The elements of characterWare, Mary G. (Mary Greene)
Philosophy
The elements of character
Ware, Mary G. (Mary Greene)
Character
When the true solemnity of life is comprehended, and the Character is
moulded in accordance with the ideas that in consequence possess the
soul, a growth of the whole nature is induced that prevents all the
repulsive characteristics of old age. Too often old age is utterly
disagreeable through the indulgence of ill-temper, fretfulness, and
selfish indifference to the wishes and pleasures of the young. Such
traits of Character could never possess us if the true import of
life were comprehended, and the Character formed in harmony with its
teachings. A Character that grows in grace daily must become more and
more beautiful and attractive with advancing years. Each day, as it
finds it better fitted for heaven, must find it less sullied by the
imperfections of earth.
We sometimes see persons discontented and peevish because they are
old,--because they feel that they must soon pass away from the
earth. Could this be, if they believed that life on earth was only
a preparation for an eternal life in heaven? Could they shrink with
aversion at the thought of death if they believed it to be the portal of
heaven? The follies and the vices, the weariness and the sadness, the
discontent and the moroseness of life, all spring from the want of a
just conception of its relations and its value, such as can be attained
only by calm, deliberate reflection, out of which wise opinions evolve,
and are gradually shaped into a creed such as forms the bone and muscle
of a wise and noble Character.
Evil is ever the result of the abuse of some good; for nothing was
created evil. The narrow creeds of various churches, by which men's
souls have been unworthily bound, have sprung from the falsification of
the fact that man requires faith in truth that he may be able to lead a
life of goodness. Had the makers of these creeds gone directly to
the Bible for their materials, instead of looking into their own
minds,--had they been content to accept the Ten Commandments given to
the Jewish, or the Two given to the Christian Church, much mischief
might have been avoided; but, not satisfied with the simplicity and
directness of God's word, they built up creeds from their own minds, not
as guides to a holy life, but as chains to compel the minds of other men
into harmony with their own. Just in proportion to the energy with which
they strove to impress themselves upon the people through these creeds
was their indifference to that life' of holiness which should be the end
of all creeds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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