The Globe-republican., 1897-11-04

| TIE DOCTRINE OF LOVE-
WhaG Old Plsao Meant Whea He CansG
| Wonder . Philosophical AAsst3sa
Professor Blackis. in Young Men-l
Never whip your brain. All high
pressure is dangerous. Study to think
Is easily and q quietly as you breathe.
Never force yourself to learn what you
have no talent for. knowledge without
love will remain lifeless manufacture.
not living growth. Be content to be
ignorant of many things that you may
know one thing well, and that the thing
which God specially endowed you to
know. It requires fire to fuse the ma
terials of thinking, no less than to melt
the iron in the foundry.
But remember this, however strong
you may be physically, to strike blow,
and however sharp, Intellectually, to
recognize fact, and discern a differ
eDce, your success in the game of life
depends on the serious culture which
you give to the third formative force in
human character, your moral nature !;
and of the rightful supremacy of this
element and comprehensive expression
is found in the single word, love. On
this all prophets, poets, and philoso-
piers are agreed. st. Paul says: Love
is the fulfilling of the law" Burns
nys:
THE hearts aye, the part aye.
That marks RIGHT er wrang.'
And Goethe more largely:
The bazaar in splendid trash
Tempts the buyer to spend his cash.
He who goes learned college
Comes home crammed with empty knowledse;
But If true bliss you wish 20 brook,
Learn to live in quiet nook.
II your every vein you strain,
To NIL the mind with various lore,
lis well; but how to use your lore
The better wisdom-this to gain.
You must knock at another door,
Nor have you far to search and seek;
Let the God within you speak.
Love all things that lovely be-
And God will show His best to thee!"
How is this? For two plain reasons
First, because it is only by loving or
alphabetically laying hold of that
which is good in others that We can en-
large the narrowness and enrich the
meagreness of our individual selves;
second, because without love man is q
self-confned mortal, and cannot stand
In any cooperative relation to q social
whole composed of mutually dependent
parts. Therefore, let every man meas
ure his value as social unit, not so
much by his power for knowing as by
his capacity for loving. Love, no doubt,
in q reasonable world. must always be
accompanied with knowledge; love with
knowledge is wisdom, but it is better
for all parties in the social system to
have much love with little knowledge
than to have much knowledge with lit
tie love.
But how is love to manifest itself? In
the simplest way possibility carrying
out in practice what, as an ethical
thinker and Christian, you must be-
ieve in theory; by treating every man
as brother-as good as yourself, and
perhaps little better. Stamp out that
creatures, which leads them to overesti-
mate their own good qualities or
imaginary-and underestimate those of
their neighbor. Avoid criticism, es-
pecially that species of it which de-
lights in finding faults. Seek in all
things to enjoy what is good and let the
evil drop; and if you will Judge begin
with yourself, following Schiller's rule:
Judge yourself severely, your neigh
Dor leniently." Further, seize every OPP
portunity in performing acts of kind
ness, however small, to your fellow-be-
ings, especially to your interiors Rom,
xii. 16). Be like the sun, ever giving
and dispensing witching blossoms out of
the buds by the light and warmth of its
rays and even, as Shakespeare has it,
kissing carrion without offense.
Love in its common form exhibits |
itself in an interchange of kindred SEN
timents and kindly deeds among equals;
when directed towards interiors it is
into reverence and eliminates
in worship. There may be much anna
bility, but no true greatness of charac-
ter without reserve. As we gain q
notion of the grandeur of the physical |
world by looking from the low ground |
up to the sky-cleaving chains of the Alps
or the Andes, so our measure of moral |
greatness grows by the admiring con-
temptation of what is above us. This
is what Plato meant when he called
wonder philosophical affection.
Though any fool may cape at an air bal
loon. the man who does not cherish an
wonder for the grandeur of the
universe is like a deaf man who does
not boor tho <bup1or or a 11;p1 man