwards
present

is

determined by

is

The

received.

fruit

it

will

it

how

the

that will

afterwards be yielded depends on the pres-

ent

We

operations.

about the

uses of

is

joyous, and

state

than

chastening
leave

The

adversity, but every-

how

thing depends on
sity in itself is

have our proverbs

it is

Adver-

used.

not good, any more than

may

The

itself.

may

lead to a

bitterness of

the

may

pass into peace, or

cancered

wound on

the

shock of the storm may end

deeper calm where the ship of


securely, or in a battered

it

more grievous

life

mind.
in

rides

wreck strewing

Sorrow may bring the lesson


of sympathy, or only bring a more hidthe shores.

eous selfishness.

Affliction

heart tender, or shut

or proud disdain.
purify, or

it

may

it

The

up
fire

harden.

may make

the

in cold despair

may melt and


Chastisement

63

effl^

mmm

may

bring a loathing of sin, or drive to a

more eager and reckless abandonment

The

sin.

pain of

may

mystery,

lead us to

Mere

proud heart.

may

it

suffering, unsanctified

to the soul that suffers

The

blessing.

is

a curse, and not


that does not

furnace

only consumes the

purify

the

God, or

in
its

the haughty neck and harden the

stiffen

pathos and

life, its

man who

experience can say what

him afterwards.
rience

in a

it

Only

heart.

come through

has

the hard

has meant to

If he has used his expe-

noble fashion,

it

will

have

left

mark on his character ; but if


is no failure like the failure of

beautiful

its

not, there
this

" afterwards."

To

have tasted the

pain without the love that underlay

it ;

to

have been only hardened by every stroke

on the
out

anvil, to

the

softening, the

what

have the chastening with-

lesson, the

failure

When we

cross

sorrow without the


without the Christ,

can be like that failure

open our heart to the lesson


64

^z^a

that

has a meaning and a meaning for

life

good, that the moral world

purpose and

When we

suffer.

it

becomes

Everything

will

In this

are

and

even

will,

easy.

experience speaks to us of

In this mood of

a Father's heart.

we

we

bend to God's

beautiful

we

governed by

obedience by the things

willing to learn

we

is

purpose of love,

come through

mood of

faith

the strife into peace.

faith discipline will yield

We will

to us the fruit of righteousness.

not completely solve the mystery of pain,

and will perhaps have no better philosophy


of sorrow than before
reached for our
tion,
faith,

and

will

own

see

it

but

life

to

we

have

be the solution of

We

will

the

despair of the fu-

look forward with hope

and confidence, because our


in

will

a personal solu-

saving us from the sordidness of the

present, and from


ture.

life is

placed

the hands of God, sure that though our

present experience

is

ous, yet afterwards

not joyous but griev-

we
65

will

see

it

to be

^sazz^s^
Zhz

Bftcr-Look

ncEmigg zaag i\\\sab


good, and see
Afterwards,

to

it

when

be the

the

mists

of love.

fruit

away,
and we see back over the way by which
we have come, the glory dies not, and the
grief

past.

is

" Now, there


which meet us
is

one

clear

Failure

Pain looks us
wrestle with

are

certain great angels

way of life
one Shame

in the
is

full in

the eyes, and

him before he

Pain

is

one.

we must

bless us.

Fail-

ure brings in his stern hand the peace of


renunciation.

of

sin,

which

Shame
is

bears to us the sense

the knowledge of

God

His hidden face shines with the mercy of

heaven

and

well for us

if

we may look

into it."

66

ig^^^^teiama

These are the minds that glory in the battle,

And leap and dance to

hear the trumpet sound.

William Blake.
i

IF

life,

human

a moral end in

there be

one purpose served by

trial is

to

produce and strengthen and purify


character.

Robert Browning declared that

was nothing worth study but the

there

incidents in the development of a soul.

Perhaps that

why

is

he, for one, found

it

easy to provide a place in his view of the

world for pain and

The

evil.

struggle

was necessary for the high end of characWhatter, and was justified by the end.
ever will further development and growth
is

sufficiently

value.

explained

Growth

seen

is

bigger thing than

by

its

practical

to

be

much

merely getting rid of

weaknesses and lopping off excrescences.


It is a process by which the tissue and
fibre

of character are

and strengthened.

built

up and hardened

If the world

69

is

to

man

Crial as Discipline

an arena of moral training, and

if life is

great opportunity for becoming, then

we

have already one simple need for some of


the evils of

life

mere

as

It is

discipline.

not a complete explanation of tribulation

of

all

and so
it

sorts,

but

far as

it

and accept

a partial explanation,

it is

goes

we

It

it.

is

should understand

not sufficient in

explain the function of suffering

itself to

human life, but it is undoubtedly a place


where we do see some light.
First of all, men do need to be tested and
tried.
In ordinary experience we accept
in

this point

of view and realize the value of

Professions of friendship are not

test.

accepted by us as of
are never able

Literature
friends

is full

who

to shine.

As

account,
sort

if

of

they
test.

of stories of fair-weather

profess

unlimited

affection

made upon it, and who


shoulder when the sun ceases

when no demand
turn the cold

much

to bear any

is

a bridge

is

tested before

it is

accepted for use, so moral qualities need to


70

mgmm

Sg^iO

^^

sssszz^

?>rial as Discipline
fifti ftisv

w" >*ifiW miiis

be able to bear the

Now, apart from

strain.

anything deeper, the world

ranged for discipline.

itself

All

seems

ar-

we

call

that

and sorrow, and trouble,

tribulation, pain

and care, certainly play

may be

this part,

whatever

There is
"
the
reproof
of
what the proverb calls
"
life
designed to test life, of what stuff it
other design

is

The

made.

test

them.

in

of the shallow ground

with no depth of earth comes when


seen that the plants are
wither away.

all

The same

grows to greater richness and

remember then

kind

necessary, and

is

make us break under

we do

in

it

fruit.

that trial of
is

it,

is

comes to

test

the good ground, and the seed

well to

it

scorched and

only
It is

some

designed not to
but to prove that

not break.

This value of trial as a test is accepted


St. Paul
in the whole history of religion.
could write to the Philippians, " Unto you
it is

given in the behalf of Christ not only

to believe

on Him, but also to

suffer for

g^^^^M,
7i

His sake."

It

was a time when

it

meant

The

something to believe in Christ.

time

of the great systematic persecutions had


not yet come, because Christianity was not

enough thing

a big

enough

in

to attract the attention

When

of government.

it
grew strong
numbers and influence to be a

factor in the social and political

life

of the

became time for the state to strike


There was as yet no organized and concerted scheme to stamp it
out.
But though there were no wholesale
official persecutions the Church was never
people,
at

it

officially.

it

without

its

these.

It

The

and hardships.

trials

early literature

shows very simply some of

had

contend

to

against

the

ignorance and brutal injustice of the mob,

and

against

the

cynical

opposition

and

sneering insolence of the ruling class and


the learned class.

It

had to make

its

way

against established customs and ingrained


prejudices.

privileged

There were
monopolies
72

in

vested rights and


trades

and pro-

Ws^VE^^a^N^
Crial as Discipline
r;rjj aroaiy j amu raw*
All that malice and envy and

fessions.

hatred could do was done.


tion

was none the

unofficial

and

Often persecu-

less bitter

because

it

was

than over the

local, rather

whole Empire.
Besides physical violence which often

was

we can understand some

their portion,

of the hardships involved in making the


Christian profession.
all social position,

family

Ambition,

ties.

fessional,

had

would-be

enough

to

die

and

insight

The

and prosoul

of a

surely

have

the

which converts had to

learning of the schools was of

new
it

priests raged.
else,

some stones
world can

of

historical perspective

of ages denounced
nothing

political

We

course against this

if

loss

however vaguely, some of the

inevitable sufferings

and

meant the

in

Christian.

to realize,

face.

It

and often the breaking of

to

faith

the

wisdom

philosophers sneered

It

was an innovation

and the world has always

throw

always find

at innovators.

some tender

The

place in

^^^yxsgj^^^g^
Criat &s Discipline

man's heart where

it

can strike and hurt

unto death.

Every man who has

knows something of

be true

tried to

the need for endur-

ance and has experienced the testing process.

It

always easier to go

is

with the

crowd, easier to give up the agony of conwith a sin of self and the necessity of

flict

We

protest against the sin of the world.


all

know some of

and one

the hundred

to conform with all estabways and thoughts, and have felt

temptations
lished

some of the hundred and one influences


which militate against high principle. In
a profounder sense than outside

man

enmity a

has always to suffer for his faith.

He

cannot believe truly and intensely without


pain.

Faith

is

not a surface emotion, but

goes to the very roots of existence and


brings the upheaval of a

life.

opinion received ready-made.

not an

It is
It

touches

the centre of the heart and works out in

strenuous

life.

Virtue has to go out of a

74

Crial as Discipline

man who

of faith above the

lives the life

He

of his environment.

level

is

quite

prepared to accept the need and the value

of a

test.

Even
ions,

our surface worldly-wise opin-

in

which

we

thought,

admit

mit that the

much of

this.

of

faith

in

The

test

test

willingness to suffer.
is

when a

test

We

is

for country.

ad-

anything

readiness to

is

of courage

real occasion calls for

of patriotism

rifice

on the stream of

float lightly

it.

make

The
sac-

Lukewarm adherence

to a party or a cause

a source of weak-

is

All the fighting has to be done by

ness.

men of

other mould.

anything

is

When

in

scream hallelujah and brazen

throats

to

brows

seeking

to

laurels of triumph.

be

The

crowned by the
faith

worth nothing.
deep enough. Some men,
nothing

victory

assured, there are plenty brazen

is

It

which costs
does not go

as the Scottish

proverb goes, will put their hand twice to


their

bonnet for once to their pouch.

&MXa^&

It

does not cost

scheme.

must be

tion

much

The

test

to salute a

of

all

The

practical.

man

or a

manner of devolady in the

age of chivalry set her knight-errant to do

some
for

difficult

task which he accomplished

love of her or died in the attempt.

The

principle

tions

were often absurd.

This

is

right,

though the applica-

testing process, approved

even by

worldly wisdom to measure the value of

any man's adhesion to a cause,

which

life itself

our conception
life,

the

place

more

must submit.
is

is

one to

The

higher

of the inherent worth of

are

we

willing to admit the

of this element.

we

If

are

per-

suaded that nothing can compare with the


incidents in the development of a soul,

can see a meaning in


tribulation.

What

much

that

the tribulation

we

called

is

is

that

comes to test every soul, only that soul


knows, but that some trial of it comes is
certain.

gold

is

Somewhere

and

tried in the furnace.

76

somehow the
Somewhere

jks^M^am

^ssse^^^
rial as Discipline

and somehow
the

soil

is

faith is tried

and stings

seed

Where

by

Where

life.

good, the hot sun quickens the


the

plant into growth.

no deepness of earth the


hot sun scorches the plant and withers it
there

is

away.

Though

this

tribulation,

all

and

element does not explain

we must

necessity.

its

use

at least see its

Even

which

pain,

is

such a terror to a soft and luxurious age,


has some meaning from this point of view.
If there
in

is

any moral purpose of discipline

the world, then

value

of

whatever

we must

tribulation.
else,

Life

accept this
is

at

least,

an arena of moral struggle

where we are called on to play the man,


and the opportunities of trial that come
have at least this meaning in them. Sol-

meant not merely for parade but


" Endure hardness as a good
of Jesus Christ " is an appeal to

diers are

for battle.

soldier

which the high heart responds, and


it

some meaning.

Indeed
77

this

is

sees in

ever the

Crial &s Discipline ]

ggg ^V^vV-vT^yyyrnV^
method of the

faith.

Jesus always ap-

pealed to something of the heroic.

made no

by

disciples

man

to Himself by
shadow of a cross

He

teaching.
flict,

and

The

soft promises.

athwart

lies

He

and allured no

guile,

all

His

points to effort, and con-

suffering.

low Him, though

He called men to folHe had no place to lay

His head, daring them to believe on Him,


daring them to suffer for His sake.

how He

is

be

to

said

catches men.

be

Suffering

badge of the

the

Ananias was sent to Saul


with

promise

this

man, "

stricken

great things he

the

must

tribe.

Damascus

blinded

and

show him how

suffer for

my

name's

If Paul had been of the type that

sake."

stumbles
ariseth,

to
will

in

That
may

when

tribulation or

persecution

he could never have been used for

the church or the world.

and breaks, when weight

A staff that bends


is

put on

it, is

useless for support.

There

is

more

to be said about the na-

78

rw

ssszs^ss
Crial &s Discipline

ture of
strain

The

a test.

who

will

We

see

this

who

will

further use in
try

is

it

not put merely to see

and

stand

than that

trial
is

it,

that

fail.

not merely to

is

it

good but to increase good.

Strength

" The bruising


"
are meant to
of God's corrections

comes through the


flails

strain.

thresh out the useless chafF, and give value


to the wheat. Tribulation

but

discipline,

deepen
fresh

and enrich

faith

not

is

merely

trial

an occasion for growth, to


life.

The

the crowning quality of endurance.


cipline

is

first

has to be transmuted into

rapture

not exhausted

either

Dis-

by the

thought of punishment or by the thought

of testing, but

is

itself a

means of giving

There comes the new strength of


a surrendered life, gaining in power and in
power.

beauty.

In fact

which

we

see that this

religion itself

through

tribulation.

history of Israel

is

the process by

became more

We

see

spiritual
it

in the

from the discipline of the


79

fek^xnr^ssF&stfffi,

Crial &s Discipline

desert

the

to

Many

disciplined

who

race

into

of

patience, the

have

earthly loves

who have

seen

their

go down

the

exile.

to

faith

faith

of a

hopes

and

the grave, but

seen the dawning of a larger

hope and a purer


again

discipline

Psalms are an expression of a

faith

We

love.

and

see again

from the tomb, purified

rising

by adversity, barren of human hope, but

luminous with the


It

is

light

of God's presence.

not without meaning that there

came

a great outburst of sacred song after the


exile,

when

God.

closer to
lay

look

faith

saw deeper

firm

It

is

and

into itself

from tribulation to cling

learned

the

all

something for us to

we

hold of this fact that what

upon

borne has

as

tribulation

hardly

to

be

meaning and purpose, and

designed not that

we

should

fail

is

in the test

and stumble because of the darkness, but


that

we

should stand, and indeed gather

new

strength from the strain, and step into fuller


light after the passage

80

through the cloud.

rial As Discipline

This is the right point of view from


which to consider the whole question of
temptation.

It

not

is

a hideous evil,

all

or the Apostle's word would be astounding

when he

irony

count

it

all

called

joy

on

his readers to

when they

Few

verse temptations.

are built in such heroic

into di-

fall

may be,
mould that we can
of us,

it

give a joyous welcome to the

trials of our
most of us have sad cause to
dread being tempted much.
Our souls

and

life,

carry scars of ugly wounds, and there are

gaping strains which show where the

been

taught

temptation
joy

is

is

enough to know now


not

evil,

all

mony

chastened and almost

to

the

begin

value of

with

is

that

and though our


very

silent for

shame, yet we can humbly add our


tion to

lines

But many of us have

of weakness ran.

Tempta-

trial.

really

testi-

a colourless

word, and can be used of an experience


that

may end

because there

either well
is

or

ill.

This

an element of mere

is

trial

81

&mm^M$>bMmimi

rial as Discipline

in

being put to the proof and tested.

it,

When
in

it

tested

is

evil purpose.

It

is

it is

not

not done

it may fail, still less is it


make it fail, but to prove that
It means something, when

the hope that

done
it

work

a piece of

done with an

in order to

does not

fail.

comes out with the stamp of approval.


If this were all, if it were merely a

sort

of experiment or for the satisfaction

of finding out

who

and

stood

who

failed,

temptation could not be morally justified.


It

a cruel experiment to cause needless

is

and danger and

pain

So, temptation

is

run

but a source of good.


ing,

it

is

acter.
rising,
falling.

It is

also training.

proving of

faith,

risks.

it is

Trial means

not only test-

It is

more than a

a discipline of charthe

and carries with

opportunity for
it

The power to resist

resisting, as

foolish

not a barren experiment

the danger of
is

got through

an oak cannot be grown in a

hothouse but out on the hillside where

must meet the

blasts

82

it

and gather strength

?rial as Discipline

through the
developed

tempered

The

strain.

the

in

fighting fibre

The

fight.

The

in the fire.

blade

is
is

capacity to rise

comes from the effort to rise. Discipline


is
more than an examination to test the
stuff of

vides

which we are made, but


the

occasion

for

also pro-

and

straining

strengthening the moral thews and sinews.

Strength comes through the strain.

when

the fibre

is

Temp-

strong, enduring character be cut.


tation

the pressure of the lower on the

is

constant

higher, the

easy way, to

mand

Only

hard and close can a really

for

desire

to

take

the

give in to the clamant de-

low

That

satisfaction.

environment

for

and until the

evil is admitted

is

developing moral

demands conceded there

is

evil is not to be traced to

no

the
life,

and the low

sin.

The real

untoward circum-

own appetite and sinful


we were menaced by no danger

stances, but to our


desire.

and

If

by no temptation, there could be


no growth, as our own hearts inform us.
tried

83

gn^rty^mfi

^^^<Ng^5Fg^
Criat &s Discipline

To
ever,

take this whole point of view,

we must have

of things, and must have a

the surface

conception of

life

which

sees

end to be

its

The

not happiness but character.


is

how-

learned to look below

world

a refining pot to produce pure ore,

and

make

true

life

is

men.

a school of discipline to

Life

nificance

denied.

is

emptied of any moral sig-

if this

great

element of discipline be

London doctor received


man who com-

a visit from a professional

plained of depression and asserted that he

could not do his work without the constant use of stimulants.

The

doctor

who

saw the danger forbade the resort to stimulants at any cost and when the patient declared that he must surely sink, he replied,
"Then sink like a man." Many a time
in the straits what we need is bracing and
not pampering, and our
creed that

we must

give

common
way

servile

in the line

of least resistance needs to be branded as


the

unworthy thing

it is.

There

is

always

84

Mmmgi

SgSMS

W^x^ySS^v^^^
Criat as Discipline

a^^mns

azzazzsaaa
way than

another

and

that he can
a

manly

the craven

way of escape,
man

dark hour faith assures a

in the

win

out, or at least can put up

fight.

Very often another name


In

courage.

its

for faith

heart of hearts

world loves courage, as


the courage to face

it

is

often far

greater than the courage to face death.


is

much when

stiff

upper

lip,

pose of his

man

It

has learned to keep a

and has seen that one pur-

life's discipline is

Our
and we

is

the

loves a lover,

which

life

all

to teach en-

durance.

hearts leap to the trumpet-

sound,

will

always grant value to

man-

the soldier's ideal, to fight the fight


fully

and go on with the task and duty of

life

bravely.

ballad in

There

is

an old

English

which a wounded captain

rallies

his soldiers to further struggle,

Fight on,

my

men,

Sir

Andrew

said,

I'm hurt but not yet slain,


I'll just lie down and bleed a while,
And then I'll rise and fight again
little

85

^^aBASR S SggSS^jg
rial as Discipline

nzzzaasa mwa\\\wjs?t
Often to others than
life

has in

mouth of

puts into the


acter,

soldiers this ideal of

Dumas

a touch of nobility.

it

his favourite char-

D'Artagnan, when age seems creep-

ing on him, that the recollection of what

he has done as a soldier prevents him from

bowing

his old

"

head too soon.

I shall

remain until the very end a good trooper


and when

my

turn comes

to

whom

he

is

per-

I shall fall

fectly straight, all in a heap."

The man

represented saying this had

man in France next the


now facing disgrace, and

been the greatest

King, and was

poverty, and prison,

if

"

pause.

soldier's

"An

not death.

excellent homily," he said after a

moment's

homily,"

replied

D'Artagnan.

This

some

stoical

real

philosophy has

heroism

in

see a thing out to the

may

practical

produced
life.

To

end however hard

it

be, to die in harness, to run the course

pluckily to a finish even though the prize


is

lost, to

stick at the task manfully

and

86

%^^^^^mmm&

^S^S^^^^J
rial &s Discipline

go through with

command

it,

that temper will always

Courage

admiration.

moral quality, not the

common

is

a great

courage of

dash and excitement, but the courage of a


long-sustained

In the matter of

effort.

and carrying on

living

duties through

its

sunshine or storm, through success or

fail-

name

for

courage

ure,

another

only

is

faithfulness.

The
the

Christian virtue of faithfulness

is

Stoic virtue of courage with deeper

roots to

review

it
it

and finer flower.


is

In the great

not the kind of work that

counts, but the spirit of the worker, not


the

number of

them.

Life

quality

of

The

is

the gifts, but the use of

judged

faithfulness

servant with the

same welcoming word


five or ten.

fulness

The

according to the

contained

two

gifts

in

it.

had the

as the servant

with

Christian virtue of faith-

has a deeper root than the Stoic

virtue of courage

for

its

motive

nobler than to " die game,"

87

its

is

much

motive

is

zzzrz&ir^fz^
Criat as Discipline
r;rj;

to

so

called

great vocation.

the

root

flower.

in

God v

of

walk worthy of

to

Because of

Christian

shows

It

virtue

itself

unwearied

has

his

deeper

this

finer

not only in un-

endurance against

bending
also

child

task by his heavenly Father,

his

to

and

becometh a

as

live

set

Vi:Cv\v -jiraaa uutcoL-A

ill-doing,

but

perseverance in well-

doing.

We

should respond a

us.

It is

little

makes

to the appeal life

more eagerly

to the heroic in

only proof of the shallowness of

our nature that

we

are so easily dispirited

and make such a moan about our hard lot.


If the plough make deep furrows, it will

make it possible for the seed to have root,


and grow till it bears fruit. We have too
discipline

life, if we shrink from


and are so soon tempted to give

We

are too ready to judge life by

surface a view of

up.

what we can get from

we can
is

give

it.

We

it

and not by what

say that the

enemy

too hard to dislodge, a besetting sin in

88

ra^t^&

Crial as Discipline
Jnil aSa&SC > i>iy>i iVilsg
own

our

evil in

lives

too stubborn, a rampant

is

our community

is

too deeply rooted,

the beautiful kingdom of heaven of our

dream

is

quite

beyond

We

the clouds.

us,

something

need some iron

in

in

our

blood, and need to face the strain to gather


strength.

We
again

conflict

need to be braced

to the

and to endure not

for

while merely but so long as the conflict


lasts.

When

the tired prophet sought to

give up his hard task and thought

much

it

too

that he should be pitted against the

persecution which he knew, he was told


for

answer that he would have more to

bear.
tasks.

He was only
The answer

braced
to

his

for

harder

complaint

against the hardness of his lot


tion that

it

is an asserbe harder yet, " If thou

shall

hast run with the footmen and they have

how canst thou conGod appeals to his


to his weakness.
He is

wearied thee, then


tend with horses
strength and not

"

taught the need of endurance, and

sent

89

MmMgMktmmm

*!*MS*a<gxzG*iA
"Crlal as Discipline

aazzzdmnaa

m//fssy>v'i

out to his harder task with a


tion.

It

is

new

resolu-

Lacordaire said that

ever so.

Church was born crucified, and cerword to the suffering Church


was, " He that endureth to the end shall

the

tainly the

When we

be saved."

have caught sight

of God's presence with


that

He

us

and believe

purpose for us,

we

be-

that

we can endure

to

the

has

come

sure

end.

Never

a soul

is

tried

above what

it

can bear.

The

prophetic interpretation of national

history finds a value in adversity


tress,

and

dis-

to save the soul from being smoth-

ered by sense, and to give stiffening for the


large

needs

of

Nations

life.

manners and sweet


world
heart

by

inherent

and clean

in

simple in

morals grip the

right.

Pure

in the blood,

at

they

the

come

from their particular desert with the stamp


of superiority on them.
danger.

New

Success

is

ropes cannot shackle

thei

Sam

aM>i&mmM
90

mm2&t

^22Z2S^^
rial &s Discipline
V/rswv.

aggggg

he can be bound by Delilah's

son, but

The

silken tresses.

great oriental empires,

Assyria and Babylon and Persia, European

Rome

empires like

and Spain, took their

rightful place of ascendancy through toil

and struggle

then

rotted

at

the heart,

smothered by success, and shrivelled


touch of God's east wind.

at a

Plutarch in

of Alexander the Great describes

his life

how he and

his Macedonian troops became lax and flaccid amid the wealth and
riot made possible by their wonderful vic-

Alexander himself from the ex-

tories.

treme temperance and control of his youth

became

self-indulgent,

mad

most

The

carousal.

came

with

was sometimes

wine,

and

once hardy

dissolute and riotous,

fabric of his

died
soldiers

al-

of a
be-

and the huge

empire crumbled down into

dust.
It

not needful to pile up illustration

is

of what
writ

on

is

its

the plain reading of history

open face of

XSStfflfc

rial as Discipline

What makes a nation great and keeps it so,


What ruins kingdoms and lays cities flat.

The

lesson

tions.

waxing

God

is

is

for the reading of the na-

The

prophetic picture of Jeshurun

fat

and sleek and then forsaking

one for warning of

When we

all

peoples.

have a glut of wealth in our

fleets are in every sea, when


we are rich and increased in goods, when
we lift our head in the pride of possession,
when we are made to ride on the high

midst and our

places of the earth and eat the world's increase, then

These

continued
abroad

home

difficult

pure

is

the very time to beware.

things are not our guarantee


existence.

can

make

When
for

lives,

men
when

it

to

What

for

strength

up for weakness at
becomes increasingly
live true, honest, and

the heart of the people

turns feverishly after the love of

or the love of enjoyment,

when

money

the simple

pleasures are despised and the simple virtues are dethroned and the simple duties

92

a^^oim^m^^M^

^rial as Discipline

God

are neglected,

when we

account in

our calculations and

all

leave

out of

politics

and business and

diplomacy, then

time to beware

we

lest

Only

balance and found wanting.

eousness exalteth a nation, justice

That

and mercy abroad.

it

is

are weighed in the

is

at

right-

home

the unchang-

ing law of God.

In the individual

life

seen that the temptation


the danger seems least.
for the

desert in

doctrine, but

all

it is

our

true.

the
is

same

truth

greatest

There
lives.

It is

is

is

where
a place

It is

because

hard
it is

hard that our eyes can be so easily blinded.

The

keenest

test

he has attained.
keeps him

struggle to attain

strong, but

the line of least


itself

self-sufficiency,

sloth,

soon

and a score of
into

man comes when

The
shows

resistance

Pride,

of a

being

possibilities

in

success.

discontent,

emerge, kissed

by the sunshine of fortune.

Bacon

in his succinct fashion says,

virtue

of

prosperity

93

is

" The

temperance, the

^^^^s^s^^^^z^^
rial &s Discipline

virtue of adversity

is

M^

Prosperity

fortitude.

doth best discover vice, but adversity doth


best

there

discover
is

thought

which

lose

is

horseback, and

he

that

This

man's heart or making

head

his

common enough

is

if

he does not ride to the

deserves

believe, with

to

Put a beggar on

have inspired proverbs.

devil

know

failure.

of the danger of prosperity in

either corrupting a

him

We

virtue."

a success

the

horse.

We

even

Shakespeare, that there are

some sweet uses

adversity.

in

We

all

know men who have been spoiled by success, and men who have been made great
by failure.
God's dearest saints we have
sometimes found among His sufferers, sweet
souls

We

whose

know

of the lotus eaters.


there

is

emits

bruising

We

perhaps see that

temptation in both extremes, in

God
God and

adversity to curse

and

perity to forget

live.

In

fragrance.

the moral as well as the story

spite

of

all

this

94

die, in

knowledge,

pros-

is

not

Crial

Discipline

aus
-

jjTij

volca iZtjsA uinsa

our ideal of
eaters'

life

dream

coloured

by the

Ease, and

lotus

comfort, and

security of tenure, absence of anxiety and

things

care, these

the end.

we

will

If

we

we

look forward to as

are honest with ourselves,

confess that

we have needed

the shocks and lessons,


that

we

see

all

have been providences,

to

everything that brings

our eyes to

we

all

the experiences

us

The

up and opens

life, which
much, may contain for us the
danger.
To be compassed about,

fact.

sleek

prize so

greatest

and cared

for,

and sheltered from every

wind, and with

every

material

blessing

poured upon us, may be the very undoing


of

our true

wind which

selves.
kills

Better

God's east

or cures, which brings

us in touch with realities however tragic,

which reminds us that this world has only


meaning as somehow a school of discipline
and not as an

isle

of the

God's east wind with


and death than the

its

lotus.

Better

lessons of

life

Maaj^
95

jte^&

sickly

sweetness

^^^V^Sg^S^i^
Grial as Discipline
az^ssBSsa vtf*wiiivg Hb
which deprives

life

of

its

outlook

into

eternity.

We know

the arduous

To

strife,

the eternal laws

which the triumph of all good is given


High sacrifice, and labour without pause

Even

to the death.

No spring, nor summer


As I have

seen in one

beauty hath such grace

autumnal face.

Donne.

TRIAL
work
a

is

its

perfect

merely building up a

and

virile

There

not done

has
in

further

strong
effect

in

character.

producing

fineness of quality, as the potter puts his


finest

work on

the actual

after

vessel

The

completed.
needs to be
its

stone

hewn and

The marks

as

finds

it

If

building.

its

men

making of it is
from the quarry

chiselled and shaped,

surface smoothed,

moved.
it

the delicate chasing of the

rough edges re-

its

of the chisel are on

destined

place

in the

are to be used as liv-

ing stones in the great temple of

human

lives,

the great Master-builder must shape

them

to

fit

His world-purpose.

Character

can bear shaping and refining as well as


strengthening
to

which

and

affliction

this is

has

one of the uses

often

been

put.

99

'^m

mmMM

Pw Purity

^rial

>awA\\\w&

a**a\\f.

the words to express the pain of

Some of

One

indicate this purifying quality.

life

IP)

word tribulation, from


which was an intribulum,
the Latin
strument made of a block with iron teeth
of them

is

stuck in

it

the

and used for threshing grain.


the

Naturally, the process of separating

was made a

chaff from the wheat

for a state of suffering or trial

metaphor
to thresh

mon

human

It

life.

experience that

has been a

affliction

and ele-

unworthy

vating ambitions, separating the

from the worthy


its

common

to separate the

through which
of the

desired

is

is

winnowed

passes

In

furnace

in a

The
is

judg-

likens

impure ore.

treated

metals.
it

last traces

ciated with the


is

figure

to the smelting of

smelting, the ore

rid

grain

impurities.

Another

ment

as

com-

can be used

to purify life, cleansing motives,

from

vivid

last

process

refining, getting

of the materials asso-

particular

to have pure.

metal which

it

This

is

figure

SS2S^^2^
&i&l

Por Purity

common

used as one of the

explanations,

which the Old Testament gives


whole problem of suffering. In
over

moral

the

Jerusalem, Isaiah

judgment
again, " I

to

and

a dirge

decay of

speaks of the need of

restore

pure

to

it

my

turn

will

spiritual

for the

state

hand upon thee,

and throughly purge away thy dross, and


will take

away

all

thy alloy."

Part of the

moral power of the Old Testament


in the fact that

punishment with
a

it

sin.

It

not in

is

explanation,

sufficient

lies

always seeks to connect

as

the

itself

writers

themselves are forced to admit, since there


are

in

seem

the world so

many

instances

to prove that justice

eye and lame of a foot.

is

All the ground

by no means covered when


is

which

blind of an

we

say that

is
it

the righteous, and that the

well with

unrighteous must learn through pain that

God
tithe

hates

sin.

evident facts

is

does

It

of the mystery

for

not explain

one of the most

that suffering

comes very

gMm^M^ggm

^rial For Purity


ZZQZSSSSS JVfdWUU gBSfal
who do

often to those

not seem to need

it,

and that the wicked are seen to prosper.

This is the great problem of the book of


Job and some of the finest Psalms; and
it has been a problem ever since.
It

is

we

live in

some

suffer-

an instinct with us that

a moral universe, and if so,

ing can be explained as one of the whole-

some sanctions of
suffering

physical pain

is

The

law.

related to sin

is

fact

that

a safeguard, as

is

often a warning

against

disease, a

danger signal of which a wise

man

take

will

The

alties.

Nature makes a

note.

and hedges

fairly plain path,


first

view of

natural that favour should be

and enmity to
a view of the

evil.

way

governed, and by

takes

shown

may be

It

in

with pen-

it

life

is

itself

it

would often be

perity

it

in a night

&M^^

as

too surface
is

would certainly

to be judged by

grows

it

good

which the world

be an unspiritual conception of

goodness

to

life

for

if

outward pros-

as a flower

and which the

first

which
breeze

^a^o

^rial for Purity

of adversity would wither.


only say about

it

so far as

it

Still,

that

we

governed

make
ment

may
legal

it

co-

in a

it

It is

an instinct

this,

and

evil.

if

the

moral way, essen-

good man.

Our whole human


by

is

are right in looking for happy re-

sults to the

lated

could

should see that

of our heart to believe

tially

we

brings prosperity.

it

men

does not pay to do

is

if

goes the argument

gent enough, that

world

would not

It

be the highest motive to be good

at least

to deter

society

on

ourselves

this

regu-

is

We

basis.

one function of punish-

from breaking law.

be an element of retribution

There
in

our

punishments, to assert the offended

majesty of the law, but as a social function


perhaps the chief idea
is

preventive.

We

in

our punishments

remember the judge's

dictum when he passed the sentence of capital

punishment on a horse

stealer,

" You

are to be hanged by the neck, not for stealing

horses, but that horses

may

not be stolen."

103

Ennm

mzmm

J55S

ZriaX F*r Purity


i iff.

ATCCCyV ViJlfrli iVtfrct!

If punishment were looked upon merely


as

a device to protect society, to frighten

from committing the same

other people
faults,

it

would be a purely

which would deserve

selfish

failure.

of our laws here only suggests

scheme

The failure
that we need

deeper sanctions for morality than such external

ones

Even

icy.

as that

not pay to do
cient

honesty

ground

evil,

the best pol-

is

did prove that

if facts
it

for true morality.

does

it

would not be a
It

suffi-

would

only be a kind of prudence.

A man
any
by

real

cannot be called a good


sense unless his

principles

life is

He

within.

is

man

in

regulated

not really

would not put forth his


whatever the consequen-

righteous, until he

hand to iniquity

Even

moral

world

seemed topsyturvy, he has that

within

ces.

him which

although

refuses to let

Hope of reward and


are motives

the

him be moved.

fear of

on a low plane.

punishment

They

are

probably necessary in the education of the

104

mmmsMkiMmm

^f^V^^^^JH^
&*ial For Purity

race and of the individual, but they are at


best

rudimentary

only

morality.

They

are like leading strings to teach a child to

walk, or like stakes to support

taken away

tree, to be

comes

The

self-sufficient.

learned to walk,

leading

The

better of the stakes at


life,

its

plant

if

Our

laws

it

young

the tree be-

child has not

he can do without the

till

strings.

part of

when

and

tree

first,

may be

would be a

it

the

but they are not


sickly

not do without them.

could

may have

to appeal to

some ex-

tent to the motive of prudence, but a

cannot be called good

if

man

he merely refrains

Beevil from fear of the policeman.


what he does, or abstains from doing,
can be called moral it must correspond to
It must be
an inward judgment of right.
more than blind obedience to a rule, and
more than a decision on the ground of

from
fore

what

is

likely to

pay

best.

our conduct only so


prison,

it

would be

as

If

we

ruled

to keep out of

a misuse of language to

i5

^^mmM^.

'cimmi

^ial fiwPurity

call

The

goodness.

it

true root of duty

is

inward conformity to conscience, conform-

own

standard set up in a man's

ity to a

soul.

All history and

signed

to

drive

not to be judged by ex-

is

Religion

prosperity.

ternal

by

spiritualized

came

experience seem deto this deeper level.

through exile and tribulation

Israel learned

that goodness

faith

all

us

hard

the

was

itself

process,

until

as pure gold twice refined out

of the furnace.

The

deepening of faith

went on, until in Christ the very cross itself was made the sign of the highest
triumph.
us

we

With

that object-lesson before

can never again base morality on

mere prudence.

In the light of the cross

an apostle could see that


according to
could

call

the

upon

will
all

how

Him

itself
1

he

in well-do-

In the light of the cross also

chastening

suffer

such to commit the

keeping of their souls to


ing.

men might

of God, and

06

may be

we

see

the fruit of

rial for Parity

zazzamss

nzzzzssaaa

God's purpose

the deepest love.


fication

that

to

"Those He

any means.

justifies

it

means

in sancti-

seen to be so high and so great

is

make

the most resplendent,

He

hath oftenest His tools upon."

The

element of correction and chastise-

ment contains meaning and value for us.


All that we need for humble acceptance of
it,

and for comfort

it

is

The

directed

in

to be sure that

by both justice and love.

matter of justice

we can

to us, since

it, is

is

usually fairly clear

where we

easily see

needed the curb or the spur, but only

can convince us that chastening


fruit

ment

The

of love.

to the

Hebrews,
writers,

and the need

faith

also the

author of the Epistle

like all the

New

Testa-

makes much of endurance

for patience

early Christians

had

all

under

trial.

The

the ordinary sor-

man, with some


some
acuter pain
heart-aches and

row which
extra

is

is

due to their

the lot of

historical

107

position.

They

'^^^^^^^^zM
rial P*r Purity

would often ask why,

if

God

loved them,

They

they should be called on to suffer.

must have asked,

as all

driven to ask, what


chastenings, the

by blind

is

men

some time
the meaning of the

strokes

fate, the

are

that

seem struck

shocks on the heart, the

disillusionment and failure and pain of

They would
felt,

life.

has

the force of the appeal to be true and

steadfast,

ing

man

every brave

feel, as

is

whether the reason

for the suffer-

ever explained or not.

In that Epistle the

first

stubborn heroism of which

appeal

is

man

capable,

is

to the

and we never can escape the force of

When we

that.

read the sublime chapter on the

heroes of faith who subdued kingdoms,


wrought righteousness, escaped the edge

of the sword, out of weakness were made


strong, and of those who had trial of cruel
mockings and scourgings, of bonds and

imprisonments,
asunder,

being

mented, of

who were

stoned,

destitute,

afflicted,

whom

the
1

08

world

was

sawn
tor-

not

Z2S5^^^^
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for Purity

worthy, the generous blood rushes to the

head with the proud thought that men

had shown such strength of soul, and with


the eager emulous hope that

we might

not

The

prove unworthy of such a lineage.

author points to these as a great cloud of


witnesses, the noble dead
ilar

triumphs

in the

who look

noble living.

for sim-

As

the

climax of that argument he points them to


Jesus their Lord,

who endured

and despised the shame.

the cross

Lest they should

be weary and faint in their minds he asks

them

to consider

how

patiently their

Mas-

endured such contradiction of sinners

ter

against Himself.

Then he comes closer to the heart


mystery when he gives what is

the

some form or other


nation,

that

chastisement
perfect love.

takes here
the

is

even
it

is

The

of
in

the Christian expla-

when
the

it

seems

like

chastisement of

form the explanation

perhaps more applicable to

elder patriarchal rule of families than

109

the ordinary rule of to-day,

had fathers of our


us and

haps

we gave them

the

reverence."

about balance each other with


author

We

have
Per-

and the reverence

correction

this figure the

"

which corrected

flesh

is

But

us.

in

careful to contrast, as

well as compare, God's dealings with those

of an earthly parent.
too often

In the

latter case

it

the result of caprice or temper,

is

or at least with insufficient knowledge even

when

there

true love at the bottom of

is

the correction.
subjection

to

truly to live.

sonship

that

In God's case to be in
the Father of our spirits
It

God

is

the very sign of their

is

should

take

them

in

hand, and they can be perfectly sure that

nothing can happen capriciously, but out

of love and for their true

profit.

Correction, even chastisement,

may be

accepted as an element of the problem to


us

for while

ways
yet

it is

true that

we cannot

al-

trace sin as the occasion of suffering,

we know

that there

no

is

such a connec-

^^^^^^^<iM
rial Pop Purity

We

tion.

there

are

vince us

know this, not merely because


many surface facts which conthat we are in a moral world of

and

cause

but also because expe-

effect,

rience teaches us the moral value of tribu-

We

lation.

learn that rightly viewed

own

has some power in our


fying

it

case of puri-

Suffering has been a cleansing

life.

If the one object of

discipline.

to get through the world

life

were

smoothly and the

highest ideal were happiness, then there

be

could

nothing but evil

in

suffering.

wakened within us, we


know there is a spiritual end which may
justify any means however hard and painBut

if

the soul has

The

ful.

spectacle of the wicked prosper-

ing and living at ease, while the righteous

compassed about with sorrows, does

are

not

trouble

into

of

St.

us much,

spiritual

Ambrose

wicked do not
righteous

is

when we

put

life

to the

The answer
question why the

suffer

and

perspective.

from

this point

toil

with the

of view a good

^^^^^s-^^^sM
^ria,l pop

Parity

rmi iww" 2 tfiW JTuLL


He
common in

one.

letic

illustrates

by the figure

this

the ancient world of the ath-

They who have

ring.

not put

down

names to strive for the crown are


not bound to undergo the labours of the
They who have not gone down
contest.

their

into the arena

with

do not anoint themselves

nor get covered with dust.

oil

The

perfumed spectators merely look on, and


do not join

nor endure the

in the struggle

sun, the heat, the dust, and the showers.


If the

are

ask

athletes

strife the

not

in

for the prize

chance of glory.

what a man
achieve.

them

to join

in the

spectators can answer that they

After

really

If he

is

aims

and forego the

all, it

at

depends on

and

strives to

only looking for an easy

some of the
There will
be some things concerning which he is a

time, he can usually avoid

hardships of a strenuous

life.

spectator rather than a combatant.

We

know from

experience that there

is

ggggpittimfi

^^22^^^
^rial for Purity

truth

the partial answer that

in

of distress

all

forms

and trouble can be used to

purify, and to serve noble spiritual ends.

made life more solemn and sacred


Even as a mere correction many
has found the value of some afflic-

It

has

to

many.

a soul

We

tion in turning the heart from evil.

did not

know

such,

as

" Before

the evil, did not recognize

until

was

the

afflicted

"

said the Psalmist.


I

have been

Thy
ing.

Few

known

is

It is

afflicted

statutes."

rience and

cleansing

This

went

good

that I
is

it

discipline.

for

astray,"

me

that

might learn

common

expe-

a recognized result of chasten-

of us perhaps would ever have

penitence,

if

we had

not

been

brought to humility of heart through some


slight, or

disappointment, or trouble.

have gone on
ness, until

view our

we have

past,

We

in thoughtlessness or willful-

been pulled up to re-

and to consider our ways.

Sickness, for instance, has been to

many

an occasion to think, a time for recollec-

ts

mS^M^mMk

^^ss^ge^T^
<Sria1 pr

Purity

nnzzssasa sazzzrms&fa
tion,

which

is

so

much

the strain and hurry of

a lost art to-day in

modern

Amid

life.

the exacting nature of business and pleasure, in the pressure of our social conditions

and the pace

at

which

life

goes,

to forget the things of the soul.

man

it is

easy

Many

has had cause to bless the stroke that

snatched him from the

fret

and fever of the

world and drove him to a place of

repair.

We live our life on the surface amid distractions, engrossed

with outside affairs, and


few would take refuge under the shadow
of the Almighty but for the discipline that

compels.

It is difficult, says

the proverb,

to carry a full cup without spilling.

the sunshine of constant prosperity

In

men

are easily entangled in the snare of wealth

they grow arrogant and hard and self-centred,

much
of the
those

and the dullest eye can see


they lose.

In the

how

higher reaches

spiritual life the sweetest souls are

who know and

admit the value or

the furnace of affliction.

There has been

114

mmgg^Mfemmmi

^rtal

pw Purity

assess zaszamsg
many

a fine character which,

if

you took

out the qualities created by sorrow, would


lose all

beauty.

its

If the world be at
discipline

a sphere of moral

all

and a place of training

for spirit-

men, then some light is cast upon the


dark problem that men should be tried as
ual

gold

tried.

is

human

life,

It

adds to the dignity of

and convinces us that we are

worth something that the Lord should turn

His hand upon us, and thoroughly purge


away our dross, and take away all the
alloy.
This has been one of the answers
which religious men have always made to
the
says,

whole mystery of pain. Augustine


" The fire is kindled in the furnace,

and the

refiner's furnace

a thing of high

is

mysterious meaning.

There

there

is

chaff; there

is

confined
yet
into

its

space.

effects

ashes

dross.

This

fire

are diverse

from gold

Now

fire

those in

it

is

is
;

gold there

working

in a

not diverse,

it

takes

turns chaff

away the

whom God

dwells

"5

2HSl^^^Bl!p

Zria\ For Purity

are

made

assurably

better in tribulation,

Even

being proved as gold."

hearts that

have suffered the most desolating sorrows

have been able to read some meaning


their hard

There

experience.

in

are blows

of bereavement or betrayal, from which

men

never recover to the outward eye, and

yet which have been the


learning

the

eternal

some wounds

means of their
There are

secret.

that cannot be staunched ex-

cept by God.
has always to be remembered,

It

ever,

that

sanctify,

trials

do

but they

make

man

how-

themselves

in

are only the occasion

of sanctification.
not

not

Affliction
better.

by

itself

can-

God works by

joy as well as by sorrow, and

many of the

world's best virtues are the result of happiness,


result

as

many of

of suffering.

its

worst sins are the

There

suffering that impoverishes,

kind that enriches.

on the way

it

is

a kind of

and there

is

Everything depends

M^M

Si^^

is

met, and received, and


116

fctty^ay^
*Cria\ For

used.

It

ing, or

works

morose

Parity

some men weak

in

selfishness, or bitter

or even wild malice.

repin-

envy,

Instead of making

man more gentle and tender, suffering


may make him desire only to see others

and take revenge on others

suffer also

for

own pain. It often only brutalizes.


Thus we see some who have come
through many trials hard and relentless in
his

dealing

with

Affliction

unfortunate

their

may

and cruelty.

stiffen a

If sorrow

man
is

fellows.

to sternness

not turned into

humility of heart and into a stream of tenderness to others,

it

will only stagnate in

the soul and breed bitterness against

God

and man.

We

know

highest

and

that

best

reach

often

lives

pain, but

in

never harbour the idea that pain

That opens

itself.

the

way

evils, the dreadful excesses

or

the

Mere

callous

pain,

cruelty

unsanctiHed
117

to

the

we must
is

good

in

nameless

of asceticism,

of

selfishness.

to the soul that

ZriaX frr Purity

^Mwsntrawfe

eazzcssaggg
suffers, has

no

The

value.

furnace with-

out this result only burns away the

We

into a charred nothingness.

perfecting His

work

God

for

We

us.

Holy Cross

need

painful experience to

is

and to accept

in us,

the King's highway of the

His will

life

have to

obedience, and to see that

learn

leave

to
its

as

use our

mark on

character, and accept the particular discipline, seeking to learn its


It

more

nothing

is

inward meaning.

than

which may be seized or

opportunity,

lost.

"

It

be," says Jeremy Taylor, " that this

may
may

be the last instance and the last opportunity that ever


cise

any

thyself

God

virtue, to

will give thee to exer-

do

Him

any advantage.

any service or

Be

careful that

thou losest not this; for to eternal ages


this

never shall

return

If this

again."

world be a place of discipline and

have a purpose of cleansing,


descend to turn

if

if

He

His hand upon

God
con-

us to

purge away the dross and take away the


118

R,M^

^^zzs^s5^
ZrisA frr Purity

alloy, then

world

Or

pline.
is

the greatest

that

is

we

rather,

to have had

it

failure in

worse than missing


it

and to have

have gone through the

benefits, to

it,

lost its

un-

fire

made only more

to have been

purified,

the

all

should miss the disci-

hard and more rebellious by every stroke,


to have tasted the chastisement without the

love

directed

that

to

it,

have the pain

without the lesson, the death of self without the

life in

we

tle

God.

Better,

however

lit-

understand, to submit humbly to

the rod, and to open the heart to the

les-

son.

We
all

can

at least see that there are cer-

which

virtues

tain

this painful

are

produced through

experience of

and that somewhere there

which

explains

human

is

the mystery.

life,

meaning

We

may

think that the pruning knife which cuts so

deep into the plant will

maim

it,

ance of

and keep

life

it

kill it,

from the

or at least
full luxuri-

and yet every gardener knows


119

GriaX For Purity

that the fruit

'

WA

the result of the pruning,

is

and that without the knife the plant might


run

The

to leaves.

all

fruits

of the proc-

ess are seen in such virtues as gentleness,

new

humility, patience, steadfastness of

from

detachment

soul,

which would have

appearance apart from


lessons

mit

the

are needed

all

That some

trial.

by

world,

chance of making

little

we

all

readily ad-

the best qualities of our nature

for

can only come to maturity by exercise.

virtue or a grace cannot be given us as

alms are given to a beggar.


for humility,

we must

If

that

which produces humility

may

be

tience,

humiliation.

we must

which alone can

we

pray

be willing to endure

If

we

and
desire

that

pa-

consent to the means

create

it.

" Though God

we must have
George Herbert, but the
very way in which this patience is produced is by God seeming to take the sun
take the sun out of heaven
patience,"

out

said

of heaven.

It

is

only by repeated

^m&m

Purity

larial For

-. -w

jit.

ggg <s v^ss,*- s^zza ^sss


sweet grace

that this

trial

developed.

is

we put down our name for this crown,


we must be willing to accept the necesIf

sary conditions.

No

comes

virtue

Montaigne

begins

to

his

ready-made.

us

essay

on Cruelty

with a sentence that brings out

"

this truth,

fancy virtue to be something else, and

something more noble, than good nature

and the mere propensity to goodness with

which we are born


is

into the world."

So

with the other virtues which indeed

it

we

look upon as the specific Christian virtues,


like gentleness

come through
which

is

said of

They

and humility.

only

this very cleansing discipline

so hard to bear.

If

it

could be

He learned
which He suf-

our Lord Himself that

obedience by the things


fered,

we

can see, though unable to un-

ravel

the

mysteries

of Providence, that

there are things for us to learn in every

experience.

been too

We

see that the world has

much with

us,

121

K^g^p

and that there

is

^rial Pr Parity

higher

life

to

which we are

called, a life

of faith and communion, of submission to

God

and obedience to His

When we

take

His design

believe

that

by love

we can

many

God

will.

into our
for us

is

life

and

dictated

simply and humbly accept

things as chastisement, the turning of

His hand upon us to purge away the dross

and take away

all

depends on the

Everything

the alloy.

spirit

with which

cept our experience and

let

it

we

ac-

speak to us

God and His love. When we are sure


God is turning His hand upon us, it
can even change a sorrow into joy.
The
of

that

touch of the

fire

which we have

very seal of purity which


for us.

The

weight

He

felt is

the

has purposed

of the blow

is

the

brand of possession, His possession of us,


with our

life thus claimed for God, with


His mark on the very flesh. The sorrow
is
changed into a sign of love.
The
marks of struggle against sin are marks of

the

Lord Jesus.

This suggests the method of achieving


the
the
life

high results of

method of

life's

training.

It

is

We gain the highest

faith.

not by struggling but by submitting,

not by contest but by obedience.

common

work when he

best

It is

man

experience that a

does his

ceases to care,

when

he gives up worrying about reputation, or


success, or even the quality of the work.

When we make
pline,

tions of our
first

submission to the

disci-

and are willing to accept the condi-

time

does not

we

life,

we

discover that for the

have surmounted them.

mean

retiral

the acceptance of

all

from the

our

lot.

field,

It

but

Faith brings

us into line with the limitless resources of

the soul.

We

enter into peace

when we

believe that as the earthly lights go out,


is

God who

fills

support has gone,

When

the dark.

we make

trial

it

every

of the up-

bearing might of the eternal love, as the

swimmer knows, because he


buoyancy of the

sea.

123

We

tests,

need

the

this re-

^rial For Purity

zzzesssbs gazagsasss
inforcement of power,
tinue.

Our

selves, if

enriched.

activities

our

life

if

we

are to con-

can look after them-

has been deepened and

Mere duty by

itself grows irksome and vexatious and we chafe against


it as
a restraint on liberty ; but love of
duty comes by the way of patient obedience.

I4

&M^^

Night brings out stars as sorrow shows us truths.

Bailey.

^;^;&5p
Sorrow and Insist

another thing we
which
STILL
helps our
explanation of the
learn,

partial

great

there can

mystery,

come

is

that

to the soul a

through

new

it

insight

into life.
Often it has only been through
some sad experience that men have been
shown much that previously was unre-

They

garded.
strength

which

learned
is

that

there

and a great gain which

secured by a

is

great loss, and a joy even which


in

is

perfected in weakness,

The

the heart of pain.

bitter

is

found

water of

sorrow has been a fountain of revelation to

many, who otherwise would have been


content to live on the surface of things.

This

is

true even of the possibilities of our

when we have
we see for
been brought
can
rise.
high
we
Most
the first time how

own

nature.

It

is

often

very low that

127

Sorrow &nd
tiffi iswffcV

Insigh

rJu&A ftss

of us need some instrument of self-knowl-

when we think of the work it


we do not wonder that often

edge, and

has to do,

instrument has

the

The way

of tears

be

to
is

sharp one.

way of

often the

in-

sight.

In the ordinary course of prosperous

life

the sensibilities are blunted, and the per-

ceptions

are

dimmed.

rank weeds in unfilled

grow like
We become

Faults
soil.

blind to the real persons

we

are,

and hide

Think
we become to prove
how much in the right we always are.
We seldom face up to an honest and comour true nature from

ourselves.

what

special

plete

self-investigation.

pleaders

We

are always

ready with apologies for our conduct and

our position.

Our eyes

are holden that

cannot see what manner of persons

Nothing
willing

we

is

possible

to us, until

to recognize ourselves,

cease deceiving ourselves.

mates that

men

we
we

we

are.

are

and

until

The

esti-

obviously put on them-

128

im^^Mfe^mm

5gMxS^S a*gfr

Sorrow

attd Insight

selves are laughable sometimes to the can-

did observer, and nothing can open their

eyes to the facts except a shock.

Whether we
not,

it

worth the cost or

sorrow rightly used

fact that

is

it

think

does give insight into one's


into the larger

self, as

of the world.

life

well as

The

chastened soul gets some truer views, and

emerges a truer and nobler self.


Eliot says of one of her great

often

George

characters,

sorrow

his

"

Adam Bede

had

not

felt

had not outlived


it

slip

from him

as a temporary burthen, and leave him the


same man again. Do any of us ? God

would be a poor result of all


our anguish and our wrestling, if we won
nothing but our old selves at the end of it
forbid.

if

It

we

loves, the

could return to the same blind

same

self-confident blame, the

same light thoughts of human suffering,


the same feeble sense of that Unknown
towards which we have sent forth irrepressible

cries

in

our loneliness.
129

Let us

Ws^^^^^W?^
arrow

&tid Insigh

r;r#: aTOCCa' ~> aieag

raw

rather be thankful that our sorrow lives in

us

an indestructible force, only chang-

as

ing

its

form, as

do, and passing

forces

from pain into sympathy

word which includes

our best insight

all

the one poor

and our best love."


It is this

new

insight also

a gracious touch with other

which gives us
life,

saving us

from hardness and self-absorption.

Milan there

picture in
to feel

is

In a

a cherub, trying

one of the points of the crown of

thorns with his forefinger.

There

look of childish wonder, and a lack of

is

com-

prehension on the face, and yet a desire to

comprehend.
the

artist.

cherub,

It
It

who

is

was

a fine conception
all

of

mystery to the

could not be supposed to un-

derstand anything of the great passion of


the Lord.

mere word to the be" Have you ever


up yourself, sir ? " a young man
Pain

ing that never

been

laid

is

felt

pain.

on his death-bed asked another young

who visited him by way of


130

comfort.

man
It re-

-,^^^^*^5Fg^tE
orrow and Insight
vealed a longing for exact appreciation of
the situation, and an instinct that true sym-

pathy could only come from actual knowledge.

Such hours of
spiration to

insight not only give in-

make

real value in a

we

more worthy, but

life

also give illumination

of

into the things

human

Through

life.

it

reach clearer judgments of the past of

the world, as well as the present.

We

learn that the real history of a period does

not consist of the great deeds and


rable dates
cle.

which historians love

How

history has erred in

the importance of things


rulers

memo-

to chroniits

view of

Emperors and

and battles and the things that make

a splash took precedence then, but are

now

seen to be nothing compared with things

weak and

despised and

unknown.

continually being struck by the

One

of recorded history, the vulgarity which


attracted

by show and

hide-bound by the

tinsel,

outward,

is

vulgarity

which

which

is
is

for-

!3i

Mmms&

t^mmx

^^^s^s^^^zM
Sorrow and

Insiglr

movements of the soul of man


movements of camps and courts.

sakes the
for the

Years afterwards the true history of the


period

is

discovered in some unthought-of

corner of
the

and

life

literature.

contemporary historians'

gether that they often

of their age.

spirit

Ahab

the

fail

It is

It

to

not

is

fault

alto-

reflect

the

so easy to think

king greater than

Elijah

the

prophet, so easy to consider the founding

of a dynasty more

important

genesis of a thought.

Who

than

the

could be ex-

pected to neglect the Empire of

Rome

to

kingdom of heaven which


cometh not with observation ? If we were
look

at

the

asked to give a
age, in

list

of the features of our

most cases the

lists

materialistic a character,

and

electricity

would be of

even

if

as

railways

and turbines took the place

of battles and kings and nobles.


the real history of our time

comes

When
to be

known, who can tell what silent forces and


unseen movements and unknown men will
132

Mmmek

ia^am

^^S^SE^^
Sorrow Mid

Insight

nnzsssag gggsaggg
the pages

fill

All the world trembled at

a nod from Caesar

went

to

trembled

and

the

man

Jesus

His cross, while a few Galileans


His anguish and death.

at

All

Jerusalem was pricked into curiosity and


speculation if Pilate had but a short confer-

ence with Herod

humble men met

and

a little group

in the

of

deep dismay of

their Master's death,

and no one was in-

He who

has confuted history

but

terested

by bringing to nought the things which are


by the things which are not.

When we

accustom ourselves to consider the things


that alone count,
that

which

thoughts

will

and

we

see

feelings

movements of mind and

that

history

is

or explain

the

of the time,

the

illustrate

heart and soul, the

progress individual and social, the spiritual


life

of the age.

It is part

of

this insight into the true his-

man, that we grow

in understanding
of the great experiences of the " cloud of

tory of

*33

fe^^xr^s^^W^
Sorrow and
witnesses," and

grow

in

of the Bible

row

the

bitter cry

of

to us.

a dead letter to the

is

The

surface optimist.

appreciation

comes down

the great literature that

Much

Insigb

Bible

is full

of sor-

of Rachel weeping for

her children and refusing to be comforted,


the cry of anguish over the injustice of the
earth, the cry of

dismay as the nation of

promise staggered to her doom, the cry of


the stricken heart at the loss of faith and
love, the cry of penitence as the soul

is

con-

vinced of sin and righteousness and judg-

ment.

These prophecies and psalms seem

too tragic, and the language sounds exaggerated.

We

perhaps

find

an

aesthetic

pleasure in the pathetic cadence of a psalm

or the solemn tragedy of a prophecy.

We

have had no experience that enables us to


understand that
Until one day

it

is

more than

we know

literature.

ourselves admitted

into the ancient fellowship of sorrow,

and

the strong words are

no longer outside of
our experience and no longer above our
J

34

Mm^^^

'^m^izS

gBggggg^ggsreggg

orrow &nd
We

needs.

learn

how

Insight

the ancient word

is

a discerner of the thoughts and intents of

The

the heart.

becomes the book

Bible

of comfort.

Luther

said

he could not under-

that

many of

stand

the Psalms

he had been

till

came

appreciation

Intellectual

afflicted.

with spiritual insight, and spiritual insight

was

partly the fruit of sorrow born of a

that he had

it

way.

new

found a

He

the furnace.

but

Rutherford

experience.

similar

had had the Bible before

became precious

The

When we

experience

read

declared

Bible through

new

common

one.

him

to
is

some of the

in

straits

through

which psalmists and prophets and


of old came,
anguish

in

saints

when we

feel

the throb of

record

left

us,

the

or even

when we remember times in the history of


the Church when the most pathetic and
terrible

of psalms could be applied to the

actual

situation,

petty

troubles

we
and

are

ashamed of our

sorrows.

We

feel

135

m&mm

sometimes as
fit

if

these psalms did not quite

They

our case.

are too clamant, with

too strident a note, and their pictures are


too lurid.

We can hardly

situation to ourselves.

a time

we have

trouble.

It

reason to

call for

many

help in

that sooner or later

true

is

apply the exact

It is true that

comes to us, and seldom can a life


pass without somewhere the sting of pain
in times of conviction and repentance and
awakening of soul we know a little of the

grief

loathing of sin

but

we can

the whole picture our own.


that

our

places, as

make
may be

hardly
It

has been cast in pleasanter

lot

we

certainly spend our days in

more peaceful scenes, so that the music is


Then, in
too constantly in a minor key.
some hour of need we are given to know,
and the whole story

The

fact

is

is

unsealed to us.

unquestioned that in pain

countless lives have reached their highest,

and that pain has driven a path of


136

PfflM

light

W^&a*Xga*gfrtf4%

orrow

A-tid Insight,

iit ft fflfitV

The

into the soul.

raWA misS
death of a father has

many a
now he can no

often been a revelation to

he realized

that

behind others,

stand

son, as

longer

must take

but

his

place in the front rank, in the firing line

of

He learns something

life.

of the burden

the dear dead bore, and

why

there were fur-

rows channelled on the

face.

The death

or

has sometimes been a revelation

a child

to a mother, enriching and enlarging the

heart and giving a


a

new

new

tenderness because

The whole

insight.

panded,

and

beauty.

Often

life

has

nature has ex-

grown

in

gracious

this transformation

is

evi-

dent even to the observer, but the heart


itself

in

knows more of what has been

learnt

God's great school.


In the personal

privation

is

life

a disappointment or

recognized as bringing with

and the way

it

is
way
comes in the very tone of
the voice, and the whole way of looking

new

force,

of insight.

at the world.

of pain

It

In one of his
137

letters,

speak-

*g^Myss& afrfr<^

Sorrow &nd
what pain has taught him, R. L.
Stevenson says, " The rich fox-hunting
ing of

squire speaks with one voice, the sick

The

of letters with another."

man

fox-hunt-

has no doubt his uses, but he

ing

squire

has

his

tell

us of the soul's secret and the vision

of the

He

limitations.

unseen.

optimism of the

There

is

is

a simple easy

untroubled

life,

which

man who knows, and

sounds hollow to the

which

has nothing to

sometimes

intensely

irritating.

we have been driven beneath the surface we do not know of what we are capable both of good and of evil, and we have
Till

false

are

views of the world and of life.

many

man

things a

the surface calm

is

is

ruffled.

The

the old harper in Wilhelm Meister


the listening

There

shown, when
song of

moved

Wilhelm powerfully,

Who never ate his bread in sorrow,


Who never spent the darksome hours
Weeping and watching for the morrow,
He knows ye not, ye gloomy Powers.
138

^^uw>^c^^^B0

orrow

&.nd Insight

The

heart-sick plaintive sound of the


lament pierced deep into the soul of the

The

hearer.

avenues of his heart were

opened, so that old feelings were awakened

new

and

him,

in

There

roused.

claims

are depths

who have

only to those

closed

of sympathy
which are dispaid the

All others are mere outsiders,

price.

till

they have been initiated into that region

of deeper knowledge and deeper feeling.


It

is

way

the

ultimate peace

to

for

no permanent satisfaction in the


mere surface life. There are men and
there

is

women

with

seemingly

everything

heart can wish, and yet the salt


their

life.

amusements

Life
:

is

full

is

the

out of

of interests and

they are always doing some-

thing and going somewhere, but never do

they find
rich

rest,

and never can they use their

and varied experience of happiness to

deepen the world's

life.

They have

been awed by the thought that


sacred and solemn mystery.
x
It

39

The

never

life

is

voice of

S^^^v^k^&uM
Sorrow- &nd

Insight

the rich fox-hunting squire


bright and

pleasant,

and

it

may

be very

sometimes

is

good to hear the cheerful sound of that type,


but

it

never touches chords of deep feeling

such words as those of the old harper.

like

After

men

is

all,

the

great

common-

two men

really see

quality of appreciation.

place
the

to

among

difference

a difference in insight and in the

say that no

same scene

It

is

We are continually

alike.

receiving instances of the fact that men's

eyes are holden that they cannot see things

As

in their fullness.

a matter of fact

we

do not see altogether with the eye, but


So that

with the heart.

up

faith

and sight

gives sight since

it

it is

futile to set

as opposites

for faith

Instead

gives insight.

of saying that seeing

is

believing,

it

would

be a deeper truth to say that believing


seeing.

Sight

record of a

ment, and

is

much more than

self-recording

the

fatal

optical

mistakes

are

is

the

instru-

more

than mere errors in the instrument, errors


140

^J^M^BM

i^^SSZSSSSS

orrow

a.nd Insight

of refraction of the
the eye, and
it

if

light.

we

eye that sees, but

It

not the

is

that see by

means of

the mistake be in us, will

not vitiate everything

we

see

We only

what the heart gives us the power to see.


This is so in the world of nature. If
some men can see in the colour and form
see

of natural objects things which are holden

from

our eyes,

we

not justified

are

in

sneering and denying that they see them.

naturalist uttered

a great truth in the

remark that you must have the


your heart before you can see

We

bush.

bird
it

can go through the

in

in

the

world

having cultivated the sense of

without

beauty, and even lose the gift of simple

enjoyment.
earth

If

all

our thought

of the

that objects have certain external

is

and if we have never penetrated


meaning, we are surely blind of

qualities,

to any

eye and need some

Some whose
to her beauty

K|

new

vision.

eyes are open to Nature,

and

truth,

can see nothing

I41

mgg&M
Ejjgpii^lili

orrow and Insight


?',rn aXwjc t zTMtA
two
rt

of

God

human

in

tragedy of

the pathos and

life, in

the disaster which treads on

it,

the heels of peace, the acts of devotion

which rescue humanity from the grasp of


the

selfishness,

nobility

of

soul

which

overcomes the craven and the mean, the


possibilities

reach

which reach up

down

to hell, and

which works through

meaning

and

know how

all,

purpose.

to

heaven and

the divine love

giving

Or

all

we

a disease of soul will corrupt

every sense and mar every power.


is

to

again,

There

moral obliquity of vision which can

even go the length of calling

and good

evil

evil

good,

terrible colour-blindness

of the soul, where moral distinctions are


obliterated

and the eyes are holden that

they cannot see the truth.


life

If the pain of

can unseal the closed heart,

it is

worth

while being learners in the hard school.

The insight that comes through pain


and disappointment may be insight into
142

^^SS2S2^^
Sorrow and
the value of

what we

Insigh

have.

We

learn to

many compensations,

see not merely the

but also to see the great good in present


blessings.

It is

perous man,

often the happy and pros-

who

talks loudly

and largely

over the misery of others, and makes large

judgments on the
and on

injustice

the mystery of

of the world

suffering.

The

man who

has tasted for himself the bitter

cup

often

has

which

The

he

thinks

been

shown something,

even worth the

price.

outsider's partial observation leads to

many a shallow judgment, whereas the man


who has himself been through the experience can see something which makes him
even thankful that he now knows.
There is much truth in the law of compensation, if it be a law.
At any rate we
can grasp the opportunity which

lies

in

every seeming narrowing of opportunity,

and turn a loss into a gain elsewhere.


is

ever a

way to make

There

the most of an experi-

ence, like Wordsworth's

143

Happy Warrior

^^vv^y^^F
Sorrow &nd
Who doomed
Turns

Men

go

to

in

Insigb

company with

pain

his necessity to glorious gain.

have looked their hard

fate

in

the

face and determined not to be mastered by

and have found compensations of which

it,

they did

They were

not dream.

driven

deeper sources for the satisfaction of

to

their

needs.

young man

his

strength has

and

in the first

the end of

all

rejoicing in

suddenly been crippled,

dismay has

felt

himself

at

things, but has learned that

he need not be the helpless victim of his

may

he has developed

be

calamity.

It

some

of his nature lying dormant,

and

gifts

has

things of

found some lasting joy


the mind.

who would have


life

than

little

little

Perhaps the
else to

show

in

the

man,
for his

cleverness in baseball,

made himself a scholar. At any rate


some new appreciations and new judgments

has

of worth have become possible.

There may be

new
144

joy in what

is left,

gs^gsr^gssss

Sorrow Mid

Insigb

nzassagg gzzzzgsss
learning

how

We often do not

we have

things until

till

value

tasted the dread of

" Ye never ken

losing them.

water

some unregarded

precious

things really are.

the worth o'

We

the well runs dry."

accept
health and peace and love and service as a

matter of course, and for the


learn

how

first

they seem taken from us.

come

tions have

death-beds

to

They

the best things

men

we
when

time

precious are these gifts

What

revela-

at sick-beds

and

never really saw what

in life are until then.

In a

of recognition they were shown some


of the depths of life, the pathos and mys-

flash

tery and

tragedy

and

if

love

has

been

given back to them from the brink of the


grave, they

was
pit.

know

ever after

how good

it

that they should have looked into the

Some answers are received to many


when suffering has been the

a question,

The

schoolmaster.
to a

man

world has been richer

ever since.

whom came

The

the peremptory

sick king, to

command

to

"45

E^^m

mmaM

3gg^SAsai * Kag g *

Sorrow Mid

house

set his

in

order and

Insight]

who then had a re-

would go

prieve, declared that he

softly all

his years and confessed his need

lesson

for he

^yj

of the

had seen something worth

facing death to see,

"

men live."
This may seem merely

Lord, by these

things

content with

we

ceased to shine

that

we become

because the sun has

less, that

are grateful that the

gloom of night should be enlightened by


any star. Even that is worth something
to learn true contentment.
But there is
more in it than this, more than just cutting
our coat according to our cloth and becoming more easily satisfied.
There is a new
and real value given to things which before
were unregarded
come.
has
basis

for a

new

standard has

This illuminating power of sorrow

chiefly

of

to

life,

do with the fundamental

getting

sources

of

through

this school

life,

and

tration to the fact.

deeper to

the true

who have gone


add their own illus-

all

can

An

inscription

on a

146

Mmi&

mmim

Sorrow

of

" The

life,

Barbara

Santa

sun-dial at
reads,

&tid Insigh

light

of

in

California

God showeth the way

but the shadow telleth both the

hour and teacheth the

is

the

shadow which marks the passage of

the

faith."

It

hours, and gives distinction to the shining

of the sun.

The
gives
life,

profoundest lesson

insight

and into the

our home.

spiritual

Often

with

plenty,

is

that

which

the ultimate needs of

into

in

the joy

world which

is

days of peace and

of work and

the

strength of friendship, with the pleasures

of nature

happy
its

and

art,

we

in the present.

are

content and

The

soul sleeps in

drowsy conditions, and accepts the

transient for the permanent.

We know in

theory the truth of the great word that the>

world passeth away and the


but

it

lusts thereof,

has no effect on conduct.

not live

with

from things.

We

do

any sense of detachment


When we are rudely shaken

from our composure and we learn the un147

^ga^y^BHP

"

Sorrow
1/

r\

a.nd Instgh

wyryawW

equilibrium

stable

slight tenure

we

of

life,

3SS

1T1

and on what

hold our dearest joys,

we

get the chance to learn the relative impor-

tance of things.

new

insight

becomes

possible into the place of the spiritual, the

value of character, and the beauty of goodness.

" What

shall

we

Enobarbus

do,

Shakespeare makes Cleopatra ask in fear,

when

Csesar

is

thundering at the gates, and

the voluptuous queen


tragedy.

is

Enobarbus

face to face with

solemnly,

replies

" Think and die." There are times when


men must think who never thought before,
think of the past as

must be,

its fatal

it

has been and

doing which

is

now

the soul's

undoing now, think of the present bereft of


all

out

that life had, of the future


its

eyes.

which opens

unknown path before trembling


They must think of the meaning of

life, its

purpose.

lost

opportunities,
clearer light

eyes, and things

are

its

unfulfilled

dawns upon the

seen

from another

148

mamma

^szmji
^iSsr^ja

w^yfr-re^^^
Sorrow

a.nd Insight

Once and

we see from
when no crosslights of time come in to confuse.
It may
be an illness, when we are carried down to
standpoint.

again

the standpoint of eternity,

the end of the land, to the shore of

life,

moment

to look out over

the strange water, where

some time we

and are

set for a

must make our


It

may

be

we

loved

drift

sea.
lives

farewells and put out to

bereavement, when

out over that bar with

the resistless tide, leaving us on the beach


lifting

impotent hands to the calm sky.

At such times we have confessed

the

value of the lesson, and have promised a


different

future

chance.

We

if

have

only

we

at least

get

another

been brought

back from the careless security of our


to
is

acknowledge dependence on God.


surely the final end of

that

we

and

will.

all

life

This

hard experience,

should get insight into God's love

Charles

Lamb

wrote of a great

" She gave her heart to the Puriand her will to the Will that governs

sufferer,
fier,

149

mmm

ifeamo

i&*M!&**&*i*&vfi

Sorrow and
To

the universe."

mission

to

is

Insight

have made such a sub-

have found the

We

secret.

can well be grateful to have tasted of sorrow,

has been the occasion of tasting

if it

Too

of love.

commonplace

We

to see.

often

until

we

hold things

take the greatest gifts as a

matter of course

even

the gift of God's

Sometimes we need

love.

with seeing tears until


that the

as

our eyes are sharpened

men of

we

to be

" blinded

We

see."

insight are always the

who have themselves


school.
The fruitful

graduated
lives

are

find

men,

in

this

the lives

which the ploughshare has cut deep.


said, " I never knew by my

into

Rutherford

nine years' preaching so


love as

hath taught

much of

me

in

months' imprisonment."

six
it

He

to the proof and had found

through his
In

own

Christ's

Aberdeen by

He had
new

put

insight

pain.

our dull eyes and shallow hearts

there seems nothing marvellous in

love

for the

God's
wonder has not kindled in

wmmzMimgmm

^^ZZZSB

^^

Sorrow ad

our soul, but

Insigb

when we know our

need and are driven to

it

in

we get a new
moved to make surrender.

helplessness

is

worth everything

we have

any price to learn that


all

man

even the

it

worth

suffered,

price of
that a

is

should go to the grave untouched by

the pathos of

life,

unmoved by

its

mys-

never once awakened to the great

teries,

facts

vision and are

When we do,

For, the tragedy

earthly joy.

sense of

weakness and

in

words we use so

lightly, sin, re-

pentance, sacrifice, forgiveness, love, having never once been broken by the sor-

row of the world.

We

must

let

inspiration to

the

new
It

life.

wear our possessions

insight

become an

should teach us to

lightly.

It

is

a ter-

when men give their hearts to


possessions, when living men are satisfied
with things. As life gets narrower, it is
As the outonly a call to make it deeper.
goings of life seem cut off, we must enrible

loss

rich

the

sources

from within.

If the

K-MSS^aiife^^&J

isx^^v^ii&^^vM
Sorrow and

Insight

enmity of men be our portion, we must


love

God

devotedly.

only the more passionately and


If weakness comes,

only be stronger in faith and


gather courage.

As sorrow

let

we must
our heart

or sickness or

age brings detachment from earthly things,

we must
spiritual

only cling more tenaciously to


things, and

into the will of


love,

pray for the insight

God which

however high the

sees

it

to be

price to be paid

for the prayer's answer.

mmmL

za

For

life,

with all

it yields

ofjoy and woe.

And hope and fear,


Is just

How

our chance o the prize of learning


might be, hath been, indeed, and

love

love,
is.

Browning.

Sorrow a*iA Sympathy

AS

we have

turned

our subject

round to the

light,

we have seen

beauty

colour

and

flash

from

every facet like a fine jewel, and perhaps


the rarest beauty

is

this further suggestion

that a great part of the function of suffer-

ing

is

kin.

to

the

way

One

move

hard and

it

makes the whole world

mission of pain undoubtedly

hearts, that otherwise


selfish, to the

is

would be

noble fellowship of

Compassion and sympathy


unite men whom no argument would

consolation.
will

bring together, and these sweet graces are


called forth by this very suffering

our problem.
here
uses

who are
we have

Some

will

see a

which

is

meaning

not attracted by the other


considered, and to

all

of us

one of the answers to the dark problem of human pain and sorrow. There is
it

is

155

Sorrow and Sympathy

kLK

a true priestly function open to every son

of man, and the training for

by the sym-

it is

He

pathy which comes from knowledge.

must know what

it

be compassed

to

is

about with infirmity, that he

compassion on

with them.
is

may have

and bear gently

his fellows

beneficent end of suffering

to produce this gracious

comprehension

requisite for the highest social service.

In

previous chapters,

this, as in

we

are

not seeking a simple formula which will


give a complete

of

The

solution of the mystery

grief.

to each with

lessons of

as life itself.

its

patience,

enlightening

sympathy

and

larger reach of

would

softening
in

all

God.

consider 'one

which may

its

own

another with the

sin, pointing

faith,

wide

comes

hushing one soul into

lesson,

creased

are as

own meaning, and

personal

knowledge of

life

painful experience

another to in-

still

another to

disciplining us to a

In this chapter

we

of these answers,

find a response in

some

m
hearts,

^^Zg^^S^^
Sorrow amd Sympathy
'

Ifri K\\

as they look

done

for

w" *AHW wbs&


God

back and see what

them by the

has

sore chastening of

their lives.

We

can begin with this accepted truth

that experience alone completely teaches,


that participation

brings

gives

true

the

divine

The

priestly

cised

by a

therefore

in a particular situation

comprehension of

it,

and so

of sympathy.

capacity

function can alone be exer-

man from among men, who


knows men and can bear gently

with them.

hood of man

There

is

a universal priest-

apart from anything official,

a divine feeling for

human

infirmity, the

glow of a heart that sorrows and joys beNothing will teach this so
cause it loves.
powerfully as experience.

The

unerring

appreciation of an event comes to the man,

who

himself has

felt

the force of

it.

Ex-

knowledge is of the lasting


and the sort which brings compre-

perimental
sort,

hension.

The

world

is

made

kin by a

touch of nature, and nature teaches with

Sorrow and. Sympathy

facts.

Actual com-

munity of sorrow or of joy

will dissolve all

irresistible

by

force

when nothing

conventionalities,

The

recognition

then

come

in a flash, a

else could.

bond

of nature's

gleam of

will

intuition.

brings sympathy

It

men

unite

though
every

it

;
and sympathy will
no written bond could do,
were attested and secured by

as

means.

legal

It

any deed of contract


pact

written

in

flesh,

is

for

stronger than
a

com-

signed

with

is

it

and

blood.

A man

must know himself before he


know men, and he must know them

can
in

this

foucald
that

intimate sense before he can help

One

them.

we

is

of the maxims of

that

we pardon

love, but

would love more

it

if

is

La Rouche-

in the

degree

also true that

we knew

more.

we

great deal of the hardness and cruelty of

men

is

due to want of knowledge, lack of

sensitiveness,

same

want of experience of the


which they subject others.

slights to

158

W^*re*^^^E^
Sorrow and Sympathy

So the

typical oppressor, not

Bible but also of history,


heart

is fat,

perous

who

the

is

only of the

man whose

has lived a soft and pros-

the careless sensualist

life,

who

is

not in trouble like other men, nor plagued


like other

fatness,

wish

men, whose eyes stand out with


who has more than heart can

and

he

is

it

who

compassed with

is

pride as a chain, and covered with violence


as a

The man who tastes of the


who is broken and chastened

garment.

bitter

cup,

and accepts

it

for his learning, loses his

native pride and violence

pity

and gentle-

ness take their place.


Similarity

felt

of experience

"

sympathy.

He

wound."

should

breed

who never
Whatever else may be

jests at scars

sympathy ought to

taught, this lesson of

be learned from every experience of sor-

Few

hearts,

we do not
if we know our own
and know how easily they become

selfish

and shut up to

row.

of us can say that

need the lesson,

all

*59

aiigi

outside interests.

^y^ig!^

"^^p^jt^^

Sorrow and Sympathy


ffiWrVAVfci" rS/7//A iusS
So long as fortune smiles, so long as life
(lows smoothly on, so long as success and

we take a
The consid-

easy prosperity are our portion,


roseate
erate,

view of the world.

compassionate temper does not come

naturally with
self-centred,
others.

Sir

for the great

We

most.

of

careful

Walter

Scott,

common

Jeanie

Deans say

" Alack

in

soon become
heedless of

self,

facts

who had
of

life,

her sore

eyes

makes

trouble,

when we sleep soft,


and wake merrily, that we think on other
people's sufferings, but when the hour of
trouble comes."
To how many of us
If we had
sympathy was born of sorrow
not known something of pain, our hearts
It

is

not

would have been harder and more loveless


are.
We are dense and crass

than they

enough, with dull enough


if

it

had not been

for

sensibility, but

some

discipline

which perhaps only our own hearts know,


we would have stood off from others with
a colder, prouder isolation.
1

60

The memory

Sorrow and Sympatljy

of a similar experience ought to make

men

considerate and pitiful.


It

does not always do so,

deed so

many

it is

true.

exceptions are there, that

In-

we

are tempted sometimes to imagine that the

opposite

or sect,

is

the truth.

who have

persecuted race

tasted the bitterness of

insolence and wrong, into

whose

heart the

iron has entered, might have learned the

beauty of tolerance from their

ous

lot.

Yet how often

rather

own grievwhen they

have gained power, revenge has been the

one thought.
in

History

is full

of instances

which the persecuted have become per-

The

secutors in their turn.

lesson of tol-

erance has been learned by the noblest of

them, but to the majority the memory of


their

wrongs has not made them

Working men
hardest

taskmasters

from their

Newgate

sometimes

own

class,

are

and

say

men promoted
it is

a proverb of

that the reformed jailbird

the severest jailor.


161

gentle.

that the

makes

z&wswr^^^^L
Sorrow and Symp&tby

The
does

truth

real

blows of

that sorrow in itself

is

bring sympathy, and the hard

not

do not naturally soften, and

life

painful providence does not in itself lead


to grace.

pain

Everything depends on

and sorrow are met, just

high priest, though

among men,

did not

and

the

were taken from

all

show the

quality of gentleness, but

proud

how

as every

true priestly

were sometimes

At the
community of

and haughty.

hard

same time the point

is

that

experience can be used to learn a lesson,

which could not otherwise be so completely

Pain can bring a softer

learned.

look into the eyes that are schooled for


the discipline.

Sorrow can bring a deeper

sympathy than was possible


prosperous

life.

We

in the easy

feel the force

of the

Deuteronomy, "Love ye
therefore the stranger; for ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt "
ye know the heart
beautiful appeal of

of a stranger; ye have

felt

the bitterness

and the anguish and the loneliness of

it.

162

K^aaaajs

mmmji

Sorrow and Sympathy

All

life

is

a great spiritual opportunity,

and everything that emerges for us should


be seized and the good of it appropriated
;
so the sorrow, as well as the joy of life,
has its own meaning.
Of all the lessons

of sorrow none
get

lies

so on the surface as

one of sympathy.

this

down

to the

Through

common

basis

of

it

we

life,

the

pit from which we are digged, the naked


simple humanity which unites us.
Often
nothing else will teach the lesson to our
stubborn hearts, and melt and move us to

the

way of

which

love

is

the

way of

God.
Pity and need

Make all flesh kin. There


Which runneth of one hue,
Which trickle salt with all.
But, as

we have

is no caste in blood
nor caste in tears

said, everything

depends

on the spirit in which grief is met. It


must be used to enrich the life and enlarge
the heart.

An

effort

mw&t

163

is

needed

for

it is

mmm

Sorrow and Sympathy

only an opportunity, and here as elsewhere


opportunities

To

may be

missed.

many

the Christian soul

a time a

personal sorrow, or disappointment, or loss

has been a turning-point of


sion for deeper consecration
ice.
is

In

Morley's

an occa-

of Cobden there

Life

a quotation from one of John Bright's

how he was

speeches, which explains


to

life,

and wider serv-

devote his

life

first

of

all

led

to the corn-

law agitation and so to many noble causes.


" At that time I was at Leamington, and I
was, on the day

on me,

when Mr. Cobden

in the depths

most say of despair


shine of

my

All that

was

of

grief, I

for the light

called

might

al-

and sun-

house had been extinguished.

on earth of

my young

memory of a

sainted life

left

wife, except the

and of a too brief happiness, was lying


still
and cold in the chamber above us.

Mr. Cobden

called

upon me

as his friend,

and addressed me, as you might suppose,


with words of condolence. After a time

imm^

^^^^^^s^^mM
Sorrow and Sympathy
Tin: 0lk.k.vjc jjjjjss. iqng
he looked up and

said,

'

There

are thou-

sands of houses in England at this

moment

where wives, mothers, and children are


dying of hunger. Now,' he said, ' when
the first paroxysm of your grief is past, I
would advise you to come with me, and
we will never rest till the Corn Law is
repealed.' "
That was chastening yielding
its noble fruit, sympathy born of sorrow.

John
been

Bright's rich useful


lost to

England,

if

life

might have

he had only brooded

over his grief and hardened his heart, and


refused to listen to the evident call which

came

to him.

It is

not

in error therefore

we look forthe ripest Christian character


and the true priestly service from those who

that

have lived most,


most.

of

life

We
to

need

others

words to
It is

felt

most, even suffered

There is no way to the higher reaches


but the way of the cross.
not

that

pretend to ourselves or

there

is

any solution

utterly explain the riddle

in

of pain.

poor work to try to patch grief with


165

^^^aix^

^^^^

Sorrow and Sympathy


| $ty

proverbs,

to

" charm ache with

We

agony with words."


there

that

air

and

need not pretend

any philosophy of sorrow,

is

make everything plain. But it


can be said that we can use our pain or

which

will

loss or grief or

tian

disappointment in a Chris-

and

spirit,

if

we

heart of anguish joy

do,

from the very

born, and on the

is

withered stem a sweet white flower grows

and

due time bears

in

When
of

its

peaceful fruit.

the garish light and crimson colour

summer have

times

passed, the earth someon a solemn sacred beauty.

takes

When

the joy of

life

is

buried, one day

the grief also dies, and the heart under-

stands

for

it

has been brought nearer

and nearer men.

This

is

God

the priesthood

of love and sympathy, where the follower


of Jesus serves at the altar, himself sorrow-stricken,

himself

also

offering the sacrifice of love.


in the

sin-bearer,

He

shares

fellowship of Christ's sufferings,

and His people's.


1

mMmm
iilrr-iiMlr

niiiinimrtr

_o

66

limp

&z?&^v

s^vfi

Sorrow And Symjxitby

This too

the quality of the Master's

is

which the Epistle

priesthood, of

to the

The Man of sorrow is


the Man of sympathy.
Though He were
a son, yet learned He obedience by the
things He suffered.
The Captain of our
Hebrews

is

was made

salvation

He

ing.

full.

perfect through suffer-

drank of the cup of human

and tasted what

it is

for a

man

life,

So,

to die.

the beautiful translation of our English

in

Bible,

our

He

touched with the feeling of

is

infirmities.

He

is

Christies Consolatory

the pitiful, compassionate Saviour, because


in

all

like

things

merciful

things

He
He

it

behooved

Him to be made
He might be

unto His brethren, that

and

faithful

pertaining to

High

God

Priest

for

in

in

that

Himself hath suffered being tempted,


is

able

to

succour

them

that

are

This is the secret of His


power too; lifted up He draws all men
to Him.
We move to the passion of His
tempted.

Cross.

167

iSciTow and Sympathy/

U/J

?7if>i aXjwA" 'J-IJMfA. iViMU

The

trouble with us

is

we do

that

put this quality of sympathy in

its

not

rightful

Our whole standwrong, and we need to

place of preeminence.
ards of

life

are

convince ourselves that this quality

importance before

in

we

see that

it

is first

almost

any means that can produce it.


Compassion or pity is sometimes looked
on as almost a sort of weakness. We

justifies

perhaps do feel that this element

make

to

is

needed

a completely rounded character,

but the world admires other qualities most,

independence, energy, ambition, the qualthat

ities

make

for success, the things that

suggest strength.

upon

Compassion

can be graciously thrown


it

looked

which

With some

in.

even a mark of effeminacy, showing

is

a strain of weakness.

but

is

as rather an additional thing,

it

is

not war.

It

is

magnificent,

It gives

a touch of

beauty to a character, but at the same time

keeps

it

from reaching the topmost pin-

nacle of success.

To
168

wmmgj,

be too

much

ex-

Sorrow and Sympathy

zmsssss gazzzmssj
by the sufferings or misfortunes of
swayed by feelings of sorrow

cited

others, to be

show tenderness and sympathy

or pity, to

men's

for

and troubles

infirmities

weaken oneself
to success

to be self-reliant and

is

centred, even to be aggressive

casion offers, and

way

to tramp

Well,

on

all

it

by success.

if

there

is

will

It

is

it.

how

it

we mean
we mean becoming

strain

saying that pity


other saying

is

expressed

is
is

The world's
in the

far truer that pity

to love,

and without that there

success

in

this

seen

place of

is

akin

no

is

men who have

this quality to be

high that they have made

real

So important

life.

that there have been

the

is

false

The

akin to contempt.

human

is.

which alone can

save strength from brutality.

view

life,

important this quality

this gentle

point of

oc-

a foot in the

depends on what

If by

see

self-

when

the highest possible in character and

we

to

is

The way

in the battle.

it first,

as

so

Ruskin

169

IKMsa^

za

who makes
man.
into

mark of

the one

it

a gentle-

Fine feeling, sensitiveness, insight

what others

are experiencing repre-

sent the highest culture.

pathy, which

is

means sym-

It

the imaginative understand-

ing of other conditions.

Whether
or no,

The

it is

it

be the mark of a gentleman

at least the

mark of

a Christian.

teaching of Jesus makes this a divid-

ing line as in His parable of the Judgment.

" Inasmuch
of the

as

least

could

also

phrase

ye have done

of these."
be

summed up

He went

that

to

it

His whole
the

in

one
life

one

about doing good.

His sympathy and compassion were never

To

failing.

heal the broken-hearted

His mission, and

walk

to
fact

faith is that

All-powerful
if

we

way

to the

called

His footsteps.

in

of our

He

is

God

was

His followers

The
is

central

love.

The

the All-loving too, so that

look upon compassion as in some

weakness we never were so


very

spirit

of Jesus.
170

He

alien

spoke of

W^^y^^s^^^^^
trow and Sympathy
lira ATOKiy ? j> j iTwt*
having

compassion

the

for

He was

wants of men.

commonest

sorry on one oc-'

casion that they should be hungry, anxious

go away

that they should not

sion on the

and

had compas-

multitude, the

common man

of

common

his

view

fasting lest

He

they faint in the way.

of

quality

this

From His

needs.

pity

point

not

is

gracious and pleasing adornment to character, but goes

down and

deep

is

the test

of character.

We

can see

must be
ask

men

how

are

to strive after

many
and

virtues

the

is

because without

more or

less

social value

of

it

crown of the

they

all

all

qualities

degenerate into

human

may have
acter,

and may

We

of strength of char-

strive to

171

&^C^%

the real value

gift is its social value.

a high ideal

The

and attainments

comes from compassion, and


of any

vices.

virtues,

possessions.

selfish

we

attain to, but

by themselves they would be almost

Compassion

and

this should be so,

There

so.

add the great vir-

^^^M

^^h^i/^sk

Sorrow and Sympathy


Tin: aXCk\\~

**MfA icng

tues of self-control and courage and truth

we

and patience and honour, but when

have made the most of ourself in isolation


if

that

were

possible, nothing

nently gained

what we

if

are

is

perma-

is

not used

in

some way as a contribution to the world.


Even spirituality by itself would simply
live and die with a man, and make no impact on the life of the world without a
of contact such as

point

afforded by

is

compassion.

There

is

no sense

meant

in

some way

if it

To

life.

deny

this is to put

on the universe.

And

the discipline

it, if

and develop

There

and cares, so

many

straits

moral

is

not

there

in

moral

a fool's cap
is

no sense

in

not meant to lead to

this very quality

are so

is

to be a place of disci-

by which men are trained

pline

any

world as a

in this

whole, no rational meaning,

of sympathy.

many troubles and sorrows


many grievous things, so

and

distresses, that if there

meaning

in

life

be

these things

172

mmm&i^mmmM

kQ^ }5orow and Sympathy


;

jjrii'MXivAr urn***

must be designed
cultivation of this

We

as opportunities for the

crown of

need not look long, or

tunities

meet us

all

the virtues.

far, for

oppor-

they are scattered at our feet and


Surely one of the

at every turn.

discipline for ourselves

lessons of

all

we

learn real

should

sympathy.

It

is

that

broad-

ens our appreciation and enlarges the heart.


That is why we expect understanding

from those who have been in the same situation and gone through the same experience.

temper

The
is

considerate

compassionate

expected from one

who knows

In King John, Shakeby experience.


speare makes Pandulph complain to Constance, the mother of Arthur,

" You hold

too heinous a respect for grief," and she


replies, " He talks to me who never had a
son.

But

this quality

is

not meant to stop


similarity of

sympathy with mere


rience.

cate

It is a spirit

appreciation,

which grows

in thoughtful

at

expein deli-

consid-

173

kmmmji

Z&ZV&Z^&SSZ*^
Sorrow and Sympathy

ggggg^ MWAWiSEEbi
erateness, widening out in circles

the

like

own

Master's

till

it is

on

taking

pity,

something of the colour of the divine compassion.

become

should

It

a quality of

the complete character, so that if you


a

component

this

life,

until

we

life,

We

of the world.
of Christ until

"
It

I
is

we

We

find

do not know

we

the great pitiful

maze

do not know the mind


see

why He

said,

and

some form can say with Him,


have compassion on the multitude."
in

the root of

spiration of
to

part.

see the lacrymee rerum, the

tragedy in daily

until

make

anywhere you would

cross-section

foreign

all

true endeavour, the in-

missions, the spirit of

Church's work.
in the streets

all

great service, the impulse

To

look

at

all

the

the multitude

of a city like the multitudinous

waves of the

sea,

men and women and

children with their pressing necessities and

clamant needs, to look into their eyes and


see

where trouble lurks and care

think of the pathos of

it all is

lies,

to

to load the

174

Mlil^Mg^ii&i

Sorrow and Symp&tl

heart with

an

burden.

intolerable

Yet,

the source of the best service, social

this

is

and

religious.

former,

it is

It

is

this that spurs the re-

makes the preacher


sympathy
need.
The kingdom of

this that

to enter with imagination and


into

human

heaven

finds

best workers

its

men who know

a little of this

among

the

compassion

on the multitude.

The

very real danger

of leaving
it

here however

lies

in the clouds, of

all this

making

a sort of sentimentalism, a fine feeling, a

poetic passion, or even a pleasant luxury

of

pity.

dences

Compassion,

useless unless

work
it

is

if

it

is

true, evi-

Sympathy is
It must
action.

itself in practical life.


it

itself into

to preserve

leads to

some sphere of
its

freshness.

service, if
It

is

good

to be thoughtful over the vast problems of

human

needs, but

to

be

of any

value

thoughtfulness must become helpfulness.


If compassion be the

mark of

a Christian,

i7S

mmm^^^^>

-*

if*

Sorrow and Sympathy

it

not the

is

that expends itself in

sort

" Inasmuch as ye have


done it," or " Inasmuch as ye have done it
We can look on the multitude as a
not."
mere multitude and brood with pitiful sadempty

feeling.

ness over vague needs and sorrows, and


the tender feeling

we may

pride ourselves

on may become only morbidness. Vague


sympathy with the masses does not exonus from our duty,

erate

touch our

own

in the streets

feeling left

sentimentalist

may have no true


individuals he knows

of the city

for the

and meets most,

best

where the units

The

lives.

at

home, or

work,

at

or in the other social relations of his

To

has to be individualized.

God

life.

be Christian, this wide compassion


If the love of

has so taken possession of our hearts

some of the quality of that love has


become part of our character, it will find

that

its

natural outlet

which

is

heroism.

for instance at

home,

often the hardest place to display


It is a

poor thing to have com176

Mmszm

Sorrow and Sympathy

passion on the nameless multitude, and to

have none

whose names we

for those

left

Some people make

know.

life

miserable

to themselves and turn the world into a

second-rate

for others, because they

hell

will overlook nothing


It

is

much even

and forget nothing.

to have

enough under-

standing and sympathy as to be able some-

times

to

mouths.

our

shut

eyes,

petition

and shut our


one of Robert

in

Louis Stevenson's prayers written at Vais, " Blind us to the offenses of our

lima

beloved, cleanse them from our memories,


take
It

them out of our mouths

forever."

seems sometimes possible to have a

general good-will to

kindness

prove
ness.
itself

to

none.

itself, it

all

with a particular

If compassion

is

to

can only be by actual kind-

If sympathy is sincere it must show


somewhere in loving service. It is

many difficulties
men cannot be helped in

quite true that there are

and that often


the only real

way because they


177

will not be

^SmmMz^zm

Sorrow and Sympathy

many of the things


may be only a hindrance,
may be almost a curse.

helped, and even that

designed for help


just

charity

as

But that

because

is

without

given

misdirected and

it is

thought,

often

is

save

to

trouble.

What we

need

is

consecration of what

we have and what we

upon
If we would
life as given us for service.
fulfill the law of Christ, we must stretch
are, looking

out our hands and bend our necks for the


burdens.

It

to-day, if

we

ress,

and

is

not register
this

we need most

can

there

progress which

is

this

of

all

are to have true social prog-

is

be

itself in the

we need most

common

if

church

is

to be done, if

heaven

is

to

come

no permanent

not social, which does


life.

It

work of the
the kingdom of
the

extensively

in

widen-

its bounds and in increasing its grip on


modern life, and intensively in deepening
faith and feeling.
It is a sign of the un-

ing

faith of

our time that this passion for


178

men

Sorrow and Sympathy

not so conspicuous as

is

has sometimes

it

been, and this passion for souls has died


out of the Church's heart.

man

It is

when

gives himself to save the world that

he saves himself.

Above
to

true

The

all,

we must know

success

highest

place

Master displayed.

Lord must not


ish

God,
compassion which the
" The servant of the
the kindness of

strive but

be gentle unto

Alas for our earthly ideals and

all."

ambitions

the conqueror

strewn

We

who

battle-fields,

is

the

way

self-

honour and applaud


rides

and

to victory over

ashes

the

of

But not

homesteads, and broken hearts.


thus

who

due to those

is

show something of
something of the

way

that the

not the world's way.

is

to true success.

By

the

revenge of time the secure place in the


heart of the world
riors,

ness of
pire

is

given not to the war-

but to the saints

God

has

over souls

is

made

whom

the gentle-

great.

The Em-

given not to the clever


i

79

j^?vr^i^&i<tM
Sorrow and Sympathy

and the strong, but to the loving, to those

who move

by their unselfishness and

us

Men

service.

their

power

by

many

have

devious

climbed

ways

to

Christ

climbed to His power by the Cross.


there any ideal like this priestly ideal

Is

of a

man from among men, gentle in his strength,


strong in his gentleness, with compassion

on the ignorant and on them that are out

Master's

lifting men by the love of his


God ? If we are to do the
work we must do it in the same

way and

in the

of the way,
life

nearer

His love

kill

same

spirit.

in us all

We

must

let

proud and insolent

and exclusive thoughts.


Life has brought us nothing

if

it

has

not been seized by us as one vast opportunity for

way

loving.

If the world

a place of discipline,

then

be an opportunity for service.

is

in

life

This

any

must
is

to

have caught God's secret, when we too


have learned to love.
1S0

%mmmMhmmm4

.-;

-;f^jj-^

^^^tAi^i

Better by far you should forget

Than

and smile
and be sad.

that you should remember

Christina

Rossettl

TO

many

past

people the burden of the

is

the

heaviest burden of

This

their lives.

many

No

is

true even of

religious people, strange as

difficulties

match

it

through

for

faith

and

it

seems.

of the present can

trials

They can

see

some of the purpose of

their

bitterness.

heavenly

Father

They

something of the meaning of

see

discipline,

learn.
ficient

and can school

They know
for

Their

it

present

the

forward
the

panoplies

them

no unworthy

suf-

of

easy to bear even a heavy

faith also is potent

whatever

is

strength

enough

lighten the burden of the future.

look

trials.

their heart to

that His grace

them, and in

that they find


load.

their

in

calmly
years

and

may

hopefully
bring.

against fate.
fears,

to

They
to

Faith

They have

no nervous anxiety

183

rama^

^^^3

^^^s^x^^^g^
Site Burden f Urn Past
Tiff,

jvavA" sJitf/A iVasS


Even

about to-morrow.

shadow has

the valley of the

terror for

little

them, believing

shepherded through that

that they will be

Yet

to the eternal fold.

whom

they, to

the burden of the present and the burden

of

the

future

They

are

often

sore burden of the

past.

so

are

weighted by a

little,

shadows of dead

are hag-ridden by

days.

Sometimes

is

it

the very greatness and

success and joy of the past which induce

To men

this constant recollection.

certain

temperament there

to

too

much

life

for the duties

live

weaken

reviewing times

in

of a

a temptation

is

the past, and so to

that

are

of to-day.
gone,

In

memory

has a hallowing power, setting things in a


soft

mon

and tender

confined

and

light.

Thus,

it is

infirmity of old age, though


to

old age, to glorify the

to think that the

better than these.

sentiment, but

it

It

carries

com-

it is

not

past,

former times were


is

often a harmless

with

it

a very real

mzw^&Mktos&x^

^sssss^^^E
Che Burden, of the Pas

temptation

which

robs

life

of

its

full

power.

The

sore burden of the past, however,

which weighs upon the heart is not the


recollection of some joy or success of the
past, but of some failure, some sorrow,
some loss, some sin, or some shame. To
many, who live ever under the shadow of

memory,

this

it

would mean new

came

life, if

them with the meaning it had in the prophet's lips, " Thou
shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and
shalt
not remember thy reproach any
the promise

to

more."

Of

course, there

cannot

forget,

forget.

is

a sense in

which we

and we are not meant to

Experience

has

its

lessons

to

and everything that happens to us


leaves its mark, which it is folly for us to
teach

cover up

till

markings.

we understand

at least

There

is

the

a levity of mind, a

childish thoughtlessness,

which takes no

account of what happens, and which finds


i85

K^g^

MS

^gyy\vv;-y
SWBurdentf tlwPa&t
Jii ft rviMA*

It easy to forget

fS/7S/A nas

for there

is

not depth in

the mind for events to leave any mark.


is

It

not any such levity, a light-headed shal-

low enjoyment

in the

present,

which can

be set forth as an ideal.

The

appeal to the past

and rightly

so.

is

Nothing

very powerful,

will so

man like it. When all else seems


memory will drive a man to his
Somewhere

move
to

fail,

knees.

in the hardest heart there is a

spot where the arrow of conviction

soft

can

and quiver.

strike

Some men

are

saved by the hope of a Paradise in front of

them

others are saved by the

a Paradise lying behind them.


that has such a lost

Eden of

never escape the appeal of

The

soul

the past can


pleading, ac-

There
no waters of Lethe, which by drinking

cusing,
are

it,

memory of

will bring
past.

condemning.

entreating,

complete

Memory

soothed

till

forgetfulness

of the

sleeps, can be lulled

oblivion comes, but

186

it

and
does

^SS2ZS^^^

She Burden. of the

Past

jm sags: 'raW/A bSbS


not

moment

In a

die.

An

can awaken.

it

incident, a word, a gesture, an

idle

thought can bring back a forgotten scene


as

by a wizard's wand.

before us

It recreates itself

the solemn pageant passes in

We

front of our eyes.

may

forget

what

are called facts, the pieces of information

which we dignify by the name of knowl-

we

edge, but that which

passed through and

experienced, our vital thoughts, our affections, the things that

our

selves

made

their

mark upon

and have become part of our-

life

these we can never

forget.

There

is

no defense against memory.

No man

is

safe

from a possible resurrec-

tion of the past.

Thackeray, moralizing

about some of the

Pompeii
with

excavated from

Naples Museum,

the preacher's instinct which never

really left

is

Pompeii

him, turns the subject to search


heart of

the very
that

relics

at present in the

thirty
?

man, " Which of us

years old has not had his

Deep under
187

ashes

lies

the Life

hiy^^K^^^^^^M

&W Burden of the Past


of Youth,

the careless Sport, the Pleasure

and Passion, the darling Joy. You open


an old letter-box and look at your own
childish

scrawls, or your mother's letters

you when you were

to

when

at school

Oh

cavate your heart.

and ex-

me, for the day

the whole city shall be bare, and the

chambers unroofed, and every cranny visIt is because


ible to the light above "
!

we

are spiritual entities, with a life

all

our

own, with a past all our own, that this is


possible.
Remorse is only remembrance
:

awakened

memory

conscience

repentance

self-reproach

is

is
is

only

awakened

only recollection

only self-knowledge.

We

can never get away from ourselves, and that


is

why we

can never get away from the past.

All religion begins with repentance, and


the appeal to repentance

memory.
method of
roots of

To
all

life,

remember
ages,

is

probing

an appeal to
the ethical

men

to the

laying bare the springs of

motive, revealing

the

188

RMXJM

is

secret things to a

mmm

h^^zz^^^&M
tU

She Burden of

man's own

astonished

Pa&t

soul,

tearing

his

very heart with the despair of memory.

Not by any

easy facile optimism can true

peace and true forgetfulness be achieved.

The

gate of repentance stands at the en-

way of

trance of the

life,

and repentance

the very terror of remembrance,

implies

godly sorrow for the past, an enlightened

conscience reviewing
the heart

till

world

sick,

and would give the

This burden of the

oblivion.
is

is

that has gone,

nepenthe that could

for

ail

past,

bring

which

burden of moral existence, cannot

the

be relieved by merely turning the back on

what

is

uncomfortable to think about, and

concerning
present

The

oneself with

the

details

of

life.

sins

and

faults

of youth have a

trick of reappearing, pale ghosts of the past

that will

not

be

laid.

Forgotten things

up to recollection without warning.


It is one of the ways in which conscience
works, reminding us that we are each one
start

189

missmm

SB33

Che Burden cf the Past

personal

with

individual,

responsibility,

with unbroken continuity, with a


is

woven

seamless,

we have

thing that

life

one loom.

at

that

Every-

done, and been, has

had something to do with the making of


us.

It

has entered into the fibre of our

being, and

enough
logical

and

we

only need to excavate deep


traces of

to find

new

formation,

and

feeling

accumulated upon

from view, but


tell

the old

like

ganize

it

experience

have been

dust

of

obliterate,

is

there with

red sandstone.

the

it

story to

its

Acts or-

into

habits

into

character

destiny written in brief.

time

which every

and have hidden

it

organize themselves
is

in a geo-

of thought

themselves

character

As

it.

strata

habits
;

and

The

only covers, but does not

deep marks on the

life

heart

receives.

At the same time, men often carry needburdens which are a heritage of their
past.
These burdens are of all sorts, and
less

190

^ggggg^Kagyg;^-

ta Burden of the Past

what would be a
is

to

This

weight to one

light

man

another an almost intolerable load.

why

is

general consoling counsels,

and the scraps of proverbial philosophy so

commonly
so

dished

Shakespeare's

ment

comfort, are

for

remark

ironic

" Every one

experience,

he

grief but

out

and sometimes so

useless

that

has

irritating.

true

is

can

to

master a

Tempera-

it."

such a large place even

plays

in

deciding what our burdens shall be and

how

hardly they

disaster

shall

press

on

disappointment will

or

shadow

us.

cast

on

some

lives

end.

The

ingratitude of a friend, the loss

that

remains to the

of property, the disappointment of an ambition, the

memory of

a mistake, even of

a foolish speech, will rankle in

and reappear

some minds

in sleepless nights.

sense

of shame or disgrace has broken many a


heart,

when

a coarser grained nature would

have easily recovered.


It

jj

is

lack of insight into

the

real

g gg s i^ife^sjg

W.^^^^x^v^g^
%>\k Burden. of

men

griefs of

to

to despise such sorrows,

upon the bearers

look

There

is

often

sible to outsiders

sad for

the Past

and

unmanly.

as

something incomprehenabout some lives that are

The

no evident reason.

underly-

ing sadness, for example, of the

Robertson of Brighton

is

He

reader to understand.

of

life

difficult for

had great

gifts

and used them greatly, achieved a great career with ever-widening influence,

to have everything to
his

home and

his

seemed

make him happy

in

work, and yet the im-

pression of melancholy pervades the record

of his

life.

The

sin

and sorrow of the

world lay heavily on his soul, and the fine


sensitiveness of his nature partly explains
the pathetic tone, but his letters are full of

the feeling of loneliness

and of half-sup-

pressed complaints against his

lot.

It

has

sometimes been suggested that he never got


over the disappointment of his
tion to be a soldier, and

that

first

ambi-

he judged

everything in his successful career by the

192

^f^vji^ggy^^
SpJ

SHeBuwtencf it* Pa&t

WUtMJ^S&A SS/WA
imaginary happiness he would have had
the profession of his
this

is

own

any explanation

choice.

in

Whether

in Robertson's case

many men let some simdisappointment darken much of their

or not, undoubtedly
ilar
life.

Certain doors once open to them are

closed, and
all

imagination pictures to them

that they have lost,

present

The

is

till

the good of the

contemned.

path of

knowledge

wisdom

limitations,

is

surely to ac-

and to recognize

some losses that cannot be


some chances that can never
The loom of life weaves
be regained.
out the web, and after a time there is no
that there are

repaired and

going back to gather up dropped

The web must

When

remain with

stitches.

its

Faust he remarked that the


written Part I

was

dead.

man who had

There

are

mistakes that cannot be retrieved and


steps

flaws.

Goethe wrote the Second Part of

that

cannot be retraced, and

good to accept the

fact.

193

some
some
it

There comes

is

Site Burden

the Past

<Jt

7i> /JttXSA" 'iAMfA. ittUiS

when

time

career

wise

man

realizes that a

new

denied him, and that he must be

is

content with the work and position he has

The young man facing life has


him many alternatives even in the
matter of the kind of work he will do, but

attained.

before

it

not take long before he realizes

does

that the alternatives have

begun to dwindle,

some years of work he must go


on with his choice if he is to make anytill

after

of

thing

his

life

at

all.

The Unjust

Steward,

when

situation

was before him was only stating


when he said, " Dig I

the prospect of losing his

a fact of experience

cannot

more

to

beg

special a

am

ashamed."

man's work

is,

the

The
more

have been shut against him if he


would seek other work.
There are even sterner limitations still.

doors

There are things that bring before us in


even more drastic manner our lost occasions and the irreparable past.

Think

of

the doors that death shuts, for example.

194

mmmM

^ywss^^
Burden of the Past

" It

&ZZZZ m\ ss

U<\\\\\\

/ il

the bitterest element," says

is

Morley, "

in

the vast irony of

that the time-worn eyes to

success

John

human

life

which a son's

would have brought the purest

gladness are so often closed forever before

We

success has come."

have
death

may, however,

bitterer thoughts in the presence or

even

than

We

that.

may know

something of the remorse of


tunities,

which

never come

can

though we seek with

lost

Death

tears.

opporto us
closes

doors not only for the dead, but for some

of the living.
fain

may be

It

show some of

we would
we felt but

that

the love

never expressed, lavish tenderness on the


dear head, or sob repentance to the gentle
soul,

but the door

shut which no

is

man

can open.

This burden of remorse


heaviest of

all

darkened by

to carry,

is

one of the

and many a

unavailing

regrets.

life is

It

has

been expressed again and again by the


masters of literature

for

195

IK^m^s

it

could hardly be

She Burden of tta Bast

missed in the observation of


Eliot expresses

it

George

life.

in a sentence

" Oh, the

we can never

anguish of that thought that

atone to our dead for the stinted affection

we gave them,

answers

for the light

we

returned to their plaints or their pleadings,


for the little reverence

sacred

human

we showed

to that

soul that lived so close to us

God had given


One of the saddest of the pas-

and was the divinest thing


us to

know."

book of Carlyle's Reminiswhere he describes the pain and

sages in the sad

cences

is

worry of lecturing, which was so hateful


to

how

him, and where he recalls

was

his angel

his wife

and unwearied helper and


" God reward thee, dear
all.

comforter in it
one " he exclaims, "

now when I cannot


Oh, why do we delay

even
so

own my

much,

And

till

debt.

death makes

don't I continue

Fools, fools

we

is

not

The

impossible

with others

it

still

forget that

so this has ended."


to us

it

it

has to end

lesson of

how we may most


196

it all

gracefully

CKe Bwdca of the Pa&t


Egg JAWW "> MU*A l**3
mourn our lost opportunities, but how we
may buy up our new ones with the avidity
of a merchant keen on a gainful purchase.

There

are

worse

griefs

even than the

absence which death creates, when love


misses

the

death

of a

missed

At

of affection.

object

the

boy dearly loved and

little

by his parents, a friend of the

family uttered in that even tone of voice,

more

affecting than tears, a sentence

remained

has

with

me

as the

which

saddest I

have ever heard from mortal lips. " I had


two boys," he said, " and I wish I had seen
them carried out in their coffin as this little
lad

is

carried."

What

could be said be-

when

the empty seats


meant dishonour worse than
death ?
Before death there are some things
that may fitly be said, sometimes wondrous
fore grief like that,
in

a house

consolations in happy
else.

But when the

every thought of

it

memory
seat

brings

is

if

nothing

empty and

shame

as well

as sorrow, the iron surely enters the heart

197

^95?gg^?^^

tW

lt* Burden of

Pas

deeper than any other blow of fate could


drive

it.

All problems pale before the problem of


sin

all

burdens are light compared to

that

it is

it.

lies in

the fact

the gospel of forgiveness.

There

The power

of Christianity

could be no real comfort in the face of the


most desolating evil of life if this were not

Only

so.

revelation

the

of

suffice to staunch the inward

otherwise
death.

would

There

not

are

cease

God can

wound,

that

to bleed

sorrows that have

till

no

The
if it be not found there.
renewed by the renewal of the soul, and
Men and women
nothing else can do it.
world

cure,
is

whose lives have been wrecked by betrayal


or made forlorn by bereavement, or whose
hearts have

been stained by sin and shat-

tered by remorse, have

and of repair
It

is

if

no place of refuge

not in the Eternal Love.

to be feared that

many

think of the

divine forgiveness as a smaller and poorer

198

Site Burden of tta Past

/m/<vsw. gznszaggma
thing

human

than

They

forgiveness.

never seem to think that God's forgiveness


can be as

and free and gracious as their

full

They do

own.

their hearts
least,

who

not seem willing to open

Some

good news.

to the

at

believe in the forgiveness of sin

and accept the Father's love, are yet ever


by some shadow of the

oppressed

They

are

still

weakened by the

past.

old sorrow,

or haunted by the old shame, or burdened

by the old

sin

Love they claim


It

is

utterly

to

and have never realized

completeness and the power of the

the

turn

as theirs.

true that something has departed

and forever.

There

back the

irrevocable

miracle to restore

has eaten.

be

It

altogether

is

no magic
no
what the canker-worm
is

years,

true that the past cannot

undone, cannot be just as

Many men
had never been.
it
who have emerged out of the struggle into
peace, and who are not tormented any
though

more by despairing remorse, have

still

the

199

ga^M&^Ma

sad

that they are not

feeling

what they

might have been, that they are not the


true, perfect

fine,

instrument for God's purpose

they would have been but for the evil past.

Even when good now


the

heart, to

many

reigns supreme in

man

the past has

ruined the instrument for good their lives

might have been

and the sting has not

quite been taken out of the past so long as

they feel they must


stand as

mute

As one with full strong music in his heart


Whose fingers stray upon a shattered lute.
It

must not be stated

in

terms of an un-

moral fatalism, breeding a cureless despair


both of the past and of the future.
while
all,

it

is

true that a

new

new hope can

and that

the heart that before

giveness of

sin.

But

open to

flood with joy

was broken with de-

spair, still the old life is

be lived over.

life is

not given back to

Repentance can bring

The
200

for-

past can be buried,

^aazzs^^^^
tU

Cta Burden cf

sorrow forgotten, and

its

its

Past

shame covered

up, but sin forgiven can never be the same

Many

as sin unsinned.
his

cost that he

a man knows to
weak where he might
that qualities in him are

is

have been strong,

languid which should have been vigorous,


that his character

might have been

The

is

poor

in places

where

it

rich.

Christian faith

is

a tacit

condem-

nation of the sentimental brooding on the

whatever that past may be, which


weakens the present life, which keeps a
man from gathering up the fragments of
past,

his life that

remain, from doing his duty

calmly, and giving himself to whatsoever


things are true and pure and lovely and of

good
Paul

report.
tells

fection
past.

is

us

In the

Christian

life,

St.

that progress towards per-

attained by forgetfulness of the

" Forgetting the things which

are

behind, and reaching forward to the things

which

are

goal."

It

before,

press

does not mean, as

towards the

we have

seen,

zoi

wmmgt

vm

^^^gg^B^^J
SW Burden F tk Parti
^-

we

that

should

forget

everything,

the

hallowed memories which are our

blessed

best angels

the events and passages of

still,

the past

Some of the sorrow of


we cannot rid ourselves of, and

some of

its

our pilgrimage.

joy clings about us

We

perfume.

are expected to

like

sweet

remember

the lessons of the past, both of failure and


success, of sorrow
feat

and joy, of moral de-

and victory.

The

principle

is

a simple one.

All that

would hinder us from running the Christian

race, all

that

put behind us as

would impede, must be

we bend

tasks and face our future.

to our present

The

past

must

not be a burden which clogs and weights

us

at

every step.

spective,

Indulgence

self-complaining,

temper must be seen


If

we

in the retro-

self-accusing

to be a temptation.

believe in the eternal love of

we must

not

let

God,

any spectral figures of the

night chill our blood and keep us from our


pilgrimage.

202

mmmM

>!

ft

Che Burden cf

There

tU

Pas

which may

are other temptations

be the heritage of our past.

One

is

when

sorrow becomes exacting and

selfish,

heed-

less

of present duty

The

grief.

in a sort

depressed

life

can make

To

dead.

and

itself

Sometimes a

very depressing to others.

mourner has

of luxury of

sacrificed

the living to the

way

morbid memories

give

sentimental

to

sorrows

is

In the

great opportunity.

to

first

lose

the

shock of

an acute sorrow or a sharp awakening


often

comes

ening

all

It

the world and embittering

looks as

into the
heal.

if

past

all life.

the sorrow will never recede

and the wound

With some

it

turns

will

never

into a bitter

silence expressed in Byron's lines,

All that the proud can feel of pain

Which

speaks but in its loneliness,


then is jealous lest the sky
Should have a listener, nor will sigh

And

Until

its

it

as a blinding influence, dark-

voice

is

echoless.

203

art^Wfrffrggg

She Burden of tin Past


iifi ajjKsV rawA [g as
i

If sorrow does not illumine,


if

does not humble,

it

darkens

it

stiffens into pride.

it

Tears can wash the eyes and the heart,


and

soul see clearly through the

the

let

cleansed windows
are

who
and

of

But there

sense.

some who cannot

God

see

for tears,

are blinded and stunned by hot grief,

who

only ask to be

let

alone in their

misery.

The needs of life remain, no matter


what the past contains, and while there is
life

there

and

is

need.

Fortunately

to indulge in

afford

men

drives

life

much

to duty,

teaches a lesson of faith.

all

which

scene

down

to

family

who had

lost a son.

diately after the funeral,

prised to

the

see

me

do,"

to

It

was imme-

and he was sur-

fisherman mending his

boat on the beach.

have

common

where Oldbuck goes


express sympathy with the fisher

the

in

itself

In The Anti-

quary Scott enforces this truth of


life

cannot

luxury of woe,

"

And what would

answered the

ye

fisher

204

Mm&^gt

a^S^MJ

SW Burden of tk Past

mwa n\\vt

lUU rSSV^L
gruffly,

" unless

wanted

dren starve, because ane

to see four chil-

drowned

is

weel wi' you gentles, that can


house wi' handkerchers

you

lose a friend

wark

to our

your een when

at

but the like o' us

We

maun

my hammer."

weakens

us, if

it is

not mak-

we must

ing us truer and stronger,


it.

in the

again, if our hearts were beat-

ing as hard as
If sorrow

It's

sit

forget

need not forget the love which

was ours and which we have lost, but we


must forget what of self is in the sorrow,
which hinders us from present duty. If
we believe in God, the memory of our
love should inspire us, and teach us not to

backward

look

love

true

God.

is

for

it

If even

but

to be

there,
sin,

the

forward.

All

found again in

shame of youth,

the reproach of the past, weakens us,


is

if

not bracing us to redeem the time,

must
the

forget

gospel

serve

it.

of

freeing

This

is

the good news,

forgiveness,

the

soul

it

we

without

from the

repast,

205

wmm

?ZZ^?2%?^2S?Z^

W Burden F the Past


znzagsass

saagnsggSa

from the thralldom of the things that are


behind.

It is

pagan teaching that

sin

is

in-

and must hang on us till the


end, and shroud life with its blackness.
expiable,

We

need not fear that this Christian


of the

doctrine

make
can

sin

easy

make

sin

forgiveness
it

is

of sin

impossible, the light that

drives out the darkness, the love of


that

fills

the heart and leaves

We must forget what


given.
We must forget
evil.

all

as

we

will

the only thing that

press towards

206

God

for

has for-

that hinders,

the goal unto the

prize of the high calling of


Jesus.

God

no room

God

in Christ

Seek not to penetrate into the future, neither encourage a habit of anticipating good or
trials do

we may have
prise.

evil.

Our

not always come from those occasions which


foreseen.

God often

takes us

by sur-

Fnlon.

TO

many

the burden of to-morrow

harder to bear than the burden

is

of to-day, however heavy


be

life

is

Even many

future.

may

it

darkened by the shadow of the

perpetually

under

religious

people live

leaden sky, never

this

completely and whole-heartedly rejoicing


in

the sunshine

peace
ture,

which

is

theirs.

Their

destroyed by vague fears of the fu-

is

and their

poisoned by petty

lives are

Many,

cares and anxieties.

to

whom

the

burden of the past and the burden of the


present

are

little,

oppressed by this

are

They

burden of the future.


love of

God

gracious pardon of sin


lost for

accept the

for their past, believing in His

them

its

and so the past has

keenest sting.

They

be-

lieve in the Father's sustaining help for the

present

under

trial

they

209

Mmmsis

know

themselves

Z?Z?i?2?r*5^?s7*!i

Iie Burden of

z^gz^^m

zzzzsssss
by their

to be upheld

tkFut

God's loving

faith in

But they are dogged by a

providence.

vague, overshadowing fear of the future,


the

all

It

more

does not shape

but looms

large

storm-cloud that
It

and

because

terrible

it

is

vague.

form,

itself into definite

and undefined, a black

may

burst at

any moment.

may be an accumulation of

little

fears

cares about our future and the future

of those

we love,

ous anxiety.

It

a depressed state of nerv-

may be

a mistaken pru-

dence, which wants to provide for every

and which yet

possible eventuality,
that

there

are

chance can creep

always loopholes
in

feels

where

and spoil the best

laid

may be an undue estimate of the


value of the material in human life, laying
too much stress on the means of living.
Or even this fearfulness may appear to
plans.

It

have a religious source, and be caused by a


keen desire that the kingdom of heaven
should

come

quickly.

particular cause,

many

Whatever be the
hearts are crushed

&mmi&$^mgmm

Che Burden

of tke Future

gzazansg

zznassssg
by

burden of the future

this

be a

new

thing to

them

and

life

would

only they could

if

believe that as their days, so shall their

strength be.

Often,

mood

this lack-lustre

is

only a

thing of the nerves, the result of lowered


vitality,

when

the imagination

is

unbal-

anced and things are seen out of propor-

mind may be
may make a
man falter where usually he would walk
calmly and confidently.
But the mood of
tion.

Even

sometimes

anxious
source

the strongest

unstrung,

any physical

continuous for that

some,

has

fearfulness
in

and

who would

symptoms of

not

deepest

its

state.

It

be said to have

close

the

all

the disease, never display the

nervous dread of to-morrow which


others.

too

is

and on the other hand

Still, it is

connection

afflicts

well to bear in mind the

between the

parts of our nature.

The

state

different

of health

will give its colour to the view of


Often the way to cure the sick soul

life.
is

to

211

mMS^M^BMm

he Burden of &~FtttweT70j
Wfi agggggggggg iu\s^
and con-

find the secret of the sick body,

versely mental states react

on bodily con-

ditions.

The mere
nursing

habit of living ahead, and

of melancholy, brooding

sort

over the possibilities of

fate,

a habit as

is

vicious as any other bad habit.

ments of

they lay open to the


to think a
futile

it

moment,

is

ish

know
worst

We

evil.

how

to see

To

imagine

some unknown

for

Presenti-

because

true,

only need

and

foolish

to exist in a constant anticipa-

tion of evil.

before

come

evil often

even

where

if it

the

difficulties

to

is

and cower

evil

future

blow

is

fool-

come we do not

blow will

Our

fall.

do not meet us

at the

pected places or at the foreseen times.


is

almost a proverb that

that

happens,

and

it is

the

comes often takes us by

exIt

the unexpected

future

when

surprise

as

it

we

discover that the rough places are smooth.

Many

a dreaded

come up

to

it

in

day

vanishes

courage.

212

The

when we
object of

Burden ofthaFut

life

to live

is

and

we

life

by projecting ourselves

of the force of

our

is

own

a ring of

foolishness
it

much

A little healthy laughter

out of our sphere.


at

are diverting

good

is

and there

in Emerson's half comic but

wholly serious verse

Some of your

you have cured,


you still have survived ;
But what torments of pain you endured,

And

From

The

the evils that never arrived

cares and trials of the future are mer-

cifully veiled

we

ills

the sharpest

from our

could forecast them

sight
it

and even

would

still

if

be a

mistake to live through them twice, once


in anticipation,

There
right

is

and again
true

to live for to-day

look after

itself;

in reality.

sense in which

and

and there

it

is

let

to-morrow

is

a sense of

The

spirit

and

motive distinguish the two kinds of

life,

course in which

make

and

so

The

selfish life

it

is evil.

their
is

character

the

213

life

different.

for to-day, with

plte Burden of tke Future) K V/

r/y^/^nasa

irfiz/rssivw
no

larger outlook than the present interest

and

pleasure.

It

would snatch the day,

and can never escape the snare of the pres-

The

ent world.

one of

its

dened by
are

faith in

to-morrow

day because

The
life

it

of

life

faith is

also in

for to-day, unbur-

But how

fears.

The one lives

life

aspects a

different the

for to-day because

it

two
has

the other lives for to-

has no faith

in

to-morrow.

power of an endless
the other has no horizon broader
one

lives in the

The

than that of sight.

with

faith

the

one opposes care

other opposes care with

carelessness.

The man who

believes in

God

and in

His loving providence need not darken

his

days by fretful cares and dread of evil to

come.

Believing

love with him, he

God's

in

knows

purpose of

that the future

cannot bring anything contrary to


there

are

any

trials

that.

and sorrows

If

in that

time to come, he knows that the Father's


grace

is

sufficient for

him through them

214

'^Cmm^F/^Bi^^mMM

he Btrrden of tke Future

urn Kvfty '* j>im* hsss&*


If there are temptations, he

all.

he

will not be

His times are

bear.

knows

tempted above what he can


in

God's hands.

If

days are to be long, the more time to

his

worship and to witness.

If they are to be

few, the greater need to redeem the time

now.

If they

much

be lived

to

are

tribulation with darkness

through

and storm,

with a long stretch through the valley of


the shadow, the Shepherd of his soul

ever with him.

He

is

will ask to see the

heart of good in every evil that touches his


life,

the joy that slumbers in every pain,

and

in

the hour of the final passion will

commit

his

soul to

that as

lieve

God.

days,

his

He must

be-

according to the

measure of them, according to the character


is

of them, according to what

in

them he

called to endure, so shall his strength be.

may be said about


way of taking short

Pascal sums up what


the

true

views

of

religious
life,

" Here,

therefore,

our

thoughts and studies should principally be


215

n(Mm&

sdzmm

^^^Z^a^^^^
Cfte Burden of tkeFut

engaged

yet the world

restless

generally of so

is

men

disposition, that

scarcely

upon the present, nor think of the


minutes which they are now living, but of
those which they are to live.
Thus we

ever

fix

are always

in

the disposition

of

life,

but

never in the act."

There

is,

however, a

real practical diffi-

culty due to the fact that


to consider

place in

the future.

which

necessary.

we are compelled
The world is a

foresight and vigilance are

Life

so organized that

is

it is

a duty for us to exercise prudence and fore-

thought.
is

that

The

never takes
lack
for

weakest sort of character

which never considers the


results

into

account.

of ordinary prudence

many of

the evils,

is

future,

The

responsible

which have assumed


become even

gigantic proportions and have

a social menace.

One

who

will

of the elements of

modern society is the man


take no care for the future, who

despair in our

zi6

he Burden

tkFi

of

with the tide and lives in a happy-golucky fashion from hand to mouth, without forethought, seemingly without any
drifts

anxiety for himself or for those dependent

on him.

means

It

that he has

no

serious-

of purpose and that he has shuffled


off any responsibility for the future.
ness

On

man of prudence

the other hand the

with wise judgment

one of our great

is

He becomes

social assets.

dustry, in politics, and


social activity.

does

The

in

a leader in inall

regions of

who

business man,

not consider possibilities and weigh

probabilities

and anticipate events and

culate future results,


will not

it is

cal-

safe to prophesy,

The

be long in business.

true

statesman also has to be quick to read the


signs of the times, to read beforehand
is

likely to

coming events, and


cordingly.

what

happen, to see the shadow of


to

form

In ordinary

wise conduct of our

own

life

his plans acalso,

affairs,

in

we

the

need

to exercise forethought and to consider the

217

M^^^v^swf^^W^
of Ik

Ke Burden
U

II

raWA mgSdfca

rVASSI*.

morrow.

Indeed, this

training of

is

part of the moral

and true prudence means

life,

discipline, self-denial to-day in the interests

of the

future.

It

obvious that there

is

which

a living for the present

is

is

only

selfishness.

Yet

there

is

a sin of anxiety and fear,

of overcarefulness, which

is due to a lack of
Nothing brings so much misery

real faith.

man

to a
is

as this state of fear.

No

The man who

always calculating,

is

ways estimating future chances,


state

of disquiet.

much of
many of
are
evil.

the
all

burden

so heavy as this burden of the morrow.

it

his

It

itself

means of
the

is

it

is

lost

living.

often positively
in

If

possible evils that

to-morrow,

if

and that so

inferences and calculations

useless, but that

Life

not only that so

is

unprofitable,

is

al-

lives in a

we

give

way

anxiety over

we think of
may happen
to all the mis-

we are full of
nervous anxiety about ourselves and others,
218

givings about the future, if

SlieBtmlen oftke
'if//

rsyifr-V" > AJMag iwiwcfe^

of a surety

we

are in for a great deal of

Care

unhappiness.

low on which

only look into men's

open book of

much need
counsel, "

a very uneasy pil-

is

brow

their

there

Be not anxious

know how

is

for the

calm

morrow.

the evil thereof."

habit of nursing presentiments and

harbouring apprehensions

most

to

for our Lord's

is

need

and read the

eyes

Sufficient unto the day

The

We

to rest the head.

is

for

Supposing the

futile.

happens, supposing the thing

one thing

very worst

we most

fear

has to meet us in the face, the fact that

we have

feared

vent

coming

its

beforehand does not pre-

it
;

it

will only sap

from us

our strength and prevent us from meeting


with courage.

We

our experience of

life

it

the

features

of

the

discover also from


that in

thing

most cases
dreaded

are

when we view it in
Many of the things we fear

grossly exaggerated,
anticipation.

are imaginary, or at least the imagination

has distorted them out of

all

proportion.

219

Miim^&i^^^cmh

^^a^^^s?w?^
die Burden
We

spend

of the Fi

nervous anxiety the strength

in

which would

be

sufficient

meet the

to

The man

dreaded reality confidently.

of

oversanguine temperament

may sometimes

may

be a great blow

be disappointed and

what was hoped

to lose

for,

but he has at

had some of the pleasure of

least

The man

pation.

ious

it

temperament

is

sometimes disap-

also

pointed of his fear, and even

some joy
fered

new
new
may

all

joy

in the relief,

be

if

there be

he has already suf-

the agony of the dread, and his


is

soon

"

spectres.

better

antici-

overanx-

of nervous

liars."

as

lost

he conjures up

If hopes are dupes, fears

In

any case hope

companion than

fear.

By

is

living

we are afflicting ourselves needThe old proverb tells us not to


cross our bridges till we get to them, and
it is wise
for we may not have to cross
ahead

lessly.

the bridge at

by living

in

all.

We

only multiply evil

constant anxiety and seeing

something ominous

in

every event

and

gilgl^^raHgggga

Burden of the Future

lie

forecasting

The
is

day

trouble

for every

to-morrow.

not due, and the evil thereof

is

not due until the day.

There
be a

a sin of fear.

is

It

religion, but in that light


folly

it is

would only

could be viewed without

folly if life

it

is

more than

Our Lord condemns

sin.

of mind not

this

as

foolishness

merely, but as want of faith.

His whole

fearful

state

argument

is

exercises

a wise

It is

because

cast off
is

is

The

To

cares for us that

The

we can

only cure for care

only true defense against

fear

God

a loving heavenly
truly

is

Tacitus passes his

other fear.

God

and loving providence.

knowledge of

the

Father.

God

our cares.

faith.

fear

based on the fact that

to lose

all

judgment

on a man that he feared everything except

God

and we

clusion.

men, who

It

is

feel this to

live their life

yet without

be a natural con-

true that there seem to be

God.

In
221

without fear and

Old Mortality

Sir

i& Burden

of the Fui

n ii saases 2 zzaas jggga

Walter

combat

the

describes

Scott

at

Drumclog between Bothwell and Balfour


of Burleigh. " Die, wretch, die," said
Balfour setting his foot on BothwelPs body
and transfixing him with his sword, " die,
bloodthirsty dog, die as thou hast lived, die
beasts that perish, hoping nothing,

as the

" And

believing nothing,"
ing," said

words.

desperate

these

fearing noth-

Bothwell, expiring as he spoke


It

is

not

quite

consistent even with the picture of Both-

which Scott

well

gives, as

he has

his iO

ments of remorse and

regret,

was some bravado

Bothwell's

boast

of

but

it

is

sufficiently

killed

coarse

his highest

all

world as he

is

grain,

man
who had

instincts,

God

might be

and without fear

without hope.

Thus, when we speak about the


fear,

we

dying

quite possible that a

described as without
in the

in

and there

sin

of

do not forget that there may be a

sin

of

live

with

fearlessness.
little

It

is

possible

to

care and few misgivings,

^^^s^Mb^^^m

i^^^^^U^
k Burden of tkeFi
JltirSWyV BBBBSS3SSS
thoughtless of the future, never anxious

morrow, and yet to be living a


There is a self-confidence,

the

for

godless

life.

which has plenty of courage and no morbidness, but which has no kinship with
this

ful

of

spirit

That

faith

grace to which

of

tone

inculcated by Jesus.

not the calm serenity and peace-

is

the

He

points as the typical

Christian

The

life.

only

adequate and permanent cure for care


faith, the faith

hands of love.
in the

the

day of

we

Wherefore
is

fear

are led through by

?
Even
shadow we need

in the

fear

no

dark
evil.

fear for the future and be over-

anxious for the


the day

is

in the

Wherefore should we

evil, if

Good Shepherd

valley of the

morrow

" Sufficient unto

the evil thereof."

like this

day

of

us,

true

which knows oneself

is

"

with
as

The next day

Him who

thy

can make

it

days, so shall thy

strength be."

Another reason why


fulness

is

evil

is

this habit

not only that

223

it

of feardisplays

Burden of tke Future J

lie

want of

trust in

God, but

destroys our

it

prevents from true activity.


heart out of work.

It

with

his

afraid

and hid the talent

It takes the

of a piece that

is

the servant in the parable

who

man

did nothing

was

that he

should say

only fear a brave

Fear paralyzes, and

capacity for service.

talent

\Q

The

in the earth.

harbours

is

fear lest

he be prevented from doing his work, and

even then he need not fear


part

done the

is

This

is

day and

mean

why

is

we

when

God

kills all

other

morrow.

It

does not

give up work, but that

give up the worry which ruins work.

does not

mean

that

we

we

but

preparation for the future

Our

in faith.

It

see that the

for the

best

future,

we

give up considera-

tion

form duty

his

hands of God.

courage, strength for the

faith for the

that

for

in the

the fear of

It gives

fears.

rest

is

to per-

Lord's words are

not a rebuke to industry, but a rebuke to


fretful anxiety.

There

which we must

live

224

fM^i^g

is

a true sense in

for the present, for

present duty and the tasks that

lie

to our

hand, not anxious about the morrow.


is

the

" Not

spirit

slothful in business, fervent in spirit,

serving the Lord."

When we

heart and soul and

life

liot

worry about

all

have given

God, we need

to

the possible evil things

We

may happen to-morrow.

that

tmow

It

of the apostle's injunction,

into the life of to-day.

can

and power

ourselves with energy

The man

iust because in the larger sense he

of

faith,

lives for

the future and because he has not given


his

heart

to

the present, can

make

the

mcst of the present, content now and ever


God's hand.

that his times are in

Nct love thy life nor hate ; but what thou liv'st
Livj well, how long or short permit to heaven.
This true courage of faith
of mind which brings peace
a heart at leisure from
sting

out of trouble.

is
;

itself.

No

the attitude
for
It

it

means

takes the

turn of affairs

225

mm^afMkm^mmt

he Burden

of the Fi

<ss\!w" zzzzs iu

j/i^i

can come amiss to him,

who

fears nothing

that the future can bring because he tastes

the sweetness of the Father's love.

Herein

is

the secret, the true alleviation

of the burden of to-morrow

not the false

and feeble attempt to oppose care by carelessness,

to

troubles of

turn from the anxieties and


life

to a wild recklessness, as-

suming only a painful jauntiness which

The

conceals the pain.

not forgetfulness, but


peace

God which

of

remedy

true

This

faith.

passeth

all

is

is

the

under-

which guards the heart and calms


the fevered life.
To the soul, which has
standing,

this

of

courage born of

noble

affairs

to the blows of chance.

resignation

things

it

is

faith,

He

can come amiss.

It

is

is

no turn

not open
not mere

glad confidence that

work together

that love the Lord.

" If

all

good to them

for
I

should intend

Liverpool and land in heaven," said John

M^M^M
Howe

about a passage from Ireland.


226

If,

he Burden of the Future

what then

To

that the eternal

John Howe, who knew

God was

his refuge,

and

underneath were the everlasting arms, what

shadow

could

the

future

of to-morrow

As

have

down by

should he be bowed

Why

the burden

his days, right

the last sand had run, right on

till

on

till

the last

gasp of breath, so would be his strength.

Whether

It is at least a beautiful faith.

justified

answer

by the

facts or not,

to the doubts

it is

a grand

and fears and ques-

Well,

tionings of the heart of flesh.

it

is

the faith of the Bible, the inspiring confi-

dence of every godly


the world.

man who overcame

It is also the distinct

teaching

of Jesus, comforting us by the strength

and

assurance

of His words

anxious for the morrow."


the

life

of

fetter the

He

" Be not
speaks of

fretful anxiety, the cares

soul to earth.

It

is

which

also

marvellous example to us, as calmly


filled

will,

His

He

His hours with doing the Father's


and with secure tread walked

in the

227

gggmm

tt&Sr*W&l^&&
Burden of tKeFut

> he

&aa

rfrfrWftTTrrr^'^-

was the via

He

way

Part of the

of day.

light

The

dolorosa.

took so graciously, had

in

Him

for

future,

which

the cross

it

and the passion.

We

are not promised days of perpetual

prosperity,

and a path smooth to the

feet,

fringed with flowers, and stretching out in

But we are prom-

changeless sunshine.
in

perfect peace, if our

hearts are fixed on

God. It is not likely


what we expect it

ised

to

be kept

that the future will be


is

not likely that the

for

us

it

is

This

well.

preaching of fatalism, ending


sive

shall traverse

our fancy paints, but

will be all

way

way we

in

if it is
is

His

not the

mere pas-

endurance and sluggish inaction, but

faith,

bringing an inspiring motive to

life,

clearing the feet from entanglements, and


setting all

of the

powers

free to

" Why

perform the duty

thou be concerned beyond to-day," asks Luther, " and


day.

wilt

take upon thyself the misfortunes of two

days

"

Put thus, with Luther's sancti228

^g^^i^^g^^g^
CheBurten

common

fied

of tkeFi

sense,

point of view, but

it is

it

is

foolish from any


more than foolish

from the point of view of

The whole
to

argument

faith.

really

is

an appeal

accept the consequences of our

Faith in
Christ,

God

being what

it

is

faith.

through

should follow as an inevitable

it

conclusion that

we must

not take upon

our weak shoulders the burden of to-mor-

row and weaken our


fears.

Him we

In

centre
fear

of

faithless

To

is

of the universe and the

life.

Why

then

God

we

should

be brought into the

filial

rela-

which Jesus lived is


be emancipated from the bondage of

tionship with
to

with

see that the Father's love

very heart

the

lives

Christ transmutes fear into faith.

fear.

If

we

are

in

living

ahead in

fretful

anxiety, supping sorrow with a long spoon,


in

fear about

what to-morrow may bring,


the chances and the mis-

calculating

all

chances,

it

is

not because

229

mmmm

we

are

weak

in

"

zzzzzsses zazzajssg
somewhere

faith

comes

and

round,

when

and

there

When
is

and

despondency

ever the same refuge in

is

the evils of the day arise,

man that
son of man which

art afraid

made as grass, and


thy maker ?

we

Further,

of

is

no

demonstrate

it

We

shall

we

The

be

Lord

take a

belief in

part of the belief in


line

of proof which

by syllogisms.

part of our faith in the nature

of God.

art

can afford to take short

long view of the future.

is

even

shall die

hast forgotten the

views of the present because


immortality

Who

that comforteth you.

and of the

There

"

ever the same resource.

am He
thou who
I

hover

darkness

heart and flesh begin to faint

there

fail,

God.

When

doubt

It

God.
can

must be

and purpose

reach this ultimate peace

of faith in a future life not by a process of


reasoning but by accepting the Christian
teaching

of the relation

in

stands to

God.

this larger faith

Without

which man

230

BH55SEQ

tWFut

He Burden of

naesgaa sazzamss
in the future

we would

and without comfort


worst

be without defense

of

desolations

the face of the

in

the

heart.

No

earthly consolation can reach the root of

the

sorrows

deepest

of

life.

Without

would be some wounds that


could never be staunched, and some griefs
There can be no
that must be incurable.

eternity there

healing of the grave's most poignant sting

without immortal

faith.

not be troubled or afraid


the

God whom

Our heart need


if we believe in

Jesus revealed.

We

can

our future and

leave ourselves and

all

our love to Him.

In the power of end-

less life, all

burdens are lightened.

all

The

sunshine of eternity illumines the mansions of time.

mmm

03

Yes / in the sea of life enisled,

With echoing
Dotting the

We

straits between

shoreless

mortal millions

us thrown,

watery wild,

live alone.

Matthew Arnold.

THE

ultimate meaning to us of the


whole problem of pain lies in

why

is

explain

all

of the

region

the

That

there

is

is

why

the mystery, and

arate soul has to face the

There

a Scottish

moral

life.

no single solution to
each sep-

problem anew.

which says

proverb

that the king sighs as often as the peasant,

which

is

not merely a truth of popular ob-

servation, but

also the recognition that

is

the problem of

life

is

more than one of


is rather one of in-

outward adjustment and

ward relations. However fortunate the


environment and whatever be the satisfaction the heart receives for

cravings, there

by other
isolation

feet.

of

is

all

There is
which

life, in

stands alone, with a

life

its

human

apart, untrod

a region
a

fundamental

the

individual

below every form

235

tw^g^

gtti&J

^^

^2S5S2^

Takt Lon*Jy Life


/

u u rv\

of the social

life,

w rs/wA muas
the depths of which can-

not be reached by mortal man.


the keenest pain

is

Indeed

often created by a sense

of loneliness, by the experience that no

human
in

fellowship can dissolve the solitude

which each soul

At

first this

lives.

seems contrary to facts;

the thought of our age

all

for

runs in the di-

rection of establishing the lines of connec-

between men, stating the points of

tion

common

contact, declaring our


Social science

is

of the race, and

humanity.

laying hold of the oneness

mutual rela-

sets forth the

Hu-

tionships which exist between men.

man

life,

we

We

lated.

is

is

not iso-

are joined together with the

and

subtlest

There

are ever reminded,

with

the

strongest

bonds.

no getting away from the

tion,

no cutting of the

us.

The

Christian

tie

truth,

finds

trations in other levels of

life.

is

we are
many illus-

that

members one of another,


being of one

situa-

which connects

The

well-

a matter of congratulation

236

^^S2Z^^^
Lonely Life

"Cite
-

for the

,j4W

HllXv&K'Mifc

whole; the

ill-doing

age to the condition of


the apostle's words

to us, "

man

is

of one does dam-

The

all.

truth of

being brought

home

No man liveth unto himself and

no

dieth unto himself."

In our ordinary every-day relations with

we

our fellows

We

live

tions.

we

or

will

no.

in families, in townships, in na-

There

life

of

little

pa-

always a larger

is

which we are a

We

part.

have

no room

tience with hermits, and

As

we must

soon learn that

consider others whether

for

them.

a result, possibly, of the ever-increasing

complexity of society, in our thinking to-

day

we do

dividuals.

not consider
Political

relationships

and

men merely

as in-

economy views men's


not men themselves.

Politicians speak of classes

and masses, and

no longer of

Even

individuals.

industry

is

organized into companies and combinations

and

trusts,

with

This sinking of the


society

is

limited

single

liability.

member

in the

undoubtedly the tendency of our


237

&s

mmM&

?&ZV7&?*&Zg*^
Tahe Lonely Life

day, and

some

in

respects

a tendency

is

which

carries

much hope of

for the

whole

social condition.

better things

Every such tendency, however, has

its

corresponding danger, and here the danger


is

we

that

society,

are inclined to forget that the

however complex,

may

all

we may

science and

if

life

we

We speak of

of our own.

way

as a unity,

investigate their lives, if

low them into their homes,

we

own

with his

being

which bears
and

common

bilities

of

human

but

at the

is

and

joys.

which

is

a lesson

our

common ties
common responsisame time we dare not

repetition

duties

own

life,

emphasized so much,

fol-

may

it

heart's bitterness,

perchance sometimes with his

The community

we

find that

the masses consist of units, each,


be,

we

forget that

moral beings, with heart and con-

the masses in a dim sort of

but

composed of

be done by social rules and laws affect-

ing environment,
are

is

In our glowing hopes of what

individuals.

and

238

Mm^i

Mmzmi

7*h* Lonely Life


18 8

/ liu

ssssss zaasa Bangs

lose sight of the essential singleness of

man

hu-

Otherwise we have no moral


appeal to make, and if men are not viewed
life.

as single individuals, with personal

powers

of

life

intellect

and heart, with a moral

conscience,

them of

how

ties

and

can you even speak to

and duties and responsibili-

ties at all ?

The
solemn

of human

solitude

life

remains a

Every man has a hermit

fact.

life.

There are crannies of his being into which


no spying eye can peer, corners of his heart
where the dust can gather undisturbed by
stranger hands, passages of his soul sacred
to his

own

own memories of

from trespass.

holies within, guarded

are

the past and his

experiences of the present, a holy of

more

than

we

ever express.

never fully explain ourselves.

we

think

we

our fellows,
is

We
We

Even when

in spite

up our nature to
of ourselves something

We

cannot express com-

kept back.

are opening

239

TSht Lonely Life

even a single phase of our nature or

pletely

a single stage of our

we

The words which

life.

use to reveal ourselves tend, in a large

degree,

The

conceal ourselves also.

to

complete reason for every smile or sigh

is

never stated by one of us.

This

fact then remains,

conscious of

human
have
can

life,

we

are

we and none

do much

We each
We

weal or woe.

for

life,

this

whether

or not, of the solitude of

it

other.

for each other; there are

we can

share ; we have powers of


sympathy and love, which enable us to get

burdens

out of self;

do

rejoice

we can

we can even

and

who
who weep

rejoice with those

and weep with those

love our neighbour as ourself

yet there

is

our nature shut

a region in the depth of


to

intruders, a limit at

which we stop and say, " Thus far and no


farther " nay, there is a personality which,
;

with the best will in the world,

human eyes
which every man must
unveil

to

there

we cannot
is

a burden

bear and only can

240

mmM

Taht Lonely Life

agsaaz saaaggggs
bear; there

is

a heart's bitterness which

the heart alone can fully

which a

with

know, and

may

stranger

not

a joy
inter-

meddle.

This

is

a simple statement of a very

We

familiar fact in every-day experience.

can see
in the

it,

for example, in our helplessness

presence of

where we
realize

There

grief.

our

feel

own

how empty words

tempt

with bowed head

that

deep for

there

human

is,

ent solitude of human

at-

How-

we sometimes
that

Perhaps

help.

the

only

and not

silent,

wounds

are

and

in

We can

to utter our usual proverbs.

ever blessed sympathy


learn

no place

are, as

presence of a great sorrow.


.stand

is

littleness

go too

this inher-

seen more in

life is

Joy tends to bring


In joy
out our oneness in many respects.

sorrow than

we

are in

in joy.

sympathy with

all

the bright side

of nature, the birds, and

the flowers, and

We

harmony
murmuring
of the

the

little

children.

with the pleasant ripple

are

in

241

kmmgg^^mmm.

Take Lonely Life


Bin: iXCvAT 'mAmoa rti ga
brook and the joyous rustle of the trees

Even

clapping their hands.

may be

like

a simple jest

the touch of nature, which

makes the whole world kin.


makes the sorrowing quiver
of outside rejoicings
whip.

The

Why

should

when
you,
if

all is

the

sun

dark within

is

any sorrow

Perhaps
bring

this

is

many

would never bring.

at

sound

the lash of a

seems too painful.

contrast

shine

"

ye that pass by

all

there

will

as

But sorrow
at the

man

so blithely
it

nothing to

Behold, and see

like

the

Is

my sorrow."
why sorrow
God whom joy

unto

reason
to

Pleasure while

it

lasts

tends to breed self-sufficiency, but bitterness

is

a great destroyer of conceit.

Eyes which the preacher could not school

By wayside

And

lips say,

Who
Dumas,

ne'er

in

his

graves are raised,

" God be pitiful,"


said, " God be praised."
Memoirs, gives

instance of the contrast there

a pathetic

may be

be-

242

gggp&fiqngjg

Z>he Lonetv Life

mmssaass zzzagnssg
tween a man's outer and inner
first

Henry

III,

was received

night

ill,

and

home

rushed

before

at the

to see

he

his play,

Paris with

His mother was dan-

sensational ovation.

gerously

in

His

life.

when

great triumph happened

end of each act he

how

The

she was.

was obscure; the next

morning he was the talk of all Paris.


" How many people envied me my triumph
that evening,

who

little

knew

that I passed

the night on a mattress on the ground at

the bedside of a dying mother."

It

usually takes

some severe experience

to convince us of this isolation of life;


at

first

there seems no limit to

can do
that

if

for

man.

It

for

what man

might seem

even

our different social organizations

were only more perfect there would be no


troubles which go too deep for

no

trials,

human

together beyond the help of man.

of body

aid,

sorrows, or griefs which are al-

we

turn to the

skill

In pain

and knowl-

243

ggmmM

^^^vv-^g^^W^
Tjht Lonely Life

We

edge and loving care of our fellows.

some help of

at least

find
inite

kind from physician and nurse and


If the disease cannot be cured,

friends.

turn, and not in vain, to those

There

it

In troubles of the mind

can be alleviated.

we

a real and def-

we

trust.

no mental anguish, which cannot

is

be shared and thus eased by being shared.

Men

have been enabled to smile

at

misfor-

tune, and through the sweet help of human


kind, adversity has been turned into joy.

when

In cases of bereavement
dulled by
that

its

we had

fierce

at last

shock

the heart

we might

is

think

reached the point where

of man, yet many a


mourner has been soothed by a touch, a
look, a word, a prayer, which have had
vain

is

the

help

their source in a pitiful


It
is

is

human

heart.

true that perfect and complete help

not to be

had

from

man

for any of

these troubles, physical or mental, and the

vanity of
soul.

it is

felt

when

the iron enters the

Yet God has made

it

possible for

244

&mmx

us to find and to give comfort and help.


It

is

part of the training of life and the

Indeed

part,

and a

great part, of the purpose of trouble

itself.

blessing

of

life.

is

it

Even when we speak of time as


of sorrow, we only illustrate the

Time

statement.

this

in

a healer
truth of

itself

is

no

healer of sorrow, nay rather the longer a


grief

is

brooded over and the deeper in the

soul

it

is

comes,

more hopeless

buried, the

but

and

healing

it

comfort

be-

and

strength are obtained in time by getting out

from the region of the sorrow into healthful

touch with our fellows.

Few men

are

without some stock in the great possessions of

human society

the love of

friends,

the sympathy of well-wishers, the benevo-

lence of the good, more or less reliable in

times of need.
Still,

final

with

yond the
price

all

this

issues of life

we

aid

we

we

feel that in the

are alone, even be-

of man.

pay for moral

It is part
life,

of the

and part of

245

iM^m

mmm&

Take Lonely Life

we

the burden

We can

are to carry.

see

many of these common


troubles to which we have referred, when
the trouble has patently a moral root, when
even

this

in

instance the bereavement

for

by remorse or haunted by

were nothing

world that

in the

is

we can

and nothing that makes us

sin,

isolation

as

were completely defined


fort,

we might never

call

our

feel

entities, or

separate

touched
If there

fear.

help

if

com-

as physical

feel this sense

of

utter helplessness either to give or to get.

When, however, we

are

the moral problems of


that

tively

The

other

There

is

we

must

troubles

face to face with

life,

we

were

feel instinc-

not

a frost in winter,

and there

is

a frost with

a gleam of sunshine
strikes

to

man some

the

is

like this.

which

sunshine and which though cold


ing

man.

above

look

lives in

brac-

is

which even

impossible,

which

bones and the heart.

In

consolation and external help

are to be found, but not in

man nor

in

the

246

'hms^gz^kaMmim

^^Z2Z^^^
The Lonely Life

man

son of

is

moral death.
surface fact

Men

there a principle of

for

life

Sin isolates, and only as a


is

there comradeship in evil.

can bear other burdens for us and

we

help to carry other loads, but in this


are
that

awfully

alone.

It

no man can bear

nor save

brother's

his

is

solemnly true

his brother's sin

We

soul.

live

each in a world of our own, a world of


desperate desolation, and vain

of man.
shaft
is

It

is

the help

the poisoned barb of the

is

which makes

the

arrow deadly.

It

which is somewhere in
makes man's help vain.

the moral sting

our troubles that

Others

Macbeth have gone

as well as

to

man

to find a physician for a sin-sick soul,

and

have asked

despairingly and

ingly for

some one

diseased,

and

bosom of
upon the
This

to

mockmind

to minister to a

" cleanse

that perilous stuff

the

stuffed

which weighs

heart."

fact

of the solitude of

life

which

247

^mmM

we have been emphasizing and


it

One

is

gers.

that

we

illustrating,

some temptations and dan-

carries with

mistake of supposing

the

should cultivate universal distrust

To

of man.

doubt

human

nature

is

to

doubt goodness, and that ultimately

is

to

doubt God.
type of

Perhaps the most dangerous

man

the cynic,

is

who

denies the

existence of honour and unselfishness and

and

purity
creeds,

truth.

and

he

is

It

is

false

the

falsest

of

that

holds

it.

" Cynicism," says Meredith in The Egoist,


is " intellectual dandyism without the coxcomb's feathers, and cynics are only happy
in

making the world as barren to others as


made it for themselves." When

they have

we trust our own instincts and experience,


we know that goodness and integrity exist.
Unselfishness is no unknown virtue, nor
is

truth a stranger in our midst.

When we
man
that

help

we

speak of the vanity of huare merely stating the fact

we cannot count

invariably on

men.

248

vmmMsM&$mmdM

TShz Lonely Life

It is

not the depravity of

we have
not risk

to fear, but

upon

all

It

it.

human

is

nature

We dare

its frailty.

good to remem-

may keep sour cynicism


from the heart when the day of trial
comes. The closest friend may fail and
give way at the pinch.
The bruised reed
we lean on may break and pierce the all
ber this

for

it

too trustful hand.


ness of
is

it

such

breath

another

borne down

know

his

dust.

is

not the wicked-

He

thyself.

we remember

was

He

in his nostrils."

too

by the same weight.

frame

It

is

as

unreliable

" Cease ye from

weakness.

their

man whose
is

It

men which makes them

Christ's

that he

experience,

is

We
is

and

He had to bear. " Can


not watch with me one hour " He said
His hour of agony to the three He

part of the cross

ye
in

trusted

most

all
humankind.
His
was mostly taken up with

of

earthly ministry

the training of twelve

and

true;

and

at

men

to be faithful

the crucial

moment

249

mmMJL

^sszs^^^
Lonely Life

Xs\tc

one betrayed Him, another denied Him,


and all forsook Him and fled.
It was

men

depravity of heart in these

not

in

some the spirit was willing but the flesh


was weak. It is the lesson of life that
there is no stay, no safety in the arm of
flesh, that

man

human
may

strength

love

may

fail,

and hu-

break.

Another temptation, which springs from


the facts of the solitary
to

become

own
The

bitterness

own

and exult

we

in

our

of

As

in other people,

they touch our


sins,

and

is

own

joy.

limited at

are sometimes shocked at

callousness.

terested

sin

the temptation

horizon of our emotions

the best, and

our

life, is

self-centred, to brood over our

only

we

are in-

in so far as

Selfishness

lives.
is

a rule,

is

the

possible because of the

very dignity and power of concentration


which gives us a separate existence. Yet

we feel
human

that, before the highest qualities of

nature are possible to us, that foe

must be

slain.

We

must get out of our-

250

mgm&,

imMM

Tahe Lonely Life


riff j ay c&y ~t ztm&a rag
somehow, and must get into touch
life.
We must be drawn from

selves

with other

our greatest sorrow, and be led to share

The

our highest joy.

lonely

broken into somehow.

and sorrows and

dangers

the

menace
fort

life,

we need some

all

fears

that

source of

com-

and some source of

ourselves

for

must be

life

In the face of

strength for the service of others.

For

moment

man may

be consoled

by nature with Byron


There

By

is

society

Not

for

long

The

poet

who

great

way about

tains,

where none

intrudes,

the deep sea, and music in

who

is

comfort

raved so
the

spoke

its

roar.

found

much

there.

in his

sea and the

own

moun-

of mingling with the

who

universe

and

called the

mountains friends and the ocean

trusting

the

billows,

a home, and found companionship in the


*5 r

Lonely Life

Z>1te

nncssgss zsaazaasna
desert,

cavern, breaker's foam

forest,

he

came back from nature with ever the same


sense of insufficiency gnawing at his heart.
He came back to his fellow men, with his
poor weak fretting unrelieved and his pas-

To

sion unstilled.

the end a bitterness,

unsoftened by his wild proud

round

life,

clung

In no mere nature wor-

his heart.

ship, poetic reverie or artistic ecstasy,

is

there to be found heart's ease and the

fill-

ing up of the aching void.

will

Nature

only deepen the desolation, unless

we can

get beyond
it,

it to the Presence which


beyond nature to nature's God.
The same ultimate failure waits

who

humanity for nature,

substitute

fills

all

who

even throw themselves practically into


of social service,

sorts

the

lonely

life

by

who

cultivating

ternal relationships.

It

is

all

seek to deny

many ex-

the same sort

of need which drives the lighter kind into


endless social gaieties and frivolous dissipations.

There

is

no

real

252

and lasting escape

^^VSASgl^S^
The Lonely Life

sazagsn

nnassssss
from the lonely
means.

ised, there

in

would

the depth

have

by any such external

life

If they achieved

spoken,

truders.

they prom-

all

remain that region

still

of our nature, of which

which

Human

is

shut

to

all

we
in-

cannot stand there

feet

on the very threshold of the

soul's abode.

Into that holy of holies none can enter,

even

if

Flesh would perish

he would.

there before that dread apocalypse of soul.

This continual craving of man


panionship in the lonely
valley of the

shadow,

is

life,

for

even

com-

in the

surely not disre-

God

meets him,

garded.

It is there that

there in

that holy of holies of the heart,

shut to every other visitant.


ultimate issue

made
Lord

is

for a higher
felt

its

we were
companionship.
Our

this solitude

looked forward

Life in

lonely, because

at

of

human

life,

and

the last calmly to the

when He should be left alone, and


could add, " And yet I am not alone, betime

253

gijll^^^jllp

7>he Lonely Life


Tin'i ArCvCwV,'

cause the Father

is

y ^MM tug

with me."

This, too,

the solution for us, and in the loneliest

is

places of

life

we may

terness and joy,

turned

solitude,

human

holy

into

There

sacraments.

find the heart's bit-

which brought the pain of


and

blessed

divine comfort for

is

sorrow, divine healing for

human

wounds, divine forgiveness for human


divine help for

This
is

is

human

satisfy

needs of our nature.


ness

is

lost

service the

He may

and joy

In

Him we

fuller life.

in the school

the

selfishness.

have to lead us out of ourselves


if

we

follow

He

His

He

Christ

we

reach

Himself graduated

of pain, and trained Himself

office,

feeling

will

sym-

reach out into a truer

Through

Christ's brethren.

for

its

us out of our sorrow through

pathy.

and

In His

shared.

is

stripped of

life is

the ultimate

In His love, bitter-

through sorrow, and


lead

This

the message of religion.

Christ's offer, to

sin,

loneliness.

of

and can be touched with


our

infirmities.

Com-

254

Mwm^^&^^mjm

^2ZZZ^^^
Tke Lonely Life
r;rf ; ArccckV -MXufiA iVi gSfai

munion with Him

our deepest

satisfies

needs

and prepares us for the highest

service.

The lonely life is lost in the


The hour comes to all when
life.

Christ

we must know that vain is the help of


man, when we shall be scattered every
man to his own, when we too must be
solitary in the lonely life.
is left

edge of a gracious
not

Surely our house

we have no knowlCompanion if we can-

to us desolate, if

" Not alone,

say,

for the Father

is

with me."

One
it

is

conclusion

not a

we have

speculative

reached

solution

is

whole problem which we need most.


formula will

gather up

all

and torturing doubts of which


full.

What we

of God, that
in

Him.

tery,

need most

we might

We

will

still

hold

No

the mystery,

and make plain to the mind the

is

that

of this

difficulties

this subject
is

certainty

fast

our faith

be beset by mys-

and the world's sorrows and our own


still remain a terrible problem,

pain will

255

mm&&

mmm

^^^<y>Sg^?!^
Lonely Life

7S\t

but

we

enough to make us willing

will see

We

will let every


to believe and wait.
and
of
trial
sorrow
bring some
experience

from the

lessons to withdraw our hearts

We

love of the material.

will

learn to

look upon the whole discipline of

life as

means of sanctification, and in our highest


moments we will see it to be a terror to
be left of God, and will pray that the
beautiful promise may be true for us, " As
one
I

whom

mother comforteth, so

his

When we

comfort you."

word
Even

to

is

not

kiss

of

but joy.

tribulation,

suffering only sets a seal

the

like

us

will

do, the last

God upon

on

the

faith,

brow.

Faith sees far enough into the meaning of


tribulation
for

it

to

sees in

it

see

in

it

the sign of love;

the Father's hand.

know Thee who


made

hast kept

my

path, and

Light for me in the darkness, tempering


sorrow,
So that it reached me like a solemn joy.

256

RW*feg

mmmm

11

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