Character and Conduct Part 21

_Kindness_--'And is kind.'

_Generosity_--'Love envieth not.'

_Humility_--'Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.'

_Courtesy_--'Doth not behave itself unseemly.'

_Unselfishness_--'Seeketh not her own.'

_Good Temper_--'Is not easily provoked.'

_Guilelessness_--'Thinketh no evil.'

_Sincerity_--'Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.'

Patience; kindness; generosity; humility; courtesy; unselfishness; good temper; guilelessness; sincerity--these make up the supreme gift, the stature of the perfect man. You will observe that all are in relation to men, in relation to life, in relation to the known to-day and the near to-morrow, and not to the unknown eternity. We hear much of love to G.o.d; Christ spoke much of love to man. We make a great deal of peace with heaven; Christ made much of peace on earth. Religion is not a strange or added thing, but the inspiration of the secular life, the breathing of an eternal spirit through this temporal world. The supreme thing, in short, is not a thing at all, but the giving of a further finish to the mult.i.tudinous words and acts which make up the sum of every common day."

_The Greatest Thing in the World_, HENRY DRUMMOND.

"My Duty to my Neighbour"

MAY 11

"There is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make their neighbours good. One person I have to make good: myself. But my duty to my neighbour is much more nearly expressed by saying that I have to make him happy--if I may."

_Across the Plains_, R. L. STEVENSON.

"Of all the weapons we wield against wrong, there is none more effective than pure and burning joy."

_The Gospel of Joy_, STOPFORD BROOKE.

"There is no beautifier of complexion, or form, or behaviour, like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us."

EMERSON.

Duty of giving Happiness

MAY 12

"It is astonis.h.i.+ng how large a part of Christ's precepts is devoted solely to the inculcation of happiness. How much of His life, too, was spent simply in making people happy! There was no word more often on His lips than 'blessed,' and it is recognised by Him as a distinct end in life, _the_ end for this life, to secure the happiness of others. This simple grace, too, needs little equipment. Christ had little. One need scarcely even be happy one's self. Holiness, of course, is a greater word, but we cannot produce that in others. That is reserved for G.o.d Himself, but what is put in our power is happiness, and for that each man is his brother's keeper. Now society is an arrangement for producing and sustaining human happiness, and temper is an agent for thwarting and destroying it. Look at the parable of the Prodigal Son for a moment, and see how the elder brother's wretched pettiness, explosion of temper, churlishness, spoiled the happiness of a whole circle. First, it certainly spoiled his own. How ashamed of himself he must have been when the fit was over, one can well guess. Yet these things are never so quickly over as they seem. Self-disgust and humiliation may come at once, but a good deal else within has to wait till the spirit is tuned again. For instance, prayer must wait. A man cannot pray till the sourness is out of his soul. He must first forgive his brother who trespa.s.sed against him before he can go to G.o.d to have his own trespa.s.ses forgiven."

_The Ideal Life_, HENRY DRUMMOND.

Duty of giving Happiness

MAY 13

"The function of culture is not merely to train the powers of enjoyment, but first and supremely for helpful service."

Bishop POTTER.

"It was often in George Eliot's mind and on her lips that the only worthy end of all learning, of all science, of all life, in fact, is that human beings should love one another better. Culture merely for culture's sake can never be anything but a sapless root, capable of producing at best a shrivelled branch.... She was cheered by the hope and by the belief in gradual improvement of the ma.s.s; for in her view each individual must find the better part of happiness in helping another. She often thought it wisest not to raise too ambitious an ideal, especially in young people, but to impress on ordinary natures the immense possibilities of making a small circle brighter and better.

Few are born to do the great work of the world, but all are born to this. And to the natures capable of the larger effort the field of usefulness will constantly widen."

_The Life of George Eliot_, J. W. CROSS.

"Blessed are the Happiness Makers"

MAY 14

"Have you ever noticed how much of Christ's life was spent in doing kind things--in _merely_ doing kind things? Run over it with that in view, and you will find that He spent a great proportion of His time simply in making people happy, in doing good turns to people."

_The Greatest Thing in the World_, HENRY DRUMMOND.

"Take life all through, its adversity as well as its prosperity, its sickness as well as its health, its loss of its rights as well as its enjoyment of them, and we shall find that no natural sweetness of temper, much less any acquired philosophical equanimity, is equal to the support of a uniform habit of kindness. Nevertheless, with the help of grace, the habit of saying kind words is very quickly formed, and when once formed it is not speedily lost. Sharpness, bitterness, sarcasm, acute observation, divination of motives--all these things disappear when a man is earnestly conforming himself to the image of Christ Jesus.

The very attempt to be like our dearest Lord is already a wellspring of sweetness within us, flowing with an easy grace over all who come within our reach."

F. W. FABER.

"Blessed are the Happiness Makers. Blessed are they who know how to s.h.i.+ne on one's gloom with their cheer."

HENRY WARD BEECHER.

Character--The Right Atmosphere

MAY 15

"Character cannot be formed without action. Through it strength comes.

But every action must have its reaction upon the nature of the one who puts it forth. If it does not, it fails of that which is its highest result; for the finest expression of a man's nature is not to be found in action, but in that very intangible thing which we call his atmosphere. There are a great many people who are alert, energetic, and decisive, but who give forth very little of this rare effluence--this quality which seems to issue out of the very recesses of one's nature.

It is, however, through this quality that the most constant influence is exercised; that influence which is not only put forth most steadily, but which penetrates and affects others in the most searching way. The air we breathe has much to do with health; in a relaxing atmosphere it is difficult to work; in an atmosphere of vitality it is easy to work. We never meet some people without going away from them with our ideals a little blurred, or our faith in them a little disturbed. We can never part from others without a sense of increased hope. There are those who invigorate us by simple contact; something escapes from them of which they are not aware and which we cannot a.n.a.lyse, which makes us believe more deeply in ourselves and our kind.

"So far as charm is concerned, there is no quality which contributes so much to it as the subtle thing we call atmosphere. There are some people who do not need to speak in order not only to awaken our respect, but to give us a sense of something rare and fine. In such an influence, all that is most individual and characteristic flows together, and the woman reveals herself without being conscious that she is making herself known. Such an atmosphere in a home creates a sentiment and organises a life which would not be possible if one should attempt to fas.h.i.+on these things by intention. The finest things, like happiness, must be sought by indirection and are the results of character, rather than objects of immediate pursuit."

"It is always good to know, if only in pa.s.sing, charming human beings.

It refreshes one like flowers, and woods, and clear brooks."

GEORGE ELIOT.