Moreover, a moral compensation reacheth to the secrecy of thought; For if thou wilt think evil of thy neighbour, soon shalt thou have him for thy foe: And yet he may know nothing of the cause that maketh thee distasteful to his soul,-- The cause of unkind suspicion, for which thou hast thy punishment: And if thou think of him in charity, wishing or praying for his weal, He shall not guess the secret charm that lureth his soul to love thee. For just is retributive ubiquity: Samson did sin with Dalilah, And his eyes and captive strength were forfeit to the Philistine: Jacob robbed his brother, and sorrow was his portion to the grave: David must fly before his foes, yea, though his guilt is covered: And He who, seeming old in youth, was marred for others' sin, For every special crime must bear its special penalty: By luxury, or rashness, or vice, the member that hath erred suffereth,-- And therefore the Sacrifice for all was pained at every pore. Alike to the slave and his oppressor cometh night with sweet refreshment, And half of the life of the most wretched is gladdened by the soothings of sleep. Pain addeth zest unto pleasure, and teacheth the luxury of health; There is a joy in sorrow, which none but a mourner can know: Madness hath imaginary bliss, and most men have no more; Age hath its quiet calm, and youth enjoyeth not for haste: Daily, in the midst of its beatitude, the righteous soul is vexed; And even the misery of guilt doth attain to the bliss of pardon. Who, in the face of the born-blind, ever looked on other than content? And the deaf ear listeneth within to the silent music of the heart. There is evil poured upon the earth from the overflowings of corruption,-- Sickness, and poverty, and pain, and guilt, and madness, and sorrow; But, as the water from a fountain riseth and sinketh to its level, Ceaselessly toileth justice to equalize the lots of men: For, habit and hope and ignorance, and the being but one of a multitude, And strength of reason in the sage, and dulness of feeling in the fool, And the light elasticity of courage, and the calm resignation of meekness, And the stout endurance of decision, and the weak carelessness of apathy, And helps invisible but real, and ministerings not unfelt, Angelic aid with worldly discomfiture, bodily loss with the soul's gain, Secret griefs, and silent joys, thorns in the flesh, and cordials for the spirit, (--Short of the insuperable barrier dividing innocence from guilt,--) Go far to level all things, by the gracious rule of Compensation. [Illustration] [Illustration: Of Indirect Influences] OF INDIRECT INFLUENCES. [Illustration: "F"]