1 W. S. Hackett, The Land of Your Sojourning*, 126.
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beautiful save in its own tastes and nothing great or good save in its own ideals, or pursuing any thoughts which circle round and round the little centre of self, becomes the sure abode of weakness and discontent. Its egotism can end only in insufferable weari- ness and intellectual death.
3. In one of the most beautiful of his little poems, Whittier speaks about " the dear delight of doing good." He who has not tasted of that delight has been living upon the husks of things. They who spend their lives for others are ever living upon the royal wine of heaven. When God called Abraham to go into a far country He gave him a casket containing seven promises : " And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee : and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." " Thou shalt be a blessing" — this was the jewel in the casket. The man who has not tasted the luxury of being a blessing, who has not felt a vital personal relation to some good cause, and that he is of service to his fellow-men, has not yet sounded the deeps of life. This must have been in the mind of Browning when he spoke of " the wild joys of living."
^j Dr. Henry van Dyke has given strong setting to this truth in his suggestive little poem, The Toiling of Felix. In 1897 a piece of papyrus leaf was found at Oxyrhynchus, near the Nile. It bore the fragments of several sayings supposed to be the lost sayings of our Lord. The clearest and most distinct was :
Raise the stone, and thou shalt find me ; cleave the wood, and there am I.
Dr. van Dyke has made the historic incident the occasion of the writing of a very significant little poem which exalts the dignity of labour. Felix, a young Egyptian, very early in his life is mastered by a longing for a revelation of the Divine glory. In quest of it he goes to the libraries, takes down the volumes which contain the creeds, studies them long and patiently in hope that, while he studies, the Divine glory will burst from out the sacred page. But after weary months of experimenting he eoncludes that he has not adopted the right method.
Now he turns away from the libraries and frequents the
388 THE MINISTERING MASTER
sacred temples where men are wont to gather for worship. Tn the early morning and in the evening twilight he becomes a suppliant before the throne of heaven, at the altar of many a sacred fane.
" Hear me, 0 thou mighty Master," from the altar step he
cried ; " Let my one desire be granted, let my hope be satisfied ! "
Hut after other weary months of seeking he is again disappointed. Now he is told that yonder in the desert is a monastery, and in that monastery is an aged saint who has meditated long and patiently on the deepest problems of life ; that once a year the aged .saint comes from out his lonely dwelling and gives his bless- ing to the individual whom he happens to meet. Felix places himself at the outer wall. One morning he sees the gate open. He presents himself as a suppliant and entreats the blessing of the aged one, who looks at him earnestly but only in silence. He takes a token, however, from his garments and handing it to Felix retires within the monastery. Felix is again disappointed. But as he turns away it occurs to him that there may be some- thing upon this token. He opens and reads :
Eaise the stone, and thou shalt find me; cleave the wood, and there am I.
A 8 he wonders what it all means he hears the echo of the liammers of the workmen who are engaged in quarrying out the stone in a stone quarry near at hand. Meantime an inner voice begins to plead with him and to suggest that he must become one of those workmen, and that by the rugged road of toil he will find his way to a vision of the Divine glory. The voice pleads so earnestly that at last he heeds it and presents himself, is accepted, and begins to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. At the end of the first day a new zest has come into his life. This grows on him as the days come and go. He is sure now he is on the right road. One day a fellow-workman is overcome by the burn- ing rays of the noonday sun. In natural compassion Felix shelters his head with a palm leaf, and while doing so it seems to him he catches the vision of a face of wondrous beauty. Another day they are transporting some building material across a stream of water; the workman who stands by his side loses his footing and falls into the stream. In a moment Felix has plunged in after him. Firmly grappling him in one arm, he makes his way to shore with the other, and while he struggles toward the place