The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-22

inaroshef There d nothing ieuob,e in tn.. 49,,
= a {. et y something Of selfiove in IL s'sA
cnn.s,n anls which satire and cynicisir have mis-.
Kindred love Of ar,s sney have said that love Of
self Is but selfove The istsS. a. s,, soo i n,m
tne failure 30 the initial and nr,nsi ~. ~,
thinr pssun which the personality has In every
.,eonaiify, the self, and you blot ont the sox
sne love, the alteration. You see what = astssy,'
hut, tnhng selfhood IL from sefshness: and vet
% think noble living an ift,ossibitv ina 's ~
s sIs lme special emphasis needs to be laid or,
.,ro,, IN order to make men face and take
scts. There are many who have not VET sscer-
famed whether they are themselves or sornc
tached fia naf tS WHO 40 not get themselves de-
i've shd act out of the common stock of tbourht
ana ieeiing. Whenever anyone agrees with eve
t s,Iing ! say. no matter how carelessly am
ss11lAInk' tnere 10 really but one of US When
Hamlet Hkcued the cloud to 4 camel. weasel a
Mnaie, ana polonius assented, there was but one
pel ,s. "a tne conversation. Polonius was mo-
eSuy. 20 with every man woman who simply
Goes as others do, who is the blind slave OF party
on society; what has become of that personality
tbss ss,t gour nirthrigh your power Of choice
,nat sen that could enjoy, love and adore?
another may stretch out a hand to de-
TEND me from blow; another may epdow me
va WIN wealth another may give me praise: but
Il.
give me inward truth and integrity. That SOL
emn point In human experience, the answer to
ine question, '.Shall do right?" is shrouded in
the secrecy and silence OF my selfhood
have dealt thus at length on the principle of
selinood, because common vagueness of
speech which confuses this principle with its
excess and abuse In seifshness does the i'm
mense harm OF making Christian selfsacrifice
seem beyond the reach OF humanity: command
ca indeed, but impossible of attainment. 1t has
been no part Of my plan, in discussing the prin-
IN eul
ture and the evil In every way that come from
the abuse OF 1t; that Is patent to every Observer
Is that view of selfsacrifice which looks to the
sunering, the pain, the effacement of self as the
essential thing.
We need to read our gospels far more wisely
than we have read them yet, unless we can see
that IN Christs teachings selfsacrifce Is always
temporary and provisional, merely the clearing
the way Tor the positive culture which alone is
creative OF those great results of spiritual life
which the Lord loved. There is no merit in suf-
fering and sef-sacrifee in itself, though the
common religious speech seems TO suggest that
there is 1t must not be purposeiess. must have
apositire outcome. The right hand is to be cut
Of, the right eye TO be plucked ont, If need be,
but II Is only that the man may senter into life"
The fuller life, not the partial DEATH is the
object and the sacrifice is only the appointed
means to a higher end.
,orIds II were o not for this positive outcome
all the glory which now clusters about it. I
Know tQcre are some VINO think Sacrlnce means
yielding up what is dear to US with no hope of
reward, who look upon this idea of something
gained as unworthy. But they forget that the
gain of self-sacrifee may be TO ones self or to
another, and that the giving up OF some good
thing without issue in good, either for another
or for self, is suicidal and immoral. The expert
ence OF the world has taught US that 1t is often
virtue TO sacrifice ones self for some else; that
1t Is sometimes duty TO sacrifice the present to
the future that it is often the duty of the indi-
vidual to sacrifice himself for society. Seeing
thQnghflpsgly
notion that there is some inherent virtue in self
sacrifice for its own sake. But TO sacrifice ones
self for nothing, aimlessly, is TO do not v1rtu
Gus act, but vicious one. The sacrifice OF self
should always have positive outcome.
See how this is true, how the call for renun-
citation and self-surrender always c9mes through
assertion Of the higher self. TO be true to the
law OF his higher nature man must sometimes
break the laws of his lower nature; subject him
SELF to hunger thirst, pain, death Itself, but he
has In mind the great gain rather than the loss
The engineer OF a train dashing towards
broken bridge which the headlight shows him
all too late, the patriot offering his life for his
country, the martyr in the cause OF truth-these
are self-sacrificing types. But If the sacrifice
were made for trivial cause, think you 1t would
be the same? A man risks his life in street
brawl and his action meets only with pity or
contempt. He was ready to throw away his Lie
without an adequate cause.
self-sacriice, then. as a Christian may use the
term, looks through the suffering to something
gained; ii kills selfishness, but leaves selfhood
unframed. Indeed, for its proper exercise the
u.
is needed. The giving up, the Remuneration
must be voluntary, not forced a man must make
a real sacrifice, give up something which is his
or may be his-not simply acquiesce in the III
evitable and rate as sacrifice the doing without
things he could not by any possibility have. :,
Let us take one or two illustrations from the
life around us of what mean, OF the surrender
that is real and willing Here is a man living in
one of our modern great cities where mercantile
standards are in full force, where there is the
rush and glow of successful striving after results
which may be measured by the standards that
prevail. This man might be rich; he feels the
power within him, but he deliberately gives
be scholar. II is not laziness,
for he goes to work harder than any OF them 1t
is not asceticism, for he has no foolish sweeping
abuse of wealth with which to insult bis fellow
mems intelligence. 1t is not incapaeity, for he
is as bright as the brightest 1t is simply the
power OF a higher purpose he mas quietly ana
surrendered whatever would hinder the doing IL
faithfully and well.
But brightly as isolated examples shine, CRATE
fully as we turn TO those whose sacrifice is con-
spicuous, the most essential form OF self-conse-
Grafton is more nearly universal. The land is
full of households where the father aud mother
are sacrificing many things that they might le-
ultimately take, that the rising generation may
have fuller life. There are thousands OF homes
where parents have no ripe en hht on nave
and its blessings, but out which the children
come forth furnished with all that careful cult
walton can bestow. This does moi mean mat inc
father and mother lacked capacity or love Tor
learning They appreciated il. The care be-
slowed on their children's education teaches
that they gave what was precious that their
dearer selves, their children, might enter INTO
its richness and glory. This is one OF the mira
cles OF the worldthis life that is forever losing,
merging itself in q new life
And here we see the glory ana true essence OF
Christian selfsacrifiee to be the voluntary CIV
ing up OF something not evil in ITSELF that fuller,
freer life may come. The man who enters into
that spirit no longer counts what ne roses, no
longer thinks 10 claim ali his rights; he does not
ask whether he would be happier If he kept
what he sacrificed. but gradually he lnds that
the soul OF the happiness winch nc leit pehiia
him is in him still Having lost his life, he yet
has saved it; having sacrificed self, he stands IN
truer selfhood than before.