their vaunted traditions: but He always went right beyond the outward
show. The Samaritan was good and kind, though he got no credit for
piety; the Pharisee was corrupt and self-seeking, though he got no
credit for piety; the Publican was a child of God, though no one would
speak to him. Christ reversed the judgment of men on those people whom
they thought they knew so well, but did not know at all. So it shall
be at the last; we shall be judged by what we are.
IV. Character alone endures.--What a man has he leaves behind him;
what a man is he carries with him. It is related that when Alexander
the Great was dying he commanded that his hands should be left outside
his shroud, that all men might see that, though conqueror of the world
he could take nothing away with him. Before Saladin the Great uttered
his last sigh he called the herald who had carried his banner before
him in all his battles, and commanded him to fasten to the top of the
spear a shroud in which he was to be buried, and to proclaim, "This is
all that remains to Saladin the Great of all his glory." So men have
felt in all ages that death strips them, and that they take nothing
with them of what they have gained. But what we are ourselves we take
with us. All that time has made us, for good or evil, goes with us.
We can lay up treasures in ourselves that neither moth nor rust can
corrupt, and which thieves cannot steal away. "The splendid treasures
of memory, the treasures of disciplined powers, of enlarged capacities,
of a pure and loving heart, all are treasures which a man can carry in
him and with him into that other world."
We are but farmers of ourselves, yet may,
If we can stock ourselves and thrive, uplay
Much good treasure for the great rent-day.--DONNE.
"All the jewels and gold a man can collect he drops from his hand when
he dies, but every good action he has done is rooted into his soul and
can never leave him."--Buddhist saying.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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