The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-11-23
SERMON.
sELF-GUARDIANSHIP.
BY REV. ]. FRANK THOMPSON.


showing unto Israel" Luke i. so.
There are two opposite types OF
mental and moral character distin-
guished by the presence in the one,
and absence in the other, of strong
ly marked individuality. The one is
like the human voice sounding by its
own volition; the other is musical
instrument, responding to the breath
of the player The former suggests
the movement of a river, impelled by
the pressure of it's own fountain; the
latter resembles the surface of lake
on which waves are created by the
violence of the wind, and which be-
comes smooth again when the storm
has passed away. To the first class
of minds belong the leaders in every
department of human thought and
action; while the last merely obey
that pressure of public opinion which
they have not helped to create.
This distinction is partly due to
different hereditary endowments;
but, in some measure at least, it also
results from the cultivation of OPP
posite mental habits; and among the
habits conducive to the development
of vigorous personality there are
none more fruitful than that OF max
ing a confidant of ones self; taking
counsel of ones own mind and heart,
as distinguished alike from his own
appetites and passions, and the
thoughts and feelings of others.
This truth is at least suggested by
the fact that so many leaders of the
worlds thought and action men
who have shaped the worlds destiny
no less by the strength of their per-
sonality than by the greatness of
their wisdom-have thus nourished
their greatness in solitude. We are
told that Moses spent forty days and
nights alone with God upon the
mountain, and that descending
thence he brought with him the
germ of that moral law which grew
into the tree trunk of Judaism and
the spreading branches of Christian
civilization. Many of the Old Tesla
ment prophets made their dwellings
in desert caves, remote from the hab-
itations of men, and appeared among
the people only to deliver some mes
sage with which they had been en-
trusted. John the Baptist dwelt in
the wilderness until the child Jesus
had grown to manhood, and then
emerged from solitude to announce
the advent of the kingdom of God.
Paul, converted to the Gospel of
Christ, by what happened as he jour
neyed to Damascus, conferred not
with flesh and blood" but dwelt
alone until the doctrines which he
was called to preach had taken dis
tinctive form in his mind. In solitary
vigils upon the mountain height
Jesus himself found the inspiration
of his ministry among the people
whose homes were in the valley.
The pages of secular history re-
cord similar illustrations. Napoleon
kept his own counsel. Grant had no
confidant. Lincoln, in the solitude
of the forest, with sturdy blows of
the axe, shaped rails by day, and at
night in the lonely cabin he shaped
his own mind and character with no
less persistence of purpose and vigor
of action.
Unknown to the world, he wrought
at the obscure task of making him
self great in the same self-reliant
spirit which afterward compelled the
confidence of the nation whose des-
tiny he guided. All these are exam
pies of men who easily governed
others because they had first obtained
complete mastery over themselves;
because through solitary and long
continued effort they had developed
a wise and vigorous personality on
which they could depend.
Some of the ancient philosophers
taught that every person had two
souls, one of which was guardian to
the other. | think that we all have
feeling which corresponds to this
doctrine of double personality. We
make distinction between the self
that knows and wills, and the self that
thinks, and feels, and desires, and
acts. We are the first, while the sec
ond is being to whom we have been
appointed guardian; whose mental
and moral welfare we have been com
missioned to defend and promote;
and for whose usefulness to society
we are responsible. We even fall in
to the habit of addressing ourselves
by our given name, or in the second
person, and saying, "You would best
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