Year: 1861

|
adopting any one of these reforms as tht
supreme object of mans pursuit, nevel
| fails to belittle him. One of the most pita
BILE objects the world contains is a man o.
generous natural impulses grown sour, i'm
patient, bitter, abusive, uncharitable aud
ungracious, by devotion to one idea, and
the failure to impress il upon the world
with the strength by which il possesses
himself. Many Of these fondly hug the de.
lusion to themselves that they are martyrs,
when, in fact, they are only suicides. Many
Of these look forward to the day when pos.
terity will eanonize them, and lift them to
the glory Of those who were not received by
their age because they were in advance Of
their age, so they regard with contempt the
pgmy world wrap the mantles Of their NOR.


idcd pride about them, and lie down in
delusive dream Of immortality.


Whether the effect Of devotion to sin
gle idea be disastrous or otherwise to the
devotees nothing in all history is better
proved-nothing in all philosophy is more
clearly demonstrable-th the fact that it
is damage to the idea. If | wished to
disgust community with any special idea,
l would set a man talking about it aud ad.
vocating it who would talk of nothing else.
III l wished 10 ruin cause utterly, l would
submit 1t to the advocacy Of one who would
thrust it into every mans face, who would
make every other cause subordinate TO it
who would refuse to see any objections to
it, who would accuse all opponents of un
worthy motives, and who would thus ex.
hibit his absolute slavery TO it. Men have
an instinct which tells them that such peo.
pie as these are not truStworthy-t their
sentiments and opinions are as vaueleSs as
those of children. If they talk with pleas
ant spirit, we good naturedy tolerate them;
if they rant and scold and dcnounce, W e
hiss them if we think it worth while, or we
applaud them as we would the fcats of
dancing bear II they say devilish things
in heavenly sort of a way, and cothe
their black malgnities in silken phrases,
we hear them with certain kind Of pleas.
ure, and take our revenge in despising them
and feeling malicious toward the cause they
advocate. 1t would kill US to drink Co
Iogne water, but the perfume titlates the
the sense, and so we sprinkle it upon our
| hankerchiefs.


No great cause can be forwarded by the
advocacy Of men who have no character,
and no man can devote himself to an idea
without the loss Of character. When o
man comes forward to promulgate AL idea
we inquire into his credentials How large
man is this How broad are his sympa
thies How wide is his knowledge what
relation docs he bear to the great world Of
ideas among which this is only one, and
very likely comparatively unimportant
one ? Is he so weak as to be possessed by
this idea, or does he possess it, and enter
tain a rational comprehension ofits relations
to men and the community know that
multitudes of good men have been SO dis.
gusted with the one-sided, partzan charac-
ter of the advocates Of special ideas and
special reforms that they would have no as
sociation with them. We have only to


learn that man can see nothing but bis
pet idea, and is really in its possession, to
lose all confidence in his judgment When
in court Of justice q man testifeS upon o
point that touches his personal interests or
feelings or relations, we say that his testi.
mony is not valuable-not reliable. 1t de.
cides nothing with US. We say that the
evidences does not come from the proper
source. We do not expect caudor from
bin, for we perceive that his interests are
to deeply involved to allow sound judg.
ment and utterly truthful expression. 1t is
precisely thus with all professional ugitutors
and reformers-all devotees of single ideas.
They are personally so intimately connect
ed with their idea-havc been SO enslaVed
by their idea-are so interested in its pros
perity-that they are not compete Mt to tes-
tify with relation to it.