The Investment of Influence: A Study of Social Sympathy and ServiceHillis, Newell Dwight
Philosophy
The Investment of Influence: A Study of Social Sympathy and Service
Hillis, Newell Dwight
Conduct of life
sharpened against ourselves." The note of conviction is in the voice
of this statesman, but what saith be save this: "What a man soweth,
that also shall he reap!"
All young hearts may well remember that it is safe to do right, but
dangerous to sow wrong! No matter how smooth, how soft and sweet, seem
the paths of sin, know that beneath every flower there lurks a spider,
beneath every silken couch of indulgence there broods a nest of
serpents, and the scene that begins with flowers shall end midst thorns
and thickets. For the moment, indeed, the judge may seem unobservant
and the watchman may seem asleep; but he who yields to any deflection
from honor shall find at last that God never slumbers, that his laws
never sleep. Go east or go west. Nature is upon the track of the
wrong-doer. Could the sage of old sit down to converse with each youth
who to-day walks on the street, perchance he would find many who,
through excess, are draining away the rich forces of nerve and brain
and blood.
Daily they deny reason its book, taste its music, love its noble
companionship. At last, when the harp of the physical senses begins to
give way, and they fall back upon the mental faculties for pleasure,
then these faculties that have been starved shall, in turn, make men
suffer. In that hour reason or memory shall say: "Because I called and
ye refused; because I stretched out my hand and no man regarded,
therefore I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock at your
desolation when your fear cometh as destruction and your desolation as
whirlwind." In Daniel Webster's words of disappointed ambition, "I
still live," we see that a statesman sows what he reaps. In Goethe's
fearful cry for "more light" we see that the poet who sows darkness
shall reap darkness. In Lord Byron's piteous "I must sleep now" we see
that he who sows morbidness and passion reaps feverishness and shame.
The law is inexorable. He who sows foul thoughts shall reap the foul
countenance of a fiend. He who sows pure thoughts shall reap the
sweetness and nobility of the face of Fra Angelico. He who sows
reflection shall reap wisdom. He who sows sympathy shall reap love.
The good Samaritan who sows tenderness to the man wounded by the
wayside shall reap tenderness when angels stoop to bind up his broken
heart.
THE LOVE THAT PERFECTS LIFE.
"Love is the fulfilling of the law."--_Romans, xiii, 10_.
"Men may die without any opinions, and yet be carried into Abraham's
bosom, but if we be without love, what will knowledge avail? I will
not quarrel with you about opinions. Only see that your heart be right
with God. I am sick of opinions. Give me good and substantial
religion, a humble, gentle love of God and man."--_John Wesley_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account