The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-11-02
Blessings Of
Imperfection
BY HENRY F. COPE

ISAl--" AK ~ 3lOpO."
SPA.
To every man life is either an IN
Fiction or an inspiration. 1t all de-
ponds on how you take it, as a dose
or as a spur. 1t is easy to become so
conscious of calamities possible.
troubles impending, and difficulties
present as to be oppressed with a
sense Of the universe as warning
against you, or you can see it all as a
glorious struggle in which it is a JOY
to have a part.
Life is not all a joyous way Of
pleasure. No person of .sensibilities
can ignore altogether its pain and
need, or ever be free from the sense
of personal incompleteness, and Of un-
realized adjustment to the universe.
But this incompleteness, restlessness,
and dissatisfaction, may be the cause
of u profoundest JOY and largest
hopes.
A man is greater than an angel,
though he may not be better, and may
be worse. In an important i'm
perfection is better and greater than
perfection. That which is perfect has
found its limits, has reached its full.
ness. Man sees no limit about him
and goes on forever without the n
of completeness. That is the mark
of living, that the more you live the
larger life stretches before you.
But for our imperfections there
would be no growth; the future would
lie like a blank without the hope of
larger things. This it is that makes
the new days welcome, NJ matter
what freight of woe they may bring
to us-that they stretch before, they
promise onward steps, new vistas, the
chance to be more, feel more, know
more. Perfection might mean peace,
but it would be the peace of death.
If ever we are inclined to complain
Of the shocks Of fortune, the buffets
and smarts of living, we ought to turn
and look on them all with gratitude.
They shake US out Of dull content;
they testify to our incompleteness and
call on US to learn LIES lessons, to
gain new strength to withstand their
oncoming attacks. The fact that we
are vulnerable makes US ultimately
victorious.
Now, it matters not how religious a
man may profess to be, how freely
he may, handle pious phraseology, If
he spends his breath in complaining
about the sorrows of this existence
and in signing about another world
where he will be free from the pres
ent penalties and pains and will enter
into the lite of perfection, the life
that has attained and knows nc fur
Their desire, his religion is a menace
to this world and to him as a dweller
here.
Our present business is with the
life that is fun of prophecy of larger
being, that reminds US by our present
failures and friction of the greatness
of our shortcomings; u business is
to take this life of pain and need and
use all its pTovocations, its troubles,
difficulties, problems as the curricu-
lum of larger life. We ought to be
grateful, as they who take life wise
ly certainly will be-, for all that moves
US on though It may seem to lay US
low at the time of the blow.
True religion is that which places
the light of aspiration before a mans
eyes and sets in his heart the vision
of a life which knows no limit. Reli-
gion interprets the universe in terms
Of a reasonable plan of life, with a
hope in life which does not mock us.
Religion is the spirit that enables one
to trust the ultimate wisdom of the
plan of our present imperfection.
The present struggle is the finest
thing that We have. Not that we need
to add to it's intensity o. increase its
complications. But we ought lot to
try to dodge its demands nor ought We
to be blind to its splendid promise. For
imperfection is ever the prophecy Of
development, and he who bravely,
hopefully struggles on, bears, endures,
aspires, not only finds the way through
the clouds to the stars, but in the
struggle finds the high and divine in
himself.
Here faith plays her part, aiding US
to cling to our visions of the larger
life and greater universe, giving us
confidence even in darkest nights that
we do not walk in a maze, to come out
where we went in, hearing the mock.
ing laughter of idiot gods. We believe
better things of our world, and that
means taking our world in a nobler
way and trusting that love rules
through it all. That mean finding
our way out through imperfections and
needs to a Wilderness and perfection
which We call God, the desire of every
soul