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Page 32
"For pious meditation and repentance," replied the hermit. "All is vanity
in the world. Its beauties charm but to allure from heaven. And worse than
this, it is full of evil. Turn where you will, pain, sorrow, and crime meet
your eyes. But here, in the silence of nature, there is nothing to draw the
mind from holy thoughts; there is no danger of falling into temptation. By
pious meditation and prayer, we are purified and made fit for heaven."
"Not so," answered the traveler; "pious meditation and prayer are of no
avail without good be done to our fellow-men. Piety is nothing without
charity; and charity consists in willing well and doing well to our
neighbors. 'And now abideth faith, hope, and charity,' says the Apostle,
'but the greatest of these is charity,' Hermit, you are not wise thus to
retire from the midst of the busy world. Your service cannot be acceptable
to God. Go back again among your fellow-men, and faithfully perform your
real duties in life. Heal the sick, comfort the mourner, bind up the broken
heart, and in the various walks of life do good to friend and enemy.
Without this, how can you hope in the judgment to hear the Lord say, 'As
much as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me?'"
The hermit, at such unexpected words, bowed his head, and was silent. The
traveler went on, and said--
"You have committed a common error, in supposing that in holy meditation,
as it is called, there was any thing particularly pleasing to God. But
reason will tell you why the widow's mite is more acceptable in heaven than
the most pious thoughts of idle self-righteousness. Hermit! go back again
into the world, and there act your part as a man in the great social body.
Only by this means will you be prepared to live and act in the great body
of angels in heaven."
The hermit could not reply, but still sat with his head bowed to his bosom,
and his eyes upon the ground. The words of the stranger fell with strokes
of reproof upon his heart.
When the traveler returned that way, he sought for the hermit, but found
him not at the door of his cave. He entered, but the place had been a long
time deserted. The erring man had gone back into the world, and taken his
place among his fellows. And he had done right. No man is wise who retires
from society, and shuts himself up in the hope of becoming better through
prayer and pious thoughts. Only by doing our duty to our fellow-men, in
some particular pursuit in life, can we hope to grow better and wiser?
A PICTURE.
[Illustration: A PICTURE.]
What have we here? That kind-looking old gentleman must have something for
these children; his hand is in his pocket, and they are all gathering
around him. I wonder who he is, and what he is going to give them?
"He's their uncle, may be."
"Or their grandfather."
"Or somebody else that is kind to children."
No doubt of it in the world. He is some one who likes children, you may be
sure. And I suppose he's got a pocket full of sugar-plums or nuts for his
favorites. The little girl who has seized his cane, I rather think, will
get the largest share; but I don't suppose her young companions will be at
all displeased at this, for no doubt she is a very good girl, and beloved
by all. Indeed, if we may judge by the faces of the children, not one of
them will look at what the other receives, to see if he has not obtained
the largest share.
This is not always so, however. I know some little boys and girls, who,
when their parents, relatives, or friends give them cakes, candies, or
playthings, immediately look from what they have themselves to what the
others have received, and, if one thinks his share smaller or inferior,
becomes dissatisfied, and, from a jealous and envious spirit, sacrifices
his own pleasure and that of all the rest. Because there is a square inch
more of cake in his brother's piece, that which he has doesn't taste good.
If he have one sugar-plum less than the others, they become tasteless, and
he throws them all, perhaps, upon the floor.
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