CIFT OSf A. F. Morrison THE USE OF LIFE THE USE OF LIFE BY y-ry, J&An L. You are just beginning the splendid para- graph where Socrates condemns himself to maintenance in the Prytaneum, and if you can only be safe from interruption till it is finished, you will have one of those noble minutes of noble pleasure which are the re- wards of intellectual toil." No one can read a good and interesting book for an hour without being the better and the happier for it. Not merely for the moment, but the memory remains with us : stores of bright and happy thoughts which we can call up when we will. "Even their phantoms rise before us, Our loftier brethren, but one in blood ; At bed and table they lord it o'er us, With looks of beauty and words of good." 148 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Bret Harte, describing a scene at a miner's camp in the far West, says "The roaring camp fire, with rude humour, painted The ruddy tints of health, On haggard face and form that drooped and fainted In the fierce race for wealth. Till one arose, and from his pack's scant treasure A hoarded volume drew, And cards were dropped from hands of listless leisure To hear the tale anew. And then while round them shadows gathered faster, And as the firelight fell, He read aloud the book wherein the master Has writ of 'little Nell/ Perhaps 'twas boyish fancy for the reader Was youngest of them all, But, as he read, from clustering pine and cedar A silence seemed to fall, The fir-trees gathering closer in the shadow, Listened in every spray, While the whole camp, with 'Nell' on English meadows, Wandered and lost their way." English literature is the birthright and in- heritance of the English race. We have pro- duced and are producing some of the greatest of poets, of philosophers, of men of science. No race can boast a brighter, purer, or nobler ix ON READING 149 literature, richer than our commerce, more powerful than our arms. It is the true pride and glory of our country, and for it we can- not be too thankful. CHAPTER X PATRIOTISM IF ever there was a country for which a man might work with pride, surely it is our own. "O England ! model to thy inward greatness Like little body with a mighty heart." As regards size, a mere speck on the Ocean ; and yet more than half the ships on the Wide Seas fly the British Flag. No doubt the geographical position is fa- vourable. Our climate is genial and yet brac- ing ; and the silver streak has saved us from many wars. " This sceptr'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-Paradise, This fortress, built by Nature for herself 'Gainst infection, and the hand of war: 150 CHAP, x PATRIOTISM 151 This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall ; Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happy lands." 1 An orator in the United States is said to have described his country as being bounded on the South by the Equator, on the East by the Atlantic Ocean, on the North by the Aurora Borealis, and on the West by the setting sun'; we can say with more truth that the Sun never sets on the British Empire. " Britannia needs no bulwarks, No towers along the steep, Her march is o'er the mountain waves, Her home is on the deep." 2 In the words of an American statesman, " Her flag waves on every sea and in every port, and the morning drum-beat of her sol- diers, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth with one continuous strain of the martial airs of Eng- land." But we may reflect with still greater sat- isfaction that our soldiers are everywhere 1 Shakespeare. 2 Campbell. 152 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. present not as enemies, but as friends and protectors. The motto of our Volunteers, "Defence, not Defiance," is equally applica- ble to our Army and Navy. This great Empire has grown up gradually. We owe it to the energy and industry of our forefathers, and we must indeed be degener- ate, if we do not feel that " Come what Come may," we are bound to hand it down to our children, not merely unimpaired, but strength- ened and improved. In our history there has no doubt been much to regret. But yet as contrasted with that of other nations, it has been compara- tively bloodless. Apart from actual war, no country with so long a history has been stained by so little bloodshed; we have had no massacres, no Reign of Terror, no Sicilian Vespers. In war we have shown much generosity to our enemies. At the end of the Great Struggle with Napoleon, when the power of France was crushed, and the Allies occupied Paris, we agreed to terms which left France her territories and colonies intact (on the sole x PATEIOTISM 153 condition, as regards the latter, that she would agree to surrender the slave trade), and free from debt, while we ourselves had incurred one, mainly arising from the war, of over 900,000,000 ! When we look back on the terms, our statesmen behaved with a gener- osity which was perhaps hardly wise; and we can scarcely wonder that some Frenchmen claim Waterloo as a French victory. At any rate the terms of peace were far more favour- able to her than to us. I have mentioned the restoration of the French Colonies a small part of the ex- ertions and sacrifices made to put down this abominable traffic. We paid Portugal 300,000 and Spain 400,000 to induce those countries to give up the traffic. For more than half a century, at a time when we had a crushing debt, and were far less pros- perous or powerful than we are now, we kept a squadron on the West Coast of Africa, at an annual cost estimated by Mr. Gladstone when Chancellor of the Exchequer at 700,000 a year, and at a great sacrifice of valuable lives. We paid the West Indies and Mauri- 154 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. this 20,000,000 to free their slaves. Alto- gether the noble efforts to put down this abominable traffic must have cost the country something between 50 and 100,000,000 sterling. Other countries have drawn a considerable portion of their revenue from their colonies and dependencies. The Athenians exacted a large annual con- tribution from their allied states ; this formed, indeed, a very important portion of their revenue. With the Romans it was a cardi- nal principle of taxation that the provinces were to defray the expenses of the Empire. When they conquered Sicily they took a tenth of the field produce, and 5 per cent of the value of all exports and imports. Com- ing down to more recent times, other coun- tries as, for instance, Spain, Portugal, and Holland have derived considerable revenues from their colonial possessions. Very different has been the conduct of England. So far from deriving any revenue from our Colonies, we have spent enormous sums of money for their benefit. So far as I x PATRIOTISM 155 have been able to ascertain, no account has been published showing the amount spent by the mother-country in the Colonies before the year 1859 ; but from 1859 to 1869 it amounted to more than 41,000,000, and no doubt for many years previously the amount was much over 4,000,000 a year. Moreover, the actual cost to the mother- country was considerably greater, because the return does not include the cost of arms, ac- coutrements, barracks, hospital, and other stores, nor any proportion for recruiting expenses, head-quarter expenses, or non- effective charges. It may be said that our Mediterranean military expenditure can hardly be called " colonial," and it is of course true that we could not expect such stations as Malta and Gibraltar to pay their own expenses. On the other hand, our great reason for keeping them up is in order to protect our communi- cations with India and Australia ; and if we were disposed to do so, we might well ask why the burden of keeping up these commu- nications should fall altogether on us, why 156 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. some part of the cost should not be borne by India and the Australasian colonies. More- over, the above-mentioned expenditure refers only to the troops on service out of the mother-country ; but inasmuch as even the troops at home are available in case of need (and after due provision has been made for our own safety) for colonial purposes, we might well expect to receive some contribu- tion towards the permanent expenses. Our national accounts show no sum devoted nominally to naval expenses on account of our Colonies ; yet, in fact, this country bears almost the whole of the naval expenses, which, if the Colonies were independent, would fall on them. For them we act as the police of the seas ; their shores are pro- tected at our expense. What a saving this is to them, little consideration is required to show: 35,000,000 of Englishmen in Great Britain and Ireland pay 18,000,000 a year for naval purposes; 300,000,000 of our fellow-countrymen in the Colonies and India pay scarcely anything. Take, again, the case of India. It is x PATRIOTISM 157 hardly necessary to say that India makes no direct contribution to the general expenses of the Empire, nor to those home charges., from which she, like our Colonies, derives great advantage. No English labourer, no English tax-payer, derives a penny of direct advan- tage, or pays a penny less*towards the reve- nues of the country, because we hold India. So far as military expenditure is concerned, the greatest care is taken that India should pay nothing beyond what is necessary for the troops actually on duty there. It is amusing, if so serious a subject can be amusing, to see how energetically the India Office resists any application made by the War Office for any charge beyond what the Indian authorities regard as absolutely necessary. As regards the Navy also, India is treated with the utmost liberality. That she derives a great advantage from our fleet cannot be doubted. It saves her from a heavy expense, which she must have otherwise incurred ; she contributes to it, however, only the small sum of 70,000 a year, in addition to which she spends about half a million on steam-tugs, 158 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. inland vessels, pilotage allowances, port charges, etc. Our honest effort and desire has been to govern India for the benefit of the people of India. We may have made mistakes there, as we have made mistakes at home, but these have been the principles on which we have governed India. That they have benefited hitherto by our rule cannot, I think, be denied. Dr. Hunter 1 tells us that in Orissa the Rajah's share was 60 per cent of the crop ; the mildest native governments took 33 per cent ; we take only from 3 to 7 per cent. No one can doubt that the taxes of our Indian fellow-countrymen are lighter, their lives and property more secure, than if they had remained under native rulers ; and it is at least certain that India does not contribute a penny to our English revenue. That we are loved in India cannot perhaps be maintained, and would be probably too much to expect. That our Government is respected will hardly be denied. That our rule is moreover not unpopular 1 Our Indian Empire. x PATRIOTISM 159 was, I think, clearly shown during the mutiny. Our countrymen behaved like heroes from the highest to the lowest, but yet if our Govern- ment had been characterised by avarice and injustice if, on the whole, we had not been trusted and respected by the population of India we must then have been swept into the sea. The bravery of our gallant troops, the skill of their officers, would, under such circumstances, have availed little. The peo- ple of India did not, however, take any active part against us, and their behaviour in that crisis was a magnificent testimony to the mode in which we have fulfilled our great trust. An Eminent Frenchman, M. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, late Foreign Secretary in M. Thiers' Government, has borne generous tes- timony to the beneficence and justice of our rule in India, which, he says, " merite que tous les amis de 1'humanite et de la civilisa- tion en souhaitent le succes. Faire T education politique et morale de deux cent cinquante millions de nos semblables est une tache pro- digieuse, qui, noblement commencee avec ce 160 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. siecle, exigera, pour 6tre entierement accom- plie, une suite d'efforts dont on ne saurait pre*ciser la duree." J We have to face, he truly says, a difficult problem, but it is very gratifying to be assured that we have the " applaudisseraents sinceres de tous les esprits Claire's et impartiaux." l The opinion which other races have formed of our rule is well shown by the history of such cases as Hong-Kong and Singapore. In the former, says Mr. Wood, " we find a small barren island, which at the time of its cession to Britain, was inhabited by a few handfuls of fishermen, now crowded by tens of thou- sands of Chinese, who have crossed from the mainland because they know that under British rule they would be free from oppres- sive taxation, would be governed by just laws, and would be able to carry on a thriv- ing and profitable trade." Again, in the once almost uninhabited island of Singapore, we see a motley population attracted from China, the Malay peninsula, and India, by a similar cause. 1 Ulrule Anglaise. x PATRIOTISM 161 Take, again, the case of Java. "During the five years of the British possession," says Heeren, " so wise and mild an administration was exercised that after the restoration it seems to have been difficult for the natives and Europeans to accustom themselves again to Dutch dominion. During the short time it was in the possession of Britain, a clearer light was shed over this remarkable island than was done during the two whole centuries of the dominion of Holland." Passing to America, I may quote the strik- ing testimony of an American bishop, Bishop Whipple of Minnesota, who thus contrasts the relations between the United States and Great Britain with the Indians in their re- spective territories : " On one side of the line (he says) is a nation that has spent $500,000,000 in Indian wars ; a people that have not 100 miles be- tween the Atlantic and the Pacific which has not been the scene of an Indian massacre ; a Government which has not passed twenty years without an Indian war ; not an Indian tribe to whom it has given Christian civilisa- 162 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. tion ; and which celebrates its Centenary by another bloody Indian war. On the other side of the line are the same Anglo-Saxon race, and the same heathen. They have not spent one dollar in Indian wars, and have had no Indian massacres. Why ? In Can- ada the Indian treaties call these men 'the Indian subjects of her Majesty.' When civ- ilisation approaches them they are placed on ample reservations, receive aid in civilisation, have personal right in property, are amena- ble to law, and protected by law, have schools, and Christian people send them the best teachers." It is sometimes said most unjustly that Ireland has been hardly dealt with. On the contrary, she has a much larger represen- tation than she is entitled to, either by popu- lation or by her contribution to the Imperial revenue ; her taxes are the same as ours, except that we pay some that are not levied in Ireland, namely, Land Tax, House Duty, Railway Tax, Assessed Taxes amounting to over 700,000 a year, and others; till this year her farmers have paid a lower rate of x PATRIOTISM 163 Income tax than ours, and Irish land is taken at a lower figure for valuation than English ; she has had subventions in aid of rates far larger in proportion than England or Scot- land ; and liberal grants of money as, for instance, 8,000,000 at the time of the famine. It is sometimes said that the duty on Spirits presses unduly on Ireland. But while the duty on Beer is almost entirely paid in Eng- land, even as regards the duty on Spirits, Great Britain pays 92 per cent, Ireland only 7 '90 per cent. I am sure it is the wish of Englishmen and Scotchmen to treat Ireland with justice and all reasonable liberality. Peace, we know, hath her victories as well as war, and if we turn to the history of hu- man progress we have equal reason to be proud of our forefathers. The English tongue is rapidly spreading and bids fair to become the general language of the human race. Yet it is not so very long ago that Bacon asked Dr. Playfair to translate The Advancement of Learning from English into Latin, because " the private- ness of the language wherein it is written, 164 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. limits my readers," and its translation into Latin " would give a second birth of that work." 1 No country can boast a brighter, purer, or nobler literature. Perhaps it may be said that as an Englishman I am prejudiced. By common consent, however, Shakespeare stands out unique and pre-eminent in the literature of the world. Chaucer, Bacon, Milton, Spen- cer, and many others, to say nothing of more recent authors, are also a glory to our nation. Recently a leading Italian Journal instituted a vote as to the best books in the world. A large number, indeed several hundred, sub- scribers gave their views, and out of the first eight books one being the Bible no less than four were English. In the history of Invention and Discovery the name of Watt will be always associated with the Steam Engine, of Stephenson with the Locomotive, Wheatstone with the Elec- tric Telegraph, Arkwright with the Spinning Machine, Hargreaves with the Jenny, Fox Talbot with Photography. 1 Lord Playfair in University Extension Addresses. x PATRIOTISM 165 In medicine the circulation of the blood was discovered by Harvey, Vaccination by Jenner, Anaesthetics were brought into use by Simpson, and the antiseptic treatment in cases of wounds and operations by Lister. In Science we have many great names : Bacon and Newton, Young and Darwin, Faraday, Herschel, and many others. I do not mention these facts as any credit to us. They are a great honour to our fathers, and we are proud of them, but they impose on us a great responsibility. Well then may we all join in Milton's prayer : " Oh Thou who of Thy free grace didst build up this Brittanick Empire to a glorious and enviable height, with all her daughter islands about her, stay us in this felicitie." But we must not be content to pray only for this great boon ; we must en- deavour to deserve it. We must remember that the deepest force is the stillest : that "not by material, but by moral force, are men and their actions governed." l England has a right to expect that " every i Carlyle. 166 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. man will do his duty." She says to us all, " I have done all this for thee ; what hast thou done for me ? " Indeed, when we look back on the whole history of the past, it is not, I think, too much to say that our country has exercised its great trust in a wise and liberal spirit, and governed the Empire in a manner scarcely less glorious than the victories by which that Empire was won. Is it a dream to hope that the time may come when the whole Eng- lish-speaking people may form one great nation ! I may perhaps be thought to be too partial to, and too proud of, my own country. The facts, however, speak for themselves. More- over, as Maurice well says, " that man is most just, on the whole, to every other nation, who has the strongest feeling of attachment to his own." The love of one's country elevates the conception of citizenship, raises us above the petty circle of personal and even family in- terests, to the true width and splendour of national life. The real imperial spirit is not one of vainglory, but of just pride in the ex- x PATRIOTISM 167 tension of our language and literature ; of our people, and our commerce, on land and sea ; and a deep sense of the great responsibility thus imposed upon us. CHAPTEK XI CITIZENSHIP WE are all part of the Government of the country, and one of the most important of our duties is to fit ourselves for that great respon- sibility. This requires study and thought as well as mere good- will. The very magnitude and extent of our Empire is itself a source of danger. We govern many races of men, some of them with ideas and aspirations very different from our own. Look at India. The population is nearly ten times as large as that of England, and is broken up into races very different. in race and creed. The true Hindoo belongs to the same great race of men as we do : he speaks a language not only 'similar in origin and in structure, but even retaining some of the same words. The word "poor," with which so many Indian words 168 CHAP, xi CITIZENSHIP 169 end, corresponds to our " borough," and is as common a termination as with us. But the Hindoos are only a section of the Indian population ; they are more nearly allied to us in blood than to the Dravidian races of the South, or the Malayo-Chinese of the East, though time and distance have created great differences. They are in sharp religious con- flict with the Mahomedans, who were, and would probably be again if we left, the dom- inant power. But India, though perhaps the greatest, is only one of our responsibilities. All over the world we come in contact with other great nations. Questions arise, and will continue to arise, which require tact, moderation, and forbearance on both parts. Our statesmen must know when to give way, and where to stand firm, and the people must know whom to support. The history of Man has shown us a succes- sion of Great Empires which have crumbled to the dust. Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Rome, have risen and sunk. In more recent times Genoa and Venice have flourished to a great extent 170 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. as we do now by " ships, colonies, and Com- merce." If we are to escape their fate, we must avoid their mistakes. " A thousand years scarce serve to form a state ; An hour may lay it in the dust." l As regards our foreign policy, it is no less our interest than our duty to maintain the most friendly relations with other countries. Nations often unfortunately regard others as enemies. And yet a clearer light shows that we are human, and ought to be friends. A Welsh preacher once illustrated this in a homely and yet striking manner. He was out walking one day, he said, and on the opposite hill he saw a monstrous figure ; as he approached he saw it was a man, and when he came up close, he found it was his brother. Other nations are not only Men, but broth- ers, and their interests are in many ways bound up with ours. If they suffer, we suffer with them ; whatever benefits them, benefits us. The greatest of British interests are the peace and prosperity of the world. The 1 Byron. xi CITIZENSHIP 171 glamour of War has dazzled the imagination of Mankind. We are told of the "pomp and circumstance of glorious war/' that every soldier carries a Field-marshal's Baton in his knapsack, etc., and we fail to realise the infi- nite misery which it has inflicted on the human race. The carnage and suffering which war en- tails are terrible to contemplate, and constitute an irresistible argument in favour of Arbitra- tion. The present state of things is a disgrace to human nature. There may be some excuse for barbarous tribes who settle their disputes by force of arms, but that civilised nations should do so is not only repugnant to our moral, but also to our common sense. At present even the peace establishments of Europe com- prise 3,500,000 men ; the war establishments are over 10,000,000, and when the proposed arrangements are completed, will exceed 20,000,000. The nominal cost is over 200,- 000,000 annually, but as the Continental ar- mies are to a great extent under conscription, the actual cost is far larger. Moreover, if these 3,500,000 men were usefully employed, and 172 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. taking the value of their labour only at 50 a year, we must add another 175,000,000, bringing up the total expenditure of Europe on military matters to 375,000,000 a year ! Of course there are deeper and graver consid- erations than questions of money ; but yet money represents human labour and human life. It is impossible for any one to contem- plate the present naval and military arrange- ments without the gravest forebodings. Even if they do not end in war, they will eventually end in bankruptcy and ruin. The principal countries of Europe are run- ning deeper and deeper into debt. During the last twenty years the debt of Italy has risen from 483,000,000 to 516,000,000 ; that of Austria from 340,000,000 to 5.80,000,000 ; of Russia from 340,000,000 to 750,000,000 ; of France from 500,000,000 to 1,300,000,- 000. Taking the Government debts of the world together, they amounted in 1870 to 4,000,000,000 a fabulous, terrible, and crushing weight. But what are they now? They have risen to over 6,000,000,000, and are still increasing. xi CITIZENSHIP 173 By far the greater part of this enormous, this appalling, burden is represented by no valuable property, has fulfilled no useful pur- pose ; it has been absolutely wasted, or what, from an international point of view, is even worse, thrown away on war, or in preparation for war. In fact, we never now have any real peace ; we live practically in a state of war, happily without battles or bloodshed, but not without terrible sufferings. Even in our own case, one-third of our national income is spent in preparing for future wars, another third in paying for past ones, and only one-third is left for the government of the country. Our in- terests at stake are enormous, and the interests of nations are so interwoven that every war now is in fact a civil war. Though not a " peace-at-any-price man," I am not ashamed to say I am a peace-at- almost-any-price man. No doubt there are some vital question s- which cannot be referred to Arbitration, but Earl Russell, a very high authority, said that there had not been a war for the last hundred years which might not well have been settled without recourse to arms. 174 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. The last time I saw M. Gambetta, we talked over this subject, and he said in his usual ani- mated manner that if the present rate of ex- penditure be maintained the day will come when Frenchmen will all be " beggars in front of a barrack." It has not only been main- tained but increased. The condition of Europe cannot be viewed without alarm. Russia is honeycombed with Nihilism, Germany alarmed with Socialism, France in a panic from Anarchy, and rapidly tending to bankruptcy. There is no justifica- tion, no excuse, for recent Anarchist crimes, but nothing happens in this world without a cause. Continental workmen are working terribly long hours for very low wages. If any one will read the recent reports from Italy he will see the miserable condition of agricultural labourers in that country; the wages of workmen in continental countries are very low, and their hours long ; while the small proprietors in France and elsewhere are no better off. I sympathise very much with the desire for an eight hours' day, but the resolution passed xi CITIZENSHIP 175 in Hyde Park the year before last wisely in- sisted that it should be international. If, however, the present military system is main- tained no relaxation of hours is possible. The only way to secure the eight hours is to di- minish military expenditure. The necessary taxation to support the army and navy com- pels every man and woman in Europe to work an hour a day more than they other- wise need. In fact, the religion of Europe is not Christianity, but the Worship of the God of War. We cannot, alas ! prevent war, but we may at least throw our weight into the scale of peace ; endeavour ourselves to main- tain friendly relations with foreign nations, and treat them with courtesy, justice, and generosity. Many countries attempt to wage war upon one another, quite as foolishly, by fiscal re- strictions. Cowper observes that " Mountains interposed Make enemies of nations, who had else, Like kindred drops, been mingled into one." But the worst barriers are those which nations 176 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. have raised against one another: barriers of duties and customs, and worst of all, un- founded jealousies and ill-will, each attribut- ing to the other injurious designs, which neither of them perhaps in reality entertain. The same spirit of jealousy and hostility which too often characterises international re- lations, sadly embitters also internal politics. But abuse is no argument ; it is rather a con- fession of weakness. Happy will it be for us when, as between party and party, between nation and nation, we lower and degrade our- selves to " No threat of war, no savage call For vengeance on an erring brother, But in their stead the Godlike plan To teach the brotherhood of man To love and reverence one another." ] It is sometimes said that Revolutions are not made with rose-water. Greater changes, however, have been made in the constitu- tion of the world by argument than by arms ; and even where arms have been used, in most cases the pen has wielded the sword. Ideas are more powerful than bayonets. 1 Whittier. XI CITIZENSHIP 177 " In the comparatively early state of human advancement/' ,says Mill. " in which we now live, a person cannot, indeed, feel that en- tireness of sympathy with all others which would make any real discordance in the gen- eral direction of their conduct in life impos- sible ; but already the person in whom the social feeling is at all developed, cannot bring himself to think of the rest of his fellow- creatures as struggling rivals with him for the means of happiness, whom he must desire to see defeated in their object in order that he may succeed in his." In order to perform the part of a citizen wisely and well it is needful, in the words of Burke, " carefully to cultivate our minds, to rear to the most perfect vigour and maturity, every sort of generous and honest feeling that belongs to our nature. To bring the disposi- tions that are lovely in private life into the service and conduct of the Commonwealth, so to be patriots and not to forget we are gentle- men. . . . Public life is a situation of power and energy; he trespasses against his duty who sleeps upon his watch, as well as he that 178 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. goes over to the enemy." Think rather of performing your duties than of claiming your rights. Lord Bolingbroke in his essay "On the Spirit of Patriotism " quotes with approba- tion a remark of Socrates that "though no man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest, yet every one thinks him- self sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades, that of Government." He said this upon the experience he had in Greece. He would not change his opinion if he lived now in Britain. We have indeed a great variety of pressing problems. We are trying to educate our children, but probably no one would say that our system is yet perfect ; the straggles be- tween capital and labour are starving our commerce, hampering our manufactures, and if they continue will assuredly lower wages by checking the demand for labour ; the health of our great cities leaves much still to be desired ; in Science we have but made a beginning. Moreover, apart from any question of prog- xi CITIZENSHIP 179 ress, the daily life of the Community requires constant labour. The consultations of Parlia- ment, the conduct of local affairs, the ad- ministration of the Poor Law, in fact, the affairs of the Community, as a whole, re- quire as much care and attention as those of Individuals, and the tendency, whether wisely or unwisely, is in the direction of increased communal organisation. The poor again we have always with us, and it is greatly owing to the numerous charitable agencies, the greater sympathy between rich and poor, though partly also to our Poor Law, Free Trade, and the less unsatisfactory physical conditions, that there is no such feeling in favour of Socialism and Anarchy as exists in some other countries. Enthusiasm no doubt is the lever which moves the world, but it is sad to reflect how much time and money have been wasted on vain experiments, on experiments which have failed over and over again before, and which have been worse than useless, because they have done harm instead of good to those whom they were intended to benefit. It has 180 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. hardly been sufficiently borne in mind that work for the poor demands an effort of the mind as well as a sentiment of good-will. It is not money that is chiefly wanted. Thought and love are more than gold. Those who give time do more than those who give money. In fact, there is considerable danger that money and enthusiasm without experi- ence and training, may do more harm than good ; for more harm may come of work ill done than of work left undone. It is much better to give hope and strength and courage, than money. The best help is not to bear the troubles of others for them, but to inspire them with courage and energy to bear their burdens for themselves, and meet the difficulties of life bravely. To help others is no easy matter, but requires a clear head, a wise judgment, as well as a warm heart. We must be careful not to undermine inde- pendence in our anxiety to relieve distress. There is always the initial difficulty that whatever is done for men takes from them a great stimulus to work, and weakens the xi CITIZENSHIP 181 feeling of independence ; all creatures which depend on others tend to become mere para- sites : it is important therefore, so far as possible, not so much to give a man bread, as to put him in the way of earning it, not to give direct aid, but to others to help them- selves. The world is so complex that we must inevitably all owe much to our neigh- bours, but as far as possible, every man should stand on his own feet. We cannot expect others to conform to our ideal ; what we have to do is to help them to realise all that is best in their own ; to en- courage them in their efforts at self-improve- ment. Where money is unwisely given it is generally by those who are lavish, rather to save themselves trouble, than from any real sympathy, and yet work for the Community in the long run brings its own reward ; we probably derive more happiness from work for others, than from what we do for our- selves. To work for others consecrates even the humblest labour. However lowly the work may be, throw your heart into it. 182 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. " What part soever you have taken upon you," says Sir T. More, "play that as well as you can and make the best of it ... if you cannot, even as you wolde, remedy vices, which use and custom hath confirmed, yet for this cause you must not leave and forsake the common wealthe ; you must not forsake the shippe in a tempest, because you cannot rule and keep down the windes. . . . But study e and endeavour, as much as in you lyethe, to handle the matter wyttelye and handsornelye to the purpose, and that which you cannot turne to good, so to order that it be not very badde. For it is not possible for all things to be well unless all men were good. Whych," he adds, " I think will not be yet this good many years." The more all men do their duty, however, the nearer, and the sooner, we shall approach it. Indeed we hardly perhaps realise how happy we might be if we would all try. " We cannot all be heroes, And thrill a hemisphere With some great, daring venture, Some deed that mocks at fear ; xi CITIZENSHIP 183 But we can fill a lifetime With kindly acts and true. There's always noble service For noble souls to do." l It is a great privilege to be an Englishman. No country enjoys greater individual liberty. Every man is equal before the Law. Every man is accounted innocent until he is proved guilty. No man is liable to be tried a second time for the same offence. All trials must be in public, and the pris- oner is entitled to meet his accusers face to face. No man is a judge in his own case, nor may he take the law into his own hands. To work then for our country at whatever cost, or risk, is a solemn duty, and " he is not worthy to live at all, who for fear of danger or death, shunneth his country's service or his own honour, since death is inevitable, and the fame of virtue immortal." 2 Our country's service, however, in compara- tively few cases is one of danger. What it 1 C. A. Mason. 2 Sir H . Gilbert. 184 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. demands is some sacrifice of our ease and leisure ; some time devoted to duties and work, which may seem unheroic and even tedious, but which are none the less neces- sary. Public business Committees, Elections, Meetings, Speeches, Vestries, County Councils these are not very romantic ; they do not dazzle the imagination, or stir the blood, and yet a vote in peace is like a stroke in battle, and none the less effective because it is peace- ful and bloodless. The vote is not a right, but a duty ; and to prepare ourselves for giv- ing it is a duty also. The amount of unpaid work which is done for the public is astonishing, and long may it continue so. No one has any right to enjoy the benefit of all this labour without contributing if not his fair share, for some have not the same leisure or opportunities as others, but at any rate without contributing something to the common welfare. "No man's private fortune," says Bacon, " can be an object in any way worthy of his xi CITIZENSHIP 185 existence." Houses and food and clothing are not the only things needful, nor are they even needful in the highest degree. Even in the narrowest and most selfish point of view, time so spent will not be lost for " the love of our neighbour, the impulse towards action, help, and beneficence, the desire for stopping human error, clearing human confusion, and diminishing the sum of human misery, the noble aspirations to leave the world better and happier than we found it, motives eminently such as are called social, and contribute not only to the happiness of others, but also to our own." l There are blessings in life, said Bishop Butler, " which we share in common with others : peace, plenty, freedom, healthful seasons. But real benevolence to our fellow- creatures would give us the notion of a com- mon interest in a stricter sense : for in the degree we love another, his interest, his joys and sorrows, are our own. It is from self- love that we form the notion of private good, and consider it as our own : love of our neigh- 1 Arnold, Culture and Anarchy. 186 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. hour would teach us thus to appropriate to ourselves his good and welfare ; to consider ourselves as having a real share in his hap- piness. Thus the principle of benevolence would be an advocate within our own breasts, to take care of the interests of our fellow- creatures." Let then, in the noble words of Marcus Aurelius, " let the deity which is in thee be the guardian of a living being, manly and of ripe age, and engaged in matters political, and a Roman, and a ruler, who has taken his post like a man waiting for the signal which summons him from life, and ready to go, hav- ing need neither of oath nor of any man's testimony." The time we give to public duties is no mere sacrifice. It brings its own reward. We "Learn the luxury of doing good." * "It is a great thing in times of trial to have merged in some respects our private interests in the greater interests of the com- mon life." 2 1 Goldsmith. 2 Horsfall. xi CITIZENSHIP 187 All if they choose may be brave men and worthy patriots : every one may take a part in at least some movement for the benefit of his fellow-creatures, to help them to live healthier, happier, and better lives. And it is only by doing so that you will be able to give a satisfactory answer to the ques- tion, which sooner or later you will assuredly ask yourself " What hast thou wrought for Right and Truth, For God and Man, From the golden hours of bright-eyed youth To Life's mid span?" 1 1 Whittier. CHAPTER XII SOCIAL LIFE IT is our proud boast that every English- man's House is his Castle, but it ought to be more ; it ought to be his Home. That it is his castle is his right by law, to make it a real home depends upon himself. What makes a "Home" ? Love and sym- pathy and confidence. The memories of child- hood, the kindness of parents, the bright hopes of youth, the sisters' pride, the brothers' sympathy and help, the mutual confidence, the common hopes and interests and sorrows ; these create and sanctify the home. A House without Love may be a Castle, or a Palace, but it is not a Home ; Love is the life of a true home. " A home without Love is no more a home, than a body without a soul is a man." 188 CHAP, xii SOCIAL LIFE 189 " He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast. Better is little with the fear of the Lord, Than great treasure, and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, Than an house full of sacrifices with strife." l We value the Home now, not as a castle of Refuge from the arbitrary power of the Great or of the State, but from the cares and anxie- ties of life ; as a Haven of Repose from the storms and tempests which we must expect to encounter in our voyage through the world. In even the most successful career such times will come, and prosperity alone can by no means ensure happiness or peace. Man was not made to live alone, not even in the Garden of Eden. " Que ferait une ame isolee," says Bernardin de St. Pierre, "dans le ciel meme." His heart must be at home, but it is well to have work outside. We are not intended entirely either for society or for soli- tude. Both are good, I might say neces- sary. 1 Proverbs. 190 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. " Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite Beyond it, blooms the garden that I love ; News from the humming city comes to it In sound of funeral or of marriage bells ; And, sitting muffled in dark leaves, you hear The windy clanging of the minster clock ; Although between it and the garden lies A league of grass, washed by a slow, broad stream, That, stirred with languid pulses of the oar, Waves all its lazy lilies, and creeps on, Barge laden, to three arches of a bridge, Crowned with the minster-towers." * The beauties of Nature are a joy for ever, but sunshine in the sky is little, unless there be sunshine in the heart also. To the family we owe the sentiments of attachment, reverence, and love. It is the basis and origin of civilisation ; the true school of all that is best, it appeals to all our nobler feelings and our highest nature. What could Angels do more than make others happy. Your home may be humble, ugly, unpoetic, even cold and uncongenial, but your place and your duty lie there ; and the greater the diffi- culties, the richer will be the reward. Patient endurance of worry or injustice is 1 Tennyson, " The Gardener's Daughter." XII SOCIAL LIFE 191 more difficult than hard work ; it is a living sacrifice, more difficult to make than that of money, time, or labour. Few people really wish to make others un- happy, and those few would not be likely to read what I am saying. But it is probable that on the whole more unhappiness is caused by want of thought, or of tact, than by want of heart. Receive every one with a bright smile, kind words, and a pleasant welcome. It is not enough to love those who are dear to us. We must show them that we do so. Many of us, through ignorance, thoughtless- ness, or want of judgment, wound those whom we love best, and most wish to help. We all know ourselves how much we are helped and strengthened by a few words of encouragement . "I have often thought," said Lord Chester- field, "and still think, that there are few things which people in general know less, than how to love and how to hate. They hurt those they love, by a mistaken indul- gence, by a blindness, nay, often a partiality to their faults. Where they hate, they 192 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. hurt themselves, by ill-timed passion and rage." l Even among friends our life tends to isola- tion ; " we are stationed with regard to each other as upon different islands, locked up within prison bars of the bones, and behind the curtain of the skin." 2 How little we know our friends, or even our relations ! Even members of the same family often live in practical isolation ; their minds move as it were in parallel lines and never meet ; they are not really in touch with one another. " Not e'en the tenderest heart and next our own, Knows half the reasons why we smile or sigh." 3 We discuss the weather, the crops, the last novel, the state of politics, the health and fail- ings of our neighbours, anything and every- thing, which has no relation to the true and inner life. In fact, the more trivial, the less important anything is, the more it seems to be talked about ; and those often seem to talk most who have really least to say. 1 Lord Chesterfield. 2 Jean Paul Richter. 3 Keble. xii SOCIAL LIFE 193 Few people realise that conversation is a great art. That > a family should be really united, really in sympathy, requires not merely affection, and good intentions, but sympathy and power of giving out, and draw- ing out, ideas. If people do not amuse you, try to amuse them. People often pride themselves on saying just what comes into their minds, and no doubt every one should be truthful and can- did, but conversation is like other things, and if we wish to make it interesting we must take some pains with it. We may all do much to make the home happy. " To bless mankind with tides of flowing wealth, With power to grace them, or to crown with health, Our little lot denies ; but Heaven decrees To all, the gift of ministering ease ; The gentler offices of patient love, Beyond all flattery and all praise above." l A bad-tempered man punishes himself, no doubt, more than others. " Thus always teasing others, always teased, His only pleasure is to be displeased," 2 1 Hannah More. 2 Pope. 194 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. and being never pleased, he is never happy. But unquestionably he does much to make others unhappy also. To make those around us happy does not require any great sacri- fice ; but mere good intentions are not enough. It requires tact and study and practice. To do anything well, good or bad, you must practise. A kind and sympathetic manner will do wonders. An old proverb tells us that " Manners makyth man," and it is doubtless true that many a man has been made by his manner and many ruined by the want of it. Even when a Prime Minister selects his Cabinet, he does not look altogether to wis- dom or eloquence or ability or character, but partly also to manner, to those who can get on well with others. Roughness is not strength ; it is indeed often the cloak of weakness. Shakespeare in his wonderful picture of Julius Caesar tells us that " His life was gentle and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, ' This was a man.' " xii SOCIAL LIFE 195 " Concord and Discord are sometimes sup- posed to be connected with a chord in music. They have really a deeper meaning a Union or Jarring of hearts." And if it is necessary to find fault, at least speak kindly ; especially to children, for " the little cradle of the child is more easily dark- ened than the starry heaven of the man." 2 Rubens, we are told, was able by a single stroke to convert a laughing into a crying child. In life we can all do so. Even a word is enough. In all cases " Speak gently ! 'tis a little thing Dropped in the heart's deep well ; The good, the joy that it may bring, Eternity shall tell." 3 It is also a good rule to blame in private, and praise in public. What is said in private will be accepted in a better spirit, will be felt to be kindly meant, and will really have more effect ; while praise in public is much more inspiriting, and a richer reward. Above all things, if you have occasion to 1 Sir H. Maxwell's Meridiana. 2 Jean Paul Richter. 3 Langford. 196 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. find fault, do it gravely, as if with regret ; never show anger or annoyance if you can help it. " I would have punished you," said Archytas to his slave, "if I had not been angry." If you are angry at least pause and think before you speak. Matthew Arnold quotes as characteristic of the highest culture " its inexhaustible indulgence, its consideration of circumstances, its severe judgment of actions joined to its merciful judgment of persons." Death will soon make all equal. Antici- pate this then, and treat every one with courtesy, as befits a gentleman. If you can help it, never leave a friend in anger, or even in coolness. Remember that any parting may be the last. Some words are like rays of sunshine, others like barbed arrows or the bite of a serpent. And if hard words cut so deep, how much pleasure can kind ones give ! Good words, said George Herbert, " cost little and are worth much," for " Many a shaft at random sent, Finds mark the Archer little meant ! And many a word at random spoken, May soothe or wound a heart that's broken." XII SOCIAL LIFE 197 It is not always necessary even to speak. When Peter had denied Christ, we are told that "the Lord looked upon Peter." That sad look of reproach was enough. Peter went out and wept bitterly. As it is true that a look can give acute pain, so also one kind glance of the eye will often make a heart dance with joy. After a long separation how we long for the warm wel- come on which we know that we can reckon ; while as we meet in the morning a kind smile will brighten the darkest day. Do not be too reserved. Do not be afraid of showing your affection. It is not enough to love if you seem cold. Be warm and ten- der, thoughtful and affectionate. Men are more helped by sympathy than by service ; love is more than money, and a kind word will give more pleasure than a present. When Benjamin West was asked what had made him a painter, " It was," he said, " my mother's kiss." "If the Home duties," said Confucius, " are well performed, what need is there to go afar to offer sacrifice." Be very careful in the selection of your 198 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. friends, " the most valuable and fairest fur- niture of life." 1 Keep good company, says George Herbert, " and you will be of the number." "Tell me whom you live with/' says a Spanish proverb, " and I will tell you who you are." A man who is not a good friend to himself cannot be so to any one else. " Well chosen friendship, the most noble Of virtues, all our joys makes double, And into halves divides our trouble." 2 The wise choice of female friends is quite as important. Many wise men have been wrecked by the Sirens, since the time of Solomon. " Whose heart, though large, Beguiled by fair idolatresses fell To idols foul." 3 Friendship, said Lilly, "is the jewel of human life," and a friendless man is much to be pitied, especially as it is probably his own fault. " No one is so accursed by fate, No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown, Kesponds unto his own." 4 1 Cicero. 2 Denham. 3 Milton. 4 Longfellow. xii SOCIAL LIFE 199 Surely it cannot be necessary, as Keble sadly says, that we should all be isolated and alone. " Each in his hidden sphere of joy or woe Our hermit spirits dwell and range apart, Our eyes see all around in gloom or glow Hues of their own, fresh borrowed from the heart," though no doubt it is well to have the option of sometimes being alone, for it is difficult to love your neighbour if you can never get away from him. It will almost inevitably happen that from time to time you will think you have cause of complaint. If so, be patient and reason- able. Look at it from your friend's point of view. Do nothing in a hurry. Nature never does. " Most haste, worst speed," says the old proverb. But above all, never quarrel in a hurry. Think it over well. Take time. However vexed you may be overnight, things will often look very different in the morn- ing. If you have written a clever and conclusive, but scathing letter, keep it back till the next day, and it will very often never go at all. 200 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Make the very best friends you can. A bad friend is much worse than none at all. " Enter not into the path of the wicked, And go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, Turn from it, and pass away. " For they sleep not, Except they have done mischief; And their sleep is taken away, Unless they cause some to fall. " For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence. " But the path of the just Is as the shining light, That shineth more and more Unto the perfect day." 1 But though it is a great mistake to make friends of the wicked and foolish, it is unwise to make enemies of them, for they are very numerous. Lamb wittily observes that " presents en- dear absents," but kindness and patience and sympathy will do much more. Friends may well claim all that you can 1 Proverbs. xii SOCIAL LIFE 201 afford to give ; but they are not entitled to ask you to lend. " Neither a borrower nor lender be," says Shakespeare, " For loan oft loses both itself and friend, And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry." And Solomon warns us, " He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it ; But he that hateth suretyship is sure." 1 Friends will protect you from many dan- gers, and ward off many sorrows. When Augustus was brought to shame by his daughter Julia, " None of these things," he said, " would have happened to me, if either Agrippa or Maecenas had lived." And when you have made good friends keep them. "Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel." 2 Give them no cause of complaint, however slight. And if death separates, there is still the 1 Proverbs. 2 Shakespeare. 202 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. sweet hope of seeing them again. It cannot make up to us for the loss, but still " 'Tis sweet, as year by year we lose Friends out of sight, in faith to muse How grows in Paradise our store." l The most important step in life is marriage. Love seems to beautify and inspire all nature. It raises the earthly caterpillar into the ethe- real butterfly, it paints the feathers in spring, it lights the glowworm's lamp, it wakens the song of birds, and inspires the poet's lay. Even inanimate Nature seems to feel the spell, and flowers glow with the richest col- ours. A man, says Simonides, " cannot have any greater blessing than a good wife, or any greater curse than a bad one." " A continual dropping in a very rainy day And a contentious woman are alike." 2 " It is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top, Than with a brawling woman in a wide house." 3 As regards the selection, it is probably not easy to give advice of much value. Some i Keble. * Proverbs. 3 Ibid. XII SOCIAL LIFE 203 considerations indeed are almost self-evident. It is not well to marry too early. When two very young people marry, it is, says Sir H. Taylor, " as if one sweet-pea should be put as a prop to another." Do not marry for money, nor without money. Those who marry for money " show themselves to be less than money by over- valuing that to all the content and wise felicity of their lives : and when they have counted the money and their sor- rows together, how willingly would they buy with the loss of all that money " l the life they have sold. Do not imagine that in marriage you can go on living your " own substantive life with the additional embellishment of some grace- ful, simple, gay, easy-hearted creature, who would lie light upon the surface of one's be- ing, be at hand whenever solitude and serious pursuits had become irksome, and never be in the way when she was not wanted. Visions these are ; merely dreams of our Epicurean youth." 2 1 Jeremy Taylor, The Marriage Ring. 2 Sir H. Taylor, Notes from Life. 204 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Homer, says Jeremy Taylor, " adds many soft appellations to the character of a hus- band's duty. Thou art to be a Father and Mother to her, and a Brother : and with great reason, unless the state of marriage should be no better than the condition of an orphan. For she that is bound to leave Father and Mother, and Brother for thee, either is miser- able like a poor fatherless child, or else ought to find all these, and more, in thee." l If you have the least doubt about it, do not marry. The married state is either very happy or very miserable. Marriage is a great responsibility. Do not trust altogether to, or be beguiled by, the eye, for " marriages are not to be contracted by the hands and eye, but with reason and the hearts." 2 A good wife is a helpmeet, not in material things only, but in those of the mind also. " Base men," says Shakespeare, " being in love have then a nobility in their natures more than is native to them." And if even base men are so powerfully affected for good, 1 The Marriage Ring. 2 Jeremy Taylor, xii SOCIAL LIFE 205 how much more those who have nobility already in their nature ! For "And there are souls that seem to dwell Above this earth, so rich a spell Floats round their steps, where'er they move, From hopes fulfilled and mutual love." 1 " Marriage," says Jeremy Taylor, " is divine in its institution, sacred in its union, holy in the mystery, sacramental in its signification, honourable in its appellative, religious in its employments : it is advantage to the societies of men, and it is < holiness to the Lord.' " 2 If a marriage is happy, says Tertullian, "how are we to find words to express that happiness ? . . . Together they pray, to- gether they worship, together they fast . . . together in difficulties, in adversities, in re- freshments. Neither hides anything from the other, neither is a burden to the other. Christ joys when He sees such things. To these He sends His peace. Where two are, there is He, and where He is, the evil one is not." You take your wife, in the solemn and beautiful words of our marriage service, " for 1 Keble. 2 The Marriage Ring. 206 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sick- ness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death you do part." "A happy marriage," says Stanley, "is a new beginning of life, a new starting-point for happiness and usefulness ; it is the great opportunity once for all to leave the past, with all its follies and faults and errors, far, far behind us for ever, and to press forward with new hopes, and new courage, and new strength into the future which opens before us. A happy home is the best likeness of heaven; a home where husband and wife, father and mother, brother and sister, child and parent, each in their several ways, help each the other forward in their different course as no other human being can ; for none else has the same opportunities ; none else so knows the character of any other ; none else has such an interest at stake in the welfare, and the fame, and the grace, and the good- ness of any one else as of those who are bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, in whose happiness and glory we ourselves become happy and glorious, in whose misery we be- xii SOCIAL LIFE 207 come miserable, by whose selfishness and weakness and worldliness we are dragged down to earth, by whose purity and nobleness and strength we are raised up, almost against our will, to duty, to heaven, and to God." Finally, children are a great, but none the less a delightful, responsibility. They are sometimes spoken of as " sent," and improvi- dent parents excuse themselves by saying that " if God sends mouths, He will send food to fill them," but Matthew Arnold justly observes that there is no justification for bringing poor little children into the world whom you can- not keep decently, in reasonable comfort and not too precariously. Let them grow up in the sunshine of love ; if their childhood is blest with the genial warmth of affection, they will better endure the cold of life. "No man can tell but he that loves his children, how many delicious accents make a man's heart dance in the pretty conversa- tion of those dear pledges ; their childishness, their stammering, their little angers, their innocence, their imperfections, their necessi- 208 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xn ties, are so many little emanations of joy and comfort to him that delights in their per- sons and society ; but he that loves not his Wife and Children, feeds a Lioness at home, and broods a nest of Sorrows ; and Blessing itself cannot make him happy; so that all the Commandments of God injoyning a man to love his wife, are nothing but so many Necessities and Capacities of joy." * 1 Jeremy Taylor. CHAPTER XIII INDUSTRY NEVER waste anything, but, above all, never waste time. To-day comes but once and never returns. Time is one of Heaven's richest gifts ; and once lost is irrecoverable. " Not Heaven itself upon the past has power, For what has been, has been ; and I have had my hour." l Do not spend your time so now, that you will reproach yourself hereafter. There are no sadder thoughts than " Too late," and " It might have been." Time is a trust, and for every minute of it you will have to account. Be " spare of sleep, spare of diet, and sparest of time." Nelson once said that he attributed all his 1 Dry den. p 209 210 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. success in life to having always been a quarter of an hour before his time. " The young," said Lord Melbourne, "should never hear any language but this: you have your own way to make, and it depends upon your own exertions whether you starve or not." Industry, moreover, is not only essential to success, but has a most healthy influence on the moral character. "Never be idle," said Jeremy Taylor, but "fill up all the spaces of thy time with a severe and useful employ- ment ; for lust easily creeps in at these empti- nesses where the soul is unemployed, and the body is at ease ; for no easy, healthful, idle person was ever chaste if he could be tempted ; but of all employments, bodily labour is the most useful, and of the greatest benefit for driving away the devil." Time and Earth, in the words of Keble, " are the preparations for Heaven and Eter- nity ; and such as we make our moments here, such will God make our ages in the world to come." To do something however small, to make xin INDUSTRY 211 others happier and better, is the highest am- bition, the most elevating hope, which can in- spire a human being. Pietro Medici is said to have once em- ployed Michael Angelo to make a statue out of snow. That was a stupid waste of precious time. But if Michael Angelo' s time was precious to the world, our time is just as precious to ourselves, and yet we too often waste it in making statues of snow, and, even worse, in making idols of mire. " We all complain," said the great Roman philosopher and statesman, Seneca, " of the shortness of time, and yet we have more than we know what to do with. Our lives are spent either in doing nothing at all, or in doing nothing to the purpose, or in doing nothing that we ought to do. We are always complaining that our days are few ; and act- ing as though there would be no end to them." It is astonishing what can be done by economy of time. " Nehemiah could find time to dart up a successful prayer to the Throne of Grace whilst he stood waiting behind the King of Persia's chair." 212 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. And yet, fill up our time as well and as wisely as we may, even the most fortunate of us must leave many things undone, many books unread, many a glorious sight unseen, many a country un visited. One great, I might almost say the great element, of success and happiness in life, is the capacity for honest solid work. Cicero said that what was required was first audac- ity, what was second was audacity, and what was third was audacity. Self-confidence is no doubt useful, but it would be more correct to say that what was wanted was firstly per- severance, secondly perseverance, and thirdly perseverance. Work is not of course, any more than play, the object of Life ; both are means to the same end. Work is as necessary for peace of mind as for health of body. A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work. Worry upsets our whole system, work keeps it in health and order. Exercise of the muscles keeps the body in health, and exercise of the brain brings peace of mind. " By work of the Mind one secures the repose of the Heart." l 1 Jancourt. XIII INDUSTRY 213 " Give a girl any true work that will make her active in the dawn, and weary at night, with the consciousness that her fellow-creat- ures have indeed been the better for her day. and the powerless sorrow of her enthusiasm will transform itself into a majesty of radiant and beneficent peace." Do what you will, only do something. Even attempts to find the philosopher's stone and to square the circle have borne some fruit. " Words/' said Dr. Johnson, " are the daughters of Earth, and Deeds are the sons of Heaven," and whatever you do, do thor- oughly. Put your heart into it. Cultivate all your faculties : you must either use them or lose them. We are told of Hezekiah that " in every work that he began, ... he did it with all his heart, and prospered." 2 " The story of genius even, so far as it can be told at all, is the story of persistent indus- try in the face of obstacles, and some of the standard geniuses give us their word for it that genius is little more than industry. A 1 Ruskiii. ' 2 2 Chron. 214 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. woman like ' George Eliot ' laughs at the idea of writing her novels by inspiration. ' Genius,' President Dwight used to tell the boys at Yale, i is the power of making efforts.' " l Begging is after all harder than working, and taking it altogether, does not pay so well. Every man, moreover, should stand upon his own feet. A ploughman on his feet, says Franklin, is higher than a gentle- man on his knees. Cobbett, speaking of his celebrated English grammar, tells us that : "I learned grammar when I was a private soldier on the pay of sixpence a day. The edge of my berth, or that of the guard bed, was my seat to study in ; my knapsack was my bookcase ; a bit of board lying on my lap was my writing-table ; and the task did not demand anything like a year of my life. . I had no money to purchase candle or oil ; in winter time it was rarely that I could get any evening light but that of the fire, and only my turn even of that. ... Think not lightly of the farthing that I had 1 Garnett. XIII INDUSTRY 215 to give, now and then, for ink, pen, or paper. That farthing was, alas ! a great sum to me : I was as tall as I am now ; I had great health and great exercise. The whole of the money, not expended for us at market, was twopence a week for each man. I remember, and well I may, that upon one occasion I, after all ab- solutely necessary expenses, had, on a Friday, made shift to have a halfpenny in reserve, which I had destined for the purchase of a red herring in the morning; but, when I pulled off my clothes at night, so hungry then as to be hardly able to endure life, I found that I had lost my halfpenny ! I buried my head under the miserable sheet and rug, and cried like a child ! And, again. I say, if I, under circumstances like these, could encounter and overcome this task, is there, can there be, in the whole world, a youth to find an excuse for the non-perform- ance?" Cobbett had no money, but he had energy and courage. " Most men," says Bacon, " seem neither to understand their riches nor their strength : of the former they believe 216 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. greater things than they should ; of the latter much less. Self-reliance and self-denial will teach a man to drink out of his own cistern, and eat his own sweet bread, and to learn and labour truly to get his living, and care- fully to expend the good things committed to his trust." There is an Oriental proverb that " Good striving Brings thriving : Better a dog that works Than a lion who shirks." "Work," says Nature to Man, "in every hour, paid or unpaid; see only that thou work, and thou canst not escape the reward : whether thy work be fine or coarse, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought ; no matter how often defeated, you are born to victory. The reward of a thing well done, is to have done it." 1 The great wizard, Michael Scott, as Sir Walter Scott has told us, found he could only 1 Emerson. xin INDUSTRY 217 secure himself against his familiar Devil by constantly providing him with employment. The same applies to us all. St. Paul says that the Evil Spirit having been driven out of a man, returned when he found the house empty, and entered in with seven other spirits worse than himself. Idleness is not rest. It is more tiring than work. The Romans had a proverb, " Difficilis in otio quies." It is difficult to rest if you are doing nothing. Never hurry. Nature never does. The first piece of advice which a Swiss guide gives to a young mountaineer, and that to which he returns most often, is that one should go " immer langsam," slowly and steadily; or "plus doucement on monte, plus vite on ar- rive au sommet," not trying to walk too fast, but not loitering. By all means pause now and then ; even the strong ox requires to do so, and the furlong, or " furrow long," measures the distance after which it is well to give him a rest. But in life also the great secret of progress is never to hurry and never to loiter. " Haste," says an Eastern proverb, 218 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. " cometh of the Evil One, but patience open- eth the gate of felicity." Many people seem to think that they can save time by hurrying. It is a great mis- take. It is well to move briskly ; but it is far more important to do a thing well, than to get through it quickly. Moreover, even as regards the work itself, if it is done irregularly, by fits and starts and in a hurry, it is much more exhausting, much more really laborious, than, if taken slowly, steadily, and regularly without hurry and bustle. Hurry not only spoils work, but spoils life also. " Work without haste and without rest/' was Goethe's maxim, though our word " rest " does not exactly express his idea. " Haste not, let no thoughtless deed Mar for aye the spirit's speed ; Ponder well, and know the right, Onward then, and know thy might ; Haste not, years can ne'er atone For one reckless action done. " Rest not, Life is sweeping by, Go and dare, before you die : Something mighty and sublime xin INDUSTRY 219 Leave behind to conquer time ; Glorious 'tis to live for aye, When these forms have pass'd away." l Work hard then, but do not hurry, do not fuss, and do not be anxious. " Interest yourself/' says Mr. Francis Gal- ton, " chiefly in the progress of your journey, and do not look forward to its end with eagerness. It is better to think of a return to civilisation, not as an end to hardship and a haven from ill, but as a thing to be regretted, and as a close to an adventurous and pleasant life. In this way, risking less, you will in- sensibly creep on, making connections, and learning the capabilities of the country as you advance, which will be found invaluable in the case of a hurried or a disastrous return. And thus, when some months have passed by, you will look back with surprise on the great distance travelled over; for if you average only three miles a day at the end of the year you will have advanced 1000, which is a very considerable exploration. The fable of the hare and the tortoise seems expressly in- 1 Goethe. 220 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. tended for travellers over wide and unknown tracts." Rise early, give to muscles and brain their fair share of exercise and rest, be temperate in food, allow yourself a reasonable allowance of sleep, take things easily, and depend upon it your work will not hurt you. Worry and excitement, impatience and anxiety, will not get you on in your work, and may kill you in the end, or at any rate hand you over a victim to some attack of illness ; but if you take life cheerfully and peacefully, intellect- ual exertion and free thought are to the mind, what exercise and fresh air are to the body ; they will prolong, not shorten your life. "Perseverance . . . Keeps honour bright : to have done is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery." l Perseverance " is the Statesman's brain, the Warrior's sword, the Inventor's secret, the Scholar's ' Open sesame.'" 2 Our gra- cious Queen has been one of the very best 1 Shakespeare. 2 Adam's Plain Living and High Thinking. xin INDUSTRY 221 sovereigns in History. And why? no doubt she has great judgment and tact, but she has spared herself no labour. The spirit in which she has worked is indicated in a remark to Lord Monteagle, quoted in Mrs. Jameson's Memoirs. In reply to some ex- pression of regret on his part that he was obliged to trouble her on business, she said, " Never mention to me the word ' trouble.' Only tell me how the thing is to be done, to be done rightly, and I will do it if I can." Whatever your duties or business in life may be, try to do it as well as it can be done. The Duke of Wellington owed his victories almost as much to his being a good man of business as a great General. He paid the most careful attention to all the details of his supplies and commissariat ; and his horses had plenty of fodder, his troops were well supplied with warm clothes, strong boots, and good food. "Seest thou a man diligent in his busi- ness," says Solomon; "he shall stand before kings;" and St. Paul tells us to be "not 222 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." Industry brings its own reward. Colum- bus discovered America while searching for a western passage to India ; and, as Goethe pointed out, Saul found a kingdom while he was looking for his father's asses. "Resolve," said Franklin, "to perform what you ought, and perform without fail what you resolve." It is sometimes supposed that genius may take the place of work. We read of men at College who idled their first years, who only worked at high pressure for a short time, with a wet towel round their heads, and yet took a high degree. Depend upon it they paid dearly for the wet towel afterwards. But even so, they had to work. Many of the greatest men have owed their success to rh- dustry rather than to cleverness, if we can judge from their school record. Wellington and Napoleon, Clive, Scott, Sheridan, and Burns are all said to have been dull boys at school. No doubt some men are much more gifted XIII INDUSTRY 223 than others. But let two men start in life, the one with brilliant abilities, but careless, idle, and self-indulgent ; the other compara- tively slow, but industrious, careful, and high- principled, and he will in time distance his more brilliant competitor. No advantage in life, no cleverness, no rich friends or powerful relations will make up for the want of indus- try and character. Grosteste, Bishop of Lincoln, and a great statesman, had an idle brother who once came and asked to be made a great man. " Brother," replied the Bishop, " if your plough is broken, I'll pay for the mending of it ; or, if your ox should die, I'll buy you another ; but I cannot make a great man of you ; a ploughman I found you, and I fear a ploughman I must leave you." Milton was not merely a man of genius, but of indomitable industry. He thus describes his own habits : " In winter, often ere the sound of any bell wakes man to labour or devotion ; in summer, as oft with the bird that first rouses, or not much tardier, to read good authors, or to cause them to be read till 224 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. the attention be ready, or memory have its full freight ; then, with clear and generous labour, preserving the body's health and hardi- ness, to render lightsome, clear, and not lump- ish obedience to the mind, to the cause of religion, and our country's liberty." Do not look on your work as a dull duty. If you choose you can make it interesting. Throw your heart into it, master its meaning, trace out the causes and previous history, con- sider it in all its bearings, think how many, even the humblest, labour may benefit, and there is scarcely one of our duties which we may not look to with enthusiasm. You will get to love your work, and if you do it with delight you will do it with ease. Even if you find this at first impossible, if for a time it seems mere drudgery, this may be just what you require ; it may be good, like mountain air, to brace up your character. Our Scandi- navian ancestors worshipped Thor, wielding his hammer ; and in the old Norse myth Yoland is said to have sold his soul to the Devil, in order to be the best smith in the world ; which, however, was going too far. XIII INDUSTRY 225 It is a great question how much time should be given to sleep. Nature must decide. Some people require much more than others. I do not think it possible to diminish the amount which Nature demands. Nor can time spent in real sleep be said to be wasted. It is a wonderful restorer of nervous energy, of which those who live in cities never have enough. Sir E. Cooke's division of the day was " Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six, Four spend in prayer the rest on Nature fix." Sir W. Jones amended this into " Six hours to law, to soothing slumber seven, Ten to the world allot, and all to Heaven." Neither six nor seven hours would be enough for me. ' We must sleep till we are so far refreshed as to wake up, and not down. In times of sorrow, occupation, which diverts our thoughts, is often a great comfort. Indeed many of us torment ourselves in hours of leis- ure with idle fears and unnecessary anxieties. Keep yourselves always occupied. CHAP. 226 THE USE OF LIFE " So shall thou find in work and thought The peace that sorrow cannot give." l " Every place," says old Lilly, " is a coun- try to a wise man, and all parts a palace to a quiet mind." Work, moreover, with, and not against Na- ture. Do not row against the stream if you can help it ; but if you must, you must. Do not then shrink from it; but Nature will generally work for us if we will only let her. 'For as in that which is above Nature, so in Nature itself : he that breaks one physical law is guilty of all. The whole universe, as it were, takes up arms against him, and all Nature, with her numberless and unseen pow- ers, is ready to avenge herself upon him, and on his children after him, he knows not when nor where. He, on the other hand, who obeys the law of Nature with his whole heart and mind, will find all things working together to him for good. He is at peace with the physi- cal universe. He is helped and befriended alike by the sun above his head and the dust 1 Stirling. XIII INDUSTRY 227 beneath his feet : because he is obeying the will and mind of Him who made sun, and dust, and all. things : and who has given them a law which cannot be broken." * 1 Kingsley. CHAPTER XIV FAITH WE are told in statistical works that out of 1,500,000,000 of human beings there are 500,000,000 Buddhists, 350,000,000 Chris- tians, 200,000,000 Hindoos, and 150,000,000 Mahomedans; but Selden, 1 though he goes into the opposite extreme, was doubtless nearer the mark when he observes that "men say they are of the same religion for quiet- ness' sake; but if the matter was well ex- amined, you would scarce find three anywhere of the same religion on all points." It is no wonder that this should be so, for as we know in reality so very little even about our own world, we cannot expect to be better informed about another. " The wonderful world," says Canon Lid- 1 Table Talk. 228 CHAP, xiv FAITH 229 don, " in which we now pass this stage of our existence, whether the higher world of faith be open to our gaze or not, is a very temple of many and august mysteries. You will walk, perhaps, to-morrow afternoon into the country ; and here or there the swelling buds, or the first fresh green of the opening leaf, will remind you that already spring is about to re-enact before your eyes the beautiful spectacle of her yearly triumph. Everywhere around you are evidences of the existence and movement of a mysterious power which you can neither see, nor touch, nor define, nor measure, nor understand. This power lives speechless, noiseless, unseen, yet energetic, in every bough above your head, in every blade of grass beneath your feet." Doubt is indeed the very foundation of philosophy. We live in a world of mystery ; and if we cannot explain the simplest flower, or the smallest insect, how can we expect to understand the infinite? " We acknowledge," says Dr. Martineau, " space and silence to be His attributes ; and when the evening dew has laid the noonday dust of care, and the vision 230 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. strained by microscopic anxieties takes the wide sweep of meditation, and earth sleeps as a desert beneath the starry Infinite, the un- speakable Presence wraps us close again, and startles us in the wild night-wind, and gazes straight into our eyes from those ancient lights of heaven." " Human existence/' says John Stuart Mill, 1 " is girt round with mystery ; the narrow re- gion of our experience is a small island in the midst of a boundless sea, which at once awes our feelings and stimulates our imagination by its vastness and obscurity. To add to the mystery, the domain of our earthly existence is not only an island in infinite space, but also in infinite time." But if we find ourselves continually com- pelled to remain in ignorance, and to suspend our judgment, we need not on that account lose hope. " And so we say that iii the dim hereafter, Or be it dawn or twilight, noon or night, The thread of that great scheme whereof this life Is, as a something tells us, but a part, Shall not be lost, but taken up again And woven into one completed whole.' 7 1 Utility of Reliyion. xiv FAITH 231 We feel much which we cannot explain. This is not confined to theology. " If you ask me," said St. Augustine, "what is Time, I cannot tell you ; but I know quite well, if you do not ask me." Wesley described himself as " Weary of all this wordy strife, These notions, forms, and modes, and names, To Thee, the Way, the Truth, the Life, Whose love my simple heart inflames Divinely taught, at last I fly, With Thee and Thine to live and die." " Those who tell me," says Martineau, " too much about God ; who speak as if they knew His motive and His plan in everything ; who are never at a loss to name the reason of every structure, and show the tender mercy of every event ; who praise the cleverness of the Eter- nal economy, and patronise it as a masterpiece of forensic ingenuity ; who carry themselves through the solemn glades of Providence with the springy steps and jaunty air of a familiar ; do but drive me by the very definiteness of their assurance into an indefinite agony of doubt and impel me to cry ' Ask of me less, and I shall give you all.' ' 232 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Dean Stanley described one great object of his life as being to do " something to break the collision between the beliefs and the doubts of the age, and to fix our gaze 'on the hills from whence cometh our help.' ' " Amid the mysteries," says Herbert Spencer, " which become the more mysterious the more they are thought about, there will remain the one absolute certainty, that man is ever in presence of an Infinite and Eternal Energy, from which all things proceed." We must then be content to feel, we cannot define. Many of the differences which separate men into sects are factions, rather than religions. In defiance of St. Paul's warning, they per- sist in saying, " I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos." " The kingdom of God does not," says Jeremy Taylor, " consist in words, but in power, the power of Godliness. Though now we are fallen upon another method, we have turned all religion into faith, and our faith is nothing but the production of interest or disputing; it is adhering to a party and a xiv FAITH 233 wrangling against all the world beside ; and when it is asked of what religion he is of, we understand the meaning to be what faction does he follow, what are the articles of his sect, not what is the manner of his life : and if men be zealous for their party and that interest, then they are precious men, though otherwise they be covetous as the grave, factious as Dathan, schismatical as Korah, or proud as the fallen angels." Men of science are often attacked for want of faith, though Thoreau says that "as a matter of fact there is more religion in science, than science in religion." But the man of science who doubts, does so in no scoffing spirit ; it is an expression, not of disdain, but of reverence. As Tennyson has well said " Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds, At last he beat his music out. There lives more faith in honest doubt, Believe me, than in half the creeds." Let me refer, for instance, to two repre- sentative men. "When I attempt," says Professor Tyndall, "to give the Power which 234 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. I see manifested in the universe an objective form, personal or otherwise, it slips away from me, declining all intellectual manipula- tion. I dare not use the pronoun ' He ' re- garding it ; I dare not call it a ' Mind ' ; I refuse to call it even a ' cause.' Its mystery overshadows me." Professor Huxley is one of our ablest thinkers ; he is, moreover, an Agnostic, and no friend of religious institu- tions in the ordinary sense, but he has told us that he could "conceive the existence of an Established Church which should be a blessing to the community. A Church in which, week by week, services should be de- voted, not to the iteration of abstract propo- sitions in theology, but to the setting before men's minds of an ideal of true, just, and pure living: a place in which those who are weary of the burden of daily cares, should find a moment's rest in the contemplation of the higher life which is possible for all, though attained by so few ; a place in which the man of strife and of business should have time to think how small, after all, are the rewards he covets compared with peace and charity. xiv FAITH 235 Depend upon it, if such a Church existed, no one would seek to disestablish it." This seems to me not far removed from the Church of Arnold and Maurice, Kingsley, Stanley, and Jowett. The Church of England is gradually approximating to this ideal, and the more it does so, the stronger it will grow. Theologians necessarily endeavour to ex- press themselves in language which can be understood, and we do them an injustice in expecting that we can take them literally. When poets speak of the " sunrise "we do not accuse them of ignoring astronomy ; nor can any one be justly accused of " blasphem- ing " Shakespeare or Tennyson if he maintains that it is the Earth and not the Sun which moves. Even the discoveries of science re- quire a language of their own, and if we can- not describe a flower or a stone accurately without the use of newly-coined phrases, we may feel sure that it is impossible for human language to comprehend the Infinite. Nor can we wonder if, in accordance with the general opinion of the times, ancient writers in some cases attributed to the agency of 236 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Demons, results which we now know to be due to nervous disease. There can be no merit in believing some- thing which you can neither explain nor understand. There can be no merit in be- lieving a fact for which we have no sufficient evidence ; or in persuading ourselves that we believe something which we do not compre- hend. Indeed, it is surely impossible to be- lieve anything for which we are conscious that there is no good evidence. On the con- trary, our duty is to believe that for which we have sufficient evidence, and to suspend our judgment when we have not. Many people seem to suppose that they must either believe a statement or disbelieve it. And yet in a great many cases we have no sufficient grounds either for belief or disbelief. True faith is no mere intellectual exercise. The faith which is enjoined on us is a living faith, and faith without works is dead. Sel- den l compares faith and works to light and heat : " Though in my intellect I may divide them, just as in the candle I know there is 1 Table Talk. XIV FAITH 237 both light and heat ; yet put out the candle, and both are gone." The references to faith in the magnificent eleventh chapter of He- brews are to actions. By faith Abel offered his sacrifices ; by faith Noah built the Ark ; by faith Abraham left his home. They surely all had, or at any rate every one will admit that they thought they had, sufficient reason for what they believed and for what they did. They were commended because, finding themselves face to face with a painful or laborious duty, they did not flinch, but faith- fully performed what they believed to be right. One of our duties, however, and by no means the easiest, is to suspend our judg- ment, when the evidence is inconclusive. There are many cases in which doubt, if not a virtue, is certainly a duty. " Our little systems have their day ; They have their day and cease to be : They are but broken lights of thee, And Thou, Lord, art more than they." The veil is slowly rising, but as regards innumerable questions we must be content to remain in ignorance. 1 Tennyson. 238 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. " Our happiness as human beings must hang on our being content to accept only partial knowledge, even in those matters which chiefly concern us. . . .. Our whole pleasure and power of energetic action de- pend upon our being able to live and breathe in a cloud ; content to see it opening here, and closing there, delighting to catch, through the thinnest films of it, glimpses of stable and substantial things ; but yet perceiving a nobleness even in concealment, rejoicing that the kindly veil is spread where the untem- pered light might have scorched us, or the infinite clearness wearied." * For, as Professor Huxley says, " Whoso calls to mind what I may venture to term the bright side of Christianity that ideal of manhood, with its strength and its patience, its justice and its pity for human frailty, its helpfulness to the extremity of self-sacrifice, its ethical purity and nobility, which apostles have pictured, in which armies of martyrs have placed their unshakable faith, and whence obscure men and women, like Cath- 1 Ruskin. XIV FAITH 239 erine of Sienna and John Knox, have de- rived courage to rebuke Popes and Kings is not likely to underrate the importance of the Christian faith as a factor in human history." St. Mark tells us that one of the scribes came to Christ and asked Him which was the greatest Commandment. " And Jesus an- swered him, The first of all the command- ments is, Hear, Israel ; the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment. And the second is like unto it, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto Him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for for there is one God ; and there is none other but he : and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than 1 Science and Christian Tradition. 240 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xiv whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." CHAPTER XV HOPE I HAVE often heard surprise expressed that Hope should be classed as a virtue with Faith and Charity. Faith could perhaps be under- stood, or misunderstood, and Charity is obvi- ously a virtue, but why Hope ? It is, however, certainly wrong to despair : and if despair is wrong, hope is right. En- durance and tenacity of purpose imply hope ; and endurance is a much better test of char- acter than any single act of heroism, however noble. Many a devoted and suffering woman is a real martyr. Do not lay things too much to heart. No one is ever really beaten unless he is dis- couraged. " ? Tis not the least disparagement To be defeated by th' event ; R 241 242 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Nor to be beaten by main force ; That does not make a man the worse ; But to turn tail and run away And without blows give up the day, Or to surrender to th' assault, That's no man's fortune, but his fault." 1 With his characteristically humorous com- mon sense, Sydney Smith gave excellent advice when he said that if we wish to do anything in the world worth doing, we " must not stand shivering on the bank, thinking of the cold and the danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can." It is curious that men are seldom afraid of real dangers : they are much more affected by those which are imaginary. They are, for instance, absurdly afraid of being laughed at. Never give way to false shame. Peter boldly faced the Pharisees and the soldiers, but could not stand the jeers of the maids and the servants in the hall of the Chief Priest. " Cowards die many times before their deaths ; The valiant never taste of death but once." 2 1 Butler. 2 Shakespeare. xv HOPE 243 Don Quixote hanging by his wrist from the stable window imagined himself over a terri- ble abyss, but when Maritornes cut him down, found he had only been a few inches above the ground. The very lions which frightened Mistrust and Timorous in the Pilgrim s Progress were found by Christian to be chained when he walked boldly up to them. How many armies which have been victori- ous in battle, have taken to flight in a panic during the night! The very word "panic" has come to mean a terror without a cause. And even in bright daylight are not fears and anxieties often equally without foundation ? " There's many a trouble Would break like a bubble, And into the waters of Lethe depart, Did not we rehearse it, And tenderly nurse it, And give it a permanent place in the heart. " There's many a sorrow Would vanish to-morrow, Were we not unwilling to furnish the wings ; So sadly intruding, And quietly brooding, It hatches out all sorts of horrible things." * i G. Clark. 244 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. The discontented man should ask himself with whom he would change. He cannot expect to take one man's health, another's wealth, and the home of a third. If he is dissatisfied he must change all in all, or not at all. Coleridge when in great trouble wrote to Sir Humphry Davy that "amid all these changes and humiliations and fears, the sense of the Eternal abides in me, and preserves unsubdued my cheerful faith that all I endure is full of blessings." Never then despair. Everything may be retrieved, except despair. " Woe to him that is faint-hearted," said the son of Sirach. " If courage is gone, then all is gone ! Twere better that thou hadst never been born." l " To bear is to conquer our fate." 2 " Beware of desperate steps : the darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away." 3 Every one makes mistakes. The man, it has been well said, who never makes a mis- take, will make nothing. But we need not 1 Goethe. 2 Campbell. 3 Cowper. XV HOPE 245 fall into the same error twice. Let your mistakes be lessons, and so you may make them stepping-stones to a better life. Joseph Hume used to say that he would rather have a cheerful disposition than an es- tate of 10,000 a year. For action the present is all-important, but there is a sense in which it is wiser to live in the past and the future. Many of the miseries of life are due to our sacrificing the future for the present ; the happiness of years that are to come, for the satisfaction of the moment. No doubt it is true that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush ; but then the chances are that the bird in the bush may never be in the cage, while the future, on the contrary, is sure to come, and those men are most happy whose " pleasure is in memory, and their am- bition in heaven." * We could hardly go far wrong if we lived in the future ; for man " hath but to forsake the Transitory and Perishable with which the True Life can never associate, and thereupon the Eternal, with all its Blessedness, will forth- with descend and dwell with him." i Ruskin. 246 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Man should, I was almost about to say above all things, be manly, and have " The will to do, the soul to dare." J For " Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt." 2 Courage is not only a virtue, but even part of the very essence of a man. A man to be a man must be brave, just as a woman to be a woman must be gentle ; though of course men should be gentle as well as brave, and women brave as well as gentle. Recklessness is not courage. Courage does not consist in despising danger, but in facing it bravely. There is no courage in running unnecessary risk ; but when danger comes, cowardice adds to it : to face it boldly and coolly is the true path of safety. To run away from an enemy in battle is the way to get killed, especially for those who, like Achilles, are vulnerable only in the heel. " To make anything very terrible," says Burke, 3 " obscurity seems in general to be 1 Scott. 2 Shakespeare. 8 " Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful." xv HOPE 247 necessary. When we know the full extent of any danger, when we can accustom our eyes to it, a great deal of the apprehension vanishes." In the old fable, the deer frightened by feathers fell into the hands of the hunters, and the troops, who, on the raising of the dust by a flock of sheep, took them for the enemy, fell into an ambush. Keep cool and courageous. "Out of the nettle, danger, pluck the flower, safety," and, according to the Eastern proverb, " draw the feet of contentment under the skirt of security." Do not expect too much. " To know how to expect little," said Goethe, " and enjoy much, is the secret of success." Do not expect too much, and do not expect it too quickly. " Everything comes to those who know how to wait." It has been well said that the darkest shadows of life are those which a man makes when he stands in his own light. Still, do what we will, sorrows must come, and it is for us to bear them bravely. 248 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. "Call up," said Richter, "in your darkest moments the memory of the brightest." " Know how sublime a thing it is To suffer and be strong." We have, moreover, always the consolation of knowing that " Come what come may, Time and the hour runs through the roughest day." 1 For, as George Macdonald says " For things can never go badly wrong, If the heart be true and the love be strong ; For the mist, if it comes, and the weeping rain, Will be changed by the love into sunshine again." " After winter folio we th summer, after night, the day returneth, and after a great tempest, a great calm." 2 However dark our path may seem, remember that Time will soothe the greatest sorrows. " Heaviness may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." " Be still, sad heart, and cease repining ; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, Some days must be dark and dreary." 3 1 Shakespeare. 2 Imitation of Christ. 3 Longfellow. xv HOPE 249 If any change happens, which at first seems like a misfortune, make sure at least that it is so. Appearances are often deceptive ; we do not live in a world in which we can afford to be discouraged by trifles, and we never know what we can do till we try. Trouble and sor- row are often friends in disguise. Nelson turned even his blind eye to advantage when he did not wish to see the signal for retreat. There are many, says Sir M. Grant Duff in his charming life of Renan, " for whose lives we should not have cared, but whose death we envy." And in history, quite as many owe their immortality to the scaffold as to the throne. If we suffer, it is either for our own fault or for the general good. " Wise men never sit, and wail their loss, But cheerly seek how to redress their harm." * While, moreover, we may be thankful for and enjoy to the full the innumerable bless- ings of life, we must not look upon sorrows and sufferings as unmixed evils. No one would be the better for constant and unvaried sue- 250 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. cess.; even if it were not too great a trial, it could not but enervate and weaken. To over- come difficulties, to resist temptation, to bear sorrows bravely, raises, strengthens, and ennobles the character. " Face to face with Eternity, the great thing is to walk grandly towards it." l We may thoroughly enjoy the soft air and bright sunshine of summer, but Nature owes much of its grandeur and beauty to the snows and storms of winter. Kingsley in a noble ode does justice to the north-east wind " Let the luscious South, wind Breathe in lover's sighs, Whilst the lazy gallants Bask in ladies' eyes. What does he but soften Heart alike and pen ? 'Tis the hard gray weather Breeds hard English men. But the black North-easter, Through the snow-storm hurled, Drives our English hearts of oak Seaward round the world. i Geikie. XV HOPE 251 Come : and strong within us Stir the Viking's blood : Bracing brain and sinew : Blow, thou wind of God." Troubles are a moral North-easter. They strengthen and brace us " Beyond the gauds and trappings of renown, This is the hero's compliment and crown ; This missed, one struggle had been wanting still, One glorious triumph of heroic will." 1 " What do you think," says Epictetus, " that Hercules would have been if there had not been such a lion, and hydra, and stag, and boar, and certain unjust and bestial men, whom Hercules used to drive away and clear out ? And what would he have been doing if there had been nothing of the kind ? Is it not plain that he would have wrapped himself up and slept ? In the first place, then, he would not have been a Hercules, when he was dreaming away his life in such luxury and ease ; and even if he had been one, what would have been the use of him ? and what the use of his arms, and of the strength of the other parts of his 1 Henry Taylor. 252 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xv body? and his endurance and noble spirit, if such circumstances and occasions had not roused and exercised him ? " When Socrates was condemned Apollodorus lamented that he should suffer so unjustly. "Would you then," said the philosopher, " have had me guilty ? " This, says St. Peter, is praiseworthy, " if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently ? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." CHAPTER XVI CHARITY WE should not only do to others as we should wish them to do to us, but think of others kindly as we should wish them to think of us. If we make no allowances for them, how can we expect them to do so for us? Moreover, on the whole, we shall find that a charitable construction of others is more likely to be the right one than not. "Some persons think to get through the difficulties of life, as Hannibal is said to have done across the Alps, by pouring vine- gar on them." l Others are ready to make sacrifices, but they neglect those little acts of kindness and affection which add so much to the brightness and happiness of life. 1 Guesses at Truth. 253 254 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Even if we have reason to complain, the offence is seldom so serious as we suppose, and to resent injuries only makes them worse. Revenge does us more harm than the injury itself; and no one ever intended to hurt another, but he did at the same time a greater harm to himself, " as the Bee shall perish if she stings angrily." 1 The vulture, we are told, scents nothing but carrion, and the Snapping turtle is said to bite before it leaves the egg, and after it is dead. Some people go through the world looking for faults. It is far wiser, however, to admire than to criticise, nor is carping really true criticism. Even if there be a skeleton in the cupboard, it is probably not the only thing there. The bones do not make the man. Criticism may be true, but is it the whole truth ? It is very interesting to be behind the scenes, but it is not the best place for seeing the play. Try to look out for the good and not the evil, both in people and in life, and you will see what you look for. 1 King Alfred's trs. of Boethius. xvi CHARITY 255 Always be patient. We know that if chil- dren are fractious it is in nine cases out of ten because they are suffering ; and men and women are but grown-up children in this re- spect, as in others. In most cases, if we knew all the circumstances, if we knew what they were feeling, we should be sorry for, and not angry with, people who are cross. If we know that any one is ill, how con- siderate others become. Nothing is grudged. Everything is done that can be thought of. They are spared all possible annoyance or irritation. But why then only ? How much better it would be if we were always as kind and considerate. We do not know the anxious cares, the weight of sorrow, the secret sufferings of others. If then you think you have reason to complain, make allowances. You need not be afraid of making too many. Make the best of everything and everybody. " De inortuis nil nisi bonum is a good maxim, but why confine it to the dead? How is it that for one kind word, one good deed told of others, we hear so many ill- 256 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. natured stories or unfavourable comments ? How much better would it be if people would speak of the living as they do of the dead. Do not then condemn others hastily, if at all. " Judge not ! The workings of his brain And of his heart thou canst not see ; What looks to thy dim eyes a stain, In God's pure light may only be A scar, brought from some well-won field, Where thou wouldst only faint and yield." 1 There may be, there certainly will be, occa- sions on which it is necessary to express dis- approval ; but as a rule, if it is impossible to say anything kind and charitable, it is better to say nothing at all. Sydney Smith is re- ported to have sent a message to an ac- quaintance who had been abusing him in his absence, that he was welcome to kick him also wheri he was not there. Most of us, however, would rather be found fault with, if at all, to our faces, and are especially sen- sitive to what is said of us when we are not there to defend ourselves. People may laugh i A. A. Procter. XVI CHARITY 257 and seem amused at having ill-natured things said about others, but depend upon it they will draw the natural inference that their turn will come next, and will like you none the better, however they may laugh with you at the moment. " Then gently scan your brother man, Still gentler, sister woman, Though they may gang a kennin' wrang, To step aside is human. Then at the balance let's be mute, We never can adjust it ; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted." l I must also put in a word also for animals. Seneca truly observes that " what with hooks, snares, nets, dogs (and we must now add guns) we are at war with all living creatures." It is apparently a necessity of our existence that we should live to some extent at the ex- pense of other animals. Since then we owe them so much, we ought all the more to avoid inflicting on them any unnecessary suf- fering. 1 Burns. 258 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. " Never to blend our pleasure or our pride, With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels." l And so " if thy heart be right, then will every creature be to thee a mirror of life, and a book of holy doctrine." 2 We do not now, most of us, believe that animals have souls, and yet probably the majority of manhood from Buddha to Wes- ley and Kingsley have done so. Birds indeed have something especially ethereal. St. Francis, " perfectly sure that he himself was a spiritual being, thought it at least possible that birds might be spiritual beings likewise, incarnate like himself in mortal flesh ; and saw no degradation to the dignity of human nature in claiming kindred lovingly, with creatures so beautiful, so won- derful, who (as he fancied in his old-fashioned way) praised God in the forest, even as angels did in heaven." 3 But however this may be, assuredly ani- mals should be treated with kindness and consideration ; it is a crime to inflict on them any unnecessary suffering. 1 Wordsworth. 2 Thomas h Kempis. 3 Kingsley. xvi CHARITY 259 Wordsworth calls " That best portion of a good man's life, His little, nameless, unreinembered acts Of kindness and of love." " He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. " He prayeth best, who loveth best All things, both great and small. For the dear God who loveth us He made and loveth all." l Among all his splendid passages, there is none more magnificent than that in which Shakespeare tells us that " The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless'd ; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes : 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown ; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; But mercy is above this sceptred sway ; It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself ; And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice." 2 1 Coleridge. - Shakespeare. 260 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Charity is too often taken as synonymous with the giving of alms, and no doubt it is true, as in the celebrated Greek lines, that " Strangers and poor men are all sent from Zeus, And alms, however small, are sweet." But yet alms-giving is only one form of charity ; by no means the chief, and one which, unless judiciously exercised, may do, and often does, more harm than good. Much more important is the feeling of sympathy and affection. " Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the faults I see ; That mercy I to others show, That mercy show to me." 1 Forget injuries, but never forget a kindness. " How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is To have a thankless child." 2 " How many there are who are unworthy of the light of day, and yet the sun rises." 3 Those who do not forgive others cannot expect to be forgiven themselves. 1 Pope. 2 Shakespeare. 3 Seneca. xvi CHARITY 261 " Suppose yourselves under the apprehen- sion of approaching death ; that you were just going to appear, naked and without dis- guise, before the Judge of all the earth, to give an account of your behaviour towards your fellow-creatures : could anything raise more dreadful apprehensions of that judg- ment than the reflection that you had been implacable, and without mercy towards those who had offended you : without that forgiv- ing spirit towards others, which, that it may now be exerted towards yourself, is your only hope ? And these natural apprehen- sions are authorised by our Saviour's applica- tion of the parable : " So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your heart forgive not every one his brother their trespasses." l The divine precept to forgive injuries and love our enemies, though not altogether ab- sent from other systems of morality, is yet especially Christian. The Bible urges it over and over again. " For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also for- 1 Dr. Butler. 262 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. give you : but if ye forgive not men their tres- passes, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." l Nay ! forgiveness is not enough. We must go further. " I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite- fully use you and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and upon the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." 2 "Charity," says St. Paul, " Charity suffereth long, and is kind ; Charity envieth not ; Charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, Seeketh not her own, Is not easily provoked, Thinketh no evil ; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; Beareth all things, believeth all things, Hopeth all things, endureth all things. " Charity never faileth : but whether there 1 Dr. Butler. 2 St. Matthew. xvi CHARITY 263 be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. . . . Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity." CHAPTER XVII CHARACTER As a mere question of getting on in the world character and steadiness will do more for a man than cleverness. I would not of course base the importance of character mainly on any such consideration, still it is none the less true. It is more important to do right than to know it, and whether we wish to be good, or to be prosperous and happy, we should follow exactly the same course. Golden deeds make golden days. The worth of a life is to be measured by its moral value. " Once make up your mind never to stand waiting and hesitating when your conscience tells you what you ought to do, and you have got the key to every bless- ing that a sinner can reasonably hope for." l i Keble. 264 CHAP, xvii CHARACTER 265 You will never in the long run increase your happiness by neglecting or evading a duty. It is as characteristic of the wise man as of the good one, that "He holds no parley with unmanly fears ; Where duty bids, he confidently steers ; Faces a thousand dangers at her call, And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all." 1 What is necessary for true success in life ? But " one thing is needful. Money is not needful ; power is not needful ; cleverness is not needful ; fame is not needful ; liberty is not needful ; even health is not the one thing needful; but character alone a thoroughly cultivated will is that which can truly save us ; and, if we are not saved in this sense, we must certainly be damned." 2 Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it. We cannot all be poets or musicians, great artists or men of science, and " there are many other things of which thou canst not say, I am not formed for them by nature. Show those qualities then, which are altogether in thy power ; sincerity, grav- 1 Wordsworth. - Blackie. THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. ity, endurance of labour, aversion to luxury, benevolence, frankness, no love of superfluity, freedom from trifling, magnanimity. Dost thou not see how many qualities thou art immediately able to exhibit, in which there is no excuse of natural incapacity and unfit- ness, and yet thou still remainest volunta- rily below the mark ? or art thou compelled, through being defectively furnished by nat- ure, to murmur, and be mean, and to flatter, and to find fault with thy poor body and to try to please men, and to make great display, and to be restless in thy mind ? No, by the Gods : but thou mightest have been delivered from these things long ago. Only, if in truth thou canst be charged with being rather slow and dull of comprehension, thou must exert thyself about this also, not neglecting it, nor yet taking pleasure in thy dulness." Never do anything of which you will have cause to be ashamed. There is one good opinion which is of the greatest importance to you, namely, your own. " An easy con- science," says Seneca, " is a continual feast." 1 Marcus Aurelius. xvn CHARACTER 267 Franklin, to whom we are indebted for much, good advice, adopted a plan which I cannot recommend. After a clear and con- cise summary of the virtues, he says, " My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these, I judged it would be well not to dis- tract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time ; and when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen " (Temper- ance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquillity, Chastity, and Hu- mility). It seems difficult to imagine that he can really have acted on this theory; for " if you take home one of Satan's relations, the whole family will follow." How astonished we should be, said Bishop Wilson, " to hear one, upon giving monies to a poor body, bid him go to the ale-house and spend it, go and venture it in gaming, go and buy yourself some foolish toy ! Why then should you do that yourself, which you own you should be laughed at to bid another do?" THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Look up and not down. " The man," said Lord Beaconsfield, " who does not look up, will look down, and the spirit which does not dare to soar, is destined perhaps to grovel." " Oh, who shall lightly say that fame Is nothing but an empty name ! Whilst in that sound there is a charm The nerve to brace, the heart to warm, As, thinking of the mighty dead, The young from youthful couch will start, And vow, with lifted hands outspread, Like them to act a noble part." l No doubt having regard to the realities of existence, the ordinary forms of ambition seem quite beneath our notice, and indeed our greatest men, Shakespeare and Milton, Newton and Darwin, have owed nothing to the honours or titles which Governments can give. One great drawback of ordinary am- bition is that it can never be satisfied. As in the ascent of a mountain, when we reach one summit we find another before us. The greatest conquerors, Alexander and Napo- leon for instance, were never contented. Vic- 1 Joanna Baillie. xvii CHARACTER 269 tims of misplaced ambition, they could not " rest and be thankful." " He that is used to go forward/' says Bacon, and " findeth a stop, falleth out of his own favour, and is not the thing he was." It is, however, going too far to say with the Poet that " One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name." Selfish ambition is like a will o' the wisp, a glittering deception. " ? Tis a glorious cheat, It seeks the chamber of the gifted boy And lifts his humble window, and comes in. The narrow walls expand, and spread away Into a kingly Palace, and the roof Lifts to the sky, and unseen ringers work The ceilings with rich blazonry, and write His name in burning letters over all. And what is its reward ? At best a name. Praise when the ear has grown too dull to hear, Gold where the senses it should please are dead, Wreaths where the hair they cover has grown gray, Fame when the heart it should have thrilled is numb j 270 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. All things but love, when love is what we want ; And close behind comes Death, and ere we know That even these unavailing gifts are ours, He sends us, stripped and naked, to the grave." 1 What can rank alone do ? Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Kegent of France, mother of the King of France, the Queen of Spain, the Queen of England, and the Duchess of Savoy, was deserted by the kings her chil- dren, who would not even receive her into their dominions, and died at Cologne in mis- ery, almost of hunger, after ten years of persecution. All crowns are more or less crowns of thorns. The better and more conscientious the wearer, the more heavily do the respon- sibilities of power weigh on him. It is im- possible not to feel anxious when an error of judgment may bring misery to thousands. No doubt with progress, however slow, life is interesting, without it, almost unendurable. For " There are times when all would fain aspire, And gladly use the helps to raise them higher, Which Music, Poesy, or Nature brings." 2 IN. P. Willis. 2 Trench. XVII CHARACTER 271 Man was meant to grow, not to stand still. In aspiring, however, be scrupulous about the means as well as the end. An apparent rise, if obtained by evil means, is really a fall. Many of us at any rate cannot stand still ; we must go forward or die. How then can we reconcile these two neces- sities of our nature ? Our ambition should be to rule ourselves, the true kingdom for each one of us ; and true progress is to know more, and be more, and be able to do more. In this progress there need be no stop ; with every step it becomes safer, not more hazard- ous. The first and highest ambition a man can have is to do his duty. " No pomp poetic crowned, no forms enchained him, No friends applauding watched, no foes arraigned him; Death found him there, without grandeur or beauty, Only an honest man, doing his duty." l It is said that the word " Glory " does not appear once in the Duke of Wellington's de- spatches. " Duty " was the watchword of his life. 1 Mrs. Craik. 272 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Without excluding ambition then, let yours be that of the Saint and Sage. For " Vanity herself had better taught A surer path even to the fame he sought, By pointing out on History's fruitless page Ten thousand conquerors for a single sage." 1 A hundred years hence what difference will it make whether you were rich or poor, a peer or a peasant ? but what difference may it not make whether you did what was right or what was wrong ? " What we think, or what we know, or what we believe, is in the end," says Ruskin, "of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do." " But where shall wisdom be found ? And where is the place of understanding ? Man knoweth not the price thereof ; Neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me ; And the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. "No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls : For the price of wisdom is above rubies. 1 Byron. xvn CHARACTER 273 The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom ; And to depart from evil is understanding." l Be honest and truthful. " The first sin on the earth," says Jean Paul Richter " happily the Devil was guilty of it, on the tree of knowledge was a lie." Honesty is the best, as well as the only right, policy. " A false balance is abomination to the Lord : But a just weight is his delight." 2 " Truth," said Chaucer, " is the highest thing a man can keep." Clarendon observes of Falkland that he was " so severe an adorer of truth, that he could as easily have given himself leave to steal, as to dissemble." " To depart from the truth affords a testi- mony that one first despises God, and then fears man." 3 It is well to be ashamed of yourself if you are in the wrong ; but never be ashamed to own it. "There are innumerable qualities which make the man, and fit him for that work in life which he is meant to do. But there is one quality which is essential, without which 1 Job. 2 Proverbs. 3 Plutarch. 274 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. a man is not a man, without which no really great life was ever lived, without which no really great work was ever achieved that is truth, truth in the inward parts. Look at all the really great and good men. Why do we call them great and good ? Because they dare to be true to themselves, they dare to be what they are." l " This above all, To thine own self be true ; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.' 7 2 Two things, said Wordsworth, " contra- dictory as they may seem, must go together ; manly dependence, and manly independence ; manly reliance, and manly self-reliance." Learn to obey and you will know how to command. Drill is good discipline both of mind and body, and a bad soldier will never make a good general. " If success attends you Do not give way to pride." "Pride goeth before destruction, And an haughty spirit before a fall." 3 We often associate passion with action and 1 Max Mtiller. 2 Shakespeare. 3 Proverbs. xvn CHARACTER 275 patience with inaction. But this is a mistake. Patience requires strength, while passion is a sign of weakness, and want of self-control. If you are placed in authority, be scrupu- lously just and courteous. Sadi tells us that an Oriental monarch once gave an order to put an innocent person to death. He said, " king, spare thyself. I shall suffer pain but for a moment, while the guilt will attach to thee for ever." Power brings with it responsibility. But in any case do not think what you would like to do, but what you ought to do. This is the only true road to happiness. If there is a doubt between two duties, take the nearest. Some worthy people neglect their Family for the sake of the Heathen ; but Sympathy, like Charity, should begin at home. Everything in this world makes for right- eousness. Of this we can easily convince our- selves. We talk of punishment for sin. Who punishes us ? We punish ourselves. The world is so arranged that goodness brings joy, and evil sorrow. To sin and not to suffer, would involve an interference with the laws of nature. 276 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Forgiveness of sin does not mean that we shall not be punished. That is not only an impossibility, but would be a misfortune. In fact there is no greater misfortune than pros- perity in evil. If you do what is wrong the memories of the past will haunt you in the future. Those you have injured may forgive you, but in so doing they will heap coals of fire on your head, for their generosity will make your offence seem all the blacker. Conduct is life : in the long run happiness and prosperity depend upon it. External cir- cumstances are of comparatively little im- portance ; it does not so much matter what surrounds us, as what we are. Watch your- self then day by day. Habit is second nature. " Sow an act, and you reap a habit ; sow a habit, and you reap a character ; sow a char- acter, and you reap a destiny." We all grow a little every day, either better or worse. It is well at night to ask oneself which ? "Mankind," said Emerson, " divides itself into two classes Benefactors and Malefac- tors." If you belong to the latter you turn friends into enemies, make memory a pain, xvn CHARACTER 277 life a sorrow, the world a prison, and death a terror. While, on the other hand, if you can put one bright and good thought into the mind, one happy hour into the life of any one, you have done the work of a good Angel. It would be a great thing if every one would shut himself up for an hour every day for one hour even for half an hour of peace and meditation. It is impossible to say there is not time. Sir R. Peel used to read a chapter of the Bible every night after he came back from the House of Commons, though I must admit that the House did not sit as long in those days as it does now. Think on what is good and you will not do what is evil. "On death and judgment, heaven and hell, Who oft doth think, must needs die well." l And great is the reward. " My son, forget not my law ; But let thine heart keep my commandments : For length of days, and long life, And peace, shall they add to thee." 2 1 Sir W. Raleigh. 2 Proverbs. 278 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Do not put it off. Do not make youth an excuse. " We shall all be perfectly virtu- ous," said Marguerite de Valois, " when there is no longer any flesh on our bones." " Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." To die as we should wish, we must live as we ought. To the good man Death has no terrors. Bishop Thirlwall during his last illness occupied himself by translating into seven languages : " As Sleep is the brother of Death, thou must be careful to commit thy- self to the care of him who is to awaken thee, both from the Death of Sleep and from the Sleep of Death." When Socrates was before his accusers he did not speak, says Cicero, "as a man con- demned to death, but as one ascending into heaven." What will you gain, said Seneca, "if you do your duty bravely and generously ? You will gain the doing of it the deed itself is the gain." We ought to do what is right, not from hope of the promises, or fear of punish- ment, but from love of what is good, because " thy testimonies are the very joy of my heart." XVII CHARACTER 279 Fuller, speaking of Sir Francis Drake, says he was " chaste in his life, just in his dealings, true of his word, merciful to those that were under him, and hating nothing so much as idleness ; in matters especially of moment, he was never wont to rely on other men's care, how trusty or skilful soever they might seem to be, but always contemning danger and refusing no toyl, he was wont himself to be one (who ever was a second) at every turn, where courage, skill, or industry was to be employed." We know that we cannot be perfect, but yet we should aim at perfection in character as in everything else. Moreover, we have all implanted in us a sure guide, and if we follow Conscience we cannot go far wrong. Every one who chooses may lead a noble life. Always then place before yourself the high- est possible ideal. " Unless above himself he can Exalt himself, how poor a thing is man." l Thus, perhaps, and if at all thus only, can you train yourself so that, if a man, it may be 1 Vaughan. 280 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xvn eventually said of you as Shakespeare makes Mark Anthony say of Caesar, " His life was gentle, and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, This was a man." 1 And if a woman, that you may become " A perfect woman, nobly planned To warn, to comfort, and command. And yet a spirit still and bright With something of an angel light." 2 Sir W. Scott's last words to Lockhart on his deathbed were: "Be virtuous be religious be a good man. Nothing else will be any comfort when you come to lie here." Even Balaam wished " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." 1 Shakespeare. 2 Wordsworth. CHAPTER XVIII ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS PROSPERITY and happiness do not by any means always go together, and many people are miserable though they have, as it would seem, everything to make them happy. Nat- ure may give everything she can to "her darling the strongest," as Professor Huxley says, but she cannot make him happy. He must do that for himself. A life of earthly success is full of perils and anxieties. If a man has not got the elements of happiness in himself, not all the beauty and variety, the pleasures and interests of the world can give it him. To one man, says Schopenhauer, " the world is barren, dull, and superficial ; to an- other rich, interesting, and full of meaning." Happiness is a thing to be practised, like the violin. If we take the right means it will 281 282 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. come, but we must not seek it too curiously. Our greatest joy goes back to Hades, "if Orpheus like, we turn to look at her." l " Fly pleasures and they will follow you." 2 Do not think too much of yourself; you are not the only person in the world. Do not seek for amusement, says Ruskin, " but be always ready to be amused." It is a great thing to make life a succession of pleasures, even if they are little ones. The sense of humour, for instance, is a gift peculiar to man. There is some doubt whether animals have reason, but they appar- ently have not the gift of merriment, and " The most completely lost of all days," said Chamfort, " is the one in which we have not laughed." What a pleasure it is to hear a merry laugh! How it lightens everything up. " Your merry heart goes all the way, Your sad one tires in a mile a'." 8 " Good humour," said one of our Bishops, "is nine-tenths of Christianity;" and if you i Dallas. * Frajiklin. 3 Burns. xvni ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 283 are put out, " let not the sun go down upon your wrath." l It takes two to make a quar- rel, do not you be one of them. Some people are always grumbling ; if they had been born in the Garden of Eden, they would have found much to complain of. Others are happy anywhere ; they see beau- ties and blessings all around them. Cheerfulness is a great moral tonic. As sunshine brings out the flowers and ripens the fruit, so does cheerfulness the feeling of freedom and life develop in us all the seeds of good, all that is best in us. Cheerfulness is a duty we owe to others. There is an old tradition that a cup of gold is to be found wherever a rainbow touches the earth, and there are some people whose smile, the sound of whose voice, whose very presence, seems like a ray of sunshine, to turn everything they touch into gold. Men never break down as long as they can keep cheerful. " A merry heart is a continual feast to others besides itself." 2 The shadow of Florence Nightingale cured more than her 1 Ep. to the Ephesians. 2 C. Buxton. 284 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. medicines; and if we share the burdens of others, we lighten our own. It seems to be supposed by some that cheer- fulness implies thoughtlessness ; there is, how- ever, no necessary connection between them. The lightest spirits, says Arnold, " which are indeed one of the greatest of earthly bless- ings, often play round the most earnest thought and the tenderest affection, and with far more grace than when they are united with the shallowness and hardness of him who is, in the sight of God, a fool." 1 There are many whose very birth is a sen- tence of hard labour for life. But that does not apply to the poor only. The rich now work quite as hard, or even harder. More- over, how many there are whose very money makes them miserable, in whose life there is no rest, no calm, no peace ! We cannot in this world avoid sufferings, but if we choose we may rise above them. To do so we must hang the chamber-walls of our memory with beautiful pictures and happy recollections. All wish, but few know how, to enjoy 1 Arnold, Christian Life. xvin ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 285 themselves. They do not realise the dignity and delight of life. Do not magnify small troubles into great trials. " What trouble is there in this life/' says Cicero, "that can appear great to him who has acquainted himself with eternity and the extent of the universe ? For what is there in human knowledge, or the short span of this life, that can appear great to a wise man ? whose mind is always so upon its guard that nothing can befall him which is unexpected." We often fancy we are mortally wounded when we are but scratched. A surgeon, says Fuller, " sent for to cure a slight wound, sent off in a great hurry for a plaster. 'Why/ said the gentleman, ' is the hurt then so dan- gerous ? ' ' No/ said the surgeon, 6 but if the messenger returns not in post-haste it will cure itself.' " 1 Time cures sorrow as well as wounds. "A cultivated mind, I do not mean that of a philosopher, but any mind to which the fountains of knowledge have been opened, 1 Holy and Profane State. 286 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. and which has been taught in any tolerable degree to exercise its faculties, will find sources of inexhaustible interest in all that surrounds it ; in the objects of Nature, the achievements of Art, the imagination of Poetry, the incidents of History, the ways of Mankind, past and present, and their prospects in the future. It is possible, in- deed, to become indifferent to all this, and that too, without having exhausted a thou- sandth part of it ; but only when one has had from the beginning no moral or human inter- est in these things, and has sought in them only the gratification of curiosity." 1 We live in a world of flowers and trees and grass, rivers and lakes and seas, mountains and sunshine. Nature is bright to the bright, comforting to those who will accept com- fort. " Still was the sunny morn and fair, A scented haze was in the air ; So soft it was, it seemed as spring Had come once more her arms to fling About the dying year, and kiss The lost world into dreams of bliss." 2 i John Stuart Mill. 2 W. Morris. xvni ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 287 But to appreciate the beautiful, we must have the sense of beauty. We hear much of the intelligence of the Dog or the Elephant, but there is no reason to suppose that the most beautiful view in the world would give them any pleasure. We sometimes hear people complain of being dull, that they have nothing to do ; but in that case the dulness is in themselves. " If a man of education, who has health, eyes, hands, and leisure, wants an object, it is only because God Almighty has bestowed all those blessings upon a man who does not deserve them." l Neither wealth nor rank will ensure happi- ness. Without love and charity and peace of mind, you may be rich and great and power- ful, but you cannot be happy. There is a Persian story that the Great King being out of spirits consulted his astrologers, and was told that happiness could be found by wearing the shirt of a perfectly happy man. The Court and all the prosperous classes in the world were searched in vain. No such man could be discovered. At last a labourer 1 Southey. 288 THE USE OF LIFE OHAP. coming from his work was found to fulfil the condition ; he was absolutely happy. But, alas ! the remedy was as far off as ever. The man wore no shirt. I have already shown that, as the wisest of men have been agreed, happiness cannot be bought with money, neither can it be grasped by power. The crowns of kings are lined with thorns. The greater part of mankind, said Hiero to Simonides, " are deluded by the splen- dour of royalty ; I am not at all surprised, for the multitude appear to me to judge of people as happy or miserable principally from what they see. And royalty exhibits to the world conspicuously, and unfolded fully to the view, those objects which are esteemed of the highest value ; while it keeps the troubles of kings concealed in the inmost recesses of the soul, where both the happiness and the misery of mankind reside. For my own part, I know from experience extremely well, and I assure you, Simonides, that kings have the smallest share of the greatest enjoyments, and the largest share of the greatest of evils." 1 Xenophon. xvin ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 289 If you are unhappy, many will find consola- tion in Massillon's suggestion, " D'ou vient cela ? Homme ! ne serait ce point parce que vous etes ici-bas deplace ; que vous etes fait pour le ciel ; que la terre n'est pas votre patrie, et que tout ce qui n'est pour Dieu n'est rien pour vous." " But to tell of the varying lights of pleas- ure, and all the winning ways of goodness, we are wholly at a loss ; and the most we can say of the greatest goodness is, that there is an unknown indescribable charm about it ; the most we can say of the highest bliss, that it is unutterable." 1 If we look aright, we may all say with Dante " And what I saw was equal ecstasy ; One universal smile it seemed of all things ; Joy past compare; gladness unutterable; Imperishable life of peace and love ; Exhaustless riches, and unmeasured bliss." Everything in Nature is regulated by wise and beneficent law, everything is linked to- gether and works for good. If we suffer, it is 1 Bacon. 290 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. either our own fault or for the general welfare. There is no duty, said Seneca, "the fulfil- ment of which will not make you happier, nor any temptation for which there is no remedy." According to Cicero, Epicurus laid it down that there were " three kinds of desires ; the first, such as were natural and necessary ; the second, such as were natural but not necessary ; the third, such as were neither natural nor necessary. And these are all such that those which are necessary are satisfied without much trouble or expense ; even those which are natu- ral, and not necessary, do not require a great deal, because nature itself makes the riches, which are sufficient to content it, easy of acqui- sition and of limited quantity : but as for vain desires, it is impossible to find any limit to, or any moderation in them." Thoroughly to enjoy life, however, we must be prepared to deny ourselves, to forego many tempting pleasures. We may in many ways gain delight by self- denial. The senses, full of true delight as they are, will, if we yield to them, wreck us, xvni ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 291 like the Sirens of old, on the rocks and whirl- pools of life. " How happy is he born and taught That serveth not another's will : Whose armour is his honest thought, And simple truth his utmost skill." l It is one of the misfortunes of our age that we have so little leisure. We live in a per- petual Whirl. How many women, and for that matter men too ? have felt with Portia, " My little body is aweary of this great world " ! Good work, however, cannot be done in a hurry ; thought requires time and quiet. "I know," says Kingsley, "that what we all want is inward rest ; rest of heart and brain ; the calm, strong, self-contained, self- denying character ; which needs no stimu- lants, for it has no fits of depression ; which needs no narcotics, for it has no fits of excite- ment ; which needs no ascetic restraints, for it is strong enough to use God's gifts with- out abusing them ; the character, in a word, which is truly temperate, not in drink or food 1 Wotton. 292 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. merely, but in all desires, thoughts, and actions : freed from the wild lusts and ambi- tions to which that old Adam yielded, and seeking for light and life by means forbid- den, found thereby disease and death. Yes, I know that ; and know too that that rest is found only where you have already found it." "As Zeus has ordained," says Epictetus, "so act; if you do not, you will suffer the penalty, you will be punished. And what is the punishment ? The not having done your duty ; you will lose the character of modesty, fidelity, propriety. Can there be greater pen- alties than these ? " " We complain," says Ruskin, " of the want of many things ; we want votes, we want liberty, we want amusements, we want money. Which of us feels or knows that he wants peace ? There are two ways of getting it, if you do want it. The first is wholly in your own power ; to make yourselves nests of pleasant thoughts. . . . None of us yet know, for none of us have yet been taught in early youth what fairy palaces we may build of beautiful thought proof against all adver- xvin ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 293 sity. Bright fancies, satisfied memories, noble histories, faithful sayings, treasure-houses of precious and restful thoughts ; which care cannot disturb, nor pain make gloomy, nor poverty take away from us, houses built without hands, for our souls to live in." The last watchword given by the good and great Emperor Antoninus, when dying, to the officer of the watch, was " ^Equanimitas." Nothing ever broke the serenity of Christ's life. " Forego desire," says St. Thomas aKempis, " and thou shalt find peace." We are almost as much vexed in life by little things, as grieved by great ones. " Of all bad things by which Mankind are cursed, Their own bad temper surely is the worst." 1 Try then so to manage yourself that you may be able to say with Keble " Lord my God, do thou Thy holy will I will lie still ; I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm And break the charm Which .lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast, In perfect rest." 1 Cumberland. 294 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. We must not look outside for our happi- ness, but in ourselves, in our own minds. " The kingdom of heaven is within you." If we cannot be happy here, why should we ex- pect to be so hereafter ? Will Providence watch over us then more than now ? If we do not make for ourselves peace on earth, how can we expect to find it in heaven ? What de- prives us of it ? Pride and Avarice, Selfish- ness and Ambition. But for these and their like, we might be happy here, and with them we can be happy nowhere. If we are anxious here lest we should lose what we value, how much more keenly anxious should we be in heaven! If we cannot live in peace with others here, what hope have we of doing so elsewhere ? If we base our peace and happi- ness on outward things, and look exclusively to another world, should we not in a second life look forward to a third, and so on for ever ? No doubt as Happiness may be thrice blessed, in Anticipation, in Fruition, and in Memory, one pure and great source of happiness may be in looking forward : in hoping "to meet again those whom we have loved and lost, to see clearly much that is now hidden from us. xvni ON PEACE AND HAPPINESS 295 Against this source of comfort and of joy, I have nothing to say, but we must not undervalue, or be ungrateful for, present blessings. So only can you enjoy the calm of Nature " The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is among the lonely hills." 1 Then will angels come to you in your own homes, as they did to Abraham of old, on the plains of Mamre, long ago. It may even be possible that "there are many new joys unknown to man, and which he will find along the splendid path of civ- ilisation." 2 " For then the Soul and Body make a per- fect Man, when the soul commands wisely, or rules lovingly, and cares profitably, and provides plentifully, and conducts charitably that Body which is its partner and yet the inferior. But if the Body shall give Laws, and by the violence of the appetite, first abuse the Understanding, and then possess the supe- rior portion of the Will and Choice, the Body and the Soul are not apt company, and the 1 Wordsworth. 2 Mantezza in Ideals of Life. 296 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xvm man is a fool and miserable. If the Soul rules not, it cannot be a companion; either it must govern, or be a Slave." l It is our own fault if we do not enjoy life. " All men," says Ruskin, " may enjoy, though few can achieve." To keep the mind peace- ful and happy you must fill it with wise and noble thoughts. The Divine, says Plato in Phcedrus, " is beauty, wisdom, goodness, and the like; by these the wing of the Soul is nourished, and grows apace, but if fed on evil, it wastes and withers away." Make then a wise choice, and " So take Joy home, And make a place in thy great heart for her, And give her time to grow, and cherish her, Then will she come and oft will sing to thee, When thou art working in the furrows ; ay, Or weeding in the sacred hours of dawn. It is a comely fashion to be glad Joy is the grace we say to God." 2 " The best man," said Socrates, "is he who most tries to perfect himself, and the happiest man is he who most feels that he is perfecting himself." 1 Jeremy Taylor. 2 Jean Ingelow. CHAPTER XIX RELIGION IF the Religion of Theology is still a mys- tery even to the most learned, the Religion of Duty is plain even to a child. " The lines of Duty," says Jeremy Taylor, " are not like the oracles of Apollo, double in their sense, intricate in their expression, secret in their meaning, deceitful in their measures, and otherwise in the event than they could he in their expectation. But the word of God, in the lines of duty, is open as the face of heaven, bright as the moon, healthful as the sun's influence ; and this is certainly true, that when a thing becomes obscure, though it may oblige us to a prudent search, yet it binds us not under a guilt, but only so far as it is or may be plainly understood." "What Locke says of children, will apply 297 298 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. indeed to most grown-up people : " Instil into them a Love and Reverence of this Supreme Being. This is enough to begin with, with- out going to explain this matter any further ; for fear lest by talking too early to him of Spirits, and being unseasonably forward to make him understand the incomprehensible Nature of that Infinite Being, his Head be either filled with false, or perplexed with un- intelligible Notions of Him. Let him only be told upon Occasion, that God made and gov- erns all things, hears and sees everything, and does all manner of Good to those that love and obey Him ; you will find that, being told of such a God, other Thoughts will be apt to rise up fast enough in his Mind about Him, which as you observe them to have any Mistakes, you must set right. And I think it would be better if Men generally rested in such an Idea of God, without being too curious in their Notions about a being which all must acknowledge incomprehensible whereby many, who have not Strength and Clearness of Thought to distinguish between what they can, and what they cannot know, xix RELIGION 299 run themselves in Superstition or Atheism, making God like themselves, or (because they cannot comprehend anything else) none at all." Lowell used to quote with especial admira- tion the saying of Johnson, that " Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings." Relig- ion is in one sense a matter for the body as well as for the soul. The body as well as the mind should be treated with all honour. Theology and Dogma are the science, but not the essence, of religion. Religion in daily life is a rule of conduct, a safeguard in pros- perity, a comfort in adversity, a support in anxiety, a refuge in danger, a consolation in sorrow, a haven of peace. " Religion," Fichte truly says, " is not a business by and for itself, which a man may practise apart from his other occupations, perhaps on certain fixed days and hours ; but it is the inmost spirit, that penetrates, in- spires, and pervades all our Thought and 300 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. Action, which in other respects pursue their appointed course without change or inter- ruption." The Bible does not bewilder us with ab- struse definitions, but rather turns our thoughts from such speculations. "For this commandment," said Moses, u which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off : it is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." * " Pure religion," says St. James, " and un- defiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their afflic- tion, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." We may not be able to tell whence we 1 Deuteronomy. xix RELIGION 301 came or whither we go, we may not be sure what to think or believe, but in our hearts we almost always know well enough what we ought to do. The duty to our Neighbour is part of our duty to God. The mediaeval brigand, who described himself as " the friend of God and the enemy of mankind," did not more entirely mistake the true spirit of Christianity than many who have less excuse. The love of God is best shown by the love of man. If we are sometimes disposed to complain of others, we should remember that " if thou canst not make thyself such an one as thou wouldest, how canst thou expect to have another in all respects to thy liking?" 1 And even if we have just cause of com- plaint, we are to forgive, as we hope our- selves to be forgiven ; not " until seven times," as Peter suggested, but " until seventy times seven." 2 On many minds the fear of pain acts more energetically than the hope of happiness. There is a quaint old epitaph in Faversham church which runs as follows : 1 Thomas a Kempis. 2 St. Matthew. 302 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. "Whosohimbethoft Inwardly and oft How hard it were to flit From Bed unto the Pit ; From Pit unto pain That ne'er shall cease again ; He would not do one sin, All the world to win." We must neither neglect the warnings nor despise the promises. u Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you : for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth." l "Therefore every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand : and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; and it fell : and great was the fall of it." But, on the other hand, " Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock : and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the 1 St. John. XIX RELIGION 303 winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not : for it was founded upon a rock." 1 And above all, woe to the man who mis- leads others, and especially the young. "It is impossible but that offences will come : but woe unto him through whom the offence cometh ! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." 2 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul ? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" 3 But yet, however much we have sinned, passage after passage, promise after promise, forbid any one to despair. Christianity is a religion of Hope, rather than of Fear. We may indeed wisely com- bine both in our thoughts, as Raleigh sug- gests u Of death and judgment, heaven and hell, Who oft doth think, must needs do well." 1 St. Matthew. 2 St. Luke. 3 St. Matthew. 304 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. But men can be more easily led than driven ; example is better than precept. And many who would scorn all the terrors of the Inquisi- tion, will feel the truth of Drummond's remark that " Ten minutes spent in Christ's society every day, ay, two minutes, if it be face to face, and heart to heart, will make the whole life different." Think on what is good, and you will not do what is bad. " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." 1 "Do not," said Seneca, "ask anything of God, which you would not wish man to know ; nor anything of man, which you would not wish God to know." But when we consider what ephemeral and infinitesimal beings we are in the infinities of time and space, we may well ask with Spencer " And is there care in Heaven ? and is there Love ? In Heavenly Spirits to these creatures base." 1 Philippians. xix KELIGION 305 Truly does the Psalmist say : " When I con- sider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained ; What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? or the son of man, that thou visitest him ? " But there is comfort in Coleridge's answer that " Saints will aid, if men will call, For the blue sky bends over all." Are we not promised, " Ask, and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be opened unto you " ?* And again: " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do." "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." 3 We are told also that to God " all hearts are open, all desires known " ; that He despiseth not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desires of such as are sorrowful ; that you may "cast all your cares upon him; for he careth for you." 4 We must not indeed look to aid from above as any excuse for our own idleness, but yet we 1 St. Matthew. 2 St. John. 3 Ibid. 4 1 Peter. 306 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. are not only assured of help, but told that " Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but lost that build it : except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." That " every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variable- ness, neither shadow of turning." l Christianity does not call on us to sacrifice this world in order to secure the next. On the contrary, " to love that which is com- manded and desire that which is promised" would add to our happiness here as well as hereafter. There is no real difference between worldly and heavenly wisdom. For religion consecrates daily life. " We need not bid, for cloistered cell, Our neighbour and our work farewell : The trivial round, the common task, May furnish all we ought to ask, Room to deny ourselves, a road To bring us, daily, nearer God." 2 " I pray not," said Jesus of His disciples, " that thou shouldest take them out of the * 1 St. James. ' 2 Keble. xix RELIGION 307 world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." There are noble sentiments in Plato and Aristotle, and Epictetus, in Seneca and Mar- cus Aurelius, but there is no such Gospel of Love as that in the New Testament. Truly said Jesus that His was a new re- ligion. " A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my dis- ciples, if ye have love one to another." 2 And again : " These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatso- ever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." 3 i St. John. 2 St. John. 308 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. The advent of Christianity was announced as " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." 1 Jesus specially contrasted it with the teach- ing of Moses, as enjoining repeated forgive- ness, and love even to enemies. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy : but I say unto you, Love your ene- mies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you ; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same ? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others ? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." 2 We must expect trouble and sorrow and anxiety, but we may " glory in tribulations 1 St. Luke. ' 2 St. Matthew. xix RELIGION 309 also : knowing that tribulation worketh pa- tience ; and patience, experience ; and experi- ence, hope." * And we are assured that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us:" 2 that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- pared for them that love him." 3 " In the place of all other delights," says Epictetus, " substitute this, that of being con- scious that you are obeying God ; and that, not in word but in deed you are performing the acts of a wise and good man." And yet how little men will do for their religion ! They will " wrangle about it, dispute about it, call names, worry their neighbours and burn them ; fight for religion, and lay down their lives for it ; indeed do anything but live up to it. Very few even try to do that." 4 " For a small payment," says Thomas a Kempis, " a long journey will be undertaken ; for everlasting life many will scarce once lift a foot from the ground." And in another 1 Romans. 2 Ibid. 3 1 Corinthians. 4 Friswell. 310 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. place : " Write, read, mourn, keep silence, pray, suffer crosses manfully ; life everlasting is worthy of all these, yea, and of greater combats." And yet how little is demanded of us ! " For what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ? " 1 But even if much more were expected of us, if great sacrifices were demanded, if we were called on to give up everything in this world, how short life is ! u As shadows cast by cloud and sun Flit o'er the summer grass, So, in thy sight, Almighty One, Earth's generations pass ; And as the years, an endless host, Come swiftly pressing on, The brightest names that earth can boast Just glisten and are gone." 2 We must of course ask in a right spirit. " Still will I strive to be, As if thou wast with me : Whatever path I take, It shall be for thy sake." 3 Such a spirit is its own reward. For the promises of religion are not confined to the 1 Micah. * Bryant. 3 Thoreau. XIX RELIGION 311 next world. They begin here, now, and at once. Each one of us possesses a well of living water in his own soul, if he will only keep it pure " Some feelings are to mortals given With less of earth in them than heaven." 1 Cicero very truly says : " If it be true that no one except a good man is happy, and that all good men are happy, then what deserves to be cultivated more than philosophy, or what is more divine than virtue ? " It seems difficult to believe, though it is no doubt substantially true, that men are not tempted beyond endurance, but that " God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able ; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 2 Yet so weak is man that we are also told to " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation : the spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak." 3 "We must aim at perfection. " Be ye per- fect, even as your Father which is in heaven 1 Scott. 2 Corinthians. 3 g t . Matthew. 312 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. is perfect." And the reward is immediate, as well as immeasurable. Most of our troubles arise in ourselves. " Man disquiet- eth himself in a vain shadow." We can most of us say with Daniel, " The visions of my head troubled me." Yet if we would, we might be at peace : it is our own fault if we are not. Religion promises us rest and safety, peace of mind and freedom from care, even in this world. Heaven is not merely in the futurity and distance : heaven is within you. If you are tired and overworn, are you not invited, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest " ? l " Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in me." 2 To be distressed by doubt is to be wanting in faith. We have been told that we have no real cause for fear : " For though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil : for thou art with me ; thy rod and thy staff comfort me." Nor for anxiety. i St. Matthew. 2 St. John. xix RELIGION 313 " Behold the fowls of the air : for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; }^et your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they ? . . . And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow : they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, ye of little faith ?" l " Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink. . . . For all these things do the nations of the world seek after : and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But seek ye the kingdom of God ; and all these things shall be added unto you." 2 The same lesson is inculcated, the same promises are made, over and over again. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt. 1 St. Matthew. 2 St. Luke. 314 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP. and where thieves break through and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal : for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And again: "If riches increase, set not your heart upon them." Riches, in fact, and not poverty, are a real cause for some anxiety. " How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Those to whom Heaven is promised in the Sermon on the Mount, are the merciful, the meek, the peacemakers, the pure in heart. We are told not to fear God : that He is our Father, and perfect love casteth out fear. We need not fear man. " In God have I put my trust ; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." Indeed nothing will injure us. " All things work together for good to them that love God." 2 We are assured that throughout all the 1 Psalms. 2 St. Paul. XIX RELIGION 315 troubles and anxieties and difficulties of life, " the peace of God, which passeth all under- standing, shall keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God," and the blessing of God will be with you and remain with you always. And these promises are made to us all. Not merely to the rich, and great, and clever, and learned, but to us all, for " God is no re- specter of persons." 1 " Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of such is the king- dom of heaven."* 2 We alone can deprive ourselves of these advantages. " For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ our Lord." 3 Thus, and thus only, will life be bright, peaceful, and happy. 1 Romans. ~ St. Mark. 3 Romans. 316 THE USE OF LIFE CHAP, xix "Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right, For this alone shall bring a man peace at the last." And so may you hope 'to be among those " whose names are written in the Book of Life." So may you hope to be happy whatever your lot in life may be, and wherever it is cast, for " All places that the eye of Heaven visits Are to the wise man ports and happy havens." Be good, in the noble words of Kingsley " And let who will be clever, Do noble things not dream them all day long, And so make Life, Death, and the vast forever One grand, sweet song." THE END Macmillan & Co.'s Publications. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE AND THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. By The Right Hon. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D. Cloth, gilt top. 12mo. $1.50. " We know of none other better fitted to present ' the beauties of nature and the wonders of the world we live in,' to the popular understanding and appreci- ation than Sir John Lubbock, who is at once a master of his chosen topic and of a diction unsurpassed for clearness and simplicity of statement. It is a volume which the reading public will recognize and hail immediately as among the most delightfully instructive of the year's production in books. There is matter in it for the young and the mature mind. . . . One cannot rise from the perusal of this volume, without a consciousness of a mind invigorated and permanently enriched by an acquaintance with it." Oswego Daily Times. " It is a charming book. . . . Few writers succeed in making natural history, and indeed scientific subjects, more than interesting. In the hands of most authors they are intolerably dull to the general reader and especially to children. Sir John Lubbock makes his theme as entrancing as a novel. . . . The book is magnificently illustrated, and discusses the wonders of the animal, mineral, and vegetable kingdoms, the marvels of earth, sea, and the vaulted heavens. In the compass of its pages an immense amount of knowledge which all should know is given in a manner that will compel the child who commences it to pursue it to the end. It is a work which cannot be too highly recommended to parents who have at heart the proper education of their children." The Arena. " We have here a rich store of information told in the charming style for which the distinguished author is famous. It is suited alike to the scientific and the unscientific reader. The wonders of animal, especially of insect, life, of plant life, of woods and fields, of mountains, of rivers, of lakes, of the sea and of the starry heavens, are here delightfully described, and they are marvellous indeed. ... It is a good book to kindle in the reader a love of nature. . . . There is not a dry or dull page in the book." The Western Recorder. " We find nothing to criticise and everything to enjoy. . . . The unpreten- tious method and the simplicity of the style will attract even a child, and the whole book has a winning power. . . . The author is copious in information, suggestive in profound thought, and so clear and forcible in style that man or girl or boy can enjoy his every page." The Literary World. MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The Pleasures of Life. i6mo. Cloth. $1.25. EIGH TY-FO UR TH THO US AND. ALSO SEPARATELY: Part I., paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50 cents. Part II., paper, 35 cents; cloth, 60 cents. PART I. CHAPTER I. THE DUTY OF HAPPINESS. CHAPTER II. THE HAPPINESS OF DUTY. CHAPTER III. A SONG OF BOOKS. CHAPTER IV. THE CHOICE OF BOOKS. CHAPTER V. THE BLESSING OF FRIENDS. CHAPTER VI. THE VALUE OF TIME. CHAPTER VII. THE PLEASURES OF TRAVEL. CHAPTER VIII. THE PLEASURES OF HOME. CHAPTER IX. SCIENCE. CHAPTER X. EDUCATION. PART II. CHAPTER I. AMBITION. CHAPTER II. WEALTH. CHAPTER III. HEALTH. CHAPTER IV. LOVE. CHAPTER V. ART. CHAPTER VI. POETRY. CHAPTER THE DESTINY CHAPTER VII. Music. CHAPTER VIII. THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE. CHAPTER IX. THE TROUBLES OF LIFE. CHAPTER X. LABOUR AND REST. CHAPTER XI. ' RELIGION. CHAPTER XII. THE HOPE OF PROGRESS. XIII. OF MAN. MACMILLAN & CO, 112 FOURTH AVENUE, NEW YORK i ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD By L. N. BADENOCH. With Illustrations by Margaret Badenoch and Others. i2mo, Cloth, $1.25. " The volume is fascinating from beginning to end, and there are many hints to be found in the wisdom and thrift shown by these small- est animal creatures." Boston Times. " A charming book to read, an interesting one to study, is a little volume of untechnical natural history, ' Romance of the Insect World,' by L. N. Badenoch. The chapter subjects are : The Metamorphoses of Insects Food of Insects Hermit Homes Social Homes and The Defences of Insects, or Protection as Derived from Color. . . . The author has been able to tell the interesting facts of the insect world in the simplest style and in a remarkably intelligent and lucid manner. And on every page is evidence of the thorough familiarity of the writer with the life of which he writes and his sympathy with the subject. The result is a splendid book to be put in the hands of any youth who may need an incentive to interest in out-door life or the history of things around him." Chicago Times. "Though not written for children, this is a delightful book for the little folk. It tells the wonderful facts in the lives of beetles, hugs, butter- flies and flies, ants and spiders, wasps and bees, and all their kin, their transformations, their methods of capturing prey or laying up food, their care of the young or the feeble in the case of those who have this instinct, and many other things more marvelous than, the indifferent would suppose possible. . . . There are few readers of any age who will not feel its charm." Evangelist. MACMILLAN & CO., 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 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