Working thus,
we should go on our way rejoicing, our hearts embittered by no envyings,
inflated by no conceit. Comparing what we know with that which we do not
know, we could never become vain of our acquirements, for we must always
feel that what we know is but the beginning of that which remains to be
learned.
So in Life, if we compare our own lives with the lives of our neighbors,
we shall be envious and jealous, or else self-conceited and proud; and
our efforts will probably soon slacken, and then cease; and then we
shall begin to go down hill, at the very moment, perhaps, when we are
taking credit to ourselves for our rapid, or our finished, ascent. If,
on the other hand, we compare our lives with that absolute perfection
which the Lord sets before us as our model, we shall incur the danger of
none of these vices; and though the greatness of our task may well cause
us to "work in fear and trembling," we shall ever be cheered by the
consciousness that "the Lord worketh within us both to will and to do."
When our characters take form in external Life, Thought must give us
discrimination, Imagination must give us courage, and Affection must
give us earnestness; then our external nature will be the transparent
medium through which the internal nature will shine, with a lustre
undiminished by the opacity which is sure to dim its radiance when
dulness, fearfulness, or indolence inheres with the external nature;
for then it forms a husk to hide, instead of a medium to display, the
workings of the inner being.
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