Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-12-24
TRUE ARISTOCRACY.
MOBILES or EARTH ARE The CON.
eUERERs OF SELF

"Sslf-HeroisIn" IL the Title of the Finh Of
the New York Herald's Competitive
serInons-By a New Jersey Minister
Talmage ON God Among the Fishes"
BE strong and quit yourselves like men,
Il. samuel. iy.. @
Reputation Is what person seems to be;
character Is what he T.. mans real self
is within, not without; and any permanent
progress must proceed from the centre
toward the circumference oi his life. what
Is on him or around him cannot determine
his value. The aristOcracy Of character
includes the members Of the rea! nobility
Of earth. such are they who fight the
brayest battles and win the most valiant
victories.
Real glory
Springs from the silent conquest OF our
selves,
And without that the conqueror is naught
But the first slave.
My sermon is dedicated to these victors,
and my subject is their namesake, Self
Hcroism'-the herOism OF seli-exaInina-
tiOn, the heroism OF self-preparatiOn, the
hcroism of self-concentratiCn, the heroism
Of seli-perpetuation.
THE Heroism Of determination.
Nothing Is insignificant. There is a
divine meaning in the existence of every
thing. No life can infringe upon another's
right of way in living; Tor the Legitimate
property of no two lives lies along exactly
the same track. Each life is Il monopoly
in itself: for to each has been given the
sole permission to exercise certain eXclu-
sive powers. The author OF my being has
made a mistake or NV life is of tremendous
significance. lntrospection partakes of
the heroic. Ignorance Of selfknowledge
is the reef upon which many of the con-
Querors of the world have been wrecked.
They knew others but did not know them
selves. They guided others, but failed TO
guide themselves. They mastered others,
but could not master themselves. The
fields upon which they were victors lay
beyond themselves; the fields upon which
they were victims lay within themselves.
If determination were an applied science,
/ venture the opinion that some who are
now in the pulpit would be behind the
plough: some who are at the bar would be
in the blacksmith shop; some who are in
Congress would be in the cOrntield; some
who sit in faculties would lie in fossil beds,
and others would awake to their native
right and riches and put honor upon lives
divinely gifted. Whoever you are, wher.
ever YOU are, be brave enough, be honest
enough to get intimately and accurately
acquainted with yourself, and with Jean
Paul Richter be enabled to say: Il have
made Il, much out of myself as could be
made of the stuff, and no one can require
more.
1.-THE Heroism of Incorporation.
Gbbon tells us that every one has two
elucatious-one which he receives from
others and one which he gives to himself.
The popular idea of education seems to be
the art of allowing others to do as much
tor us as we haYe the capacity of receiv-
ing. He is not capable OF receiving an
education is a suggestive expression.
True cducationis self-preparatiOn. 1t must
find something within you, or it brings
nothing cut of you. 1t converts your
possibilities into practical powers. The
richer a nature the harder and slower its
! self-proparatiOn and development To-
day the noblest figure in Europe stands
erect under the SHOWS Of more than four
score winters, and because of his rigid.
/ righteous sclf-preparation through all
these years the Grand Old Man" Is the
freshest in thought and maturest In wis
/ dom OF all who meet in the councils of men.
Patton, preparation is permanent power
/ In an age that lacks compOsure men are
apt to mature too quickly and decay too
| soon. Reserve power should be greater
than spent power. BY salf-preparation de-
post each day for future drafts, and then
you are not apt to overcheck your ac-
count.
In.--The Heroism OF INSTRUMENTATION.
A life often fails to make a lasting i'm
/ preston because of its diffusion. What we
call genius is frequently only the child Of
application. TO attempt any thing and to
| accomplish nothing is a fatal folly. While
we are striving to know something about
everything we must zealously try to know
everything about something. The higher
and more unseltlsh the end toward which
we direct our lives the greater is the de-
mand for intense and Ceaseless concen-
tration of our noblest powers. Focus your
| best powers upon the details of your life
work. These may seem to be trihes; but
remember the wise words of the pains
taking artist: "Trihes make perfection,
and perfection is no trifie." Like the
tabled bird in the Oriental legend which
slept on the wing, learn to rest in your
labor, but never rest from your labor
| Contemplate! Concentrates! Consecrate!
Y.-The Heroism of Self-Perpetuation.
Great and good men are not half living
when they are alivel Their best and truest
life on earth comes after they walk no
longer on earth. In their day Moses and
Paul were not near so influential as they
are to-day. Truth, like u seed does not
/ bear its fruit in day, and the richer the
truth and more precious the seed the long
er the full fruition is delayed. Great prin-
ciples and great lives, like great bodies,
move slowly. mans self becomes part
Of the truth to which his life is welded and
as this truth passes beyond the limit of his
visible existence and takes Its endless
course through the ages the best part Of
the man is perpetuated. Each life is a
! contribution to history; but few lives have
their historians. Heroic lives are often
times written anonymously upon the tab
lets of time, and coming ages never recall
by name their greatest Denefactors. Some
men are dead while they are living; others
are living while they are dead. Think
much of your post-mortem life among men,
Maintain an uncompromising enmity to-
ward the false, an invincible friendship to-
ward the true. Cultivate practical faith
in the living God. Accept Christ as your
ideal and Redeemer This is the hidden
spring of self-heroism. 1t crowns mans
life with the truest success; and when the
veil is lifted he shall stand erect in the
light of glorified manhood
II. ALLEN TOPPER, JR., d. D..
Pastor First Baptist Church, Montclair,
NJ