The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-25

'NAN-N 80
his people worshipping the golden calf,
but Moses, the man of God. The same
fire and inspiration which made Moses
a leader put him. and puts every man
like him, under a temptation to jeopar-
die the success of his leadership by
self-centered haste. IF thou be the
Christ, cast Thyself down from the PIN
nacle of the temple" This was temp
tation to which Jesus was accessible, b.
cause of his consciousness Of the power
to achieve sudden and dazzling resultS;
and one which he resisted in virtue OF
that yet higher power to subordinate
his personal ability and personal glory
TO the permanent service of the world
But why must that man who sees
further than his fellow men, and is con-
scous of possessing more power, be I'M
der this injunction to exercise patienceE
Why shall he not use his insight and his
ability to gain quick results instead OF
slow ones? Why do we bid him walt
instead of entrusting his spiritual for
tunes to a hazard whose issue he be-
lieves himself able to foretell?
In the first place-to put the matter
on the lowest ground-we insist on the
virtue of patience because no living
man is likely to be wise enough or bril-
liant enough to dispense with the neces-
Sity of using it. No matter how un-
broken a chain of successes he may en-
joy, unforeseen sources of failure are
bound to arise at some time; and only
the man who has schooled himself to
keep his vision steady and his faith I'M
shaken In the midst Of such failure can
recover the lost ground. He who has
trained his nerves solely for the stimu-
LUIS Of success, has placed himself in
position where a single failure may
wreck his whole life and life work,
If ever there was a man who by men
tai endowment and fortunate circum-
stances seemed able to dispense with
the necessity of patience, it was Napol-
on Unrivalled as general in his Gay,
and perhaps in any other day, he had
faith in his star which carried him tr1-
umphantly through fifteen years OF VIC
tory. But to that faith he did not ada
patience; and three years OF defeat SUI
feed to cast to the winds all that fifteen
wears had won The individual success
| es had been many, the individual fail
uhes few; but the net result was ruin.
Contrast with his career the career OF
Frederick the Great half century ear
lier. Less eminent as a general, sur
rounded by a more formidable and per-
sistent coalition of foes, defeated almost
as often as he was victorious, he yet
! preserved his tenacity Of purpose
once, on the evening after the battle or
Kunnersdorf, his endurance was
stretched to the very limit The whole
continent was fighting against him.
| Through his own fault of judgment, he
| had lost field that was nearly won,
and lost it so completely that scarcely
three thousand men were left about his
! standard If ever a man might despair,
| Frederick might well have done so then.
His endurance which remained un-
| daunted in this adversely was quality
| which in the final result counted for
more than any military genius, however
| brilliant The lesser general succeeded
where the greater general failed, be-
cause the one had that divine patience
which the other had not. Take an in
stance yet nobler-nobler because it in
wolves the character not of one man, but
of whole people-that of Rome after
the battle of Cannae An army repre-
| senting the whole strength of the repub-
| lie had been sent into the field for what
| seemed a final struggle against Hanni-
| bal. Through the use of ignoble arts or
| the politician, the command of this
| army had been secured by man whose
| skill in military affairs was far from be-
| ing commensurate with his skill In pol
| itics. So fatally had he mismanaged
| his battle that there was left scarce
| family in Rome that was not mourning
| the loss of it's best blood The yaunger
| officers among the handful that escaped
| with their lives proposed that they
| should flee to foreign parts; but the un-
| fortunate general showed that. what
! ever might be said of his political and
| his military career, he possessed the d.
| vine spark of patience. Without ex-
| cllses for failure, he led his broken
| handful back to Rome; and the men,
| bers Of the senate, though they had
| been his opponents in politics, and
| though they had suffered losses Of
| brothers and sons through his miscon-
duct, met him with no reproach, but
| with thanks because he had not de-
SPARED Of the republic" 1t was on
| that day that Rome showed her right to
| conquer the world. Against such pa
| thence no obstacle was powerful enough
| to stand.
But the injunction to exercise spirtu-
al patience is based on other and higher
reasons than those Of worldly wisdom.
| Not only is patience surer means OF
| attaining success amid the imperfec-
| tions of human knowledge and the UNI
certainties of human fate than intellec-
| tual brilllancy ever can be, but the sue
| cesses which are won through its exer-
| else are of a higher character The
| achievement which comes through trial
| and failure is nobler in quality than that
| which seems to come Of itself With
| cut patience we may have individual
| deeds of great splendor, but they stand
as something separate from the doer.
| With patience, the deeds become SO in
wrought into the character of the man
| that his success or failure in externals
| is small thing, as compared with that
| success which he has achieved in him
| self He is a leader to be loved and
| trusted, as well as to be admired and
| followed. Back to the days of the
| much enduring divine Ulysses this
| truth has been recognized: That the
man who can endure has that element
| in his life which makes him at once a
| prince and a CODA leader of men, and
| sharer of the divine attributes. He
Sa1, 80 ;r,1I IF