Knowledge and Action.--It is a common fault of our humanity, when not
sunk too low in the scale of intellect, to seek knowledge rather than
attempt any laborious application of it. We love to add to our stock of
ideas, facts, or even notions of things, provided moderate pains will
suffice; but to put our knowledge in practice is too often esteemed
servile, or eschewed as mere drudgery. Useful activities flatter pride,
and gratify the imagination, too little. But of what avail, ordinarily,
is the possession of truth, unless as light to direct us in the ways of
beneficent labor, for ourselves and for our fellow men? There are,
indeed, objects of knowledge which elevate the soul in the mere act of
contemplation; but, in most cases, if what we learn is brought into no
definite relation to the practice of life, the acquisition is barren,
and the labor of making it apparently a loss of time and strength.
This is no censure upon the course of learning as a process of mental
discipline; for this in itself is one of the most productive forms of
human activity.