The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-04-20
ROUNDNESS OF CHARACTER.
No Man Can Attain This who Looks Only
to His Own Success.

No Man Can Attain This Who Looks only
to His Own Success.
In deeply suggestive discourse by
Bishop Phillips Brooks to young men
recently published by L. P. Dutton, he
urges them to pursue with singleness
OF purpose and absolute devotion some
noble object which shall thus afford
the measure of the length of life, not
in years but in development. If a
youth discover in himself an aptitude
for the law, then let him adjust his
friendships, his reading, his recrea-
tions, his culture, his struggles to the
attainment of a mastery of legal power.
But life has breadth as well as
length. The young man ought, there
fore, to remember that he sustains re-
lations to others. Whilst seeking to
do the best he can for himself
in the Inns of growth, self
development and ability to use
his faculties with ample sue
cess, yet he is never to forget the
ties of privilege and responsibility that
bind him to his fellowmen. TO be a
member of society, to sympathize with
neighbor or friend-nay, with those
not neigqbors or friends-is to redeem
life from narrowness and selfishness.
The rich is to take the hand of the
poor in human fellowship, the believer
is to help the doubter, the hopeful to
cheer the despondent, the liberal is to
exercise charity toward the bigoted, the
saint is to lift up and bless the sinner.
''Ihe hottest soul, plying the brother
soul which has fallen into vilest wee,
gains, while it keeps it's own purity I'M
soilct; something of the sight of that
other side of God, the side where jus.
tice and forgiveness blend in the opal
mystery of grace, which it would seem
as if only the soul that looked up out
of the depths of guilt could see"
This is true and well said. No man
can be complete, all-rounded charac.
ter who simply thinks and acts in the
direction of his own individual success
mo matter what the nature of the sue.
cess be. wholesome altruism is to be
set against his egotism. His human
brother is to summon him beyond sell
and its narrow sphere out into the
realm of cosmopolitan views, feelings
and ends. Guizot says that it is the
mark OF a noble mind to desire to share
in the duties and burdens of society
And Jesus says that the disciple is tc
love his brother and his neighbor a.
himself.
Nor are length and breadth of life ali
1t should also have height. Self-devel
oping egoism and catholic-minded al
truism Though the bishop does not use
these terms) must be crowned with up
ward yearnings after God and Heaven
ly truth. The height of life reaches
upward toward something distinctly
greater than humanity. A soul with
out thoughts of God would be world
without sky! Nor must this activity
in regard to God be an exceptional and
solitary part of life. 1t must rather
pervade like an atmosphere everything
each one of us does, says. thinks The
great drawback and hindrance has
been that religion has been treated as
if it were special and exceptional ex.
exercise, and not as if it were the posi-
bic loftiness of everything that man
could think or do. We should realize
that our very ambition is not the ar.
bitrary chain of our own will, but a
wise assignment of Gods love, that our
relations to our brethren are not the
result alone of our own impulsive af.
fcctions, but the seeking of our soul
for these souls, because they belong to
the great Father-soul. But here is a
passage in his own words:
Think for moment of the life of the great
the manly, the many sided Paul. II press to-
ward the mark of the prize of my high calling
he writes to the Philippians. That is the length
of life for him. II will gladly spend and be
spent for you" he writes to the Corinthians
There is the breadth Of life for him. God hath
raised us up and made us sit together in heaven
v places in Christ Jesus" he writes to the
Ephesiaus. There Is the height Of life for him
You can add nothing to these three dimensions
when you try TO account TO yourself for the i'm
preston Of completeness which comes TO you
out of this simple. lofty story.
Here undoubtedly is the solution OF
the problem of duty and the revelation
of the secret of happiness To make
life symmetrical by rightly adjusting
Ill our relations TO self. to others, anc
God, is the sum of noble living. Chris
tian at Work.