The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-18

out VI tnc mateIlal gOOQ We may nave
or have not, and person may be wisely
economical on the material plane and
still waste much of his life. l NAV
surround myself with all needed tenn
poral good; may build me fine house
and have abundant resources to sustain
it; may have developed the intellect,
the taste, surrounded myself with books,
papers and works Of art, but if 1 have
no symmetry of nature, IL my spirit be
angular, so that am continually COM
ing into unpleasant contact with those
about me, or if the heart be allowed to
ferment and destroy with it's sourness
the sweetness of life; if 1 be inclined to
borrow trouble, to worry, or if am
easily irritated by small annoyances, 1
am still wasting my life.
l would not say that all unhappiness
is nothing but subtraction from life i;
that every moment of unpleasantness,
all hardship, every disagreeable task, is
80 much taken from life, without ad-
ding anything to it. Some peoples ideal
of life is life removed from all unpleas-
antness, life enveloped in luxury, life
separated from all unpleasant contact
with the world, life lifted entirely above
the plane of anxiety and irritating care.
When, however, we observe how i'm
possible 1t is to entirely separate life
from the unpleasant, to winnow out
all disagreeable experience, all an
noyance, all disappointment and sor-
row, we can scarcely resist the con-
clusion that these experiences serve
some purpose. And perhaps we may
get glimpse of this purpose by asking
what human life would be If all had
been perpetually enveloped in the
stainless and untainted atmosphere of
peace and happiness. Could the world
have had its present measure of intelli-
gence and goodness? The highest hap
piness is conditioned upon the possess
sion Of certain spiritual qualities,
among which we might name largeness
Of heart, sympathy, charity, forgive
ness, etc. Now we may deplore the
worlds sin and sorrow. But they have
been the means Of developing these
better qualities of soul. If humanity
had not been imperfect. ignorant, weak,
all those holy endeavors, sacrifices, ex-
pressed in many benefcent institutions
demanded by human weakness, the
school, the hospital, the church, would
not have been made. How much has
humanity profited through the effort
which the church has demanded of
men? 1t is sad when sorrow falls upon
a neighbor, but it enlarges and softens
our hearts. Sympathetic tears are a
baptism of the divine spirit. They
melt the crust from the soul and en-
rich the life. There is no disagreeable
task, if performed in the right spirit,
no annoyance, if it be met patiently,
no burden, if it be carried heroically,
no yoke of sorrow if the head bows
meekly beneath it, that does not add to
the value of life, because it adds to the
capacity of the soul, and the measure
of the soul is the measure of life.
1t may be said that man might have
been endowed at first with all these
necessary qualities of the best life.
Was it necessary the soul should pass
through all these varied experiences,
storm and calm, sunshine and clouds,
in order to develop its beauty and
sweetness Possibly man might have
been created with every noble quality
of soul in it's fullness. Whether those
qualities would have been as much use
to him as they are now, is very much
to be doubted. Certainly the waters
of the fountain would by no means
have been so sweet if he had never
been compelled to put the bitter cup
to his lips. Sometimes when you are
travelling, you pass regions that are
very barren. The soil is poverty
stricken. Only with the greatest diff
Guilty is vegetation made to grow. The
condition Of the people is down to the
level of the soil. In intellect and heart
they are as poverty-s stricken as the veg
citation about them. Here you see a
stretch of unseemly swamp; there,
deep and rugged ravine without utility
or beauty. And you ask why were
these regions made? They only de-
tract from the worlds beauty. They
mar the attractions of the land
scapes. But do you think we should
enjoy the beautiful regions as we do
now, If the whole world were garden?
If all the earth were robed in the most
luxuriant and fower-crowned verdure ?
If the finest plants clothed every hill
side, and the most beautiful blossoms
fringed every pathway Have you
never looked in upon some laborer's
home, neither very convenient nor lux
urious in its furnishings, barren, per-
haps, even of comforts, where, it may
be, it is sometimes an anxious question
about the necessities of life, and
thought of the almost uninterrupted
daily toll, uncheered by the hope of
anything better, and asked yourself