The Servile and the Chivalrous

THE SERVILE AND THE CHIVALROUS. BY ALBERT R. LYMAN.

A minute of sympathy for truth is worth hours of rebellion against it. Better one moment of vigorous purpose than a whole vascillating day. "He most lives who thinks most, feels the

noblest, acts the best." That life may not be lived in vain, providence hath salted it to a richness with adversity; but behold the instinct of mortals is to refuse and evade this salt, to pluck it out and cast it far from them. They cringe and shrink from the soul-making vicis- situdes by which their lives are made worth while. There is "a plague of sighing and grief;" and people are "troubled about many things." The joys of life are cankered by dread and complaining. They contradict their efforts for happi- ness by cherishing tokens of sorrow; they "sigh and look and sigh again," till they are wedded to all their afflictions. Who has not seen the distorted faces where hard lines tell

the story of unbelief and rebellion? the self-afflicted, whose bur- dens of concern and anxiety have made their lives a curse to them from day to day? Their days are bitter because they think bitterly and take a pessimistic view of their reverses. All this is contrary to truth as attested by every sound of

wood and field. ''Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher;" her's is not a story of sorrow, she has 'a voice '

of gladness and a smile," she has "a mild and healing sympathy that steals away the sharpness" of human woe. The happy forms of plant and animal life are 'sustained ' and soothed by an unfalter-

ing trust," in the great Providence that has preserved the har-

mony of all things during the ages past.

798 . IMPR0VEMEN7 ERA.

If we "consider the lilies of the field how they grow;" how without toil or effort their lives are full of joy and sweetness, — what shall we of such lofty endowments say we who are so con- cerned and afflicted? The very birds of the field would languish and die in the atmosphere of our misgivings. The bitterness of our tears would cause the flowers to wilt, and all nature would be palsied by the weight of our apprehension. — Let us choose life and not death light and not darkness. Let our path be among the scented flowers where our souls may breathe the confidence and repose of blissful,trusting nature, where the melody of bird and brook proclaim the existence of all-seeing God. We are assured that the fulness of the earth was made for us, that "the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, the herb and the good things of earth are for food, for raiment, for taste, for smell, to strengthen the body and enliven the soul," and is it

thinkable that the love of God has left us less able to answer the measure of our creation, than these thirgs that were made ex- pressly for us? If man were made for no more lofty and eternal purpose than "the grass which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven," then might his burden be very easily borne. Yet high as he is above the lower creatures, it does not follow that he is less able to do his part. These greater endowments call for greater strides toward the eternal goal. But man is a great sluggard. He loves ease and rest, and must be goaded on and on to perform those gigantic labors for which he is prepared; and this goad, if it be taken for what it is, is not bitter, but sweet, yea, "sweet are the uses of adversity." "An intense hour is worth more than dreamy years." The indispensable "opposition in all things," throws a flood of evil around a soul, and under the stress and necessity of being free, that soul makes the necessary exertion and secures the op- posite element where, without the divine intervention, it would have gone on in contented mediocrity. "Where fortune means to men most good, she looks upon them with a threatening eye." It is from the school of adversity that the good and the wise of all ages have come. Even Jesus "learned by the things he suffered," and was thus made perfect. This process is so old

'

THE SERVILE AND THE CHIVALROUS. 799

and so unfailing in its operations, that to oppose it seems stupid indeed. Man is on earth to purchase the wisdom of godliness. He is supplied with the purchasing medium and must not hoard it; it is valuable only as it is exchanged for the goods. "No gains with- out pains," nature has prized everything. Was true manhood ever had for naught? "A man can have nothing except it be given him of God," but "verily he must pay the utmost farthing," else were there no due rewards of our deeds. Gifts come not promiscuously, they "are revealed from faith to faith." "But where shall wisdom be found? Man knoweth not the price there- of," yet there is a stipulated value to every good thing, and "earth gets its price for all earth gives us." "Whosoever loveth his life" that he maketh no purchase therewith, "shall lose it; but he who giveth his life," in consideration of the great prize, "shall find it." "Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest live well; how long or short permit to heaven." "That life is long which answers life's great end." The most excellent men and women of our acquaintance have been trained by hard knocks to do the things that distinguish them for virtue; yet in the moments of their stern discipline,

they fain would have run away. They endured only because they were held to the task. In many cases their virtue has come from what they as rebellious children were compelled to take. They avoided a great part of it.

Can a student derive full benefit from his schooling while he

is unreconciled to the rigor of its curriculum? Did these good men and women reap as great a benefit from their trials as they could have done by "counting them all joy," and embracing them with avidity? If, in the day of their soul-stirring experiences, they had "rejoiced and been exceeding glad," the cringing servil- ity-of the ordeal would have been softened for the time, and the worth of its blessing would have been enhanced for eternity. We chafed under the strain of our bitter moments, we looked narrowly upon their prime factors, —but behold they are among the ;orner stones of our wisdom. They are the times when we did business, the important business for which we came to earth. Why could we not have had foresight to "glory in tribulation?" to

—

see that it was but a joyful matter of fact incident to our under- taking? formed an indispensable part of a program whose re- It

sults are good so far as the program is carried out; but we cut it short with all our might in the day thereof, and yielded to it with many ungraceful complaints. We were dragged in a servile man- ner to better things, just as a refractory sheep is dragged through the gate to its new pasture. A certain amount was ex- torted from us, we were liberally rewarded therefor and do re- joice for the whole affair; — now why not have cheerfully complied with those just demands in the beginning, and avoided all the un- necessary trouble and humiliation? It is often said, "We are each one tried to the very limit of our capacity," but how can this be known? "We cannot answer for our courage when we have never been in danger;" — "courage mounteth with occasion." Often a great burden is placed upon the soul who felt sure he could bear no more, yet he goes onward as before. He had not sounded his capacity. The heavy laden sometimes say, — have just I all I can pos- sibly endure. This is a weak position to take. It assumes that there is no reserve force to press into service, and it discourages those already under the strain. It is suggestive of failure, the mind and the nervous system hear the suggestion. ''As a man th'nketh so is he," — men have actually died because they believed the lips that said they were dying, when in fact they were not dying at all till their mental attitude killed them. A man says "I cannot bear it! I cannot bear it!" and the contagion of weak- ness spreads to the tissues under strain —they become inoculated with it and collapse. With the opposite kind of a story they would have stood for time indefinite. Since man's salvation is the prime purpose of heaven, is it

possible that the success of that purpose is assured only by a hair's breadth? that men are continually tried to the mean limit of their powers without any reserve force upon which to breathe with ease? For surely no machine or organism can be safely run to the utmost limit of its capacity. Is it not more probable, that in their reluc-

tance to bear any heavy load, men have mustered into use barely enough strength to suffice in a spiritless way, and then made the

THE SERVILE AND THE CHIVALROUS. 801

mistake of supposing they have fathomed their depths, and cone in their entirety to meet the crisis?

He who "saw the end from the beginning," "knew that we had need of all these things, " — he supplied strength for every try- ing moment, and in his loving kindness endowed us with the price of all we came forth to buy. It is now up to us to go cheerfully "down into our jeans'' and make the purchase. We may not agree that "whatever comes, is best," but it is certain that if we make good, it will be with that tha comes our r

way, not the treasure we reached after and lost. If we ever enter- tain a glad thought, it must be for what we have,however little. It must also be in spite of those coveted prizes which slipped mock- ingly away from our earnest efforts; they are "beyond remedy, and should be beyond regard." The poorest philosophy that can pass muster, will have to tolerate and utilize that which is, till it can be twisted into that which is desired. The process may be slow, nature may demand a long period of effort, but there is no other way. No man is greater than nature; whosoever resists her decision is but kicking against the pricks. Neither is she induced to relent and bestow the prize, when the strength for which only she offered it is poured out in foolish tears. However, she is

moved by a laugh, the brave, hearty, gallant laugh to which the very earth responds. "All that is worth doing is worth doing well." Life is worth all the vigor and hope and good will ever given to any task. Liv-

ing on earth is as important a business as we have ever under- taken; it is good business; it is profitable. Not a sorrowful affair, but a thing of joy continually. Every moment and hour of life is worth the most patient attention. The path of despair is ever a path of failure; it is mean and servile; it is sure death; it is slow suicide. There' is poison in the blood of the disconsolate, the lingering poison of

dead faith, the disease of unwillingness to go through the mill ^f refining. How little they live whose principal business is to repine in stupid thanklessness. These having eyes see not; and hearts rejoice not. They have been led to the water, but they are not compelled to drink. The Lord loveth a cheerful liver, (if such paraphrasing is par-

donable) one who drinks from the cup of adversity all the •. isdom- giving dregs; whose ambition is to secure the great per 1 of life;

to cheerfully give life itself for the field in w hich that pearl is

hidden. He lives really who believes in life, who sympathizes with her established usages, who in his heart consents to her process of soul- enlargement. The larger life rides gamely over all tribula- tion, unhesitatingly approving the measures adopted by Provi- dence, believing in the triumph of right. There are lives that are tame and smooth and vacant: there are souls made rich by the refining fire of intensity. They are indeed poor whose slow ooze of existence turns no important mill; but great are they whose turbulent career bears on its heaving bosom a huge drift of good causes toward completion. There are chronic grumblers who, consenting perforce to the stone upon which they are polished, are yet relentless kickers and snarlers. They are not believers in the polishing process; they are like the little boy who prefers to be neither washed nor combed. Their ambition is to defeat the purpose of their creation; they are opposing the only stream that may carry them forward; they are in discord with all things; they ferret out and cherish all the hell within reach. "Man is that he might have joy." His grief is so manifestly to this end, that he is told to rejoice and be exceeding glad when tribulation comes upon him. The times of tribulation are the important, fruitful times; it is then that the graces of soul are purchased. And here we come to another phase of the question— it is the agency of man, — was he coerced, or did he agree to the things that seem to come whether or no upon him? Surely the free agency of intelligence is an eternal principle. We cannot think that God has ever coerced us. The great desire of reason is to progress, and in our primeval existence we beheld and gladly em- braced the only plan of progression — mortal life. With our clear understanding of that time, we surrendered to and accepted the soul-stirring situations through which we now seem to be driven. This is but a stage of progression in our lofty purpose. We are here on business, and business is not to cringe and whine; it is