The Elements of Character by Mary G. Chandler

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It may be objected, that those who are obliged to work hard through the
whole week cannot, on the Sabbath, take enough intellectual food to last
them for Thought during the week. Every person can, if he will, find
time for a chapter in the Bible every day, and therein lies wisdom, that
all humanity combined can never exhaust, and which ever opens richer
stores the more it is wrought upon. Then the human race are everywhere
around us, and every individual is a volume to be read. We are vexed,
and perhaps tormented, by the vices or foibles of those with whom we
are thrown in contact. Let us not stop in vexation, but study our own
hearts, and see if there is not some kindred vice or foible in ourselves
that perhaps troubles our friends quite as much as this disturbs us; for
it is often the case that our own vices, when we meet them in others,
are precisely those which irritate us most; and we are almost always
more irritable through our vices than through our virtues. Again, we
find persons exciting our admiration through their virtues. Let us not
stop in cold admiration, but reflect how we may engraft similar virtues
upon our own souls. It is deep and earnest Thought alone that can teach
us to know ourselves, and without this knowledge we are in constant
danger of cherishing repulsive vices such as we should abhor in others,
and of neglecting the culture of virtues such as in others we esteem
indispensable. Society at large, too, is around us, and domestic
circles, with all their complex relations, their jarring discords, or
their heavenly harmonies; and all are full of food for Thought. The true
and the false, the right and the wrong, are everywhere, and the highest
wisdom is to be able to distinguish one from the other. He who has
spent his whole life in intellectual pursuits may, in this greatest
wisdom,--the only wisdom that belongs to eternity equally with time,--be
the veriest fool; while he who has patiently and prayerfully and
obediently studied no book but the Bible may be so taught of God that he
shall possess all that man while on earth can possess of this highest
wisdom.

It is beautifully said by William von Humboldt, that "exactly those
joyful truths which are the most needful to man--the holiest and
the greatest--lie open to the simplest, plainest mind; nay, are not
unfrequently better, and even more entirely, grasped by such a one,
than by him whose greater knowledge more dissipates his thoughts. These
truths, too, have this peculiarity, that, although they want no profound
research to attain to them, but rather make their own way in the mind,
there is always something new to be found in them, because they are in
themselves inexhaustible and endless."

While the Bible is left to us, while human beings surround us, while our
own souls are to be cleansed, renewed, and saved, we miserably deceive
ourselves if we think we lack material for Thought. We are thinking
perpetually, whether we will or no, and let us look to it that we think
to some good purpose. How much Thought is worse than wasted in planning
how wealth, which too often profiteth not, may be acquired, while the
true riches that the Lord is ever offering for our acceptance are
forgotten! How often are the Thoughts poisoned with envying the lands of
one's neighbor, while one's own soul is lying an uncultivated waste.
How often is the mind cankered with vexation at the intellectual
achievements of an old schoolmate, whom in school days we never deemed
wiser than ourselves, when all that has wrought the present difference
between us is, that he thought and strove while we dreamed and loitered.

In its purely religious action, Thought is the fountain of that Faith
which forms the base of St. Paul's trinity of the primal elements
of Character,--the foundation upon which hope and charity are to be
elevated. How important, then, is it that this foundation should be
wisely laid! Many persons think much in relation to religious subjects
from the love of metaphysical reasoning; while their lives are not
influenced by the doctrines they profess. This is an abuse of Thought,
one of its fruits is bigotry. The more strongly a man confirms himself
in any doctrine that he does not apply to life, the more elevated he
becomes in his own estimation,--the more puffed up with spiritual
pride,--the more full of contempt and hatred towards those who disagree
with him. With such persons, purity of life is as nothing compared with
faith in a certain set of dogmas. There are some who think much of the
vices of life, but always in relation to their neighbors, and thereby
engender that form of bigotry called misanthropy. Both these classes
misuse the faculty of Thought, making it subserve the purposes of
contempt and hatred and debasing narrow-mindedness, instead of
ministering to Christian love, that hopeth all things of its brother,
and judges as it would be judged.

The more we study human nature out of ourselves, and in the light of the
Understanding, the less we love it; but the reverse takes place when we
study our own hearts at the same time that we study the characters of
our fellow-beings, and both in the light of Christian truth. We cannot
hate our fellow-beings while we perceive that we are all of one
family,--while we feel our own weakness and sinfulness; and we cannot
despair of human nature while we believe that Infinite Wisdom has become
its Redeemer and Saviour.

If Thought be strongly turned towards religious subjects, the mind must
necessarily form to itself many doctrines which will be its true creed,
whatever external form of Church creed it may avow, or even if it
disavow all creeds. At the present day, it is not uncommon to hear
creeds spoken of with contempt, as the effete remains of a past age;
and the remark is often made, that it is of no consequence what a man
believes if he do but lead a good life. The religious opinions we hold
constitute the morality of our internal life; and it is difficult to
understand how internal morality can be of no consequence, while
external morality is of so much. It would seem that external morality is
but a mask, unless it truly represent the internal morality. Still it is
not surprising that many superficial observers should be found ready to
express their aversion to creeds, when we consider the abuses into which
Churches and Governments have rushed in their efforts to establish and
maintain their favorite dogmas; or when we observe how the bigoted
supporters of creeds become blinded to every other consideration, and
learn to look upon life as of little importance when compared with
doctrine. It was probably in contemplation of such bigotry that the
Apostle exclaims, "Show me thy faith without works, and I will show thee
my faith by my works." This saying is often quoted in defence of the
idea that faith is of no consequence compared with works; but this is no
logical deduction from the text. "I will show thee my faith by my works"
expresses no disregard or undervaluing of faith, but asserts the great
truth that faith becomes a living reality only when it forms itself into
works. The quality of works depends, not on the works themselves, but
upon the faith that inspires them. For instance, three men of equal
wealth may each give the same sum of money to some charity. Externally
the act is the same in each individual, yet the common sense of the very
same persons who a few moments before may have asserted that faith is
nothing, and works everything, does not hesitate to estimate it in a
totally different manner. One of the donors has made up his mind that
ease is the only good. He has taught himself to believe that it is
wise to avoid all trouble, and to give rather than make the effort of
resisting importunity; and he gives because he carries this belief into
effect. Another is an ambitious man, who believes that power and the
good opinion of society are the best among good things; and he gives
to obtain the praise of men and the influence in society which follows
praise. The third believes that the first good of life is making others
happy, and with systematic benevolence examines every claim upon his
bounty, and, if he finds it worthy, never dismisses it unsatisfied. It
was the faith within the act that gave this distinctive quality to the
three donations. The first put his faith in ease, the second in the
opinion of the world, and the third in doing good to the neighbor; and
the common sense of the community judges the actions accordingly. All
the actions of life range themselves under one or other of the three
heads represented by these gifts; namely, the love of self, or ease; the
love of the world, or ambition; and the love of the neighbor, or true
charity. Every man is probably governed in turn by each of these loves;
but in every man one of them takes the lead and dominates over the other
two; and just in proportion as he gives himself up to the dominion
of one of these loves and rejects the sway of the others he leads a
consistent life. Society may assert that life is everything, and faith
nothing, when it talks abstractly; but its common sense ever shows more
wisdom by transferring the quality of the motive to the act, as often as
it finds any clew to the knowledge of motive. Of course, society makes
many blunders in these judgments, because it reads the heart of man
very imperfectly; but the nature of man leads him constantly to attempt
penetrating the heart before forming his opinion of an action.

There is no need of restricting the word creed to the forms of faith
adopted by particular churches. Whatever a man believes is his creed,
and every man has a creed, however much he may be opposed to forms of
faith; and this creed is the rule of his life, however strongly he may
assert, and however implicitly believe, that faith is of no importance.
Take, for instance, a man who devotes his whole energies to the pursuit
of riches from a conviction that they are the greatest good this world
affords. If he have large caution, he will take care not to break the
laws of the land; but everything short of that he will do to attain his
loved object. Perhaps he has large love of approbation; he will then
be a little more cautious, and will do nothing that can injure his
reputation as a gentleman; at least unless he believes that what he does
will not be known in society. Perhaps, however, he has neither of these
restraining traits, and is of a violent disposition; he will then be
ready to rob or murder, if such means seem to promise to give him his
desires. Shall we say this man has no creed, when his faith in the value
of riches impels him to devote body and soul to the acquisition of gain?
Does not his creed run thus: "I believe in gold as the one great good,
and for this will I sacrifice all else that I possess." And does not his
life and death devotion to this creed put to shame the feeble efforts of
many of us who believe that we devote ourselves to more worthy ends?

So it is with those who employ themselves exclusively in the attainment
of intellectual wealth. Faith that this is the one great good incites
them to unwearied labor,--causes them to forget food, sleep, friends,
everything, in order that they may acquire abundant stores of learning;
and all because they have taken as their creed, "I believe that learning
is better than all beside, and for this will I labor day and night."

So it is with the ambitious man. Who labors more devotedly than he; ever
keeping his creed in mind, "I believe that power and reputation are
above all other possessions, and to gain them I will sacrifice time,
labor, truth, and justice."

So it is with every man and every woman the world over. The slothful
even--those who seem impelled to nothing--refrain from effort because
they put their faith in idleness as the one thing above all others
desirable.

Mankind are possessed of Understanding no less than Affection; and by
this, their inherent nature, they are compelled to believe no less than
to love. It is vain to talk of cultivating the Affections that charity
may be perfected in humanity, and at the same time omit all care of the
faith. The mind will and must believe so long as it continues to think;
and it is as unsafe to leave it without cultivation as to abandon the
heart to the instruction of chance. The question is not, shall we or
shall we not adopt a creed; for however strongly we may resist, we
cannot refrain from holding one; but, what creed shall we adopt?
Accordingly as we answer this question so will the measure of bur wisdom
be both here and hereafter.

The human race may, in this respect, be divided into three
classes,--those who adopt good creeds, those who adopt evil creeds, and
those who, too indolent or too heedless distinctly to adopt any rule of
life, spend their days in vascillating between the two; but the latter,
by reason of the greater tendency to sin than to holiness inherent with
the human race, tend, year by year, more and more decidedly towards the
evil.

It is impossible that any person should lead a consistent life unless a
creed be adopted and steadfastly acted upon; because unless one holds
distinct opinions in relation to life and duty, one is drawn hither and
thither by impulse and passion, as the mind's mood varies from time to
time, so that the words and actions of to-day will be often in direct
opposition to those which were yesterday, or which will be to-morrow.

In order to lead a life worthy an immortal being, a child of God, the
first step to be taken is to come to a distinct understanding of
what one wishes to be and to do. The biographies of those who have
distinguished themselves in the world, either for goodness or for
greatness, frequently show that in early life they adopted certain modes
and directions of effort, and have attained to eminence by steadily
persevering in one direction. Among the papers of these persons, written
rules have been found which they have laid down for themselves as
creeds, and in harmony with which they have built up their Characters;
and herein lies the secret of their success.

The living in accordance with such creeds will not insure greatness or
distinguished reputation, because after all our efforts, no one can be
sure of worldly and external success. Events which it was impossible
to provide for, or even to foresee, will often confound the best
preparations of humanity, because the providence of God overrules all
the events of life, according to the eternal dictates of infinite
wisdom and mercy,--a wisdom that knows when it is best for us to succeed
and when to fail in our wishes and endeavors, and a mercy which, looking
to our eternal welfare, sometimes makes us sorrowful here that we may
the more rejoice hereafter.

Perhaps the cause which most frequently prevents the adoption of a creed
is the failing to recognize the seriousness of life in this world. Few
persons can be found so senseless or so reckless as not to recognize the
seriousness of death. Probably few could look upon the solemn stillness
of the lifeless human countenance without a feeling of awe at the
thought that ere long their day too must come when the beating of
the busy heart shall cease, and the now quick blood shall stay its
course,--when the hand shall lose its cunning and the brain its power.
Such impressions are too often transitory, passing away with the object
that awoke them, because persons do not stop to consider why it is that
solemnity and awe pervade the presence of death. If they did, they would
feel that this solemnity was reflected upon life, and life would became
to them serious as death. Both would be serious, but neither sorrowful;
for then death would lose its terror and would be looked forward to
simply as the beginning of eternal life. The solemnity of life lies in
the fact that it is a preparation for eternity; and the solemnity of
death in the fact that the preparation is over and the eternity begun.
In all this there is no cause of sadness, but infinite cause for
thoughtful seriousness.

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.

The centuries that have passed since the Christian dispensation was
proclaimed have many of them been darkened even to blackness by insane
endeavors to write creeds of man's devising, in letters of fire and
blood, upon the nations. The day for such deeds has passed away from
most lands calling themselves Christian; and now men are inclining to
rush into the opposite extreme, and to mistake licentiousness in belief
for liberty of conscience. Such an extreme naturally follows the
opposite one that preceded it; but out of the anarchy of faith that now
prevails the providence of God. will surely, in his own good time, lift
up his children into the liberty wherewith those who obey him are made
free. Then will it be understood that the truth is not a chain to bind
the soul, but a shining light illuminating all the dark places of the
earth, and pouring into every soul that worthily receives it a living
warmth, that shall clothe the whole being with the beautiful garments
of heavenly charity. Then shall it be seen that all true creeds are
contained within the two commandments of the Son of God. Thou shalt love
the Lord with all thy heart and soul and mind and strength; and thy
neighbor as thyself.

IMAGINATION.

Imagination rules the world.--NAPOLEON.

Imagination is the mediatrix, the nurse, the mover of all the several
parts of our spiritual organism. "Without her, all our ideas stagnate,
all our conceptions wither, all our perceptions become rough and
sensual."--FEUCHT ERSLEBEN.

Imagination is that power of the mind by which it forms pictures or
images within itself. Thought is but a shapeless, lifeless entity, until
Imagination moulds it into form. We cannot bring what we know out into
life until Imagination presents it to the Affections as a possible
reality. Thought is an uncreative power, and gives form to nothing.
Imagination is a more positive power, and can impart form to everything
in thought. Thought acts subjectively, while Imagination is more
objective in its operations. Thought is, by itself, a pure abstraction:
passing into the Imagination it becomes a possible reality, and in the
Affections a vital reality. The Affections cannot love or hate anything
while it is a mere Thought; but when it becomes an image, it is at
once an object either of attraction or repulsion. Thought, therefore,
can be lifted up into the Affections, and then be made manifest in life,
only through the medium of the Imagination.

It has been remarked by a celebrated writer, that all great discoverers,
inventors, and mathematicians have been largely endowed with
Imagination. It might with equal truth have been added, that all
successful persons in every department of life are endowed with an
Imagination commensurate in power with that of the other faculties. To
the mechanic in his shop, no less than to the student in his cell, is it
requisite that he should be able to form a distinct image in his mind
of whatever he wishes to perform. So the teacher, the preacher, and the
parent labor in vain unless there is clearly imaged in their minds the
end to be attained by education and discipline. It is idle to seek for
means to accomplish anything until there is a distinct image in the mind
of the thing that is to be done. If there be such a thing as an "airy
nothing," it is a thought before Imagination has given it a "local
habitation and a name." When Shakespeare said it was the office of the
poet to carry on this transformation, he announced one of those great
general facts which are equally true of every other human being. It is
in degree, and not in kind, that one man differs from another. In this,
the poet is but the type of what every human being must be, if he would
be anything better than a dead weight in society, incapable of success
in any department of life.

Let no one fold his hands supinely, and say, I have no Imagination; and
therefore, if this doctrine be true, my life must be a failure. You may
possibly have but one talent while your neighbor has ten, but you
are just as responsible for the cultivation and enlargement of your
endowment as your neighbor for his. Had the parable been reversed, and
had he who was endowed with five talents hidden them in the earth while
he who had one doubled his lord's money, the condemnation and the
acceptance would likewise have been reversed. Unless a man be so far
idiotic that he is not an accountable being, we blaspheme the goodness
of God, if we say there is nothing he is capable of doing well.

The action of the Imagination may be best illustrated by example.
Previous to the days of Columbus, many sea-captains believed that there
was a Western Continent; but their belief was a cold faith, existing
only in Thought. When the ardent mind of Columbus received the
same belief, Imagination speedily formed it into a reality of such
distinctness that faith changed to hope, and then Affection brooded upon
it until his whole being was absorbed by the determination that he would
be the discoverer of this unknown world. The image of this land was
a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of flame by night, leading him
onward in spite of every discouragement and disappointment. Others might
lose their courage, or die of weariness by the way; but his was that
deathless enthusiasm that knows neither despair nor doubt. To this
intense Imagination the world owes a new continent, and it is to
such Imaginations that it owes almost, if not quite, all the great
discoveries and inventions that have ever been made. There are those who
love to believe that such things are in the main the result of accident;
but it is only to the thoughtful and the imaginative that accident
speaks. To the dull and the indifferent it is utterly dumb.

What is life but one long chain of accidents, if by accident we
understand all that falls out without our own intention or volition. We
cannot control these accidents. There is a power above circumstance and
accident that controls them, as gravitation controls the motions of
material things. We can only turn them at our will, and make use of
them, as the machinist turns the power of gravitation to serve his
purposes.

Quick-witted persons are those who have the power of rapidly seeing the
relations of things in every-day life,--whose Thoughts grasp, and whose
Imaginations shape with dextrous rapidity, the little accidents of the
hour, and turn them to advantage. Persons of resource are those who have
a deeper Thought, a more earnest Imagination; and who can therefore
lay hold of great principles, and unusual circumstances, with a
power adequate to meet great 'emergencies, and to make use of great
opportunities. If we trample sluggishness and indifference under our
feet, if we do with a will whatever we undertake, determining to do it
as well as we possibly can, we shall become quick-witted in small works,
and full of resource in large undertakings.

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