The Investment of Influence | Page 7

'twere all alike As
if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched But to fine issues, nor
Nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence, But, like a
thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor-- Both
thanks and use."--Measure for Measure.
"A man was born, not for prosperity, but to suffer for the benefit of
others, like the noble rock maple, which, all round our villages, bleeds
for the service of man."--Emerson.
"Everything cries out to us that we must renounce. Thou must go
without, go without! That is the everlasting song which every hour, all
our life through, hoarsely sings to us: Die, and come to life; for so long
as this is not accomplished thou art but a troubled guest upon an earth
of gloom."--Goethe.
CHAPTER II.
LIFE'S GREAT HEARTS, AND THE HELPFULNESS OF THE
HIGHER MANHOOD.
The oases in the Arabian desert lie under the lee of long ridges of rock.

The high cliffs extending from north to south are barriers against the
drifting sand. Standing on the rocky summit the seer Isaiah beheld a sea
whose yellow waves stretched to the very horizon. By day the winds
were still, for the pitiless Asiatic sun made the desert a furnace whose
air rose upward. But when night falls the wind rises. Then the sand
begins to drift. Soon every object lies buried under yellow flakes. Anon,
sandstorms arise. Then the sole hope for man is to fall upon his face;
the sky rains bullets. Then appears the ministry of the rocks. They stay
the drifting sand. To the yellow sea they say: "Thus far, but no farther."
Desolation is held back. Soon the land under the lee of the rocks
becomes rich. It is fed by springs that seep out of the cliffs. It becomes
a veritable oasis with figs and olives and vineyards and aromatic shrubs.
Here dwell the sheik and his flocks. Hither come the caravans seeking
refreshment. In all the Orient no spot so beautiful as the oasis under the
shadow of the rocks. Long centuries ago, while Isaiah rejoiced under
the beneficent ministry of these cliffs, his thoughts went out from dead
rocks to living men. In his vision he saw good men as Great Hearts, to
whom crowded close the weak and ignorant, seeking protection.
Sheltered thereby barren lives were nourished into bounty and beauty.
With leaping heart and streaming eyes he cried out; "O, what a desert is
life but for the ministry of the higher manhood! To what shall I liken a
good man? A man shall be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land; a shelter in the time of storm!"
Optimists always, we believe God's world is a good world. Joy is more
than sorrow; happiness outweighs misery; the reasons for living are
more numerous than the reasons against it. But let the candid mind
confess that life hath aspects very desert-like. Today prosperity grows
like a fruitful tree; to-morrow adversity's hot winds wither every leaf.
God plants companion, child, or friend in the life-garden; but death
blasts the tree under which the soul finds shelter; then begins the desert
pilgrimage. Soon comes loss of health; then the wealth of Croesus
availeth not for refreshing sleep, and the wisdom of Solomon is vanity
and vexation of spirit. The common people, too, know blight and blast;
their life is full of mortal toil and strife, its fruitage grief and pain.
Temptations and evil purposes are the chief blights. When the fiery
passion hath passed the soul is like a city swept by a conflagration.

Each night we go before the judgment seat. Reason hears the case;
memory gives evidence; conscience convicts, each faculty goes to the
left; self-respect pushes us out of paradise into the desert; and the
angels of our better nature guard the gates with flaming swords.
A journey among men is like a journey through some land after the
cyclone has made the village a heap and the harvest fields a waste. An
outlook upon the generations reminds us of a highway along which the
retreating army has passed, leaving abandoned guns and silent cannon
with men dead and dying. Travelers from tropical Mexico describe
ruined cities and lovely villages away from which civilized men
journey, leaving temples and terraced gardens to moss and ivy. The
deserted valleys are rich in tropic fruits and the climate soft and gentle.
Yet Aztecs left the garden to journey northward into the deserts of
Arizona and New Mexico. Often for the soul paradise is not before, but
behind.
Shakespeare condenses all this in "King Lear." Avarice closes the
palace doors against the white-haired King. Greed pushes him into the
night to wander o'er the wasted moor, an exiled king, uncrowned and