The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-03-05
Love, n Force.
ny HENRY WARD BEECIlEH.

This is principle which Is not very
much in esteem among men and yet, now
and then we see person with sweet,
radiant face-onc of those persons with
white faces that shine, not by nature, but
by grace-ruling all the household and
all the neighborhood, and never seeming
to attempt to rule except by the pure
force of the goodness that is in him-rul-
ing Just as the summer is ruled, not by
storms but by warmth, by genial infiu-
ences. And when we see a specimen Of
that kind we say, "That is perfect, that
is beautiful, that is divine" But ex-
cept when we see it in others, how sell
dom do we feel that that is the pattern
after which our life should be fashioned !
1t is by the power of sympathy, and gen.
tleness, and humility, and self.denial and
condescenson it is by sinking yourself
and magnifying others, that you are to
exert force, and it is these things that
give you strength among your fellow
men.
60 among good men, and | see some
who teach me lesson every time l meet
them. Their patience is my master.
Their forbearance is my model. Their
sweetness is my despair. | see some
persons who | think have the mind and
will of Christ. They are full Of bencvo-
lence and goodness. Their influence up
on men is that which can only be produc-
ed by kindness. There are great many
others who are good in the main, who in
the main live right who have a very
high ideal of life, but into whom you can
hardly beat the thought that it is moi
their province to smite somewhere, OF
sometime, or somehow that kindness i:
the disposition which every man should
|, forever carry, and that it is by the con-
. tinuous force of goodness, well applied
and necessarily applied, that you are tt
make your way among men.
The beauty of it is that when it is done
, and where it is done, it is invariably con
sstent with truth-speaking. Was there
, ever anybody in this world that spoke thu
. truth more fully than mother to littl'
child? When was there ever in speak
ing the truth love more tender and NOR
gentle than mothers whose eyes arr
full Of tears when the child's are dry, il
speaking the truth to the child? Thi
| spirit OF kindness and gentleness is not in
consistent with justice, for love is tn
t highest Justice in the universe. God i
lust because he loves. A God withou
; love (if you can conceive of such God
c is God of infinite injustice. Is ther
s anything on earth more just than tina
a which we see in some men who mingl
love with their justice? ! think tha
: some of the sect Of Quakers are our mod
G els in this regard. have seen in tina
sect venerable, benefcent, large-heartc
men and women who certainly were tn
c most fearless of speech, the plainest spok
n en-, the most true of speech, and he'jus'
est in their determinations, Of any peopl
g that ever knew. When they came an
called you by name, and told you wha
G they had to say, you could not but than
3 them. There was a radiance of kindncs
= a fulness of sympathy, manifested b
f. them which you could not but admir-
g aud commend. Sometimes they had
be painfully just to you but forever the
influence on you was as sweet as incens
l. Their truth-speaking to you was hard
d bear {; and yet it was so tempered vii
t. love that it was a balm to your sou
And do you suppose that you could eve
= gather together in any neighborhood,
t. a city, twenty families who were full
p that spirit and who lived in accordanc
with it ell the time, without their attrac
?. ing observation, and exerting an inAuen
1t for good outside of themselves? Such
If community might well be called the In
,r Church.