I shall do that best, I believe, by keeping in mind the lessons which I,
in common with thousands more, have learnt from my wise and good
predecessor. I do not mean merely patience in research, and accuracy in
fact. They are required of all men: and they may be learnt from many
men. But what Sir James Stephen's life and writings should especially
teach us, is the beauty and the value of charity; of that large-hearted
humanity, which sympathizes with all noble, generous, earnest thought and
endeavour, in whatsoever shape they may have appeared; a charity which,
without weakly or lazily confounding the eternal laws of right and wrong,
can make allowances for human frailty; can separate the good from the
evil in men and in theories; can understand, and can forgive, because it
loves. Who can read Sir James Stephen's works without feeling more
kindly toward many a man, and many a form of thought, against which he
has been more or less prejudiced; without a more genial view of human
nature, a more hopeful view of human destiny, a more full belief in the
great saying, that 'Wisdom is justified of all her children'? Who, too,
can read those works without seeing how charity enlightens the intellect,
just as bigotry darkens it; how events, which to the theorist and the
pedant are merely monstrous and unmeaning, may explain themselves easily
enough to the man who will put himself in his fellow-creatures' place;
who will give them credit for being men of like passions with himself;
who will see with their eyes, feel with their hearts, and take for his
motto, 'Homo sum, nil humani a me alienum puto'?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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