| The Best Things in Life |
Chapter 2 |
Page 6 |
Cardinal Newman defines a gentleman as one who never needlessly causes pain to another. If we are followers of Christ, we have no right to be ungentle, to be ill mannered, to act disagreeably, and to treat any other one rudely, brusquely. “If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.” We should never forget the teaching of our Master, that the hungry person we feed in his name, the sick person we visit, the stranger to whom we show kindness, the discouraged person we encourage, the fainting one we lift up and start on his way again, is the Master himself. “Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me.” How would we treat Jesus if we found him in any condition of need? That is to be the test in our dealings with men. We dare not to be ungentle to any one – it may be an angel unaware; it may be Christ himself.
The teaching applies to our own personal experience of sorrow. We should seek the line of brightness in any dark picture, and think of that. And there always are breaks in the clouds through which we can see the blue and the stars. No lot in life is ever so utterly hopeless as to have in it nothing to alleviate its unhappiness. There is always something of brightness, one line, at least, in the darkest experience.
“You scarce can wander in a wood so dense at night,
But if the heavens be clear,
Some trembling star, rejoicing in its grateful light,
Gleams through the atmosphere.
“You scarce can tread a track so sadly dark in life
But if your heart be right,
Some kindly hope, benignly beaming o’er your strife,
Illumines the night.”
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