God has crammed both thy palms with living seed;
Let not a miser’s clutch keep both hands tight,
But scatter on the desert’s barren need,
That fragrant blossoms may reward God’s sight.
God has dipt deep thy cup into his spring,
Which drippeth over, it is so well filled;
Lend it to some parched life, and let it bring
Laughter and song to voices drought has stilled.
God gave to thee His only well-loved Christ,
Whose steps have smoothed the road that leads thee home;
Tell those whose road is rough, whose way is missed,
That He has called all weary men to come.
So shall thy giving set for thee God’s smile,
And thine own soul drink deep draughts of His love;
Earth’s shadows shall grow bright as heaven, the while
A web of glory round thy life is wove.
--_The British Congregationalist._
(2733)
* * * * *
Dignity sometimes goes down before a solemn responsibility. Susannah
Wesley started some prayer-meetings in her house. When her husband, the
rector, heard of it, it seemed to him to infringe on the dignity of the
Anglican order and he wrote to her in disapproval of the meetings. Her
reply is quoted in part by Rev. W. H. Fitchett:
If you do, after all, think fit to dissolve this assembly, do
not tell me that you desire me to do this; for that will not
satisfy my conscience. But send me your positive command, in
such full and express terms as may absolve me from guilt and
punishment for neglecting this opportunity for doing good when
you and I shall appear before the great and awful tribunal of
our Lord Jesus Christ.
That terrible sentence was too much for the little rector,
and the meetings were continued until he returned from
London.--“Wesley and His Century.”
(2734)
* * * * *
Men are often exalted in their best moral attitudes by being entrusted
with great responsibilities. Thus Lamar Fontaine writes:
I received from Major Livingston Mimms, the chief quartermaster
of the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and also
of Johnston’s army, a _carte blanche_ on the Confederate
treasurer, in these words:
“The Confederate States treasurer will honor any draft presented
to him signed by Lamar Fontaine.”
As I realized the immensity of the trust that this paper
conveyed to me, and imposed upon my integrity, I trembled and
could hardly sit on my steed, but there arose in my heart
a something, a feeling beyond my powers to describe. I was
transported to a higher, better plane than I had ever before
trod, and a determination that all the gold of earth could not
have purchased.--“My Life and My Lectures.”
(2735)
* * * * *
We may often accomplish more by putting responsibility on others rather
than exercising it ourselves:
Daniel O’Connell had to defend a prisoner for a capital crime,
and the defense was said by the attorney to be hopeless.
Sergeant Lefroy happened to be acting for the judge, who
had been suddenly indisposed, and being then young and his
character known to O’Connell, the latter purposely put several
inadmissible questions to the witness, which, of course,
were objected to by the opposite counsel. The sergeant at
last rather peremptorily stopt further questions of the same
kind. O’Connell then, with great warmth, said, “As you refuse
me permission to defend my client, I leave his fate in your
hands--his blood be on your head if he be condemned.” He left
the court at once with majestic stride, in a huff, and paced
up and down outside the court for half an hour. At the end of
that time his attorney rushed out of court, exclaiming, “He’s
acquitted! he’s acquitted!” This stratagem was successful, and
O’Connell with complacency told his friends that he had intended
to throw the responsibility of the conviction on the judge.
(Text.)--CROAKE JAMES, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”
(2736)
* * * * *
One of the particulars in which we are drawn away from our
traditions is in respect to the make-up and government of
society, and it is in that respect we should retrace our steps
and preserve our traditions; because we are suffering ourselves
to drift away from the old standards, and we say, with a shrug
of the shoulders, that we are not responsible for it; that we
have not changed the age, tho the age has changed us. We feel
very much as the Scotchman did who entered the fish-market. His
dog, being inquisitive, investigated a basket of lobsters, and
while he was nosing about incautiously one of the lobsters got
hold of his tail, whereupon he went down the street with the
lobster as a pendant. Says the man, “Whustle to your dog, mon.”
“Nay, nay, mon,” quoth the Scotchman, “you whustle for your
lobster.”--WOODROW WILSON.
(2737)
See DESIRES, INORDINATE.