Of the old kings, with high enacting looks, With straining feet, and that fierce mouth and drear, All his great nature, gathering seems to crown; Of ghastly castle, that eternally Holds its blind visage out to the lone sea; And of all sunless subterranean deeps The creature makes who listens while he sleeps; That stride, they say, over heroic bones; And those stone-heaps Egyptian, whose small doors And the bride-widowing sword; and the harsh bray I've thought of all this pride, and all this pain, And I declare, by this most quiet hour, Which holds in different tasks by the fire-light Most old, and mild, and awful, and unbroken, These thoughts are worthy of the sublime subject. They speak its grandeur, and vividly contrast its mild and constant energy with terrific force and violence. It is a subject of which nothing too sublime and grand can be uttered. For kindness not only deals with the finite; it is also the essence of infinity itself. It burns in its purity in the human soul; and it is the majestic influence which forms the vast truth that "GOD IS LOVE." * Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt, p. 172-Lond. ed., 1832. CHAPTER XII. THE BLESSINGS AND DUTY OF PRACTISING THE LAW OF KINDNESS. “Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) 'What writest thou?' The vision raised its head, Answer'd, 'The names of those who love the Lord.' The angel wrote and vanish'd. The next night And show'd the names whom love of God had bless'd IN whatever manifestation of its influence, the exercise of kindness may be considered, it will always confer a rich blessing upon the in dividual who directs it and the individual upon whom it is brought to bear. Genuine kindness never carries blight and ruin with it, like the tornado; it always goes forth like the light and heat of the sun, bearing peace, joy, and sympathy to all whom it reaches. And when it returns to him who has exerted it, the rewards which earthly things can form, are given himor if he is not in a situation to require assistance from those who have felt the gentle dew of his affection, his soul is filled with the calm and steady, but ecstatic thought that others have been made happy by his actions. He can well appreciate the language of Lathrop "Beneficence, regardless of herself,- The history of life furnishes not a single illustration of the law of kindness, but proves the sacred declaration," cast thy corn upon moist ground, and after many days thou shalt find it."* For, as certain as corn will yield its increase to the sower, so certain is it that kindness flows back upon its worshipper with a hundred-fold of pure felicity. Well was it said by Hannah Moore *Translation by Girard-Biblical Institutes, p. 142 "And he, whose wakeful tenderness removes The obstructing thorn which wounds the friend he loves, Smooths not another's rugged path alone, But scatters roses to adorn his own." It is the fact breathing in this poetry, which accounts for the simple but comprehensive answer which the good Oberlin returned as a reply to a question put to him by a visitor: "Ia ich bin glucklich,' (Yes, I am happy.)"* His incessant labors, in the humblest circumstances and with the greatest obstacles, for the good of his people, yielded him an abundant reward in their very exercise. Nor can any person doubt but that the venerable Franklin received the most exquisite pleasure, when, in reply to a letter from the celebrated George Whitefield, to whom he had rendered a kindness, he wrote as follows: "As to the kindness you mention, I wish it could have But if it had, the that you would be been of more service to you. only thanks I should desire is, equally ready to serve any other that may need your assistance, and so let good offices go round; for mankind are all of a family." To the same purport is a letter which he wrote while in Paris, to a man who desired money of him: *Dr. Epp's Essays, p. 53. + Life of Franklin, No. 93, Family Library, p. 110. |