Through a Glass Darkly.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3202, 24 May 1879, Page 4

Through a Glass Darkly.

Are human lota aa unequal in the amount of-happiness they confer as at first sight Would appear ? It is generally acknowledged that'they are not. Without wishing to maintain even an apparent paradox; without arguing that the balance of enjoyment may not on the whole be widely different with the cultivated and the brutish—the intellectual and the sensual—the man who is hated, and the man who is loved—the man whose life is a ceaseless struggle, and the man whoso lifeis-an unbroken sleep—it is not to be denied that every fresh insight we obtain into the secrets of each man's lot, equalises them more and more; discovers undreamed of- compensations for good and for evil 5 -discloses a vigorous spirit of enjoyment among the most obviously tinfortunate, and a dark cloud of care brooding over the prosperous, which go far to rectify our first: hasty judgment of * the inequality^of K their.condition. The inner life of everyliiiian is hidden from his fellows by a thick veil: whenever accident draws this partially aside, are we not invariably amazed at the^ unexpected incon gruities,it'Jays bare, P Are we not on such occasions made aware that we are habitually forming the most egregiously mistaken estimates, of the essential; conditions of .'those around us ? "For myself I can truly nay tihat whenever circumstances have, made me intimately acquainted with the deeper secrets of my fellowmen, I have been utterly confounded at the unlooked-for nature of the 'revelations. Among the' lowest I have found seeds of almost impassible good ; among the most Virtuous (in appearance, and in some respects in reality) guilt or frailty that scarcely any evidence could make credible; anibng the most wretched in outward condition, either strange insensibility to suffering or an extinguishable spirit of delight; among the most favored children of fortune, some tragedy hanging like a thunder-cloud over their path. Compensation is the great law everywhere inscribed on the procedures of Nature. It prevails likewise over human destinies, not perhaps—altogether to the extent of equalisation, but to an extent which approaches nearer and nearer to this point, the wider our knowledge and the deeper 1 our meditation. "

What do we know—what can we predicate —of the sinfulness of any fellowcreature '?'^ Can we say, "this man is more guilty than that P" We may be able to say, " this man has lied, has pilfered, has' ifofjged; and that man has apparently gone through life with clean hands." But can we say that the first has not struggled long, though unsuccessfully against temptations under which the second would have succumbed without an effort? We can- say which has the cleanest hand before man; but can we say which^has ..the cleanest soul before God ? W,e <;<mtfy be able to say, "this man, has committed adultery, and that, man has never been guilty of tmohastity; "^ but can we ■ tell that the innocence of the one may not have been due to the coldness of his heart—to the absencejof'*a J motive—to the presence ofaiear? And that the fall of the other. mayA not have been preceded; by the most vehement self-contest, and atoned for'by^hV-most hallowing repentence ?, W,e-«know that one man is gene-, rous and open-handed, and another close, niggardly ar/d siern;. but we do not know that the generoiity. of the one as well as the niggardliness'of the other, may not be' a mere yielding': to native temperament. In the eye] of Heaven, a long life of beneficence in'the one may have cost less exertion, and may, indicate less virtue, than a few rare hidden acts of kindness ■wrung by dutysout of the/relnctant and nnsympathisinjt nature of the other. There may be more real merit—more self-sacrificing effort—more? of the noblest struggles of moral grandeur in a life of failure, sin, and shame, than in a career, to our eyes, of stainless integrity. " God seelh not- as man seethi" Let this- be a consoling thought to the sinner who, black as hemay be before the World* has yet contrived, to keep some little light burning iv his own soul; a humbling and a warning thought to many who now walk proudly in the sunshine of immaculate fame. „,

But do we know even the outside life of men ? A'rd we competent to pronounce even on their deeds ? Do we know half the acts of wickedness or of virtue even of our most intimate fellows ? Can we say with any certainty, even of our nearest friend, '• this man has, or has not, committedfsueh a sin, broken such a commandment?" How many virtues does the world give us credit for that we do not possess ? How small a portion of our evil deed? and. thoughts ever come to light? Even' of our few redeeming goodnesses, how large v portion is known to God only! Truly we walk in vain show! v,\t /t : ■ ■.-.:■. When we see: one whom we know only as a good,;inan overtaken by a strange calamity, we call it a perplexing dispensation. But in the secret recesses of that man's heart, perhaps, how well does he feel to hairef'deserved it; nay, often, how precisely can he trace back the open suffering to the secret sin I Sorrow and darkness come upon us ; :J .the world pities •us and says, "Poor man; he has little deserved "such a fate," But we know that if thje world- knew us as we know ourselves, it would deem such fate far too light a chastisement for our iniquities. If it be so with ourselves, may it not be so with others f Men accustomed to self-study,' and honest with themselves, often think'their prosperity unmerited; rarely indeed do they think their calamities heavier than their demerits.

We are* wholly in the dark, then, as to what retribution is deserved. We are' equally in the dark' as to what retribution is awarded? We could not tell if it were I'left -to us, where to reward and were to ' punish; neither can we tell iwh'ere' reward and punishment actually fa]l, . nor in what proportion. The retribution may be in a man's heart or in his lot.--In the one case we see it not at all—rin the other very imperfectly. But it is probable that could we see even. half the retribution that takes place in life, we should--be, less perplexed. In the weary satiiSty of-the idle—in the healthy" energy of'honest, labor; in the irritable temper of IBS selfish—in tMe serene peaice of the benevolent; in the startling torture ofytbeaoul where the passions have the ( mastery-—in the calm Ely. sium which succeeds their subjugation—may 'be traced materials, of retribution, to, satisfy the seyerest justice. Deeds and states of mind are their own avengers. "• The consequence of the act as its reward or punishment. Our actions in the long run carry their own retribution ,

along with them. If it were not so, the arrangements of nature would be at fault.