LIFE

"Thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person

of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy

neighbor."--LEVITICUS xix. 15.

"There is but one thing of which I am afraid, and that is

_fear_."--MONTAIGNE.

"Work! and thou shalt bless the day,

Ere thy task be done;

They that work not, cannot pray,

Cannot feel the sun.

"Worlds thou mayst possess with health

And unslumbering powers;

Industry alone is wealth--

What we do is ours."

* * * * *

Thought, Imagination, and Affection, combined harmoniously, constitute

a symmetrical Character, and they should manifest themselves in an

external Life of corresponding symmetry. The external Life will always

fall short of the internal, because we can always imagine a degree of

excellence beyond that which we have reached, let our efforts be earnest

and active as they may; and the more we advance in Christian progress,

the wider will the vista open before us of that which we may yet attain.

As we ascend the heights of worldly knowledge, in whatever department,

the horizon widens at every step; and we always know that the horizon,

distant as it may seem, is only an imaginary limit to that which may be

known. The shallow student, in the inflation of self-conceit, may fancy

that his own narrow valley is the limit of the universe; but the wise

man knows that limitation belongs only to his own organization, and not

to the universe of God. So in the training of Character, we may go on in

our progress, not only through time, but through the measureless periods

of eternity, and yet we know that we can never reach that perfection of

development which belongs to the All-perfect.

Among the insane dreamers of the earth, those are found who deem

themselves enjoying light sufficient to live lives of perfection, even

in this dim morning twilight that lies around us on earth; but it is

their bat-like vision which takes for noonday that which, were their

eyes couched, would seem to them but darkness visible. He who fancies

that he leads a perfect life is but a dreamer concerning things of which

he has no true knowledge.

Perfection is, nevertheless, the object at which we should patiently and

steadfastly aim, and the loftiness of the mark, unattainable though it

be, will shed an ennobling influence on those who strive. The mass of

human beings aim at nothing higher than to be as virtuous as, or a very

little more so than, their neighbors; and are often more than contented

when they think they have reached the low mark at which they aim. To

compare ourselves with our fellow-beings is always dangerous, and leads

to envyings, rivalries, pride, and vainglory. In all our aims, the

absolute should be our only mark. If in intellectual pursuits we strive

only to know as much as our neighbors for the sake of decency, or to

know more than they for the gratification of pride, or for the pursuit

of wealth or honor, we shall never reach so high a point as if we

studied without ever stopping to compare ourselves with any one; but

worked right on, incited simply by the desire of knowing all that our

capacities and opportunities would enable us to acquire. Working thus,

we should go on our way rejoicing, our hearts embittered by no envyings,

inflated by no conceit. Comparing what we know with that which we do not

know, we could never become vain of our acquirements, for we must always

feel that what we know is but the beginning of that which remains to be

learned.

So in Life, if we compare our own lives with the lives of our neighbors,

we shall be envious and jealous, or else self-conceited and proud; and

our efforts will probably soon slacken, and then cease; and then we

shall begin to go down hill, at the very moment, perhaps, when we are

taking credit to ourselves for our rapid, or our finished, ascent. If,

on the other hand, we compare our lives with that absolute perfection

which the Lord sets before us as our model, we shall incur the danger of

none of these vices; and though the greatness of our task may well cause

us to "work in fear and trembling," we shall ever be cheered by the

consciousness that "the Lord worketh within us both to will and to do."

When our characters take form in external Life, Thought must give us

discrimination, Imagination must give us courage, and Affection must

give us earnestness; then our external nature will be the transparent

medium through which the internal nature will shine, with a lustre

undiminished by the opacity which is sure to dim its radiance when

dulness, fearfulness, or indolence inheres with the external nature;

for then it forms a husk to hide, instead of a medium to display, the

workings of the inner being.

The powers that have been treated of in the preceding essays are

sometimes found to work well so long as they work upon abstractions; but

so soon as they are required to work upon the daily Life, they fail of

reaching so high a point of excellence as we think we had reason to

anticipate. This results from the want of either discrimination,

courage, or earnestness; and the inner nature cannot be thoroughly

trained until these faculties are so developed by its life-giving power,

that their weakness ceases to interfere with its movements when it seeks

to manifest itself in external Life.

Thought can discriminate abstractions long before it can discriminate

facts in their relations with Life. It can reason logically of the true

and the false in the realms of the mind long before it can tell the

right from the wrong with correctness and readiness in the daily

ongoings of events. To discriminate justly here, we must be able to

dissipate the mists with which the love of self and the love of the

world obscure the way in which we tread; hiding that which we _ought_

to love, and displaying in enlarged proportions the things that we _do_

love, until reason loses all just data, and accepts whatever passion

offers as foundation for its judgments. Persons thus misled, often think

they really meant to walk steadfastly in the right path, and that they

are not responsible for having wandered into the wrong. They call what

they have done an error of judgment, and rest content in the belief that

their intentions were good, and therefore they are not to blame. This

may be true, for "to err is human," and none but the All-wise can be

sure of always judging rightly. Still, when we know that we have done

wrong through an error of judgment, we should carefully examine and see

if we might not have avoided this mistake had we been more careful

in our investigation of facts,--more conscientious in our process of

adopting our opinions. If we thus catechized our past errors, we should

probably find, that, in a large proportion of cases, our error sprang

from some cause we might have prevented,--from carelessness, from

blindness caused by the desire to gratify our own wishes, or from

indolence; in fact, that what we fancied sprang from an error of

judgment only, had a much deeper root, and drew its nourishment from

undisciplined Affections.

In training the faculty of discrimination, the work we must set before

ourselves is to learn the relative value of principles, of persons, and

of things; and in order to do this, we must look upon them in their

relations with time and with eternity. We must learn to value and to

judge from laws of absolute right, and not from the expediencies of the

hour.

Protestants quote with horror the Romish maxim, that, "for a just

cause, it is lawful to confirm equivocation with an oath," yet the

same principle lurks within their own bosoms, inciting many a

well-intentioned soul to "do evil that good may come of it." The two

maxims are twin sisters, and children of the father of lies. Persons who

think they have delicate consciences not unfrequently tell what they

call small lies, or lies of expediency, in order that some good may come

of it, which they esteem so great that it overbalances the evil of the

falsehood. This class of persons is very numerous, and of all degrees,

running from the mother who deludes her child into being a "good boy"

by the promise of punishment or of favor that she has no intention of

bestowing, to the juror who swears to speak the truth, and then affirms

that a guilty man is innocent, fancying that it is less a sin for him

to commit perjury than for the powers that be to commit what he calls

oppression, injustice, or legal murder. This willingness to commit one

sin, in order to prevent our neighbor from committing another, is a form

of brotherly love we are nowhere enjoined to practise; it springs

from an overweening self-love, that believes itself too pure to be

contaminated by a small sin, while it forgets that a wilful disobedience

of one commandment is in its essence disobedience towards the whole law.

All who do evil that good may come of it, in any department of life,

belong to this same class of persons. They ever look upon the sins of

their neighbors with a sharper eye than they turn upon their own;

and ever hold themselves in readiness, by "righteous indignation,"

intemperate zeal, and wisdom beyond, that which is written, to do battle

for the Lord with weapons he has forbidden us to use, and to set the

world in order by means and principles in direct opposition to his laws.

No one could be guilty of such sins who possessed a discriminating

sense of right and wrong; such a sense as is derived from receiving the

teachings of the Lord in simplicity of heart, and never presuming to set

aside his commandments in order to place our own in their stead. His

commands to refrain from doing evil are explicit, and without reserve,

and he who ventures to call in question their universal application is

sharpening a weapon for the destruction of his own soul.

The commands of the Lord are infinite principles, and in their natural

and simple deductions cover all the acts of Life having any moral

bearing, from the greatest to the least; and it is not the wisdom,

but, the foolishness, of man, not his depth, but his shallowness, that

endeavors to limit their significance and their application. We shall

find that our vain attempts to do this occasion almost all our errors of

judgment. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple,"

and he who is implicitly guided by it can alone walk surely; for he

only has an unfailing guide in his endeavors to distinguish accurately

between right and wrong.

If we learn to discriminate principles wisely, our next step is to apply

a similar action of the thoughts to persons; and here again it is to the

laws of absolute good and evil we must look for light. We must learn to

respect persons for what they are, and not for their position, their

reputation, or their worldly possessions. If we are really aiming to

train our own characters in accordance with the laws of absolute right,

we shall be likely to respect in others the attributes we seek in our

own persons. In all other efforts, there is too often envy and jealousy

among those who strive; but with those who seek true excellence, whether

intellectual or moral, _for its own sake_, and not from love of the

world, there is always pure brotherly love; and a perpetual delight is

experienced in the contemplation of excellence wherever it is found.

In our estimate of the relative value of things, the same laws are

called into action. If we would value them aright, we shall seek first

those which aid us in improving and educating our characters, or which

enlarge our powers of usefulness, and be comparatively indifferent to

things which are external, and contribute only to the pleasure of the

hour.

True discrimination may be defined as the faculty by which we justly

estimate the value and the relations of principles, of persons, and of

things; and so far as we attain to it, the power of wise Thought is

ultimated in Life.

Courage, the buoyant child of Imagination, is the next faculty which we

must duly cultivate, if we would use the talents God has bestowed upon

us to the best advantage. It is common to look upon courage as a natural

endowment, and few persons seem to be aware that it is a moral trait we

are bound to cultivate. Yet when we consider how the want of courage

interferes with our powers of usefulness, we cannot doubt that

conscience should have force to make brave men and women of us all. In

the various relations of life there is nothing that so paralyzes the

powers as fear. They who are the subjects of fear are slaves, let their

position or their endowments be what they may. The want of courage in

practical life brings failure, casualty, and even death, in its train:

intellectually, it robs us of half our power; morally, it puts us in

bondage to our fellow-beings; and religiously, it leaves us without

hope.

Hope and fear are alike children of the Imagination; but how different

is their aspect! Fear walks through the world with abject gait,

searching constantly after something of which it may be afraid; for,

like all the other faculties, it perpetually demands food, and if it

finds it not in the world around, imagines it in the world within. Few

persons, perhaps none, are fearful in every department of life; but

almost every one is so in some particular relations. Just so far as we

succumb to fear, we lose the control of our powers, and lie at the feet

of circumstance instead of cooperating with it, and making it subserve

our benefit. Hope, on the contrary, finds cause for joy everywhere, and

when surrounded by gloom sees, in imagination, the dawn that must come

even after the blackest night, and is buoyed up by the remembrance,

that, though "sorrow may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning."

Where fear sees nothing but the black clouds that threaten coming

storms, hope looks through them to the bow of promise. Hope is the

internal principle of true courage. St. Paul, in his beautiful

description of charity, tells us that it "hopeth all things"; and we may

easily perceive how it must be so, for the external form of charity

is love to the neighbor, which leads us to hope all things for our

fellow-beings; while its internal form, which is love to God, must lead

us to hope all things for ourselves. The devils believe and tremble

because they hate God; the devout believe and hope because they love

him.

Let us consider courage specially in its four principal

relations,--physical, intellectual, moral, and religious.

Physical courage,--the courage of practical life,--though it seems the

lowest form of this virtue, is perhaps quite as rare as either of the

others. There is abundance of fool-hardiness, of brutal rashness,

indifferent to all consequences, in the World; but very little of that

calm, self-possessed courage that leaves to one the full use of his

faculties in the midst of danger, and allows him to act wisely, even

when meeting death face to face. The only sure foundation for this form

of courage is unshrinking trust in the overruling power of God,--a trust

that shall make us feel his providence ever clasping its arms about us

in all the circumstances of life, causing us ever to bear in mind, that

he who watches the fall of the sparrow cannot permit us to perish or to

suffer by chance. This trust will give us power to meet the prospect of

death with calmness, let it threaten in what form it may, whether the

summons come in the crash of the shattered car, the bowlings of the

ocean-storm, the flash of the lightning, or the quiet of our own

chamber. We shall feel that the hand of God is in, or over, them all;

and when danger threatens, our faculties will rather be quickened than

diminished by the consciousness, that, in times of emergency, if we look

to him, he will be the more abounding in pouring his grace upon us to

supply our need. Calm, self-possessed courage comes to us the moment we

lean upon God for strength; while we are rendered helpless by fear, or

rash by arrogance, if we look only to ourselves.

There are those who would feel that they were passing away by the will

of God, if disease came to them with slowly wasting hand, and would meet

his will, coming in that form, with meekness and patience; perhaps, with

willingness: and yet were they called to die by sudden casualty, would

pass into eternity, shrieking with terror. Much of this fear of sudden

death is a mere physical passion, arising from a mistaken idea that

there must be great pain in a death by violence; and some even, in spite

of the direct teaching of the Lord to the contrary, look upon such a

death as a manifestation of the wrath of God against the individual. Yet

there is, in fact, much less suffering in most deaths by casualty than

by prolonged disease; while in many such there is probably entire

freedom from suffering. The mercy of God, no less than his power, is

everywhere, and in all forms of death, no less than in life; and were

our love for him as universal as his for us, we could no more fear

while remembering that we are in his hands, than the infant fears while

clasped to its mother's breast.

The possession of this trust in God, because it makes one calm in all

positions and under all emergencies, is the surest of all safeguards

against danger. How often, in the shocking records of disaster by land

and water, is the loss of life directly traceable to the want of that

true courage that retains self-possession everywhere, and under all

circumstances, giving the power to ward off threatening danger, even

when it seems most imminent and irresistible. In pestilence, the

terrified are the first to fall victims to the scourge, while none walk

so securely as those who possess their souls in quietness.

Intellectual courage,--the courage of thought--comes second in the

ascending scale. As physical courage gives us the ability to use our

faculties with the same freedom in the most imminent danger as we should

with no alarming circumstance to excite us, making us as it were to rise

above circumstance, so intellectual courage gives us the power to think

with independence, just as we should if we did not know the opinion of

another human being upon the subject which engages our thoughts.

Persons having an humble estimate of their own abilities are apt to take

their opinions, without reserve, from those whom they most respect,

without making any effort on their own part to judge for themselves

between truth and falsehood. If this were right, it would take all

responsibility in relation to matters of thought from this class of

persons; yet every human being must be responsible for the opinions he

holds. We cannot excuse ourselves by saying we took our opinion from

another, and it is his fault if it be false. Each one must be prepared

to answer for his own opinions, just as he must be responsible for his

own actions.

Persons of a combative disposition take just the opposite course from

this, and adopt opinions merely because they are opposed to some

particular person or to some class of persons. Such persons fancy

themselves very independent, and announce their opinions with a movement

of the head, that seems to say, "You see I am afraid of nobody, and dare

to think for myself." There is, however, quite as little independence

in adopting an opinion because somebody else does not think so, as

in accepting it because he does. Independence of thought is thinking

without any undue regard to the opinion of any one else, one way or the

other.

A third class of persons, having large love of approbation, is very

numerous. These are unwilling to express any opinion in conversation

until they have ascertained the views of the person they address; cannot

tell what they think of a book until they know what the critics say;

and seem to have no idea of truth in itself, but look merely to please

others by changing their opinions as often as they change their

companions. There are many authors of this class who, in writing,

strive only to please the vanity of the reader by presenting him with a

reflection of his own ideas; and whose constant aim is to follow public

opinion, instead of leading it. They do not care whether the ideas they

promulgate are true or false, if they are but popular; and if they fail

to please, are filled with chagrin, and sometimes have even died of

despair.

A fourth class of persons, possessed of strong self-esteem, arrive at

independence of thought through pride of intellect, and this is even

more dangerous than to depend upon others for our opinions; for of all

idolatry, there is none so interior and hard to overcome as the worship

of self. If we would arrive at truth of opinion, we must be independent

of our own passions and prejudices no less than of our neighbor's.

There is but one source of truth, and whoever believes that he finds it

elsewhere is an idolater. The Lord has declared, "I am the way and the

truth and the life"; and it is only through him as the way that we can

find the truth, and we seek it through him when we love it because he is

the truth, and so seek it for its own absolute beauty and excellence,

desiring to bring it out into life.

Look where we may along the pages of history and the records of science,

it is the devout men who have been the successful promulgaters of new

ideas and searchers after truth. The scoffer and the infidel make great

boasts of their progress through their independence of Scripture; but in

a little while a devout man follows in their footsteps and proves that

their deductions are false, and that even their observations of facts

were not to be trusted. Scoffers and infidels come, promising to set the

world in order by subverting governments; but though they are quick

to pull down, they have no power to build up; and it is only when the

devout man comes, that the reign of anarchy and misrule ceases.

Common, daily life is the epitome of history. The devout man is the only

one whose opinions are trustworthy; and just so far as we become truly

devout will the scales that hinder us from seeing the truth fall from

our eyes. "If the eye be single," looking to the Lord alone, unbiassed

in its gaze by the thousand-fold passions of earth, "the whole body

shall be full of light."

Moral courage, the third phase of this virtue, is that faculty of the

soul by which we are enabled to act, in all the social relations of

life, with perfect independence of the opinions of the world, and

governed only by the laws of abstract propriety, uprightness, and

charity. It gives us power to say and to do whatever we conscienciously

believe to be right and true, without being influenced by the fear of

man's frown or the hope of his favor. This is very difficult, because

the customs and conventionalisms of society hedge us about so closely

from our very infancy, that they constrain us when we are unconscious of

it, and lead us to act and to refrain in a way which our better judgment

would forbid, did we consult its indications without being influenced by

the world.

It was a saying of a wise man, that "he who fears God can fear nothing

else"; and there is certainly no healthy way in which we can be

delivered from that fear of the world which destroys moral courage,

but the learning to fear, above all things, failing to fulfil our duty

before God. If we would have moral courage, we must accustom ourselves

to feel that we are accountable to God, and to him only, for what we do.

There is a spurious moral as well as intellectual courage, the offspring

of pride and arrogance, that pretends to independence in a spirit of

defiance of the opinion of the world; but this will never give us the

power to act wisely, for wisdom is ever the twin sister of charity

that loves the neighbor even while differing from him in opinion. True

courage of every kind is perfectly self-possessed, but never defiant. A

spirit of defiance springs from envy or hate if it be honest, and from

a consciousness of inferiority if assumed; and is sometimes only a

disguise self-assumed by fear, when it seeks to be unconscious of

itself. True moral courage results from the hope that we are acting

in harmony with the laws of eternal wisdom. Fear of every kind is

annihilated by a living hope that the Lord is on our side.

If we would test the quality of our moral courage, we must ask

ourselves, is it defiant? is it disdainful? is it envious? does it hate

its neighbor? or are its emotions affected in any way by the opinion of

the world? If we can answer all these questions in the negative, we must

go a step farther, and ask if we have gained a state of independence of

our own selfish passions, as well as of the world; for our most

inveterate foes, and those before whom we cower most abjectly, are often

those that dwell within the household of our own hearts. If the love of

ease or of sensual indulgence rules there, we need to summon our moral

courage to a stern strife, for there is no conquest more difficult than

over the evil affections that are rooted in our sensual nature. Wise

and good men have gone so far as to believe that this conquest is never

entire in this world; that the allurements of indolence and the gnawing

of sensual cravings are never quieted save when the body perishes. It

is, however, difficult to believe that passions exist in the body apart

from the soul, and if not, there can be no absolute impossibility of

conquest, even in this world. If this may be attained, it must be

through the building up of a true moral courage, that shall fight

believing that the sword of the Lord is in the hand of him who strives,

trusting in that eternal strength which is mighty even as we are weak.

Religious courage develops naturally in proportion as the growth of

moral courage becomes complete. Fear is nowhere so distressing as in our

relations with our Creator. That which is by nature best becomes worst

when it is perverted; and as the blessed hope to which, as children of

God, we are all born heirs, is in its fulness an infinite source of joy

and blessing to the soul, so when it is reversed and perverted into

fear, it becomes the source of unspeakable misery, sometimes resulting

in one of the most wretched forms of insanity.

The morbid state of the mind which induces this distressing passion is

the result of a peculiar form of egotism, which leads the thoughts

to fasten upon one's own evils so entirely that the mind ceases to

recognize, or even to remember, the long-suffering patience and mercy of

the Heavenly Father. A more common, but less painful form of this fear

is the result of vagueness in one's ideas of the Divine character and

attributes. The clear and rational views which Swedenborg has given of

the Divine Providence is undoubtedly the reason why religious melancholy

is almost never found among the members of the New Church. The peace in

believing, which is almost universal among this class of Christians,

is a subject of remark among those who observe them, wherever they are

found; and this arises, not merely from their not looking upon God as an

enemy and avenger who demands a perfect fulfilment of the letter of the

law, or infinite punishment for sin, either personally or by an atoning

Saviour; but from the possession of a distinct idea, imaged in their

minds, of the nature and the quality of the Divine Providence. Where

there is a tendency to any kind of fear, nothing increases it more than

the want of a distinct idea of the thing or person feared; because the

Imagination, which is always quick with the timid, is almost sure to

create something within the mind far more fearful than anything that

really exists. The greatest boon mankind ever received through a brother

man was the doctrine first promulgated by Swedenborg, that God has

respect even to our good intentions; and that he casts out none who

sincerely desire to be of his kingdom. If one distinctly believes this

doctrine, there is no rational ground in the mind for fear; because the

very fact of our desire for salvation--provided we understand salvation

to be a state of the mind, and not a mere position in a certain

place,--or something pertaining to our internal, and not to our

external, nature--makes it impossible that we should fail of attaining

it.

If one is oppressed with religious fear, the way to escape from it is

to use every endeavor to attain a clear and distinct idea of the Divine

character, and to strive to bring one's self into harmony with it;--to

think as little as possible about one's own sins, and to train the

thoughts to dwell upon the Divine perfections, and cultivate an ardent

desire to imitate them. It is necessary to think of one's self enough

to refrain from the commission of external sins, and just so far and so

fast as we put away sin, the Lord will implant the opposite virtue in

its place, provided we put the sin away from love to him, and not from

any selfish or worldly motive. This state of active cooperation with the

Lord is something very different from that into which one falls who is

the subject of religious fear, and cannot exist in company with it. The

religious coward can only overcome his fear by remembering that God is

not a tyrant who demands impossibilities of his slaves, but a Father of

infinite love, who would make his children eternally happy; and who, in

order that they may become so, gives them every means and every aid that

they will receive. He must not suffer his heart to sink within him by

thinking of his own weakness, but must elevate it by thinking of the

infinite power of him who has called us to salvation. Above all things,

he must not fall into reveries about himself, but seek to forget self in

the active performance of duty.

The performance of duty, the fulfiling of use, which, rightly

understood, is the universal panacea against all the troubles and

sorrows of this life, is too often a fearful bugbear in the eyes of

those who understand it not. This subject, however, brings us to the

third and last topic to be discussed under the head of Life. The love of

duty, to be effectual or real, must be earnest; for earnestness is the

certain result of living Affection. Through this, all our other powers

and faculties ultimate themselves in external Life. Earnestness is the

exact opposite of indolence. It is the external motive power, just as

Affection is the internal motive power,--the body, of which Affection is

the soul. Without earnestness, all our other powers come to naught, and

we live in vain; with it, our other endowments become alive, and ready

to impress themselves upon the external world. Indolence is a rust,

corroding and dulling all our faculties; earnestness, a vitalizing

force, quickening and brightening them. By earnestness, alone, can we

climb upward in that progress which, begun in time, pauses not at the

grave, but passing through the portal of death, goes eternally on in the

same direction which we chose for ourselves here, ever approaching more

nearly to the Divine perfection, whose life is the unresting activity of

infinite love. By indolence, we sink ever lower and lower, and through

a continuous process of deterioration, grow each day more unfit for the

heavenly life, which all but the abandoned, and perhaps even they, fancy

they desire, even when refusing to use any of the means whereby it may

be gained.

In the circle of man's evil propensities, no one, perhaps, is a more

fruitful mother of wretchedness and crime than the propensity to

indolence. It is a common saying, that the love of money is the root

of all evil; but that root often runs deeper, and finds its life in

indolence, which incites those under its dominion to seek money through

unlawful means. The desire for money impels most men to constant effort,

and there is no reason for attributing a stronger desire to him who

steals or defrauds than to him who labors steadfastly, every day of his

life, from early dawn to eve; yet we praise the latter, and condemn the

former. It is not, then, the love of money that we condemn, but the

desire to attain it by vicious means; and such desire results from a

hatred for labor, which is the only legitimate means by which it may be

gained. Money in itself is but dead matter, serving only as a minister

to some end beyond; and the simple desire for it is neither good nor

bad: the end for which it is desired elevates the desire itself to a

virtue, or degrades it to a vice; and the means which we adopt for

obtaining it, and the purposes to which we apply it, make it either a

blessing or a curse.

Every possession, whether moral, intellectual, or physical, is the

legitimate reward of labor wisely and earnestly applied; and for these

rewards the virtuous are content to labor without repining, and to them,

not only the rewards, but the labor itself, is blessed. The vicious,

on the contrary, desire the rewards, but hate the labor by which they

should be gained. They, therefore, accordingly as they belong to

different classes of society, simulate virtues which they do not

possess, pretend to acquirements they have been too idle to gain, or

strive after wealth by any means, rather than patient industry and

honest effort.

It is not the vicious alone who fail to perceive that labor is a

blessing from which a wise man can never fly. The curse applied to Adam,

"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," has led many to suppose

that originally the wants of the human race were supplied without any

exertion of its own,--that in the garden of Eden there was enjoyment

without effort, possession without labor. Even in the pulpit, labor is

sometimes spoken of as a curse pertaining only to life in this world,

from which we shall be delivered in the life to come. Nothing can be

farther from the truth. Employment is the life of every soul, from

the Most High down to the least of his children. They only who are

spiritually dead, or sleeping, ask for idleness. It is man fallen who

looks on labor as a curse, not man walking with God in the garden of

Eden; and to man, when he has fallen, labor is indeed a curse, for his

soul is so perverted that he knows not the true nature and qualities of

a blessing.

Man, resting in thought or feeling, is at best a useless abstraction; he

becomes truly a man only when his thoughts and feelings come forth into

life, and impress themselves on outward things. If he fail to do this,

the rust of idleness eats into all his powers, till he becomes a useless

cumberer of the ground; the world loses, and heaven gains nothing when

this mortal puts on immortality. Such a being is dead while he lives--a

moral paralytic. His capacities are as seed cast upon a rock where there

is no earth.

God works incessantly. His eye knows no closing, his hand no weariness.

The universe was not only built by his power, but is sustained every

moment by his inflowing life. If he were to turn from it for a single

instant, all things would return to chaos. Man, created in the image and

likeness of God, resembles him most nearly when the life influent from

God which fills his soul, flows forth freely as it is given, quickening

with its powers all that comes within the influence of his sphere.

There is an old proverb that tells us, "Idleness is the devil's pillow";

and well may it be so esteemed, for no head ever rested long upon it,

but the lips of the evil spirit were at its ear, breathing falsehood and

temptation. The industrious man is seldom found guilty of a crime; for

he has no time to listen to the enticings of the wicked one, and he is

content with the enjoyments honest effort affords. It is the vicious

idler, vexed to see the fortunes of his industrious neighbor growing

while he is lounging and murmuring, who robs and murders that he may get

unlawful gain. It is the merry, thoughtless idler who, to relieve the

nothingness of his days, seeks the excitement of the wine-cup and the

gaming-table. It is the sensual idler, whose licentious ear is open to

the voice of the tempter as often as his track crosses the pathway of

youth and innocence.

Not only by reason of the external, palpable rewards which labor brings

is it to be considered a blessing; but every hour of patient labor,

whether with the hands, or in study, or thought, brings with it its own

priceless reward, in its direct effects upon the Character. By it the

faculties are developed, the powers strengthened, and the whole being

brought into a state of order; provided we do all things for the glory

of God. "But," exclaims the impatient heart, wearied with the cares of

daily life, "how can all this labor for the preservation and comfort of

the merely mortal body, this study of things which belong merely to the

material world, subserve in any way the glory of God?" It is by these

very toils, worthless and transitory as they may seem, that the

Character is built up for eternity; and so to build up Character is the

whole end for which the things of time were created. No matter how small

the duty intrusted to our performance, by performing it to the best

of our abilities we are fitting ourselves to be rulers over many

things,--to hear the blessed proclamation, "Well done, good and faithful

servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

We are prone, at times, to feel as though we were not placed in the

right niche; and that, if we were differently situated, and occupied

with employments more worthy our capacities, we should work with

pleasure and assiduity; but our present duties are so much beneath us,

it seems degrading to spend our time and thoughts upon them. Here is

a radical error of judgment, for it is not a high or low duty that

degrades or elevates man, but the performing any duty well or ill. It

is as true as it is trite, that the honor or shame lies in the mode of

performance, not in the quality of the duty. We all, perhaps, know and

say, and yet need to be reminded, that a bad president stands lower in

the scale of being than a good town officer; a wicked statesman, let

him occupy what social position he may, fills a lower place than a

conscientious slave who faithfully fulfils the duties of his station.

The first Church, represented by Adam, fell because it ceased to look to

the Lord as the source of all life and light, and looked only to itself

for all things. It thus lost all conception of the legitimate aim of

life. Seeking only the enjoyment of the present moment, labor seemed a

dire calamity; for the eternal end of labor, that is, the development

of the powers of the soul, so as best to fit it for the performance of

heavenly uses, passed out of the knowledge of man, and he learned to

look forward to heaven as a place of idle enjoyment; toiling sorrowfully

through this world, in the sweat of his face, for bread that, when

attained, gave him no true life. To eat bread in the sweat of the face

signifies by correspondences, to receive and appropriate as good only

that which self may call self-produced and self-owned; and to turn away

with aversion from that which is heavenly. This is precisely what we all

do when we shrink from, or despise, any labor which duty demands at our

hands. The Lord places us in that position in life which is best adapted

to overcome the evil dispositions of our nature, and to cultivate our

souls for heaven. Perhaps we have capacities that would enable us

to perform duties that would be considered by the world of a higher

character; but perhaps, on the other hand, we have vices that the Lord

is striving to overcome by placing us in this very position which so

frets and disgusts us. If we will but remember that the mercy and love

of the Lord strive to bless us by fitting us for heaven, and not by

making us eminent in the eyes of men, we shall probably find it much

easier to comprehend why we are placed as we are in this world. When we

torment ourselves by thinking of the inappropriateness of our position

in this world, we are always viewing our position with regard to this

world only, and therefore all things are dark to us. When we look humbly

to the Lord, and seek to find out the eternal ends of his providence in

the circumstances of our lives, gradually the scales pass from our

eyes, and at last we go in peace, seeing.

Beside the education of our powers and faculties, employment is a

blessing in helping us to bear the severest trials of this life. When

bereavement or disappointment overwhelms the soul with anguish, so that

this world seems only the dark habitation of despair; when we cannot see

the bow of promise in the black cloud that darkens our horizon; when we

feel that we are without God in the world,--and there are few if any

human beings who have not found themselves at some time in such a

state,--then, as we hope by the grace of God ever to escape from this

despair, we should fly idleness as we would fly the dagger or the

poisoned cup; and though grief be tugging at the heart-strings, though

our eyes are blinded with tears, we should set ourselves diligently

about doing something that may help to make others happy, and let no

duty go unperformed; and it will not be long ere the dimmed eyes shall

begin to see the glow of the sunshine above, and the earth radiant with

beauty below; while, so far from being deserted of God, we shall feel

that sorrow has brought us more distinctly than ever before into his

presence.

"The path of sorrow, and that path alone,

Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown."

What are the employments of heaven we cannot know with any

particularity. Swedenborg tells us that the angels are constantly

performing uses; but what these uses are we are not distinctly told. We

know that they correspond in some way to the employments of earth; but

really to understand them probably transcends our capacities while we

remain in the flesh. The conscientious performance of the material and

finite uses of this life is the only means by which we can prepare

ourselves for the spiritual and eternal uses pertaining to the heavenly

kingdom; uses which probably serve to comfort, nourish, and strengthen

the soul in eternity, as on earth the corresponding uses serve the wants

of the body.

In the spiritual world the spiritual body is fed, clothed, and sheltered

in much the same way, to appearance, as is the material body in the

natural world; but all the surroundings of the spirit correspond to the

state of each individual being, and are the direct gift of the Lord. All

the arts and trades of this life do not exist in the other, but as these

arts and trades, as well as everything else in this world, exist only

through their correspondence with something in the other world, it

follows that all the occupations of this life have not similar, but

corresponding, occupations in the other. The end of life in this world

is to fit the soul for entering upon the heavenly life, and the end

of life in heaven is perpetual advancement in spiritual graces and

perfections; for no angel, even in the highest heavens, has reached

a degree of perfection so high that he can go no further. The end of

heavenly life thus being infinite, the effort and employment of that

life must be ceaseless. In speaking of ceaseless effort, it must not be

understood that this resembles at all the wearying labor of a slave, or

that there is anything oppressive or forced about its performance; for

this could only be anticipated with dread. Heavenly employment must be

full of life and joy, bearing us upward like the wings of a skylark, as

he bathes in the sunlight of the upper ether, and carols forth his

joy. There will undoubtedly be a variety, too, in heavenly employment,

corresponding with our varying states, and making tedium impossible.

This may be illustrated by imagining what would be a perfect mode of

spending a day in this world. We wake in the morning refreshed by

repose, and as we look forth at the sun our spirits rejoice in the

beauty of the wakening day, and rise toward the heavenly throne in

prayer and praise. We set about the performance of our daily duties, and

Christian charity toward those for whose happiness or benefit, whether

physical or intellectual, we exert our powers, makes us faithful in

whatever we do, that it may be done to the best of our ability; and our

effort is lightened by the consciousness of duty done from pure and

upright motives. If we go forth for refreshment, communion with nature

and the God of nature fills our souls with peace, while the fresh air

gives new life to the frame. When the duties of the day are over, and

the family circle collects around the evening lamp, reading or

conversation awakes the powers of the heart and the intellect, and draws

more closely the bonds of the domestic affections. We retire for the

night, and ere composing ourselves to sleep, we collect our thoughts,

reflect upon the events of the day, examining what we have done well or

ill, and prepare by wise resolutions for future effort. We slumber, and

the repose of all our powers renews our strength for the coming morrow.

Through the whole of this twenty-four hours, employment has been

constant. There has been labor of the hands, labor of the head,

conversation, thought, prayer, sleep. Every part of the being has been

called into exercise; there has been no weariness from labor, and no

idleness; but every moment of this whole day has added its quota towards

promoting the growth of the whole being; and this is a heavenly day. The

more perfectly we can make the occupations of our days thus combine for

the growth of our being, the better we are preparing ourselves for the

days of heaven.

As the progress of the heavenly life will be infinite, the wants of our

spiritual natures must likewise be infinite. The heavenly life must be

a life of charity,--a life in which every soul will strive to aid every

other to the utmost; and the charities of heaven must strengthen and

comfort the soul in a manner corresponding to the aid material charities

effect in this world. Let it constantly be borne in mind, that charities

are duties well performed, of whatever kind they may be,--as well

the faithful fulfilment of an avocation as the aiding of a suffering

fellow-being. Charity is but another name for duty; or rather duty

becomes charity when we perform it from genuine love to the Lord and

to the neighbor; and whoever leads a life of charity in this world is

fitting himself to perform the higher charities that will be required of

him in heaven.

The true end and highest reward of labor is spiritual growth; and such

growth brings with it the most exalted happiness we are capable of

attaining. This happiness is the kingdom of heaven within us; and it is

the certain and unfailing reward, or rather consequence, of a life of

true charity. It is not difficult, by intellectual thought, to perceive

the truth of this doctrine; but this is not enough. We must elevate our

hearts into a wisdom that shall make us not only perceive, but feel and

love this truth. Until we can do this, we do not truly believe, though

we may think we do. If we fret and murmur; if we are impatient and

unfaithful; if, when we plainly see that our duty lies in one path, we

yet long to follow another; if we know that we cannot leave our present

position without dereliction from right, and yet hate or despise the

place in which we are; if we repine because God does not give us the

earthly rewards we fancy we deserve, though we well know he promises

only heavenly ones; if we do habitually any or all of these things, we

may know that our faith is of the lip, and not of the heart,--that

the life of charity is not yet begun within us. Such repinings, such

cravings as these do not belong nor lead to the heavenly kingdom.

He who thinks wisely can never live a life of idleness, and where there

is excessive indolence of the body there is never healthy action of the

mind. A life of use is a life of holiness; and a life of idleness is a

life of sin. He who performs no social use, who makes no human being

happier or better, is leading a life of utter selfishness; is walking in

a way that ends in spiritual death. In the parable of the sheep and the

goats, the King condemns those on the left hand, not because they have

done that which was wrong, but because they have omitted doing that

which was right.

No human being in possession of his mental faculties is so incompetent

that he can do nothing for the benefit of those around him. One

prostrate on a bed of sickness might seem, at first glance, incapable

of performing any use; and yet, not unfrequently, what high and holy

lessons of patient faith, of unwavering piety, are taught by such a

being,--lessons that can never die out from the memory of those who

minister at the couch of suffering. When the body lies powerless, and

the hand has lost its cunning, when even the tongue is palsied in death,

how often has the eye, still faithful to the heavenly Master, by a

glance of holy peace performed the last act of charity to the bereaved

ones whom it looks upon with the eye of flesh for the last time. So long

as life remains to us our duties are unfinished: God yet desires our

service on earth, and while he desires let us not doubt our capacity

to serve. Even for one in the solitude of a prison-cell, when acts of

charity become impossible, the duty of labor is not taken away. One may

still work for the Father in Heaven, though sitting in darkness, and

with manacled limbs. To possess the soul in patience, to be meek,

forgiving, and pious, are duties amply sufficient to tax the powers of

the strongest. There is no room for idleness even here.

To work is not only a duty, but a necessity of our nature, and when we

fancy ourselves idle, we are in fact working for one whose wages is

death. The question is never, Shall we work? but, For whom shall we

work? Whom shall we choose for our master? and our happiness here and

hereafter must depend on the answer we give to this question. We may

not deliberately put and deliberately reply to this question in stated

words; but our whole lives answer it in one long-continued period.

Those who labor steadfastly, with no end in view but the acquisition of

worldly, perishable advantages, answer it fearfully; but theirs is not

a more desperate reply than comes from the idler and the slothful.

Wherever there is activity and force there is hope; for though now

flowing in a wrong direction, the stream may yet be diverted into

channels that shall lead to eternal life. Where there is no activity,

where all the faculties of the soul are sunk in the lethargy of

indifference, as well may one hope to find living fountains gushing

forth into fertilizing streams amid the sands of the African desert. The

man of science tells us that living springs exist beneath these sands,

and that artesian wells might bring them to the surface; and so in the

inmost nature of man, however degraded he may be, Swedenborg tells

us there is a shrine that cannot be defiled, through which heavenly

influences may come down into his life, and yet save him, if he will

receive them ere he passes from this world; but when sloth has become

habitual and confirmed, there is almost as little room for hope that

this will ever take place as that artesian tubes will ever make the

Saharan desert a region of fertility.

The kingdom of evil is readily attained. We have but to follow the

allurements of the passions, and we shall surely find it; we have but to

fold our hands, and it will come to us. With the kingdom of eternal life

it is not so. That is a prize not easily won. Faithful, untiring effort,

looking ever toward eternal ends; a constant scrutiny of motives, that

they may be pure and true; an earnest, heartfelt, determined devotion

to the heavenly Master, to whose service we have bound ourselves by

deliberate choice, can alone make sure for us what we seek. For a long

time this may require labor almost painful, but if we persevere, our

affections will gradually become at one with our faith, the heavenly

life will become habitual, so as to be almost instinctive; and when the

celestial kingdom is thus established within us, no place will be left

for weariness, or doubt, or pain, or fear. CONVERSATION.

"He who sedulously attends, pointedly asks, calmly speaks, coolly

answers, and ceases when he has no more to say, is in possession of some

of the best requisites of man."--LAVATER.

"The common fluency of speech, in many men, and most women, is owing to

a scarcity of matter and a scarcity of words; for whoever is master of

a language, and has a mind full of ideas, will be apt, in speaking, to

hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas, common speakers have only

one set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in; and these are

always ready at the mouth; so people can come faster out of a church

when it is almost empty, than when a crowd is at the door."--SWIFT.

* * * * *

Of all the physical powers possessed by man, there is none so noble as

that of speech; none that distinguishes him so entirely from the brute;

yet how few there are who seem in any adequate degree to comprehend its

power and value, or who ever pause to reflect upon the sacrilegious

abuse to which it is often degraded.

Language is Thought and Affection in form, as works are Thought and

Affection in life. By language we receive the word of Divine Revelation,

and by language we approach the Divine Author of all things in prayer.

By language we are made happy in social life, through interchange of

thought and feeling with our fellow-beings. By language, man is made

lord of the terrestrial world. By language, the wisdom of past ages

becomes an inheritance for the whole earth, instead of perishing with

each possessor; and thus man advances from age to age, through the

experience of the past, instead of being obliged to work out all the

wisdom he gains by his own individual effort.

This is the bright and beautiful side of language; but on the other hand

is a dark and hideous side, when language becomes the foul and poisonous

medium through which the folly, the vice, and all the moral deformities

of humanity, are spread abroad through the world, and handed down

through the ages. The same medium that serves as a vehicle for heavenly

truth is the tool of the scoffing infidel; it is formed into prayer by

the saint, and into blasphemy by the sinner. Alternately, it serves the

purest and holiest uses, or the vilest and most atrocious abuses; now

formed to the sweet breathings of heavenly charity, and anon to the

harsh utterances of malignant hate.

These distinctions are wide and clear, and easily perceived by the most

obtuse or indifferent observer; but these distinctly marked varieties

pass into milder shades as they are exhibited in common Conversation,

and then a nicer observation is needful to detect the varieties of

hue that color language when used in the every-day forms of society.

The habitual use we make of language is the result of our own

characters, and it reacts upon them. It likewise acts upon those who are

about us with an unceasing power, repelling or attracting all whom we

approach. Every human being exerts a perpetual influence on every other

human being, with an activity as universal as that of gravity in the

material world; and language is one of the most efficient means of this

influence. Viewed in the light of these truths, common Conversation

becomes an object of serious consideration; and the mode of sustaining

it worthy of the deepest thought and of the most careful watchfulness.

Between the malignity of a fiend and the charity of an angel there is

a long interval of inclined plane, and those who walk there may seem a

company so mixed that they cannot be separated into two distinct bands;

but every individual of the throng is looking toward one or the

other extremity, and either ascending or descending in his course.

Conversation is the outbirth of our thoughts and affections, and it

shows their quality in the most direct manner possible. Actions are said

to speak louder than words, and to the appreciation of our fellow-beings

our lives are much truer and fuller expositions of our internal

natures than our Conversation; but before God, always, and before our

own consciences if we really look at ourselves, the insincere words that

deceive our fellow-beings stand unmasked,--the deformed exponents of the

falsehood of the soul. We can therefore understand the character of our

neighbor better by his actions than by his words; but to understand our

neighbor is of little importance compared with understanding ourselves;

and is chiefly useful because a comparison of individuals aids us in

comprehending our own natures. We can understand ourselves by our own

words if we will take the trouble to consider them dispassionately, and

analyze the thoughts and affections whence they spring.

So little honesty is believed to exist in ordinary Conversation, that

the saying of a witty courtier, that "language is the instrument whereby

man conceals his thoughts," has almost passed into a proverb. The

question, in which direction is the man walking who wraps duplicity

about himself as his constant garment, needs no answer; for all must

know that the Divine Being, whose form is truth, hateth a lie.

The first element in Conversation should be sincerity. Not the blunt

and harsh sincerity sometimes met with, which is made the cloak of

self-esteem and bitterness; for that is an evil of the same nature as

the malice and hatred that show themselves in active, outward injury

towards the neighbor. When excited by pride or anger, the tongue needs a

bridle no less than the hand; and when the heart can utter itself truly

only in the forms of such passions, silence is its only safeguard. In

speaking of the follies or vices of others, sincerity should be tempered

by a Christian charity, which, while it does not gloss over vice, does

not dwell upon it needlessly, nor take a malicious pleasure in spreading

it abroad, nor indulge self-complacency by dilating upon it, to give the

idea that one is superior to such things.

If such motives are allowed to have sway, a person soon becomes

confirmed in the habit of gossiping,--a habit that degrades alike the

intellect and the heart. The soul of gossip is a contemptible vanity

that imagines itself, or at least would have others imagine it, superior

to all that it finds of evil and absurdity in the characters of those

whom it passes in review. A very little observation will serve to show

any one that everybody sees his neighbors' faults, while very few open

their eyes upon their own; and that not unfrequently a person condemns

with the utmost vehemence in others precisely the same follies and vices

in which he himself habitually indulges. Those who study their own

characters with most care, and who best understand themselves, are apt

to say least of the characters of their neighbors; they find too much

to do within themselves, in curing their own defects, to have time or

inclination to sit in judgment upon the defects of others.

It is impossible to indulge habitually in this vice without weakening

the powers of the intellect. The heart never suffers alone from the

indulgence of any wrong passion. The intellect and the affections ever

sink as well as rise together. Where the love of gossip becomes a

confirmed habit, the mind loses its power of accurately appreciating the

value of Character,--of distinguishing truly between the good and the

bad. The power of discrimination is weakened and impaired, so that no

confidence can be placed in the opinions of the mind in relation to

Character or Life. In addition to this, we must bear in mind that

all the mental power we bestow in criticizing and ridiculing our

fellow-beings is just so much taken from our mental strength, which we

might have applied to some useful intellectual exercise. The strength

of the mind is no more indefinite than that of the body. We have but a

certain limited amount; and all that we apply to idle or bad purposes is

just so much abstracted from the good and the useful.

Sarcasm is a weapon we are almost sure to find constantly used by the

gossip; and whether it be shown in the coarse ridicule of the vulgar, or

the keen satire of the refined, it springs ever from the same source,

and is directed to the same end; as surely as the clumsy war-club of

savage lands was invented from the same impulse and wrought with the

same intent as the graceful blade of Damascus. Its source is vanity, its

end to make self seem great by making others seem little. It is a weapon

that, however skilfully wielded, always cuts both ways, wounding far

more deeply the hand that grasps it than the victim it strikes. Of all

the powers of wit, sarcasm is the lowest. There is nothing easier than

ridicule; nothing requiring a weaker head, or a colder heart.

The sincere lover of truth will never be found habitually indulging

either in gossip or sarcasm; for those who are addicted to these vices

never tell a story simply as they heard it, never relate a fact simply

as it happened. A little is added here or left out there to give the

story a more entertaining turn or the satire a keener point. As the

habit grows stronger, invention becomes more ready and copious, till at

length truth is covered up and lost under an accumulation of fiction.

There is a very common form of insincerity used by a class of

well-meaning but injudicious persons, who, rather than wound the

feelings of their friends, conceal the truth from them, sometimes by

prevarication and sometimes by positive falsehood; doing wrong, that, as

they imagine, good may come of it; as though an evil tree could by

any possibility bear good fruit.

Another class of persons converse as though the chief sin of

Conversation were the wounding the self-love of those to whom they

speak, by expressing any difference of opinion from them. Thus they

are continually temporizing, and often contradicting themselves, and

exhibiting a cowardly meanness of spirit, which is one of the most

contemptible of all the varied forms of duplicity.

There is a common form of embarrassment resulting in a hesitation of

speech, which often springs from a want of genuine sincerity. The

speaker is fancying what others will think of his remarks, instead of

fixing his mind entirely on the subject of discourse. In this divided

state, his mind loses half its power, and he utters himself in a manner

satisfactory neither to himself nor to his hearers. No doubt hesitation

in speech sometimes arises from want of verbal skill; but probably a

very large proportion of persons suffering from this difficulty would

soon cure themselves if they would steadfastly speak what they believe

to be truth, just as it rises in their minds, and without stopping to

think what will be thought of their opinions or words by those who

listen to them.

Next after truth, reverence is perhaps most important if we would order

our Conversation aright. Many indulge in a frivolous mode of speech in

speaking of the most sacred subjects; which, though it may spring from

nothing worse than thoughtlessness, cannot fail to exert a baneful

influence on the Character, and diminish, perhaps destroy, the little

respect for things holy still cleaving to the heart. This same

irreverence shows itself in another form, in speaking of the calamities

suffered by others, turning that into a jest which is to those under

discussion cause of the most bitter anguish; and though the speakers

probably would not for any consideration have their words come to the

ears of those spoken of, they still do not hesitate to make food for

mirth out of death or sin, poverty or misfortune, in a way little short

of inhuman. The indulgence of this habit falls back upon the soul of

the perpetrator, wounding deeply, if it does not kill, all the finer

sensibilities of the nature; drying up the fountains of sympathy, and

making the heart hard and callous.

Akin to reverence, and probably springing from it, is purity; which

shows itself by a careful avoidance of everything profane, obscene,

coarse, or in any way offending delicacy, either in word, tone, or

suggestion. This purity cannot be too much insisted upon; for its

opposite poisons the fountains of the heart, defiling the temple which

should be a dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit. Delicacy and refinement

are too often looked upon merely as the elegant ornaments of polished

life. They should, on the contrary, be esteemed essentials in the

Christian Character; Everything leaning towards profanity, obscenity, or

indelicacy is utterly incompatible with Christian purity of heart. Low

attempts at wit, that hinge on vulgarity, are a common form of this

vice; and those who indulge their propensities in this direction, are

laying the foundation for general grossness of Character, such as they

would now, perhaps, shrink from with horror; but towards which they are

none the less surely tending.

We are told, that "for every idle word we speak we shall give an account

at the day of judgment; for by our words we shall be justified, and by

our words we shall be condemned." This has seemed to many a very hard

saying, and while some persons try to explain it away, others turn

from it as too hard either to explain or to receive. When, however,

we reflect on what words really are, we perceive that this heavy

accountability clings to them of necessity, as effect to cause. Man was

created the image and likeness of God, and when we find points hard of

comprehension in the character or relations of man, we may often gain

much light by taking a corresponding view, so far as our finite powers

permit, of the Divine Being.

The Scriptures are the Divine Word; that is, the verbal exponent of the

Divine Mind; while the world around us is the material exponent of the

same Mind. Speech and life in humanity correspond to these two modes of

expression of the Divinity. When imperfectly understood, they almost of

necessity seem to contradict each other; but it is only then. The unity

of the Word and Works of God is becoming constantly more apparent as man

advances in the knowledge of both. Each helps to explain the other, and

it is only by a knowledge of both that the character and attributes of

God can be justly comprehended. A little consideration will show that

the speech and life of man in like manner combine to exhibit the

character and qualities of the soul within,--that they harmonize with

each other, and that therefore of necessity by our words no less than by

our works we must be justified or condemned before the All-seeing One.

Many suppose, that because we, in our short-sighted views, are so often

misled by the words of our fellow-beings, they are not true pictures

of Character. We should, however, remember that it is not before

short-sighted man that we are to be judged by our words, but before the

omniscient God. To his ear our words have a very different significance

from that which they bear to our fellow-beings. We should recollect,

that the falsehood which may make it impossible for us to judge

righteous judgment of our fellow-beings stands before the Lord only

as a falsehood; and that, in whatever form it comes, from the courteous

white lie--as man dares to call it--of polished society, to the

double-dyed blackness of malignant hypocrisy, God sees only the

varying shades of dissimulation; springing, in whatever form, from a

deep-running undercurrent of selfishness and worldliness. We may be

deceived into believing words are genuine when they are not so; but

every disingenuous word uttered is, before God, the image and likeness

of the duplicity that reigns within. To us they may seem the beautiful

garments that envelop purity and truth; but to him they are the foul and

flimsy veils that strive to conceal the soul's deformity.

Man, in the pride of his artifice, often exults because he has outwitted

his neighbor by his lying words, while all the time he has far more

outwitted himself. He has degraded his own soul,--set upon it a foul

mark that can be washed out only by the bitter tears of penitence, and

yet holds his head aloft in fancied superiority over his fellows, while

before God and the angels he stands like Cain, with the mark of sin

impressed upon his forehead.

That man should be condemned for lying words all will admit, but when

men converse idly, or without any particular thought one way or the

other as to what they are saying, they are apt to suppose that no

especial moral character belongs to the words they utter. Such, however,

is far from the truth. Man is never so sincere as in his idle moments.

His words are then the simple outporings of his affections. It has been

often said, that one can always measure the refinement of any person by

watching his language and deportment in his moments of sportiveness. It

is quite as easy to judge of other traits of Character when the mind is

thrown off its guard at such moments. Idle words, more apparently than

any other, are genuine manifestations of Character. It is in them that

the heart, out of its abundance, speaketh. The Conversation of a true

Christian is characterized in his hours of gayety, no less than at

other times, by truth tempered with love, made clear and steadfast by

simplicity, and clothed with reverence and purity.

The trait of Conversation we would next consider is courtesy,--Christian

courtesy. This is nothing more nor less than carrying out the law of

charity; the doing as we would be done by. It is to recognize the fact

that others have a right to talk as well as ourselves; and also a right

to expect us to listen to what they say as attentively and respectfully

as we would wish them to listen to us. We should not merely hold our

tongues when others speak, but should scrupulously attend to what they

say. A person who affects politeness, although he remains silent while

another speaks, yet does so with an air that plainly shows he is paying

no attention to what is said, and is waiting with impatience for the

moment when he can hear himself talk. This sort of listening is a mere

pretence put on by the conceited and overbearing when they wish to pass

for persons of polite manners; but in reality it is an insult rather

than a courtesy to listen in this way. To listen with true courtesy, one

should feel and show, not only a willingness, but a desire to know what

another has to say, should follow attentively all that he says, and

should then reply with due consideration for what has been said.

It is a remark often made, that after an argument between two or more

persons, each individual is more strongly fixed in his previous opinion

than he was before. This result is often consequent upon the want of

true courtesy. The parties to an argument, absorbed in admiration of

their own opinions, seek not to become wiser through discourse, which

should be the end sought in all Conversation of an argumentative or

discussive character, but seek only to draw attention to their own views

and opinions; until that which should be Conversation degenerates into a

mere war of words, in which each party strives to talk down, rather than

to convince, the other. In such wordy warfare charity has no part; but

pride and combativeness hold entire dominion over the soul. He who comes

off conqueror may exult in his own power; but he has overcome, not

because reason was on his side, but because his combativeness was

stronger than that of his opponent; and he exults in that which is

in reality his shame. The moral and the intellectual natures suffer

together in such contests. The mind fastens itself upon the prejudices

and opinions it has chanced to adopt, loving them merely because they

are its own, and seeks no longer to advance in the acquisition of

truth; while the heart, inflated with egotism, has no abiding-place for

charity. Let charity rule in a discussion, and how different is the

result. Each party then strives to aid the other in discovering the

truth, and at the close of the Conversation each has made some advance

in the knowledge of truth. The ideas of both have become more clear and

rational, and their minds have acted with far more power, because they

have been given exclusively to the object under consideration instead

of being divided between the object and self-love. In the one case, the

parties are like two horses harnessed together contrariwise, and each

striving to go forward by pulling the other back; while in the other,

they travel amicably and fleetly, side by side, toward the fountain of

truth.

Next after courtesy comes simplicity, which may be defined as

forgetfulness of self. There is nothing more fatal to agreeable

Conversation than thinking perpetually of one's self. Young persons,

on first going into society, are very apt to fall into the error of

supposing that all eyes and ears are fixed upon them, to observe how

awkwardly or how gracefully they move, and how well or how ill they

converse. This is the result of a mental egotism combined with love

of admiration, and usually produces awkward diffidence or absurd

affectation. Too often the first weakness is overcome, or covered up,

most unwisely, by exchanging bashfulness for impertinent boldness; while

the vanity and self-consciousness of the second very rarely result in

manners or Conversation either sensible or agreeable. To overcome these

defects, wisely, requires a strong effort. They should be radically

subdued by learning to ask one's self, "Am I doing what is right and

proper?" instead of, "What will people think of me?" It is no easy

task to learn to do this habitually, because there is involved in it

a radical change of Character. It is to learn to _be_, instead of to

_seem_. In the first state, we are absorbed by the idea of what we

_seem_ to others; while, in the second state, we are occupied with the

idea of what we really _are_, without regard to the opinion of anybody,

but guided strictly by the abstract law of right. In the first state,

we are embarrassed by the complexity of our wishes and aims. We wish to

please everybody, and we strive to ascertain what will be agreeable

to the various tastes of those with whom we converse. Thus we have no

constant landmark, no unvarying compass to guide us on our way; and we

are drawn hither and thither, as we try now to please one person and

then another. Let our wishes and aims but become simple, and we walk

steadily and surely in the light. In the complexity of our desires we

were slaves; but in their simplicity we become free. Complexity strives

perpetually after reputation, and is always advancing either in the

direction of servility or of arrogance, according as self-esteem or

the love of admiration predominate in the mind of the individual; and

advancing years find it ever deteriorating in all the best elements of

Character. Simplicity, on the contrary, deals with what is, and not with

what seems to be, and is ever seeking growth in goodness and truth;

and therefore each added year finds it growing in all the graces of

improving manhood or womanhood. Complexity grows old in mind no less

than in body. Its moral being is scarred and wrinkled by selfishness and

worldliness, and its intellect dried up and withered by narrow views and

unworthy aims. In its old age there is nothing genial or lovely, and in

its death one could almost believe that soul as well as body perishes.

Simplicity improves in mind as it grows old in body. There are no

wrinkles on the brow of its sunny spirit; there is no withering of its

intellect. Its life, in time, is a perpetual advance in all that is

gracious and intelligent,--a steady ripening for eternity,--and its

death is but a birth into a fuller and more perfect life.

In Conversation, complexity adapts itself artfully to others, in order

to gratify its own selfishness. It humors the selfishness and whims of

those to whom it speaks, in order to gain consideration from them, or to

make use of them in some way for its own advancement.

Simplicity, on the contrary, adapts itself artlessly to others, because

it is full of charity; and therefore desires to make others happy. Its

words are the overflow of genial thought and kindly affection; and all

hearts that hold aught in common with it open and expand before its

influences as plants start at the touch of spring. It is not so much the

words uttered that produce this effect, as the pleasant and kindly way

in which they are said; for this throws a grace and an attractive charm

about the most commonplace objects of its Conversation.

Intellectual brilliancy in Conversation dazzles and delights the

imagination; but it does not touch the heart. Simplicity, on the

contrary, always impresses itself upon our feelings with a power that is

all the more strong because we cannot analyze it by our intellect. We

talk with a person of simplicity about the common occurrences of the

day, and find ourselves, we know not why, more gentle, refined, and

happy than we were before. We are refreshed as by drinking from a pure

and undefiled fountain of sweet waters; refreshed as mere intellectual

power cannot refresh us; refreshed as no book can refresh us. There is a

harmonious completeness in the whole being of simplicity, a directness

and honesty in all it says and does, "a grace beyond the reach of art,"

in all its manifestations more potent, because more internal in its

effects, than anything can ever be that is born merely of the intellect.

There is no affectation, no straining for effect in simplicity. All is

natural and genuine with it. Its wit is never forced, its wisdom is

never stilted; nor is either ever dragged in for mere display. With

the simple, Conversation is like a brook flowing through a beautiful

country, and reflecting the varied scenes through which it passes in all

their grace and beauty.

Another important trait in Conversation is the correct use of words; and

the effort after this cannot fail to exert a beneficial influence on

the mental powers. In order to speak correctly, one must observe with

accuracy and think with justness; the endeavor to do this increases

our love for the truth and our capacity for perceiving it. Much of the

falsehood in the world is the result of carelessness in observation or

phraseology. We often hear two persons give an account of something they

have seen or heard, and are surprised at the discrepancies between the

two narrations. Probably neither person intended to deceive; but both

saw or heard carelessly, and so are incompetent to describe accurately;

and probably, also, neither has cultivated the habit of speaking

correctly, as that habit is not apt to be found united with carelessness

of observation. Such persons would, perhaps, look upon this sort of

carelessness as a venial offence; but it is not so. Anything that

interferes with, or diminishes the capacity for, perceiving or speaking

the truth is of importance, and should never be passed over lightly. God

is truth no less than love, and every variation from the truth is a sin

against him.

If we find we have related any fact or described any object incorrectly,

it is not enough that we apologize for the error by saying "we though it

was so." Such an error should impress us as a thing to be repented of,

and we should try to ascertain why and how it was that we fell into

it, and it should put us on our guard; that we may be more accurate in

future.

Inaccuracy of speech often arises from a desire to tell a good

story, resulting from the love of admiration or from an ill-trained

imagination. The speaker colors, exaggerates, and distorts everything he

relates, carefully conceals all the facts on one side of a question, and

enlarges upon those of the opposite side with compensating fulness. It

is no uncommon thing to see this carried to such an extent that it is

idle to give credence to anything the person says; the more especially

as such a person very rarely stops with mere distortion of the facts

of a story. As the habit increases, invention supplies new facts and

details to make out all the parts desired, till the listener finds it

impossible to separate the true from the false, and the speaker is as

unable to distinguish his own inventions from the original facts; for

when the habit of speaking the truth is neglected, the capacity for

perceiving it is gradually lost.

In an intellectual point of view, the correct use of words is of the

utmost importance, if one would speak well. To attain this, it is

necessary to have a distinct idea of the meaning of words, and then to

endeavor to use such words as truly express the ideas of the mind. The

use of pet phrases and words is entirely at war with correctness in this

respect. With some persons, everything is pretty, from Niagara Falls to

the last new ribbon; while others find, or rather make, everything

nice, splendid, or glorious. It would be esteemed an insult to the

understanding of any person to suppose that the same idea or emotion

could be aroused in his mind by the sight of the sublimest work of

nature as by a trifling article of dress; yet if he use the same term to

describe it in each instance, he certainly lays himself open to such

an imputation. Want of thorough education is an inadequate excuse for

follies of this sort, because common sense combined with far less

knowledge than may be acquired in a common school is more than

sufficient to enable every one to use his native tongue with sufficient

propriety to save him from being ridiculous.

There is one specious gift which is almost sure to mislead those who are

largely endowed with it, and that is fluency. We listen with pain to

one who speaks hesitatingly and with difficulty, and who is obliged to

search his memory for words that will correctly represent his thoughts;

but if, when the words come, we find they really tells us something

worth waiting for, we feel far less weariness than in following the

unhesitating flow of words that are but empty sound. There is always

peculiar ease and pleasure in the exercise of a natural talent, and

those naturally possessed of fluency must of course find it hard to

restrain the tide of words that is perpetually flowing up to the lips;

but if they desire to converse agreeably, the effort must be made, and

self-denial must be attained. The benefit derived by an over-fluent

talker from self-restraint will be quite commensurate with the effort,

no less than with the added pleasure of the listener, for he will

gain in the power of accurate thought every time that he resists the

inclination to utter an unmeaning sentence.

A clear and distinct utterance is another faculty that should be

cultivated, for the effect of an otherwise interesting conversation

may be seriously impaired, and perhaps destroyed, by a slovenly or

indistinct articulation. Every word and syllable should receive its due

quantity of sound, yet without drawling or stiffness; while the voice

should be so modulated as to be heard without effort, and yet the

opposite fault of speaking too loud is avoided.

Correct pronunciation is a very desirable accomplishment, though

somewhat difficult to attain in its details, authorities are so various;

but probably the most comprehensive rule that can be observed is, as

far as possible to avoid provincialisms. A person's pronounciation can

hardly be elegant if it reveal at once of what State or city he is a

native; while freedom from local peculiarities is of itself a promise

of good pronunciation, as it shows either that the individual has taken

pains to weed out such peculiarities, or that he has been bred among

those who have done so. The pronunciation of the best scholars in every

part of our country is very similar, while the difference becomes more

and more strongly marked between the inhabitants of the various States

of the Union as we descend in the scale of education.

Finally, do not fear to be silent when you have nothing to say. Do not

talk for the mere sake of talking. To sit silently and abstractedly, as

if one were among but not of the company in which one may chance to be,

is discourteous; because it implies a fancied superiority, or an unkind

indifference. Good manners require that in company one should be alive

to what is going on, but this does not imply the necessity of always

talking. There is, almost always, in a mixed company, some Conversation

to which a third person may listen without intrusion; but if this should

not happen to be the case, it is far better to wait until something

occurs that gives one an opportunity of talking to some rational

purpose, than to insist that one's tongue shall incessantly utter

articulate sounds whether the brain give it anything to say or no. This

sort of purposeless talking exerts a positively injurious influence upon

the mind, by leading it into the too common error of mistaking sound for

sense, words for ideas.

Before quitting this important subject, there is a general view to be

taken of it in its universal bearings upon Character, which places it

among the most important branches of a wise education.

The true signification of education, according to one derivation of the

word, is the bringing or leading out of the faculties. The best educated

person is not he who has stored up in his memory the greatest number

of facts, but he whose faculties have become most strengthened and

perfected by what he has learned.

There are several studies pursued in our schools and colleges, such as

Greek, Latin, and Mathematics, rather because they are looked upon as

a kind of gymnastics, whereby the mental faculties in general are

educated, or developed and invigorated, than because they bring a

direct practical benefit to life; for of the numbers who exercise their

faculties upon them, while in the schools, not one in ten makes any

direct use of them afterwards. These studies require expensive books and

teachers, and a greater amount of time than can be given by the majority

of men and women; and moreover they cultivate the intellect without

doing anything for the heart. Without in any degree questioning or

undervaluing the great and varied benefit derived to the mind from these

studies in added accuracy, strength, and richness, there is still room

for wonder that Conversation, both as a science and an art, has no place

in our systems of education; since its practice is a daily necessity to

all, while its power, when wielded with skill, is second to none other

that is brought to bear upon the social circle.

Our young girls are nearly all of them taught music with great

expenditure of money, time, and labor; but whether we look to the

cultivation of actual talent, to the improvement of Character, or to

accomplishment as a means of making ourselves agreeable in society, how

profitably could a part of this time and labor be employed in acquiring

the power and the habit of accurate language, agreeable modulation,

distinct utterance, and courteous attention; and it can hardly be

doubted that a person who possesses the power of conversing well finds

and gives more pleasure in society than a person skilled to an equal

degree in music.

Conversation has, indeed, this advantage over all school studies; in

order to obtain its best requisites no books are needed beyond such as

are accessible to all, while its best teachers are the suggestions of

common sense, and the conscientious love of the true and the good.

Still, there are few persons whose efforts would not be crowned with a

higher success if aided by the criticism and the guidance of a competent

instructor. Those who are competent to self-instruction in this, as

in all other accomplishments, are exceptional examples, and it may be

doubted if even these might not have reached a higher excellence, aided

by the suggestions of another mind. Properly cultivated, Conversation

would have an influence in developing the whole being, of a kind and

degree that could hardly be over-estimated. In its exercise, Thought and

Affection have full play, while all the stores of Memory and the wealth

of Imagination find ample field for display.

Conversation is so comprehensive in its manifestations and necessities,

that it can reach its perfection only through the development of the

whole being, moral as well as intellectual; and it will constantly

become more finished in proportion as this development becomes more

complete. Its universality, its hourly necessity, should impress us

with its value; for the mercy of the Lord, as it gives light and air,

sunshine and shower, seedtime and harvest, in short, all the essentials

of physical development to the whole human race, so it supplies to all

the power and the essential means for disciplining and cultivating the

whole Character.