In the first place, then, if in any respect a man is expected to have more courage and strength than a woman, let him act as becomes a man. Here the protest is against effeminacy. Secondly, if in any respect a grown man is expected to have more intelligence, wisdom, force, self-control, or fortitude than a mere child, let him act as becomes a man. Here the protest is against puerility. But, unquestionably, the great meaning with which the word is charged, in the Apostle's use of it, is its third and consummate meanings Men are to act as creatures having reason, conscience, the power of choice, and the measureless possibilities of the immortal life, and not like creatures of mere instinct, impulse, and irresponsibility, j Here the protest is against brutishness or animalism, existence unregulated by intelligent and conscientious self-direction. Therefore, taking this as the Apostle's conception of manliness — namely, character expressing itself in a life steered by principle — let us look at some of those forms of principle by which the manly life will be steered.
(1) Magnanimity. — Magnanimity is the principle of taking the large-minded view of things rather than the small-minded view. It is this principle woven into the texture of any human life which gives to it, however lowly it may be, true elevation and dignity ; which enables its possessor to meet whatever comes with a tranquil and firm spirit ; which raises him above anything so petty as revenge ; which prompts him to disdain injustice and meanness, and leads him to task himself and to sacrifice himself
502 THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT
for noble ends. Accordingly, whatever in us is small, paltry, narrow, low ; whatever tends to warp and contract us ; whatever is stingy, greedy, miserly, selfish, jealous, morbid, is just so far a diminution of our manliness. And every vocation or method of culture which tends merely to sharpen certain less noble faculties of our nature, such as calculation, shrewdness, cunning, acquisitive- ness, needs to be met by the deliberate cultivation of the faculties which will correct this tendency and broaden our grasp and handling of things.
TJ " Abraham," says Charles Kingsley, " was a prince in manners and a prince in heart." The Hittites partly divined his secret. His personality was grandly impressive to them. He rose in uncrowned sovereignty above them all, the strongest, noblest, gentlest man ; and they saw that he was a prince of God's own making. He owed his power and charm, not so much to natural endowments as to the transforming and ennobling influence of Divine grace. Great aspirations and ideals created his great character. He kept company with God till he became a partaker of the Divine nature. Beginning as a man of God, he ended as a prince of God. True religion develops the highest kind of manhood. Under its influence a common man becomes princely in soul, unconsciously regnant among his fellow-men, and does the most common things in a noble, gentle, royal spirit. Being to God what the wax is to the seal, he is stamped with the image of God.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, These three alone lead life to sovereign power.1
^[ It is news to some people that manliness is a matter of culture rather than of fate. These are the people who confuse manliness with manhood. Their view is that in the great drama of humanity some of us are cast for male parts and some of us for feminine characters ; and since none can determine his own sex, therefore manliness is a matter over which we have no control. They are by no means entirely wrong; and yet they are not right. It is not ours to say whether we shall or shall not be men. It is ours to say whether we shall be manly. For manliness is a matter of quality. There are many kinds of men, and it is only worth while being the best kind. To be the best of anything a man must take himself in hand. He must culture and discipline himself with the help of God. In other words, he must set his will towards manliness. He must know what he
1 J, Strachan, Hebrew Ideals, i. 180.
i CORINTHIANS xvi. 13, 14 503
wants, he must know how to get it ; he must count as nothing the pains of progress. The fact is that manhood is only potential Trta.flljpp.ss. Yet where there is manhood there is always tne possibility of manliness. Temperament is bias, but not destiny. Will and vision will always open a road from manhood to manliness. :^- -""
(2) Sincerity. — Another principle by which the manly life is \jjir steered is~sihcerity, sometimes described as ingenuousness, open- ness of heart, frankness, fairness, straightforwardness, honesty of nature through and through. The manly man will surely be controlled by this principle. The manly man is not double- tongued, or a hypocrite, or a trickster. The manly man is the upright man, the straightforward man, or, to use a new but most expressive phrase, he is the square man. When we hear of a piece of brilliant and successful sharp practice in politics, in law, in stock speculation, is it not our first tendency rather to smile admiringly over the expert achievement than to brood seriously over a certain ignoble something in it which taints the whole glittering transaction and the person who executes it ? For there is nothing manly about trick- playing. How refreshing it is to see a man who never has an object of which he need be ashamed, and who marches towards his object without dodging, indirection, or stealth !