^f " I wish the good old times would come again," she said, " when we were not quite so rich. I do not mean that I want to be poor ; but there was a middle state " — so she was pleased to ramble on — " in which I am sure we were a great deal happier. A purchase is but a purchase, now that you have money enough and to spare. Formerly it used to be a triumph. When we coveted a cheap luxury (and, 0 ! how much ado I had to get you to consent in those times !) we were used to have a debate two or three days before, and to weigh the for and against, and think what we might spare it out of, and what saving we could hit upon, that should be an equivalent. A thing was worth buying then, when we felt the money that we paid for it. Do you remember the brown suit which you made to hang upon you till all your friends cried shame upon you, it grew so threadbare — and all because of that folio Beaumont and Fletcher, which you dragged home late at night from Barker's in Covent Garden? Do you remember how we eyed it for weeks before we could make up our minds to the purchase, and had not come to a determination till it was near ten o'clock of the Saturday night, when you set off from Islington, fearing you should be too late — and when the old bookseller with some grumbling opened his shop, and by the twinkling taper (for he was setting bedwards) lighted out the relic from his dusty treasures — and when you lugged it home, wishing it were twice as cumbersome — and when you presented it to me — and when we were exploring the perfectness of it {collating you called it) — and while I was repairing some of the loose leaves with paste, which your impatience would not suffer to be left till daybreak — was there no pleasure in being a poor man ? " 2
TJ There is more happiness, more satisfaction, a truer life, and 1 S. A. Alexander. a Charles Lamb, The Last Essays of fflia, 170.
172 THE BEATITUDE OF THE GIVER
more obtained from life, in the cottages of the poor than in the homes of the rich.1
I pitied one whose tattered dress
Was patched, and stained with dnst and rain;
He smiled on me; I could not guess
The viewless spirit's wide domain.
He said, "The royal robe I wear Trails all along the fields of light: Its silent blue and silver bear For gems the starry dust of night.
The breath of Joy unceasingly Waves to and fro its folds starlit, And far beyond earth's misery I live and breathe the joy of it."2
II.
The Great Maxims of the Great Teachers. "Ye ought to remember the words of the Lord Jesus."
1. We have all heard of the seven wise men of Greece, who laid the foundations of philosophy in some pithy maxim or phrase, such as, " Suretyship is the precursor of ruin," " Know thy oppor- tunity," "Man, know thyself," and "Nothing too much." Of these maxims the last two were unquestionably great and fruitful thoughts. The motto, "Know thyself," was regarded by the ancients as an inspired, heaven-sent thought, and was honoured with a place on the walls of the temple at Delphi. It turned the great mind of Socrates from natural to moral philosophy ; from the investigation of nature and her laws to the investiga- tion of man and his duty. The maxim, "Nothing too much," easily expanded into the philosophy of Epicurus, and is echoed over and over again in the pages of Horace and countless sub- sequent writers. But giving the fullest value to the maxims which have secured for these sages an immortality of fame, there is not one of them that can compare for a moment with this great saying of Christ, which is the subject of the text. It
1 Andrew Carnegie. a " A. '£.''
ACTS xx. 35 173
is strange tnat it is recorded by no evangelist, and seems only saved from oblivion by a casual quotation. It is strange, because if this saying were the single remnant of the teaching and life of Christ, it would place Him far above the pioneers of Greek philosophy. It is a brilliant paradox as well as a profound truth; for, as has already been noticed, the world's verdict is otherwise. It is more blessed to receive than to give; more blessed to win, to gain, to take, to treasure; that is, that must be, the verdict of the world — of all those whose guiding principle is selfishness, or even worldly prudence and worldly considerations.
11 Depend upon it, if any one of you has this principle of Christ naturally planted in his heart, he has to thank Providence for instincts of phenomenal excellence. We are born into this world in a state of helpless dependence. We are in no condition to give or to do. Nature bestows on infants no capacities beyond the power to make their wants known, and to insist on their being supplied. Love, devotion, tender solicitude, watch over our cradle, divine our wants, anticipate our wishes. What can be more natural than for the dawning intelligence of boys or girls to regard these things as their right ? to consider that parents and servants were created to minister to their wishes and wants ? I do not believe it ever came into the heart of any man that he was sent into this world not to be ministered unto but to minister to others — to sacrifice himself, and not other people — except through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. In this maxim of Christ's lies the key to the kingdom of heaven. This key alone can open the door to real nobility, to real heavenliness of character. The thought in it lies at the bottom of every noble life and of every noble deed.1