Middletown transcript., 1886-02-12

SeIECOnceit and SelERever-
enCe.
There are degrees and diplomas
which cannot be won at the Univer-
sites. A little success in study is Of
ten hindrance to their acquisition.
1t is only in that College of Life where
the lesson-books are trouble, failure,
and disappointment, that man deep
ly and devoutly learns to think little
and truly of himself. No haste is pos
sible in this study. No tutor is of SER
vice. The heart must ponder life's
realities in Gods very presence to
master this lesson. Oxford or Cam
Fdge may help us to write M. A.
,r our names but only God himself,
i1 she College of Life, can teach us
hoE truly to write the personal pro-
nouR-" l." Even after that is learnt,
it Of aeeds few chapters Of success
to- us soon forget our attain
ich writer has said "he is
obliG 5conclude that amidst all the
cons pus inequalities of life, God
has Nd the most equal distribution
Of judi gnent and common sense. For
men are seldom satisfied either with
their property, health, position in life,
or even personal appearance; but they
are always consoling themselves with
this reAes -; Well, whatever else I
have not, am not wanting in
perhaps, is Smmon.
Thepard tis generally
e :; :; +; F.; :: g: :: :: !;
borne on the e4 |sst f051n|
and highest gracS
ceit of principle NNING'Sf
ness, and even of A :zne
very tree of life may haI0n assite.
The man who reforms abuses is often
obliged to wear an attitude of selfas-
sertion and to face a constant opposi-
ton. Unless such man is very watch
full, he may come at length to assert
himself, and forget the principle he is
contending for. He comes to love pro-
testing and fighting, rather than to
grieve over the necessity which oc-
casions it. The creed Of such man is
often held, it has been well said, less
because it is in the Bible than because
he finds it there"
Hence it is that many good and
earnest people have manner sour, un-
pleasant, and forbidding wanting in
care sweetness, and light; making
their principles to be disliked and
Stunned rather than to be admired
and initiated.
There is difference between assert
ing a principle and advertising our
selves. We never can serve God bymak-
ing our fellows miserable for our own
sakes rather than for his sake. If we
have special lessons to urge in the fields
of religion, temperance, or politics, let
us be careful how we seem to publish
our own superior excellence, with an
unloveliness and egotism- which can
only make us disagreeable and dis
liked, and bring our good cause into
contempt. This is a danger to which
earnest enthusiasts are particularly lia-
BILE. t
Meanwhile, selfreverence and self.
reliance must be wisely fostered. No
greater torture can a man endure than
to feel that he cringes and shrinks away
from life's converse and conflict. Self
reverence should be to human charac-
ter as the salt to the ocean /; or, as DR..
Holmes well says, "as the unguent of
the sea-fowls' plumage, which enables
it to shed the rain that falls on it, and
the wave into which it dips" To lose
self-reverence would be like getting
the birds feathers soaked through
then it never would fly again.-[The
Rev. R. H. Lowell, in The Culver.
Antiquity of Chinese Letters.